Chapter 108
Chapter: 108
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 108
>Chapter Title: Monster Task Force (1)
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>The Holy Emperor's birthday celebration was two weeks away.
With Delcross's grandest events on the horizon, the Imperial Palace had grown noticeably bustling. Servants scurried about, meticulously cleaning and decorating every corner, while wagons from outside continuously lined up at the palace warehouses.
Distinguished guests from foreign lands began arriving one by one.
Diplomatic envoys bearing congratulatory gifts from distant realms kept submitting requests for audiences, leaving even the Holy Emperor with barely a moment's rest. As a result, the regular audiences with his children seemed impossible for the time being.
The princes and princesses, now relatively idle, spent their peaceful days dealing only occasionally with tailors visiting the palace to measure for formal attire.
"So this is the Genesis Longsword. I've always thought it, but Arjuna truly is a beautiful blade."
Amelia ran her finger along the gracefully rippling silver edge, marveling in admiration. She had borrowed the sword from Logan for a moment and was examining it from every angle.
It was the cherished weapon of the East's mightiest swordsman, no less. After General Gael's death, it had proudly earned a place in the imperial treasury—more than worthy of being called a treasure sword.
The blade was densely etched with intricate intaglio patterns, and its narrow guard and pommel featured delicate yet elegant ornamentation.
"I'd love to have one like this. I bet wielding a sword like this would make it easier to incorporate the Willrose Circulation Method into my swordsmanship."
Amelia gripped Arjuna with both hands, swung it a few times, and spoke with evident envy.
She used to delight in cracking walnuts with it, but sure enough, her big sister had a hidden fondness for weapons.
"If that's the case, why not get one? A Genesis Longsword would suit you perfectly, sister."
Logan smiled warmly as he spoke. And truthfully, Amelia looked quite impressive as she brandished the slender blade this way and that.
"That sounds good. How long would a custom order take?"
"There probably aren't any artisans in Delcross who specialize in Genesis swords. But I hear the palace treasury holds a few fine blades. Why not request one?"
"Really? It's a treasure sword—do you think Father Emperor would give it up?"
"I got mine when I was very young, just by asking. Back then, everyone made a fuss about handing a treasure sword to a child playing pretend, but Father didn't bat an eye."
Amelia nodded eagerly at his optimistic outlook, her face flushing with excitement.
"I see. I'll have to ask him."
"When you request it, sister, a treasure sword is nothing. He'd probably hand over a holy relic without hesitation."
The two exchanged glances and shared a warm smile.
My, how heartwarming. Truly heartwarming...
Seongjin, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, spoke up irritably.
"Everything's fine and dandy, but why the hell are you two doing this here of all places?"
In other words, Logan and Amelia were currently in the Pearl Palace. They were chatting amiably while watching Seongjin go through his etiquette lessons.
Seongjin sighed as he met two pairs of innocent eyes blinking roundly at him.
Not all the princes and princesses were idle. For Seongjin, whose experience as a prince was practically a blank slate, an unexpected etiquette instructor had suddenly been assigned.
Even a laissez-faire educator like the Holy Emperor apparently felt the need to drill in the basics now that foreign dignitaries were flooding in.
As a result, his time to visit the training grounds had drastically shrunk, and Seongjin's mood soured with each passing day.
He needed to sublimate this stress into training soon!
"Still, thanks to your swordsmanship foundation, your basic posture isn't bad at all. I don't think you need much correction."
"Exactly. Mores has a certain presence just standing there. Learn a few key etiquette points, and you'll be a flawless prince."
The two soothed him as if placating a child. The etiquette instructor watching his posture from the side let out an amused chuckle.
These guys, seriously!
But Seongjin's ordeal didn't end there. Once etiquette class wrapped up, dance lessons began next.
The birthday celebration spanned three days around the Holy Emperor's actual birthday, and all princes and princesses aged thirteen and up were required to attend the main banquet. He couldn't skip it on the excuse of faulty memories.
On top of that, social gatherings in each palace, state dinners with foreign guests, and minor events hosted by cardinals and nobles in the capital's townhouses were set to continue for a full three weeks starting next week.
High society socializing—what a colossal pain.
"But all the same, Mores seems to pick up physical stuff quickly. Swordsmanship was one thing, but look how fast he's mastering dance?"
Amelia smiled as she took Seongjin's hand and stepped lightly through the routine.
During dance practice, she partnered with him to help out, providing skilled guidance that made learning easier than expected.
"Is that so? That's fortunate indeed. Before, he never improved at dance, and the instructor had such a hard time..."
Logan, sitting nearby and watching them, replied absentmindedly before stiffening and clamping his mouth shut. He had momentarily forgotten that the current Seongjin wasn't the real Mores.
Amelia glanced curiously at Logan, but Seongjin quickly picked up the thread.
"I used to suck at swordsmanship too, back then."
"...Right, that's true."
"People improve, after all."
"...Indeed."
Amelia sensed the awkward air between them for a moment and studied their faces, but finding nothing amiss, she simply tilted her head.
Seongjin watched Logan awkwardly flip through a picture book nearby and recalled their recent conversation.
-Yeah. You're no ordinary evil spirit, Yi Seongjin. I think we can maintain a friendly relationship going forward.
As they stepped onto the terrace to return to the Blue Rose Palace after that midnight talk, Logan had said to him,
-But I still need to find the real Mores. No matter how strained things are now, he's still my precious brother. So...
