If you like our work, please follow us on our social media, join our discord and consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://discord.gg/e4BJxX6
https://www.patreon.com/CClawTrans
Chapter 3
“I had no idea his condition had worsened so much…”
Klaus seemed to have been in the dark about this, too, as he raised a voice of shock. He knew that Emperor Benedix had slowly been falling victim to his age, but the accurate situation has never been made public.
“More accurately, they are trying to prolong the dying of his flame of life using holy magic or wondrous magic medicine, which is why he tends to sleep a long time.”
“Trying to keep him alive to such an extent…It must be because of the succession, no?” Kyle hesitated a moment before asking this question, but he had to know.
As expected, Angela nodded. There were rumors of him stepping down at some point, but Benedix was regarded as a great hero of the Empire and humanfolk as a whole, which is why many prayed for his return. Not only his strength but also his abundance of charisma helped in bringing the nearby countries together under a single banner. Granted, his death would be unavoidable, but to ease the chaos and confusion across the Empire, they wanted to prolong his life as much as possible so that he could name a successor.
That’s why Eldorand’s been proactively appearing in public, huh…However, that was all ruined. All those idiots and their meaningless acts!
Kyle mentally sighed and cursed. His ideal timeline would have been for Maizer to become the next Emperor, but his biggest goal was for the Galgan Empire to maintain its military strength for the Great Invasion. If Eldorand had taken the throne, that would have worked out just fine.
“Support Prince Konrad, support Prince Maizer, push the back of Nord, or just stay on the sidelines to observe…The nobles and influential ones of the Empire are shaken by all these choices. The ones who keep the thread from snapping are Court Mage Beadola and Prime Minister Korodes, but they must be reaching their limit.”
Minagi retold what she had heard, mentioning the two individuals who had been here since the birth of the Empire. Court Mage Great Beadola was one of the three individuals in this world who could still use supreme magic, so she was a vital point of the Empire’s military force. At the same time, Prime Minister Korodes had been at Benedix’s side as his friend for many years, showing great accomplishments as a politician.
“Adding to that, it’s still unclear who even assassinated Eldorand…So eventually, we may be reaching the boiling point and witnessing the start of a civil war,” Seran commented as if to sum up everything that has been said.
“I have been invited in these rows myself, though I don’t know where it came from.”
As you’d expect from someone of Klaus’ level, who harbored influence everywhere inside the humanfolk’s territory.
“Huh…So, what’s the plan now?” Seran asked this with his usual licentious grin, but his gaze was sharp.
“I plan to move as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, as I’ve shared this secret with all of you and had you act for my sake, I will repay you properly, so rest assured.”
“That’s good,” Seran grinned as Klaus just shrugged his shoulders.
“Did you figure out what Prince Konrad and Prince Maizer are currently doing?” Kyle was mainly worried about these two.
Depending on their actions, this whole thing could be resolved peacefully or blow up to become a war.
“Prince Maizer has been stationary inside the palace. Surely, the security there must be top-class…But Prince Konrad has gone AWOL. Some assume he must have fled the capital to hide or go back to his own territory.” Minagi shook her head, evidently not able to filter out truth from rumors in such a short time.
“I see…Then to think one step ahead, what do you think is going to happen to the Empire now?” Shildonia had been listening in silence, as she now asked Angela.
The Galgan Empire is young, and it was brought to life only recently, which makes it just as fragile. As Shildonia was knowledgeable about a country’s ups and downs, she asked this knowing full well about the worst-case scenario.
“…I do not know. Nobody could have imagined that the Empire would end up in such a dire state after just a few days,” Angela’s voice slowly faded of energy.
“I swear…if this is neither Konrad’s nor Maizer’s doing, then it must be someone with quite the resentment toward Galgan. And I dare say, it’s working perfectly in their favor,” Shildonia spoke with a bit of sarcasm in her voice, but she was not wrong.
“The ones holding the key to the situation must be the army. We should be especially cautious of how the five generals move.”
