Chapter 105
Alonso Fandragon Astarix.
The man born to the Second Empress, a woman of House Astarix, and the Emperor.
And, consequently....
- Whiiiiing!!
“Hahaha!”
He was also the second in line to the throne, the half-brother who threatened the Crown Prince.
House Astarix was a great noble family that had formed a vast merchant network and held sway over part of the Empire's economy.
It was even said that everyone from the imperial chancellor to the Emperor himself kept a wary eye on the Duke of Astarix.
These outrages were why the Emperor had become even more obsessed with centralization.
- Squeeeeeak!!
“How is it?”
“Excellent, Your Highness Alonso!”
Of course, Alonso didn't care.
Since childhood, his mother had half-brainwashed him with the command, ‘Become the Emperor.’
And he had his maternal grandfather's backing, who held part of the Empire's finances and economy in the palm of his hand.
To him, the Emperor was merely a father temporarily holding onto the throne for him.
“For Her Highness the Seventh Princess to send Your Highness Alonso such a precious gift!”
“As expected, Your Highness must be receiving the deepest respect from her as her elder brother!”
And the Seventh Princess, who had no backing whatsoever... was his easiest prey.
Even if she had recently grown horns or a tail, wasn't she still the youngest child with the weakest claim to the throne?
He knew that complaining to the Emperor would be pointless, thanks to the effects of the conditioning she'd received long ago....
“However, there is a worrying rumor that Her Highness the Seventh Princess is backed by none other than a pillar of the Empire....”
But if there was one rumor that worried him, it was the dragon.
As one vassal had said, wasn't the dragon who had appeared at the last Millennium Founding Festival now backing the princess?
“Even if we incur a dragon's wrath....”
“Ahem! Don't speak of such frightening things!”
“But it is a dragon, isn't it?”
Like the others, he did worry that the dragon's anger might reach his own territory.
“Don't worry.”
Of course, Third Prince Alonso had heard something as well.
“That person said they would not involve themselves in disputes over the succession at all. His Majesty himself confirmed it during the last court council.”
“Oh! In that case, they won't take issue with us merely snatching— ahem, receiving a gift!”
“Perhaps we might even absorb Her Highness the Seventh Princess's faction under Your Highness Alonso!”
The Emperor, currently focused on centralization.
And the power groups that had formed around the princes and princesses, each of whom still possessed considerable influence.
Given the Emperor's strong will, centralization was inevitable....
But in the end, the throne would belong to the royal who had gathered more subordinates than anyone else by then.
“I should meet Count Enersis soon.”
In such circumstances, House Enersis—
more precisely, Akion Enersis—was the joker in the current struggle for the throne.
“It would be nice if there were more magitech devices that could help the common people....”
The reason people were saying the Emperor would even make the Seventh Princess give up her claim to the throne and marry her to Akion Enersis.
Wasn't it precisely because of Akion's magi-engineering?
Thanks to that magi-engineering, the Empire had gained mana incandescent lamps forty-five times as efficient as mana lamps,
the public bathhouses envied by every citizen of the Empire,
sanitation facilities envied by every noble and servant in the capital,
and guest accommodations that every distinguished guest was desperate to visit!
“What became of the invitation I sent Count Enersis? I gave orders through the baron, didn't I?”
“I happen to have something to report to Your Highness.”
All of this had been born from Akion's hands....
No matter how much House Astarix shook the Empire's economic world, it couldn't ignore Akion.
Yet it couldn't afford to make an enemy of him, not with the current Emperor's extraordinarily strong protection.
In that case, making him an ally was the cardinal rule.
“Your Highness, good news! Young Lord Akion is coming in person!”
“What─?!”
But apparently the true power behind House Enersis would be attending this banquet?
“Begin another inspection of the banquet hall at once!! And you, you! Hurry and contact my maternal grandfather and mother!”
“Yes!!”
Although the report had arrived the day before the banquet, putting the hosts in an extremely awkward position.
