Having finally persuaded the famously inflexible Count Steiner Landerck and Viscount Alons Keilid, Kain succeeded in postponing the coronation ceremony.
He then headed toward the First Annex Palace, traditionally used as the Crown Prince’s Palace.
In the recent “Founding Day Catastrophe,” even the Crown Prince of the Felberg Empire had not survived, so the Crown Prince’s Palace now stood empty.
It would have been nice to move straight into the Sun Palace where the Emperor resides…
No matter how much Kain was the only remaining royal of the Felberg Empire, he had not yet ascended the throne.
Thus, he could not use the Sun Palace, the designated residence of the Emperor.
Moreover, beyond its symbolic meaning as the palace where the Emperor lived, the Sun Palace was directly connected to the “Imperial Vault,” upholding the absolute rule that only the Emperor could reside there.
Well, the Imperial Vault has plenty of useful things too… but what I need right now is somewhere else.
Even as he hurried toward the Crown Prince’s Palace in the late hour, Kain ceaselessly recalled every piece of world-lore from the game that might help the current situation.
The world of Empire Heroic Legend—into which the 32-year-old developer Kang Ji-hoon had poured his youth and soul—was filled with vast and varied settings.
The Crown Prince’s Palace he was now heading toward was one example, and there were numerous hidden mechanics that only a developer would know.
Among them were gimmicks that, now that every royal except Kain had perished, only the infamous wastrel prince—the sole remaining claimant to the throne—could use.
Of course, most of those were settings that should have been buried with the Empire’s dust in the original story…
But only one person knew.
Kain was not merely the wastrel Third Prince—he was the developer who had created the colossal world of Empire Heroic Legend.
Every secret and hidden puzzle in this world had been born from his own hands.
And so, the place he was walking toward was…
The deep underground beneath the Felberg Empire’s Crown Prince’s Palace. There lies an ancient mausoleum from the mythic age.
This was a setting temporarily applied in the final stages of world-building, something no one but the lead developer of Empire Heroic Legend could possibly know.
It was essentially dummy data added before testing for conflicts with other settings, so even the royals of the Felberg line were supposed to be completely unaware of it in the lore.
Moreover.
If anyone had known of the mausoleum’s existence, a Sigil would never have been absent from the imperial family for so many centuries.
His task was simple.
Free win.
Arriving at the First Annex Palace used as the Crown Prince’s Palace, Kain called to Baron Heinrich Denver, who still remained by his side as chief escort.
“Baron Denver.”
“Yes, Your Highness! You called?”
Baron Heinrich Denver, who had been inspecting the escort knights nearby, came running at Kain’s quiet summons.
Unlike the extreme tension of a few days ago, he now seemed to have regained much of his former ease.
With every royal except Kain massacred, the best knights and mages of the Empire naturally had to guard the last remaining royal.
Yet even compared to those newly assigned, Baron Heinrich Denver was more than qualified.
A Grand Chevalier in skill, no one objected to him reclaiming the position at Kain’s side.
Baron Denver. This guy is actually quite different from how he appears.
On the surface he seemed like a sly noble who only knew how to flatter, but in truth he was a powerhouse swordsman who reached Grand Chevalier in the original story.
Of course, that had been possible because—in the original timeline where Kain had not possessed him—the Sword of the Empire, Count Royce Horizon (who died in the “Founding Day Catastrophe” DLC), had mentored him extensively while alive…
Count Horizon had repeatedly boasted with confidence that “if Denver had not lost his family to the Five Pillars faction, he would have reached the realm of Meister, the Sword Saint.”
Denver was a knight of extraordinary talent.
“Baron, I know this is sudden and I’m sorry, but… I want to sleep undisturbed.
Could you seal off the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
At Kain’s request, Denver pondered for a moment before slowly speaking with a playful glint in his eye.
“You mean keep all visitors away?”
“Exactly.”
“May I ask why?”
“For now, let’s call it a secret.”
“You have many secrets, Your Highness.”
A smile spread across Denver’s lips.
“Count Landerck did order strict security, but… well, it’s not as if we’re dismissing the entire guard. Blocking visitors for a while shouldn’t be difficult.”
