Chapter 9
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Translator: Diva
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Why Me?
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Why me?
Doubting my ears, wondering if I'd misheard, I turned to Elhart. His expression was rigidly frozen.
Unbelievable as it was, it seemed he really meant I was to attend the imperial palace banquet too.
"You don't need to worry about formal attire. It's already been prepared."
Did the Cradion imperial palace even have spare dresses on hand?
Well, if that was the case...
"But why the banquet all of a sudden?"
"To promote friendship between our nations, no doubt."
"If that's the goal, shouldn't you start by removing these chains first?"
"That's..."
"How about putting in a good word for me at least? You've never caused a scene at the palace, have you, Master?"
"...I'll see what I can say on your behalf."
They wouldn't make me attend the banquet in restraints, right?
If so, then freeing me while I was locked away alone like this made perfect sense.
"Then I'll send someone tomorrow morning."
The attendant, who had been eyeing me with a faintly queasy look as I rattled off everything on my mind while Elhart stayed silent, quickly slipped out of the room.
Once the head attendant's presence faded down the hall, Elhart spoke with resolve.
"We'll say you're ill."
"Huh?"
"If you're burning with fever and can't attend the banquet, even they can't force you."
I just stared at him blankly.
"Why skip it?"
It was a chance to see enemy high officials up close—no reason to pass that up.
Besides...
"I can stuff myself with all that delicious banquet food."
Elhart looked at me in bewilderment.
"It could be dangerous. It's surely a trap."
"It's fine. I can handle it."
Excuses only went so far anyway.
With time short, better to dive in headfirst.
"Good thing we have a full day."
"A day's too tight. Just this once, can't you follow my lead? If something happens to you, I...!"
A man unmoved by brutal violence was fidgeting with anxiety, and somehow it made me feel a twinge of guilt.
"I'll be careful. Don't you trust me, Elhart?"
That said, I couldn't miss this chance.
As I leaned in close to persuade him, he groaned before finally nodding.
"...But you mustn't leave my side, no matter what."
"I'll try."
I'd stick by Elhart as long as the situation allowed, but who knew how things might play out.
"So, can you give me a crash course?"
I planned to sneak into the central palace tonight to scout Cradion's inner workings.
Prep work was essential for that.
What basics I needed to know, who the key players were driving relations between Cradion and Bardia.
"Before that, can you answer one thing?"
Elhart asked me gravely.
"What are you doing this for? Who?"
That wasn't an easy question to answer.
The era when they dreamed big and founded Bardia was right behind me.
One day, even heroes die, cities and nations crumble to dust without a trace.
Nothing lasted forever.
And yet, I wanted to restore that brilliance no matter what—even if I was just a ghost of the past.
"...For the dead."
I couldn't bear to visit the graves of those who waited for the Expedition Team's return empty-handed.
I needed something to say, so I could proudly declare we'd done well.
"And for myself too."
I'd push as far as I could, then retire with no regrets.
"Does that answer it?"
"......"
Elhart's lips softened into a gentle curve as he stared right through me.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
As I narrowed my eyes and asked, he slowly blinked.
"Huh?"
"You just smiled so prettily."
I poked his lips with my finger.
Now he didn't blink at all.
Even as I poked his cheek without asking, he just gazed at me.
Then, out of nowhere, he hit me with a piercing question.
"Am I pretty to you?"
"What, acting like you've never heard that before."
A bit flustered, I brushed it off casually, but no response came.
"......"
"First time... hearing it."
With a face like that, really?
'No, why am I even dwelling on this?'
I quietly pulled my hand away from his face.
Now I was the one worrying if I looked like a troublemaker in his eyes...
"A-anyway, back to the main topic. Time's short..."
As I awkwardly changed the subject, he nodded.
"Right."
And there he went, smiling that pretty smile again.
"I'm no silver-tongued talker, but I'll explain as best I can."
Even after all my questions and doubts, was one answer enough for him?
I hoped it wasn't that he had no choice but to trust this suspicious newcomer who'd dropped from the sky.
"Not sure where to start."
Elhart lowered his gaze, choosing his words, then spoke.
"Maybe from the massacre by Grand Mage Caleb, who succeeded the Founding King."
"...Huh?"
"The country nearly split in two back then."
Who did what now?
***
Everything Elhart told me after that tangled my mind into knots.
'Caleb did something like that?'
Caleb, Bardia's second king, had purged founding merit houses, loyal nobles, and parts of the knight orders on charges of treason.
The nation shook without its pillars, and amid the chaos, Caleb vanished seven years later.
Once the mage tower lord vanished, his followers scattered across the continent, ushering in the decline of magic.
'I thought he was a decent guy.'
His face floated up—passionately lecturing on magic theory whether I was dozing or not—and it made my heart heavier.
Bardia, which I'd hoped would stand firm forever, faced a massive crisis just decades later, battered by newborn nations.
Yet it endured three hundred years—until now, cornered at a dead end.
Blame Cradion, founded in Bardia's chaos, boldly claiming empire under this great emperor and launching conquests.
'Especially the occupation of Bardia, pushed hard by the crown prince?'
Founding King Mikhail's portrait still hung in Bardia's palace.
So when Bardia's people saw the crown prince, they buzzed that he must be Mikhail reborn.
He looked that similar, purely on looks.
'What a coincidence.'
Too odd to dismiss as chance.
'And my return happening right when such a figure exists.'
I couldn't explain it clearly, but it didn't feel unrelated.
'Time to dig around the key players first.'
That's why I'd infiltrated the central palace's third floor the moment the moon set.
Home to the foreign ministry—Cradion's tentacles, essentially.
'If isolating Bardia came first, the foreign ministry's the vanguard.'
Using the layout and guards I'd scouted by day, slipping in was fairly easy.
The wildcard, though...
"This is Count Bellow's office."
...was Elhart tagging along despite protesting my nighttime outing.
After years with guys who followed orders without question, I'd apparently lost my persuasive touch.
No matter how I thought about it, going solo was more efficient—yet here I was dragging along the hulking prince.
'He's not entirely useless, though...'
Moving together, I'd felt it: Elhart's body surpassed human limits.
Things I thought only magic could do? He handled them effortlessly.
Breaching the central palace's security net to reach the third floor—no spells or Authorities needed.
His one weak spot? Fine control of strength, maybe.
'Wonder how he ended up with a body like that. Curious backstory.'
I stepped forward quick before he shattered the doorknob.
"I'll get it."
Elhart glanced between my face and his hand, then nodded.
His downcast eyes looked... kinda sulky.
'Nah, must be my imagination.'