ALL NOVEL C16
Chapter 16
Amon was stunned by the Emperor’s casual remark.
“Yes…… yes?”
“Who is, ‘Your emperor?’”
“……?”
“Tsk tsk tsk, I thought that ugly face with the greed on it looked familiar, it was the Drake family!”
You were praising me just a moment ago?
Even the mild-mannered Amon couldn’t help but recoil from the emperor’s venomous words!
‘You’re insulting our family?’
But this was none other than the Emperor, the head of the empire!
Amon suppressed his anger and shook his head.
“I am ashamed, Your Majesty!”
I exclaimed, reaching for my pockets, and the Emperor snorted in delight.
“Ha! So you’re a Drake after all, and you’re greedy!”
“…….”
“Yes, take it!”
The feel of the pouch against my palm!
I quickly grabbed it, but the Emperor snatched it away like a thunderbolt.
“Kahaha, you’re not getting it!”
Amon’s head snapped up at the prank.
‘Is this Amonis the Eighteenth, the saint among saints?’
The old man laughing with such a despicable face?
“Kahaha, take this and go away!”
“…….”
“I won’t give it to you!”
“…….”
“Ew, take it and get away……won’t you catch it?”
To think I’d end up playing a game of barley-rice with the emperor using a money pouch in front of a crowd of thousands.
‘……Let’s bear with it.’
If you speak up, your family will be wiped out.
‘So let’s pretend it was a mistake and give him a good slap on the wrist.’
The world will forgive us for that.
I nodded inwardly and prepared to swing my spicy fist.
Kwajik-!
A sound like something being crushed erupts from the back of the Emperor’s neck, and he collapses with his eyes rolled back in his head.
A middle-aged woman suddenly appeared, supporting him and exclaiming.
“My goodness, Your Majesty, you must be very tired from all the fighting, to suddenly collapse!”
“Gulp, gulp…….”
The woman whispered in the Emperor’s ear.
“What kind of disgraceful behavior are you displaying in public? As Emperor of the Empire, you should be showing dignity befitting your position.”
“Ma’am, ma’am…….”
“It is a public occasion. You should be addressing me as Empress, right?”
The Emperor began to tremble at the Empress’s whisper.
At the sight, Amon realized.
‘This is Empress Victoria!’
The Empress was stronger than the Emperor, not in terms of strength, but in terms of physical strength.
The Emperor, who was held by her by the scruff of the neck like a kitten, muttered.
“Empress. I understand, let go of me.”
“Very well, Your Majesty,” the Empress replied, ”but the crowd is in a bad mood, and I’d like to see it under control.”
The empress released her hand, and the emperor, who had been coughing in vain, burst out laughing again.
“Hahaha! Due to the heavy workload lately, I seem to have shown an unseemly side of myself!”
When the crowd’s response was still tepid, the emperor called out again.
“With my generosity, I shall bestow gold upon all the spectators of this tournament!”
A thunderous cheer erupted.
“Long live the Emperor!”
“Glory to the Empire!”
As the crowd cheered, the Emperor looked back at the Empress with a ‘well done’ look in his eyes, and the Empress, smiling broadly, said.
“This will be at your expense.”
“Empress!”
“What.”
“……No.”
The Emperor in a tight spot!
The empress looked over and said.
“Did you say you were a young man of the Drake family?”
“……Yes.”
Amon’s immediate response intrigued the Empress.
“From the looks of it, you don’t know much about the inner workings between House Amonis and House Drake.”
“What? What’s that…….?”
House Amonis, a bloodline of emperors who have ruled the empire for generations.
House Drake, a rural aristocracy on the edge of the continent.
What kind of intrigue is there between two clans that don’t even seem to have any contact?
But the Empress didn’t seem to have any more to say about it.
“It is not my place to speak on this matter, as I am not the person concerned. Also, His Majesty does not seem to be willing to give you an explanation about it.”
“Krrrr…….”
“Your Majesty, get a grip!”
Said the Empress, who coughed in vain.
“Whatever the case, just know that His Majesty has a reason for his behavior, and I’ll leave you to it for the day.”
“……Yes.”
As Amon staggered down the steps, he glanced back.
‘Are you sure you don’t want the gold coins?’
Just then their eyes met, the Emperor shook out his pocket and held up his middle finger, and the Empress’s palm slapped him on the back of the head so fast he couldn’t see it.
* * *
The first day of the contest is over!
The emperor sighed.
“Phew, my lady. I’m so sorry. With the child of the abominable Drake family in front of me, I couldn’t control my emotions.”
The Empress, smoothing her hair, said.
“I understand, Your Majesty, but what has happened today could mean who knows what to your title, so you must control your emotions.”
“……You’re right, my lady.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“That’s not what a lady who slapped the Emperor in public should say…….”
“I don’t think anyone there has seen my move.”
Well, the Empress was not only the Emperor’s companion, but also his longtime teacher.
“Do you mean to tell me that you’re not……seen?”
“Isn’t that the way things are in the world?”
“Hehehe, in that case…….”
“You’re going to send an assassin to the young man of the Drake family?”
The emperor exclaimed in horror.
“Madam, an assassin, how can you speak such noble words…….”
“Are you not?”
“Not an assassin, but I am sending someone to take care of…….”
“Isn’t that the same!”
Amonis XVIII’s reputation as a saint among saints was nothing short of true.
It was just that when it came to House Drake, he was almost always childish.
“Phew, Sandrio.”
“……Victoria.”
The Empress said, stroking the Emperor’s cheek.
“I don’t know exactly what happened between your family and the Drakes, either.”
