Chap 29-The Hero Party is Coming 2

 

It seemed our Princess Arietta was quite curious about the hero party.

“Do you know about the hero party?”

“Of course. I ‘worked’ with them.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say we were a party.

That would lead to talking about thieves, and now that the hero had come to the Empire, he would try to get information about Sien while recovering the Holy Sword.

Of course, the princess wasn’t the type to blab, but I still believed that nothing was lighter than a woman’s lips.

I had to be careful of any variables.

“What exactly is this ‘work’?”

“If you knew, you’d probably get hurt. You wouldn’t just end up as a poor, mentally unstable princess. They’re beyond help.”

They were heroes from a kingdom who acted superior to the Empire.

I had been itching to spread their crap around, but if that happened, the relationship between the kingdom and the Empire would be ruined.

Since the two countries were on different scales, they wouldn’t recklessly start a war, but the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Army would try to squeeze in between.

There was also a Four Heavenly Kings who would take advantage of the chaos to invade.

I didn’t know if the hero party could handle them, but this visit to the Empire didn’t seem like it would end with just recovering the Holy Sword.

“What exactly does the hero party do?”

“Oh, they’re nothing special. You can just ignore them.”

I waved my hand, lightly explaining to Arietta, who was sparkling with curiosity.

“Nothing special?”

“Well, the hero party is just a glorified existence created by the kingdom. They’re like nobles who have a good reputation on the surface but do all sorts of dirty things behind the scenes.”

That was the best I could explain it.

It wasn’t a wrong analogy.

“Like my Franz Family?”

“Yes. Kayla was a truly perfect partner, but it’s a shame she gave the other royals an excuse.”

Thanks to Franz, whom I manipulated by holding her weaknesses, she had a good reputation in the Empire for outwardly helping the hero party.

Perhaps that was why she became a target for the royals.

And Franz happened to be Arietta’s maternal family.

If she helped Arietta with that thick trust and reputation, the competition could be quite skewed.

“Well, I don’t know how to put it into words anymore. Shouldn’t the Bathory Family, who worked with the Franz Family, also be ruined if the Franz Family is like that?”

“Our family is a bit famous in many ways. Above all, we didn’t have any connected royals, so I erased all the evidence before I came to the princess. In the first place, if the Franz Family hadn’t been in the imperial succession race, the other competitors wouldn’t have tried so hard to bring down Franz.”

Frankly, if my master wanted to, she could wipe out all the nobles who supported the royal who ruined the Franz Family, even if she couldn’t get to the royal herself.

However, if she did that, the Empire would collapse, so she was just protecting Arietta and cutting off the branches appropriately.

“Hmm, there must be a lot of nobles in the imperial palace.”

“Factions?”

“Yes. They’re probably lined up in factions.”

Even in the kingdom, nobles were lined up whenever the hero party returned.

Was she going to see that as it was?

Perhaps it would be a little bigger since it was the Empire.

If those large-scale nobles were gathered in factions for each royal, our Princess Arietta would be so pitiful.

Was that why she brought up the Franz story?

I really felt sorry for her.

“So you’re worried about the Franz Family too, huh?”

“Ah, yes. Well.”

“Hmm, lined up in factions. Is the Lion King there too?”

“Probably?”

I had to pray that the Lion King was a decent guy.

Unlike those siblings with terrible personalities.

Looking at their condition, it seemed like it would be a miserable sight when I saw them later.

“You don’t have to worry about Ailia and Kailon.”

“Yes?”

“Their condition isn’t very good.”

They were supposed to be preparing for the hero party’s immediate arrival, but they suddenly had to go to the imperial palace from class.

They had been fighting excitedly until just a while ago, so they were sweaty and torn here and there. Ailia even had slightly disheveled hair.

Kailon was relatively fine, but would they have been still on the way?

On the road to the capital.

On the road where Sien had once taken a carriage to the capital, the wheels of the carriage carrying the hero party and Princess Luciella of the kingdom were rolling.

Around this time, the hero party was smiling at the thought of recovering the hero party’s ‘items’ from the Empire.

Of course, Talon was an exception.

“It’s good that we can recover the Holy Sword, but are you guys okay? Unlike the Holy Sword, the Grimoire, the Sacred Tome, and the Spirit Orb are also problems.”

I knew Sien’s personality well.

Even if he handed them over to the Empire, he wouldn’t just hand them over.

The Holy Sword was unavoidable, but what about the others? Really?

Frankly, I didn’t think so.

So I asked the women of the hero party.

Just in case a difficult situation arose.

“Well, the Grimoire is protected by an enchantment. Besides, I’ve already read the whole book, so it’s just a formality.”

“Yes. The Sacred Tome I have was originally received from the church, but it’s a Sacred Tome that I can’t read either. It would be bad if it was taken away because of its symbolic meaning, but I can’t actually do anything with it.”

“I can always get another Spirit Orb.”

Helia, Yuni, and Kayla all said there were no problems.

Wasn’t there something strange in the middle?

“You can’t read the Sacred Tome?”

“Ah, yes. It’s just a book that shines. I can’t even open it.”

She couldn’t even open it. I had seen Sien secretly opening a book before.

Was that a different Sacred Tome then?

“What about the ones you’ve read so far?”

