Chapter 47: The Whole World is Unfairly Attacking Me (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 47: The Whole World is Unfairly Attacking Me (2)
As if things weren't hard enough, now even the Pope is trying to screw me over.
Of course, she probably doesn't mean any harm.
I’ve never even heard the Pope’s voice, let alone seen her face.
It’s just that, to her, Daisy is the savior who rescued her from the Holy Kingdom and the comrade who will lead the nation alongside her from now on.
She was likely just excited to hear about her friend’s love life and wanted to help.
Besides, isn't the Pope only in her early teens?
By the standards of my previous life, she’d be an elementary schooler. It wasn't surprising that she’d have such romantic fantasies.
“So, you want me to tell her it’s fake?”
“You’re in contact with her.”
“Well, I mean, I am, but…”
All we had to do was let her know this relationship was a sham, and everything would be resolved.
I gave the order to Boradori—the woman who had a direct line to the Pope and wouldn't be out of place if she were named a Cardinal of the Holy Kingdom at any moment.
However, this purple-clad idiot was refusing the order.
“T-That’s a bit difficult! Telling a ten-year-old that a romance is fake! Wouldn't that be shattering her dreams and fantasies?”
“What’s your real reason?”
“I’m scared that if I contact her, she’ll actually stamp my Cardinal appointment papers! Please, have mercy!”
He had mentioned being on the verge of becoming a Cardinal last time; it seemed he had managed to flee before the deal was sealed.
Thus, the clutches of the Holy Kingdom could reach out for Boradori at any moment.
Honestly, considering the snowballs Violet has started, I could just say "not my problem," but unlike Violet, Boradori was an excellent agent I needed to use for a long, long time.
“You can solve this without contacting her directly, right?”
“I can do it!”
As his superior, it was best to be generous and take a step back here.
“Do a good job.”
“Yes, sir!”
Managing subordinates was all part of a boss's duties, after all.
—Right. I heard the news that you and the Saintess became a couple.
“There’s a reason for that.”
—Sacrificing yourself for the Kingdom by taking the Prince’s place. You truly are the best instructor.
“I said there’s a reason!”
This man, who couldn't hide his "this is hilarious" grin, was supposedly the King’s personal guard, famous for his solemnity back in the Kingdom.
Is the Leon Kingdom doomed?
—Right. At the start of the semester, you were the one shouting ‘Emergency!’ every five seconds. There must be a reason you stayed quiet this time until I contacted you first.
I sighed as I watched the Captain speak with a devious smirk.
And then.
“There was an Imperial conspiracy.”
—…Did a Dark Mage invade already?
“Not a Dark Mage, but I heard the Revolutionary Army and those ‘revival movement’ bastards who came with Silence at the start of the first semester are coming back.”
—You seem well-informed this time. Well, the Empire isn't full of idiots. If they were breached once, they won't let it happen again.
Actually, they’re about to be breached again.
I couldn't bring myself to say that, so I simply corrected the Captain’s misunderstanding.
“And this is a case of the Empire being conspired against. It’s not an Imperial conspiracy.”
—This is suddenly getting very interesting.
Seeing me brush off the news of a terrorist group heading for the Academy, the Captain seemed to realize the situation was serious.
The wide grin vanished from his face, and he began to listen to me intently.
“The Empire has started attaching all sorts of rumors to the fact that the Saintess and I are dating.”
—The Empire? …Hmm. I see. Has the Empire also started to worry about the Saintess and the Prince getting together? But why? The Saintess is an Imperial noble. There’s no reason for them to stop it… Ah. I see. If she connects with him, and Prince Esid starts getting ambitious, a bloodbath will break out in the upcoming succession struggle…
He was busy writing his own scenario of a bloody Imperial succession war full of court intrigue.
“It was a request from the Holy Kingdom.”
Reality, however, always exceeded the imagination.
—The Holy Kingdom? The Holy Kingdom is spreading false rumors about you and the Saintess in the Empire? Why? Has the Cardinal faction not been cleared out yet?
“No. Apparently, it was the Pope’s request.”
