Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 532

532.

“So, you’re saying you were a contractor of the Spirit King…?”

Chris, who woke up after a long while, looked haggard, as if he had aged ten years at once. As soon as he got up, he started looking for a cigarette, but when he received it, he didn’t smoke it and kept washing his face.

“I’m sorry for hiding it.”

“Ah, no. It’s not easy to reveal something so huge. I understand. I thought it was strange. You were so different from the spiritists I’ve seen. At first, I thought it was because you also did swordsmanship, but the more I saw you, the more I realized it wasn’t. I just felt that your spiritism itself was on a different level.”

“Is that so?”

“To be honest, it felt like you overwhelmed Ain Idris. I’m probably not the only one who thinks so.”

I just smiled bitterly because it wasn’t something I didn’t know. Even Ain Idris himself thought so. If I could have revealed that I was actually from the Spirit King and that the body I have now was far superior from the start, would everything have been okay? At least I might not have been obsessed with meaningless comparisons. In many ways, these situations were bitter.

“More than that, I have something else I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Your brothers, you have two. If your adoptive father, the elder brother, is Elquines… who is the second brother?”

“…Um.”

“Ah, never mind. Don’t tell me. It’s better for my heart not to hear it.”

Even so, Chris’s face turned even paler, as if he had already guessed. He desperately wanted a cigarette this time, but he didn’t light it in the end. “Why did I declare that I would quit smoking when it wasn’t in my destiny…?” He looked very miserable with tears in his eyes.

“More than that, where is this? I thought it was the guild office, but it’s not?”

Only then did he have the energy to think about other things (or maybe he was just trying to change the subject), he looked around and asked. It was too large a room to be just an unfamiliar place, and the luxurious furniture made him nervous in a different way. It wasn’t an ordinary place in reality.

“It’s a government office inside the Imperial Palace.”

“Huh, the Imperial Palace? Why are we here?”

“Things just turned out that way.”

Originally, I was going to go to the guild office too. But as soon as I picked up the unconscious Chris, people in uniforms rushed in and surrounded us. If it was a uniform I didn’t know, I would have ignored it and ran away, but unfortunately, it was a uniform I knew well, so I couldn’t. As expected, a familiar face walked out from among them.

“Won’t you come with us for a while?”

It was Lamias with a very complicated face.

It was a major incident that the Information Bureau would rush to, as the Spirit Kings were openly active in the middle of the city. I couldn’t ignore his pleading eyes, so I had no choice but to agree to accompany him. That’s how Chris’s whereabouts were decided as well.

“You could have just left me behind.”

“Hey, how could I do that? It’s raining, what if something bad happened while you were lying on the cold floor?”

“…You did that on purpose.”

How did you know? Actually, I didn’t want to be dragged away alone. Chris, who was quick to notice, looked at me with betrayal in his eyes.

“You, you really…”

“Since we’re in the same guild, we’re a package deal, Chris.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it better to be here than to be harassed by the reporters who will be coming soon?”

A short silence followed. Chris stared at the ceiling for a while and washed his face again. Then, he put the unlit cigarette in his mouth and chewed it. I thought it would be better to smoke it, but I quietly closed my mouth, thinking that staying still would help. It’s all because of Elüen, who disappeared saying, ‘If you’re going to follow, you go,’

* * *

I had heard that the headquarters of Aegis, the Information Bureau of the Seik Empire, was in the Imperial Palace, but this was my first time visiting it. Even in the past two years of fake memories, I didn’t have a chance to come here. I thought there would be piles of documents everywhere since there was no computer, but the office I came to was clean enough to be empty. Everyone was writing or moving something, so it didn’t seem like there was no paperwork, and it seemed like they were managing it so that it wouldn’t be exposed to the outside.

“Would you like some more tea?”

I stopped looking around at the cautious question and raised my head. A man in a uniform with a combination of black and blue was standing with a kettle.

“Ah, thank you. You must be busy; you don’t have to worry about me so much.”

“No. You are our guest.”

The man answered politely and tilted the kettle. The hot tea was refilled in the glass that was almost empty. I appreciate the thought, but it’s a bit burdensome to see him waiting right next to me and filling the teacup every time it’s empty. It was even more so because the office scene beyond the reception room seemed to be very busy. Is this person a low-ranking employee who was left to take care of me alone? When I looked at him with a pitiful heart, the man’s face stiffened as if he was a little nervous. I was about to turn my gaze, thinking I was being too rude, but the man cleared his throat for a moment and opened his mouth with a determined face.

