The very next day, the Emperor personally came all the way to the prison...
...only to utter those words.
Not to release Haran.
Not to apologize and admit it had all been a mistake.
"...What did you just say?"
An execution?
You're going to kill me?
Clang!
Haran shot to his feet and seized the iron bars.
He looked ready to rip them apart with his bare hands, rush out, and grab the Emperor by the throat.
The knights standing beside the Emperor instinctively drew their swords.
A tense thought flashed through every one of their minds.
Could we actually stop the great Archmage if he attacked?
The atmosphere tightened instantly.
But the tension disappeared almost as quickly.
Their eyes fell upon the shackles restraining Haran's wrists.
"...Heh."
One of the knights let out a quiet, mocking chuckle.
The moment Haran realized he was being laughed at because of his pitiful situation, his face twisted with rage.
"Enough."
The Emperor raised a hand, stopping his knights.
"Leave us."
"I wish to speak with Haran alone."
"Your Majesty, it's dangerous."
"I'll be fine."
"Even our great Archmage is nothing more than an ordinary man once those mana-control shackles are on him."
The Emperor spoke with a smile.
The knights snickered before obediently withdrawing.
The prison guards watching Haran did the same.
Those bastards... How dare they...
"Haran."
Now only the two of them remained.
The Emperor relaxed as though standing before an old friend.
His shoulders loosened, his weight shifted lazily to one side.
For a brief moment, he looked exactly like the youngest prince he had once been.
"...What exactly is going on?"
"Don't tell me..."
"You actually believe I tried to kill you?"
"I've been framed!"
"Who would dare—who would dare pin something like this on me—!"
"Haran."
"..."
The fury blazing in Haran's eyes wavered.
The Emperor was smiling.
Just as gently.
Just as kindly.
With that same damned smile that crinkled his eyes.
"So..."
"...why did you force my hand?"
"...What?"
"If only you hadn't tried to leave me..."
"...we could have remained friends forever."
At that moment, a memory flashed through Haran's mind.
It was a conversation from about a month earlier.
The two of them had been sharing drinks together.
'Less than a year remains now.'
'Hm? For what?'
'Don't tell me you've forgotten.'
'The day I finally become a free man.'
One year.
When Haran turned thirty...
...the contract binding the two of them would come to an end.
'You sponsored a homeless little beggar like me.'
'In exchange, I promised to devote twenty years of my life to Your Majesty.'
'...That's right.'
'I remember now.'
'Time really has passed that quickly.'
What expression had the Emperor worn back then?
'You'd better keep your promise.'
'The moment I turn thirty, I'm running away.'
Haran had laughed, speaking half as a joke and half in earnest.
He never noticed the look on the Emperor's face.
The Emperor had merely toyed with his wine cup before speaking bitterly.
'...Thirty.'
'It truly isn't far away.'
'Then I suppose I should begin preparing now.'
Their cups had clinked together.
The clear ringing sound still echoed vividly in Haran's memory.
"My own hands created the great Archmage."
"So naturally..."
"...you belong to me."
"And yet you dared think about leaving."
"How absurd."
The Emperor's voice overlapped with the phantom echo of clinking glasses.
Reality came crashing back.
Gripping the prison bars so tightly his knuckles whitened, Haran glared at him.
"So that's it!"
"You locked me in here because of that?"
"You were the one who framed me all along!"
"Kill you?"
"Would I ever do something so wasteful?"
"You're far too valuable for that."
"Then...!"
"Tell me."
"Have you ever heard of an Ego Sword?"
The Emperor unsheathed the sword hanging at his waist—still inside its scabbard.
It was one of the Imperial Family's sacred treasures.
Haran had seen it once before.
"The gemstone embedded in the hilt..."
"...is called a Soul Stone."
"It forms the core of an Ego Sword."
"It resonates with the one it recognizes as its master and grants them access to its power."
His fingers gently stroked the green gemstone.
From Haran's perspective, mana flowed through the surrounding air with the gem at its center.
"They say that if a human is forged into a Soul Stone..."
"...their ego disappears."
"Only their abilities remain."
"And through those abilities..."
"...they achieve immortality."
"Haran."
"You won't merely serve me."
"You'll serve my sons."
"My grandsons."
"And every Emperor who comes after them."
"Hahaha!"
The Emperor laughed brightly.
He wondered aloud what color Haran's Soul Stone would become.
He talked excitedly about embedding it into the Imperial Crown so the two of them could remain together forever.
He went on and on with that insane nonsense.
Haran's entire body trembled with betrayal.
"Stop spewing bullshit!"
"A Soul Stone?"
"Hah."
"I don't know how you even learned about such ancient magic..."
"...but do you seriously think someone like you could cast magic of that level?"
"Hahaha!"
"Of course I can't."
"But, Haran..."
"...there are others besides you who can."
"...What?"
Something flashed across Haran's mind.
Seeing him freeze, the Emperor grinned.
"That's right."
"Those children."
"Your personal disciples."
"How could I possibly have devised such a method by myself?"
"I'm completely ignorant when it comes to magic."
"Judith."
"Natalie."
