The Prince Wants to Retire

---

The Crown Prince Wishes to Retire

4. Smash the Emperor Faction!

News of the Crown Prince being summoned by the Emperor spread throughout the entire capital.

Though it seemed unlikely that the Emperor Faction could dominate the Imperial Palace without any leaks, there were just as many spies within its walls.

Primarily, there were double agents belonging to the Emperor Faction who received bribes and handed over information.

In a palace where the security was utterly chaotic, nobles, neutral factions, and even folks from foreign nations were willing to pay these double agents, making it impossible for such a big issue to stay under wraps.

Consequently, rumors quickly circulated through the capital.

Surprisingly, people were rather loose-lipped, so gossip that initially circulated among the nobles reached the Empire Citizens in less than two days.

“How interesting.”

Kariel sat at his desk, resting his chin in his hand as he glanced through the morning paper.

Then, he turned his head to look at the newspaper published the previous morning.

「Sudden Radical Actions of the Crown Prince. What’s the Reason?」

The headline covered the events from the palace report.

An exaggerated tale claimed that the Crown Prince treated a blundering inner court attendant violently and went on a rampage toward the attendants.

Clearly, the Emperor Faction had played a trick, but today’s paper was different.

「Crown Prince’s Radical Actions Resulting from Outrageous Behavior of Inner Court Attendants?」

「Late-arriving Palace Report Officer. Was it a mere mistake, or was it intentional?」

「Attendant Hall not bowing down to the Crown Prince. How far does his arrogance go?」

「The disrespectful attitudes of the inner court attendants and attendants are not new?」

Suddenly, the narrative shifted dramatically.

The claims that branded the Crown Prince as arrogant abruptly changed direction, pointing fingers at the inner court attendants and their disrespectful behaviors.

‘Nobles seem to love biting the bait like this.’

Kariel grinned as he imagined the Aristocratic Faction flapping about like fish caught on a hook.

“They’re about to get a thorough beating from the Aristocratic Faction,” he chuckled, envisioning the Emperor Faction’s path of suffering clearly laid out before him.

Kariel, not being particularly virtuous, couldn’t just sit back and watch the Emperor Faction attempt to undermine him.

As if to demonstrate this foresight, Talion stealthily passed prepared materials to the newspaper office, which were promptly published and swayed public opinion.

Newspaper offices under the Aristocratic Faction, usually critical of the Emperor Faction, immediately bit this bait, and even neutral offices, spotting a profit, jumped on board.

As soon as the paper hit the stands at dawn, within less than two hours, public sentiment began to flip, and Kariel was overtaken by a hearty laugh.

Now, the Emperor Faction had to set aside any thoughts of attacking Kariel and focus on cutting ties to prevent any sparks from flying in their direction.

“Let’s see them suffer a bit.”

Just as Kariel was chuckling while reading through the newspapers, a knock sounded at the door.

“Your Highness.”

Hearing Talion call out as he knocked, Kariel turned to invite him in.

Talion approached cautiously, an unexpected gentleness in his large stride.

“The Emperor Faction has moved again.”

“What’s going on?”

“It seems they’re subtly leaking that Your Highness confronted His Majesty.”

At Talion’s words, Kariel stifled a laugh.

“How delightful. Then we ought to leak something in return, right? Let’s kick off the next phase.”

“Yes!”

Talion nodded with a grin as he bowed his head at Kariel’s command.

Seeing Talion’s evident delight, Kariel smiled too; he was genuinely enjoying the moment-having the Emperor Faction chew on their plans.

“Your Highness.”

“Hm? You have something to say?”

“I’ve found the individuals you ordered to be located.”

Kariel’s eyes widened in surprise at Talion’s words.

“Faster than I thought?”

Kariel regarded him with a look of disbelief.

They were all quite eccentric, making them hard to track down.

Iris, the war maniac, roamed the outskirts of the Empire looking for battles, while Arshuna, the fire-fixated mage, wandered through volcanic zones.