The Galgan Empire’s raw manpower was incomparable to another country, as even their regular army had several thousand soldiers. If a war were to break out, other countries may be able to send out these numbers, but their main force would only be regular citizens or city guards. The army of the Empire easily won against this in terms of experience and equipment, as well as general availability. And as this was the greatest weapon the Empire possessed, this army was under the orders of several generals. How they move in this situation could be a crucial factor.
“And with no orders from my father, if the generals disagree with each other and give contradictory orders…we may really end up with a civil war.”
Only the Emperor had absolute word over the entirety of the army, but if he is not in a situation where he could give orders, then the generals would move according to their own ideals and what they believed would be for the sake of the Empire. When Angela said the two words “civil war,” tension ran through the room. Granted, the majority wished to be hopeful and assumed that things most surely wouldn’t go that far.
However, Kyle knew. He felt like this detrimental state was approaching—that civil war was on the horizon that could very well last a year and cause up to thousands of casualties. And as the room was already filled with a tense air, Minagi spoke up to deliver even worse news.
“There’s one more problem right now. And this one is a tad bit more annoying.”
“What is it?” Kyle asked with an exhausted expression.
“Don’t look at me like that…Anyway, a certain individual is currently present here in the capital. Someone very important but quite bothersome to have around,” Minagi took out a map of the capital and pointed at a noble’s quarter near the imperial palace. “…Princess Milena of the Kingdom of Zilgus is right here.”
Hearing a familiar yet unexpected name, Kyle and his friends were flabbergasted.
Princess Milena possessed exquisite beauty to the point that the neighboring countries called her the ‘Treasure of Zilgus.’ And she wasn’t just beautiful, she was wise and understanding, possessing charm that made people gather around her. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she was born to become the queen. During their stay in Zilgus, Kyle and his friends got involved in the attempted assassination of said Princess Milena, so they knew each other personally. Although King Remonas has passed away, she has not yet officially been coronated as the queen, but it seems like that one incident wasn’t the last of their troubles.
“With Princess Milena…You mean that Princess Milena, right?”
“I wish it was somebody else…” Kyle realized the gravity of the situation as he answered Lieze’s question with a sight, massaging his temple. “Why is she here? Could this be some sort of mistake?” Kyle asked Minagi, praying that maybe she just happened to make a mistake, but she just shook her head.
“I believe she came to the capital for an official meeting with Prince Eldorand. Their goal was to deepen the positive relationship between both countries…But since she brought at least a thousand royal knights and guards with her, she was given an entire district to rest. And on the morning of the meeting, Eldorand was found dead, so needless to say, the meeting was canceled. Normally, she would have gone home by now, but with the country on lockdown, she’s caught in this mess.”
“The Empire isn’t letting them go? That means…”
“Yes. She’s also under doubt that she may have been involved with the assassination.” Minagi sighed in an exhausted one.
“Seriously. My head is starting to hurt.”
To Kyle, all of this sounded bogus. The Kingdom of Zilgus should have nothing to earn by starting a war with Galgan. And even if Zilgus happened to be the perpetrator, they had far more to lose by sacrificing Princess Milena as the pawn. It was quite the obvious conclusion, but nobody bothered to consider it.
“The people from Zilgus must have realized this, as they’re starting to fight back. According to what I heard, the royal guards of Zilgus didn’t even bother to grace the Imperial Guard with any respect.” Minagi pressed how dire things were.
“Yeah…It’s a fire waiting to explode. And an extra spicy one. Approach it carelessly, and you’re looking at a full-blown war.”
Now Kyle felt a genuine headache slowly creep up his brain, as he massaged his temple yet again. For the past three years or so, war was on the brink between Zilgus and Galgan. Even a situation like this could immediately bring everything south. Granted, the Galgan Empire was the greatest force in the current humanfolk, but Zilgus was not a country to be trifled with. In the event of a war, there would be countless sacrifices.
“I understand what’s going on. The question is…How do we proceed now?” Kyle went through all the information in his head and crossed his arms to think.