“Um, if you don’t mind, I have a favor to ask…”

“Ah, yes, what is it?”

Is he going to tell Lamias that I don’t need service? Well, a subordinate can’t disobey an order. I should have considered this first, but I was too oblivious. When I nodded, the man’s face brightened, and he rustled as he handed something out. It was a notebook opened wide. I thought he wrote it down because someone could hear him if he said it, but nothing was written on it. When I tilted my head in bewilderment, the man said very shyly.

“Please sign here…”

Sign what here?

“Stop talking about signing.”

Then a file suddenly appeared and hit the man in the back of the head. It was Lamias.

“Hup, C, Chief.”

The man’s face turned blue when he looked back. For some reason, the faces of the people who were working in the office were similar to his. Is it a coincidence that they all have notebooks in their hands? Lamias’s lips twisted as he looked around.

“You all seem to have a lot of time left? If you’re so free, can I get the report I ordered by today?”

“No! I will correct it!”

At that moment, people got up from their seats and disappeared somewhere in a hurry. Even if a swarm of cockroaches scattered, it couldn’t have been faster than this. Lamias clicked his tongue.

“Dumbasses. How did they pass the national exam with that kind of mentality? The country is in this state because those kinds of things are called the elite of this country.”

“But where did everyone go? Isn’t this the office?”

“It’s the office. It’s an external space open to the public, so it’s just a place to handle simple chores. The office where the real work is done is in another room.”

“But why are they all here…”

“Why else? They all came to see you.”

“Wow.”

“You’re quite a celebrity here. It’s not common to have a Sword Saint and a Spiritist. But one more item has been added to the list this time.”

So everyone was pretending to work until now? Lamias also told me the unnecessary fact that the man who was hit in the back of the head had won the right to serve by winning rock-paper-scissors. I was dumbfounded and opened my mouth.

“The atmosphere is lighter than I thought.”

“They don’t look like the people in the key positions of the country, right? It’s not usually like this. Everyone lost their minds because of the incident.”

Lamias, who answered with a sigh, buried himself in the sofa opposite me. His face, which had thrown the file on the table, looked very tired. The dark circles he had gained in about half a day, from hearing the details of the incident to grasping the extent of the damage, seemed to have already reached under his chin.

“Are you very busy?”

“Is that even a question?”

He answered indifferently and snapped his fingers. The surrounding air vibrated, and I felt like a thin film was being applied. It seemed like he had cast a magic that blocked the sound from leaking to the outside.

“Minerva went on a rampage. I really didn’t expect this. This is the first time I’ve had such an absurd enemy in my entire dragon life. How could this happen?”

The official number of casualties counted in this incident was over 10,000. The majority of the damage was indirect damage caused by the storm rather than the explosion itself. It looked enormous at a glance, and it seemed to have affected the entire system. Temporary camps were set up in various places because the wards could no longer accept patients.

Fortunately, only minor injuries were caused by the storm. All the seriously injured, including the dead, came only from the epicenter, and the total was just over a hundred. A hundred is not a small number, but considering the fact that the Spirit King went on a rampage, the scale of the damage was small. However, it was an accident that occurred in the 2nd district, where high-end residential areas are concentrated, and the aftermath did not seem to be easily resolved because the press and the Imperial Guards were also involved. Not only the Information Bureau but all the institutions of the Empire were in a state of emergency.

“Do you know what happened to Ifrit and Trowell? It seems like all the contractors have lost contact now.”

“I don’t know either. I just heard that Elquines forcibly sent them to the Spirit Realm.”

“Ugh, is it banishment? Then it’s the same as reverse summoning. It will be difficult to come out for a while. My Elquines is very wild. But why did he do that?”

When I told him the reason I guessed, Lamias immediately agreed. As he knew everyone’s personality well, he seemed to see how things had gone. It’s not a harmonious relationship in the first place, but it was a situation where it couldn’t be harmonious. His expression, which had been smirking, soon turned cold.

“Damn it. He finally made things like this.”

