"The Empire sank beneath the sea, and heaven and earth shattered."
"Triumphant Capital, that imperial capital with more than two thousand three hundred years of history since the Age of Kings, which had witnessed the rise and fall of two empires, was completely buried beneath the Ending Sea along with the sinking of the Final Empire."
Gilbert's sorrowful words even affected the guards on both sides. Tales clearly felt their hands trembling slightly as they gripped their sword hilts.
Gilbert pressed a hand against Tales's shoulder and looked toward the young knight on the wall, forever charging forward with a furious roar, yet seemingly never reaching the end of his charge.
"And Tomond I... At that time, he was not yet king. He was the Final Empire's last survivor."
Tales could feel the weight in Gilbert's hand. The Former Foreign Minister quietly spoke, reciting lines from Cahill's Collection of Fallen Leaves:
"The hero raised the banner, the king lifted his spear. The Empire had fallen, and heaven and earth were without light."
"Ten years of blood and fire, and he returned victorious, yet could never again go back to the homeland for which he had fought without cease. The imperial house was no more, and the nobles had all turned to dust." At this point, Gilbert stared blankly into the distance.
"Tales, my little sir, can you imagine what that felt like?"
Tales stared blankly at the charging Tomond.
The young knight looked so brave and fearless. Even on that brutal battlefield, he seemed radiant.
Would he have known then that he could never return to his homeland?
Before Tales could answer, Gilbert let out a sigh. "I can't. At least, I can't."
Tales said nothing, but a strange feeling stirred within him.
"Restless souls, forlorn and lost, where could they return?"
Tales calmly recited the poem's final two lines.
Restless souls.
In his imagination, a magnificent and majestic city appeared, slowly sinking beneath the waves. Everyone was fleeing for their lives, crying out in panic and confusion, yet they could only helplessly watch as the sea swallowed everything.
At that moment, Tales suddenly raised his head. With a heavy, faintly indignant tone, he asked, "What about those people?"
"Hm?" Gilbert, immersed in remembrance of the King of Revival, turned his head and looked at Tales in confusion.
Tales looked back at Gilbert as well. He calmed himself, his gaze tranquil.
"It wasn't only the imperial family and the nobility. It wasn't only the knights and soldiers—they were participants in the war to begin with."
"But there were also countless people living on that land: farmers, Merchants, the elderly, and children." The boy's tone was calm. "Regardless of wealth or status, regardless of race, they were all dragged into this war against their will. Every one of them."
"During the war, when the land sank, they were more innocent than the Calamity, the Emperor, the nobles—more innocent than anyone."
"But they were the very meaning of the Empire's existence. Did none of them escape?"
Gilbert stared at Tales, his eyes narrowing slightly, as if he were seeing Tales for the first time and sizing him up anew.
"Just like your grandfather, who showed compassion toward the common people, Little Sir Tales," Gilbert sighed. "You possess a compassionate and benevolent heart."
Compassion toward the common people?
Someone who could use the word "compassion" probably had never placed himself on the same level as the "common people."
As for compassion and benevolence?
Tales silently shook his head inwardly.
But Gilbert immediately lowered his head in dejection, his eyes filled with disappointment. "No. The entire world—from the princes and nobles of the Final Empire to the common people—was swallowed by the sea."
"Only Tomond and his army remained, proving that the Final Empire and even the Ancient Empire had not been legends. They had once existed in absolute reality."
Tales lowered his head, closed his eyes, and gently exhaled.
At that moment, Gilbert's hand on Tales's shoulder suddenly began to tighten. He slowly enunciated each word:
"But Prince Tomund at the time was merely the least favored illegitimate son of the Final Empire's imperial family."
Tales trembled all over!
Tales abruptly turned around and looked at Gilbert in disbelief.
He knew why Gilbert was saying all this.
"Forget titles, territory, and wealth. He was not even entitled to inherit a surname. Even the title of 'Prince' was merely a courtesy."
Gilbert looked at Tales with a firm gaze.
"Compared to you now, he had even less. The circumstances he faced were a hundred times more perilous than yours."
Tales stared blankly at Gilbert, then at the illegitimate-son king on the wall.
Gilbert shook his head, removed his hand from Tales's shoulder, and continued:
"The Ending War was won. Humanity and the entire civilized world celebrated the great victory, while the world's political landscape underwent earth-shaking changes."
"In the east, King Feng, Chen Sword overthrew the old dynasty with the hopes of the Far Easterners and established the Suye Dynasty."
"Ama Mimo Hanbur raised his banner and began spreading the renown of the Hanbur Dynasty among countless believers."
"In the west, Hero Nekaroo Ex was crowned king amid the cheers of the masses, and the powerful, proud Exeter Kingdom was born."
"But compared to them..."
Gilbert looked solemnly and sorrowfully toward Master Colvin's painting.
"The Final Empire, which inherited the Empire's glory, lost all its territory and people overnight, leaving behind only its last bloodline."
