ALL NOVEL Chapter 108: The Horns of the Future
Time passed in a flash.
“Clotho!” the lecturer shouted.
“Here!”
A young man, who had turned his head around to chat with his classmates, hurriedly stood up.
“Answer my question.” The lecturer’s glasses obscured her face, but her eyes looked exceptionally cold. “What is the significance and impact of the Second London Treaty?”
“…” The youth racked his brain.
The Second London Treaty? That’s the treaty signed after Empress Sophia crushed all hostile powers in Britain and annexed its territory, right?
Ah no, that’s the content of the North Sea Treaty—
Crap, I’ve mixed everything up!
“You’ll remain standing for the rest of the lecture. I hope there won’t be a second time.”
Amidst the laughter of his classmates, Clotho sighed in resignation as he stood up and carried his book to stand by the side of the classroom.
After the class ended, the students gathered around him.
“Clotho, you are brave to let your attention wander during the head lecturer’s class.”
“I…” Clotho scratched his head.
Just then, a middle-aged man with rugged features dressed in elegant clothes strutted into the classroom. His footsteps hastened when he saw Clotho.
The students quickly scattered.
The head lecturer sure is vicious to summon Clotho’s father, who serves as a diplomat, over.
“…Ah?” Clotho was dumbstruck.
I know that I got distracted in class, but surely there’s no need to call my parents here over something this small, right?
The middle-aged man walked up to Clotho. His presence naturally commanded authority. “Come with me.”
Damn!
Clotho felt dizzy. He could only miserably drag his feet behind his stern father.
To his surprise, his father didn’t reprimand him. Instead…
“A transfer student from Serica will be transferring here this year. You’ll be taking care of her.”
Clotho was perplexed. “Wait, isn’t that an important responsibility? How did this task fall onto my shoulders?”
His father quietly stared at him.
Clotho spent a moment in thought before his face suddenly lit up in delight. “Ao?!”
Ao was a friend he had in Seres, but it had been eight years since they last met. All this while, they had only been able to keep in touch via letters.
“Looks like you aren’t that dumb.” His father nodded.
…
At Constantinope’s port…
Du du du!
A majestic cruise approached shore while releasing thick puffs of black smoke.
“Hm?”
A black-haired man wearing a cap and carrying a little suitcase stared at the enormous sculptures near the port.
It was a general wielding a spear, with a bow and a scimitar hanging on his waist. Sturdy armor covered not just his entire body but also his face.
Behind him was a beautiful woman wearing a long dress. She held a thick codex in one hand and a scepter in the other, giving off an air of solemnity.
“You must be surprised, Little Ao.”
A teacher walked up to the youth and said, “I was surprised when I first saw it too. I didn’t expect to see the phoenix wing helmet so far away from our homeland. That general sculpture celebrates the Eastern Romain Empire’s first… Apocalypse Priest King?
“He’s rumored to be a beautiful youth, but no one was able to replicate his beautiful features when sculpting him, so Empress Sophia banned the sculpting of his face.”
Ao Yu nodded.
He, too, had heard about the mysterious conqueror who had revitalized the Eastern Romain Empire and lifted it to unprecedented heights. His friend in the Eastern Romain Empire had complained to him over letter that he would stumble whenever questions about the Priest King appeared on the tests.
That was partially because the professors couldn’t come to a consensus about him.
Even the Priest King’s name was in heated debate.
Empress Sophia had only addressed the Priest King as ‘my Apocalypse’ in her letters. Unfortunately, other records in the same era referred to him by his titles, such as the Eastern Priest King, God’s Envoy, the Horseman of the Apocalypse, the Demigod Who Conquered the World, and so on.
The only known fact about him was that he was likely to be a Seres, and he had destroyed countless countries in the six years he had fought for the Eastern Romain Empire. Following that, he suddenly vanished into thin air.
Many legends were left behind in his wake.
Other than that…
“That person standing behind the Priest King is also a mysterious empress,” the teacher continued her explanation. “If the Priest King was the one who brought the Eastern Romain Empire back to its days of glory, Empress Sophia would be the one who recreated it.
“After the disappearance of the Priest King, Empress Sophia took over the empire. She implemented a series of reformations that lay the foundations for the Eastern Romain Empire to become a powerful nation with a unified language and culture.
“If the Priest King’s mystery is rooted in his origins, Empress Sophia’s mystery lies in her legacy. It’s said that she maintained her youthful appearance even as decades passed. One day, she picked her adopted son as her successor and said ‘My Apocalypse is here for me’ before lying in her coffin and passing away.
“Many years later, when her tomb was being moved for redevelopment purposes, the workers found that her coffin was empty.
“Of course, this is just a legend, similar to those who boast to have the Priest King’s bloodline,” the teacher concluded with a shrug of his shoulders.
The black-haired man chuckled.
The Apocalypse Priest King was only in the Eastern Romain Empire for six years, and most of the time, he was either at war or on the way to wage war. Yet, the sheer number of people who claim to be the Priest King’s descendants…
The only way that could have been true was if the Priest King spent every night in those six years having a tensome, working 365 days a year without taking any leaves…
In Empress Sophia’s era, those who dared utter such lies would have their eyes gouged out, their tongues severed, and their necks snapped into two. Of course, the merciful empress would usually strike off the first two punishments.
But now that no one was keeping that in check anymore, the number of people claiming to be the Priest King’s descendants grew to an unbelievable level.
“Also, Little Ao,” the teacher suddenly remembered something and offered a reminder, “there are some things you mustn’t say while studying in the Eastern Romain Empire. You get it, right?”
“I understand, teacher.” Ao Yu nodded.
He knew what his teacher was referring to—the Priest King Blood Replenishment Theory was spreading like wildfire on the streets.
It theorized that the Priest King, contrary to the Eastern Romain Empire’s claims, hadn’t come to the Eastern Romain Empire to restore it to its former glory. Rather, he was a conqueror from the East, who happened to pass by the area, and had decided to plunder it to help his country recover.
However, he went too far and conquered the entire Europe and Asia.
The basis behind this claim lay in his reluctance to become the emperor of the Eastern Romain Empire, as well as how his army grew with each territory he annexed.
He must have realized that there was much to be plundered from Europe and Asia, so he decided to bring more soldiers over to ‘raise his investment’.
Of course, such words definitely shouldn’t be said before the Eastern Romain officials.
“Hey, Ao!!! I’m here!!!”
Just then, the black-haired man heard shouts from the busy port. He looked over and quickly spotted a familiar yet foreign face excitedly waving to him.
“Clotho?” the black-haired man excitedly shouted back.
He first bowed to his teacher before running down to the port.
Along the way, he couldn’t resist the urge to glance at the Priest King’s sculpture.
Everyone claimed that the sculpture was sculpted in the likeness of a young general, but somehow, all he could see was a Golden-winged Great Peng!
Ao Yu firmly pressed his cap down. Through the outlines of his cap, one could vaguely see something growing from his forehead…
…horns?