I Really Don't Care
"What brings you to visit this time?"
"Do I need a reason to visit? Today I've simply come."
Above the Empire of Desertum, the mercy of a great emperor shone down like sunlight.
A woman with blue hair and blue eyes walked through the peaceful city, answering the words of the diplomatic official trailing behind her.
It was so tranquil it was hard to believe a war was raging at all.
It would have been lovely if the countless monstrous beings that roamed this land had been its masters instead.
"You are hardly one to visit without a reason, though..."
"Don't worry. Pharaoh has already been informed of everything."
"Ah, you have been corresponding with His Imperial Majesty?"
"Of course."
She had made her intentions clear before leaving this place a year ago.
'I'll come back when I start missing the food here. When, you ask? Hmm...'
"I believe I said around one year later. Which is precisely now."
"...That doesn't quite count as correspondence, does it."
"Regardless, I promised to come, and I have something important to deliver."
At the word deliver, the official's eyes sharpened.
Desertum was the nation most invested in the balance of power among the countless human kingdoms and races.
And a woman who traveled the whole world over would surely possess information that Desertum needed to know.
"Th-then, please! Allow me to escort you to His Imperial Majesty at once!"
"Don't get so worked up. It's only a prediction at this point—I'm simply cautioning you to be careful."
"How could I not be, with those winged madmen swarming everywhere these days?"
"True."
She would tear the wings off every one of those winged madmen, and destroy their souls so thoroughly that not even resurrection could reclaim them.
Only then could she have her revenge, finish everything, and finally go home...
"......?"
"Is something the matter?"
She turned her head.
An ordinary street where Pharaoh's subjects went about their day.
She had passed through it countless times before, yet today it felt somehow different.
Something was...
"Is today some sort of special occasion, by any chance?"
"Er... no, not at all. Unless you count the day of the great Saintess and savior of humanity, Lily Elbrit's visit—!"
"Stop. Enough of that. Let's go."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"......."
Strange.
I stepped out of the bookstore, folding the book in my hand, having wandered the streets to get a feel for the situation and the era I'd landed in.
The viewers questioned my sudden odd behavior, and I answered with an awkward laugh.
'She really is here.'
Desertum still standing meant the me of the past might exist here too.
It wasn't as though I'd visited Desertum often, but among all the ravenous monsters of that era, it was one of the gentler lands—so I had dropped by about twice a year.
But with only two visits a year, and a country as vast as Desertum, I'd assumed running into her would be difficult, if not impossible.
'Difficult my foot.'
I ran straight into her the moment I arrived.
Current Interference Gauge:99.8%
Worse still, the instant I pulled a single book from the shelf to figure out what era this was, she noticed something amiss and cast her gaze in my direction.
I hadn't interfered with a soul—not with Lily, not with anyone or anything except that one object, the book.
But thanks to that, I at least knew the exact time period.
'Eighteen years since I possessed Lily's body. This is when I delivered word of the "Demonkin" movements to Pharaoh.'
The moment I'd detected the ominous signs of the Demonkin stirring in another continent and gone to warn Pharaoh.
For the record, the me of this era was in a very delicate state.
Not as much as the 'second' incident, but after the 'first' one I had changed considerably, and the Lily of this period sat somewhere in the middle-to-late stages of that transition.
Not yet complete—but in the current circumstances, she was more dangerous than anyone alive.
"I have a fair idea of how this will go. My goal was only to pin down the era, after all."
"Hmm. I doubt any of them exist at this point in time..."
The point at which a Legacy Inheritor obtained a Legacy was a story from thousands of years in the future.
Scorpio, who had been nothing but a mere messenger back then, obviously didn't exist in this era.
The Forgotten Emperor was a possibility, but he couldn't be found right away.
With only three eras available for interference, I'd have to spend this first one gathering information rather than acting.
I could defeat Pharaoh right now and smuggle the Legacy itself out, I supposed—but Pharaoh was strong.
Even my coffin would be a stretch, and even if I could win, Lily was here in the flesh at this moment.
'Taking on this era's Lily and Pharaoh at the same time?'
I'd sooner pick a fight with a mid-tier Heavenly Demon.
"First things first—since Desertum hasn't fallen yet at this point, I need to scout out a place to hide the Legacy."
I'd never heard that Pharaoh had hidden anything away somewhere.
For Pharaoh, losing everything had taken all of five minutes. Having fled in such haste, he'd had no room to plan for the future.
And back then, Pharaoh had far more important things to secure.
"I wonder if Serek will make an appearance today too?"
"Probably? Honestly, aren't those two just perfect for each other? I can't understand for the life of me why she doesn't just take the Empress's seat..."
"Shh! Quiet! What if someone hears you?"
