chapter 36
36 – A Night in Hyperion Castle – 1
“This is Eos, the capital of the Empire?”
“Yes. How is it? Isn’t it a city full of life?”
“I guess so.”
As Irina said, Eos, the capital of the Hyperion Empire, was a city full of life. People were walking the streets laughing, and merchants were treating their customers without deceit. Also, lovers were sitting on a bench next to a fountain and whispering their love.
‘…Better than Korea?’
Honestly, it looked much better than Korea, which has a stark black-and-white movie-like reality.
“The Empire is the most perfect country I have ever seen. This is not because the original woman is the princess of this empire. She always sees the Empire with an objective gaze.”
“Do you think the Suin Nation is as good a country as the Empire?”
“Suin is a good enough country, but geographical factors make it far from perfect.”
Certainly, there was the kingdom of Ruthenia on the other side of the sea and the Kingdom of Ruthenia, which was aiming for the kingdom of beastmen, so geographically, the nation of beastmen was the worst among all nations.
“…That big castle is the imperial castle?”
“That’s right.”
“You poured money.”
“The imperial castle is the center and symbol of the empire, isn’t it normal for it to be splendid and large?”
“The Beast King was made smaller because he said he needed a bigger castle?”
“It’s just a difference in point of view. The Beast King puts more emphasis on the practical side, while the Empire wants to express the mightiness of the imperial family to the people. The more the imperial family is powerful, the more the people’s worries will decrease.”
“Hmm…”
Certainly, opinions will differ depending on the point of view.
“The delegation is back! Open the door!!”
When the carriage arrived in front of the imperial castle, a knight in shiny armor gave the order to open the door. Then, the large gate that blocked the entry of the imperial castle slowly began to open.
“”Loyalty!!””
Now, as the few remaining envoys entered the palace, more than 100 knights lined up left and right and saluted in moderation.
Honestly, it was kind of cool.
“Let me down.”
“Okay.”
I awkwardly got down from the carriage following Irina.
Thanks to Irina sending a message to the imperial castle before the carriage arrived, the knights were not surprised to see me.
“Congratulations on the return of the 2nd Princess Irina.”
“Kyunghara…Do you still say that after seeing this?”
Irina saw an old man who seemed to be her butler.
Then, several corpses of the knights killed by the fragments of chaos fell to the floor and the rotten smell began to vibrate.
“This…Is this…?”
“I was attacked by a monster in the middle. There are 9 knights who survived, and all of the servants are safe except for one.”
The butler made a puzzled expression as he looked at the decaying corpse.
“Isn’t the average level of the knights level 40…? And where is Lord Alpheon?”
“I encountered a level 81 monster. Alpheon, an escort knight, stayed in the prison country because of his head injury. He’ll probably be back within a month.”
By the way, Alpheon is the name of the escort knight who was close to me when I first met Irina. They say her recovery is taking a long time because I pressed her head down with [Psychokinesis].
“Level 81…? It’s not even a labyrinth, could there be such a monster…”
“The name is Fragment of Chaos, I don’t know the species. It looks like a slime, but there’s no way there could be a slime with such a high level. Order the Imperial Intelligence Agency to investigate the monster called Fragment of Chaos in detail.”
“Okay.”
After listening to her butler’s answer, Irina started looking around her to find something about her.
“Your Majesty? Doesn’t Your Majesty always come in person when the delegation returns?”
“Your Majesty has departed for the Holy Land because of the Continental Conference.”
“Continental Conference? Is it related to the kingdom of Ruthenia?”
“There seems to be other cases as well.”
Irina agreed with her butler’s words and pointed her finger at the corpses of the knights.
“First, find the bereaved families of these corpses, and don’t forget to pay the bereaved family. Also, once the payment is complete, let the empire directly pay for the funeral expenses.”
“Okay.”
The moment Irina finished her instructions, a man appeared from the imperial castle.
The age of her man seemed to be in his late twenties, and she had white silver hair and beautiful light pink eyes just like Irina.
“…The second older brother…”
“Irina, you’re back.”
Irina called the silver-haired man who suddenly appeared, her brother, and showed a disgusted expression.
“What’s up?”
“Is it necessary to be so rigid with family members?”
“Before they are family, they are the princess and the prince. Please keep the example.”
“Haa… Irina, who was cute when she was little, is where she went…”
Her man looked at Irina with her smirk, and then she turned her head to me and met her gaze.
“What’s Ann? A new pet?”
….Pets?
“Not a pet.”
“If earthlings aren’t pets, what are they? At best, they’re at the level of large dogs.”
I had a strong urge to kill at the moment, but I held it in for now. This is Hwangseong, if you wield a weapon recklessly, you will surely not see a good result.
Above all, that man is quite strong.
[LV 71 Ian Hyperion]
Stamina: ?/?
Mana: ?/?
Status: None
Level 71, about 30 levels higher than normal knights.
Looking at the aura he gave off, he looked like a wizard, not a warrior.
“By the way, have you heard? This brother has reached the 7th circle?”
“…I heard. Congratulations.”
“hahahaha! What are you doing with this much! It’s only natural for this genius body to be tidied up!”
Wow…I’m so f*cking awake. What is that human? I feel like I don’t have any friends.
“By the way… What are the bodies of these knights?”
“You encountered a level 81 monster.”
“Level 81? Are you telling me to believe that?”
Ian, Irina’s older brother, looked at Irina with a puzzled expression.
“Do you know how many cases where monsters over level 80 have been found outside of the labyrinth?”
