Chapter 58: Home Visit (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58: Home Visit (1)
"...U-Um, Ryozo. I might not know much about these things, but shouldn't an audience with the Emperor require permission from the Imperial Household first? Even if it's Victoria, just barging in like that without..."
"Far from it. The Imperial Household Agency readily gave their consent."
I was taken aback. The Imperial Household Agency was notorious for almost never granting audiences with the Emperor.
'For the Imperial Household Agency—a group obsessed with preserving the current Emperor's air of secrecy—to immediately accept the Imperial Princess's request...'
Within the Imperial Court, the Imperial Princess's authority was surprisingly low. As explained before, it was because all arrows of power converged strictly around the Emperor.
The Imperial Household Agency served as the Emperor's eyes, ears, and mouth. Even his flesh-and-blood Imperial family members had to communicate with him through the Agency.
I briefly mused over the true overlord of the Western World. Before I knew it, a low groan escaped my lips.
"This is extremely suspicious."
More than that, I had no idea why Victoria had made such a request to Ryozo in the first place. Did the two of us even have a bond close enough to warrant a home visit?
"How could ordinary people like us know what goes on in the Emperor's mind?"
"Ryozo, you're hardly an ordinary person."
"Just a figure of speech. Though to be honest, everyone is an ordinary person before the Emperor. Not to speak ill of the Nibelungs, but their influence is ultimately limited to the nobility. The Emperor, on the other hand..."
He was the man to whom the title 'Master of the Western World' fit better than anyone else. It was grand—and utterly ridiculous, if I was being honest.
An absolute force of violence known as the God of Sword plainly existed. In such a world, even if restricted to the West, to dare claim the title of master was bold. Any ordinary god would have branded it arrogance and swung down divine retribution.
However...
It was impossible to solve everything in the world through brute force alone. The mechanics of human society resembled a heart entangled in a complex web of blood vessels. If you kept severing what you assumed were mere offshoots, the heart would eventually stop beating altogether.
Regrettably, the Victoria Imperial Family was a vessel positioned closest to that heart of humanity.
The Imperial Family possessed tradition. They held powerful inherited blessings that had protected their long-standing prosperity.
Even if Corps Commanders vanished, Demons lost their purpose, and the world sang praises of me, Kang Geomma—realistically, it was virtually impossible for the Imperial Family's authority to crumble to the ground.
"In the name of Joaquin Academy, we could refuse the Emperor's imperial decree."
Ryozo left out the part that doing so would mean the entire academy taking a certain hit. Grateful for her consideration, I inwardly appreciated it while shaking my head outwardly.
"It's fine. Victoria requested it, so I should go."
"...Geomma, if that's what you want."
"I was going to have to talk with the Emperor eventually anyway. I was just waiting for the right opportunity, so this works out."
"Now that I think about it, you've never met the Emperor, right?"
"That's a bit ambiguous. I feel like I might have seen him."
Quill in hand, Ryozo tilted her head.
"What do you mean, 'feel like you've seen him'?"
"Well..."
It was hard to explain. It wasn't as if I could tell her I'd seen him back in my gamer days. And even then, it had only been a brief glance at a dark shadow.
'Even though he was pitched black like the culprit from Detective Cnan*... he was pretty imposing.'
In Miracle Blessing M, the Emperor blocked the path of the protagonist, Leon, in the Human Realm as his greatest speed bump. In short, a mid-boss, but I had never personally encountered him.
'Because I quit the game before reaching that point.'
Might as well visit the house of the most powerful person in human history this time.
'I wonder how lavish it is.'
You could call it a home visit.
...With a sashimi knife on the side.
Episode. Home Visit
Without dragging things out, I headed to the British Empire the very next day.
Instead of using Subspace Warp, we took to the skies this time. That was usually how things were done when national-scale events took place.
While warping drastically reduced travel time, it carried a high risk of offending the host nation.
Because it could be interpreted as though we couldn't even bother spending time to travel there properly.
'During the Academy Exchange Meet, Joaquin was clearly in the position of power, so it was brushed aside.'
Warping in on an invitation from none other than the Victoria Imperial Family... would be like smearing filth all over Joaquin's face.
Anyway.
I willingly endured the long journey that took a full day and a half.
“……”
“……”
Victoria and I didn't engage in much small talk.
'...It's awkward in so many ways.'
I just shifted my eyes around. Victoria rested her chin on her hand, staring intently out the window.
Even though there was nothing to see besides hazy, drifting clouds, she incessantly watched the outside world.
'She must have a lot on her mind.'
It was a legitimate request for reward stemming from the Exchange Meeting.
And depending on the person, it was a request that could seem somewhat rude at first glance.
'Since it does come across as a bit bossy.'
At least, I held no ill feelings.
However, I had no intention of speaking to Victoria first either. Clumsily starting a conversation felt like it would only make her shrink back even further.
In the dead-silent cabin, after a long fourteen-hour journey, we finally arrived in Britain.
Rumble, rumble.
The wheels jolted over a few bumps. Just as it felt like we were sliding smoothly along the runway, the door slowly slid down moments later.
"Please step out, Imperial Princess."
"Yes."
As soon as Victoria and I stepped down, a group of burly men in royal guard uniforms came out to greet us.
—Welcome, Heavenly Sword-nim.
Hmm. Welcoming me with a thoroughly businesslike banner, I see.
'Still, it's drier than I imagined.'
Did Parsi Academy set my expectations too high? I almost got the impression that this was frugal.
That was just my impression, but I actually preferred it. I liked a refined welcome like this much better than over-the-top extravagance.
"Welcome, Heavenly Sword-nim. And Imperial Princess."
"It has been a while."
