Bad News and Worse News
Bad news and worse news. I sit in the study deep within the mansion, clutching a book as always. Having finished and submitted the Riaska dictionary, I am now reading the two volumes Master Viran gave me, copying the important passages into my own grimoire. Yet this sort of task… has a way of inviting idle thoughts.
When I heard Bishop Lumina say I had grown, my heart fluttered a little. Like a child taking its first steps into the world, I felt a rush of excitement.
It was the beginning of a proper adventure—one that did not rely on the power to turn back time, but on sword and magic, wandering the world, no longer needing to spread my legs for strangers at every stop just to beg for my life.
Back when I first learned that death was not the end, when I received that lying promise of reincarnation in that lightless space, some corner of my heart had secretly hoped for that kind of romantic otherworld adventure.
Even so, I hesitated.
There had been plenty of adventurers in the Empire who made a living from small quests. I had seen many of them as a child, coming to buy the hard, dry bread meant for long journeys.
It was not strange. In a world of magic and monsters, there would always be work hunting those who misused magic, or the monsters themselves. Thinking back, that man Wolf who performed street feats had been one such adventurer.
Watching them from afar, and learning enough at the magic academy to protect myself, I had once thought—naïvely—that if I had nowhere comfortable to sit, becoming an adventurer might not be so bad.
The adventure I actually experienced while marching against the Demon King was… traveling through biting winds, staying alert for enemies that might strike at any moment, spending nights in a sleep that never felt like sleep, forging paths through trackless forests and mountains, and scattering the black blood of foes across the ground.
Looking back now, it had its romantic side, but it was also brutally hard on the body. Like the gap between what I imagined military life would be before enlisting and what it actually was after.
Still, that journey at least carried the banner of saving the world and the romance of trusting your back to strong companions. The journey with Pirel was different.
That was why I hesitated.
Unlike the journey with the heroes, my body and mind were already defiled. I had to wage a secret war against the corruption gnawing at my thoughts, never knowing when it might devour my precious traveling companions… and on top of that, I had to watch out for people who would try to taste my body the moment they got the chance.
The last part was probably because of this strange constitution of mine that seduces everyone, men and women alike… this lingering, lascivious scent.
Now that I think about it, it was a peculiar ability. When that being beyond first whispered to me, I thought it was merely a side effect that came with the power to turn back time… but that existence had actually found it troublesome.
Everyone I met would soften or become cooperative the moment they caught my scent, and that had smoothed over many situations. Unlike the power of corruption that tried to trap me, perhaps this was…
A gift secretly planted by something in this world to protect me from the corruption that peered beyond, to protect its own world. If I thought of it that way, being taken by those who were drawn to the scent a few times was something I could endure…
“Mother…?”
Only then did I realize someone had been calling me.
“Hm?”
“I called you several times already. You only answered just now.”
“Ah… Rin. Sorry. I was lost in thought.”
The small slime daughter tilts her head slightly, her outer layer rippling like an alchemist’s lab coat.
“I see.”
I look at Rin. This is not the usual face of my spoiled daughter. She has learned to perfectly mimic human expressions, and the face she wears now tells me she has something she must say.
“You have news to deliver, don’t you?”
“Yes… One piece of good news, one piece of bad news… and one piece of the worst news.”
“Three in total. …And there’s something even worse than the bad? Then I’ll hear that last. Start with the good.”
Rin’s stiff expression softens a little, and she offers a faint smile suited to “good news.”
“Yes. I received confirmation through the split-body pigeon that communicates with Naixon and the split body there… well, I’m not sure which is the original anymore, but anyway. It seems the publishing house Naixon knows is willing to print Mother’s book.”
“Hmph. How curious. I never thought there would be a shop in the Empire willing to publish a forbidden book written by a witch.”
“That’s not it. They’re publishing it because it’s a witch’s book. Whether it gets banned or not, nothing sells better than something that controversial.”
“True. That’s why they put my name on it from the start.”
Rin meets my eyes and we laugh together.
