I Became the Father of a Degenerate Emperor

Episode 25. Chosunchajeon

Episode 25. Chosunchajeon

Eric’s bedroom is flooded with golden sunlight through a large window.

Garreung- Winnie the Pooh-

Listening to his brothers snoring, Eric was still lying on the bed.

It’s already been a long time since I pondered who the ‘him’ the prime minister was talking about could be.

But he couldn’t figure it out in the end, and he had no choice but to separate the entangled siblings one by one in order to get up.

How deeply asleep they were, still snoring as they rolled on their sides.

Eric cautiously got out of bed.

A large planter placed in the middle of the room. Seedlings were planted there.

It was said to be a gift from the emperor and was brought by the chamberlain.

‘With this little thing…… That too has come now.’

Eric went straight past the saplings to the front of his closet.

Then he took out the bow he had hidden deep in the closet.

This bow was also given as a gift by the emperor.

The thing full of strange energy seemed to be made of something like the horns of a demon.

A noble dignity was subtly exuded from the elaborately engraved mysterious patterns.

– He said he likes bows and trees, so he gave it as a gift.

The emperor certainly said so.

Actually, Eric didn’t like bows or trees at all. At first he just wasn’t interested.

He went to the emperor’s bedchamber to steal a bow without a string, and by luck he ran into him in the bedroom.

Tears welled up at the relief that I wouldn’t be hit, and I just nodded my head aimlessly to get out of here as quickly as possible.

It was just like that.

He really liked trees and bows, and even gave them as gifts.

“…… Gift.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I could clearly sense the goodwill in it.

When he even remembered the rough hand stroking his hair, he became unbearably confused.

Why? Why the hell did he show such ridiculous generosity now?

Maybe they have other plans?

And besides, it’s the magic poison that Mohu said.

Coming to think of it, it seemed pretty plausible.

Because the sword master lost his aura in an instant and even went limp.

In fact, such a poison could indeed exist somewhere on the continent.

There are still many untouched places on this vast continent.

But Eric couldn’t believe the emperor.

Because of the resentment and anger that seethed in his heart, maybe he doesn’t want to believe it.

Yes, that must have been the case.

I didn’t want to believe it. He never wanted to forgive.

I wanted to kill the mad emperor who killed loyalists and abused my mother and her younger siblings with my own hands.

So, at this moment, a more plausible reasoning came to mind.

In fact, if mana was used excessively beyond the limit, the sword master could also become a cripple or die instantly.

Indeed, his grandfather, Kratus III, did.

So, after the emperor also became a disabled person for other reasons, he did not even know that he was trying to wash away the sins he had committed so far using the excuse of being poisoned.

No, it must be so. He would never have been paralyzed.

Abusive and murderous, there was no way he would have told the truth to his mother.

Yeah, maybe when he fought Max Crawford, the leader of the Imperial Knights, he overreacted and became a devastated man.

Because he actually started to limp after that.

While thinking that, on the other hand, the thought of really wanting Madok to be the cause of all the tragedies kept messing with my heart.

If Mohu’s words are really true.

Maybe he will be able to regain his father who cherished him so much in the past someday.

Such faint anticipation rose like smoke from a dying ember.

Of course, even if that was the case, it would disappear suddenly with just one blow of the wind.

I knew very well that it was nothing more than a vague hope.

For the past few years, I have had such expectations and despair, because I have already repeated it countless times.

Numerous setbacks piled up one by one, and in the end, they were rotted away by indelible hatred.

The most frightening and terrifying thing is, of course, the despair that comes immediately after anticipation.

That’s why, before I knew it, I was afraid of myself, who was holding on to hope.

“Wow, hyung, what is that? Aren’t you so cool?”

In the meantime, I suddenly heard Huron’s voice behind me.

“Where did that suddenly come from?”

His younger siblings had just woken up.

“Hyung, I want to touch it.”

Edwin, who had been rushing over before he knew it, put his hand on the bow.

Then, Huron also grabbed the bow stick and continued speaking in a threatening tone.

“Edwin, I’m first. Hands off.”

But Eric didn’t let anyone touch him.

Pot!

I quickly retrieved the bow, put it deep in the closet, and slammed the door.

“Why is that, bro? Do you want to touch it just once?”

“Hyung, me too… ….”

Eric said in a firm voice.

“This is not even worth touching.”

“But… ….”

Huron blurs the end with a regretful expression.

Knowing his brother’s personality well, he had no choice but to resign now.

But there would be an opportunity later.

Beside him, Edwin asked Eric in a weeping voice.

“Hyung, but when will mom come?”

It has already been more than ten days since my mother left the imperial palace.

All three princes had never been away from their mother for so long, so they were anxious every day.

“You will be back soon.”

I said that with the most calm expression on my face, but in the entire imperial palace, there was probably no one more nervous than Eric at the moment.

Then, Huron immediately asked Eric a question.

“Hyung, but I’m mad-“

I just said that far.

However, the emotions triggered by the word madok were rougher than expected.

“No way! You are being tricked by the mother! The emperor is a monster!”

As Eric screamed in a fit of panic, Huron was speechless with tears in his eyes. She is so surprised that even Edwin starts to sniff.

“I couldn’t even say anything, so why are you so angry all of a sudden… ….”

To be honest, Eric, who shouted, was also embarrassed.

It was a strange thing.

Did you have to be so nervous?

If the emperor had been clearly defined as a wicked man, there would be no way this would have happened.

It’s just that everything was a lie, and it would have been enough to say just one word calmly.

But he didn’t listen to everything and started screaming.

It was an obvious overreaction, no doubt about it.

