Chapter 19
Chapter: 19
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 019
>Chapter Title: Closed-Door Prayer (1)
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That night, darkness fell over the main palace a little earlier than usual.
After the uproar of the aura storm that had shredded the rear garden, the palace staff had been tied up with cleanup for a while.
Above all, the Holy Emperor at the storm's center still hadn't awakened. The head chamberlain, who had been frantically summoning priests and imperial physicians, had dismissed most of the servants early to ensure the Holy Emperor got ample rest.
The main palace, left with only a minimal staff and guards, welcomed an unusually quiet night.
Into that darkness slipped a single man clad in black night clothes.
He moved silently down the deeply sleeping corridors of the main palace, slipping past even the vigilant palace guards with familiar ease, and soon descended soundlessly into the Holy Emperor's chambers.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting long lattice patterns across the bed at the room's center, where the young Holy Emperor lay with eyes peacefully closed.
Considering how he usually sensed the man's approach like a ghost, this was an extraordinary occurrence. Perhaps one that would never happen again.
The man's footsteps advanced silently toward the bed.
But he hadn't gotten far before he had to stop. A sharp blade had pressed against his throat.
"Who dares look upon me with such disloyal eyes?"
Francis Agen, vice-captain of the Saint Aurelion Knight Order.
The holy knight, a head taller than most men with a sharp countenance, glared fiercely at the intruder.
"......"
A cold silence hung in the room for a moment.
"Francis."
Their standoff ended swiftly.
The Holy Emperor had already risen and was gazing at them. For someone who had been lying unconscious until now, his face looked remarkably composed.
"Sheathe your sword. He's from the guild."
The young holy knight continued to glare at the man even after the order, but soon sighed and put away his blade. Freed from the threat, the guild's intelligence agent immediately knelt toward the bed and bowed his head.
"Your Holiness."
"Report."
"We've located the noble's whereabouts. He is currently in a slash-and-burn village near the end of the western mountain range, close to the Plendor Kingdom border. The guild assesses this village as a bandit group disguised as settlers. After the subjugation order from Rohan, a significant number of bandits settled here along the western mountains."
The Holy Emperor frowned slightly.
"...The border region with Ashein."
"Yes."
"How convenient."
The Plendor Kingdom had been engaged in minor border skirmishes with the neighboring Cartagena Duchy for a full forty years. What started as a dispute over a wedding dowry had devolved into a conflict over salt mines near the border, and now, the only one profiting for decades from it all was the scheming Grand Duke Ashein.
Of all places, right between Ashein and Plendor. It didn't bode well.
The Holy Emperor fell silent in thought. The guild agent lifted his head to stare at him blankly for a moment, but bowed again at the follow-up order.
"Investigate the movements of merchant caravans passing between Plendor and Ashein. As for the slash-and-burn village, maintain surveillance without lapse and report any peculiarities immediately."
The agent bowed with utmost courtesy and vanished as silently as he had appeared.
Francis, who had been glaring in the direction the man disappeared, turned to the Holy Emperor. Displeasure was evident on his face.
"That's no ordinary stealth. Since when have assassins been coming and going from the imperial palace like it's their own home?"
The Holy Emperor leaned comfortably against the bedhead and waved his hand dismissively.
"He's a guild informant I've known for quite some time. No need to be so on edge."
"That irreverent brute reeking of impudence?"
"At the very least, he's not the foolhardy type to throw himself into the impossible."
The young holy knight twisted one corner of his mouth.
"And how can you be so sure it's impossible? Do you have confidence you won't be struck no matter the situation, or that even a blade to the heart won't kill you?"
Both, in fact. But the Holy Emperor had the sense not to voice it. Instead, he asked something else.
"And Katrina?"
The captain of the Saint Aurelion Knight Order was famous for jumping into anything involving the Holy Emperor. She had likely insisted on staying by his side while he was unconscious.
As expected, Francis replied in a slightly irritated tone.
"Why did Your Holiness go and give her cause for worry? Captain Katrina just switched shifts with me not long ago. Stop working that seasoned lady to the bone."
With that, he sat on the sofa in one corner of the room, propping his sword against the armrest. He then picked up the book he had set aside and adjusted his glasses.
It was a bizarre sight: reading by enhancing his vision with aura in the pitch-black night.
He clearly intended to pull an all-nighter here, so the inconvenienced Holy Emperor rubbed his chin and commanded.
"You've done enough. Go back and rest now."
But this insolent vice-captain, whom he had known face-to-face for nearly ten years since his squire days, had an uncanny knack for knowing when he could ignore orders.
He turned a page and snorted.
"You think I enjoy pulling all-nighters? I've been brawling with the academy dean all day and I'm exhausted."
"Yes, it's fine now, so..."
"It's the captain's order. I have to switch with her tomorrow morning."
Sharp eyes glinted coldly through his glasses.
"If you don't grant me a day off tomorrow instead, I swear to the Lord God I'll tender my resignation."
* * *
At the usual hour, the chirp of a bird alighting in the Pearl Palace garden roused Seongjin from sleep.
It was early morning, before the servants began their full duties.
Normally, he would spring out of bed and start the day with stretches, but today he lay there blankly, staring at the sunlight filtering through the curtains. Something felt off.
It was an indescribable sense of elation.
The soft texture of the bedding enveloping his body felt vividly distinct. Even the dance of tiny dust motes in the sunlight carried an uncanny realism. With every breath, he could keenly sense the density changes of gases permeating and leaving his alveoli.
Could this be...
'Aura...? Am I feeling aura?'
Seongjin bolted upright in excitement.
Finally!
