The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 19
EP.19 Stubbornness (3)
A day had passed since Alice’s visit. There had been no news since then. The Emperor’s order to me had not been revoked. It seemed Alice still hadn’t met with the Emperor yet, which made sense since I had heard he was away.
The belongings Alice had unpacked… I hadn’t repacked them yet. For now, I simply returned everything to its original place. Since Alice herself had unpacked them, I decided to wait a bit before repacking.
No matter how determined Alice was, convincing that stubborn Emperor wouldn’t be easy. He was the kind of man who, even though he loved his daughter, always placed his goals first. On the surface, he claimed everything was ‘for the empire,’ but in reality, he was just obsessed with governance—like a man with a bizarre fixation on state affairs. If he thought something would harm his rule, he wouldn’t hesitate to discard even his daughter.
The Autonomous State of Rickland hadn’t appeared in the main game yet, but it existed in the lore. It might play a significant role in the sequel… though that was just a bit of speculation for now. By the time I arrived in this world, the game’s development was already underway, but its release was still far off, so I hadn’t even seen a trailer.
Among fans, the prevailing theory was that the protagonist, who had fled to the unstable State of Rickland amidst military factions, would consolidate power, gain trust, and find a new place to settle. If I were to take down all the warlords before that, those predictions would be pointless… but I doubted the Emperor intended to eliminate all of them. He’d probably leave just enough to cause trouble for the autonomous state while ensuring they still needed the empire’s support.
If he truly wanted to wipe out the warlords, the Emperor would have simply sent the army. Then again, if he had proposed sending the army, the autonomous state would likely have refused. What sovereign nation would welcome a foreign army to deal with their criminals? It was a blatant infringement of sovereignty. The intention would be obvious.
“…Wait a minute.”
Could it be that the Emperor was sending me for that very reason?
The State of Rickland might refuse an entire Imperial Army, but they might not mind if he dispatched a single assassin. Or maybe he didn’t intend to send me as a soldier at all. He could’ve slipped me in as a diplomat, or even as a princess.
…I’d be able to create opportunities to move freely within the state, carrying out assassination missions in between official duties.
Uh…
..Was the Emperor’s trust in me becoming a bit too much?
Did the original Claire ever earn this level of trust? I couldn’t recall her being sent on solo missions like this, no matter how much she was tasked with.
I pondered, resting my hand on my forehead.
If I had blindly gone to the autonomous state and decapitated all the warlords, the future could’ve shifted dramatically.
Well, Millennium Corp. did enjoy surprising people, so they probably wouldn’t have crafted a story that players could easily predict.
Should I refuse?
I seriously considered it.
If the Emperor truly trusted me, believed in me completely, there might be another way. I could go there and do absolutely nothing, then return. Even if I lied, the Emperor would likely think, “Well, there must’ve been a good reason for it.”
The problem, though, was whether the Emperor trusted me 100 percent—without a single shred of doubt. The answer to that was simple and required little thought.
The Emperor was not someone who trusted anyone fully. The only thing the Emperor truly believed in was his own convictions. So, if I returned after completing no mission at all, he would doubt me. He might trust that I had an “unavoidable reason,” but he wouldn’t believe it was a physical impossibility that prevented me from assassinating the target. He’d assume there was some political entanglement at play.
And once that train of thought began, the Emperor’s actions would stray too far from my predictions.
That wasn’t a good thing.
I was trying to avoid choices that would inevitably lead to the deaths of several people. If the Emperor acted outside of my expectations, it would jeopardize my ability to make use of the foresight I had been relying on.
The reason I hadn’t attempted to assassinate the Emperor and was following his orders for now was to minimize variables and create a favorable situation for myself. While breaking the pattern wouldn’t eliminate new opportunities, the further apart the opportunities were, the harder it would be to align them.
“……”
I sat in the chair, resting my chin in my hand, deep in thought. But no matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t reach a clear conclusion.
Even if I used Alice as an excuse, it was too late. I had already agreed to the mission, and changing my stance now would only increase the Emperor’s suspicions.
Hmm. No easy solution.
Just as I was thinking that—
The door suddenly burst open.
“……”
I didn’t jump in surprise. After ten years of experiencing such interruptions, it no longer startled me. Being slashed by Lucas’s sword had set a pretty high bar for surprise.
It was probably Alice again. If she had met with the Emperor, she’d have been rejected for sure and would be sulking by now, barging in with a frown. She wouldn’t be here to brag about receiving new orders from the Emperor; she’d likely be dragging me along to meet him instead. Alice always had an air of confidence before confronting the Emperor.
“Got it!”
“What?”
But her sudden shout caught me off guard, leaving me momentarily dazed. Got what?
Turning my head, I saw Alice standing proudly, her face glowing with pride. The sunlight from the window caught her hair, making it shimmer like gold.
With her hands on her hips, laughing like a victorious general, Alice declared…
“You don’t have to go to the North!”
“……”
I stared at her for a moment before replying calmly.
