Before I knew it, the magician Jerry had brought over was staring at me.
He stared intently, looking utterly flabbergasted.
Noticing this, Jerry gave the magician a sharp warning.
"Oi, you."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"Nobody was here. Your boss was just doing his morning exercises alone. You hear me?"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"If you blab to anyone, I'll stuff that loose mouth of yours full of lead and sink you to the bottom."
Jerry had a unique way of threatening people.
I chuckled quietly, while the young magician flinched and nodded his head vigorously.
Even after being threatened like that, the young man kept shooting glances at me.
I could tell clear as day that his face was practically screaming, Why is he here—?
It seemed beyond comprehension to him that the Emperor would be in a place like this.
There was no need to explain the reasons, and Jerry had already sworn him to secrecy, so I decided to ignore his presence.
"Well then, we got sidetracked for too long. Let us get to the main topic."
"—Yes, sire."
"How many troops do you command?"
"Eight thousand and seventeen men, sire."
"That came out fast. Is that the actual count?"
"Yes, sire. That's the real number of troops I can mobilize right this second."
"No padding the numbers?"
I was slightly surprised.
My mind cast back to a conversation I had a little over ten years ago with Rice Cake.
Once someone commanded a certain number of troops, pocketing a cut of the budget was a common practice.
The Empire allocated budgets to each general based on the premise of "maintaining X number of soldiers."
A great many generals would report nominal headcounts instead of actual numbers and line their own pockets with the difference.
Back then, Henry had been furious at his retainer Rice for padding the numbers.
I had smoothed things over, telling him it was a common occurrence.
Though I had soothed Henry back then, it was by no means a good thing.
It wasn't good, but in an organization as massive as the Empire, such things were "never going away." Since ensuring the ranks were filled in the first place had been the top priority back then, I had talked Henry down.
However, be that as it may.
Just because it never truly disappeared didn't mean there wasn't a single person who abstained from it.
Occasionally, there were people whose creed was sheer integrity and who never engaged in such practices.
It seemed Jerry was one of them.
I felt a little pleased that a man I had scouted was like that, but I checked myself, thinking it was too early to rejoice.
"Is it not tough for a commander of troops to forgo pocketing the difference? You wouldn't be able to reward your subordinates properly that way."
"Even without that, the Empire's a warrior's nation. As long as I report their military achievements honestly, the Empire will dish out the rewards on my behalf."
"Hahaha, true enough."
"Besides, the folks around here rarely do that, so just 'reporting their military achievements honestly' gets me heaps of gratitude. And the guys who appreciate that as fair play turn out to be way more useful."
"Hmm, you have a point."
"Those kinds of guys can mostly think and act for themselves. So when I'm in a pinch, they pick up on it and take the right action on their own."
"I see."
"In return, my punishments are harsh. I make sure there are zero exceptions."
"Strict adherence to rewards and punishments, then."
"Yes, sire."
"Which is precisely why those homosexual soldiers were giving you a headache."
"Yes, sire... That stuff's a pain."
Jerry laughed dryly.
I nodded, a natural smile coming to my face.
If that was true, Jerry was not the kind of talent who should be languishing as an Unnumbered General in a remote frontier like this.
"Are you satisfied with that?"
"I've already received more than enough, sire."
"Hm?"
"I've already gotten a mountain of things from my liege. I get to stuff my face every day till my belly sticks out, got three wives, and sired a whole bunch of dumb-faced brats who look just like me. There's nothing more I could ask for."
"Hahaha, how free of greed."
"I've received plenty, sire."
"Then I shall grant you something you have not received yet."
"Huh?"
"Have you created a family crest?"
"Uh, yes, after a fashion."
"I shall bestow a sword upon it."
"—?!"
Astonishment, followed by jubilation.
Those emotions crossed Jerry's face in an instant.
The Empire was a nation of warriors, placing military merit above all else.
There were material rewards and honorary rewards for military achievements.
The highest tier of honor was this very act of placing a sword upon one's crest.
And by law, a maximum of three swords could be added.
This design was strictly forbidden to use without the Emperor's explicit permission.
My father, the late Emperor, had doted on me quite a bit, but because I had served in the Ministry of Justice rather than the military, I had achieved almost no military merits and was only granted a single sword.
As an aside, the Empire's strongest warrior, Damian Noble, had earned a full three swords on his family crest through his long years of military campaigns.
A sword on one's family crest—this was an honor greater than any title.
After standing in a prolonged daze, Jerry snapped back to his senses and prostrated himself before me.
"I-I-I am unworthy of such immense bliss!"
"Hahaha, you exaggerate. This is something that takes merely a single sheet of paper; it costs Us not a copper and does not hurt Our purse."
"..."
Jerry silently pressed his forehead against the ground.
Then, he raised his head and looked at me.
He looked at me with a straight, intense gaze.
A tacit understanding, as they say.
Just like what we had spoken of earlier.
A capable person who received a gratifying reward would be sure to return the favor to their benefactor when the time came.
I will do so—Jerry conveyed that powerfully with the strength of his eyes alone, without speaking a word.
So, I too said nothing in particular, offering only a slight nod.
After a moment's thought, I held out my hand.
I created an emblem using Huwawa.
Splitting it in half, I handed one piece to him.
Jerry accepted it in silence.
He seemed to understand that it was a tally to be used in times of need.
