Chapter 11
Parkville was an enchanting park where beautiful flowers bloomed in every season and ornamental fish swam in the central pond.
In one corner of Parkville, loyal Raymond used his body to hide his master from view as Blanc tore his hair out.
“Ah, seriously, why did I do that.”
Ever since Blanc had burst out of Vieta’s office, he had worn a miserable expression.
Yet a faint smile bloomed on Raymond’s face as he looked down at his self-reproaching master.
The prince was so very human now.
Raymond was delighted by that fact.
“Raymond, what should I do now?”
“…What are you referring to?”
Blanc had subtly asked him for help, but Raymond pretended not to know anything.
There was no point in Raymond advising Blanc, because the prince would not change just because Raymond told him what to do here and now.
Some might consider it disloyalty toward his master, but Raymond believed that, just as the times had changed, the prince needed to change as well.
Whether it was because of his conflict with his mother or because he had grown up as a member of the imperial family,
Blanc was reluctant to reveal his emotions and deliberately avoided conflicts between people.
As a result, Blanc was surrounded by people as bland and yielding as water mixed with water or wine mixed with wine—people so similar to him that there was no reason to be on guard, and who liked him without his having to make any effort.
That situation gradually made Blanc more foolish and childlike.
So Raymond was somewhat glad that Blanc was troubled by his relationship with Vieta.
It was not that he wanted things between them to work out.
Such matters were not something a subordinate could casually comment on.
“So what will you do now? Shall we look into another escort, even at this point?”
Since no one could do everything right from the start, Raymond gave his master a gentle push so that he could break through his shell and move forward.
“I don’t know….”
Blanc raised one hand and vigorously rubbed his face.
*
That morning, Blanc had stormed out after shouting at the Emperor.
He had said he would go on the pilgrimage as ordered, but asked that, at the very least, he be allowed to choose his own escort.
Since he had no say in anything else, he wanted to choose for himself who would be at his side.
The imperial knights would accompany him, but he needed an unknown escort who would watch over him from right beside him.
As it happened, he had heard from the High Priest that Vieta was struggling financially because she had no commissions.
At that moment, Blanc decided to commission Vieta as his escort.
He wanted to get to know her better by staying closer to her.
And only moments ago, Blanc had left after rejecting Vieta because of his own petty feelings.
“If it’s really a problem, shall I go with you?”
“It’s fine. You need to protect the imperial family, old man.”
Blanc waved a hand.
Raymond was old.
Simply going by his age, he should have been sitting near a fireplace, watching his grandchildren amuse themselves instead of tending to the imperial family as he did now.
Blanc did not want to drag Raymond along a pilgrimage route that was sure to be arduous.
“And besides, this is mostly my fault.”
In terms of both ability and trustworthiness, Vieta was the best choice aside from Raymond.
Therefore, the most reasonable thing to do was to go back to her and entrust her with the commission.
Otherwise, he would have to return to the Emperor and say he would do as he was told.
Though he was a powerless, discarded prince, he wanted to avoid that more than anything.
***
“No.”
Riiip.
Vieta tore up the commission papers Fulcare had brought without even looking at them.
The imperial crest was stamped prominently on them, but a mere crest could not intimidate Vieta.
“I don’t want to listen to that damned Emperor’s orders anymore.”
Her deal with the Emperor had ended with the Demon King’s defeat.
So what on earth was the Emperor trying to make her do by sending Fulcare with a commission?
Vieta chewed thoughtfully on her lip.
“I’m going too, Captain. Are you really not coming?”
Yet Fulcare did not yield despite Vieta’s cold reaction.
“You’re really going to send me that far away all by myself? Aren’t you worried about me at all?”
“….”
She couldn’t exactly hit him.
Wrinkles appeared on Vieta’s forehead as she looked at Fulcare.
“Bring it out again, for now.”
He was annoying at times, but he was still a comrade who had shared life-and-death struggles with her.
And, formally speaking, Fulcare was in no position to disobey the Emperor.
Therefore, she could not coldly refuse him.
“I knew you’d say that, Captain.”
The moment Vieta gave her permission, a sheet of parchment dropped from midair.
Fulcare even smoothed the parchment out on the desk so it would be easy for Vieta to read, then set out the cake beside it so it would be easy to eat.
“Did you cause some major incident?”
Fulcare’s painstaking attentiveness only made Vieta more suspicious.
“Come on, it’s not like I’m the captain.”
Offended by his sarcasm, Vieta set down her fork with a clack, and Fulcare cut a piece of cake with his own fork and held it out to her.
