The Disciple Handled It Quickly
The position of Crown Prince still sat vacant.
Though the First Prince was the eldest son, his relationship with the Emperor was abysmal. Even so, as the child of the Empress and backed by a powerful maternal family, he remained by any measure the closest to the throne. Even the high nobility supported him.
Their support, however, stemmed partly from resentment toward the Emperor, who had used the Imperial Reaper to pressure them from the shadows. Fear of the Reaper forced them to watch the Imperial Family carefully—but doing nothing at all was equally impossible, so they threw their weight behind the First Prince, the son the Emperor despised. Of course, the fact that he had been born of a high-noble Empress with a formidable maternal house as his pillar of support weighed heavily in their calculations as well.
Above all, the Second Prince—whom the Emperor privately wished to place on the throne—had been born to a low-ranking provincial noble consort, and his capacity for leadership left much to be desired. He had no powerful maternal family to shore up his claim, and neither his reputation nor his abilities could be called impressive. The Emperor's desire to make him Crown Prince had less to do with any quality he admired in the boy and everything to do with the simple expectation that he would obey.
Yes—the Emperor had not the slightest intention of relinquishing power, even if it meant becoming a doddering old man in the back rooms of the palace. He wanted to grip and wield authority until the very moment of his death. It was precisely the sort of thing one would expect from a man who, for the sake of his own safety, thought nothing of sacrificing children under the grand title of Hero Candidates.
But the First Prince did not find his present situation particularly bad.
"Emperor, huh… Honestly, I have no real ambition for it."
He had never once dreamed of becoming Emperor. His mother the Empress, his maternal grandfather, everyone around him had told him he must take the throne—yet he had never harbored any genuine desire for it.
Had he been born into a noble house rather than the Imperial Family, he was certain he would have become a writer. Studying culture and history had always been far more interesting and enjoyable than the lessons in statecraft. Those hours spent learning the art of rulership had been nothing but tedium to him. He wanted to be an author. Even if he never made any real money, even if he were dismissed as a third-rate scribbler, he wanted to live expressing what lived in his heart through the written word. He had sincerely wished for that.
But he knew it was an extravagant dream for someone in his position.
Objectively speaking, it was clear that his becoming Emperor would be better for the Empire's future.
That boy is impossible. He'd be nothing more than the Emperor's puppet.
The First Prince knew the Second Prince better than anyone.
The boy simply did not have the makings of a leader. No—at his core, he was much like the First Prince himself. Had he not been born into the Imperial Family, he might have lived doing something he actually loved. But he had been born into the palace, and under power-hungry parents at that. The Emperor wanted him as an eternal puppet; the Consort, for her part, insisted he take the throne regardless. No child could endure that. He had always been delicate and sensitive. Without talent, crushed by the pressure of those around him, he could only ruin even the things he might otherwise have managed. And every time he failed, the Emperor would say, "Just do as I tell you," dismantling the boy's personality piece by piece, while the Consort—who ought to have protected him—applauded in agreement.
Would sitting on the throne change any of that? Of course not. The moment he took the seat, even escape would become impossible. Therefore, the First Prince had to become Emperor—for the Empire's future, for the Second Prince's sake, and for his own. If the Second Prince ascended, the Emperor and Consort would never leave the greatest threat to their power—himself—alone. And whatever they did would be nothing so mild or presentable as exile.
Yes.
He had to become Emperor simply to survive.
He knew that much.
And yet…
Even if I become Emperor, nothing will really change…
The Emperor would never name him Crown Prince. If he had ever intended to, he would have done so long ago. The fact that he had not was a clear declaration that he would not cede even a scrap of power to the First Prince, who would never become his puppet.
In the end, if he wanted the throne, the only path left was to don a blood-soaked crown.
Just as had so often happened throughout the Empire's history.
He would succeed.
There would be those who complained that he had crowned himself in blood, but he had any number of methods for silencing such voices. He would stabilize the realm in an instant and rule as Emperor.
