16-4 A Masterpiece

The carriage arrived at none other than the imperial capital’s palace.

Oh.

I had come here so many times already that it hardly felt new at this point.

Though this was my first official visit.

However, Fal was going all out with excitement over her first overseas trip.

Should I have brought Mari along as her caretaker?

But I did not really want to do that.

If I said it was just a feeling, then that was all it was.

My instincts told me that girl should not be involved in things like this too much.

She could just take care of the children she loved so much.

There was no need for everyone’s precious mother to do dirty work.

That was why this pitch-black-to-the-stomach Demon King Director was here.

In Fal’s case, if the Empire took hostile action, spirits all over the world would manifest and attack the Empire, and every continental nation that worshipped Ross would form an alliance and reduce the Empire to ash.

And more than anything, I would obtain the right to turn everything to ash on the spot.

Well, whether I would actually turn them to ash or not was another story.

There had to be an idiot like Bighton in the Empire too!

If necessary, I could broadcast that idiocy live to the entire world at any time.

My heart was pounding with anticipation.

At the arrival of a perfect opportunity that might let me upgrade my title from duke-killer to empire-killer.

Fal and I were both excited like children.

While that was happening, the embassy carriage marked with the Albatross Kingdom’s hawk crest entered the imperial palace on a free pass.

Is that okay? Is that really okay?

Letting two such dangerous people pass through so easily?

The carriage stopped in front of the palace’s main entrance.

There was even a proper roofed carriage porch there, which impressed me.

The coachman opened the door and stood sharply in place.

Mm, good work.

Following behind the guide through the imperial palace, I carried Fal, bore the Blazing Flame emblem on my back, and proceeded toward the venue.

Were the Empire’s intelligence people panicking when they saw this?

And then, the great hall.

It was unmistakably a glittering world.

For an old man who had ruined his health and shut himself away, it was originally a world far above the clouds that had nothing to do with him.

But to me now, it was a completely unrelated world that did not particularly draw my interest.

Without paying any attention to anyone, I pushed through the venue, letting confidence surge from my whole body like an aura along with my mana.

Just from seeing me and my emblem, the crowd parted at once, letting me feel just a little like Moses.

My destination was the sea of sweets.

This country was surprisingly high-level when it came to those things.

In other words, there had probably once been Rare Visitors in this country too.

Fal’s eyes were extremely serious.

You… could make eyes like that?

As her foster parent, I widened my eyes in astonishment.

She was choosing.

Sweets.

With the spirit of treasuring each once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

And then, Sacred Elion spoke.

“Old man! That one!”

It was a plain-looking sweet in an unimpressive corner, with an appearance that was nothing special and a shabby, rustic feel.

When they saw that, voices of surprise spread among a number of imperial nobles.

Hm? Why?

Hmm.

I gently set Fal down and thought while looking at it.

This was…

With a certain kind of conviction, I picked up one of the white, long, misshapen sweets shaped somewhat like a quince and broke it in half before bringing it to my mouth.

When I broke it, white powder that seemed to be sugar scattered lightly.

Fal stared closely at the movement of my hands.

My face naturally broke into a smile, and I tossed the remaining half into Fal’s mouth.

“PIGYAAAAAA!”

At that bizarre scream, which did not sound like something a human could make, everyone in the venue turned around.

The faces of the security personnel who recognized Fal’s figure turned pale.

Oh.

So Fal’s true identity was already known throughout the Empire as well.

Well, she had caused that incident at the wedding, after all.

That would certainly be an issue that chilled the guts of those in charge of security.

“What happened!”

The security chiefs rushed over in a panic.

To the side of the great child of god.

Judging from their crisp attitude and bearing, they seemed to be from high-ranking noble families.

If I was not careful, they might even be members of the Imperial Knight Order.

Oh, these seemed like fairly capable people.

So the Empire was not made up only of rotten people.

“It’s delicious. This sweet is really delicious. I want more.”

“Y-yes…”

Hearing the guard’s deflated reply, I could not help smiling.

I understood what that thing really was.

“Wasanbon.”

Someone in this world had made it.

Or perhaps brought it over.

Or else copied it like I did, or created it with their own skill.

At the very least, there was a confectioner who had made sweets of quality equal to Japan’s.

This was probably among the highest-grade wasanbon.

I could tell.

I could tell, not through logic, but instinctively.

The fact that someone could make something like this meant they were probably a Rare Visitor—in other words, Japanese.

However, the reactions of the imperial nobles bothered me.

Why were they so surprised?

I had no reason for it, but I smelled the same scent as House Orston and House Palmia.

In other words, the unmistakable scent of trouble.

The corners of my mouth unconsciously curled up.

Because that was exactly the kind of matter suitable for my current mission.

The high-ranking imperial noble who saw that turned even paler.

I placed a marker on that guy.

He seemed like someone who knew something about the internal circumstances.

As for markers, I had improved them since then.

To my surprise, I discovered that if I opened a separate window on my magic PC, I could place an unlimited number of markers.

What in the world had all my struggles until now been?

This was why old men were hopeless.

They could not keep up with new things.

Though if I carelessly closed the window, the markers disappeared.

However, if I reopened the window from the history, they came back again.

I stored several pieces of the wasanbon sweets in my item box.

This was the first souvenir of this trip.

Fal was already devouring them, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster.

If possible, I wanted her to do that in Rainbow Fals form.

It would surely be so cute that I might accidentally die from delight.

I also had a few bites myself.

It was a wonderful taste.

Fal, these are precious high-class sweets, so savor them more when you eat.

What kind of face would Remi make if I fed these to her?

Fal-tan’s eyes sparkled as she searched for her next prey.

But she immediately turned away with a huff.

“What’s wrong?”

“The rest taste bad compared to this. Don’t want them.”

She gave them a firm rejection.

Our young lady was quite the gourmet.

Apparently, she could tell the taste just by looking.

As expected of a mysterious creature with a greedy appetite.

Or was it some kind of holy power?

And after hearing that, the color drained from several people’s faces.

They were whiter than paper.

What was with these people?