Martial Arts Tournament (1)
“I’ll handle them one by one. Starting with the martial arts tournament.”
Asella carefully scanned the report I’d brought her.
“When did this knight order...”
Asella trailed off mid-question. Empress Camilla was watching. She must have instinctively realized there was no upside to revealing our hand.
Thud. Asella closed the report and leisurely sipped her black tea.
“You’ve done well following orders. I’ll use these additional 120 knights in the tournament.”
“One hundred and twenty? Where on earth did you pull that many troops from the imperial family?!”
Camilla jumped up in shock, letting out a shrill cry. A hundred and twenty was a full company. Four companies made a regiment, and four regiments guarded the east, west, south, and north walls of the palace grounds. The emperor’s personal knights and those of each palace were separate.
The tournament featured knights from palace factions and a portion of the imperial knights. Sure, the emperor’s movement stirred a great host, but they couldn’t leave the palace undefended. Even the most powerful succession faction probably had no more than 200 knights available. Add the Moonlight Palace’s 20, and we hit 140—enough to stand toe-to-toe with the others.
“Mother.”
Asella declared to Camilla.
“You’ll see me win this tournament without any outside help.”
“You...!”
Camilla couldn’t hold back her rage, snorting in fury. She’d just heard the declaration that she was no longer needed—of course she was pissed.
The two eavesdropping outside the door had caught most of it. They’d tried everything to stir Asella’s anxiety and even seduce the Second Prince, but it had all gone up in smoke.
“Ha! Let’s see how long you can keep mooching off that wastrel! Even for a Gotberg, to get tangled up with such a schemer!”
Camilla hiked up the hem of her dress with both hands and stormed out of the room.
Only after she’d left did Asella exhale a small sigh, her tension easing.
“You schemed all this without even asking permission.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“You think that’s a compliment? Why didn’t you tell me before expanding the knight order on your own?”
Asella glared at me sharply. She clearly wasn’t thrilled about this one.
“I just wanted our faction to get a bit stronger.”
“That’s my job. You’re my personal physician.”
“And your fiancé.”
For some reason, Asella’s lips twitched at the word fiancé.
After a moment’s thought, she spoke.
“These knights will be useful. Bound by contract, they won’t betray us in a single tournament, and knights like these are easy to handle anyway.”
Asella looked up at me.
“What do you want in return?”
“How about approving the contract that follows as payment?”
“Hmm.”
It was the mask patent. Basic masks were fair game, but I’d applied for the patent on my modern design.
“It’s a contract splitting design usage royalties 70-30 in my favor. The 30 could go to the Moonlight Palace’s budget—how’s that?”
“The masks, huh.”
Asella’s reaction was sullen, like something bothered her.
“Young master, you made masks for Rauga too, didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened in a glare. It had been a while since I’d seen that threatening look. I hadn’t done anything that annoying lately—what now?
“You heard?”
“Observing other succession candidates is basic. But...”
Her voice dropped lower.
“Hers looked exactly like mine.”
“Different sizes.”
Masks all look the same. Mine was the original, though.
...What the hell.
No. 077: Incarnation of Jealousy14% → 62%
The status window’s probability was flickering wildly. A bug? What did I do wrong for it to spike like that?
My chest was soon slick with cold sweat. Peeking at Asella, it felt like a Korean winter had swept in despite the warming weather.
“Young master.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you keep making a mask for Rauga a secret from me?”
I’d just reported it now. Was that the offense...?
It could look like aiding another faction without consulting her. Had she taken it as treason? What an extreme mindset this princess had.
I’d relaxed after hearing Rauga say she’d smooth things over with Asella. In the end, it even helped the Moonlight Palace’s funds, so I figured no issue.
“It’s a misunderstanding, Princess.”
“What is? I don’t think I’m the one misunderstanding.”
Arguing with stubborn Asella was pointless. Hopefully this would work.
I pulled an item from my medical bag and offered it to her like a tribute.
“What’s this?”
“Your new mask, Princess.”
“You’re telling me to wear the same as Rauga right now?”
“It’s different. See? The Moonlight Palace crest is embroidered in the bottom right.”
At “embroidered,” Asella flipped it over to check.
“Hmph.”
She snorted, unfolded it, and swapped it on. She had her head maid fetch a mirror and examined her reflection.
