Chapter 37
1.
Late that night, after the banquet had ended.
In the place where the princess and Lionel had been talking a few hours earlier,
two men stood.
The Emperor and Richard.
The night breeze quietly swept across the deserted terrace.
Beside the table sat one of the flowerpots from the banquet hall, bone-dry and withered.
“…So that’s how it is.”
The Emperor finally spoke after staring at it for a long while.
Whatever the Imperial Princess wanted was a separate matter. Before being the princess’s hands and feet, the guardian knight was a knight who had sworn an oath.
Reporting what he had seen and heard to His Majesty was his duty, and that duty took precedence over the princess’s commands.
Therefore, in a situation like this, the princess’s request was effectively meaningless.
“The necklace I gave them was actually taking away the children’s vitality.”
These were items he had painstakingly obtained from the Tower for his two children, who had been born frail.
The appraisals had been perfect, and so had their Origin Scripts. Even the divinities connected to the accessories had been utterly appropriate.
There were not many pieces of equipment that restored vitality. They could be counted on one hand.
He had never once considered that there might be something wrong with the two accessories.
The Emperor’s expression hardened. His eyes narrowed slightly, and wrinkles formed between his brows.
Richard could not offer much of an answer.
Because there was nothing he could say.
Naturally, His Majesty was the one feeling the worst about this.
- Tap.
The Emperor touched the withered plant and lightly prodded one of its leaves with his fingertip.
“It withered like that before I could even count to ten after the necklace was wrapped around it.”
Richard had been required to keep his eyes fixed on the Imperial Princess and Prince at all times, so he had watched the entire process. That included the plant having its vitality drained.
- Rustle….
The dry leaf crumbled down helplessly.
If that was what happened while wearing the necklace, then…
Did that not mean his child, too, would one day crumble away like that dry leaf?
The Emperor’s gaze remained fixed on the leaf.
His thoughts grew deeper.
“…I owe the Duchess a debt.”
The Emperor murmured quietly.
“Who?”
“…Lionel. I hear he is a child taken in by House Doloris.”
“…A child?”
“He is apparently thirteen this year.”
He was certainly surprised that a child of thirteen had accomplished such a feat.
But the Emperor had seen countless geniuses in his time.
Of course, the fact that his talents lay in blacksmithing and appraisal was unusual and astonishing….
But that was all.
It was common enough for a noble family—especially a ducal house—to gather up talented children.
“…You said it was compatibility.”
“Yes.”
Normally, the theory of compatibility was something only wandering swindlers went around talking about.
“…Has the Duchess taken an interest in superstition, even if belatedly?”
However, for that to be true….
“…She is far too wise.”
She did not make choices that would harm her.
And besides… her illness had been cured?
This must all be part of the same story.
- Step.
The Emperor slowly turned around.
“I hear he took back both necklaces.”
“He said he would create separate accessories for Their Highnesses.”
That was an interesting story.
The Emperor repeated the thought inwardly.
He had discovered a problem and said he would solve it.
Furthermore.
The moment the child’s identity was called into question, the Duchess’s guarantee had been attached to him.
Furthermore….
The moment the Duchess warned them to return that child to her ‘without fail.’
His value had been all but proven.
It was not common for a noble of the Empire’s stature—one comparable to a duke—to step forward and declare that he would protect something.
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
“Tell them not to spare any support for the accessories that child will create.”
“I will do so.”
And.
As for saving my children….
- Rustle.
The dry leaf from the flowerpot was blown away by the wind and crumbled completely.
I ought to give him a proper reward for that.
“I will grant him a Three-Lion Token.”
“……!”
“Would that not be appropriate, considering he saved a member of the Imperial family?”
There was no one in the Empire who did not know the value of a golden token bearing three lions.
Moreover.
If the recipient was merely a thirteen-year-old child….
But if the Emperor said it was appropriate, then it was appropriate.
“…Your words are entirely just.”
Richard bowed his head.
2.
“Let’s get home quickly.”
