Forgetting that the one standing in front of me was a duke, I shouted out loud in anger. Even I couldn’t understand why I was so angry.
Wasn’t this what I’d wanted so much in the first place? To break free from the brainwashing and survive on my own? If Lampel helped me, it wouldn’t be impossible to escape from him even if I was under addiction.
It was precisely a contradictory emotion. When he said he’d pull me out of this pit, instead of gratefully kissing his toes, I wanted to punch that smug face of his.
“I’ve thought about running away alone so many times too, you know! You know what? Honestly, if I’d set my mind to it, I could have run far away. Damn it! I could have!”
I was confused. These weren’t words for Lampel. It was sincerity I was throwing at myself.
“But how could I… come out alone to save myself, leaving him behind…!”
My throat choked up with emotion and I couldn’t continue speaking.
“……”
“How could I… leave him alone….”
No matter how I thought about it, it was because of that damn addiction. All of this was because I loved him.
‘You’re smart all right, Cesare. No matter what I do, I can’t escape. From you.’
“Uuwoong.”
Mitche clung to the hem of my pants to comfort me. A teardrop fell from under my chin. But knowing that tears wouldn’t solve anything.
I bit down hard on my molars and wiped my tear-blurred vision with the back of my hand. With newly cleared eyes, I looked straight at Lampel.
“I’m not leaving. I’ll stay by Cesare’s side. I’ll use every method I can to stop him and protect him.”
“…Knowing it all yet jumping into the fire, you’re not just a little stupid.”
“If my life becomes endangered because of that, that too will be the result of my choice. So only I, not Your Grace or anyone else, can criticize my choice.”
After staring for a while at the wing-shaped pendant held by him, I turned my back without regret.
* * *
I’m crazy. I’ve gone crazy.
While banging my head against the wall of the carriage heading to Ilbrun, I recalled the conversation with Lampel. When I should have been buttering him up there, I shouted and talked back to him. The artifact was out of reach now.
I could tell just by looking at Lampel sitting across from me right now, staring at me as if shooting lasers from his eyes.
‘Why am I so stupid?’
Grandpa definitely said I was a smart kid. My aunt always praised me as a clever puppy who just wouldn’t stick to a desk.
‘I want to see Grandpa and Aunt…’
At least Mitche, this cutie, sat on top of my head and stroked me with his tiny hands. I felt somewhat comforted.
“So that priest named Heiss said I know well about Brainwashing Magic?”
Lampel, who had been silent all along, spoke to us first. Cesare seemed a little surprised, so I quickly reassured him.
“Ah, I told him earlier. That, Your Grace doesn’t know who cast the prohibition spells either. But since it’s not dangerous, I guess it’s okay. Fortunately… right, Your Grace?”
“…Right.”
I smiled awkwardly while enduring Lampel’s gaze that said ‘I have much to say but won’t.’ Fortunately, Lampel seemed like he wouldn’t talk about what happened between us.
“Heiss Eurofield. I heard rumors that despite being a commoner, he was born with divine power and became a direct subordinate of the High Priest. To know even such things, quite suspicious. Since when did those temple bastards stop praying and start investigating others’ backgrounds? That’s why the barrier is in that state.”
“Speaking of which, how did the Mad Crows escape from the Balkan Mountains? You said the divine barrier had weakened. Won’t a mana barrier work?”
Demon beasts were masses of异形 that had existed for a long time and weren’t living creatures. Since they absorbed natural mana and moved like living things, they were simple and violent entities that only followed the desire for destruction. So despite having destructive power, if barriers were properly placed to keep them from coming toward residential areas, they weren’t much of a problem.
“Since demon beasts are also condensations of mana, there are limits with just mana barriers. That’s why we set up a double system with divine barriers, but that got twisted. Even when I requested repairs, they pretended not to hear.”
I recalled Lampel complaining about that at the last meeting. I thought back carefully to my recent conversation with Ju Shinyoung. She definitely said things were going strangely.
‘Could what Ju Shinyoung said about being sleepy be related to the barrier weakening? Priest Heiss kept asking me to join the church then too. He said they couldn’t recruit new talent either.’
Not recruiting new talent meant there were no people manifesting divine power. Originally, manifestation of divine power wasn’t common, but it wasn’t extremely rare either, so it was a bit strange.
‘The temple… the temple?’
First, I tried to recall everything I knew about the temple.
“Rejecting repair requests is clearly disrespecting the Yanox Ducal Family. Father, if things continue like this, the ducal family will…”
“No matter how much they are the imperial family, they can’t ignore demon beasts. Releasing demon beasts just to crush someone like me? The temple and imperial family who love to act benevolent? That would be insane.”
“Then does that mean something happened to the temple?”
“Can’t know. Those noble temple folks never disclose their affairs.”
Listening quietly, I remembered something and added my opinion.
“…Well, maybe as Cesare says, something definitely happened to the Grand Temple. My uncle attended this year’s New Year’s ceremony at the Grand Temple, but His Holiness didn’t even show his face.”
The Grand Temple wasn’t a place just anyone could enter. Even royalty couldn’t freely enter, and seeing the High Priest was even more difficult. But it was different for my Jushin-fanboy uncle who donated astronomical amounts.
“His Holiness didn’t come to the New Year’s ceremony?”
