Chapter 179: The player (2) |
“It seems that even Sir Melverot, called the Sword of the Empire, grows soft with love for his daughter as he ages. Keeping her locked in the tower for so long must have hurt him quite a bit. Don’t you think?”
Each time the seasons changed, the great nobles of the center of the empire gathered in the enormous conference hall of Gremport Palace, in the imperial capital, to discuss matters of state.
In essence, it was a meeting reserved for the central nobles, known for their strong sense of privilege.
Even so, Melverot, a territorial noble of the north, attended on occasion.
In addition to de facto representing the military power of the empire, his territory demanded fewer administrative responsibilities than the fertile central regions, allowing him greater freedom.
That the Sword of the Empire periodically visited Gremport Palace held important meaning even for the imperial family.
It was a constant way of reaffirming that Melverot, someone whom most mages could not even aspire to face, continued to act as the empire’s shield.
For that reason, members of the imperial family usually welcomed Melverot’s visits.
All except one person.
“Hehe. Or could it be that you haven’t changed either, Sir Melverot? When I was barely learning to add, you already looked like a grown uncle, and yet you don’t have a single wrinkle. Sometimes you even seem not to be human.”
“I’m flattered.”
Melverot raised an arm and signaled to the officials around them, indicating that they should withdraw first.
Seeing the gesture, the bureaucrats immediately left the area.
Even the noble officials departing after Melverot dispersed cautiously, attentive to the situation.
Within Gremport Palace, saturated with bureaucrats aligned with the noble faction, Princess Roselin, the living symbol of the imperial faction, was a true thorn in the eye.
Even so, she endured all those uncomfortable gazes with a hollow smile, resting her hands on her hips.
“They scatter without even meeting eyes, like rats exposed to the light. They’d do better to worry about the filth clinging to them and feel ashamed.”
“Those concerned can hear you.”
“That’s exactly why I said it. Or what? Could it be that even you, Sir Melverot, fear those fattened pigs? Someone who could split this palace in two with a single gesture.”
If Princess Roselin were to be described in a single word, it would be discord.
Each of the elements that made her up seemed incapable of fitting with the others.
Although she had just celebrated her coming-of-age ceremony, her manner of speech resembled that of a centenarian elder.
She often quoted archaic expressions or used outdated words, as if her interior were already completely worn away.
Despite being Emperor Gattrel’s most beloved daughter, the nobles preferred to speak of her in hushed tones.
That same reason meant she also failed to harmonize with the palace’s high bureaucrats, causing constant conflicts in practical matters.
Within Gremport Palace, there was not a single official who did not feel uncomfortable in her presence.
Melverot was no exception.
He knew well that, to survive in the long term, the wisest course was to keep his distance from figures as unpredictable as her.
However, Roselin seemed to have no intention whatsoever of doing so.
“Dereck Lydorf, Baron of Ravenclaw.”
“…”
“They say you were the one who personally recommended him to receive his title. His name has come up several times even in meetings of the Council of State. I found it curious that someone as indifferent to politics as you would personally choose someone, so I decided to investigate.”
As she spoke, Roselin casually twirled her curled locks around her fingers and smiled.
Her hair was black and red at once, two tones intertwined, seeming to perfectly represent her two facets.
Sinister, or perhaps cruel.
That was how the bureaucrats of the noble faction described her.
And what was curious was that Roselin herself never bothered to deny those accusations.
“It doesn’t seem like you, Sir Melverot, to keep an instructor in your pocket for your daughter. You’ve always been so stingy with that kind of favor. What wind blew you this way?”
“I planned to use him as staff to manage a border wine-producing region.”
“Do you think I’ll believe that, when more than a dozen official documents about the Ravenclaw Academy have already arrived? I didn’t take you for someone so skilled at hiding your true intentions.”
Roselin narrowed her reddish eyes and brought a hand to her small chin, drawing out her words.
