I wiped the blood from my cheek with my thumb.
"I-I am so sorry, Your Majesty! I will notify the authorities at once and have those men pursued!"
The next person to come to their senses after Alice was the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper, who had known me for years, scrambled toward me on all fours—crawling along the ground in a manner no less frantic than those thugs earlier—and spoke while remaining prostrate.
"No, that won't be necessary."
"Huh?"
"It is hardly a grave offense. For a mere scratch on the cheek, even if you took it to court, they would do little more than lecture them. In fact, it would only be a nuisance to bring such a matter before the magistrates."
"B-But to do such a thing to Your Majesty is outrageous—no, it is worthy of ten thousand deaths!"
"Do not be hasty. I had not announced my name, so it does not constitute lese-majesty."
I felt a faint sense of amusement, wondering how many times I had had this exact conversation.
Ever since I became the Minister of Justice and began interpreting the law at the request of my father, who was Emperor at the time, the interpretation of lese-majesty was probably the one most commonly misunderstood and in need of correction.
Lese-majesty was a law establishing penalties for when commoners committed acts of disrespect toward the nobility.
Among such cases, offenses against the Emperor in particular were sometimes called "grand lese-majesty," but this was merely a colloquial term and, formally speaking, nothing more than a single clause within the law of lese-majesty.
And that law explicitly stated: Provided that one recognizes the other party as royalty or nobility.
In other words, in a case like this, since it occurred before the Emperor revealed his identity, it did not constitute lese-majesty; it was merely simple assault for scratching my cheek.
...That was the sort of thing I had explained in front of Father countless times since I was a child.
"It is merely simple assault, and I simply eliminated the threat based on the principle of lawful retaliation."
"Oh... What extraordinary generosity."
The shopkeeper spoke in deep admiration.
At that, the other patrons also began praising me all at once amid a chorus of cheers.
"Then at the very least, I shall uncover their identities. I will circulate their descriptions through the guild and ban them from this area."
"That is unnecessary as well."
"Huh?"
"In the end, I did declare my name, did I not?"
"Huh? Ah, yes."
The shopkeeper nodded flusteredly.
The crest materialized through the power of Leviathan.
That was a power—no, a technique—that could imprint upon anyone, even a completely ignorant person, the fact that "this is the Emperor."
It was a technique I had devised on the way to Reararat last time.
"If you, even without knowing, had inflicted a wound upon the Emperor, what would you do?"
"Why, of course... I would flee. Ah—"
"Indeed. You would flee. I have no intention whatsoever of applying the charge of lese-majesty, but people—including you all—naturally think along those lines. Those men will be the same. They will no longer be able to remain in the imperial capital."
"H-How incredible... To have thought that far ahead..."
"It is nothing extraordinary. Even in the unlikely event that they harbor a grudge rather than fear, their enmity will be directed at me—I merely protected the place where Alice sings."
"Your Majesty..."
Alice, who had been listening beside the shopkeeper, looked deeply moved, her eyes brimming with tears.
"And with that... Alice, I shall send an escort for you at a later time. Shopkeeper, make sure you guard the shop properly while Alice is away."
"Y-Yes! Even at the cost of my life!"
Smiling gently, I said:
"Everyone, at ease."
Waving my hand as I spoke, I leisurely departed from the shop.
After leaving the shop, I walked through the city alone.
With the casual ease of a stroll, I took in various sights as I walked.
The scenery of the imperial capital, its prosperity.
Since I would be marching out on campaign before long, I thought I should burn it into my memory while I still could.
There was no practical significance to it, but when the time came, the thought that "I have something to protect" might just stir my heart and bolster my resolve.
With such thoughts vaguely crossing my mind, I took a leisurely walk through the imperial capital, looking around here and there.
As I strolled along, gazing at this and that, a carriage came to a halt right in front of me.
With the neighing of horses, the carriage stopped, and a man stepped down immediately afterward.
"Your Maj—It has been a long time."
"Alan, is it?"
The man who stepped down from the carriage was a familiar merchant, Byron Alan.
Byron was a merchant I had met when I was six years old.
If I recalled correctly, it was when I was invited to a party held at the estate of First Prime Minister Jean—no, he was Third Prime Minister back then.
Jean-Brad Reidouk.
The man who was in his prime back then was now an elderly gentleman approaching his sixties, with gray mixed into his hair and a splendid beard.
"Were you on your way somewhere?"
I asked, glancing at the carriage Alan had arrived in.
"I am currently on my way back to my shop. I received word that a portion of the goods ordered from various regions has arrived."
"I see."
Replying thus, I began walking again.
Byron waved his hand to give a signal to his coachman, then followed behind me alone.
Not directly alongside me, but discreetly remaining one step behind, knowing his place.
"Did you procure something interesting?"
"A few items that children would enjoy."
"Children?"
A little surprised, I widened my eyes and turned my gaze toward Alan.
For a merchant of Alan's caliber to deal in "things children would enjoy" was normally unthinkable.
Was there something behind this? I studied his face intently.
"Yes. To put it more accurately, they are things that adults imagine children would enjoy. I acquired information that a certain noble individual would be doting upon his grandchild for a time, you see."
"...Ah."
I nodded, letting out a chuckle.
Since we were in the middle of the city, Byron avoided stating it explicitly, but he was referring to Father.
I had asked Father to "babysit" Shem—my son.
And at Father's side was a consort sent in by Byron.
For a merchant, whether they possessed information from the heart of politics made an enormous difference in business.
And if one were to ask where the most valuable information came from, naturally, information directly from the Emperor himself—the very center of that heart—held the highest value.
Under normal circumstances, extracting information from an Emperor was difficult, but an Emperor was still a man.
