Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume11 Chapter5 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

“Your Majesty.”

Someone spoke.

Guhl Mephius had been sitting on his bed for quite a while now. He had not even finished changing.

He had cancelled that morning’s court. Since Guhl would usually even invite to breakfast those who wished for an audience, this lead concern that he might not be feeling well, and a number of people came to visit him, but Guhl had the chamberlains send most of them away.

Only Empress Melissa had been allowed into his room, but Guhl could not remember what they had talked about. At the end, for some reason or another, she seemed to have given a shrill shriek.

How much time had passed since then?

“Your Majesty.”

The voice called again.

Was there still someone here? He wearily looked up.

“Oh,” the old emperor moaned. “I see. You’re ''still here''.”

“It’s a lovely day, Guhl.”

Looking as though it was completely normal for them to be in the emperor’s private chambers without his permission, that person went towards the room’s closed curtains.

“Why are you shutting yourself away in the dark like this? You would do better to draw open the curtains and look at the gardens. The sky is blue and the wind is fresh and clear. The people of Solon are enjoying a peaceful morning again after so long. Young men and women are strolling along the avenues as the elderly are sitting and chatting while watching them go by.”

“…”

“You should go and see them, listen to their voices. That is what the world is, Guhl. For the likes of us, the world is only what we can see. Especially for old men who have reached an age where all that’s left is to leave things to the younger generation.”

“I’m going senile,” Guhl let out another moan. “If I were an ordinary person, then that would be that. I could just grow old and senile, then die. But I am the emperor. I carry the weight of the country on my shoulders. My world is not mine alone.”

“You are a pitiful old man.” Far from impressed, the other gave his opinion of Guhl. “And you should accept that age has caught up with you. I will reach a hand to what no hand can reach, and I will force you to see that which you cannot see. But you know, Guhl… Borrowing a power which humans should not touch in order to accomplish your goals… naturally, it makes you a failure as a human.”

A glare was thrown towards the emperor.

“You were undeniably strong. When your mother was killed before your eyes by a dragon, you were convinced that it was your father’s fault, and so you decided to become a ruler stronger than any other. You were going to create a country of peace, while seeing everything that happened within it, listening to every voice, and instantly crushing every sign of danger.”

“…”

“And we supported you with all our might. Especially Lady Lana, your empress, who empathised with your way of doing things, unfettered by old ways and traditions. When trouble seemed to be brewing among the retainers’ factions, she was always the first to play the part of mediator. Sometimes acting as your shield, sometimes as the arrow that admonished you, she gave you more help than any of we retainers. But…”

“Enough.”

“But Lady Lana passed away too soon, much too soon. Immediately after bearing the long-awaited child, as though that had drained all the life from her. Ultimately, you and Empress Lana were husband and wife for almost no time at all.”

“Enough.”

On top of the bed, Guhl was grinding his teeth. But the voice did not stop.

“You were afraid. You, who was supposed to be strong, were afraid of how weak you were becoming when faced with the death of a loved one. It was the same as when your mother died. You had to find a reason for your grief. You had to make it someone’s fault. Before, you had been able to blame your father. But this time, it was different. It was nobody’s fault. And so, you could only invent blame. It was Lana’s fault. It was the fault of her own inherent weakness.”

Far from gradually swelling with the strength and fury of a storm, the voice continued its recital with the constant rhythm of the pitter-patter of a gentle rain.

“You loathe weakness. As a result of craving strength, you could not forgive any form of weakness. Neither in yourself, nor in others. And so, you came to hate Empress Lana, who had died before you, as though abandoning you; and neither could you forgive her son, Gil, who was gradually becoming more and more like her. Because of that, when it came to him, you…”

“That's enough!”

Emperor Guhl Mephius finally screamed out loud, then turned to bury his head in the bed.

The window was shut tight, and the heavy curtains were not swaying in any breeze.

“Your Majesty” – A different voice called out from outside the door.

Guhl lifted his head. There was no in the room except Mephius’ emperor. Guhl however was not particularly surprised. He knew it perfectly well, whose voice had been speaking up until then.

A hesitant murmur called out to him again. The soldier who was acting as the emperor’s guard informed him that he had another visitor. Guhl raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t I say that no one was to be allowed in?” – he was about to bellow in a thunderous voice, but suddenly, his shoulders fell wearily and he allowed the guest to enter.

“What is the meaning of your behaviour?” The one who appeared was a messenger from the Dragon Gods’ faith; the same old man as the one who had visited this exact room just before the confrontation with the crown prince. “You should have revealed the impostor’s real identity and had him immediately executed, just as we had agreed. Your grief would have been extinguished and things could have proceeded according to plan.”

“My grief would have been extinguished?” Guhl responded vacantly before sneering. “I’ve thought before that you were inhuman monsters, but that feeling had never been as strong as it is now. You don’t understand anything. Which isn’t surprising, given that you look at people like pawns on a board. Did you seriously think that everything would go back to the way it was before if I forced through the impostor’s execution then? Hah, before meddling with human fates, you should have learned more about the human world.”

“…”

“Get out. Retire to your shadows and go and plot some evil scheme or another. I’m a little tired. If you want an in-depth discussion, come back some other time. Keep yourselves busy and go play in an empty lot.”

The messenger from the Dragon Gods’ faith left without any parting words.



Only a little while later, that same old man was prostrating himself before a bed in a place that was, indeed, wrapped in shadows.