“There are many types of Sacred Tomes. The one that was taken away was just one of them.”

The Spirit Orb was meaningless too.

In the end, they were played by that Sien.

I was going to get a proper scolding from the Empire.

I sighed at the thought of having a battle of wits with the Emperor.

“So my Holy Sword was the most important thing after all. That’s a relief.”

“Are you saying ‘that’s a relief’ now? You all had symbolic items stolen, but you’re talking big.”

The hero party wanted to argue that Sien, whom he had been protecting so much, had stolen everything, but they kept their mouths shut.

In any case, the hero party was the cause of Ciel holding a grudge.

‘Should I have not let Sien into the hero party in the first place?’

The thought suddenly crossed my mind, but Talon shook his head and dismissed such trivial thoughts.

It had happened more than once, but without him, they wouldn’t have reached the Demon King so quickly.

I arrived at the imperial palace.

Not the place where the princess’s palace was located, but the imperial castle where the Emperor resided.

Since it was a country with a larger scale than the kingdom, the imperial palace was several times larger than the kingdom’s royal palace.

The atmosphere was even more solemn than when I had come once before as a member of the hero party.

When I came to the Empire as a member of the hero party, the knights of the imperial palace only had dignity, but today’s imperial palace was full of very wary knights and soldiers, as if they were trying to protect the Emperor from an enemy.

And.

There were a lot of nobles.

“Wow, the Empire really has a lot of nobles.”

There must be a lot to rip off.

I could see why my master had made the Empire her base.

With so many nobles, even if you just worked in the middle and held their leashes, you could live off the income for the rest of your life.

I smacked my lips while rubbing my hands together.

It would be good to do various things through the Thieves’ Guild later.

“I know. This is the first time I’ve seen so many gathered together.”

Arietta, who was next to me, was also watching with wide eyes, impressed.

“Haven’t you seen them once or twice?”

“I’ve only been in the princess’s palace. I didn’t have a chance to go out. I thought it would be troublesome if I went out and created factions with the nobles.”

Ah, I understood that.

Even if she didn’t intend to, it would naturally create a confrontational structure.

“You’re socially inept.”

“Why?”

“That’s how life is, you have to bump into things.”

Well, even if she met the nobles, she would definitely be ignored.

How many nobles would stick to Arietta without Franz?

I didn’t think there would be many.

“But why isn’t the head of the Bathory Baron Family visible?”

“She happens to be over there.”

The existence that was my master appeared.

Magical Creatures were said to appear when you talked about them, and she was right there.

She was a particularly unique presence in this place where all the noble family heads and their spouses were gathered.

Her appearance in noble formal attire, not a dress like some women, but a coat, was quite plausible.

Now that I saw it, the clothes I received from my master and wore were my master’s taste.

It felt like it had been a long time since I had seen her like that.

“Bathory Baron came here in person?”

“No way. Does that mean Bathory has entered the imperial succession race too!”

“Come to think of it, they said they attached the Bathory family to that Princess Arietta.”

Various rumors were circulating.

News about the Bathory Family.

I hadn’t been in the Empire for very long, and even if I was, I had only heard of the ‘Bathory Family’ as a cover identity.

I wasn’t interested in anything other than the Thieves’ Guild.

Was it a more famous family than I thought?

“Hey, you’re actually quite a famous family?”

“Hey, it’s just a ‘Baron Family’. A Duke Family would be different. Those people are just making fun of us because we’re a Baron Family. You know, like making fun of people.”

Of course, compared to an ordinary commoner family, the position of Baron Family itself wasn’t bad.

But in noble society, it was just a family of court officials living without territory in the capital.

Compared to the powerful Count, Marquis, Marquis, and Duke Families with other territories and people, it wasn’t a family that would be talked about like that.

“Oh. I see. But isn’t that a bit strange? No matter what, those proud nobles, even the Counts and Marquises, are bowing down?”

“Huh?”

I didn’t know about that, what was going on?

Really high-ranking nobles were greeting my master.

I suddenly got goosebumps.

That human was actually talking to other nobles properly.

She was always scheming about how to screw them over behind their backs.

Before I knew it, it was our turn.

No, in the first place, Bathory should be classified as ‘Arietta’s faction’ in many ways, so it was right for her to come here.

“Oh, you were here. Ciel.”

“Yes, Head of the Family.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the princess since she was a child.”

They knew each other.

Well, friends would have seen each other when they were young.

Arietta herself was speaking as if she was seeing her for the first time.

“Do you know me?”

“The princess’s mother, the Second Empress, is my friend. I was the one who was asked to send that child this time.”

“I see.”

Arietta seemed to have a lot to say.

She was trying not to open her mouth, so she had some sense.

“You probably want to say why I let your maternal family collapse.”

“No, not exactly. I mean, you didn’t have to save them, but if you were friends.”

That’s usually the case.

“No, no. I couldn’t save them even if I wanted to. Because Franz was a great noble family, the one who cut down Franz was also a great noble. There were so many great nobles involved that if I cut them all off? At least a few legions would collapse, and even the Duke’s army wouldn’t be able to maintain the front line.”

Everything was intertwined.

That’s what my master was saying.

Even though she could pull down the nobles’ leashes at any time, she needed those rotten groups to maintain the Empire.