Emperor of Steel

In the capital, Bless, the story of Luke and the warlocks working together for the cure had spread.

In the capital of Symphonia Kingdom, a whole different rumor had been spreading around.

“Did you know that the Holy Sword Valiant was found?”

“Yah! Isn’t that a fake one?”

“No! All the prominent wizards and scholars including Marquis Albain have verified it, but it was told genuine!”

Rakan’s story of the Holy Sword Valiant was enough to excite the hearts of the young knights who admire him.

However, there was another shocking news.

“Rakan broke his sword before his death?”

“What?”

“According to a friend of mine in the Guard Knights, the Holy Sword had an engraved memorandum of his resentment against Karno de Baroque and Meister Arsene of Veritas Magic tower for deceiving him.”

“How did they manage to deceive Rakan? Was it about how he was beaten by Karno’s rebellion?”

“That was the one, and Saymon, who was taken down by Rakan’s own hands wasn’t a bad person according to him.”

“Really? If that turns true then it will be a huge shock to all, right?”

During all this time, the people in the Rhodesia continent would always curse out Saymon and called him the Devil.

However, suddenly he wasn’t considered a devil, there were confused about his identity.

Along with the rumors about the Holy Sword and Rakan’s memorandum, the contents of Saymon’s diary was known.

“He turned towards the darkness because of his fiancé’s death…”

“That was all Karno and Arsene’s fault.”

“Ah! Isn’t that so romantic? He went against the entire continent to get revenge for his loved one.”

While the young woman was falling head over heels for Saymon’s act of love, the young men who secretly followed republican teachings paid attention to Saymon’s ideas and policies.

“He must have been the Lord of Terror from the standpoint of high nobles and priests. It was said that their lands were snatched and distributed to the people…”

“If we look at how he had eliminated the nobles and distributed the land, he was a pioneer for a better future.”

“Maybe, him being a warlock was a lie? Even when we look at the official records of his, there wasn’t anything about him creating the undead?”

“He must have been framed. It is a common occurrence even to this day.”

“Yes.”

It was a common practice to frame or spread a lie to remove someone from society.

Most of the people who heard about the rumors were shocked and startled, however, there were those who weren’t.

They were the fairies and mixed races.

They had already heard it from their ancestors, and they couldn’t help but feel cynical when looking at the people’s reactions.

“Look there. What did I say? I told you that Warrior Rakan did a huge mistake. If not, why would he do all that before dying?”

At the words of a female elf employee who worked at the information guild, the other member scratched his head with embarrassment.

“Huh, it was because what we knew was…”

“Don’t make excuses, go to your home and do something else.”

However, not all the rumors which were spreading around were believed.

Unlike the general public, there were a few who didn’t believe the rumors.

Most of them were priests or those who thought of themselves to be knowledgeable.

They were narrow-minded and insisted that the diary of Saymon couldn’t be believed.

“Rather than huge opposition, it seems like most people are believing about it.”

At Hudson’s report, Luke asked for the reason.

“Why?”

“Because of the forced throne grabbing of Karno de Baroque, there has been a lot of support. In addition, with the case of Veritas Magic tower and Arsene, the Magic tower was recently suspected of using dark magic too.”

“Yes.”

When Luke understood, Hudson continued to speak.

“And the fairies, there have been those who always supported Saymon and criticized Rakan. On the other hand, there was a large movement of change in the nobles who are young intellectuals.”

In addition, over the recent times, people were showing interest in these new perspectives rather than the usual ones.

With the new technologies, knowledge, and civilization changes, there were developments in science, magic engineering and trading, each of those have influenced the minds of the people.

So the rumors about the past seemed more reliable to believe than the old reports and books.

“Here, the fall of the Baroque Empire, the emergence of the new nations such as Libiya Kingdom and our Symphonia Kingdom and the changed reforms of the Holy Empire changed the situation of our continent.”

‘Well, the perception of people is changing along with the changing world, maybe?’

In order to survive, in order to be a master for the new era, it was necessary to listen to different claims and ideas and make our own judgments.

The reason why the feudal system had been established on the continent was that the nobles and the knights would hold their swords and protect their own lands and people in case of violence.

‘But we are coming to the end of the feudal system, there is a lot of confusion, however, it isn’t lawlessness or violence.’

For the future, Luke predicted that those who hold knowledge and information would be able to capture the thoughts of the people as well as the land to move the world, and not with the help of swords.

‘Surely the world can’t change right away. But the future will surely show us such a world.’

