I Didn't Mean for Them to Come to My House - 1
Among the Empire's administrative departments, the Ministry of Palace Affairs proudly holds the top rank. It handles the Imperial family's affairs and serves as their secretaries—if it weren't first, that would be stranger still.
If the Emperor ever tried elevating another department to first place, everyone would storm the Imperial Palace and bang their heads on the floor begging him to rescind the order. The prestige of the Ministry of Palace Affairs is directly tied to the Imperial family's authority, so it would only ever be a loyalty-test show.
And precisely because of that prestige and authority, anyone not belonging to the Ministry of Palace Affairs utterly dreads setting foot in its building. The Emperor personally praises good work, but when something goes wrong he thrills in thrashing people through the Ministry of Palace Affairs.
I ended up coming anyway.
Yet here I was at the Ministry of Palace Affairs. Thankfully I hadn't come to be beaten for riling the Emperor, but I had only barely avoided the absolute worst. I was about to be roasted alive by everyone under the Emperor.
A quick glance around the building revealed several dazzling carriages—the ones the ministers of each department rode. The number of them looked ominous. Was I the last to arrive?
Damn it.
Those heavy-assed gentlemen had moved with unusual speed because the Crown Prince was involved. There were still a full thirty minutes until the meeting; I never expected them to gather this early.
I hurried into the building, and someone attached himself to me as if he had been waiting.
"I shall escort you."
"Has everyone arrived?"
"His Highness the Crown Prince has not yet come."
That was a small mercy. Better to be branded the department chief who arrived later than the ministers than the subject who arrived later than the Crown Prince.
"This way."
Guided along, I arrived at the grand conference room. It was an enormous space for a gathering of a little more than ten people, yet considering the titles of every single person who would sit here, the scale made perfect sense.
I drew a quiet breath and knocked on the door of the grand conference room. The moment I stepped through, I would plummet to the status of weakest creature present.
Knock knock.
"The Audit Department Chief."
"Enter."
At the Palace Affairs Minister's reply I carefully opened the door. Instantly nine pairs of eyes locked onto me.
Ordinary welcoming gazes, completely indifferent ones, openly displeased ones, exhausted ones worn thin by fatigue. The high-ranking gentlemen greeting me with every possible shade of look already made my head spin.
"So the Audit Department Chief has arrived."
A wrinkled, white-haired old man adjusted his glasses and spoke. He was an elder of Imperial politics who held the mayorship of the capital, Ausen.
"I thought you would be unable to come while on assignment, yet here you are."
"How could I absent myself from a gathering that discusses a matter of such weight?"
"You failed to appear until the very end, so I assumed you were not attending."
The mayor snorted softly; his eyes brimmed with open irritation. He was a man who had spent his entire life as the Imperial family's hands and feet in politics, only to receive the mayorship so he might enjoy a comfortable old age. Being suddenly dragged into a meeting like this was bound to sour his mood.
"Haha, was the Audit Department Chief not stationed farthest away? He must have hurried as best he could."
At the Foreign Affairs Minister's defense the mayor gave a small nod. He had only been venting irritation, not truly assigning blame.
"Quite right. I failed to consider that. My apologies, Audit Department Chief."
"It's perfectly fine."
With that the mayor closed his eyes and slightly bowed his head. Was he falling asleep? I'm sorry, elder. You look thoroughly exhausted, and I am the reason you were forced to come.
"Don't just stand there—sit."
"Ah, yes."
At the Palace Affairs Minister's gesture after he had quietly watched the elder's grumbling, I took the seat at the very end of the table. When I offered a greeting to the Land Affairs Minister beside me, he merely nodded with that same unreadable face he always wore.
"Well then, Audit Department Chief. How was life at the Academy?"
Roughly thirty minutes remained until the meeting. The Crown Prince would arrive with clockwork precision, so nearly ten people would have to sit in silence until then. Whether to break the awkwardness or simply to share information about the outsider among them, the Foreign Affairs Minister shattered the quiet.
"It was an unforgettable time."
"Interesting choice of words."
"He was essentially a preschooler, was he not? He must have seen things he had never seen before, so of course it would be unforgettable."
"Pffft—"
The Home Affairs Minister burst into laughter at the dry remark, then clamped his mouth shut again. When I glanced over, he was pretending innocence, but that voice had definitely been his.
"Oh my, one could certainly think of it that way."
The Foreign Affairs Minister's light smile made something in my chest ache. What exactly was there to "think of that way"?
"Don't go too far with that."
Thankfully a beautiful conscience still existed to rein the two ministers in.
"A short education is no crime."
Nope. Even more of a bastard.
At the Justice Minister's words the Home Affairs Minister began shaking his shoulders with laughter.
Yet because my own share in the convening of this meeting was far from small, I simply kept my mouth shut. They could not hold me responsible, but I was undeniably the trigger.
Bastards.
These were people who already spent their days crushed under tedious, exhausting work. It was almost impressive how unerringly they seized any chance to legally mock and roast someone.
Thirty minutes later the door of the grand conference room opened, and every person already seated rose and bowed at the waist. There was no question who had entered.
"It's fine—everyone sit."
Before any of the ministers could open their mouths, the Crown Prince waved a hand and took the seat of honor. At the sight of him skipping formal greetings, the ministers exchanged glances and quietly sat again.
"I apologize for summoning you all when you are busy with your duties. An unforeseen matter has arisen."
"This too is for the Empire—how could we speak of busyness?"
"I am always satisfied by the Palace Affairs Minister's loyalty."
The Crown Prince nodded, seemed to think of something, and spoke again.
"Three, you said?"
