I was standing at a crossroads.
One option was to go meet Lobelia and Theseus who had been imprisoned.
The other was to ignore everything and go secure my attendance points.
If you weigh the importance of the two, they’re about the same.
No, actually, attendance is probably more important. Why should I care about Lobelia, who can’t control her fiery temper and runs wild?
That woman isn’t any help.
So I decided not to shed any tears and to prioritize attendance.
I still have to graduate…
“His Majesty is calling for you.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t need to attend today, so please head to the Imperial Palace.”
Before attendance was even called, I was kicked out of the cradle.
Left standing alone in front of the main gate, I realized something.
“Now he calls for me whenever he’s bored…”
This is exactly why I didn’t like it.
I knew that if we ran into each other a few times, I’d end up getting singled out like this.
***
The Imperial Palace.
Fortunately, the emperor who summoned me was busy with work and did not grant me a separate audience.
I’m truly grateful for that.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the fact that the emperor summoned me was simply brushed aside.
As soon as I entered the Imperial Palace, I changed into the knights’ formal uniform and, following the emperor’s orders, headed to the detention room.
“I heard you were imprisoned, but both of you look quite well.”
“Mr. Johan?”
“How did you—?”
“How what? Because of the power and responsibility I was forced to take on since Your Highness didn’t stop it.”
For a prison, it looked excessively clean and excessively comfortable.
Well, they’re still members of the imperial family, so it’s not like they’d throw them into a damp, moldy dungeon…
Still, it only had iron bars, yet the environment was better than my room.
I wasn’t even talking about the dormitory room.
The room I meant was the one at my family’s house.
“That uniform… Mr. Johan. Don’t tell me you’re a knight?”
“I was recently forced into becoming one.”
I briefly explained my situation to Theseus, who was not only oblivious but also slow to hear any news.
“Something like that happened… If you had told me, I would have helped you.”
“Me? How exactly?”
Should I have begged in front of the Imperial Palace gates to be allowed to meet the First Prince, who shuts himself away in the palace and never comes out?
At least say something that makes sense.
Even after returning to the Imperial Palace, this man still doesn’t understand his own position.
At this point, it’s understandable why Lobelia got angry.
Someone spends years struggling and struggling just to barely earn the support of the citizens, while someone else lives outside like a prodigal and then returns to receive all kinds of support.
If it were me, I’d want to flip everything over too.
“So why did you fight?”
“Fight? It was merely the usual squabbling between siblings.”
“Your Highness Theseus, your nose is bleeding. And you’re talking as if you were simply humoring her, but looking at the state of both of you, who would think that?”
“Ah, well…”
Both of them were covered in injuries.
Who in the world would look at this and call it sibling squabbling?
Though it seems Lobelia really did get stronger after awakening an additional ability.
If she managed to make Theseus bleed, she must not be ordinary.
Not that I’ve ever benefited from that strength.
If anything, it’s usually directed at me.
“Your Highness Lobelia? Why don’t you explain. Why did you fight?”
“Are you planning to act like a teacher?”
“Can’t you see this? The Knights’ uniform. Do I look like I came here to hang out?”
Mediate the fight between the two imperial members. That was the emperor’s order.
It really made me realize anew that the emperor must live a difficult life. It would be hard to ruin child-rearing this badly even if you tried.
…Then again, what can he do? It’s all the result of his own actions.
“This is an interrogation. An interrogation.”
The strategist of the Guillotine Knights.
When I was forced to take the position, it made my teeth grind with anger, but now that I’m actually in a situation like this, it’s not that bad.
Even Lobelia is in a position where she can’t politically do anything to me.
Now I’m someone who is free from political issues.
Of course, if someone really sets their mind on getting rid of me, there’s nothing I could do about that, but at least as long as the emperor doesn’t change, they won’t be able to pull any half-baked tricks.
“Alright, alright. We’re all busy people, so let’s not waste time. Just speak honestly. I’ll put together a proper compromise in place of you two hot-blooded individuals.”
So this is the taste of power?
It’s very sweet.
“So you gain power and immediately become arrogant.”
“No, Lobelia. Mr. Johan was fairly arrogant even when he didn’t have power. Now it’s simply visible on the surface.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve agreed with you, brother.”
“I’m glad the two of you seem to have reached a friendly agreement on something.”
I managed to draw the word “brother” out of Lobelia, who had recently been keeping Theseus at arm’s length.
If the result is good, then it’s good, right?
“So is this resolved now?”
“Nothing has been resolved. Aren’t you just trying to leave because this is annoying?”
“Yes.”
That’s right.
And what can they do about it if I say so? A pair of idiots who got themselves imprisoned after falling out of the emperor’s favor.
Meanwhile, I am the strategist of the Guillotine Knights, personally appointed by His Majesty the Emperor.
“…Weren’t you looking for Under Chain’s headquarters?”
“Ah, right.”
“Don’t tell me you forgot?”
“No. I’m not such an idiot that I’d easily forget something like that when a friend of mine ended up that way.”
It’s just that I gave up expecting anything from Lobelia. So it’s closer to forgetting that I even asked her in the first place.
Haah… Honestly, what was I thinking, entrusting something that important to butchers like these?
“I can feel your gaze becoming more disrespectful by the day.”
“…….”
“Now you don’t even bother making excuses.”
Lobelia somehow looked a little sad.
Seeing that made a corner of my chest feel uncomforta… no, it didn’t.
I’m someone who can even make a princess sad!
I can dominate the imperial family!
“First, hear me out. I did my best in my own way.”
At Lobelia’s words, I glanced over at Theseus once.
He was someone who had never been seriously injured even when fighting the Scriptwriter, so seeing him in that kind of mess meant…
“You really did beat the hell out of him with your best effort. Honestly, just looking at that is pretty satisfying.”