“No matter how much of a future empress you are, you are not above the current Emperor’s orders.”
In response to my calm voice, Alice snorted dismissively.
“I know, okay? I am a real princess, after all. If you still don’t believe me, just take a look at this.”
With that, Alice raised her hand from her waist, revealing a document clutched in her grip.
It was the Emperor’s order.
[By decree of Emperor Arthur III of the Aetherna Empire, the northern dispatch order for Sylvia Fangriffon is hereby rescinded.]
It wasn’t an official decree. Just a random scrap of paper torn off, with a sloppy message scrawled in fountain pen. Calling it an official document would be an overstatement.
But the handwriting was familiar.
And so was the Emperor’s signature.
“…Forgery or impersonation of official documents is a serious crime. If you’re faking an imperial order—”
“I’m not!”
Alice interrupted me, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“If you’re so suspicious, go verify it yourself! I may do a lot of things, but I wouldn’t lie about something like this!”
“……”
If Alice was insisting this much…
…Could it be real?
If it was real, how did she manage it?
I managed to maintain my expressionless face, but perhaps my confusion was visible. Alice looked at me victoriously and exclaimed.
“See? Now it’s settled! We’re heading to the academy together! Well, I won’t pack for a while, though.”
This time, she added with a beaming smile.
“I’m definitely going to beat you in the next exam!”
Uh… Wait, seriously?
How did she do it?
Even in my state of confusion, a part of my mind was already celebrating, clenching its fist in triumph.
*
A few minutes earlier—
Crash!
The sound of something breaking was rarely heard in the Emperor’s audience chamber. The maids working in the palace were all daughters of noble families, receiving high-level education, and naturally, they wouldn’t accidentally break precious items in the palace.
And no one would dare to deliberately break something either. After all, meals weren’t usually served in the audience chamber.
But this time was different.
The sound came from a small glass vial shattering on the floor. The clear liquid inside splattered across the floor, though not enough to reach the Emperor’s clothes.
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
The Emperor himself asked, seeing his daughter behaving so outrageously in front of him.
Even Lucas, the guard at his side, looked bewildered, but Alice paid no attention to their expressions. Under normal circumstances, Alice would have shrunk before her father, the Emperor. The mood in the room wasn’t exactly favorable either. But Alice was furious, her anger burning to the tips of her hair.
And when a Fangriffon gets angry, they tend to stop caring about anything.
Alice was still a Fangriffon, after all.
It was the first time she’d ever been this angry at her father. While she wanted to surpass Sylvia, she never wished for her to be taken out of the race entirely.
“This is morphine. It was found in Sylvia’s room.”
“Hmm?”
At those words, the Emperor’s expression immediately shifted from irritation to intrigue.
“Sylvia is using morphine?”
His reaction wasn’t surprising. No one utilized Sylvia’s talents more effectively than the Emperor himself. She’d only been sent on one assassination mission, but there was no one better at gathering all sorts of information than her.
It was hard to imagine someone like Sylvia needing morphine. After all, she’d never been seriously injured by bullets or swords.
Lucas was just as shocked. His usual laid-back demeanor had vanished, and his eyes widened in disbelief. Despite the situation, Alice found herself pleased by that small detail.
“She said it was for emergencies. In case something went wrong, and she had to fight without time to recover.”
“…Oh.”
Coming from Sylvia, such a statement couldn’t be taken lightly. Sylvia had said she might be injured and have to fight without the luxury of healing.
What kind of danger was she anticipating?
“…Your Majesty.”
Normally, Alice would have addressed him as ‘Father,’ but at this moment, she stood before him as a princess addressing her Emperor. The conversation they were about to have wasn’t between a daughter and her father; it was between the future Empress and the current Emperor.
“Sylvia said that I am the one destined to become the next Empress.”
“……”
The Emperor was listening intently.
“If she becomes a candidate, she will do whatever it takes to ensure I get that position.”
“Hmm.”
The Emperor’s gaze sharpened as he focused on the princess before him.
“So, Your Majesty. Sylvia is my ally. Not yours.”
Alice smiled as she said this, though it wasn’t a genuine smile. It was a smile twisted by nervousness, slightly trembling at the edges. A facade of confidence.
But Fangriffons never backed down, because they were ‘Fangriffons.’
“Sylvia may be a Gryphon. But the first Emperor Fangriffon was not. Fangriffons are the leaders of the Gryphons, not Gryphons themselves. They are the ones who command the Gryphons and ride above them. The ones who lead the pack. There’s no need to be stronger than a Gryphon to lead one.”
Indeed. Fangriffons—the leader of the Gryphons. And leading people didn’t always require sheer strength. Especially if the pack in question was made up of humans.
“So, Sylvia will be mine. Of course, if you ever need her, I could lend her to you. But not this time.”
Sylvia, that Sylvia, was supporting the ‘true princess’ as the next Empress.
And the princess realized what that truly meant.
She realized it and was now informing the current Emperor.
And as the Emperor heard her declaration, he smiled.