“It’s strange. I detest those obese pigs of the bureaucracy, but I always had a certain fondness for you because you seemed to have no interest whatsoever in worldly power. With the abilities you possess, you were always surprisingly humble.”
“…”
“And now it turns out that you’re pushing the founding of an academy using a border noble under your command. Frankly, it gives me an enormous sense of incongruity. It’s not something I would expect from the Melverot I know.”
Despite the fact that Princess Roselin’s dress was laden with ornaments, it was surprisingly austere compared to the authority she emanated.
That reflected her character well.
She liked practical and rational things.
She believed that a person’s value did not reside in visible authority or ostentation, but in their ability and judgment.
Precisely for that reason, there was something about this enormous empire that she found intolerable.
“Or are you just like those stupid pigs? Do you think a pinch of magical talent defines a person’s value? I thought someone who had reached such a high level would understand that better than anyone.”
“I didn’t come to the imperial palace to debate that kind of idea.”
“Oh? Then it’s curious that, through a subordinate, you’re founding an academy to educate young nobles from prestigious families. I can’t help but wonder what your true intentions are.”
Learning magic was, without a doubt, something positive.
But it was still a skill, like wielding a sword, counting coins, striking an anvil, or sowing a field.
Mages learned magic and used it to benefit the world and forge their own lives.
Magic was just one of the many elements that made up the empire.
Being skilled at it did not make anyone inherently superior or noble.
The reason Roselin could not help but clash with the imperial bureaucrats lay precisely in that value deeply engraved within her.
“So, are you trying to say that all of this is a unilateral decision by the Baron of Ravenclaw, and that you simply decided to look the other way?”
“Would you believe me if I told you so?”
“Haha. Of course not. That Melverot of House Rochester would allow something like that? Not even those obese pigs who just left the hall would believe it.”
One should never think of Melverot of the north as a kind man.
He had banished several servants to the frozen wasteland for violating regulations.
At least for the inhabitants of the north, his figure inspired more fear than respect.
In his conception of governance, fear was an indispensable element.
And yet, Roselin did not blink even once before him.
That she could remain unperturbed before one of the greatest archmages in the world had a clear reason.
Her constitution was something all mages could not help but fear.
“Sir Melverot. I thought that at least you would be different from those privilege-soaked pigs who believe they’re nobles just because they wield a bit of magic.”
“…”
“I thought you were someone who didn’t get drunk on power, who always kept sharp senses, judged swiftly, and understood the weight of a ruler’s responsibility. But it seems that’s not quite the case. Perhaps you’re not so different from that poisonous magical counselor Kohella, like a viper, or from types like the greedy Chairman Damon.”
Melverot did not bother to refute her.
He had already realized it.
Princess Roselin was deliberately provoking him with words she did not even truly feel.
She was waiting for Melverot to react, to strike back with some retort.
But Melverot did not move as she wished.
Roselin knew that too.
Melverot never fell for such cheap tricks.
He simply closed his eyes calmly and spoke, as if spitting out the words.
“Who knows. The fact that he built an academy and teaches magic there certainly has its own reason. Perhaps Princess Roselin, who detests considering magic an exclusive privilege of the nobles, is unwilling to accept that intention.”
“How interesting. Then what is that reason?”
Roselin narrowed her eyes.
“I need to hear that answer to decide what stance to take in the upcoming inspection.”
Why had Dereck gone so far as to found an academy and teach magic to young noble ladies?
If one had to list reasons, there would be too many.
It could be that he found meaning in the simple act of teaching magic.
Or that he had created an environment suited to perfecting his own magical art.
It all depended on how it was interpreted.
But in the end, there was a clear answer.
“To make money.”
“…”
For an instant, Roselin was left speechless.
Not just anyone was capable of rendering her mute.
The princess brought her fingers to her temple, as if her head hurt, and crossed her arms.
“I never imagined Melverot would say something so frivolous… There must be an abundance of gold coins in the ducal house of Rochester. Do you think I don’t even know that?”
