Despite the difficult mealtime caused by Seria’s trolling, it eventually came to an end.
In fact, it almost didn’t end, but surprisingly, the Emperor intervened.
I hadn’t expected him to step in, so I was a bit surprised, but after hearing what he said, I could roughly understand why.
“Phew… Yeah, it’s always been annoying, but let’s move on for now. I didn’t invite you here with entirely good intentions either.”
In other words, he admitted that he had inserted me into this situation to make me uncomfortable.
How despicable. But in the end, I got to eat something delicious, so it was a bit of a silver lining.
But… why did he have to say that himself? It wasn’t something that needed to be brought up.
“I heard about the incident with the Order of Knights. You had a good match with Lord Lux, didn’t you?”
Ah, that’s why.
It seemed like the Emperor was concerned about the duel with the knight from earlier that day.
Though he called it a “good match,” I’m sure it was relayed to him in a way that flattered me more than it actually was.
Whatever the case, it seemed certain that I had caught the Emperor’s attention.
The name he mentioned was someone I knew as well.
“That person was Lord Lux.”
As soon as I heard the name, I knew. The knight I had fought wasn’t just any ordinary person.
I hadn’t recognized him at first because his face hadn’t appeared in the game, but there was no way I wouldn’t know the name “Lux.”
He had been active as the commander of the Imperial Guard, and during the final battle, he had taken the position of the unit leader.
He might not have been as strong as the version I saw in the game, but the fact that the Emperor was mentioning him now meant that he was already being recognized at this point.
So I had shown off my fight with someone like that.
I had expected to stand out, but this was beyond what I had imagined.
“I should have realized when he used that golden sword technique, which is notoriously hard to learn.”
Thinking that the Imperial Guard had many talented people was a mistake. I should’ve paid more attention.
“…A duel with Lord Lux?”
“Brother. Did we poke the wrong bear?”
“W-We haven’t done anything yet. We can explain ourselves!”
The three men who had been trying to provoke me from the side reacted like that.
Ah, now that I think about it, wasn’t Lux the one training them? That explains their reaction.
“Anyway, my brothers have no guts. They’re in big trouble.”
Without understanding her brothers’ predicament, Seria just kept grumbling.
But… it was really unavoidable.
Her brothers were so eerily similar to the Emperor in both appearance and talent that they were almost like replicas of him. They couldn’t stand out in terms of strength because they followed the Emperor’s example, and they were never exceptional.
So in the final chapter, they didn’t even get a proper appearance.
The only thing shown was Seria standing with a worried look in the corner of the illustration.
Having inherited her mother’s talent, Seria didn’t understand her brothers’ frustrations and just kept grumbling. This must have been quite painful for them, because the eldest suddenly stood up from his seat.
Then, confidently holding a dining knife, he aimed it at me.
“Seria said that, so I can’t just stay quiet.”
“Brother! What are you trying to do?”
“Brothers, even if you know you’ll lose, there are times when you have to fight.”
The words sounded cool, but the situation and the fact that he was holding a dining knife completely ruined the image.
What was surprising here was that neither the Emperor nor the Empress seemed to have any intention of stopping the eldest’s behavior. They just shook their heads as if to say, “Not again.”
Sigh… really. What are we going to do if the Crown Prince behaves like this in front of guests?
Even Seria didn’t seem like she had any intention of stopping him.
Is this how it usually is? Is this really the Crown Prince who will inherit the throne?
Is this country going to be okay like this? Well, he’s a copy of the Emperor, so he’ll probably do fine…
“Rudion. He’s not the kind of person to act like this in front of others, but it seems like he’s taken quite a liking to you. Try to get along with him.”
In the end, Seria said that, as if she had come to terms with the situation.
Now I understood why she always let things slide when I did anything odd. She must be used to strange behavior.
At any rate, my priority was to deal with that knife first.
As I mentioned, his skills probably weren’t remarkable, but since he must have graduated from the academy by now, his stats should be quite decent.
Of course, they wouldn’t be ridiculously high like the Emperor’s… but compared to mine, they’d surely be overwhelming.
So I couldn’t just let him hit me to save face.
Let’s see…
At first, I wasn’t in a good position to avoid the Crown Prince’s knife as it came at me.
I could probably dodge it if I tried, but doing so would likely cause me to kick over the table in front of me.
Since the plates and silverware hadn’t been cleared away yet, if I kicked the table, it would be a disaster.
So, reluctantly, I picked up the fork I had been fiddling with just moments ago. And… I placed it against the Crown Prince’s incoming knife attack.
“Take this!”
The specialty of the dagger technique: If you swing without a combination, all motions are parry-able.
The specialty of the fork: It has a parrying function.
Thwung-
As a result, I was able to knock the Crown Prince flying with the fork’s parry.
It was fortunate that I was holding a fork, because if it had been a knife, I would have had no chance and would’ve ended up knocking over the whole table.
“AAAHH!”
But the Crown Prince’s momentum wasn’t normal.
Maybe because I parried with a fork, he flew too far away.
Whether it was a bug or not, in the game, forks were treated like blunt weapons.
