Law of Space and Time

Chapter 24: Story of the Past

"I was just thinking out loud, you don't have to take me so seriously," Erwin said with a smile.

"You're such a bright-looking young man, why are you so wary of other people?" the elderly man complained as he stroked Erwin's hands with his own.

Erwin couldn't help but shudder slightly as he hurriedly pulled his hands back, then said, "As I was reading 'The Chronicles of the Reynold Empire', I recall there was a part that said that during the Battle of Orchid Water Pass, a group of troops had been deployed from the Reynold Empire along the Fulter Mountain Ranges to the south of Orchid Water Pass."

"So?" the elderly man asked as he grabbed another handful of nuts from Erwin's platter. "I've read that book as well, but it never mentioned exactly how many troops were sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges. In any case, given the state of the Reynold Empire at the time, how many troops could they have possibly spared? If it had only been several tens of thousands of soldiers, then even if they had managed to make their way behind Canbad the Great's army, what could they have done against that formidable enemy army of 400,000 troops?"

"The Reynold Empire would've barely had any troops leftover at all, let alone tens of thousands of soldiers," Erwin said. "If you ask me, the group of troops that were sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges would've only numbered in the thousands at the very most. On top of that, consider the terrain of the Fulter Mountain Ranges. It would've definitely been unsuitable for large armies to march through. Otherwise, Canbad the Great wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of attacking Orchid Water Pass."

The elderly man nodded in response, and he felt Erwin's analysis to be quite reasonable. "If it's only a unit of several thousand troops, how could they possibly have turned the tables? They would've been nothing more than cannon fodder in face of Canbad the Great's forces, wouldn't they?"

"That's why I've always been curious about why that unit of troops had been sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges. What do you think?" Erwin asked.

"I should be the one asking you that, young man," the elderly replied.

"Perhaps you could say they were sent out to negotiate a truce, but I think that's rather implausible. If they wanted to propose a truce, then that unit would've been sent directly out of Orchid Water Pass," Erwin analyzed. "Trying to get around Canbad the Great's army to attack them from behind is also very unlikely. In that case, for what reason could they possibly have been deployed? It's a very perplexing mystery. With that in mind, I read through many historical records related to that battle. There were many records from the Reynold Empire's side, stating that a unit of troops had been sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges, so this should be a true event. However, when it comes to the objective for which that unit of troops had been sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges, the records are rather ambiguous, and it seems that even the historians from several centuries ago do not know the true reason."

None of this was new information to the elderly man, and he raised an eyebrow as he asked, "So what do you think is the secret hiding behind all of this, young man?"

"The records kept by the historians of the Reynold Empire may have been intentionally made ambiguous, or someone had instructed them to intentionally make those records ambiguous," Erwin said.

"And who do you think it is that instructed them to do that?" the elderly man asked.

Onean had overheard the conversation taking place between Erwin and the elderly man, and she was quite intrigued. Thus, she detached herself from the group of spectators watching Turan's game before arriving by Erwin's side to hear his story. Theresa quickly noticed that Onean was gone, and she also made her way over to Erwin's side.

"I strongly suspect that it was the final emperor of the Reynold Empire, Emperor Kenny IIX, that instructed them to do that," Erwin said.

"What reason does he have for doing this?" the elderly man asked.

"I think it's because he was among the unit of troops that had been sent deep into the Fulter Mountain Ranges," Erwin replied with a smile.

"Oh?" The elderly man's eyes widened with surprise and intrigue upon hearing this. "This is the first time I've heard such a theory, but if we assume your theory is correct, there's one thing that's rather difficult to explain, which is that all of the historical records pertaining to that period mentioned that the unit of troops in question ultimately got lost deep in the Fulter Mountain Ranges. In that case, wouldn't Emperor Kenny IIX have been lost during that time as well? However, there are clear records stating that Emperor Kenny IIX only disappeared after the capital city of the Reynold Empire, Fenler, was lost to the Fulway Empire's forces."

"That is correct, but in reality, the final one or two years of Emperor Kenny IIX's reign prior to the fall of the Reynold Empire has always been shrouded in mystery. There are historical records stating that he often secluded himself in his palace and rarely met with his subjects. There are also historical records stating that whenever he did meet with his subjects, they were always separated by a veil, so they could only hear his voice but not see him. There are also theories that Emperor Kenny IIX had always been confined in his own palace by the nobles, and that no one could see the emperor without the permission of the nobles. There are even far-fetched theories speculating that Emperor Kenny IIX had passed away long before the fall of the Reynold Empire, and that the 'emperor' in the palace was only an imposter that the imperial family had found to fill in for the deceased emperor. However, none of those records or theories come from official or reliable sources, so they're not to be taken at face value," Erwin said. "Given that, no one knows exactly what Emperor Kenny IIX did or where he was during the twilight of his reign, so my theory that he was among the unit of troops sent to the Fulter Mountain Ranges isn't altogether implausible."

