The Emperor's Birthday Banquet (3)
"There aren't any particularly impressive tributes this year."
Mason Viscount remarked. The emperor's expression as he received them was utterly listless.
The order of presenting tributes began with the delegations of lower rank. Naturally, one would expect the quality to improve as they went on—but that didn't seem to be the case.
"And yet these are from marquis-level feudal lords and above. His Majesty's face doesn't look pleased at all."
Mason was right. Ever since the great war against the demonkin, the empire's power had been steadily declining.
The central authority was losing its grip. And in this crumbling empire, the real power lay not with the emperor, but with Cardinal Grius.
'Why bother skimping on tributes to the emperor when slipping the excess to Grius would yield far greater returns?'
Of course, this didn't apply to Wilhelm Margrave, whose loyalty to the empire was unwavering.
And since his grandson—I—was engaged to Lilia, we'd prepared a gift of immense value: a sculpture carved from ice crystal stone.
"Oh, looks like it's the Aiterne marquis family's turn now."
The Aiterne house, Chloe's family. Chloe herself was attending the birthday banquet, seated with their delegation.
Their delegation's representative stepped forward and presented the tribute to the emperor.
"Hrmm. A fine-looking horse."
The emperor's expression finally softened a bit. The Aiterne marquis house, with its vast merchant conglomerate, had the wealth to lavish money on the emperor or Cardinal Grius whenever it suited their interests.
'Still, that's a more worthwhile tribute than I expected. Chloe must have pulled some strings.'
As someone who knew the future, both the emperor and Cardinal Grius were rotten ropes to cling to—but at least it meant House Aiterne had no intention of turning their backs on the emperor.
Once the marquis house had finished, the high nobles of ducal rank and above sent their delegations forward.
Dukes from the imperial family held largely honorary titles, so their tributes weren't much different from those of the previous feudal lords.
Now, only two delegations remained: House Orhain from the south, and House Reinhardt, the margraves from the north.
By imperial protocol, the grand duke's house—Reinhardt—ranked higher. But Pedro Duke's delegation approached the dais first and presented their tribute below the throne.
"Hrmm. How is this even worse than the Aiterne marquis house's? Pedro Duke lives up to his reputation, it seems."
It was just some ordinary gold jewelry. Gold was precious in Iseland, of course—but something even minor nobles could easily acquire. The emperor grimaced.
I replied to Mason.
"Indeed. It's a sign he has no intention of fawning. Unlike His Highness Wilhelm, that man is brimming with ambition."
Mason looked surprised at my response.
"You know well. But the south is far from our north or the center. Rumors about him aren't something you'd hear unless you paid close attention to imperial politics. To study even that—impressive, my lord."
"As heir to the margrave house and Lilia's fiancé, I simply learned what I needed to in advance. No need for excessive praise."
"Haha. Even so, the young nobles these days—especially those studying in the capital—show no interest in such intricate politics. They'd rather chase debauched parties or skirt-chasing. Your transformation is truly astonishing, Viscount."
It wasn't just study. Through Demon Lord Slayer, I knew in advance the war Pedro Duke would ignite.
So I often pondered from his perspective.
By part two of Demon Lord Slayer, Pedro Duke launches his rebellion.
House Orhain already dominated the south solidly. Considering the empire's control barely reached the central and western kingdom alliances...
An ambitious man like Pedro had no reason left to bow to the emperor. The same went for the real power, Cardinal Grius.
'Master of the Sentiaq Knights, and a Grand Master himself. No need to bend to some corrupt priest.'
And the meaning behind this tribute was profound. The south would no longer offer blind loyalty to the empire.
Thinking of Demon Lord Slayer part two's flow, this very emperor's birthday banquet marked the turning point. Many provincial feudal lords would join Pedro Duke's faction from here.
Having confirmed the duke's intent, any lords under southern influence had no reason to hesitate.
"This bodes ill. The tributes this year are overall lackluster—worse than I thought. Even the central neutral lords might ally with the south..."
Mason was spot on. Everyone gathered here had just witnessed the empire's shaky authority firsthand.
It wasn't good for me either. I briefly recalled Demon Lord Slayer's plot.
Cardinal Grius would later use the failed autumn nest assault to consolidate his power further.
He'd purge the imperial loyalists in the Imperial Guard by pinning the failure on them.
Chaos would erupt in the capital. Seizing that opportunity, rebellion would ignite in the south.
In most endings, the capital fell to Pedro Duke.
Losing the empire—especially the capital as its core—meant no stopping the monster hordes to come. In that light, Chloe siding with me was a relief.
'Good thing I tamed her.'
With Aiterne's wealth combined with Reinhardt's military might, we could defend the capital from the south.
My tribute alone sufficiently demonstrated Essemont's stance. With that much effort, it should stem some defection from neutral lords.
"The future looks worrisome."
Not just Mason—Lilia's expression soured too. Lilia, whom Eirin held in high regard.
She couldn't be ignorant of the dark clouds over House Asterik.
'If that fool emperor dies later, the legitimate claim should pass to Lilia.'
She'd make a far better emperor than that idiot. Meanwhile, House Orhain's delegation withdrew.
"It's our turn now. Are you prepared, Viscount Yulian?"
I nodded. With Mason Viscount and the retainers from the estate, I took the ice crystal stone sculpture and stood before the emperor.
***
Chloe was satisfied.
The emperor's birthday banquet. As a member of the feudal marquis house Aiterne, she'd attended. Not as the delegation's representative, but as a noble lady.
The main feast hadn't begun, but two women had already split the attention of every man present: Princess Lilia—and herself.
She wore an even more lavish dress than usual, a fiery crimson that complemented her silver hair and red eyes.
