The Marcos Empire's Painful Sore
The Marcos Empire, a great power that had long dominated the western continent, was home to its imperial capital, Rhinos. In the very center of that capital rose the lavish Baleim Palace, where the Emperor made his home.
And right now, the young woman seated on the ornate imperial throne with a weary, irritated expression was the Empress who ruled this empire—Ophelia.
She sat upon a luxurious throne, arms crossed, her face twisted in frustration. She looked less like an empress and more like an angry company manager who had been pushed to her limit.
And the person she had been waiting for finally entered the audience hall.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, the messenger who carried the letter has returned with the reply.”
“Hmm. What did they say?”
“......Same as usual.”
Hearing those words, Empress Ophelia shook her head as if she had expected nothing else and accepted the letter.
“…Recently it was quiet, and now they’ve gone and caused another incident.”
The letter contained a signature written in a slanted hand along with the words delegating full authority to handle the matter.
The letter had been written by the Elf clan.
More precisely, by the chieftain of one Elf clan.
Felix Rampid.
The Rampid Elf Clan was a warrior clan. Its chieftain was not only a formidable fighter but also the leader of that entire clan.
As she read the letter, Empress Ophelia recalled an event from not long ago.
“Your Majesty! It’s a serious matter!!”
Her aide burst into the office, but Empress Ophelia did not lift her eyes from the documents and continued signing.
Recently, the Empire had truly been at peace.
Occasional troubles still flared up, but thanks to the countermeasures already in place, most of them ended without major consequences.
“Your Majesty! The Rampid Elf Clan mercenaries…”
“Again the Rampid Elves? Subdue them at an appropriate level and send a letter to handle the matter…”
“Th-that is…!!”
Thanks to the Empire’s Elf protection policy, Elves within the Empire were safeguarded within the bounds of the law.
The majority of Elves accepted this and quietly integrated into human society, or else lived peacefully cultivating the forests.
As a result, the Elf protection policy created by the previous Emperor had seemed successful.
But among the Elves, there were some clans that called themselves warrior clans who could not live such a quiet life.
They were battle-crazed groups for whom fighting was the only joy in life.
The previous Emperor had considered accepting them into the Empire army, but they despised being controlled.
In the end, they had chosen the path of mercenaries or adventurers.
And among them, one particularly unhinged clan had stood out.
That clan was the Rampid Clan.
They were not satisfied with adventuring against monsters and had caused various incidents within the Empire.
From the Empire’s perspective, who was supposed to protect the Elves while managing them, they were like thorns in the eye.
Despite that, the previous Emperor had tried to control them through peaceful means, but he met a sudden death from illness.
And his only daughter, who had inherited the throne at a young age, Empress Ophelia, had taken a much harsher stance against them than the previous Emperor.
She had always attached monitors to manage them, and for those who wished to leave the country, she had imposed strong controls on departure and entry through cooperation with foreign nations.
Thanks to this, any incident within the Empire was immediately suppressed, and no incidents had occurred outside the Empire.
So this time, it should end at an appropriate level, she thought, and accepted the report.
“Honestly, managing them consumes manpower, and it’s getting a bit… ugh?”
Muttering while reading the report, Empress Ophelia’s eyes suddenly widened.
Her hand holding the report trembled.
Her gaze slowly turned toward the aide’s face.
“Tell me, aide. Is this report really true?”
“…I checked it myself because I couldn’t believe it, but it is true.”
“These damn noisy elves!!”
Empress Ophelia flung the report aside.
The aide picked up the report Empress Ophelia had thrown.
“Even causing incidents abroad is already troublesome, and now they’re touching foreign nobles? A duke’s house??”
“......”
“Send a messenger to the Rampid Clan immediately. Even if they say they’ll handle it themselves, we still need to do this formally.”
“I understand.”
“Tell the messenger to properly warn those noisy guys… And regarding the Kingdom…”
“A letter has arrived from the Palajinia Kingdom saying they will send a diplomatic mission to discuss this incident.”
“…I’ll handle that myself. Haa… It’s inevitable that incidents keep happening.”
Empress Ophelia covered her head with both hands.
In her childhood, the image of her father, the previous Emperor, who had always been troubled whenever the Rampid Clan caused incidents abroad, came to mind.
She wondered if her father had gone mad from that and passed away.
So she had thought that in her generation she had firmly tied up that damned clan, and there were results to show for it, yet here they were again.
And time returned to the present.
After the incident, Empress Ophelia had investigated the matter in various ways.
Of course, the biggest cause was the Rampid Clan who had handled the matter abroad, but they were not the first time.
The next possible cause was the management that had issued exit permits to the Rampid Elf mercenaries.
She had immediately summoned the manager to the capital and punished him personally, but all that had come back was an ambiguous answer that she had no memory of it.
But it was confirmed that the manager was the one who had processed their exit, and eventually, angry Empress Ophelia had dismissed him and handed him over for disciplinary action.
As for the Elf mercenaries…
It was fortunate that no casualties had resulted from their actions, but even so, the fact that nobles had been attacked was true.
One noble’s son who had tried to stop them had almost lost his life.
If they had truly died… Empress Ophelia shook her head to shake off the thought, unwilling to think further.
The letter from the Rampid Clan chieftain in her hand contained the usual reply to handle it themselves.
This had been the case since the previous Emperor.
They revered the logic of freedom and strength, so if they accepted requests freely and lost due to lack of strength, it ended there.
Whether they lost to the request target or were suppressed by the Empire’s army in the middle, they would not interfere at all, so handle it yourselves.
