Good Changes, Bad Changes
At last, she was back. She had come! The princess had returned!
The peaceful week had literally flashed by in an instant.
And today she hadn’t even come after arranging a meeting in advance. Kyle was sitting in a café drinking coffee with Elga when she simply barged in.
Apparently she figured there was no need to announce herself since it wasn’t inside the Academy.
As a result, Elga—whose time had been thoroughly interrupted—looked ready to explode. Even now the sulky look hadn’t fully left her face.
But what could she do? The other party was a princess. One of the Imperial 10 Strongest. The one feeling intimidated here wasn’t the other person; it was Elga herself. So she simply swallowed her complaints and kept her mouth tightly shut.
“As expected, John Nassen is a good place.”
Whether she noticed Elga’s feelings or not—no, even if she did, she clearly didn’t care—Yulika kept laughing “Ahaha!” and nodding. You could tell from her expression alone: those weren’t empty words. She meant every bit of it.
“…It’s strange hearing that kind of evaluation from someone who isn’t from my hometown.”
Even as a John Nassen himself, Kyle didn’t think it was particularly wonderful. Barren, freezing, and above all packed full of people whose eyes had gone completely mad for training. He’d heard that even the Imperial 10 Strongest were reluctant to visit—yet this woman seemed to be the exception.
“How badly did you get beaten up?”
“Ka—Kyle?!”
To say something like that to the princess! A shocked Elga seized Kyle’s hand. She seemed far more astonished by the words that had come out of his mouth than by her own action. Naturally so. The only person who could speak to the princess that way was the Emperor himself!
Yet the Kyle who had said it, and the Yulika who had heard it, paid the remark no mind at all.
“I got beaten up a lot. Yeah. I got hit really hard.”
“And you still call it a good place.”
“It feels refreshing. Trading blows that hard, fighting that excitedly.”
“…Yes. It certainly would feel refreshing.”
Through the odd chain of events that had led him to spar with two of the Imperial 10 Strongest and grow familiar enough to drop formalities, Kyle had learned one fact. Once they reached that rank, the Imperial 10 Strongest almost never clashed with one another. Not only in a bad sense—they didn’t spar either, the good kind of clash. The reason was simpler than expected. If powerhouses of that level collided and one of them got hurt…
It wouldn’t be a light injury. With skill levels that close, one side—or both—could end up seriously damaged. The Empire would lose fighting strength in an instant.
True, the Western Kingdom Alliance had now completely switched to a pro-Empire stance. But until recently it had been screaming the opposite. The 10 Strongest-level force the Alliance had possessed—the Three Heroes—had been a genuine threat. Add the two powerhouses of similar caliber serving the independent lords of the southern islands, and the strong warriors who still appeared among the eastern nomadic tribes whenever you least expected them. That was why the Imperial 10 Strongest were a force the Empire had to keep completely intact: a deterrent that pressed hard on potential enemies and kept war in check. If those same 10 Strongest got damaged not even fighting an enemy but just among themselves, the loss would be enormous. That awareness had kept them living as quietly as possible.
Of course the princess and the Church’s Captain Priscilla had been sparring freely whenever they felt like it, but still.
In that climate, Yulika had clearly gone to John Nassen and fought for real. With an official imperial decree behind her, everyone would have given their absolute best. Whatever the other 10 Strongest might think, from Yulika’s point of view it had been pure delight.
“That’s amazing.”
While Yulika chattered on, vividly recalling her duels at John Nassen, Elga leaned in from beside Kyle and whispered.
“Sending those precious 10 Strongest—and powerhouses of equal caliber—to John Nassen on a monthly rotation. Power they were coddling just a little while ago for fear they might get hurt.”
“It could also mean they’ve acquired another card they can play instead.”
Mandatory visits to John Nassen for the powerhouses including the 10 Strongest. At first glance it looked like simple compensation offered to John Nassen. Step back a little farther, though, and it became obvious that wasn’t the whole story. By continually sending strong fighters every month they kept the people of John Nassen happy. Over time even fighters outside the 10 Strongest would keep improving, and John Nassen would look forward to those visits. Then, if the Empire ever announced that external friction made further power reinforcement essential and they could no longer spare people…
Wanting to settle the matter quickly so the sparring could resume—and, while they were at it, check what that external friction actually was—John Nassen would have a perfect reason to step in.
