Vol. 1 - Ch. 258.5 - Interlude - A Mansion and A Convict

Deep inside the forest, just some distance from Olympus, there was a very old wooden mansion constructed. 

The forest was a training ground to polish hunting skills of the imperial family, and was maintained by the House of Rosemieur. But in contrast to the image one might have had, the mansion had been left unattended, despite the forest only located a few hours travelling distance from the capital via carriage. Of course, no outsider—explorer or commoner—were allowed to expand the place or take a step inside as well. 

The garden was overrun by wild flora, the outer wall being mottled with ivy. It was hard to believe it was a property of a prestigious family. 

The reason could be traced back to a succession war a few generations ago. After a failed assassination attempt on the Emperor, in fury, the Emperor of that generation massacred tens of his offsprings and personnel included, staining the ground in their flowing blood. Ever since then, the imperial family built another mansion on the distant place, which had been their mainstay. 

The said Emperor left this mansion undestroyed, but also unattended, a cautionary tale for any generation to come by. And thus, even as the sun climbs high in the sky, the mansion would be covered in a glum. 

And the evening of the first day of the Rising Dragon Cup. The gloomy mansion was now lit with a dark fire. 

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"Only 5 people?...That's quite few."

In response to a man's murmur, who had been wearing a hunting cap lowered to his eyes, an old man, though he appears quite fit with his physique, spoke in a hoarse voice.

"So is the situation. After all, they do not have spare time like you. They have their public profile to maintain. And it's only an illusion to believe a foreigner can travel without any scrutiny. Moreso, with the current turbulent time, the spies of every nation should be almost everywhere."

"Tch. ...Even I have my image to take care of, I am just using my double. Anyway, time for a question... Why was that guy next to the Emperor, and what did they talk about?"

The man then passed the baton of conversation to a woman. "Alright, I heard you" With a dramatic flair to her tone, she began to narrate the situation of the VIP room. 

"......And this was all."

Sitting at the corner of the round table, the woman—she appeared young, draping a witch-esuqe wide brim hat over head—soon finished with her explanation. The other five participants fell into silence as they heard the details. 

After a brief period of silence, the hunting cap middle-aged man groaned in frustration from across the table, just on the other side.

"Just go to hell, Allen Rovenne... For the love of god, It's impossible to read what he's actually planning..."

"As usual, we have no clue what he's plotting. What a twisted kid..."

The woman, too, sighed in confusion, tapping her chin with index finger. 

"He's completely broken the norm in unpredictability.....When I heard he had gone missing, I was entirely sure he's sent to probe into «Organisation», and had been on alert the whole time, but you say he met younger brother Castic, and quite openly too? ...I heard Prince Castic's military aptitude is quite alright, but he's average in everything else. Was the intel wrong?"

With his elbow joined together in contemplation, the hoarse voice of the old man inquired. The woman gestured with a shake of her head, her face laced with perplexity.

"It doesn't seem right... I have seen him growing up, but never he seemed brashed enough to throw punches for greetings. But aside from that, he met him as Mad Hound, huh. It seems like he's growing out of hiding his persona. The true identity of Explorer Ren is Allen Rovenne. Did he figure out that he wouldn't be able to hide himself for longer? But then, the reason why he even tried to hide his identity eludes me."

"Hmm. Let Prince Castic be on his own accord. It feels like an attempt to create chaos in the succession war, and since he's now acquainted with Allen Rovenne, he should publicly keep his profile with him. He can be a fine chess piece. And it's not like we can't kill him anymore. Anyway, our biggest problem is Allen Rovenne for now. Eh, Zest?"

The hunting cap man—Zest, as he seemed to be called, seemed to be drowning in his own thoughts. The callout suddenly pulled him out, and nodded in gesture.

"You're right. I sorted out the intel from Mr. Cat and Shadows, and it doesn't seem like he's in cahoots with Knight Order at the least. He's not even trying to gather any information at all. I had tried to throw some bait, but he ignored all of them. There's just no logic behind what he does, but somehow, his influence continues to inflate. And to top it off, no one had actually caught up to his Dosperior lineage until I saw through that. ......He's just too dangerous. I fear a wrong move can easily open the dam on our plan."

