Life Is Real Combat (2)

"Your Highness, I, Baron Veritati, have completed my business and returned to the royal palace."

"Remi!"

How long had he been waiting for Ellen to come find him after hearing of his arrival? He rushed over and flung the door open. There was not a trace of princely dignity in his actions.

"You don't look well, Your Highness."

Ellen asked worriedly as he took in Romiu's face when the prince opened the door.

"I-It's just..."

Romiu hung his head and couldn't continue.

Somehow he seems even more timid than when I left.

Ellen forced down the frustration rising from deep in his chest.

"Has something bad happened?"

At Ellen's words, Romiu finally let tears fall one after another.

"It's..."

Before Ellen had left for Tonton, Romiu's condition hadn't been this bad. Ellen had visited him nearly every day, working tirelessly to build up his confidence. Thanks to Ellen, Romiu had recovered a great deal of his self-esteem.

So why has he ended up like this?

Where had all that hard-won self-esteem gone? If anything, he seemed worse off than before.

"It's Sernel..."

"Princess Sernel, you mean?"

"Yeah. Lately she's been even harsher with me."

So the one who crushed the self-esteem I worked so hard to build up was that girl?

Ellen recalled the fierce princess he had met a few times in this life. She had always taken a keen interest in the throne. Nobles who didn't trust Romiu supported her instead. It was clearly against royal protocol. But even so, it was because Romiu was nowhere near kingly material.

She must have felt threatened.

Romiu's personality had improved a great deal while he was with Ellen. He had always loved reading books. In terms of knowledge, he was more than qualified to be king. And once he started finding his confidence thanks to Ellen, Sernel must have felt a sense of crisis.

After all the work I put into building that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠self-esteem. What a nuisance.

There was no helping it. He couldn't abandon Romiu and turn his back on the royal family's support for him.

"Don't take it too much to heart, Your Highness. You're doing more than well enough. Just look at this body of yours."

Indeed, Romiu's arms, which had once been like skinny twigs, now had a decent amount of solid muscle on them. Even after Ellen left, Romiu had never neglected the exercises Ellen had assigned him.

"I heard from Lord Honor. You haven't missed a single day of training."

"That's right."

Romiu's expression brightened little by little.

"I'll keep helping you from now on as well."

"Remi, thank you so much. But shouldn't you be going? You came to the palace for your work as a strategist, didn't you?"

Romiu said in a worried voice. He was afraid he was taking up too much of Ellen's time.

"That's right. I only stopped by briefly today to see your face."

"I feel much better thanks to you. Go on ahead."

"Yes. I'll take my leave."

Thud.

Closing the door behind him, Ellen let out a long sigh. The frustration seemed to ease a little.

Maybe if I tied him up and threw him off a cliff, he'd gain some confidence.

He was walking along with that idle thought when—

"How dare you...!"

At the end of the corridor, someone was flying into a rage.

"Just because you serve His Majesty, you think you're something special? How dare the likes of you look down on a mage?"

"I'm sorry."

A man in a mage's robe was scolding a royal servant. It was a scene that made one's brow furrow of its own accord, but it was a common occurrence in the royal palace. Nobles and mages would seize on any little thing that displeased them and drag it out.

Ordinarily, Ellen would have pretended not to see such a sight and walked past. These things happened all the time, and he had no desire to create unnecessary trouble for himself.

But this time, I won't let it slide.

Ellen knew both of their faces. One was Paul, who had guided him when he first came to the palace. After that, he had always exchanged greetings with him whenever he visited.

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing. I made a mistake, so..."

Paul was startled to see Ellen. He also worried that Ellen might get into trouble because of him.

"Baron Veritati? This fellow has done something wrong, so please don't concern yourself."

The mage glanced at Ellen and then turned his head as if it were nothing. It was a clear act of dismissal.

Leonard Coleman.

That was why Ellen couldn't simply let it go. The one berating Paul was none other than his mortal enemy, Leonard. Of course, Leonard didn't recognize Ellen.

"I don't know what happened, but how about leaving it at that? The fellow seems to have gotten the message."

"I'll handle this myself."

Leonard didn't even listen to him.

He's not even a mage registered with the Magic Tower.

From the start, Leonard had never acknowledged Ellen. To him, Ellen was a loser who had failed the Magic Tower's exam.

The duel with Lord Titermir must have been exaggerated too.

Leonard hadn't been able to watch that duel because he was carrying out a Magic Tower mission. So he assumed Ellen had used some cheap trick to beat Titermir.

