That night, in the living room, I linked Leviathan, Lutye, Huwawa, and Behemoth to the Ring of Armor to run mock battles.
In terms of combat strength, Leviathan was undeniably the strongest. Lutye and Behemoth were about evenly matched, while Huwawa lagged slightly behind them.
After several rounds, just as I was thinking my level might rise soon, there was a knock at the door, and Cecily, the reception maid, entered.
"Pardon the late hour, Master, but there is a woman here requesting an audience with you."
"A woman? What's her name?"
"She introduced herself as Olivia Coil."
"Olivia Coil..."
I rolled the name Cecily had given me over my tongue.
It was unfamiliar; I had never met a woman by that name before.
Still, the fact that she had come calling in the dead of night caught my attention.
If she were a nobody, Cecily—whom Evelyn had trained and I had handpicked for reception duties—would have turned her away at the door.
Asking for my permission at this hour meant the visitor must have seemed like someone of consequence.
"All right, show her in."
"Right away."
Cecily stepped out, and a moment later, a woman entered.
She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and she was a striking, undeniable beauty.
Olivia Coil stood before me and bowed with graceful, proper etiquette.
"Olivia, was it? What business brings you here at this hour?"
"I have come to inform on someone."
"..."
I maintained a calm facade.
An informant.
The moment I heard that word, a terrible premonition and worst-case scenarios flashed across my mind.
Keeping my expression carefully neutral, I pressed her.
"What kind of information?"
"Crown Prince Albert intends to stage a coup d'état this very night to force His Majesty to abdicate."
"—!"
I could no longer keep my composure.
In the end... it had come to this.
No, wait, it wasn't confirmed as fact just yet.
I fixed Olivia with a sharp gaze.
"How do you know about this?"
"I am the daughter of Coil, a retainer of Prince Gilbert."
"Coil the butler!"
It came back to me.
Coil had served as Gilbert's butler for years; I had seen him every time I visited the estate.
That Coil's daughter...
"So you were born to retainers."
"Yes."
Olivia nodded.
Born to retainers. Exactly as the phrase implied, she was a child born between retainers—servants bound to an imperial prince.
It was hardly rare for a lord to arrange marriages for subordinates, and to strengthen unity, retainers were frequently wed to one another.
Children born to retainers were retainers from birth, naturally fostering absolute loyalty to the imperial family.
It was the only world they had ever known.
"I am aware of what happened. I know the Thirteenth Prince did everything in his power to spare Master Gilbert's life. And yet, Albert..."
Olivia trailed off, biting her lower lip.
She bit down so hard that blood seeped out.
I hadn't received a formal report, but I realized then that Coil must have perished during the purge.
"I swore revenge. Fortunately, the Crown Prince took a fancy to me, so I used my body to win his favor."
"A woman's weapon, then."
"Yes. Since he hasn't grown tired of me yet, his visits have been especially frequent lately, and he summons only me. That was where I overheard his plans."
Olivia took a deep breath, her expression hardening into absolute resolve.
"Though his disinheritance has not yet been officially proclaimed, it will be too late once it is. Even now, by exercising his authority as Crown Prince, he commands enough soldiers to seize the imperial palace."
"What does he intend to do with His Majesty?"
"He plans to force His Majesty to abdicate and become a retired emperor."
"...Haah."
Honestly, Albert, you fool.
You should have realized the truth when that eunuch was disposed of in secret.
His Majesty didn't want to cause an uproar; it was an act of paternal mercy to spare your life.
And yet, to plot a coup d'état...
"I beg of you!"
Olivia dropped to her hands and knees, prostrating herself before me.
"I will do anything! Anything within my power! This body, this life—use them however you see fit! Please! Just take the Crown Prince's—Albert's head!"
"...I understand."
Letting out a sigh, I gently helped Olivia to her feet.
"There's no need for 'anything.' What were your duties at Gilbert's estate?"
"I served as an apprentice butler under my father."
"Do the same here. I'll pay you roughly the same wage."
"W-Why would you grant me such favorable treatment...?"