Her alluring figure held the noblemen's gazes without respite. One of Aiterne's retainers glanced at them and chuckled.
"As expected, Lady Chloe's beauty draws eyes wherever she goes. Haha."
"No surprise. There's no beauty in Iseland to match her."
"Princess Lilia is lovely, but our lady has a different allure entirely."
These were retainers and merchant house members, so they didn't flatter her blindly. Indeed, Chloe's value was highly prized even within Aiterne Consortium.
Chloe brushed off their words with a calm smile. Nothing surprising there—she knew her own beauty well.
Even just sitting at the table, men approached nonstop with drinks or sweets.
'Even with Princess Lilia here, I still draw this much attention. Heh. That's me for you.'
The attention gratified her, but the one man she wanted hadn't come to her.
Regrettably, Viscount Yulian was today's delegation head for Essemont. She'd dolled up twice as much to impress him, but they hadn't exchanged a word yet.
Brushing off the approaching noble youths appropriately, Chloe sat at the table, her mind racing.
'The tributes to the emperor are even worse than expected.'
Any high noble with a brain knew the empire's authority had weakened since the current emperor's ascension.
The recent monster outbreak chaos seemed to have hardened the provincial lords' resolve.
'Even the dimwitted nobles are realizing they don't need to curry favor with the emperor anymore.'
The empire's greatest strength: the capital's Imperial Guard. An elite force rivaling the north's White Night and the south's Sentiaq.
When territories suffered from monsters, they were dispatched to demonstrate imperial might.
But the Guard was now a mess of factional infighting—imperialists versus Grius loyalists.
Even without that, monster sightings near the old capital had surged, leaving no spare forces to project power elsewhere.
'Meaning the empire can't flex its muscles as an empire anymore.'
Resentments had built up openly. For mediocre lords with weak territorial forces, it was inevitable.
And to get priority reinforcements, they'd need to please the real power: Cardinal Grius, over the emperor.
Even in House Aiterne, opinions on this tribute had been divided.
Hardliners wanted to blatantly downgrade the emperor's gift and bribe Grius instead.
Moderates insisted on maintaining ties with the emperor.
But the final decision was neither—it split the difference, offering tributes to both. Chloe's idea.
Lost in those thoughts, the last delegation finally stepped forward: Essemont's.
And at its forefront stood the viscount who'd never taken his eyes off her: Yulian von Reinhardt.
***
All eyes in the banquet hall focused on Viscount Yulian.
'Viscount Yulian... He turned that precious ice crystal stone into a special sculpture.'
She'd wracked her brain with calculations last week just to help with it, so Chloe knew exactly how valuable his tribute was.
'That viscount wouldn't touch ice crystal stone without good reason.'
Chloe rated Viscount Yulian highly. For such a man to put this much effort into a tribute showing loyalty meant the emperor wasn't a total rotten rope—at least to him.
Even if he was... Chloe wanted to side with Viscount Yulian.
She hated to admit it, but she craved his favor. On this formal occasion, he looked even more handsome than usual.
Chloe, who cared little for men's looks, made an exception for him. The sight of Viscount Yulian standing proudly before the emperor as delegation head...
'Nngh... Hold it in here.'
Chloe's core twitched reflexively. One of Aiterne's retainers commented.
"That man's Viscount Yulian, right? I heard he was a total scoundrel at Pantheon last year... but he looks perfectly respectable."
Even his own house's people were puzzled by the change.
Then it happened. Before the emperor, Reinhardt's delegation unveiled their tribute.
"That's... ice crystal stone!"
"Yes. Essemont's famed treasure."
As Chloe answered, the surrounding retainers buzzed.
"Such valuable ice crystal stone—and that large? Wait, it's not just any. That's definitely a sculpture symbolizing His Majesty!"
"Indeed. And exquisitely crafted... But ice crystal stone can't be worked normally, right? Only through alchemy."
Aiterne's people murmured lowly about its authenticity.
"If that's genuine, it's astonishing. We Aiterne folk know alchemy best. Botch the alchemy on ice crystal stone, and it turns worse than roadside gravel."
"True. But if real, it screams Essemont and Reinhardt's unwavering loyalty to His Majesty—unlike the others."
"If that's the north's intent, we should reconsider our stance."
"Good thing. Thanks to Lady Chloe's decision, our tribute wasn't lacking. No rift with Wilhelm Margrave or our consortium."
True to a merchant delegation, profit calculations flew in that brief moment. Chloe listened silently to her house members.
"Lady Chloe was right. With our new ventures centered north, showing alignment with Essemont hurts nothing."
"As expected of Lady Chloe!"
"Anyone worthy of being Aiterne's daughter would think that far."
The true motive was winning Viscount Yulian's favor, but their high praise wasn't unwelcome.
"That viscount stands tall even before His Majesty and Cardinal Grius. Anyone else would shrink in the center."
The retainer was right. Viscount Yulian paid respects to the emperor, every gesture exuding high noble poise.
"To lead the delegation at such a young age—clearly the grand duke's proper heir. Time to revise that 'scoundrel' label substantially."
"His—and Essemont's—evaluation might rise in Marquis's eyes too."
"His Majesty seems thrilled. Wilhelm Margrave must've hired a top alchemist. At that joy, no price would feel wasted."
Chloe glanced at the emperor at the banquet's heart. His face lit up disproportionately to his stature.
'How delighted is he?'
Then—a brief commotion before the emperor. From Cardinal Grius and his retinue beside him, and the noble delegations ahead.
"Wait. What did you say, Viscount Yulian? You personally crafted this ice crystal stone sculpture?"
Cardinal Grius's voice rang out. Every gaze in the banquet hall locked onto them.