Chapter 37
“Your Majesty.”
The banquet hall was lively and cheerful again the next day.
“Do you truly wish to see blood with me?”
“Hoho. Have you still not gotten over that temper of yours, Arctic?”
Except beside the Emperor.
Duke Arctic had suddenly appeared beside the Emperor as he chatted with the nobles and demanded a private audience, which was extraordinarily rude.
Of course, the Emperor graciously forgave him and was speaking with him separately.
“At this rate, you really will commit treason.”
The nobles who did not know the circumstances flinched whenever those murderous words occasionally slipped out.
Of course, neither party took particular issue with it.
“If you wish, I’ll come down to a smaller scale. It’s been quite some time since I had a fistfight with that fellow from the Imperial Knights. Heh heh…!”
“The spot where you hit the deputy commander still aches, he says. Heh heh!”
The two had been close friends ever since their days at the Imperial Academy.
Back then, they had both distinguished themselves as the academy’s biggest troublemakers.
That was presumably why rumors had spread that the previous emperor disliked Arctic Volkov.
“It looked like those noble fellows were bothering you again, so I pulled you out. Are you indebted to me again this time?”
“How terribly grateful I am. My troublesome friend.”
Whenever the two met again at a banquet, Arctic would find some excuse or another to pull the Emperor away.
Everyone who knew the circumstances was a powerful figure in one faction or another… so their subordinates would get headaches whenever they suggested provoking a rift between the Emperor and Arctic. Anyway.
“Your Majesty.”
“Arctic.”
Even the two of them were bound to have matters over which they would bare their fangs.
In the past, it had been border disputes and budget allocations, but….
“Young Master Akion. Do you truly intend to take him away?”
This time, it concerned Akion Enersis.
“He is engaged to my daughter. Must you really do this?”
The ducal family had been engaged to Enersis first, so why was the Emperor interfering?
Arctic was grateful that the Emperor thought so highly of his prospective son-in-law’s potential, but did he really have to take him away?
“I understand your concern. However, Arctic, I am placing my hopes in Enersis’s potential once more.”
“You mean magi-engineering?”
“That’s right. I am paying more attention to magi-engineering than to Akion Enersis.”
The Emperor had firmly declared, “Not Akion, but magi-engineering,” yet
Arctic still found something he could not understand.
“Then what was your intention in seeming willing to approve Yurintsev’s war?”
Why had he not prevented Marquis Yurintsev from attacking Enersis?
Even the gossips and politically astute nobles could not understand the Emperor’s intentions.
Hadn’t he used Yurintsev to keep Enersis in check?
And now he wanted to make Enersis his son-in-law? Wasn’t that shamelessly obvious?
“Arctic.”
And the Emperor,
- Crack…!
“If Enersis had been a worthless worm unable to endure even that, I would never have listened to Yurintsev’s opinion in the first place.”
His vertically slit pupils stretched wide as he revealed the aspect of a dragon reigning above all things.
Arctic felt a chill run down his spine whenever the Emperor acted like this.
It was a moment that made him realize that, even if the Emperor’s innate martial prowess was weaker than his own, he was a natural-born monster as a ruler.
“You mean it was a test?”
“Yurintsev needed to be disciplined sooner or later. Why would I overlook a noble who had grown so powerful that he dared to cast his eyes toward even the neighboring imperial territories?”
The Emperor’s intentions had been the exact opposite from the start.
He had intended to use Enersis as an excuse to trim Yurintsev down.
A noble who had grown too powerful needed to be put in his place once in a while.
“You’re still as savage as ever.”
- Creak….
“Heh heh. I only care that the common people can live in comfort.”
Arctic understood once again why this Emperor, Theodore Fandragon, was called a benevolent ruler by the common people.
And he also understood once again why the middle ruling class above them─the nobles─called him a tyrant.
The Emperor’s eyes had returned to something resembling human pupils, and he understood that it was time to lighten the mood.
“And Arctic, my friend who has shared both hardship and joy with me. I am not trying to take your daughter’s husband away from her. I merely suggest that we decide who gets married first.”
“You intend to use the power of the imperial throne to go first anyway.”
“Now, now, my friend. Is the order really so important? What matters is a harmonious and happy family.”
While the two men bickered, a knight at the entrance to the banquet hall moved.
- Boom boom!!
“─Young Master Akion Enersis has entered!!”
“Hmm. He’s arrived just in time.”
They had not heard the announcement before that because of the commotion, but the subject of the controversy had entered at precisely the right moment.
Judging by what they had missed hearing, he was sure to have a companion with him.
As the Emperor and Arctic stared toward the entrance with anticipation and anxiety respectively,
“Hmm. Come to think of it, rather than a flower in each hand, I suppose it’s a dragon in each hand.”
“Th-then does that mean I’m a dragon too…?”
“Hmm. Though not as much as I, the blood in your body is closer to a dragon’s than a human’s. You may be a little proud of it.”
Akion appeared with a dragon hanging from each arm.
“Good heavens?”
“Good heavens…?!”
Both Duke Arctic and the Emperor stared with their eyes wide open.
“Isn’t that Tower Master Ridasid? His Majesty’s, um….”
“A very distant ancestor indeed. But she, hoho, heh…! Goodness….”
The two men had expected him to enter with only the princess, so they were horrified by the appearance of this new rival.
The enormous black dragon who had supported the Empire for a thousand years and even given a speech in person today….
“Heeheehee, Akion. You’re speechless. Can’t you believe this is real?”