The imperial family was accommodating John Nassen’s convenience and at first glance even seemed to be bowing their heads. Look more carefully, however, and they were definitely securing every advantage the Empire could gain in the process. It was exactly the sort of move one expected from the people who ran the Empire. Baron John Nassen had probably noticed roughly the same thing. The fact that he said nothing about it meant he was willing to let it pass. One of John Nassen’s official principles was that if you received something, you ought to give something in return.
“…So when I went like this—bam!—your older brother twisted it with a crunch. I thought his wrist was going to tear off, but before that he body-slammed me and drove me into the floor. I thought my head was going to crack open.”
Yes, yes. I see. A shame it didn’t actually crack. No—good thing it didn’t. Thinking that, Kyle was just bringing the coffee to his lips when—
“And… Ah! Right. You have to enter the palace.”
Puhak—cough, cough!
The coffee went straight down his windpipe. Even a John Nassen couldn’t endure that. Anyone who could would no longer be human.
“Khuh—kuh. Gehek….”
What kind of disgrace was this in front of a princess and a young lady? Ah—come to think of it, it was the princess’s fault. Fortunately a sharp-eyed waiter hurried over with a glass of water. Having barely survived, Kyle calmed his insides and looked at Yulika.
“Your Highness. What did you just say….”
“You have to enter the palace.”
Could “enter the palace” not mean the enter-the-palace he was thinking of? Had the definition of the word somehow changed? Blinking, Kyle carefully asked,
“That… ‘enter the palace’ you mentioned. So—come into the palace. Something like that?”
“Then has the meaning of enter the palace changed? Isn’t that exactly what enter the palace is?”
“….”
Anyone listening would think the palace was some shantytown. Was it really a place people casually said “come on over” about? It shouldn’t be.
Kyle was not the only one stunned by the sudden mention of entering the palace. Elga beside him was also flailing with a strangled “Uwehng? Uh, uhhh?” Even a grand duchy’s daughter was genuinely shocked. An order to enter the palace was a command of that magnitude for any noble of the Empire.
Even within the imperial capital—said to be the center of the Empire—even within the imperial castle—said to be the center of that capital—and then the single most vital place inside that castle, the heart and head of the Empire: the imperial palace, where the master of the Empire resided. Nobles other than grand dukes set foot there so rarely the occasions in a year could be counted on one hand. No matter how great the merit, the Emperor’s proxy almost always delivered praise outside. It was the dwelling of the absolute sovereign, a place one did not enter lightly. And the Emperor had ordered that an ordinary noble scion be admitted into that palace!
“An imperial order will fall on you soon. Probably… hmm. Within an hour from now?”
“That….”
“How do I know? When I came back from the north and entered the palace, they were discussing it. Whether to bring you into the palace or not. That was the topic. It looked almost decided in favor of bringing you in.”
So why on earth were they having that discussion? The reason—give me the reason. Wasn’t there a more detailed explanation? It wasn’t as if some unexpected guest like Lia or Lea had suddenly appeared. There was no reason for the Emperor to summon him. Even if there were, a proxy would suffice. And right in front of him sat the very princess who was already being used as that proxy!
“I don’t know the detailed inside story either. When people from the Imperial Household Agency and the Special Affairs Agency arrive, they’ll tell you then.”
Yulika sipped her coffee as she spoke. Kyle’s mind felt roughly blank.
“…Kyle.”
“Yes, Lady Elga.”
“You haven’t committed some kind of mistake, have you?”
How bad must things look for even Elga to voice something so absurd? Of course not, Kyle shook his head. He hadn’t half-destroyed the Academy like his older sister; there was nothing for him to feel guilty about.
“Don’t be like that, Kyle. Think carefully. A sudden order to enter the palace. It doesn’t make sense.”
In a thoroughly worried voice Elga kept pressing him. Until now she had always worn a cool face and spoken with hidden motives. Today, for some reason, sincerity showed through clearly—whether from the instinctive terror a noble felt at the words “the Emperor is summoning you,” or from some other reason entirely.
“Ah. Still, I know the rough reason.”
Couldn’t you have mentioned that a little earlier? While patting Elga’s hand a few times to reassure her, Kyle focused on the princess’s next words.
“I overheard that that man is coming to the Empire.”
“That man?”
“The Western Kingdom Alliance. One of the Three Heroes—Mathieu Philibert.”
“…?”
Why was that man coming to the Empire again?