What he wanted to avoid the most was that the Empire might get wrapped up in civil war. In the history he knew, Benedix chose Maizer as his successor in the event of his death. Some people didn’t take pleasure in this and sided with the Konrad side, which caused a power struggle that eventually exploded into a civil war. One year later, Maizer would be the winner of that and become the next Emperor. However, the resources of the Empire were mostly exhausted at that point, leaving them almost defenseless when the Great Invasion began, bringing humanfolk to the brink of ruin. And in this scenario, it might even come to a war between Zilgus and the Empire.
I can’t afford to let things play out the same way. But how can I avoid this civil war altogether?
Kyle would have preferred Maizer to become the Emperor, but even if that wasn’t the result awaiting him, he wanted to at least avoid a civil war. That was his most prominent goal.
“Anyway, I need some more accurate information. Preferably, someone who sits in the center of the Empire.”
No matter how they may act, they needed someone at the source of it all to learn of their intentions and thoughts about all of this.
“That sounds good. The problem is just meeting someone like that…” Minagi’s expression grew tense but she couldn’t think of anybody.
Meeting Konrad or Maizer would most likely be impossible. In this situation where you couldn’t tell friend from foe, meeting others was a risk in itself, and if you tried to force something, you could end up their enemy next.
“Let’s start with meeting Beadola or Korodes. My father has great trust in them both.”
Both names brought up by Angela stood at the top of the Empire. Surely, they must have valuable information to share.
“And out of those two, Beadola would probably be our best bet. The question is just how we could go about meeting her. I don’t want to stand out if possible.”
Surely, bringing up Angela’s name would make it easy to meet them, but that would attract onlookers, and it heightened the risk of being attacked. Granted, it was Kyle’s goal to be as flashy as possible, but in this particular situation, any attention could prove fatal. However, meeting someone as respectable as her won’t be easy work otherwise. And the circumstances ask for this.
“Let’s go to Beadola’s home. If we’re lucky, we might even run into her there,” Seran offered an idea, as he loved acting before thinking.
“Yeah, that’s all we got right now. Staying in here forever won’t resolve anything.”
Wasting time was even worse than standing out. And with this only option left, they went on the active.
To make sure that Angela was safe, she was tasked to stay hidden and stayed behind. At the same time, since Kyle had made it to the semifinals of this year’s martial arts festival, he had to hide his face all the same. Then again, he simply put on a hood to cover up most of it. But it was difficult to completely hide his bulky armor. In the end, it was pretty suspicious in itself, but he couldn’t discard any preparation in the event of an unexpected battle.
I wouldn’t call it a neverending battlefield, but I have to be ready.
Kyle remembered the last time he was unprepared as he ran into Yuriga for the first time.
“Remember, we don’t want to stand out right now. Just keep calm and be cool,” Kyle turned around to warn his allies as they were about to leave the Business Association.
“Yeah, yeah. You worry too much,” Seran responded with a bothered tone, which made Kyle worried if he really understood.
“I’m saying this specifically to you. Be on your guard.”
They weren’t on a strict enough lockdown that the capital issued the citizens to stay inside, but fewer people were walking the streets, and the same was the case at their current location. Some guards were especially ready to pick fights, so avoiding any kind of trouble was crucial.
“I swear…Let’s go.” Kyle fixed his hood and stepped out of the storehouse, only for the tragedy to strike immediately.
“Oh? If it isn’t Kyle.”
One of the people passing by the store turned around and called out to Kyle.
“Huh?!”
Kyle was surprised because it was a familiar voice, and when he turned around, the man walked toward him with a big smile.
“What a coincidence to run into you here. I’m glad you’re doing all right.”
“Um, well…I think…you have the wrong person.”
However, Kyle was unable to deliver an immediate answer, as he could only look at the man’s face. It was your average middle-aged man, and he remembered meeting him before. He didn’t feel any hostility from the man, but he also wasn’t sure why the man acted so friendly with him.
“Uncle Roel?!”
The one to clear up the situation was Lieze, who let out a shocked voice.
“……Dad?”
Hearing that name, Kyle finally remembered that the other person was his own father.
CClaw Translations 