Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: The Survey I Couldn't Show the Empress
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I didn't conduct the survey...
There was no way I could show that item to the Empress.
'No matter how much she knows about our shop, I can't include that question.'
The phrase I always presented to customers.
-Are you a virgin? (Yes / No)
How could I hand this to the Empress?
She was still unmarried.
Considering the Empire's solemn laws, the Empress, without a partner, must naturally be a virgin.
No, even if she wasn't a virgin, if she said she was, then she would be.
Her words carried that kind of power.
If the Empress pointed at a flying bird and called it a horse, it would become one.
If she pointed at a falling star and called it the moon, it would become the moon.
The current Empress wielded that level of absolute authority.
No noble dared to rebel against her, and none could easily voice opposition to her will.
It wasn't simply because she was the Empress.
The only cherished daughter of the previous Emperor.
While all the previous Emperor's sons failed to satisfy his heart, she alone could wield the pure power of the imperial bloodline.
Golden eyes that shone with light.
The power that originated from those eyes.
That power, unique to the Empress and distinct from mana or divine power, could distinguish truth from falsehood and perceive the flow of mana.
Or so it was said.
And only those who could wield that power could become the true Emperor.
In the end, the previous Emperor designated the current Empress as his successor, and she became Crown Princess before ascending the throne.
Before she inherited the throne, her brothers were sent on an expedition to the border region facing the Demon King's castle, on the previous Emperor's orders.
-Prove yourself if you wish to survive.
Those were the words of the previous Emperor, who saw those without the inherited power not as sons, but as mere pawns.
He sent all her brothers to the border to war with the Demon King's army.
Not long after, all three of her brothers perished.
It was said that neither the previous Emperor nor the Empress shed a tear.
That only strengthened the Empress's position.
The sole successor decreed by the previous Emperor.
After the previous Emperor passed away and she ascended, the Empress soon welcomed the Hero, and in her era, the Demon King was subjugated.
Her imperial authority had no choice but to grow stronger, and now she had reached a position no one dared touch.
'At least the Saintess and Hero have no interest in politics, so they can keep her in check somewhat.'
In other words, even the slightest mistake in front of the Empress meant your head could roll.
She was cold-blooded enough not to shed a single tear at her brothers' deaths.
-If you're not satisfactory, the next place you see might be a prison cell.
I had to do this right.
I sighed and looked at the Empress.
"Do you have a specific scene in mind?"
"...Didn't I say? I want to rest. It seems you take my words lightly?"
"It's just procedure to confirm."
"Is that so?"
She crossed her legs and smiled faintly.
"By the way, why did you have me change into these clothes? The fit is surprisingly comfortable, but the material isn't all that great. Shall I recommend a suitable product? The silk extracted from silkworms in the Villon region feels wonderfully soft. Prepare clothes made from that region's silk. Your customers would love it."
I'd love to, but we don't have the money.
One bolt of that Villon silk you mentioned could make 200 outfits like the ones we're wearing now.
"Why no answer?"
"Because we don't have the money. Even if I wanted to, it's impossible."
"...How amusing. The shop owner who hosts the Hero and Goddess of Victory can't afford Villon silk. Their money alone would more than cover it."
The Empress grinned.
"Those girls must not be generous. If the illusions please me, I'll buy that silk myself and give it to you."
"Really?"
"I do not lie."
As expected.
Your Majesty.
Praise the Empire.
This is a chance to make a good impression.
Just one bolt of Villon silk...
"Whew... My mindset's changing."
She still saw me as a modern person, huh.
To crumble so helplessly before capital.
"I'll look forward to it. So, how do you plan to fulfill my desire?"
The Empress's request: to fully rest, free from her heavy imperial duties for a while.
"Rest" could mean two things.
Literally, to do absolutely nothing and relax.
To see an illusion of lounging in a villa by a beautiful lake, doing nothing.
And the other meaning.
'I want to abdicate the throne.'
To cast off her heavy duties meant to let go of everything up to that position and collapse.
If there was nothing to be responsible for, she wouldn't have to bear responsibility.
The Empire could crumble.
Or she could lose the throne.
'Probably this one.'
The Empress wouldn't present herself so simply.
After all.
'If she just wanted to relax at a villa, she wouldn't come here—she'd go straight to one.'
I knew the imperial family owned villas across the Empire.
Mountains with babbling streams, snow-capped eternal peaks, lakes and seas bathed in warm light, desert oases, islands glowing blue, and more.
She could go anywhere she wanted.
'No one who can use a teleport gate instantly would come here for illusions.'
I might be overthinking it.
But.
'I can't ask more explicitly here.'