Being able to prepare the stage for forging that connection even one day sooner was an enormous stroke of luck.
“Heh heh heh, if it's Young Lord Akion, he'll be tremendously interested in this thing called a buggy!”
“Hmm....”
However, one aristocrat who moved back and forth between sycophant and loyal subject, Viscount Joseph, was worried.
“It looks like a product of Akion's workshop....”
The ‘Enersis’ logo engraved in Imperial script on the iron pipes of the buggy's frame.
With his expertise in architecture, he had once received some of Akion's recently publicized metal sheets.
He had put his entire family through hell since last year just to get those....
“Hmm. Hmm. Hmmm....”
A buggy stamped here and there with the initials of Akion Enersis's workshop?
What if it truly belonged to someone they did know after all... what if Akion had made it and given it to his (future) fiancée, Flare?
“Your Highness.”
“Hmm? Viscount Joseph. What is it?”
If he told the Third Prince this... he would surely become the chief contributor.
“I regret to say that an urgent matter has arisen at home, so I believe I must leave for a while.”
But he was a man convinced by the rumor that a dragon who cherished Akion very, very much was backing him.
And if they had brought this here without knowing that... that dragon would probably be quite angry.
Above all, Joseph was a man who knew exactly when to make a clean escape.
“Tsk. Is it the urgent matter you mentioned last time?”
“My apologies.”
His timing was so perfect that no scandal ever followed him—the king of reading the room!
He was even liable to give people the mistaken impression that luck followed him.
“Very well. You may go.”
“I am deeply grateful for Your Highness's grace.”
Thus, Joseph managed to escape the sinking ship (which had not yet sunk).
Joseph himself would later call it the finest decision of his life.
* * *
“Hurry, hurry, move it!”
“You've all practiced the western etiquette, right?”
House Astarix remained frantically busy preparing to receive their important guest until the morning of the banquet.
Akion Enersis!
The genius magi-engineer who had developed mana incandescent lamps, a new form of lighting that outshone mana lamps!
He was also the developer of Duke Volkov's signature weapon—the spiral spear—
and the flashlights used as weapons by the police and guards, as well as by the Catholic saints, had apparently also been born from his hands.
“Ho ho ho ho! Third Prince!”
“Maternal Grandfather!”
In that sense, this was an opportunity.
Even if House Astarix held sway over part of the Empire's economy,
House Enersis was a great family whose words and money could not move them.
Moreover, despite the great hostile power known as the Western Union,
rather than becoming imperiled, they were soaring thanks to Akion's appearance.
If they welcomed such a family grandly and managed to wring a solid contract—an engagement, perhaps—from them?
“Has my maternal cousin prepared well?”
“She has been dolled up beautifully. But, Your Highness, why are you trying to win over Young Lord Juan instead of Young Lord Akion?”
Of course, the Third Prince had also rapidly gathered information on Akion.
“I hear Young Lord Akion has no interest whatsoever in women or political maneuvering. Apparently, he leaves all outward exercises of power to his biological father, the Count, and his elder brother, Juan Enersis.”
“Aha! So you intend to build a bridge of communication by going through one intermediary!”
Judging by the rumors about him, he seemed to keep many women around him, but apparently none of them appeared to be in a romantic relationship with him.
It was said that two of them came out of Akion's laboratory every day with utterly exhausted faces.
When he slipped the informant more money, he learned that the two were Akion's older sisters.
In other words, laboratory slaves.
“Ho ho ho ho! Your Highness has become quite practiced in politics! I can now close my eyes in peace!”
“You must see your great-grandchild of the imperial family before you go home, mustn't you?”
That was why the Third Prince intended to work his way in from the periphery, step by step.
He had heard a late-arriving rumor that a dragon was supposedly at Akion's side.
‘Of course, I only need to make that person my ally too.’
But what if that pillar of the Empire abandoned political neutrality and offered him their full support?
