Above The Sky
Chapter 128 - 128 120 The Emperor Who Betrayed the Emperor 34

128: Chapter 120: The Emperor Who Betrayed the Emperor (3/4) 128: Chapter 120: The Emperor Who Betrayed the Emperor (3/4) Even Ian was stunned by his teacher’s words for a moment.

“The Crown Prince…

assassinated The Emperor?”

The boy couldn’t understand the information he had just heard, “Does he resent his father for living too long and can’t wait to become the emperor himself?”

“Or is it that Yinaiga II is planning to depose the Crown Prince to appoint another Prince as heir?”

Although history has seen many rebellions of Crown Princes against Emperors, some have failed and some have succeeded, but on the whole, the number of normal successions are a bit more common.

Since Ian’s teacher is a Knight of Yinaiga II, Ian for the time being had to assume the other wasn’t some true Tyrant Black King, which could probably rule out the possibility of the ‘Crown Prince being unable to stand his own father’s cruelty and initiating a splendid rebellion for the people’.

Overall, this was very abnormal.

“Neither.”

Hiliard also showed an extremely bizarre expression as he lifted his head to look at the pitch-black canopy and heavy rain outside the cave, muttering, “From the beginning, I was betrayed by an old friend, afflicted by Ice Prison Calamity Ash, and by the time I managed to fight off all enemies and arrived inside the palace…

everything was already over.”

“I asked several of my ‘friends’ from that time, and as they lay dying, they all firmly believed that the Emperor had been possessed by the terrifying creature from the Labyrinth, turned into an anti-Human monster…

With the support of both the Empress and the Crown Prince, they dared to stage a coup.”

“The participating Nobles and officials accounted for over seventy percent of the entire imperial court, with some looking on coldly; the ones who truly supported The Emperor were less than one in ten…

It’s no wonder the Crown Prince and the Empress dared to take action.”

“It was for interest.”

As Hiliard shook his head troubled, Ian interjected unexpectedly.

He narrowed his eyes, pondering seriously, “Let’s not talk about the Nobles, the Empire’s court had many civilian officials selected from the academies — they didn’t have many reasons to participate in the coup, especially when it was the Emperor himself who had promoted them to their positions.”

“Only interest.”

The boy recalled the keywords from his memory, and thinking of what the old Knight had once spoken to him about ‘cultural dissemination’, he became even more certain of his conjecture, “The Emperor must have done something that touched almost all the privileged classes’ interests, which was why it resulted in such widespread desertion back then.”

“The spread of knowledge…

could be just such a monumental event.”

“Hehe, hahaha…”

Chuckles lightly, then bursts out laughing, Hiliard was completely oblivious to the wound in his abdomen as he laughed wistfully, “Just this?

Of course it wasn’t only…

Haha, Ian, let me tell you what we did back then.”

The elder straightened his spine, locking eyes with the young man; even though his body was thin and aged, his spirit was still as imposing as a mountain, “Interest?

Exactly whose interest did whom touch?”

“We constructed water conservancies, dug canals; we eradicated nests, swept away Magical Beasts.”

“We built fortresses to resist foreign enemies; we established academies to disseminate knowledge.”

“Ian, we reduced agricultural taxes, abolished numerous harsh taxes and labor services, and we even abolished slavery — did you know that sixty years ago, there were tens of millions of slaves and servants in The Empire?

Did you know that sixty years ago in The Empire, there were corpses from starvation everywhere, husbands selling their wives and children, mothers cooking their young to survive?”

Ian’s eyes widened as he looked at his teacher, but the old man’s gaze seemed to stretch back through the ages, and a fierce blaze seemed to burn within his eyes.

“What did we do?”

The old Knight clenched his fists as he spoke, his voice tinged with barely concealed rage, “We fought against disasters, we aided in famines, we defended against covetous foreign threats, we revived the entire Empire!”

“Everyone could fill their stomachs, everyone could live with dignity!”

“You tell me, whose interests did we step on, whose?!”

“The elite’s.”

