The Capital & Dying Emperor

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Tomorrow has passed as Tetsuya right now is in the capital. He reached the capital using the [Shadow Exchange] skill that he obtained one and a half years ago by leveling up his [Shadow Extraction] and also [Shadow Storage] to a certain point. At first, there was a 3 hours cooldown after using the skill, but as Tetsuya started to level up the skill, the cooldown started to reduce to none, which means Tetsuya now can exchange position with his shadow anytime he wants. And he didn't have to use mana in order to use the skill since the skill itself doesn't need mana to operate.

{A/N: https://solo-leveling.fandom.com/wiki/Shadow_Exchange}

Tetsuya used [Shadow Exchange] since the distance between Capital and his hideout is about 60 km which is a bit far. And the reason why he can travel to the capital directly is that he put many shadow soldiers around the capital's blind spot.

Right now Tetsuya is walking around the street when suddenly he looks at a wall where a few people were gathering. There is a paper that is stuck on the wall of a certain building that is gathering the people around.

"It's already been 3 months since the Emperor got sick and no one has yet to cure him."

"I heard that people who failed in curing the Emperor get assassinated."

"Where do you hear that?"

"There is someone who knows a person among the medic who is trying to heal the emperor, and I heard that the medic never came back."

"That is despicable!! Why would they do such a thing?!"

"*Shhh* Don't talk about this, or we would be executed."

"Yeah anyway let's go eat in that bar, I hear they got some tasty beer."

Tetsuya who heard this could only sigh as he then stands in front of the paper that is stuck on the wall as he deduces that it was probably Honest who pulled the string behind the accident. The paper that he looks at right now is the paper regarding the Emperor who is in sickness that is in need of a medic to cure the sickness, well of course the emperor is not sick, but the emperor got poisoned by Honest. Tetsuya is about to take the request of the paper when he suddenly hears another person talking while looking at another paper that is stuck to the wall.

"Hey did you hear about 'The Reaper'?"

"Yeah, I heard that guy just robbed one of the richest noble houses a week ago."

"But all of 'The Reaper' targets so far are noble who have committed many crimes."

"Yeah I know right, I wonder why they put a wanted poster of 'The Reaper' even though what he did is bringing justice toward those noble bastards."

"Even if they put a wanted poster, they won't be able to catch him anyway since they didn't have any draw on 'The Reaper's face. They don't even know what 'The Reaper' looks like."

Tetsuya who heard the conversation could only smile happily as his popularity as the so-called 'The Reaper' nickname is popular in the Empire, though the reason he is being wanted by the Empire is probably due to he being a vigilante who takes action on killing the corrupt noble himself and also every time he tries to eradicate a noble, he always takes all the money that the noble got which make him very rich.

'Well rather than hearing all my past deeds, I should finish my mission.' Thought Tetsuya as he then starts to prepare all that he needs for the mission.

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.

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-- -The Emperor's Bedroom - The Empire Palace --

There are five people inside a big room, one of them is lying down on a bed while in a critical condition, as two people are trying to get closer to the person who is lying on the bed and other than that the other two people only looking at the three people while standing near the wall inside the room. The one who is lying on the bed is the current Emperor who is in critical condition as his skin is very pale, the two people who are around him are his son and the current Empress, and the two people who are standing near the wall are the current prime minister Chouri and also Honest.

"Dear, I think I c-can not hold on a-anymore... I-I t-think my body cannot withstand this any longer." Said the Emperor who is lying in bed.

"Please don't say that, we can still find someone that can cure you!!" Said the Empress while crying.

"Son... Can you come closer?" Said the Emperor as calls out to his son.

"Father... Don't die!!" Said his son while crying as well.

"Son, you must be strong so you can protect the Empire and also your mother in my place..." Said The Emperor while smiling

"I promise you, father, so please don't die!!" Shouts his son who is crying loudly.

The current Prime Minister, Chouri who sees this can only look at Honest who right now is showing a sad expression. Chouri suspects that Honest who is standing right next to him is the one who poisoned the Emperor, but the problem is he doesn't have any evidence that can prove that Honest is the one who poisoned the Emperor since every time he tries to investigate Honest erases the evidence.

"Hmm... Is there something wrong, Prime Minister, Chouri?" Asked Honest who realizes Chouri gaze toward him while showing a sad expression. Well, of course, the sad expression that Honest is showing is acting.

"It's nothing." Said Chouri with a straight face, but truthfully in his mind, he is very angry at Honest.

Suddenly a sound of knock can be heard from the door and everyone who heard this look at the door.

"You can come in." Said The Empress while looking in the door direction with a bit of sadness in her expression.

The door then opens and it is revealed that the one who knocks on the door is one of the soldiers from the palace.

"Empress, I'm sorry for bothering, but there is someone who claims to be an alchemist that is requesting to heal the Emperor." Said the palace soldier while bowing.

"Really?! Is that true!!"The Empress heard this is a bit of surprise as she then shows a happy smile on her face while thinking that there is still hope of curing her husband.

"Yes, Empress." Said the palace soldier while nodding.

All of the people in this room who heard this news are happy since there is still hope of saving the Emperor except for Honest who is a bit surprised and irritated. Honest is so irritated that there is still someone who is trying to heal the Emperor even though he deems such a feat is impossible since he believes that the poison that he ordered someone to create is impossible to cure. The poison that was created itself needs a few months before it can take effect and kill the Emperor himself.

Thought Honest himself wants the poison to progress faster, but it's impossible due to the component of the poison which makes it impossible to progress faster even if he feeds more poison to the Emperor, but the good thing he gets is that the poison that is created is incurable which is what he believes since he already checked to the best doctor that he can find in the Empire and bribed them to keep quiet about the poison that is created. But what he didn't expect is that an alchemist is going to try to heal the Emperor, he is afraid that there is a chance that the poison can be cured by the alchemist. He only hoped that the alchemist failed to heal the Emperor as he didn't want his plan to be stopped by a mere alchemist.

"But there is a problem..." Said the palace soldier with a complicated expression.

When all the people heard the soldier's words, all of them showed many kinds of expressions.

"What is it?" Asked the Empress with a bit of confusion and also fear expression as she feared that there is a problem with the alchemist.

"The alchemist seems to be a young boy." Said the palace soldier with a very nervous expression.

Everyone who heard this is shocked including Honest as they cannot believe that there is someone so young that became an alchemist.

"Shall I cancel his request, Empress?" Asked the palace soldier while looking at the Empress with a nervous expression.

"No, lead him to the throne, I want to see the alchemist personally first." Said the Empress with a serious expression, but she is still surprised by what the palace soldier says.

"Yes, Empress!" Said the palace soldier while bowing as he then left the room.