The Expedition
"Yaaawn..."
Another energetic morning.
I sat up abruptly, stared blankly ahead, and then lay right back down.
Now that I thought about it, I didn't really have anything to do.
Today marked three days since the first day of the Grand Council.
As the name "first day" implied, the Grand Council naturally dragged on for at least a day or two as a baseline.
Apparently, it could last up to a week at most.
No wonder the nobles had backed down so easily on the first day; they were just planning for the days ahead.
...Or was it just because of me?
Anyway, what had I been doing in the meantime?
I ate, slept, and slacked off.
Surprisingly, I hadn't taken a single dump.
It turned out a superhuman's body contained zero impurities.
And so, I had evolved into a jobless bum who didn't poop.
Hooray.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
A familiar, welcome face entered. It was Cien.
She was in charge of my meals again today.
Her attitude still reminded me of a self-service kiosk, but at least we were acquainted now.
There was a simple reason why Cien, out of all the countless maids in the Imperial Palace, was assigned to my side.
First, to prevent any potential relapse of my Heart Demon.
Cien was Luniere's fifth disciple, but she was also her most talented one.
Which meant she was also an exceptional healer.
Wasn't she a mage, you ask?
I wondered the same thing.
When I asked, I was told that outstanding mages often doubled as healers. I guess that was just how things worked here.
Not that it mattered much, since my Heart Demon wasn't an actual illness anyway.
There was another reason as well.
If they assigned an ordinary maid, there was a risk that sensitive information might leak.
It wasn't that they distrusted the palace maids, but security was security.
I could tell they wanted to keep the number of people who knew about my condition to an absolute minimum.
And so, Cien was the one suffering.
She was already starting to break into a cold sweat today.
I checked my Qi Sensing once again, but since there was no tension in the air, it was dialed down to a gentle hum.
What was her deal?
Was she just overly sensitive because she was an elf?
I couldn't exactly turn it off, so I just apologized to her in my head.
I still hadn't figured out how to deactivate it completely.
Breakfast today was soup again.
It seemed there was a set menu for me.
The moment I finished my meal, Cien spoke up.
"His Imperial Majesty has left a message for you."
"What is it?"
"He stated that your house arrest will be lifted within two days."
So I could assume the Grand Council would wrap up in about two days.
...Honestly, I wouldn't mind staying confined a bit longer.
Being locked up in this room was actually quite comfortable.
And what's more...
"He also commanded me to relay that your departure to the south will be permitted after your confinement ends."
Right, that was exactly why I preferred staying in this room.
I nodded, thinking about the price Luniere had demanded.
In truth, it wasn't anything major.
It was just a request to accompany her on a sort of... field trip? A journey.
I had a lot to be grateful to Luniere for.
She had taught me all sorts of things.
Ah, I wasn't talking about the lessons the Emperor had ordered her to give me.
I meant the political dynamic between the Emperor and the nobility that she had explained to me the other day.
Most of the tutoring Luniere had provided so far was undoubtedly done on the Emperor's orders.
But the reasons behind the rift and conflict between the nobles and the Emperor were different.
Because she had explained it to me without taking sides.
And in immense detail, at that.
There was no way the Emperor would have ordered her to do that.
From his perspective, the less I knew about those matters, the better it was for him.
It was Luniere's own independent decision.
Since she was only asking for a simple day trip in return, it felt wrong to refuse.
Besides, it was a chance to legally leave the palace.
I doubted a peaceful sightseeing trip was Luniere's true objective, but that was the pretext for now.
I could worry about the rest once we got there.
Until then, I needed to get as used to controlling my Qi Sensing as possible.
I had plenty of worries.
"I shall take my leave now."
"Good work."
The next person to enter was Moritz.
At first, I thought he had come for our scheduled Qi Sensing training.
He was a bit earlier than usual, but it was close enough to be a minor discrepancy.
However, seeing Moritz's stiff expression, I sensed that something was wrong.
Moritz, offering only a brief, informal greeting, immediately delivered the Emperor's command.
