The Princess's Meal (1)
"Come, sit. I hardly know how to thank you, my Gotberg teacher."
Palkenhain greeted me warmly and poured a cup of hot tea. Hmm, lemon. I never cared much for it before. But after eating nothing but sweets lately, my tastes seem to be changing. I used to be quite the gourmand, you know.
"No need. The hair loss medicine was fair payment for your help at the hearing."
"Haha, to think a single word could buy something worth its weight in gold."
"I'm glad you're pleased, but..."
"Hm."
Palkenhain nodded with a knowing, gentle smile, as if he understood exactly what I meant.
"There were hardly any healers at work when I arrived. If it's not too rude, may I ask about the faction's situation?"
Palkenhain gave a wry smile and explained matter-of-factly.
"Just as you predicted, teacher. After His Highness was exiled, many moved to other factions. The second prince's faction's biggest draw was the extra pay. Without His Highness to approve budgets, the base salary alone isn't much incentive."
Say what you will, Georg certainly had a knack for making money. He showed that much financial power even in the duel trial. With all the nobles coming and going at the Earth Palace, he must have always had some business brewing.
"Weren't you tempted to follow, Lord Palkenhain?"
"Exile for royalty is a harsh measure. Only three escort knights are allowed, and personal belongings limited to ten gold coins."
"Three years without a personal physician, living like a wanderer. That's rough."
"His Highness Georg won't die of illness anywhere, but now I've got nothing to do."
Suddenly, my eye caught an envelope peeking out from under a stack of documents on Palkenhain's desk.
"Are you considering retirement, then?"
"Haha. I passed retirement age long ago. I got a taste for running the Imperial Medical Office and kept putting it off until now."
Palkenhain glanced around his office. It was as if he were reminiscing about all the memories packed into it.
"I thought Alberich would be the one to stab me in the back once I lost power and retired."
"My apologies. That wasn't my intention."
Palkenhain's eyes widened at my apology, and he waved his hands frantically.
"No, no, I wasn't blaming you. Seems there's been a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
"The fall of the second prince's faction in the Imperial Medical Office wasn't your doing. Even without His Highness, I had my assistants and disciples. There were enough loyal ones to hold out for three years, even with pay cuts. Someone else poached our core healers."
That meant countless power plays had already unfolded behind the scenes, beyond what I could see, as ripples from my actions spread. Was there another sly fox in the Imperial Medical Office?
"Who?"
"Simon the Inquisitor, personal physician to First Prince Kwunter, the current crown prince."
Simon. I'd seen him at the hearing. He stood out, wearing a pitch-black hood unlike any healer and exuding a menacing aura. The title "Inquisitor" came from his past as a famous heretic hunter before joining the Imperial Medical Office.
"You're saying the first prince's faction attacked the second prince's?"
"Within the Imperial Medical Office, yes. Most of my healers were taken by him, and the few left got tangled in strange incidents and froze up."
"Hard to imagine First Prince Kwunter resorting to such tricks in the Imperial Medical Office."
"Simon's solo act, I suspect. He's long been dissatisfied with the first prince's lukewarm attitude toward expanding factions. He must have seen a golden opportunity to gain ground here."
What the hell were these Imperial Medical Office physicians doing instead of treating patients?
"At this rate, he'll suck us dry to the bone. Better to retire with honor now than be chased out in disgrace. Maybe I should have spent these years with my grandchildren."
Palkenhain spoke bitterly.
"Are you really satisfied with that, Lord Palkenhain?"
"Life is a process of settling for satisfaction and compromise."
He was an eagle with a broken beak now. Skilled and experienced, but robbed of his spirit, left only to be pecked at by the young.
Silence hung in the air after his weary words.
Thud.
Without warning, the office door flew open, shattering the quiet. A healer in a pitch-black hood from the hallway fixed his eyes—only his eyes—on me and Palkenhain. His high-heeled boots clacked darkly on the floor as he approached. Simon the Inquisitor stood before us.
"Have you prepared to follow your lord into exile, Lord Palkenhain?"
Palkenhain bowed his head at the inquisitor's voice, like an earthquake rumbling through an ice cave.
"I've given you plenty of time. If you want the respect due the longest-serving personal physician in the Imperial Medical Office, get your ass out of that chair now."
"Uh, um."
His wrinkled hand, clutching his zucchetto, trembled.
"This office will be used by healers from the First Star Palace for the greater good. For Prince Kwunter."
What? Hold on.
"I can't just let that slide."
I shot to my feet, facing off against Simon. His dull, lifeless eyes turned to me.
"This office is set to be taken over by the Moonlight Palace. I have Sister Ambrosia's permission."
"Gotberg. Know when to butt in and when to back off."
