47 episodes
14 Award Ceremony (1)
“ Welcome troops… … Disappeared?”
The secret branch of the intelligence guild ‘Eye of the Moon’ that exists in Hubris, the capital of Agnes Empire.
Eileen, the branch manager there, asked Allen, the man with the mustache, standing in front of him in disbelief.
“ Yes. It must have been a report from Narie, an elite intelligence officer who followed Prince Zion himself.”
Allen offers her a brief written report.
Like Eileen, his eyes were full of unbelievable light.
“ Ha… … .”
As Eileen was reading the report, sighs of surprise flowed out of her mouth one after another.
I was honestly looking forward to it, but I didn’t really think it would solve the welcome army.
It was impossible in the first place, apart from the fact that Prince Zion’s ability was insufficient and outstanding.
But Prince Zion turned the impossible into possible.
It’s already the second time.
“ As stated in the report, as soon as Prince Zion and his party arrived at the Kurdish village, a welcome army was summoned with a barrier covering the village.
The Narie informant was outside the barrier, so he could not see what was inside, but when the barrier disappeared, the phantom force had already ceased to exist. He said he showed up.”
“ This fact… … Hasn’t it been known anywhere else yet?”
At Eileen’s question, Allen shook her head slightly.
“ Yes. That’s right. But it will only be a matter of time before it becomes known.”
“ I would.”
If this fact were known, not only the Imperial Palace, but the entire capital would be shaken up.
Eileen, who had been quickly calculating the benefits the ‘Eye of the Moon’ could gain by preempting information before then, asked Allen.
“ Who is Prince Zion?”
“ I think I will go straight to the Hwangseong without stopping here.”
“ Hmm… … Then the lawmakers’ information should come directly to the Hwangseong and tell them… … .”
Eileen considered this too as Prince Zion’s test for them.
‘ Then I’ll have to respond.’
With that in mind, Allen looked at her for a moment as she was choosing an informant to send to Prince Zion in her head, and then Allen spoke again.
“ And one thing. I have information to tell you.”
“ What?”
Eileen looks at him with suspicious eyes.
“ A person believed to be a hero has appeared.”
At that, her eyes began to gleam.
“ Tell me in more detail.”
* * *
The five palaces surrounding the Baengseonggung, the center of the imperial castle.
“ What? Say it again.”
Among them, the 3rd Prince Enoch, the owner of the Hyukseonggung Palace, was staring at the subordinate wizard, Legan Ursula, who was bowing his head.
His eyes fluttered as if he was in embarrassment.
“… … It seems that Prince Zion and his party have destroyed the phantom army.”
A heavy voice came out of Legan’s mouth once more.
“ Do you think that makes sense?”
“… … .”
Regan was silent at Enoch’s question.
Because he didn’t even think about it.
From the time I first left for the Imperial Palace with only one subordinate, I thought that failure was already planned.
It was because I decided that Prince Zion had neither the intelligence to find out where the phantom forces would arise, nor the power to solve it if they did.
Therefore, all the plans they had made existed only assuming the failure of Prince Zion.
“ What happened?”
“ Perhaps Prince Zion did not solve it alone. I heard that the Demon King Liam Reiner, one of the commanders of the vigilance, and the Gray Lions were there… … .”
“ No, it doesn’t matter now.”
At Regan’s words, Enoch shook his head and opened his mouth.
“ The important thing is that Zion solved one of the disasters.”
It meant a lot.
It was nothing more than letting the whole empire know that he had enough power to solve one of the seven great plagues.
Due to this, the attention of the imperial legislators and nobles would surely be focused on Zion, and perhaps those who were attached to it would also come out.
Besides, it was not just a disaster, but a succession proof test, so the aftermath could shake the game of power in the imperial castle.
“ We have to wait and see how he is officially recognized as the successor… … .”
Enoch, who had been tapping the chair with his fingers while muttering nervously, looked at Legan.
“ How are the preparations going?”
“ Due to this variable, we will have to make some adjustments to the location, but the big picture is all over.”
“ I need to advance my schedule.”
“… … All right.”
Regan’s eyes shone coldly at Enoch’s words.
After saying those words, Legan bowed his head toward the three princes and turned around.
Enoch’s eyes were looking at the back of Legan as he left the study.
‘ I’ll have to go down to the basement after a long time.’
submerged gloomy.
* * *
The disappearance of the phantom army, one of the Seven Great Disasters of the Empire.
News about him spread across the capital city beyond the imperial castle in an instant.
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Maybe it was because of the story that was more miraculous than the miracle that the imprisoned prince who had been abandoned in the imperial family dealt with the disaster.
As if a new emperor had ascended to the throne, the aftermath was enormous.
Everywhere in the capital, there were rumors of the disappearance of the welcome army, and news outlets and information guilds printed out about him day after day.
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Most did not believe it and checked it several times, and some cheered or angered.
With him, the attention of the empire was naturally focused on Zion.
But what about Zion?
self-
Immediately after returning to the Imperial Palace, he had been locked up in the underground dance hall of Chimseonggung.
Sion is sitting cross-legged in the center of the dance hall.
Darkness was rising like smoke from Zion’s whole body.
The darkness that moves by itself and spreads out around it, as if it were alive.
The darkness that spread like that filled the dance hall in an instant.
Paah!
In that darkness, countless stars appeared and began to shine.
It was like looking at the night sky, or even the universe.
And the moment when such starlight reaches its maximum.
———–!
A black star appeared in the middle of the stars and began to absorb all the surrounding starlight.
When Zion first played cross-legged here, this one star was the end, but now it is different.
Whoa!
Soon after, another black star appears next to the black star that absorbs the light.
And next to the second star that appeared, the third black star began to blink faintly.
