episode_0019

It had been a day since Alice had left. There were no new updates during that time.

The Emperor’s command to me had not yet been fulfilled. It seems that Alice still hasn’t met the Emperor. Well, they said he was out of town.

The mess that Alice had unpacked… had not been packed back up yet. For now, the items taken out of the bag were placed back where they originally belonged.

Since Alice had unpacked the bag herself, I decided to be a bit cautious and pack it back up again.

No matter how much Alice insists, it won’t be easy to persuade the stubborn Emperor. Even if he loves his daughter, the Emperor’s goals come first.

Although he always says it’s for the empire, in reality, he’s just a power-hungry man who enjoys governing like a madman. If he deems that his rule is in danger, he’s the type of person who would willingly sacrifice his own daughter.

The Riklant Autonomous State had not appeared in the main storyline of the game yet, but it existed in the setting. It was just a teaser for a possible important role in the sequel.

The game development must have progressed, but since I arrived in this world long before its release, I hadn’t seen any trailers.

Among the fans, the prevailing speculation was that the protagonist, who had retreated to the Riklant Republic due to concerns about the guilds, would return to clean up those guilds and establish a new foothold.

If I had already completely cleaned up the guilds before that happened, such speculation would lose its meaning… but I don’t believe the Emperor will completely eradicate the guilds. He’ll probably leave enough trouble in the Autonomous State to show that he’s still needed by the empire.

If he really wanted to wipe out the guilds, he would have just sent the military.

But if he had tried to send the military, there was a high chance that the Autonomous State would have refused.

Would any sovereign nation in the world welcome another country sending troops to deal with their criminals? It’s a clear violation of sovereignty. It’s obvious.

“…Wait a minute.”

Could it be that the Emperor was trying to send me for that reason?

If he sent an entire imperial military unit, the Riklant Republic would naturally oppose it, but they might not be so against sending a single assassin.

Or maybe he wasn’t planning to send me as a soldier. He could mix me in as a diplomat, or even blatantly send me as a princess.

…I could carry out assassination missions while officially carrying out those duties.

Hmm…

It seems like the Emperor’s trust in me has increased quite a bit, hasn’t it?

Was Claire in the original work trusted to this extent? Even if she was tasked with a mission, she wasn’t sent out alone, right?

I pondered with my hand on my forehead.

If I had mindlessly gone to the Autonomous State and started cutting off the heads of the guild leaders, the future might have changed drastically.

Well, Millennium Saga did enjoy hitting people hard on the back of the head and finding joy in it, so the story probably wasn’t crafted in a way that players could easily predict.

Should I refuse?

I seriously contemplated the matter.

If the Emperor truly trusted me, and believed my words sincerely, then perhaps there was a way to go there and do nothing, and still come back. Even if I lied, the Emperor would probably think, “There must have been a reason for that.”

The problem was whether the Emperor truly believed in me 100%, without any doubt.

And the conclusion to that dilemma was something I could easily come up with without delving too deeply into it.

The emperor is not someone who trusts others 100%. The emperor only believes in his own beliefs. Naturally, if I, who always smoothly carried out all missions, suddenly return, he might doubt my words.

He might believe up to the point of ‘there was no other choice.’ But he won’t think that the ‘no other choice’ was a physical reason why I couldn’t assassinate the target. He will probably speculate politically.

And once that starts to happen, the emperor’s actions will deviate too much from my expectations.

That’s not a good thing.

I am moving to cancel the option of having some people die, and if the emperor moves differently from my expectations, that will be the reason why I won’t be able to write something similar in the future.

Not executing the emperor’s assassination, following the emperor’s words for now, is to minimize variables and create a situation advantageous to me. Just because I missed it doesn’t mean there won’t be new opportunities, but the farther apart the opportunities, the harder it is to catch up.

“….”

Sitting in a chair, chin in hand, I quietly pondered, but still no conclusion came.

Even if I make up an excuse about Alice, if I change my mind now after saying I would do it, the emperor will doubt me again.

Hmm.

There’s no answer.

As I was thinking like that—

Clang, the door suddenly opened.

“….”

It wasn’t that surprising, given that it had happened quite frequently over the past 10 years. In fact, it wasn’t as surprising as Lucas Calver’s arrival.

Surely, it must be Alice again this time.

If she had met the emperor and come back, she would have definitely been refused, so she must have opened the door very hesitantly.

So probably, the reason she came to find me now was not to boast about receiving a new notification from the emperor, but to take me to meet the emperor. She was always confident before facing the emperor.

“Enough!”

“Huh?”

However, upon hearing Alice shout like that, I was momentarily stunned.

What does she mean by ‘enough’?

Turning my head, I saw Alice standing there, smiling confidently. Her hair sparkled golden in the light pouring in from the window.

With both hands on her hips, like a commanding general, Alice spoke.

“You don’t have to go to the North!”

“….”

