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Chapter 353

The Emperor of Hubalt, dressed in his regalia, smiled back at him through the crystal orb.

-Sir Zactor.

“How have you been?” the Martial Emperor asked.

-Of course, I’m just slacking off in my warm home.

“…No one thinks that way.”

-I’m ashamed. You’re in a foreign land, working really hard for the Empire….

“Life here isn’t that hard. I’m just not at home, that’s all.” Zactor shrugged.

The Emperor shook his head.

-The saying, ‘there’s no place like home’ exists for a reason.

The Martial Emperor stayed quiet.

-But…

The Emperor looked at the Martial Emperor with curiosity.

-…you don’t look good. What’s wrong?

The Martial Emperor didn’t answer.

-…Sir Zactor, feel free to tell me. We’ve known each other for such a long time that I can tell something awful happened just by the look on your face.

“…We…” Zactor broke the short silence by sighing. "...have three problems.”

-Three?

The Emperor’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes, and every problem is so serious that we can’t disregard any of them.” The Martial Emperor bit his lower lip.

-…I’m ready to listen.

Zactor double checked that no one else was inside the chamber.

“First of all… I thought I almost got Lilith… but I can’t locate her now.”

The Emperor’s face hardened a bit.

“Although I was able to verify that she had been in Arcadia, the Avalon Empire’s capital…”

-…That’s definitely a problem. Lilith Aphrodite is currently the only one who knows the location of the Knight of God Chrysler jean Sebastian’s hideout.

The Emperor looked tense as he continued.

-As long as the Knight of God is alive, the Pope’s subordinates are guaranteed to stab us in the back someday. Since the inside of the Empire is in disorder, it would be nonsense to talk about our foreign affairs.

“…If it’s any consolation, I haven’t lost her completely,” the Martial Emperor cautiously reported.

-Then…?

“Lilith lost her father, so she is very spiteful. That makes her predictable to a degree.” Zactor’s eyes shone. "Her last known location was here, in Reinhardt.”

-Reinhardt!

The Emperor was genuinely shocked to hear that. He could see that the beacon didn’t shine on its own base. Besides, Reinhardt meant a lot to Lilith because the Moon Gate’s headquarters—basically the essence of her power—was there. And according to the information the Emperor had recently received…

-…Perhaps.

“Yes.” Zactor readily nodded, affirming the Emperor’s guess. "She’s searching for the Flame Emperor, Ulabis.”

-She’s… doing something useless, as expected.

The Emperor clicked his tongue.

“Maybe it isn’t completely useless.” The Martial Emperor shrugged.

-…What do you mean?

“It’s related to the second problem that I’m going to report next.” The Martial Emperor tapped his index finger against his thigh.

The Emperor gave him a questioning look.

“The Swallow Empire lost,” Zactor said.

The Emperor didn’t understand what Zactor meant for a moment. His draw jaw slowly dropped.

-What? The Sw-Swallow Empire lost?

Zactor stayed silent.

-Do you mean the Ice Emperor… Duke Eima lost?

“That’s not it.” Zactor’s expression hardened. "Due to the war, over fifty thousand citizens and ten thousand soldiers of the Swallow Empire died, and forty thousand soldiers were wounded. And… their commander, Duke Eima, died during the battle.”

-Un-unbelievable!

The fact that the Swallow Empire had lost to Avalon was shocking on its own, but when the Emperor heard that the Swallow Empire had suffered a devastating defeat, he was even more astonished.

-Oh my god, the Ice Emperor died in battle?! Wai-wait…

Something flashed through the Emperor’s mind. There were not many people on this continent that could go up against Duke Eima, one of the Nine Stars. The Emperor knew that another of the Nine Stars was probably capable of doing so. The conclusion he reached was natural.

-…Geschhard kon Tremblin! I heard that the Sword Emperor showed up in Arcadia. Was he the one?

Zactor didn’t answer.

-Although I knew about the rumor, I didn’t think the Sword Emperor was that good…

The Emperor vacantly stared into the air, confident that he was right.

-How is Grand Duke Lucifer? No matter how great the Swallow Empire is, they won’t be able to let this go.

The Martial Emperor didn’t answer.

-Sir Zactor?

The Emperor repeated, but still Zactor didn’t answer. The Emperor became even more curious.

Zactor broke the silence with difficulty.

