Children of the Holy Emperor

Bright lights and noisy chatter filled the air.

Seongjin hesitated for a moment, considering whether it was a good time to sneak in and borrow something. His hesitation didn’t last long, though.

‘I can’t go on like this, anyway.’

Seongjin approached the barracks and spoke to the Demon King.

“Hey, can you check if either Maria or Kurt are around?”

If a high-ranking knight was present, his crude aura concealment could easily be exposed.

Fortunately, the Demon King, who had momentarily disappeared from his thoughts, promptly returned with news.

[Neither of them are in the barracks.]

“Great!”

Seongjin activated his aura concealment and swiftly snuck into the barracks.

The first floor of the knights’ quarters had a large space used as a lounge, where four knights sat, drinking. Empty liquor bottles littered the floor, along with a large barrel. Seongjin quietly clicked his tongue at the sight.

Well, considering most resident knights volunteered to pay for alcohol, such a scene was to be expected on an off-duty day.

While he was wondering where to look, luckily, he spotted some old cloaks piled up near the entrance of the lounge.

Seongjin cautiously reached into the lounge, grabbed a cloak that looked relatively clean, and quickly hid again.

He was just about to make his exit when someone suddenly burst into the lounge.

Bang!

“Is Sir Calmen not here yet? Where is he?”

Trapped, Seongjin quickly hid in the opposite corridor.

Keep calm. Keep calm.

“Oh, Dame Claudia. Want to have a drink?”

“No, thanks. Where is Sir Calmen? I’m on duty with him tomorrow.”

“He had a day off today. He probably hasn’t been informed of the duty change yet. Want me to fill in for him?”

“Maybe you should sober up first, senior.”

Claudia seemed to grumble for a moment but then joined the drinking session.

“Fine, give me a shot. I guess I’ll have to fill in for him tomorrow.”

“Go ahead, drink up. Worry about tomorrow when it comes.”

Seongjin, confirming that the conversation had shifted back to casual chatter, put on the cloak and prepared to move cautiously.

Just then, another knight exited the lounge, walking towards the only exit of the barracks. He leaned against the outer wall and began to urinate.

Damn it. If you’re going to pee, go far away!

“Please take care of our junior knights, especially since you and Sir Calmen are from the same 4th Knight Division, senior.”

“Do you think I don’t want to? As you know, he’s been acting distant lately.”

“Distant?”

“Yes. He had issues with the 2nd Knight Division before, but now he’s also standoffish with others.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s all because of the 3rd Prince.”

“What did our prince do?”

“Wow, you too? Why is everyone so infatuated with ‘our prince’ these days?”

At this point, the urinating knight returned to the lounge.

However, Seongjin stayed put, leaning against the wall, carefully listening to their conversation.

“Look, isn’t the atmosphere strange lately? People were trashing that ‘pig’ just a few days ago. And now he’s suddenly a genius prince, ‘our prince?’”

“That’s true.”

“Because of what happened back then, Calmen still can’t raise his head around the 2nd Knight Division. But even those guys from the 2nd are praising the prince as a genius now. It’s absurd.”

“It’s all Sir Kurt’s fault. Despite being a 2nd Division knight himself, he quietly supports the prince.”

“What’s gotten into everyone’s heads? We don’t know when that scoundrel will start acting up again.”

Then, Claudia exclaimed angrily.

“Don’t talk so recklessly when you don’t even know who His Highness truly is!”

“And what do you know so well? Do you know what happened between the old Second Knight Division and the Third Prince?”

“That’s…”

“If you don’t know, keep your mouth shut. Although the atmosphere has changed since Sir Masain became the Commander, there was a time when people from the old Second Knight Division wouldn’t even dare to pee towards the Imperial Palace.”

“True. I’ve heard there were quite a few interesting stories.”

“…”

Claudia made a disgruntled sound and began to gulp down her drink.

From the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ coming from the people next to her, it seemed she was drowning her anger in alcohol.

*Bang!*

She slammed her glass down, her voice rising with her heightened emotions.

“Yes, I’m a newcomer, and I don’t know about past events. But one thing I do know for sure: we should judge people by what we see ourselves!”

“Well, you’re not wrong there.”

“You seniors aren’t directly involved either, just gossiping, right? The people from the Second Knight Division aren’t saying anything now.”

“Hey, you know as well as I do how much of a jerk that pig used to be.”

“That’s not the case now! He’s not a pig! He’s not a loser!”

“Ah, are you getting drunk already?”

“Please take a closer look at His Highness. Our Prince is subtle, deep, and mature!”