I looked at Alice silently and said, “Even if you are the acting emperor, you are not currently higher in rank than the one sitting on the throne.”

In my calm voice, Alice snorted.

“I know that too. Even though I look like this, I’m really the princess. If you can’t believe it, take a look at this.”

Saying that, Alice raised the hand she had placed on her right hip.

Now I could see that the hand held the emperor’s order.

[I, Azerna Empire’s Emperor Asar III, hereby revoke the mission to the North given to Silvia Pangryphon.]

It wasn’t an official order. It was a document that was embarrassing to call an order, hastily scribbled on any piece of paper and roughly torn with a fountain pen.

But the handwriting on it was familiar.

And the emperor’s signature too.

“….Forgery of official documents, or impersonation, is a serious crime. If it is impersonating the name of His Majesty the Emperor—”

“No!”

Alice interrupted me.

“If you doubt it, check it yourself! Even if it’s me, I wouldn’t lie about something like this!”

“….”

If Alice is going so far as to say that…

…Could it be true?

If it is true, how on earth did it happen?

I managed to maintain my poker face, but perhaps a sense of bewilderment showed, as Alice looked at me confidently and shouted.

“Alright, got it? We’re going to the academy now! Well, the packing will probably be done much later!”

This time, I will definitely win academically! The princess’s expression as she added that was infinitely bright.

Uh…

No, I really don’t know.

How on earth?

Even in the midst of such confusion, a corner of my mind was cheering with clenched fists.

*

A few minutes ago—

Crash!

The sound of something breaking is not something you hear often in the imperial palace. The maids working in the palace are all noble ladies who have received a high level of education, so they would never accidentally break precious items in the palace.

And there’s no reason for anyone to intentionally break something. There’s no dining in the imperial palace where you would carry dishes.

But this time was different.

The sound was that of a small glass bottle shattering on the floor. And through the shattered glass shards, a transparent liquid splattered in all directions. It was such a small amount that it didn’t even reach the Emperor’s clothes.

“…What is the meaning of this?”

Seeing his own daughter being so insolent in front of the Emperor, the Emperor himself spoke.

Lucas, who was standing guard beside him, had an expression of disbelief, but Alice completely ignored that expression.

Normally, Alice would have been very deferential in front of the Emperor, her father. And the atmosphere right now was not very pleasant either.

But Alice was furious to the core.

And an angry Gryphon is not something you want to see.

Alice was a Gryphon.

It was the first time she had ever been so angry in front of her father. Alice wanted to defeat Sylvia, but she didn’t wish for Sylvia to be unable to compete in the first place.

“This is morphine. It came from Sylvia’s room.”

“Hmm?”

At that, the Emperor’s expression changed instantly. From displeasure to interest.

“Sylvia has morphine?”

It’s not strange for him to react that way. Since the Emperor is the one who makes the most use of Sylvia’s abilities. Although it was only once for an assassination, Sylvia was the only one who could gather various information.

It’s hard to imagine that Sylvia would need morphine. She never had to deal with bullets or swords in the first place.

Lucas seemed surprised as well. His usual cheerful expression disappeared, and he was staring wide-eyed. The situation was like this, but Alice was somewhat pleased with that.

“She said it’s for emergencies. If there’s ever a problem and we have to fight without any chance for injuries, she’ll use it.”

“…Hmm.”

If Sylvia, of all people, said that, it couldn’t be ignored. If Sylvia says to fight without getting hurt, it means there’s no time to heal the wounds.

Because of what kind of danger?

“…Your Majesty.”

Normally, she would have said father, but now she was facing the Emperor as a princess. From now on, the conversation was not just as a daughter, but as Sylvia’s words suggested, as a candidate for the next Emperor… no, as a candidate.

“Sylvia said that she is the one who will become the next Emperor.”

“…”

The Emperor was listening.

“If she becomes the candidate, she said she will do whatever it takes to pass the position to me.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor was carefully observing the princess.

“So, Your Majesty. Sylvia is my person. Not the person of the Emperor.”

With that said, Alice smiled.

It was more of a show-off smile than a sincere one. Distorted by tension, a slightly trembling smile.

But the Gryphon did not run away.

Because it was a Gryphon.

“Sylvia may be a Gryphon. But the former Emperor Gryphon was not a Gryphon, but the leader of the Gryphons. The one who tames the Gryphon and rides on top of it. The one who leads the group. There is no need to be stronger than the Gryphon.”

That’s right. Not a Gryphon, but a Gryphon Gryphon. Meaning the leader of the Gryphons.

Leading a group does not always require force. Especially when it comes to leading a group of humans.

“So, I will take care of Sylvia. Of course, if you need, I can lend her to you as well. But at least for this time, it won’t be possible.”

Sylvia, yes, Sylvia, is supporting the ‘true princess’ to become the next emperor.

And the princess realized her true meaning.

Realizing it, she was informing the current emperor of that fact.

And upon hearing her declaration, the emperor smiled.