The Empire’s Eight Seats (2)
I can sort of see what they’re after.
The Empire’s Eight Seats?
What the Holy Empire intends by creating a post like that.
The Holy Empire doesn’t hand titles to players. My being appointed as an honorary bishop of the Holy See was unusual enough to send ripples through the empire. Put simply, with the exception of me, it was no exaggeration to say that players had nothing to do with imperial office.
The treatment reserved for guild masters of major guilds, and for the strong in general, was substantial enough that you could call it quasi-marquis status, but the line had been drawn: stay out of imperial politics.
I could understand the empire’s position, too.
Players involving themselves too deeply in imperial affairs would not be welcome to the emperor’s faction.
At this point...
Maybe they’d changed their minds because of the players who were willing to throw away their own lives to defend Castle Rock. But I still doubted it.
As a public explanation, it would work, but it was a poor bargain if all they got out of it was stopping one monster wave.
Were they watching the Republic?
Not a bad guess. The Republic and the Holy Empire had always had a strange rivalry. When the Holy Empire put up a taller building, the Republic built something taller. When the Republic announced new research into magic or dungeons, the empire would soon follow with a public announcement of a similar study.
They were always posturing like this on the international stage. If I thought of Xiao Lin, who wore the title of one of the Republic’s Five Tiger Generals, it was likely the Holy Empire had felt compelled to make a move of its own.
I hadn’t heard yet whether there had been any official announcement about the Republic’s generals, but they’d surely planted a few spies there, so they would at least have known such a trend existed.
The Republic has five, so ours will have eight. Beyond that, there had to be the usual tug-of-war between the emperor’s faction and the Holy See, all the little struggles over power and influence, and political factors I didn’t even know about. Just from what I could think of immediately, it was even possible that the emperor’s faction had created this to check me as a player and honorary bishop. If there might be two members from Blue included, then...
They didn’t include imperial citizens in the Empire’s Eight Seats, then.
Whether my guesses were right or not, I would only know after talking to Kim Hyunsung. I had a few misunderstandings with him to clear up, so meeting him now felt awkward, but since everyone was gathered together, it wouldn’t matter much.
“Hehehehe....”
“What?”
“I’m just happy we get to be together again after so long.”
“I see.”
Jung Hayan smiled brightly, whether she understood my complicated thoughts or not.
It’s not Jung Hayan, then.
That was the most likely answer. In fact, it was hard to find anyone in our party who fit the Eight Seats. We were still regarded as a rookie party in growth, and Jung Hayan, Kim Yeri, Sun Heeyoung, and Cho Hyejin all had strength, but not enough to be called top-tier powerhouses.
It’s probably our regressor.
If I had to pick one person, it would have to be Kim Hyunsung. Of course, he hadn’t shown much yet, but if I thought about him covering for Cha Heera’s absence alone during the monster wave, it was at least understandable.
I’d been too busy running around everywhere to properly see Kim Hyunsung’s exploits, but unlike me, who only spread good anecdotes, Kim Hyunsung had imprinted on the empire’s citizens and the free people alike just how overwhelming his strength was.
Should I be relieved that Sister Heera didn’t take part?
If Cha Heera had been there, his achievements might have been overshadowed by hers, but this way Kim Hyunsung had firmly stood at the center of Castle Rock’s wall defense.
Whether she realized what I was thinking or not, Jung Hayan kept smiling brightly, glued to my side and walking with her body leaning against me. It was a little annoying, but walking with her after so long wasn’t bad. The usual Jung Hayan was rather cute.
Before long, I opened the dining hall door and my party members began to come into view. The first thing I noticed was Hwang Jeongyeon, sitting pressed right up against Park Deokgu as they talked. Beside her sat Sun Heeyoung and Cho Hyejin, quietly drinking tea.
They do look kind of alike.
And then Kim Hyunsung came into view, looking after little Kim Yeri. The first one to notice us, as expected, was Kim Hyunsung. He raised a hand quietly, and his expression seemed fine. Contrary to my expectation that he would immediately start asking me one thing after another the moment the battle was over, he seemed to be watching us slowly, waiting for the right moment.
That does sound like him...