“Alright, alright, got it. Stop drinking.”

For a while, the knights seemed to placate Claudia, and the topic changed.

There was some banter and mild insults, and the tense atmosphere heated up again.

It was some time after that when Seongjin left the scene.

Feeling that his limited aura was about to be depleted, Seongjin hurriedly exited the knights’ lodging and released his aura concealment.

“Huu…”

As he caught his breath, Seongjin sorted out the information he had just heard.

There was a significant incident between Morres and the Second Knight Division in the past, and a knight named Calmen was involved. His relationship with the Second Knight Division remained strained.

Most of it was probably Morres’s fault.

Calmen’s recent bad attitude towards Seongjin is probably due to that.

[Does it bother you?]

‘… A little.’

Not being bothered would be a lie.

While he was in Morres’s body, he couldn’t completely separate himself from Morres’s past actions.

Even if it is glossed over with the excuse of him having no memory, there must be people who still have unresolved grudges.

If anything, the people surrounding Seongjin have been too kind so far.

‘…Amelia really was an angel.’

[Hey, you inconsistent guy.]

Suddenly, he remembered Calmen’s sarcastic retort.

—Why? Will you remember if I tell you?

I don’t know what happened in the past, but the fact that he is currently working at Pearl Palace probably means he has sorted out his emotions to some extent.

Anyone who poses even a slight problem for Moress is prevented from entering the Pearl Palace by the Holy Emperor anyway.

Maybe Calmen just found it difficult to see the prince forget all his mistakes and walk around carefree.

[So, what will you do now?]

‘What can I do?’

He had no intention of sorting out Morres’s past wrongdoings.

Most of the issues were already being covered up anyway, and Seongjin had no obligation to bring them up.

Well, considering the circumstances, I’m willing to tolerate Calmen’s slightly obnoxious behavior in the future.

Feeling the depleted aura quickly filling up, Seongjin slowly began to move.

That’s when the voice of Dame Claudia, who was drunk and shouting loudly, came from afar.

“Your Highness! Regardless of what others say, I will follow you for a lifetime!”

A smile unknowingly formed at the corner of Seongjin’s mouth.

Dame Claudia, did you have such special thoughts?

Great. If there’s a performance review, I’ll definitely take that into account.

[I thought you didn’t like that Haven guy].

Ah, no, not him.

***

Seongjin’s harvests from the knight quarters weren’t only limited to the the cloak he was currently wearing on his body.

During the trivial chatter he’d heard, he learned of a little-known entrance frequently used by the knights.

Well, it’s not really a hidden passageway that allows for secret entry into the imperial palace or anything like that.

It was described as a route where there are fewer inspections and the procedures are not as complicated. Even drunken knights can pass through without receiving too much scrutiny.

[You’re going to sneak out using aura concealment anyway, right?]

‘Well, a route with fewer guards is still worth considering.’

Thus, Seongjin moved toward the “Second East Gate” next to the greenhouse garden, as mentioned by the knights.

The walls surrounding the inner castle of Delcross Imperial Palace were high and made of luminous stone.

It looked to be a height that would be a bit burdensome for someone to climb over, but that was it.

‘If a giant monster ever tried to break in, these walls would probably just collapse…’

Seongjin thought that the palace’s aesthetic appearance seemed not to consider external invasions or siege situations at all. Perhaps it was built with the confidence that no one would dare to invade.

The Second East Gate was no different.

It had a thin, flamboyant single-layer iron gate, and as for the guards, there were only two imperial knights standing on either side of the door.

‘So this is the “hole” they talked about. The security really is lax.’

Although he occasionally passed by guards carrying lanterns and knights from the royal guard, the frequency was not high.

Just as he confirmed that two teams of guards crossed paths and moved far away in opposite directions, Seongjin stepped back a few paces, maintaining his hidden aura. Instead of approaching the door where the two imperial knights were standing, he thought he’d just climb over the wall at a reasonable distance.

Tat.

With a few stomps on the ground for momentum, Seongjin effortlessly leapt up onto the smooth wall. He didn’t even have to use much aura.

As he crouched low on the wall, taking a look at the other side,

The Demon King suddenly made a surprised noise.

[“Something just passed by us, didn’t it?”]

‘…?’

Seongjin held his breath and extended his senses, but he didn’t feel anything at all.

‘Nothing’s there?’

[That’s strange? I’m sure something just whisked by…]

Seongjin suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Could it be something like a ghost? Is that it?

[Are you scared of such things even after dying once?]

No, I’m not scared. Really.

