Chapter 55

“Magic rifle. A weapon that has appeared several times in history. This is my first time seeing it in person. That weapon is too much for you to handle.”

Lady Trentia said this to Rudi.

Rudi turned away, her green eyes trembling.

“No.”

Trentia lightly lifted her and dragged her along.

“You have neither the strength to control the recoil of that weapon nor the mental power to withstand the mental waves of the infiltrators. Although Duke Valencius seems to trust you more than he trusts me, I am his guarding knight. I cannot disregard the possibility of you shooting him in the back while under the mental attack of the infiltrators. So…”

“So?”

I asked, looking back and forth between the two.

With eyes wide open, Trentia shouted, causing the vast training ground on the opposite side to reverberate.

“We’re starting training to boost your mental power and strength right now! Training is always fair and does not betray. We’ll start with light jogging. Put on 5 kg sandbags and run three laps around the training ground!”

Rudi looked at the sandbags piled to one side and broke into a cold sweat as she glanced at the other side of the training ground.

“Duke Valencius! Please save me! Lady Trentia is trying to kill me!”

“Sorry, Rudi.”

“Duke Valencius! Are you abandoning me?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Trentia grabbed my wrist.

“Duke, you will now wear a 25 kg training medium armor, attach 10 kg sandbags, and run five laps around the training ground.”

Rudi’s mouth dropped open.

“After warming up, you will train with the Imperial swordsmanship techniques, then remove your armor and have a free spar with the knights, including me. After that, you’ll gather mana through meditation, and finally, you will train with the Emperor’s training methods.”

I asked in a voice that felt as though I was crawling into an ant hole.

“The Emperor’s training methods? In medium armor?”

“Yes. You must wear medium armor.”

Lady Trentia asserted with an expression as passionate as her red hair.

I smiled gently at Rudi.

“Rudi, let’s survive and go back together.”

The sun rose above the eastern sky.

* * *

As the free spar came to an end, I thrust my sword toward Lady Trentia, attempting to break through her defense.

“Duke! Focus!”

“I am focusing!”

Clang!

Lady Trentia deflected my training sword with ease.

I twisted my wrist, letting the recoil slide off, and drew my sword back to strike again.

The direction of power that traveled from my legs to my hips and from my shoulders to my elbows had to align perfectly for this technique.

I thought I would be able to cut down a considerable knight with a sword as good as this.

However, Lady Trentia smiled confidently and struck my sword with hers.

Clang!

The moment our swords met, I immediately pressed down on her blade to try to overpower her arm.

“Ah!”

But Lady Trentia reached out with her left hand, grabbed my right wrist, and tripped me, causing me to fall to the ground.

Thud!

“That was quite splendid.”

“Spare me the compliments. Excessive humility is deception.”

I rubbed my nape and stood up, taking up my sword again.

Lady Trentia swept her short red hair aside and said.

“Now, you will transition to mana training. You have far too little mana for your skill level.”

“Oh? So you’re saying my skill is improving rapidly?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like that at all.”

I cleared my throat, and Lady Trentia frowned at me.

She looked annoyed, unable to find the right words.

Eventually, she spoke.

“It feels like a wandering knight of Sword Expert, who once had substantial mana, has returned to being a young boy.”

I couldn’t help but give a shallow sigh at that scarily accurate assessment.

“Looks like I need to increase my mana quickly.”

“Yes, indeed.”

“What about Rudi?”

Lady Trentia and I looked at Rudi at the same time.

She was wearing clothes suitable for movement and was sparring with Sir Bonnel, Lady Trentia’s successor.

Clang, clang!

“Faster! More!”

Rudi was using two daggers instead of two magic rifles, and they were made for throwing, slashing, and stabbing.

She was overcoming her insufficient physical abilities with her particular keen eyesight.

The daggers she threw landed precisely in the joints of Sir Bonnel’s full plate armor.

Even now, they were capable of incapacitating an elite soldier in an instant.

“That Duke has such a maid!”

“Comparing a servant to their master is rude to both the master and the servant!”

As she stepped, a green light flickered ominously among the dust, and her long brown hair danced in the wind.

I mumbled with a strange feeling.

