Chapter 101
Chapter 101
“Phew…….”
I let out a sigh and closed the door to the Count of Sheffield’s bedroom.
Having recovered his body, he said that in order to repay the favor, he would grant anything I wanted as long as it was within reason.
Even so, openly supporting me would be a burden even for the Sheffield family, so he said he would lend a hand when it truly mattered.
Failing that, he offered to give me a precious artifact passed down as a family heirloom of the Sheffield house, or even assign a magician to me if I needed manpower.
However, when the topic reached Leysias, the Count of Sheffield made a horrified expression.
No matter how much I had saved Randolph and his own life, he said he could not give up his daughter.
He vehemently opposed it, saying he would block it at the cost of his life, and that it would never happen until dirt filled his eyes.
At that absurd sight, I wanted to grab a handful of dirt from the garden out front and dump it right onto the count’s face, but since he had only just come back from the brink of death, his judgment probably was not fully intact yet.
So I left the place after ending with the words that I wanted nothing at all.
“…Huh? Ostia.”
As I was walking down the corridor to return to my room, I ran into Leysias, who was carrying a simple meal.
She was probably on her way to bring it to her father.
It was something she could have had her maid do, but seeing her do it herself, it seemed she must have been quite shaken by this incident.
“Are you coming back from seeing your father?”
“Yeah. He’s still spouting a bit of nonsense, but he seems better than before.”
“Nonsense?”
“He said something about never giving up his daughter even if he died.”
“…I’ll talk to him properly.”
At my words, Leysias’s face turned bright red with embarrassment.
Seeing the hand holding the tray trembling, it seemed she might pour out her frustrations at the count.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“…Ostia.”
“Yeah?”
She called out to stop me as I turned my body and started walking forward, then bowed her head with a light smile.
“Thank you. Always.”
I waved my hand to show it was nothing and started moving my feet again.
Originally, I had planned to go straight back to my room and sleep, but since I had come all this way, I decided to at least see Randolph’s face before leaving.
“Ah, Your Highness.”
In front of Randolph’s room, two knights were standing guard.
When I asked if I could enter, they lightly bowed their heads and opened the door.
As I stepped inside, a cool autumn breeze flowed in through the open window.
Randolph had seemed to regain consciousness right after I defeated Gremory, but soon lost it again.
And for several days since then, up until now, he had been lying in bed, unable to wake up.
“Wake up already. Your sister is waiting anxiously.”
Several healers had come by, but all of them repeated like parrots that the reason Randolph could not wake up was because his physical vitality had been greatly damaged.
As a last resort, the Sheffield family even asked for help from priests with whom they had an uncomfortable relationship.
But even they shook their heads, saying there was nothing they could do, and left this place just like the other healers.
No one knew whether he truly could not wake up because he was recovering from that, or if there was something else at play, but for now, there was no other option than to wait.
I roughly perched myself on one of the chairs in front of the bed and looked down at Randolph, who seemed to be in a deep sleep.
Then once again, a gentle autumn breeze came in through the open window.
As it tickled my hair, I felt a familiar presence arise behind my back.
“…River?”
When I turned my head, River appeared, dressed in a pure white one-piece dress.
She soon placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled.
“It’s been a while.”
“So you’ve really awakened now?”
“I actually came to my senses quite a while ago. It’s just that my master changed so suddenly, so I needed some adjustment too.”
“Ah.”
She was probably referring to the awakening that happened in the Kingdom of Demedrio.
I had awakened the power hidden within her faster than the original protagonist, and at the same time, I myself had reached the level of a Sword Master.
Perhaps because of that, River, who had once seemed like a tomboyish girl, now looked like a mature woman.
Noticing my thoughts, she shook her head lightly and stretched.
“I wasn’t even prepared, and you awakened me out of nowhere, so you have no idea how shocked I was. How did you even know?”
“I’m sorry about that. I thought that if it was you, you’d manage somehow.”
At my words, River let out a small laugh.
But she soon wiped away her smile and pointed at Randolph in front of us.
“Poor child. Because what took over his body was a high-ranking demonkin, his life force was heavily consumed. At this rate, he won’t live very long.”
“…What?”
When I widened my eyes at the sudden statement, she pointed outside and spoke.
“Mages are only sensitive to the flow of mana, so they wouldn’t have noticed. But priests came by too, right? They must know. Seeing how they didn’t say anything, their disposition is quite nasty.”
At that, I looked at her with an uneasy expression.
“Aren’t you, as a holy sword, in the same vein as them?”
“Do you really lump me together with those who merely cry out the name of God for their own safety and benefit? Over the countless years I’ve lived, only a few who were called saints truly possessed faith. The rest merely hide something vile in their hearts.”
Perhaps because she had suffered much, River seemed to have a deep-seated distrust of humans.
“I guess I should be careful too.”
“Well, my master seems a bit different from other people.”
I stood up, thinking I should inform someone else, but River shook her head with a confident expression and grabbed my shoulder.
“There’s no need for that. My power is enough.”
Soon, her body was enveloped in a dazzling light.
