“Even without knowing why this is happening, the situation is very serious. This is no longer just a matter between the two of us. We must inform others of this fact and stop it.”
Even the Emperor who rules over everything in the Empire cannot touch religion. Those belonging to the temple are not punished even if they break laws made by the Emperor. To establish a new temple requires permission from the Emperor who is the master of the Empire, but after the temple is completed, everything that happens within it becomes the temple’s problem.
So there’s no point in appealing to the Emperor about incidents and accidents happening in the temple.
Except when someone who is not a priest is involved in the incident.
“Not only His Majesty the Emperor, but no noble should maintain a relationship with the temple beyond a certain line. However, the Grand Temple has been helping our ducal house since long ago, and the Imperial Family has tolerated it while knowing.”
But they won’t be able to turn a blind eye any longer. The ducal house that had been acting as it pleased while maintaining a precarious line has crossed that line in this generation. Joining hands with the temple that even the Emperor cannot dare to treat carelessly was tantamount to saying they would collapse the Imperial Family’s authority and grow power beyond what was permitted.
In other words, treason.
“His Majesty the Emperor will absolutely not let this incident pass lightly. Absolutely!”
“If you commit the crime of treason, your entire family gets executed—is that okay?”
“One chosen as a hero belongs to the temple regardless of their original status. Thanks to Father preventing the oracle that the Demon King disappeared from spreading, no one knows I was stripped of my hero qualification. In other words, I’m unrelated to the ducal house’s treason.”
“But this matter was done by the ducal house and temple working together.”
“Ah, then that’s serious. What if His Majesty the Emperor holds me, who belongs to both organizations, even more responsible?”
At Klad’s thoughtlessly thrown words, Jake seriously pondered.
“Then I’ll have no choice but to help you.”
“Even if that means going against the Emperor’s command?”
“Yes.”
To say he’d protect him without running away when getting involved in something like treason might result in being executed together—what tremendous spirit.
“How are you planning to convey this to the Emperor? Will you send a letter?”
“I can’t convey such an important matter with just writing. I must meet His Majesty and tell him directly.”
But right now Jake was a fugitive. No matter how much it was for the Empire, he couldn’t boldly walk into the capital and visit the Imperial Palace. Jake pondered how he could infiltrate the capital while avoiding the Duke’s eyes and secretly meet the Emperor by breaking through that strict security.
Even if he submitted an audience request without the Duke knowing and met His Majesty, it would be useless if the countless people working at the Imperial Palace learned of that news. There was no way the Duke hadn’t planted his people in the Imperial Palace. If even one of them heard news of Jake’s visit and went to the Duke, it could become dangerous.
“The Imperial Palace… His Majesty the Emperor… the capital… what on earth should I do?”
“You just need to enter the Imperial Palace without anyone knowing?”
“That would be the best method, but it’s impossible to enter the Imperial Palace without anyone knowing. Even you can’t do it. Magic scrolls don’t work there either.”
“Isn’t it at a similar level to the ducal castle anyway?”
“If we’re being precise, breaking through the ducal castle’s security is more difficult. The ducal castle is under a dragon’s protection, after all. Breaking through that magic and infiltrating is absolutely impossible… Ah.”
As he spoke, he remembered.
Klad was the one who broke through that very dragon’s magic. Though it was escaping rather than infiltrating by breaking through the magic.
“Don’t tell me you know a way to break through the magic protecting the Imperial Palace and secretly infiltrate?”
“Yes.”
Jake’s feelings became complicated. Should he be happy that an opportunity arose to secretly convey his message to His Majesty? Or should he worry about the fact that the Imperial Palace where the Empire’s master resides wasn’t as safe as expected?
“I’m fortunate it’s you who possesses such tremendous ability to sneak into the Imperial Palace. If my father had that power, the Empire would have already fallen into House West’s hands.”
Jake frowned as if the mere imagination was horrifying.
“Explain to me the method of infiltrating the Imperial Palace.”
“Ordinary magic can’t protect massive buildings like the Imperial Palace or ducal castle. Usually they first draw a magic circle, embed dozens of top-grade magic stones, then build the structure on top of that. Once the magic is activated, there’s no need to recharge the mana except when destroying and restoring it, but filling the magic stones with mana roughly once every hundred years strengthens the protection.”