“I need to make sure I never get drunk and cause trouble again. Not that I was planning on doing so.”

Lady Trentia nodded seriously.

“Yes, I think you should.”

As the sun began to set below the western castle wall and the training armor felt as heavy as a mountain, as I thought it was at its limit to support my muscles with thin strands of mana, the training ended.

Rudi and I sat next to each other on a long bench beside the training ground, panting heavily.

We were not the only ones; the new knights looked similarly exhausted.

Lady Trentia, smiling lazily, brought us water.

“Drink up. Your Grace, drink too. You did really well today.”

“Thank you, Lady.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Rudi trembled like a newly born fawn.

“Duke Valencius, I don’t think I can do any work like this. But I’ll do my best.”

It was at that moment I remembered there was something I hadn’t told Rudi.

“Oh right. Rudi, you have an interview tomorrow.”

She widened her green eyes.

“Huh? I don’t plan on going anywhere!”

“No. You’re the interviewer.”

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

Lady Trentia also asked curiously.

I grinned and said,

“We’re moving.”

* * *

Once, there were hundreds in the Crimson Crescent Palace, but now only four remain: me, Helena, Hadrian, and Denia.

Since the Crimson Crescent Palace was originally the Emperor’s secondary palace, it was overly lavish and unsuitable for just the four of us.

The three of us, who decided to work in the Imperial Court, chose to move our lodging to the palace’s administrative branch, while I was granted a secondary palace next to the main palace.

“The Emperor is concerned about the Duke Valencius’ deviations, so make sure you reside within sight and hearing distance.”

The administrative officer, wearing thin glasses and a stern expression, spoke in a stern voice.

“I manage the budget of this secondary palace. This time, the Emperor has increased the royal stipend, but he is simultaneously worried about the excessive luxury of the royalty…”

This was outright signaling that he would keep a close watch over me.

In response, I loaded one carriage’s worth of alcohol and dried snacks from my room in the Crimson Crescent Palace to my food storage in the secondary palace.

“Your Grace… Is all of that really alcohol?”

“Does it look like water to you?”

“To think you would do such work every day while drowning in alcohol…”

“Rudi, I’m bored lately, do you know of any expensive and time-consuming games?”

“There’s double chess with pieces made of ebony and ivory. Should I buy it?”

“Sure, and while you’re at it, get a bunch of novels too, saying Duke Valencius will read them.”

“Duke Valencius!”

The administrative officer screamed.

In high society, novels were dismissed and referred to as trifles.

They would be read after retiring from social life, not something a vigorous teenage duke would read.

“Can I buy some jewels too?”

Rudi smiled mischievously.

I gratefully acknowledged her considerate gesture without showing it and replied heartily.

“Go ahead! If we run out of money, it’s fine to rob and steal. If someone wants to offer me a maid, I can willingly give it away.”

“Duke! I love you!”

“Duke Valencius! Stay focused!”

The administrative officer screamed.

Rudi returned from the market with a cartload of wine and snacks, peculiar fragrances that didn’t quite qualify as drugs, steamy romantic novels, and knight tales, magnificent glass crafts, bizarre toys, and suspicious potions—all bought in the name of Duke Valencius.

This was all to showcase my lack of interest in power, definitely not because I enjoyed it.

“Grrr…”

The administrative officer gaped and foamed at the mouth while I looked at him and uncorked a bottle of wine.

An involuntary smile lingered on my lips.

“Rudi, are you ready for the interview?”

“I’ll choose kids who are heavy-lipped, timid, or from humble backgrounds. They must never divulge anything about what happens here!”

She twirled her dagger as she spoke.

The administrative officer sighed, looking at least ten years older.

At that moment, I slipped a pouch of ten gold coins into his hand and smiled gently.

“I want to make that girl the head maid of this secondary palace. For that, she needs to handle the budget. Did the Emperor truly trust me when increasing the stipend? It’s all about believing the people around me.”

“The person around you is me.”

“Hand over the purse to Rudi. If not, you’ll witness me frequenting the red-light district every day.”

“Excuse me?”

