Grand Council

“I feel the same.”

“……”

Erdes leaned back after hearing Ferda’s answer.

The murderous atmosphere gave way to hearty laughter as though it had never existed.

“Really? I feel as though I could have a conversation with you. You’re young, unlike those old geezers. I hope we can have conversations like this more often.”

“I’ll make sure to contact you first.”

“Or I’ll contact you first. Prince! I’m going to look around somewhere else. They say beautiful women are always busy, you know?”

“Yes, of course! Have a safe trip!”

Erdes picked up her glass and left.

Alexander turned around only after her back had receded far enough.

“Do you happen to have ties to the Magic Society?”

“No.”

There were plenty, but that was a matter for the distant future.

“I have no intention of blaming you. If there’s any lingering resentment, it would be best to settle it quickly.”

Though he said that, Ferda knew.

Alexander was desperate.

For an incompetent First Prince to build a foundation of power, he needed tremendous strength, and that strength was magic.

“More importantly, I heard you’ve been importing monster carcasses into the Far East….”

Ferda answered the sudden change of subject.

“That’s right.”

“I’d been thinking it was a nuisance to burn them every time when there wasn’t even enough space to bury them, so it’s truly kind of you to take those corpses away.”

Alexander spoke with a sly smile, but the urgency in his expression was entirely different from his words.

‘Confess what you’re doing to me.’

Ferda pondered.

It was Ferda himself who had decided to keep silent about the production of mana stones.

He had considered it too soon to reveal it now.

He had come intending to make up some vague excuse, but when he looked into Alexander’s eyes, he could not bring himself to do so.

‘He’s the bastard who pointed a sword at his own father because he coveted the throne.’

No matter how hard he tried to defend himself, he was an ambitious bastard.

That was an unchanging truth.

He was a man blinded by the throne.

He wanted to rule over a hundred million subjects.

That was why he had fawned over Erdes.

He was desperately trying not to offend her.

‘That’s why Erdes thinks I’m taking over Thesalos’s work.’

There was a connection between the matters, after all.

Ferda pondered.

Both choices were terrible, and he had to choose the less terrible one.

“To be honest, we’re researching a way to produce mana stones using monster carcasses.”

He told the truth.

Perhaps Alexander found it enticing, because he listened intently.

Anything related to magic was profitable.

“Mana stones? What are those? Are they… similar to the crystal balls mages use?”

“They’re similar, but different. They’re objects that purely contain mana.”

“Oh-ho….”

Ferda told Alexander what was known about them so far.

“For instance, could they support a mage’s magical power?”

“They may be able to replenish magical power, but mages cannot use them directly.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Besides, I heard their efficiency is only around seven percent, so for actual mages to use them….”

“Ah, I see. How remarkable.”

Alexander continued to exclaim in admiration.

Yet Ferda could practically see his interest dropping away by the handful.

“Anyway… are you certain it has nothing to do with black magic?”

“That’s right.”

“Of course, research often forces one to touch on various fields. Intent matters, doesn’t it? What I mean is, can you convince me that there isn’t even the slightest trace of such intent among them?”

Alexander persisted.

Just as Ferda was about to repeat several more times that he could, like a parrot, something happened.

Before Ferda could say anything, a faint fragrance brushed the tip of his nose.

Ferda knew this scent.

“You’re being rather aggressive for a first meeting, Brother.”

Her beautiful voice naturally made the men turn their heads.

It was Olivia Arken.

As befitted the flower of the Empire, she wore a splendid dress and smiled with alluring charm.

When Alexander saw Olivia, he burst out laughing again.

“Our little sister has arrived! Come to think of it, Regent, you’ve already met once. My little sister welcomed you in my place, after all! I hope she treated you well?”

Alexander casually placed a hand on Olivia’s shoulder.

“Oh my? Why would you worry about that?”

Olivia answered with an innocent smile.

The hand Alexander had been about to rest on her shoulder slid smoothly down along her shoulder line.

“Because there was a problem, wasn’t there? A major problem for the Imperial family.”