“…….Seven cases.”
“Yes! 7 Cases! There are 7 cases of monsters of level 80 or higher that appeared in the Central Continent recorded in human history! Have you been to Dragon Land? Or even to the Demon Continent? Huh?”
Her Ian began to scold Irina in an openly sarcastic tone.
“Isn’t it possible that she blew away the lives of the knights because she misled her command while trying to subjugate a level 50-60 monster?”
“No. Please do not disgrace the knights’ sacrifice. Brother.”
“No, it’s not what it is. Aren’t you ashamed of being a member of the imperial family? To lie like that?”
Irina replied to Ian, holding back her anger.
“It is true that the lives of the knights were lost due to my tribe, but the appearance of level 81 monsters is a fact. So I have already ordered the intelligence department to investigate…”
“Intelligence Ministry? You want to control an agency under direct control of the Imperial Family? This is absurd. Don’t you know that the Ministry of Information is an agency under direct control of the Imperial Family, not yours?”
Ian ordered the butler, who was flustered by the threatening atmosphere.
“Butler, withdraw Irina’s order. This is the order of the second prince, Ian Hyperion.”
“Brother!”
“You’re noisy, you have to speak sensibly to understand. Are you going to use the intelligence department to hide mistakes caused by your inadequacies? I’ll tell you in detail about this when His Majesty Huangjian returns, so wait for punishment Irina.”
“This is unfair, brother!”
“Honestly, I thought the nickname ‘Iron-Blood Princess’ didn’t make sense. What can a little girl do?”
With those words, Ian disappeared inside the imperial castle. Irina bit her lip and bowed her head.
“…Are you okay?”
“…It’s okay. Please don’t show any poor sympathy.”
Irina said to her butler with her head bowed.
“…I will take the order of the Ministry of Information.”
“But…”
“Anyway, the second older brother has the higher authority to command. It is not appropriate for a princess to force her to do so. So do as your older brother commands.”
“…I will follow your orders.”
The butler glanced at Irina with a look of pity on her, then ordered the knights who were saluting her.
“After moving the bodies, find her family. You should also contact the Treasury Department and ask for money to be paid to her family.”
“”Okay!””
Her knights began to move at the behest of her butler, and Irina stood still with her head bowed.
Looking closely at her sore, Irina was muttering something of her own in a very low voice with her head bowed.
“…….Irina?”
“…I’ll kill… I’ll kill… I’ll sew up the territorial mouth that I was born first, cut off my limbs and throw them as food for the monsters… But I’ll keep using recovery magic so that I won’t die. I will use it to make you live a painful life forever until you die of old age…”
Hmm… I guess I’d better pretend I didn’t hear.
“……”
“Ah…Guy…I was deep in thought for a moment. I’m sorry.”
“No…What can a person be immersed in contemplation for a while?”
At that moment, Irina got a little scared, but she didn’t show it.
“Come to think of it, butler, what happened to the three people from another world who gave the order to return?”
“I’ll probably come to the Imperial Palace late tonight.”
Irina listened to her butler and turned her head to me and asked.
“Daddy, maybe we can meet tomorrow or so?”
“Wait.”
“Then, butler, please escort this man to her state chamber.”
“Yes..? But only nobles above counts…”
“It’s okay, so guide me. I think this man is on my equal footing.”
“Ah..I see.”
After that, I followed the butler into the palace. Even at a cursory glance, the royal castle of the empire looked twice as splendid and three times as large as the capital of the kingdom of beasts.
“Are you an Earthling?”
Then, the butler asked me a question while guiding the way.
“Yes.”
“It’s amazing. It’s the first time I’ve seen the princess respect Earthlings so much.”
Huh? What do you mean?
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know? Most people in Hwangseong know about it…”
After that, I heard everything from the butler about what Irina had done to the earthlings, especially to Seoyoon.
“…….Is that true?”
“Then I’m going to lie. She passed by the princess’s office and heard her story by chance. She told me about it directly from her lady-in-waiting.”
“…….”
If true, this is quite shocking. I thought of Irina as a kind of thoughtful woman, but was she actually a psychopath b*tch who trampled on innocent people?
“This is your room. Then…”
“Where is Irina?”
“… You mean the princess? By the way, her honorifics should be clear…”
“Where are you?”
I held the butler’s shoulders firmly and looked at him with ferocious eyes.
The butler shook his eyes in amazement at my sudden change.
“This…This…What disrespect…!”
“Tell me. Where is Irina?”
“Hee.. Hee..!!”
I quietly began to emit void mana around me.
Then, the butler, who received an ominous and ferocious force all over his body, ended up peeing in his pants.
“Tell me. If not…”
“Hwa… The princess will be in the office…! There will be a lot of work to do…!”
“I see.”
I listened to the butler’s answer and collected the void mana again. Then the butler let out a heavy breath and sat down on her seat.
“Thank you for telling me, Grandpa.”
“Huh…Huh…”
“So where is the office?”
The butler pointed to the end of his hallway with a trembling finger.
“That… If you go all the way there, you’ll find a splendid door… That’s the princess’s office.”
“Thank you.”
I smiled and said to the butler, who was sitting on his seat with a dazed expression and wet the floor.
“You must be old and have urinary incontinence.”
“…….”
“Isn’t it? Because of incontinence?”
“That…That’s right…!”
“Good.”
I headed for Irina’s office, leaving the shivering butler behind.
“Wait, Irina.”
If that old man’s words were true… I didn’t think this would be easy to get past.