Chapter 80
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: The Time to Move Again
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“Even knowing this, it’s still hard for me to step forward.”
He rubbed his face with his palm.
The imperial family was unnecessarily putting a spotlight on him.
Because of that, every single one of his actions was scrutinized by reporters and ended up in tomorrow’s headlines.
It made him utterly unsuited for moving in secret.
‘On top of that...’
The devil worshippers weren’t due to appear just yet.
The academy’s collapse.
He knew that the devil worshippers and heretical cults would start intertwining with the heretic mages around the time of their emergence.
Even so, their movements wouldn’t surface for a little while longer.
Even if things were entering the final countdown, they weren’t at the point of sending letters to him right now.
But if they had started moving...
“It’s because Bielle made her move.”
If heretic mages were a group seeking purity, devil worshippers were a cult that revered the Great Devil.
More precisely, they were the ones trying to awaken the being sealed beneath the imperial palace.
He briefly replayed the cutscene of Elin’s first encounter with Elise.
—Very well, my new contractor. My name is Elise. I am the long-time ruler of the lands you call the Imperial Capital, the lord who lent the territory to the peasant Donapart according to Radon’s arrangement.
Knowing that conversation was why he’d had the guts to demand the Tears of the Clear Lake from Elise.
‘Will you once again yield your territory to a peasant and hole up while hiding your body? Was that why Radon granted his arrangement?’
‘That was pretty bold of me.’
Of course, thanks to that, Elin had held out in the tunnel, so he had no regrets.
Had he not used Radon’s arrangement, Elin might have exhausted her strength and collapsed long ago.
‘Even so, beating Prezel after she became a demon was unexpected.’
Should he have dealt with her sooner...?
He shook his head, reminding himself that everything had its proper timing, and let go of his worries.
At the same time, he shifted topics to mull over the original story’s progress.
Now that he’d confirmed this distortion, it was time to double-check.
‘So far, all I’ve used is Radon’s arrangement.’
If Radon’s arrangement was a scenario for providence, then the peasant Donapart was the pact Elise had made with the imperial bloodline to guard the seal from the devil worshippers.
That alone seemed harmless enough, but the real problem was...
‘The current imperial family has completely forgotten about it.’
A thousand years had passed.
Dozens of generations had come and gone, and ancient texts no longer discussed the pact’s validity.
It was utterly forgotten.
The obsessive devil worshippers wouldn’t miss the imperial family neglecting their duty.
“I need to go see Elise.”
He grumbled about having no time to rest and let out a sigh.
“I thought the protagonists were finally going independent and leaving...”
But now he was saddled with something new.
“Huh? Professor?”
Isel, who’d been cleaning the hallway, spotted him emerging from the room and widened her eyes.
“Ask Liseff, the next head maid, to prepare a carriage. Bring my coat too.”
“Ah, are you heading out?”
“Yeah.”
“Got it! I’ll let her know!”
He watched Isel trot off briskly, then turned.
Charlotte was staring at him with a sullen expression.
“What? Back to work already?”
“...Work is work, but it’s not about helping with your stuff.”
“Something in that letter you got earlier, huh?”
“......”
“I get it, it’s confidential. Even the part about receiving some secret mission is confidential. Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”
Charlotte teased him before grumbling.
“Leaving all your own work to me and then taking on something else.”
“There’s something I’d like you to do related to that.”
“Hm? Making me do more? Where’s your conscience?”
“Please.”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes.
It was as if she were saying there was no way to slyly refuse now.
“...Fine, let’s hear it.”
“Dig into the Third Princess Lilian.”
“Her Highness the Princess? You mean Her Highness Lilian?”
He nodded.
“She’s enrolling because of the academy incident.”
“That’s right.”
Ri Sete Academy had half-collapsed.
With talks of closure swirling, the imperial family couldn’t just sit idle.
To reassure the citizens, someone needed to publicly guarantee that the imperial family hadn’t abandoned the academy through clear action.
That someone was Third Princess Lilian. She was the knight in shining armor.
The sentiment that surely, with Lilian there, they wouldn’t neglect a place tied to imperial blood.
Her sudden enrollment was a ploy actively exploiting that psychology.
But what he suspected was something else.
‘This is just the cover story anyone would expect. No, it’s what the imperial family is promoting precisely because they want people to know.’
He furrowed his brows, lost in thought.
The letter had clearly begged for help.
‘Someone begging for rescue is doing public-facing activities like this?’
Something felt off.
No matter how many knights escorted her for protection, it couldn’t match the ironclad security of the palace.
And even within the palace, it wouldn’t compare to her own Lily Palace, with its trusted aides and maids.
‘Public activities make you a target.’
Yet this princess was volunteering to come to the academy.
Thinking the emperor would whip her for it didn’t fit; he doted on Lilian immensely.
