Chapter 32. Imperial Palace (1)

The Arkan Monarch Society's chief executive officer, Balkan Kast.

At first, he just followed and assisted a mysterious man due to the Great Lord's orders.

Of course, he had never served him sincerely, not even once.

He was suddenly summoned and ordered to serve some unknown guy; no matter how many times he thought about it, it was absurd.

However, he figured arguing against the Great Lord's command would only put him in a difficult position, so he decided to serve the man with a purely business-minded approach…

"See you later, 6th Lord."

3rd Lord, Kwonseong Kallen.

The words "6th Lord" came from Kallen, a veteran of the Lord Council.

The sixth Lordship had remained vacant for hundreds of years due to the intense territorialism of the existing Lords.

They demanded absurdly high qualifications from new Lord candidates, and because of that, even the most prominent candidates were rejected.

And yet, they acknowledged a human.

Moreover, he subdued that Kwonseong with overwhelming power.

Even the Great Lord went to the Imperial Palace to meet with the Emperor. From a certain perspective, he had chosen the right side, perhaps too well.

This wasn't the time to be idle.

The Lordship was practically guaranteed, and if that happened, he didn't know how long he'd be with this man.

So, he needed to make a good impression early on.

Who knows? He might even become the next chief of staff…

'…is what he must be thinking.'

I chuckled.

I can see right through him.

Balkan is a character with a significant role in the original story, so I know him well.

He's a guy who rose to his position not only through skill, but also with his almost supernatural intuition.

As expected.

Balkan swallowed a sigh and spoke.

"6th Lord."

"…?"

"As the 3rd Lord mentioned, if the other Lords are scheduled to visit this place in turn, shouldn't we prepare countermeasures in advance?"

"Why bother?"

"How much do you know about the other Lords?"

"I know their food preferences, too."

"…Excuse me?"

No way. I immediately blocked his attempt to lay the groundwork.

Since I have information from the original story, I couldn't possibly *not* know about the Lords.

Each Lord was a top-tier figure on the continent, and their considerable influence inevitably affected the branches of the underlying narrative.

I spread five fingers and told him.

"There were five of them in total, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"1st Lord, Magician Ecion. He should be away on some academic trip right now."

"I understand he left a week ago."

"2nd Lord, Black Hand Myung-gak. That bonehead is probably wandering all over the country looking for usable corpses."

"…He has departed for the Northern Territory, Alderen."

"We just saw the 3rd Lord, so that's taken care of. Ice Empress Arghen, she’s probably climbing a mountain trying to find a spirit-class Familiar, isn't she?"

"…Yes."

"Then there's only one to worry about."

The remaining one was the 5th Lord, Sorcerer King Etina.

He could be called the strongest Sorcerer on the continent.

Sorcery itself is a rare and specialized power, but the combat power of a Sorcerer who has reached a certain level skyrockets.

Etina was no exception.

He wasn't the strongest among the Lords, but he was one of the most troublesome.

"No, why should I even prepare? I never said I'd become a Lord."

"Excuse me? Why wouldn't you become a Lord?"

"Then why should I?"

"You can hold the highest authority on the continent, so of course you should."

Highest authority, my ass. Governing a Lord's Territory the size of a decent noble’s estate is hardly authority; it's just a burden.

Of course, it wasn't all bad.

The moment I become a Lord, I'd be completely free from financial constraints.

Like at the Academy, I could do whatever I wanted with the overflowing budget.

…It might actually be pretty good?

If I want to take down the Outer Gods that appear in the latter half of the original story, it’s good to prepare in advance.

Honestly, with a sufficient budget, nothing seemed impossible.

While I was thinking about it…

*Rumble rumble rumble—*

The sound of carriage wheels reached my ears.

I stopped talking and looked out the window.

A flamboyant white carriage stopped in front of the office building.

That emblem attached to the carriage wheels, it's the Imperial Family’s crest.

“…”

Did Arkan already send someone to clean up the nonsense he spouted to the Emperor?

Considering the ostentatious Imperial carriage, it’s probably someone of high status. Arkan probably chose someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or someone of suitably high rank whom I’m acquainted with.

Of course, in my desert-like social life, there aren't many people who fit the bill.

I fixed my gaze on the carriage.

The coachman in the front seat got out of the carriage, opened the rear door, and extended his hand.

The woman who took his hand and stepped out was none other than…

"Selena?"

Selena Lugrite.

The headmistress of the Academy.

****

“…”

Selena stood still and stared at me for a long time.

She seemed to have some complaint, but she just stared without saying a word.

It wasn't surprising.

At the Academy, Selena was always like this whenever she saw me.

"It's been a while, Luke Richter."

"It has."

"…Not a single ordinary one among them, huh?"

Selena muttered while looking somewhere.

The twenty personnel sent by the Lord Council were gathered where her gaze landed.

