16-10 A Walk Through The Imperial Palace

I boldly wandered around the Imperial Palace in the Imperial Capital of the Bernstein Empire.

When I thrust Fal out in front of me, the gatekeepers prostrated themselves and let me through.

When the imperial people saw me, they all widened their eyes, but a path opened up as if Moses were parting the sea.

As I was happily wandering around like that, a familiar face came striding toward me.

“Hey. You really are doing whatever you please, you outsider.”

When I looked, Count Richter was glaring at me.

Oh, I had found just the right guide.

“Yo. You came at the perfect time. I was just wanting a guide. Hey, your head is too high. You stand before Sacred Elion-sama.”

Richter made a face as though he had bitten into something bitter, but surprisingly, he obediently knelt.

“Oh, you really did kneel. Good, good.”

“I did not kneel to you. After all, this is the real Sacred Elion-sama.”

He was glaring at me with incredible intensity.

Even in that respect, this guy reminded me of Antonio.

Back in the beginning, he used to glare at me often too.

“Hey. Is Sacred Elion really that important to you guys?”

Richter gave me an exasperated look and explained.

“What are you talking about? Our great chief god, Ross. She is his messenger, the one who resides in the Spirit Forest as the enshrined deity who watches over the world from her shrine upon the earth. The representative of god on earth—that is Sacred Elion-sama. As her name suggests, she is sacredness itself. Because she is not human, she is not swayed by human evil or petty values, and she possesses a fair, open, and magnanimous heart. No matter how young her appearance may be, someone like you should never normally be treating her in such a manner.”

Oh, my.

Ignorance truly was bliss when one did not know the usual form of the divine messenger.

“Hey, Fal. Is it bad for uncle to hold you like this?”

I asked while holding Fal in my arms.

“Ehh, why? Fal wants uncle to hold her.”

Because you want to recharge your magic power, right?

Also, the first imprinting was firmly in place.

After all, it was my magic power that hatched her egg.

The indescribable expression on Richter’s face after hearing that had a wonderful flavor to it.

Seeing that, I ended up laughing too.

“Now, now, Lord Richter. Sacred Elion-sama desires your guidance.”

Fal also raised one hand with a smile and said, “Departure, go!”

“V-very well. Then, Sacred Elion-sama, shall we go together?”

Richter bowed reverently to Fal, then stood in front and began walking.

After passing through a wide, sunny corridor along the outer edge of the imperial palace, we came out into a beautiful garden.

Trees trimmed into fine shapes, flowers in full bloom.

Stone monuments and statues arranged here and there.

This country really did have good taste in places like this.

I had the cameras properly film them.

The amount of footage I had uploaded to the video site had also become enormous.

Thanks to that, the advertising revenue had risen to quite a sum.

That money turned into pattern costs for the children’s clothes and online teaching materials.

Fal was happily running around the area.

I found myself gazing at the profile of the young noble from the enemy empire as he watched her with dazzled eyes.

“Hey, Lord Richter. Are you all right with this?”

“With what?”

“With getting involved with a problem child like me. Everyone else avoids me.”

“Hahaha. Even I do not really understand that part myself. To be honest, I feel as though you may bring some kind of change to this Empire. I do not know exactly what that is, but something like a new wind that will clear away this stagnant atmosphere.I want to see where the turmoil you stir up will lead. I have that feeling too. However, you do far too much as you please. I cannot simply overlook that.”

Hmm.

I was not sure why, but did he have some sense of duty, like he had to keep watch over a problem child like me?

What a troublesome fellow.

Well, it was fine.

The world needed people like that too.

There was a huge fountain in the middle of the garden.

The moment Fal found it, she charged straight toward it.

Then, in that way children often did, she walked along the fountain’s edge and slipped right into the inside.

Richter panicked when he saw that, but this sort of thing happened often at our place, so I did not panic.

Fal floated up on her back with a plop and began swimming leisurely.

How should I put it? Even though she barely moved her arms or legs, she floated there in a grand, relaxed way, somehow looking as though she was swimming. It was a mysterious swimming style.

Could she be spreading her spiritual wings underwater and moving them?

Has every generation been like this?

I would ask Rain next time.

Richter hurriedly ran over, but I walked there slowly.

If necessary, I had arranged for the latest model golem soldiers to take care of her.

Then I sat on the fountain and watched Fal happily splash her feet as she enjoyed playing in the water.

It was a chilly season, almost November already, but that mysterious creature apparently did not care.

After that, Fal flew around among the autumn-blooming flowers planted in the garden.

She was in an extremely good mood.

Maybe because, however loosely speaking, she was a four-legged creature with a tail, she liked gardens like this?

Just as I was thinking that, she came over and stuck herself right against me.

Recharge time, huh?

When I was with this one, I often felt like I had turned into a mobile phone charger.

Well, she was cute, so I supposed it was fine.

This time, I had gone around various places and stirred things up, but had I produced enough results for Prince Michael’s liking?

We decided to eat at a spot in the garden with covered table seats like a gazebo, and I let Richter eat too.

“This is a flavor I have never tasted before. But it is not bad. No, it is extremely delicious.”

Japanese food seemed to surprise him a little.

I had him taste various things.

It seemed Japanese food would be accepted even in this Empire.

After that, I thanked Richter and left the Imperial Palace.

When I returned to the embassy, the raccoon—or rather, the ambassador—had prepared a carriage for us.

Then we went out to see the theater.

Literally, we only went to “see the theater.”

To be more precise, we went to see Duke Beckenheim, who was supposed to come to the theater.

We waited inside the carriage.

And the imperial people had gathered around us, watching us in great numbers.

There might even have been spies from other countries mixed in among them.

Of course, the imperial people could not possibly lay a hand on the embassy’s carriage.

If they could have done that, they would have done it during Antonio’s A-rank examination.

And this time, Sacred Elion-sama herself was also riding inside.

Then the rumored man arrived.

However, the person who got down from the carriage was quite the unpleasant fellow.

He swaggered along while shaking his plump body, and that greasy face of his was really something.

I had heard that he was still in his fifties, but he looked like an old man.

More than anything, his eyes were no good.

They contained vulgarity, greed, and a lack of class. They were magnificently clouded over—truly the eyes of a dead fish.

I had seen plenty of people in Japan with eyes like dead fish, clouded by money and desire, but even so, this was a bit hard to accept.

Fal seemed to dislike him and hid behind me.

I wanted to hide behind someone too.

I had marked him, but through that marker, an unpleasant sensation clung to me.

My Seventh Sense sensed it through the marker like a link.

Ugh, keep away.

T-this guy was unpleasant.

But after going through the trouble of finding him, I could not exactly remove the marker I had finally placed on him.

I wanted to go home already.

Marquis Clift, I will fulfill my promise as the duke-killer next time.