Chapter 11: Preparation

"I hope I don't startle you, sir advisor, as the prince's new recruit." I bow my head because I see this custom during greetings between others. So this is an act of respect, isn't it? Advisor sighs with relief, grooming himself back to the throne room's façade.

"Isn't it the prince's equal?" As I suspect, you are not accustomed to royalty. Keep your head held high so that you do not tarnish his name." He then constructs mana as telekinesis to move the parchments and scrolls to their proper location on the bookshelf. The amount of mana dispersed to each object was perfect, with none being overfilled.

"Any beverage to your liking?" It's already night, but I'm not sure if the angels need to sleep. The fact that you are here and not with the military minister suggests that you are exploring your new home or that you are specifically interested in this room.'

"A cup of tea would be preferable to putting the words in my mouth." The demon flinches at my retort; has he seen me as someone only to take Kryos's behind? Without further ado, he turns and pours a cup of dandelion tea. It smells bitter, and getting too close can cause me to cry.

"This is the tea that will keep you sharp during this exhausting period." Drink it the way you asked." The drink goes down my throat hard, and the content is spiky and tingly in the mouth, but the minty aftertaste helps to alleviate nausea.

"State your reason for entering now that I've completed your request." He looks through my eyes, and lofty excuses like walking in the middle of the night or being drawn inadvertently by the design of the entrance aren't going to cut it.

"I'm here to prepare for the role I'm about to play." I am unfamiliar with the structure, so studying through the night is a necessary sacrifice." To him, my response is unimpressive. Words I display are just another empty promise he has seen; years of disappointment have caused him to react coldly to one's conviction.

"And what do you hope to achieve by entering this room?" And what you say, is this what you consider child play? So you're no different from him?" His statement has broken the bottle of emotion I've been keeping since coming here. This anger, which I had never felt before, appeared out of nowhere, making my words as truthful as they could be, unhinged and hurtful.

"I have never done anything so dishonoring to my contract." He has given me a role that is as important as the rest of my life. Don't think you arrived much earlier than me and dare to disparage my efforts without blinking. I'm not going to allow it, no matter how important it is for you to have broken my contract." Is Advisor going to dispose of me? His eyes glow a deep red. If that is the case, I am prepared to fight for the life I so desire. Instead, he expresses a sense of enjoyment, which I find strange. His laughter relieves the tension in the room.

" I used to think angels were a bunch of hypocrites who got caught easily through provocation. Your desire is sincere enough not to smear His Majesty's authority in mud. That is sufficient evidence for me to believe you. For the other five, I believe I may need to take a step forward in order for them to feel comfortable with your decision." Advisor sighs and drinks his tea, gazing out the window at the moon.

"May I thank you?" He is a perfectionist at this job, or that is just the relation of his job because the bookshelf is neatly organized by time and document. "Were the documents you had organized on the bookshelf important?"

"No, I'm just sorting the document by time for your convenience; this should be finished by tomorrow morning; you're here too early for me to finish it." That provocation is merely a diversion from my incompetence." Advisor admits to his past transgression, which I took as a character test to see what I truly desired.

"May I then offer my assistance if you aren't so strict on tonight's assistant?" At this hour of the night, the title should be dismissive. I finish the tea quickly and proceed to the location of the disorganized scrolls, picking them up one by one. Each one is identical in design, and they are all made of animal skin, preferably bull skin.

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"However, do you know how the kingdom works?" You previously admitted to being a foreigner at such work." Advisor rushes in to observe what I do with those documents; his expression is curious rather than worried as it was previously.

"True, I am not very good at politics because I lack primary experience, but I can assure you that my knowledge of civil work is not hampered by ignorance." I read through a random scroll that had been left on the table in a short amount of time; it is about the current kingdom's army. . Surprisingly, according to the report on rune-craving equipment, they can still afford such luxuries. "The magical equipment reports should be kept in the expenses section rather than the military section, based on your appointing number of 1 to 7, the number 1 is the commerce right?"

"Milord, your deduction is correct. I grossly underestimated you. "Could you please assist this servant in cataloging these as you see fit?" His tone shift is so abrupt that it sends shivers down my spine. I'm sure I'm too proud of my abilities to admit it at this point.”

"Of course, I'll do it at your leisure." We both start deciphering the documents in the piles. Some are critical, but the majority are simply general information gathered over the course of the seasons. The more I read, the less I understand how this place managed to survive despite the hardships. A single demon's records were few and far between. Consider how Blood Claw was said to have deserters who wrote these, despite the fact that the details indicate otherwise.

Blood stains are found on many scrolls as they come from department to department, with the most being found in the commerce section. As the blood stains indicated, these are the works of traitors, not deserters. Putting aside the minor detail, the organization completed that three when the north star lost its luster.

"I must say, these are finished much faster than expected." It would have taken me a night and a morning to complete this task on my own. Thank you for your generosity; it is still before dawn. I have once again gravely underestimated your knowledge of this."

"Is there anything else that needs to be done?" The moonlight shines through the window, revealing the magnificent view I hadn't seen before cleaning this room. The value of an emperor was once recorded in a painting in the garden library, I can feel it from the room alone. I believe its design was not created by Kryos. Knowing how flashy he is, this room would look very different.

"No, but I must inquire, milord." Advisor inquires unexpectedly. His focus shifts to a more serious matter.

"Tell your concern that it hasn't yet dawned, so you should drop the formality for the time being." He nods in response to my request, but his tone remains unchanged, even after the organizing.

"As you wish. Are angels truly sleepless? You learned while traveling with the military minister that demons require sleep whenever their souls are depleted of environmental mana. "Do you need to sleep?" His question is well-meaning, as some who don't know much about my journey here might assume angels don't sleep because of my sharp focus even in the middle of the night. Those hellish lessons are what kept my will not to easily waver when being awake for a long time; these nightmares, too, whenever I wish not to see the possibility of being captured again.

"Normal angels would need to sleep to enjoy the mental stimulation that keeps them sane." But I am not one; an archangel is someone who is constantly awake by instinct, making it difficult for me to sleep. Don't worry, my body can repair itself, but working to exhaustion is normal at times." He won't be able to refute this when I tell a lie at a time like this, will he?

"Won't you die as a result of it?" As mana becomes entangled in your body, will you be unable to perceive the world around you and die from mana exhaustion?" "I was wrong, he is too knowledgeable for this trick, so I must confess the truth but only in part because they will only abuse me if the whole truth comes out.

"Can you promise to keep my special condition a secret now that I've told you my story? Even with the prince, you are serving?" The moonlight reflected in my golden eyes, emphasizing the significance of the contract. I request something of a threat, and the fact that I am capable of erasing his existence is nothing to scoff at.

"Of course, Milord... "I swear it on my existence as Saudade's royal advisor," He declares as I grossly underestimated this man's thirst for knowledge. I've never seen anything like his gluttony. Now I understand why I was terrified in the throne room.

"All right, then. The condition that I and the 12th archangel share is that we are reborn every time we die. The location is determined by where our body or remains have previously been placed."

"What miserable fates... Did you inherit it? "Why is it only shared by the third and twelfth?" His curiosity has only grown since I revealed the truth to him. I can't give in to this or else all of my secrets will be revealed.

"That's a story for another time." It was already four and a half o'clock, and the sun would be up soon. I have to go somewhere before I greet his Majesty." I feel bad for putting Blood Claw on the spot when we meet as the escape route.

"Milord, I bid you farewell." I hope death does not come for you soon."

We part ways, and the sun shines on the black-stone palace. A new day has dawned without my doom. How long can I delay that fate?

The end