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Chapter 245 - The Birth of a New Emperor (3)

Not long after Hector left, an unfamiliar crying sound echoed throughout the prison of Killive, where there weren’t supposed to be any signs of life.

The cry had most certainly come from a Chimera, a monster with a deeply unsettling appearance: its eyes and nose were badly deformed, as though they had been crushed by an unknown force, its grotesque mouth stretched from ear to ear, and all sorts of gross fluids seeped through its skin. Moreover, the monstrosity moved on all fours and had a tail as long as the rest of its body.

-Grrrr...

This creature had been lurking on the seventh basement floor, where Baeb was trapped, for several days. Fortunately, it seemed like its sense of smell was impaired due to its deformed nose. However, its shar hearing allowed it to pick up even the slightest noises Baeb made; it roamed around him whenever he made the tiniest sound.

At this moment, there was only a thin wall separating Baeb from the Chimera.

Shiver...

After praying to Irene, the goddess of peace, Baeb hadn’t moved for days, not drinking any water or eating any insects because he was afraid that the Chimera would hear him again and break through the wall, tearing him apart.

However, Baeb was at his limit.

Hector had told him he would come back within ten days, and so far only three days had passed. Nevertheless, it was already a miracle that he had survived for three days with essentially no resources.

However, Baeb knew that he couldn’t keep going like this. He was exhausted; he couldn’t keep his eyes open and his chest tightened every time he took a breath because he was scared that the Chimera might notice if he took a deep breath. His lips and throat had dried up to the point where he couldn’t even croak out a single word.

Drip-

That moment, Baeb heard water dripping from somewhere not too far. He instantly recognized where the sound was coming from. It was the dew falling from the ceiling with which he had used to quench his thirst. It was tantalizing, just four... no, maybe even three steps away. Baeb had his eyes closed, and yet he could see the drops trickling from the ceiling, one by one.

Yet close as it was, it was still out of his reach. He couldn’t risk moving lest he attracted the Chimera’s attention.

Baeb’s spirit was about to break; he figured that maybe death wouldn’t be so bad after all, that maybe, just maybe, he would be okay with dying as long as he could get a few of those water drops to soothe his desiccated lips.

As all sorts of dark thoughts crossed his mind, the sun was about to set for the third time since Hector had left. In these northern parts of the continent, the temperature would always drop drastically after dusk.

Baeb curled up into a ball, freezing. As the cold and the hunger intensified his pain, the temptation to just go for the dew grew stronger as well.

‘Well, I don’t hear anything...’

Baeb hadn’t heard a single thing after nightfall, not even the Chimera. Thinking that he was in the clear, he started making up scenarios in his head in which that damned Chimera had moved somewhere else. After imagining all sorts of things, combining reality with dangerously optimistic fantasies, Baeb finally made up his mind.

\'Screw it! I can make it! I can get a sip...!’

Baeb steeled himself, squeezing his muscles. Despite the sudden burst of resolve, he couldn’t ignore how weakened he was; his muscles and joints had grown stiff and feeble due to not having moved at all the past three days.

Despite that, Baeb somehow got his muscles to work for him by sheer willpower and desperation. Every part of his body was screaming at him to stop, but he kept on pushing, thinking that this pain was nothing if it meant he would get a few drops of water to quench his excruciating thirst.

Baeb got up slowly, extremely slowly in fact. Even though he had almost given up on his life, he still used the wall for support in order to get up slowly; deep down, he was still scared that the Chimera might hear him, so he tried his best to not make any sounds.

However, at that moment...

“Uh-oh...!”

Baeb suddenly lost his balance. He thought it was because he hadn’t moved in three days. He thought he had given his body enough support, but his knees felt weird. In addition, he suddenly became dizzy and his sight went blurry.

After he straightened his back against the wall, he toppled to one side.

Baeb collapsed on the floor. He would’ve had no issues getting back up if he had been in his normal state, but at this moment, he was struggling despite giving his all. His blurry vision made it seem like he had fallen in slow motion. As he lay on the floor, his entire life was flashing before his eyes.

