Episode 55. Demise
A hastily prepared sparring arena was set up in the imperial palace garden connected to the banquet hall.
Paolo Amugae and a shifty-looking man in his mid-twenties formed the knight team.
Binaeril and Silvia formed the mage team.
"Don't overdo it."
"What?"
"No, you just look like you're going to cause trouble……"
"Hey, why don't you worry about yourself?"
It had been a long time since he coordinated his movements with just Silvia.
…No, was this the first time?
They had always gone around as a trio with Rike, so he wasn't even sure if this was the first time.
"Is it your first time fighting as a pair?"
"What are you talking about? We took the Scala exam together, and we fought together at Fairhill and the Hohenberg Mountains."
To Binaeril, it felt like something from long ago.
He figured it was because of the memories from the Thornwinter Wetlands.
"Aren't you gentlemen going to prepare?"
Amugae looked at the mage team and spoke.
Since they couldn't wield swords in banquet attire, they had appeared after changing into clothes that were easy to move in.
"I'm fine. I don't think this will take long. You?"
"It's the same on this side, Sir Amugae."
"But……"
They weren't holding weapons, and their outfits were exactly the same as they had been during the banquet.
Amugae's team felt that their opponents were looking down on them.
Before the flag signaling the start of the duel was raised, Binaeril thought:
'I should keep an eye on Silvia.'
If she went on a rampage, he was the only one who could stop her.
"Begin!"
What magic would they show indeed?
The spectators focused their attention, watching the mage team.
"Light wind dwelling in my feet."
Silvia chanted her trademark spell.
She lightly jumped up and down to check that her body had become lighter.
Those who heard Silvia's chant vaguely felt the mana contained within her words.
Even non-mages could feel the mana contained within a chant.
They might not know for certain that it was mana, but the sound resonating with mana was distinctly different from an ordinary voice, so it sounded special.
But the sense of incongruity they felt was momentary; people were puzzled by the scenery where nothing had changed.
"Was that magic just now?"
"Nothing happened though?"
Amugae's team, who had been cowering in awkward stances, puffed their chests out again and thrust their dueling longswords forward with bravado.
"Ha, ha! We were waiting because we were afraid the duel would end too blandly!"
'Anyone can see you were scared.'
"Aren't you coming? Then we'll go first."
Silvia said to Amugae.
"Ladies first. Even if you are the Imperial Princess's guards, attacking a lady is a bit… hup!"
Silvia couldn't stand Amugae's nonsense and leaped forward first.
The crisp sound of her kick clashing with Amugae's blade rang out.
Amugae seemed to have the basics down, at least.
Despite the surprise attack, he had reacted instinctively and blocked Silvia's strike.
It was a close call, though.
'But looking now.'
Silvia's movements had become much faster than before.
Since this was a duel and the first exchange, she had probably held back on her speed, yet seeing how fast she was even then…
Silvia backflipped gracefully and returned to Binaeril's side.
The necklace swaying lightly at her neck caught his eye.
"That necklace."
"Huh?"
"It's thanks to that necklace."
It was the necklace she had received as a gift from Sori of the Myo Tribe.
As expected of the Myo Tribe, who served Zilph the wind spirit, wind power resided within it.
The necklace reacted to Silvia's magic and elevated her level even further.
If Binaeril hadn't mastered the Spirit Breathing Technique, he wouldn't have noticed.
"You got a good gift."
"If we fight again now, I'll win, right?"
"That's a funny joke."
"Y-you! What was that just now? You're supposed to be a mage!"
Amugae, who had barely steadied his stance, protested.
"If you're a mage, shouldn't you be throwing fireballs and dropping lightning bolts? Kicking out of nowhere!"
"You're quite prejudiced."
Actually, ordinary mages usually focused on elemental magic as he described.
But Binaeril was the same, and his friends were no ordinary mages either.
"If you keep running your mouth, shall I go again?"
"Urk!"
Amugae realized he was not someone to be taken lightly.
He charged forward, thrusting his sword.
"Strength like a fire god dwelling in both arms."
Silvia chanted even a strength-boosting spell and began exchanging blows with Amugae.
Clang! Clang!
Even though they were blunt dueling swords, an inevitable bursting sound rang out as bare flesh clashed against steel.
Amugae attacked desperately, while Silvia persistently struck his blade as if toying with him, accumulating impact on Amugae's grip.
"Ow!"
"See, this is what happens when you taunt her……"
Binaeril felt sorry for Amugae.
Meanwhile, the other knight who had stepped onto the stage with Amugae…
'Aren't they paying way too little attention to me?'
As Binaeril went into spectator mode, he had become nothing more than a sack of barley cast aside.
It was awkward to butt in, and attacking first would be dishonorable for a knight.
'Ah, whatever. It's his own fault for letting his guard down during a duel!'
He crept closer and brought his sword down vertically.
But he couldn't escape Binaeril's developed five senses.
Without even turning his gaze, Binaeril fired a magic bullet that embedded itself in the knight's breastplate.
"Kgh!"
The knight hit by the magic bullet collapsed unsightly.