Luke was over 500 years old.

Although he didn’t ask for it, thanks for the chance provided to him, he would be able to see the birth of a different age and a new culture.

‘Then, how would it be 500 years from now? The dark future which Karen witnessed had already come to an end…’

When Luke was lost in his train of thought, he felt something strange from the east.

The energy was colder and eerier than the mid-winter cold breeze, and it was enough to make his entire body shiver.

‘This gloomy evil energy must be…?!’

“Your Majesty?”

When Hudson leaned to look at Luke who had gone stiff, Erwin rushed into the room and told him about the information she got through the magic communication.

“Your Majesty, the city of Anbury was said to be attacked by an unknown monster!”

The city of Anbury was a gateway city that was 20 kilometers east of Brandon.

Although it had a very low population, it was a city that defended the entry to Brandon, which meant numerous soldiers and Gigants were deployed.

Hudson was shocked to hear that such a well-defended place had been attacked.

He was presented with no information beforehand about the plan of the other nations to attack or a rebellion in the city.

However, unlike him, who was unsure, Luke knew who was the one attacking.

“Damn, that Arsene!”

He had come. He himself was calling for Luke.

And that was the truth.

Arsene was attacking the city of Anbury to lure Luke over there.

Fighting in Brandon, where the elite of the Symphonia Kingdom were all gathered, it was like asking Luke to battle in his own territory.

And Arsene wanted a clean chance to kill Luke.

Luke, who thought that Arsene shouldn’t and couldn’t have his way, got up from his seat.

“Your Majesty, are you going to go?”

At Erwin’s question, Luke nodded his head.

“I think that he is someone whom I should be dealing with.”

“… by any chance, do you know who the monster might be?”

“Yes. Veritas Magic Tower’s former Meister, Arsene. The monster who didn’t die for the last 500 years.”

Ba-dum!

At the answer from Luke, Erwin could feel her heart drop.

She had heard the stories from the Zegal clan and Hwang Bo-sung, who traveled to the Southern Continent with Luke.

It was said that during that time, Arsene had appeared as a Lich, and ruined the clan buildings of Zegal Clan, almost killing Luke.

They did say that Nanda was barely able to save Luke with his powers, but the same monster appeared once again!

“You can’t go! If you want to go then gather all the Guard Knights, No! take all the Central Knights with you!”

Erwin was trying to stop Luke from going to Anbury.

It was truly unfortunate that the city of Anbury was being destroyed and the citizens over there were getting killed.

However, it seemed much better than Luke going there directly and asking for death.

For Erwin, Luke wasn’t a king she was serving.

He was a pioneer who was going to bring about the change in the continent, a hope for the fairies.

A man chosen by her Master, Erenes.

Therefore, even though she would be called selfish for her words, she wanted to make his safety her top priority.

“Your Majesty is the pillar of Symphonia. If something goes wrong with you…”

Luke couldn’t help but smile seeing Erwin all riled up and concerned as she wasn’t someone to show her emotions.

“Do you think I will be losing to that monster?”

“I don’t think I can.”

It’s been a little over a year since Luke had gone to the Zegal clan.

After his return, there were many things which had happened, such as the founding of Symphonia, but how much was Luke able to advance himself was unknown.

Lich was an immortal monster.

And the Lich was developing and learning dark magic for 500 years, how could such a man be defeated?

“It is nice that you worry about me, but sometimes, I think you should start trusting me.”

There was one thing that Erwin wasn’t aware of.

That just recently, Luke managed to gain power in the Holy Empire.

Luke thought that he could defeat Arsene with the powers he gained from God.

And now he had to go.

Arsene’s brutality and violence wouldn’t end in Anbury city.

In time, he would destroy Anbury city and attack the other ones.

If that happened, it would be a huge loss for Luke.

The delay in response would end up in destruction, and people’s trust in their King would drop.

“Court Wizard, bring together the Guards and Central Army knights along with Marquis Rogers.”

When Luke’s decision reached its conclusion, Erwin gave up.

“Understood. Instead, take this with you.”

She gave the Holy Sword Valiant which was lying in Luke’s office.

The sword, which was brought back after the analysis of Marquis Albain and the other scholars, was left in the office.

“This will be helpful?”

“The Holy Sword had Orichalcum metal, and it amplifies magic and aura, it will be better than a regular sword.”

“Fine. I’ll keep this with me.”

Luke took the broken sword and disappeared on spot using teleport magic.

Hwang Bo-sung followed Luke who stood as his shadow.