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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Imperial Palace.
The Crown Princess, leading the procession carrying the coffin, knelt on one knee and bowed her head.
“Grandfather. I have retrieved Henderson’s corpse.”
“Well done.”
An elderly man with a long beard and white hair waved his hand and sighed.
Gustav Friedrich von Freya.
The emperor who had led the Freya Empire’s heyday for 40 years.
Gustav looked down at the coffin for a moment.
It was Henderson’s corpse, which the Crown Princess had difficulty retrieving through negotiation.
It was the Imperial Police’s principle to never hand over a suspect’s corpse.
“Would you like to open it?”
“No need. I don’t even want to see it.”
“Shall I burn it or cut it into pieces and feed it to the beasts?”
“Do as you please.”
“…”
At Gustav’s indifferent answer, Aria slightly pouted her lips.
It’s the corpse of the one who brutally killed the Emperor’s son.
She thought he would react strongly upon seeing the corpse, but…
Suppressing her slightly disappointed feelings, the Crown Princess opened her mouth.
“And I met Schlus Hainkel.”
“Schlus Hainkel…”
Only then, when an interesting topic came up, Gustav’s eyes widened.
Schlus Hainkel.
One day, he suddenly appeared like a comet and not only entered the Imperial Academy as the top student, but also prevented a large-scale terror attack, and even caught Henderson…
It was the story of a commoner who kept doing attention-grabbing things.
“Tell me what kind of person he is.”
“I want to talk privately.”
“… Come inside.”
With the Emperor’s approval, the ministers started to stir.
They heard that the Crown Princess had met Schlus Hainkel.
They were quite curious about what the Crown Princess’ evaluation of him would be.
But she wanted to talk privately.
Was there something that needed to be kept top secret?
The ministers had no choice but to suppress their curiosity and watch the backs of the Emperor and Crown Princess entering the room with hesitant steps.
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“Can I stretch my legs, Gramps?”
“Go ahead.”
“Can I lie down?”
“Do as you please.”
“Ahhhh…”
Only after checking that the door was closed again did the Crown Princess lie down, letting out a vulgar sound.
It was an undignified appearance that she had never shown to anyone except her grandfather.
Still, Gustav only looked at his granddaughter with a satisfied expression, resting his chin.
He thought it wasn’t bad to let her relax and be comfortable from time to time.
“Wow. I walked a lot today, Gramps. I think I walked about a hundred thousand steps.”
“I see. Good job.”
“I met the Imperial Police guys, the Great Forest Ambassador… Phew, anyway, I was busy.”
“Rest for now. And slowly tell me about that commoner.”
“Okay. Ugh!”
The Crown Princess stretched and organized her thoughts.
What should she say first?
Actually, there was nothing to keep secret even from the ministers.
She just didn’t want to show this frivolous appearance.
Imagining the ministers making wild guesses about top secret information made her want to laugh.
“About Schlus Hainkel. That guy is a total lunatic.”
“Lunatic?”
“Yeah. He treats the Imperial authority like shit.”
“…”
Gustav’s expression hardened.
It wasn’t because of the vulgar language naturally flowing from his granddaughter’s mouth.
It was because of her evaluation of the commoner to whom he was planning to personally award a medal.
“The nobles were right. He was very cocky and had no dignity at all.”
“Oh my…”
Gustav let out a troubled sigh.
He was going to summon him to the palace and personally award him a medal in front of numerous people.
If that guy caused an incident there, it was obvious that the Imperial authority would be damaged.
“In short, he has no manners, you mean.”
“No. He had basic manners, but…?”
“What?”
“He had manners, but only the bare minimum. In a bad way, he’s rude, and in a good way, he’s confident.”
Gustav, who had been quietly listening to the Crown Princess’ words, fell into thought.
Come to think of it, there was no way his granddaughter, known for her crazy personality since childhood, would have left the limbs of a commoner who was rude to her intact.
In other words, he never crossed the line.
He spoke bluntly without crossing the line.
To the Emperor, Schlus Hainkel seemed like someone who wasn’t crushed by the Imperial authority and said what he wanted to say.
It meant he was the complete opposite of those who were quick to grovel at the mere mention of the Imperial Family, the type the Crown Princess hated the most.
“You seem to quite like him.”
“Oh. How did you know?”