A guy like this needs a firm hand.

Ellen had expected Leonard to react this way. Given his usual arrogance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and sense of superiority toward the Magic Tower, it was easy enough to predict.

Whoosh.

Following the forms of Phillips Martial Arts, he threw a punch.

"Eek!"

When a fist too fast to follow with the eye suddenly came flying at him, Leonard was terrified.

Bang.

Ellen's fist stopped right in front of his nose. The wind from the punch ruffled Leonard's hair.

"Did you think I was actually going to hit you?"

Ellen said, placing a hand on Leonard's shoulder. Having never been ambushed like this before, Leonard was completely stunned.

"But be careful. Keep it up and you might actually get hit."

Ellen smiled faintly and walked past Leonard. Leonard was still out of it.

"Grrraah!"

Only after Ellen had passed did he manage to express his rage.

Remi Veritati, I won't let you get away with this.

Leonard was a somewhat promising talent at the Magic Tower. Despite being only in his early twenties, he was already a 5th Circle user. His greatest strength was that he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was incredibly good at climbing the ladder. He knew better than anyone who held real power in a group and how to attach himself to them. Thanks to that, his position at the Magic Tower was solid, and he even had a following of his own.

Having been humiliated by Ellen at the royal palace, he sought a way to get revenge. For some reason, even the high-ranking mages who formed the Magic Tower's leadership agreed to help him.

"So this is what they came up with?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Alberto was no longer surprised by their reactions. He was simply worried about the kingdom's future.

"Well, since it's a petition from the Magic Tower, I suppose I should at least read it."

Rustle.

Alberto unrolled a luxurious scroll adorned with ornate decorations and glittering jewels.

He read the petition word for word without missing a single character. The corner of his mouth that had risen of its own accord spoke volumes about his feelings.

"Perhaps the Magic Tower should create a screening process for petitions? That way, useless petitions like this wouldn't make it up here."

Alberto intended to casually ignore this petition. If it had been an official petition from a meeting of the Magic Tower's master and high-ranking mages, that would be one thing, but there was no need to diligently respond to something a few mages had gotten together and submitted.

"I shall take measures accordingly."

Orlando bowed his head as he spoke. He accepted it surprisingly easily.

I suppose a prestigious house does value its honor.

Alberto thought his strategy had worked. Because of that, Alberto didn't notice. On Orlando's bowed face was a sly smile.

And a few days later, Alberto learned what it meant. His office desk was piled high with petitions.

Beyond those, dozens more documents supporting that worthless Magic Tower petition had arrived. They were all from nobles of count rank or lower.

I deliberately touched their honor, and this is how they try to dodge it?

The honor they protected ultimately came from justification. They had created that justification through crude means. Of course, he could ignore their opinions. But for the royal command to reach every corner of Prode, he needed the support of the minor nobles. That was what they were aiming for.

Must I take a step back?

Meanwhile, Ellen was busy searching for technicians for Magic Stone research.

"What about the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people I mentioned?"

"Of the three you named, we've only located Groot so far. Here's the information on him."

Ellen took the paper with the magic engineer's information from Cabin.

"Find the others as soon as possible as well."

"Yes, leave it to me."

Cabin thumped his chest as was his habit. It meant he was confident.

"But there's one problem."

Gavin, standing beside him, spoke carefully.

"What is it? What's going on?"

"Lately the news coming from the royal palace and the Magic Tower has been ominous."

If Cabin was in charge of finding the engineers, Gavin handled intelligence gathering in Harryford.

"Tell me in detail."

"Petitions are being submitted every day saying that Your Lordship should be registered with the Magic Tower and have your actions regulated. When I investigated the origin, it was a petition submitted by Leonard Coleman of the Magic Tower."

Ellen laughed quietly.

Of course. What else would you have learned besides framing people?

He recalled the time at the academy when he had been framed as a practitioner of Black Magic. Leonard had watched that spectacle clearly as well—how someone called the genius of the academy had fallen in an instant.

By now that bastard is probably digging into my past, looking for any weakness he can use to pin me down for good.

He had already been planning to teach him a proper lesson once.

I should leak some information that will make him salivate.

Gavin and Cabin couldn't understand Ellen's expression. Every noble was turning against him and framing him. It was hardly a situation in which he should look so pleased.

"Cabin, I need to contact Groot right away. Once we close a deal with him, we'll start researching weapons that use Magic Stones immediately. Gavin, you're coming with me to the palace."