Chapter 846
Ardo Empire’s Duke Amacar was the one that developed the Ardo Empire, which was considered the most ordinary of the ordinary, into the largest and strongest powerhouse. He was someone that the Beyond the Heavens Empire desperately needed. If he came to the Beyond the Heavens, he would surely give wings to the empire and help it develop faster.
However, Minhyuk left these final words of comfort to him, “Stay in your empire.”
At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.
[The Emperor’s Comfort has ended.]
[You have given Amacar peace of mind and have allowed him to empty his heart and his thoughts. This act has given him the chance to think better and make better decisions.]
Amacar was quite surprised when he heard Minhyuk’s words. He had thought that the reason why Minhyuk listened to his story and comforted him was mainly because the man wanted to recruit him. However, this emperor was interesting.
‘I have absolutely no idea about what’s going on in that head of his.’
That was right. Amacar could not understand what was happening. But then, at that moment, Minhyuk smiled softly.
“Weren’t you the one that said it, Duke Amacar?”
“...”
“You are still someone who would do anything and everything for Emperor Consteinus.”
That was the truth. Even though Amacar hated Consteinus now, he would still do anything for the man, even if the man ordered him to kill himself.
“Stay together with the man that you cherish and care for.”
“...”
To be honest, Amacar was really surprised. The emperor in front of him was different from the other emperors and kings that he knew. If it were the other emperors and kings who had been quietly waiting to take advantage of the opportunity to recruit him, they would immediately take him in.
However, after giving him comfort, Minhyuk just looked relieved. In the end, Minhyuk turned around and returned. Amacar stared at the direction that he left in before turning to look at the castle where his emperor was.
Thanks to Minhyuk’s comforts, the distracting thoughts that lingered in his head had already disappeared. This allowed him to think clearer. It did not take too long for Amacar to make a decision. Thus, he made his move.
***
Consteinus was left reeling in shock when he saw Amacar pledge his allegiance to Minhyuk. This was impossible. What he was seeing in front of him had to be a dream or some kind of false fantasy.
But then, Amacar told Minhyuk, “I vow to stay by His Majesty’s side forever and help the Beyond the Heavens Empire!!!”
Consteinus, who had been denying what was happening in front of him, finally realized that this was reality.
[You have succeeded in recruiting the Ardo Empire’s Duke Amacar.]
[Duke Amacar. Level 658.]
“This is not... This is impossible. How... Amacar, you...”
Some people passed by Consteinus, who had been mumbling to himself while shaking his head. There was a man that was said to be the candidate to become the God of Martial Arts. The young man knelt on both knees and yelled loudly, “Your Imperial Majesty! I vow to stay by your side and help you forever!”
[You have succeeded in recruiting Careon Kingdom’s Ronson.]
[Martial Artist Ronson. Level 592.]
Then, another man appeared. This man had been bald just a few days ago. However, his head was now filled with thick and fluttering hair as he knelt down in front of Minhyuk and said, “The Beyond the Heavens Empire is the benefactor of my entire family. Your Majesty! I promise to do my best to create artifacts for the Beyond the Heavens Empire!”
[You have succeeded in recruiting Ars Empire’s Hanson.]
[Blacksmith Hanson. Level 331.]
As time went by, the number of people that knelt in front of Minhyuk began to increase.
A long time ago, a child, who did not know how to wield the spear properly, received a piece of advice from an old man passing by on the street. Thanks to that advice, the child grew up well and became an outstanding spearman. The very same old man that gave him advice visited him to recruit him.
[You have succeeded in recruiting Hors Kingdom’s Arvon.]
[Spearman Arvon. Level 564.]
There was also someone who had been single since birth, and only found happiness by reading a novel. The author of that novel came to recruit him and he happily came running after hearing that he would be able to read all of the novels that the author would make forever.
[You have succeeded in recruiting Effinor Kingdom’s Ronweiner.]
[Archer Ronweiner. Level 568.]
There were also those who were anxious about the danger that they would be exposed to with their failing kingdom, and had been taken by Haze’s flamboyant and confident words.
[You have succeeded in recruiting Clyde Kingdom’s Arabba.]