“It was merely a false alarm. Lord Ferda is a very broad-minded person.”

“It was a matter we couldn’t afford to neglect for the sake of the precarious Empire’s safety. What about the incident in the Imperial treasury, which nearly threw the country into chaos? The more I think about it, the more it seems that your entering politics could only lead to trouble.”

“Is that so? But the matter was settled amicably. Ah, come to think of it, you probably don’t even know what happened, Brother, do you? The moment a Level-One alert was issued, you fled with your tail between your legs—no, evacuated.”

Her face was utterly nonchalant, and her eyelashes fluttered like butterflies.

They were smiling at each other while stabbing each other mercilessly with knives.

It had reached the point of making everyone listening uncomfortable.

‘They’re both quite the pretty pair.’

Ferda could only admire the sight.

He wondered whether it was some sort of genetic trait of the Arken family.

“That’s standard procedure, isn’t it? If the Empire’s heir dies, the Empire collapses, so I had to survive for the Empire’s sake.”

“Ah, yes, of course. How could it be otherwise? The heir, no less.”

She smiled with eyes curved like crescent moons and lightly covered her mouth with her fan.

No, she only pretended to cover it, subtly revealing her mockery and provoking him.

“It’s quite the survival tactic for someone who boldly thrust forward the blade of rebellion, only to retreat disgracefully.”

“Hah! This fox of a woman has so many things beyond her station and spends her days bewitching men, so no wonder they call her a temptress.”

“Isn’t it better than having something and being unable to use it? For example….”

Olivia subtly lowered her gaze toward Alexander’s groin.

“I hear Father wants to see a granddaughter. When will you give him a grandchild?”

Alexander’s face flushed bright red, entirely unlike his smiling expression.

Then he subtly shifted his gaze toward Ferda.

“Be careful. Every beautiful rose has thorns. Who knows? Those thorns might be coated in deadly poison.”

He offered the warning with a serious expression.

Ferda silently looked down at him.

Though his face was expressionless, he could not contain his contempt.

‘You have a lot to say for someone who got pricked by those thorns.’

He did not know the exact circumstances, but just before Olivia died, Alexander had been in her bedroom.

In the end, hadn’t he been stabbed to death while trying to lay hands on his own sister?

Alexander, too, was a man who had been seduced and brought low by Olivia’s beauty.

Coming from a man like that, his words seemed pathetic.

“I know.”

“You do? Then that’s a relief. In that case, smile a little. Isn’t your face rather stiff?”

Alexander patted Ferda on the back and naturally put on a friendly smile like an affable man.

When he smiled, the surrounding nobles laughed along with him.

Watching the sight, Ferda thought,

‘I want to go home.’

The image of Valdrova’s face shimmered in his mind.

“So, in short, you’re saying there’s no use for them yet?”

“Yes.”

“I understand. I’ll take an interest in it from now on, for the development of the Far Eastern territories.”

Of course, it was a lie.

What interest could a First Prince busy earning points with the central nobles possibly have in the Far East?

“I’m grateful for Your Highness’s interest.”

That was why Ferda answered with a lie as well.

“Before the council begins, make a point of meeting various people. They’re calling me.”

Alexander raised his glass and walked toward them.

I can finally catch my breath.

Just as he thought that, someone subtly tugged at his collar.

It was Olivia.

She was still standing beside Ferda.

“Is there no one else you need to see?”

She asked curtly.

“They aren’t particularly important. Besides, something more important remains.”

Olivia’s shoulder pressed against Ferda.

“The representatives of the Great Dragons will be arriving soon.”

The representatives of the dragons—in other words, dragon spawns—were coming.

‘Dragon spawns.’

Ferda had seldom encountered dragon spawns.

At most, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of a spawn of the Blue Dragon, the master of magic.

He needed to see with his own eyes what the dragon spawns besides Luri looked like.

“I’m curious.”

Ferda answered, and Olivia smiled brightly.

“Then let’s go together.”

Olivia held out her hand.