Yes. If he simply made up his mind, if he simply steeled himself, he could take that seat whenever he wished. This was no arrogance. It was the Emperor's own karma—the poison the man had brewed by trampling everything with the dagger called the Imperial Reaper. That poison was ready to burst and turn on its maker at any moment. All the First Prince had to do was use it. Cause and effect. Justice taking its course.
He knew full well that everything would unfold according to his will, according to his calculations.
But even so, nothing changed.
The absolute truth that the crown on his head would be stained with his family's blood would never change.
Yes.
He had not steeled himself. He had never lived a life oriented toward power, nor had he ever wanted one. He had simply fulfilled his duties as First Prince because, objectively speaking, it was the right thing to do. And by that same objective measure, walking a path of blood by harming his own family with his own hands was also the right thing to do.
Objectively speaking, it is justified. How beautiful those words sounded. How reasonable.
But there was no feeling in them. All that remained was a coward who watched others' faces, bowed his head, and followed along.
He knew.
He was no different from the Second Prince.
He was merely better at reading the room and a little more flexible. At his core, he was no different from that boy at all.
The First Prince was not unaware of this fact.
Would his sitting on the Emperor's throne truly serve the Empire?
"You look like a man with a lot on his mind."
A sudden voice reached him. When the First Prince raised his head, someone was sitting in the seat across from him—a seat that should have been empty. A girl. A silver-haired girl. She looked almost like a ghost, yet he could tell without difficulty that she was a living being.
"……"
"Oh? Not startled?"
"I've never lived a life peaceful enough to show it when I'm surprised. If you were hoping for a reaction, I apologize."
"You're using formal speech with me? As if you already know who I am?"
Silver hair that seemed to hold moonlight. Eyes like amethysts set in place. Beauty so absolute it would not have been strange for her to have already made countless men weep. The moment you saw her, you knew.
The figure currently shaking the Empire to its foundations with her name alone—
"You are Hero Candidate Sera, are you not?"
"Hmm. You know, and still use formal speech? The Emperor may have slapped on the grand title of Hero Candidate, but at the end of the day I'm an orphan with no parents. To people who obsess over bloodlines, I'm little better than a mongrel, aren't I?"
"Their thoughts and mine differ. Regardless of status, the people are a precious treasure to the Empire—without them, the Empire cannot endure. Above all, every Hero Candidate is a precious soul who will fight for the Empire's future. Even as a member of the Imperial Family, showing you due respect is only natural."
"No need to dress up your apology and pity for failing to stop the Emperor's nonsense in such grand language."
"……"
The First Prince found himself at a loss for words. Not because he was shocked that someone would speak so freely to a man standing nearest the seat of supreme power.
It was the instinct of a coward who had spent his life reading the room that was screaming at him.
If he misspoke—
he could die right here.
"Why do you think I showed up?"
"Has His Majesty made a mistake?"
"Sharp. He dared to kidnap my master and try to pull some scheme. A mere Emperor."
The First Prince had never in his life heard anyone speak of the Emperor that way. Even his own mother, the Empress—who resented the Emperor more than anyone and would gladly have poisoned him herself if she could—had never called him "a mere" anything.
But the First Prince understood.
The girl before him, Hero Candidate Sera, was more than capable of speaking that way. Even if the Imperial Family's core forces all turned out, they probably could not stop her…
The fact that she infiltrated like this and no one detected her says everything…
The Imperial Palace was supposed to be impregnable. Its security was so airtight that superhumans handled the guard duty. And yet here she sat, completely at ease, and not a single person had noticed. The meaning was simple. There was no explanation other than that this girl's power existed on an entirely different plane.
"May I ask, then, what your appearance before me means?"
"When the person who's supposed to take out the trash keeps failing to do it, and pointless messes keep piling up as a result, isn't it only natural to go find the one who's supposed to clean house?"
In other words: strike the Emperor now and take the throne.
The First Prince swallowed involuntarily. He had heard the argument that he should become Emperor in any number of forms—but he had never imagined being told You, become Emperor quite like this.