"Yes. Prince Ryutis Lovens, Prince Later Ostia, and Tanian Enes."
"Ainter has made excellent friends."
The Crown Prince smiled as he said it, and an awkward silence immediately settled over the room. Coming from the man who had erased Ainter's full-blood brother, the words sent a chill down the spine.
"Audit Department Chief."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Is Ainter doing well?"
"He is diligent in his studies, yet he is reluctant to move his body, which concerns me."
"Oh dear. If he never moves he will only grow dull."
That was enough. The answer meaning He is not doing anything strange the way he did when you kept him under surveillance at the Palace seemed to satisfy the Crown Prince, and he closed the topic. In truth Ainter was completely innocent of the present affair and more of a victim than I was.
He lived in the capital, so of course he returned there during breaks—yet suddenly foreign princes were coming to the capital as well? Traveling to other regions for fun could still be claimed as club activities, but all of them heading to the capital together could look like a performance of "Succeeding You, Brother" aimed squarely at the Crown Prince.
Thanks to that, Ainter's words had dwindled sharply of late. To oppose the capital trip he would have had to mention the Crown Prince's butcher-knife state of mind, yet he could hardly speak of the Imperial family's shame to outsiders. A truly pitiful situation.
"I have spoken too privately in front of you all. My apologies."
"Knowing that the affection Your Highness shows the Third Prince also extends to all your subjects, how could such words ever be called an apology?"
Wow.
I was genuinely impressed. A tongue of that caliber was apparently required to serve as minister of the Ministry of Palace Affairs. How did anyone produce such a line in this situation? As expected of the man who bridged the administration and the Imperial family—his eloquence was extraordinary.
"We have chatted long enough. Well then, let us begin."
Satisfied, the Crown Prince declared the meeting open.
Discussion of the rough framework went back and forth. The finer details could be tossed to the working-level staff once the ministers returned to their departments. A minister could not micromanage every last thing from start to finish.
Here they simply adjusted which department would handle which tasks and roughly how large each responsibility would be. Escort troops and a military band needed to enter the capital; clogged capital roads would be a disaster. Decorating the path for the visitors with an insufficient budget would be equally troublesome. Coordinating now prevented those headaches later.
"That does not appear to be our department's work."
"That would be for the Home Affairs Minister to know, not me."
"Is this not the War Ministry's responsibility?"
Even now, words that made one's ears tire simply from listening flew back and forth.
While the ministers of each department and the capital mayor put their heads together and reported to the Crown Prince, there was exactly one thing for me to do.
It splits again right here.
I was observing the pattern of the table grain.
Well, I was not a minister—merely a department chief. What speaking rights did I possess? My direct superior was already engaged in a full-throated budget fight with the other ministers.
Moreover, the Audit Department had even less it could contribute to the protocol for foreign dignitaries. I had been dragged here not to offer opinions but because I was the starting point of the whole affair—so I was simply to hold my seat.
I am Groot…
I was nothing more than a civil servant who had come running because the higher-ups had summoned me.
"But will they continue staying at the Academy?"
While I stared at the table pattern, the word "Academy" caught my ear and my gaze flicked that way. The Home Affairs Minister was stroking his chin as though the matter were a genuine headache.
"With the break, escort forces will inevitably decrease. Is it truly wise to have them remain at the Academy?"
"That is true. The number of people requiring protection has decreased accordingly, yet the anxiety cannot be helped."
The War Minister took up the Home Affairs Minister's concern. People who had been expected to return home had instead remained at the Academy, forcing a complete reworking of the forces that would guard the Academy during the break. For the War Minister it was bothersome and unsettling at once.
"There is no need for them to stay at the Academy."
Just as the War Minister prepared to raise the reorganization of escort forces, the Crown Prince offered a different thought.
"If they are coming to the capital anyway, would it not be better for them to remain in the capital during the break?"
At the sudden mention of the capital, the mayor's pupils trembled for a moment behind his glasses.
"Security goes without saying, and travel would be far more convenient using the capital's teleport magic circles."
"Your words are most correct."
The Palace Affairs Minister, who had been watching the mayor's expression, finally voiced support for the Crown Prince's opinion. In truth the words were not wrong. Staying in the capital was far safer than remaining in Academy dormitories whose escort forces had been reduced for the break season.
From the foreign visitors' stated purpose of touring the Empire, the capital—linked by teleport circles to nearly every major city—was also far more convenient than the Academy. Nothing about the suggestion was incorrect.
"We shall prepare accommodations for the distinguished guests."
"There is no need. When they first arrive in the capital we must of course greet them as hosts, yet confining guests who wish to enjoy a journey to some deep inner place would be a bother for both sides."
The Imperial Palace did possess rooms for receiving dignitaries. When the Palace Affairs Minister offered to prepare several of them, the Crown Prince shook his head and turned his gaze toward me.
"Audit Department Chief. You were the advisor of the club to which those distinguished guests belong."
"Yes—yes, that is correct."
What? What was he about to say?
"If memory serves, the capital holds not only the Crassius Count family's mansion but also the Audit Department Chief's personal residence."
"Yes?"
What on earth was he saying right now…?
"From the distinguished guests' perspective as well, the familiar residence of the Audit Department Chief would be preferable to the Imperial Palace, would it not?"
That is quite enough of that nonsense, Crown Prince.
No, seriously—what absolute garbage was this? Even if this world was based on a romance fantasy original, this crossed every line. Why would anyone put royalty in my house?
"Indeed a brilliant idea."
The Palace Affairs Minister's words made my teeth grind. Brilliant? What part of that was brilliant?