—The Pope? That ten-year-old is already trying to purge the Saintess and bring the Holy Kingdom completely under her thumb?!
Watching the Captain gape in shock, I narrowed my eyes and asked.
“Captain. When His Majesty ascended to the throne, was there some kind of bloodbath?”
—No? He was the eldest son, and his abilities far surpassed the other royals. The others just lived freely from a young age, assuming Dike would be King anyway.
True, the Leon royals are gifted swords from childhood and undergo knight-level training.
But that didn't mean every King of Leon was a Sword Master.
In fact, Kings who were Sword Masters were rare.
It was only natural.
A King’s ability to run a nation was more important than his personal combat power. Being exceptionally talented was fine, but the ability to utilize talented people was even better.
Personal martial prowess wasn't a requirement.
In many fantasy novels, you see Kings leading the charge at the front of their armies, but in reality, that was madness.
Of course, the scene of King Théoden’s cavalry charge in The Lord of the Rings is still legendary to this day.
But the King died doing that…
This wasn't an era of war, and even if it were, there was no reason for the King of a nation like Leon to stand at the vanguard.
Therefore, a Sword Master becoming King meant they were either a genius in every single field, or…
“For a moment, I suspected His Majesty had taken the throne through sheer force.”
It meant they had beaten everyone else into submission and usurped the crown.
—…Isn't that a bit much?
The Captain looked at me with an incredulous expression.
Since it was just between the two of us, it was fine, but that was the kind of remark that could get someone executed if said to the wrong person.
“Well, looking at His Majesty’s track record so far…”
—Hmm…
But at my follow-up, even the Captain fell silent.
Even in the Captain’s eyes, the current King’s behavior was… to put it nicely, youthful, and to put it bluntly, childish.
“And based on what you just said, Captain, I couldn't help but wonder if such things happened in our country too.”
The Captain replied with a rare look of grievance.
—No, honestly, think about it. For what reason would the Pope of the Holy Kingdom conspire with the Empire to slander you and the Saintess? Isn't my logic reasonable?
What a paranoid man.
“Do you know how old the Pope is?”
—She’s an orphan, so no one knows her exact age, but she’s estimated to be between ten and twelve. So, officially, it was set at eleven, the middle ground.
I didn't really need that much detail.
An orphan girl Pope, estimated to be eleven, who had been pressured and abused by Cardinals.
No wonder Boradori was weak against her.
If you had a heart, you couldn't help but feel for her with a backstory like that.
“To think you’d turn a child like that into someone who purges a Saintess through conspiracy…”
I looked at the Captain with the same gaze I usually reserved for Violet.
It was the look one gives to trash that can't even be recycled.
—Then what’s the reason?!
Stung by my gaze, the Captain flustered and shouted.
At least he seemed to have a conscience left.
“She said that if the Saintess gets married at the Academy, she wants to officiate the wedding herself.”
—What?
“If the Saintess gets married at the Academy, she wants to be the one to officiate.”
The Captain frowned and shook his head for a long time.
After staring at the ceiling and groaning for a while, he let out a deep, earth-shattering sigh and asked with a look of utter incomprehension.
—Why?
“Didn't you say she was an orphan who received only abuse instead of warmth?”
—Yeah. So wouldn't she usually turn out twisted?
Normally, there’s a high probability of that.
But this world was a RoFan.
To put it in Violet’s terms, a child who suffered in their youth becoming bright through salvation is a "delicious" trope.
“Contrary to your thoughts, Captain, the world is a warmer place than you think.”
Just like a RoFan title, a child who grew up suffering in barren land still managed to bloom into a pure and beautiful flower.
“And yet, you, Captain…”
To view such a pure child’s wish through the lens of politics and conspiracy.
As my gaze grew even colder, the Captain finally raised the white flag.
—I was wrong…
“Be careful from now on.”
This was for the sake of the Pope, who was protecting her pure heart.
It definitely wasn't because I disliked the Captain’s face when he was snickering at me from the start of the meeting.
…Really.
While Violet is a total disaster the more you dig into her, "Codename Boradori" was a truly talented individual.