[Knight Arabba. Level 564.]
The kings and emperors that they passed by looked at them incredulously. After all, these were the same subjects who had said they would even sacrifice their lives for their sake, or that they would only live for them alone.
However, most of these rulers were similar to Consteinus. To be exact, there were a lot of them who were way worse compared to how Consteinus behaved and acted. Some had always treated their subjects as servants, reigning over them with power and even going so far as to destroy their families if their subjects irked them.
“Why?!!!”
“Do you think that you would be safe if you left me, huh?!!!”
“I have done everything for you!!!”
The kings and emperors shouted loudly when they saw that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was successful in recruiting a third of the people that came with them. However, before they could lash out in anger toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they had to question those who betrayed them.
In just an instant, the entire hall was flipped upside down. Everything was in chaos. The emperors and kings tried to grab them by the collar while some even went so far as to pull their sword out. However, the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire have been prepared for this. They immediately stepped forward and stopped them from making any move.
Even so, the emperors and kings did not stop. They continued to shout their questions. There was one person, one particular person, who approached the kneeling Amacar with disbelief in his face.
“Why... Why, Sir Amacar?”
At that moment, Consteinus remembered. He remembered the memories that the two of them shared.
When he first met him, the once young boy was smiling brightly at him. He felt a connection between them so he took in the orphan and brought him to his empire.
“I cared about you.”
He remembered the day that he won the swordsmanship competition for him. He clearly remembered the man declaring that he would live for his sake. That was why he ran, he ran to save him when he was in danger.
“Please don’t go. I beg you. Please stay by my side.”
However, Amacar remained silent. As funny as it might seem, Amacar, who was about to leave him, was crying and trembling.
“WHY?!!!” Consteinus shouted.
The question opened the dam. Tears fell non-stop from Amacar’s eyes.
“YOUR MAJESTY!!!”
The voice resonated so loudly that everyone in the hall fell silent for a moment.
“What kind of empire did Your Majesty reign over?!!! Was it an empire that only had eyes for those with great power?!!!”
Consteinus’ mouth turned shut when he heard those words.
“Weren’t you the one that gave up on your people?!!! You discarded them and ignored their pain in order for you to recruit stronger and more talented people, no?!!!”
Amacar was confident that the decision that he had made would open one of two paths.
“Everything that I did was for the people...”
“None of your people hoped to have an empire that was only filled with the strong. Please open your eyes. Look at the world around you. See how your people look at you now and compare it with how they looked at you in the past. What is the difference?!”
Consteinus could no longer speak.
“The reason why I made the Ardo Empire strong was because I wanted to see many people laugh, cry and live more prosperously alongside you, Your Majesty.”
Emperor Consteinus stared at Amacar in a daze for a very long time. His mouth cracked open as if he was about to say something but no words came out of him.
At that moment, Minhyuk stepped forward and said, “I ask that every one of you to return.”
Consteinus was left in a daze as he slowly walked out of the hall.
***
Consteinus was still in a daze even after they returned to the Ardo Empire. No matter how much his aide spoke to him, he remained unresponsive. It was as if he had lost all hope.
“...Did Sir Amacar leave the empire?”
“My goodness.”
“Why did Sir Amacar do that?”
“Shh! Shut up. Be quiet. A maid has been beheaded not too long ago!”
Consteinus looked at them before turning to look at his aide with a determined look on his face.
“Summon the army.”
“Your Majesty, please tell me that you’re not going to try and bring down the Beyond the Heavens Empire?!! Please, reconsider! You have already signed the contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire...”
“Shut up! Just summon the army for me!”
After the Luvien Empire, the troops from the Ardo Empire began to march.
***
The Athenae homepage was filled with noise.
[Guys, have you seen Tallulah’s broadcast? The Ardo Empire left only the bare minimum number of troops in their empire and is now marching out with the rest of their entire army.]
[Yep, yep. I saw that. It was amazing. That place was the strongest empire before the Luvien Empire came to be.]
[But... does anyone know where they are headed to?]