The fact that one could extract various pieces of information from a man through pillow talk—well, that had remained unchanged for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
That was why Byron had selected a woman suited to become a consort, and with my cooperation, recommended and introduced her into the inner palace of Father, who was the Emperor at the time.
That channel was still active today, which was how the information that I had asked Father to babysit Shem reached Byron.
"What kind of things did you prepare?"
"Yes, since that individual is a stern person—"
"You would be better off preparing about half of them as simple things that young children genuinely enjoy."
I cut across Byron's words.
I could already imagine where he was going from the way he started, so I stepped in to correct him.
"Pardon?"
"A father and a grandfather are different. Even a man who is strict with his own children shows an entirely different side when dealing with a grandchild. Is that not so?"
"I-Indeed... It is often the case that even a stubbornly strict old man will utterly dote on his grandchild alone..."
"However, nothing is certain. That is why having about half should suffice."
"Understood."
"In exchange..."
"Yes?"
"I do not know what that certain individual might think, but as it happens, I have a son of my own, around the same age. I could tell you what pleases that son of mine, and what he is particularly fond of."
"—!! Thank you very much!!"
Byron bowed his head with almost exaggerated vigor.
...Though perhaps it wasn't exaggerated at all.
The "grandchild" mentioned in the conversation was my son, Shem.
If he knew in advance what Shem liked, he could prepare accordingly.
Information not via pillow talk from a consort, but directly from me in person.
It was information that normally could not be bought no matter how much money one offered, so Byron's reaction was entirely natural.
I told Byron what Shem liked. Byron was overjoyed—however...
"..."
Immediately afterward, he made an extremely troubled face.
"What is the matter?"
"W-Well... I do not know how I could possibly offer my thanks..."
"...Ah."
I let out a soft laugh.
When I thought about it, it was only natural.
When I first met Byron, I was merely the Thirteenth Imperial Prince.
If the other party was an imperial prince—that is, royalty—one could offer a token of gratitude.
However, I was now the Emperor.
Everything in the Empire belonged to me—such was the Emperor.
When facing the Emperor, one could not possibly offer a reward, barring cases where one was unaware of his identity.
Unable to offer a return gift—or rather, realizing there was no way to do so—Byron was at a complete loss.
To begin with, directly offering a "reward to the Emperor" could itself constitute lese-majesty.
That was what the Emperor's "imperial bounty" entailed.
For that reason, a strict noble might even call out his current hesitation as "disrespectful!"
I laughed once more and changed the subject.
"Come to think of it, do you know of the Dawn Horse?"
"The Dawn Horse... is it? No, my knowledge is limited, so I am unaware..."
"It refers to a horse whose entire coat shines in the color of bright yellow-gold, appearing as though it is emitting the light of dawn."
"Such a horse exists?!"
The look in Byron's eyes changed.
Visualizing the appearance of the Dawn Horse, his merchant's intuition had likely kicked in, telling him that it would "make money."
"Of course, it does not actually glow. If you feed a certain breed of white horse a specific feed, the color of its sweat changes under the influence of that feed, and combined with the white coat, it merely appears to radiate the light of dawn."
"I-I see."
Byron nodded.
The gleam in his eyes settled down, but his expression showed he was not entirely disappointed, as if thinking, "Even so, that would still fetch a great sum."
"The quality of that feed—or rather, its purity, one might say—the higher it is, the more brilliant the radiance becomes. I happened to be thinking that I wanted some of that feed—do you think you could gather roughly half a year's supply?"
"—! Leave it to me! Without fail!"
"Then I leave it in your hands."
"Yes, Sire!"
Byron bowed deeply.
The surrounding passersby looked on, wondering what was happening, but it was hardly an unusual sight, and their interest soon ebbed away like the tide.
I began walking again, and Byron followed along.
"Still... you are truly remarkable."
"Hm?"
"The Dawn Horse... was it? That is the first I have ever heard of such a beast. How did you manage to uncover such information?"
"I merely reconstructed it from fragments gathered out of ancient texts."
"Incredible..."
"Hm?"
Byron came to a halt once more.
He wore a look of even greater astonishment than before.
"What is it?"
"H-How amazing... To think you were also engaged in the pursuits of a scholar."
"It was necessary, after all."
"Necessary?"
"Yeah. When I was looking into whether there was anything good for putting on an impressive bluff, multiple texts mentioned a golden horse, so I looked into it thoroughly."
"From just that... You are truly magnificent! Even had you been born into a family of scholars, you undoubtedly would have achieved great success."
"A scholar, huh?"
That was a future with its own appeal, certainly.
"Come to think of it."
Suddenly remembering something, I turned my head as I walked and cast a glance over my shoulder at Byron.
"Yes, what might it be?"
"Is there anything that you consider an absolute, unforgivable offense?"
"Of course! I have a benefactor, and I could never forgive anyone who neglects or disrespects that person!"
"Heh."
I chuckled softly.
That "benefactor" right now was me, meaning Byron was flattering me.
"I understand that part. What about your second?"
"My second... is it...?"
Byron furrowed his brows, taking on a slightly awkward expression.
Since I had implicitly told him, "Tell me the one that isn't flattery," he seemed troubled by it.
"What, you don't have one?"
"N-No! Well, if I had to say..."
"Go on."
"It would be... that I cannot forgive anyone who brings misfortune upon my daughter, I suppose."
"Ah."
Byron had an adopted daughter, whom I had also met before.
He was referring to that girl.
"I see. Cherish your daughter. Sorry for asking such an odd question."
"Not at all! Far from it."
"I am counting on you for the matter regarding the Dawn Horse."
"Yes, Sire!"
Saying so, Byron bowed once, then turned on his heel and walked away.
"His daughter, huh."
Byron's unforgivable offense was surprisingly straightforward.
Since he was such a prominent merchant, I had expected something far more complex, so I was left feeling just a little deflated.