Will You Accept The Deal (1)

“But, Judith. There was no need to lower your voice. Speak comfortably. You didn’t bring this because shooting stars fell and that was important news, did you?”

Alicia chattered in a loud voice without caution.

Judith almost asked if she had forgotten who was in the next room, then gave up.

“After the meteors fell, I heard that huge rocks fell in a few secluded places. They were said to be rocks, but they were places similar to the underground labyrinth at the Great Temple.”

Alicia’s expression changed in an instant.

“A labyrinth fell from the sky?”

“Yes. The labyrinth that fell into Noark’s birch forest was the closest, so an agent went. According to the agent, monsters like the ones Alicia dealt with at Kaip Mountain and the Great Temple were inside.”

As she continued, Judith’s voice grew smaller and smaller.

“How many labyrinths are there?”

“The exact number is still under investigation. Alicia, you don’t have to worry. It is strange, but the monsters inside the labyrinth couldn’t come outside. If you crossed a certain point at the entrance, they couldn’t follow.”

At Judith’s words, Alicia’s eyes rippled softly.

“That is a relief.”

“It truly is. Labyrinths didn’t appear only on the Eastern Continent after the meteors fell. We’d know once more reports came in, but it seems like strange phenomena has appeared across all five continents. We tried to extract more information from the labyrinth in Noark, but it wasn’t easy because of the monsters. We took out one or two thanks to the information you gave us, but with only a small number of agents, it was impossible to go deeper, so we withdrew for now.”

At Judith’s report, Alicia nodded.

“Should I scrape up more information?”

Judith said with her eyes sparkling.

It had been only hours since she said she would make friends and focus more on daily life.

“Labyrinths are dangerous places. Investigate carefully, and come find me each time there is something new.”

Alicia said, hesitating briefly.

“I will obey. I’ll take my leave. I’ll come again soon.”

Judith answered with an excited face and withdrew.

In the pre-dawn darkness, Judith vanished without leaving a trace.

Alicia also returned from the dressing room to the bedroom.

As she closed the door and turned around, Alicia halted at the sight of Reichardt sitting motionless on the bed.

He looked steadily at Alicia.

It was a face as though he were reading the thoughts in Alicia’s head.

“…….”

Right now, Alicia’s mind was filled with nothing but labyrinths.

There were monsters in labyrinths.

And those monsters couldn’t even come outside.

Monsters meant demonic cores!

“Rei.”

Climbing onto the bed, Alicia called Reichardt in a gentle voice.

“Yes.”

Reichardt answered politely as he held Alicia, who burrowed into his arms.

In his stiff voice, it felt like there was a question: Was it still not enough?

It wasn’t enough.

To regain all the abilities she once had in hell, she still had a long way to go.

She needed more demonic cores.

Alicia had the ability to harvest demonic cores.

“You heard it, right?”

“Yes.”

As Alicia whispered while leaning against Reichardt, she suddenly wondered if he had sensed anything about labyrinths when the meteors fell.

“Doesn’t it sound like a good business?”

Alicia asked in a secretive voice.

“Business?”

Reichardt looked back at Alicia, puzzled.

His face said: Why was business coming up from labyrinths all of a sudden?

“Monsters are bound inside right now, but we don’t know when they might break loose.”

“……That’s true.”

Alicia’s words made sense.

“Getting rid of the monsters inside labyrinths is basically helping everyone. And conveniently, Rey and I know plenty of knights who are good at hunting monsters. A labyrinth monopoly business—if we consider our efficiency, it is an enormous opportunity.”

Reichardt wasn’t moved by Alicia’s overflowing humanitarian talk.

But he agreed with the necessity of what she intended to do.

“But what does that have to do with business?”

“Of course it does. I have no intention of doing unpaid labor. I will definitely receive compensation for what I killed. To do that, I need business rights that gave me exclusive claim over the harvest from the labyrinth.”

Alicia said boldly.

Reichardt nodded with a face that had many things to say.

It felt like they were almost there.

“Didn’t you want to see His Majesty argue over business rights, lose, and explode with indignation?”

Alicia whispered in a wicked voice.

At the spiteful remark, a strange color flickered across Reichardt’s face.

“What should I do?”

Reichardt asked in a courteous voice.

“I want to request an audience with His Majesty, Your Highness.”

“We’ll see him at the imperial palace tomorrow.”

At Alicia’s greed-soaked words, Reichardt answered at once.

He laid Alicia down and tucked the blanket around her carefully.

To win tomorrow’s thrilling political battle, she had to sleep and restore her strength.

“Sleep well.”

Reichardt greeted her, kissing her cheek.

“Sleep well too, Rei.”

It was an intriguing dawn where something new had happened.

Tomorrow will be even more fun.

The Emperor’s Chief Steward had many tasks.

And he had to be competent.

For example, he had to have the ability to guess someone’s intentions just by looking at their face.

The Chief Steward, Eugene, carried tea into the Emperor’s office.

With a teacup placed without a sound, the Emperor, who had been writing, reached out his hand.

“Your Majesty.”

As Eugene set a dessert plate beside the teacup, he spoke cautiously.

The Emperor nodded as if telling him to speak.

“The Grand Duke of Tessen is waiting outside.”

The Emperor returned the quill he held to its place.

He, too, looked like he had something to say to the Grand Duke of Tessen.

“Tell him to come in.”

“It seems the Grand Duke would deliver the Grand Duchess’s request for an audience.”

As far as Eugene knew, Reichardt had entered the palace with Alicia today.

At present, Alicia was at Tatus Tower, conversing with the duchy’s knights.