"You sought to avenge your master. I'm merely rewarding your loyalty—your devotion to serve your master even after his death."
"...What a remarkable man you are."
Olivia looked at me, her eyes brimming with deep emotion.
At the same time, the status window that always lingered in the corner of my vision shifted.
―――――――――――― Name: Noah Ararat Imperial Prince Minister of Justice Gender: Male Level: 3 / ∞ HP: E+F Fire: F+B MP: F+F Water: E+S Strength: E+E Wind: F+F Stamina: F+F Earth: F+F Intelligence: F+E Light: F+C Spirit: F+F Darkness: F+F Speed: F+F Dexterity: F+F Luck: F+F ――――――――――――
Darkness gained a "+."
It was proof that Olivia had submitted to me, swearing wholehearted fealty.
☆
Leaving the mansion with Olivia in tow, I headed toward the Ministry of Military Affairs in the eastern district of the capital.
Beside the Ministry of Military Affairs stood barracks where one thousand soldiers were stationed at all times.
Due to the nature of their permanent posting, they were conditioned to obey without question any order given by a superior holding command authority.
For the Crown Prince—whose decree of disinheritance had not yet been made public, leaving him with near-emperor authority—mobilizing them was effortless.
Rushing into the grounds, I found soldiers already assembled and drawn up in formation in the barracks courtyard, overseen by Crown Prince Albert and several subordinates.
"Brother!"
"Noah? What are you doing here?"
"Stop this, Brother. It's not too late."
"...Who told you?"
Albert was no fool; a single exchange was enough for him to grasp the situation.
"That doesn't matter. Brother, if you take that step forward, it will mean your ruin."
"Are you telling me to just sit back and die?"
"His Majesty has no intention of killing you! It breaks his heart to execute his own son!"
"And so you expect me to settle for being a mere imperial prince?!"
"..."
Settle.
That single word spoke volumes about our irreconcilable difference in values.
Under normal circumstances, from the perspective of commoners, an imperial prince was a figure of supreme nobility.
Yet to Albert, the Crown Prince, being "demoted" to that rank was tantamount to death.
"Are you truly resolved to stop me, no matter what?"
"I am."
"Very well—seize Noah! He is a traitor!"
Albert barked the command to the soldiers.
The thousand soldiers charged straight at me without hesitation.
Instinctively, I drew Leviathan from my bracelet.
One thousand men... Can I really take them all down?
I didn't know, but there was no choice but to try!
"Leave it to me. Call my name."
A voice echoed directly in my mind.
It was familiar, yet far clearer than ever before.
An entirely different name surfaced in my thoughts.
Without hesitation, I called it out.
"Do it, Lutye—no, Bahamut!!"
In that instant, a silhouette manifested behind me.
A black dragon cloaked in flames, bearing colossal wings.
―――――――――――― Name: Noah Ararat Imperial Prince Minister of Justice Gender: Male Level: 3 / ∞ HP: E+F Fire: F+A MP: F+F Water: E+S Strength: E+E Wind: F+F Stamina: F+F Earth: F+F Intelligence: F+E Light: F+C Spirit: F+F Darkness: F+F Speed: F+F Dexterity: F+F Luck: F+F ――――――――――――
Simultaneously, my Fire attribute rose by yet another tier.
The black dragon, Bahamut—Lutye—unleashed a torrent of flames from its maw.
The inferno engulfed the soldiers, bursting into a blazing conflagration in the blink of an eye.
The soldiers writhed in agony, dropping their weapons one after another as they collapsed and rolled across the ground.
"That's enough! Don't kill them!"
"Understood."
The moment Bahamut replied, the flames enveloping the soldiers vanished.
The smoldering smoke and the ring of Lutye shining with unprecedented brilliance proved that what had just occurred was real.
The relationship between Lutye and Bahamut likely had something to do with the name Leviathan I had heard in an auditory hallucination before, but I had no time to ponder that now.
I turned toward the stunned Albert.
"It's over."
"You... You intend to kill me?!"
"No."
