Chapter 76: Prince Maker (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 76: Prince Maker (1)
There is one good thing about the Empire being the center of every incident.
“I slept the whole day away.”
It was the fact that after resolving an incident, I could dump all the cleanup on someone else.
Of course, it wasn't exactly "dumping" it.
It wasn't my job to begin with.
Whether it was the Academy or the Rias territory, this was the Empire’s domain. My interference could technically be seen as meddling in their internal affairs.
So, simply resolving the incident was more than enough contribution on my part.
In fact, even if I had pretended not to know about the incident at all, the Empire wouldn't have had any grounds to complain. No matter how you looked at it, I was just a foreign student studying abroad at the Academy.
If anything, I was a victim just by being caught up in the mess.
That was why.
“How did things turn out?”
“How do you think? I feel like I’m going to drop dead.”
As soon as I opened my eyes, I had every right to seek out Uncle Aeryun and enjoy the sight of him working himself to the bone.
“You look better than you did back at the Academy, though.”
He looked exhausted, but his face seemed better than usual. When I asked why, he confessed:
“It’s not my department, is it?”
He admitted he’d been slacking off a bit because it wasn't his jurisdiction.
“And since the incident is what it is, the Church is also conducting its own investigation. There’s almost nothing for me to do.”
He said the most he could do was send a request for support to the Imperial Family. It was a clear indication of just how massive an event the appearance of a Demon was.
“Then they’ll probably take good care of me this time too, right?”
“…Stop bleeding the Empire dry! The Ministry of Finance is lamenting that more money goes to you than to the Empire’s top-tier agents! It’s brought up so often that there’s a rumor some of the new recruits think you are an Imperial agent!”
“Maybe if you guys didn't get breached so often, my name wouldn't come up…”
“My apologies! But the Church is involved in this case too! Send your inquiries for compensation over there!”
“But that’s where my lover belongs. How could I possibly fleece them?”
“You only use that ‘fake lover’ excuse at times like this?!”
To be honest, it was an excuse, but not in the way Uncle Aeryun thought.
How should I put it?
Truthfully, if anyone was going to provide a reward, the Church would likely give more than the Empire.
“Let’s just say I feel like getting involved with them will be a headache.”
“…I think I know what you mean.”
The Pope himself, the supreme leader of the religion, had already come by to spectate once. I had a strong feeling that if I went sniffing around there for a reward, something annoying would happen.
In comparison, our dear Empire was a wonderful place that provided clean, hassle-free rewards, making sure to tip foreign agents generously.
“Urgh! The wound I received from the Demon yesterday…!”
“You’re the one who one-sidedly beat the crap out of him! Where is this wound?!”
“Who knows? There might have been a battle before that.”
“Is that so? Then a patient should definitely be handled by the Church! If it’s a wound from a Demon, we don't know what kind of complications might arise. It’s better to leave it to the experts, right?”
“Ah, maybe not.”
If I got dragged to the Church for a reason like that, nothing good would come of it. The Daisy of the past was one thing, but the Daisy of today was fully intent on getting back at me.
Honestly, since a lot of it—actually, most of it—was my own doing, I didn't want to give her the chance.
“I think I’ve been healed by a good night’s sleep.”
“Sleep is the best, isn't it? I want to sleep too.”
“Why don't you dump everything on Taylor and go to bed?”
“I’d love to. But someone is coming down from the Imperial Family. I have to prepare the handover documents.”
If Uncle Aeryun was saying this much, the person coming down must be someone of quite high status.
“Who’s coming?”
“His Highness Erild.”
“Oh.”
Unfortunately, it was a name I knew.
No, to be more precise, it was a name I couldn't not know.
After all…
“Isn't he the man closest to becoming the Crown Prince?”
He was the name of the person closest to becoming the next Emperor of the Empire.
“That’s right. He is the 1st Prince, after all.”
“…I should probably go to class.”
“I’m sorry, but you can't escape the witness investigation.”
“Damn it.”
I had planned to just watch the fire from a distance.
It seemed that plan was dead in the water.
Officially, he was the man closest to the Sun of the Empire.
According to Boradori, he was the final boss of the political arc in the original work.
In other words, the appearance of Erild—the man who was Prince Esid’s greatest enemy—was very familiar.
It made sense; he looked exactly like what Esid would look like if he aged just a little bit.
However, comparing that useless husk of a RoFan male lead to the man closest to the Sun was a grave mistake.
“Are you Adam Smith of the Leon Kingdom?”
“I am.”
“Thank you. I have heard much of your exploits even back at the Imperial Palace.”
As I took the hand he offered for a light handshake, his expression didn't feel thankful at all. Well, in a class-based society, there was no way a man closest to the throne would be sincerely grateful to a foreign agent.
“There is nothing more meaningless than offering thanks through mere formalities.”
…As if to shatter my foolish prejudice, the prospective Sun of the Empire took something from an aide and handed it to me.
“This is a small token of my gratitude. This is from me personally, not the Empire, so there will be additional compensation from the Empire later.”
“It is an honor!”
As the old saying goes, the older brother really is better than the younger. That useless RoFan husk treated me like an enemy who stole Daisy even though I helped him both openly and secretly.
