His chest throbbed, and tears welled in his eyes.
What had he said most often while living as a foreign assistant enslaved by the academy?
-Too much work. I am dying.
-Professor, not enough money.
The frustration had nearly driven him mad.
Julian cried out inwardly.
‘This is what proper transmigration, fluent speech, and communication are supposed to be like!’
Long live the language patch! Long may it reign!
Back in Korea, no one had ever accused him of being unable to express himself. If the worst thing about being transmigrated into had been ending up under Arthur Blanco, the second worst had unquestionably been the absence of a language patch.
‘I nearly attained enlightenment from all that pent-up frustration!’
The tongue that had been sealed for over ten years danced freely.
“I will not regard the divine power bestowed upon me as a burden.”
Carried away by his momentum, he looked toward the Saintess and the Commander of the Holy Knights.
“I will not remain a mere spark. I will become a raging flame. With light and fire, I will blind the demons and burn them away.”
His gaze swept across the officials of the pro-war faction, who had demanded a holy war against the demons, and those of the pro-peace faction, who had argued for maintaining the status quo.
Every one of the most powerful figures in the Empire was watching him.
His bloodline, his divine power, and the language patch.
Julian was certain.
‘My second life after transmigration will be different.’
He would make it different.
He would never again suffer the same wretched fate as in his previous life.
He declared with all his conviction.
“I will purify the academy with the power of God!”
Julian raised his fist.
“Eradicate the demons! Liberate the academy!”
The beards of the pro-peace officials trembled at his impassioned speech.
Even the pro-war officials stared at the Third Prince with a mixture of bewilderment and emotion. Before long, several of them clenched their fists.
“Eradicate the demons!”
The Chief Justice sprang to his feet, thrusting his fist into the air as he repeated the chant.
“Liberate the academy!”
“In the name of the God of Light!”
Julian’s speech and rallying cries swept through the council chamber. In the blink of an eye, an Academy Liberation Army had been formed.
“Eradicate the demons! Liberate the academy! The Order of Holy Knights will lead the charge!”
“Let us go and drive out the demons! My house will provide support as well!”
“Let us save the academy’s students! My grandchild is trapped in there!”
The Saintess was so astonished that she could barely gather her thoughts.
She quietly pulled the Commander of the Holy Knights, who had been shouting that he would follow Julian at the very front, into a corner.
“Commander, come to your senses. The holy war has not begun yet.”
“Can you not see it, Saintess? The holy war has already begun. In the name of the God of Light! So long as His Highness is with us, we shall be victorious!”
The Saintess drove a fist imbued with divine power into his side.
“Urk……?”
“Commander, stop charging ahead on your own and listen to me.”
“……I have already reached my conclusion.”
“Your conclusion is ‘Long live Lord Julian, and victory shall be ours’?”
The Commander briefly averted his eyes at her scathing response. The Saintess continued in a calm voice.
“What in the world has happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am speaking of Lord Julian. Could his madness have disappeared after he nearly died and returned to life?”
She was confused.
Julian Barnabas Istvan.
The Mad Prince. The Imperial Lunatic.
The Third Prince, who had once embodied those epithets, had suddenly displayed the dignity befitting an imperial prince.
“I understand what you mean. He appears entirely different from before.”
The Commander of the Holy Knights looked at the Saintess with a solemn expression.
“Does that not make it a miracle?”
“A miracle……?”
He nodded and turned his gaze toward Julian.
“God rescued His Highness’s soul.”
The Saintess followed the Commander’s gaze.
Julian’s golden eyes shone with keen intelligence, and his eloquence in conveying his will was impeccable.
“In these troubled and chaotic times, the God of Light restored him to life and strengthened his soul so that the Third Prince might save the Empire.”
“…….”
“Do you not understand, Saintess?”
A confident smile appeared on the Commander’s face.
“God has finally granted us a miracle. The miracle we have long prayed for.”
The Saintess faltered briefly at his final words, then stared at Julian for a long while.
“……I see.”
She nodded deeply.