But since it worked against me for that uneasy feeling to remain in Kim Hyunsung’s heart, I figured I should look for a chance to get the two of us alone. Naturally, Park Deokgu noticed Kim Hyunsung raising his hand and turned around. His voice rang out at once.
“Oh, hyungnim!”
“Yeah.”
“Krrr... a man chosen by the Dragon really is different. Why is it so hard to see your face these days?”
“Don’t make such a fuss. It’s nothing that grand.”
“No, it really is. You’re a believer who lives each day with gratitude to God, so something like this...”
“It’s really not that impressive, Sun Heeyoung.”
The way she praised my character made Cho Hyejin look at me with a strange expression, which for some reason was annoying. But soon she averted her eyes, so it seemed she didn’t want to be associated with it too much. It was Hwang Jeongyeon who spoke to us, standing there awkwardly.
“You two are glued together as always today, too. How romantic.”
“A-ah... th-thank you.”
“Sit here. Hayan, Kiyoung.”
“Yes, Jeongyeon.”
It had been a while since I’d seen the party members, but it wasn’t awkward at all. Kim Yeri gave a slight nod, and knowing that was her greeting, I nodded back at the little one as well. We took our seats and looked around, and the party members overall seemed to have grown quite a bit.
Well, of course.
I still hadn’t chosen a class, but I was at least on the verge of a class change. Kim Yeri, Kim Hyunsung, and Jung Hayan had already completed theirs. I thought I should take a closer look when I had time. Contrary to my assumption that everyone would have advanced, Sun Heeyoung, Hwang Jeongyeon, and Cho Hyejin seemed only to have increased their attributes, without obtaining new classes yet.
They were already high-growth types...
The problem was Park Deokgu.
He’s still falling short. This guy...
I didn’t know whether he was postponing his class change the way I was, or whether he simply hadn’t obtained one, but he was still holding onto a rare-grade class. His endurance and stamina had gone up, but not by much. Compared with ordinary people, his stats were good enough, sure, but in a Kim Hyunsung party packed with monsters that defied common sense, Park Deokgu was still an ordinary man.
I think I’m going to have to use shock therapy on him at some point...
Park Deokgu was trying. I knew that better than anyone. Still, when I looked at how he made no real progress, it felt as if some wall had blocked him off completely. I wanted to solve his problem right away, but there was something more urgent than him, so I had no choice but to turn my gaze toward Kim Hyunsung.
It was only natural that everyone’s attention settled on him. They were waiting for the guild’s leader to speak first. As if answering their expectations, Kim Hyunsung’s voice rang out. It really was the kind of voice that drew people in.
“It feels like it’s been a while since we were all gathered like this. We seem busier dealing with the aftermath than we are when there’s actual fighting. Hahaha...”
“......”
He seemed to have thrown it out as a joke, but the atmosphere was not one for laughter. Kim Hyunsung really wasn’t suited to this sort of thing. Perhaps sensing that himself, he cleared his throat once more and continued.
“Ahem. In any case, I’m glad everyone is safe. And... thank you very much for trusting me and following along.”
“What else was there to do? It was the guild master’s order, and...”
“No. Hyejin, that’s not what I mean. For all of you, this was probably your first large-scale battle. Especially for you, Hayan, and you, Deokgu... and Yeri and Kiyoung as well. It’s only been a year since you joined, yet standing silently on the front line is difficult. No one understands that better than I do.”
“Ah... so that’s it. Come to think of it, the four of you were in your first large-scale battle.”
“Yes.”
Right.
In ordinary common sense, that made sense. The normal reaction would probably be to tremble and wonder whether running away would be better. Park Deokgu scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
He was scared, huh.
I’d been trusting the regressor and Sister Heera with all my heart, so I had been scared too. Park Deokgu must have been terrified as well. Kim Yeri still showed no expression, so I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but Jung Hayan looked as if she didn’t even understand what Kim Hyunsung was talking about. I could say with certainty that she wasn’t scared.
“No. Basically, we were able to stand on the wall because we believed you wouldn’t just leave us to fend for ourselves, Hyunsung. In fact, you saved our lives several times.”
“Hyungnim Kiyoung is right. Honestly, if it weren’t for our big brother, I’d probably have died a few times already. If you ask whether I was scared, I can’t say no, but... well, I think it was a good experience in its own way... and the one who should be thanked is us.”
