The Return of the Emperor
Dressed in a neatly tailored morning coat, I wore a red rose pinned to my chest—the one Lapis had fastened there for me.
“Congratulations on coming of age.”
「Thank you. Wait for me just one more year.」
“I've waited this long already, haven't I?”
Barring any unforeseen events, it would take no more than a year for me to graduate from the Academy.
And once our engagement continued on to our wedding, marrying Lapis would be no difficult task.
Of course, in that year I would need to prepare myself—and reach a decision about everything concerning Aria as well.
Convincing my father and my mother went without saying.
But the most important judgment of all would be Lapis's.
「I'll be off.」
“Come back safe.”
The main stage of my coming-of-age ceremony would be held at the Imperial Palace regardless, but this time I had to step out into the capital for a while.
The atmosphere was probably already thick with the heat of meat and wine.
My father wanted to package me as the Empire's hero and soothe the people's anxieties—honestly, it made me want to curl up and disappear—but it wasn't something I could refuse.
It was, after all, a duty of the imperial family.
“Off you go.”
When I opened the door and stepped out, Aria was leaning against the frame, seeing me off.
Every time I looked at her, the chest she had bared to me that day—and the undergarments surely hidden beneath the hem of her skirt—rose unbidden in my mind, so I hastily waved a hand and moved along.
Coming out toward the main gate of the palace, the sons and daughters of noble houses coming of age this year stood assembled, dressed to the nines.
It was uncanny how they recognized me and closed in, even with the crowd surging so thickly around us.
Truthfully, most of them were people I had no desire to associate with, but I couldn't very well leave the Neutral Faction nobles to run roughshod over everything, so from now on I would have to build ties with all of them evenly.
The enemy of my enemy is my ally, after all—surely they would dig up every flaw in the Neutral Faction nobles and check their power for me.
When I had first heard that even Neutral Faction nobles were implicated in the Alteir Dukedom affair, I couldn't hide my considerable disappointment.
To be fair, after the punishment was handed down, a separate letter of apology did arrive from Duke Asis...
“At least they're easy to read in this respect.”
When someone like me—who had always rejected them with icy indifference—suddenly received them warmly, most of them wore expressions of relief.
Unless they were fools who had squandered their political seasoning, I trusted they would each grasp on their own what this change in my behavior signified.
“Not everyone will take the hint, though.”
Since I still couldn't use my voice for conversation, I was communicating by writing each response down on paper.
But with so many voices crowding in past the limit of what I could bear, it only left me dizzy.
Fortunately, before long, the sight of me mingling with the others brought the Neutral Faction nobles hurrying over in a fluster, and I turned my back on them to catch my breath.
Even so, they were the central force propping me up at the moment—it would make no sense to freeze them out over a single grievance.
What I hoped for, watching that scene, was simply that they wouldn't overstep—In other words, that they would manage their own affairs with due discretion.
Anyone with eyes could read the meaning in my reaching out to those I had cold-shouldered until now: I was not about to grant favor to the Neutral Faction nobles alone.
“If only the average education level of the people were just a little higher.”
Frankly, checking one noble faction with another noble faction was an insufferably tedious game.
It amounted to me—as the future Emperor—being forced to maintain a perpetual balance among them.
“Once I'm appointed acting lord of the Alteir Dukedom later... maybe I'll establish elementary educational institutions and try it.”
If I cultivated capable commoners into loyal servants of the imperial house and filled government posts with them, imperial authority would strengthen on its own.
The question was whether the nobles would stand by and watch the barriers to professional education crumble.
They were no fools—the moment they grasped the intent hidden beneath it, each of their factions would set aside its rivalries and unite as one to check the throne.
“...Let's just get going.”
Clearing away the tangled thoughts, I followed the slowly opening main gate as the newly-minted adults of the noble houses, myself among them, made our way to the capital.
By the time we entered the central boulevard, the Rose Festival was in full swing, and among the commoners, those who had come of age today could be seen clutching roses, receiving their neighbors' congratulations.
Leading the noble children, I made my way to the platform standing stolidly at the heart of the festival, mounted its steps step by step, and swept my gaze across the surroundings.
