Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
‘There’s no way, right?’
The closer Lucion got to the emperor, the more one thought dominated his mind.
During the declaration ceremony, he received the title of ‘saint’ and the position of ‘honorary high priest’.
In the end, didn’t only the Grand Temple do good?
If so, the royal family also had to do something.
What could the royal family do to look the best?
‘There is no way… The Imperial Knights Order exists solely for the imperial family, right?’
Lucion checked the red thread that connected him with Heint, which didn’t make any moves.
‘I feel like I’m walking on a tightrope.’
He met eyes with Heint, but he only lightly nodded his head in greeting.
“Your complexion doesn’t look good, Lord Cronia.”
Looking at Lucion’s pale complexion, the emperor was slightly worried.
Lucion was now an extremely important person to the empire.
Without knowing that he was hurt somewhere, he belatedly noticed a broken arm, and he was very bothered by how small he looked.
The emperor thought he should prepare some good medicine and send it to Cronia.
“I’m okay, Your Majesty.”
Lucion bowed towards the emperor.
When he suddenly bowed his head, he felt dizzy, but Lucion calmly straightened up.
“We will finish this quickly then for you.”
Mischievousness peeked into the emperor’s smile.
It was confusing whether he was serious or joking.
However, the moment the emperor looked at the nobles, the solemnity of a monarch returned to his face.
“Hand me a sword.”
The emperor waved at the knight, who was holding the prepared sword.
The knight politely handed the emperor the sword.
“Kneel down, Sir Heint Tria.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
For a moment, the corners of Heint’s mouth twitched up, but he frantically maintained a blank face, and knelt on one knee.
[Is he planning to appoint him as an imperial knight here?]
With an excited face, Russell walked up right in front of the emperor to watch it from the best seat.
The emperor grabbed the sword and raised it to Heint’s left shoulder.
“In this place, We appoint you as an Imperial Knight.”
It was short, but the words were heavy.
And Lucion’s ominous predictions turned into reality.
‘… Fuck.’
The name of the imperial family was absolute.
Whoever it was, whatever was the situation, once the name of ‘imperial’ was attached, the imperial family wouldn’t give anything of sort to the person who didn’t belong to the imperial family.
However, the emperor was about to break this consensus right now.
Why else would he appoint Heint as an Imperial Knight here, today?
“Hear me.”
The emperor spoke.
“From this point today, We decide that Lord Saint Lucion Cronia is a person who has to be protected by the Empire, and will have an Imperial Knight appointed to him.”
At those words, Lucion bit his lip.
However, the nobles’ reactions were different.
The emperor broke the unwritten rule for Lucion.
The venue soon turned noisy, and the gazes looking at Lucion became a bit different again.
The people, who were looking at him with a simple curiosity, now looked at him covetously, like a treasure they wanted to steal.
[Surely, it’s not bad if it’s just Heint, right? Didn’t you want to become close with Heint?]
At such an absurdly wrong statement, Lucion clenched his fists.
‘That’s not what I meant!’
[But won’t it impede your activities if he sticks to you as an escort?]
Russell, who was vaguely happy, rolled his tongue and rubbed his chin.
If there was a constraint on Lucion’s actions, then things would be troublesome for him, too.
Because Heint had the power of Light, he wouldn’t be able to properly teach him black magic.
“But.”
At that moment, the emperor followed up on that.
“Because Lord Lucion Cronia is part of the Border Protector Cronia family, I’ll place restrictions to only the times when Lord Lucion Cronia crosses into the central region and until he returns to the border.”
Because the thoughtless protection could touch the nerve of the border, the emperor avoided this, while protecting Lucion even by breaking the unwritten law in the name of compassion.
Lucion’s stiffened expression at last loosened up.
‘I almost got stuck with Heint.’
[I’m glad.]
Russell also sighed in relief.
[I was going to intensify your training in the future, but I almost couldn’t do it before I even started.]
Lucion felt his heart sink at Russell’s creepy words.
‘Intensify the training even more?’
Before he went to the Divine Beast Birthday Celebration banquet, he was forced to dry up his Darkness and fainted every day under the purpose of the training.
He would start to run again.