In such critical times, he wasn’t asking to remove all guards just for uninterrupted sleep—merely keeping people away posed no great issue.
Judging thus, Denver nodded readily.
“Then I leave it to you.”
“I will carry out Your Highness’s command with utmost diligence.”
Lighthearted though the atmosphere was, Heinrich Denver was a reliable man of exceptional skill and deep loyalty.
Leaving him behind, Kain entered the bedroom of the Crown Prince’s Palace.
As befitted a residence designed with royal safety as the highest priority, the bedroom contained a hidden safe room where a royal could temporarily take refuge from external attack.
“It should be around here, according to the setting…”
Kain approached the nearest wall and began feeling around.
Even for the developer who had personally built the world and its settings, perfectly recalling dummy-data-level mechanics that had never been properly implemented was impossible.
Yet Kain moved with overflowing confidence.
Through several experiences already, he had realized one thing: though this world was chaotic with countless DLCs mashed together, it still followed its own rules.
“Found it.”
Beside the fireplace closest to the bed, he located the mechanism that opened the passage to the hidden chamber.
“Does it go in here?”
To open the passage to the safe room, the “Crown Prince’s Ring” was required.
Fortunately, though Kain had not yet undergone the formal investiture, as the soon-to-be Emperor he wore the ring symbolizing first in line to the throne.
Kain removed the Crown Prince’s Ring from his right hand.
He was about to insert it into the exposed slot on the fireplace when he momentarily hesitated.
The moment I insert this, the alarm wards will trigger and all hell will break loose…
The imperial palace of the Felberg Empire was covered with countless barriers and magic circles engraved since the ancient mythic age.
Most no longer functioned, but some were still maintained with the full effort of grand mages and the imperial mage tower.
Opening the Crown Prince’s Palace safe room would activate one of those alarm wards, warning every loyalist knight and mage stationed in the palace and capital that the Crown Prince was in mortal danger.
It’s only meant to be opened in a true emergency. No helping it.
With the Founding Day massacre still fresh, the moment the alarm triggered and Kain disappeared, the palace, the inner citadel, and the entire capital would be turned upside down.
But there was no other choice.
Sorry, but I need the mausoleum. And I can’t let anyone else know about this place.
For now, the mausoleum’s existence had to remain secret.
Then…
“Let’s go.”
Without further hesitation, Kain inserted the Crown Prince’s Ring into the slot.
The wall beside the fireplace slid open, revealing the passage to the hidden chamber.
Creak.
As Kain stepped inside, the entrance sealed behind him.
Thud.
Now it could not be opened from the outside unless Kain himself did so.
“Now there is only forward.”
Kain walked along the long passage.
A few dim magical lamps illuminated the darkness.
Following the light, he reached an iron door connected to the safe room.
Once again using the Crown Prince’s Ring, he dispelled the sealing spell and opened the door.
“This should be it.”
Inside the safe room—slightly less than ten pyeong—Kain began feeling along the stone floor.
The safe room itself was a compartment passed down through generations of the Felberg imperial family.
Reaching it only meant he had caused a massive uproar by triggering the alarm—for nothing gained yet.
The real prize came next.
Somewhere here was the device that opened the entrance to stairs leading down to the ancient mythic-age mausoleum.
He had to find it…
“Here it is.”
Recalling his days as a developer, Kain located the groove right beside the magical lamp illuminating the safe room.
This one, however, did not match the size of the Crown Prince’s Ring.
That was natural.
To descend to the mausoleum, royal blood was required—not the ring.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kain bit his finger and let several drops of blood fall into the groove.
A heavy tremor shook the room.
Rumble.
The stone floor of the safe room split left and right…
Revealing stairs descending deep underground.
The darkness there was incomparably thicker than the passage above.
Yet Kain did not panic.
The former developer—the very overall director who had created this game world—knew better than anyone that no hostile presence existed in the underground mausoleum.
And even with numerous unpublished DLCs applied, none of them affected the mausoleum.
Confident, Kain picked up one of the safe room’s magical lamps and began descending the stairs.
[You have entered the hidden location: “Mausoleum of the Star Thrones.”]
Kain stepped into the darkness to devour the fateful opportunity that should have belonged to the original protagonist.
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