I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-210

Ch-210. **Emperor**

—

The Golden Mask couldn’t help but frown at the Golden Goat’s sudden behavior.

*I expected he wouldn’t obediently agree… but still.*

He hadn’t thought it would go this far.

No matter how much the man loved to stand out, he had believed he could at least distinguish between the personal and the professional.

But apparently, he’d been wrong.

To oppose the agenda—
that was no different from rejecting and denying the Golden Mask himself.

*Even if we fight internally, before the Fang Knight Order we stand united. That has been our unspoken rule until now.*

The Reaper Cult and the Fang Knight Order.

Their relationship was that of natural enemies.

They split the empire in two, and yet they were water and oil that could never mix.

Thus, with Fang as their enemy, the Reaper Cult had remained united for a long time.

But the twelfth Patron—the Goat—opposing the agenda meant he had broken that long-standing unity.

Was he clueless, or pretending to be?

*Is he protesting because we withheld information from him?*

The Golden Mask had, on purpose, not told the Goat the exact nature of today’s gathering.

The more he learned, the more suspicion he felt toward the Goat’s identity.

*…Fifth Pillar. I thought he was the Corpse Crow under the White King.*

From the very first appearance.

The Darkan Territory.

During the special-grade auction taking place there, the Goat appeared as Hudson’s escort.

And Hudson—everyone now knew—was the representative of Fifth Pillar, the ruler of the Labyrinth.

During the “purification” afterwards, the Goat had displayed the Emperor’s Seal to prove his qualifications, won the wager to judge the sinners, and eventually entered the Reaper Cult.

But even then, he had never once imagined that the Goat was Fifth Pillar.

*The rightful patrons must be human.*

The executives of the Reaper Cult—

Every one of them was human.

The “Divine Sickness” afflicted only humans.

Most members of the Reaper Cult were those who had suffered from that illness, and anyone who wished to become a rightful Patron had to contract it. It was a necessary process.

Therefore, it was only natural that he believed the Goat could not be the monster Fifth Pillar.

*Right after the Goat obtained the Baal Armor, the Four Calamity Baal was subjugated.*

But the timing was too uncanny.

The moment the Goat took the armor, Fifth Pillar killed the Four Calamity Baal.

And Fifth Pillar had never shown himself publicly once.

The more he investigated, the stronger his conviction became: the Goat and Fifth Pillar were the same being.

*…A monster cannot possibly be the rightful Patron.*

So he had invited the Goat with restricted information—
to test him.

If he was the true patron, then let him summon a Reaper.

*And then… he summoned Baal.*

What the Goat summoned as his Reaper was none other than *Baal*.

A shock no one had expected.

There was no time to even question whether that thing should be considered a Reaper, because Commander Raiga appeared and mentioned *Rahon*.

If the Golden Goat truly belonged to Rahon—
or was of Rahon’s *bloodline*—

*Then the Goat is not Fifth Pillar.*

The Goat and Fifth Pillar were different beings.

They could never be the same.

He had a concrete reason for believing so.

Even though the empire had lost the method of controlling the Four Calamities—

*Only the direct bloodline of your clan can control the Four Calamities.*

That single condition he knew with absolute certainty.

Raiga had phrased it vaguely as “a related party,” but in truth, he had practically declared it—
the direct bloodline of the Rahon Clan.

And the direct bloodline of Rahon could not possibly be a monster.

The White King would never bring in the hated humans as Fifth Pillar.

Therefore, the Goat was human.

Not the monster Fifth Pillar.

Fifth Pillar had stripped Baal of his shell, but the essence had fallen into the Goat’s hands—that much was certain.

“…The agenda has passed.”

Still—what’s done was done.

Slowly, the Golden Mask looked around at the executives.

Even if he had misunderstood and even if the Goat was the direct blood of the Rahon Clan, no one here would follow the Goat’s opinion right now.

Rather, by refusing unity outright, the Goat had painted a target on his own back.

Even after being given two chances.

He *had* said that even one objection would block the agenda.

So the Golden Mask ignored the Goat’s opposition. Counted it as if it didn’t exist.

He acknowledged the Goat had the right to be here—*legitimacy*, yes.
But could one who antagonized him survive the Empire alone?

“Now, it is time to speak of our own agenda.”

The Golden Mask straightened his posture.

Meetings between the Fang Knight Order and the Reaper Cult only occurred when the Empire sought to undertake something monumental.

Once every five years—if that.

And what he was about to raise now was beyond monumental.

Perhaps the most important matter since the founding of the Arhon Empire.

As all eyes turned to him—

Ahem.

He cleared his throat, and then, in the most relaxed tone possible, spoke:

“—His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is awakening.”

—

—

 

“Are they insane?”

“A mere apprentice dares…?”

“Why is she being protected?”

“So the rumor must be true.”

Whispers from outside the palace.

They were far enough, but not so far that Isabella—who had transcended—could not hear them.

Conversations about her rejecting Raiga to his face.

She claimed Raiga was weaker than Wilhelm—naturally causing outrage among the knights.

“You still think that way?”

“…”

Isabella looked at the woman who approached her.

Another apprentice knight, a genius from a famous family.

Her name was… what was it again?

“You saw it in the Abyss, didn’t you? Even the rulers of that place avoided the commander. It makes no sense that Wilhelm is stronger than someone like Commander Raiga.”

Right before entering the Empire, the Fang Knight Order had battled the monsters of the Abyss.