"Thanks for the advice, but this is my place to step in. I need this office right now."
"Why?"
Because I didn't want to climb stairs every day starting tomorrow, obviously.
"To prepare medicine to report to His Imperial Majesty. You wouldn't defy an imperial order with treasonous thoughts, right?"
Clack.
Simon took a step toward me. The scar over his eye loomed threateningly.
"There was no imperial order to relocate the office."
Sharp bastard. Must be from his inquisitor days—his rhetoric was slick.
"Gotberg, this is business between the First Star Palace and Earth Palace. No room for you."
"Really? I'm not convinced."
I grabbed a quill and scribbled on nearby paper: a message requesting wise judgment on the Imperial Medical Office dispute. I tied it to the leg of a messenger pigeon in Palkenhain's room and held it open for Simon to see.
"Ask directly?"
It was a direct line to the emperor. Simon fell silent at my mad stunt. Stirring the emperor over petty Imperial Medical Office faction fights would cost every faction points. Simon and I would both face severe punishment from our lords. Yeah, go ahead and throw your weight around. Self-destruct and be done with it—that was the plan.
"...Even if Palkenhain accepts, it's over. That pigeon changes nothing."
Simon nailed the point. My self-destruct wouldn't help—the emperor might scold Kwunter for the mess, but the office would still be Simon's. But mentioning it meant he was rattled.
I turned to Palkenhain, who had stayed silent, and said,
"Lord Palkenhain, are you really retiring like this?"
"...Hm."
His gaze drifted to the resignation letter.
"What about your hair loss medicine without me?"
"That... I'd have to give up."
"Your retirement would be a huge loss to the Imperial Medical Office. With a healer of your caliber—rivaling saints—gone, patients who could have been saved will suffer longer."
Life returned to Palkenhain's eyes at my words.
"The healers you mentored would drop in skill too."
I put it in terms he'd grasp.
"A young field needs watering to grow, doesn't it?"
Palkenhain's tightly pressed lips curved. He'd recalled his long-forgotten original aspiration.
He must have had his youthful days as a new healer, curing patients. And that experience surely meant more than the Imperial Medical Office's headache-inducing faction wars.
My words were a scouting offer: come to the Moonlight Palace as senior healer. In corporate terms, headhunting for executive director. With the second prince's faction gone, it made sense for me to take it. A heavyweight like Palkenhain could rally the junior healers and build a system overnight. And yeah, it was about his hair too—hair loss meds as leverage.
After a moment's thought, Palkenhain slammed the resignation folder shut and faced Simon confidently.
"No retirement."
"What?"
"I won't hand a single resource owned by the second prince's faction in the Imperial Medical Office to the first prince's. Get out!"
Simon's face twisted into a demon's at Palkenhain's reply. But in an instant, back to blank, he shrieked without warning.
"Demons!!"
"Shit, you scared me."
Why the sudden yell? I dropped what I was holding.
Flutter flutter.
Oh, the messenger pigeon. I confirmed it flying out the window and turned to Simon.
"Hey, that one's on you."
"What? No!!"
Simon rushed to the window, but the pigeon was already arrowing toward the Heavenly Palace.
"Demon! You actually rigged that to send to His Majesty? Are you insane?!"
"Who's calling who a demon? You look way more demonic with that neck twist."
"I won't forgive you! Demons must be purged!!"
Simon stormed off, stomping furiously. I turned to Palkenhain and offered a handshake.
"Looking forward to working with you, Lord Palkenhain."
"I can't hand my office to that lunatic. We'll fight to the end, Teacher Gotberg."
I clasped his hand. And the next day.
"So, you're asking Us to judge which of you two personal physicians is superior?"
I knelt with Simon before the emperor. Simon muttered "demon" repeatedly under his breath, glaring daggers at me.
"A trivial incident in the Imperial Medical Office, Your Majesty. You can disregard it and—"
"Simple enough."
The emperor cut off Ambrosia and commanded us.
"A personal physician guards their lord's health. Using new methods beyond your specialties, make your lords healthier than they are now."
"Your Majesty, by 'new methods'..."
The emperor smiled faintly at Ambrosia's question.
"Simon with healing spells, Gotberg with medicine—develop ways outside those."
"New methods..."
Simon looked troubled. The most straightforward way to make someone healthier was a healing spell, after all.
"One more thing: the winner's method, We shall employ as well."
The emperor said it casually, like enjoying a show. His retainers and physicians buzzed at the bombshell. The emperor had a subtly impulsive streak.
This could be fun.
The escalation had brought opportunity.
"We shall obey Your Majesty's command."
"Obey."
Simon and I replied. Improve Asella's health beyond medicine or drugs, using something new from the Imperial Medical Office so far. An idea hit me right away.
Time to cook.