Interlude
Interlude
"So, is Sylvia doing well?"
At the emperor's voice, Lucas gave a very strange expression.
Not because the emperor's question was wrong, but because the memory of his half-sister that the question provoked was exceedingly peculiar. To be honest, it was so peculiar that he almost wondered if he had seen things incorrectly.
"Ho-oh."
And the emperor, having recognized Lucas's expression, leaned forward slightly to look at him, seeming greatly intrigued.
"Did something interesting happen?"
"It was less something interesting and more..."
Lucas frowned slightly, gathered his thoughts, and began his report slowly.
"I suppose you could say I saw Sylvia's human side..."
"What do you mean? My daughter has always been human. Hasn't she?"
At Lucas's muttering, the emperor spoke with a smile at the corner of his lips.
She was always expressionless. So much so that she didn't seem like a single drop of blood would come out even if you stabbed her. Of course, on second thought, the problem might be whether anyone could even manage to stab her in the first place. Because of that, at times it didn't feel like Sylvia was even a fellow human being.
And that feeling remained even after he saw Sylvia training at the academy.
That simulated battlefield, which seemed deliberately designed to crush the Noble Class's spirit, was actually a battlefield gruesomely stacked in one side's favor.
No matter how much two trenches faced each other, it was almost unheard of for the space between them to be, quite literally, a wide-open plain.
No matter how many machine guns and tanks one side had, it could not perfectly stop the enemy from approaching. A machine gun only fired bullets in one direction at a time, and even if it fired into enemies charging simultaneously from all sides, it could not possibly take down thousands upon thousands of them.
So barricades were placed between trenches. And all sorts of field guns and mortars fired over the heads of the charging enemy, which naturally created craters both large and small in no-man's-land. It meant 'spaces to take cover' appeared, usable both when one's own forces advanced and when the enemy advanced.
The number of attackers was smaller than the number of defenders. On top of that, one side mostly wielded long-range weapons. The distance was comparatively close, but since it was bright daylight, the opponents were far too visible, and there was no cover to hide behind along the way.
It was an absurdly unbalanced battlefield by anyone's standards.
... But Sylvia led that battlefield to victory. After blinding the vision of both sides, including herself, she nonchalantly took down one person per shot, trampling the defensive line itself while perfectly providing cover for her allies, who specialized in close combat, allowing all of them to survive.
Of course, he didn't fully understand it. Having soldiers run in a zigzag pattern while the enemy was carrying firearms simply gave the enemy more opportunities to land their shots. In such a situation, the key was to run as fast as possible, at full speed, to reach the opponent even a second sooner.
Could it have been to prove her ability?
"No, but even so, it's rare to see Sylvia dozing off, is it not?"
"Ho-oh."
The emperor raised one corner of his lip.
"Do you think she was being genuine?"
"..."
Lucas considered the matter seriously.
"... That... I suppose it also might not have been, eh?"
He wasn't entirely sure. Because for Sylvia's appearance then to have been an act... it had been far too perfect.
Nevertheless, on second thought, he did not think Sylvia incapable of such an act.
"Were there no noteworthy occurrences at the time? Significant enough that Sylvia would need to display such a demeanor."
"..."
Lucas thought briefly, and then—
"There was a tail on her."
He answered curtly.
"A tail, you say."
"It was the daughter of the Count of Crowfield, you see."
"Ho-oh."
The emperor wore an expression of genuine amusement. Making no effort to hide the interest plainly visible on his face, the emperor continued.
"Did Sylvia have a reason to become involved with the Count's daughter?"
"There was one occasion. During training..."
"You said she spoke to her during training and drew out her cooperation. Yes, I remember. How did that Crowfield girl react at the time?"
"Crowfield... had an expression that said she was far from pleased. Still, she did ultimately follow the orders."
"I see."
The emperor sank into thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
"In that case, Sylvia must naturally have known that a tail was following her."
"I would presume so? Otherwise, there would be no reason for her to go out at such an early hour. Wouldn't it have been an action to force that awkward tail to reveal itself when no one else was around, so she could confirm her suspicion?"
"I think so too."
The nights in the imperial capital were bright. The streetlamps were always on, and the imperial capital police occasionally patrolled. Especially near the academy, stagecoaches also circulated, so one could say public safety was reasonably decent.
But that did not make it a nightlife district. It merely meant that being on the main street late at night was safe; the alleyways were still dangerous. There was almost no one around to help, and police patrols were not that frequent.
So, if someone suspected they were being followed, and if they wished to expose that tail, going out in the middle of the night was not necessarily a bad choice.
"Then doesn't the answer present itself?"
"... You mean she deliberately provoked an attack?"
"Precisely."
Seeing the emperor nod, Lucas considered it seriously. Sylvia had seemed so full of openings at that moment that if it had been Lucas, he could have cut her down in a single stroke—
"—Ah."
"Exactly. If she made you think you 'could cut her down,' then what of the actual target?"
"... That is indeed the case."
To draw out the enemy, Sylvia must have been prepared for the possibility of being attacked and injured or killed. Only such conviction could give someone the courage to attempt to assassinate an imperial princess of the Empire.
But whether the young lady Crowfield was scared, or whether she had an extremely prudent personality, she did not strike at Sylvia.
"It is certain that Sylvia was not attacked. Then what did she do after that?"