Even Brion, the monster surgeon, lived in dangerous regions to dissect monsters.

Thus, these were indeed rather tricky characters to locate.

“What about contact?”

“It’s been sent. However, it might take time to hear back.”

“Hm… Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Given that they were undoubtedly in the wilderness, it was only natural that responses would take their time.

“Well, it’s not like it’s urgent.”

Kariel nodded in agreement.

As time passed, he needed to alter his Body Technique to control fire energy, but there was plenty of time before that needed to happen.

For now, it was sufficiently enough to be training with Toto’s training schedule and mastering the basics of Body Technique.

Even if this didn’t pan out, it wasn’t an immediate concern, as there were alternative options.

“Take your time. We have plenty of it.”

“Yes!”

Talion bowed, answering before exiting the room.

Seeing the smile on Talion’s face, Kariel couldn’t help but grin.

Today, considering both past and present lives, had been exceptionally enjoyable. It was a monumental day for him, taking pleasure in outsmarting the pesky Emperor Faction that had tormented him so.

What excited him even more was the fact that this was just the beginning.

“Make sure you put up a good fight.”

As Kariel spoke, he opened his notebook.

There, it was filled with the corrupt deeds of the Emperor Faction that he remembered.

These were pieces of information he had gathered when he investigated the misconducts of the Emperor Faction in his previous life, and hearing the intel the Shadows provided back then had made him chuckle.

‘Could they really be doing such things?’—that was how he had felt back then, finding it hard to believe any of it.

Moreover, the information he possessed was not limited to the Emperor Faction alone.

He had dirt on the Aristocratic Faction and the Neutral Faction alike, making him ready to stir chaos among his enemies.

“If only I could use all this before leaving… Can I?”

Kariel muttered to himself, gazing at the notebook.

Even the significant details he remembered could fill the pages of the notebook to the brim.

If he thought of including the double agents and those mixed with each faction, the methods to undermine the nobles were virtually limitless.

Besides, if he connected all the troublesome incidents that had made his life difficult, the capital would be thrown into utter disarray.

The thought of witnessing the capital descend into chaos before he departed sounded oddly appealing, causing Kariel to wear a deep smile as he took out a new notebook and scribbled down the plans just formed.

“Hehehe~.”

Filled with a sense of joy over the white-hot glee of catching the Emperor Faction off guard, he was engrossed in devising new schemes.

Then, suddenly appearing with a ‘pop!’ Surth gazed at Kariel with a look of dismay.

Someone was supposed to be alight with fire energy, yet here was Kariel, idly seated, which could only dampen Surth’s mood.

– Stop fooling around and train.

“Eh? When did you get here? I’m not playing around!”

Kariel held up the notebook as he faced Surth.

– That’s clearly playing.

“Everything I’m writing is for the future. It’s essential to turn the capital on its head before I start moving. That way, I can make my deals with the Behemoths.”

Hearing Kariel’s smooth excuse, Surth shook his head disapprovingly.

– I get it, so just focus on training. You won’t absorb any more fire energy. You need to rely solely on Body Technique for a week.

“Ugh…”

Kariel looked at his notebook with a disappointed expression at Surth’s words.

He had just thought of an incredible plan to outsmart the Emperor Faction, and now he had to go train instead!

But eventually, under Surth’s intense glare, he resigned himself and stepped out to practice Body Technique.

While Kariel was busy calling Toto and focusing on his training, the capital literally plunged into chaos.

“It’s all the Emperor Faction’s fault!”

“We need to bring down the Emperor Faction!”

As if seizing a reason to shout, nobles from the Aristocratic Faction rose to their feet, making a commotion at the square.

Though they hadn’t gathered solid evidence yet to present it openly at the Grand Council Meeting, instead, they decided to stir up the public opinion using lower nobles at the square.

Initially, the Emperor Faction simply denied all accusations, but as the situation escalated, they ceased their simple responses and fell silent.

