Intersection

The imperial palace.

The castle located at the capital’s center.

Where the empire’s first emperor, Sirik Karakas, had resided.

The rear palace of that imperial castle.

Each empress received her own building and decorated it in her own colors.

Waiting for Emperor Sirik to visit at night.

There had been a time when the emperor would come after finishing his heavy duties during the day, and they would talk and make love through the night.

But when the palace’s master disappeared, the rear palace grew quiet.

The empresses left their quarters one by one, and even when they came to the capital, they rarely stayed in the rear palace.

Only one place still had someone living there.

The Fifth Empress’s quarters.

Splash.

A platinum-haired woman sat in an enormous bathtub with her eyes closed.

A beauty with lines flowing from forehead to cheek, from chin to shoulder with such sublime grace.

Such elegance that even a crude comedian with a talent for vulgar jokes wouldn’t dare open his mouth.

But right now, she was exhausted.

“Phew……”

The woman sighed, and a handmaiden quickly massaged her shoulders.

Five other handmaidens groomed and arranged her wings with silk towels.

Celestial wings were difficult to clean on one’s own.

They were also a source of pride, so grooming the wings was part of the daily routine.

The remaining handmaiden checked the water temperature and quickly added more hot water.

The woman asked calmly.

“Is there word from Miriel?”

“……She sent a letter. She says she’s with Princess Lisera, so please don’t worry.”

“Did you send a reply telling her to return? Or did I send one?”

“……You have not.”

The woman groaned and pressed her forehead.

Her head was cluttered from exhaustion and heavy duties.

The head handmaiden called out worriedly.

“Your Majesty, please rest for today. We will take care of bringing back Her Highness Miriel shortly.”

“That won’t do. I must bring that child back myself.”

“Your Majesty, that would not be proper. The time has already passed.”

“……”

When the woman stared at her, the head handmaiden spoke again.

“Public sentiment is already greatly disturbed by the repeated disturbances. If Your Majesty leaves the palace now, who can guarantee nothing else will happen? Moreover, if Your Majesty goes to fetch her personally……”

“People will suspect Miriel is being held against her will?”

“……Yes, we are deeply concerned. The world is already moving at a frantic pace. Please have compassion.”

“……”

The woman sighed.

“Then should I send word to Lisera…… no, that won’t work either.”

“Yes, we cannot understand Princess Lisera’s intentions either. She left the Sixth Empress’s side and is acting with Librata, is she not?”

“……Is there no word from the Sixth Empress?”

“……She turned us away at the door.”

“What about Second Empress Lang Ei?”

“……She said let us forget it ever happened.”

Splash!

The woman struck the water surface in fury.

Water splashed and the handmaidens flinched.

“Enough, enough! What exactly am I supposed to do? I can’t go myself! I can’t even tell her to come back! The other empresses all refuse to help!”

“……Your Majesty.”

“I know! I know! Miriel’s problem, that we were caught with a weakness means we must be extremely careful! We can’t expect help from anyone! Librata already learned our secret, so we must be prepared! That we’ll have to negotiate with them soon!”

“……”

The head handmaiden lowered her head.

The woman trembled and pressed her forehead.

Her heart pounded hard while her fingertips grew cold.

High blood pressure?

Heart fire — she felt like she’d get stress sickness.

“……Should I just quit everything?”

“Your Majesty.”

“I think I understand why that person wanted to resign as emperor. I feel that way right now. No, I’m even worse. I can’t do anything, completely helpless, just having to pretend the empire is fine and stay still. The empresses all abandon state affairs! Those calling themselves retainers only look after their own race and group’s interests! Sporadic terrorism keeps erupting everywhere!”

When the woman cried out hysterically, the head handmaiden bowed her head.

“……Even so, the empire is being maintained right now because Your Majesty is here. Please have compassion.”

“What compassion! I can’t even properly protect my own child, so what compassion!”

When the woman shouted with a ringing voice, the handmaidens quickly lowered their heads.

The trembling woman slowly caught her breath.

“……I apologize. That was not something I should have gotten angry about or yelled at you all for.”

“Not at all. We are lacking and not properly supporting Your Majesty.”

The woman sighed deeply and spoke.

“What’s tomorrow?”

“First, there is something to report. Her Highness the First Princess and Her Highness the Second Princess are currently heading to the capital. They don’t appear to be just coming.”

“……The First Princess?”

What complicated circumstances could there be now?

The woman, who had been calculating, shook her head.

The head handmaiden continued speaking.