"Jayden."
"Philip."
"Seta."
The Emperor counted the familiar names on his fingers.
Every last one of them.
Haran's foolish slaves.
His disciples.
"They came to me while I struggled."
"They told me of a method I never would have imagined."
"They researched Soul Stones."
"And they even proved the theory worked."
Haran felt his blood run cold.
The Emperor spread one hand before him.
"In five days..."
"...the execution of the great Archmage Haran will take place."
"Naturally, we've already prepared a substitute to replace you."
"Haran."
"All you have to do..."
"...is pretend to die."
"And become my Soul Stone."
"You..."
"You goddamn bastards!"
BANG!
Haran kicked the prison bars with all his strength.
It wasn't enough to threaten the Emperor in the slightest.
"Then..."
"I'll see you again in five days."
"My great Archmage..."
"Haran."
The Emperor turned and walked away.
His footsteps gradually faded.
Then came the heavy boom of the iron door closing.
"Open this damn door!"
"Arpheus!"
"You insignificant little bastard!"
"How dare you humiliate me!"
BANG!
BANG! BANG!
Again and again Haran shook the bars before kicking them with everything he had.
Even then, the rage burning inside him refused to subside.
Those treacherous bastards...!
Only after venting his fury for a long time did his strength finally leave him.
He collapsed onto the cold stone floor.
Veins bulged across the fist he had clenched so tightly.
The Emperor's betrayal alone would have been enough.
But the disciples who had helped him...
That enraged him just as much.
Every one of the disciples Haran had taken in had been an orphan.
Most of them had been nothing more than snot-nosed brats when he found them and raised them himself.
Those idiots had known absolutely nothing.
He had taught them how to read.
He had taught them manners.
He had taught them magic.
He had taught them how to survive in this world without being looked down upon simply because they had no parents.
Those little bastards whose blood isn't even dry yet...
They dared betray me?
The Emperor hadn't been lying.
Haran had known him long enough to recognize every tiny habit he showed whenever he lied.
Which meant...
The part about turning him into a Soul Stone in five days...
...was true as well.
Over my dead body.
Live forever with no consciousness, existing only as a bundle of abilities?
How could that possibly be called living?
He would rather die.
Did they really think I'd quietly let them do it?
Suddenly, it felt as though a light bulb lit up inside his head.
Haran staggered to his feet and yanked on the shackles with all his strength.
Clank! Clank!
The chain linking the cuffs rattled loudly as it stretched taut and fell slack again and again.
Nothing happened.
No matter how violently he pulled, the chain showed no sign of breaking.
Clang! Clang!
He slammed the shackles against the stone wall.
Still nothing.
Instead, the metal scraped his wrists raw until blood streamed down them.
"...Ha..."
"...Haa..."
Goddammit.
I should've listened when those disciples kept telling me to exercise.
Haran stared silently at the bright red blood running over his pale wrists.
Then his eyes narrowed.
Mana that had accumulated inside his body was slowly leaking into the air together with his blood.
"...Ah."
"Come to think of it..."
A memory surfaced.
Something Jayden had once asked him.
"Master! Master!"
"I read this theory yesterday."
"If there are other dimensions beyond our own..."
"...do you think it's possible to travel there?"
At the time, Haran had simply scolded him for wasting time on nonsense instead of memorizing spell formulas.
After all, magic involving dimensions had long been forbidden.
But secretly...
He had been pleased.
A disciple capable of thinking that far ahead deserved encouragement.
So Haran had researched it alone.
His plan had been to hand Jayden the completed research once he grew older—and then work the poor kid even harder.
Dimensional-transfer spell.
A spell completed only after years of research.
Only...
It had been completed in theory alone.
He had never actually attempted dimensional travel.
It was forbidden.
And besides...
It requires an absurd amount of mana.
Even for the great Archmage himself, casting it meant gambling with his life.
Perhaps that was why the spell had been forbidden in the first place.
But...
So what?
If I stay here, I'll die anyway.
No...
I'll end up in a fate worse than death.
Haran glanced toward the tiny window high on the wall.
The clouds drifted apart.
The moon slowly emerged.
Tomorrow is the full moon.
During a full moon, the density of mana dissolved into the atmosphere became dramatically greater.
Lesser mages often borrowed the moon's power when casting large-scale spells.
So this is what people mean by heaven helping me.
A crooked smile spread across Haran's face.
Now the only question is...
How do I cast it?
Destroying the shackles is impossible.
The mana-control shackles had been forged using mana stones designed to suppress monsters.
Even Haran couldn't break them.
But then again...
Who was he?
The great genius Archmage always finds a way.
The blood on his wrists had already dried into dark crimson streaks.
Mana no longer leaked from the wounds.
Slowly, he opened his right hand and stared at each finger in turn.
He hated pain.
Absolutely hated it.
But this was the only method left.
I swear...
I will abandon this Empire.
Before they could abandon me...
I'd abandon them first.
Let's see how well this Empire survives...
...without its great Archmage.
Haran raised his hand to his mouth.
Then—
Crunch.
He bit down hard into the soft flesh of one of his own fingers.