“…I also had a hard time believing this… but Grand Duke Lucifer was on the battlefield too.” Zactor bit his lower lip.

The Emperor froze.

-Wh-wha-what are you talking about…? Lucifer? Grand Duke—no, the Sword Emperor is…?

The Emperor struggled for words.

Zactor shook his head. "It was Joshua Sanders, not the Sword Emperor.”

-Joshua Sanders….

When he heard the familiar name, the Emperor’s jaw dropped.

“He’s Aden von Agnus’s son, the man who made the allied force of a million soldiers retreat when he was twenty years old. Now, he’s called the Hero King.”

-The Dark God!

The Emperor screamed as soon as he pulled himself together.

-You’re right! Did the father and son conspire to do it together? If they both went up against Grand Duke Lucifer at the same time—no, I can’t still believe that the Crimson Sky has fallen. No, I should contact the Swallow Empire immediately and verify the matter myself!

“I’m sorry to say this…” Zactor’s face turned grim. “...but that’s the third problem.”

-Wh-what?

“Since yesterday, I haven’t been able to reach the imperial family of the Swallow Empire,” Zactor bitterly answered.

The Emperor’s eyes opened so wide that it was impossible to make them any bigger.

* * *

At the top of the colosseum, where the Masters’ Battles had been held in the past, Joshua looked down at the crowd filling the inside of the colosseum with their manic roar.

“Woah!”

Kingaitu smiled bitterly.

“It reminds you of old times, right?”

Joshua didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry. I really wanted to protect the freedom and the spirit of Reinhardt that you’d returned to us, my king…”

“When did that happen?” Joshua pointed downward. Kingaitu saw a group of chained-up people wearing rags getting dragged out from the corner of the colosseum.

“It happened right after the Hubalt Empire regained control of this place… so it has been about two weeks. My colleagues also…” Kingaitu bit his lower lip, unable to continue.

“What are the casualties?” Joshua asked.

“…The number isn’t high yet.”

Joshua looked downward and noticed that the casualties weren\'t high “yet,” just like Kingaitu had said. The inside of the hundreds of square meters wide colosseum was mostly divided into two areas by the thick stone wall: All sorts of beasts and vipers were roaming around Sector A, and the heavily-armed knights were on standby in Sector B. Joshua realized why they’d bothered dividing the place into two sectors.

“Nooo! Please, please save me!”

“Waaaahhhh! Mommy!”

“No-no! Please send me instead! Ple-please don’t let my children—!”

The people who were sent to Sector A were mostly children, women, and elderly that didn’t know how to fight. While the Continental War was still ongoing, the Hubalt Empire dragged their war prizes to Reinhardt and used them like this because…

“Kid! Run faster if you wanna see your mommy again!”

“I put five gold on you! You look like a swift woman, so hang on just for ten minutes!”

“Hey, I believed in you!”

The colosseum was filled with people that were enraptured with the wrong kind of pleasure, the madness of murder.

“My colleagues will probably be sent to Sector B.”

Joshua turned his head sideways and saw the Hubalt knights that were waiting in Sector B.

“Are they sending us slave gladiators again?”

“Shit, slaying that spiritless trash isn’t even fun anymore…”

“Still, you can look forward to this one.”

“What do you mean?”

“The higher-ups gave us permission to punish them for their arrogant behavior.”

“Wait, is that…?”

“The rumors have already spread about how today’s highlight is those arrogant Willhelm Knights.”

“Are you serious?!”

Joshua only needed to pay a little attention to hear such a conversation.

“…Do you have a mask?” Joshua asked.

“What?” Kingaitu tilted his head in confusion.

“I asked if you have the same kind of mask they have.”

“Ah…” Kingaitu finally understood.

The colosseum’s host put some sort of mask on the slave gladiators, modeled after livestock like cows, horses, and pigs to distinguish them from the knights.

“Why do you need a mask…?” Kingaitu cautiously asked.

“Well, there are masks everywhere, so I guess it doesn’t matter,” Joshua mumbled incomprehensibly. He put his hood on. "See you.”

“My-my king?”

Joshua leaped down before Kingaitu could react. Kingaitu’s eyes widened, but soon he returned to his normal state. His king hadn’t changed at all. No matter what happened, he didn’t hesitate to take action…

Kingaitu smiled faintly to himself and immediately followed Joshua. He knew Reinhardt would change that day.

“…You’re still the same.”