Logan hesitated there before looking Seongjin straight in the eye and continuing with difficulty,
-So, if Mores ever returns... could you promise to give his body back?
It was just a simple request to return his brother's body, yet the guy looked guiltily as if asking Seongjin to die. What a soft-hearted fool.
-Sure, no problem. I'm dead anyway.
Logan smiled in relief at Seongjin's straightforward nod, sensing his sincere intent.
-...Thank you.
Since that day, Logan had treated Seongjin as naturally as if he were truly his brother. Amelia and Masain, who had fretted over whether their relationship might revert to its old hostility, were overjoyed beyond words.
However, Logan never directly called Seongjin "Mores" to his face.
"So, how should we handle the banquet escorts? Logan always escorted me before, but since Mores has no memories, I'm a bit worried about leaving him alone."
Amelia spun gracefully with Seongjin's hand in hers, her thin dress skirt blooming like flower petals. The sight was so pure and lovely that even the dance instructor lost himself staring blankly.
Logan pondered her question before replying.
"This year, Cissle will be attending the banquet for the first time. It might be best if I assist her."
"Cissle's only twelve."
"She's a saintess officially recognized by the Orthodox Church. It's a bit early, but the council judges it's time she shows her face among the dignitaries."
The youngest princess, said to be on a pilgrimage, would return soon.
Amelia nodded.
"I see. Hernia and Gades are debuting too, but they'll come together, so no issue there."
Little schemers who each harbored a dozen foxes within. They hardly seemed likely to panic at their first banquet.
"Then it's settled. I'll escort Mores this time, right?"
"...Isn't it usually the other way around?"
Seeing Seongjin's sullen face, Amelia twirled through her steps with a giggle.
"Don't worry too much. I'll guard you properly until the banquet ends."
"......"
"I'll keep protecting you from now on, Mores."
Seongjin was dumbfounded.
This sister, only a year older than Mores, sure treated him like a kid.
As the late afternoon arrived, the tedious lessons finally ended.
Elated with a sense of liberation, he dashed to the training grounds, only to find the two already there, lounging about.
What the—? Don't you guys have anything better to do?
"Vice Captain Dimros suddenly left on a long-term assignment. So no spear lessons for a while."
Amelia had already settled into meditation posture beside Seongjin.
"I figured I'd self-train here while I'm at it. Watching Mores practice is helpful."
Even Logan was doing warm-up exercises in front of them.
"The Blue Rose Palace doesn't have its own grounds. Using the knight order's feels like I'm interrupting the other knights' training, and it makes me feel bad."
Can't you see the Pearl Palace resident knights huddled in the corner?
Seongjin glanced at Masain hoping he'd intervene, but the man averted his eyes, red-rimmed with emotion.
"It feels like the old days have returned. To see Your Highness on such good terms with your siblings—I've no regrets left in life."
Ah, my mistake for expecting anything from this guy.
Grumbling inwardly, Seongjin prepared for meditation.
He had been eagerly anticipating reaching Aura Layer 7 soon, but he just couldn't focus!
Yet once he sat down, contrary to his worries, he quickly immersed himself inward.
As always, he wrapped himself in a gentle breeze and completed his satisfying meditation as usual.
Of course, when he opened his eyes afterward, the two were staring intently at him, which startled him a bit.
Amelia looked somehow proud, while Logan appeared mildly surprised.
"I thought only Father could manifest aura so easily..."
Aura manifestation?
"Impressive, right? I was shocked the first time I saw it."
"Indeed. Even with mediocre aura affinity, he's stacking layers this quickly—now I see why."
Logan nodded gravely.
More sensitive to aura flows than most, he could clearly grasp what was happening to Seongjin.
People often called those who stacked aura layers quickly "high-affinity," but strictly speaking, that was inaccurate.
Even those with innate high affinity struggled to stack if they couldn't control it. Stabilizing and fixing layers proved difficult.
Conversely, even with slightly lower affinity, skillful manipulation accelerated layer stacking and circulation.
Mores's body wasn't naturally gifted with strong aura affinity.
Though the Holy Emperor had greatly improved it by force-feeding massive aura while sealing the pathway, it still paled compared to Logan, who absorbed aura as effortlessly as breathing, or the Holy Emperor, whose body seemed made of aura itself.
Yet stacking and wielding aura this smoothly meant he had already reached the stage where aura followed his will.
Amelia pouted her lips like a chick and tattled.
"If you knew how wildly he handles aura, you'd be shocked too. Not long ago, he ignored the circulation method entirely and rampaged it through his body, nearly dying in the process. Father Emperor chewed him out big time for it."
"...Is that true?"
Logan stared at Seongjin with wide, astonished eyes.
What? Why?
"You really need to be careful using aura from now on. For some reason, your control feels fundamentally different from others'. It's like your body rejects even basic regulation."
"It should be controllable, right? Why?"
He had just tweaked it because flowing strictly by the method felt stuffy.
But Logan's expression was more serious than expected.
"Of course. You can't just ignore the circulation method because it's cumbersome—your body fundamentally resists such reckless flows."
"Why? It's already flowing through the body; I'm just letting it run free."
"Think about it. If you're hot, can you just peel off your skin and fan yourself? If your stomach hurts, can you vomit out all your guts?"
"Uh......"
Seongjin blinked, at a loss for words.
That analogy hit hard, even if it was a bit...
Damn, imagining it is kinda scary.