That frustrating bastard. Every time I saw the way he acted, I wanted to punch him at least once.
I only held back because I didn’t have the strength or authority. I don’t even know how exhausting it was to coax and placate that brat.
He’s older than me, yet he’s still nowhere near mature.
“You… should start being careful. That could genuinely count as disrespectful soon.”
“Of course.”
Even if I look like this, I’m someone who knows exactly where the line is. I’m insulting him just enough to be forgiven.
“In the first place, His Highness Theseus is such a good person. Would he really throw me in prison for disrespecting the imperial family over something like this?”
“So you’re knowingly doing it. That’s a very fittingly despicable basis for judgment.”
“That’s right.”
If you’re going to resent anyone, resent the emperor who forcibly put power into the hands of someone like me. Now that I have it, I’m going to make the most of it and behave as wickedly as possible.
“Anyway, the conversation keeps drifting. Listen to what I’m saying.”
“Something unfair happened to you?”
“Very much so.”
She’s been going on about how she did her best since earlier, even though no one asked. What exactly is she so wronged about?
“Well, it seems that wretch forgot the coordinates of where Under Chain’s headquarters used to be.”
That was Lobelia’s remark.
Based on that statement, I turned my head toward Theseus and asked,
“If you didn’t want to say it, you could’ve just said so instead of making such a lousy excuse…”
“I really did forget. No, think about it. How many tasks do you think I handled in a single day? And expecting me to remember every detail of the errands that ill-tempered old man forced on me is too much.”
“I can accept the latter, but not the former.”
The Scriptwriter’s nagging?
The only reason to remember each and every one of those things would be for revenge.
If that were the case, well… I suppose he might have forgotten.
“But the importance of the task is different, isn’t it?”
Still, that doesn’t excuse it.
This is the headquarters of Under Chain.
He forgot the base of the largest terrorist organization in the world?
And the surroundings looked like that, no less?
There’s no way this isn’t his own fault.
“Your Highness Lobelia, you may come out. Your innocence has been proven. Your Highness Theseus, you can stay in there a little longer. Cool your head in there.”
“Much appreciated.”
In accordance with His Majesty the Emperor’s command, I delivered a perfect and impartial judgment.
“So this is politics…”
Unable to accept his own guilt, Theseus muttered in a hollow voice.
Politics? Did he just call this politics?
Theseus is hopeless. Having been coddled by everyone around him, he’s clearly never experienced real political maneuvering.
“Your Highness, it seems only right that you become the next emperor.”
“Hm? Ah….uh, y-yes, that’s right. I didn’t expect you to suddenly say something like that. Ahem. Anyway, I’ll do my best.”
I’m not joking. I usually don’t bother with anything beyond my personal matters, but imagining that man Theseus becoming emperor is enough to awaken a sense of patriotism I didn’t even know I had.
He has the kind of face that screams he’d get pushed around from all sides and ruin the country in no time.
The emperor really needs to have at least a bit of a wicked side, like Lobelia.
“I will become an emperor who does not disappoint your expectations.”
“You’d better.”
My expectations for Lobelia were quite low. Even so, I don’t think she’ll fail to meet that much.
“R-rRght.”
Perhaps moved by my encouragement, Lobelia lowered her head deeply.
Does no one usually praise her? She’s getting happy over something so trivial.
***
Good.
Everything went smoothly….and completely wrong.
You could say it’s rare to see something fail this thoroughly.
It’s common for my plans to end up in the trash, but this is the first time my colleagues’ plans have gone down with them.
“Alright, we already messed up the very first step.”
Basically, there were two fatal mistakes we made.
The first was assuming that Ollie had joined the Under Chain.
The second was thinking Ollie had already crossed the point of no return and trying to eliminate her.
The former was my fault, and the latter was Yuna’s.
Still, it’s not like we have no excuses.
The circumstances were pointing in that direction, and an unforeseen variable completely overturned the situation.
Ollie’s ability and Raven who had become a Death Knight.
All kinds of cause and effect got strangely tangled together, producing a bizarre outcome.
“This is complicated.”
To put it simply, Ollie hasn’t crossed the line yet. The people she’s killed so far are clearly villains, and although she believes she’s burning the souls of others, that isn’t actually the case.
However, she’s standing in a position where she could cross that line at any moment.
The first time may be difficult, but will the second be?
She probably already believes she’s gone too far to turn back, so if we don’t find her soon, she’ll truly reach a point of no return.
And it will also be a problem when she learns the truth someday.
“Raven……”
Raven was carrying the burden.
He took upon his own body every sin that Ollie should have committed.
As long as he doesn’t resent her and chooses to forgive her, Ollie is still alright.
But I don’t know if Ollie would want that as well. Or what will happen to her once she learns the truth.
Whatever the case, I’ll do what I can.
“Don’t worry. I’m the one who buried even Loki in hell.”
I made this bold promise to a friend who couldn’t even leave behind a grave.
I don’t know if the guy wandering somewhere in the mortal world heard it or not…
Well then, the resolve is made.
Now it’s time to untangle the thread of this mess that’s become so knotted and stagnant.
“Mephi.”
“Hmm? What is it? Don’t tell me you were waiting for me. Why?”
Under the setting sun,
I spotted the figure of a demon trudging along, dragging a long shadow behind him.
“Mephistopheles.”
“Uh… did I do something wrong?”
Mephi’s eyes darted around as she tried to read the room.
But it’s about time I started seriously considering what the Great Sage said.
“People have been talking about you lately.”
“……”
Mephi’s eyes, which had been shaking wildly, turned toward the World Tree standing behind me and licking a piece of candy.
Ah, I wasn’t talking about her.
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