Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 275
Chapter Title: Council (1)
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Lazy days were passing, days that some might call the calm before the storm, while others might hail as the peace that had finally arrived. For everyone except a tiny handful—ones who never showed their faces in the light of day—these were tranquil times.
And among the beneficiaries of those tranquil days was Renee Philippa de Carvelier. Even the nobles now referred to as the Carvelier Archduke or the Libye Elector were included.
“Boring!”
“Shall we take a stroll, Your Highness?”
“Strolls are boring too!”
Having perfectly secured the loyalty of the greatsword nobles and solidified her position as the next Archduke within their ranks, she simply couldn’t get used to these past few weeks of peace.
Ever since she had left Libye, every moment had been on the battlefield. Blood and gore certainly left their scars as trauma, but events intense enough to cause trauma had a way of raising one’s threshold for stimulation.
Thus, she was suffering from an unprecedented boredom.
She would idly strap on her sword and test her swordsmanship...
“Perfect swordsmanship, Your Highness!”
“Ooooh! The very picture of a knight... no! A knightly princess!”
“...Isn’t ‘knightly princess’ a bit weird?”
“Knightly Duchess! Yes, a knightly Duchess! The form of a knight-duke!!”
Ever since her inauguration speech, her retainers had become less like vassals and more like devoted followers. The anxiety that had taken root in their hearts stemmed from fears of serving a lord inferior to Erbe and tarnishing their own honor.
But they had been captivated by the charisma of this new sovereign, who openly acknowledged her shortcomings yet stood tall with unyielding pride.
“Enough! Does this even look like proper swordsmanship to you?”
“Even if Sir Shrike himself appeared, it’d be a draw! No... you’d have the edge by three moves!”
“The empire’s greatest sword!!”
She had grown sick of whacking straw dummies with a wooden sword. Yet she had no desire to draw steel either. She was keenly aware of her position and thus avoided sparring with proper knights. To begin with, the sword wasn’t her weapon.
Aside from the basic training expected of an eldest daughter of a martial house, she excelled more with the pen than the blade. And with her tongue.
Having poured all her talents into rhetoric and politics, these days when she couldn’t wield either were unbearably dull.
“Where’s Sir Fernin?”
“Uh... well... um. Your Highness?”
“What?”
“Perhaps... reconsider seeking out Sir Fernin directly...”
Her retainers wore awkward expressions as they tried to dissuade her. Renee furrowed her brow slightly, and they hurriedly continued.
“Sir Fernin... he’s quite busy.”
“Oh, so there’s a busy noble in our manor! How surprising. Why aren’t you all busy, hmm?”
“Uh... Sir Fernin told us not to do anything...”
“Since when have you been his hands and feet!”
“Well... uh... Sir Fernin and Your Highness are to wed soon... so in a sense, he’ll be family to Carvelier... um. It’s not entirely unreasonable...”
The knight fumbled through his excuse. Renee fought to suppress the twitch at the corner of her mouth. Marriage. Yes, it was all but certain now.
The day the Elector Council ended and the Pope personally visited the capital to bless the throne would also be her wedding day.
Fernandez taking control of her retainers? All the better. They were a shared destiny anyway. If both of them solidified the vassals’ support, it would only bolster her own influence.
And his authority deserved recognition, of course. While the previous king was absent, he had rallied the retainers, seized Paltenoia, swallowed up Buran with virtually no losses, and even succeeded in assassinating the emperor.
Seen narrowly, he was an assassin. But broadly, a healer. He had avenged the previous king and protected the capital from the devil’s clutches.
“Phew. Heh heh heh. Yes, quite so. Fine. But escort me!”
“Pardon?”
“How can a husband and wife go so long without seeing each other? Come on, to Sir Fernin’s office!”
Before the knights could stop her, Renee strode out of the courtyard. The knights followed with flustered expressions.
* * *
At that very moment, one of the tiny few in the capital enduring anything but peaceful days—Fernandez Cerned was buried under a pile of reports.
-Damn it. Why the hell did you sign that one!
‘Ah, sleepy. My mistake. I’ll rewrite it.’
Forcing his half-lidded eyes open, Fernandez shredded the document he had just stamped. With a flick of his wrist, it burned cleanly to ash, scattering into the air.
-We shouldn’t have sent that archangel bitch. One hand short at a critical time...
‘No. Everys needs to build ties with the Zephys brothers.’
‘Even if that woman tries her hardest, do you think the Demonica will fall for her temptations?’
‘Effort is what matters most. We weren’t grand archmages from the start either.’
-When did you get so understanding, Fernandez?
Ignoring Feizashi’s snide remark, he rifled through more papers. That was when the office door burst open with a bang. Footsteps, stride, presence. Thanks to his Demonica senses and his own mastery, he identified the intruder without turning around.
“Carvelier Duchess. Knocking is a noble’s virtue.”
“Isn’t standing on ceremony with family a bit much?”
“Etiquette and manners are all the more precious between family. You lose points for that.”
“I’ve racked up about three thousand points already, so ten points off is within margin of error, right?”
Grinning cheekily, Renee skirted the tower of reports and sat across from him. Fernandez set down his pen and rubbed his eyes.
“When was your last sleep?”
“Five days ago.”
“Five days...?! How are you even alive?”
“Probably because I’m Demonica. Honestly, I’m not even sure if I am alive.”