Her red lips moved like those of a shy young woman.

It was a situation that would make any man’s heart flutter.

“What is it?”

Ferda asked while looking steadily at her.

“Oh my? I’m asking you to escort me, aren’t I? Are you going to leave a woman to go by herself?”

Olivia blinked.

Her hunched shoulders were the gesture of a defenseless girl.

Ferda subtly took a step back.

“I’m already spoken for.”

“Whether you’re taken or not, you’re supposed to do it. We need to do at least this much to strengthen our mutual trust, don’t you think?”

“I’ll leave it to Sir Zed—”

“Have you ever seen a woman when she’s sulking?”

A shadow fell across Olivia’s face.

“Isn’t that nice?”

“……”

Ferda could not help thinking, What does that have to do with me?

When he wore an indifferent expression, Olivia leaned her face a handspan closer and said,

“Don’t you feel we need to strengthen our trust as allies within the Empire? We’re both likely to be holding many secrets, so I think this much is necessary.”

Olivia clung to him persistently, subtly threatening him.

But Olivia was the only ally Ferda had within the Empire at the moment, so he hesitated to ignore her words.

“Haa… I understand.”

“You should have done so from the start.”

Ferda reluctantly held out his hand.

Unlike his intention to merely pretend to take it, Olivia clasped his hand and smiled brightly.

Ferda subtly glanced toward Luri.

An expressionless face.

No, her lips were subtly poking out, and her face said, ‘I don’t like this.’

It was so subtle that only Ferda, who saw her face often, could notice it.

Of course, Luri did not openly show her dissatisfaction and behaved like a proper maid.

Perhaps because of that, Ferda felt even more uneasy.

‘I don’t want to get caught between them.’

This was a social world in which nothing remained but mental and physical suffering.

Half resigned, Ferda led Olivia toward the window.

Outside Blancaros’s territory stood a golden carriage.

An old man and several priests wearing religious vestments and crowns stepped out of it.

“Do you know who those people are?”

Olivia slipped her arm through Ferda’s forearm and held it firmly in place.

“They’re from Odograsado, the Holy Empire.”

“That’s right.”

The Gold Dragon, Odograsado.

It was a nation founded on a religion built around worshiping Odograsado as an idol.

Though it bore the name Holy Empire, it was actually closer to an alliance of the Holy State and the surrounding kingdoms.

Odograsado had no spawns.

That was why the pope and four high priests were walking over to attend the gathering.

A blue portal opened a moment later.

The landscape beyond it was the chilly scenery characteristic of the northwest.

Dragon spawns with blue hair and horns rounded at the tips walked through.

“They’re Iorga’s spawns. They’ve come to this Grand Council without fail again.”

They were the forces of Iorga, master of the Mage Tower and the so-called Eye that watched over the continent.

More suited to being researchers than mages, they walked elegantly like nobles.

“Ah, they’re coming too.”

Olivia lifted her head and looked toward the sky.

Five strange dots flew toward them from the blue sky.

They flew forward without hesitation, like comets emitting a silver light.

Ferda had seen them once before through Luri.

‘Silverwind.’

Despite the force of their arrival, they landed softly and stepped into Blancaros’s territory.

Ferda confirmed their identities and subtly shifted his gaze.

Luri, standing beside him, was quietly looking down at them.

A distinctly different emotion from anything he had felt before filled her eyes.

He could feel how tense she was.

“Looks like that makes three. Apparently the Storeus side isn’t participating today. Well, at least we won’t have to deal with any trouble.”

“They must be notorious.”

“They’re evil dragons, aren’t they? There’s no bigger bunch of troublemakers. They love starting fights.”

As the dragon spawns gathered, the onlookers began moving one by one.

They were heading toward the Grand Council Hall.

“We may move now.”

Olivia said as she released her hold on his arm.

She was a princess.

She did not possess the political rights held by the princes.

Ferda followed the crowd moving toward the council hall.

The Grand Council, where the powerful from across the entire continent had gathered, was about to begin.