Chapter 598: The Situation is…
Editor: Tseirp
“They say he’s finally going to be elevated to Imperial Prince.”
“It’s already been tough up to now, but it’s only going to get tougher from here, huh.”
Chatting like that, Ryo and Abel headed back to Rondo Manor from the neighbors’.
“Strife between brothers is… kinda painful to watch.”
“Abel… you got along well with your older brother, Crown Prince Cain, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, very well.”
“And your father… his younger brother—Sir Raymond, the royal uncle who started that rebellion, right? You didn’t get along with him, did you?”
“Well, no. That said… back in their prince days, I don’t think their conflict ever went as far as trying to kill each other.”
Abel answered with his head cocked.Of course, he didn’t know that era precisely, so it was more of a feeling.
“You never know. Out of sight of the official histories, there might have been blood-for-blood struggles. When it comes to intrigues like that, those in power will use every means to seal them away. Their thoroughness is terrifying.”
“You say that like you saw it yourself…”
“I did see it!”
Of course—on movies, dramas, and in novels.
“Anyway, once Prince Ryun advances to Imperial Prince, the power struggle inside the palace will kick into a new phase.”
“Yeah… that’ll be the hardest front. By now, almost all of the Shitaifu stratum must have joined a faction under one of the three princes, right? How’s he planning to handle that?”
“Numbers are power. We need to increase our numbers too… but there aren’t any numbers left to increase.”
Ryo fell into thought as well.
The instant they reached the gate, Ryo clapped his hands—
Right fist to left palm with a ‘pon’.
A thought made visible.
And in times like these…
“It’s bound to be a terrible idea anyway.”
Abel muttered.
“If we can’t increase ours, we can just decrease theirs.”
“Decrease the opponent?”
“If you, Abel, go around every night purging the Shitaifu factionaries backing the three princes one by one, the enemy will shrink.”
“Yeah, figured it’d be something like that!”
“It’s the usual pattern. Patterning solves lots of problems.”
“Pat…terning? What’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s your favorite tried-and-true method, Abel.”
“How on earth is that my favorite!”
Even when your prediction hits, that doesn’t mean you’re happy about it.
For the record, both of them were carrying gifts—
Things Princess Shio Fen had sent them off with.
“What I’ve got is a pastry called poajuu, apparently. They said it’s pretty filling, so I was advised to have it double as lunch.”
It was currently 11:30 a.m.
“Mine, they said to use as dinner.”
Abel was carrying something like a tiered food box—
Basically, a bento for supper.
“The neighbors—well, whether you call them residents or staff—there are a lot of people over there. They must have to prepare three meals for all of them every day, right? They told us not to worry since this is the extra…” 𝘳Ἀ𐌽ổ₿Ё𝘴
“People cost money.”
Ryo voiced a concern; Abel shrugged.
As His Majesty the King, Abel had run a nation.
He knew from the kingdom government and the royal castle—with so many people working—how much even just the food budget costs.
“Thinking of it that way, our golem corps—starting with Advance-Notice Officer No. 1-kun—really shines for not costing anything to feed.”
“True, they don’t eat… but ‘golem corps’?”
“Even if they’re a cleaning unit now, they’ll surely become a battlefield corps that protects our allies one day!”
Ryo declared with conviction.
Perhaps in his head, he saw a battlefield where golems danced and whirled.
“For the time being, once we’re done eating, I’m sure they’ll fulfill the mission of returning these boxes next door.”
“Well, even that makes them useful.”
Advance-Notice Officer No. 1-kun & Co. could not only deliver advance notices—they could return dishes, too!
“But… Ryo, aren’t we just mooching meals off them?”
“Eh?”
“We haven’t sent anything back in return, have we?”
“W-when you put it that way…”
Abel’s point left Ryo aghast.
They’d been getting shared sweets and bentos, but it was true they hadn’t sent anything from Rondo Manor.
“It’s bad manners to just keep receiving. What should we do…”
Ryo entered the manor, thinking…then clapped his hands again.
Abel eyed him dubiously—
His earlier experience prompted that look.
“I’ll gift them an ice statue I make.”
“Ice statue?”
“Yes. A life-sized statue of Abel.”
“As expected… a terrible idea.”
Since it was exactly the terrible idea he’d expected, Abel didn’t even shout anymore.
He just muttered.
“A token of friendship from the Kingdom of Knightley.”
“Yeah—denied.”
“Why!”
“It’s just… weird.”
“Then, to display the glory of the kingdom and King Abel, how about a 50-meter statue of King Abel? My, how vain you are.”
“How does it come to that! Don’t you dare!”
Tokens of interstate friendship… are complicated.
They went inside, sipped tea, and nibbled poajuu.
They looked like little buns, but inside were things like minced meat and something leek-like.
Ryo’s impression was that they were like cooled shumai.
Whether that was accurate was unknown.
But they were certainly tasty.
“I see—this can pull double duty as snack and lunch.”
“I feel like I could eat forever, but if you get carried away, you’ll be in trouble.”
Both of them knew:
Overeating is bad.
If you overeat, bad things happen.
Experience had made them wise.
“Abel, our situation has gotten rather complicated. Let’s sort it out.”
Ryo opened with that, took a sip of tea, and continued.
“First and foremost, our overarching objective is to return to the Central Countries.”
“Right.”
Abel agreed with Ryo’s opening.
“But as His Majesty the Emperor said, there’s some kind of ‘Wall’, and unless it opens, we can’t proceed along the ‘Corridor’ to the Central Countries. It’ll open in a year… no, about ten months now. From there, it’ll stay open for at least five years, so during that window we’ll pass through the ‘Corridor’ and return to the kingdom.”
