Episode 56. The Imperial Scepter
Dominic Silleo unwound the bandages wrapped around his face.
He looked into the mirror.
He had to touch his skin to confirm that it was indeed his own face.
The knight Dominic, once rumored to be a coldly handsome man, was no more.
Blood no longer flowed from the wound on his forehead, but his face, left untreated in time, had become horrifically disfigured.
Just like that of the man called Goblin.
“Damn it!”
Dominic slammed the mirror down, venting his rage.
Crash!
The broken shards of the mirror reflected dozens, hundreds of Dominic’s faces.
Within them were dozens, hundreds of ugly men.
Dominic trampled the mirror shards underfoot, crushing them into pieces.
Black magicians!
The very reason Dominic Silleo had come to hate magicians was those damnable black magicians.
Born the child of a minor noble house and raised in comfort, Dominic.
In the year he turned fifteen, he lost his entire family at the hands of a black magician.
That monstrous black magician was cut down by the Commander of the Royal Knights, and Dominic was taken in by him, beginning a new life as a knight.
Thanks to his decent talent, he had grown to earn the renown of “Witch Slayer” and been appointed to House Silleo, yet it had not even been two years since then.
His lord was now trying to join hands with those cursed black magicians.
Having been blinded by the throne of the Grand Empire.
While he was catching his breath, Marquis Silleo returned.
He seemed in a good mood, a smile spread across his entire face.
“Commander Dominic! Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes… You seem to be in a good mood?”
“Hmm? Yes. Don’t be too shocked when you hear this. The Emperor is dead.”
The Emperor’s death. It was an event that Marquis Silleo had long been waiting for.
Following the marquis, the black magician Goblin walked in.
“Marquis, my lord. Then shall we gradually execute the plan we have prepared?”
“No, not yet. It can’t be done immediately.”
“What is the problem now!”
“Wait, Goblin. Everything has its time in a plan. Now that the Emperor is dead, the regent will soon convene the Grand Council. That will be the opportunity.”
“The Grand Council?”
“Yes. On that day, the Emperor’s two daughters will be in the same place. It is the perfect opportunity to eliminate both at once.”
“Well, well. My body is itching to go.”
Goblin twitched the corners of his mouth, making a fuss.
He picked a fight with Dominic for no reason.
“Hah, hey! Your face has become quite the sight now. I saw you from afar a long time ago. It seems to me that your new face suits you much better!”
“Shut up.”
“Ooh, scary! If you’re the Witch Slayer, don’t you only kill women? I’m a man!”
It was a stroke of fortune that his sword was not in Dominic’s hand.
Smelling Goblin’s unpleasant voice and stench, Dominic felt he might lose control and cut him down at any moment.
“Take this.”
Goblin handed him a bottle containing a dark purple liquid.
“I’m giving this to you out of pity, since you go around getting beaten by a greenhorn magician who still reeks of milk. It’s an awakening potion made by refining magic stones through a special method; if you drink it, even your paltry skills will improve.”
Dominic shattered the potion bottle he had received right in front of Goblin’s eyes, as if to show him.
The smile on Goblin’s face faded slightly.
“I am strong enough without borrowing this kind of power.”
“That was expensive… *tsk*. Since you broke it, I’ll bill the price to your master.”
Goblin waved his hand and stepped back, saying,
“Ah~ I can’t stay here any longer since the mood is so awkward. Well then, I’ll be off making the poison for the scheduled day. Take care until then, Marquis, my lord!”
The marquis clicked his tongue at the soured atmosphere and sat down in his seat.
“Commander, why don’t you get along with him? We’re all in the same boat, after all.”
“I do not collude with black magicians.”
“Well, yes… Fine. If that is your conviction, it can’t be helped. Just don’t get in the way.”
“Why in the world are you borrowing the help of those black magicians?”
Marquis Silleo cocked his head and looked at Dominic.
“Are you asking because you don’t know?”
“Do you really not know? I didn’t want to join hands with such unsavory folk either. But now there is no other way. Wasn’t it you who failed the mission in the first place?”
“…You mean the Witch of Illusion?”
“Yes. Since the ‘Witch’ Slayer failed to capture the ‘Witch’ of Illusion, I had to find an alternative.”
The marquis deliberately pronounced the word “witch” with emphasis.
“I do feel sorry that your face was ruined. But it is also your fault. Keep your head down and stay quiet for now, will you?”
“Binaeril Dalhaim, if I fight him again, I will not lose.”
Dominic had heard Binaeril Dalhaim’s name from the marquis, who had attended the banquet.
“Ah, that insolent fellow. I saw him too. They say he’s the Second Princess’s escort. Seeing as the regent granted him the rank of baronet, he must be quite a capable magician.”
“His victory was a fluke.”
“If you lost to him twice by fluke, that’s called skill.”
“That is…!”
“Commander Dominic.”
The marquis’s voice dropped even lower.
“Did you not hear what I said earlier? Keep your head down and stay quiet. I will call for you again when you are needed. Don’t act on pointless bravado and remain in the manor for the time being.”
Dominic clenched his fist, bowed his head, and obeyed his order.
At least for now, he had no choice but to obey.
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
A few days later.