"His Majesty has commanded you to proceed to the Golden Hall immediately."
"...Let's go."
"Yes, my lord."
I hurriedly put on my uniform, my mind racing to figure out what was happening.
What could it be?
What issue could possibly prompt the Emperor to summon me in such a rush? Did some problem crop up just now?
Something that house arrest couldn't resolve...
No, that couldn't be it.
If that were the case, they would have taken action much sooner.
Not now, three days later.
If a problem had arisen, Luniere would have warned me in advance.
In that case...
I walked briskly, trying to read Moritz's expression, but his lips were sealed tight as he hurried along.
He definitely wouldn't tell me even if I asked.
Fine, I'll just have to hear it directly.
At worst, it'll just be... some disciplinary action.
"We hereby authorize the mobilization of Count Eisenhardt to the northern border. Considering the extreme urgency of the situation..."
Excuse me?
The background of the situation was as follows.
The Golden Hall had finally found some peace after the initial rounds of negotiations and political bickering had concluded.
"Regarding the south, in order to mitigate the damage caused by the Calamity of Erosion..."
"Although the Calamity of the Deep Sea remains dormant, we must not neglect the training of our knights to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances..."
Just as they were discussing mundane proposals that everyone could agree on, the doors of the Golden Hall were flung wide open.
Both the Emperor and the nobles frowned at such an absurd display of disrespect, but their expressions shifted instantly when they realized the intruder was the Chief of the Acoustic Bureau.
There were very few matters that would make a high-ranking official like the Chief of the Acoustic Bureau run in drenched in sweat, and every single one of them was catastrophic.
Some even wished he had simply lost his mind and acted out, but reality was never so kind.
"To the eternally glorious Aurium Empire..."
"Get to the point."
"...An emergency tolling of the bells originating from the northern border wall has been detected. According to our acoustic readings, the bell rang a total of five times. This has already been cross-verified."
Five tolls of the bell. That signified a Class 1 crisis.
And on the northern border, there were only two scenarios that warranted a Class 1 alert.
The appearance of the Calamity of Frost, or a massive southward migration of the barbarians.
If asked which was worse, the former was obviously far more devastating, but the Calamity of Frost had already been subjugated ten years ago, so it was ruled out.
Even so, the alternative was no less dire.
A Class 1 alert meant a massive invasion—hundreds of thousands of barbarians marching south.
This wasn't the usual minor skirmish of a few tribes slipping over the mountain range. This was a true southward invasion, a unified coalition of tribes bearing down on the wall.
No one knew why they were suddenly rioting after keeping quiet for so long since the Calamity's subjugation, but it was an absolute emergency.
A brief silence fell over the hall following the Chief's report.
Soon, a man stepped forward.
It was obvious who it would be.
"Your Imperial Majesty, as the Lord of the Hartenfeld Duchy and the Commander-in-Chief of the North, I petition you."
The Emperor, anticipating the words that would follow, pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Please order the deployment of the Sword Saint, Count Eisenhardt."
He couldn't do that.
Naturally, the Count was currently no different from a newborn baby.
He had barely managed to grasp basic common sense, but that was it.
He was still essentially a blank slate who had just opened his eyes to the world.
Yet, the Emperor had no excuse to refuse.
This situation could not be compared to the incident in the east.
A few pioneer villages outside a fief being wiped out was entirely different from the northern wall collapsing.
This was not a matter that could be used for political tug-of-war.
Furthermore, Eisenhardt had already demonstrated his absolute strength on the first day of the council.
The Emperor had tacitly agreed by remaining silent on the matter.
Bringing up the Heart Demon or any mental instability now would only make him look pathetic.
To make matters worse, there was no alternative force to deploy.
The Imperial Guard Knights were out of the question; they were on a three-shift rotation to protect the palace.
They had to guard the heart of the empire at all times.
The Capital Defense Knights had already been dispatched to the east.
Even if they were ordered to turn back immediately, it would take ages for them to arrive.
The same went for the knights of the west and east.
This was a situation that demanded extreme urgency.
