There Are Two Titles - 5
I couldn’t even manage a reply to the former Imperial Knight Commander’s greeting. If we’d simply crossed paths, we might have exchanged ordinary pleasantries, but I’d run into him at an unexpected time and in an unexpected state.
Why is he here?
I was thoroughly confused. The man had stepped down from the post of Imperial Knight Commander precisely so he could escort the Retired Emperor. He was the sort who had risen to that command through the Retired Emperor’s grace, and so he had cast off the commander’s seat for the sake of the old man’s peaceful twilight years. It was simply more convenient to guard him as a private individual rather than as the commander.
I’d heard that even the current Emperor was not enough of a professional bastard to force a man to stay when he was trying to repay a debt of gratitude, and that the fellow was now serving as the Retired Emperor’s personal guard knight. Yet here he was, chasing chickens instead of guarding anyone.
What in the world is this? Some kind of hidden-camera prank for people entering the Imperial Palace, to give them a laugh?
— Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doo, doo!
Meanwhile the chicken mid-chase let out an even more resounding cry and flapped its wings.
Strange. I’d always known chickens as flightless birds.
It flies pretty well.
Too well. It soared high enough to leap clean over the knight who had been herding it toward the open ground.
Was it a pigeon rather than a chicken? Then again, pigeons fly worse than chickens—no, wait, pigeons can actually fly.
At any rate, after watching the knights get thoroughly toyed with by a single chicken, I carefully started walking again. For any ordinary incident I would have trusted the knights and passed by, but this situation was impossible to ignore. It would be awkward for everyone if the sound of a crowing chicken drifted in while I was facing the Emperor.
“Allow me to help as well.”
I declared my intent to join the former commander and stretched out an arm. At that very moment the chicken that had broken through the encirclement came charging straight at m—
“You must be careful! That is a chicken His Majesty the Retired Emperor raises himself!”
I froze with my arm still extended.
A chicken the Retired Emperor raises?
The moment I heard the former commander’s words, the entire bizarre scene made sense. There was a reason the knights were floundering over a mere chicken.
This was no ordinary bird—it was one personally raised by the Retired Emperor himself. If we mishandled it and something broke or burst, we would never be able to lift our heads in the old man’s presence. Of course the Retired Emperor was not the sort to fly into a rage over a single chicken, but smashing the peaceful retirement of an elder who had devoted decades to the Empire would still be unforgivable.
The chicken with its crest fluttering darted right between my legs, yet I still could not move. What if I grabbed it too hard and it burst?
Does that put it above me, then?
The question rose unbidden. A pet chicken personally raised by the Retired Emperor, one that had the knights fretting and sweating—could such a creature even be regarded as a mere animal? Perhaps it outranked me, an Imperial Count.
There were thirty Imperial Counts, after all, but this chicken was one of a kind. An irreplaceable, unique existence that nothing else could replace.
…
Yep. Definitely my superior.
I finished my tearful moment of self-objectification. That rooster of an Excellency was indeed a more precious personage than I.
“Th-that thing is heading for the Empress’s Palace!”
While I was still wondering whether the proper thing might simply be to leave the noble personage alone if he wished to tour the Imperial Palace, one of the knights cried out in a desperate voice.
At that shout the other knights’ expressions changed at once.
“After it! If you can’t catch it, block it with your own bodies!”
Even the former commander’s face twisted fiercely as he broke into a run.
Strange. The chicken had already been treating the Imperial Palace like its own backyard; entering the Empress’s Palace shouldn’t make much difference. Besides, the Empress’s temperament was such that she could laugh off a little mishap like this, and the Crown Princess was…
Oh, fuck.
The instant my thoughts reached the Crown Princess I started running alongside the former commander. It would have been fine if only the Empress were there, but the Empress’s Palace still housed the Crown Princess, who was still in her babbling stage. A tiny infant whose immunity was so fragile that even human visitors had to be carefully managed.
If—just if—the chicken burst into the Empress’s Palace and anything happened to the Crown Princess’s health, every single one of us would lose our heads. Even the most composed Empress would show her wrath, and the Retired Emperor would toss us into the oil together with the chicken.
So we ran like madmen. The moment that bastard set foot in the Empress’s Palace it would stop being His Excellency the Rooster and become a chicken nugget.
Fortunately we managed to conclude the capture operation before His Excellency the Rooster was demoted to nugget status. A few of His Excellency’s feathers came out in the process, but nothing was injured.
The knights themselves were a mess from rolling across the ground, but I decided to erase that from memory. This incident was mutual blackmail material; we all needed a little consideration.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Your Excellency. Thanks to you we were able to catch it safely.”
“I’m glad I was of some help.”
I nodded awkwardly at the former commander’s bitter smile. Honestly, receiving thanks for something like this was embarrassing enough on its own.
“He’s usually quite well-behaved in front of His Majesty the Retired Emperor, but the moment His Majesty steps away he starts causing every kind of trouble.”
Noticing my sour gaze, the former commander offered an awkward smile and an extra explanation.
Not exactly information I wanted. It just meant we’d gone through all this hell because of a beast that only knew its master.
You little chicken bastard.
I looked down at the chicken flapping in the former commander’s grip. Did it hold itself back only because it knew that throwing a fit in front of its master would mean a one-way ticket to the pot? It was practically a criminal mastermind.
“Last time it even picked a fight with a cow…”
At the former commander’s drained mutter I quietly closed my eyes.
A chicken picking a fight with a cow, and the fact that there was a cow in the Imperial Palace to begin with—both were things I found hard to understand.
What is this even…
I felt my sanity slipping. The man had been so strict and cold-blooded during his reign as Emperor, yet the moment he became the Retired Emperor he was filming Animal Farm inside the Imperial Palace.
