Only the Empire Screams
The cleanup chaos where only the Empire was left screaming was quickly resolved. After all, the main culprit behind the imperial palace raid—the Flame of Doom—had retreated. The remaining riffraff had been wiped out by the elites participating in the continental conference. Once the situation was wrapped up, there was absolute pandemonium over the cleanup, but that wasn't something I needed to worry about. The imperial bureaucrats screaming as protests flooded in from the delegations that had attended the conference. The treasury department falling into despair as they calculated the costs to restore the palace that had been turned into a complete mess. The imperial knights and mage divisions, who were about to roll around like mad to reinforce the breached palace defense system, shedding tears. The princes buried under mountains of paperwork, dying in place of their emperor who was on the verge of death. From a third party's perspective, it was all just pitiful.
Of course, there were still matters related to the imperial palace that concerned me.
"Absolutely not! It cannot be done!"
"What's the problem?"
"The altar in the imperial palace basement has belonged to the palace since ancient times! No matter how great Lord Argo's contributions have been, we cannot possibly accept this request! Please understand our position!"
"You heard him, right, Big Sis Luna? I'll leave this matter to you and the guild staff."
"Yeah, leave it to us. We have plenty to bill the Empire for after this incident."
"....On second thought, handing over the altar doesn't seem like much of a problem. Especially considering everything Lord Argo has done for the Empire."
There were some minor clashes of opinion. But after negotiating alongside the northern staff, ownership of the altar beneath the imperial palace became mine. To be precise, I claimed ownership of the items that emerged from the altar, but it amounted to the same thing. The remaining altar would be managed by the imperial family except for cases where the North needed to investigate it for research purposes. The look of relief that washed over the imperial diplomat's face was almost comical.
Well, it would be quite the blow to their pride if the basement of their own territory fell into someone else's hands.
Especially when that territory was the imperial palace basement itself. The Empire had thoroughly tarnished its reputation this time. To make up for any further losses, they would scramble to save face over even the smallest matters. In the process, the North had extracted enough to be satisfied—including discussions about the treatment of the Rat, an executive of the Flame of Doom.
"We will pay any price you demand. Please entrust the Rat's custody to the Empire."
"That's something I'll decide after discussing it with Luna and Ruin."
I didn't push too hard on this issue. I'd already taken plenty, and more importantly, it wasn't me but the Lucy siblings who had actually captured the Rat. Right before I teleported, I had been distracted by the apostle's perfect Naryetagon and failed to respond properly. The Lucy siblings were the ones who compensated for my mistake. Without the bracelet made from the World Tree, we wouldn't have caught him at all. I was nothing more than the second-place contributor in the Rat's capture.
Still, since I was a contributor, I sat down with the Lucy siblings to discuss the Rat's custody.
"What should we do?"
"Hmm. If we hand him over to the Empire, he'll definitely escape."
"You think so too?"
The Lucy siblings looked uneasy about entrusting the Rat to the Empire, their expressions full of distrust. Given the results the Empire had shown so far, that was only natural. Whether it was the academy or the imperial palace, who would believe their prison security would be solid after watching black mages waltz through the Empire's supposedly elite security like it was a public park? No matter how advanced the ancient civilization's technology was, the anti-teleportation magic installed in the palace had been broken far too easily.
Recalling how we lost the apostle because of the palace's pathetic security, I grumbled. But there was no point dwelling on the past, so I decided to focus on the future.
"Still, it's fortunate we caught the Rat. If they'd all escaped, the Flame of Doom would have just cut off their tail and gone into hiding again."
"The way you're saying that makes it sound like you have a method to track down the Flame of Doom even when they're hiding carefully."
"Of course I do."
I gave Luna a confident look in response to her question.
"Anyway, if we hand custody over to the Empire, the Rat escaping is practically guaranteed."
The Rat's combat ability was low for a Gold-class adventurer because he specialized in magic, but when you added his presumed Mystery abilities of sensory manipulation and hallucinations, he became quite troublesome to handle. That would raise the difficulty of keeping him imprisoned significantly. Above all, I couldn't imagine the incompetent Empire—whose anti-teleportation magic had already been breached—would be able to restrain him. So I built my plan on the premise that he would escape.
"I plan to apply a scent that only guild informants can detect."
"Is that possible?"