“How many of these masks are there?”
“I just finished them today. Only three ready for you first.”
“From now on, make them exclusively for me.”
“As you command.”
No. 077: Incarnation of Jealousy62% → 14%
Whew, back to normal. Masks hide the face, so I’d made samples with the crest for easy faction ID—glad it worked. Dodged the treason rap by a hair.
“Ah, Princess. The left strap’s twisted.”
“Oh. Hold on, I’ll fix it myself.”
Asella thrust out her palm to ward me off. She carefully adjusted the mask, then suddenly whipped her head toward me as if struck by a thought.
“Young master, did you personally teach Rauga how to wear it too?”
Golden mana blazed like fire in her eyes. I sensed I needed to choose my words carefully again.
“Of course not. She was already wearing it fine.”
“What if she didn’t know—you were going to put it on her?”
“Would I ever do that to another princess?”
“...Fine.”
Only then did Asella drop her suspicions, relaxing her guard. She shifted topics, checking the first report and jotting notes.
“With the numbers up, I’ll overhaul our tournament strategy.”
“Yes.”
“Young master, got any strategies that might help?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You handled that goblin shaman subjugation smoothly, right? You’ve commanded knights before?”
The head maid must’ve talked. I hated extra work.
“Imperial knights are more organized, sure, but maybe an outside perspective helps.”
“In the group mock battle, Rauga’s Second Princess faction will scatter ash on Georg’s Second Prince faction and mutual-destruct them.”
“...Tell me more.”
Asella leaned her cheek on her hand, grinning devilishly like she was in a good mood.
“Next, Princess Asella, please prepare to move.”
Following the court mage’s guidance, we stepped onto the teleport gate. Asella, her two guard knights, the head maid, and me—five in total.
The mages drew the ritual and activated the spell. Mana vaporized like steam, floating in the air.
“Commencing casting.”
The basin in the central eastern mountains was two days’ ride away. Most forces had moved ahead; only the imperial core teleported in same-day. Made sense—teleport magic was costly and tricky. Plus, the elderly emperor struggled with long trips.
Did we really need to go this far for a flower-viewing outing? But if it was required, what choice?
If I were invading the empire, I’d target this window when palace defenses thinned.
“Urp.”
The teleport finished, nausea surging back.
“Teacher, shall I carry you?”
Tanya, waiting on-site, supported me with a question. She hid her expressions well, but I knew now—she was teasing, enjoying this.
“I’m fine. You think a mere teleport will keep draining me forever?”
“You do look much better. Must’ve trained hard.”
“Damn right. Two hours of strength training daily.”
Lie. I’d brewed motion sickness meds and dosed preemptively. Stamina was real, though—had to, with debuff drain unpredictable. Cardio as consistently as possible. When possible.
One day running palace hills, I found “madweed”—scopolamine source for the meds. Teleports conquered.
“Welcome to the tournament grounds. I’ll escort from here.”
“Good. Let’s see how well they’ve prepped.”
Outdoors, the personal physician had to stay within 100 meters of their imperial charge. I trailed Asella closely, touring the venue.
“They carved out a whole mountain for this colosseum.”
Not rural, but far from the capital. Building this for the emperor’s annual outing, mobilizing masses at huge cost. Empire scale. Top-tier splurge I’d witnessed.
What was imperial life... really?
“The flowers are gorgeous.”
The entire mountain shimmered pale blue like magic. A petal from the ground matched cherry blossoms in texture and size—but silvery powder on a watery base made it fantastical.
“Silver azure blossoms, they say. Bloom only here due to climate and soil.”
This world had beautiful vistas after all. Never seen pre-regression.
“Eh, the tournament’s what matters.”
Predictably, drifting petals ignored, Asella was already inside the colosseum, inspecting the arena.
Tournaments had varied formats. Mages appeared, but knights dominated—no big role for me. Cheer from Asella’s side?
Eight factions competed. Four other succession groups, emperor’s cousins/nephews for six, plus us.
Third overall? Solid for Asella’s hitherto invisible faction. Memorable impact.
“Young master.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“We’re winning today’s tournament. No question.”
“Winning? The knights’ll try, but third’s plenty—”
No. 012: Empire's Fall35% → 52%
Correction. Goal: victory.