Chapter 103
Chapter 103
“Your Highness.”
After my audience with the Emperor ended and I returned to my palace, Parsi—whom I was seeing again after a week—greeted me with a pleased expression.
She said that perhaps because of the warning I had left with the servants before departing, there had been no one trying to pull any tricks.
Because of that, she seemed slightly lonely from being isolated, but that too would only be temporary.
If things went well according to my plan, there would no longer be any need for her to remain in a harsh place like this.
Parsi said she would prepare dinner and left the room.
Soon, simple dishes began to fill the table, and just as that happened, someone knocked on the door.
“Your Highness, it is Gayaon.”
Unscheduled visits among nobles were usually avoided.
Doing so toward me, a member of the imperial family, would have been a grave discourtesy, but at the name Gayaon, Parsi and I looked at each other.
“If it’s Gayaon…”
“It’s Chancellor Gayaon. What shall we do?”
At her expression asking whether she should turn him away, I set down my cutlery.
If he was the Chancellor, then he had been one of the close aides standing guard around the Emperor earlier during my audience.
Why would someone like him come to see me at this hour without even making an appointment?
‘Did he come carrying a message from the Emperor?’
I had no particular connection with him, so it was hard to think he had come for personal reasons.
That was why I signaled to Parsi to let him in.
“You were in the middle of a meal. I’ve committed a discourtesy.”
He looked to be in his early forties, with the typical appearance of a noble and a face that suggested a strict personality.
Although he said that, he recited his apology with an expression that didn’t seem particularly apologetic and stepped further inside.
“It’s fine. More importantly, Chancellor, have you eaten?”
“Yes. I tend to keep my dinners light, so I’ve already eaten. More importantly, may I speak with you for a moment?”
The Chancellor’s attitude seemed polite and proper, but there was no sign that he felt any hesitation toward me.
That made sense.
A Chancellor was at the center of power, enjoying the Emperor’s favor.
Since I wasn’t the First or Second Prince, there was nothing for him to be wary of.
The way he was acting now was probably influenced by the sparring match with the Emperor earlier in the day.
When I nodded and gestured for him to sit, he took a seat a little distance away from me.
Then, after asking Parsi for a cup of tea, he looked at me with a calm expression.
“To speak frankly, to be honest, I don’t know what kind of thoughts Your Highness is harboring.”
“I don’t even fully grasp myself, so how could a Chancellor, who’s a stranger, do any better?”
At his calm opening, I responded as if that were only natural.
The Chancellor then narrowed his eyes slightly and tapped the table lightly with his finger.
“In what His Majesty said earlier today, there was probably a fair amount of his true feelings mixed in. That his successor must be strong. It’s something he has always said since ascending the throne.”
“Is that so.”
The Emperor’s obsession with strength, to the point of abnormality, was famous even among the nobles.
However, that was a fixation limited to himself and his direct bloodline.
In fact, among his retainers, civil officials were more numerous.
Governing the state involved many matters that could not be solved by sheer force alone.
He drank tea, and I continued my meal, as we talked at length.
Various topics came up.
At first, it was the Emperor’s 모습 from earlier in the day, and soon it extended even to my life at the Academy.
We seemed to get along far better than either of us had expected.
Because of that, we spoke of more things than we had originally intended, and eventually the conversation extended to the overall state of affairs on the continent.
True to his position at the apex of the Empire, the Chancellor knew a great deal of information that I did not.
Naturally, directly leaking such things would have been troublesome even for him, so he offered various hints instead.
In return, I subtly let slip fragments of developments that would occur in the future, things that I knew.
“…I suppose I completely misunderstood Your Highness.”
The Chancellor opened his eyes wide, looking genuinely surprised, as if he had never expected to have this kind of conversation with me.
Everything I said was tinged with conjecture, using the future as examples, but given his position, he would have been able to grasp quite a bit.
“It seems we could become quite good allies.”
The Chancellor said this while stroking his goatee.