"The North's tracking methods have evolved in a uniquely advanced way after a thousand years of development. If it's a tracking technique secretly passed down among informants, it can be done."
The technical prowess of the guild informants who secretly track monsters active in the North and gather intelligence is unmatched. The guy who uses the entire forest as his sensory organ, the insane bastard who notices reconnaissance from over ten kilometers away, the lunatic who terraforms an entire area to make it comfortable for himself. The capabilities of guild informants who carry out operations without being detected by such bizarre creatures cannot be replicated by anyone.
"Actually, this works out well. Even if we killed the apostle and the rabbit underground, with the leader of the Flame of Doom still alive, they'll multiply like cockroaches."
"So you're turning the mistake of letting them escape into an opportunity."
"From the Flame of Doom's perspective, Gold-class forces are quite valuable."
The Lucy siblings nodded in understanding at my words, and we proceeded with negotiations to entrust the Rat's custody to the Empire. The Empire, whose pride had been shredded to the point of nonexistence, seemed desperate to take the Rat and squeeze information out of him, so the negotiations went smoothly. I clicked my tongue in pity at the miserable sight of the imperial staff desperately trying to secure the Rat.
The Lucy siblings looked at me with surprised expressions.
"That's unexpected. I thought you wouldn't like handing the Rat's custody over to the Empire."
"Even if we have a soft spot for Karen, if we took the Rat to the North, couldn't we find some use for him?"
"You two were the primary contributors to catching the Rat this time. And it's not like they're our mortal enemies or anything."
"Huh? Aren't we hostile?"
At Luna's puzzled question, I offered a gentle smile.
"Why would I hate the suckers—I mean, friends—who fill my pockets nicely every time I come down to the Central region?"
"....Is that how it is?"
"If you think about it, I threw the first punch. When they were busy preparing to flip the Empire among themselves, I recruited Neon as an ally. And it was me who raided their hideout first back when we weren't even acquainted."
Of course, what those guys did was morally reprehensible, so even if I went back in time, I wouldn't change my choices. It might sound like wordplay, but if you looked at my history with the Flame of Doom objectively: at the academy I was simply caught up in events, at the Blue Tower I cleanly severed the bad blood related to Neon, and at the imperial palace it actually became an opportunity to grant the North enormous benefits. Personally they filled my pockets, and from the North's perspective they provided excellent justification for securing interests. Why would I hate such a gift? In the end, if I had caused them massive damage and they unilaterally viewed me as a mortal enemy, that would be one thing. Strictly speaking, the Flame of Doom's target was the Central region. As a Northerner, it was basically a neighbor's problem. I'd gotten rather entangled by chance, but still.
Luna's face lit up with understanding after hearing the explanation.
"You don't actually hate the Flame of Doom as much as I thought?"
"If we're dividing it into two sides, I'm closer to hating them. Above all, I will definitely kill their leader someday."
"Why the leader of the Flame of Doom?"
"He stole prey that I had already marked."
"What a complete bastard."
At my words, the usually good-natured Luna and Ruin both turned unusually serious. As Northerners themselves, they had a strong aversion to the act of stealing prey that someone had claimed first. In the North, such bad manners would have immediately led to a duel to the death. The Lucy siblings ground their teeth.
"This is why you can't leave criminals alive."
"Killing the marquis arbitrarily was completely over the line. At the very least, they should have kept him alive."
"If that damn black mage had been in front of me, I would have killed him."
I felt grateful watching the Lucy siblings get angry on my behalf. Maybe the bond between us remained strong even though we operated in different regions. As I looked at them with that gratitude, I suddenly noticed Neon standing awkwardly behind the siblings. Every time they cursed black mages, he trembled and avoided eye contact. I couldn't help but laugh. When I suddenly burst out laughing, the siblings—who had been looking at me with puzzled eyes—noticed Neon and immediately clung to both his sides with flustered expressions.
"Of course Neon is an exception. You're a certified black mage officially recognized by the Holy Kingdom, after all."
"Even if you combined every black mage in the world, Neon's value would still be far higher."
As I watched them desperately trying to soothe Neon, chuckling, I felt a presence nearby. Adela, who had been out of sight until now, walked over with majestic steps.
"Adela, you're here? I heard you released the ants in the palace this time and put on quite a show."
"Me. Best."