“That money is for my territory. Not for him to use.”
“Even so, you allowed it knowing how politically delicate this matter is? Since when have you been so indulgent and understanding?”
“…”
The truth was that Melverot could indeed have stopped Dereck if he had wanted to.
He could have ordered him not to get involved in unnecessary trouble and to remain quietly teaching only Siern.
If Melverot had imposed his authority, Dereck would not have been able to refuse.
But he did not, because—
The image of Siern, staring at Kalimford as if she were about to devour him with her eyes, crossed his mind again.
She clung to Dereck like a growling beast, ready to pounce on anyone who tried to oppress him or treat him as an enemy.
“…”
Roselin, despite her young age, had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience.
Even so, there were things she still could not understand.
Where was there someone capable of manipulating a six-star mage at will?
And yet, surprisingly, in this world there existed a young girl capable of moving, not one, but two six-star mages at her whim.
And she was much younger than Roselin herself.
There was no reason to explain something like that to her.
Melverot answered only with silence.
Roselin felt a faint sense of strangeness at his attitude, but did not probe further.
“In any case… it seems you place a great deal of trust in that Baron of Ravenclaw.”
She smiled calmly.
“In that case, I’ll have to go inspect it personally and judge him with my own eyes. I’ll also truly evaluate the intention behind the founding of that academy. Just now, a matter has arisen that obliges me to pass through Ebelstein, so the timing is perfect.”
“…And if you don’t like what you see, what do you plan to do?”
Roselin adjusted her hair and smiled, her eyes gleaming in an unsettling way.
Behind her, it almost seemed as though flames were burning.
“Burn it all down with my own hands.”
Melverot understood why even the most radical officials preferred to keep their distance from her.
He slowly closed his eyes and had no choice but to turn his head away.
***
“The world was altered once.”
Office of the head of the Duplain family.
Leigh, with his hair freshly cut, was already wearing the attire befitting the head of the family.
Compared to his days as a young noble, he looked far more seasoned; he gave the impression of someone who truly bore the weight of that mansion.
In contrast, Linus, who was still a young noble in name only, was sitting on a high-quality sofa in tattered clothes, giving off a stale stench and soiling it without the slightest hesitation.
“That’s what Princess Roselin shouted—the one who occupies the seat of the master of the Palace of Truth, deep within the imperial palace of Gremport. In fact, among the high-ranking nobles who come and go from the center of the empire, that phrase circulates almost like a horror story.”
Surprisingly, the story about the six-star confusion mage that Princess Roselin was said to have mentioned was not known only by Linus; Leigh knew it as well.
According to him, it was quite a famous story.
However, because it sounded so absurd, it had been treated as an old legend and buried over time.
“Well, it might sound unromantic to you, but among hardcore gamblers, this goes around as a pretty amusing story. Hehehe.”
“Are you still hanging around gambling tables, Linus? It seems that even the Belmierd family has already given up on looking for you…”
“Well, Ellen pinches her nose and gets angry every time she sees me like this, so maybe it’s better not to go near her, right?”
“…”
Dereck remained seated in silence, watching Linus and Leigh trade barbs.
Linus, thanks to his peculiar social skills, had an absurdly wide network of contacts, even though as a person he did not amount to much beyond that.
Still, he never failed to bring interesting information from time to time.
“What exactly does that ‘the world was altered once’ mean?”
“They say that one day, as she was leaving the Palace of Truth, the young Princess Roselin shouted that. If you hear the rest of the story, supposedly a six-star confusion mage turned the world over once. That with magic on an absurd scale, they completely twisted some fundamental perception of the world.”
“…Twisted? What exactly did they twist?”
“That’s the funny part. Princess Roselin never said.”
“…”
That was precisely the most important part, and yet she had remained silent about it.
Dereck frowned with an incredulous expression, but Linus eagerly tipped back his glass, sank even deeper into the sofa, and continued speaking.