Zest explained in a dramatic tone, though he also made sure to emphasize his achievements. Hearing that, an old woman, her hand holding a weathered two-handed cane, squinted her eyes.

"......Now it does make one wonder. Is he truly planning to unify the continent, as Emperor Raul has guessed? However the world has come a long way, and drastically changed from Aeolus's era. I can be confident that no ruling power would allow that to be perpetuated. As soon as he tries to push through with military might, the other surrounding nations would immediately band against them. This is bound to put Yuglia under sanction and scrutiny, and it would be a wonder if they even last five years in that situation. They would be destroyed, anyone can see that."

As the old woman pointed out the crux of the matter, everyone sunk into their silence. 

If only that actually happened, then it would be akin to their dream come true. As long as they could prepare a perfect playground for them in the next or two decades, they could push Yuglia, who had become a behemoth, toward its destruction. 

And the fact that this warning had come from the Rosemieur Emperor in the presence of other nation officials, had an heavy implication. The Emperor had buried the seed of doubt now, and as long as there's strange action from Yuglia, everyone would immediately recall this warning, that 'he was right.'

The entire outline was ready. However—that seemed like he was taking sides. 

But how could King Patrick, one who had garnered his fame as wise ruler, let such a situation prevail? It's unthinkable.

"...Haa, truly, he's a twisted kid. The more he does something unpredictable, the more we would have to improvise. ...What do you say? We buried him here..."

Of the six members sitting around the round table, only one man hadn't spoken so far, his face entirely covered with a hood. The wide brim hat woman turned the needle of question toward him.

The hooded man smiled and gestured in denial.

"He's so unserious in his actions while in an enemy nation, even going out of the protection to deliberately become a lost kid. Now, some are even having doubts if everything was on purpose. He's acting like an innocent lamb in the place of wolves... I am sure neither of us need to test if he's truly a sheep, or a lion in sheep clothing. The situation with hired mercenaries and abandoning mana vehicles in the old well was a trap too. It appears his true purpose is to bring us into the limelight. So we must bid our patience for now. And Zest, I would advise you to refrain from contacting Tomora anymore."

"......I know."

"......Mmm-mm. But he's finally out of his hole, I really want to gather more intel about him if possible."

The wide brim hat woman nodded.

"......With Arichi openly antagonising Girai, his pretense has finally begun to chip away. Let's bring Allen Rovenne on our stage, regardless if we need to use some heavy hand. Girai has served his purpose, it's about time to send him off."

"Fufu. I will take care of this Empire. ...But one last mystery, that still bugs me. What does Allen Rovenne mean by «There's a limit to misunderstanding» when he shouted it."

The hooded man inquired other members with a giggle, but no one could utter a response.

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"...So, to put it straight, Allen Rovenne. You had not even an ounce of inkling that «Rebel? was a prince of the Empire, and casually decided to pay the boss of slum's delinquents a visit to receive their approval for sightseeing?"

Viola-san, seemingly one of the major diplomats who had followed His Majesty, inquired me with a sharp gaze. 

Feebly, I nodded. I was in the centre of His Majesty's room, kneeling. 

Who could have even guessed that the hoodlum in the slum was an imperial prince......

"Then you learned that Rebel—I mean, Prince Castic is selling illegal drugs to kids, making them reliant on it, and doing brainwashing. Amidst your conversation, he suddenly punched you, and at the end, boldly proclaimed he will overturn this Empire upside down. You saw how threatening of a villain he was, and out of goodwill, you reported him. Is it correct, Allen Rovenne?"

I felt like a convict going through another court trial, and from my position, gave another feeble node. 

"And then, you only meant to praise the Imperial Princess for her elegance, but the words were twisted, and created a misunderstanding that our Kingdom is eyeing the unification of the Continent. But as it turned out, the elegance you'd praised was burnt away by the following pyromaniac personality of Imperial Princess. Is it correct, Allen Rovenne?"

Once again, under the scrutiny of cold gazes from other officials, I gave another feeble node. 

To be honest, this twist was so ludicrous that I instead felt like laughing out instead of raging. Seriously, who in their right mind would even interpret a commonplace praise in such a misdirected  way that's not even in the ball parks of millions of light years distance. 

