After the exam period, the second prince approached me once again, this time after class.
"Eli! Wait up a bit. Before you go, I want to ask you something. You are in the anti-mage faction, right?"
"Prince Ludwin, I am just a child. I didn't join any political factions in the empire. Please direct such questions to my guardians." I smiled. He came to bring trouble to me again. However, I was prepared to deflect his invitation.
"You see, my uncle and father had a fight again. This is about the knight that harassed your citizen."
"Oh, but I believe the case was over with the justiciars giving the verdict." That guy was a rapist. Why would Prince Ludwin care about him? Father and I have also checked. The knight was simply a baron's third son. He was not important. "Does the royal family have any issue with it?"
"I personally don't have any issue with it. The knights were fully in the wrong, and they should get punished. However, some nobles criticized us for the way we handled it. It was the noble who thinks we pandered to the mages again." Prince Ludwin then explained that when the victim refused marriage and compensation, the noble frowned their eyes. They thought the commoner mages should be grateful to be able to marry into nobility. He further explained that usually, in the empire, if such harassment occurred, the victim was married off to the perpetrator to maintain her purity. The only case where the knights were justified to be imprisoned or even face a death sentence was if the victim already had a fiancé, which wasn't the case here.
"It was the victim and her family's choice to get the knights into prison," I replied. I was a female both here and in my previous life. I could only roll my eyes at their outdated, toxic culture despite the advanced technology.
"However, they were commoners, and commoner women should marry better men. The man who raped her was a royal guard and thus had a stable income. The nobles were questioning if the victim was sane. They accused you of influencing the victim's decision to deal a blow to that baron's family and possibly their faction, who were in Duke Luca's." His words were grating on my nerves. "They were petitioning the royal guard to stop supporting your county."
"I didn't influence her. Our family didn't even meet the victim's family. If you were so inclined to defend that knight, you could use your royal prerogative to release him from prison and even reinstall him back as a royal guard. As long as he didn't visit our county, his life was no concern to us." I tried to hold in my anger and negotiate the best I could. However, this noble business was getting so infuriating that I lashed out at him. "Prince Ludwin, what if Charlotte got harassed? Won't you simply kill the perpetrator?"
Prince Ludwin looked at me wide-eyed at my hostility. "However, she was a commoner."
"Prince Ludwin, that knight was only a baron's third son. He was manaless too. He was not a better man than the victim. Even if the victim was no longer pure, she was still a mage. On the other hand, he got into the prestigious royal guard simply because of money. Moreover, he could die at any moment because of war. If you wanted to weigh who you should defend for the better empire, do it properly. Even though you were supposed to be in the mage elitist faction, how could you protect a nobody?" I started berating him. My morals from Earth and Elidranthia's hatred for nobility found common ground here, and my emotions ran wild at the prince.
"Whether you look at it as the anti-mage faction or mage elitist faction, it is clear who should receive justice."
"I see. I was wrong. I guess I was too afraid of these nobles' pressure. I apologize." He bowed his head. Thankfully, we were in the special classes and not the usual cafeteria, so the peanut gallery only consisted of thirty people. Most of them were commoners, with a few nobles mixed in. I hoped this issue wouldn't blow up to others.
Little did I know that gossip travels faster than lightning. Margareth and her company harassed me again right when I went to lunch with Safira, Nana, and Alicia.
"What did you do to Prince Ludwin, huh? I heard you raise your voice to our prince. Was that treason?" Margareth had the villainess aura more than I did. The smug look, together with the croissant drill hair, was perfect. She really had the ohohoho villainess look down to a tee. Where was she in the original novel? I couldn't recall she made an appearance there.
"Lady Margareth, your faction's lowly knight has harassed a mage from my county. Moreover, you banded together to plead with Prince Ludwin so that the lowly knight could be forgiven? Or do you think rape was forgivable as long as the other party is a commoner? Does this mean you intended to steal our mages?"
"We pay better than your puny county. It's only right that your mage goes where it pays best! You too, Lady Safira. Have you been brainwashed by this red-eyed witch?"
"Well, fortunately, they didn't flee to your dukedom. I guess your egregious solicitation has come to an end. I actually wondered if you actually paid mages better. If you did, then you have violated the imperial decree of feystone prices," I said as I released my intimidation. I sincerely hoped they would flee, but they didn't. Of course, what I am saying is a baseless accusation. The empire won't defend me, but we are in a children's fight. I wonder if her parents would sue me to the justiciars.
"Damn witch. Don't think I will be afraid of your evil eyes forever," Margareth said as she left.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Am I in trouble?" I turned toward my friends. My trio of friends was nodding intensively.
"R666, I need your help. Viscount Mateo has an affair with Countess Isabella. He wanted to know if Isabella's current husband had an affair with other girls. And if you do, he will pay 150P, and if not, he will pay 10P. I have assigned this to R661, but you will support him if possible." R25B didn't mention sharing the profit. But I didn't want to discuss it. It would be fine if all of the communication went to R661. We needed to help each other whenever we could.
"Well, if it was only taking him to a cafe or restaurant, I didn't really mind," I replied in a whisper through my earpiece. Lately, the capital was calm. There were no big jobs, and I ended up as support most of the time. However, I had my own troubles in my noble life. Margareth was seriously picking a fight with me. She already started a rumor about me brainwashing Safira or threatening her.
