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Chapter 344: Invading the Bedroom, and Ten Years Ago.

The curtain of dusk had fallen.

It’s a quiet night. While the moon isn’t very bright, the city was lit up here and there with light from magic light stone lamps.

The Reverse World. The imperial capital of Garudio Empire, Gallesta.

We had transferred ourselves to the garden of the imperial palace that stood at the capital’s center. Since I’ve been here once before, we can come here easily using [Gate].

“So this is the imperial palace?”

“We managed to invade rather easily-degozaru na…”

“Anti-magic protection methods aren’t really advanced in this world after all. Now then, what to do from here…”

My companions this time were Yae and Luu. Originally, we could’ve used [Invisible] and infiltrate all the way to the emperor’s private chambers in one go but… The number of guard golems is higher than we expected compared to during the day.

While invisibility magic can fool humans, the same might not pass against golems. We’d be instantly busted if they have something like thermal sensors.

And [Paralyze] doesn’t work on these guys too… No way I can just break them as well. Mm… Oh, right, for now there’s this.

“Search. Garudio emperor.”

“Searching. Search finished.”

We hid in one of the bushes in the courtyard while watching the projected map of the palace.

“What do we do-degozaru ka?”

“I was thinking maybe we can just go there with [Teleport].”

“Eh? B-but, that’s a bit…”

Luu was showing some hesitation to the idea. What’s the problem, I wonder?

“It’s just a bit bad to jump into the bedroom of a c-couple suddenly, is what I think… If they were in the middle of…”

Luu who became bright red looked down as she replied. Yae, who heard that, also turned red and looked away. Damnit, that ero combo’s twisted sex ed had already begun showing negative effects!

…Well, I’ll admit that it’s not impossible. I feel like we don’t need to be that cautious… No, wait, maybe we do?

When I confirmed the search results, he was indeed together with the empress. The imperial prince was in another room.

“Then… We can first check the inside of the room with [Long Sense], before—”

“Y, you’re going to peep at them-degozaru ka!?”

“You know…”

What’s with that, talking like I’m a peeping tom.

“… I’ll have a summoned beast go check it out then…”

“That, that’s good.”

I drew a small magic circle on the ground with magic stone chalk, and summoned a small mouse. The mouse soon disappeared into the darkness of the night.

I didn’t link my eyesight with it, so this isn’t peeping. I’ll have it check the state of the room the emperor is in from a window or the ceiling beams, and if there’s no problem, I’ll then [Teleport] in.

For the moment, I casted [Invisible] on the three of us. With this, we can move to the room at any time.

“… Oh? Seems like the two of them were simply resting.”

As I received the telepathy from the mouse, I gave the other two a thumbs-up sign. Seems like both the emperor and the empress were going to sleep. Alright, let’s jump in then.

I beckoned Yae and Luu closer and held their hands.

“[Teleport].”

In an instant, we found ourselves in a corner of a spacious bedroom. A dim magic light stone is softly lighting up the inside of the room. A large bed (although it won’t win against the gigantic bed in my room), and a sturdy-looking office desk. There’s a luxurious-looking furnace and a glittering set of table and chairs. That part is different from our home. Instead of money, however, it’s probably more of an issue of personal taste.

I approached the bed. Oh, before that, I should cast [Silence] to make the sounds from this room not escape to the outside. Since there will definitely be guarding knights or patrolling soldiers outside this room.

We went close to the bed with cautious footsteps. Eh, why are we careful with our steps even though we’re using [Silence]?

[Silence] is not a magic which erases sound within an area, but rather a magic which prevents sound within an area from being heard outside that area. For us and the emperor empress couple within that area currently, it has no effect. Any sound we make can be heard properly even if our figures are invisible. It’d be great if we can shut that away with another [Silence], but the magic can’t be layered within itself.

As we slowly went up to the bed, the figure of the two soundly sleeping could be seen. Alright, now to just use hypnosis magic…

“… Who is there?”

“““!?”””

The emperor of Garudio opened both his eyes. While he isn’t looking directly at us, there’s no mistake that he sensed us somehow.

“How did…”

“Probably noticed our presences-degozaru na. He seems to be quite a sharp person- degozaru.”

In place of the emperor, Yae answered me in a small voice. To be this sharp… Is he a natural [Search] possessor or something? I mean, it’s true that the only thing we’re hiding from is sight, and we’re doing nothing about any sound we make or anything like that but…

[Invisible] has a markedly weak effect against martial practitioners like Yae, Hilda and Elze. They too have weirdly strong senses that can detect things based on their presences… I guess this emperor is a fighter type too?

Now then, what to do. Should we run, or force our way through… Since there’s [Silence] casted around us, even if we raise a fuss none of the soldiers outside would be alerted.

“Are you someone from Eisengard? I’m impressed at that decrepit geezer’s desire for more authority…”

Umu, he’s completely caught onto us now. The empress seems to be awake now as well, and the emperor is reaching under his pillow for something. Probably a hidden weapon.

He seems to have mistaken us for intruders from Eisengard, however.

“What to do-degozaru ka?”