She had always thought they should never have caused incidents in the first place, and inwardly she spat on them.
But openly opposing them, the big harm from clashing with them was visible.
Especially the martial strength of Rampid Clan chieftain Felix Rampid was beyond imagination.
Of course, the Empire army could not suppress him if they came, but how many soldiers would sacrifice to stop that monster.
Fortunately, since Felix Rampid himself never caused incidents, it had been most reasonable to end at a level of strong control over Rampid Clan mercenaries.
Yet even after a few years, an incident had occurred, so it could not be helped.
“…The day the diplomatic mission from the Kingdom arrives is today, right?”
“Yes. It says they have already passed the border and are heading toward the capital.”
“Then I should prepare soon. Prepare the highest level of reception.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
But since the incident had already been caused, it was inevitable.
First, thorough follow-up was necessary.
Follow-up as smoothly and peacefully as possible.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, I pay my respects.”
Despite this resolve, Empress Ophelia was extremely tense seeing the Palajinia Kingdom’s diplomatic mission greeting her in front of her.
There was no other way.
It was not a normal diplomatic mission.
“…O-long time no see. Princess Aine.”
“Yes. It has been a while, but congratulations on ascending to the throne, Empress Ophelia.”
The main members of the Kingdom’s diplomatic mission were the Grace Duchy, who led diplomacy with the Empire.
The next Duke of that Duchy, Duke Belip Grace, and his retinue.
And not just that, but the second princess of the Palajinia Kingdom, Princess Aine Guine Palajinia.
“Hmm… May I ask why Princess Aine came as the diplomatic mission?”
“Yes, since I was in charge of the siege at the Ignis Duchy, which was attacked, I came as the party involved. Your Majesty.”
Hearing Princess Aine’s words, Empress Ophelia inwardly cursed the Rampid noisy guys again.
If it were not for that, the neighboring princess might have been in danger, well… that princess had a personality of entering dangerous places herself.
“I see. Since a banquet is prepared, please eat and rest today. Detailed discussion will be tomorrow.”
Saying this, Empress Ophelia dismissed the people.
She looked at Princess Aine as she left the spot.
Their eyes met.
Empress Ophelia raised her left index finger, put it on the tip of her nose, then brought it to her ear.
After confirming that Princess Aine nodded slightly, Empress Ophelia headed to the banquet hall.
The banquet ended, and night came.
To Empress Ophelia waiting in her room, a report from a maid came that a guest had arrived.
Confirming that it was the person she was waiting for, Empress Ophelia welcomed the guest.
“Thank you for the invitation, Empress Ophelia.”
“…Speak casually. It would be more comfortable for me too.”
“Well, I’ll do that.”
Empress Ophelia looked at the guest in front of her, Princess Aine.
Same age as her, and they had known each other since before ascending to the throne.
Friends and rivals… like that.
The signature she had sent her earlier was a kind of signature meaning “Let’s talk alone at night.”
…A signature she had often used in student days, she had not known it still worked.
“By the way, you were going to get married soon, right? Congratulations on the wedding.”
“Receiving congratulations on the wedding from the Emperor of a great power, it is really an honor.”
“Well, the one just now was congratulations as a friend… As an Emperor, I will send a splendid diplomatic mission to congratulate the wedding too.”
“…Haha, the wedding will be quite big.”
Old friends met after a long time talked for a long time, unloading their burdens.
The events, worries, everything.
In the end, the topic of conversation changed to the incident that had happened this time.
“I’m sorry. This incident is our Empire’s fault.”
“No, as you know, the management of Rampid Elf entry and exit should be handled between the two countries. We even processed the entry on our side.”
“…Even so, there is still the Empire’s fault for not properly handling the treatment of the Rampid Elf clan.”
Looking at her friend wrapped in guilt, Princess Aine suddenly thought and opened her mouth.
“What do the Elves say?”
“Same as usual. They said they will not interfere, so handle it yourselves.”
Handle it yourselves.
According to Kingdom law, if they intended to kill a noble and then attacked, they could not end safely.
From maximum execution to the best case, only a life as a criminal slave with a leash remained.
“Truly, if you’re just going to ignore them, it would be better if they had never caused the incident.”
To the Empire, the Rampid Elf Clan was like a painful wound.
Since they had taken responsibility for the Elves, they must bear the responsibility, and if they hit, big injury remained.
“Ophelia, shall I clean up all of them for you?”
Princess Aine suddenly said that.
It was a joke, no… seeing her expression serious, it might not be a joke.
…And with her martial strength that she knew, she might be able to stop Felix Rampid.
Empress Ophelia thought this, but soon shook her head left and right.
“Even so, that would be intervening in domestic affairs… Hahaha, I will gratefully accept the offer.”
And saying that with a bitter smile, Empress Ophelia.
Princess Aine stared at such Empress Ophelia and quietly closed her mouth.
“Ophelia?”
“......”
“Ophelia, what are you thinking?”
After about a minute of pondering.
Princess Aine let out a sigh.
And looked at Empress Ophelia.
“Ophelia.”
“Huh, finished thinking?”
“Yeah.”
Empress Ophelia stared into Princess Aine’s eyes.
Since Princess Aine’s expression was serious, Empress Ophelia swallowed and prepared to hear the story.
“Ophelia, what I am going to say from now on might sound ridiculous.”
“......”
“But from now on, think of what I am going to say as the truth.”
Princess Aine’s serious tone and expression.
Overwhelmed by that, Empress Ophelia quietly nodded her head.