Bronze Dream (3)
The delegation had to walk for quite a while after passing through the gate.
Even though we marched through the wide streets and up great inclines for almost half a day, the distant imperial palace never got any closer.
If it was natural, then it was natural. Because of my presence, the imperial knights were toying with us. The knights serving as our guides surely knew the way, and despite the existence of a clear road that right up to the imperial palace, they lead us round and round.
No longer able to bear it, Siorin Kirgayen asked the imperial knight why he was leading us in circles. The knight’s answer to the count was indeed spectacular.
He said that since I had never before visited Hwangdo, he decided to give us a tour of the spired city. He then went on to say we should take in all the sights as well as we could. His behavior was patronizing, as if he was giving a gaggle of rural villagers a tour of the city.
Still, we were there as representatives from the kingdom, and it was as it was. He was rude, but we couldn’t be rude in turn.
I prevented the fuming Siorin from voicing an official protest against the imperial knight. I didn’t have the energy for a childish diplomatic scuffle.
I urged my companions to keep the shame of this day in their hearts and not on their tongues.
Upon hearing my words, the attitude of the discontented knights suddenly changed. The Templars, who had donned their helms, were no longer shaken. And as the occasional provocation came from the imperial knights, no one responded in the slightest.
“This is the middle of the enemy’s city, don’t forget that.”
“Be alert.”
The Templars constantly reminded each other that they were among enemies and should stay focused on the mission.
The knight of the empire, who had been leading the delegation around, became tired of his games.
“Ah, we have to go around this bend.”
The impudent knight finally led us onto the main road again, and we were finally able to ascend on the sloping road that led to the imperial palace.
It was only then that the true humiliation began.
While we walked along that great avenue, the citizens of Hwangdo came up and started laughing at us. They treated our delegation like a troop of country bumpkins and laughed at our weather-beaten appearance.
“Oh hoh! Come now, they are precious people from another country! Do you fail to see this fact because it’s dark? Act like wise citizens of the empire, friends!”
The knight was pretending to defend us, but the true effect of his words was to further draw out the mockery of the imperial citizens.
“Go into the carriage, Your Highness,” Siorin advised me, incensed by the spectacle. He said there was no reason for me to be an object of their ridicule. Instead of answering him, I called the imperial knight to me and asked for his name.
“What do you want to do with the name of this lowly knight?” the knight asked, and I noticed him shuddering.
“Thanks to you, I was able to see the Yellow City of Hwangdo, every corner of it, so I have to repay you later for the fine tour.”
“I was not hoping for any reward, but if you would give it, I am Rouen of the Yvesinth family.”
Somehow, I had suspected that the man who had made our entrance to the capital so difficult was affiliated with the Marquis of Yvesinth.
“Good. Rouen of the Yvesinth family, I will surely remember that name.”
Rouen laughed at me. I could see in his eyes that he was in no way scared of a prince from a small country.
After we had walked for a long time as Rouen led us, I finally caught my first glimpse of the imperial palace.
“Leonberg’s delegation will stay in the fifteenth palace. When the first scheduled event begins, I will deliver you all a separate message, so you are free to rest until then.”
The imperial courtier who had met us had made a cursory greeting and then immediately took care of business.
“There seems to be some error. We are not merely a sub-country delegation, there is a royal personage in our retinue. Please check again,” Siorin told the courtier.
The man pretended to scan the list, and then replied with a gloomy face, “There is no mistake. The Leonberg mission is in palace fifteen.”
Then, as if we were a mere annoyance that he had dealt with, the courtier turned away and disappeared into a corridor.
“Your Highness, I’m sorry. It’s all due to a lack of communication,” Siorin apologized to me as he explained the situation.
Burgundy’s imperial palace complex had a total of twenty-five palaces. The emperor resided in one, and the rest of the imperial family in nine others. The fifteen remaining palaces are said to exist for aristocrats, as they were quite lower on the imperial hierarchy.
“It’s better to have a quiet palace because then you won’t have to get involved with the imperial nobles,” Siorin said to appease me.
“As we know Your Highness’s character, it might be safer for the high-ranking imperial nobles if we stay there.”
Erhim Kiringer’s joke made his fellow Templars laugh.
The attendant who had been guiding us was startled by such words, looked behind her, and soon began to move on again.
* * *
The prediction that their entrance would be a quiet affair was wrong.
The hall was already crowded by those who had arrived before us. Among them, there seemed to be nobles of the empire as well as envoys from other countries.
It wasn’t difficult to distinguish between the two groups.
Those who arrogantly raised their chins while staring straight at us were imperial nobles. Those who politely bowed before glancing up were obviously the foreign envoys.
