Chapter 20. Visiting the Emperor's Palace
Venus stared at Radel as if looking at something strange.
“Wow.”
As he stared so much that it was about to get awkward, Radel spoke first.
“Hello.”
“Oh.”
Venus stood up from his seat, looked Radel up and down, and then opened his mouth.
“You’re pretty famous these days.”
What's this? Is he trying to pick a fight?
Radel recalled the information about the 5th Prince written in Armandy’s notebook.
Lacks motivation in everything. A half-hearted personality.
The information contained Armandy’s personal opinion, so it might not be entirely accurate, but according to the notebook, it didn’t seem like he was trying to pick a fight.
He certainly looked unmotivated, so Radel thought there was no need to respond sharply.
“Thank you.”
Radel greeted him with a smile.
At that, a slight look of interest appeared in Venus’s emotionless eyes.
“You seem like you’d be fun.”
“……?”
“Let’s see each other at the Academy if we can.”
Venus looked Radel up and down once more as if he were a strange creature, then left the reception room without a word to Inette.
Inette got angry, perhaps finding it absurd that Venus just said what he wanted and disappeared.
“What was that? Is he saying he can’t even see me?”
Inette’s eyes became sharp.
Although they were half-siblings who didn’t interact anyway, he was still annoying.
Moreover, his thoughtlessness of not even acknowledging her when it wasn’t necessary was still the same.
Since Venus himself didn’t greet people, he didn’t mind if others didn’t greet him either. It was because he had no interest in others at all.
But he seemed to have an interest in Radel.
“What’s up with him? Showing interest in someone.”
Hearing Inette’s words, Radel asked.
“That’s interest?”
“Yeah. That’s him talking a whole lot.”
Radel, who didn’t particularly want the attention, just shrugged his shoulders.
Watching Radel, Inette thought that he was quite a strange kid himself.
When she asked about the miracle in the carriage earlier, he had answered nonchalantly as if it wasn't surprising at all…….
‘What happened with that miracle!’
‘It must have been a coincidence.’
When he said he was praying at the temple, she wondered why he was going to such lengths, but in a matter of days, Radel had become a celebrity.
The 3rd Imperial Consort also found it amusing after hearing the rumors about Radel. To be precise, she seemed more amused by Inette, who screamed in surprise.
‘It’s ridiculous that he’s a saint!’
‘Is it? I think it’s fine?’
‘Whose side are you on, Mom?’
Inette pouted for no reason, thinking her mother seemed to like Radel quite a bit. She really didn't like the pleased way her mother had looked at him since he came back from registering for the Academy.
Today too, when Inette said she was going to the Emperor's Palace, it was the 3rd Imperial Consort who asked her if she should go with Radel.
‘The Emperor’s Palace is far, so it’ll be hard for him to walk.’
‘Ugh! Why doesn’t he have a carriage!’
Although she had complained, Inette had also been concerned. She was also curious if the rumors were true.
Anyway, the more she knew this half-brother, the stranger a fellow he was. Even now, having arrived at the Emperor’s Palace, he wasn’t nervous at all and was sitting calmly, flipping through some notebook.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Hm?”
When Inette asked, Radel answered nonchalantly.
“There’s something I need to check.”
“So what is that…….”
“Princess Inette Dastion Cretian. It is time for you to enter.”
Inette was about to ask Radel more but turned her head at the attendant’s words calling her.
“Already?”
“Go on.”
“Don’t you move a muscle and wait!”
……It seemed she intended to give him a ride in the carriage on the way back as well.
Radel sent a silent thank you to the 3rd Imperial Consort who must have sent Inette with the carriage, and looked over Armandy’s notebook he was holding once more.
According to the masked person’s information, every agent of the Ability Management Bureau was issued one notebook each.
This notebook, devised by the empire's imperial mages over several years, was a type of magical tool. It had various functions, but it also served as a receiver for agents to recognize each other.
‘First, open the back page.’
Radel opened the very last page of the notebook as the masked person had informed him.
An empty section with nothing written on it appeared.
“Appear.”
Radel spoke the activation word to the notebook. At that, a red dot appeared on the empty paper.
He had heard that the original owner of the notebook would appear in green, but since Radel wasn’t the original owner, it seemed to be marked in red.
After waiting a bit, another red dot appeared near the red dot representing Radel.
Looking in that direction, an attendant was arranging flowers in a vase.
‘An agent of the Ability Management Bureau.’
After confirming, Radel closed the notebook and put it in his clothes.
The masked person's information was correct.
The masked person, forced to give up information under duress, probably thought it was information a prince without a notebook couldn't use. However, Radel coincidentally had Armandy's notebook, which he hadn't returned to him.
He had thought it was just Armandy's personal, embarrassing diary, but it was more useful than he had thought.
Radel's thought of returning the notebook completely vanished. It seemed he could use it to his advantage for the time being.
* * *
“Prince Radel Silvert Credian. It is your turn to enter.”
Hearing the attendant’s words, Radel straightened his clothes and stood up.
He had to walk quite a bit from the reception room to get to the Emperor's office. He was keenly aware of how vast the Emperor's Palace was.
Upon arriving in front of the office, the attendant had Radel wait again. Inette was nowhere to be seen, having been guided down a different path.
Knock knock.
“Your Majesty, I have brought Prince Radel Silvert Credian.”