“…….”
“But he is only a young man who has nothing to do with your grudge, is he not?”
“Hmm…….”
After a moment of thought, the Saint of Saints, Amonis XVIII, sighed.
“You are right, I have made a great mistake. It’s time to let go of the grudge from long ago.”
“Then…….”
“I will summon the young man of the Drake clan as soon as the sun is up and apologize to him, and if he is curious, we can talk family to family.”
At the sound of the Emperor’s compassionate voice, the Empress hugged him tightly.
“Alas, Sandrio, how can you…….”
“Oh, Victoria, thank you for reminding me of my folly!”
The Emperor hugged the Empress and vowed to do better.
As soon as it is daylight, I will summon a young man named Amon to the imperial palace.
* * *
~Early morning~
Amon, riding in the carriage, let out a sigh of relief as he caught sight of Amur, the city where the Academy was located.
‘Phew, now that’s a relief. What’s this place come to because of the damn Emperor.’
The Saint among Saints?
He’s a tyrant, playing with other people’s money and now, for whatever reason, it’s clear that the emperor hates me!
Therefore, I had no choice but to flee the capital like a bandit.
‘I was lucky he didn’t send assassins tonight, and from the way he’s talking, it sounds like he’s going to send soldiers to arrest me as a criminal in the morning!’
Rather than suffer such a fate, it would be wiser to get lost!
Amon congratulated himself on his wisdom.
‘Well, we’re getting there, so why don’t I wake up the others?’
As usual, Marion was sleeping drunk.
What money did he have to drink?
‘Excuse me, Chloe, can I ask you a favor?’
‘Yes, Mr. Marion.’
‘I need you to borrow some money.’
Amon immediately kicked Marion’s ass but the kind-hearted Chloe lent him 1 gold with a promise of two gold to be repaid later.
I shook Marion awake and looked at the next person I had to wake, Deputy Headmaster Brestle.
She slept soundly, her belly plump from the night’s meal.
What kind of money did Brestle have?
‘Student Chloe.’
‘Yes, Deputy Headmaster.’
Having heard this much, Amon kicked her without listening to the rest of the story.
“Why, why do you hit me?’
‘You were going to ask her to lend you some money to eat, weren’t you?’
‘Uh, how did you know?’
‘Why do you think I don’t know?’
Anyway, Chloe, being the kind-hearted person she is, lent Brestle 1 gold with a promise to receive 3 gold later.
‘……Why do I have to pay back three times?’
Brestle asked, but Chloe just smirked.
The creepy smile was enough to frighten even Brestle into silence, and she didn’t ask any more questions.
The important thing was.
‘What are these useless humans sleeping soundly, thinking they’ve done something right……?’
In the end, it took selflessness to wake them up.
I poked Marion in the hollow of his throat as he slept with his mouth open, and punched Brestle in the stomach as she slept holding her stomach.
“Ewww! Kek, what, what……!”
“Ouch, belly, belly burst……!”
“We’re here, Vice Headmaster, Senior Marion.”
The two of them glared at Amon like they were going to eat him, but Amon held his ground.
“I apologize. I kept waking you two up, but you wouldn’t get up.”
It was a lie but they didn’t know that, and they both looked convinced.
“Still, that’s how you slit someone’s throat…….”
“You just punched an elf in the stomach…….”
“I’m sorry. You’re not getting up, so let’s get you off.”
When I turned my attention away from the incompetent teachers, I saw that Boris and Chloe were still curled up, sleeping soundly.
“Boris, Chloe, wake up.”
Marion and Brestle were trembling at the treatment on a different level, but at the point where they were jealous of the students, it seemed like the academy was finished.
Boris rubbed his eyes and woke up anyway, but Chloe was very tired and didn’t wake up easily.
So he shook her again, and suddenly she slapped his hand away.
“Don’t you @#$ touch…….”
“……huh?”
That’s when Chloe jolted upright, furious.
“Oh, sir!”
“Uh, yeah. Are you awake? We’ll be arriving at the Academy soon. Get ready to get off.”
“Yes!”
I glanced at Chloe as she hurried to get ready, then back at Boris.
“That’s right, Boris.”
“Haaam…..Yes, sir?”
I said, lowering my voice to a whisper since it was a party.
“You said Chloe was acting strange, what do you mean?”
“Oh, well…….”
Boris said, looking at Chloe.
“Lately, she’s been calling other people ‘@#$’.”
“What? ‘@#$’?”
“It’s a dialect of the Aran Kingdom…….”
Boris said, swallowing hard.
“It means ‘lowly pig’.”
“……what?”
A lowly pig? Why pig all of a sudden?
‘Wait, you don’t mean…….’
I had once told Chloe that if she was afraid of the people’s stares she should think of them as ‘familiar and acceptable’.
‘What’s common in the kingdom of Aran……?’
Pigs are heavily herded.
Amon glanced at Chloe, a chill running down his spine.
Chloe, who had just gotten out of the carriage, seemed to feel his gaze and looked over.
“What is it, sir?”
Chloe smiled her naturally virtuous smile while Amon rolled his eyes and thought to himself.
‘Maybe I’ve created a……monster.’
Opening his eyes, Amon smiled awkwardly.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
* * *
We got out of the carriage and walked to the academy.
Even though it was in the middle of the city, a horse was running on the road.
It was a messenger, allowed to ride through the city, bringing news.
‘What kind of messenger would bring news to a city as peaceful as this one?’
Amon’s face fell as he watched the messenger’s horse gallop away.
The messenger was headed for the Academy.