POTC - Chapter 77

"Yes. That is correct. Archmage Ivan has escaped."

Escape?

Then does that mean they were trapped somewhere?

"To borrow Presepe's expression, you are about to realize that Archmage Ivan was far from a trustworthy human being, but a crazy bastard."

What suddenly flashed through Presepe's mind was what Fenrir had said on the day they had left for the Forbidden Forest together.

"The very next day after the Grand Duke left with Lady Presepe, His Majesty severed the right arm of Archmage Ivan and imprisoned him in the church dungeon. I do not know the details, but it seems he has committed some grave crime."

Presepe wore a dazed expression at Dietrich's brutally harsh punishment. What on earth did Ivan do to deserve having his arm cut off? Of course, he was the kind of person who deserved it, though.

"However, when the monsters' attack began, the Magic Tower claimed that the Archmage was the only one who could stop them."

Even Dietrich probably hadn't anticipated it. That a monster, which at best appears near the Forbidden Forest or in border regions, would suddenly and unexpectedly attack the Imperial Palace.

"So that's why he cut off his arm," Fenrir thought to himself.

"The Archbishop seems to have concluded that the Archmage with the severed arm might be harboring a grudge. Thus, he went to the prison with the priests, carrying a device capable of controlling power..."

Given Ivan's nature, what followed was obvious. Thus, Fenrir listened to the soldier's words with a blank expression.

"He killed the archbishop and all the priests and fled. His whereabouts are currently unknown."

"The Archbishop passed away?"

Siegfried, his face turning pale, wore a foolish expression before asking the soldier for the details.

Fenrir frowned slightly as he listened to the soldier’s words, which he wasn’t particularly curious about, such as how the archbishop’s head had been severed and how the priests’ bodies had been shattered into pieces beyond description.

He could understand why Dietrich cut off Ivan's arm. The reason was obvious. It must be because Ivan had completely tricked him and secretly harbored ill intentions toward Presepe.

However, the monster attack was very strange.

Even considering the timeline, they would not be the monsters that escaped from the completely burned Forbidden Forest.

Furthermore, if they truly intended to cause trouble at the Imperial Palace, even monsters would not have attacked in such small numbers.

Moreover, it seemed that Dietrich had not actually suffered any damage.

In the end, the only thing that changed from this incident was that Ivan had escaped.

However, there was no way Ivan would have commanded monsters himself to escape the Imperial Palace. In any case, he was a complete human. Not a half-monster like Presepe, either.

'...Did someone help you escape?'

By using monsters.

So that Ivan can escape safely.

But who?

In any case, now that he has escaped from being imprisoned in the imperial palace, Ivan is unlikely to sit idly by. Having lost his arm as well, he must be seething with malice and will surely seek revenge on Dietrich.

And he would certainly try to get his hands on Presepe.

It was at this moment that Fenrir's thoughts reached this point.

"Grand Duke, I would recommend you leave first."

Siegfried, looking pale, spoke to Fenrir.

Although he had suspected that Fenrir might be connected to monsters, that thought had long since been erased. It was because he had seen it clearly with his own eyes in the Forbidden Forest. Fenrir was being attacked by a monster.

"I will also finish my repairs as soon as possible and head to the capital. Until then, please stay by His Majesty's side, Grand Duke."

That was the end of the conversation. Mounted on his horse, Fenrir began to move away, escorting the carriage carrying Presepe without even looking at Siegfried.

Siegfried, left alone, stood motionless as if in great shock, and only after a long time did he regain his composure and begin to identify the remaining personnel.

***

"Gasp, gasp..."

Ivan, staggering along with his tattered cloak pulled over his head, gasped for breath.

He kept looking around to check his surroundings, then slumped down in a secluded alley with a face full of exhaustion.

"Damn it..."

Hateful curses burst out from between his parched lips. Ivan spat out curses mixed with swear words for quite a while, then looked down at his right arm, which hung limply and empty.

