What Was With This Country… Two Emperors? (3)

As a result, I was being “escorted” to have an audience with the Empress.

“So if I step onto this magic circle, I’ll meet His Majesty within five minutes… is that it?”

“That is correct. How many times must I repeat myself for you to understand, commoner!”

“I’m a free citizen. Free citizen—see this status badge?”

It was pointless defiance, but a noble had come for me and dragged me all the way to a warp gate. When I first heard I’d be going straight to the imperial citadel, I doubted my ears.

What made it all the more absurd was that the person who came for me was the empire’s “Chancellor.” Why would someone at that level come for a free-citizen apothecary?

And the one who wanted to meet me was said to be the empire’s “Emperor.” That gave me chills.

It was the “Emperor,” not the Empress. That part nagged at me.

“I heard the ruler of the empire is Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. Wasn’t it she who summoned me?”

“Her Majesty is busy. For a trifling matter like this, His Majesty the Emperor is more than sufficient.”

“…Excuse me?”

I should have sensed something off in his words—but what?

Before I could pin it down, I was forced onto the magic circle and swept away by light.

A wave of dizziness and nausea hit me; more urgent than that was crawling over to a waiting servant with a bucket.

I put the bucket to its intended use; behind me, there was another flash, and I couldn’t help a wry smile as I saw the Chancellor—who had been barking at me—crawling to another bucket in much the same state.

He and I looked equally pitiful.

While we recovered, we glared at each other. He got to his feet first, making it very clear how displeased he was, and said,

“Fix your attire. Do not speak until His Majesty questions you. Do not raise your head to look upon His Majesty’s face. When questioned, preface your answer with, ‘I humbly beg leave to reply.’ Understood?”

“…Can’t I just go back?”

“…What do you think this place is?”

“I’ve done nothing wrong. Could you drop the coercive attitude?”

“Heh. Do you realize how grave a crime it is for a mere free citizen to talk thus to a noble—much less to the Chancellor?”

“What crime have I committed, that you treat me like a criminal? Tell me. You grabbed me without explanation and are using force. If you tell me my crime, I’ll act accordingly.”

“Ahem! There are limits even to ignorance. You are on the verge of defying the imperial decree. How can a subject of the empire gainsay the will of the throne?!”

“I’m not a subject of the empire. I’m a traveler. Should I spread the word that the empire’s nobles and imperial family oppress a foreign free citizen?”

The Chancellor stared at me as if I were absurd. But come to think of it, from the imperial family’s perspective, mistreating a free citizen could become an international issue.

A free citizen ranked above a commoner and below a noble.

It was a class with the right to choose their residence freely; mistreat them and free citizens in your country might grow resentful and depart en masse.

So I figured my words had some bite.

The Chancellor seemed to catch my drift and sighed.

“We summoned you to grant you a high post in recognition of your talent. There was no other way to bring a free citizen here, so I exercised my personal authority—as Chancellor—without involving the imperial household.”

He was trying to take the fall himself. I said,

“No need to talk in circles. First: I refuse coercion. Second: I know you want something from me. I was taught that seizing a free citizen’s property is a crime. Mr. Guts and Ms. Rita of the Adventurers’ Guild know that it was you, Chancellor, who brought me here. Please do not try to deceive the public.”

Before this meeting, Rita warned me that nobles might try to swallow me whole, and told me the international law regarding free citizens; she also said I could invoke her and Guts’s names. I was invoking that now.

And it started to work.

The Chancellor flinched, sighed, and spoke in a pleading tone.

“You must realize how great this is—what you can do. It is a revolutionary act that could directly defy the Demon God’s curse and mark a new epoch for humanity—an honorable deed for the advancement of humankind. Thus, the empire, valuing this highly, wished His Majesty to meet you. As a free citizen, surely you recognize what an honor this is?”

He’d dragged me here by force, but once I cited law and backing, his attitude changed. Just how formidable were Rita and Guts, that an imperial Chancellor became this meek?

I couldn’t feign ignorance forever, so I decided to leave it there and said,

“If anyone tries to seize my intellectual property or coerce me—and if I fail to contact Ms. Rita and Mr. Guts within a day—the Adventurers’ Guild chapters in the empire will… take measures. Please keep that in mind. Let’s go. To His Majesty.”

“Ng… how did you end up connected to such exacting people?”

Clicking his tongue, the Chancellor led the way. Rita and Guts were connections worth keeping.

Grumbling warnings at me as we went, the Chancellor guided me toward the Emperor’s office—when a woman stepped in front of him, making us stop short. She looked between me and the Chancellor and said,

“Her Imperial Majesty the Empress is awaiting an audience with that man. Please step aside, Your Excellency the Chancellor.”

“…What are you doing? His Majesty already has a prior appointment. However much Her Majesty desires it, we cannot obstruct the Emperor’s affairs. Make way.”

“I cannot. I was on my way to escort him by introduction from someone with ties to Her Majesty. If we consider precedence by connection, it is the Emperor who should yield.”

“Nonsense! Sheer nonsense!”