Among them, her gaze was fixed on Balkan, and since Balkan was meeting her gaze directly, they seemed to be acquainted.

"Do you know each other?"

"Balkan Kast. Arcana's chief executive officer. Arkan's devoted lapdog who barks 'woof woof' when Arkan tells him to."

Balkan chuckled at Selena's blatant mockery.

Then he hit a nerve.

"I think I'm better than a self-proclaimed Vice-Tower Master whose published papers are half gibberish."

"…"

Well, true.

Selena's papers were all gibberish.

Thanks to that, there was a lot to refute, which made it easy to collect academic credits.

Anyway, that wasn't the important thing.

I asked her without wasting any time.

"Did the Imperial Family send for me?"

"Right. I don't know the exact reason, but just know it's an Imperial Order."

"Then let's go right away."

"Okay, hop in. No, eek! Not next to me! A different carriage! There are plenty of better carriages over there!"

…She’s treating me like some kind of monster.

She was like this for all five years at the Academy, and it’s strangely unpleasant no matter how many times it happens.

I sighed and boarded the carriage Selena pointed to.

Balkan was about to board after me, but Selena frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't you see? I'm about to get on the carriage."

"So why you? Only Luke Richter was summoned."

"What are you talking about? It's natural for an escort to accompany their Lord."

"???"

Tilt.

"Lord? Escort? Who's whose?"

At Selena's question, Balkan's finger pointed towards me.

"I will enter the palace as 6th Lord's escort."

"…What? 6th Lord? Who?"

"Can't you see? I'm talking about Sir Luke."

Selena gaped at me, sitting there nonchalantly.

“A Lord? *The* Lord? The Sixth Lord, a position that's been vacant for hundreds of years?”

“Precisely.”

“……Ha, hahaha.”

'What’s with her?'

I cut off the conversation.

“Aren’t we leaving?”

Still seemingly in shock, she blinked several times.

Muttering things like, 'Has Arkan gone mad?' and, 'How are they going to handle that weirdo?' she boarded the carriage.

And then, she added one more thing.

“…The Lord Council is fucked.”

****

*Thud!* *Thud!*

“……”

Even though it was the Empire's finest carriage, prepared directly by the Imperial Family, it still rattled.

Amazingly, in this world, only magic was advanced. Metallurgy was actually even more backward than Earth's medieval period.

Since concepts like springs or suspension didn’t even exist, every time we passed over an uneven road, it felt like my ass was getting pummeled.

I briefly considered drawing up a blueprint and selling it to the Imperial Family, but then decided against it.

Thinking about the aftermath was too much of a hassle.

That’s when it happened.

*Screeech!*

The carriage came to a sudden stop, throwing my body forward. I almost slammed face-first into the front.

About to complain about the sudden, reckless driving, I looked out the window.

“What is it?”

“Monstrous Beasts.”

I looked where the coachman was pointing.

Black smoke billowed acridly from a nearby village.

And of course, it was a village located right in the middle of the road to the Imperial Palace.

*KIIEEEEEEEEEK—!*

In the distance, something like dozens of dark silhouettes were rushing towards us, all of them seemingly Monster-class Monstrous Beasts or higher.

We could probably just pass by, but that village was on the only road to the Imperial Palace.

So, I was about to step in myself, but Selena got in front of me.

“Excuse me, will you step aside? You may have a good head on your shoulders, but magic is a different realm entirely.”

Selena moved to the forefront, raising her Mana.

The mere act of mobilizing her Mana caused the atmosphere to groan under the pressure, and the ground trembled.

“…”

Normally, I would have just watched her performance.

However, this time was different.

Because…

'Those are all money.'

Promotions for officials are entirely performance-based.

And the fastest way to boost performance is, literally, to produce results.

What use are Monster corpses, you ask? Handing them over to the Imperial Family translates directly into achievements and money.

And the rights to those corpses rightfully belong to the one who took down the Monsters.

Therefore.

“Acceleration.”

The azure shimmer, now more vivid thanks to the fragments I absorbed in Kalmash, streaked across the air at the speed of sound.

“Return.”

As if possessing a will of their own, they became lines, then surfaces, blanketing the sky.

Ten thousand shimmering fragments enveloped the dozens of charging Monstrous Beasts, forming a shape resembling a Prison.

They were completely immobilized, as if glued to the space itself.

Then.

“Time.”

The shimmering Prison that encased them began to contract, as if shrinking.

Right at that moment, the immense flow of Time fluctuated.

“End.”

*Screeech!*

The massive Prison compressed into a single point.

The pressure tore through space, and a biting wind swirled from the rift.

“!!!”

The dozens of Monstrous Beasts, trapped within the Prison of Time… their bodies withered, like mummies.

And.

Selena, who had been gathering Mana to unleash a large-scale Spell Formula…

“In…sane….”

…tipped over once again, her stomach growling.