Chapter 102.

"Is your wrist all right?"

What is this? You beat someone up, then give them medicine?

Alphonso looked like he was about to cry but faintly smiled. "Yes! It's fine!"

I was surprised once again to see the crybaby Alphonso smiling as if he was okay even though his wrists probably hurt. Most of all, the lousy swordsmanship that was unbearable to watch during the entrance exam had now developed into lousy swordsmanship that was bearable to watch.

Alphonso was steadily growing somewhere away from my eyes. He might one day be able to rid himself of the child and crybaby titles.

I clapped my hands, realizing that even as friends, one wouldn’t know everything about them. "It was a great spar."

As soon as I clapped my hands, Lisbon and Alphonso looked at me in surprise, having just realized that I was here.

"Wow~! It's Den!"

As soon as he saw me, Alphonso tried to charge in for a hug as always. As customary, I stopped him by holding his head in one hand and smiled refreshingly. "Wipe away your sweat at least before you come rushing towards me."

Alphonso struggled to wipe the sweat off his face with the hem of his clothes.

"Using your clothes to clean the sweat defeats the point!”

The sweat was not even being wiped properly because the shirt was already soaked with sweat.

"Hing!" Alphonso looked teary.

I let go of Alphonso and asked Lisbon, "So why are you two sparring all of a sudden?”

Lisbon scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Actually, I was going to try participating in this New Year’s Festival Martial Arts Competition."

Lisbon’s words were quite unexpected, as knight school students usually didn't participate in the martial arts competition. The New Year's Festival Martial Arts Competition was mainly a competition involving wandering knights, adventurers, and mercenaries who were not in the military. It served as a kind of gateway competition.

Students at the knight school had many opportunities to be scouted by various knights while attending school. Furthermore, since there were even entrance exams for graduates, the intention was to give a chance to those who didn’t have such opportunities.

For the same reason, active knights who already belong to a knight division did not participate in the martial arts competition. Even so, it was only a tradition, so there were no actual rules to prevent participation. As such, it was up to the individual's choice to participate.

"Alphonso too?"

"Yea! I'm going to go out and win!" Alphonso shouted gallantly, but it seemed too exaggerated.

Aren’t you getting too confident in your victory after losing to Lisbon just now? Well, I didn't hate that kind of stupidity.

"Do your best.”

"Yep!" Alphonso gave a sunflower-like smile at my encouragement.

As he wiped away his sweat with a towel, Lisbon looked at me and asked, "Come to think of it, Den, you said you learned swordsmanship, right?"

At this reminder, I remembered that I had told him that I learned swordsmanship before. "Yes, well, I learned it, though it's only to the level of self-defense to protect myself.”

In my hometown, being able to protect yourself with your swordsmanship meant that you were at a level capable of creating an aura blade. For your information, on average, those in their late 20s could safely return to the village even if they roamed the forest alone.

"Then how about a spar with me?" Lisbon smiled refreshingly and pointed his sword at me. I refused, pushing away the blade.

“Are you going to break my wrist too?” I asked playfully.

Lisbon shook his hands as he became flustered, "Ah, no! I only struck down because I knew Alphonso's body was so strong. Would I do such a thing when I'm sparring with you?"

My body was stronger than Alphonso’s, though. However, I was thin compared to my father and older brother.

"Well, I'm tired after a hard day of work. Let’s do it next time we get a chance."

Lisbon replied with a regretful look. "Really?"

I changed the topic before he could repeat his request. "From the look of it, it seemed like you strengthened your clothes with mana. Does the Butterfly Tribe have that kind of technique too?”

Alphonso shook his head, “No, Uncle's friend told me about it.”

“Friend?” For some reason, I felt uneasy.

"Yeah. It was a man named Bloody Blade, and he said he'd come to see the martial arts competition."

Ah, I'm screwed.

* * *

The crown prince arrived at the prime minister's official residence in the palace. Arcanta guided Zantes to the reception room. The prime minister gave the crown prince the table in the reception room while he sat in the guest seat.

Zantes and Arcanta were the crown prince and a duke. In terms of position, they were both called 'Your Highness,' having the same ranking according to the Empire's statuses.

Yet, Arcanta was sitting one step below Zantes despite being the prime minister. In addition, the official residence was located in the imperial palace, so he had given the owner of the house the higher seat. (1)

Zantes had also lived in the palace since he was young, so he naturally sat in the higher seat.

"I apologize. I should have originally gone to see you instead...”

Zantes waved his hand and laughed at Arcanta’s apology, "No, it’s fine. The prime minister is busy as well, right? I'm still in a position of learning state affairs, so I'm not as busy as the emperor or the prime minister, so it’s only natural for me to come and see you."

"I'm very grateful to hear that. Actually, there's been backlash from other cabinet members about where to take out the budget for the reconstruction of the Red Magic Tower." Arcanta rubbed the deep, dark circles around his eyes to relieve his eye strain.

The prime minister said the cabinet members were protesting, but in fact, each cabinet member was holding onto his pant legs and begging him not to cut their budget.

