Chapter 36: Advanced Despair Aura
Northern Empire, Imperial Capital.
Just as the Diamond Royal Family said—this world has, and only has, one empire, so this nation needs no name—in the same way, there is only one imperial capital in this world. Whenever anyone mentions it, no one would think of any other city.
At the center of the Holy City, surrounded by three mountains, lay a massive city-within-a-city. It was encircled by a sturdy wall, separating it from the rest of the urban area. Within those walls, towering spires and arched halls supported by stone beam pillars were scattered everywhere.
That was the residence of the Imperial Royal Family: Morlai Palace.
Morlai Palace was built by the founding emperor of the empire. Originally, it was merely a simple cylindrical hall serving as the royal residence. However, successive emperors over the generations each had different aesthetic tastes and built palaces according to their own preferences. Over the millennia, the entire Morlai Palace gradually transformed into a complex palace complex composed of countless magnificent structures of varied designs.
Morlai Palace was not only the residence of the Imperial Royal Family; the garrison of the royal guards, the Parliament Hall, and the headquarters of many directly affiliated royal organizations were also located within.
Boarding a dark yellow carriage emblazoned with the sun emblem, accompanied by Ying and Lin, Joshua and Brandon headed toward the palace. It was already late at night, but due to the earlier appearance of demons, countless city guards were patrolling the streets with stern expressions. They conducted strict house-to-house inspections, striving to prevent such incidents from recurring.
"It's not just the imperial capital. This is happening all over the Mycroft Continent."
With the Kaos Family and the Imperial Royal Mage Association as sources of intelligence, Brandon had learned certain things faster than Joshua. In the carriage, he flipped through various documents that had been urgently delivered and explained to the warrior: "What can be confirmed so far is that the Eastern Plains Kingdom has the worst disaster. They have the most spellcasters there, and many people possess mana bloodlines—perfect as sacrifices. The Far South comes next; the large number of refugees brought by the dragon calamity provides the best material for evil rituals. Because massive monsters are attacking everywhere, the kingdom's army is too busy to pay attention, and the losses they've suffered are even greater than those in the Eastern Plains.
"Even the Western Mountain Dwarves and the Wind Whisper Elves—those nearly reclusive beings—have been harassed by cultists. From this perspective, the imperial capital, due to its tight defenses, has actually suffered no serious losses."
"Indeed, cultists are everywhere." Joshua nodded slightly, showing no surprise at this.
As long as desires remain unsatisfied, chaos spreads. This holds true for every race, without exception.
Because of the earlier battle with the demon, he had already changed into a different set of clothes. Apparently considering that he would soon meet with the emperor, this was a common noble attire. But even so, those intricate patterns and decorations could not conceal the warrior's conspicuous aura of fierce killing intent. "But why does the emperor want to see us?"
He found it somewhat strange. After all, he had merely killed a demon—a commonplace occurrence. Even in the imperial capital, a commendation would suffice. Back when he was in the Abyss, leading a team through maps, he would wipe out an entire nest in one go. Not long ago, he had even used the Book of Iboun to summon demons as drinking snacks. He had long grown numb to it.
Even if they wanted to understand information about those demons, there was no need to summon him.
"Not 'us,' but you. Just you alone."
Pointing out Joshua's slip of the tongue, Brandon shook his head and said: "Although it was just a demon, its appearance in the imperial capital is its greatest difference. Setting aside other political or security implications, this means the seal on the Abyss has begun to loosen. And you are the Chaos Warden... I say, Joshua."
At this point, Brandon stopped his explanation and furrowed his brow. He no longer looked at the documents in his hands but raised his head and said to the warrior with some irritation: "Can you tone down your pressure a bit? The coachman and the horses are trembling, and the carriage has started to veer off course. Can't you feel it?"
"I've already restrained it a lot."
Glancing to the side, where Ying and Lin were secretly giggling on either side, Joshua shrugged helplessly. He looked at the system text at the edge of his retina and sighed: "This problem is getting bigger and bigger."
In the system's character list within the warrior's eyes, one number was particularly striking.
Among rows of attributes that were all over a hundred, or even more, only this one was a conspicuous negative number.
Beneath this attribute, there were also many newly added descriptions and reports.
Joshua couldn't be bothered to read the detailed properties of this achievement. In short, it was all about reducing charm, increasing intimidation, threat, and persuasion checks. Overall, it made his personal image increasingly negative. Simply passing by would cause the effect Brandon had mentioned earlier—making horses and coachmen tremble in fear.
What did a charm of negative fifty-three mean? The warrior estimated that if he didn't reveal his identity and just strolled around the palace gates, he would probably be surrounded by an entire guard knight regiment. No matter which city he went to, the guards at the city gates would block him and refuse entry. Any public venue staff would be on high alert the moment he entered. If you added the Despair Aura—the enhanced version of the Fear Aura's effect—Joshua felt he could be called the source of chaos. Going anywhere would cause mass panic, making him more demonic than a demon.
"The number of monsters you've killed is truly too many..."
Closing the documents in his hands, Brandon also looked quite helpless: "At this point, even inviting a bishop-level priest wouldn't be able to help you."
He naturally knew that the friend before him was no evil person. In fact, from the swordsman's perspective, Joshua was a competent, even perfect lord. He was willing to slay dragons for his people, and even if he was repeatedly assassinated because of it, he had no regrets or complaints. But in this world of magic and souls, the curses left behind by the dying were also real. The grudges of the monsters killed by Joshua clung to the warrior's body. Although they couldn't harm him, they affected others' perceptions.
Generally speaking, seasoned soldiers would also have a similar condition. Compared to closeness, most people would show more respect, or rather fear, toward them. But in Joshua's case, this had reached an extreme—from respect, to awe, to fear, to terror, until finally, at the mere sight of him, one felt he was extraordinarily dangerous, even experiencing weakness in the limbs and a sense of despair that made it impossible to move.
Through divine arts, priests could purify this special state. However, as Brandon had said, given the warrior's current condition, it seemed that only someone at the level of the Pope could solve this problem for him.
Because of Joshua, the carriage moved very slowly. It took a long time before they finally arrived at the city gate of Morlai Palace.
Guards in black armor came to the carriage. They saw the royal emblem on it and knew that the people inside must be honored guests personally invited by His Majesty the Emperor. So their attitude was very polite. But no matter how polite, the rules could not be changed. Several guards wanted to open the carriage door to see who was inside. Weapons could not be brought in and would be temporarily held by them.
The guard who appeared to be the captain expressed his desire to open the door for inspection, and Brandon naturally agreed.
Opening the carriage door, the captain looked up and immediately recognized Brandon. As a staunch royalist and the eldest son of the Kaos Family, the swordsman was very famous among these guards. He was even an honored swordsman granted the right to carry weapons within the palace.
Respectfully saluting, the captain turned to look at the other side.
Then he immediately placed his hand on the hilt of the longsword at his waist.