After finishing my conversation with the Imperial Princess, I took the two necklaces and left the banquet hall, then climbed into the carriage.
I thought openly taking the necklaces would draw everyone’s attention, so I tucked them inside my clothes before leaving. They were also annoyingly ringing nonstop.
I wondered where the carriage was, only to find that they had gathered them all somewhere like a parking lot.
I spent some time looking for it.
Doloris and Ruby seemed busy, and the banquet appeared to have ended, so I came to the carriage ahead of them.
When I told them I would wait at the carriage, they said they understood.
We had to come here to return home anyway.
I was really sorry, but right now, the banquet and everything else like it was not important.
I had to get back immediately, hammer on this and that, and try all sorts of things.
I sat in the carriage and slowly examined the two necklaces.
“…Should I try wearing one?”
I mean, I had an experimental spirit, right?
I felt like I would only understand how they felt if I tried wearing one.
Curiosity had gotten the better of me.
I took the pendant in my hand.
Honestly, I was a little scared to put the Essence of Moonlight directly on myself, so I only put the Sun Rising around my neck.
- Click.
“……”
I closed my eyes and savored the sensation. Was it the placebo effect? I felt as though my eyes were slowly closing.
[Oppa, take it off.]
“Yes, ma’am.”
- Jingle.
Since I had only put it on briefly,
it did not seem to have an immediate effect on a human being.
I could not see any noticeable change from wearing it for only a few seconds.
Just then, the Essence of Moonlight vibrated.
- Vroooom!
Go ahead and hum as much as you like.
You’re finished once we get home. After I conduct plenty of research, of course.
“Please don’t worry too much. I will treat you with the utmost respect.”
Of course, outwardly, I treated it politely.
I did not know why, but it had seemed to understand what I was saying since earlier.
- …Vrooom.
See? It quiets down when I’m polite again.
Well, I did enjoy making trouble for myself in my own way.
But there was no need to earn the resentment of a god, either.
What a ridiculous necklace.
- Bang.
“Whoa!”
The carriage door suddenly opened, and I nearly dropped the necklaces.
“…Lionel.”
There was something unusual about Doloris’s expression.
A hint of tension clouded her usually gentle face.
“Lady Doloris? Why, why are you like this?”
Doloris did not answer immediately. She climbed into the carriage.
- Swish.
She closed the door and pulled me tightly into her arms.
- Soft.
It was sudden, but I had no reason to dislike it, so I quietly remained in her embrace.
“…His Majesty is looking for you.”
“……”
His Majesty meant….
The Emperor.
I had thought he might look for me, but I had not expected him to do so right away.
“…Then I should….”
I carefully opened my mouth.
“Shouldn’t I go?”
“…Just a moment.”
- Swish.
Her arms tightened faintly around me.
“…Let’s stay like this just a little longer.”
“……”
I quietly waited in her embrace.
[She must be worried.]
About what?
Was she worried that I had done something wrong?
I thought I had shown as much courtesy as possible.
Besides, if they were the ones calling me, it could not be for anything bad, could it?
[…Hmm.]
[If Oppa is too capable….]
[In the end, the Emperor ranks higher than Lady Doloris, right?]
…Ah.
So that was what this was about.
Only then did I understand what she meant.
My wishes might not be respected. I might be taken away from her by the Emperor.
So that was it.
I clasped the arms wrapped around me.
“Don’t worry.”
- Flinch.
“I’m a child of House Doloris, after all.”
Since I was nestled in her embrace, she could not see my face.
But I could feel her shoulders stiffen slightly.
For a while, she stroked my hair.
- Swish… swish….
“I had prepared myself for it… but I suppose it startled me for a moment.”
Only then did her arms loosen, and Doloris pulled her upper body away.
- Kiss.
She lightly kissed my forehead and smiled gently.
She recovered quickly. That was a relief.
“Come, Lionel.”
- Swish.
Doloris held out her hand to me.
I took it firmly and got out of the carriage.
Normally, one would go to the Imperial Palace’s audience chamber to meet the Emperor.