I shook my head.
"I won't kill you. Doing so would grieve His Majesty. If executing a child grieved His Majesty so deeply, watching us slaughter one another would only bring him further sorrow. Therefore..."
I produced a small glass vial from inside my coat.
"...Poison?!"
"Yes. Drink this and take your own life. If you take your own life having repented at the very last moment, your family and subordinates won't be dragged down with you. Your eldest son will be allowed to succeed the household as is."
"Don't mock me! As if I could ever do that!"
"If I'm forced to act, your entire house will be destroyed."
"That will never happen! Foster! Howard! Seize him! He's a traitor!"
Screaming frantically, my elder brother ordered the two subordinates beside him.
I could tell at a glance that both were formidable fighters.
Can I defeat them...? Just as that thought crossed my mind—
The two men pinned Albert's arms behind his back from both sides!
"W-What are you doing, you bastards?!"
"We can no longer follow you."
"Lord Noah still showed concern for your family and your subordinates despite everything. And yet, look at you!"
"Have you lost your minds?! Don't listen to his nonsense!"
"Silence!"
One of the men holding him shouted.
"When you unsealed Leviathan, do you remember the hundred and twenty men you sacrificed by exposing them to the thickest miasma immediately after the seal broke?!"
A hundred and twenty men... That number sounded familiar.
When Albert first brought Leviathan to me, he had mentioned that acquiring it had cost a hundred and twenty lives.
"My older brother was among them! So was my childhood friend!"
"My father was there as well!"
Foster and Howard hurled their anguished cries at Albert as if spitting blood.
"How could we ever follow the likes of you again?!"
"Lord Noah."
I wasn't sure which one spoke, but one of them addressed me in a somewhat calmer... yet resolute voice.
"It seems the Crown Prince has resolved to take his own life."
"Understood. Olivia."
"Yes."
Olivia, who had accompanied me and remained hidden in the shadows until now, stepped forward.
"You do it."
"Thank you very much!"
Bowing to me with tears welling in her eyes, Olivia took the vial and walked toward Albert.
"Don't mock me, you whore! Have you forgotten the debt you owe me for taking you in?!"
Albert shrieked, but Olivia didn't waver.
Drawing closer, Foster and Howard forced Albert's mouth open.
Working together, the three of them forced the poison I had brought down Albert's throat.
With his mouth held shut, Albert struggled for a brief moment before convulsing violently, his eyes rolling back as he spewed foam and blood.
Eventually, his strength gave out, and the two men lowered Albert's corpse to the ground.
"Lord Noah."
"Prince Albert took his own life."
"Yes."
I gathered the narrative I had composed while they administered the poison and voiced it aloud.
"My brother attempted to stage a coup d'état, but an informant from among his retainers came forward. Fearing failure and exposure, my brother took his own life. Therefore, under Imperial Law, the informant shall be rewarded, and all other retainers shall be held entirely blameless. As for his household, just as I stated earlier, I shall petition His Majesty to allow my brother's eldest son to succeed the line."
We are profoundly grateful!!
Howard and Foster sank to one knee before me, bowing their heads deeply.
―――――――――――― Name: Noah Ararat Imperial Prince Minister of Justice Gender: Male Level: 3 / ∞ HP: E+E Fire: F+A MP: F+E Water: E+S Strength: E+E Wind: F+F Stamina: F+E Earth: F+F Intelligence: F+E Light: F+C Spirit: F+E Darkness: F+F Speed: F+E Dexterity: F+E Luck: F+E ――――――――――――
The "+" modifiers on my abilities increased once more, and all of my base stats rose from F to E.
Those two really were exceptionally strong.
And yet they were the very men who had abandoned Albert...
Truly... people are treasures.
Albert had treated them with contempt; from the very beginning, no matter what he attempted, his coup d'état had been doomed to fail.
Thus, Gilbert, and now Albert.
The two who had coveted the throne, willing even to commit regicide against His Majesty to seize it, were gone.
His Majesty's reign turned a page, heralding the dawn of an entirely new era.