"Cut off Ivan's right arm and lock him up in the church prison."

No sooner had Dietrich given the order than Ivan was dragged out. Even as he was dragged like a dog to the prison, he struggled tirelessly, trying to escape by any means necessary.

However, there was nothing he could do because of that damned deer that had bound his whole body and to which the Archbishop himself had bestowed grace.

The church dungeon where Ivan was imprisoned was a place protected by divine power, like chains binding the body. The shackles on his ankles were like that, as were the iron bars standing gloomily in place.

Therefore, Ivan could do nothing but scream and curse while his right arm was being mercilessly severed.

To be honest, Ivan hadn't anticipated Dietrich's actions at all. He had simply thought of him as an incredibly weak and incompetent Emperor. That made it even more absurd.

Ivan was a man of his own making. Judging by the way things were going, he realized that there was no way for him to escape this place.

"You are left-handed. That means whether monsters invade or enemy troops attack, all I need is your left hand."

Just as Dietrich said just before giving the order to cut off his right arm, unless monsters invade or enemy troops raid.

However, such a thing could not have happened suddenly. Ateloia was a place that no empire could easily covet.

It was a powerful nation, and although it seemed insignificant to him, Dietrich was a man who had succeeded in seizing imperial power by even staging a coup. There was certainly no country that would dare wage war against an empire with such a powerful Emperor.

The same was true for monsters. Ivan thought that there was no way monsters would invade the Imperial Palace, right in the middle of the capital, unless it were the western region where they swarmed.

...Until just before someone's sharp scream echoed loudly through the prison.

"Monsters, it's a monster! Monsters have attacked the Imperial Palace!"

What happened afterward was exactly as the soldier had explained to Fenrir and his party.

Ivan walked out of the prison obediently, pretending to be helpless as his right hand had been broken, to let the Archbishop and the priests lower their guard.

And before they could take any action, he quickly cast a spell, brutally killed them, and escaped.

But the problem started now.

"First of all, I have to get away from the Imperial Palace somehow."

Fumbling with his sagging right sleeve, Ivan muttered.

It was obvious that Dietrich would have issued an order as soon as he heard the news. He must have told them to kill him on sight.

It would have been better if he had stopped by the Magic Tower to pick up some useful items, but escaping the Imperial Palace amidst that chaos was a miracle in itself.

"...I will definitely kill you.”

Ivan's dark eyes gleamed fiercely with murderous intent.

He will take refuge in the safest place possible, wait for the right time, and then return. When he returns, Dietrich, Fenrir...

I intended to kill them. In the most painful way possible, by any means necessary.

Then, Presepet...

"...Ugh."

Ivan recalled the face of Presepe pushing him away at Fenrir's mansion, and let out a small groan. It was because of the pain in his right arm, which had been mercilessly severed.

'This isn't the time for this.'

Even while he was doing this, the soldiers sent by Dietrich were likely searching. If he let his guard down, he never knew when or where they might attack him.

The groaning did not last long. Ivan eventually gritted his teeth and stood up. However, not long after, he staggered slightly again.

'No. I need to pull myself together...'

It was the very moment Ivan was struggling to hold onto his wavering sanity.

Someone's dark shadow settled on his face.

“It looks difficult.”

At the sudden voice, Ivan reflexively stretched out his left hand.

"You're filled with malice."

Ivan did not answer. Instead, he channeled a portion of the magical power remaining in his body—but enough to kill a person and still have power left over—into his hand and rapidly unleashed it.

But nothing happened.

The man in front of him was still looking at him with a calm expression, so then.

It was exactly the same as when he attacked Fenrir.

"You..."

Confused, Ivan stepped back and stammered.

“Who...Who is it?”

“Can I help you?”

"What?"

“I’ll help you.”

"..."

"I told you you looked tired."

Vidar grinned as he met Ivan, who was glaring at him as if he didn't understand what was going on.

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