He lifted his teacup and took a sip of the cold tea. Renee grabbed a cup from the cabinet and tilted his teapot. The moment cold tea water touched her lips, she coughed violently.
“What the hell is this...?!”
“Manville herb tea. Well... less ‘tea’ and more like a herb concentrate steeped extra strong. Excellent awakening effect, so no sleep for you tonight either.”
“Isn’t that a controlled substance?”
“According to the Imperial Foodstuffs Edict, no.”
“If I become empress, I’ll designate it a banned drug. It’s truly awful.”
Not the awakening effect chasing sleep away, but the horrific taste jolting her awake. Renee stuck out her tongue in distaste and eyed Fernandez. Unfazed, he sipped his tea and picked up another report.
“So, I’m still busy. What is it?”
“You’re not mad?”
“My anger is functional.”
Renee blinked blankly, mulling over his words. Was that mad or not mad?
Noting her expression, Fernandez chuckled softly.
“I must’ve mumbled in my sleep. Speak. I don’t get angry when it’s unnecessary.”
“Uh... um. Wanna go out?”
“Refused.”
Fernandez cut her off flatly and reached for his pen again. Renee, who had braced for a “why” or “where,” panicked.
“No follow-up questions? Like ‘why so sudden,’ ‘can’t you see I’m busy,’ ‘what do you have in mind’? This was basically a date invite, you know.”
“Why: boredom. Busy: obvious, which is why you asked so cautiously. Where and what: from someone who can’t leave Paltenoia, the options are just the capital streets, and strolling them does me no good.”
Unless he slept instead, perhaps. Fernandez stated bluntly. Renee looked flustered, then grinned mischievously.
“Haha, wrong on one count! Not Paltenoia city streets!”
“Then it’s not refusal—it’s veto. You mustn’t step beyond the capital gates.”
“No! We do need to leave the gates... but there’s a good reason!”
“...?”
“The Asias High Council is visiting! Come on! Aren’t you curious?”
Fernandez set down his pen and looked at Renee. The Asias High Council? Why come to Paltenoia at this time?
-The emperor’s death? That was more a magical issue than political.
‘If that’s the reason, it means they traced the aftereffects of my spell, which is impossible.’
-Aren’t you curious anyway? Let’s go see.
‘Busy.’
-You’re no longer just a mage or whatever. How can you miss the High Council in their prime? I can’t forgive that.
The High Council had long fallen by the time Feizashi was active. Roughly twenty to thirty years from now, by his estimate.
Thus, Feizashi had never seen their sky towers. He’d examined their fragmented relics and ruins, but those were mere echoes of their glorious days.
What a shame. Especially recalling how a single mage who mastered but a fragment of Asias’s secrets rose to lead the Bronze Scales and terrorize the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance.
“Hm...”
“Curious, right? Wanna go see, right? Huh?”
“Very well. Not a bad idea.”
Of course, curiosity alone wouldn’t suffice. Fernandez quickly finished his reports and closed his ledger. He eyed Renee, whose eyes sparkled.
‘A magic order that declared political neutrality and wanders the nation, meeting the frontrunning heir who’s stayed silent till now... Depending on the rumors, very useful.’
-And you get to meet those esteemed High Councilors in the flesh. Two birds with one stone.
‘Feizashi. Come to think of it, you said that back then.’
After slaying the emperor, half-dead and bedridden for a time. Fernandez had asked Feizashi.
What level is my current state?
* * *
‘Excluding blessings and magic, where do I stand in the past hierarchy, based purely on martial prowess?’
-Fairn’s Griffin Master Rion, Daine’s Vicente II, Erik the Black, Great Khan Karadskar, Al’Hashir of Kirjat, Great Chieftain Hearttaker, Patrick of the Skies, Zigmund of Blason, the Order of St. John’s pilgrimage knights...
‘I’ve reached that level?’
Every name Feizashi listed was a hero of humanity on the brink of the end times. In other words, great heroes from when human civilization’s potential peaked, burning its final brilliant flames.
Naturally, they were at least a step and a half stronger than any heroes of this era.
-No. Listen to the end. You could handle the tier below those guys, roughly.
‘Using blessings and relics to full effect?’
-Then even those ones become manageable.
‘What if I use magic too?’
-Your magic’s unstable. To reach our prime, you’d have to abandon most bodily functions. But assuming precise support in combat...
From records and surviving research alone, Asias’s last Grand Chair Ascanio Zuplinburg.
-That level, or perhaps a great warrior directly blessed by an archdemon would be a match.
‘What about Darian?’
-Darian Shrike? Prime Darian Shrike? Haha, funny joke. He’s off the charts. Cloaked head to toe in archdemon blessings, magic fully restored, sword in hand—then maybe we could measure up again.
* * *
Recalling Feizashi’s cackling voice snapped Fernandez from his reverie. He felt a strange thrill in his chest.
‘Oh, Feizashi. Check this out.’
-What?
‘Guess I really have drifted from being a mage. Hit with an utterly irrational emotion.’
-...Bit sudden now, but what is it?
‘Competitive spirit.’
The Asias High Council. Their final Grand Chair... Fernandez grinned wolfishly and cracked his knuckles.
“Let’s take that walk.”
“Yay!”
Whatever it meant, Renee beamed brightly and dashed out of the room.