Lucion fiddled with his fingers, and then flinched at the emperor’s gaze that was staring at him.
The eyes that were looking at him were filled with a certain playfulness.
‘… Ah. I should request something, too.’
Lucion came back to his senses.
With this event, the Grand Temple surrendered to the imperial family, and a person who received the Divine Beast’s blessing was born, so it was a great event for the empire.
On the other side, the Grand Temple surrendered to the imperial family, but the bomb incident was buried, and following the Divine Beast, the person blessed by the Divine Beast appeared, so the Grand Temple’s power grew stronger.
In the end, both of them gained great gains thanks to him.
He was the only one who didn’t get anything yet.
‘The emperor told me to say if I want something, so I should obviously get something.’
He didn’t want to become just a symbol.
He wanted something so he could obtain an actual power.
First, he had to get permission to move soldiers.
The soldiers soon will become his power.
However, he couldn’t openly ask for permission to move soldiers, so he spoke with the voice of a noble.
“Your Majesty. This humble one wishes to ask Your Majesty something.”
While the nobles shouted with enthusiasm, Lucion quietly called out to the emperor.
“Speak.”
The emperor looked at the trembling Lucion with pity.
“This humble one wishes to be given strength to protect himself at any time.”
“That’s all you want?”
“That’s all. I just want the power to protect myself at any time.”
He paraphrased it, but it meant that he was asking for the power to move soldiers.
“Good.”
The emperor happily gave permission.
Lucion didn’t have any kind of government post, and the only power he had was the social power of being the youngest son of the border protector.
However, he was special.
Because he was special, it was a natural request.
“However, We think this one request is too little, so think of something else to add.”
‘That was easier than I thought…?’
Lucion’s eyes shook greatly.
He spoke happily, considering that he could make another request.
“Your Majesty’s generosity is boundless as the heavens. This humble one is touched.”
“Can’t I even do that for my close friend’s son?”
The emperor blurted out.
“… Yes?”
When Lucion was startled and asked back, the emperor spoke with a low voice and an apologetic face.
“My apologies are late, but as your father’s close friend, I’m sorry for testing and using you.”
For a short moment, the emperor didn’t look like an emperor, but an ordinary uncle.
However, that was it.
As if he didn’t say anything, the emperor became the emperor again and looked down at the nobles.
[… Huh.]
Russell let out a snicker, seemingly dumbfounded.
Where else would you find an emperor who is a close friend to the border protector?
***
“… Were you surprised?”
Heint looked at Carson with embarrassment.
It was even more embarrassing because they were riding the same carriage on the way to the villa.
“Who ordered it?”
Carson asked, while resting his chin in his hands.
“It was His Highness Cetil’s idea. Of course, I agreed.”
“Behave yourself, so you don’t get swept up.”
There was only one emperor throne, but there were six princes and princesses.
Once he becomes an Imperial Knight, Heint won’t be able to escape the fight over the emperor’s throne.
“I’ll make sure of that.”
Heint worked hard to smile.
“Besides, I’m a rolling stone right now, so I have a lot to worry about.”
Heint’s gaze turned to Lucion.
He was asleep, groaning.
“It’s all thanks to your dongaseng. Your dongsaeng was raised well.”
“He grew up well alone, so it’s natural.”
There was bitterness in Carson’s voice.
“But you said that a priest called Eol found a warlock?”
“Yeah. It was confirmed that there was a servant bewitched by a warlock. His Majesty should have cut off his head.”
“Isn’t it strange? In the end, it means that there were no people following the Darkness in the hall. Did the high priest make a mistake?”
Heint spoke quietly.
“Anyone can make a mistake.”
“Carson.”
“What?”
“Do not have misunderstandings.”
“Talk.”
“Is Lucion really an ordinary person?”
“Yeah.”
Carson was annoyed by Heint’s question, but held back.
“Are you doubting my dongsaeng right now?”
“No, no. It’s absolutely not that.”
Heint was very embarrassed, as he waved his hands.
The high priest did an examination and said for certain that Lucion wasn’t a warlock.
But there was one point of doubt.
“Heint.”
“Yeah?”
Because Caron’s voice was sharp like a blade, Heint stole a glance at him, as he answered.