“God has answered our prayers. To think that we would ever see Lord Julian like this…….”
The Commander of the Holy Knights agreed.
The two of them had seen Julian frequently from a young age because of his extraordinary divine power. As a result, they had experienced just as much disappointment as expectation.
They had wondered why God had granted Julian divine power without also granting him a soul strong enough to withstand it. They had pitied him, yet whenever they saw the Third Prince staring blankly with dull eyes, unable even to recognize them, the hope they had struggled to preserve would crumble once again.
They had finally tried to erase him from their thoughts and treat him as though he no longer existed.
They had never imagined that such a miracle would occur.
“It is astonishing. Perhaps God truly did grant some new strength to his soul.”
“I never knew the Third Prince was capable of making such an expression.”
“He was always either expressionless or angry.”
“A moment ago, he even seemed overcome with emotion and briefly shed tears.”
They recalled what Third Prince Julian had shown them moments earlier.
After receiving the Commander’s pledge of loyalty, the Third Prince had closed his eyes briefly. The moisture gathered there had unquestionably been tears.
The two slowly contemplated what they had witnessed.
Prince Julian, who had always resembled a broken doll.
Julian, who had remained indifferent to everything in the world.
He had stood against the Empire’s high-ranking officials out of concern for the academy students tormented by demons.
He had even been moved to tears by a pledge of loyalty that should have been his by right.
How could they ever have abandoned someone like him?
“Thank you, God.”
The more they thought about it, the more emotion surged through them and filled their hearts with faith. The Saintess and the Commander unconsciously traced the holy sign once more.
“For returning him to our side.”
“Barnabas, the Child of Prophecy.”
The two swore with one heart.
“We will protect him at all costs!”
***
The fervor for recruiting the Liberation Army spread beyond the Imperial Palace.
“They are finally going to destroy the demons in the academy! They are recruiting for the Arpad Academy Liberation Army!”
“Well, it was bound to happen eventually.”
“They should have done this long ago. We have tolerated those demons running rampant in the Holy Empire for far too long!”
“Had I been twenty years younger, I would have volunteered myself.”
Many did more than merely talk. Countless people from across the Empire came forward to volunteer, regardless of age or gender.
“Your Highness, volunteers and donations for the Liberation Army are pouring in from throughout the Empire.”
The Commander of the Holy Knights reported the situation with visible pride.
“To think the academy would receive such attention and support after all this time. It is entirely thanks to Your Highness taking action.”
He was right.
The people of the Empire had gradually lost interest in the demon crisis and the blockade of Arpad Academy.
Five years had passed.
There had been little progress toward a solution, nothing ordinary citizens could do, and however tragic it might have been, it was ultimately someone else’s problem.
Julian’s dramatic story, however, reignited public sentiment.
The Third Prince who had once borne the expectations of the entire Empire.
Julian Barnabas Istvan, the ‘Child of Prophecy.’
He had gone mad because his human body could not contain the full measure of God’s love—
Only to miraculously return from the brink of death.
All so that he might defeat the academy’s demons and rescue its students!
It was the story of a noble figure who had fallen into the abyss, only to return as a hero.
Anyone unmoved by such a tale could hardly call themselves a citizen of the Holy Empire.
Julian agreed.
‘Even I have to admit that it sounds convincing.’
No matter how he examined it, the arrangement benefited everyone.
Julian could restore his reputation. The Crown Prince could send a rival far away. The people could hope that the Empire’s greatest problem would finally be resolved and their national pride restored.
“Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles.”
“Pardon?”
“If you understand both your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and your own, then enter battle only when victory is possible, you will not be defeated.”
“Oh…….”
The Commander of the Holy Knights was about to express admiration for Julian’s wisdom when the prince continued.
“In other words, if you do not know enough, withdraw. First, find a way to survive. Is that not what it means?”
“……Does it truly mean that?”
“It does.”
Julian nodded with complete confidence.
He was a prince who looked impressive on the surface but was disregarded and restrained from every direction.
Rather than lingering around a struggle for the imperial throne that he knew nothing about and getting stabbed again, he would rescue the academy—his home ground—and claim it for himself.