"Miss Elidranthia… umm… can we speak for a moment?" Nana came to me feeling gloomy. Is she going to ask for another study session? I would be glad to attend. This social life was getting tiring for me. I had to explain Safira's case and the knight's crime all over again. I never thought I would find a study session so relaxing.
"Yes, what is it, Nana? Would you like to hold a study session again?"
"Umm… No. I had words from my father. He… um…” She stuttered. Even after a year, she was still shy, even around me. It was a bit heartbreaking.
"What did your father say?"
"He wanted to form a trading connection with your county. He mainly sells grain. So, he was wondering if you need any or if you were willing to sell any?"
"Sure! County Shadowsteps produces foodstuff. You could go to Narwhal; he will lead you around my county. There are two villages that farmed grain. Moreover, Narwhal said he would start farming fruits! You might not be able to get citrus and bananas yet. But some spices grow quickly. I will tell him to welcome your father." I said as I promoted my store. We always sell to the country. However, unlike feystone, grain is not watched that closely here.
"R666, I have a new mission for you. This is an assassination mission. Four baron's families need to die. Can you do it? The commission is 150P each. Here is the list." R25B told me with gravity. "By the way, this is a direct commission. That means the client specifically asked for R666."
"Is it because of that royal guard's behavior? The one who raped my citizen?" I facepalmed.
"Yes. Wow. Word sure travels fast. Didn't expect you to know about it."
"Why did the client appoint me?"
"Dunno. Maybe the client expected you not to give in to counter-offering. That was against the company's policy though. But a direct commission like this is more secretive because only several people know about it. If it was the normal commission, other reapers might leak it to another party."
"Eh? That is allowed?"
"Of course not. The reapers will be fired, and we will put a bounty on his head. If there were proof." R25B's last words made me frown. Did he mean the guild knew information was leaking but let it go because of no proof? This world sure was complicated. I simply wished to kill some bandits like in video games. Why did I have to kill nobles? And assassinations at that.
"That royal guard was a nobody. Why was everyone so bothered by him so much!" I screamed out in frustration.
"That royal guard was not important. However, after Baron Kharn's desertion, everyone was on edge. The empire started to regulate travel, and nobles have been accusing His Majesty of being a tyrant."
"Then killing these four barons would only increase the tension!"
"That's not for us to decide. It was the client. Will you do it or not?"
"Alright. I will do it."
"The time is up to you, but all of them need to be killed in a week after the first assassination. If you take too long, they will flee and put up guards in their own houses."
"I will kill them all in a day. Now is a good time to let out some stress. Duke Luca's daughter has been picking a fight with me lately. These nobles were in the merchant's faction, right?"
"Oh? She did? Now that is interesting info. I wonder why she did that. Her attitude was different from the majority of Duke Luca's policy. Maybe because she is a mage? Albeit not as high as you?"
You have picked improved kinetic vision level 1
I picked my level-up bonus. I refused to become a vampire. So, there was only one choice for me.
Blessing of the Killing Star (lvl 4)
- fearless
- intimidation
- improved strength
- improved agility
- beast instinct
- dark magic
- - kinetic vision lvl1
- Stealth/Camouflage lvl 2
----------------------------------------
"This is bad," I muttered as I reviewed the files.
Reports about the empire kept coming in. When Baron Kharn was assassinated, the theocracy put the blame on us. However, the empire put the blame on the merchant guild due to them actually putting the bounty and executing it. Well, both of them put the bounty, but the empire withdrew it after they found out Baron Kharn left the country without Safira. It was like the pot calling the kettle black.
After such a fiasco, the empire and theocracy imposed a ban on travel and tax increase. This put a massive strain on the merchant faction. Their trade partners were mostly the theocracy and its vassals because the empire had already banned them from conducting trade with enemy nations. Now, with the worthless royal guard being imprisoned, they used it against the royals, inciting the anti-mage faction. Count Shadowsteps was also being shunned due to R666 being a little bit too close to the prince, who is in the mage elitist faction, and many of their suggestions promoted the mages. Thus, she was disdained by the merchant faction.
However, the knight candidates all adored her, so her position remained secure in Duke Bron's faction due to her easygoing and humble attitude. Her being a level 8 mage, the highest in all of the academy, also smoothed things over with Slane's faction, and she was seen as the bridge between mages and commoners. Thus, the merchant faction had difficulties reining in R666, who cooperated with the prince and had backing from Slane and Bron's faction. They felt cornered, and thus, the rebellious attitude.
Now, with the assassination quest of the four barons, the royals wanted to put them all in their place. However, they took a massive gamble with this. This could lead to revolt instead, and with the war on the County Shadowsteps on the horizon, the damage could be irreparable. If the merchant group had pulled all their support from Duke Bron's planning and favored Count Sark instead, R666's county would have been lost.
War on the Western Front was supported by the theocracy and its vassals, but the empire would be alone in the war against the Elderan Empire. The empire didn't want to put more tension against the anti-mage faction by allowing theocracy's knights into Duke Bron's territory.
"Well, I will make an escape route if worse comes to worst. At least Count Shadowstep and R666 should live," I muttered as I arranged for our handler to inform Count Shadowstep about the escape route if they lost the war against Elderan.