“That’s why the people who heard the story started imagining and playing with the idea. If there were a six-star mage who transcended everyone’s perception, and who twisted the world’s common sense, what do you think it would have been? Leigh, you know these kinds of stories well too, don’t you?”
“I’ve heard many. But they’re nothing more than fantasies. That they replaced the emperor, that they reversed the concepts of day and night, that they erased from history a villain who was about to devour the world—there’s everything. But honestly, none of it sounds realistic.”
“Oh, yes?”
“Of course. Even if it were a six-star mage, twisting all the memories and perceptions of the entire world at once? That doesn’t seem like something that could be done so easily…”
“Don’t turn into one of those boring adults who look for realism in horror stories. Haha. What matters is that it’s interesting.”
The bottle Linus was holding clinked.
After letting out another belch, he brazenly rested his arm on the backrest and continued.
“Besides, if you look through figures from the past in the history books, there’s at least one six-star confusion mage. What was her name…? The great witch Kelin, from the Elim mountain range. They said that just by meeting her gaze, she could completely dominate a person’s mind.”
“Yes, but even so, as far as I understand, not even she had power on the level of altering the world. In the end, she was subdued by Kalimpford and executed in the palace of Gremport.”
Six-star mages are at the limit of what is human, but that does not mean they are omnipotent.
They can alter maps, twist principles, and violate laws, but even so, changing the perception of all the inhabitants of the continent at once is not something that can be done easily.
A conspiracy theory.
A horror story.
Something closer to a legend.
The general opinion was that it was an absurd story, but, against all expectations, that tale carried an unsettling weight.
“Then it must have been concluded that it was nothing more than a senseless monologue by the young Princess Roselin.”
“At the time, yes. But if it still circulates today as a conspiracy theory, it’s because there are reasons. When you start fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, a rather suggestive picture emerges. That’s how these theories are born.”
“Really? Normally it would have been dismissed as a simple rambling of Princess Roselin… Does she have deep knowledge of magic?”
“No. Quite the opposite. She can’t even use one-star magic. In fact, I think she can’t even handle mana.”
At Dereck’s apathetic gaze, Leigh calmly closed his eyes and shook his head.
For someone of such high rank, having no magical knowledge at all was unusual.
What sense did it make, then, for someone like that to speak so insistently about confusion mages?
The most logical conclusion was that it was merely a passing incident.
And yet, both Linus and Leigh fell silent.
“Isn’t it strange from the very beginning? Even if there were a legendary confusion mage who altered the entire world, how is it possible that only Princess Roselin knows that fact?”
“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Dereck. That’s the key point.”
“Huh?”
Leigh, the head of the family, spoke frankly, arms crossed.
“You don’t know the nature of Princess Roselin. It’s something only the highest-ranking nobles are aware of.”
“Her… nature?”
“She bears on her back the Anti-Magic Seal, something that appears once every three generations in the imperial Gattrel family. Guaaah.”
There was a reason why, despite her lineage, she could not use any magic at all.
“No magic or mana can affect her. Even the nails she trims or the sweat she sheds contain a bit of the power that emanates from the Anti-Magic Seal.”
“In other words, her very existence is the natural enemy of mages.”
In an era in which magic had become a symbol of authority and a weapon of the nobles, for someone of imperial blood to possess such a nature was deeply significant.
She could die if stabbed, if she fell from a cliff, or if she ingested poison.
But magic simply had no effect on her.
Not even the most powerful mage on the continent could subdue her using magic alone.
Before her, all magic became useless.
In short, there was a reason why that conspiracy theory continued to breathe.
“……”
If there truly existed a confusion mage who transcended all perception in the world, there would be only one person on the entire continent capable of noticing it.
Conspiracy theories bloom upon a minimal foundation of credibility.
Dereck looked at Leigh and Linus.
Both of them, each in their own way, wore expressions laden with meaning.