She stood with her hands on her hips and her nose held high. I looked at her with affection. Seeing my expression, she became even more triumphant and puffed out her chest. Owen, who had followed behind her, smiled enigmatically.
"When she released the ants and took control of the palace, His Highness the Grand Duke and Mr. Vergo applauded and praised her. That's why her shoulders are so full of energy now."
"So that's why she was overflowing with confidence. Now it makes sense."
I had wondered why she was so unusually confident. Praise could make even a whale dance, as they said. If Arthur and Vergo were praising her from the side, anyone would feel energized. I stroked the head of the puffed-up Adela.
"News arrived from the scholars underground. They succeeded in extracting the item hidden within the altar."
"Already? From the way those guys work, I thought it would take several days."
"It would have taken three days if done secretly, but we had no reason to proceed in secret."
"True enough."
"Well, even if it had taken three days, it wouldn't have mattered. We'll have to stay a few more days anyway."
I nodded at Owen's words and looked toward the flower garden. Despite the raid, people hadn't scattered and remained in the garden. The conference proceeded as planned. An unprecedented situation had occurred—the imperial palace being attacked while major figures from across the continent were gathered—so the leadership had decided to continue the conference to demonstrate their resilience. Seeing them push forward with the meeting, I shrugged my shoulders.
As expected, politics is endlessly exhausting.
There were so many things to pay attention to just to hold one conference. Still, because of the attack, all the scheduled events had been canceled, along with any impromptu plans like the friendly match, so it would wrap up in just a few days.
As expected, the conference ended in less than three days. Compared to the originally scheduled week, it finished in less than half the time, but the purpose of the conference had been roughly achieved. The staff would remain behind to handle detailed coordination, but the leadership and those of us whose main role was physical work decided to head back up to the North.
The traveling party wasn't limited to just the northern delegation.
"Heading to the North, I'm somehow excited."
"Once we get there, we'll be able to meet strong opponents as easily as breathing, right?"
"Who would have thought we'd spend the academy's summer break in the North."
The academy group accompanied us along with the Lucy siblings. After debating where to spend their summer vacation, they had decided to take this opportunity to head north. The students moving with the delegation had faces full of anticipation. Among them, the Lucy siblings looked the most excited. They seemed happy at the thought of returning to their hometown after so long.
"Luna unnie~ Our names are the same? It's amazing!"
"Isn't the name Luna pretty common?"
"Still, it's the first time I've met someone with exactly the same name in my whole life!"
"I've met a few."
"Really?"
"There was an adventurer and some ordinary people too."
I glanced at the chattering pair of Lunas. I had always wanted to see Luna and Luna meet someday, but I never imagined it would happen here. After listening to their conversation for a moment, I turned my attention to the academy students. I was curious whether these academy graduates—who were the root of all evil—would cause incidents in the North as well. And if they did, what kind of trouble it would be.
As I was lost in these random thoughts, Arthur, who had been watching the students with interest, approached me.
"Are those little ones friends of Ruin and Luna?"
"Yes, they're pretty decent friends."
"Hmm, I see."
There was Isabel, Baron Hornst's granddaughter, Harne the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom, and Elicia the second daughter of the Golden Merchant Guild. I looked at the other familiar faces—Pierre, Ar, and the rest. They were friends I had subjugated black mages with at the academy and met in passing at the Blue Tower, so when I lightly praised them, a playful glint appeared in Arthur's eyes. It was the same expression the Lucy siblings made right before causing trouble.
I watched him with slight concern at the reaction that didn't bode well for the students.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Hm? Nothing much. Just some idle thoughts about how nice it would be if things turned out a certain way."
"Whatever it is, it seems like something you shouldn't do."
"Come on, do you think I wouldn't know that? Of course I'll only cause accidents that I can clean up afterward."
Was this the curse of the academy? Seeing the clear signs of impending trouble, I looked around for someone to stop Arthur. I saw Vergo approaching after overhearing our conversation. I felt relieved for a moment, thinking he was coming to prevent the accident.
"Whatever it is, it looks fun. Count me in too."
"Good."
I made the face of someone who had expected exactly this after hearing Vergo.
".....I give up."
Shaking my head and sighing at the two of them whispering together, I set aside my remaining conscience and joined their planning session.
You're not going to stop me? .....Honestly, it looks fun. How could I possibly hold back?