“Her Majesty says she received a message from Lady Rita, with whom she studied in the past—so it is not nonsense. Then is it not proper to ask the guest?”

Why was Rita’s name coming up here? In short, Deputy Guild Master Rita had moved in advance, and it was affecting me now. Was I lucky?

Or was it miserable, tangled bad luck?

Either way, this wasn’t a situation to take lightly.

The Chancellor trembled with anger. Even so, someone at his level couldn’t be ignored. The Empress held real power, yes—but the Emperor couldn’t be disregarded either.

So I spoke to the woman blocking our path.

“The one who summoned me here was the Chancellor, not Lady Rita or Her Majesty the Empress. I can only speak to what I know; if we follow the order of events, I believe it is right to meet His Majesty first.”

“…If that is your judgment, I won’t stop you. But Her Majesty may take offense.”

“I doubt she’s so small-minded as to be angered by a single free citizen. Please take it generously. Besides, it’s not ‘others’—I’m going to meet the Emperor.”

I needled her a bit—if she grew angry, wouldn’t that be narrow-minded? The woman’s expression twisted, and the Chancellor looked even more uneasy. I didn’t understand this imperial structure, but I figured it was better to act by propriety.

And since the Empress was said to have studied with Rita, I doubted she’d be petty. Perhaps Rita feared I’d suffer some unfairness with the Emperor and called in help. Honestly, though, I thought all power-holders were the same.

“If that’s how you think, then go meet His Majesty first. May I accompany you as well?”

She asked the Chancellor. He nodded reluctantly and led on.

At that moment, the Chancellor whispered to me in a very small voice,

“Thank you… thank you…”

His voice quivered—was he on the verge of tears?

It tugged at me. What kind of lives did men lead in this world? I couldn’t tell.

We were shown into a rather splendid office, where I faced a man of plain but solid dignity, looking late thirties. It seemed he was the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, I present the man who manufactured ‘that medicine.’”

“Oh… Chancellor, well done. But why has ‘Agnes’ come into my office?”

So the woman’s name was “Agnes.”

A knight? A mage?

I wondered what aptitude she had, but waited in silence for her reply.

“Her Imperial Majesty awaits a conversation with this apothecary.”

“…Does she have a connection?”

“I’m told he’s sponsored by Lady Rita.”

“…I see. She’s his sponsor? Then I can’t keep him long. Could you wait outside?”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.”

Agnes withdrew with formal grace. The Emperor sighed, rose from his desk, and sat on the sofa before it. He looked at me and the Chancellor.

“Sit. I dislike stiff formalities.”

“Much obliged, Your Majesty.”

The Chancellor sat promptly, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know what it truly meant to sit opposite an emperor, and it felt like too much. I was a free citizen, not a noble. Better to be cautious.

“Why don’t you sit?”

“Forgive me. I’m a free citizen. I’ve not the nerve to sit at eye level with someone so high.”

“From how you speak, that doesn’t seem true. Peculiar fellow. If that’s your comfort, so be it. Now—truly, do you have a special remedy for… that?”

I’d apparently prodded one of this world’s chief interests. I hadn’t expected even someone like him to show this much curiosity.

His expression and tone were cordial—genuine interest in a fascinating item.

“Y-Yes, Your Majest—”

I bit my tongue. Nerves. I steadied myself and said,

“Apologies. I was nervous. Yes, I manufactured a remedy good for virility. I used a special method of my own; for now, I seem to be the only one who can make it. I could reveal the recipe, but since not just anyone can reproduce it, I won’t be disclosing it even if asked.”

“I did not summon you to demand it. I was simply curious that someone existed who could make such a remedy. If you have talent to that degree, perhaps other things are possible.”

At “other things,” I winced inside.

Indeed, if I could make a special drug, they might demand other items. I’d been naïve.

I’d stuck my head right into the tiger’s jaws, thinking only of a single virility tonic.

“What would you wish for? There are things I can’t do.”

“Nothing extravagant. I wondered if there was a medicine to erase scars.”

“Sc… ars, Your Majesty?”

“Yes. I recall a report from the Apoca Kingdom about an apothecary making unusual remedies, and my curiosity was piqued. Through discreet inquiries we obtained a description, but at some point the apothecary vanished, leaving no trace.”

If there was an “unusual apothecary” in the Apoca Kingdom, who else could it be but me?

It might seem trivial, but clearly emperors weren’t emperors for nothing.

“A topical treatment—I took note of that. That was you, wasn’t it?”

He had a description, so lying would be pointless. I nodded and said,

“Yes. I worked in the Apoca Kingdom briefly. After warnings from acquaintances, I slipped away to another land… I never imagined I’d run into trouble here as well.”

“‘Trouble’—you make me sound a villain. I merely wondered if your talents included making a scar-erasing remedy. Given your gifts, I thought it was possible.”

“Scars… why erase them?”

“Misfortune befell one of the two people I love most in the world. I want her scar gone.”

“Scars…”

As I hesitated, a recipe surfaced in my mind. It seemed I could make it. I looked at the Emperor and said,

“I believe I can help wash away the misfortune of one of the two you love most, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor’s face brightened at once.