Eric was well aware that a strong denial was no different from an affirmation.

That’s why he realized, albeit vaguely.

Before he knew it, he thought that maybe his heart was already moving.

That must have been the reason why I couldn’t shake off the confusion every night I couldn’t sleep.

In the end, I even had an ominous thought that I might not be able to completely hate the emperor.

But the moment I thought of that, for some reason, my heart felt a little relieved.

Perhaps it was because his faint desire to get his father back had finally overcome his deep-seated hatred.

*

Early morning.

The streets of Protejion were incredibly crowded.

Surely, just a few days ago, countless savages were eating people here.

Someone would have lost a family member, someone else would have lost a lover.

So, even if the savages disappeared, the despair and bitterness deeply engraved in their hearts would not be easily erased.

But at the edge of that mourning, something like dim hope was shining with an earnest light.

A hope named Bright spreads through the mouths of passers-by.

Duke Bright is a rare hero, and the story that he saved Protejion from barbarians was rapidly spreading among the people.

In fact, the emperor was behind it, but even the empress and the Duke of Bright were unaware of it.

Anyway, thanks to the hero’s existence, people will dream of the future once again, and Bright, who will rule this place from now on, will be able to gain infinite loyalty.

With such a judgment, the emperor secretly issued an order.

In fact, the emperor also issued another order, and because of that, the face of the head of the Imperial Knights had been frowned upon since morning.

Because the order was so strange.

“Your Majesty, where are you going to use this?”

In the front yard of the lord’s castle, there was a bag big enough to fit a bull, and a mountain of rags, cloth, and wads of cotton.

The emperor suddenly asked for a large leather pouch to be prepared since the morning wind. I had also added that I wished it was a little bigger than a bull.

I also ordered as many items as rags, cloth, and cotton to be retrieved.

First of all, I ordered the soldiers to carry out the order, but I couldn’t figure out why.

Soon after, according to the emperor’s order, the pockets were filled with cloths, and Max’s impression was slightly frowned upon seeing it.

‘Couldn’t it be that he’s still crazy?’

It was so unconvincing.

Where are the problems piled up in the empire?

It was not enough to hurry back to the imperial family, so why was she wasting her time doing such useless things?

However, the thoughts that followed immediately dispelled any doubts about the emperor.

‘No matter how much I do, there’s no way I’ll go crazy again.’

The restoration of Florente, which everyone thought was impossible.

It was the emperor who made that possible.

In addition, the emperor no longer harmed others carelessly like in the past.

So it will never be crazy.

‘There must be a reason why I can’t tell you.’

*

I was currently working on the groundwork to obtain the poison of the Slayer.

A leather pouch filled with various scraps of cloth.

If I want to get the snake dragon’s poison, this is probably the only way for me now.

Salryongsa was just a monster that looked like a giant snake on the outside.

But just by its name, it was easy to tell that it was not an ordinary monster.

It was a snake that could kill a dragon.

Another name for it is ‘one hundred fangs’, or ‘white teeth’ for short, but it didn’t actually have a hundred fangs.

But he had just as many fangs.

Of course, not all of those fangs were in the mouth, and most were spread evenly across the elongated abdomen.

It’s normally hidden inside its torso, but once it ensnares its prey, its large fangs burst out explosively and inject poison mercilessly.

Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to pierce the dragon’s scales with just that, but it was possible to make fine scratches by continuously inserting and removing fangs and scratching.

Once the venom penetrated the blemish and rotted the scales, the fangs would then pierce the hide, slowly rotting from the outside to the inside.

The head also had teeth, but they weren’t fangs, they were meant to pierce the rotten hide and push the head inwards.

Salryongsa’s venom was not poisoned by mere contact.

However, the moment it enters the living body and touches mana, it becomes very toxic from then on.

He even had the ability to absorb mana and turn it into poison.

So the greater the amount of mana, or the higher the concentration, the more lethal the poison was the snake dragon’s poison.

Of course, outside the living body, no matter how much the poison reached mana, it couldn’t function properly.

So, it was possible to fight the Slayer if I wrapped the Aura all over my body beforehand and made it impossible for fangs to pierce my skin. Of course, the density of that aura would have to be considerable.

In fact, the main character of this novel also had a fierce struggle with a baby salryongsa to obtain the poison of the salryongsa.

In addition to its enormous size and terrifying strength, its scales that could block even an aura-covered blade and its speed beyond imagination were extremely tricky.

Of course, belatedly, the main character noticed the Sallyongsa’s weakness.

A hole through which fangs come out. The cramped gap there was a weakness.

When I was reading the novel at the time, I wondered if it was necessary to fight so hard if the goal was to get poison anyway.

Because I thought of a much easier way.

It was similar to the method Zhuge Liang used in the Battle of Red Cliffs in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Chosun Chajeon.

A time when darkness fell and full of fog. It was a strategy that brought more than 100,000 arrows to the blade by driving a boat full of grass to the enemy camp and being showered with arrows.

So I also intended to have the snake snake bite the pouch filled with cloth, cloth, cotton, etc., So that the poison would be sprayed into the pouch.

Then it would be easy to get the poison without having to fight hard.

Of course, in order for the Salryongsa to bite its pouch, it needed to be recognized as prey.

So I put a ‘magic stone’ filled with mana in my leather pouch.

It was because the Salryongsa recognized only beings with mana as prey.

Of course, that wasn’t enough.

Because it only eats living things, it needed to move its pouch.

So I even connected them with a strong rope.

After putting the bag full of leather into the Book of Greed, I headed to the hills near the border with the Imperial Knights.