“Yes. Right, oppa is right.”
“Yeah. Kiyoung ajusshi is right.”
As the party members shook their heads, Kim Hyunsung looked moved in his own way. He really was overflowing with emotion. Watching him bow his head and offer his thanks again, I could once more tell that the man truly did have a decent heart. The way he awkwardly coughed in embarrassment was a sight to behold. I had thought our regressor couldn’t possibly be this cute, but what he’d just shown was a little amusing.
“In any case, thank you. Everyone. Ah! And the reason I asked everyone else to come today is to talk about the Empire’s Eight Seats that the empire is planning to announce. I’m not sure whether Kiyoung has heard about it, but...”
“I heard from Hayan before coming here. It came as such a surprise...”
“Yes. Even I found it a little sudden. I had thought something like this might happen, but the timing felt a bit early...”
“Hyungnim, have you heard anything about it?”
“No. It seems Kiyoung also did not receive any advance notice. The fact that I didn’t hear about it isn’t unusual, but the fact that Kiyoung didn’t hear about it beforehand...”
It made more sense to think this had been organized by the emperor’s faction, not the pope’s faction. Of course, I couldn’t say there had been no movement from the pope’s faction at all, but in any case, the one driving this was the emperor’s faction.
“First, I should explain the Empire’s Eight Seats. To put it simply, it seems to be a system in which the empire selects eight people it considers the strongest and grants them titles and authority. I’ll need to look into the details a bit more, but it’s practically no different from handing out noble ranks.”
“Then we have to accept it, don’t we? No, more importantly, are you saying there are two people in our guild whom the empire considers among the strongest?”
“Strength alone won’t be the only criterion. There are probably all sorts of political reasons tangled up in it.”
“Well, I can’t deny that Hyungnim is strong, but...”
Park Deokgu’s words were understandable, to a point. Kim Hyunsung was strong, yes, but claiming he was one of the empire’s strongest eight was still a stretch. Just as I was about to open my mouth to explain, Cho Hyejin spoke in my place. Her voice rang out immediately.
“The empire likely excluded imperial citizens. If they had to include them too, then eight would be too small a number. Sir Victor Hart of the royal castle, and the three templars the Holy See possesses, are said to be slightly stronger than or on par with Cha Heera. If you add just those people together, that makes four...”
“Th-that red commie lady, you mean? I’ve heard of Sir Victor Hart, but what the heck is a templar?”
“It’s the name given to the Holy See’s three strongest knights. They’re a combat force that only moves when the life of a priest at cardinal level or higher is in danger. I’ve heard their individual strength is so great that calling them tactical-level forces would be no exaggeration. Priest Heeyoung should know this well.”
“Yes. What Cho Hyejin said is correct. Priests at cardinal level play a major role in the Holy See. If Lee Kiyoung were to rise to cardinal level as well...”
If that ever happened, it would be a very happy thing indeed. But that was still a long way off, so I didn’t bother answering, and Cho Hyejin continued.
“If you think of it without the imperial citizens, it might line up pretty well. First, Cha Heera of the Red Mercenaries. Then Park Yeonju of Black Swan. Kasugano Yuno of the Yozora Guild. Someone strong in Celia who can replace the late Ito Souta, and... similarly, in the free city of Dawan, where the Taiwanese live, two people from the giant guilds will likely be chosen as well.”
“Ah...”
“Of course, there are many strong players within the empire, but it’s quite possible that those who live in seclusion, or those who haven’t built up a faction, were excluded to some degree. Maybe the opportunity has come to our Blue because some people refused the seat of the Empire’s Eight Seats.”
“Why would they refuse it?”
“With authority and rank come responsibility. Most people who want freedom from those shackles won’t accept it. Just as the timing for announcing the Empire’s Eight Seats coincided with the monster wave in Castle Rock, they would have paid close attention to the stories coming from here. The target is probably...”
She hesitated, as if asking permission to say more.
From here, it would be fine for Kim Hyunsung to take over.
“Yes. The two of us, me and Kiyoung, were offered seats as members of the Eight.”
“Him too, hyung?”
I saw Park Deokgu staring at me.