They had killed one of the rulers there and brought back a Fragment of Ruin.

“Sure, I understand why people praised the ‘Knight King.’ But that’s only counting events on the surface. The commander fights the erosion of the world itself. If he focused only on the surface, the Empire would never have grown this vast.”

…Ah. Now she remembered.

This woman was similar to Serengeti.

Except Serengeti only talked endlessly to the very few she considered “her people,”
while this woman simply talked endlessly to everyone.

“The Empire functions as the balancer of the continent because of the commander. He’s reclaiming the sunken land of the Old Empire himself, step by step. Meanwhile, what has Wilhelm done?”

“…”

“He even failed the Great Expedition, didn’t he? Do you think the commander would ever fail? In the end, more than two hundred thousand soldiers were annihilated—and imagine how many resources were poured into it.”

“…”

“And the Valan Kingdom, which supported Wilhelm entirely, is on the verge of collapse. Rumor says King Friedrich’s next battleground is Valan. If war breaks out, Valan will be erased instantly—”

*Sigh.*

Isabella released a blatant sigh.

If she didn’t cut her off now, it would never end.

And she already knew everything the woman was saying.

The pride of the Fang Knight Order—who fought in the Abyss—was sky-high.

Matters on the surface were a light snack to them.

Raiga-bias, Raiga-worship—unchanging even if the sky split. Absolute and pure.

So of course the backlash was great, since she had rejected Commander Raiga to his face.

“—Have you ever even seen Wilhelm in person? Someone who barely leaves the Dersian House? Really?”

At last, the woman brought up what she truly wanted to ask.

Most of the Fang Knight Order, including this woman, believed Isabella to be “Isabella von Dersian.”

Not the Snake Princess from the desert, but a delicate flower raised gently within the Dersian family.

Naturally, someone who never left her family home should have no way of meeting Wilhelm, who had no ties to the Empire.

*I have seen him.*

But Isabella *had* seen him.

In the Abyss.

What others had not seen, she saw clearly.

*It was undoubtedly Wilhelm’s star.*

Submerged in the Abyss—
Wilhelm’s star.

Through that star, she could peer deeper into Wilhelm’s memories.

She did not know why the star had shown her his memories, but—

*The star that drinks the nebula.*

The greatest of stars, waiting in the Abyss for someone.

Wilhelm.

Or…
Randolph.

Waiting desperately.

She wanted to deliver this truth, yet never found the opportunity.

“So then, is that other rumor also true?”

“…?”

As Isabella stared blankly, the woman raised her pinky finger.

“That rumor that you’re the commander’s fiancée.”

—

—

*So they’ve decided to treat me as completely invisible.*

I clicked my tongue internally at the Golden Mask’s handling.

He shamelessly dismissed my objection.

I could challenge the decision—
but I didn’t.

*Everything is going according to plan.*

I showed them.

That I was capable of opposing them openly.

That I would not unconditionally accept the Golden Mask’s decisions.

Because this place does not contain only Reaper Cult executives.

Commander Raiga is here as well.

And unlike the Golden Mask, Raiga was now watching me with eyes sparkling with *even greater* interest.

There must also be executives dissatisfied with the Golden Mask.

Following him blindly leads nowhere—
better to oppose him outright.

*Besides…*

What followed was even more interesting.

The First Emperor of the New Arhon Empire.

For unknown reasons, he had been asleep for centuries.

He was the one who brought the eleven Celestial Eggs, the “true lineage.”

No living person had ever seen him.

Rumor only said he lay hidden somewhere in the Empire.

Many believed the Emperor was long dead—
but the Empire worshiped him like a god.

Centuries of loyal devotion that never wavered.

And now, the Emperor was awakening?

“At last…!”

Commander Raiga trembled violently, gasping.

So did the other knights, and the Reaper Cult executives.

Apparently the Golden Mask was the only one who knew this beforehand.

Then the Golden Mask shook his head.

“However, His Majesty has not fully regained consciousness.”

“But you just said he was awakening.”

Raiga scowled, radiating killing intent—as if he would never forgive wordplay.

“There are signs of physical activity. But for His Majesty to fully regain consciousness, we require the ‘Golden Spirit King.’”

“The Golden Spirit King…? Isn’t that a spirit that doesn’t exist?”

Raiga tilted his head.

The Golden Spirit King.

A spirit passed down only in myths—no one had ever seen it, no one had ever found it.

Even Raiga, who roamed both the Continent and the Abyss, had never once encountered it.

“It exists. And the agenda I propose is this:
To grant His Majesty’s *first audience* to whoever finds the Golden Spirit King.”

“…First audience.”

Words that sounded like reaching for clouds.

But the reward at stake was more alluring than anything else.

“Indeed. Before His Majesty awakens, that matter must be resolved.”

At the same time, the eyes of the knights—including Raiga—began to gleam.

The one who would receive the first audience when the Emperor awoke—
that would decide who stood closest to the Emperor between the two factions.

And in that heated atmosphere—

*Golden Spirit King?*

I continued thinking.

The sudden emergence of that name.

Because something about it felt familiar.

…Where had I seen it?

—*Impressive, Knight King.*

…Ah.

It resurfaced.

The golden spirit I met guarding the entrance of the Spirit Tower.

The one who knew my identity!

When I left the tower, the golden spirit called me *Knight King.*

I had wondered how it knew who I was, what it truly was—
yet never found the answer.

And now—

Could the Golden Spirit King they were talking about…
be *that* one?

—

 

 

 

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