Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Coming of Age Ceremony (4)

Three weeks had passed since Erendil’s coming of age ceremony. The terrorist attack was a big event, but now it had essentially become a thing of the past.

Although there were casualties, the fact that they weren’t severe thanks to my winds probably had an impact.

In this world without internet and smartphones, people also had to just go about their daily lives.

The same was true for our mercenary group. We worked hard even in the tense atmosphere.

Thanks to that, we built up a bit of a reputation. Some time had passed since we came to Chenarus.

We diligently took on even minor missions and never had any problems. Word spread that our skills weren’t bad.

I handed over the name Anues to Namir. Anyway, the only mission I had directly participated in was with the Blancheot merchant group.

Those guys disappeared after the coming of age ceremony, and it wasn’t me who registered with the agency, so there shouldn’t be any big problems.

Although Rina and Denif had become idle because the capital’s atmosphere was tense and there wasn’t much to do, I saw it positively.

As the saying goes, no news is good news. For people like us, even a brief period without work is peaceful.

‘Still, the atmosphere in the capital is quite heightened.’

Following the two terrorist attacks after the victory parade and coming of age ceremony, talk of war was gradually emerging.

The first terrorist attack was declared to be the work of the West, but in the meantime, the empress’s assassination had also occurred.

The empire had only known victory for a long time. Moreover, the princess’s popularity had been skyrocketing.

But these devil worshippers had targeted the princess twice.

The reaction was similar among the people and the nobles loyal to the imperial family. They said we must punish them with an iron fist.

Public sentiment was calling for war.

‘The emperor must be quite troubled.’

Even if he has a fiery temperament, he’s certainly not a stupid person.

If possible, he would have set out immediately after the last incident. There must be a reason he’s delaying the war.

Either they haven’t grasped the true nature of those guys as I suspect, or he’s more capable than I expected and knows about the existence of the devil.

Either way, it wasn’t something where he could easily announce going to war.

However, if public opinion in the empire is moving this way, it seemed that war would inevitably break out soon.

It doesn’t make sense for that iron-blooded empire to remain idle in this situation.

‘I’d like to stop it if possible, but it doesn’t seem like I can.’

This is one huge flow. It happened in the game too, albeit later than now.

It wasn’t good. In any case, losses would be great if they didn’t properly know their enemy.

But if it’s going to happen anyway and can’t be stopped… it’s better if I help.

The winds I possess.

I pride myself on having superior information gathering abilities compared to any spy. At least if the opponent isn’t a Sword Master.

If war is really about to break out, I plan to infiltrate the north and obtain information about those guys.

I can just discreetly pass the information to the empire.

Judging from Erendil and Rudehrn’s reactions, it seemed the emperor also knew I wasn’t a devil worshipper.

Thinking about the future, it’s also good for me to gradually reestablish relationships like this.

Of course, it’s an extremely dangerous task. Even for me, there’s no guarantee of certain survival in their stronghold.

‘Because the devil will be there.’

Also, I think the chances of the empire winning are low even if I provide information.

The devil I saw in the game until the middle of the main story was an almost invincible being.

I have killed a devil before.

But at that time, three Sword Masters faced the devil together, and usually one or two of them died.

‘Still, I need to minimize the losses as much as possible.’

As someone whose goal is survival, I naturally need to preserve the power of the empire that Erendil will lead.

In fact, I’ve already achieved some results to a certain extent.

I’ve killed quite a few devil worshipper named characters.

Demorick, who was Haisen’s intelligence leader, Pelia, Arniel, and even the guy who would become a Sword Master later.

Of course, this isn’t enough to change the overall situation, but it’s better than nothing, right? The situation is much better than if those guys were alive.

And above all, thwarting their plans to kill Erendil was significant.

Terrorism in the imperial capital is no small feat. The triumphal ceremony, the assassination using the empress, and now this coming of age ceremony.

I protected Erendil three times in total. How much time and key personnel did they devote to preparing for these three attempts?

‘I’ve taken a lot of their time.’

This was an extremely positive aspect. Of course, there were still regrettable parts despite this.

Essentially, we should consider that we’ve now entered the game’s starting point.

Although there’s still time until the official game starting point, we should consider it as already begun.

