---

A few hours ago, the Emperor, who should have been alive, lay there as a horrifying corpse in the bushes.

It was evident that a beast had torn into him, with bite marks scattered across his body.

To call the death of the Emperor of a grand empire a brutal and miserable scene would be an understatement; I couldn’t help but wrinkle my brow at the sight.

“Did you plan to kill him from the very beginning?…”

The old man who had escaped with the Emperor was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was the corpse that had once been the Emperor.

His luxurious clothes made of fine fabrics and leather were torn to shreds, nothing more than rags now, and his skin and hair, which were always pristine, were now dirtied with grime and filth.

While he had enjoyed power and wealth in life, in death, he appeared more pitiful than anyone.

“No matter how much wealth and glory one possesses, before death, one becomes nothing but a frail figure.”

I clicked my tongue at the pitiful state of the once-mighty Emperor.

Whether he was executed for not escaping or not, losing his life would be the same… At least he wouldn’t have become the meal of a wild beast like this.

I pushed magical energy into the Emperor’s corpse and began to examine it calmly.

Let’s see. First, the cause of death… Hmm. It wasn’t an attack from a beast.

Though hidden among the marks left by beasts, a small wound was concealed on his left chest.

A mark piercing the heart made by something sharp and thin. That was the Emperor’s cause of death.

A dagger? No, it seemed more like a spear. It appeared to have been thrust in from the front… Hmm. Did that old man have a weapon?

It looked like a slender trident, but since such a trident hasn’t appeared yet, I’ll let that go for now. Hmm…

I can’t tell yet what the weapon is, but it seems he was stabbed in the chest with such a sharp weapon and left here.

And then the beasts gathered to gnaw and savor the Emperor.

Even though the body had been discarded, to have deteriorated this much in just a few hours… Did they use something to attract the animals?

I couldn’t tell. Not at this moment.

Well, if I can’t figure it out, I can always ask. If it’s been only a few hours since death, the soul should be nearby… Hmm?

Not here? The Emperor’s soul is missing? What’s this? Why? How?

The Grim Reaper wouldn’t have taken the soul already, would they? There’s usually a bit of a time delay, right? Why is there no soul?

I couldn’t understand. A situation where something that should naturally be there is absent. In this case… did someone steal the soul?

How could that even happen? Trick the Grim Reaper and steal a soul? How is that even possible?

In the old days, the Grim Reapers were somewhat foolish, so they could fall for tricks and had let slip the entrance to the underworld, but that’s been fixed thanks to their thorough education now. So how could they be fooled like that?

How is it possible…?

“I can’t figure this out…”

I let out a small sigh. If the soul were present, I could simply ask it, but… now, it seems I must reproduce the past once again.

I slowly reached my hand toward the Emperor’s corpse, enveloping the area with magical energy.

Revisiting the past to the moment of the Emperor’s death, I began to recreate it using magic.

Passing through the part where the beasts, or rather beast-like monsters, were gnawing at the Emperor’s corpse, I went further back into time.

As I neared the time when the imprisoned Emperor had escaped, shadows rose from the ground and began to take shape.

The old man who had smuggled the Emperor away. An unidentified old man.

Given the skill level of such a magician, it’s unlikely that he wouldn’t have a name, but… not a single bit of his name was known…

Or rather, it’s still unclear if he’s even a magician, so let’s leave that aside for now.

The old man clearly looked down on the dying Emperor, as if he were an insignificant nuisance.

As I rewind a little further, I see the fallen Emperor suddenly bolt upright, and a black thorn-like object from the old man’s finger penetrates the Emperor’s chest.

The weapon… Can it even be called a weapon? Did he transform shadows into matter using magic? That’s quite strange magic.

Manipulating something that only has shape without mass, and then materializing it at will… Considering he also used shadows for spatial movement…

He’s not human, that’s for sure.

A dragon? No, I can’t imagine a dragon doing something like this. Sure, the number of dragons has increased a bit compared to long ago… but the overall situation of the dragons has been conveyed to me.

If it’s not a dragon… a god? Is a hidden god descending to manipulate matters like this?

No, that doesn’t quite fit either. The gods have restrictions preventing them from descending directly to the ground, and if they did come down, mind controlling an idiot and then killing them seems a bit strange.

Wouldn’t they focus on increasing the number of their believers instead? If they’re a god?

Not a dragon, not a god. Not a strong spirit, either… Could it be a priest serving a god? Nah, that doesn’t seem right either.

Above all, the only gods powerful enough to bestow the skill to handle shadows like that are… all ones I’m familiar with.

I can skip over the God of Darkness, and I know the Goddess of Shadows well enough. Nyx wouldn’t engage in such affairs.

Hmm. Wait. Hmm…

Could this be related to that fool Erebus?

No, it can’t be. He’s been collecting the darkness within the mana stones through humans… and even the pieces of darkness I’ve collected don’t have any self-awareness yet.

After gathering so diligently, it ended up like this. That means I can rule Erebus out.

If it’s not Erebus himself… could someone be using Erebus’ power to scheme something?

If they are using it, then who? Even if he’s scattered in pieces, Erebus is still a god with considerable power. If his fragments are being used, then they wouldn’t be an ordinary existence.

The only beings who could pull off such a scheme… hmm… perhaps they’re former gods who’ve been cast aside?

That’s probably the most plausible explanation. Given that they were gods, they must possess significant power.

Then… who could do such a thing?

If they’re using Erebus’ power, even ordinary gods could end up being devoured. To wield it so skillfully…

Hmm. Hmm… Could it be…? No, it can’t be.

I let out a small sigh as I watched the old man pierce the Emperor’s heart.

If this fool Emperor is involved with a scheming existence…

No, let’s not jump to conclusions. For now, let’s just observe.

It’s certainly plausible that some existence is pulling the strings to make this fool Emperor become Emperor and then assassinate him.

From my position of merely observing, it could turn into an intriguing story. So…

Truly, unless a disaster occurs that ordinary humans cannot handle, or a massacre takes place… I think it’s better to just keep watching.

Though it may be a somewhat irresponsible thought… it feels like it’s about time this world became independent from my shadow.

So, let’s just watch.

I focused on the conversation between the old man and the Emperor, but there wasn’t much substance to their dialogue.

The Emperor grumbled about the poor condition of the room, and he whined about the ineffectiveness of the Imperial Guards. Watching the Emperor, the old man’s gaze slowly changed.

A chilling murderous intent glimmered in his eyes, but the Emperor remained oblivious.

And then, poof! The shadow-thorn that had extended from the old man pierced the Emperor’s chest.

Having stabbed him, the old man looked down upon the Emperor’s corpse with disdain before vanishing into the shadows.

In the end, it seems I have no other information. Tsk. Embodying this with magic doesn’t reveal how the soul was taken…

I cautiously touched the location where the old man had faded into shadows, but this time, I couldn’t fully trace that magic.

The faint magic left by the old man extended deep below the earth… only to be erased by a massive magical presence flowing underground.

That massive magic was the energy I had planted in this land.

Tsk… I didn’t expect the magic I spread to make Romania’s land prosperous would trip me up like this.

Well, it’s fine. If someone is scheming like that, they’ll surely make a move elsewhere.

Unless they went completely underground to hide their movements, I’ll be able to see them again somewhere.

So… for now, let’s take the Emperor’s corpse back to Betelgeuse.

Though in this state, he was still the Emperor of a nation, so I can’t just leave him behind.

Even though he’s a fool and dashed recklessly toward death, I should at least give his corpse a proper recovery.

While I can’t afford a grand funeral, I can at least wish that the soul that has gone missing doesn’t suffer.

 

---