“…Just be quiet.”
The cake had done nothing wrong.
Besides, the cake Fulcare had brought happened to be her favorite—strawberry chocolate cake.
Vieta swallowed a bite of cake, then began reading through the commission.
“What? The imperial household commissioned me to escort you during the pilgrimage?”
Fulcare was the Empire’s archmage.
He was not weak enough to need Vieta’s protection.
“We still don’t know who the enemy is, but we can’t just leave the next heir to the throne, who has no support base, in the capital indefinitely, can we? We might end up losing two sons.”
Fulcare let out a long sigh.
“Don’t tell me this is about politics?”
Vieta’s expression hardened as she was about to stuff the cake into her mouth.
She hated political talk.
“Give me just one minute. I’ll explain only the essentials.”
At Fulcare’s serious expression, Vieta pressed her lips together and chewed the cake slowly.
There was even a bribe involved, and since he was being so insistent, she figured she could spare him a minute.
“If we lose a legitimate heir, the balance of power in the country will change drastically. While a struggle for power breaks out within the country, the Empire’s standing will plummet rapidly. The Emperor is trying to send him on this pilgrimage, even if he has to force the matter, to prevent that.”
“Why?”
“To make it known far and wide that the legitimate heir is alive and well. Moreover, the prince still has no support base in the imperial palace. So it also means that he is supposed to use the pilgrimage to somehow build a support base outside the palace.”
Fulcare took a sip of black tea before continuing.
“That’s the formal justification. Personally, the Emperor has too many concerns about keeping the prince in the capital as things stand. The monster incident, for one, and the Third Prince glaring daggers at his older brother while clinging to the Consort and threatening to devour him. How frustrated must that old man be?”
“Then just make the Third Prince the crown prince… Ah, no, that wouldn’t work.”
Vieta shook her head.
If that good-for-nothing Third Prince became emperor, she could guarantee that he would ruin the Empire in less than ten years.
She did not know what his abilities were like, but his character was unquestionably atrocious.
He abused the nearly extinct right of first night indiscriminately, for one thing.
He even beat a serving maid half to death simply because she frowned.
Yet the Consort doted on the Third Prince, because even a hedgehog thought its own babies were beautiful, which made things even more troublesome.
“But there’s another problem. Prince Blanc is ill, too.”
“What do you mean?”
This was no onion, either.
As Blanc’s circumstances kept peeling back layer after layer, Vieta was already beginning to feel exhausted.
“Something about his mana running wild? Apparently, he even underwent a mana-suppression procedure in the Madak Kingdom. It would be fine if he could at least defend himself, but in his current state, even a passing squire could swing a sword at him, and he’d simply—”
Fulcare raised a hand and made a slitting motion across his throat.
“So this means I’m supposed to protect the prince? But why am I officially being assigned as your escort?”
Vieta tapped Fulcare’s name on the commission form.
“They originally planned to assign you to the prince, but apparently the prince refused outright. Since a prince who normally did exactly as he was told without a word had refused, I guess the old man was moved.”
Vieta stopped just as she was about to stuff a handful of cake into her mouth.
The prince had refused an escort?
Could it be that the prince had come to see her this morning because of this escort?
Then why had he simply left?
“Well, for that reason, they want the Captain to accompany me as well. Oh, Captain, you only have to come until Rohan joins us. Since you don’t want to run into that guy.”
Vieta’s thoughts raced.
Whether she accepted Blanc’s commission or Fulcare’s, the work itself would be the same.
“…Hmm. Then what’s the pay?”
In that case, all that remained was money.
“Whatever amount you have in mind, it’ll probably be more than that.”
At Fulcare’s confident words, Vieta picked up the pen without hesitation and signed the commission form.
***
[How did it go?]
In the barn, sitting in its designated spot, the cat Chichi wagged its tail.
[It failed in the end.]
Perched on the barn window, the crow leisurely preened its feathers.
[Didn’t I tell you to wait?]
[We tried to stop them, but….]
Tsk. Worthless fools.
Once you let a client lead you around by the nose, they keep doing it, and the commission is bound to suffer as a result.
Hadn’t this ended in failure again?
As a result, they had not only lost one capable chess piece, but more than half their payment as well.
[What’s the next plan?]
[Nothing definite has been decided yet, but apparently the target will be leaving the capital soon.]
[This time, I’ll go myself. Until then, keep quiet and await my orders.]
[Understood.]
With a flap of its wings, the crow took off into the air, while the cat Chichi went back to sleep at its leisure.