But the Little Sun of the Empire immediately bestowed a gift upon me for being helpful.
And that wasn't all.
The weight I felt at my fingertips was very light.
If it were a reward for an ordinary person, I would have been disappointed immediately. But this was a reward bestowed by the 1st Prince of the Empire in his own name.
This meant it wasn't just a simple reward, but something incredibly precious.
My heart was already pounding, wondering what was inside that pouch.
Is this truly what it means to be the Empire?
If Prince Erild suggested I defect to the Empire right now, I might actually have to think about it.
“Then.”
Afterward, Prince Erild listened to the report of that day’s events with a dignified and serious voice.
“I see. You’ve done well.”
He asked a few more questions and then sent me off, thanking me once more.
At this rate, maybe Prince Erild isn't gay.
“……”
With my heart fluttering even more under Uncle Aeryun’s silent gaze, I pulled the item out of the pouch as soon as I reached my room.
“It’s a necklace.”
The design wasn't too flashy, so it wouldn't look strange for a man to wear it. But the fact that he gave me such a gift…
“…It’s definitely an artifact.”
“You know what it is?”
“…It’s an artifact called ‘Daily Blessing.’ You got this from Prince Erild, right?”
I immediately summoned Boradori, the mage and original work expert. Seeing as the Little Sun’s name came up the moment she saw the item, it seemed to be something that appeared in the original story.
“It must be something good?”
“The item itself is amazing. It basically regulates the wearer’s temperature. It keeps you cool in the summer and warm in the winter, helping with daily life. In moments of crisis, it deploys protective magic to shield you. It also has the ability to detect poison…”
As expected of a gift from the Sun of the Empire. Not only did it provide convenience in daily life, but it also blocked status ailments like poison. On top of that, it even gave an extra life in a crisis!
“Why? Was it originally supposed to go to someone else?”
However, seeing Boradori’s expression look grim despite her explanation, I asked if it was an item someone else used importantly in the original work.
“Uh, well. Originally, it’s an item Asran receives…”
She said it was originally meant for Asran.
“Will he die without this?”
Don't tell me this is the development where Asran survives because of this item. If so, I’d have to reconsider.
“No, it’s not like that…”
Even as she said it wasn't like that, she kept glancing at me, making me scowl deeply.
“Then what is it?”
There are two ways to make a person angry. One is to stop talking mid-sentence, and the other is…
“That item… Prince Erild gave it to Asran because he took a liking to him…”
“That just means he took a liking to me too.”
“…And that’s the problem?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… Prince Erild likes men more than women…”
“Son of a bitch.”
It was an immediate BL Drift.
Prince Erild.
Indeed, he wasn't the final boss of the male lead candidates for nothing.
“No, why is the man closest to being the Crown Prince a sodomite? As far as I know, he even has a wife.”
“It was a political marriage…”
“That’s even more of a problem! What’s the reason for a political marriage? It’s all for the sake of heirs!”
“…He still does his ‘duty’ at night, though. He’ll have children later.”
Fuck, this is a development I truly couldn't have predicted.
“He’s damn good at his official duties, though. But how should I put it… does his wife know her husband is gay?”
“Yeah… she knew when she married him.”
“She married him knowing that?”
“Prince Erild’s wife likes women too…”
“What a dream couple!”
Is the Empire really okay like this?
The Academy gets breached, the city built in the Demonic Realm gets breached. And the couple closest to being the next Emperor and Empress are both homosexual.
“…And you just watched this?”
“Well, it’s a RoFan novel…”
RoFan. What kind of genre is this, seriously?
“I mean, the development where Prince Erild targets the male lead candidates and the Princess targets Daisy was actually kind of… delicious…”
Damn that ‘Like a Flower Blooming in Barren Land’ author. Just how incredible is their writing?
Should I blame the suckers who gobbled up this absolute mess of a plot because it was ‘delicious’? Or should I admire the author’s writing skills for keeping the readers from dropping the story despite such a chaotic plot?
“……”
When I looked at Boradori with a gaze full of loathing, she stopped praising the original work, avoided my eyes, and muttered:
“Ahem. So, it feels like Prince Erild’s target has changed.”
At Boradori’s words, Uncle Aeryun’s final expression flashed through my mind. At that moment, I thought it meant, ‘This punk is fleecing us again.’
But in reality, was he expressing his pity while watching my chastity fall into crisis?!
“How did Asran resolve it?”
“Just naturally? In the Academy arc, Esid starts racking up achievements and gets closer to the throne, so Prince Erild starts getting pushed back.”
Since it was just a political struggle for succession and Prince Erild wasn't a villain or a traitor colluding with dark mages, she said that in the original work, he naturally lost the political battle, his screen time decreased, and he eventually exited the story as his opportunities to appear dwindled.
The problem was.
“Esid hasn't done anything.”
“Um… right?”
Unlike Asran and Prince Ellen, who Violet confirmed had grown more than in the original work, Prince Esid was actually in a regressed state compared to the original.
“That’s why I told you to help me when I said I was going to push Esid.”
“Guaaaah!”
Because most of the reasons for that were my own choices, I couldn't even use Violet, the root of all evil, this time.