Awakening
Awakening
"Thank you, Your Highness. If you had not trusted our opinion, we truly would have had no way forward."
Yustaf was sincerely grateful. He had honestly thought their opinion would likely be dismissed for lack of evidence.
But thanks to the Crown Prince of the Empire risking his own position to support them, they had fortunately been able to secure the imperial family's cooperation.
"Your Majesty, the claims of Sir Yustaf and Sir Harun may seem hard to believe at first glance. However, considering the reputations they have built, they are not men who would say such things lightly."
The Crown Prince had suddenly spoken up in their support just as the Emperor was deliberating.
'This is not a matter for you to step into. This could concern the safety of the Empire, so we must be cautious.'
'If that decision is delayed, it could threaten the safety of the Empire!'
At the Crown Prince's resolute words, the Emperor wore an unfamiliar expression.
Bewilderment, admiration, concern.
Even seeing the Emperor's face filled with a mix of emotions, the Crown Prince did not back down and pressed his argument once more.
'I will personally investigate alongside these men. Please grant me permission.'
'Alex, do you understand what those words mean right now?'
Indeed. The Crown Prince's declaration carried so much weight that one might wonder whether he truly understood what he had said.
'Personally'
It was obvious that with the Crown Prince of the Empire stepping forward himself, this matter would naturally gain force and gravity.
But what that meant was that if it ended in failure, that failure would also come back as a heavy burden on the Crown Prince.
In other words, success could become an achievement to the Crown Prince's credit, but failure would become his responsibility.
Considering the Crown Prince's recent highly unstable standing, if things went wrong, he could even be deposed.
'How can you be so rash? You do not even understand the meaning of your own words!'
The Emperor had every right to be angry.
It was too flippant a statement for the heir to the Empire. There was a reason the imperial family always put others at the front when planning anything.
The imperial family could fail like anyone else, so the usual practice was to put someone forward who could serve as a shield if things went wrong.
Of course, if a matter was certain, it was good for the Emperor and the imperial family to step to the front. It could build the imperial family's prestige.
But this matter, no matter how one looked at it, had weak evidence and seemed more likely to fail.
So it was no wonder the Emperor was enraged that the Crown Prince had staked his position on such a matter.
'If I were to ignore this matter because it is not certain, and it truly brought harm to the Empire, I believe that would be the truly shameful thing.'
And at the Crown Prince's following answer, not only the Emperor but the courtiers could not hide their bewilderment.
Yustaf felt the same. The Crown Prince he had known deserved the epithet of a wastrel who couldn't control his own temper.
That such a man would suddenly make such a statement was hard to believe.
"Sir Yustaf, I know the man who made that manga volume you brought as evidence."
"You know the second son of Count Somerset?"
The Crown Prince nodded at Yustaf's words.
"There is likely no one who can understand that man as deeply as I do."
It was a surprising fact. That Rupert had a connection to the Crown Prince of the Empire.
And judging by the Crown Prince's words, they seemed to be on quite intimate terms.
"Others may not know this, but I know that he puts autobiographical content into his books."
This was something even Yustaf had not known, so it was intriguing.
"This work was the same. So tell me what you have discovered, Yustaf."
"Your Highness, I do not know what prompted it, but I believe he was the first to notice the black magicians' scheme."
It was still only speculation, but Yustaf's instincts told him it was true.
"I suspect he wrote a warning into a book that many people would see, hoping someone would notice."
"But why not report it directly? If it involved dark wizards, it would have been better to inform the imperial family and receive help."
Yustaf recalled the state Rupert had been in when he had met him in person.
A pallid complexion, dark circles under his eyes, and even a gaunt body weak enough to drop a cup.
To anyone, he had the look of someone unwell.
"This is only my conjecture, but I suspect he may have been under a curse."
"A curse? You don't mean the kind those black magicians or witches cast?!"
"That is correct. Those wicked creatures tainted by evil delight in threatening people with curses and coercing them by taking their families hostage."
Indeed. Yustaf concluded that the Somerset Count's House was under a curse from dark wizards and therefore unable to warn anyone outside of the danger.
So had they not hidden a message discreetly within the book to request help from those who noticed?
"Taking family hostage? Then..."
At Yustaf's words, the Crown Prince's expression suddenly darkened.
"What is the matter, Your Highness? Is there some problem?"
"Could this entire work itself be for the sake of saving his younger sister...?"