Honestly, this was the first time since my birth into the imperial family that I had ever truly stood before a crowd of this size.
A weight settled on my shoulders without warning.
In my past life, I had been nothing more than an ordinary commoner like these people, a man whose mouth was forever full of curses.
Even growing up in this world, my aim had never been to serve the people—only to preserve a future in which I could keep the ones who were mine safe, by removing the Demonic Tree.
Still, in my past life, civilization had advanced far enough that even ordinary citizens understood roughly how the world turned.
Here, information traveled by letter, and newspapers were confined to the capital alone.
What could they possibly know?
Perhaps that was precisely why the faintest sign of the Demonic Tree's revival sent them trembling so deeply with fear.
From their standpoint—living out a today no different from yesterday, waiting for a tomorrow no different from today—
if a calamity they never saw coming swept in and destroyed everything, the despair would be beyond all words.
In that sense, this was my coming-of-age ceremony.
And perhaps it was the moment I truly came to understand the duty bound to the title of imperial family.
“Are you all enjoying the Rose Festival?”
When I opened my mouth and poured the power of language into my words, the rowdy festival noise fell silent as the people looked up at me.
That silence was slightly uncomfortable—but what felt most unnatural of all was having to speak down to so many people.
My father had cautioned me, however, that I should avoid honorifics with most others—especially before the commoners.
This whole affair was, first and foremost, a performance to settle their anxieties, he said, and it was better to project majesty properly.
“I hope that this Rose Festival, held in honor of my coming of age, may do even a little to lay your unease to rest.”
As I spoke, I met the eyes of the people looking up at me—and one after another, they flinched and hurriedly bowed their heads.
“Why do you bow your heads instead of meeting my eyes?”
“......”
“Do not bow out of the fear and dread that my station commands. That is not the sentiment you should hold toward me, the one who will be your Emperor. I bear the duty to lead you, and you bear the duty to watch me—do we not? The moment you bow your heads should come only when, at the very end, you witness me never abandoning that duty, and awe moves you to show it. That is enough.”
“......”
“I, and those who stand behind me, become adults today—out of boyhood. We do not yet know what our duty is. We have not yet performed it. The only ones bearing it at this moment are my father, and their parents. So do not bow your heads—rather, look upon us proudly.”
“......”
“Are we still half-grown children, afraid to flee from beneath the sheltering shade of our parents' glory? Or do we take our first steps and strive to properly carry out the duty we have been given? To come of age is to become answerable for one's own actions—and it is you, the people, who will serve as the milestones for we who are still unripe.”
Perhaps it was a touch childish.
Or perhaps a little overwrought.
But the seasoning seemed to land at exactly the right measure.
Even as I spoke, I could feel the atmosphere rising, carrying me along with it.
“And so the first steps of my walk toward the Emperor's throne will begin by protecting you from the revival of the Demonic Tree. Some of you may think me a green boy spouting pretty words... but I will put on no pretense.”
Pausing to catch my breath, I continued.
“I have no talent for pretending I can do what I cannot!”
“......”
“Because it is within my power, I say only that I can do it.”
“......”
“Twenty-seven years, four months, and six days after the passing of the first Emperor.”
When humanity stood at the edge of ruin, he was its only hope.
When the Empire rose again, he was its great sovereign.
“Hear me, my people!”
In the most brilliant age of them all—
the one who led that era before any other—
your Emperor has returned.
WAAAAAAH───!
After a beat of silence, the people's roar erupted across the square.
Had my father planted a few agitators in the crowd to start things off?
Or were they truly responding to the speech?
I gave a light wave of my hand, turned, and descended from the platform.
Total additional Awe Points earned: +1,510
“What?”
An unexpected harvest.
It meant that at least 151 people had just begun to hold genuine reverence for me because of that speech.
One might call it meager—but when it came to people who had embraced me with sincere conviction rather than merely riding the mood of the crowd, I didn't consider the number small at all.
“Invest all of it into raising Excalibur's transmutation rate.”
Current transmutation progress:
Excalibur (2830 / 7000)
Status: UNUSABLE
“Still a fair road left to travel, it seems.”
With that thought, I resumed the footsteps I had briefly paused.