“It actually worked.”
It had been three days since our Boradori stepped up to solve the problem.
In that short time, the strange rumors circulating the Academy gradually vanished, and talk of the Imperial Founding Festival began to fill the halls.
Of course, the fact that the festival was right around the corner played a part, but if the Empire and the Holy Kingdom had moved, rumors about me and Daisy related to the festival would likely have been circulating instead.
Anyway, thanks to that, the RoFan male leads also turned their attention toward the festival events.
The hostile glares from before didn't disappear… but they decreased by about 20%.
“What should I do?”
Because of this, I finally got a chance to talk to Prince Ellen during mealtime.
“What do you mean, ‘what should you do’?”
Looking at Prince Ellen, who was seriously consulting me about what his role should be in the Imperial Founding Festival, I answered without hesitation.
“You shouldn't do anything.”
“What?”
His look of disbelief made me lose my own disbelief.
This guy is really testing my patience.
You crazy bastard, what is a prince of another kingdom supposed to do at the Empire’s Founding Festival?
“Your Highness. Did you even celebrate the Leon Kingdom’s Founding Day this year?”
“Ours was in the middle of the first semester… I was at the Academy then.”
“Then, on the Kingdom’s Founding Day, did you even think about the Kingdom?”
“……”
Prince Ellen pouted and looked away.
Of course he didn't.
He was probably too busy worrying about how to get even a little bit closer to Daisy than thinking about national holidays.
Well, I didn't do much either.
I was too busy worrying about how to manage these damn RoFan brats and making sure the Academy’s "automatic door" defense system actually did its job.
“But Esid and Asran seem to have pretty big roles. Even Gerard and Hedrick seem busy!”
I’m the only one with nothing to do!
Looking at Prince Ellen, who was letting out a silent scream, I narrowed my eyes and replied.
“Go play with the Magic Spamm— I mean, Arwen.”
“…What happened?!”
At my answer, Prince Ellen’s voice was filled with shock.
“What?”
“I mean, you usually tell me not to get close to the Magic Spammers. You even called Arwen by his name!”
Is that really something to be that surprised about?
…Well, looking at my usual behavior, I guess it is.
If I called the Fire Spammer by her name, she’d probably be just as horrified.
“It’s just people with nothing to do hanging out together. Is that so strange?”
It was common sense that, like Leon, Dale shouldn't be doing anything significant for the Empire’s festival.
Therefore, in this Imperial Founding Festival episode, the two princes were not the main characters.
The center of attention was, surprisingly, Hedrick—someone who had barely been mentioned until now.
If my life were a novel, the readers would probably be asking, "Who was this guy again?"
He was the successor to the Ilias Merchant Guild, one of the three great merchant guilds with massive influence across the continent. His name had only been mentioned around the time Prince Ellen joined the Flower Arrangement Club.
Being who he was, he was busy despite being a student.
That was why he hadn't built much of a connection with the RoFan heroine yet, but he was the "cheetah" who would start sprinting from this festival onward.
“So, don't do anything and just watch.”
“I know I have no choice, but wait a minute. Why are you talking like you’re staying out of it, Adam? Don't tell me you have a date with Daisy?!”
“I have plans with… Uncle Aeryun… I mean, Senior… uh… my friend.”
For a moment, I struggled with whether to call him "Uncle" or "Senior."
But his official setting was… surprisingly, a first-year. In other words, a friend.
When I answered like that.
“Ah, with that hyung… friend?”
Since Aeryun had a fairly famous face in the Academy, even Prince Ellen had no choice but to nod in acceptance after a brief moment of cognitive dissonance.
Thank you, Uncle Aeryun.
You’ve been helpful for the first time this season!
Well, technically, what I’d be doing with Uncle Aeryun was working like a dog during the festival where the Academy was destined to become an automatic door, so it was a small favor in comparison.
But still, help is help.
Let’s let it slide.
“Mr. Adam, you’ll have to go on a date with me at the Founding Festival!”
I take it back.
These damn Imperial people, no matter how much I think about it, are never helpful to my life.