Beethoven Ode to Joy (2)

The imperial palace of the Empire was bustling with preparations for protocol.

Originally, the ideal person for protocol was someone good at diplomacy, good at social maneuvering, and as limber in the waist as the Samjeondo yoga monarch.

With age and gravitas thrown in, there was nothing better.

- Schneisen, what do we do... we've come all this way....

- Got it. Well, let's give it a shot.

The process of appointing the protocol officer could be summed up in just two lines.

On the diplomatic front as well, Duke Schneisen, a high elf by race, could hold his own anywhere.

And Duke Schneisen was also so adept at scheming that one might suspect he hadn't passed down even a single intelligence gene to his daughter—

he was busy receiving guests, based on the Holy Kingdom intelligence he'd wrung out of Kim Yul by grabbing him by the collar and shaking him, along with the Empire's own intelligence reports.

"What about the black mages?"...