‘…But today, we are to meet him in the banquet hall.’
That was what Doloris had told me.
Ruby was briefly entrusted to the protection of people from a nearby count’s family.
- Click-clack.
- Step.
The banquet hall we returned to was completely different from a few hours earlier.
The lively noise, the orchestra’s music, and the people’s laughter had all disappeared.
Several lamps illuminated the far end of the hall, which had already been cleaned up.
And at the very end.
Upon the throne in the seat of honor.
The Emperor sat there alone.
Beside him stood an armored woman with yellow hair.
And Richard, the guardian knight of the Imperial Princess who had been with us earlier, stood there as well.
The atmosphere was completely different.
Feeling tense, I gripped Doloris’s hand tightly.
Doloris stopped before the throne.
- Swish.
She placed one hand over her chest and paid her respects.
“…I pay my respects to Your Majesty.”
I lowered myself beside her as I had learned.
I bent one knee and bowed my head.
I had gotten somewhat used to this after doing it once or twice.
“…It is late at night, Duchess.”
His low voice rang through the hall.
“Thank you for answering my sudden summons.”
“It is my honor.”
Doloris answered calmly.
“This is the child of the ‘ducal house’ Your Majesty was looking for.”
“……”
A brief silence passed.
Just as the back of my bowed head began to prickle slightly,
“Raise your head.”
I slowly lifted my head.
“This is a meeting concerning a reward for merit. There is no need for either side to make a long-winded speech.”
“……It is my honor.”
“What you saw, how you came to know it, and what you intend to do from here on out. Those are yours, so keep hold of them yourself.”
The Emperor continued speaking calmly.
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
Richard, who had been standing behind the throne, quietly stepped forward.
“Bring it here.”
He held a small golden box in his hands.
- Click.
When Richard opened the lid and held it out to us,
I felt Doloris’s body tremble beside me.
I looked down inside.
A platinum-colored token lay there.
Three lions were magnificently roaring on its face.
The craftsmanship was impressive. The texture of their manes and their eyes made it clear this was not a crudely made object.
It looked like it would be difficult to reproduce even if one were told to copy it exactly.
“…Your Majesty. For a child to receive this, it is still too early….”
“Hahahaha!”
The Emperor burst into loud laughter.
His laughter echoed through the hall.
“…Too early? This is a situation where he effectively saved the life of a member of the Imperial family.”
“……”
“You would probably never have suspected that necklace until the day my child entered the grave.”
- Swoosh.
The Emperor soon wiped the laughter from his face and leaned back against the throne.
“…Duchess, do you know when the last time was that I granted this token?”
“……I know.”
“Of course you do. The last family to receive this token was House Doloris, too.”
Huh?
I looked up at Doloris.
She said nothing and merely gazed at the Emperor.
Mama received this token, too.
That felt a little different.
“I am simply pleased to grant it to the ducal house once again. Do you not agree that age is irrelevant?”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Take it.”
This time, he was speaking to me.
I accepted the golden box.
“…Thank you.”
“There is no need to consider age when paying a debt.”
I accepted it reverently and held it to my chest.
“I hear you said you would create the accessories.”
“Yes.”
“I will spare no support you require, so inform Richard before you leave.”
“…Thank you.”
The Emperor looked down at me for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“A human blacksmith.”
“……”
“I thought that lineage had died out after the Tower opened.”
He nodded and leaned back against the throne again.
“To see one appear again is unexpected, even for me.”
“I’m doing my best.”
I answered briefly.
There was no need to discuss how, where, or what I had learned right now.
“…I see.”
The Emperor gave a short nod.
And then.
- Swish.
“However.”
“……Yes.”
“Is there really any reason for you to return all the way to the duchy?”
For a moment, I could not understand what he meant.
“…You will have to return here once the items are finished anyway.”
The Emperor continued in an even tone.
“Rather than waste several days traveling back and forth and resting, would it not be enough to send the Duchess back alone?”
“……”
Ah.
So that was it.