The elderly man nodded in response. "Indeed, the last two years of Emperor Kenny IIX's reign have always been a mystery. However, if it weren't for that, Canbad the Great wouldn't have taken that opportunity to attack the Reynold Empire. He could see that Emperor Kenny IIX was a strange man whose actions were sowing unrest and chaos among his subjects in the imperial court. Even if Emperor Kenny IIX really was among that unit of troops, how could that have possibly changed the outcome of the battle?"

Erwin's answer to this question immediately had everyone's jaws dropping to the ground in shock. "Because she was pregnant with Canbad the Great's child."

Onean and Theresa were staring at him with incredulous expressions, and the elderly man was even more astonished to hear this.

In contrast, Erwin wore a calm smile as he explained, "The objective for Canbad the Great's march toward the east wasn't to conquer the Reynold Empire. Instead, he simply wanted to know how his lover was doing. By my theory, something had to have happened that caused a severance in contact between the two of them. In the face of all of the different rumors about Emperor Kenny IIX circulating everywhere, Canbad the Great was becoming more and more uneasy, so he led his army to the east in order to rescue his lover. As for exactly what resulted in contact between the two being severed, I strongly suspect it was precisely due to Emperor Kenny IIX's pregnancy. With all that in mind, my theory is that Emperor Kenny IIX was the first female emperor in history, but for the sake of the stability of the Reynold Empire's imperial court, this was kept a secret by the imperial family. Nowadays, it's not too groundbreaking a concept to have women in charge, but back then, if everyone in the Reynold Empire had learned that their emperor was a woman, then massive turmoil and unrest would've undoubtedly followed."

"Is there any historical proof of what you've just said?" Theresa asked as she stared at Erwin with wide eyes. In her eyes, it seemed like Erwin was spewing a bunch of baseless nonsense!

Sure enough, Erwin smiled as he replied, "Not at all. I made up this entire theory all in my own head."

Theresa could only thump Erwin's back a few times in frustration.

"I have no concrete proof, but I can offer a lot of circumstantial evidence to consider. For example, Emperor Kenny IIX very rarely changed the servants around her. Another example is that she has never had any relationship with any of her concubines, nor are there any records of any secret lovers that she had during the time. Also, do you know what the most interesting part about all of this is?"

"What is it?" Onean and Theresa asked in unison.

"Canbad the Great made her daughter, Elena, the heir to the throne, despite strong opposition from all sides, and Princess Elena went on to become the first empress in history. Don't you find that very interesting?" Erwin asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Why did Canbad the Great do this?"

"If your theory is correct and Emperor Kenny IIX really was a woman, then Canbad the Great was most likely trying to tell the entire world that women were just as capable of being in charge as men were," Onean said, and for some reason, she couldn't help but think of her father as she heaved a sorrowful internal sigh.

In reality, there was one aspect of Erwin's theory that he had refrained from revealing, which was that he felt like there was a very good chance that Prince Elena was the daughter of Emperor Kenny IIX and Canbad the Great, which meant that the unit of troops sent into the Fulter Mountain Ranges didn't entirely disappear. At the very least, there had to have been some survivors, including the child that Emperor Kenny IIX had been pregnant with at the time. Erwin was often thinking about what would've become of him had his mother used time and space magic while she had been pregnant with him. After reading through the historical records pertaining to Emperor Kenny IIX and forming the theory that the emperor was actually a woman, he was also struck by the epiphany that Emperor Kenny IIX was most likely a time and space magician as well, and that was what allowed her to traverse between the two empires. Erwin's space split technique could allow him to travel through some space, but it seemed that he was still not as adept in time and space magic as Emperor Kenny IIX had been. As for how contact had been severed between Emperor Kenny IIX and Canbad the Great, that was most likely due to her pregnancy making her unwilling to continue using time and space magic.

After compiling all of this information, Erwin developed the following theory:

Empress Kenny IIX's pregnancy was an accident, but in order to ensure that the fetus remained in good health, the empress refrained from using time and space magic ever since learning about her own pregnancy. Hence, Canbad the Great was completely oblivious to the fact that his lover was pregnant. Instead, he was under the impression that his lover no longer wished to see him. As her stomach began to grow from her pregnancy, Empress Kenny IIX had no choice but to minimize her interaction with others, and that was where all of these strange historical records pertaining to her arose from.