Finally, the moment when the outline of the third star is also clearly revealed.
Whoops!
The black stars and the darkness that filled the entire dance hall were sucked into Zion’s body.
with him.
“… … .”
Zion’s eyes slowly opened.
There were few complaints in Shion’s eyes.
“ Is it still difficult to get 3 stars?”
From the time I returned to the Hwangseong Fortress, I was constantly trying to break through the walls of the 3 Heukseongha, but I was always barely able to penetrate.
‘ I thought it would be this time.’
When he used a lunar eclipse against the king of the phantom army, the darkness of Zion momentarily broke through the limit, and there was a small hole in the wall at that time.
I tried to get to 3 stars before the hole was blocked again, but it didn’t go as well as I had hoped.
And Zion had guessed the cause to some extent.
‘ This body.’
Even if it was supplemented to some extent with the heart of a thousand-year-old ogre, the basic specifications themselves were too low.
Perhaps even if Sion Agnes did not die in the chronicle, he would have died shortly thereafter because of his terribly fragile body.
Not only that, but this body also interfered with the use of lunar eclipses.
Since it was a lunar eclipse with a heavy burden even with a trained uninhabited body in the first place, it was to the point of risking my life to use it with this body, and the use time had to be shorter.
‘You have to change it.’
Rather than simply training or improving the constitution, it was necessary to change the body itself to the extent of replacing it with a new one.
‘ To do that… … .’
When Zion thinks about it in his head.
Tung, Tong!
A knock on the iron door was heard from the entrance of the gymnasium.
“ Come in.”
Chunkyung!
As soon as Zion said that, the iron gate opened.
A woman with him came running as if running into the auditorium.
A dark red-eyed woman with outstanding beauty that everyone should look back at at least once.
“ I see you, His Majesty Zion.”
It was Priscilla Bamel, Zion’s former fiancee.
At that, Zion’s eyes were dyed with doubt.
Because I thought it was definitely Tierina Fredo.
“ I heard that you have solved the welcome army this time.”
In the meantime, Priscilla is approaching Zion while looking around the underground dance hall as if it’s mysterious.
“ Right now, the Hwangseong is not very upset because of that… … .”
“ What’s going on?”
Interrupting Priscilla’s words, Shion asked.
The silent eyes of Zion, without any emotions.
Priscilla, who had been silent for a while, looked into Shion’s eyes and opened her mouth.
“ I also want to help His Majesty’s work. No, please help me.”
As if she had thought like this before, her eyes were shining with determination.
Priscilla had not forgotten.
No, I couldn’t forget.
The appearance of the servant who has turned into a demon and Shion who tore the demon to pieces at once.
‘ Prince Zion saw the demon at that time and said that he was definitely an enemy.’
He also knew that demons were already hiding there.
There was a high probability that Prince Zion was alone against her, or perhaps even the dark demon that the Empire did not know.
I don’t know if I haven’t seen it, but once I found out, I couldn’t stay still.
‘ I need some help.’
Along with that, there was an opportunity to get closer to Zion, so for Priscilla, it was a pair of stones.
However.
“ How?”
Zion’s answer when he returned was refusal.
“… … Yes?”
“ How are you going to help me? With your magic skills that even the assassins, let alone low-level demons, couldn’t handle?”
Shion’s cold voice.
“ Or are you good at gathering information? If not, do you have enough power to move your family or the entire tower to which you belong?”
“… … .”
Priscilla shut her mouth with trembling eyes at Shion’s words.
Each one was poignant and heart-wrenching, but she couldn’t refute any of them.
Because it was all true.
“ I don’t care if you go in and out of my palace at will. But if you want something more… … .”
Shion’s languid eyes looked directly at Priscilla’s.
“ You have to be qualified for that.”
A quiet voice came out of Priscilla’s mouth, who stood there with her head bowed for a moment.
“… … I know.”
She turns back with him and exits the underground gymnasium.
‘ This will be enough stimulation.’
Looking at her back like that, Shion thought.
In fact, Priscilla’s magic skills were one of the most outstanding among her peers, but she could never handle the enemies that Shion had to deal with in the future.
In addition, in order for her not to become an ‘unlucky princess’ like the chronicle later, it was necessary to really cut the bones from now on.
at that time.
“ Sir Zion.”
Passing by Priscilla, who was passing through the underground gymnasium, Thierry, the leader of the shadows of the eons, and Narie, the chief intelligence officer of the ‘Eye of the Moon’, entered inside.
A completely inconsistent combination.
The reason why Narie, who had a blank expression on her face saying, ‘Why am I here?’ was here right now was simple.
‘ Eye of the Moon’, chose her to deliver information to Shion, so Nari had no choice but to break into the Imperial Castle to cry and eat mustard.
‘ Ha, I don’t want to get involved with Prince Sion any more… … It’s too scary.’
When Nari, who was looking at Sion with eyes that still did not know what she was thinking, trembled and thought so.
“ The cross-validation you instructed has been completed.”
Thierry politely opened her mouth to Shion.
A quest that Shion entrusted to the shadows of eternity and the eyes of the moon at the same time.
Thierry was saying that the quest was all completed.
“ I will use it soon, so I have it.”
Shion-in nodded at him and instructed Thierry.
“ I see. Oh, and I have one more thing to tell you.”
Thierry opened her mouth again as if she still had something to say.
Zion looked at him as if he was wondering what it was.
“ It seems that sooner or later there will be an official conferment of the qualifications of His Majesty’s successor. By the way… … .”
“ But?”
“ Behind the process of preparing for the position, the 3rd Prince Enoch and Icarus’s general, Regan Ursula, were caught moving.”
Thierry’s words like that.
“ Are you finally moving?”
A deep smile appeared on Shion’s lips.