“Tomorrow you have a meeting with Military Police Commander Arsen, and you are scheduled to bestow Your Majesty’s grace upon children from the slums. Then you will visit the Academy to encourage their studies, followed by a meeting with the Agricultural Minister, and then a meeting with the Noble Assembly Chairman is scheduled.”

A dizzyingly packed schedule.

They’d all be distrusting each other, being suspicious, just fighting for more, nothing but bickering.

The woman sighed, and the head handmaiden spoke.

“Also, we thought it would be good for you to meet the Counter-Terrorism Investigation Headquarters Commander, Rigen Librata, once, so we’ve made preliminary contact……”

“Is there no time among all that for me to go fetch my child?”

“……Your Majesty.”

“I apologize. I was being petty.”

The woman sighed deeply.

“Fine, tell everyone to leave. Second Empress is wandering around alone, Third Empress is acting strangely for who knows what reason. The youngest doesn’t even show her face. Everyone’s leaving me behind and abandoning me. I thought we were one family whether we liked each other or not, but everyone’s scattered in all directions. I’m a mother who can’t even take care of one child, let alone the empire.”

“……Your Majesty.”

“……Third Empress Iselen is strange. When things were divided or broken, she would neatly wrap them up.”

The woman shook her head.

Exhausted and tired, she’d thrown a tantrum, but once she calmed down, she was worried.

“Iselen is suffering even more than I am. Everyone fears her, but they don’t see what’s inside. Right now, the one having the hardest time is Iselen. She……”

Gave birth to Orca.

That shouldn’t have been it. It couldn’t end with just that.

For the dark elves……

The woman stopped that train of thought.

That person left, and the secret Iselen revealed in her daze, not even touching food or water — it wasn’t something to speak of.

The head handmaiden said.

“I will try contacting her again.”

“Yes, tell her I’d like to see her. Not to interrogate, just to have tea together.”

The woman lamented.

“Iselen cannot forgive herself. She thinks the problem back then was mostly her responsibility. Even though we all made mistakes.”

“Yes?”

“It’s a story only we know. A story that only we and that person know.”

The woman shook her head.

“Even if that person didn’t forgive us, to just leave like that. If he’d just stayed, even that alone would have been good……”

“……”

“……No, there’s no point resenting someone I’ll never see again. Let’s leave it at that. I apologize for getting angry at you all.”

“Your Majesty, we are the ones who are sorry.”

“……”

The woman held her forehead and kept her eyes closed for a long time before speaking.

“Iselen joined the Counter-Terrorism Investigation Headquarters, and the headquarters commander is Rigen Librata, correct? And Miriel and Lisera are with House Librata.”

“Yes.”

“Then somehow get Iselen and Rigen Librata together in one place, and I’ll have a conversation. Schedule it as soon as possible.”

“Yes, then I’ll arrange it as quickly as possible.”

The woman sighed as if relieved and spoke.

“……I’ll get out now. Prepare some alcohol.”

“Your Majesty. You’re drinking too much again.”

“If I don’t drink, I can’t sleep. You know that.”

The Fifth Empress, Celestial Justice Empress, smiled sadly.

“I miss that person so much I can’t sleep.”

Investigation headquarters.

The headquarters commander’s office.

Where I, Rigen Librata, have been conducting recent business.

Of course, the kids below are working hard investigating……

“……Thirty-seven.”

I was training.

Doing handstand three-finger pushups in the middle of the room.

Even using magic would make me collapse, but I have telekinesis.

I continuously maintain my body’s balance with telekinesis as it tries to collapse, constantly focusing magic only on my fingers.

It was a training method to use all my mental power and magic to the limit.

“Huff. And……”

After reaching fifty, I sat down and caught my breath.

“Now I’m about thirty percent through the fifth-rank magic level, I guess. More and more amazing as I go.”

Shaking my head, I moved on to the next training.

With my entire body drenched in sweat, I gripped a sword with both hands and swung.

I struck the wall exactly five meters away.

“Mmm, does that work?”

I tried using Teleportation to move just both wrists five meters and strike…… the point of impact was off.

Ah, can’t use this in real combat yet.

If I’m desperate, I’ll use it, but I’m not confident it’ll go as I intend.

“Iselen probably isn’t that strong though……”

Originally dark elves were on the weaker side in combat power.

Also, I know Iselen’s combat well, so if push comes to shove, I’m confident I can subdue her.

“It’s different from Lang Ei……”

Lang Ei’s intuition was so excellent she’d been subconsciously noticing.