An incomprehensible reaction from the Crown Prince.
But the Crown Prince's expression was utterly serious.
"I must visit the Somerset Count's House at once, free them from this threat, and hear the truth!"
"Please calm yourself, Your Highness! If we rashly approach Somerset now, there is a risk the black magicians will notice and flee after harming the hostages."
Indeed. The reason Yustaf had quietly withdrawn even though he had been suspicious when he met Rupert was that a hasty response could actually cause problems.
"Then what should be done?"
"First, thanks to Your Highness stepping forward, we have secured the help of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and the Guard, so we must begin the investigation."
The Imperial Intelligence Bureau was truly a formidable organization. There were even rumors that they knew the breakfast menus of noble houses in the remote countryside.
They needed to ask the Imperial Intelligence Bureau whether any suspicious rumors had surfaced recently and, together with the Guard, investigate areas around the capital, Chaldea, where people had gone missing.
"Of course, since it is the imperial capital, the likelihood of targeting Chaldea is high, but is it not too early to conclude that?"
"I do not yet know the method, but the location is certainly Chaldea. At minimum, tens of thousands of human lives are needed as sacrifices; anywhere else, the search area would be far too broad."
"In short, the only place with a population exceeding hundreds of thousands gathered in a relatively small area is Chaldea."
Watching the Crown Prince accept his words, Yustaf thought that perhaps he might have the qualities of an emperor after all.
The brilliant Imperial Princess or the Third Prince would probably have suggested starting the investigation from the capital, Chaldea, even without him saying so.
But because they were such people, they would not have accepted the investigation so readily either.
Those who are clever by nature do not move easily without evidence.
But no one could call the Crown Prince clever, even as flattery.
That was why he had often been indecisively swayed by others' opinions. Yet for some reason, this time he seemed not to be swayed, but to be genuinely taking the advice itself on board.
The Empire could not be run by one person alone. What mattered was being able to trust and support the officials beneath you and accept other people's counsel.
The Crown Prince he was now seeing seemed to possess that quality in full.
***
"Th-this is... what a disaster..."
He could not continue speaking.
No, this was not reality. Yes, it was a dream. It had to be a dream.
"There turned out to be quite a lot of useful things among human goods."
Kroon said as he examined the items in front of the new workshop being built on an open part of the estate.
"Quite a lot?"
"Yes! Dwarves are so far removed from magic that I had no idea such amazing and convenient things existed."
Kroon excitedly pointed out the furnace, explaining that it was a magic furnace powered by Magic Stones.
"The temperature can be adjusted freely, and there's no need for separate bellows work. I really like this."
"Do you happen to know the price of that furnace?"
"Huh? How would I know that?"
He needed to know that, the damned shopaholic.
Kroon's voice gradually grew quieter, as if he had only now sensed something was wrong.
"You said I could buy the tools I needed under the Somerset name...."
I had let my guard down without realizing it. Since we had been earning quite a lot of money lately, telling him to buy whatever he wanted without thinking had been a mistake.
There was a magic furnace costing over 100 gold, plus all sorts of tools whose insane prices I couldn't begin to understand, no matter what they were made of.
On top of that, the ores and wood used as materials.
When a receipt arrived for an enormous sum—enough to bring the family to its knees—
I had almost strangled Kroon without realizing it.
Ha... I needed to calm down. What was done was done.
If I looked on the bright side, it was an investment in the goods and techniques Kroon would produce in the future.
Kroon had shown that level of skill even in a shabby environment, and although I had paid a high price, I had given him a satisfactory environment.
I had every reason to expect good results.
'Still, maybe I don't have to pay his wages for about a year?'
Now this is positive thinking.
Because of this insane money-devouring dwarf, it seemed I would have to speed up my work.
The response to volume 2 of <Iron-Blooded Alchemist> was truly explosive, so if I released volume 3 as quickly as possible, I could ride this wave of success.
I recalled the merchant company head's excited reaction, saying that putting out the Imperial-Certified Alchemist Pocket Watch as merchandise had been a huge hit.
Because even people who normally bought only one copy bought several to get more raffle tickets, the books sold as fast as they could be produced even with the magic printing press running 24 hours a day.
It was so extreme that some people even began buying the raffle tickets separately.
Moreover, the content of this volume 3 was filled with scenes so dopamine-packed that even I, its creator, was looking forward to people's reactions.