"Well then, We shall be taking Our leave shortly. By the way, no one knows We came here. Keep it quiet for a while."
"Yes, sire!"
"And—is there a way to take Mule outside in secret?"
"Yes, sire, leave that to me too. Uh... mind coming along with me for a bit?"
Jerry asked Mule timidly.
Mule gave Jerry the cold shoulder, completely ignoring him, but—
"It's so you can come with Us. Listen to what Jerry says."
"Miki!"
The moment I spoke, Mule responded immediately and obediently.
"Man, this damn beast..."
Jerry chuckled in exasperation.
And with that, he led Mule away.
I didn't know whether Misdirection would work.
It was possible to divert people's attention, but there was no guarantee we wouldn't run into someone who reacted out of the sheer terror of a monster.
Even if attention was diverted, when presented with something of overwhelming presence right before their eyes, people might naturally look at it anyway.
There was no time to test it now, so I decided to leave it to Jerry.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, I noticed the young man was still standing a short distance away.
The young magician Jerry had brought over.
Come to think of it, perhaps because this was the second time, or because he thought there might be a need to check levels again, Jerry hadn't dismissed the man this time, unlike before.
That was why the man had remained there the whole time.
With his attention focused more on Mule, Jerry had walked off somewhere with Mule without saying anything to the man.
I wondered if he was standing there bewildered at being left behind, but—
"..."
Apparently, that wasn't the case.
There wasn't a trace of bewilderment in the young man's eyes.
Instead—a glimmer of determination peeked through.
...Determination?
What was the meaning of this? Why would such an emotion appear on his face right now?
While I was wondering about this—
With a face filled with even greater resolve, the man actually charged straight at me!
"—!!!"
Silent, but with eyes glaring fiercely.
He charged forward while clutching something at his waist with both hands.
It was—a knife.
The man leveled the knife and lunged toward me.
I was surprised; this was an unexpected ambush.
To think someone would actually attempt such a thing against me, the Emperor—or so I thought, but.
Insolent wretch.
Leviathan, the mad dog she was, did not disappoint.
Just as Jerry had said earlier, Leviathan waited for no order of mine whatsoever and sheared away the man's consciousness with pure intimidation.
Charging with his knife leveled, the man foamed at the mouth midway through and collapsed, crashing headfirst into the ground.
"Well done. Stand down for now."
As you command.
"Now then... what is the meaning of this?"
"Sorry to keep you wai—Liege?! Did something happen?"
"Yeah... this man suddenly lunged at me."
"What?!"
Returning, Jerry was shocked and furious.
He swiftly crouched beside the fallen man, first rolling his body over so his face was looking up.
Seeing the knife the man held, Jerry snatched it away with an even angrier expression and slammed it into the ground.
Then, he began checking the man's pockets.
"Valuables... none. Could he have been bribed? Hm?"
"What is it?"
"This is..."
Jerry said as he pulled something out.
It was a four-folded letter.
"Let Us see."
"Yes, sire."
I took the letter from Jerry.
It instructed the recipient to assassinate the Emperor during the upcoming personal campaign if a situation arose where it could be made to look like an accident.
The signature was Yellow Cake.
Rice Cake's older brother, who, unlike Rice, served Oscar.
"...Ah."
I gave a small nod.
And then I remembered.
The incident at Alice's establishment.
The intel brought by the youth hailing from Dosso who worked at Oscar's estate.
That someone among Oscar's retainers was looking for an opportunity to assassinate me.
I looked at the youth.
If he were a true retainer, he would have refrained from taking action out of consideration for Oscar's current state of mind.
In other words, it was highly likely this man was not someone of retainer status.
He was probably a subordinate under a retainer, or something of that sort.
"That Eighth piece of shit... going after my liege."
"..."
I drew Leviathan.
And then, I thrust it into the chest of the unconscious man on the ground—right through his heart.
Without letting out even a single groan of agony, the man perished on the spot.
"What?! In times like this, you gotta torture them to make 'em talk and name the mastermind from their own mouth—"
"Not right now."
"B-But..."
"Forget it. This is politics."
"..."
"Right now... We cannot afford to poke the hornet's nest over a mere hitman who went underground before the situation changed."
Indeed... before the situation changed.
There was a date on the letter, and it was dated almost immediately after I had decided on the personal campaign.
In other words, this order predated Oscar's change of heart.
There was always a time lag in the transmission of orders.
Even with the Empire's fastest super express, a time lag was inevitable.
This order found in the man's pocket was quite old.
We could not use this as a pretext to poke at the current Oscar—the cooperative Oscar.
We could not afford to destabilize the political landscape.
"...Understood, sire."
Jerry said so and stood up.
Then, the moment he drew the sword at his waist, he hacked the man's corpse to pieces.
"What are you doing?"
"Whoops, my bad! This scum acted insolent toward my liege, so I accidentally turned him into mincemeat! Now there's no way to identify him!"
Jerry put on an utterly atrocious piece of cheap theater.
His delivery was completely monotone, so terrible that normally I would have heckled him, asking what he thought he was hiding and who he thought he was fooling.
However, I decided to play along.
"If the body is unidentified, it cannot be helped. Instead, conduct a thorough investigation and report back to Us in about a hundred years."
"Yes, sire!"
It was such an outrageous farce that I couldn't help but chuckle wryly at ourselves.