"Oh, come on. Did I say anything wrong? Admit it, His Majesty clearly has feelings for her..."
'Serek.'
Pharaoh's left hand, and the de facto second-in-command of Desertum.
Watching the empire's subjects pass right in front of me, oblivious to my presence, I turned my gaze.
Two suns rose over the imperial palaces—one low, one high, like twin suns in the sky.
I looked upon the low sun, and set off without delay.
I needed to meet Serek.
"...How many times must I say it? I have no interest in such things."
"Ha, Serek. No—Administrative Minister. Are you toying with me right now?"
"I do not toy with anyone."
The Palace of the Low Sun.
Its de facto mistress, the Administrative Minister Serek, whose hands touched nearly every administrative matter that arose within the empire.
She faced the woman before her with her trademark stony expression.
By rights, it was the Empress who should have been sitting in that seat.
"You don't toy with me? Then why are you sitting there like that?"
The Empress—a woman draped in rippling gold from head to toe—glared at Serek with displeasure.
"The Empress herself has come to pay a visit, and a mere Administrative Minister is sitting down? Is an Administrative Minister somehow the equal of His Imperial Majesty?"
"......."
Of course she was not his equal.
She administered every matter of governance in the empire, but next to the summit of the imperial house, the difference was immeasurable.
And yet Pharaoh had granted Serek the seat of the Palace of the Low Sun.
'A seat only the empire's second-in-command may ascend to.'
The reasoning behind the choice was impossible to know in detail, but a position that should have belonged to the Empress or the heir had been given to an Administrative Minister instead.
Serek let out a sigh.
"This is the Palace of the Low Sun. Unless His Imperial Majesty himself arrives, I have no reason to rise."
"Oh my. Is this rebellion?"
"I am merely following His Imperial Majesty's orders. I cannot go against his will."
A brief war of nerves ensued.
The Empress widened her eyes in warning, but Serek did not yield an inch either.
In the end, it was the Empress who backed down.
"Honestly... I simply can't figure you out. However did you win that man over, hmm?"
"...'Winning him over' is going too far. He merely granted me a position that suited practical purposes. My remaining here is what makes the empire stronger."
"You can't even see it yourself, can you? Disgusting."
"......"
"Fine, fine. Let's say everything you've said is true. But then why won't you become his concubine?"
The de facto second-in-command of Desertum.
A woman favored by Pharaoh like her could have claimed not just a concubine's place but the Empress's throne itself.
Yet Serek refused to climb higher, stubbornly holding to her work from below.
"Why do you play with his heart and then refuse to take him for yourself when it comes down to it? I know how he is, but you can't keep this up fore—"
"...You have gone too far!"
Slam! Serek, who had been sitting quietly all this while, shot to her feet and glared at the Empress.
Not the sort of behavior the ever-calm Serek would normally permit herself.
The Empress stared back in startled surprise, but Serek's face was dead serious.
"If you speak of His Majesty so carelessly one more time, I will expel you from this place—Empress or not!"
"...Honestly, I can't tell if you're naive or just so clever it's made you dense."
"That is none of my con—"
"Enough. I have no patience for talking to a brick wall. I'll be going."
With a soft whisper of movement, the doors of the topmost floor opened, and the Empress turned away.
"Ah, and one more thing."
"?"
"That human who's been dropping by now and then—I hear she visited today. Shouldn't you be a little more on guard?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"You know as well as I do how much attention he's been lavishing on that human lately. Talks about her constantly, too. At this rate, I can't help but wonder if she'll steal away every last bit of his interest."
Well, a clever girl like you will surely manage somehow.
"Just thought you should know, is all."
"......Safe travels, Your Majesty."
Slam!
The doors closed.
Left alone in the silence of the topmost floor, Serek sank into her seat as though her legs had given out.
She had been far too emotional.
Normally she would not have responded at all—she would have let it pass without a word.
'That wasn't like me.'
"...Am I bewitched by something?"
What on earth had gotten into her...
......
'Lady Lily?'
What was it about that woman that bothered him so?
She wasn't even from the desert, and she didn't follow His Majesty.
She didn't even like him, and she wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.
Their personalities obviously didn't mesh, their relationship didn't seem particularly close either, and though she was undeniably beautiful, apart from the many conversations she'd had with His Majesty lately, she was truly nothing at all to—
...?
"U-uh, ah?"
Suddenly one corner of her vision warped, and someone appeared before her.
Lil...
"Lady Lily?! When did you arriv—"
"I'm not interested. Really, I'm not."
"......Pardon?"
Lady Lily waved both of her hands.
Her face carried not a single trace of emotion.
Ah.
"...I hadn't actually said anything yet."