In the end, on the day we went mountain climbing, the twins’ stamina didn’t hold out, and we had to call it off and try again later.
The next day was boating, and today my little sister was with us too.
The truth was, a four-year-old’s stamina hadn’t even lasted through the carriage ride, so she had been left behind alone at the villa.
Because of that, there had even been a scene where she went on ahead by herself down the private stairs leading from the villa, which stood on high ground, to the lake, sending her nursemaid and the other maids into a panic as they chased after her.
At the pier built for the emperor’s exclusive use, three small boats had been prepared.
All of them were painted in bright colors, with the emperor’s crest emblazoned on their sides.
“Asha, shall we ride together?”
Father tried to make it sound casual, and though I was surprised, I agreed.
“Who will row the boat?”
“I was raised in the imperial capital too. I can manage a bit of boating.”
“Nooo! Father is going on the boat with me!”
At the sudden shrill voice, I turned to see my little sister glaring at me with her golden eyes, as if I were the one in the wrong.
In that instant, as though a gust of wind had swept across it, the lake began to surge violently.
“Laia, won’t you ride with me? You can sit on my lap.”
“Mother’s lap? Yay!”
At Her Highness the consort’s invitation, my little sister Laia’s mood changed in an instant. With the one-year gap between us, she didn’t seem to recognize me as her older brother.
Yeah, at dinner and such we’d seen each other a few times, but she had looked at me like, who is this?
Judging from Her Highness the consort’s response, however, it seemed she had already arranged things with everyone beforehand.
The bob-haired one showed no particular reaction either, and Her Highness the consort was asking Terry and the twins how they would split up.
To be honest, I wanted to go boating with my little sister, but before Laia could start crying, I boarded the small boat with Father.
“The lake is large, so it has waves too.”
“Waves and wind correspond to one another. The wind blows from the mountains, so if you row with the wind…”
As he spoke, Father handled the oars, and the small boat glided smoothly forward.
Apparently, he really was used to this.
Waves were caused by wind, and wind blew from the mountains—this was meteorological science, not alchemy.
It was probably the sort of practical wisdom people passed down in the course of daily life.
“So, Your Majesty. What did you wish to discuss?”
“I am glad you are so perceptive, but can you not believe that I invited you from the heart?”
“I know that you make sure not to treat only me as special in front of my younger brothers. And yet you went so far as to arrange matters with those around us to be alone with me like this. In that case, I thought there must be something you did not want others to hear.”
There was one thing I could think of that Father would go this far to say.
There were various details if we were talking about the dispatch of troops, but the Imperial Guards Father had assigned to me with good intentions were now becoming a problem, so there was no way I wouldn’t realize it.
As far as I was concerned, even though the Imperial Guards’ profession was supposed to be protecting Father, the people among them who looked down on an emperor of low birth were now panicking, so it served them right.
If this meant the Imperial Guards would no longer defy Father any further, then even having them rebel would have been worth it.
“…The truth is, Asha, I have something I want to consult you about. The army and the Imperial Guards.”
“Yes?”
That was unexpected. No, he had already apologized to me countless times about the Imperial Guards, and he had also tried to say something about how little merit I had been credited with in the army, so in that sense it was nothing new.
But what did he mean by consult?
The army, outside of wartime, was an independent department, and unlike nobles who had their own people inside, if the emperor interfered unnecessarily in the assessment of merit and bestowal of rewards, they would push back against it as outside pressure.
That was why I had even stopped him from meddling with the rewards and honors, since it would only cause needless friction.
Or rather, had something so serious happened that he had to consult me?
“When I complained to Helkov and the others, they told me I might as well consult Asha already.”
I had braced myself, only to receive a strangely anticlimactic confession.
What is the emperor doing?
No, I had heard that Helkov and Wearerel were employed by the emperor, and that they spoke with him directly and listened to his complaints, but why did the two of them bring me up there?
“I will hear you out, at least.”
“Mm. I am aware that I am a shameful father who has had achievements yielded to him by his son. Even so, Wearerel also insists that Asha’s talent lies not only in alchemy, but in politics as well, so I would like to rely on you.”
“That isn’t true. I’m sure Helkov and the others suggested me because they meant that someone at a distance, who isn’t a direct party to the matter, can see the whole picture. And I understand that Your Majesty is doing your utmost for my sake.”
Father smiled as though troubled, then began to speak.
“This time, you deliberately made the problems public and caused confusion. On top of that, you arranged things so that I would gain strength, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Broadly speaking, the Imperial Guards’ rebellion, the forged documents, the military budget, and the weakening of the Saipol group.”
“You crushed the Edenbal family before, didn’t you? At that time, the matter was settled well. But this time, I can no longer see how to bring things to a close. I am at a loss as to where I should begin.”