By the time Canbad the Great had reached the end of his patience and raised his army to attack the Reynold Empire, that just so happened to be close to the day that Empress Kenny IIX was due to deliver the child. In the face of the formidable army of the Fulway Empire, Empress Kenny IIX had no choice but to go and see Canbad the Great to explain the situation, lest her empire be razed to the ground. However, some kind of mishap had to have taken place while she was in the Fulter Mountain Ranges, forcing her to use time and space magic to escape. In the end, Empress Kenny IIX was able to see Canbad the Great again, but in order to deliver the child, she most likely lost her own life.

Erwin had also examined many records pertaining to Princess Elena, and he discovered that there were very few records about the princess's birth mother. Just as Erwin expected, Princess Elena had always been frail and in ill health since birth, and she passed away due to illness after only 15 years on the throne. That had to have been a result of the after-effects she had suffered from her mother's use of time and space magic during pregnancy.

As for why Empress Kenny IIX hadn't clarified the situation to Canbad the Great by sending him a letter, that was most likely because the two empires had been in opposition with one another, and letters sent between emperors were rather prone to being leaked, and the consequences of that would've been catastrophic. Alternatively, perhaps Empress Kenny IIX never wanted Canbad the Great to know about the child, and she only revealed the truth to him as she had no choice but to do so in the end.

Following the demise of his lover, Canbad the Great had no further qualms and destroyed the Reynold Empire in one fell swoop.

That was Erwin's theory about the sequence of events in this period of history. However, he didn't reveal his full theory as he didn't want the old man to know about his knowledge when it came to time and space magic.

"You're an extraordinary young man to have developed such a theory just from looking at some ambiguous historical records," the elderly man said, clearly thoroughly impressed. "What a sharp mind you possess."

"You're far too kind," Erwin said in a modest manner.

"Even so, Emperor Kenny IIX was still unable to meet Canbad the Great, and Orchid Water Pass was conquered in the end, after all," the elderly man sighed.

"Indeed," Erwin replied with a nod. "That's why I said Canbad the Great's victory wasn't assured at the time. I didn't mean that Canbad the Great was incapable of defeating the enemy army. Had he been determined to do so, the fate of the Reynold Empire would've been sealed, but if he had met Empress Kenny IIX, then perhaps the outcome of the battle would've been completely different."

The elderly man watched Erwin carefully for a moment, following which a meaningful smile suddenly appeared on his face. "You truly are a remarkable young man. You've already guessed Princess Elena's identity, haven't you?"

"Her identity? What do you mean by that?" Erwin asked, immediately defaulting to playing dumb, but in reality, he was rather shaken by the elderly man's question. Could it be that the elderly man had also figured out that Empress Kenny IIX was a time and space magician? He had only developed this theory as he was a time and space magician himself, so how had this old man come to the same conclusion? Alternatively, did he somehow know that Elena was the daughter of Empress Kenny IIX? Who exactly was this old man?

"Very impressive," the elderly man praised as he nodded at Erwin in approval. "You are a very interesting young man."

Once again, Erwin was feeling very uneasy under the elderly man's scrutiny, and on this occasion, the feeling was even more pronounced.

Onean's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and as she listened to the inexplicable conversation between the two, she realized that Erwin had intentionally withheld some of the details of his theory. The prospect of Empress Kenny IIX and Canbad the Great being lovers was already a little suspicious, and in addition to that, the fact that there was something Erwin didn't want to discuss in front of an outsider immediately led Onean to the thought that perhaps time and space magic was involved. If Empress Kenny IIX had also been a time and space magician, then everything would make a lot more sense.josei

As for Theresa, she didn't consider Erwin's identity as a time and space magician, but she was able to develop an idea of the underlying conditions involved after hearing the elderly man mention Princess Elena's identity. Upon further thought, she realized that Empress Kenny IIX's decision to pass her throne down to Princess Elena most likely wasn't just a decision made to prove a point to the world that even women could be capable rulers.

Hence, both women had realized that according to Erwin's theory, Empress Kenny IIX had most likely emerged from the Fulter Mountain Ranges alive. As for why Canbad the Great had still decided to conquer Orchid Water Pass after that, that was most likely because Empress Kenny IIX didn't live for very long after their reunion.

It was clear that the two men were playing mind games with one another, and the only thing that the two women couldn't figure out was how the elderly man had identified that Erwin was playing dumb.

"Young man, do you want to know what happened in the Fulter Mountain Ranges all those years ago?" the elderly man asked, and Erwin's interest was immediately piqued.

"Do you know what happened?" Erwin asked.

The elderly man didn't offer a direct response to this question. Instead, he replied, "Play me in a game of battle chess. If you win, I'll tell you what happened in those mountain ranges."

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face upon hearing this.