Soon after, the attendant opened the office door and let Radel in.
It was the office of the Cretian Empire's Emperor, a place only the real power players who move the empire could enter.
It was Radel's first time entering it.
He was a little nervous, but not as much as right before entering a dungeon boss room in his past life.
It was much more peaceful than then, and there was no threat to his life. The only similarity was not knowing what kind of boss would appear.
'It's more ordinary than I thought.'
Except for its large size, it was an ordinary office.
He hadn't imagined a scene where the Emperor sat on a splendid chair with his knights and ministers lined up next to him, but he hadn't expected it to be this unpretentious.
The office was slightly dark.
Magic lamps faintly illuminated the office.
The bookshelves were filled with various genres of books, no less than a library, and the desk and chair in the center of the office looked comfortable and sturdy for long hours of work rather than beautiful.
The Emperor was engrossed in his work with a pile of documents on his desk.
He didn't even glance at Radel as he entered. He was busy continuing to read the text written on the paper.
'So this is how the Emperor of the empire lives.'
Watching him, Radel felt that becoming the emperor would not be easy.
It would be difficult to seize the throne, but even after becoming emperor through such hardship, one would have to be cooped up in an office like this and look at all those documents every day.
As Radel was lost in various thoughts, the Emperor broke the silence and opened his mouth.
“Yes. I heard you are going to the Academy.”
His eyes were still fixed on the documents.
He was in the middle of reading a document and even picked up a pen to sign it.
“They said the color red came out at the registration office?”
As expected of the Emperor, it seemed he was briefed on all information. He had thought the Emperor was completely uninterested, but was he keeping track?
How much did he know? Did he even know that he went to the Ability Management Bureau and received a recommendation letter from Ivan?
He somehow had a feeling that he did.
Radel answered calmly.
“Yes, that is correct.”
The Emperor spoke to Radel while underlining a sentence in the document.
Surprisingly, it was a compliment.
“Well done. If there is anything you need before you leave for the Academy, speak.”
Although he didn't take his eyes off the documents, his tone and words were quite kind.
This must be why Inette said His Majesty was kind and affectionate.
‘Is this really our first meeting in almost 10 years?’
Just by listening to him speak, the Emperor was treating him like a son he had met just two days ago.
However, what Radel felt was a completely different emotion.
Radel could tell that the Emperor wasn't particularly interested in him. Judging by the atmosphere, it didn't seem like it would be any different for the other princes or princesses.
The Emperor seemed busy enough just dealing with the work piled up in front of him. And Radel had seen many fathers of this type in his past life.
A father who is too busy with work to pay attention to his child.
A father who only worked even when his child was young, so they couldn't spend time together, resulting in a lukewarm father-son relationship where they have nothing much to say to each other even after the child grows up.
It was just that.
'This is actually better.'
After figuring out what kind of person the Emperor was, he felt more at ease.
The worst-case scenario Radel had imagined was the Emperor starting to interfere in everything.
So you’ve manifested your Ability?
Back in my day, after manifesting my Ability, I would spar with the knights every day to improve my skills. Coincidentally, monsters are running rampant in the northern region. It would be great for someone who has manifested their Ability to go and solve it, gaining real combat experience, wouldn't it? No, I'm not telling you to do it, and so on.
There were plenty of ways to drive Radel into a corner, but he didn't seem to have any intention of doing so.
On top of that, he was even offering an entrance gift for going to the Academy.
'What should I ask for?'
Radel pondered.
Should he ask for a decent sword, the carriage that Inette talked about every day, or maybe it would be good to ask for a decent magical tool, though not quite an artifact.
'Wait. What am I even thinking about?'
At that moment, a good idea popped into Radel's head.
If it's a formal father-son relationship anyway, isn't there only one thing to expect from a father? And what's more, when that father is the Emperor of the empire?
Once he made up his mind, the words flowed smoothly from Radel's mouth.
"There is something I need."
* * *
When he came out of the Emperor's Palace, Inette was waiting in the carriage.
"What took you so long!"
It didn't seem to have taken that long, but she was making a fuss. It seemed her mouth was itching to brag to Radel about something.
"Guess what I got today?"
"What did you get?"
As if she had been waiting, Inette took out a glittering dagger.
"This! Isn't it pretty?"
"Yeah, it's nice."
"Right! His Majesty asked me what I wanted, and at that moment, this dagger from the Imperial Armory came to my mind!"
It was pretty, even to Radel's eyes.
But what's the use of a pretty dagger? Its attack power didn't increase just because it was pretty.
However, Radel had tact, so he played along with Inette as she bragged about how it was crafted by a famous artisan and had a flame amplification property.
"So what did you ask for?"
Inette, having finished her bragging, asked Radel.
"A carriage, I'm guessing?"
Radel shook his head.
In Radel's opinion, there was no need to ask for things like a carriage, a sword, or a magical tool as a gift.
"If not that, then a sword?"
"No, money."
He didn't know what amazing weapons were in the Imperial Armory, but they weren't particularly necessary for Radel, who had low stats.
Anyway, with money, he could buy all the things he needed right away.
"I asked him to deposit the full amount in cash into the Imperial Bank."
At the unexpected answer, Inette stared at Radel as if he were absurd. Radel was probably the first person to ask the Emperor for money.
He was a truly strange fellow.