She said she knows what our shop does.
She must be thinking along those lines.
She wouldn't be satisfied with something sweet like a massage at a resort.
So...
I need to show her a more intense illusion.
"Then, let's begin. Please sit here."
"Just sit?"
"Yes. Then the Illusion Magic Circle here will activate and change the surroundings. I'll prepare an illusion where you can cast off all your imperial duties as desired."
"I'm expecting great things."
The Empress smiled, and after giving her a glass of water, I seated her.
I activated the Illusion Magic Circle.
And inputted the buildup illusion for the true rest she desired.
"Here we go."
I chanted the Illusion Magic spell, and at that moment.
Flash!
The space around the Empress transformed.
The Empress was curious about the illusion mage's ability to uncover this desire.
She wondered just how he drew out people's desires to make even powerful knights and heroes desperate to visit Max's shop.
He was clearly no ordinary mage.
From the information she'd gathered.
-He did recently create a special battery, but nothing else noteworthy.
-Not sure how, but they all seemed satisfied.
-Tried peeking inside with clairvoyance magic, but failed. His magic circle skills seem top-notch.
That was all.
No method yielded any real information.
She couldn't just grab customers and interrogate them.
Knight Yuris.
Saintess Eirin.
Hero Niki.
Helen, lady of the Silvesta family.
High Elf Reina, and others.
They were beyond her informants' reach.
Touch them wrong, and her agents might die.
She didn't want to waste valuable personnel like that.
So she decided to enjoy uncovering it herself.
'They all looked unusually bright-faced.'
The Empress had been burdened with duties for a very long time.
From the moment she first became Empress.
No, much earlier.
Ever since she used the imperial bloodline's power to become Crown Princess, she had discarded her own name and lived as the Empire's woman.
-You must become the Empire's ruler.
-Do not keep anyone by your side until you become the perfect ruler.
-Remember: only when you are a complete Empress should you allow someone beside you.
Those were the words of the previous Emperor who had decreed her Crown Princess.
The Empress exists for the Empire.
She'd heard it so often her ears blistered.
That must have been the turning point.
When she began carrying the Emperor's duties on her shoulders.
She strove to become the perfect Empress.
She'd never fully rested even on days off.
Even on rare trips to resorts, her subjects' calls would summon her back.
She heard what she didn't want to hear.
She saw what she didn't want to see.
She longed to let go just a little and rest, but her subjects and people wouldn't allow it.
Like a curse from the previous Emperor.
Even after the Demon King was subjugated, it was the same.
She thought peace would come with the Demon King's end, but new problems arose in the Empire.
Post-war processing.
Compensation issues.
Handling remaining dungeons, balancing the growing power of magic schools, and more.
The Empress's shoulders remained heavy.
That's why.
She wanted to rest.
For the Empress, it was an incredibly simple desire.
She just wanted to do nothing and relax.
To set aside her imperial duties for a moment, to not hear what she had to hear, to not see what she had to see.
Even resorts were flooded with voices seeking her.
'But in an illusion, maybe.'
She thought it might be possible.
The confident illusion mage repeatedly promised to fulfill her desire for rest, and the Empress stood in the center of the magic circle as instructed.
Others might scream that placing the Empress on a suspicious magic circle was impossible.
But with her all-seeing eyes, she could tell.
This magic circle held no demonic energy or malice.
However.
'Pink?'
The mana rippling from the activating circle glowed pink, unlike anything she knew.
What was that?
Before doubt could rise from the alien energy, she was pulled into the illusion.
The world twisted.
Even her truth-piercing eyes couldn't distinguish real from fake in the exquisitely crafted scenery unfolding before her.
And what appeared before the Empress was.
"The throne room...? You want me to rest here?"
It was the throne room where she always handled affairs.
The 12 steps and the shining throne.
She sat on the throne only an Emperor revered by all could occupy, looking down at the throne room.
"An incompetent mage after all...?"
As she clicked her tongue, the Empress felt a strange incongruity.
"...?"
Something was off.
"Huh?"
She couldn't hear it.
And she couldn't see it.
"No way..."
Since awakening her imperial power, the endless grumbling of the Empire's people and the miserable sights of its unfortunate citizens were gone.
As if someone had cleanly severed them.
...
It was quiet.
Without the voices that always drove her to work, the throne room was eerily silent.
A stillness without even the toll of bells.
"To think the throne room could be this quiet."
The Empress closed her eyes.
The corners of her mouth lifted as she did.
"I suppose I should apologize for thinking him incompetent, even briefly."
To gift her such comfortable rest.
She liked this time.
Until the uproarious cheers erupted from outside.
Waaaaah!