"She took a stagecoach that arrived, completed a simple request, and returned. In the process, she received some Marmaros and immediately handed it over to her friends who had come out early in the morning to fulfill the request."
Sylvia took a stagecoach to the wharf somewhat later than her friends, and once she returned from completing the request, she simply handed the Marmaros she received as a reward over to her friends.
"In that case, it's more accurate to view that request as a way to dispel the suspicion of the person tailing her. After all, one must have a decent reason to go out at that hour."
"But the other party has not entirely withdrawn their suspicion."
"There is no need for us to concern ourselves with that. In any case, Sylvia likely knows that you have been following her as well."
At the emperor's words, Lucas nodded.
Although it was his order and he had concealed his presence as much as possible, observing Sylvia from a position others could not detect, Lucas never even entertained the thought that Sylvia wouldn't notice at least that much. Even in that moment when she had seemed so off guard, if Lucas had swung his sword, Sylvia would have dodged it as if it were nothing.
"Well then, we shall have to look into why Sylvia is trying to draw in that young lady Crowfield."
"... Could it not be because she is being wary of her?"
"Who knows."
The emperor sank into thought for a few seconds before speaking slowly.
"Sylvia is emotional. She does not display it openly, but she is a child who is clear about what she likes and dislikes. And she has predetermined Alice, whom she 'likes,' to be the next emperor. That is not a bad thing. I was also considering Sylvia, but if Sylvia defers entirely to Alice, then neither scenario is a major problem from the Empire's standpoint. No, it may even be better."
"That is certainly true."
Rather than Sylvia herself ruling with an iron fist, it might have been better for the person Sylvia wanted to ascend to the imperial throne while Sylvia herself merely followed orders. From the start, placing someone who did not want the position on the imperial throne would only cause the country to dysfunction.
"Now then, when Sylvia tries to raise a sibling to the throne, who would be the entity that obstructs her most?"
"That is obviously—"
Not the emperor's other children. Those exceedingly free-spirited existences were the sort of people who would run away in horror if you offered them the throne. Including Lucas himself.
Nor did Alice have any other siblings born of the same blood.
"Wouldn't it be the households with a potential for rebellion?"
"Indeed. In truth, that is precisely why I had the previous Count Crowfield assassinated."
There were quite a few other family names written on the liquidation list as well, but the emperor had not assassinated personnel from other households after that. Because whenever he tried to order an assassination, Sylvia wore an expression of disapproval.
Not everything was done according to Sylvia's inclination. However, in such a situation, it was likely the best policy to leave Sylvia to handle it herself.
Since there were many methods besides assassination, the emperor decided to take a slight detour. And the parts where Sylvia's advice was taken reliably played out just as Sylvia said they would.
As if she were reading the future.
No, he thought she might genuinely be capable of it. She would foretell the future so accurately one might wonder if she were truly reading it and returning.
He had wanted to run an experiment in that regard, but such an extreme experiment could be problematic, so it was currently on hold.
For now, it was probably best to be satisfied with things like Lucas using his sword.
"Couldn't it be that she thought that young lady had 'potential'?"
"What kind of potential are you referring to?"
"The potential for reformation."
The emperor said with a grin, as if he had just recalled an amusing joke.
"She must have thought that the household would benefit the imperial family not when the current Countess Crowfield, the acting head, is in charge, but when that young lady becomes the head of the household. If she is acting for the sake of Alice, who will become emperor in the future, isn't that a possibility?"
"Ah..."
If that was the case, then deliberately luring the girl while displaying such a demeanor also made sense.
If the target had attempted to kill Sylvia, she would have been disqualified. That young lady would likely have met the same fate as her father.
"That does seem plausible."
At Lucas's words, the emperor shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, in the end, it is only our conjecture. Sylvia is emotional, but at the same time, her mind is far too complex for us to even properly guess what lies within."
The emperor looked steadily at Lucas as he spoke.
"And so, I am doing this, saying we should observe her as diligently as possible to properly grasp what she truly is."
"I understand. However..."
Lucas looked steadily at the emperor and, with a slightly less flippant expression than usual, said,
"That, the matter concerning the goddess—how has that progressed?"
"I am still looking into it. The Book of Prophecy has a great many parts that are extremely ambiguous. No proof has yet emerged that Sylvia herself is the goddess."
"Is that so?"
"What would you prefer?"
The emperor asked with a smile. His face was as affectionate as if he were asking his own son.
"Would you prefer it if Sylvia were a goddess?"
"Absolutely not."
Lucas openly scowled as he said it.
"Isn't it better that she is simply my little sister? To have kept swinging my sword at a goddess every chance I got, wouldn't that be a straight ticket to hell?"
"Indeed. My opinion is the same."
The emperor answered, shrugging his shoulders as if playfully showing off.
*
Come to think of it, wasn't that Book of Prophecy just completely wrong?
I opened the notebook where I had recorded my game knowledge, for the first time in a while, and fell into deliberation.
I was not written in the Book of Prophecy at all.
... If its contents were just the same as the in-game Book of Prophecy, then at that point in time, wasn't it nothing more than worthless kindling?
"..."
Well, it didn't really matter. The important thing right then was whether Mia Crowfield would talk to the others about me or just keep her mouth shut.
Thinking somewhat anxiously, I closed the notebook again.