Ryo took another sip of tea.
“And until then, since we’re idle, Abel suggested we might as well hoist Prince Ryun onto our shoulders and make him emperor.”
“Hey.”
Abel seemed to have complaints about Ryo’s description.
Ryo ignored him and went on.
“To aim for the next emperor’s throne, first you have to be named Crown Prince. To be named Crown Prince, you have to be an Imperial Prince. Staying a mere prince won’t do. Currently, there are three Imperial Princes: Second Prince Kouri, Third Prince Churei, and Fourth Prince Bin.”
“Mm.”
“And the Sixth Prince Ryun, whom we’re helping, will advance to Imperial Prince in one month.”
“Hey, Ryo.”
“Yes?”
“Someone just got skipped.”
“Sorry??”
“Between the Fourth and the Sixth princes…”
“Ah! The Fifth Prince… who would that be?”
“No idea.”
Ryo and Abel both realized they knew absolutely nothing about the Fifth Prince.
“He’s about to be overtaken by Prince Ryun in becoming an Imperial Prince… I wonder what he thinks of that.”
“Well, he might already be deceased…”
“Given he never comes up, that’s possible too.”
“A mystery prince… It’s also possible he’s pulling strings in the depths of the palace!”
“What do you mean, pulling strings?”
Ryo was thrilled at a classic story development, but Abel didn’t play along.
“The prince who pretends to be dull-witted but is actually super capable, and in the end seizes the imperial throne—that’s a staple of the genre.”
“Sure. Let’s hope the Fifth Prince is that guy.”
For some reason, Ryo got excited on his own; Abel just shrugged.
While Ryo murmured that they should go ask someone tomorrow, Abel muttered,
“Either way, the one currently closest to the crown prince’s seat is Second Prince Kouri.”
“Yeah. He’s apparently quite competent, and a fair share of the Shitaifu stratum belongs to his faction. However…”
“Right—despite being that capable, and despite strong backing from the Shitaifu class, he still hasn’t been named crown prince. Moreover, when the previous crown prince died, he’d already advanced to Imperial Prince… If he’d been named the next crown prince right then, we probably wouldn’t have this kind of turmoil now.”
“Which means there’s something invisible to the general public that makes His Majesty hesitate to take the plunge. Secretary Shau didn’t seem to like Prince Kouri, either.”
At that point, Ryo and Abel each took another poajuu.
“This is the right pace.”
“Experience matters.”
They were grown-ups now!
“Third Prince Churei is a martial artist. But he’s straightforward to a fault and inflexible… I get the feeling he’s not suited to be emperor.”
“…Is that so?”
“The emperor we know can swallow both the clean and the dirty.”
“You mean… the former Emperor Rupert of the Debuhi Empire, right?”
“Bingo! He’s pretty scary, and he truly won’t choose his means to achieve his ends, and he’ll sacrifice lives without blinking… but he absolutely accomplishes what he sets out to do. There’s a kind of… gravitas.”
“He’s among the top tier even within the ranks of emperors.”
Ryo praised; Abel agreed while noting that even among emperors, he was exceptional.
“Well, flexibility is something a leader of a nation needs. For better or worse.”
“So Abel, as king, you must have done lots of bad things too. And saying ‘it’s for the country!’ or ‘for national security!’ you’ve been throwing innocent civilians in jail, haven’t you!”
“Why do you always take it there?”
“I’ve seen it!”
Of course—in movies, dramas, and novels.
“Lastly, Fourth Prince Bin… he’s still lacking.”
“Why the lofty tone just for him?”
“Precisely because of that, he might do something outrageous. We’ll need to be careful.”
“Yeah…”
“He supposedly hired all the Third-Rank and Second-Rank adventurers in the Capital Mutual Aid Association—hundreds of them. Where is that money coming from?”
“He’s a prince; wouldn’t he have that much?”
“Clearly, the fruit of bribes from merchants and other illicit hoarding!”
“I don’t think you should jump to that conclusion.”
Abel questioned Ryo’s groundless assertion.
Naturally, Ryo didn’t give his doubts so much as a glance.
“Following the money is an iron rule of criminal investigation.”
“Yeah, except this isn’t necessarily a crime.”
Then Ryo said, as if remembering,
“Speaking of adventurers—First-Rank and Special-Rank are hired by Second Prince Kouri, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s a powerful force.”
“Can’t argue.”
And their conversation leapt outside the palace.
“There are threats to Darwei from beyond its borders, too.”
“The Choouchi Empire up north. Envoy Berke and the others seem to have disappeared from the capital, though.”
“They were Phantomkins… but is everyone in the Choouchi Empire phantomkins?”
“…”
Abel was struck speechless by Ryo’s question.
“If so… depending on their population, they’d be an opponent humans can’t beat, wouldn’t they?”
“Even for Darwei, reputed as a superpower, that wouldn’t be easy.”
Both scowled as they sipped their tea.
“As for external threats, there’s another.”
“…There is?”
“The ghost ship Ruri.”
“Ah… Well, it’s an external threat, but not one that concerns Darwei.”
“Right—if anything, it concerns us.”
Both let out small sighs.
“You’ve got it rough, Ryo. Helping Prince Ryun, getting glared at by the ghost ship Ruri, and on top of that, Akumas show up all the time wanting to ‘play’ with you.”
“I’ll give you half.”
“No, thanks.”
The world, it seems, rarely goes the way you want…
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