“I think I’ll visit the Hope Casino tonight. Bring the carriage…”

Thunk, the administrative officer took out the expense report from his pocket and laid it on the desk.

“You must receive the final accounts from me.”

“Of course. Do you think I would waste His Majesty’s money?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

I shrugged nonchalantly without saying a word.

The administrative officer left with drooping shoulders while Rudi chose a coachman and a chef, along with two attendants and two maidservants.

“Duke, you like rich flavors and spicy foods, so take good care. You prefer water at this temperature…”

As I watched her divide tasks quite adeptly, I couldn’t help but admire her.

“It seems you’ve done this a lot.”

She smiled with sparkling green eyes, looking ecstatic.

“It’s the dream of every maid—to meet a good employer and become the head maid of a palace. Achieving even one of those is a success in a maid’s life, but I’ve accomplished both in my twenties.”

“Do you know how to keep accounts? I’ll teach you.”

“Did you remember what you learned about accounting before?”

Rudi looked at me with a look of amazement.

Accounting?

I made a foolish face for a moment before nodding.

I had no memories of living honestly.

“I don’t remember accounting well… Just watch. This is what cooking the books means. I plan to siphon this amount of management fees every month to create slush funds. The method is crucial…”

I was planning on doing things that shouldn’t be recorded officially.

Of course, I didn’t say that right away.

“Duke!”

Rudi’s scream shook the Crimson Crescent Palace again.

* * *

“Did you move? Congratulations! So, you’ve become the Emperor’s slave? I hope it turns out that way.”

Sererassie spoke sweetly, her dark blue and yellow robes shimmering.

“Stop the blasphemy.”

The Imperial Magic Guild, a building made within the roots of a living giant tree.

On the middle floor, in Sererassie’s workshop, four unfamiliar faces were diligently carving magic circles onto metal plates.

“Are those friends your disciples?”

“Yeah. They volunteered for research before graduation after seeing my thesis on diffusion magic circles.”

I glanced briefly at their eyes and the dark circles under them.

“Can they really handle it? It seems they won’t return after graduation.”

“You’re cursing them quite a lot. Are you wishing that on them? Anyway, there aren’t many electric mages as talented as me in the Empire. Moreover, this guild is the only place to learn discharge diffusion magic circles.”

I nodded.

“So there’s no way they won’t crawl back. Well, no matter how it goes, it’s up to the elder sister’s judgment.”

Although they were looking at me with eyes that could kill, I ignored it.

“If you have no business here, hurry and leave. I’m in the middle of researching a new spell.”

“What on earth are you doing here?”

“I’m developing an electric spell that can deeply penetrate the old tentacled ones’ bodies.”

Sererassie frowned as she said this.

“I felt like it didn’t help much compared to my skills back then…”

She was unusually trailing off her words.

It was perfectly timed to ask for something.

“Then, do me a favor.”

“What do you mean?”

“Make me some arrows.”

She shot me a sideways glance as if she was about to fry me to a crisp.

“Do you know what that means to mages?”

I whispered in a serious voice.

“I do. The weapons created by elven mages in cooperation with dwarf artisans. Originally made to counter the Empire.”

“!”

“The efficiency was so good that all mages became obsessed with improving the magic rifles instead of attack spells. This began a boom in magical tools, effectively turning mages into machines that inscribe magic circles instead of researchers. They dug their own graves, leading the elders at the Ivory Tower to dispose of it.”

“Knowing that, you still…”

“A time will come when they’ll be needed. When Rudi isn’t using them, you can keep them and study. Don’t you want to recreate ancient artifacts with your own hands? How incredible must it have been for the elders back then to want to dispose of it?”

Sererassie’s robes shimmered with tremors.

“Or can’t even a genius like you replicate it?”

“Do you think I would fall for that provocation?”

As she rolled her eyes, I responded as if stating an eternal truth.

“Yeah.”

“Duke, speak a little more pleasantly. You damn little brother.”

Zap!

She raised her staff and shot electricity at me.

Despite trembling, I laughed.

“Bring it. Make sure you let me examine it whenever you have spare time. I’ll have to recruit more people.”

At Sererassie’s words, the four students, who were drawing magic circles, brightly smiled at me.