There was no time to mobilize a massive army and march them slowly north.
They needed a swift, powerful individual—a superhuman.
As the Emperor's mind raced, his Golden Mind blazed brightly.
In the name of rationality and reason, Eisenhardt's fate was sealed.
After a brief silence, the Emperor issued the command with a heavy heart.
To summon Count Eisenhardt immediately.
And that was how things had turned out.
This world was an outright fantasy world.
That much was obvious, considering the existence of elves and beastmen.
But what I wanted to talk about right now wasn't the racial aspect, but the technology.
Specifically, Aura cultivation and magic.
Aura cultivation was the study of refining the Aura used by knights.
They were the typical fantasy knights one would imagine.
It was easiest to think of it as a power that turned a human into a walking tank.
Then, what was magic?
This was also relatively simple to explain.
Magic was one of the oldest ancient Mysteries.
In the mythological era of the past, it was called the 'recreation of phenomena.'
It was exactly as it sounded.
The power to recreate a certain phenomenon was called magic.
It was the power to light a fire, call down rain, and regenerate flesh.
The degree of recreation varied depending on one's affinity with the Mystery, their total mana capacity, and their understanding of the phenomenon itself.
While one person might only produce a tiny spark, another could unleash a torrent of flames rivaling a flamethrower.
As you might have guessed by now, it wasn't a convenient, all-powerful system.
At the end of the day, magic was merely a recreation.
It required recreating a phenomenon one had personally witnessed.
Even then, experiencing it multiple times and backing it up with a solid understanding was barely the starting point.
Furthermore, mana was not a convenient enough energy source to be thrown around recklessly.
Since one had to struggle to replenish it after use, efficiency was of the utmost importance.
Because of this, most magic was focused on enchantment.
It was far easier to amplify the inherent power of physical objects.
Consequently, there was no teleportation, let alone long-distance communication technology.
The crucial point here was teleportation.
The Aurium Empire.
The reason it was called a grand empire was simply due to the sheer size of its territory.
Occupying the southern, western, and central parts of the continent, the total area of the Aurium Empire was approximately eight million square kilometers.
It was a massive expanse of land, roughly thirty-six times the size of the Korean Peninsula.
This was also the reason why the first Emperor had insisted on establishing a feudal empire.
It was simply impossible to govern everything from a centralized capital.
Without the blessing of teleportation, the sheer distance made travel daunting, and to make matters worse, every region had its own unique crisis to deal with.
To control all of this from the center, you would need at least five Emperors.
Which brought up a certain question.
How on earth did the nobles attend the Grand Council held every four months?
If horses and carriages were their only means of transportation, it would have been impossible.
If they had to gather every few months, they would spend almost all their time just traveling back and forth.
The answer, of course, lay in magic.
Just because they lacked teleportation didn't mean they had nothing else.
For example...
"Say hello. This is Riert."
"...Hello?"
"Screeech!"
It was a Luftvogel, a mystical beast born of nature and nurtured with utmost care by mages.
It resembled a giant falcon, but it was about ten times larger.
"Any noble worth their salt keeps one of these. They're tricky to raise, and they'll die quickly if you don't maintain them regularly, but they are incredibly fast."
It was essentially a living light aircraft.
The fact that it could barely carry four people at most made the comparison even more fitting.
Its top speed was around four hundred kilometers per hour, roughly similar to a light plane, but it had its limits in stamina. Moreover, breeding and maintaining them was incredibly difficult, and the performance gap between individual creatures was severe.
Even so, it was undeniably fast.
In the case of Riert, who was personally managed by Luniere, it could reach the southern tip of the continent in just six hours.
Considering it had to rest about three times along the way, that was an astonishing speed.
"Go on, get in."
Luniere said as she opened the door to the pod attached to the bird's body.
I stared at the ropes precariously connecting the pod to the bird before finally climbing inside.
Luniere climbed in right after me, and the door slid shut.
At that moment, we took off.
"And off we go!"
"Off we go..."
At my lackluster response, Riert spread its wings wide.