Chapter 14
Wise didn't remember how noisy the room was at that time, he only remembered that his father had allowed him to continue his research and keep Harumasa. The emperor would have imposed another punishment on Harumasa if he could be revived.
In fact, Wise wasn't sure if Harumasa had really been revived, because the things he had translated from the first emperor's diary were really vague. But at least he knew how desperate William was to see his friend weakened, in pain and suffering, but unable to die.
That curse had corroded the health of the great magician Haru, leaving him alive, but suffering from the torment of illness and pain.
Wise wanted to know what had happened at that time, why a magic had become a curse. And he also wanted to know what Harumasa was looking for that he had accepted a deal with the emperor of the empire.
Only after translating the first emperor's diary and related documents did Wise understand the story.
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Over 73 centuries ago, the first emperor of Eridu was William, he had a friend, the great magician Haru. The two grew up together in a miserable slum, together experiencing much suffering and despair because of the situation of the kingdom at that time. William once said that he would overthrow the current emperor and become the new emperor, helping the people have a better life, no one would have to struggle to make ends meet.
And William did it.
The new emperor ascended the throne, establishing the kingdom of Eridu, where everyone could live in happiness and freedom. Every day, William was busy with government affairs, while Haru spent his time researching magic. Occasionally, William would find his friend in his pajamas, writing something down, and experimenting endlessly.
After a few years on the throne, Emperor William married a foreign princess named Lilith, and the two of them had many princesses and princes.
When they were both over 50, Haru's health was not very good, and he was sometimes seriously ill and bedridden. But Haru did not want to be immortal because he knew that human life spans were limited, he just wanted to be by William's side a little longer.
Haru was experimenting with magic that could cure people. Unfortunately, an accident happened when Haru gave a few ingredients a little more than usual, which led to him blowing up his room.
When William arrived, he found a much younger Haru, who could be called as young as a child. At first, the two thought it was just normal rejuvenation magic, but when Haru grew up to 12 years old, he began to get seriously ill, almost always coughing up blood, having trouble breathing, not being able to eat much, and always lying in bed. The royal physicians and the new magicians at that time were unable to treat him, as if something inside was slowly eating away at Haru.
William could no longer stand by and watch his friend suffer like this. He discussed it with Haru and both of them agreed that Haru would take poison to commit suicide. The poison was like a sleeping pill, it would put Haru to sleep and kill him while he was fast asleep. A gentle death.
Because it was a busy time, William held Haru's funeral longer than necessary. As a result, after three days, Haru suddenly revived. That was when the tragedy continued to come to both of them. Haru could not die, no matter how much poison he used, it was useless, he could not die. On the contrary, he had to witness William surrender to time, passing the throne to Prince Leila.
At the end of William's life, Haru gave the other person a blessing. But at that time, only he and the former emperor were in the room, so no one knew what the blessing was.
It was unclear where Haru went later, but it was certain that he could not die and had to live with a sick body.
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After translating all the related books and stringing together the events, Wise felt like he could feel Harumasa's despair and pain at that time. The great magician who was considered to be able to create miracles could only watch his friend die in despair.
During that long time, how did Harumasa live with his sick body?
Wise did not know, nor did he want to find out more. He was afraid that he would not be able to control himself and burst into tears like a child.
During the days Harumasa was unconscious, Wise asked Lycaon to take care of Harumasa while he focused on translating all the books he found. The records were all in an ancient language, so it took a long time to translate and piece together the events that had taken place. And when Wise finished, Harumasa woke up.
But strangely, Harumasa's reaction was very slow, he listened to Lycaon's questions for a while before answering or simply nodding his head, which took a lot of time. And it seemed like Harumasa was blind, sometimes he couldn't hear what others asked. Taking care of Harumasa was quite difficult because he kept having a fever, coughing, and vomiting a lot, but ate very little. Lycaon was restless every time he fed Harumasa, he was afraid that Harumasa wouldn't chew his food well and would choke. So sometimes he would consider and suggest that the kitchen cook something easier to swallow.
Wise looked at Harumasa who was sitting on the bed, then carefully held the other's hand. It seemed that during his time in the empire, Harumasa had successfully researched a medicine that could temporarily relieve his condition. But Harumasa was not very stable at the moment, so Wise planned to ask this question more thoroughly when Harumasa felt better.
Although Harumasa didn't do it on purpose, he was still judged guilty of colluding with the enemy, so his temporary sentence was detention. At least the fact that Harumasa didn't do it on purpose was widely spread. Wise also heard that the emperor sent a messenger to the Aku Empire to ask them to explain this matter clearly. Apparently, when he left, the messenger had magical power and knew magic to create protective barriers.
But as a result, the messenger was killed put on a horse, and taken all the way to the Eridu Kingdom. A slash across the neck didn't kill the messenger immediately, but he would definitely die in pain. In the messenger's coat pocket was a piece of paper written in the Aku Empire language that roughly translated to:
[You will pay for what you did to Asaba Harumasa.
I, Princess Hoshimi Miyabi of the Aku Empire, declare war on the Eridu Kingdom.]
And when that letter reached the Emperor, someone came to report that there was a village near the border between the two countries and that the village had been attacked. The casualties were unknown, but the knights were led by Princess Miyabi and Chief Knight Yanagi. They had penetrated the barrier protecting the Eridu Kingdom with just one slash from the imperial princess's sword.
Since Princess Miyabi was born, the Aku Empire had never declared war on the Eridu Kingdom because they lacked soldiers compared to the kingdom. But now, unexpectedly, they personally initiated the battle, destroying the barrier protecting the Eridu Kingdom, ready to advance deeper into the kingdom's territory. The terrifying thing was not how many soldiers they brought, but that the princess of the empire had actually used a single slash to cut through the strongest barrier that the high-level mages of the Eridu Kingdom had erected.
Princess Miyabi was truly a monster on the battlefield.
Wise had heard about it before, that the princess had gone to war at a young age, inheriting the royal family sword of the Aku Empire. Every time she personally went to war, she would definitely win. There was no doubt that the Aku Empire was serious about punitive the Eridu Kingdom.
Now the people of the Eridu Kingdom began to panic. They were not afraid of war, because the kingdom had many soldiers and the high-level mages were also very talented. But everyone knows what stories and achievements Princess Miyabi has, how skilled the knight Yanagi is in strategy, and how skilled the magician Soukaku is in black magic.
Each one seems easy to deal with, but if the three of them become a team, it will be difficult for anyone to stop them from achieving their goal. This time, their goal is to make the Eridu Kingdom pay for killing Harumasa.
If this continues, they will reach the Eridu Kingdom's palace sooner or later. Wise must stop this before it becomes too late like last time.