Grandson of the Holy Emperor is a Necromancer

Chapter 41: 027. Imperial Prince is Going Home -1 (Part One)

Paladins were standing in a line on either side of the imperial palace’s audience chamber. And towards the rear, the high-ranking members of the clergy, the scions of the Imperial Family, and lastly, many important nobles could be found in large crowds.

They had all congregated here today to listen to the strange occurrence on the ‘Land of the Dead Spirits’. However, the things Harman said just now wasn’t exactly what they had been expecting to hear.

The nobles’ eyes showed their shock despite their lips being firmly shut.

“…His Highness the Imperial Prince hunted a vampire?”

“There was an Imperial Prince dispatched to the Land of the Dead Spirits?”

Various whispers could be heard being exchanged within the nobles’ ranks. Meanwhile, the scions of the Imperial Family were exchanging glances with each other. They began shaking their heads to indicate that it wasn’t them.

The Holy Emperor finally opened his mouth, “…When you say the Imperial Prince, could you perhaps be referring to the seventh, Allen Olfolse?”

The nobles wouldn’t dare openly smile in front of the emperor, so they chose to quietly shake their heads instead. Although, they couldn’t prevent a faint grin from leaking out as if they heard an amusing joke just now.

<ul>

The Seventh Imperial Prince?

There’s no way that’s true, then. It’d be a relief if that boy didn’t wet his pants in some corner of a room somewhere.

</ul>

“That is indeed so, your majesty.”

Harman’s response caused the brows of the gathered nobles to furrow deeply. Even the Imperial Family’s sons were narrowing their eyes.

Paladin Harman slowly raised his head and observed the emperor’s dignified countenance. The latter’s lips were firmly shut and his eyes wide open after being rendered completely speechless.

Harman could more or less guess what the emperor was thinking about right at this moment. For obvious reasons, the latter couldn’t believe it.

A foolish Imperial Prince who got himself banished for trying to lay his hands on a lady-in-waiting managed to hunt down a vampire? Even Harman would’ve found the notion quite ridiculous if he hadn’t witnessed it himself.

“Harman. Up until this very moment, I always saw you as a man more virtuous than any other. However, it seems that I was mistaken. Right now, you…” The Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse frowned deeply, hints of displeasure clearly written large on his face. “Have you decided to throw in your lot with him? With that rotten basta…”

“A-hem…”

A fake cough resounded out from beside the holy emperor. An old man in his mid to late seventies wearing a white robe stood there while propping up a crosier.

He was probably trying to stop the holy emperor from blurting out a word that might lower his station.

Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse glanced at the old man, the archbishop, in unhappiness before shifting his attention back to Harman. “Could you perhaps have decided to support the Seventh Imperial Prince’s cause?”

Although he couldn’t openly say it, the emperor was asking if the Paladin had really chosen to sponge off the seventh prince.

Harman could only smile wryly just then.

‘Indeed, blood is thicker than water, is that it?’

That boy was definitely the grandson of this emperor; he surely inherited the same fiery blood of the old man. The Holy Emperor’s current attitude was an exact copy of the amnesiac Imperial Prince.

“No, your majesty. I merely speak of the truth.”

Kelt Olfolse wordlessly stared at Harman kneeling below. The latter’s eyes which were filled with unshakeable faith, showing not a single sign of wavering.

This Paladin used to protect Yulisia in the past. Such a man shouldn’t be harbouring any ‘untoward’ thoughts.

“…Archbishop. What is your take on this matter?”

Harman shifted his gaze over to the archbishop, Raphael Astoria.

He was considered to be one of the ten most influential individuals in the whole Theocratic Empire. And unfortunately, the Seventh Imperial Prince had a prior record of attempting to rape this man’s granddaughter.

“Such a thing is simply impossible, your majesty.”

His declaration basically condemned Harman as a liar.

The Paladin gritted his teeth. This wasn’t surprising at all.

He already knew that it wouldn’t be a cakewalk to stand by a mangnani prince like that boy in the first place.

“However…”

Raphael Astoria suddenly began gnashing his teeth.

He must’ve felt his rage boil over after recalling the sight of the Seventh Imperial Prince trying to assault his precious granddaughter.

Despite this, he suppressed his emotions and continued on.

“…I’ve received a report that Ronia’s citizens are now supporting the Seventh Imperial Prince. It seems that some have even taken the action by calling him the Saint as well.”

It was then, someone chortled inside the audience chamber. The origin of that noise was from where the Imperial Princes and their retainers were.

The culprit, the Third Imperial Prince, recognised his slip-up and hurriedly clamped his mouth shut. He swallowed back his dry saliva and lowered his head to acknowledge his mistake.