"Overnight, the once-insignificant illegitimate son became the highest surviving leader of an Empire that no longer existed."
"Whether land, people, supplies, or wealth, Tomond had nothing. Aside from the six knights at his side, he had only a lone army of two thousand, wandering uneasily through unfamiliar lands. Hope was cut off, and the road ahead was dim."
"At twenty-four, he maneuvered among countless factions and lords. For even a little food, a few supplies, a patch of land to station his troops, or a batch of weapons, he exhausted every means at his disposal—from groveling to arguing his case, from honeyed words to cunning seizure and outright plunder. He maintained his subordinates' independent survival and preserved the Empire's final dignity."
"Lonely Prince Tomund struggled day after day among war, schemes, ambition, and power. He fought to survive amid ridicule, mockery, exploitation, and malice. By the age of twenty-six, his hair had already begun to turn white."
Gilbert clasped his hands behind his back, his eyes filled with reverence.
"'The Final Empire's final prince'—that was how the people of the two continents mocked and ridiculed him at the time."
Tales gazed fixedly at the valiant, spirited prince, saying nothing.
"Ten years passed. Their numbers dwindled, and hope grew ever fainter. At last, after a battle with devastating casualties, his desperate subordinates surrounded the haggard Prince Tomund, clutching their comrades' corpses as they tearfully demanded of him:
"What meaning was there in continuing to struggle? The Empire had perished, not an inch of territory remained. They were like rootless duckweed drifting in the wind, the ashes of history, destined to vanish without a trace."
"Why keep fighting!"
"Why not give up now?"
Tales trembled slightly as he looked toward the prince. The gaze of that ancestor had changed.
When you possessed nothing, when everything had ceased to exist, what were you fighting for?
Gilbert watched Tales's expression and sorrowfully sighed, but then his expression became resolute.
"Tales!" For the first time, he addressed Tales by name without honorifics, his voice stern. "Listen very carefully to what comes next."
"That night, facing his subordinates' questioning, Tomond shed tears, removed his battered armor, pointed at the countless stars in the sky, and recited the most important oath of his life!"
At that moment, Tales saw the guards on both sides straighten solemnly, heads held high. The empty hall instantly echoed with the clatter of armor.
Gilbert's expression was resolute, his tone solemn as he uttered the words:
"When the stars endure, the Empire lives forever."
Tales drew in a deep breath.
The stars—when the stars endured?
The Empire—Tales pondered the meaning of the words—lived forever?
The middle-aged nobleman's voice had barely faded.
The soldiers and guards throughout the hall all stamped their feet forcefully in unison.
"Boom!"
Then they all raised their fists and slammed them into the shields bearing the Gold and Silver Nine-Pointed Star!
"Bang!"
The empty hall was instantly filled with crisp echoes!
Still stunned by the shock of history, Tales was frightened into taking a step back.
"Tales!"
Before he could react, Gilbert suddenly crouched down, seized the boy's shoulders with both hands, and looked him straight in the eye as he said sternly:
"Do not underestimate yourself, or the significance represented by the blood flowing through your veins."
"Your existence and that of Brilliant Star are the strongest proof that humanity's golden age, the glorious Ancient Empire, and the heroic Final Empire still endure in this world!"
By this point, Gilbert's eyes were filled with excitement, and his hands trembled violently, leaving Tales inexplicably flustered.
He continued loudly:
"That day, September 27 of the tenth year of the End Era, was the day the Star Kingdom was established."
"Prince Tomund, who pointed to the stars and swore his oath, took 'Brilliant Star' as his surname from then on, becoming the founding king of the Star Kingdom—Tomond I."
"Over the following decades, the Star Kingdom became the mightiest nation on the Western Continent! Together with Exeter, it was known as 'Shield and Blade of the Western Continent.'"
"The Empire was reborn from the ashes. In the name of the stars, it rose once more in this world! Its glory continued, and its greatness was reborn!"
"When Tomond Radiant Star was mentioned, no one remembered the former 'final prince.'"
"They called him only the 'King of Revival.'"
Gilbert's mustache trembled, a flame seemingly burning in his eyes. "The Brilliant Star Family's motto was born from this as well!"
Tales felt somewhat awkward.
Although he was deeply moved by Tomond's story,
it was still difficult for him to share the fervor of the Gilbert before him.
Did the existence of the stars exist only for the Empire of the past?
There was something wrong with this founding ideal.
Something was definitely wrong.
A sense of incongruity and discomfort rose in Tales's heart.
But seeing Gilbert's fervent, expectant gaze and hearing the guards on both sides breathing noticeably harder, he could only grit his teeth and nod heavily.
Tales furrowed his brows, biting out the words as he repeated them:
"When the stars endure... the Empire... lives forever."
At that moment, a furious female shout rang out!
"That's enough!"
Tales and Gilbert turned around together. On the steps stood Jinnie Bakerville, her face icy as she displeasedly looked at the teacher and student.
"It's dinnertime," she said coldly.