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What the Emperor Truly Needs – Part 02

“Hey, Guls. Guls. Answer me. Heeey!”

A voice came from the rooftop—his companion was calling him.

“What’s going on? Is he asleep or something?”

“Oh, he’s sound asleep, all right.”

“What?!”

Hikaru had moved from the outer staircase of the neighboring building to the roof, sneaking up on the man from behind.

“Don’t move.” He held a throwing knife to the man’s nose. Its tip was coated with viscous liquid. “There’s poison on it. Move, and I’ll make sure you get a taste of it.”

“Y-Your threats won’t work on me.”

“It worked on Gallus and Dickey, though.”

The man flinched. “D-Did you kill them?”

“No. But what do you think will happen if I just leave them?”

“Bastard!”

“Quiet. You don’t want my hand slipping, do you?”

“Eek!” The man had lost his will to fight.

Amateur. Completely inexperienced in this kind of rough work.

Hikaru could have just ignored them, but he had a reason for doing this.

“Who sent you? Tell me.”

“…”

“Were you ordered to kidnap the Wandering Saint?”

“I…”

“Silent, huh? You know the Foreign Minister doesn’t care if you die, right?”

“Y-You knew?!”

I knew it. It was surprising how easily he took the bait.

“L-Let me explain. We weren’t directly hired, but there’s this new Baron, Kinga, who came to us. He kept saying Foreign Minister this, Foreign Minister that. So we figured the Foreign Minister was behind it.”

“That’s all I needed to know.”

Hikaru sensed that Paula and Lavia, who had finished their treatment, were near the entrance.

“Whoops.”

“Huh?”

The tip of the throwing knife pricked the man’s nose.

“Sorry, my hand slipped.”

“Aaaahhh!”

“Later.”

Hikaru jumped down from the roof to the next building’s staircase, then landed on the ground. His feet hurt a bit, but he was content with his newfound agility.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

The man on the rooftop continued to scream. Hikaru was lying about the poison, of course; it was actually just wound ointment. But since the men were carrying poison themselves, he believed Hikaru’s words about the blade being coated with it.

“Hikaru?”

“I’m fine. No issues.”

Hikaru had already collected the guild cards of the two men, Gallus and Dickey.

He grasped Paula and Lavia’s hands, then activated Group Cloaking.

“How did the treatment go? Looks like it worked.”

Hikaru had already sensed the patient waking up with his Mana Detection.

“It was successful, but quite complicated.”

“Do tell me more.”

“The Phantom Butterfly isn’t just a simple drug; it contains a complex poison. I needed not only basic healing magic but also a combination of detoxification magic and magic related to stabilizing mana.”

“Stabilizing mana?”

“The mana flowing within his body went awry, sending him into a coma.”

“We haven’t had such cases with previous patients, have we?”

“It might have something to do with the purity of the Phantom Butterfly he used.”

According to the man, the Phantom Butterfly he took was considered “the real deal” by his wealthy client, while what circulated in the city was a diluted imitation.

“I see. But why was the client unharmed?”

“He might have different symptoms, or the amount of mana could be a factor. I’m sorry. I don’t know much about it.”

“No, that’s enough information. There might be more victims of the Phantom Butterfly in the future.”

“Yes…”

The three of them continued down the nighttime street.

“Hikaru, this isn’t the way to His Holiness’ mansion.” Lavia noticed this along the way.

Hikaru nodded. “Someone’s after Paula.”

“What…?”

“That’s why we’re not going to the mansion. We’ll stay at an inn as Adventurer Hikaru, Lavia, and Paula.”

The Foreign Minister, their enemy, had probably already found out where Flower Face was staying. So far, they hadn’t made a move due to the presence of the Knights Templar and the temple guards.

The place was secure, but the enemy knowing its location made Hikaru uneasy. News of the adventurers they had sent being taken out should reach them tomorrow, and if that happened, they might resort to more aggressive tactics.