"Ah, I misjudged my strength."
Meanwhile, Silvia was also slowly wrapping up her duel.
"I-I lost."
Silvia nodded refreshingly at Amugae, who declared surrender with his swollen hands.
"Good work."
It was an overwhelmingly dominant performance.
"What, is this how mages fight?"
"What did you even see?"
"I mean? One fought with just her bare body, and the other……"
"Something flashed, and then the opponent was just lying there?"
"Well then. What are we supposed to marvel at?"
People clapped their hands half-heartedly and congratulated the mage team on their victory.
"You saw, right, Sister?"
"Huh? Ah, yes. Um…."
Regent Charlotte herself hadn't fully understood what had just happened.
"The victors are the Imperial Princess's guards!"
The referee shouted, and only then did the people burst into loud applause.
"Waaah!"
"The mages of Elfenbein!"
The older high nobles accepted the duel's result with displeasure.
But the young, thoughtless nobles were different. They were intoxicated by the two mages' overwhelming martial prowess.
"Then let us resume the banquet."
The Regent led the people back to the banquet hall.
Just as conversations about the recent duel were spreading…
A servant who had urgently come to the banquet hall approached Lord Chamberlain Brante and whispered in his ear.
"What!"
"What is it, Hans."
Hans Brante, the Lord Chamberlain who served as the Emperor's personal physician, reported to the Regent with a trembling voice.
"The Emperor…… has passed away."
Regent Charlotte canceled the banquet and sent all the visiting nobles home.
People were disappointed, but none could show it before the Imperial Princesses upon hearing the news of the Emperor's death.
"Finally!"
Somewhere away from Essen Royal Palace.
A man sitting at a table couldn't contain his excitement and exclaimed.
"The old rooster's neck has finally been wrung!"
Ignoring the gazes of those around him, the man kept spewing words filled with excitement.
"Please be quiet. There are many ears listening."
"Listening ears? Whose ears? Without the Emperor, this world is ours now. Who exactly are we supposed to fear?"
"Count Papen."
The man warning Count Papen cautioned him in a deeply lowered voice.
"Even if the Emperor is dead, his daughters remain, so be careful."
"Hahahaha! Daughters! You are the one saying things you shouldn't, Victor!"
Including Victor Siller, Count Papen, Count List, Viscount Hartmann, and others.
Key figures of the noble faction were gathered in one place.
They had separated from the royal palace and regathered at a designated location.
Because the moment they had long awaited had finally arrived.
"What is Duke Duks doing?"
"He won't leave his territory. Even when we send messengers, he doesn't respond. I don't think he'll lend us his strength."
If Duke Duks, the hegemon of the south, actively joined them, driving out the princesses would be much easier.
But for whatever reason, Duke Duks hadn't extended his hand to either the royalist faction or the noble faction.
If he hadn't shown any stance until now, it would be hard to expect his support going forward.
"That sly old fox. It doesn't matter. By the time he enters Essen, the Imperial family's flag will have already changed."
"Do you have some kind of plan?"
Count Papen asked impatiently.
"I have prepared a move."
"Ooh, what method?"
A figure revealed itself from the darkness.
The nobles sitting gathered felt the air in the room sink into a deeper chill.
The appearance of the man who emerged like a shadow made them cower.
"W-who are you! What were the guards at the door doing!"
"Rest assured. He is on our side."
"T-this person?"
The man bared his grotesquely protruding fangs and gave a spine-chilling smile.
Dark red tattoos were etched across the man's face and the nape of his neck, and combined with his bizarre face, they gave off an ominous atmosphere that was hard to describe.
"Allow me to introduce him. An assassin who will send the two princesses to join the Emperor."
"He has no name. Call him Goblin."
"Goblin?"
It was the name of a monster, not a human.
"You all saw the mages the Regent brought in at this banquet. The Second Princess and her guards."
The nobles glanced at Goblin and nodded.
"They are only three mages, after all. Moreover, the princess and those wench guards of hers are all young."
"You don't know what you're talking about. I don't know about the other two, but the male is a person to be watched. Baronet Binaeril Dalheim. He fought Dominic Siller and won."
"Is that true?"
They had all heard of Dominic Siller's fame.
A young knight counted among the best in the Empire. A man considered without equal in his age group.
And that young boy was supposedly talented enough to defeat Dominic?
"That's not all. The fact that the Regent brought mages into the royal palace—doesn't that mean she's trying to find a way to survive by improving relations with Elfenbein?"
"I agree. For an Imperial, not to mention royalty, to collude with those filthy Magic Tower scum. Unthinkable."
"Indeed. We only saw three, but we don't know how closely they are connected to the Magic Tower.
In the worst case, they might bring more mages to Essen and seize the throne by force."
"Th-then what do we do?"
"That is why I called Goblin. An eye for an eye. There is nothing better than magic to suppress mages."
"D-does that mean this person is also a mage?"
Goblin tore his lips into a wide grin.
Dominic Siller introduced him again.
"He is a dark mage."
Exclamations of surprise and fear slowly spread among the people.