But Iselen handles information — being suspicious is fundamental.

To make her believe I’m Sirik, I need to think more carefully.

Having calculated in my head, I cooled down my sweat and sat on the floor examining documents.

Documents the Central Police had stayed up all night organizing.

“The person who attended Kedrik’s parties the most often……”

After checking, I nodded.

Dierk’s identity — I’ve roughly gotten a handle on it.

Now I just need to go to the Sagittari estate and wrap things up.

“Using public authority to go in is impossible. Then it’s time to bring it up……”

Knock knock.

That’s when I heard knocking.

The one who entered was Mirei.

“S-Special Officer. You need to come quickly!”

“What is it?”

“They’re fighting!”

Very simple words.

I gave up on getting an explanation and followed Mirei downstairs.

Second floor.

Where investigators gathered to work, but a hostile atmosphere hung in the air.

It was Imperial Military’s Dargal Sagittari and Central Police’s Luon.

Kalbina, who noticed I’d entered, approached and whispered.

“The Central Police were talking about how House Sagittari seemed suspicious, and voices got raised.”

“Really? Then……”

“No, what is this!”

An booming voice behind me.

Uren Sagittari’s eyes widened as he spoke.

“When we should be devoting every second to the capital’s safety, why are you glaring at each other! Dargal! What is this about!”

“……It’s nothing.”

“Really! Then sit down!”

When Uren cut him off sharply, I shook my head.

“No, that won’t do.”

“Mm? It won’t?”

Uren looked at me quizzically.

Rather than stepping in for me, he’d just seen the scene and reflexively spoke.

I looked around at all the investigators and said,

“You all have things you want to say, right? Let’s speak candidly. About the suspicions that House Sagittari was involved in the Imperial Military bomb leak.”

“……What exactly are you saying right now?”

Dargal Sagittari, who had been about to sit, bristled.

But Uren shouted loudly.

“Dargal! You be quiet! The headquarters commander is speaking — where do you think you’re interrupting! Can you even call yourself Imperial Military after that!”

“……I’m grateful, but could you stop shouting from the side?”

My ears actually hurt.

When I covered my ears, Uren nodded vigorously.

“My apologies! I will listen attentively from now on!”

“……Sure. Anyway, the suspicion about House Sagittari is real. Actually, if you analyze the materials the Imperial Military handed over, that’s what you get, right?”

“……”

Dargal’s face was full of displeasure.

Anyone would be upset receiving suspicion that their family colluded with terrorists.

But Dierk is in House Sagittari.

The more I cross-check other information, the more suspicious House Sagittari looks.

“But we can’t get a warrant to search them. It’s too politically sensitive.”

“I don’t care at all! I actually welcome it!”

“……Stop shouting from the side.”

I crab-walked away from Uren.

Anyway, even knowing Sagittari is suspicious, public authority couldn’t rashly wield its scalpel.

If we did and nothing came up, the backlash would be unmanageable.

So I’d prepared a separate method.

Now’s the time to bring it up.

“If we just keep being suspicious, work won’t progress. So I plan to personally visit House Sagittari this weekend and look around.”

“Mmm……”

The Central Police showed some acceptance.

Having resolved the casino incident before, the Central Police had completely come to trust me.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Military also seemed to think it wasn’t bad.

They also thought it was difficult to keep carrying suspicion about House Sagittari.

Even the bristling Dargal seemed to consider it a reasonable judgment in the current situation.

“I’m not going as the investigation headquarters commander to surveil them, just accepting House Sagittari’s invitation and visiting. This way there’s no external problem, and if my investigation finds nothing, that’s enough.”

“Ah, then I’ll come too. Will you let me do that, Hundred Swords Commander?”

Kalbina perceptively raised her hand.

When our eyes met, she winked at me.

She’d come along because her brother might be in danger.

Uren nodded vigorously.

“Hahaha, you’re more than welcome! Come stay a month or two!”

“Hundred Swords Commander Uren, do you like parties?”

“Parties? I haven’t been to one since getting married!”

“Oh, you’re married? If you were House Sagittari’s eldest son, there must have been strong opposition?”

The twelve houses’ eldest sons postpone engagement and marriage as long as possible.

Just in case they might be elected as the second emperor.

That’s why Roderic is currently unmarried too, but Uren being married?

Uren laughed heartily.

“Haha, but what could I do when I fell in love with my wife!”

“Right, got it. See you this weekend.”

Now, to find the Apostle Dierk supposedly hiding in House Sagittari.

And settle things with the Queen of Assassins.