The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 11
EP.11 Interlude
“Lucas, what do you think of Sylvia?”
“Huh?”
Lucas was momentarily stunned by the sudden question. What did he think of Sylvia?
However, the Emperor’s words could not have been without intent. At the very least, the question wasn’t simply a request for his opinion. Whatever Lucas said about Sylvia, there would surely be further instructions from the Emperor.
If Lucas showed even a hint of not fully understanding Sylvia, he might be classified as a “useless person” by the Emperor. Well, considering even someone as clueless as Jayden didn’t receive such treatment, that might be a bit of an extreme conclusion.
“……”
Thus, Lucas began to ponder about Sylvia.
She was expressionless, always polite and formal, and if Lucas tried to touch her, she would immediately brush him off. At first glance, she might seem to have a bad personality, but in reality, there was a softness to her. Sylvia was particularly lenient with Alice.
It didn’t seem to be merely because they were the same age. Sylvia, who was oddly mature for her age, often acted as if she had stolen Alice’s place. Whenever there was a chance to be considerate, she took it. If there was something to yield, she yielded.
Sylvia even seemed to extend this “stolen” mindset beyond herself to include all the “Children of the Emperor.” For instance, even if it was Lucas’s or Jayden’s turn for something, if Alice’s turn overlapped, Sylvia would stand like a shield, making sure Alice benefited first.
Unfortunately, Princess Alice didn’t seem to understand Sylvia’s intentions at all.
It had been the same just a while ago. After Sylvia, it should have been Lucas’s turn to meet with the Emperor. Lucas himself didn’t have much to discuss, but the Emperor had mentioned he had something important to say. Yet, Sylvia had casually let Alice go in first.
…If Alice had barged in on her own, she would have been scolded by the Emperor on the spot. But since the Emperor knew Sylvia had let her in, Alice wasn’t blamed. And Alice probably knew this unconsciously. That’s likely why she felt more irritated by Sylvia.
If Sylvia were truly an emotionless machine, Lucas wouldn’t have interpreted her actions as being “soft-hearted.” Instead, he would have seen it as a mechanical behavior to protect the Emperor’s only real bloodline.
But Sylvia wasn’t an emotionless clockwork doll. When Lucas or Jayden annoyed her, she showed irritation and often ran away to avoid her brothers. Though her version of hiding wasn’t like the usual child’s game of hide-and-seek, it was more like a professional spy concealing and camouflaging herself.
This was evident when she returned after completing her recent mission.
Sylvia had seemed somewhat displeased. At a glance, one might think it was because Lucas was sitting next to her, but Sylvia was holding a newspaper in her hand, with a large headline about the count’s assassination.
Although Lucas had seen Sylvia kill someone before… This murder wasn’t a spontaneous act. It was an assassination she had meticulously planned and executed herself.
“She’s… somewhat soft-hearted?”
“Oh.”
At Lucas’s assessment, the Emperor’s lips curled into a slight smile.
“Did I say something wrong?”
That peculiar smile annoyed Lucas, prompting him to respond with a slightly cocky tone. Of course, Lucas’s demeanor was always somewhat cocky, no matter whom he was talking to.
“No, not at all. In some sense, it aligns with my thoughts.”
If their thoughts were perfectly aligned, the Emperor wouldn’t have used the phrase “in some sense.”
“Is that why Your Majesty goes easy on Sylvia? Because you understand her personality…?”
The Emperor was cold-blooded enough to order a twelve-year-old to assassinate a count, but at the same time, his affection for the children was genuine. At least, that was how Lucas, who had been with him since childhood, felt.
If the Emperor had expected Sylvia to fail, he would never have given her such a mission in the first place.
“Perhaps.”
The Emperor gave another ambiguous answer.
As Lucas looked up at the Emperor, the Emperor asked again.
“Lucas, do you think you could ever hurt Sylvia?”
“I—”
Lucas was about to say “of course,” but he paused.
“……”
He soon fell into serious contemplation.
Could he really hurt Sylvia?
No, the question wasn’t about his feelings; it was purely about skill.