“Tsu. These fools have far to fall.”
I had been warned that even the lower-ranked nobles of the empire would not show the proper protocol that a prince was due.
I stepped forward and displayed myself before them.
“What, who is that?”
“He dares greet the nobles of our great empire, he who is from a small country?”
The imperial nobles had first flinched in disgust before they started to rebuke and chide me.
I smiled wide and then greeted them.
“Nice to meet you, you cowardly dogs.”
I greeted them in the language of Leonberg instead of in the imperial tongue.
“What? What are you saying?”
“From his expression, it looks as if he is greeting us.”
“Ha! He seems unable to speak Supreme Imperial.”
The imperial nobles had drawn their own false conclusions and were discussing me with great haughtiness.
“The arms of our great country are wide open, so I don’t know who he is, but he must go take a rest.”
I nodded, as if they had proudly greeted me, and then said, “Okay, this is my palace after all, so I’ll think about it.”
Once more, I had spoken in the language of Leonberg.
“But where the hell is their envoy!?” the imperial nobles exclaimed.
Even when they had seen the symbol of the golden lion on my chest, they had merely tilted their heads, unsure whether I had a low rank in the kingdom or not.
I wasn’t interested in such gaps in their knowledge.
I glanced at the attendant once more, and she swiftly guided us to the farther reaches of the fifteenth palace.
“These accommodations are truly luxurious.”
Siorin shook his head at my brief and sarcastic appreciation of our assigned lodgings.
“The plaque of the Marquis of Montpellier doesn’t seem to work in the imperial palace.”
“Maybe that’s for the best.”
I had not confirmed it yet, but I knew it was intentional that we had been lodged in the furthest dorms of a lower palace.
I unpacked my luggage in the corner of the fifteenth palace that had been set out for us.
* * *
The young prince of the Dotrin Kingdom clenched his teeth.
It seemed that laughter would burst from him at any moment, as he had been caught off guard.
He pinched his thighs, and forcibly held back his laughter.
His attendant shook their head as he saw him scrunch up his mouth. He knew that his prince had a strange personality, even a delusional one. The attendant had not considered the exchange to be that big a deal.
“So, have they gone?”
“They went, Your Highness,” the attendant said, confirming that all the imperial nobles had left.
“Puh! Hahahha!”
At that moment, the young prince’s laughter burst out.
“It looks like he has broken out in laughter again,” the attendant mouthed, as if the prince was pathetic. The young prince then pleaded that they had judged him unfairly.
“No, there is a reason that I laugh alone.”
The young prince then explained in a low voice what had happened just now.
The prince then explained what the meaning of the greeting had been that the guest, recently arrived in this palace, gave to the imperial nobles.
“Is that funny?” the attendant queried.
“It’s funny. It’s even funnier if you realize that the nobles of the empire didn’t understand what he was saying to them.”
“You probably learned the Leonberg language wrong if you heard it that way,” the attendant warned in a low tone, clucking his tongue, and added, “Keep your voice low. You never know who’s listening.”
“Listening in on us? Who? They wouldn’t even understand us,” the prince quipped.
None of the imperial nobles, who cared only for the affairs of the empire, had learned the languages of the small countries. They did not consider it necessary.
If there were those that spoke such tongues, they weren’t in this palace.
The attendant was momentarily convinced, so he changed the subject.
“Rather, are the rumors true regarding the head of the Leonberg delegation?”
“There are many families that use lions in their heraldry, but only one which uses a lion astride over a dragon: The Leonberg royal family.”
“Indeed!” the greatly impressed attendant cried admirably as the prince gave him his reply.
“For a man who had many victories against the knights of the empire, his posture seemed fitting.”
“I don’t know enough about swordsmanship,” the attendant admitted.
“Me neither, but I have eyes, and I can study people.”
“Is it his normal posture, though? How do you know he’s a skilled guy if you don’t even know swo-“
“No, he wasn’t just pretending to be handsome. It’s probable that he knows the art of the sword well.”
The prince from Dotrin had laughed, but he quickly took on a serious face.
“It looks like the martial life has been stamped firmly into him. Rumor also has it that a high-ranking imperial noble looks after him, but still, he has been assigned accommodation in the fifteenth palace, a place for lesser envoys.”
“We are such trembling, lesser envoys, then?”
The prince politely ignored the attendant’s statement and continued talking.
“Considering all of this, it didn’t look like he regretted his past actions.”
“I’m just telling Your Highness, don’t tremble for no reason.”
“It’s crazy. It all seems such a big deal, once you get caught up in it.”
“Can you believe that?” the attendant asked with wide eyes as he looked at the prince.
“What do you see me as!?” the prince exclaimed as he jumped up, adding that he was being treated unfairly.
