145. Competitor
145. Competitor
"What would he even do by coming here himself?"
"Who knows. That's something we'll only find out once he actually comes here."
The Puppet Emperor is coming to the academy in person?
Why? To do what?
Just as I'm curious about the faces of the Cartel people, is he coming to see the face of the bastard trying to expose his plans?
No, he probably already knows who it is.
If he's coming to the academy in person, he must have noticed that Silina is planning something.
Then what is he coming here for?
As Fabiana said, just to issue a warning?
In the first place, what would the Puppet Emperor stand to lose from someone trying to take down a collateral branch of Eustetia?
Slurp— I downed the sewer-water-like medicinal brew to clear my head a little more and kept thinking.
A deal between a Black Wizard and the collateral branch.
The relationship between the collateral branch and the Cartel.
The Puppet Emperor behind the Cartel.
The Puppet Emperor's goal? Shedding.
Let me trace it back.
Shedding. The Puppet Emperor. The Cartel. The collateral branch. The Black Wizard.
The Black Wizard and the Puppet Emperor's Shedding.
Caught in between are the Cartel and the Eustetia collateral branch.
The Cartel's goal is most likely money.
Why is the collateral branch involved?
They know that Arisa's blood does not flow through the Eustetia name. They're using that as a dagger to prepare something.
For what?
At this point, it's clear that what they're after isn't just a simple loss of honor.
What happens if the authority of the Eustetia main line is dragged down?
Their standing in the Empire shrinks, and naturally the Eustetia Duchy's finances get strained.
Even setting finances aside, their reputation goes straight into the gutter, so in the end the duchy becomes impossible to maintain.
Which means the Eustetia main line gets driven out of the duchy.
Then what comes next?
Who becomes the master of the duchy?
The duchy is the best seat after the Imperial Capital.
Supplies flow smoothly, and it produces all sorts of crops plus Heavenly Cherry Blossom Stone, which can only be mined in the Eustetia Duchy.
The value of Heavenly Cherry Blossom Stone goes without saying.
It's a gemstone in a completely different league from other jewels.
And it isn't supplied to just anyone, either.
Even among nobles, it's only supplied to houses with heroes of the Human-Demon War, or to the houses of those who died with distinction while pioneering the Demon World.
So the duchy is inevitably a desirable seat.
So much so that most nobles can't even dream of touching it.
The only person who could even begin to stick a foot in... if I had to pick one, it'd be Grand Duke Betias in the north.
But the Grand Duke I saw once as a child wasn't that kind of man. Then who in the world could possibly be qualified to become the master of the duchy?
The imperial family.
The Emperor? A man about to step down from the throne has no reason to covet it. If he did something that pointless, he'd only lose his head.
Silina? She lacks the intelligence for it.
Fabiana... I can't say it's absolutely impossible, but for now I can rule her out.
Who's left?
The First Prince and the Second Prince.
And the one with even slightly higher odds here is.
The one who made some kind of deal with a Black Wizard.
The First Prince, Anton de Hermann.
"Hmm..."
I sorted out my thoughts so far.
Behind the collateral branch is the Cartel.
They're stopping the collateral branch's information from leaking out from behind the scenes.
Why? To draw in a portion of the funds flowing out of a Eustetia Duchy whose main line has vanished.
Behind that Cartel is the Puppet Emperor.
A member of the Six Pillars whose martial might and fame are not inferior to Eustetia's.
And what does the Puppet Emperor want?
Shedding into a Demon. The material is Ophelia Blumin.
The collateral branch wants the main line's seat.
The Cartel wants an astronomical fortune.
The Puppet Emperor wants to Shed and gain greater power.
Anton de Hermann.
What does he want?
And then there's the unidentified Black Wizard who made a deal with Anton and made a deal with the collateral branch.
What is that bastard?
For now... there's a high probability he's the one who planted information about the collateral branch's movements in Ophelia's office, and information containing Eustetia's secrets in Stella's room.
Samaella? Absolutely not. That bitch doesn't have the intelligence to scheme like this.
But there's a high probability he's a Black Wizard on the same level as Samaella.
Why? Simple.
Adelia Baros.
She wasn't deeply involved in this matter.
She told me about the existence of the key, but she didn't reveal its location.
Compared to how much help she gave me during the Arant Museum incident last time, she didn't help me the same way this time.
Why? I heard the answer on the first day of school.
A Black Wizard of the same level. An unspoken answer implying that Black Wizards who have received Demonic Energy from a fairly high-ranking being can neither reveal nor interfere with each other's plans.
I can't know what kind of contracts those Black Wizard bastards have made or what they're competing over.
But this matter is on a completely different scale from what Samaella pulled.
Anton de Hermann, whose intentions are unreadable.
A Black Wizard whose intentions are equally unreadable, but who wanders around causing chaos everywhere.