Baeb knew that no matter how skinny he had gotten due to starvation, his fall would’ve been more than enough to attract the attention of the Chimera beyond the wall.

‘So this is it...’

Baeb closed his eyes in resignation. However, he still trembled slightly; the prospect of dying still scared him despite his giving up on hope. With that, time seemed to have come back to normal.

Thump!

-Kiaaa!!!

Baeb’s feeble body of not even forty kilograms, had made the tiniest sound upon falling, no louder than if a feather had landed on the ground. However, it had been more than enough to alert the Chimera from beyond the wall.

Thud, thud, thud!

The Chimera charged toward the source of the sound without the slightest hesitation, throwing itself against the already cracked wall.

Bang!

Crack!

The impact caused another crack in the wall, much larger than the others. It wouldn’t be long until it collapsed.

-Kiaaa!

Bang!

Crack...! Rumble...!

As the Chimera threw itself against the wall for a second time, the wall was almost completely shattered. It was a miracle that it was still holding...

Then a few seconds later...

Bang!

Rumble, rumble!

With one last collision from the Chimera, the fragile wall crumbled to pieces, dust and debris scattering everywhere.

\'Oh god....\'

Down on the ground, Baeb managed to lift his heavy eyelids to see the wall fall apart. He expected that the Chimera would rip the flesh off his bones with his sharp teeth once the dust cleared away.

The dust cleared fast, and Baeb’s vision went blurry once again as he was overwhelmed by fear and despair.

-Kiaaa!!!

Despite not being able to see clearly, Baeb could hear the screeching cry of the monstrosity, threatening to pop his eardrums. Overwhelmed by fear, the boy fainted.

Seeing that its prey was completely vulnerable, the Chimera opened its mouth wide and went for the head.

But at that moment...!

Swosh!

Splurt! Splurt... Splurt...

Henry swung his sword, decapitating the Chimera clean. He then created a gust of wind, dispersing the dust that still hung in the air. He then turned to Hector and asked, “Hector, is that him?”

“Oh, yes! It’s him! I’m sure!”

“I think he’s dead?”

“No, he isn’t, you bastard! Don’t jinx anything!”

Henry had killed the Chimera with one single blow.

“Baeb! Baeb!” Hector urgently called the boy’s name. After the war had ended, he had brought Henry here to save Baeb, probably the only survivor of Killive.

They had just arrived in the nick of time. After they teleported in the prison, they saw the Chimera destroy the wall and lunge at the unconscious boy.

“Henry, hurry up and give it here!”

“Here.”

Hector, wearing the body of a Korun instead of black armor, quickly took a small pouch from Henry, which contained healing potions and elixirs for rapid nutrition replenishment that Irenae had made for them.

“Wake up, Baeb! I’m here for you!”

Hector poured the potions and the elixirs into Baeb’s mouth. The boy reacted quickly to the liquid, as he hadn’t had any in three days, and seemed to regain consciousness. His fingers shook, signaling that he was still in the world of the living.

Irenae’s concoctions had brought him back from the brink of death.

“He’s still with us...!”

Seeing that Baeb was still alive, Hector felt immediate relief, the weight on his shoulders going away.

Seeing that the boy was fine, Henry turned his attention to their surroundings on the seventh basement floor of the Killive prison.

‘So there were human experiments here?’

This prison had held felons from all over the continent, which meant that there had to have been thousands of men here. Moreover, since only those who committed crimes like murder were sent here, they had to be stronger than regular people. Thus, it was clear that the Chimeras made from those kinds of people would be a lot stronger than the average soldier.

‘I guess this is another thing to worry about.’

Henry could tell that the Chimera he had just killed had been strong. The only reason he had managed to kill it with one blow was because he himself was way stronger.

However, given how though the Chimera’s hide had felt against his blade, Henry assumed that not even expert-level Aura could cut through it.