I didn’t know who Lamias was referring to as he gritted his teeth. Ain Idris, the main culprit of this incident and one of the seriously injured, was said to have been moved to the ward. He is still in the process of grasping the situation, and he is receiving the best treatment thanks to the reputation he has built up, but I don’t know if that treatment will continue even after he wakes up. At least he can no longer be called the contractor of the Spirit King. As I was silent with a bitter feeling, Lamias clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Don’t make that face because I’m not blaming you. It’s not like I didn’t know he would betray me, and everyone else didn’t stop it either. Who doesn’t know what you’ve been trying to do? You didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t blame yourself. It’s just that what was going to happen happened.”

“Is that so…?”

“Of course. Gosh, I can’t believe it even if I think about it again. I thought he would just secretly communicate or get caught, but who would have imagined that the crazy bastard would create such an accident? What? Kill the princess? Then who is blaming who, that crazy bastard.”

He’s saying it to comfort me, but it’s not very comforting. I knew it would happen. I was most concerned about responding to this in my plan to change the future. I also had a plan to go in immediately if I failed to kill Karyuan. I couldn’t help the betrayal itself, so I was going to mention it to Minerva in advance. Even if Ain Idris asks for such a request, it’s not sincere, so never agree. In addition, I was going to ask the Sylphs [air spirits] separately to let me know immediately if he said anything similar. If I couldn’t stop it, I would change the host of the incident. Before Minerva stepped in, I was going to kill the princess first.

Thinking about it again, it was a cowardly plan. In fact, the person who really deserves to die is Ain Idris. It was easy to decide to remove the princess without even touching the biggest culprit. Maybe that’s why I was punished like this.

“I should have just let the princess die at that banquet.”

Seeing that I’m still thinking about this, it seems like I still haven’t come to my senses. My head was a mess with endless self-loathing. Of course, there is no guarantee that it would have been resolved well even if it had proceeded that way. But I couldn’t shake the thought that I had kicked the opportunity with my own feet.

“I told you not to blame yourself. There are things in the world that can’t be solved even if you struggle. Think of this as one of those things. It was just an inevitable flow.”

“You’re saying something similar to Elquines.”

“Hot, really? That’s because we are one mind and body.”

Lamias’s forehead, which had been wrinkled all along, opened up for the first time. He seems to be in a good mood just because I said something similar to him. My mood improved along with seeing his simple mood change. At this point, I couldn’t help but admit the truth. Are you watching, future Ifrit? Your competitor is not me, but Lamias.

“Ah, speaking of Elquines, I guess you already know, but I don’t think I can stop your identity from being revealed. There are too many witnesses. It will be officially announced in tomorrow’s newspaper that you are Elquines’s contractor.”

“Hmm, I can’t help it.”

I didn’t expect to be able to hide my identity after all that fuss. When I nodded with a sigh, Lamias stared at me intently. His expression was sullen again.

“Damn it, I’m so jealous. Elquines’s official contractor. That it will be published in the newspaper and remain as a record. I’m also Elquines’s contractor. I also want to be officially announced and cause a stir in society.”

I wondered what the problem was, but that was it. No, more than that, shouldn’t you reveal that you are a dragon first? And that will have a bigger ripple, for sure. When I stared at him sullenly, he continued to clear his throat, perhaps because he was embarrassed. Fortunately, it seemed like he hadn’t completely abandoned his shame.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t be so calm. I don’t think you understand the situation well, but you should be prepared. The situation will be different in many ways than when it was revealed that you were a Sword Saint.”

“Will there be that much of a difference?”

“Of course. First of all, the Emperor will look for you.”

“…Wow.”

“I’m not kidding. He already knows you’re in the Imperial Palace. How excited was he when Ain Idris came to the Empire? At that time, he had plenty of time and wanted to save face, so he waited for him to come and greet him politely, but he won’t be able to do that this time. He will have felt the power of the Spirit King, which he had only vaguely thought of, for the first time.”

In the meantime, Ain Idris was reluctant to reveal Minerva to the outside. Of course, Minerva rarely had the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities in front of everyone. As a result, everyone didn’t really realize what kind of existence the Spirit King was. When they stood in front of her, they were overwhelmed by her presence, but they thought it was because of her unrealistic atmosphere and appearance. Then, they realized it through this incident. That the existence that they had only thought of as beautiful and rare was actually a great and terrifying existence.