To be honest, my first impression of him hadn’t been great, but after talking, my perception had completely changed.
It seemed the same was true for him, and we looked at each other with light smiles.
“Now then, that’s enough for the introduction. It seems it’s time to move on to the main point.”
“…Introduction?”
This time, it was my turn to open my eyes wide.
I had thought his purpose was to talk about the Emperor in relation to what had happened earlier in the day.
But as he said he would get to the main point, the Chancellor’s expression changed.
“There are rumors spreading quietly beneath the surface that Your Highness has obtained Excalibur.”
“Hm.”
It wasn’t particularly strange.
I hadn’t openly flaunted it, but I had certainly drawn plenty of attention.
No, thinking about it, it had lasted longer than expected.
The legendary holy sword that symbolized the Britain Ducal House.
I had become the owner of that Excalibur.
The Chancellor said that not only the powerful figures of the continent but even wealthy magnates were expressing curiosity about me.
“And then, contact came from the Holy Kingdom. Along with a request asking whether you might be willing to visit the Holy Kingdom once.”
“The Holy Kingdom?”
It was clear that Excalibur carried some kind of legend or tradition, and its origin was unmistakably the Holy Kingdom.
After all, it was even called a sacred relic.
It wasn’t strange for the Holy Kingdom to show interest in me.
I had become the owner of a holy sword that hadn’t had a master for several hundred years, so they must have been eager to extend an invitation.
“Hm.”
There was still nearly a month left of the Academy’s vacation, but I didn’t particularly feel like going to the Holy Kingdom.
After all, the Holy Kingdom was, quite literally, a den of faith-crazed lunatics.
I had no desire to disparage people who believed in religion.
That was their own freedom.
However, I didn’t particularly want to get involved with them.
“I’m busy with Academy matters, so I don’t think I have the leeway to go to the Holy Kingdom.”
At my answer, which came after a brief silence, he gave a bitter smile.
The Chancellor must have been well aware of the Holy Kingdom’s image as well, so he likely sympathized with my decision.
“Then I will decline it as such. However, the Holy Kingdom are persistent fellows.”
“I’ll only be staying within the Empire anyway. What could they possibly do?”
If they could, then it wouldn’t be the Holy Kingdom but the Holy Empire.
After finishing my business at the Imperial Palace, I didn’t return straight to South Yorkshire where my group was.
Having unexpectedly seized yet another demonic realm duke’s rank, I needed a place to store it.
That was why, to also give a report on recent developments and have a conversation, I headed to the Bayern Academy.
Perhaps lectures were still being held even during vacation, as quite a few people were walking around the campus.
I passed them and went up to the dean’s office.
“Dean, it’s Ostia.”
I spoke politely since others were around, but there was no response at all.
I wondered if no one was inside, yet I could clearly feel mana leaking out from within.
Creak.
When I gently pushed the door, a cool sensation settled over the arm that entered inside.
“…A barrier?”
Feeling that familiar sensation, I slowly stepped inside.
Then, instead of the stuffy-looking dean’s office, a vast grassland spread out before my eyes.
And not far from where I stood, I could see Gawain hanging upside down in midair, dangling helplessly as if caught by an invisible hand.
“…What are you doing?”
“Y-Your Highness!”
At the sound of my voice, Gawain stretched his hands toward me desperately, wearing an expression like someone who had just come back from the dead.
Chris, who was standing in front of him, widened her eyes at my sudden appearance but lightly flicked her hand.
At that, Gawain’s body dropped straight down to the ground.
“What brings you here? You said you were going to South Yorkshire.”
“I already went and came back. I stopped by to report what happened there as well, but…….”
When I asked with my eyes just what the two of them had been doing, she shrugged and replied as if it were nothing.
“Well, he understands the theory perfectly, but he just won’t show any sign of reaching 5th Class.”
“Even so, hanging someone upside down in midair…….”
When I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, Chris spoke quickly as if making excuses.