It was quite a good plan.
There was also something deeply satisfying about rising from an enslaved assistant to a headmaster.
-Professor Blanco, I hear your assistant is exceptionally capable. Could you lend him to me for some of my work?
In the past, professors would buy Arthur Blanco a single drink and then use Julian as though he were a publicly owned slave.
If he gathered every one of those professors and worked them to the bone, it felt as though ten years of pent-up resentment would finally be washed away.
‘Even if only for that reason, I must restore the academy as soon as possible!’
Burning with determination, Julian unconsciously smacked his lips. Now that events had unfolded this way, he could not help feeling regretful.
‘I need to work that bastard Arthur Blanco into the ground!’
“Y-Your Highness? What are you thinking about?”
The Commander of the Holy Knights took half a step backward as he asked. Julian returned to his senses after imagining Arthur Blanco dangling from a rope.
“Hmm. I became somewhat carried away while thinking about the academy’s demons.”
“That would explain why your gaze looked so fierce and intense.”
“……I imagine it did.”
Ahem. Julian cleared his throat and continued.
“In any case, gather those volunteers who possess useful combat ability and practical experience. Those driven by enthusiasm alone may be manipulated by the demons and could even hinder our forces.”
“You are correct. However……”
The Commander’s gaze grew heavy.
“We will not be able to retake the academy with only our holy knights and a small elite force. Even if some of the volunteers lack aptitude, it may be advantageous to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers.”
“Would unreliable reinforcements not become poison instead?”
“Your Highness is correct.”
The Commander sighed briefly before continuing.
“That would be true if they were reinforcements we intended to keep with us for the long term.”
“!”
Julian’s expression hardened as he understood the implication. He spoke in a low voice.
“Are you suggesting that we use the volunteers as human shields?”
“No.”
The Commander denied it immediately. After a moment’s hesitation, he continued.
“However, Your Highness, demons are powerful. We will not be able to enter the academy without spilling blood.”
He did not intend to use the Liberation Army as shields, but he believed that they would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.
“There are times when blood must be shed for a greater cause.”
The Commander of the Holy Knights advised Julian to prioritize his own safety above everything else. So long as Julian survived, they could attempt another campaign against the demons.
He then departed.
‘Hmm.’
Left alone, Julian leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. His eyes naturally drifted toward the documents spread across the desk.
They were his letter of appointment as headmaster and petitions from the families of those trapped inside the academy.
[……It has been five years since we last received any news of my elder brother, the light and pride of our family…….]
[We beg you to discover the whereabouts of Lady Alista of House Felic.]
[Our youngest has loved codes since childhood, and we often played at writing coded messages in our letters. Since the demons seized control of the academy, only two letters have arrived. Both contained a coded plea asking us to kill them…….]
Those who remained in the academy were someone’s beloved family members.
The Commander had said that they could try again so long as Julian survived, but every failed attempt would place the students, professors, and staff members in even greater danger.
On the other hand, if he attempted to overwhelm the demons with the Liberation Army’s numbers, many of its members would lose their lives.
The holy knights might burn with hatred for demons, but Julian was merely a transmigrator inhabiting a prince’s body. He could not allow one group to die merely to save another.
‘Besides, the imperial family is already wary of me. The high-ranking officials will also want someone to blame if this fails.’
The greater the losses, the more eagerly the high-ranking officials and the Crown Prince Faction would exploit the matter and tighten a noose around Julian’s neck.
‘It simply will not happen immediately. If the casualties mount, they will inevitably become a weakness they can use against me.’
Julian bit his lip as he considered the problem.
‘There can be no second attempt. We must succeed on the first try, with the fewest possible casualties.’
How?
His mind raced.
What he had known about the academy five years ago.
What was unlikely to have changed during those five years.
The new information he had obtained since transmigrating into Julian’s body.
The rough outline of a plan gradually emerged in his mind.
‘……It might be possible.’
Julian rose from his seat.
‘First, I need that person’s cooperation.’