If Sylvia were unarmed, maybe he could manage. After all, every time Lucas swung his sword at her, Sylvia had done her best to avoid it. In terms of physical ability alone, Lucas was several steps ahead of her. This was to be expected, given that Sylvia was only twelve years old.
But… Lucas couldn’t imagine a moment when Sylvia wasn’t armed. Since the day she was first brought here as a child, Sylvia had always carried a gun.
Well, there were moments when she wasn’t armed—important events, or occasions where she had to wear tight-fitting clothes that couldn’t conceal a weapon. At least, it seemed like Sylvia didn’t carry a weapon when she was resting comfortably.
However, despite that—
Strangely, Lucas couldn’t shake the feeling that Sylvia would always be ‘armed’ and ‘prepared’ whenever he tried to cut her down. Maybe when he went to strike, Sylvia wouldn’t be there, and the place would be rigged with bombs, or it would be a trap, and the real Sylvia would be far away, aiming an Ergensen rifle at his head. He had this odd certainty because Sylvia had always been like that.
Even if you ambushed her in a place where you were sure she’d never expect it, she’d dodge with just a half-step to spare. Even if Lucas managed to sneak past the Imperial Guard knights, Sylvia would still be able to feel his presence. It was almost as if she could read the future.
“Yes, I feel the same.”
The Emperor nodded as if he understood exactly what Lucas was thinking.
“No matter what I imagined doing, even if I pictured mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers to kill her, I could never picture Sylvia dead. For some reason, I could never imagine a ‘Sylvia who wasn’t prepared.’ If I devised a plan that was impossible to avoid, Sylvia would most certainly not be there. That’s the Sylvia in my mind.”
The Emperor leaned in slightly towards Lucas and spoke.
“Now, let me ask again. Do you still think Sylvia is just soft-hearted?”
“……”
“Sure, maybe she is. Perhaps she could slaughter everyone in this palace and walk out unscathed, but she doesn’t because she ‘feels sorry’ for us. But do you really think ‘that’ Sylvia would act that way?”
“……Uh……”
Lucas hesitated to answer.
“The reason I ordered her to kill the count this time was because of that. I didn’t give Sylvia any information about him. I simply told her to ‘kill.’ I didn’t say how or why. And I assigned you to monitor her. The reason I chose the Count of Crowfield was simple: he was exactly the type of person Sylvia would utterly despise.”
Indeed, Sylvia had previously belonged to a supplier who ‘sold’ such orphans. If she had known what she knows now, she wouldn’t have thought that place was just an orphanage. And she wouldn’t have burned it down the way she did.
“If Sylvia were an emotionless being, she would have simply eliminated the count and returned as per my orders. But somehow, she figured out within a few days that the count was a client of that orphanage. And she blew up every carriage that followed. Do you know what that means?”
The Emperor leaned in even closer to Lucas.
“It means Sylvia is not here because she thinks of my grand cause or to bring some benefit to this Empire. She is here because she wants to be, doing what she wants to do. She has a very willful personality, doing only what she wants. Think about it. If the count had been a good person, someone who genuinely cared for his people, how would Sylvia have acted? Even if she disobeyed my orders and smuggled him out, could we have stopped her?”
There was no way to know.
But… she probably wouldn’t have acted the way she did this time.
“Are you thinking of… getting rid of Sylvia?”
At Lucas’s question, the Emperor burst into laughter. Seeing Lucas’s startled expression, the Emperor spoke.
“Oh, no, that’s a misunderstanding. On the contrary, I find Sylvia to be a lovely child because of this. In other words, as long as we keep her happy, Sylvia will stay here. And she will bring us victory. It seems I, as her father, need to pay more careful attention to her from now on.”
Author’s Note:
The Ergensen rifle mentioned in the story is similar to the real-world “Krag-Jørgensen rifle.” This weapon was used in Denmark, Norway, and the United States. The appearance is based on the American version, but it lacks the magazine cut-off feature typical of the American model.
The reason for choosing this particular rifle is simply because, among bolt-action rifles, its design appealed to me the most.