Your Country Doesn't Have This, Does It? - 3
The celebrity life the Demon Duke must have endured for decades. I never particularly wanted to know about it, but lately I've been feeling it far too keenly. Excessive attention is pure poison to a poor civil servant.
"I had assumed the Inspector would be far too busy, and so I failed to maintain any proper contact. We are not even distant acquaintances—we live together at the Academy—and yet I have been so coldly distant. I can only feel ashamed."
Even the attitude of the head swordsmanship instructor standing right in front of me was clearly different from before. Of course, he had always been polite, but to begin with I had avoided any contact with Academy faculty whatsoever—aside from the headmaster, the deputy headmaster, and, if I was being generous, Gerhardt.
Aside from the unavoidable cases where I had to approach them first, there had been no exchanges of any kind, just as the head instructor said. From the faculty's perspective, meeting someone with inspection authority was terrifying, and I myself had to avoid looking as though I were pressuring the staff.
But ever since Sky Slash and the Imperial family's official announcement, the swordsmanship department faculty had been dropping by the clubroom constantly. Whenever they didn't have assigned classes, they seemed to come without fail.
"You flatter me. Anyone can see that the head instructor's own duties are heavy. If we had met too often, people would only have found it strange."
"Haha, thank you for saying so."
Since the head instructor was leading the charge, I had slipped in a roundabout "Are you really allowed to come this often?" but whether he truly didn't understand or was simply pretending not to, he only smiled and answered.
If I thought of him as a man who had devoted his life to the sword, I couldn't entirely dismiss the former possibility. Still, if he had really been a pure sword-obsessed fool, he never would have risen to head instructor of the Academy…
Whether mage or swordsman…
I had always thought of mages as a collective of lunatics, but that was clearly wrong. It wasn't just the mages—it was all of them.
No, if anything the swordsmen were worse. At least the mages never charged the Demon Duke head-on. They had been more calculating, trying to weave tedious connections.
Maybe it's because their bodies move before their heads.
It was a surprisingly plausible hypothesis. Compared to the mages, who at least used their brains, swordsmen were relatively men of action.
"Lately I've been getting all sorts of messages from my acquaintances as well. The same fellows who were completely indifferent when I became head instructor are now in an absolute frenzy."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes. Thanks to that, my communication orb keeps ringing and I can barely sleep."
As we continued the conversation, the head instructor's face, for all his grumbling, clearly looked more delighted than troubled.
In their circles, the Academy head instructorship was considered an honor. If acquaintances still acted indifferent even after he claimed that position, they were almost certainly rivals or members of another faction rather than friends. And now even those people were bowing their heads and contacting him first—there could be no greater joy for the head instructor.
"Fortunately, I myself witnessed the Inspector's feat with my own two eyes, so I found I had a great deal to say to those long-lost acquaintances who suddenly reached out."
I couldn't help but snort at that. Wasn't that just a fancy way of saying he had thoroughly teabagged the people who came crawling back with "You never saw anything like this, did you?"
"I am truly grateful to the Inspector."
The head instructor still wore a smile as he bowed his head. That greeting probably contained both gratitude for the chance to gain the upper hand over a rival faction and gratitude, as a swordsman, for being shown a realm above the heavens. How happy must he be, catching two rabbits overnight without having put in any special effort of his own?
And the fact that he had come in person to express that gratitude showed the head instructor possessed above-average character. That was why, even though he dropped by so often, I hadn't outright refused to see him.
"It's embarrassing to receive thanks for something as small as swinging a sword."
"Is that so? Then might I trouble the Inspector with another small request?"
"Ah, that would be a bit difficult."
I shook my head with a matching smile at the head instructor's joke.
Anything else was fine, but an encore performance was absolutely out of the question. Anyone who asked for that would experience the Demon Duke's wrath with their entire body.
I should have noticed the moment he said rival factions had contacted him with their surrender. If it was a rival faction of an Imperial, the identity was obvious.
"From Armein, you mean?"
"Yes, that is correct."
Seeing Villar nod sheepishly made my breath catch in my throat.
"They will likely push for a visit to the Imperial Academy. Of course, the cooperation of the Imperial Academy and the consent of the Inspector himself must come first, but…"
Villar, who rarely trailed off, seemed embarrassed just to be saying this in front of me.
Of course I understood. Villar was merely a messenger delivering his homeland's will. What crime was there in being a messenger? The real problem was the body behind him.
They're fast.
And because I had already steeled myself for this situation, the shock was milder.
The reaction of the continent's mages upon hearing the Demon Duke was permanently stationed at the Academy, the way Ernesto Academy students had swarmed the Academy during the exposition—if I still couldn't predict the current situation after seeing all that, I would have been brainless. That Armein would move in some fashion had long been a given.
The only problem was that it was far faster than expected. Leave it to Ryutis's homeland to have absurd action speed.
Lovens Academy, is it?
Anyway, following Ernesto Academy, the next place hoping for a tour of the Imperial Academy was Lovens Academy. It was an academy founded with the very name of the Armein royal family. Its symbolic weight within Armein was overwhelming.
And the heavyweight of the rival faction who had declared surrender to the head instructor was the current deputy headmaster of Lovens Academy. No wonder they had slammed their heads to the ground so quickly—they must have been laying the groundwork to come to the Imperial Academy.