“I can tell just by looking at your face.”
The Crown Princess had been smiling the whole time while talking about Schlus Hainkel.
It was evident due to her personality of clearly showing her emotions on her face.
That she was looking forward to meeting Schlus Hainkel again.
“So, what title did you decide to give him?”
“When I told him to say anything, he demanded a dukedom.”
“D-Duke!”
Gustav fake coughed.
The position of a duke.
If he carelessly replaced them, it wouldn’t be strange for a civil war to break out.
… It was already on the verge of a civil war though.
“No! That can’t be!”
“I said the same thing. Then he demanded something else.”
“Something else?”
“The warehouse in the underground of the palace. He said he’ll look and choose from the treasures inside.”
“I-I see…”
Gustav stroked his beard with a serious expression.
The underground warehouse.
It was a place that stored useless but expensive treasures.
However, there was one.
One precious item that couldn’t be exchanged for anything…
“I told him I’d give him whatever he chooses. That’s fine, right?”
“Ah, yes. Probably.”
No way he’d choose that.
In the first place, it wasn’t an item a mere commoner could recognize the true value of.
Moreover, it was shoved deep inside, so he wouldn’t even go that far, distracted by the dazzling treasures while passing through the warehouse.
There was no way he would demand that.
Gustav answered half-heartedly with that conviction.
But for some reason, he kept getting an uneasy feeling.
“Your Majesty the Emperor! Urgent news!”
“…!”
At that moment, a minister’s loud shout was heard from outside the door.
The Crown Princess widened her eyes like saucers and instantly got up and knelt.
By the time the door creaked open, she had already taken on the appearance of politely reporting to the Emperor with an impeccable posture.
“How rude. Barging in without permission.”
“Please forgive my disloyalty. There is one thing I urgently need to report…”
“Speak.”
“A riot has occurred in the south, mainly by the subhumans. A castle is in danger of being taken, they say.”
“Hmph. The beasts have finally gone mad.”
The Emperor’s brows furrowed.
Somehow, the situation didn’t seem trivial.
It seemed like a civil war might really break out.
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“Mr. Hainkel. Here.”
“…?”
When I returned from class, Emilia handed me an envelope with both hands.
It was an envelope heavily decorated with dazzling gold.
Even without opening it, it was obvious where it came from.
“Is it from the Imperial Family?”
“Yes. A person who seemed to be a palace magician delivered it.”
It was the moment I roughly tore open the envelope’s seal and took out the letter.
“…”
“…”
My eyes met Emilia’s, who was holding a letter opener.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I fake coughed and handed the clumsily torn envelope to Emilia.
Then I read the letter from the top.
-Schlus Hainkel. In recognition of your merits in preventing the loss of life on the Day of Magic and eliminating threats to the Empire. And for the merit of intercepting the Crow Henderson, an enemy of the Empire, the Imperial Family highly…
I skimmed through the middle because it seemed like a yawn would come out.
Well, it roughly said they would award me a medal for doing well.
Geez, they stretched out what could have been said in one sentence so long…
Anyway, the most important thing was written on the last line.
The date and time of the medal conferment ceremony.
“Ha.”
“What is it?”
“It says the ceremony will be held tomorrow at the Imperial Palace.”
“Tomorrow… That’s quite soon.”
Emilia also flinched, no, acted surprised.
They notified the schedule only a day in advance.
It was quite a rude act.
There was no way Aria or the Emperor would be so petty.
It was highly likely that the person in charge of notification deliberately delivered the letter late.
Then I’ll have to throw a fit when I go tomorrow.
I need to make it clear that I’m not someone to be messed with.
“Then I’ll clean the mansion while you’re out tomorrow.”
“No. You’ll come with me.”
“Pardon? To the Imperial Palace?”
“Yes. To the Imperial Palace. Miss Emilia, you know etiquette better than me, right? Please watch over me so I don’t make mistakes.”
“Ah, if that’s the case… I understand. I’ll do as you say.”
Emilia slightly bowed her head and answered.
Oh.
Hearing this line makes me feel like I’m really employing a maid.
Although in reality, she’s a supervisor who can kill me at any time.
“Should I buy you new clothes?”
“Pardon? You want me to wear casual clothes?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem. I’m accompanying you as an attendant. There’s no other option but a maid uniform.”