That's as far as I can tell.
There's too little information to even make a guess.
I shoved the currently unknowable information into my head and let out a deep sigh.
"Done sorting it out?"
"Yes, well. To some extent. Were you waiting for me?"
"You were making a face I've never once seen before, so I waited quite a while."
"...Did it take that long?"
"That was a lie. It hasn't even been a minute."
"Good heavens. My one and only little sister seems closer to you than to me, Eliarnes."
"Mm... please don't get jealous. It'll just make things tiresome for no reason."
"You... what kind of crazy nonsense is that?"
"Heh heh heh..."
Fabiana, who had laughed lowly, soon exhaled a hazy plume of smoke with a complicated, subtle expression.
"Anyway, since things have turned out like this, Silina. You'd best return to the Imperial Palace while the Puppet Emperor is at the academy."
"No."
"Would you rather your big sister use force and stuff you into the Imperial Palace? Since I can't trust the Imperial Knight Order, I'll have to take you there myself."
At those words, Silina hesitated for a moment.
Just from the two of them bickering, I could tell a lot about each of their conditions.
It seems the more Fabiana uses her power, the more her body breaks down, and the reason for that seems to be an accident she suffered while trying to save Silina in the past.
I considered just asking outright, but I didn't bother.
Because I'm not that curious, and I know it's not my place to pry.
"So what will you do, Senior Fabiana?"
"It won't be much of a problem for me. I'll simply get busy from the Puppet Emperor visiting the academy, but there won't be any threat to my safety."
Fabiana tapped out her pipe and stared straight at me.
"Eliarnes. What do you intend to do?"
"What could I possibly do? They say he's one of the Six Pillars of the Empire, after all."
"For someone saying that, your sarcasm is rather heavy. And you're wearing a face that says you've already reached a conclusion."
"I have no intention of hiding it."
I drained the rest of the medicinal brew in one go.
"Ugh... Anyway, you don't need to worry about me. And Silina, if you don't want to go back to the Imperial Palace, stay at the academy."
"What's that supposed to mean...?"
"It means there won't be any particular problem."
Giggling, I glanced at Fabiana once before getting up from my seat.
"Senior."
"Hm?"
"As long as nothing happens to Silina, that's all that matters, right?"
"...That is true, but. For some reason, that sounds extremely ominous. Is it just my imagination?"
"Well... depending on how you look at it, it could be fine, or annoying, or irritating... something like that?"
"Are you asking me as the Imperial Princess, or as the Student Council President?"
"Who knows. Maybe all three."
"Three? I only mentioned two."
I shrugged and got up from my seat.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you in advance, but this is something that can only be resolved if no one knows about it, including you, so I'd appreciate your understanding."
"...You're scratching an itchy spot even itchier and then leaving."
"I'll give it a satisfying scratch soon, so bear with it."
"The only person on this continent who can tell me to bear with something so easily is you."
"The number of people who can have such a friendly conversation with me is also small enough to count on one hand."
"For me, there's only you, yet for you it's a handful. No, is it both hands?"
"Both hands."
"Keh ha ha ha ha! I hope someday it becomes few enough to fit in one hand."
"I'm hoping for that too."
Fabiana laughed heartily. Silina, apparently displeased that she was being left out of the conversation, was making a thoroughly vicious face.
"Anyway, I'll be going now. Have a pleasant time together, sisters."
With those final words, I left Fabiana's office.
I do need to stop by the club room too... but let's deal with the urgent matter first.
*****
Ten minutes of sitting in my personal training hall.
Knock knock— Someone knocked on the door.
I immediately got up and opened the door.
"You're really fast."
"Mm. Your urgent heart simply reached this Flame Emperor. So, what is this wish?"
This is the Flame Emperor, summoned when I tore the wish voucher.
Well... she's like a fairy that pops out when you rub a bucket in the fairy-tale books kids read these days.
...Is it not a bucket?
Well, that's not the important part.
"It's a long story, and I'm debating whether to explain from the beginning or from the middle."
It's a question of how much to trust the Flame Emperor and how much to give away. If by any chance she's standing on the same side as the Puppet Emperor, things will definitely get tangled up for nothing.
Of course... behind me is our Fist Demon.
Leona is there, but that doesn't mean I want to go scurrying over to Leona right away and tell her.
"Then I shall simply wait until your deliberation is finished."
"It won't take long."
And well, people call the Flame Emperor a wraith of the past or whatever, but to me she seems like a good person.
So probably... things will tilt in a good direction.
Before that, first.
"Let me ask one thing."
"Is this answer what you're using your wish voucher on?"
"Hear it first and then decide."
"Mm, very well."
Sitting face-to-face with the Flame Emperor, I posed my question.
"Flame Emperor, can you fight?"