He practically leaped from the bed and paced the room barefoot; his body felt strangely light.
As he hiked up his pajama pants slipping down with his movements, he noticed his waistline had visibly shrunk.
'...Huh?'
He turned instinctively to the mirror.
There stood a rather tidy-looking boy.
His facial contours, once buried in fat, were now revealed, and his body volume had clearly diminished. Still plump, but no longer obese—enough to earn comments about looking healthy.
He had lost some fat, but more than that, his body felt compressed and firm. Skin that had started to sag from rapid weight loss was now taut.
His eye level was a bit higher too—not from growing taller, but as if his twisted posture had straightened, shoulders squared, spine erect without effort.
For changes in a single day, it was overly dramatic.
To Seongjin, armed with modern knowledge, it felt like physics and physiology were being outright refuted.
All this from depleted aura returning? The aura-omnipotence theory etched itself firmly in his mind.
'Looking like this, I do resemble Father a bit...'
His sharp-eyed beauty of a mother, Empress Lisabeth, gave him a fierce impression, but the revealed jawline and delicate mouth were unmistakably like the Holy Emperor's.
Turning this way and that in fascination before the mirror, he heard a polite knock.
"Did you cough, Your Highness?"
As usual in the mornings, Edith entered with a fresh water pitcher and clean cloth, but an unexpected figure followed.
"Sir Masin?"
"How's your body feeling, Your Highness? Any discomfort?"
No, why was this non-resident Pearl Palace knight here first thing in the morning?
The knight captain approached Seongjin with his usual gentle smile.
"Well, yesterday was quite the chaos, wasn't it? It seemed necessary to bolster Pearl Palace security for a day, so I had no choice."
He had volunteered to stay overnight in the Pearl Palace, which wasn't even his post.
"But aren't you with the palace guard? Why not stay by Father's side...?"
"Would there be any need for me? Lady Katrina rolled up her sleeves personally. The main palace is undoubtedly under ironclad protection by the Saint Aurelion Holy Knights."
Masin relayed the main palace situation as well.
The Holy Emperor had awakened safely last night and was fully back to normal by morning. Of course, he had skipped the morning assembly on grounds of poor condition.
His forehead was the same as ever, so there was nothing to worry about in the main palace anymore.
"Rest assured, the palace guard isn't neglecting its duties. Alert protocols are running smoothly without a hitch."
Is that really okay?
In emergencies, shouldn't the knight captain at least show his face at the main palace? What about appearances?
"What's the problem? I'm the captain."
The knight captain, known for iron discipline in the guard, had a surprisingly lax side.
"Besides, nothing's going to happen to His Holiness."
"......"
Ah, so that's where the FM-player vibe breaks.
Having seen Sir Masin's face first thing in the morning, Seongjin headed straight for the training grounds, only to hit an unexpected snag.
His body volume had shrunk so much that none of his clothes fit. No matter how tightly he cinched the waist, his pants threatened to drop with one swing of a wooden sword.
Instantly, the few Pearl Palace servants were all mobilized for sewing.
Seongjin, who had been eagerly anticipating proper aura training at last, was greatly disappointed. Sitting glumly through breakfast in loose pajamas, Masin comforted him in a bright voice.
"Still, things will accelerate from here. You've definitely begun sensing aura, Your Highness."
He seemed to have an inkling of the changes in Seongjin's body.
"You can tell I've changed too, Sir Masin?"
"Of course. The aura flow around you is far more active than yesterday. Surely the same is happening inside your body."
Ugh, I want to rush to the training grounds right now.
"By the way, this is hard to comprehend rationally."
Seongjin grumbled, rolling up his sleeves that kept slipping over his hands.
"How can a person's body shrink like this in one day? Is this really explainable by aura alone? Not every aura user goes through this, right?"
Among the resident Pearl Palace knights he passed, some were quite plump. And they were skilled aura users too.
Masin smiled.
"Aura promotes a healthy body and heals physical damage. Aura users typically undergo positive bodily changes."
"Really?"
"Yes. Advanced aura users don't even get colds, let alone cavities."
Whoa. Aura omnipotence confirmed.
"Of course, these changes usually happen gradually over time, and I've never seen someone change this noticeably in a single day like you, Your Highness..."
So saying, Masin scratched his head with an awkward smile.
"Well, His Holiness must have handled it somehow perfectly."
"......"
Looks like the common sense breaker was him after all.
"His Holiness used aura to teach Prince Mores something."
"His Holiness did something with aura, and the delinquent prince lost weight and got healthy."
Rumors had spread through the palace like that.
The servants gathered for alterations had startled at first sight of Seongjin, then whispered among themselves and nodded. To Seongjin, it seemed utterly bizarre, but they all shrugged it off as "His Holiness must have done something again."
Amelia, visiting the Pearl Palace that morning, seemed surprised for a moment, then gazed at him with a wistful expression like seeing someone dear.
Even Empress Lisabeth reacted the same. Despite her son being completely transformed.
-Ah, how long has it been since he rose from his sickbed... Such harsh training for this fragile child—I must have a word with him today!
She had said, her already upturned eyes narrowing sharply as she trembled with rage.
'His Holiness is just a cheat code...'
Aren't you all accepting this too casually, even for an isekai world?
The hectic morning passed that way.
Seongjin noticed the anomaly when he received a hastily altered set of clothes.
As he changed, he casually addressed the Demon King.
'Wearing custom clothes all the time is a hassle too. If I lose more weight, it'll need altering again. Right?'
But no reply came.
'...Hey? Demon King?'
Only then did Seongjin realize there was no trace of the Demon King around him at all.