If the Grand Duchess planned to meet only with the duchy’s knights, the Grand Duke would have no reason to come here to request a meeting with the Emperor.

The Emperor, sipping tea, cast a sharp gaze.

“Who?”

“Her Grace the Grand Duchess….”

Even though Eugene knew the Emperor wasn’t asking to hear what he’d just said again, he answered dutifully.

That was the basic requirement of an excellent chief steward.

“Say no.”

The Emperor said it as he set the teacup down roughly.

“Your Majesty, Her Grace the Grand Duchess is currently at Tatus Tower. If her audience is refused, it is likely she will go to the Empress’s Palace.”

Eugene said elegantly as he refilled the tea that had diminished.

“……Why is someone who has avoided me all this time suddenly coming?”

The Emperor’s beautiful forehead creased harshly.

Eugene shook his head with composed grace.

“Even I cannot guess that far. However, it resembles the atmosphere from the last time she requested a private meeting.”

“Was something happening last night?”

“There was nothing particular being reported. Come to think of it, I heard meteors fell last night. But there were no notable incidents.”

At the chief steward’s words, the Emperor frowned.

“Meteors? Those old men would raise a fuss again. Every time something happened in the sky, they pinned it on the Empire’s security being in danger.”

At the Emperor’s grumbling, Eugene only offered a benevolent look.

“Let the Grand Duke come in first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Following the imperial order, Eugene prepared a chair for the Grand Duke and left the office.

Reichardt stood exactly as he had when he said he wished to see the Emperor.

“His Majesty is waiting.”

Eugene said politely, opening the office door.

“I have something to say to His Majesty alone.”

Reichardt spoke courteously at the open doorway.

Lowering his gaze, Eugene showed his intention to comply.

Reichardt, who seemed like he would pass straight through, looked at Eugene offering respect, then let out a short laugh.

It was a face as if he knew what Eugene had reported to the Emperor.

“…….”

Reichardt entered, and Eugene closed the office door.

He stared at the closed door for a long time, turning over in his mind the Grand Duke’s attitude—so different from other days, revealing his true thoughts.

It felt as though upheaval would come to the imperial palace, to the Emperor.

Eugene turned away from the office door and shook his head.

Lately, the Emperor had been suffering one defeat after another against Tessen.

His foreboding was bad.

“What is it?”

The Emperor asked bluntly as Reichardt entered.

“Alicia wishes to request an audience with Your Majesty.”

“I know. So what is it?”

His answering face was languid.

A gaze that seemed to know everything fixed on Reichardt.

Reichardt loosened his seated posture slightly.

“When meteors fell last night, in several places, rocks of unknown identity fell. They are called rocks, but precisely speaking, they are places like labyrinths. They fell in untraveled mountains, forests, fields, and swamps. When you actually go there, they look less like they fell from the sky and more like they rose from the earth.”

The Emperor’s expression gradually stiffened, then at the end wavered with unease.

“Casualties?”

Despite his flustered face, his voice remained calm.

“We still have not identified the exact extent of the damage.”

Reichardt looked briefly at the Emperor’s hardened expression, then continued.

“The new labyrinths fell in remote places, and inside were monsters similar to the ones that attacked the Great Temple, Kaip Mountain, and Tessen. However, it seemed the monsters could not come outside the labyrinth.”

At the explanation that followed, the Emperor felt relief.

“But what did the Grand Duchess want with me?”

“Hear it directly.”

Reichardt spoke indifferently as he watched the Emperor’s shifting expression.

“We’ll see it in the audience chamber.”

“I’ll bring the Grand Duchess.”

Reichardt rose and left in an instant.

“I have a bad feeling….”

The Emperor muttered, letting worry seep into his blank face.

His foreboding tended to be accurate.

A signal was coming that it was time to run—but it was a situation where he couldn’t.

“I even allowed the duchy’s independence. It can’t be worse than that.”

He couldn’t even guess what this was about.

Only the ominous foreboding was vivid.

Entering the audience chamber, Alicia offered an elegant bow.

“Your Majesty the Emperor, I had the honor of meeting a most noble person.”

Seated in the seat of honor, the Emperor gestured to offer Alicia a chair.

Reichardt stood two steps away from Alicia.

By imperial order, the chief steward had prepared a chair only for the Grand Duchess.

“Grand Duchess, you requested an audience?”

“Your Majesty. I am deeply honored that you granted it. Your Highness will have heard the basic information from His Grace, so I will raise my petition at once.”

“Go on.”

The voice that came from the seat of honor was nothing but relaxed.

“Your Majesty, Tessen hereby requested exclusive business rights to the Empire’s new labyrinths.”

“Business rights?”

A sound like gold coins rolling echoed in the audience chamber.

Not one or two coins—dozens of crates of coins rolling.

“Grand Duchess. Tessen, which the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess rule, wasn’t it a duchy? You should devote yourselves to governing Tessen. Leave matters of the Eastern Continent to the Empire.”

The Emperor spoke with full swagger.

“Ahem!”

The chief steward, withdrawn to one side, cleared his throat loudly enough for everyone to hear.

The Emperor turned his head.

With a smooth movement, the chief steward approached the seat of honor and whispered.

“Your Majesty. Have you forgotten what happened on the Great Temple’s lands? There are stories that in a labyrinth, plants with leaves of gold grew. You must not forget that the High Priest kept contacting the Grand Duchess.”

Reichardt and Alicia pricked up their ears.

Alicia nodded shallowly so Reichardt could see—she had heard it too.

As the chief steward withdrew, he cast a glance at Alicia.

It meant she could speak.