Since he was young, Arcanta was someone who never shed any blood or tears when fulfilling tasks for the former emperor, the Blood Emperor. So right now, he was squeezing out the budget from each department.

"Hahaha, is that so? The prime minister is going through a lot of trouble."

As Zantes laughed, Arcanta sighed, "Ha-ah, I'm not joking. I'm currently squeezing out the budget for the Imperial Railroad Association, and the Chief laid down on his stomach begging me to spare him and really tried to lick my boots. I was so annoyed that I kicked him away."

It was an inevitable situation ever since they spent unnecessary money for the saintess’s ceremony. So he thought it was good that money was urgently needed.

"Kk-kk, is that so?" Zantes tried to hold back his laughter when he heard Arcanta's grumbling, but the laughter kept leaking out of his mouth.

Arcanta asked while drinking herbal tea poured by a servant, "So then, did your work go well?"

The prime minister was referring to the prince’s task to head to the Great Temple and make contact with the saintess.

The crown prince shook his head with a dark face. "No. It turned out that Cardinal Fernando was a snake. He wouldn’t even let me meet the saintess while saying that the saintess’s opinion was the most important. I was amazed by the monster-like surviving skills that allowed him to escape from my grandfather's grasp."

Arcanta nodded. At present, the temple was not powerful enough to ignore the imperial family. However, the saintess, as an individual, was a symbol that they couldn’t treat recklessly. Fernando knew that fact too well. He was an experienced politician who knew how to use the saintess to exist as more than simply an individual.

"It is as expected. Thank you for your hard work." Arcanta said, partially giving up on the saintess giving a blessing during the New Year's Festival.

In fact, spanning from half a year ago, there were many events that he had to worry about, ranging from the cases of the mysterious thief, Lupin, to what happened at Arelia’s ball. In addition, the increasing activity of the demons within their territory, the veteran civil servant who almost got poisoned, and the corruption of Marquis Baltain were all things he had to address.

Then there was the collapse of the Red Magic Tower and the New Year's Festival. There was too much to worry about. And soon, the civil servant trainees would be graduating, so he would have to worry about their appointments.

Yet, Zantes asked with a sad face, "Is there no other way?"

Zantes felt too regretful to miss this opportunity. There was too much political merit in the saintess, the symbol of the temple, blessing the imperial family.

To further explain this great impact, this could solidify the public’s support, and less importantly, it could keep the growing noble faction in check. It could also possibly lead to a couple of the religious bigwig nobles switching camps to the emperor’s faction.

As Arcanta was well aware of that fact, he brushed his chin as he pondered, "Mmm, I'm not certain, but there's one possible way."

The crown prince’s eyes widened. In reality, although he thought it was regretful, he had practically given up because he had no way to approach the saintess. His question about the presence of any other methods was just him complaining in regret.

"What is it?"

Arcanta smiled at Zantes’s urgency. "It is said that there are three envoys from the Crow Tribe who are close with the saintess and are currently staying in Bloody's mansion."

"Is that true?"Zantes asked, surprised enough to make him stand.

Arcanta nodded. "Yes, when the Chief of the Imperial Railroad Association went to welcome the saintess, she included three men and women with black hair and black eyes amongst her party."

"Three men and women?" Zantes tilted his head. The Crow Tribe did have black hair, but it was not like there weren’t other people with black hair in the Empire.

"Yes, as soon as they got off the train, they said goodbye to the saintess then jumped off from the East Capital Station. Considering that, it is certainly them."

"From that high place? It seems they are from the Crow Tribe." Zantes was speechless at Arcanta’s story. East Capital Station was high enough to see the whole view of the capital.

This was one of the things said by Jemuir, the Chief of the Imperial Railroad Association, as he tried to say anything to keep his budget intact. Of course, the Prime Minister still kicked away the Imperial Railroad Association Chief without any reservations and slashed his budget for next year.

"Shall I try to set up a meeting?" Arcanta asked whether he was going to proceed.

Zantes moistened his throat with the herbal tea that had cooled from the prolonged conversation and shook his head. "I'll take care of it. It would be rude to ask a busy person to set up a meeting."

What Zantes said meant that Arcanta didn't have to worry about it anymore. He was being considerate of Arcanta, who wished he had ten bodies for the heavy workload he had.

Arcanta felt pleased with Zantes' concern and nodded."Thank you for your consideration. Please do not be too upset if things do not turn out well."

Being advised not to be afraid of failure, Zantes nodded. "Of course. One can’t become discouraged from failure, even though I'm not in the barracks."

Zantes drank the remaining herbal tea in one go and got up from his seat. "You don’t have to see me off."

"Then I shall bid you farewell from here." Arcanta rose from his seat and said goodbye.

As Zantes left the reception room, Arcanta headed straight to his office in his residence. Even after work, the prime minister’s tasks continued.

Notes: 1) The owner of the house refers to Zantes as the owner of the imperial palace in which the residence is located. Aka, giving your landlord your seat.