Raphael Astoria carried on from where he left off. “It is also an undeniable fact that your majesty did detect a bizarre aura emanating from Ronia fortress. As such, there is a need to investigate this matter thoroughly.”

Kelt Olfolse replied. “Are you implying that the aura back then was the Seventh Imperial Prince’s power?”

“No, your majesty. I merely wish to prevent the Seventh Imperial Prince from snatching up any accomplishments that belong to someone else.”

“…I see,” the Holy Emperor responded before fixing his gaze on Harman. “Whether your report is false or not has not been verified yet, but it is indeed true that you made great contributions in the defense of Ronia fortress. Therefore…”

The emperor raised his hand slightly and made a declaration.

“The current feudal lord of Ronia, Viscount Jenald Ripang, shall receive the title of Count. Paladin Harman Daian shall be bestowed with a small but adequate territory in the north-western region. And finally…”

He lowered his hand before letting a heavy silence stew the area for a while.

The emperor’s eyes were closed inside this silence. He then softly spoke as if he was talking to himself.

“…I shall reduce the term of banishment for the Seventh Imperial Prince, Allen Olfolse. The moment he recovers to full health, he is to be brought back to the imperial palace immediately. I shall converse with him in person.”

Archbishop Raphael Astoria’s brows rose up higher at that declaration. He seemed to have something to say, but the Holy Emperor raised his hand once more and stopped the clergyman.

“Any objections? Harman?”

“No, I do not, your majesty.”

Harman Daian bowed again in response to the Holy Emperor’s question.

**

The next location Harman sought out was an isolated room situated in a deep, dark corner of the imperial palace. He opened the door and stepped inside, only to be greeted by a familiar voice.

“…Is it you, Harman?”

“It is indeed I, your highness.”

Even though it was still the middle of the day, the windows had all been boarded up, causing the interior of the room to be dark. Harman lit up a lone candle on the candlestick standing tall on a shelf nearby.

A gentle light illuminated a young man sitting on the edge of the bed, his whole figure wrapped tightly in bloodied bandages.

Although it was not easy to guess the young man’s age, based on either his physique or voice, he could’ve been anywhere between mid to late twenties.

“Have you been well, your highness the First Imperial Prince?”

This was Yulisia’s first son, as well as the elder brother of the Seventh Imperial Prince, Luan Olfolse.

The young man glared straight at Harman and replied, “Been well, you say? Hahaha, you certainly do know how to jest, Harman. Surely, you know as well as the others what my current state is like. Indeed, technically I’m still alive. However, I’m now living a fate of suffering intense pain borne out of a horrifying curse. It wouldn’t be strange for me to die tomorrow, or even today.”

“…”

The First Imperial Prince, Luan Olfolse, had his heart struck by a curse.

The demonic energy penetrated into his actual, physical heart and had taken root there. The curse continued to shave away at his lifeforce even now.

His skin rotted as all of his senses throughout his body gradually became paralysed. He had already lost the sense of touch, smell, as well as taste. The remaining two – sight and hearing – were slowly deteriorating with time, and it wouldn’t be strange if he lost them at any moment now.

And since the demonic energy was hiding in his heart, treating him was deemed impossible. This meant that he was gradually turning into a living corpse.

“I’ve been informed that you tried to stand up for the Seventh Imperial Prince.”

“That is indeed so, your…”

Luan suddenly reached up and grabbed Harman’s collars. The young man’s glare burned fiercely. “You dared to speak up for that trash who caused our mother’s death, the trash who constantly tramples on her legacy? You fool! Are you insane?! What’s wrong? Have you finally realised that I’m not long for this world and decided to throw in your lot with that bastard? Hahaha! If so, then you’ve chosen poorly. A mangnani like that can never become the next Holy Emp…!”

The First Imperial Prince flinched in surprise and let go of the Paladin’s collars. Although he exerted his strength only for a brief moment, droplets of blood already began falling down from his hands.

Luan gritted his teeth and began massaging his forehead. “…I was out of line. Forgive me. You’re not a man to stoop so low after all.”

“The Seventh Imperial Prince is not to blame, your highness. I was responsible for Lady Yulisia’s passing. If only I remained to protect you back then…”

“Do remember that it was I who gave you that order. I ordered you to bring us extra support, didn’t I?”

“Even if it was your command, I still failed to protect you, your highness. It’s the same thing as having run away from my duties because of my cowardice.”

“If you hadn’t brought along the reinforcements needed back then, both I and the Seventh Imperial Prince wouldn’t have survived.”

The vampire targeted Yulisia and both of her children. If either the First or the Seventh showed any signs of escaping, then the undead creature would’ve hunted them down first.