“I really can’t get any words out.”
“Are you truly so delighted? Heeheehee, I never expected you to be this happy at the chance to escort me.”
She had even linked arms with Akion and entered with her face flushed like a young lady in love!!!
“Arctic.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
What, then, was a dragon by nature?
Wasn’t it a race that normally behaved with dignity, but would do anything to obtain whatever caught its fancy?
There had even been cases where they became evil dragons.
And whenever that happened… several countries vanished from the map, leaving traces only in the continent’s history books.
The two fathers who had been eagerly trying to take Akion as their son-in-law….
“How about we form an alliance?”
“Yes. I wholeheartedly agree.”
They immediately joined hands.
To accomplish their plans without provoking that sleeping(?) dragon, they had to form an alliance this time!
* * *
“Uuugh.”
And so, two days, three days, four days, five days passed.
The five-day banquet for the millennium founding festival came to an end.
Of course, the founding festival itself was not over; it would last a month to accommodate those traveling to the capital from across the Empire.
“You look quite exhausted.”
Akion had been dragged out to the banquet hall for all five days.
It was because Delphord’s goal was to stuff him full of connections.
Unable to endure any longer, Akion said he would return first, fled, and left only his father behind.
He was now sprawled out inside the carriage, using the Tower Master’s lap as a pillow.
“I wish Father would just handle all the politics….”
“Akion. This will all become valuable experience for you. Even if you leave Enersis someday, what you did today will surely help you greatly.”
Delphord was helping him to make up for all the things he had not been able to do for Akion, but
to Akion, it had honestly been torture.
How agonizing was it to watch every word and every action, careful not to violate etiquette?
Akion had even watched a duel unfold in real time when someone slipped up.
“Why not make Big Brother or Big Sister do it? They’re both capable….”
Of course, Akion had also seen that Juan and Hermione’s political skills were nothing to scoff at.
Was this what it meant to be an Enersis? The two of them had come back bragging about all the contracts, businesses, and collaborations they had secured at the banquet.
“Delphord says it’s a nuisance to find several sons-in-law.”
“So my tendency to avoid trouble really is inherited from Father─wait, several sons-in-law? What about Big Brother?”
“Ahem.”
In the meantime, the Tower Master had turned Delphord into the father of many daughters.
Silence fell between her and Akion, who had unintentionally provided the situation, but anyway.
“Well… since Big Brother does seem to be showing signs of remorse, I’ll do my best to help him rise through the ranks.”
“Hmm. If that is your opinion, then I shall help as well.”
- Neigh!!
“We’ve arrived!”
At least the coachman’s announcement had come to end this awkward stretch of time.
- Click!
“Haaah. This clear air….”
The moment he opened the carriage door, the scenery of Enersis unfolded before him.
Akion felt a warmth he could not show to anyone else.
Ever since his memories of his past life had returned, he had placed greater emphasis on the values of that life, but that did not erase the more than ten years he had spent living in Count Enersis’s domain. He was simply suffering from a touch of homesickness.
“Akion. You’re going to the workshop, right?”
“My sister and I will unpack our luggage first, so we’ll meet you there!”
“Yes, see you there. Tower Master, let’s go!”
“Heehee, let us.”
Akion headed straight to the workshop.
He was curious about what research had been conducted while he was away. Whenever he was absent, the people here always carried out some astonishingly bizarre research.
The Tower Master followed after him, gazing at Akion fondly, when….
- Krrr-ack!
- Boom!!
“Kyahahaha!! This is truly incredible, Sir Clad!”
They witnessed a sight at the front of the workshop: holes being punched through an extraordinarily thick iron plate.
- Bang bang bang!!!
A tremendous torrent of mana and aura.
And a spear with a screw-shaped blade at its tip spun wildly, attacking a sheet of iron thick enough to withstand a charge from a colossal golem….
“It is my crowning masterpiece… As expected, when held in my master’s hands, a weapon truly reveals its brilliance!”
“Ahh… With this spiral spear, I could slaughter every one of those metal-like ice monsters in the north!”
It had punched holes through the plate and torn it to shreds.
By Aicirel, whom Akion had thought was supposed to be in the north.
Clad, who was watching from the side, was making an equally tremendous fuss.
“Come to think of it, this is my first time seeing Sir Aicirel’s spear technique… But the way you wielded that spear just now felt like I was watching an entirely new spear technique.”
“Heeheehee! Your insight is correct. I truly did devise a new spear technique after seeing this spear imbued with spiral force!”
“Wahahahaha!! As expected of Sir Aicirel!!!”
“As expected of Sir Clad!! You even managed to create the spiral spear we couldn’t make! I’m in awe!!!”
“And what about Sir Aicirel! I thought I had mastered the spear in my own way, but that incredible penetrating power is astonishing!!”
Sheets of iron like that lay scattered in every direction.
Blacksmiths, knights, and even the guards nearby were watching and making a tremendous commotion.
“Fuck, what is this?”
Akion’s head was already aching terribly because of the Holy Light Sword incident.
That was why he had hurriedly fled when word came on the fifth day of the banquet that the saintess wanted to meet him….
“M-Master Akion?!”
“Akion?! Th-this iiiiis! This is, you see! It’s…!”
What had these people gotten up to this time?
Akion’s head was already starting to throb.
notes are actual repetition fixes and pronoun ambiguity decisions: corrected the draft’s duplicated/awkward phrasing in the exhaustion and workshop passages, and kept the Tower Master consistently feminine where the context identifies her.