The Emperor was telling me to stay here.
“There happens to be a place available.”
The Emperor’s voice grew considerably gentler.
“There are several forges in this palace left behind by our predecessors. They are the largest and finest facilities humanity built in that era.”
“……”
“Though it has been a long time since their users’ lineage died out, their maintenance has never been neglected.”
- Swish.
He completely lifted himself from the throne and leaned his upper body toward me.
“For creating something… there will be nowhere better.”
The largest and finest forge humanity had built.
Saying something like that to a blacksmith was….
‘That’s cheating.’
Anyone would be excited by an offer like that.
I looked back at Doloris.
She said nothing.
What had Mama wagered in the message a few hours earlier?
‘That the child would return home.’
She had asked for only two things.
Perhaps she sensed that one of those two things might be overturned, because she clenched her hand tightly.
I looked at that hand, then….
“……!”
Just as Doloris was finally opening her mouth after holding herself back, as though she meant to say something,
“Tozar’s Brain Hammer is—”
I quickly spoke first.
I hated disputes.
“It is the finest ‘forging’ hammer personally forged by Thunderlight Tozar. There is no better-optimized tool for use in a forge.”
Was that true?
Well, now that I thought about it, it seemed like it might be.
A hammer was a hammer, wasn’t it?
The amusement in the Emperor’s voice faded slightly.
“It is the hammer I love and treasure most.”
- Swish.
“Furthermore, it is a precious hammer without which I absolutely cannot work.”
A precious hammer. That much was true.
I added with a faint smile.
“If I don’t return, there will be no way around it.”
There was no need to discuss politics.
I could not leave anyone’s side; I was someone’s child.
There was no need for such words.
If a craftsman said he was going to retrieve his hammer, who would dare add anything to that?
The Emperor listened to me and gave me a cold smile.
“…Then so be it.”
He then gestured.
“Return home.”
I bowed deeply.
If he had insisted, there would have been any number of ways to handle it.
‘Bring the hammer here and work.’
One sentence would have ended the matter.
But he did not do that.
Perhaps he respected me despite being just a child, or perhaps he understood what I wanted.
- Click.
We paid our respects and walked through the empty hall.
But something felt strange.
Even after we turned the corner and I was no longer visible to the Emperor,
- Click-clack.
Doloris walked silently beside me,
but her expression was blank.
She wasn’t holding my hand. She had held it while we came here.
I looked up at her face. Was she angry?
Had I made things worse by refusing? Should I have accepted?
I passed through the end of the corridor and went through the door, pondering those questions.
- Creak.
- Bang.
The door closed behind us,
and just as I carefully opened my mouth,
“Um, Mama, I….”
- Whoosh!
“……Huh?!”
Before I could finish speaking.
- Whoomph.
Doloris suddenly lifted me up and pulled me into a full embrace.
She pressed my face firmly against her chest.
- Thump, thump.
From the sound of her rapidly beating heart, I could feel how tense she had been despite her peaceful expression.
And then.
Doloris whispered quietly.
“…Tozar’s Brain Hammer.”
“Yes.”
“You said it wasn’t a forging hammer, didn’t you?”
“Um….”
I answered with a quiet chuckle.
“Who knows? Maybe it’s useful if you use it properly.”
- Thump, thump, thump.
Doloris’s heartbeat still showed no sign of calming down.
She met my eyes.
Her eyes looked slightly different when I faced them from so close.
They were as gentle as ever, but….
“……”
A faint heat flickered within them.
- Kiss.
And then.
She lightly kissed my forehead.
“…I almost—”
Her arms tightened around me again.
- Squeeze….
“…thought you were going to be taken away from me.”
Doloris said that, then descended the banquet hall stairs.
“Duchess…?”
“Who is that in your arms…?”
The pillar that had hidden us disappeared, and the gazes around us focused on us, but….
“Let’s go home.”
Doloris did not care at all.
“Okay.”
When I answered,
- Thump, thump, thump, thump.
her heartbeat grew even faster.