There laid an old man. Of the elders of the Dragon Gods’ faith, he was the leader and so all the more of an ‘elder’. Even though, among that collection of elderly men, he was comparatively  young. Nevertheless, in these past few days, in which he had appeared neither before the emperor not anyone else, he seemed to have aged ten, twenty years.

“Damn you, Guhl, that…”

The muttering voice held no vigour and was occasionally racked by violent coughing.

“Did you get cold feet? Pathetic, he’s just like all the other humans in this world. No matter how much ambition they have in their youth, as they grow older, the limits of what they can see – familiar scenery, family – becomes their own little kingdom with which they are content. And in their final moments, they look back on an existence in which they have not accomplished a tenth of the ambitions of their youth and die thinking that theirs was a surprisingly good life.”

His surroundings were silent and still.

There was only the single, kneeling elder carefully listening to him. The ceiling of the temple was high, and the shadows so thick that you could not see through them, no matter how you strained your eyes.

“You think that there is just one more step, but that step is unexpectedly far.” The elder whispered, his eyes darker than the shadows. “If you think about it, both Magic King Zodias and Garda, the high priest of Zer Tauran in the west, were like that. Both of them laid their plans, both of them approached their goals one step at a time, yet neither were able to accomplish them. However… they moved forward every time. What, at that time, felt like the final step had to be repeated over and over again until, now, it seems more like a hundred steps.”

Coughing and breathing raggedly, as though he held a storm in his throat, the elder continued to expound even though there was no one to hear.

“Zodias discovered how to extract ether from humans, Garda rallied the nomads, they who preached the revival of the Dragon Gods, and took back the ‘Dragon God’s Claws’. While analysing the laws of sorcery and creating new ones, he distributed ‘passageways’ throughout the world and constructed ether supply routes. The cost in time and lives was absurdly high. From being born as a baby to being resigned to greet death in old age… how often was that amount of time repeated? Even though it was finally about to take shape here in Mephius…”

''How did it all start?''

The elder’s voice continued to speak of lonely recollections, occasionally fading so low that no one could possibly hear it.

“Ah yes, it’s been ever since the failed assassination attempt against the crown prince and the princess, in Seirin Valley. That should have brought Guhl to sever all lingering ties of affection with this mortal world, Garbera and Ende should have been dragged into the fray, and the power balance at the centre of the continent should have been overturned.”

''There was also that time, in the west. By setting up that man called Reizus as the new Garda and using the artefacts that were the shrines that I myself had left behind, we should have been able to open a ‘passageway’ to Mephius while watching how Barbaroi responded''.

“But he was defeated much faster than expected. Not, however, to the point that we needed to reassess the diagram of fate. ''That'' too was brought about because the gears of fate were temporarily thrown out of order. Back then, we left things as they were since we had to concentrate on making the next preparations towards our pre-determined goal. But upon carefully examining what happened, what seems to have emerged is the dazzling radiance of the fate of the one responsible for the malfunctioning gears.”

The dark-skinned elder was once again racked by a violent coughing fit. For a while, his emaciated limbs convulsed and his breaths seemed to be wrung from him, as though the life was draining from his entire body.

“We cannot wait any longer. For now, I am willing to abandon half of the diagram of fate, but we must get rid of that element of disturbance. Zafar. Is Zafar here?!”

“I am here.”

His answer was heard.

Yet he was not there.

No, it was rather that the one who spoke was the old man kneeling before the bed. However, he was not the man who had called himself “Zafar” in the west. Nevertheless, even while his body quivered and his starting eyes twitched, he spoke in Zafar’s voice.

“This time, be sure to end the Crown Prince’s life. The place will be the battlefield. There will be nothing strange about something happening there so the compensation for using sorcery to interfere with the diagram of fate will be somewhat reduced. I will let Tahī accompany you, so be sure to accomplish your mission at all cost.”

“Aye.” Although Zafar answered thus, after a moment, he asked, “What should we do about that Barbaroi matter?” That was all that was said, yet even so, the voice was hoarse and the flesh at his neck shook uncontrollably. “I am lead to suppose that he is under Barbaroi’s protection.”

“At this point, it won’t do to be overly concerned with Barbaroi, or to let them meddle...” For a while, the elder seemed unable to marshal his thoughts, but finally –

“I will allow twelve deaths.” His words were strange and repulsive. “That much is still within the range of what can be repaired. Good, use the power brought about by those deaths to kill Gil without fail. I am repeating myself, but we cannot wait any longer. I’m sure you’re clear on what your fate will be if you fail.”

“Aye, aye.”

Immediately after Zafar’s voice answered, the elderly man who had been kneeling collapsed forward with a thud. As he painfully started to rise, blood dripped from his nose, mouth and eyes.

“After which, it will be Guhl.” The elder, who was no longer looking towards him, curved his dry and cracked lips. “I intended to guide him with the utmost care and caution, but there too the gear has malfunctioned. Is he no longer of any use? Then in that case…”

The elder lifted a trembling hand from on top of the bed. He stared intently at that bony, almost fleshless hand, that was as dry as old wood.

“I was wanting my next body anyway. Since it’s like that, once I become Guhl, I will have to plan the reconstruction of the diagram of fate, even if it means using slightly forceful methods. Barbaroi might also launch an attack but… It’s fine. When that happens, I’ll burn down Solon, or no, all the people of Mephius, and gather the power needed to push them back for now.”