Chapter 83
The Imperial Garrison has the justification that “recent wars have been frequent, and it seems the Continent will fall into turbulent times.”
“…Did you say temporarily?”
“Yes, temporarily.”
“We cannot know when it will end, so how can you use the word temporarily?”
“Is the Empire in a position where it must inform you of the end?”
They scattered knight orders across various kingdoms and stationed them.
The stationing of Imperial Knight orders composed entirely of sword masters.
There was no kingdom anywhere that welcomed this with open arms.
From their perspective, if the knight order simply made up their minds, annihilating the kingdom wouldn’t even be an issue.
However, no one could directly express his or her dissatisfaction to the Empire.
With the situation turning out like this, the ones most excited were the Imperial Information Unit, the Eye of the Empire.
“I don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve looked at other countries' information this comfortably.”
“A request for cooperation in providing information for the Empire’s stationing - with just this one thing, we can grasp almost all their secrets.”
“Just because they’re a minor nation certainly doesn’t mean there’s absolutely nothing to learn. This looks like a good technology to introduce to our Empire, doesn’t it?”
The knowledge of each country that the Imperial Knights naturally needed to know in the process of stationing in other countries.
They were able to unilaterally extort that without any negotiation.
They could openly and proudly gather all the secrets of each country in The Center and check them.
Because of this.
[ The Empire is awakening to the overall knowledge within the Continent. ]
[ The Eye of the Empire has become even better at distinguishing high-quality materials. ]
[ The overall level of common sense and education within the Empire is scheduled to rise. ]
“I didn’t know there would even be an effect like this.”
The Empire naturally gained an opportunity to develop one step further.
It would be truly great if things just continued to cruise smoothly like this without any issues.
“So you’re saying you did see a mermaid?”
“That’s correct. I did encounter them a few times… but even then, it was actually ambiguous whether they were mermaids or not.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
Right now, I am in the Imperial East, bringing Kailen Marin along.
'Does Mirne know a technique that can recover a destroyed dantian? He’s recovered to some extent.'
Unlike the ruined state I expected when the Black Mane Knights handed Kailen over, Kailen Marin’s strength had roughly recovered.
Kailen Marin’s strength was roughly in a recovered state. Also, his personality had changed a lot.
In the past, he had felt like a reckless monkey who knew nothing and just wanted to play and eat.
Now, like Second Prince Bedin who was receiving education from the grand general, a certain degree of calmness could be seen.
More accurately, should I say manners had been instilled in him.
'Then again, if it still hadn’t happened, that would be a problem in its own right.'
Currently, Kailen Marin’s position is extremely ambiguous.
Because he had been stripped of all his positions and sent to the Maselin Kingdom as if chased out.
Strictly speaking, he possessed a status located lower than a commoner.
But if that happened, it was obvious he wouldn’t receive proper treatment in the Maselin Kingdom, so he was sent with only the facade of the Former Grand Duke of the East maintained.
Even so, if you asked whether Kailen could flaunt that facade, that wasn’t the case either.
A truly neither-here-nor-there position.
Thus, I wondered if I needed to remind him of this again when Kailen came to the Empire.
“I will guide you straight to the location where I saw the mermaid.”
“Your Excellency, you’re processing work faster.”
It was extremely comfortable because I didn’t need to pay any attention when dealing with his completely changed demeanor.
He didn’t forget his immediate situation and didn’t bring up things like wanting to see the current Grand Duke of the East, or wanting to stop by the mansion.
He was just in a state of silently focusing solely on guiding us to the location where the Mermaid was.
'But despite this, the fact that he’s still fallen for Mirne is true.'
Even while I was having these various thoughts.
The ship we were riding on advanced straight ahead.
This was the Empire’s speedboat, which Kailen Marin had originally planned to gift to the Maselin Kingdom.
I could roughly guess what kind of mess would have unfolded if it had actually been taken.
“He was just going to blindly give away a ship that can move this instantaneously, and even has an engine attached due to magi-engineering, to another kingdom.”
Even while I was thinking this and that, my gaze remained fixed on the sea.
“Once the Empire becomes peaceful, traveling around like this wouldn’t be bad either.”
Words I casually spat out.
At those words.
“Your Highness, this humble woman thought the same! Unghi!”
Arveda, who had been quietly staring at me from behind, reacted.
Like someone who had only been waiting for these words, Arveda stealthily approached my side.
“Once everything is sorted out, a trip around the world doesn’t look bad either!”
“Right, I suppose so.”
She proudly expressed her opinion and subtly thrust her head toward me.
Since I was in a position where I knew extremely well what this meant.
Pat, pat.
I stroked Arveda’s head.
How much further did we travel like that?
“It is here. This is the place where I first discovered the Mermaid.”