With a 100% chance, the throne would belong to the Third Prince next!
With those expectations....
“Your Highness, the Enersis flag has come into view!”
“Already? Maternal Grandfather!”
“Ho ho! It would only be proper for this old man to go out as well.”
A soldier at Astarix Castle had apparently spotted the Enersis flag approaching from the distant plains.
*
The knight who had ordered the soldier to deliver the news.
“What the....”
He was astonished to see that the Enersis flag, which had definitely been far away, had already drawn close enough for even an ordinary person to see.
- Whiiiiiiiiing!!
- Thump! Thump-thump!!
He had assumed they were carriages because they had wheels, but there were no horses in front,
and how could something with no horses possibly be coming so fast!
Belting out spine-chilling whirring noises, they were racing rapidly across the plains outside Astarix's city.
- Gulp....
The knight had heard plenty of rumors about Akion Enersis among the Enersis party.
A genius magi-engineer.
Wasn't he the man who, with overwhelming technological prowess, caused a revolution in the world with every magitech device he released?
That steel carriage that appeared to have been made by him....
“Th-that!”
“Isn't it going to crash at this rate?!”
One of them was on the verge of crashing into a huge boulder.
That boulder had stood there for over a thousand years, a symbol at the entrance to the city where Astarix Castle stood.
There was even a rumor that they had once tried to remove it... but gave up because it was too expensive and too large.
“I-I can't watch this!”
“Oh dear...!”
They were going to collide with such a boulder at that speed?
Even a steel carriage would be crushed flat.
Just as they thought the people inside couldn't possibly remain unharmed,
- Ziiing!
“H-huh?”
“Isn't that aura?”
It suddenly cloaked its exterior in aura....
- KWAANG!!!!
“Huuuh?! The boulder exploded!!!”
It had simply burst straight through the boulder!
“What the...”
Even as they wondered what kind of madness this was,
the knights instinctively realized that someone of tremendous ability had to be inside.
No, how could anyone wrap aura around such a massive hunk of metal with such precision!!
- Crash! Crash-crash!!
And whenever a boulder appeared across the plains, four of the five steel carriages wrapped themselves in aura or defensive magic and smashed right through them as they raced onward.
Everyone guarding the outer wall, knights included, was so shocked that they couldn't close their mouths.
- Squeeeeeeeal!!!
The only steel carriage that had come straight toward them came to a stop in front of them.
- Click, clop.
From one side, a young man with silver hair and blue highlights climbed out.
That unusual two-tone hair was a distinctive trait of House Enersis.
“A-Are you Young Lord Akion Enersis?”
It would have been reasonable to tell him to stop or that there would be an inspection.
But the knight at the checkpoint was so overwhelmed by his momentum that he could only ask hesitantly.
“Yes.”
Sharp eyes.
A handsome face that looked like it had broken the hearts of many women.
But perhaps because he was worn out from fatigue, dark circles beneath his eyes gave the man a frail appearance.
“I heard you would be attending the banquet, but what about the carriages behind you...?”
“They're called buggies.”
And he had mentioned buggies.
The knight knew what they were.
“……”
The Third Prince had bragged to them that he had “received one as a gift” from Princess Flare.
At this point, the knight began to sense something ominous.
- Click.
“Gasp. A dragon!”
“N-no, that's not it. That red hair is... the same as Third Prince Alonso's...!”
When Princess Flare climbed out of the steel carriage called a buggy that Akion had arrived in, the knight broke into a cold sweat.
“I heard that Her Highness Princess Flare gave Your Highness the Third Prince the buggy I handed her. Is that correct?”
As he mentioned the gift one last time, the grim expression on Akion's face showed no sign of easing.
There was only one possibility here.
The Third Prince hadn't received a gift—he had stolen the gift Akion had given Flare!
“That is what I heard.”
But even if Akion went on a rampage, what could he do?
This was Astarix, and he was merely a human who couldn't even use magic.