Binaeril checked his surroundings carefully and left his assigned room.
The imperial palace was silent.
Today was the day of the Grand Council convened by the regent.
They said he would share opinions with the high nobles regarding the succession to the throne… but the atmosphere suggested it would not end quickly.
Binaeril thought they should just ignore the nobles and sit on the throne, but it seemed it was not that simple.
Veritas had given a long sermon on the reason, but all Binaeril understood was that it was “complicated.”
Anyway, with most personnel concentrated near the council hall due to the Grand Council, Binaeril had separate business to attend to.
Very secretly, without anyone knowing.
—It’s upstairs.
“Where are the stairs?”
—Turn right and take the third passage.
The reason he had left his room in secret was none other than Veritas.
Veritas, who had been quiet for a while, had started making a fuss again.
—Something, I feel something!
“What the hell is something…”
He asked grumpily, but in truth, Binaeril knew as well.
There were only two cases when Veritas pestered someone.
A magic crystal, or a page.
There was no way a magic crystal would be in the middle of the imperial palace. Veritas’s overexcited reaction made that clear too.
‘The page we’re looking for is in the middle of the imperial palace?’
Judging by their experiences so far, pages often took the form of a specific artifact.
A book like the Book of Truth, or a ring like the one he wore, for instance.
That meant the page in the imperial palace was highly likely to be a treasure.
—Here.
“…Here?”
They had arrived before a massive door large enough to fill an entire corridor.
But the door’s size wasn’t the issue. There were guards at the entrance.
Not one, but two.
‘Doesn’t it look exactly like a treasure vault entrance?’
—It’s inside there.
‘How are we supposed to get in?’
—Deal with the guards.
‘Can’t I just ask Rike later to let me look inside…’
—No. We have to check now.
‘You’re really stubborn.’
Binaeril pretended to be lost and naturally approached the guards.
“Baronet Dalhaim, this area is off-limits.”
Binaeril apologized to them in his heart.
It was impossible with his own mana alone, but there was a spell he could cast by borrowing Veritas’s mana.
“Reality slowly fading away, eyelids growing heavy in equal measure.”
The two guards quickly dozed off and slumped down.
What he had chanted was a sleep spell.
Intervening directly with the mind was a high-difficulty spell, but by pouring in Veritas’s mana, he could somehow complete the casting.
Binaeril had grown through the special training in the Thornwinter Wetlands, and the amount of mana he could draw upon had increased considerably.
If before he had to squeeze out a 4th-tier spell with great effort, now it was much smoother, so to speak.
“I’ll just take a quick look and come out, sorry.”
He pushed the massive door open with force, revealing the scenery inside the room.
“As expected…”
Binaeril’s pupils were filled with gold.
This was the imperial palace’s treasury.
Items such as porcelain and cups bearing the traces of ages past.
Intricately crafted jewels.
And even old weapons imbued with mana.
Truly a scale befitting an empire’s treasure vault.
—It’s over there!
At the very back of the treasury was the item Veritas had been searching for.
The identity of that item was…
“A staff?”
And not just any staff, but an excessively ornate one.
Based on the central handle, the lower part was decorated with ivory and the upper part with gold.
At the head of the staff, which was over one meter long, various jewels were embedded around a lion emblem symbolizing the empire, dazzling enough to hurt the eyes even in the dim treasury.
—It’s not just a staff. It’s a scepter.
“Ah, the Imperial Scepter of House Albrecht?”
—Yes. It’s the symbolic item that the rightful successor to the throne inherits to prove their legitimacy.
“Huh, so that’s why it’s so ornate.”
—Binaeril, pick that up.
—That scepter is a part of the page I’ve been searching for. Let’s take it.
“No, no, wait! That’s impossible no matter how you look at it. You just said it yourself. That it’s the symbol proving the empire’s legitimacy?”
—So?
“Then Rike or her sister needs to have it when they inherit the throne, right?”
—Are you a fool? Of course they would need it.
“…Are you calling me a fool? If I take it, Rike can’t receive it!”
—Oh come, what does that matter? The only thing you need to concern yourself with is that I need that scepter. You don’t need to know anything else.
It was an incredibly self-centered thought.
—You must not refuse my request. This is the contract’s…
“No, I got it. The Book of Truth. Just listen. I’m not trying to break the contract I made with you.”
Binaeril began to calmly persuade Veritas.
“But Rike’s matter hasn’t been settled yet. I promise you. After she, or the regent, safely succeeds to the throne, I’ll try somehow to obtain the scepter from them.”
—Trying isn’t enough.
“I’ll get it somehow.”
—I see a loophole in your words. What if they fail to succeed the throne?
That would mean the death of the two of them.
“…If it comes to that, all the better for you. I wouldn’t feel a single pang of conscience about stealing this scepter.”
Hearing Binaeril’s answer, Veritas fell silent for a moment.
Soon, a reply came.
—…Fine. It’s been a while since you’ve given an answer I like.
Without touching anything, Binaeril quietly turned around and walked out of the treasury.
After confirming the guards were still asleep, Binaeril turned his body to head back to his room…
A woman tapped him on the back and spoke to him.
Binaeril jumped in surprise like a delinquent caught doing something wicked.