The butterfly effect of the things I’ve done and changed so far has greatly accelerated the speed.

In other words, it meant that the growth time I thought I still had left has also disappeared.

But well…

Considering my current level of growth and the things I’ve done, it wasn’t a big problem.

‘Not coming today either, huh.’

I emptied my beer. I should get up soon. This was Mateo’s tavern. I had been spying here continuously since the coming of age ceremony.

They were supposed to meet after things happened with the 3rd prince’s confidant.

I’m not sure if it’s because of that promise, but Mateo didn’t run away even after the coming of age ceremony.

After the ceremony, quite a few merchant groups and shops vanished overnight.

The fruit shop owner died in the explosion and the Blancheot merchant group left, but not Mateo.

He’s still keeping his place, receiving guests at the tavern. Well, there’s nothing suspicious about him either.

Anyway, whether the 3rd prince’s side is being cautious due to the current situation or not, they haven’t shown up even after three weeks.

I understand. Actually, I’ve been coming here just in case during this time. I didn’t have high expectations.

‘But it should be about time for them to make contact.’

That’s when it happened.

Someone was just opening the door of the bar and coming in. The figure covered in a robe looked gloomy.

It wasn’t the 3rd prince’s confidant I had seen before. But the atmosphere he gave off was subtle.

Of course, there wouldn’t be just one or two gloomy people in this vast capital, but I decided I should observe a bit more and ordered another beer.

“This one’s on me.”

“Suddenly?”

“Regular customers should get benefits, you know.”

Mateo, who brought the beer, winked with one eye. I had been frequenting this place since before the coming of age ceremony.

About 2 months. It was enough time to become familiar with Mateo. I smiled and said thank you.

After tapping glasses, I take a sip of beer and listen with my winds. The gloomy man sat at the bar and ordered hard liquor.

“That’s quite strong, isn’t it?”

Mateo pretended to be slightly surprised. Yes, pretended. I could see it was an act. I was certain there was something going on.

“There’s nothing like hard liquor for a bitter heart.”

“Do you have some kind of story?”

“Ah, a friend of mine died recently.”

This conversation was completely unrelated to the current situation. In fact, I couldn’t understand what they were talking about.

If I had to force a connection, it might make sense if their plan was the friend, but that’s a stretch.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“It’s sad. I’ve lost my will to live.”

“You must have been very close?”

“I lived only looking at that guy. He was reliable.”

The man emptied his hard liquor in one go.

“The problem is my friend’s brothers.”

Brothers. Could this be referring to the princes? It seemed like I might be forcing connections too much, but there was no harm in being suspicious for now.

“What about the brothers?”

“Instead of mourning their friend’s death, they started fighting over the inheritance he left behind.”

“What kind of people would do that?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“But why is that a problem? I guess it’s annoying as a friend.”

The gloomy man nodded.

“Yeah. It is a problem. My friend entrusted all his money to me before going to the other world.”

“To you?”

“Yeah. We were mercenaries. We entrusted our assets to each other when we left. To send to our families.”

“So that’s why you’re troubled. The brothers will come looking for you.”

“That’s right. They said they want to meet all together next week, but I don’t know what to do.”

It seemed like I wasn’t forcing connections too much. If you exclude the meaningless context, it roughly fits together.

The money issue is just an excuse for the conversation, and the essence is that the brothers are fighting.

After Erendil’s terrorist attack, the relationship between the princes deteriorated. It’s natural considering what happened to the 2nd prince.

They are discussing the upcoming meeting of the three princes scheduled for the upcoming week. I heard the 2nd prince’s injury has healed too.

I was lucky. I didn’t expect to get this kind of information.

By the way, seeing that he came for consultation knowing this, that gloomy man seemed to be on the 3rd prince’s side after all.

‘Everyone has their own trustworthy minions that others don’t know about.’

I thought I should get up from my seat soon. This much is enough for listening to their conversation.

Anyway, no matter what they talk about, there’s nothing I can change, and I just need to eavesdrop on the princes’ conversation.

***

Outside the imperial palace, in the high-end restaurant where the 1st prince had called Carlyn before, the three princes held a secret meeting.

Like that time, the entire restaurant was emptied. Only the three princes sitting at the table existed.

“Explain. What the hell happened?”