At the same time, Excalibur, familiar yet far more archaic, appeared in midair.
[Hold me and bring me close to him.]
I grasped the hilt of Excalibur.
The familiar feeling of it sticking to my hand as if I had wielded it my entire life made an exclamation slip out on its own.
As I brought the tip of the sword close to Randolph’s heart, an auspicious energy flowed down from it.
[SYSTEM: The attribute of the holy sword Excalibur is manifested.]
That brilliant light seeped into Randolph’s body.
And before long, demonic energy of unknown origin was forced out.
“Young master!?”
Perhaps because energy leaked out from the backlash of expelling the demonic energy, the knights guarding outside kicked the door open and rushed in.
They drew their swords and guarded the inside, wondering what had happened, but I waved my hand and told them it was fine.
Before long, all the demonic energy remaining inside Randolph’s body flowed out.
The sacred energy of Excalibur seeped in to fill the empty space, and soon the tightly shut eyes opened.
“…Ah.”
A small groan spilled out from between his parched lips.
But his eyes were still unfocused, as if he was not yet fully himself.
“The young master has awakened!”
“Call the healer, bring the healer!”
Before long, many people poured into the room.
When the mages examined Randolph’s condition and nodded, saying it had greatly improved, Leysias, who had arrived at some point, let out a sigh of relief.
“When we opened the door, Your Highness was…….”
The knights who had been guarding the door soon explained the entire sequence of events.
When everyone in the room turned their gaze toward me, I shrugged my shoulders and said,
“Well, want me to show you more?”
It felt like many things had happened, but only a week of vacation had passed.
The Count of Sheffield soon got back on his feet, announced that the incident had been safely resolved, and even held a festival, and the gloomy atmosphere of the territory began to regain its vitality.
However, the next day, when a messenger arrived from the imperial palace, I could not help but stiffen my face.
“Leios von Ribera, heed the imperial command.”
At the count’s message, I went to the office, and at the knight’s words that he had brought the emperor’s edict, I knelt on one knee on the spot.
The count also bowed his head, and the knight holding the edict spoke with a solemn expression before us.
“You haven’t forgotten the promise you made before, have you. It seems a good time has come, so wouldn’t now be the time to fulfill it?”
‘The promise from before?’
As I mulled over those words, the events of the Founding Day came to mind.
At that time, when I asked him to open the Imperial Palace Treasury as a reward for winning the spar, the emperor replied that it was excessive.
Still, he said he would open the treasury, but to make up for the excessive part later, I was to spar with him when he summoned me.
I vaguely remembered that being how the conversation went.
‘I didn’t think he’d really call me…….’
Back then, I thought it was just something he said to keep up appearances, but I never imagined he would summon me at this timing.
The emperor, like me, had reached the level of a Sword Master.
If I faced him, he would naturally see through my realm.
It wasn’t something I was particularly hiding, but thinking about how troublesome it would become because of it gave me a slight headache.
“I receive the command.”
As I answered with a light bow, the knight folded the edict again and said,
“His Majesty ordered that you return immediately once matters in South Yorkshire are concluded. We came to assist with that, but to think it had already been resolved…….”
The knight looked at us with an awkward expression.
“We originally came with a more generous schedule, but once we reported in, the order came down to return immediately.
Of course, together with Your Highness.”
“…Tsk.”
Once he invoked the emperor’s name, there was nothing I could say.
I wanted to act like a hooligan and dig in my heels like I usually did at the imperial palace, but openly defying the emperor still felt burdensome.
So after letting out a sigh and nodding in agreement, he bowed deeply to me and withdrew.
“What a shame. I wanted to entertain Your Highness a bit longer.”
“You look happy that the wolf eyeing your daughter is leaving.”
“How could I ever think such a thing of Your Highness.”
The Count of Sheffield smiled at me with his well-restored, ample figure.
At that, I said I understood and left his office behind.
When I returned to my companions and told them what had just happened, they all looked at me with subtle expressions.
When I asked what was wrong, they answered with awkward attitudes.
“I know you’re a prince, but hearing about His Majesty’s summons and the imperial palace makes you feel kind of distant.”
“How pointless.”
A snort escaped me at that.
Before long, things would become so chaotic that I wouldn’t even have the leisure to care about such a status.
By then, the difference in status wouldn’t matter at all.
After talking to my companions, I headed straight for the teleport gate with the knights.
The teleport gate of the Sheffield territory had been shut down due to the disappearance incident, but with everything resolved, all its functions were fully restored.
“Well, it shouldn’t take long.After saying goodbye to them, telling them I’d be back soon, I teleported to the imperial palace.
But that was merely my misconception.
When I headed to the emperor’s office, I was met with the sight of people I had never expected all gathered in one place.
First, my master, the Sword Saint, was there, along with others seated in key positions such as the empire’s chancellor and the commander of the military.
Seeing the empire’s senior figures gathered in one place, a strange pressure flowed out and weighed down on me.
Whether he knew my feelings or not, the emperor, seated among them, asked me bluntly,
“Leios von Ribera, do you desire the emperor’s throne?”