Since that was the case, the correct decision was to send Harman away and seek help from more Paladins. Of course, Yulisia was already dead and the First Prince was struck by the curse of ‘leprosy’ by the time they arrived, but still…

Harman cautiously spoke up, “Your highness. Do you…”

Luan shifted his gaze back to the Paladin.

“…Do you hate the Seventh Imperial Prince that much?”

Chapter 42: 027. Imperial Prince is Going Home -1 (Part Two)

“…Isn’t that obvious? Why do you ask something so apparent?”

Luan tilted his head. He couldn’t figure out the intent behind that question.

Harman continued on. “What if the Seventh Imperial Prince has been hiding his true self all along? What if he accepted the fate of being treated like trash for the sake of Lady Yulisia? So that he could… raise sufficient strength. He… acted like a mangnani, and… deliberately got himself banished…”

The first prince looked at Harman with a pair of pitying and sympathetic eyes. “It seems that dealing with that fool for too long has tainted even your mind, Harman.”

“…”

“The road must’ve been long and tiresome. You must be feeling fatigued from the recent events, as well. Not to mention, dealing with that fool would’ve been exhausting, too. You should take your well-deserved rest.”

It was exactly as Harman thought. No one believed him. Well, all the things the Seventh Imperial Prince had done were beyond acceptable, after all.

However, the Paladin didn’t give up.

The young Seventh Imperial Prince was still polishing the dagger of revenge even now. No matter how much strength you shored up, it would crumble down quite easily if no one provided a sturdy pillar of support.

A pillar, a necessary backer for the boy, simply had to be found somehow, somewhere.

Harman sighed under his breath.

He planned out a new itinerary and quickly headed back to the Land of the Dead Spirits.

**

Several weeks had gone by since the end of the ‘Tide of Death’, yet the Ronia fiefdom as a whole still hadn’t regained its normalcy.

Gril frowned deeply as he organised the corpses that had thawed out from the ice.

“Just for how long am I supposed to do this?”

He was a farmer, not some corpse caretaker or some such. However, he couldn’t voice his complaints too loudly, because…

“Fuu-wuu…”

The feudal lord of Ronia was personally overseeing the disposal of the undead corpses along with his knights, that’s why.

“How did a personage such as him get demoted to this place? How?”

Gril could only click his tongue in dismay. While he was doing that, his fellow villager, Hans the hunter, sneaked closer to him.

“Gril! Hurry, my man. Take this…!”

Hans pulled a piece of paper out from his inner pocket and forcibly shoved it inside Gril’s clothing.

“What’s this?”

“It’s something that came out of an undead. Hurry up before the guards say something!”

“What on earth…”

Hans seemed to have already lined his pockets well, since he was carefully putting away a bulging pouch within his clothes.

“I’m telling you, there’re plenty of valuable things to be found here!”

“…”

Gril sneaked a glance at the soldiers currently engaged in their duties before taking a closer look at the piece of paper Hans had given him. As he was never taught how to read, he had no idea what was written on this thing. But regardless, the paper itself seemed to be the luxurious sort that the nobles often used.

It seemed old with the way it was torn, and the ink blotted and smudged. That only made it look more valuable, though.

Gril carefully tucked this scrap of paper back in his inner pocket.

He still had no clue what this was, but he figured that it’d be a good idea to ask Charlotte to have the Imperial Prince take a look at it at a later date.

And it’d be really great if the item could fetch him some coin, too.

Gril smacked his lips in anticipation and returned to his job of disposing the corpses.

**

(Back to 1st person POV.)

“As I thought, it tastes really great!”

I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the feast placed on top of the table right before my eyes.

The first thing I did was to use a spoon to take a sip of the soup, and slowly cut into the slab of steak with my amateurish knife skills. Then, I brought the chunk of meat into my mouth.

Aaah, I’m getting all choked up with emotions here. That’s how happy I felt right now.

This was the sense of satisfaction I was longing for!

This sense of happiness! It wasn’t something I could feel back when I worked as a gravekeeper in the monastery.

“…Not being able to move freely is still a bummer, though.”

I took a look at my own body. Currently, my arms, legs, whole torso, and even my head were all wrapped up in swathes of bandages.

It was like looking at a mummy, really.

According to the Priest in charge of taking care of me, I’d been in a coma for the past three weeks or so.

<ul>

It’s a case of divinity exhaustion, your highness. It was severe enough that a normal person would have ended up as a cripple, but… it seems that you’re in a stable condition now. Just how much divinity did you use anyway, your highness?

</ul>

Apparently, I was fed a combination of holy water and various medicines during my three-week-long coma. Even then, my bones hadn’t fully healed yet. There was some residual mental fatigue to worry about too, which was why I needed to rest for a good while longer. That’s what I’ve been told anyway.