[Hey, you don’t know? Not too long ago, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was able to recruit Duke Amacar. If you look at it in Emperor Consteinus' view, he must have been very angry when that happened. If I were him, I would also send my troops and wipe out the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]
[However, from what I heard, there was a contract signed between the rulers of the nations regarding this recruitment. Won’t they receive punishment if they broke that contract?]
[They will be punished. But to be honest, if Amacar was taken away from me, then I will also gladly take on that punishment.]
[Is the Beyond the Heavens Empire going to fall as soon as it gets established?]
[Hiyaaaa... I think they brought along around eight million troops.]
One of the BJs saw the Ardo Empire advancing and began to film it. The broadcasting stations, who heard of the news, immediately dispatched their broadcasting teams to cover the issue.
[I have never seen such a huge army advance like this.]
[This is truly amazing. Eight million soldiers. This can only be possible for the Luvien and the Ardo Empire.]
[What do you think will happen if the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Ardo Empire went to war?]
[The Beyond the Heavens Empire might have countless strong powerhouses in their empire. However, the Ardo Empire has a huge number of soldiers and knights on their side. On top of that, they are on an entirely different level from the others. The Beyond the Heavens Empire won’t last two days.]
[The Ardo Empire’s momentum is terrifying.]
[Emperor Consteinus' face looks dark too.]
[Well, there’s no helping it. I can understand what he’s feeling. After all, this would probably feel like he had lost the Ardo Empire itself to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]
Before everyone knew it, the army had already arrived in front of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The Beyond the Heavens Empire had also started to prepare for war when they heard the sudden news
Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk’s back as he looked at Consteinus.
‘I never expected that he’s willing to ignore the punishment of breaking the contract.’
However, when he thought about it deeply, he felt like he could understand. After all, Emperor Consteinus trusted Amacar more than he trusted the Imperial Family.
Minhyuk turned to look at Amacar, who was standing right beside him on the walls of the empire.
‘What is going on with you?’
Minhyuk actually could not understand it either. Why did this man leave the emperor that he loved and cared for so much and came to his side? Minhyuk did not know the reason why.
The troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire stood nervously as the overwhelming momentum of the millions of troops around them engulfed them. For some reason, they felt like this was scarier than the enemies that they had faced so far. Perhaps they felt like this was scarier since they did not have the time to heal from the pain that they suffered during the war with the Luvien Empire.
In fact, even Minhyuk was nervous. He licked his dry lips as he watched Emperor Consteinus step forward. Emperor Consteinus’ expression looked stiff as he stared at Amacar, who was standing on the walls of the empire.
Meanwhile, Amacar was looking back at them with a complicated expression on his face.
‘It seems like the emperor came to kill me, who betrayed him, by himself...’
Amacar loved Consteinus with all his heart. Perhaps he was being ravaged by the pain of his heart being torn apart right now.
At that moment, Consteinus opened his mouth and asked, “Sir Amacar, let me ask you this one last question. Do you have any regrets?”
“...” Amacar bit his lips tightly. He remained silent for a moment before answering, “I do. I regret it even now.”
“...”
Minhyuk turned to look at Amacar. He could see that Amacar looked like he wanted to run and approach his former emperor and ask for his forgiveness.
However, Amacar said, “But I believe this is the right choice.”
Consteinus nodded his head slowly.
“I see.”
Consteinus stared at Amacar for three, then five, then ten minutes. He just stood there silently and stared for a very long time.
[He must have a lot to think about.]
[The betrayal of someone who has been with him for all his life and the punishment that he will receive. Of course, he has a lot to think about.]
[Because of the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s greed, they might lose everything, including Amacar.]
Everyone’s attention was focused on Consteinus’ arm. Once he raised that arm and lowered it, the war would begin and following that, the likely fall of the very first empire created by a foreigner.
Thuuuuud–
But then, Emperor Consteinus suddenly knelt on the ground. Amacar, who was standing right next to Minhyuk, flinched. Then, the kneeling Consteinus placed his hands one on top of the other, and brought them to his forehead. After that, he slowly bowed down.
“Thank you.”
Consteinus’ tears dripped down and soaked the ground beneath him.
“My friend.”
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