Was he planning to pick a fight with a ducal house?
“It seems there are circumstances of which I am unaware, but even so, the inspection—”
- Squeak! Rattle!
- Clop-clop-clop.
But wasn't it a bit much for people with horns and tails exactly like Flare's to emerge from the remaining buggies?
And those people were clearly the ones who had smashed the boulders.
He had never heard of anyone like that among the imperial family,
so at the very least, people with dragon horns and tails of that caliber could only be dragons.
“We'll skip that.”
“Quick-witted, aren't you? Tell the Third Prince that the Empire's four pillars have arrived. And....”
The quick-witted knight immediately prostrated himself.
Because he wanted to live.
*
“They said that if you want to live, bow your head low before the pillars of the Empire...!”
......was the message delivered to the Third Prince and the Duke of Astarix.
While the Third Prince panicked, the Duke of Astarix staggered slightly, overcome with vertigo.
“Your Grace!”
“Ah. Ah.”
The beings with dragon horns and dragon tails stood at the entrance to the outer wall's gate.
Of them, all four besides the red-haired Flare were real dragons.
And for some reason, they were said to be extremely angry.
“……”
They said it was because of the buggy the Third Prince had taken from Flare... but what did that have to do with anything? They were dragons.
The duke recalled how, in his youth, a rebellious ducal house had been erased by the Tower Master of Lidashid.
“Ah, ah. Ah....”
“Maternal Grandfather! Are you all right?”
“Fine, fine. Let's go in, for now. Let's, let's go.”
It was fortunate that the Third Prince beside him held him tightly;
otherwise, he might have fainted from realizing he was completely screwed.
Supported even by the knights, he shuffled down to the inner wall gate, where he
“Akion Enersis greets the Empire's Third Blessing and the Duke of Astarix.”
- Hummmmmm...!
came face-to-face with Akion, arm in arm with Flare and accompanied by the four dragons riding in buggies.
Akion had committed the discourtesy of giving the Duke and Prince only a perfunctory greeting when facing them.
Yet no one present pointed it out.
“Your Highness Prince Alonso. Before entering the banquet hall, may I ask you one question?”
“You have my permission.”
Everyone noticed that Akion was smiling only with his mouth.
To provoke him now?
“Why did you thoughtlessly take the buggy I gave Her Highness Princess Flare as a gift?”
“Take it? I merely....”
“It was something the dragons behind me had yielded for Her Highness as well... Wouldn't this put me in a somewhat awkward position?”
Because that would be tantamount to offending the feelings of four dragons.
The Third Prince's political backers? His power?
The force possessed by the ducal house?
Even one neutral dragon could make him reel with a mere gesture, and four of them were angry?
“Your Highness.”
Though the Third Prince had never experienced the terror of dragons, he knew how immense their influence was.
As he rolled his eyes, not knowing what to do in the face of the unprecedented crisis,
the Duke of Astarix was wracked by conflict.
He knew prostrating himself immediately was the answer....
But what would his underlings think if they saw that?
“It seems I put too much pressure on you. I’ll hear your answer in the banquet hall.”
“Gulp....”
“Y-Your Grace!!!”
But he was going to show a scene like that in the banquet hall, where everyone would see it?
He had already openly humiliated him at the entrance here??!
The elderly Duke of Astarix couldn't take it and fainted first.
As the Third Prince, he had to look after his maternal grandfather, but....
- Swish.
“Your Highness. Please don't worry. Her Highness Princess Flare is still not interested in the throne. I respect and follow her wishes as well.”
Akion's whisper made his body stiffen completely.
Why would he go out of his way to bring up Flare's claim to the throne?
“However, if you were going to take someone else's property, shouldn't you have been prepared to have something taken from you as well?”
“Gasp.”
Akion had been trying to tell the Third Prince that he had crossed the line.
The Third Prince was overcome by the fear that he was in for a horrific time.