At any rate, the fact that there had only been one Chimera in the Killive prison meant that it had probably been a leftover, a low-level Chimera left behind to deal with straggling prisoners like Baeb. Thus, given how strong this lesser Chimera had been, Henry could guess at how insanely powerful Arthus’ Chimera army would be.

‘Seems like we have to speed things up.’

Henry had come to Killive at Hector’s request to save the boy and in order to explore the enemy territory, ultimately to end up with a headache after seeing what had transpired here. He decided he would dwell on this later and teleported back with Hector and Baeb.

***

“Yes...?”

“What, you’re not interested?”

“Oh, no, wait a minute! Archmage, what did you just say?”

“That the position of the emperor of the Aenia Empire is currently vacant. I’m thinking of appointing you as the new emperor for now. So, tell me right now what you think.”

Crack!

Hearing his question again, Ten dropped his glass of wine on the floor and froze in place as though time had stopped for him.

“Ten?”

“...”

“Ten...?”

“...”

“Ten!”

“Ah, ah. Yes, yes, Archmage!”

“So what do you think?”

“Oh, um... I think I\'m dreaming right now, and it’s definitely a pleasant one. I mean that’s the only explanation for why you’re proposing something so absurd. See, look at this... If I try to cut myself with a shard of glass, nothing will happen since this is a drea... Ouch! Wait... This isn’t a dream...?

Ten had picked up a piece of broken glass from the floor and scraped it against the back of his hand to confirm that he was dreaming. However, much to his dismay, he actually cut himself, a small trail of blood forming on his hand.

Realizing this was real, Ten’s eyes widened and his jaw hit the floor.

Seeing this, Henry sighed and said, “Ten, wake up... Everything you heard is true, and you’re most definitely not dreaming. I really need a capable leader, someone who can take care of the empire on behalf of Arthus."

“That... That doesn\'t make any sense...”

Henry knew that all of this would be hard for Ten to believe. After all, before coming with this shocking proposal, Ten had just been getting supplies to the city troops of Vivaldi who had been fighting against the imperial troops led by Rockefeller.

Ten shook his head briefly to compose himself and then asked again, “A-Archmage! But aren\'t we still at war? The fact that the throne has been relinquished during the war..."

"Who said we’re at war?”

“Huh? I mean, the current situation outside... The city troops and the imperial army are still fighting...”

In response to his question, Henry snapped his fingers. Then, the head of Rockefeller, the commander of the Fourth Corps that had been fighting against the troops of Vivaldi, appeared in his hands.

“This Rockefeller’s head. I got my hands on it just a while ago. The war is over, Ten. Arthus fled, and the other commanders promised not to fight against the Allied Powers anymore.”

As Henry continued to explain, Ten was in disbelief.

“...”

Among the things Henry said, the most unbelievable thing for Ten was the prospect of being the ruler of a great empire that controlled more than half of the continent, despite not having come from an aristocratic family.

As Henry continued to explain, Ten finally came to his senses and asked Henry another question.

“Archmage... Are you serious about what you just offered me?”

“I told you, I need a competent individual to manage the empire. I’m sick and tired of idiots taking the throne and swinging their swords however they want.”

“Archmage...”

“What I’m saying, Ten, is that I can trust you. If something happens, I’ll help you, and if something really bad happens, something that can’t be solved, I’ll help you even then. So, I want you to trust me and become the Gold King I once promised you’d become. So, make the empire wealthier than it already is. If Master were still alive, he definitely would support you as the emperor.”

“Archmage...!”

Ten was moved to tears by Henry’s heartwarming speech. However, his tears were also of joy, of happiness. He felt gratified that all the decisions he had made up until this point had been right and that he could finally reap his well-deserved rewards.

“Archmage! I will... I will work hard and do my utmost best! I am most grateful for your faith in me!”

“Sure.”

This marked the start of the unofficial regime led by the fourth emperor of the empire that ruled the continent.