Volume 11 Chapter 4 Part 1
Chapter 54: Admission Ceremony
『Miria』
Character Levels & Equipment:
Job:
Assassin Lv.40
Equipment:
Estoc of Petrification
Iron Shield
Chain Mail
Hardened Leather Helmet
Leather Gloves
Leather Shoes
Sacrificial Misanga
「Well then, let us head to the room now.」
I don’t know whether he read the awkward mood in the room or not; however, Baron
Ester offers me a way out by quickly starting to walk away and leading us further.
I am grateful to him for it, and so I quickly follow behind him, but I can feel a strange pressure coming from behind me.
Four people — including the Emperor, the Duke and the Earl — have tagged along with us, too.
What the hell is going on here?
Well, Ester at the top is also a Baron
Sebastian and the other staff members seem to have been left behind.
The admission ceremony will seemingly be held with these members of the Empire Liberation Society instead, since even their Party Members don’t seem to be present.
Will my admission ceremony be held together with the Emperor?
Ester goes upstairs to the third floor, walks down the corridor and opens the farthest door.
I enter, filled with determination….
… But it is just an ordinary room.
After I enter, the four behind me follow in as well.
「I am glad you were able to join, as I expected, without any issues.」
「Yes.」
When the Duke comes in, we exchange a few words. Following in right after him is the Emperor. From a glance, you can tell that the Earl, who was standing next to the Emperor, is a stern warrior. Is he the Emperor’s personal bodyguard?
In contrast with his abundant moustache, the hair on his head seems pretty desolate. If viewed from the top, it would probably look like a bar code.
He has a tall stature, so he will probably be able to look down on pretty much everyone except for Vesta.
「Alright then, now that everyone is inside, the admission ceremony will be conducted for Gaius, Carlos and Michio in the next room as soon as the preparations have been completed.」
Ester, who preceded us in the room, turns around and faces everyone. However, was it really necessary to call my name as the last?
The other guy beside the Duke who is not an Earl seems to be a new member to the Empire Liberation Society as well, but since he entered the lodge together with the Emperor, he must be related to him in some way.
「Please take care of me.」
The Emperor bows.
「Please treat me well.」
「I-I will be in your care.」
I have no idea as to whom the Emperor was addressing his words to; however, since the other guy followed suit, I got along and greeted him, too.
「The admission ceremony requires a minimum of three members to be present as witnesses. Today, in addition to myself, Bruno, who is the referrer of Gaius and Carlos, Brocken, who is the referrer of Michio, is also present.」
「The name is Bruno.」
「Brocken, pleasure to be meeting you.」
Following Ester’s introduction, both the Duke and the Earl proceed to stand next to the Baron.
So the Earl was the referrer? He certainly looks like a tough warrior, but he does not seem to be a bodyguard.
「Then you three wait in this room for a while.」
Once he was done with the greetings, Ester moves to the next room.
Wait a moment, now wait just a goddamn moment! Why am I being left behind with the Emperor? And on top of that, there is another man, who may be an official, with the Emperor as well.
I gaze at them with pleading eyes; however, the Baron and the Duke vanish into the next room while ignoring me.
Oh well. Unless they know about my background, there is no way for it to be a trap set for me, and since even the Earl leaves the Emperor behind and goes to the room ahead, all I can do right now is to be positive.
Yeah, let’s be positive and look at this situation from another perspective: the one where the ratio of the nobility in the room has decreased from 4/6 to 1/3.
Considering the fact that the Emperor is not supposedly a noble, I guess that technically means that all the nobles have disappeared from the room.
「Michio, are you a member of the Human tribe?」
「Indeed I am. Also, I am pleased to meet you.」
Impossible! I am speaking with the Emperor!
「It is fine for you to use casual language around me. It is a rule of this lodge for its members to communicate on equal terms after all. And since the people around us only use courteous language all the time, we are eager to learn as much of the words spoken on the streets by the common folk as we can.」
Your Majesty, it is precisely because you are the Emperor that people use courteous words around you. Anyone who would meet the leader of the entire country would probably do the same.
「I-I understand.」
「So then, are you from the Human tribe?」
His way of speaking is still too strange for my tastes.
「That’s right. I am.」
「In that case, even for a Human, you seem to be exceedingly young. How old are you?」
「I am 17 years old.”
He will know my age if he looks at my Intelligence Card, but even so, I wouldn’t want anyone here, especially Sebastian, to actually read it.
「Are you joining the Empire Liberation Society at such a young age? That is extraordinarily excellent.」
「No, it is not much to talk about, really.」
「Disappointing. Truly disappointing. It is good to be modest, but when modesty exceeds its acceptable limits, it is all too easy for it to devolve into immorality. You need to remember that and be considerate of other members of the Society and others who were not admitted. 」
I have been scholded by the Emperor, but even I have to admit that he was essentially right. There are people who were rejected from the Empire Liberation Society even though they wanted to join it, so I cannot assume the air of superiority in front of those people, because that would be like rubbing salt into their open wounds.
Do exactly what the Emperor says, huh? He seems to be an upright person by nature, or maybe he is like that because of his position since birth.
「I see.」
「It’s good that you’re quick to understand. We ourselves were admitted only after growing old.」
「That is still great.」
「It may seem an excuse ,but the day is too short for Us to earnestly enter the Labyrinths nowadays. We tend to be busy with various other matters.」
Well, that much should be obvious. You are the Emperor of the entire empire, after all.
On the contrary, I want to ask him why does he even want to enter the Labyrinths in the first place.
「Oh really?」
「Although Our official position is strictly confidential, We have a duty of making and raising an heir to the throne.」
is that the reason as to why he intends to keep it a secret?
For the time being, it seems to be better if I didn’t know about it.
I don’t know. I don’t know that this person is the Emperor. Is that good enough?
「An heir, you say?」
「Because there are teachings from Our ancestors which We have to pass on to Our descendants.」
I wonder about that. Honestly, It sounds like something that Uesugi Youzan, the benevolent feudal lord from Edo period would say.
『The state is inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants; it should not be administered selfishly.』I think those were the words that he said.
Because the state is transmitted from the ancestors to the descendants, the rulers cannot do as they please is what I have heard.
Would he not rather say that he himself is the nation?
「I don’t really get it, but it sounds troublesome.」
「We could not enter the labyrinth earnestly after Our eldest child grew up to the age of 15 and became an adult. It has been over a decade ago.」
So he will be able to enter the Labyrinth when the crown prince reaches the age when he can officially take the country over.
And since the mortality rate of infants in this world seems to be high, then until he ensures that there is a successor, he cannot do as he pleases.
As per 「Identify」, the Emperor is 39 years old.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Harem in the Fantasy World Dungeon
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 50 hours
“We could not enter the labyrinth earnestly after Our eldest child grew up to the age of 15 and became an adult.”
After? I’m certain this should be “before” or “until” or “, only after”…