Come in, have a seat!
I shall tell you a truth few know. Though time has passed and the world has turned upside-down, though heaven and earth have been remade, one thing has never changed. I swear on the heart of the eagle! Can you speak aloud the origin of that oath? Do you understand how our Gallus, once no different from any other kingdom on the continent, became the great power known as the Empire in less than thirty years?
The myth of the first empire? That's an old story. There are countless wanderers who dream of myths and sing of their delusions. But to see the summit so close, within reach... that was a first in my lifetime. Yes, that's a story from a long, long time ago. Back when I served in the royal court.
Do you remember His Highness Freihardt, who went missing at a young age? He was the most brilliant person I ever served. You know those absurd tales, about seeing the veins of a leaf at five, and reading the stars at ten? Well, in his case, they weren't lies. He was truly remarkable. They said he took after the late queen in personality, but to me, he seemed a step beyond even her. Do you remember the May ceremony? There was a benediction that all royals had to recite, simply because it was tradition. 'We shall inherit the prestige of the empire of a thousand years past. We shall witness the rise of Gallus.' He would recite those lines more deliberately than the others, sometimes like a soft-spoken prophet. Making it seem not like a baseless dream or a mere formality, but a prophecy.
And so, here we are today. Hm? You find it strange? That after His Highness went missing without fulfilling his ambition, it wasn't his younger brother, the second prince known as the Flame Emperor, but the youngest brother—the one they worried would bring nothing but trouble to the royal family from the moment he was born—who dared to take the name of Emperor and rise to power? You think that's a twisted outcome?
Hahaha! Who can say? At the very least, even on his way to the great beyond, even as he stands before the sea of the underworld, he will be looking down upon these very streets, shining with gold. So it is only fitting to offer a blessing, is it not? Come, come. Drink up. Swallow your guilt, and cover the blood-soaked streets with cloth of gold. Without remembering, without reminiscing... let us fade away together, just like this.