“Shouldn’t that be something you discuss with those in charge of policy?”
“…They are all from Duke Lucaios’s faction.”
Ah, so if he consulted them and adopted their suggestions, they would likely take all the credit again, just as they had when the Edenbal family was destroyed.
Even so, there were areas that Father’s current subordinates couldn’t cover.
But as emperor, he couldn’t leave any of these problems unattended, and he wanted to settle them as quickly as possible.
It was true that I had set most of it in motion, and if he was asking, I would answer.
But fundamentally, Father’s political strength was the issue.
“First, let me confirm something. Is the Minister of Military Affairs able to control the army? Does he belong to any noble faction?”
“No, I wonder. The current Minister of Military Affairs is the son of a frontier noble who was raised up by the previous emperor. He obeys Duke Lucaios, whom the previous emperor chose as my guardian, but he is not someone who makes many political moves.”
“In that case, with the forged documents, it would be better to leave the matter entirely to the army and make them indebted to you. If he respects the previous emperor, then he has no reason to keep siding with Duke Lucaios forever.”
If Father could build a good relationship with him, there was a possibility he would join Father’s faction.
And he was the one General Wagelis, who belonged to no faction, obeyed.
He was probably not the type to lay troublesome groundwork or weave conspiracies.
As for the Imperial Guards, Father said he was concerned whether it was right to continue applying intermittent pressure to them.
Personally, I thought that taking on every family home of the rebellious Imperial Guards at once would be difficult for Father as he was now, and if he tried to attack them all in one sweep, he might suffer a severe backlash.
“What if you make their families feel as indebted as possible, and allow the sentences to be reduced? It is a method Duke Lucaios uses as well. Bring them out before a large crowd, make their crimes clear, and then deliberately plant the impression that they have been forgiven by the emperor.”
“…About the allergy incident…”
“I am not blaming Your Majesty.”
It was true that I was using that as a reference, but I didn’t want him to worry about it.
In the end, that incident had made the malicious rumor that I was aiming for my younger brother seem like the truth.
But since we were able to get along, I don’t care about other people’s opinions.
Well, as Father was in a position where such things reached his ears, he must have felt deeply frustrated.
I raised a finger to draw his attention back to me.
“Do you know the best way to avoid being deceived by a swindler?”
“To be more vigilant?”
“No. It is to know a swindler’s methods. How their words take effect, where their actions lead. If you know that, you can understand those words and actions and guard against them. At the same time, you can incorporate those methods yourself and use them against your opponent.”
At my point, Father fell into thought before responding.
“…In other words, you want me to repay Duke Lucaios with his own methods?”
“That is part of it, but first, let us learn. At the very least, if there is a technique that allowed him to dispose of people as influential as the Edenbal family, there is no reason not to imitate it.”
“That is true. This time, I was unable to use that technique myself.”
Father seemed convinced and nodded.
“With the Imperial Guards, I should take the position that I forgave them, and make clear who stands above and who below. By doing so, I should use it to strengthen imperial authority. Certainly, compared to the effort of abolishing those houses, the profit may be smaller, but it is real.”
“If you cannot do it now, you can deal with them later.”
When I smiled at him, Father stared blankly for a moment, then began to laugh.
“Ah, indeed. That is true. What is this? It seems I was overthinking it. Keep them for now, and pluck them out after I have put my position in order. I see. Now is the time to learn.”
Apparently, he had been feeling pressured to resolve the problems right now.
Even if he didn’t have the strength to do it now, he could lay the groundwork so that, when the next opportunity came, he could remove them then and turn it into his own power.
At the very least, the families connected to the rebellious Imperial Guards who stumbled here would have a hard time recovering even in Terry’s generation.
“And as for the Saipol group, I feel it would be fine to leave that to the Lord of Hobart. Is there a reason you want it resolved quickly?”
I had heard that the Lord of Hobart was continuing to fight desperately because he valued his life.
He had also accumulated things by joining hands with the Saipol group, so I thought it would be for the good of the world to make him disgorge them.
“I thought that after Asha went to the trouble of opening the way, it would be a waste if we could not make effective use of it.”
“Is that all? Then you can simply send troops for suppression once more in the emperor’s name. Combined with the fact that you were targeted at the cathedral, you can proclaim yourself a strong emperor who repels evil.”
“…What Helkov and Wearerel said was true.”
“What did they say?”
“That you are more suited to being emperor than me.”
“!? …Oh, surely not. That can’t be true.”
I nearly cried out at the sheer absurdity of it, but I denied it as though I had heard a joke.
I mean, what are they saying!?
“…I do not want the imperial throne, all right?”
“I suppose I would have been better off if I could have said that too.”
At my firm reminder, Father smiled sadly.
But beyond that, he said nothing more about the imperial throne.
Regular update
Next: Family Trip 4