Both Cesare and Lampel tilted their heads with frowns.
“According to my uncle, most of the Grand Temple’s events have been held privately since around the end of last year. But thinking about it now, something’s strange—we have a purveyor merchant guild (one that supplies goods under protection of the powerful) that delivers to the Grand Temple, and the delivery volume is similar. If there were no external events, it should be about a third, but it hasn’t decreased.”
“Where are they using the surplus resources when there aren’t even public events?”
“I don’t really know either…. The temple isn’t obligated to disclose usage details.”
The Yanox father and son seemed to be pondering deeply at my words. Soon Cesare spoke first.
“I don’t know if Father has heard the news, but recently a mage targeting the Crown Prince entered the Academy. At that time, Priest Heiss happened to be there under the pretext of repairing the barrier. Even then it was a bit strange that a high-ranking priest came just to repair a barrier….”
Actually, that was because Cedric called Priest Heiss to test whether I had divine power or not, but even at the time it was strange why he called a high-ranking priest.
“Both the overall weakening of the barriers and the divine power itself must have weakened.”
After finishing his words and pondering briefly, Cesare soon came to a clean conclusion.
“If divine power has weakened, the priests in the provinces must be in worse situations than the capital. To handle those situations secretly, the Grand Temple must have dispatched high-ranking priests with somewhat higher divine power to various places, and that would require more expenses. If they used surplus resources for this, it makes sense.”
I was impressed by the clean explanation. As expected of the sharp Cesare. Meanwhile, Lampel also nodded in agreement and let out a bitter laugh.
“Ha! They’re brazenly trying to deceive while their divine power is weakened? Then what remains is who the mage is that found out the temple’s weakness first…. Taking advantage of that gap to target the imperial family…. But, newborn puppy. Something like you has connections to a Grand Temple purveyor merchant guild?”
“Father. Lionel is the successor of the Mellans Merchant Guild.”
“What? The successor of the Mellans Merchant Guild?”
Lampel’s artificial eye moved irritably. Thinking I’d done something wrong again, I just quietly read the mood when Lampel sighed and muttered something small I couldn’t understand.
“No wonder he’s been clinging on so tenaciously…. Damn it. So he was Roger and Ophelia’s son.”
Why is he like that?
After that, Lampel continued his silence while only looking outside the carriage. But his artificial eye kept facing me, making it feel like sitting on a bed of nails.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“He’s originally like that. Don’t mind it and just eat this.”
I whispered quietly to Cesare, but he shoved a Pillsbury into my mouth so I couldn’t ask anything more.
* * *
After arriving in Ilbrun and before joining up with the Academy tour group, we were guided to a luxurious mansion where Cedric was staying. It was because the people of the principality had arranged a small party to express gratitude for exterminating the Mad Crows.
“Isn’t this Duke Yanox? I heard well about your achievement in eradicating the Mad Crows!”
“Indeed, the Empire is a step above us. Is this your son? He’s the spitting image of Your Grace.”
“I am Cesare Yanox. I’m the Young Duke, but since my father is with me, feel free to call me heir.”
“I am Admiral Enrico. I’ve heard that the Yanox heir’s magic skills are extraordinary, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent at such a young age! I heard you restrained the Mad Crows in one stroke?”
Though it was a sudden party, it was a fairly formal affair. The people gathered there all seemed to be high nobility of the principality. Being a natural aristocrat, Cesare perfectly blended in there, making connections with people.
Even around Lampel, who didn’t say a word and grumbled, people gathered. I felt a bit left out and just sipped beverages at the edge of the party venue. Although I was the successor of a large merchant guild, there was no one who would recognize and pay attention to me, a commoner, in a distant foreign country.
“Tsk. Are the imperials their masters? The ones who let the demon beasts escape were in the wrong in the first place.”
“People with no pride. Why don’t they just hand us over as a vassal state of the Empire?”
“That’ll happen soon enough. What else could be the Crown Prince’s purpose in getting engaged to Princess Françoise?”
‘As expected. Anti-imperial faction people are mixed in too. In the original work, Cesare requested military support from them in exchange for complete independence, right?’
But in the end, Cesare failed to gain their trust. Certainly, from their perspective, they wouldn’t trust a green youngster asking to borrow troops in exchange for independence.
‘He must have been that pressed for time and desperate.’
Looking at Cesare now, surrounded by pro-imperial faction people slowly building friendships, gave me a somewhat strange feeling. Since they still didn’t know Cesare was broke, it wasn’t bad to establish diplomatic footing under the name of the Yanox Ducal Family.
Just then, a group of women next to me stirred.
“There comes the traitor girl.”
“Everyone ignore her. Got it?”
When I turned my head toward where they were glaring, I saw a familiar face.
‘It’s Cedric and Princess Françoise?’
Apparently the princess was being ostracized by the anti-imperial faction because of her engagement to Cedric. Since Princess Françoise recognized me first and smiled, I approached them.
Cedric hadn’t noticed me yet and was still talking to the princess.
“Even so, you need to get along well with them too.”
“I’ve kept trying but they’re so…”
“Lucilla. If you’re going to become a member of the Torusian Imperial Family, you need to know how to win over people on the opposing side. Try approaching them first and facing them.”
“…Yes.”