Whatever the case might have been, it also meant that I now didn’t need to partake in the community service work of sorting out Ronia fiefdom’s situation.

You could say it was a pretty good result overall.

“Are you happy with how it tastes?”

I glanced to my side after hearing that question.

Charlotte stood next to the bed, staring at me. Her face remained emotionless as usual, but her eyes at least seemed to be filled with anticipation.

To me, it felt like she was waiting for my honest impression on the meal she had painstakingly prepared.

I lightly waved the spoon around and replied, “It tastes freaking good, actually.”

“…Thank you.”

Charlotte smiled faintly.

Upon seeing her once more, I could only frown somewhat.

This kid, no matter how I looked, she was definitely not an ordinary person.

Let’s say that the witch named Morgana was weak because she ran out of her demonic energy reserve. Even if that’s the case, the event with the vampire would obviously be a whole different story altogether.

The feat of blocking the Vampire Count’s breath attack with nothing but a steel shield was a heroic sight, something that you’d only get to see in some legendary tales.

Sure, both Gril and I helped back then, but here’s the thing – the strength to withstand that attack for even a few seconds all by herself simply couldn’t have belonged to a regular girl of her age.

<ul>

…Your highness, did you know about this girl?

</ul>

Numerous Priests, apothecaries, and healers were dispatched to Ronia fiefdom. My treatment, as well as Charlotte’s, was taken up by the most skilled of that bunch, a healer directly employed by the Imperial Family.

<ul>

This child is definitely not ordinary, your highness. At this rate, it’ll be rather difficult to classify her body as a human’s, sir.

</ul>

That was the conclusion the healer arrived at after examining Charlotte. She wasn’t just ‘not ordinary’, but difficult to classify as a human being too?

<ul>

By any chance, was this child exposed to both divinity and demonic energy at some point?

</ul>

Yeah, that did happen.

Charlotte ate zombie rats back in her village and ingested demonic energy. And then, she got thrown into a puddle made out of divinity.

<ul>

In such cases, your highness, what would normally happen is that you’ll either die, become disabled, or end up as a cripple. However, I’ve seen one single case similar to what we have here. It happened about fifty years ago when his majesty the Holy Emperor fought the Necromancer King Amon, and fell into a comatose state.

</ul>

I scooped up the spoonful of soup and continued to recall what the healer told me.

<ul>

Back then, his majesty broke through the limit that all humans are born with. The collision of demonic energy and divinity destroyed his body, and yet it was rebuilt again. That process had been truly bizarre to behold. It was as if his physical body was going through an evolution.

</ul>

Through demonic energy, the emperor experienced death, then he was revived through divinity. His bones were crushed and hardened, his skin rotted away before new ones grew out, he vomited out dead blood as new blood replaced it, and then…

<ul>

Even though his exterior is the same as us, he had become a superhuman that exceeds the limits of a regular human body. The reason why his majesty was able to defeat Necromancer Amon was precisely because he ended up acquiring that superhuman physique.

</ul>

Apparently, the great hero Kelt Olfolse was Superman.

I stared openly at Charlotte and at the same time, activated the ‘Mind’s Eye’.

[Name: Charlotte

Age: 16

Traits: Cooking, hard working, extreme concentration, sloppy swordsmanship, superhuman physique, a versatile talent.

<ul>

I’ll work hard so that I can assist him!]

</ul>

“…?”

Charlotte tilted her head and touched her face, seemingly wondering ‘Do I have something on my face?’

“…So, the mythical total rebirth of one’s body only seen in xianxia novels do happen in this world, too.”

It seemed that this girl was destined to become a hero or something later on.

Just as I decided to return to my steak and finish it as soon as possible, someone knocked on the door and entered.

“Please pardon my intrusion, your highness the Seventh Imperial Prince.”

Paladin Harman stepped inside. He now observed proper etiquette which was rather different from before. I was wondering why I couldn’t see this dude for the past few days or so, yet here we were.

“Okay, so? What’s up?”

Surely he wasn’t here to tell me that I gotta go back to the monastery and resume my role as its gravekeeper. Or maybe worse, offer my services to Ronia fiefdom still in the middle of reorganising itself, right?

I’d definitely decline such an invitation.

Seriously, he wouldn’t force a patient still wrapped up in bandages to do manual labour, right?!

However, what Harman said next was completely out of my expectations.

“His Majesty the Holy Emperor is summoning you, your highness.”

“Wha…?”

“His majesty, Holy Emperor Kelt Olfolse, has issued an order of your immediate return, your highness.”

I ended up dropping the fork in my hand after he repeated his words.

< 027. Imperial Prince is Going Home -1 (Part One and Two) >Fin.