“Can’t be helped. It’s troublesome otherwise anyway, so let’s just ask them directly.”

“That… Could put a crack between the couple in front of us, you know?”

“Then I’ll just do a bit of this and that to their memories with hypnosis.”

Luu sighed slightly towards my answer. She’s probably amazed at the same as usual happy-go- lucky solution… Please get used to it already.

With a snap of my fingers, I dispelled [Invisible]. Seeing us who suddenly appeared within the room, the emperor and empress got up from the bed.

“Who are you. Eisengard’s assassins… Or not?”

“Nope. Well, I guess you can call us Lowe Kingdom’s assassins?”

“!? Lowe’s… It can’t be…!”

“Dear…!”

The two of them went pale in the face after hearing my words. Nn? They both reacted upon hearing the name Lowe. This means both of them know about the prince’s background, don’t they?

“Is anyone there! There’s an intruder!”

The emperor pulled out a sword from under his pillow while loudly shouting, but there were no reactions from the hallway outside. Since [Silence] is shutting off all sound that’s coming from this room, after all.

“It’s useless. Your voices won’t be able to reach outside. My magic is preventing that.”

“! A magic user…!”

While pointing his sword at me, the emperor of Garudio stood up from the bed. In response to that, Yae lowered her waist slightly while stretching her right hand out to the hilt of her katana.

Or maybe they’re misunderstanding something still? It’s not strange for them to think we came for something like revenge if we claim to be from a destroyed country, after all.

“To think we’d be attacked by former retainers of Lowe after so long…”

“No, we don’t plan on attacking you, and we’re not people from Lowe in the first place, you know? We were just requested by some of those former retainers to look for the prince of Lowe Kingdom with magic. It was surprising for us that he became your son, however.”

Upon hearing those words, the empress dropped out of the bed. While taking a sitting position on top of the carpet, she turned a tragic expression to us.

“… Wait, please wait! That child, that child is our son! He’s our precious son even if we’re not connected by blood! Please don’t take him away from us…!”

The empress wailed with tears coming out of her eyes. The emperor standing next to her was looking at his wife, breaking down from tears, with sad eyes.

So they really knew about the fact that the prince isn’t their own son. It didn’t develop into a situation where the relationship between a married couple becomes strained, but honestly I still feel terrible. I feel like I’m doing something really bad to them. Luu and Yae, who were apparently feeling the same way, turned guilt-filled faces towards me.

“… Have you come to rob us of our son?”

The emperor glared this way, with some hints of anger in his voice, while gripping his sword tightly.

“… I can use transfer magic. If I wanted to kidnap the imperial prince, I would’ve done that long ago. I came here today in order to learn the truth. How and why did the prince of Lowe Kingdom become the imperial prince of Garudio Empire… Everything starts from there. We want to consider our options after hearing that. That’s why, would you mind sharing your story with us?”

The Garudio emperor who silently listened to me lowered his sword after a while, before throwing it onto the bed. And after helping his wife up while holding her shoulders, they sat down together on the bed.

“I’ve always feared that this day would come… The day that someone learns of that child’s secret, and possibly expose it under the sun for all to see…”

While looking down, the emperor started telling us of what happened ten years ago.

(Note: following is in the emperor’s view.)

Ten years ago.

Back then, father who was the previous emperor was still healthy, and I was the first prince.

It was near the end of winter when I, under order from my father, led an army and invaded Lowe Kingdom.

In the lands of Lowe which are rich in mithril deposits, golems cannot operate properly and can only output less than half of their original power. The [Beast Emperor] series used by the Lowe’s twelve generals are the only golems that are immune to that effect, and as such Lowe had managed to repel outside invasions, no matter how fierce, numerous times in the past.

However, with the betrayal of one of Lowe’s twelve generals, and the acquisition by Eisengard of the betrayer’s [Beast Emperor] golem, everything changed.

Through researching the [Beast Emperor] they acquired, Eisengard managed to develop a device which prevents the negative effect of mithril on golems. However, as one of the required regents are not plentiful in Eisengard, they turned to the resource-rich Garudio for cooperation.

Let us fight together, and take the lands of Lowe for ourselves, and such.

I was opposed to it, but the emperor, my father, accepted Eisengard’s proposal which included the other side’s willingness to cede much of Lowe’s territory to us.

Lowe Kingdom had been subjected to an invasion numerous times by us in the past, and we had been defeated every time. Father might’ve thought that if he succeeds, he would obtain fame that would allow him to rise above the past emperors.

Eisengard’s only target was the [Azure Ruins] inside Lowe Kingdom. The [Azure Ruins] was said to be a site abundant in Legacy golems that can be excavated. According to Eisengard, they only ever wanted that ruin from the beginning.

Anyway, our two armies of tens of thousands of Soldats equipped with Eisengard’s anti-mithril device, me leading the Garudio side and the Magicraft King leading the Eisengard side, marched towards Lowe. The flames of war were unleashed on the small kingdom.

The twelve generals, or rather, eleven generals of Lowe who lost their home field advantage were defeated one by one while fighting against the allied forces of Garudio and Eisengard. Although the [Beast Emperor] series were still superior golems even without using their immunity to mithril, a paltry amount of eleven golems could not hope to overcome the difference in forces.