Objectively it was pure eccentricity, yet I forced down any complaint. If the current Emperor brat had caused this kind of chaos I would have unleashed a double stream of curses, but if it was the Retired Emperor then there had to be some reason for it.
…Living close to nature is important too.
Yes. In truth the Retired Emperor had probably prepared a natural space for the Crown Princess. He had simply provided animal friends for a little girl who would otherwise spend her days in the tedious Imperial Palace.
I decided to think of it that way.
While I was handling paperwork, Sir Hendrick’s voice reached me from outside the door.
“Your Majesty, the Count of Tailglehen has arrived.”
At those words I glanced at the clock without thinking. It had been quite some time since the Imperial Knight Commander at the main gate reported that the Minister of the Inspectorate had passed through. No matter how far the main gate was from the Hall of the Sun, he was only arriving now?
Strange. The commander would never have made a false report, and the Minister was not the type to dawdle.
“Admit him.”
After a brief moment of thought I spoke. It was odd, but I could simply hear the reason from the man himself.
Besides, Sir Hendrick’s voice was perfectly calm, so I felt no sense of crisis. Ever since becoming vice-commander of the Imperial Knights he had grown even more diligent in his duties. If he had sensed anything off about the Minister he would have reacted long ago.
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor. This servant who has received the grace of the Imperial House, Karl Crassius of Tailglehen of the House of Crassius, presents himself before the Sun of the Empire.”
The door opened and the Minister entered—
complete with a full name that had changed overnight.
Tailglehen, is it.
A soft laugh escaped me. The Minister was no longer a mere heir but the Imperial Count himself. He had become, in name and fact, the Emperor’s limb and a direct vassal.
A pleasant thought. To hang the name of Imperial Count on a Minister who already devoted himself to the Imperial House and the Empire—was that not a fated name that meant he would have to work himself to death?
“I have been waiting for my Count to arrive.”
I rose from my seat after gazing with satisfaction at the Minister who was still on one knee. Since he was visiting not as Minister of the Inspectorate but as the Count of Tailglehen, I gladly addressed him as Count.
At that careful consideration I saw the Minister’s body give a little start. He must have been moved.
“Rise.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I patted the shoulder of the Minister as he carefully stood. For some reason I kept smiling.
“You did not manage to become the youngest Imperial Count. A pity.”
“…I am merely grateful that I was able to avoid an honor far beyond my station.”
I simply nodded at the answer that sounded as if he were gritting his teeth. In truth the honor had already struck him full force the moment he became the youngest bureau director and then the youngest minister, but since the Minister seemed to feel grateful I decided not to point it out.
A man needs small happinesses if he is to keep living. Shattering those small things would be improper.
“Wilhelm Crassius, the previous Count of Tailglehen, devoted his loyalty to the Empire.”
At those words the Minister’s aura softened somewhat. It was both the Emperor’s formal recognition of the succession of an Imperial Count’s title and praise for his own father.
“Wilhelm Crassius devoted himself to the Imperial House and the Empire even from the days of his heirship, and upon becoming Imperial Count he rendered countless meritorious services, including serving in two wars. That is why His Majesty the Retired Emperor also held Wilhelm Crassius in particular favor.”
These were no mere ceremonial words. The Retired Emperor had trusted the Imperial Counts, and among them he had paid special attention to the previous Count of Tailglehen.
He had been fond of the Crassius family’s characteristic silent loyalty, and Wilhelm Crassius’s personal abilities had been outstanding as well—yet the greatest merit had been sending the Minister into the civil service rather than the Academy.
If the Minister had gone to the Academy, the history of the Empire would have taken a far less pleasant turn. That much was obvious.
“It is regrettable that a loyal subject so favored by His Majesty the Retired Emperor should step down, yet We can smile. For the heir who has inherited the will of the previous generation shall assist Us—how could We grieve?”
“Your words are too gracious, Your Majesty.”
I patted the Minister’s shoulder again as he bowed with formal courtesy.
“Therefore We, respecting the will of the House of Crassius that received the name of Imperial Count from Eimanka II, hereby recognize that the Countship of Tailglehen has been succeeded by Karl Crassius of Tailglehen. Henceforth Karl Crassius of Tailglehen shall be the head of the House of Crassius and a rightful member of the Imperial Diet—and We expect unchanging loyalty toward the Imperial House.”
“I shall never forget the heavy grace the Imperial House bestowed upon my ancestors, and I shall devote eternal loyalty.”
With those words the formal succession of the Imperial Count was complete.
It had been a purely ceremonial procedure from the start, so there was no need to drag it out. It existed only to emphasize the bond between Emperor and Imperial Count; there was no reason for complexity.
And what mattered now was something else entirely.
“By the way, Count.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Command me.”
“Did something happen on your way here?”
Asking why he had been late was more important than the fact that his titles had increased.
“That is—”
At the firm, precise question the Minister’s eyes flicked left and right for a moment, but he soon opened his mouth.
“On the way I discovered a chicken raised by His Majesty the Retired Emperor, and I was delayed returning it to where it belonged.”
Ah.
I more or less understood what he had gone through.
So that was it. The Minister had met a chicken.
I met a horse.
A few days earlier, while strolling through the Imperial Palace, I had come face-to-face with a black horse. It had been large and glossy, clearly raised with affection by the Retired Emperor. How it had gotten out of the stables I still had no idea.
“You will have to get used to it from now on.”
At my dry reply the Minister simply nodded in silence.
We could not roughly pen up the creatures His Majesty the Retired Emperor raised himself; we would simply have to be careful on our own.