“Anyway, since it’s being published under joint names, I’ll keep the royalties in my name so you can withdraw them whenever you need. I’ve learned human memories, but I still don’t really understand whether money is necessary or not.”
“All right. Thank you.”
After saying that, I braced myself. I had to prepare for the shock of hearing three pieces of bad news.
“Then tell me the bad news. Start with the milder one.”
“Yes. First, the bad news…”
Rin twists her arms behind her back, hesitates while looking at the floor for a moment, then lifts her head.
“Emperor Lucretar III has passed away.”
“What?”
It was sudden, if anything. We were far from the Empire, in a place where rumors among imperial citizens would never reach, so it was natural the news arrived late—but if even this major event had not reached us yet, then it must have happened only recently.
“I see.”
I recall the emperor’s face, beaming as he gathered the entire hero party. It has been over five years, but five years is not a long time. The scene from that day—the splendid imperial reception room where Azalea, Kadros, Glazalus, and Mervin had all been present—rises as vividly as yesterday.
And then the next scene.
The wanted poster Arun had thrown at me, bearing the emperor’s own handwritten decree.
I try to picture the emperor’s face as he issued the stern order to capture and kill me. This time, the image does not come easily. The emperor who remained only a good man in my memories would never have ordered the death of someone he had once welcomed so warmly.
Looking back, how had the emperor truly seen me? Had he regarded me only as a threat to imperial authority and the Empire’s future, someone whose usefulness had run out and who now needed to be purged? Or had he, even while giving the order, felt some small measure of sympathy toward the former hero I had been?
Now that I could never meet him again, it would remain a secret buried in darkness forever.
I ask Rin quietly.
“How did he die? The emperor wasn’t a fresh-faced youth, but he wasn’t some frail middle-aged man or grandfather either. Did some plague go around?”
“No. When someone in the prime of life like the emperor dies, the reason is obvious.”
Rin stares straight at me without blinking.
“They say he drowned accidentally while bathing in his private chambers, a place no one but his closest attendants are allowed to enter.”
“What do you mean, ‘obvious’!?”
I snap back, then immediately realize the true meaning of her words and fall silent.
“Ah…”
No one dies so absurdly in a place like that. There is only one cause of death anyone would think of in such a situation.
Assassination.
“I told you. It’s obvious.”
An elected emperor. A grand noble whose only role was to serve as the face of the nation, with no greater authority than the other great nobles… Did that mean someone still coveted even such a throne?
Or perhaps the opposite. Not to seize the throne themselves, but simply to replace the person sitting on it with someone—anyone—else. Lucretar III had not been a fool. That alone was reason enough to kill him.
There were always those who profited from having a foolish emperor on the throne.
…Perhaps the one who advised killing me and leaked my information to Zophy was one of those who stood to gain. Though I might simply be drowning in paranoia and making wild guesses.
“Is that the end of the bad news?”
“For now. Then I suppose I have to tell you the worst news… Well, that worst news is also, in a way, another piece of bad news. It’s…”
Watching Rin choose her words carefully, clearly reluctant to reach the main point, I could tell without difficulty that this was truly terrible news.
“This should be interesting. I won’t be shocked, so go on.”
“A new emperor has been elected.”
“What?”
Since the Empire was a place where the prince-electors chose the emperor from among themselves, that was only natural. Unable to understand why this was the worst news, I blink for a long while.
“Is that all?”
Rin nods without saying anything more.
My slime daughter was not so thoughtless. There had to be a reason this was the worst news. I try to find the meaning she is trying to convey. The clues have already been given in our conversation so far.
But there was no reason the ascension of a new emperor should be the worst news—unless that emperor happened to be my enemy.
My enemy…
Enemy… perhaps…?
“……”
Seeing my hardened expression, Rin’s eyes sparkle. She seems to have realized I understood.
“Just as you guessed.”
The cold voice of the slime mimicking a human rings out.
“The rightful heir to the Duchy of Mitenburg. Duchess Zophy of Mitenburg… Empress Zophy has become the new emperor of the Empire.”