The emperor hadn’t named her Lilian—evoking lilies, purity, innocence—for nothing.
A father who was utterly indulgent with his Lilian princess.
He’d even personally named her Lilian, vowing never to marry her off...
He stopped thinking about it.
He wasn’t curious about the emperor’s eccentricities.
‘If Lilian had refused, the emperor wouldn’t have pushed her.’
That meant it was Lilian’s own decision...
She’d chosen public activities that could be dangerous in the endgame, despite being targeted.
In other words...
‘The inside of Lily Palace is more dangerous than the outside.’
A pretext to escape her palace while pretending it was official business, without revealing she suspected her closest aides.
That was the academy trip.
Having thought that far, he scowled sharply.
“Tch, they’ve already infiltrated inside.”
The devil worshippers were hiding in the imperial palace.
That’s why they’d sent the letter disguised as an imperial decree.
Judging by it being sent in Lily Palace’s name, it probably meant someone would notice otherwise.
That made things more complicated.
‘In the original story, this wasn’t such a hassle.’
In the original...
He quickly dropped the thought.
He couldn’t recall because in the original, Lilian failed to fend off the threat and died.
The nagging feeling made him click his tongue.
‘For now, I need to meet her to figure out why the devil worshippers moved early.’
“Charlotte, while looking into Third Princess Lilian, do what you can to delay or downplay my commendation ceremony. It’s making movement inconvenient.”
“W-what!?”
Ignoring Charlotte’s exclamation, he draped on the coat handed to him by the maid.
“The imperial family’s splurging national funds on a grand commendation, and you want to downsize it? Are you sane?”
They’d hold a proper memorial separately, and the commendation as its own event.
“You’re not taking the praise at face value, are you? With war clouds gathering, caution isn’t a bad thing.”
His current fame was excessive.
It was directly hindering his actions.
His name dominated headlines daily, and everywhere he went, people praised his feats.
As if someone were artificially propping him up.
And meanwhile, Lilian was being targeted by devil worshippers.
“...Isn’t that a bit of a leap?”
“But doesn’t something feel off?”
“...Even so.”
“Check on Lilian, and ask her as a bonus.”
He ignored Charlotte scratching her head furiously behind him and stepped out into the street.
He pulled his bowler hat low, but few men emerged from the Pisvolt Ducal residence.
Especially one with striking blond hair—only him.
The reporters who’d been glaring at the guards in silence spotted him and stood one by one.
“Next head of the Pisvolts, Aiden Pisvolt, a word on the academy incident, please.”
“A demon appeared inside the academy—any leads?”
“Did you find the devil? The devil’s presence?”
“The imperial family announced they’ll expedite your knighthood—your thoughts?”
‘A bowler hat won’t cut it.’
That was his current reputation.
Half fear, half admiration.
The capital’s residents had all witnessed the academy events.
They’d been terrified, struck by intense shock that seared into their minds.
The press was pouring out lines about how it was resolved smoothly through everyone’s cooperation, with minimal damage.
But there had been plenty of professor and student casualties.
Everyone knew it was meant to quell public anxiety.
Above all, Bielle’s open red moon and hell gate.
A titan hundreds of meters tall couldn’t be hidden, so the capital’s citizens were trembling far more than they let on.
If those things struck the capital again, what then? With even the supposedly impregnable capital breached, the scramble for safe zones.
That anxiety, all those fears coalescing, had skyrocketed his popularity.
The capital’s magic defenses might be unreliable.
But his presence made the capital’s defenses more perfect than anywhere else.
Even if a red moon rose and horrifying monsters emerged, faith that he’d fell them in one strike.
It wasn’t wrong, but they were starting to idolize him.
‘That’s why the imperial family’s fanning the flames.’
Awarding him a knighthood now would bolster their position.
Fame was fine, but he had no desire to play along with their obvious scheme.
“Quiet down.”
He signaled the guards appropriately, and they shouted the reporters down.
The clamor only grew as they surrounded the carriage, voices rising.
It vanished completely once the carriage started moving.
Probably because Charlotte had threatened to dock the guards’ pay if there was any more commotion.
“To the Drake family annex. I have things to think about, so take the quietest route possible.”
The coachman shrewdly understood and urged the horses on.
“I’ll take the back alleys for utmost silence.”
“Good.”
That’s why quick wits saved words.
He propped his elbow on the armrest, clenched a loose fist, and rested his chin on it.
A week since the tunnel incident—the time he’d spent laying low to avoid prying eyes.
“It’s time to move again.”
A week had piled up plenty of matters.
His commendation, his inflated popularity, the knighthood, the devil worshippers, Lilian princess.
And...
“Peasant Donapart.”
The academy scenario was over, leading into the next.
With the protagonists finding their places, new movements were beckoning him too.
Somehow, he had a feeling this one would be packed with annoyances, just like always.