Before the two armies, eventually, the capital fell, and Lowe Kingdom was destroyed.

The day after the fighting ended, one of my aides found someone whom we believed was one of the wet-nurses in the castle that escaped. While she had died already, the identity of the baby she was holding was found very easily. The clothes the baby was wearing had the crest of the Lowe royal family embroidered on them.

That baby was a prince of Lowe. The Lowe royal family’s last survivor.

If I let someone like a prince of a defeated country live, he may one day become the spark of a rebellion. It’s the best choice, and a common happening in wars, to kill this baby here and now.

However… I hesitated as I tried to kill that child. I very naturally hesitated.

As for the reason, it was because just a few days ago, I received news from back home that my child had been born as well.

My wife had trouble conceiving, and we were finally blessed with a child after a long time. I can still vividly remember her joy back then.

It might be due to the whims of a youngster who just became a father recently, or due to the guilty feelings of someone who murdered the child’s own parents. I might be called soft, but to me, the crying of the baby sounded very much like a cry saying he still wanted to live.

The fortunate part was the fact that only two people, me and the aide who discovered the wet-nurse, knew about the truth. I entrusted that baby with the aide, and sent them back to the imperial capital on an airship before anyone starts questioning us about the baby. I had burnt the baby clothes he was wearing, and there was nothing else that could prove he was a prince from Lowe.

I could just leave him with an orphanage in the capital, and let him be raised as a normal child. If he had talent, I might even make him one of my son’s aides; those were my idle thoughts.

However, on the day I returned to the imperial capital, the worst disaster visited me.

My child had passed away. The cause was unknown. Although it was likely an accident, it was still the worst thing that could happen to me. While shocked and saddened at my child’s death, I realized that I’ve fallen into a grave predicament.

Until that point, I’ve been told by my father, the emperor, multiple times to leave my current wife who couldn’t bear a child and marry another woman.

Different from father who had multiple concubines, I only have one wife. Since young, I’ve always grown up while feeling repulsed by my father who had no care for his wives and saw my mother only as a tool used to birth children.

That father who used several women and threw them away without any considerations only had few male children, and of them the only one who survived until adulthood was me. Sometimes I wonder if it’s divine retribution towards my father.

That was my father. If he knew of this incident, he would definitely forcefully separate me from my wife with the reason that a woman who can only give birth to weak children is unneeded. That is the one thing I wanted to avoid.

Father was busy with negotiations with Eisengard back then, and had not seen the face of his grandchild even once yet. While infuriating, that was the only time I felt thankful for my father’s indifference.

The death of his grandchild had not been conveyed to my father yet. It was a sudden death, after all. My child had drawn his last breath only minutes before I reached my wife’s room.

As I stopped the people who were about to leave to report this to the emperor, I thought desperately about a way to get out of my current predicament.

It was then that I remembered about that child.

I immediately had someone bring him to me. And then, after firmly ordering everyone who knew about it to stay silent, the prince of Lowe Kingdom had become the imperial prince of Garudio Empire…

(Note: emperor’s first-person recollection ends here.)

“… A year after that, father suddenly collapsed, and never got up again. I had become the new emperor, and we no longer had to fear my father’s eyes; however, at that point, that child had already become an irreplaceable existence to us.”

While hugging the shoulders of the empress, who’s still crying, the emperor of Garudio finished his story.

So that’s what happened… Umumu. I personally want to leave them be but… The question is if Colonel and the others will accept that.

This isn’t an easy problem.

“Our wish is only one. That child… We want to spend the rest of our lives together with Lucrecion. We’re willing to do anything for that.”

“Please… Don’t take that child away from us… I beg you…!”

The two of them turned their entreating eyes towards me. Wai, wait a second! How did it become like this!? I’m the least concerned person in this entire scenario, you know!?

“This is difficult…”

“For the moment, how about we talk about this with the Lowe group too-degozaru ka? They surely wouldn’t wish for the prince’s misfortune-degozaru.”

“Well, they were talking about things like how they wouldn’t live with themselves if the prince had become a slave or something like that, and was living a life of misfortune. I think those people just wanted to be able to make the prince happy with their own hands. They probably weren’t thinking about retaliating against the empire.”

That last part was only my speculations, though. I couldn’t see them as people who would wish for revenge. Besides, if they were people like that, Yumina’s mystic eyes would notice it.

The empress raised her face, and looked towards us with eyes that seemed to have decided on something.

“… Can you let us talk with those people of Lowe you mentioned? I want to speak about that child’s matter properly, and let them understand…”

“Astiria… Is it okay?”

The empress nodded quietly towards the emperor.

…It can’t be helped. We already got dragged into this, so might as well see it through. If the family before me is torn to pieces because of this, I would have trouble sleeping at night anyway.

…Since there’s nothing else we can do, it’s time for memory manipulation with hypnosis magic! … I sincerely hope the situation doesn’t worsen until that stage. The guilt would be immense if I were to just meddle with the precious memories of people who aren’t even villains…

- Pixel