* * *
“It is an honor to meet the protagonist of such juicy rumors.”
A young man with light-brown hair had suddenly appeared while I had taken a walk to breathe in the cool night’s breeze. He greeted me in fluent Leonbergian language.
“I am Doris Dotrin, from the Dotrin Kingdom,” the small, boyish man introduced himself with a smile. “And this is my attendant, Jin.”
As I stared quietly at the both of them after such an outrageous greeting, Doris had told me his servant’s name without me even asking him to.
“It is the honor of a lifetime to meet the heir of the Leonberg throne. I am Jin, of the Katrin family,” the dark-haired and sharp-faced attendant said as he bowed to me. It was only for a moment, but I was sure an unpleasant look had passed over his face. From that moment on, I knew that our meeting was coincidental, and not some scheme devised by Prince Doris Dotrin.
“Adrian Leonberger,” was all I said.
Jin’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly as he heard my curt greeting.
“His Highness Doris is twenty-six this year,” Jin stated.
“That’s a long life.”
Now I saw that Jin’s face slightly hardened at my words.
I did not understand what his intent was in telling me his master’s age, and I didn’t particularly feel the need to speak up. I was sure the person concerned, Dotrin, didn’t care much either.
“What more do you wish to say?” I asked, pushing the boundaries.
“Can’t I just say hello?” Doris asked.
“If that’s all, our business is over.”
“Then I must confess my innocent curiosity, as you are rumored to be a person walking the path of the sword.”
Doris Dotrin’s expression was now much the same as the first moment he had laid eyes on me.
He had a flawless smile, but I knew that a flawless smile is the best way to hide a darker inside, so I stayed alert. This might be the heart of the empire, but it was apt to say that the imperial palace was still a small place, and small places had many eyes and ears.
One should expect the strangest things to occur, and it was never certain when, where, and what kind of guys could jump from behind a bush to play their games and try their tricks.
I took a step back and studied the two men. I summoned the power of [Judgment] into my eyes.
“Huh?”
After I saw the status screen floating in the void, I opened my eyes.
“If you would give me the chance, I would like to see the swordplay of the famous Leonberg knights and-“
“Your Highness. They are famous, and they have swords. I’m sure you’ll see them, it won’t be a problem,” Jin interjected.
“Then what’s wrong? Why interrupt me?”
Jin furtively looked around, and then said in a low voice, “Haven’t you forgotten something?”
“No, I don’t know what you mean.”
“You aren’t dull, but you can’t learn how to use white-edge swords, yes?”
“So what do you want to say?”
“I think you got caught, Your Highness,” Jin told Doris as he looked at me.
“Ah, no way,” Doris said, looking at me as he rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s right,” he then said as his face grew stern, “I got caught.”
Doris looked foolish then, and all three of us started to laugh.
But just because I laughed with them did not mean that we were laughing about the same thing.
On one side, there was a loud laughter that was meant to cover up deficiencies.
On the other side, there was laughter that was pure laughter, no more and no less.
Of course, my laugh fell in the latter class.
To be honest, I couldn’t even say that it was completely pure.
* * *
The third princeps was not happy at all.
He had been in such a state ever since he heard that the first prince of the Leonberg kingdom, who had made a pact of brotherhood with him, had been relegated to the fifteenth palace.
The official would never have placed the Leonberg delegation in such a lowly palace if they didn’t want them to suffer a loss of face.
It was an overt disregard and an outright provocation.
And the third princeps was not a person who would be ignored by others, and that was as true now as ever.
His limited patience had been exhausted in a mere hour, so he sprang straight into action.
“Well, Your Highness.”
The imperial courtier who now faced the third princeps was tired of his whining.
“You dare embarrass me?”
The princeps stepped forward. The courtier tried to step back, but the princeps grabbed him by the folds of his neck fat and started shaking him.
“Your Highness! It wasn’t by my will, believe me!”
“Who did it then? Tell me!?”
The princeps raised his hands, as if to slap the courtier’s cheeks, so the man closed his eyes and shouted, “Wah! It was His Majesty!”
“What?” the third prince asked with a dumbfounded expression.
Then he released his grip on the man and stepped back. He cried out and rolled onto the floor, laying flat.
“It has all been directed by His Majesty the Emperor, Your Highness!”
“So you’re saying that His Majesty directly assigned those lodgings to the Leonberg delegation?”
“Would I be safe if I lied to Your Highness? Trust me!” the imperial courtier cried out at the princeps how lay on the floor.
“Why?” The third princeps could not understand it.
A dozen missions from dozens of kingdoms visited each year.
The emperor had never cared about them in the slightest.
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