“I heard infusing magic stones with mana is difficult even for archmages. Moreover, how can you charge top-grade magic stones embedded in the building’s foundation?”
“It’s difficult unless you bring a dragon skilled in magic or the Demon King. Anyway, the Empire has been peaceful for a long time, and there hasn’t been an incident of the magic circle being damaged, so it doesn’t matter.”
Jake nodded as if he understood.
“The difficulty of infiltrating the Imperial Palace is also because of that magic circle. As long as that magic protects the Imperial Palace, attack magic cannot be deployed inside it. Even if you try to sneak in through spatial movement magic, as long as that act is recognized as ‘intrusion,’ the magic circle will expel us. We’re going to use precisely this point.”
He didn’t understand what was said this time. Jake blinked and requested additional explanation.
“Protection magic has a characteristic repulsive force, so when it receives external attacks, it absorbs or deflects them. In this process, a slight deformation occurs in the structure of the mana composing the magic. We just need to exploit that gap.”
“Such a method exists! Isn’t that too easy?”
“The words are simple. But to cause that ‘deformation,’ you need to give it at least as much impact as the mana contained in the magic circle.”
“If it’s power equivalent to dozens of top-grade magic stones, it won’t be easy.”
“Right. And causing the deformation isn’t the end. Immediately after shaking up the magic circle once, before it returns to its original state, you have to give it the same impact to overturn it once more.”
“How long does it take for the magic circle to return to its original state?”
“Depending on the state of the magic stones, about one or two seconds.”
In other words, within just one or two seconds, he had to consecutively create twice the impact to shake up mana equivalent to dozens of top-grade magic stones.
“If you do that, the protection magic will stop functioning for about an hour or two. It’s the only way to secretly sneak into the Imperial Palace without destroying the magic.”
Instead of answering, Jake stared at Klad.
Then did that mean Klad, who tore through the ducal castle’s protection magic, was stronger than the dragon who cast that magic?
“It’s surprising there’s a way to infiltrate the Imperial Palace, but if impacts strong enough to shake the magic circle occur twice, won’t everyone in the Imperial Palace sense the external intrusion? If His Majesty feels threatened and hides, what’s the use even if we break through the magic circle?”
“That’s the goal.”
“What?”
“The Emperor feeling threatened and hiding is our final objective.”
“…What?”
“Our purpose isn’t to infiltrate the Imperial Palace but to secretly converse with the Emperor.”
“That’s… right.”
“If someone is sleeping well in the middle of the night and suddenly the Imperial Palace shakes and they feel their life is threatened, where will the Emperor go? Will he rush out of the castle saying he must immediately execute the enemy?”
“Well, to a secret space somewhere in the Imperial Palace… Ah, I see!”
Jake had insisted on secretly sneaking into the Imperial Palace, but that meant he shouldn’t reveal his identity to anyone other than the Emperor, not that he shouldn’t cause a disturbance.
When the Imperial Palace is attacked, while the knights step forward to fight the enemy, the Emperor moves to and hides in a secret space in the Imperial Palace. He might be accompanied by one or two knights, but that much could be resolved by putting them to sleep with Klad’s magic.
Moreover, by the time the Emperor starts taking cover, the protection magic will have already stopped. With Klad’s abilities, tracking the Emperor’s movements and finding out the location of the secret space would be no trouble at all.
“Having a conversation alone with the Emperor in a secret place no one visits. That’s what you want, right?”
Jake’s expression brightened completely.
“If we cast silence magic outside the Imperial Palace, the Empire’s people won’t even know the Imperial Palace is being attacked. If we focus our attack on the ‘protection magic’ rather than the ‘Imperial Palace,’ we can control it so not even a crack appears in the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace’s knights will be a bit startled, but that can’t be helped.”
“How satisfying that the Empire’s citizens won’t have to be scared and afraid of the attack.”
“Then it’s decided.”
To think such an absurd thing was possible. Even if he told a bard about this tremendous achievement and ordered them to make it into a song, they would refuse, saying they don’t make songs about far-fetched stories.
He couldn’t get a sense of what modifier to attach to properly praise Klad’s achievement to satisfaction.
Jake couldn’t easily organize his thoughts and kept moving his lips before barely managing to speak.
“Klad, even if you had plotted treason alone, you would have succeeded. Truly remarkable.”
Though it wasn’t particularly words that sounded like praise, Klad who heard them was greatly pleased.