But Ian replied calmly, his tone icy, as if he wasn’t indignant at all about everything Hiliard had described, unwilling, “The established beneficiaries’, the privileged class’s, the Nobles’, the slave owners’, the knowledge monopolists’.”

“Teacher, you trespassed upon the interests of the wealthy, the vast majority of academical officials, those who annexed land and relied on mercenaries for power.”

The boy chuckled softly, “Now I see, I understand why the Crown Prince and the Empress would also be terrified enough to betray their own father and husband.”

“Because he also trespassed against himself — against the richest and most privileged individuals, the greatest established benefactors, those in power and monopolizers.”

“He trespassed against the idol seated on his throne, the interest of the person named ‘The Emperor’.”

Hiliard looked at his Apprentice and brother in dumbfounded silence, as if for the first time truly recognizing him.

He stared at the small figure as if a massive, profound shadow was emerging from it.

“You are much calmer than I am…

much calmer,”

he muttered, his voice growing deeper, but his spirit was significantly lifted.

He smiled bitterly, “Yes, he used to say that too.”

“And I never understood.”

“Anyway,” the old man lifted his head, staring at the pitch-black cavern ceiling above, “the Dark Moon turmoil ended all that.”

“His Majesty became the Black King, the Black Tyrant, with all his accomplishments looted and cut to pieces.

All the mistakes were the Tyrant’s doing, while all the benefits were credited to the New Emperor, that ‘Guardian’ Axel.”

“Such a dull cycle of reincarnation.”

Ian also sighed.

He spoke absentmindedly to himself, “Changing such a world is really troublesome.

It would probably take a very long time, maybe even a lifetime.”

“If I could become stronger, maybe it would be a bit easier, save some time for research.”

Hiliard looked at Ian, puzzled.

He asked, “You want to change the world?”

Ian hummed softly, checking Hiliard’s wounds to make sure they did not burst open from the teacher’s earlier excitement, and then nodded, “What else can I do?”

His words were as natural as the workings of heaven and earth—like the morning sun rising in the east until the night falls and the day sets in the west.

Such a calm attitude left the old Knight with many words of advice stuck in his throat, unspoken.

In the end, he just let out a long sigh in the darkness, but a smile appeared on his lips.

“Let’s go, Teacher.”

Once he’d ensured Hiliard’s wounds were treated and beginning to heal, Ian wiped the sweat from his brow.

He helped the old Knight up, whispering, “It’s time for us to ‘hide away.'”

“Let’s head to the top of Sigh Cliff.

It’s shrouded in clouds and mist and interfered by the Spirit Energy Field.

No matter how formidable that Inspector Knight is, it’s ‘absolutely impossible’ for him to find us there.”

“Hmm,” the old man stood up with the help of his apprentice.

Stepping out of the cave, the two faced the torrential rain, heading towards the dark cliff-top.

Elsewhere, a figure missing a right arm, staggering yet continuously listening to the sounds around, also resumed their steps after a brief pause.

“The situation is a bit grim…”

As Ian led Hiliard step by step to the top of the cliff, his heart was steadily sinking to the bottom of the valley.

The old Knight’s body had decayed so badly it was nearly beyond recognition, and with each step they took upwards, the old man aged a bit more.

His breathing became more and more labored, as fragile as that of a man well into his seventies, who might cough a few times when struck by the wind and rain.

For the Terra People, if such wind and rain could make them uncomfortable…

it was, in a sense, a harbinger of death.

“Would you like to drink some more medicine?”

With a hundred thoughts running through his mind, Ian could only offer such simple concern, but the old man smiled and shook his head, indicating it was unnecessary.

Arriving at an outcrop on the cliff-top that could provide temporary shelter from the wind and rain, Ian settled Hiliard down and then began to prepare his own arrangements.

“I will continue treating the wounds.”

Meanwhile, he fed Hiliard misleading lies, and Hiliard cooperated with Ian’s words, occasionally uttering genuine, low groans as if his wounds were indeed being touched.

And just as the old Knight’s ‘wounds’ were nearly treated,

another person, who had treated their wounds, was steadily making their way to the top of the slanted cliff path.