“What?”

“Are you pretending not to know? The bomb, I’m talking about.”

“I don’t know anything about it.”

“Did you join hands with those madmen? Because you want to become emperor? Because there’s no possibility if things continue like this?”

“What are you talking about? I said I don’t know anything!”

The 3rd prince reacted angrily to the 1st prince’s interrogation.

“What I prepared were assassins. I haven’t heard from them, so they might have died in that incident.”

“You expect me to believe that now?”

“Brother, why would I join hands with those madmen when I have no possibility as you say? And why would I attack our second brother?”

The 2nd prince was quietly listening to their conversation. A restrained anger simmered beneath that coldness.

The 3rd prince continued.

“I mean, to be blunt, if our second brother dies and Erendil dies too, it only benefits you, the eldest brother, right? Why would I do such a thing?”

“How should I know!”

“I’m saying I have no reason to do that!”

As voices raised, the 2nd prince intervened.

“He’s not wrong.”

The 2nd prince threw a cold glance at the 1st prince.

“It was you, right, brother?”

“What?”

“You tried to get rid of me while killing Erendil. Because then you’d become emperor.”

“Why would I join hands with those guys?”

The 2nd prince sneered.

“Because it’s the cleanest path for you to become emperor.”

“You!”

“Refute it if it’s not true. He has no reason to do it. Erendil wouldn’t be crazy enough to set off a bomb towards herself either. Then who could it be? Isn’t it you, the only one left?”

“Those guys or the third brother could have done it to drive a wedge between us two!”

“Why would they? When were we ever on good terms? If I died and Erendil died too, you’d benefit the most. Am I wrong?”

The 1st prince couldn’t find words to refute. Carlyn once again became certain that this too was the devil worshippers’ plan, as he had thought that day.

They had tried to induce even greater conflict between the 1st and 2nd princes.

Of course, from the perspective of the 2nd prince who was directly caught in the bomb, he couldn’t look at it objectively.

“I was better than you in the war with the West too. If Erendil dies, support would flow to me, so you tried to get rid of me too.”

“That’s not true.”

“Why does it sound right to me?”

“I’m telling you it’s a wedge! That Schurtafen guy stopped the terror attack, right! He’s on their side.”

In fact, the princes didn’t know the inside story about Carlyn. Just like Emmet didn’t know.

Apart from Erendil who guessed on her own, only the emperor and his subordinate Sword Masters and Chief of Intelligence knew the details about that day’s incident.

“So you’re saying they’re trying to create a rift between you and me.”

“Isn’t it more likely they tried to kill me rather than attack me just enough not to die in order to drive a wedge?”

The 2nd prince grinned.

“And according to my source, that Schurtafen might not be crazy, but possibly a double agent on our side following father’s orders?”

Carlyn was slightly surprised by the 2nd prince’s words. It seemed there was a high-ranking intelligence agency agent who hadn’t been caught in collusion with the prince.

The 2nd prince stood up, making a chair-scraping sound.

“I heard you’re going to Albaco next week?”

“You, how did you…”

“You’d better be careful.”

“Are, are you challenging me right now?”

“Brother.”

The 2nd prince showed a vicious smile.

“You started it first.”

“Hey! I’m telling you it wasn’t me! Hey!”

The 1st prince shouted, but the 2nd prince left the restaurant without looking back.

Left alone, the 1st prince cursed and threw the teacup on the table. The shattering sound was sharp.

“Did you really not do it, brother?”

“…This again?”

“No, I’m just asking.”

“…”

In the heavy silence, the 3rd prince also stood up. The 1st prince didn’t see his younger brother’s figure sighing in relief as he turned away.

Carlyn saw the situation as not bad.

From the devil worshippers’ perspective, they probably intended to use this conflict after the princess died, but with Erendil alive now, this was good for Carlyn.

‘By the way, going to Albaco?’

He couldn’t know the reason right away. He’d have to look into it. It was a place somewhat distant from the capital.

For a moment, Carlyn thought this could be an opportunity.

‘Shahri will arrive soon.’

It seemed he could use this as a pretext to draw out the Archmage. And the devil worshippers chasing him too.

Leaving the restaurant, Carlyn immediately began writing a letter to Shahri.

Author's Thoughts

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