Blunt weapon parries are known for their strong knockback.
Was that the reason?
The Crown Prince didn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down after being knocked back by my fork.
‘This is a bit much.’
I didn’t intend for it to go this far.
At this rate, it was clear I’d look like I was showing off my strength, warning the royalty not to mess with me.
But… what was going on?
Just before the Crown Prince crashed into the wall, he suddenly stopped with a thud.
What’s this? Was the Crown Prince hiding his strength?
I was having such foolish thoughts when I heard Seria’s voice quietly from behind me.
“…You really are an idiot.”
She wasn’t talking to me. It seemed she had caught him with magic somehow.
“Seria. You can do that now?”
“I learned it by watching Mom earlier.”
“You learned it just by watching? As expected, you’re my daughter.”
“It’s no big deal.”
After stopping the accident, Seria spoke briefly with the Empress, then slowly lowered the Crown Prince, who had been floating in the air, to the ground.
He awkwardly and clumsily returned to his seat, trying to sneak back in.
“…Brother. That was embarrassing.”
“I know, so be quiet.”
“Still, your spirit was impressive.”
“I said, be quiet.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The second son failed to comfort him, and an awkward silence settled.
That silence lasted until the palace servants cleared the table after everyone had finished eating.
After that, the Emperor cautiously spoke.
“Seeing it in person is even more surprising. I couldn’t tell at all what you did.”
“I didn’t really intend to show off.”
“By the way, have you considered graduating from the academy and working for the royal family?”
“…”
That came out of nowhere. I blinked… but I guess I didn’t need to bother since he’s the Emperor.
Royal family, huh…
I hadn’t really thought about graduating from the academy and joining the royal family.
But… honestly, working for the royal family didn’t really appeal to me.
Of course, if I were affiliated with the royal family, I could say I’d lived a successful life.
I would gain both wealth and fame.
But with my current stats, if I tried to force my way in with brute strength, I’d likely end up in the knight order, which would definitely bring about various problems.
Evasion and parrying are the skills that suit me best for survival, but they aren’t the kinds of techniques you use to save others by stepping forward.
“Thank you for the offer, but…”
“Don’t worry, Father. Even if I don’t work here, if I ask for help, I’m sure you’ll come running, right?”
I was about to politely decline when Seria suddenly interjected with that remark.
I wanted to argue with her about making decisions on her own, but after thinking about it for a moment, I realized she might actually do something like that, so I couldn’t deny it.
But… was she trying to score points? She said something strange.
“No matter how much you try to look good, Seria is off-limits.”
“Ah, Dad! What are you talking about all of a sudden?! It’s not like that, so don’t misunderstand!!”
Seria was clearly flustered by the Emperor’s ridiculous statement, even forgetting to call him “Father” for a moment.
“Seria! Don’t be fooled! All men are wolves!”
“But you’re a man too!”
Looking at it now, the Emperor and the Crown Prince were exactly the same. It was obvious that they both went into overdrive when it came to Seria. They were definitely father and son.
“Ugh. This is too much. There’s no need to continue; let’s just wrap it up.”
Finally, the Empress intervened with those words and ended the situation, allowing us to leave the room.
The Lubetia Imperial Family. This was one of the places you rarely visited in the game.
In fact, when following the standard route, you only enter the royal palace three times.
And each time, it’s near the very end of the game, after accomplishing something major.
So, I had no way of learning about the structure of the palace, the issues hidden within, or the secrets that were concealed.
Of course, this was true for the standard route.
If you follow another route—one that involves getting involved with the royal family—then you can enter as many times as you want.
But the moment you’re caught while walking the path of a criminal, everything becomes a mess, and the hardcore difficulty begins. But even that is a kind of enjoyment, so I tried multiple times, digging up the royal palace’s secrets.
Honestly, I could say I knew more about the royal family than anyone else.
I knew it better than the Emperor himself.
And… the biggest secret hidden in the royal palace starts in the guest room.
Yes, the very room I’m in now.
“So, let me know once you finish reading it.”
“Sure.”
Creek—
Thud.
Seria placed the “Journey of Stars” series on the desk next to me.
There was something I wanted to check first, so reading would have to wait for later.
I casually pushed aside one of the bookshelves in the guest room and found a hidden button behind it.
I didn’t know how it worked, but this was something impossible to find by just searching.
The invisible, intangible button that could neither be seen nor touched. I just believed it was there and pressed it.
It didn’t activate immediately either; I had to hold it for about two minutes… which explained why no one had found it and had left it hidden.
Click—
Whirr—
“Wow, it really works.”
Soon, the hidden button activated, and a large hole appeared where the button had been.
It wasn’t some hidden space. If it were, I would have found it a long time ago and taken everything from it.
This was something treated with magical properties, like a portal. If I had to compare it to something, it felt like a rift.
“I just opened it to confirm, but…”
Now that it was actually open, I felt an irresistible urge to go in.
It was a situation any man would find hard to resist. A secret space just opened up, and you expect me to leave it alone?
I couldn’t resist! Let’s go inside and check it out!