"First, regarding the wrongs His Majesty has committed—"
"Spare me the useless talk. Are you going to clean up the trash or not?"
"…And if I say I cannot?"
"I'll just change the Imperial Family's name a bit."
Meaning she would wipe out the current Imperial line entirely and establish a new one.
"…Is that even possible?"
"It'd take some time, but it's not like I couldn't. Even if I don't lift a finger myself, just exposing everything the Imperial Family has done behind the scenes would bring out plenty of people ready to topple the Empire on their own."
"Then why don't you?"
"A world made by people ends up more or less the same no matter what. More importantly, with the Demon King's army liable to threaten the world at any moment, I don't have time for the leisurely business of tearing something down and building it back up."
She spoke as if she had toppled Imperial Families and raised new ones any number of times—as if she were speaking from experience. It was absurd, yet that was how it felt to the First Prince.
"Looking at the situation and the conditions from every angle, it's objectively clear that you taking the Emperor's seat is the better option. So if you clean out the trash yourself and say you'll handle things properly, I won't need to step in. You don't want to die either, right? You know full well that if the Second Prince becomes Emperor, you're as good as dead."
"…You already know I'll have no choice but to shed blood. So why appear before me?"
"Because you're so soft-hearted that you'd clearly waste time agonizing over it as long as possible. You know there's only one answer, don't you? No matter how decent a person you are, you're not so soft that you'd hand over your own life. So if you'd just get it over with quickly, it'd be easier on my end too. The only one who suffers from wasted time is me. So I came to threaten you a little. If you're going to clean up the trash anyway, do it now."
"By 'threaten'… do you mean you'll harm me if I drag this out?"
"If necessary, as much as I please."
At those words, the First Prince closed his eyes.
In the end, he had only one path.
And in that moment, it became all the more certain and clear.
He did not want to die either.
"…I understand. I will walk that path."
"Good enough."
With that, Sera rose from her seat.
"Carrot and stick are the basics of handling people. I've swung the stick plenty, so I'll give you a carrot."
"A carrot?"
"Why do you think the Emperor suddenly went after my master?"
"Because he touched something the Emperor wanted kept hidden, I presume."
"I wiped out the Imperial Reaper and the assassin guild he built—Medusa—completely."
"……"
This was no mere carrot.
The reason the high nobility, for all their discontent, had been able to do nothing more than express support for the First Prince was precisely the Imperial Reaper. And if the Imperial Reaper and the assassin force he had created no longer existed…
It was obvious that the situation had become overwhelmingly favorable for the First Prince.
If the Imperial Reaper and his assassins are gone, even after I become Emperor, dealing with the high nobility will involve far less complicated calculation. No—it'll become almost simple.
Even with the First Prince's capacity for leadership, the high nobles did not support him for that alone. When the decision was made to don a blood-soaked crown, he was the sort of man who could be counted on to calculate compensation for their aid with objective certainty. And now the greatest obstacle to that enterprise—the Imperial Reaper and his assassins—had vanished? Calculations of reward that should have been complex had become extraordinarily simple.
No—at this very moment, the nobles might well decide that failing to throw in with the First Prince would be a loss, and might even try to hand him benefits rather than demand compensation, losses be damned. That would not be strange at all.
And for that, what was most needed right now was for the First Prince to claim a certain share of credit for the elimination of the Imperial Reaper and the assassins.
"Does this 'carrot' mean I may use this information? For instance, by presenting it as though I eliminated them with a trump card of my own?"
"Sometimes you're so decent you look pathetic, and then you turn out to be this shrewd. I said I'd give you a carrot, so use it however you like. But I'm not planning to become your tool—and if you pull anything that annoying, I'll just clean you up too. Keep that in mind."
"…I will always keep it carefully in mind."
The First Prince spoke with genuine sincerity. For a coward whose greatest fear had been failing to meet others' expectations, the scariest thing in the world had just changed.
That the object of that fear was Hero Sera needed no concealment. It was obvious to anyone looking…