We arrived at the location where Kailen Marin had witnessed the Mermaid.
As soon as we arrived, the ship immediately anchored through mystic power and Magic.
“Are we just staying still here now?”
“To be precise, I had dived. And… when I thought I had gone to the deepest point, I met the Mermaid.”
“So you’re saying the Mermaid came out because you invaded the mermaid’s territory.”
“That’s correct.”
Just what was the Mermaid Executioner thinking when she told the lie that she wished for the fall of the empire?
To find this out, I needed to meet the mermaid race.
Therefore
“If they came out because their territory was invaded, that means they can be drawn out with just a light threat.”
Fwoosh!
I immediately drew up my power.
Why go through the trouble of diving to meet them?
When I had the power to make them come to me.
When people around spoke of the Crown Prince, they commonly referred to him as the Little Sun of the Empire.
Naturally, it would be a sign of respect, but I thought that perhaps there might be at least one hidden meaning.
'It might be that he’s called the Little Sun because he can make something like a little sun.'
Rumble.
The mass of flames compressed to the limit burned white above the sea, preparing for an explosion at any moment.
An overwhelming presence that felt like it would instantly drop beneath the sea and create a massive hole in the middle of the ocean.
At first, it was about the size of a thumbnail.
But its growth speed was such that you could tell it was growing in real-time even as you blinked.
“…This is the power of Sol Bellos.”
Watching this, Kailen Marin muttered in a daze.
I continued to focus on making the Little Sun.
The more I used the power, the more I felt I could handle it with increasing skill.
And the result is right now.
White Night.
If I instantaneously blew away all the seawater, wouldn’t the mermaids come out on their own?
With that thought, I continued to grow the White Night.
“Arveda, Teo, Luminix… I ask you to prepare for the aftermath.”
“Unghi!”
“Yep! I, Teo, will make sure nothing happens to this ship!”
“Understood.”
At that very moment, the White Night grew to the size of a large boulder you might see on a mountain.
Splash, splash, splash!
The sounds of something leaping out of the water were heard in succession.
“Wait! Wait! Just what are you doing!”
“Are you seriously going to drop that? You aren’t, right? You seriously aren’t, right?”
“Huh? It’s Kailen! Hey! We saved your life back then. Are you planning to repay our favor with enmity?”
They desperately began spitting out words to stop the White Night from falling.
As soon as I saw that, I slowly nodded my head while still keeping the White Night afloat.
As expected, there was no need to go meet them in person.
+++++
Mermaid.
An unknown race lives in the sea.
In the deep sea, the mermaids continued their history within their own kingdom.
Mermaids, who generally live longer than humans, always reacted sensitively to the changes of the Continent.
Thanks to that, they were able to avoid revealing themselves in front of humans until now.
Of course, that didn’t mean they lived completely cut off from ties with humans.
Starting from when they first met the existence known as the Great Prophet.
There were times when they would occasionally meet and converse with humans.
And Kailen Marin was on that list of people they occasionally met.
They clearly remembered saving that human, a ridiculous human who almost died while playing around.
“To try to retaliate like this! By spilling the location where we live!”
In all their history, this was the first time they were about to suffer such a massive retaliation.
Even though there had been times when some ungrateful individuals tried to catch Mermaids and make them slaves.
“Just what did you float above the water! It’s scary!”
“Are you planning to drop it?!”
There was no case of trying to blatantly strike their headquarters like this even if you searched through history.
“We saved you!”
“Erase that right now! If you don’t, we’ll really get angry too!”
Like that, the mermaids pointed their fingers while looking at Kailen Marin’s face.
Then, as soon as they saw the face of the person next to him, their expressions stiffened rigidly.
“…Isn’t that crazy?”
“He’s ridiculously handsome.”
“There was no one like that among the mermaids.”
“He’s totally cold… hmm, he’s cold but looks super angry.”
“His eyes are scary.”
The atmosphere looked like it would be reversed by looks alone.
In that situation, Crown Prince Bellon leisurely lowered his head and looked down at the mermaids.
“Are you the mermaids?”
“Y-Yes, yes…”
“Do you know a mermaid named Nerissa Levi Deepheart?”
Let’s get straight to the main point.
As soon as they heard those words, the mermaids' expressions changed once again.
They were mermaids who had been making smitten faces while looking at Bellon’s face just a few seconds ago.
But the moment they heard Nerissa’s name, their expressions crumpled drastically.
“Tell that bitch not to even think about showing her face until she causes the fall of the empire!”
They brought out their inner thoughts exactly as they were, and as soon as he heard those words, the Crown Prince smiled brightly.
“That’s a good answer.”
Fall, White Night.
In the middle of the sea.
The sun falls.