Victoria brushed past the Royal Steward, who looked like a quintessential English gentleman, and stepped into the limousine. Following behind her, I glanced at the Royal Steward's face. He was an utterly ordinary middle-aged man with a completely expressionless face.
'Is the fact that he has no expression at all what makes him un-ordinary?'
As I got into the limousine, the royal guards standing on both sides saluted. A bug landed on the bridge of one guard's nose. He didn't twitch an inch.
'They don't all look like heroes either.'
This showed just how strict the Empire's military discipline was.
Despite being a low-effort welcoming ceremony, it carried far more weight than the one at Parsi Academy.
"What kind of person is your father, Princess?"
Since it was about time to ask, I broke the silence. Her eyes, which had been fixed on the sun, turned toward me. Vermilion irises were the symbol of the Imperial Family.
'...Why do I suddenly get a sense of déjà vu...?'
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
"Do you know His Majesty's other title?"
Victoria asked hesitatingly.
"He's often called the Machine Emperor, right?"
"...There's no other way to describe His Majesty, so I suppose that's accurate."
"Could you tell me why he's called that? I'm quite ignorant about these matters, so I wouldn't want to accidentally commit a faux pas in front of the Emperor."
"First of all, appending 'His Majesty' after Emperor..."
"I'll pass on that."
An honorific title like 'His Majesty' was far too generous for a schemer trying to get in my way.
“……”
"Nothing else?"
"...Yes, ...well."
"Then please give me at least a rough idea about the Emperor."
"Alright."
I deliberately refrained from asking Victoria why she had dragged me all the way to Britain. Seeing the Royal Steward's face, I felt like I understood.
Victoria was trying to use my voice to appeal to her father. After all, I was her homeroom instructor during the Exchange Meeting.
Words spoken by another carry far more weight than those spoken by oneself.
'And if the speaker is her homeroom instructor, well...'
Now that I thought about it, this really felt like a home visit. It made me nervous. A home visit for a homeless orphan with no family...
As I swallowed to moisten my dry throat, Victoria explained.
"The reason His Majesty the Emperor is called the Machine Emperor is because of the vast amount of knowledge he possesses. The Imperial Family's hereditary blessing is the 'Owl's Blessing.' To put it simply, absolute recall."
"I know that was publicly announced."
"There's something people misunderstand."
"What misunderstanding?"
"The misconception that the Imperial Family's combat capability is vaguely high."
"Surely it's on the superior side."
I was someone who had taught Victoria. She belonged to the genius category among cadets. Her learning capability was outstanding, like a high-performance sponge.
"Compared to the Nibelung Family or the Myura Family, it's lower. Definitely. Because our Imperial Family's primary blessing is not combat-based. It's based on absolute recall. The reason I was able to absorb your teachings faster than others, Heavenly Sword-nim, was thanks to absolute recall—not because my physical capabilities were overwhelmingly superior to other cadets. You know this as well, Heavenly Sword-nim."
Faced with Victoria's detached self-awareness, I found it hard to choose my words.
Suddenly, she posed a question to me.
"The tradition of the Victoria Imperial Family predates Joaquin Academy by several hundred years. Even before the Hero of the Origin made his name known, the Imperial Family's prestige was firmly established."
"So it seems."
"The pride of the Imperial Family wasn't just such empty history. It was the vast records worthy of that history. That could be said to be the true value of the Victoria Imperial Family."
"You mean the Imperial Family's private library, known as the 'Infinite Archives.'"
Victoria muttered with a cold gaze.
"The Infinite Archives were the pride of the Victoria Imperial Family..."
"Sorry to cut you off. But you've been speaking about the Infinite Archives in the past tense for a while now. Don't tell me..."
"...It was burned to the ground ten years ago."
"The whole thing?"
"...This is an Imperial secret... but I'll tell you since it's you, Heavenly Sword-nim."
Victoria lowered her eyes and spoke quietly, her lips barely moving.
"The one who burned down the pride of the Imperial Family was none other than my father. His Majesty, the current Emperor."
Bullshit. What the hell is she talking about?
"Are you saying the current head set fire to his own family's heritage?!"
"There's no physical evidence, but by my deduction, His Majesty is the only person who could be the suspect."
"What do you think his reason was?"
Before answering, Victoria took a deep breath. Feeling stifled, she cracked the car window open slightly.
"Monopoly."
She inhaled the cold air. Then, opening her eyes after closing them briefly, she spoke in a low voice.
"The day you became the hero of humanity, Heavenly Sword-nim. My father believed you were a future enemy who would threaten his power. So, to monopolize information, he burned down the Imperial Family's heritage. So that he alone could remember over a thousand years of heroic history."
"Are you saying he wiped out the very value of the Imperial Family's existence just for his own self-preservation...?"
Absurd. Greed—wasn't that the emotion least fitting for the Machine Emperor?
"His Majesty's mind is a machine."
"In what way?"
"He is someone who would castrate everything for the sake of power—"
Screeech! The slight inertia from the limousine's sudden stop pitched Victoria's upper body forward. I caught her near her solar plexus with my arm.
Good thing there was a fair distance to the driver's seat. Otherwise, Victoria would have slammed into the front seat and fallen over.
"What are you doing?!"
I shouted fiercely. Victoria's vermilion hair was slumped forward.
Yet, for some reason, Victoria's lower lip was trembling. Her fist, placed demurely on her thigh, clutched so tightly that her knuckles were white.
Slide.
The driver turned only his upper body toward us. The Royal Steward from earlier faced us at an angle.
"...Heavenly Sword."
He spoke, lifting the brim of his hat with his thumb. Beneath the shadow cast by the hat, a pair of vermilion eyes gleamed brilliantly.
"Allow me to apologize on my daughter's behalf for her rudeness."
Faint dimples creased the middle-aged man's cheeks.