As days passed, officers from the Emperor Faction heard all kinds of complaints, and seeing the predicament worsen, the Emperor Faction finally issued an official statement.

「We’ve detected some disrespectful movements among certain inner court attendants and attendants. Immediate action has been taken, but the palace report officer was revealed as a spy during the investigation. We are currently looking into any connections this fact may have.」

Upon hearing this proclamation from the Emperor, the Empire Citizens stopped flocking to the Aristocratic Faction.

Given they had a brain, they were aware that nobles sending spies into the palace wasn’t exactly groundbreaking news.

This led them to suspect whether the Aristocratic Faction might orchestrate this incident.

As this unfolded, the Aristocratic Faction, of course, protested angrily.

They were furious, claiming this was a cover-up tactic to sweep the incident under the rug, but already, public sentiment began to cool as people took a step back to observe the situation.

If time continued on like this, the heated public discourse would wane as the nobles would start squabbling amongst themselves, leading this incident to an uneventful conclusion.

“Nicely done!”

Kariel, who had been diligently training with Toto, smiled broadly.

“Your Highness, it’s time to exercise again.”

“Oh! Wait a moment.”

Saying this, Kariel instructed the remaining attendant standing in for Talion.

“Take the spies to the Inspection Department.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Watching the attendant move swiftly, Kariel wore a deep smile.

He had expected this turn of events, so he had kept a few spies from the Crown Prince’s Palace in reserve.

Although they were affixed to the lowest echelon, tasked with transporting foodstuffs to the various palaces, that didn’t matter. The mere fact that spies had infiltrated the Crown Prince’s Palace was paramount.

“We need to stoke the fire before it goes out.”

As Kariel muttered this, chuckling, Toto approached.

“Your Highness, let’s begin your workout.”

“Oh, can’t I rest just a little longer?”

“Absolutely not. You must workout while your muscles are heated. That way, training Body Technique becomes much more effective.”

After hearing Toto’s reasoning, Kariel let out a hefty sigh.

“Let’s start with stretching.”

“I did that earlier!”

“Now that you’ve rested, you need to loosen up again.”

As Kariel protested, Toto laughed and started stretching as if he wanted to join in.

Kariel looked at Toto, who was flexing his muscles, with a grimace of distaste, but he had no choice.

In the end, following Toto’s advice, Kariel began with stretching, pouring sweat into a grueling workout once more.

Just when he questioned if he had indeed asked for Toto’s help, the Inspection Department was thrown into disarray.

“W-was this sent directly by Your Highness?”

“Yes, indeed.”

Three men dragged in by the attendants from the Crown Prince’s Palace.

Although they had once been attendants of the Crown Prince’s Palace, they had been imprisoned underground upon being exposed as spies.

“Officially announce their identification as spies infiltrating the Crown Prince’s Palace and issue orders to investigate their connections.”

“Ugh…”

The head of the Inspection Department wore a shocked expression upon hearing the attendant’s words.

Although he was the head of the inspection department responsible for the capital, the scale of what he had to handle exceeded his capacity.

“I-I think I should consult with the head of the inspection.”

As the head of the capital’s inspection department tried to slip away, the attendant spoke as if he expected this.

“His Highness the Crown Prince specifically instructed me to convey this. His Majesty has tasked him with overseeing this incident, and hence, you need only obey his commands.”

“Gasp!”

At the mention of His Majesty’s orders, the head of the Inspection Department gasped.

“Immediately make an official announcement and assemble a team. Then, request assistance from the Security Brigade and prepare for a comprehensive investigation.”

With that final remark, the attendant seemed to have completed his task, bowing his head before turning to leave.

In his wake, other attendants followed suit in a flurry.

A heavy silence enveloped the Inspection Department.

“× This is bad.”

At the head of the Inspection Department’s muttering, everyone within earshot bobbed their heads in shared concern.