“You have to become ears for Lucion in the future.”
“I can do that to an extent, but don’t forget that there is a line that I can’t cross. My allegiance already lies with the royal family.”
“I don’t plan to force you this far. But I trust you will maintain righteousness as a knight.”
Because of the pressure in the word ‘righteousness’, Heint fiddled with his ears.
“That’s a bit difficult. Righteousness and loyalty.”
“Answer.”
“My answer is obvious.”
“There is no way to know a person’s heart.”
Heint clicked his tongue and scowled.
“I understand. I’ll swear.”
With a serious face, Heint raised his palm.
“I, Heint, in the name of righteousness, will immediately inform Carson if I learn that the royal family put Lucion in an unreasonable position. Good?”
“Okay.”
At last, Carson’s face loosen up.
“Stubborn bastard.”
Heint looked with displeasure at his friend who didn’t act like a friend.
Silence fell again.
‘… But it’s really strange.’
Heint fiddled with his hands.
He didn’t notice it when he first saw Lucion, but the more he looked, the more he became aware that his Light was reacting.
‘They said Lucion is for sure an ordinary person.’
***
A few days later.
“Today at dawn, the bastards with the surname Pizzat were taken and their heads were cut off.”
Carson spoke calmly.
“… All of them?”
Lucion was about to eat a macaron the chief prepared, but his eyes opened wide.
— Latta too. Latta too, ah.
In the meantime, Latta, who fished a bunch of macarons, waved her front paws in front of Lucion.
“Frankly, it’s unprecedented. Looks like His Majesty was very angry.”
It was the first time Carson himself saw such a one-sided trail.
‘I can already feel the power of the saint.’
Lucion mumbled, while asking.
“Then what about the assets those bastards had?”
“10% goes to the country. The other 90% belongs to you. A consolation for dirtying your reputation.”
[… What?]
Because Russell suddenly shouted, Lucion was startled.
But how much were the assets of the viscount family combined?
And Lucion got a whopping 90% of it?
“Hyung-nim.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I use about 20% of the money I receive to help the victims?”
“The documents haven’t arrived yet, but it’s yours, so you can do as you like in the future.”
Carson looked at Lucion with a face full of admiration.
[That, um, it’s a righteous action, but Lucion, you didn’t decide to become a saint for real, right?]
Lucion lightly shook his head at Russell’s words.
It wasn’t something he did because he had the title of the saint.
It was something he did because he was fine with letting go of 20% of it.
At that moment, the carriage stopped.
“Seems like we’ve arrived, let’s get off.”
Carson left the carriage first, saying he will check the surroundings.
Before, Lucion wandered around the Pizzat family’s business and got into the carriage incident.
As something like that could happen again, he couldn’t help but have the knights follow him.
In exchange, they spread around without entering Lucion’s vision.
Lucion left the carriage and looked at the hot, shining down sunlight.
He thought that it’s been a really long time.
A few weeks ago he wasn’t able to move properly because he was so sickly like he was really about to die, as Russell said.
‘Wow…’
Lucion looked at the business that was as big as a mansion.
‘Doesn’t it feel more like a factory than a business place?’
Just looking at the wide site, Lucion’s heart swelled.
Carson told him that the Pizzat family made fake items that look like the real thing, and made profit from it in a short period of time.
There were things that nobles usually liked, like jewelry and accessories.
In addition, he said that they found traces of high quality mana stones being replaced with low quality mana stones and sold.
‘So much comes out after just a bit of dusting, so isn’t there still more to dust out?’
Once the fraud was exposed, the business lost its value.
If he didn’t induce Carson to investigate and just snatched the business, the blame would just shift onto him.
Now, the only thing of value here was this site and the treasures hidden somewhere here.
Wasn’t there an excellent detector calling himself his master-nim?
And there was also Hyum who was a good excavator and dirt digger.
‘The day will be perfect if I can get some hidden treasures.’
Lucion swallowed the laugh that kept creeping up.
[… Wait a moment, Lucion.]
Russell suddenly looked at the site with a serious expression.
[Why is there a Death Knight wandering here?]
*~*~*
Translator’s note: What a cute friendship.
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