If unification of the continent was such an easie-peasie matter, the palace wouldn't have been standing here today. At this point, even a simple greeting might be like a toll of war,

Then, His Majesty, who had been contemplating with closed eye, spoke suddenly.

"...I have understood the gist of it. It doesn't matter. He didn't respond to any of my calls for conversation, nor did he show any interest in my words back there. Allen's actions weren't bad per se, a final struggle to see if the rock can be moved. The result wouldn't have changed even without Allen. 

The reason he twisted his words and spread the propaganda that Allen's attempt to unify the world like Aeolus was mere red herring—that Yuglia harboured wild ambition to expand their territory—for the guest of our neighbour nations. He made it look like our plan ran deep for not just the Empire, but everyone else."

"Y-Your Majesty......"

I unwittingly teared up. 

I didn’t even know how deep the undercurrents are, but I definitely didn’t try to build up any hostility. But I wouldn't deny if someone said that my words had triggered the war, leading to bloodshed of countless lives, I would feel too bitter. 

Viola-san seemed like she hadn't spoken enough yet, but when His Majesty summarised the situation as a deliberate tactic, she finally eased her gaze, albeit only slightly.

"...Oh, well. Anyway, I would like to hear your true impression of Castic, since you'd gone to meet him for your reason. To be honest, our foreign intelligence department had run a search for information on Prince Castic's, and so far, he's putting himself out of the succession war. For a progeny of House of Rosemieur, his talent is average at best, however the most noteworthy point about him is his innocuous nature for someone coming out of that family."

'Hmm,'  I went through the situation inside my mind, and truthly expressed my impression.

"Well... It's true it doesn't seem like he was someone brimming with potential. If anything, the Freak guy, that he's in collaboration with, seems to have a bottomless talent. Then again, this guy has symptoms of Mana Organ Enlargification disease. Unless a *miracle* occurs, he doesn't have long to live."

As I put in details, Randy-san's brow shot up, the nerves on his face twitching slightly. Viola-san tapped her chin in a thoughtful gesture and nodded.

"......I see. So the Freak's identity is Prince Lattice, the big brother of Prince Castic, born of the same mother, but said to be deceased after some disease. «Devil's Blessing» is not looked upon kindly after all.  He must be stripped of his status and banished into a slum. And that should be why Prince Castic made that place his base. It's very much of him to do so. ...Are you sure he doesn't have any noteworthy talent?"

Huh, so even that freak was a prince...... Well, he did seem like someone who had received promising tutelage since a young age. 

I looked back into my meeting, at the innocuous face of Rebel, as well as his followers, and shook my head at Viola-san's question.

"There indeed was nothing about him that stood out, I guess. I think he might truly just be an average guy. However, he's that inexplicable charm in him to rally the people. ...To put it simply, if he asked someone to die for him, I can bet a swarm of people would unhesitatingly step in. He's truly a villain, I am telling you."

I explained my impression with a shrugging gesture. His Majesty's blue eyes displayed a glint when he heard, and burst into laughter.

"Gahahaha! True enough. That's one quality you cannot know unless you see him in person. And for a ruler, this is undoubtedly one of the important factors. Now I am curious to meet this guy—«Rebel», eh."

"It's not a laughing matter, Your Majesty. He's an enemy." A tired sigh escaped from Viola-san.

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After Allen and all the officials departed from the room.

"Your Majesty......"

"......You may not say it."

Randy seemed like he had wanted to say something, his face overrun with a bitter expression. Patrick ignored him after a look at that face.

"It's not something you wish to reveal, do you? I believe in your judgement."

Hesitation seized Randy for a moment, but then, as if in soliloquy, he murmured facing a wall. 

"......A miracle... may truly occur for Freak. Just like my little sister Cecilia, who had that miracle happen to her, against all odds."

Patrick descended into a brief period of silence, presumably comprehending the implication, and expressed a sigh.

"......So this is it, huh..... And with that miracle, the Terrifying Evil Genius may gain the sword—A Royal Sword that walks in-hand with Death."

—What Allen had wanted to ascertain with his own eyes that day.

Patrick and Randy had arrived at the truth of Allen Rovenne. 

T/N - Sorry guys, I was out of town and missed out last week update. I will updating them, and this week soon.

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