“I see.”
Oh. I didn’t expect this.
Then it means Emilia in a maid uniform will be walking the streets behind me.
This seemed a bit embarrassing.
Although the people on the streets wouldn’t think anything of it.
“Tomorrow morning will be busy.”
“You mean makeup? It must be tough for women.”
“Not for me. An attendant can’t dress up excessively.”
“No way, don’t tell me-”
“Yes. Mr. Hainkel, you’ll have to put on makeup.”
“I refuse.”
I firmly refused.
… No, I thought I refused.
“It’s an occasion where you’ll be meeting His Majesty the Emperor. Shouldn’t you dress up as best as possible?”
“No, it’s fine…”
“Don’t worry. I know how to do men’s makeup perfectly too!”
“…”
Emilia began to show enthusiasm without even listening to what I said.
It seemed like I could see her determination to make me wear makeup no matter what I said.
“… Yes. Please do.”
“Hehe. I’ll do my best!”
If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.
When else would I get to wear makeup if not now?
I decided to give up.
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There was still no news coverage about Henderson and me.
Were they planning to release all the information along with the ceremony?
I’m already dying from the attention pouring on me, so I’m scared of what will happen when the articles come out.
As I kept sighing while thinking like that, I stopped by a café for a change of mood, but…
“What the hell is this?”
Somehow, the state of the café was strange.
The windows were cracked, and the door was tattered, as if it had been attacked.
Could it be that Eric failed at security and got caught by a counterintelligence agency?
“Our store is operating normally. You can come in.”
Just as I was thinking that, Eric staggered out and guided me inside.
The interior was intact.
Except for one section of the cabinet being completely empty.
It seemed like there had been a commotion and this was after cleaning up the debris.
“Did something happen?”
“Hahaha. A drunk customer caused a disturbance for a moment. Don’t worry. He won’t come again.”
“…”
A drunk customer.
Such a person wouldn’t have been able to enter in the first place.
Before he could even cause a disturbance, Eric would have easily subdued him and thrown him out.
Even if he was old, he had sufficient skills to subdue an ordinary person.
Then what on earth happened?
‘No way, crazy.’
I think I know who it is.
It was clear that the one who caused the disturbance was none other than an agent of the Kingdom’s Intelligence Agency.
The traitor who tried to run away with the Intelligence Agency’s data. It was a bit earlier timing than the original work, but it was definitely him.
‘I let my guard down.’
I had been so focused on what was happening inside the Imperial Academy that I had completely forgotten about the events in the shadows.
It was an event that the fate of the Intelligence Agency depended on.
Because the data that traitor possessed contained the personal information of all the agents dispatched to the Empire.
Even though it was such an important event, if I had to make an excuse for why I forgot about it…
It was because it wasn’t a very significant event in the original work.
It was a short episode that passed by without any sense of crisis.
In the original work, the guy was caught by Hertlocker and beaten to a pulp before he could run away with the data.
But how the hell did this guy manage to run away with the data…?
‘Ah.’
It’s because of me.
Hertlocker had his face seen by me.
So he couldn’t come to this café that I frequently visited.
Even if he did come, it would only be occasionally, either early in the morning or late at night.
As a result, unlike in the original work, Hertlocker couldn’t be at the café the moment the traitor ran away with the data…
This is driving me crazy.
If I let the guy escape, the Intelligence Agency will be annihilated.
Most of the agents will either be caught and killed or flee far away to the frontier.
That would be troublesome.
Because I definitely need the power of Hertlocker and the Intelligence Agency to reach the ending.
I made up my mind and abruptly stood up.
“Your order is…”
“Today it’s chaotic, so I’m not in the mood to drink. I’ll come again next time.”
“Ah, yes… But next time might be after I close up shop.”
“No way. I guarantee it. Master, you’ll keep running the business here.”
“… Thank you for the encouragement.”
I left the café and walked with quick steps.
If I lose that guy by any chance, a catastrophe will occur.
Hertlocker and the Intelligence Agency guys will also be searching for the traitor in their own way, but it will be difficult to find a guy who has deliberately hidden himself.
“I’m screwed. That rat bastard.”
So I’ll block his escape route from the beginning.
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Thanks for the chapter 😁
I don’t want to say and what to expect