Chapter 89
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 89
The current Emperor's name is Yuri Cracia.
He is regarded as the emperor who ushered in an era of stability for the Empire. Under Yuri Cracia's reign, the Empire expanded and grew smoothly, without any major upheavals.
Even when localized clashes broke out with Bellato or Kora, Yuri deftly resolved them through skilled diplomacy. More than that, he quietly cracked open the black markets, absorbing pieces of Bellato and Kora's technology and resources.
With the Empire's tacit blessing, traces of Bellato and Kora were seeping into its very foundations.
I listened to Kinuan's explanation, then asked a question.
"Doesn't opening up sow the seeds of discord and conflict?"
"But without opening up, there is no progress. The reason our Akresia Empire surpassed its sister nations to possess the most advanced engineering technology... is because we accepted alien technology before Bellato and Kora ever did."
I flinched. The Empire rejected aliens. Alien species were so rare they were nearly impossible to find within its borders. Only a handful had their 'usefulness' recognized, barely scraping by with residence permits and permanent residency.
And yet this Empire was the first to accept alien technology?
Seeing my expression, Kinuan smiled.
"It's a matter of the distant past anyway. So far back that you'd have to die and be reborn ten times over to span it. In any case, the Empire doesn't blindly reject change. You know that as well as anyone."
Something surfaced in my mind.
"...I met Director Jin Gau at a banquet once. I heard he even collaborates with the Bellato Federation on technological research."
"As you saw for yourself, Director Jin is a very peculiar sort. He'd fit in better with Bellato than the Empire. That's precisely why he handles technological exchanges with them."
"He struck me as so odd that I wondered how he'd managed to survive in the Empire this long."
"Haha—isn't the answer obvious, Irregular Luka?"
Indeed. There was only one answer.
"His abilities must be unmatched. Enough to bury his personality flaws and shortcomings."
"An irreplaceable existence isn't easily cast aside by any group."
"Like you, Instructor?"
I shot back sharply.
"So you've already grasped the secret to my survival. Excellent, as expected."
Kinuan merely brushed it off with a gentle smile.
Tap, tap.
Our footsteps echoed deep down the corridor.
I had entered a building whose name I didn't even know. But one glance at the simple yet grand golden ornamentation told me this was one of the Imperial Family's private holdings.
Whir.
I scanned the corners of the corridor. A camera that had been running just moments ago went still and slumped dead. It was a wrongness I'd been feeling for a while now.
At some point, all the surveillance equipment had stopped working.
It was as if the Empire's entire surveillance network fell paralyzed around Kinuan. His path of movement was recorded nowhere.
"Luka, this is the privilege of a Watcher. You'll have it before long, too. No institution in the Empire can track or monitor my traces. Any electronic device tied to the Empire's network simply ignores me—even if it sees me, it won't register it."
This was how Kinuan maintained his ghostlike movements. Small wonder even the Imperial Guard couldn't dig into his background.
"A ghost of the Empire, truly. But if a Watcher were to defect—who could counter them?"
"There's likely someone we don't know about. An existence that executes defected Watchers. You've realized this by now, haven't you? No one but His Majesty the Emperor can see the Empire in its entirety. I am no exception."
Even a Watcher's field of vision was terribly narrow. We were not all-seeing beings. We were merely one of the Emperor's many eyes.
I was thinking at high speed while crushed beneath extreme pressure. Because of that, even my senses were starting to fail.
The straight corridor seemed to warp. Suppressing my dizziness, I barely managed to keep walking straight.
Soon, I will meet the Emperor.
I would rather be dropped into the middle of a battlefield swarming with enemies. That would be far more comfortable. I was sick to death of fighting powerful foes in situations with slim odds of winning.
Over the past four years, I had learned how to fight.
But the Emperor was not an opponent to fight and defeat. He was an absolute ruler to whom I had to show blind loyalty—willingly laying down my life for any absurd command or whim. That was the Emperor.
"Luka, ease up a little. Even if you act rebellious or make a mistake here, you won't die on the spot."
Kinuan said it teasingly. Then again, I'd probably do the same in his place. Chances to look down on and needle someone like me were rare.
"...That only makes it more terrifying."
It meant that if I failed to read the Emperor's intentions, I'd be left trembling in endless anxiety—wondering whether I'd survive, or be discarded.
Step.
Kinuan stopped before a door. The symbol of the Akresia Empire—a front-facing eye—was carved in golden relief. The Akies Victima symbol also depicted an eye, but the feeling was different.
If the Akies Victima symbol was a sidelong, thieving glance, the symbol of the Akresia Empire was an eye that crushed its subject beneath overwhelming pressure.
Kinuan pressed his palm to the center of the imperial symbol.
"Luka, if you can't trust yourself, then trust me. I judged you to be someone who would become a Watcher. For today, don't trust your own abilities—trust the depth of my insight."
Kinuan was an incredible man. A monster in a different sense than Heilas. He saw through everything and never lost his composure, no matter the situation.
...And this Kinuan had chosen me.
It felt like the first genuinely useful piece of advice I'd received all day. Indeed, my churning mind was steadying, as if a block of ice had been dropped into it.
"Thank you, Instructor."
I nodded and steadied my breathing. My vision, which had blurred from panic, cleared.
Creak.
Kinuan opened the door. Keeping my head down, I walked forward with my eyes on the floor.
Thud!
Kinuan, ahead of me, knelt and paid his respects. I couldn't even make out what he said.
I merely turned over the words I had to speak, chewing them in my mind. The lines I'd practiced hundreds of times spilled from my mouth.