It’s just that you can’t punch ghosts, which is a bit inconvenient.

[Nothing’s there now. What the hell was that?]

Just then, a patrol passed right below the wall Seongjin was on. He held his breath and waited until they were far enough away, then swung his body back, hung onto the wall for a moment, and then jumped down.

This is going more smoothly than expected.

He hadn’t walked much further outside when he easily bypassed the outer walls of the imperial palace, which started to worry him a bit.

‘Is it really okay for the palace’s security to be this lax? Anyone could easily get in.’

Of course, there were two things he didn’t know.

First, even as he worried, Seongjin’s [Aura Concealment] skills were rapidly improving.

The difference between when he first demonstrated aura concealment in front of Dasha and now was astronomical. If she had seen him now, she would not have been able to complain about a lack of faith.

The second thing was—

The imperial palace’s security wasn’t simply comprised of physical manpower.

[Seongjin, there’s something. It feels like it’s been following us since earlier.]

Upon the Demon King’s repeated warning, Seongjin, who had been carelessly moving away from the palace, stopped in his tracks.

But, no matter how carefully he scanned his surroundings, his senses picked up nothing.

[It’s spiritual, so you probably won’t be able to feel it. But what is it? It feels like a soul but not a complete one.]

Is it really a ghost?!

[It’s circling around us. Ah, another one has appeared. They don’t seem to have a hostile atmosphere, but what on earth do they want?]

‘……’

[Ah, there’s another one.]

Because he could always directly feel the Demon King’s emotional state, Seongjin knew that his words were all true, even if he couldn’t see it with his eyes.

So things he’d never seen before since landing in this world suddenly appeared as soon as he stepped outside the royal palace?

‘…Can they understand language?’

At this, the Demon King grunted for a moment and made a considerable effort before sighing.

[I don’t think it’s possible? I can’t really read their thoughts.]

‘Then try speaking to them from your end.’

At this, the Demon King cleared his throat and shouted imperiously,

[Hey, you lot! Stop circling around arrogantly and kneel before me! Receive me, the great Demon King of Gehenna, the eternal lord of terror, with a devout heart!]

‘……’

[They don’t seem to understand, do they? Maybe because they’re not complete souls but fragmented ones.]

Do those things even have knees to kneel with?

Anyway, according to the Demon King, there are currently a total of three small soul fragments circling around them as if on guard.

They were the size of a child’s fist, like small orbs, too insignificant to be considered conscious beings.

[But they move as if they have a proper will. They don’t even seem to hear my words. What’s with these things?]

‘Hmm……’

While the Demon King was confused, Seongjin took a moment to organize his thoughts.

The opponents were small soul fragments, not proper ghosts.

If they can’t be seen or touched, conversely, the influence they could exert would also be extremely limited, he assessed.

Isn’t that existence just as insignificant as the Demon King living in my head when you think about it?

‘Not a big deal.’

Furthermore, this place is near the imperial palace, where the representative of the god resides. They’re probably not too dangerous.

Coming to that conclusion, Seongjin started to walk again, a bit more leisurely this time.

The road starting from the second eastern gate led to a long row of residences extending to the east of the capital. As he strolled slowly, densely packed houses filled his vision.

It was late, so there were no people around, and occasionally the distant barking of a dog echoed in the silent void.

And not long after entering the residential area,

[Oh, they’re gone.]

The souls that had been doggedly following them had suddenly all disappeared.

‘Good, it seems they’ve given up.’

Even if they were insignificant, their unknown nature had been somewhat unsettling.

But before Seongjin could take a few more steps, the Demon King suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

[Eh? Another one has appeared this time. More powerful… Huh? This one seems to understand language.]

Then he seemed to focus on something and abruptly became angry.

[What? Why are you daring to call me ‘Red’? I am the great Demon King of Gehenna…!]

[What? Who’s a brat? Hey, you bastard, do you really want to do this?!]

‘Quiet down. Don’t fight over trivial things; talk.’

Chastised by Seongjin, the Demon King grumbled to himself and then groaned.

[Ugh, for now, that guy is asking you to follow him. What will you do? Shall we go?]

‘……’

[I’m not sure how trustworthy he is, but according to him, you might have to see for yourself.]

Whether to trust him or not was another issue, but Seongjin was a bit curious.

So, following the Demon King’s guidance for a while longer, Seongjin ended up meeting someone unexpected.

And there was Calmen, who had been beaten to a pulp, lying on the ground.

“Why is the man that DameClaudia was so desperately looking for here at such a late hour?”