"No one has the right to obstruct learning. And if the request is legitimate, there is no reason to refuse."
In any case, Lovens Academy bowing its head to the Imperial Academy was a positive signal. An academy that bore the name of the Armein royal family itself admitting its own shortcomings and coming to the Imperial Academy? Anyone could see it as public recognition of the Empire's victory and heavenly mandate. For an Empire that seized every chance to make Armein kneel, there was no better windfall.
Well, the fact that even Armein, knowing all that, still said they would send Lovens Academy to the Empire suggested that Sky Slash had made quite an impression.
"I will convey this to the headmaster myself. Armein will get the result it wants."
"Thank you, Inspector."
At my swift reply, Villar bowed with a noticeably lighter expression. What was he thanking me for? I was the one who should be grateful. Setting aside the personal annoyance, the Empire still stood to gain.
There was just one problem—
"If the students who will one day become the pillars of Armein behold a realm above the heavens, they will strive all the harder."
"Haha, looks like I'll have to put in some effort."
If Armein of all places had shown the sincerity of slamming their heads down so quickly, the Empire had to give them treatment befitting that sincerity.
In short, I had to put on another sky-cleaving performance.
What am I supposed to do about this?
Not doing it was never an option. The process of Armein's surrender would only be complete once their warriors saw an Imperial martial artist cut the sky. If they came all the way to the Imperial Academy and there was no performance at all, they would strongly suspect the Empire had been spreading empty rumors.
Honestly, I would have been suspicious myself. If your own martial artist could cut the sky, you'd be desperate to show him off—yet they kept him tightly hidden? Anyone would find that strange.
So when the Lovens Academy students arrived, I would have to perform world-ending power once again. That was the ideal situation the Crown Prince wanted, the Imperial Academy wanted, Armein wanted—everyone wanted.
…How am I supposed to persuade her?
The only issue was that the mountain I had to climb to achieve that ideal was rather high.
Fortunately the Demon Duke had just finished class and returned, so I carefully opened my mouth. It was easier to win over even one person first than to persuade all four at once. And if the Demon Duke flipped from opposition to support, persuading the other three would become much smoother.
"Absolutely not!"
Of course the answer that came back was absolute.
"Baby, have you forgotten what Mar said? Your body is no longer yours alone."
A firm cry followed by a desperate plea. The perfect control of intensity made me feel like a criminal for even bringing it up. No—I really was a criminal.
"Yes, of course it can be healed. But if the wound disappears, does that mean the injury never happened? And what about the feelings of those of us who have to watch?"
At some point the Demon Duke had taken my hands in hers and continued in a trembling voice.
"Or does it not matter to you if we get hurt, as long as we can be fixed?"
"Of course not."
It was such a terrible question that I hurriedly shook my head. Just as the Demon Duke said, healing a wound did not make the suffering itself as though it had never happened. There was a reason concepts like death from shock even existed.
And that was exactly why this was a problem. The logic was perfect; I had no counterargument. Whether she appealed to reason or emotion, I could not defeat the Demon Duke.
"Still, they're coming all the way from Armein to the Empire. If only out of respect for that sincerity—"
"Did you invite them, baby?"
"Well, no…"
Why on earth would I invite foreign bastards into my own living room? There were already enough people in the same Empire I never wanted to see.
"…It seems my baby has been burdened with something heavy."
After appearing to think for a moment, the Demon Duke murmured in an eerie voice.
The instant I heard those words, goosebumps rose on my skin. Someone of the Demon Duke's experience would know exactly what the Imperial family expected of me. Hearing her speak of "heavy burdens" in that situation, she looked ready to march on the Imperial Palace and overturn the entire place.
Honestly I kind of wanted to see it. The sight of the Crown Prince being seized by the collar and shaken like grain at harvest by the Demon Duke would be quite a spectacle. But a matter significant enough for Armein to bow its head would already have reached the Emperor's ears, and then it would no longer be something that could be solved by simply thrashing the Crown Prince alone. If the Emperor and a duke clashed over something this minor, it would go down as a black mark in Imperial history.
And decisively, I had already been paid. In exchange for putting on airs and clearing my throat at the Academy, I had been excused from disciplinary action. If I suddenly switched positions now with a "I don't wanna do it anymore~," the disciplinary charges would come back with an added "insolence" tax.
Ah.
While desperately turning my brain over, a fairly decent idea struck me.
"So as long as I don't get hurt, it's fine?"
"H-huh?"
The Demon Duke, who had been staring at me with eyes that looked ready to fly straight to the capital after one more word, tilted her head at that.
"Holy arts include physical enhancement, don't they? If I ask Tanian, something can be worked out, right?"
Holy arts were specialized in survival—recovery, enhancement, and the like. In practice, priests focused on strengthening the soldiers before battle and treating them afterward. With the enhancement of the next Saint, Tanian, even a starving commoner would gain the body of a peerless warrior.
"…If the body remains unharmed, then…"
The Demon Duke, her thoughts apparently reaching the same place, spoke in a much softer voice.
Right. If he didn't get hurt, it was simply her future husband displaying his martial prowess—there was no reason to stop him. It would be something to take pride in.
"Enhancement? Of course it is possible."
And during club time, I received Tanian's firm confirmation.
"Enhancement holy arts are learned even before healing. I am actually more confident in enhancement."
"Perfect."
Starting today, I was all-in on Tanian coin.