So Hikaru’s plan was to disappear first.

You’re not getting out of this scot-free, Foreign Minister.

Hikaru’s blood was boiling. He had come all the way to the Quinbrand Empire, a place he had no desire to visit, to assist in the ceasefire of two countries he had no connection with. That alone was a hassle, but now his companion was being targeted.

He might just be the right guy to vent my frustration. He chuckled behind the mask.

“Hikaru is having evil thoughts again,” Lavia said. “Don’t hold back.”

“Lord Hikaru’s actions are always right,” Paula added.

---

When they informed Luvain about getting an inn, he sensed something was afoot and apologized. Though frustrated, Hikaru couldn’t say more, given that Luvain was working hard as well. Luvain hurried out of the mansion for his meetings with the nobles.

That night, with the Wandering Saint taking a day off, Hikaru went out alone.

Hmm… compared to the Tower in Bios, the security here is quite lax.

His destination was the imperial castle.

Castles were typically large, which made them prone to blind spots in security. The former pope of the Theocracy of Bios must have been exceedingly cautious.

Hikaru could easily enter the castle without even using his Stealth. It didn’t take much time to find the room he was looking for. In the imperial palace, all the way inside—security was naturally tighter, but there were no traps, so with Stealth, Hikaru basically had a free pass—was Emperor Kagurai’s private chamber.

It was past 1 a.m., and the imperial palace was silent, but the magic lamp in Kagurai’s room was lit. He was in the middle of writing. He appeared much smaller and more childlike than one would expect an emperor to be.

“Are you Kagurai?”

Intentionally speaking in a domineering tone, Hikaru deactivated his Stealth and sat down in a chair he found in the room. The table was made of unfamiliar wood, with a rainbow-like light flickering in its grain. It seemed to be imbued with magical energy.

Kagurai, taken aback but not raising his voice, stared at Hikaru. Hikaru wondered what emotions lurked within those eyes.

Not anger, not fear, not uneasiness… perhaps curiosity and interest. Impressive. An intruder has entered in the middle of the night, and that’s his reaction.

Kagurai approached and seated himself across from the silver-masked visitor. Draped in a lustrous robe, Kagurai’s appearance unmistakably conveyed nobility.

“I wanted to meet you, Silver Face.”

“You know about me? What an honor.”

“Unken wrote about you in his letter.”

“…”

Hikaru didn’t know how to react. He had interacted with Unken as Silver Face, and he knew that Unken, being a Man Gnome like Kagurai, had worked in the empire. But he hadn’t imagined Unken was in a position to directly contact the emperor.

Just a Guildmaster in Pond, huh? Now that I think about it, Freya did mention something.

Hikaru recalled the words of the guild receptionist, Freya.

“Once when I delivered some documents to Sir Unken’s office, I saw an old note on his desk. It was a thank-you letter from His Majesty the King.”

She had considered the possibility that Unken had assassinated the former Emperor Balzard.

“Did killing Emperor Balzard earn you high praise?”

Unken had previously served in Quinbrand Empire’s intelligence department. However, he later wandered into the Ponsonia Kingdom and became the guildmaster of the Adventurers Guild there. He was not acting as an undercover agent, but was actively working for the kingdom’s benefit. A very enigmatic character.

Although Hikaru hadn’t thought about whether he could extract information from Kagurai, the Emperor casually remarked, “Balzard was my uncle. However, as he grew older, he became obsessed with the delusion that Ponsonia would come to destroy our empire. Someone needed to stop him.”

“…I see.”

Hikaru had known they were both Man Gnomes, but he hadn’t imagined that Kagurai was Balzard’s nephew. Kagurai might have ordered Unken to assassinate Balzard, which would explain Unken’s background.

Unken, completing Kagurai’s mission, couldn’t continue living in the country after committing the grave crime of regicide.

But to talk about it so nonchalantly. Sure, it happened fifty years ago, but still.