REFDL 43

The very next day after the birthday celebration ended, at dawn.

The Denos delegation departed the imperial palace.

With the agreement concluded, there was no reason to linger further. The emperor did not even offer polite encouragement to stay longer, and Valita likewise did not utter even a hollow “I wish I could stay longer, but it’s a pity.”

On the road to the port by carriage.

Valita was lost in thought. The emperor’s reaction had been more calm than he had expected.

“……”

The current emperor of Firmus was a man who displayed an almost supernatural intuition when it came to his own self-preservation.

There was no way such a man failed to notice the flaw in his ‘safety net’.

“How amusing.”

Valita chuckled softly, recalling that night.

It was only a pity that, lacking a prepared sacrifice, the curse had been little more than a trivial prank. He hadn’t worried about being caught from the start.

The world was in decline.

Knights who wrapped their swords in vivid blue auras, cleaving giant ogres in two with a single stroke. There had certainly been a time when such knights were so numerous you could trip over them.

But that former glory remained only as stories.

It wasn’t just the knights who had weakened. Divine power and magic were no longer what they once were.

Temples remained purely as religious institutions for those who believed in the gods, and magic barely clung to existence…

‘The Magic Tower is an artifact workshop, and its practitioners should rightly be called artifact craftsmen, not mages.’

Of course, from Denos’s perspective, where even that was lacking, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Valita recalled the Kremlis dragon. More precisely, that very moment when that beautiful creature had saved him.

“……”

The man wore an expression like a boy smitten with his first love. The knight seated opposite him flinched. Valita didn’t care in the slightest.

‘I want him.’

The man made his decision.

He would figure out the method from now on.

* * *

A week had passed since the festival ended.

People had returned to their daily lives. Firmus was a country where national festivals were rare, except for the Founding Festival. This was especially true during the nearly five years since the aftermath of the civil war.

Perhaps it was because they had enjoyed a proper festival for the first time in so long.

Like the Kremlis dragon plushies clutched by children or the remnants of fireworks lingering on rooftops, the lingering excitement among the people lasted quite a while.

And here.

There was a man who, in a different sense, couldn’t escape the birthday celebration.

“……”

“……Sir.”

“……”

“Um, Captain.”

A low ranking knight mustered every ounce of courage he possessed and addressed his distant superior.

They weren’t even in the same order.

The knight belonged to the Second Order, the imperial Regular Knights. The godlike man before him was the Captain of the First Order, the Dragon Knights. He was also a high noble among high nobles, someone a commoner like himself would never have dared to speak to.

But he had to speak.

Because the impoverished junior knight only owned two sets of uniforms. The one he was wearing now, and…

“That’s my uniform…!”

Kaelus held the dress uniform the junior knight had briefly set aside.

His grip was so tight the veins stood out on his knuckles.

He stared at him like a man who had lost his mind.

Only, there was no focus in his eyes.

For reference, the standard uniform of the imperial knights featured a red base with gold embroidery.

“…Good work.”

The man, finally coming to his senses, pressed the uniform into the junior knight’s hand as if it had been his intention all along. Then he vanished across the corridor.

While simultaneously moving his arm and leg on the same side!

Eyewitness accounts like this poured in from everywhere.

They said he was casually fiddling with someone else’s handkerchief. But then it turned out to be one tucked into someone else’s breast pocket.

They said he was staring at the relief carved into the side of a carriage, and then it turned out to be a carriage belonging to another noble house, with someone actually riding inside.

‘That poor soul from the slower-to-hear-news family, thinking he’d committed some grave offense against the duke’s household, paced restlessly until he fell ill upon returning home.’

The common thread was that everything he was looking at had a red background with gold decorations.

The emperor, who had initially laughed until his sides ached, now realized the gravity of the situation. He quickly silenced the witnesses while urgently summoning Nitan, the vice captain.

Nitan left the emperor’s office with a glazed look, offering only the predictable response, ‘I’ll try my best.’ Having just returned from a short holiday granted by the emperor’s birthday, he still couldn’t believe it.

It seemed more plausible that the emperor was playing a prank.

…That caption was drugged with an aphrodisiac and spent the night with someone he didn’t even recognize?

A man immune to even the deadly poison of the Sea of Trees?

‘And he can’t even forget it, acting like some kind of fool?’

Nitan snorted derisively.

‘Even a passing Knum wouldn’t believe that.’

But it was all true.

Swish, swish, swish, swish.

“……”

When people see a magnificent natural scenery. They get overwhelmed.

Even while looking at it directly, they might say, ‘Wow, is this real?’ or just spit out exclamations one after another without saying a word.

Nitan was exactly like that right now.

“Wow…”

To others, his expression remained as emotionless as ever. But Nitan, who had known him for a long time, could tell. That was a wistful look.

Wistful and Kaelus?

‘Is this real?’

It was a horrifying combination, like pouring boiling oil into beer, but it was true.

Anyway, ‘Wistful Kaelus’ kept stroking the Kremlis dragon resting on his palm.

After so much petting, the baby dragon looked bewildered and had flattened himself completely.

‘I think that’s what they call a pancake from the southern regions…’

If he left it any longer, the precious Kremlis might really turn into a red pancake. Nitan carefully snatched the dragon from his hands and took it away.

Kaelus flinched, finally coming back to his senses.

“…Ah, you’re here.”

“……”

Nitan felt uneasy.

When the emperor had asked him to handle this, he hadn’t expected it to be like this.

He first set the Kremlis dragon down on the floor. Once freed from being stroked, he quickly puffed back up to his original shape (?). But perhaps the aftereffects lingered, as his steps were wobbly.

And Kaelus’s eyes were fixed on the Kremlis again.

Nitan, his eyes cloudy, quickly grabbed the Kremlis dragon and shoved him onto Donon, who was waiting outside the door.

Thud!

“Ah! Stay still, Lord Yuram! Why are you suddenly doing this?”

[Me too. Inside……!]

“You two must have something important to discuss! I’ll go get some sherbet from the kitchen.”

Then it went silent.

Kaelus, who had briefly seemed interested in the outside, went blank again.

‘…This is maddening.’

Nitan suggested with clouded eyes.

“If you could describe the person, I’ll search quietly behind the scenes.”

“……”

Kaelus understood what Nitan meant.

But he didn’t reply. Nitan chose slightly more provocative words.

“You have to meet him. Surely you don’t intend to just shut up as if nothing happened?”

“……His Majesty said he would find him. You don’t need to get involved, so stay put. If things escalate unnecessarily…… it would be troublesome if he went into hiding.”

Given he fled without a word, it sounds like he fully intends to hide.

Nitan sighed.

Kaelus believed this entire incident was his fault, from start to finish.

The emperor and Nitan saw things differently.

The social circles had several unspoken rules.

One of them.

Never enter a closed lounge.

…Why do you think that is!?

Of course, this wasn’t just any noble residence. Within the imperial palace, nobles who would commit such… acts were rare, so the rooms were actually only used as lounges!

Some rooms were even equipped with not just sofas, but beds.

In such a room, unusual sounds were heard from behind the closed door. Would anyone deliberately open the door and enter?

At that point, it could only be seen as evidence of some intention!

No.

Yuram naturally knew nothing of any unspoken rules.

In fact, he was pure when he entered. …He just lost that purity after going in.

Anyway.

Seeing Kaelus sulk after he said something, Nitan felt emptiness he’d never experienced before.

It was terror.