71. Treasury
71. Treasury
The morning of the day we were invited to the Imperial Palace was so hectic it made my teeth chatter.
"Lady Eli. On a day like today, you must wear makeup."
Sara, who had come with the knight order, nagged me relentlessly.
"Wh-what do I do...! I-I-I'm... s-so... so nervous!! Hah, hah, hah! Hoo... hah, hah... hoo..."
At the thought of going to the Imperial Palace and having an audience with the Emperor, Eurasia clung to my arm and turned deathly pale.
"Our Eli is the prettiest in the whole world!! Hahaha!"
My father, who had thrown aside all his work and everything else, stood beside me grinning nonstop and made a huge fuss.
Swish— swish—
The commander of Nameless, wearing a white mask and pitch-black uniform, pretended not to look at me while sneaking glance after glance, staring persistently.
Of course... it's not that I dislike having such noisy people around me. It's not that I dislike it, but...
It irritates me that they keep trying to stuff me into dresses that don't even look like clothes.
And makeup? What the hell kind of makeup?
I'm absolutely not doing it.
What good would it do me to look good in front of the imperial family that I'd bother with makeup?
No, in the first place, I won't wear makeup in front of anyone, not just imperial family members.
And.
To be honest.
I'm pretty even without makeup.
It's not that people are just flattering me.
It's not that I've lost my mind and am spouting nonsense.
Objectively speaking, my face is very pretty.
Just tying my hair up as usual and wearing my academy uniform is enough—no, more than enough—to be pretty.
So I don't need makeup or dresses or anything like that.
Because I'm pretty.
And so, wearing my academy uniform no different from my usual attire, I left the academy.
The road to the Imperial Palace was a little bothersome, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
In a way, you could even call it comfortable.
Since the news that the Treasury and the Forbidden Archive would be opened hadn't been made public, we had to move quietly, without any grand reception or procession.
Father seemed a little dissatisfied, but I actually liked it.
There was nothing good about drawing attention on the streets of the Imperial Capital when we didn't even know where the Demons might be.
And Eurasia actually seemed relieved too.
She said she was confident she'd genuinely faint if people's gazes gathered on her.
The schedule for receiving the reward was simpler than expected.
Meet the Emperor in the audience chamber, bring one observer each from the imperial family and House Eustetia, then enter the Treasury beneath the Imperial Palace.
There was no time limit on choosing a weapon.
Touching a weapon and holding it in your hands—once per weapon. Naturally, swinging it around was not allowed.
Next, likewise accompanied by observers from both sides, I would enter the Forbidden Archive alone, without Eurasia.
The time allowed in the Forbidden Archive was four hours.
During those four hours, I could peruse every book inside the Forbidden Archive. If I damaged any book or information, not even House Eustetia could escape punishment.
There were various other conditions attached, but well... they were on the level of "don't kill passersby," so obvious I didn't need to remember them.
"Ugh... a sword would be best, right?"
"Probably, don't you think?"
And Eurasia still hadn't decided what to take from the Treasury, from last night until now.
No one except the Emperor could know what items were in the Treasury, but even so, Eurasia had fallen into agonizing deliberation.
"From what I've heard in rumors, there's an incredible shield in there!"
"You use a two-handed sword. What shield? Just pick a sword."
"Ugh... but a sword is my main weapon, so should I pick an emergency dagger or a hidden blade instead?"
"It's your main weapon, so that's exactly why you should pick a sword. To a swordsman, a sword is a spare life. The better the sword, the longer the swordsman's life."
"But it'd be such a waste... it's a treasure of the Imperial Palace, after all..."
Fidgeting her fingers and groping at her empty waist, Eurasia muttered gloomily.
She'd been like this back when I gave her the Black Iron Sword as a gift.
She'd said it was too precious to use the sword I'd given her after so long, and had left it untouched for three whole months.
And yet her maintenance was so thorough it was almost absurd—every time she had a meal, she'd dust it off, oil it, wipe the guard and decorative parts with a dry cloth, and even clean the inside of the scabbard until it was spotless.
I watched that for three months.
Then, unable to take it anymore, I finally threw a fit and told her to hand it over since I was going to smash it all to pieces anyway, and only then did Eurasia start using that sword.
It looked like it would be the same this time.
So, narrowing my eyes and glaring at Eurasia, I left a quiet warning.
"If you do the same thing as last time again, I'll break it."
"...Hhk."
"Treasure or not, it doesn't matter. You know how good I am at breaking weapons, right?"
"Th-that's so mean!"
"Mean, my ass. You know how long it takes to break in a sword. If you swing around a sword that hasn't become familiar to your body or been broken in, you won't produce any results."
"W-well... that's true, but..."
"So once we get back from the main house, we're going out to the Imperial Capital every weekend to spar with live blades. Now that you've reached Tier 5, you need training to match."
Eurasia pouted, sticking out her lip.
"...Yeth."
"Put your lip back in."
"...Yethhhh."
"Oh? So you've grown up a bit now, is that it?"
