章 31: Chapter 30: Initiating a Mock Battle
"Your Majesty."
I bent at the waist, bowed, and stared straight at His Majesty.
"What is it?"
"I remembered that I had some unfinished business at the Ministry of Justice. I'd like to ask your permission to leave."
...
His Majesty furrowed his brow, tilting his head to look at me.
That was it.
Like anything else, it's not good to overdo it.
The same goes for this story.
His Majesty called Oscar, the Minister of Finance.
If I continue to stay here, I might encroach on Oscar's authority if I'm not careful.
This kind of thing should be done in moderation, or rather, it must be done in moderation.
So before Oscar arrives, I make an excuse for my absence.
His Majesty looks at me for a moment, then says with a faint sigh.
"You're a clever one, Lucas."
Apparently, he knew about my intentions.
But then again, that's the emperor for you.
He didn't go any further and returned to his original expression.
"I will allow it."
" Thank you for your time."
Finally, I kneeled down on one knee, bowed, and exited His Majesty's study.
I left the study and walked out to the front.
And I spotted a eunuch nearby and gestured to him. He came towards me.
As he approached, I realized I knew him.
"Siz, huh"
"Yes."
It was Siz, a low-ranking eunuch I've met every time I come to the palace.
"I'm going back to my residence. Get my carriage ready."
"It's already waiting out front."
"You're quite smart."
"Thank you very much, sir."
"There seems to be a lot of noise over there, what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
Siz replied in a high-pitched voice.
Eunuchs usually enter the royal court at an early age with their genitals clipped, so most of them never grow beards or change their voices.
According to the doctor, this is because something that is supposed to be secreted in the body after a man comes of age is no longer done.
Incidentally, in the past, the church choir used to do the same thing as eunuchs in order to maintain the boy's voice, but now the imperial law forbids anyone other than the eunuchs in the imperial family to cut off their genitals.
"We're cleaning up the area after what Your Highness just did."
"Me?"
"Yes, the ground has melted into a doughnut shape, and everyone is wondering how it happened, and there's a lot of talk among us."
"I see."
"Everyone was amazed at the power of His Highness. One of them even fell into the pit when he was trying to dig up the soil after it had melted into mush. It was so deep that the one who fell broke his leg."
"Your mouth is just… here."
I took out a leather bag from my pocket and threw it at Siz.
As usual, it was a leather bag containing 100 reens that I had prepared for him as a reward.
"That's for the treatment and the labor."
"Thank you very much! Also, everyone says that His Highness is very kind to those under him, even though he is young."
"No need to flatter me that much."
"No, it's true. His Highness will probably get married soon, but the number of applicants to serve him is flooding in, and the scale is over 100."
"Really?"
Not only the royal palace but also the Prince's residence can dispatch eunuchs if they wish.
Eunuchs are originally castrated to prevent them from making "mistakes" with the nobleman's wives and concubines.
This is a necessary procedure for the emperor to maintain the purity of his bloodline, and it's quite important, even for the Princes, so they often have eunuchs in their mansions after marriage.
"The number of eunuchs is likely to increase at this rate. It is said that you are the most popular of His Majesty's children."
"Hoh. By the way, what's that thing in your pocket?"
I pointed to the area around Seeds' bosom, diverting the conversation from the politically sensitive topic that could become too broad.
"Oh, this one."
He took out a transparent box from his pocket.
There were two beetles in the box.
"I brought this for His Highness the Sixteenth. He seems to like to make beetles fight."
"I see."
His Royal Highness the Sixteenth – my younger brother, the Sixteenth Prince – just turned three this year.
He is still very young, therefore he does not have a house outside the Palace, and lives in the Palace.
Since he is a Prince, he is given a certain amount of strict education, but at the same time, there are many children who ask eunuchs to give them these bland toys.
I've heard that the fourth prince, brother Henry, was also fond of such things.
While chatting randomly with Siz, we went outside the palace and boarded a waiting carriage.
"Where are we heading?"
Gigi, the new maid, who was sitting beside the carriage, asked me.
"The mansion."
"V-Very well, sir."
Though still inexperienced, Gigi relayed my order to the carriage attendant.
As the carriage began to move, Gigi made her way to the side.
As the carriage rocked, I looked at the ring on my thumb.
His Majesty's gift, a new piece of equipment, the Ring Luthiya.
I'll have to learn to use this well.
"...Fumu."
Suddenly, I remembered the beetle that Siz had.
I remembered that, and asked the willful Leviathan and Luthiya if it was feasible.
Both of them answered that it was 'possible'.
Then do it, I ordered them.
I linked the ring of armor with both Leviathan and Luthiya.
They both transformed the armor rings.
After a while, two figures were created.
Both were the same size as my palm, and both had their toes connected to the ring of armor.
One was light blue and held a sword, and the other was red and had its fists clenched.
The next moment, the two dolls started to fight.
Right in front of me, on the carriage, the two figures were fighting.
I had seen the movements of the light blue swordsman before, in Leviathan's memory, and they were very similar to the movements I had made when I was swinging my katana.
This one had more power and speed. I guess I can move like this when I grow up, I thought.
And I had never seen the red one before, but this one had flames on his hands and feet and was throwing punches and kicks.
I guess with Luthiya's power, I can move like this too.
The fight lasted less than a minute.
The light blue swordsman–Leviathan–overwhelmed Luthiya from start to finish, finally managing to break through the guard and slice the torso in half down the middle.
"Wow. ..."
I heard an admiring voice from the side.
Gigi, who was accompanying me, looked at me with respect.
"What is it?"
"Master, that's amazing. What's that?"
"Ever saw a beetle or a cricket fight?"
"Well, the boys in the village used to do that."
"It's the same thing."
"But it's amazing. It's magic, isn't it?"
"It's kind of similar."
I thought for a moment and mimicked Leviathan's move from earlier.
Imitating its last slash that cut down Luthiya, I swung the demon sword I pulled out.
Leviathan slashed the decoration that was inside the carriage in front of me.
"Huh? Your sword passed by it and it was not cut?"
"It's been cut, you see."
With that, I pinched the tip of the decoration and lifted it up.
"Wow."
I put it back – on Leviathan's suggestion.
The decoration was restored to its original state.
It was as if there was no cut at all as if it had been sucked back into place.
The carriage went through the city, and the wheels hit a pebble and the carriage bounced a bit.
But.
" Huh? It didn't fall."
The decoration that should have been cut off was still attached to the carriage, and Gigi looked at it curiously.
I grabbed the decoration again and showed it to Gigi.
"The surface is smooth, right?"
"Yes."
"If you cut it with the right technique, it becomes smooth like this, and when you put it back together, it sticks together perfectly."
"Wow, ... this is amazing!"
Gigi said with sparkling eyes.
I smiled and thought about Leviathan and Luthiya.
It was a mock battle, so to speak, using it in combination with the Armor Ring.
This way, they could practice the techniques they both had in them.
It was a coincidence but I was a little happy that I had devised a good method.
"…u!"
I saw a status out of the corner of my eye, and it caught my eye.
――――――――――――
Name: Lucas Ararat
Title: Minister of Justice
Gender: Male
Level: 2 / ∞
HP: E+F
MP: F+F
Strength: F+E
Stamina: F+F
Intelligence: F+E
Spirit: F+F
Speed: F+F
Dexterity: F+F
Luck: F+F
Fire: F+C
Water: E+S
Wind: F
Earth: F
Light: F
Darkness: F
―――――――――――
For some reason, my level has increased, and my HP has gone up one level.
As soon as I thought, "How?" the ring caught my eye.
"... No way."
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