“It’s written in the books too. When the path is blocked, try going back upside down. Gawain’s head is completely blocked, but since he can’t switch the positions of sky and earth…….”
“So you rotated the person himself?”
At the absurd idea, a hollow laugh escaped me.
In response, she snapped her fingers with a prim expression.
Instantly, a single table and a pair of chairs appeared on the wide field.
“Well, since you’re here, I’ll at least welcome you.”
She said that, but a trace of pleasure flickered at the corner of her eyes.
She must have been bored as well.
Even though she had taken Gawain in as a disciple, they weren’t equals.
Meanwhile, Gawain let out a sigh of relief, apparently happy to be freed, and after bowing his head to us, said he would return to work and left.
“Is teaching him manageable?”
As I asked while following Gawain’s retreating figure with my eyes, Chris let out a groan.
“He’s enthusiastic and talented. But I don’t know what he’s so afraid of—he just can’t move forward. If he could get over this wall, it feels like he’d surge ahead in one go.”
“Well, that can happen. Trauma that settles in a person’s heart isn’t something that’s easily erased.”
“…….”
At my words, Chris looked at me with narrowed eyes.
When I gestured asking what was wrong, she slowly opened her mouth with a suspicious expression.
“Sometimes I suspect you’re a dragon that came out to amuse itself. You’re clearly not even twenty yet, but the way you talk is similar to my grandfather.”
“My grandfather…….”
At that, I gave a bitter smile.
A dragon at play—now that was a setting I hadn’t heard in a long time.
She too should know that in this world, all dragons except the Demon Dragon had already disappeared.
“There are people like this too. It’s not like you’ve only ever met normal people in your life, right?”
“That’s true.”
She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she nodded as if she understood what I meant.
After that, I briefly relayed what had happened in South Yorkshire.
Then I took out the crystal containing the demonic energy I had taken from Gremory and handed it to her.
“…Honestly, taking advantage of two demonic realm dukes— you really are something.”
“Strictly speaking, I wasn’t the one who did the first one.”
“Well, that’s true, but still.”
Chris accepted the demonic energy crystal and placed it into her subspace.
Now, unless she died, Aloken and Gremory would never be able to reclaim their lost ranks.
“By the way, you triggered Prometheus’s Flame?”
Chris, true to being a mage, showed interest at that part.
I gave her a look as if asking whether she could use it too, but she lightly shook her head.
“If it’s sacred flames that annihilate demons, there are many ways to imitate something similar, but I can’t use Prometheus’s Flame. That one descended solely for the sake of humans.”
“…Seriously.”
Indeed, that legend was about Prometheus, who pitied humans, bestowing it upon them alone.
But Chris had lived for hundreds of years and reached the pinnacle of all kinds of magic.
Hearing that there was magic even she couldn’t use genuinely surprised me.
At her curious gaze, I immediately invoked Prometheus’s Flame.
Bluish sacred fire enveloped us, drawing a small circle around us.
At that, she nodded with a childlike, intrigued look and spoke.
“Indeed, boundless benevolence seeps out from within the flames. If Gawain had seen this, he would’ve been shocked.”
“Shocked? Why?”
“You’re asking because you don’t know? Prometheus’s Flame can only be used starting from at least a 6th Class mage. Even then, you have to cast it with considerable care to barely succeed. The Count of Sheffield said it took time for him as well. It’s magic that even mages at that level struggle with, but for you, it manifests just by reciting the incantation? That’s absurdly overpowered.”
Chris sent me a gaze full of suspicion, asking just what kind of ability I possessed.
I responded with a smile.
If you’re jealous, you could always get possessed too.
But that sense of superiority was short-lived.
I had worn a thoroughly smug smile, but at the words that followed from her mouth, I felt my facial muscles freeze stiff.
“Oh right, we got contacted by the Holy Kingdom—did something happen?”
“…You got contacted by the Holy Kingdom?”
All of a sudden?