"I don't know. I hate you, my lady."
With a little huff, Eurasia turned her head away primly.
"...What's gotten into her?"
I stared at Eurasia with slightly shocked eyes.
Ever since we came out of the Labyrinth—no, ever since she kissed me in my room yesterday—Eurasia's expressions had become incredibly varied.
Should I say she has complaints toward me... or that she wants more things now? Clinginess? Cuteness? Whatever it was, it was a nice change to see, but since she'd changed so suddenly, it was a little bewildering.
Still... it means she's gotten that much more comfortable with me, right?
And so, Eurasia didn't meet my eyes for a while.
Clunk.
Only after the carriage stopped did she glance at me and flash a coquettish eye-smile.
"But after training on the weekends, you'll still eat with me, right?"
And so we arrived at the Imperial Palace.
*****
The Emperor's praise—boring, boring, boring, horribly boring—would not end.
It was called praise, but it was nothing more than a speech where he said whatever he wanted to his heart's content. It was so boring that even Eurasia, who was always bright, had her expression stiffen.
Of course, that expression was only recognizable to people who had spent a long time with Eurasia, so it didn't cause any trouble.
And the Emperor...
It was my first time seeing this generation's Emperor's face.
How should I put it... unlike Fabiana and Silina.
He looked a little, petty.
Of course, a person's face couldn't tell you everything, but it still gave you a rough impression.
Judging by that, this generation's Emperor.
Anskar de Hermann seemed a little petty, a little pathetic, a little gloomy, like a small-minded commoner.
With a little, very faint charisma.
Still, one thing was certain.
He looked dozens of times better than Emperor Malframis from 400 years ago.
Well... I'd have to actually talk with him to know in more detail, but I didn't particularly want to.
Because I wanted to get into the Treasury and the Forbidden Archive as soon as possible.
As if he'd read my mind, Father left me an adorable wink and stepped forward.
That stride was immensely dignified and upright.
In his formal expression, there was an overwhelming charisma that couldn't be found even in the Emperor, and the back I saw before me was like a great mountain.
...Was Father always like that?
"I trust you have been well, Your Majesty."
The formal greeting and weighty voice that followed drew the gaze of everyone gathered in the audience chamber.
"Duke Turius Eustetia. Thanks to your House Eustetia, this Empire is always healthy and at peace."
"I am deeply moved that you would say so."
A quiet smile.
At a smile completely different from the sloppy grin he showed in front of me, admiration slipped from my lips on its own.
"How about it? Our family head's cool, right?"
Kerion, who had heard that admiration, chuckled softly and patted my back.
"You can relax now. Once the family head steps in, most matters get wrapped up within five minutes."
"...Really?"
He didn't seem to have any intention of ending it.
"Yeah. When you listen, it's not even that special of a conversation, but he somehow wraps it up and ends it. It's always like that in official settings. It's a bit, how should I put it. Like he steers the conversation to his own taste."
Kerion's playful voice piqued my curiosity.
Could Father shut that petty Emperor's trap in one go?
So I listened quietly.
Just as Kerion said, Father didn't bring up any particularly special topics. Just simple pleasantries, the current flow of affairs, peaches and other specialties produced in the Eustetia Duchy, and so on.
He only brought up things that neighborhood folks might chatter about.
That was certainly the case, but.
"See? It went just like your uncle said, right?"
The conversation ended.
The Emperor, having lost any topic he wanted to ramble about, rose from his seat with a brighter expression than before.
"Given the time, it would be best to proceed now."
Then the Imperial Palace Knight Order and the Eustetia Knight Order gathered in the audience chamber moved in unison.
Clank— clank—
In time with the sound of armor meshing together, the Emperor moved his steps.
"Let us go."
"We shall follow."
I met eyes with Father, who walked exactly one step behind the Emperor.
Father, who had been wearing an expression befitting a family head more than anyone else, broke into a sloppy grin the moment he saw me and left a wink.
I looked away from that smile for a moment... then quietly raised my thumb.
Father's smile grew even brighter.
*****
The Treasury was beneath the Imperial Palace.
The path down was incredibly complicated.
Rather than complicated, it seemed to have been magically treated so that you couldn't properly sense the direction.
Even though I was clearly walking with my wits about me, I couldn't grasp where I was going at all.
But the Emperor, unlike the others, kept walking with an unconcerned expression.
Was it something that only responded to imperial blood?
Or something that only responded to the Emperor's presence?
I held such questions for only ten minutes.
The stairs ended.
At the end of the long corridor, a massive door came into view.
A crude door, neither flashy nor loud.
But the mighty energy felt from beyond it was enough to make my whole body tremble.
Soon after, at the spot where everyone had stopped, the Emperor's steps continued.
Step— step— Perhaps because even an Emperor had trained for quite a long time, his neat footsteps echoed over the silence of the underground.
And when those steps stopped.
THOOM.
A massive tremor rang out, like a giant heart beating.
The door of the Treasury opened.