"Lucaus Custoria... pays his respects to the leader of the subjects and protector of the Empire, His Majesty the Emperor, Yuri Cracia."
I did not raise my head. Keeping even my invisible soul bowed low, I waited for the Emperor's words.
"Welcome, child."
The Emperor's first words were surprisingly gentle—so much so that they gave me the illusion that all my past hardships were being repaid.
There was no subject of the Empire who did not know the Emperor's face. Sculptures and portraits of him were common sights throughout the realm.
Even at the orphanage where I grew up, there were portraits of the emperors. The ones of the First Emperor, Dino Cracia, and the current Emperor, Yuri Cracia, hung largest of all.
I knew Yuri Cracia's features well. I could draw his portrait from memory alone.
"Raise your head."
I had once glimpsed the Emperor from afar, through frosted glass. But now I stood barely ten meters from the master of the Empire. This was my first face-to-face meeting.
I raised my head.
Yuri Cracia.
The Emperor sat upon an ornate chair, and beside him stood a man with a familiar face.
The Crimson Crown Prince, Fransek Cracia.
In principle, the personal information of Imperial Family members who have not entered public office is classified.
But the public knows the Crown Prince—the heir—well enough. No matter how much legitimacy and bloodline dignity one possesses, if a stranger appeared out of nowhere one day and declared himself Emperor, even loyal subjects would struggle to accept it.
And so the Crown Prince assists the Emperor from an early age, building achievements and merits.
I hadn't expected the Crimson Crown Prince to be at the Emperor's side. He was nicknamed "Crimson" because he always wore red. That, too, was likely a political maneuver—an easy way to stamp his image into the public mind.
In that moment, only the Emperor and the Crown Prince registered in my sight.
However...
As I entered the room, I felt a sense of foreignness, of wrongness. There were at least two or three guards somewhere—behind the pillars, the curtains, or beyond the window.
In principle, guarding the Emperor is the Imperial Guard's duty.
But those snagged in the net of my senses were almost certainly not Imperial Guardsmen.
On the surface, the Imperial Guard is the military body closest to the Emperor. In official settings, the Emperor is always attended by the Imperial Guard.
In a place like this... he would bring guards who hold no official rank.
To put it a touch crudely, they were a shadow imperial guard of sorts.
Did Heilas know they existed, too?
I was a member of the Imperial Guard myself. A bitterness welled up in me. There was a military force in the Empire nearer to the Emperor than we ever were.
A small question rose in my mind.
Setting aside the Emperor and the Crown Prince—is it truly alright to expose the position and duties of a Watcher to those guards?
Suddenly, the Emperor laughed.
"Haha—how cute, Luka. They cannot see or hear without my permission. I mean that in the literal, physical sense, so there's no need to worry."
The Emperor spoke as though reading my mind. His manner was strangely casual, coaxing at the edges of my tension, threatening to make it slip away.
True to the name Crimson Crown Prince, Fransek wore red again today. He looked at me with a confident smile.
"So you're the next Watcher. Just as Kinuan has spent long years at my father's side... you'll be spending a great deal of time with me."
If I lived on as a Watcher of the Empire, the time I spent with Fransek would be long indeed. Recognizing this, Fransek addressed me warmly.
...How was I supposed to respond? Every moment was a trial.
"Thank you, Your Highness. Going forward, I will—"
Before I could finish, Fransek stepped over. He leaned down and clapped a hand on my shoulder.
"No need for formalities! I know full well you're not the type to flatter your superiors. What I want from you is unwavering loyalty and excellent ability. A blunt attitude or a loose tongue? I couldn't care less. If you like, you can even talk to me as impudently as my old nanny does. She's always nagging me about my habits, or my womanizing. So I swear here and now—I'll heed your words just as I heed her advice."
Fransek was a Crown Prince beloved among the Empire's subjects. Those who held even a vague admiration for the Imperial Family adored him. Having met him firsthand, I understood why.
A charming, easygoing man.
The kind of person anyone would take a liking to.
"Fransek, have you gotten a good look at the child who will one day be your retainer and Watcher?"
The Emperor spoke from behind him.
Fransek smiled and spread his arms wide. Then he laid one hand over his chest and bowed respectfully.
"Meeting him in person, I like him even more. Enough to make me want to hurry up the throne."
"I'm not going anywhere just yet, Fransek."
Jokes passed between them. Listening like this, it sounded like the easy banter of an ordinary father and son.
To think that those at the very heart of this cold Empire could chatter so peacefully, so fondly... I even caught a faint trace of warmth.
"Well then, I'll take my leave. Even the Crown Prince cannot meddle in a Watcher's duties and operations."
Fransek slipped out through the back door. As he went, one of the presences ringing the room vanished with him.
"Prince Fransek is as hearty as ever," Kinuan said.
"Well, I'd like to think I raised him well. Thanks to that, he's become a man loved by all. He's grown enough to serve as a trigger. With his death, everything will change."
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard.
A trigger? Death?
My chest, warm for that brief instant, went cold in a rush. The violent swing in temperature felt as if it would crack my heart apart.
"When the time comes, I will carry out the order."
What in the world were they talking about?
As though Crown Prince Fransek were nothing more than a tool for some purpose.
...The Emperor and Kinuan were discussing the disposal and expenditure of Crown Prince Fransek.
"Do not be shaken, Luka. The real Crown Prince is someone else," Kinuan said, turning back to look at me.
I couldn't hide what I felt. They must have expected my turmoil, too.
This damned Empire... no matter how far I craned my neck, I could not see the bottom of it.