Side Story 18. Spider Trap (7)
At that moment, a person stood in front of Glont's blade. Glont momentarily injected mana into his arm and twisted the sword, changing its trajectory and causing it to hit the ground.
Bang!
The audience room’s huge marble floor was cleanly split into two. Glont couldn't see his surroundings well due to blood rushing to his head. Yet, when he saw who had intervened, even Arcanta was surprised, and he had been prepared to die.
"M, Mom!" shouted Arcanta.
"It's been a while, Son." It was Arscilla who suddenly stood in front of Glont’s blade.
"You should be in the countryside. How did you get here?” Arcanta asked in fluster.
"I brought her here,” Duke Asteria answered as he ate peanuts behind the head of the imperial guard.
"Sir, you did?"
"Yeah. I guess the imperial palace’s magic circle is certainly amazing. Even though blood was rushing to his head, that idiot still didn’t feel her presence."
Arscilla smiled lightly as Duke Asteria spoke in his same old leisurely voice, and she said, "Thank you for inviting me here, Your Highness the Duke."
"No need to thank me, Duchess. Let's say that our previous debt has been paid with this."
Arscilla shook her head with a serious expression. "Your Highness has no debt to me. You had simply acted on my behalf at that time, so please don't let it burden your heart."
After saying that, she looked at Glont with gentle eyes. "It's an honor to see the great hero of the Empire who is held in such high esteem."
Glont's eyes trembled when he heard this, and Arscilla took a deep breath as she watched the silent Glont. "My son is lacking and has committed a great sin. It's also my crime for not raising my son right, so please punish me instead and reduce the punishment my son deserves."
"M, Mom!" When Arscilla asked to have her own life taken, Arcanta was genuinely shocked.
"Shut up! Don’t interrupt when adults are talking, you bad child!"
Arcanta was more surprised when he heard his mother yelling at him than when he’d faced Glont's killing intent.
"General. Of course, he committed a crime that cannot be reconciled with only my life, but please spare my son's life. Even if you sever his arms or legs, my son will be willing to endure it. Please give me a chance to atone for my son with my life."
Glont’s grip on his sword tightened. There was a man standing right before him who he wanted to kill immediately, but his mother was also there as well.
"…I promised. Promised that I'd take responsibility even if I had to put everything on the line. Who can punish that person if it's not me?" Glont clenched his teeth.
If it was the former emperor, the Blood Emperor, he could be killed by Duke Asteria. Perhaps Duke Asteria would make him live through a greater pain than death. But this wasn't the case for Arcanta. The prime minister was a person that the duke needed.
This was evident in the presence of someone who shouldn’t have been able to be here, Arscilla. Therefore, he did not hesitate to release his killing intent in front of the emperor and draw his sword. He’d been determined to give up his life.
"I…! Then what should I do?!"
However, Glont’s determination seemed to be gradually dulling. He had to cut Arcanta down. Yet, he was not strong enough to kill a child in front of his mother. If he had been cold-hearted enough to kill Arcanta now, he would not have felt such immense guilt from the slaughtered innocents in the first place.
Glont felt resentful toward Duke Asteria.
Why was he being so cruel? Was he punishing him for him failing to protect Anemone? Was it a punishment for failing to protect someone who he had sworn to protect with his life? Was it a punishment for failing to uphold his beliefs that were more precious than his life?
Clang!
The sword slipped from Glont's hand. An indomitable sword that had never been dropped from his grasp, whether it be of his own will or anothers’, fell to the floor.
"...Go ahead."
It was a small voice, but Arscilla clearly heard it. She saw it. Something that didn’t seem like it could be broken, that shouldn’t be broken, had been broken.
Arscilla could not even dare to say thank you. Instead of his son's life, he’d sacrificed his all.
"If you want to take my life, come and see me anytime. I will never leave the capital so that you can find me easily,” Arscilla remarked before she grabbed her son's hand and left the audience room.
Not even looking at the two who were leaving, Glont knelt down and bowed his head. "Your Majesty, I was biased due to conviction and emotion, and I irrevocably disrespected your Majesty. Please punish this inadequate man."
The emperor shook his head. "I won’t stand to hear this. You are more necessary to the Empire than anyone else."
"If so, please allow me to retire."
"Must I do that? Everyone here will keep today's business a secret. There is nothing for you to take responsibility for."
At the emperor's question, Glont raised his head. Tears mixed with red blood fell from his eyes.
Looking at the silent Glont, the emperor sighed deeply. "Is that so? I guess your heart has already left. It must be empty. For the last time, ‘do what you wish.’”
When he heard the emperor’s final words, Glont’s eyes opened wide. Being told to “do what you wish” wasn’t just allowing him to retire. It was permitting military reform so that this would not happen again.
"The prime minister has caused great losses to the Empire,” the emperor sighed.
Glont just bowed his head and said goodbye. "I shall follow Your Majesty’s orders."
Since then, before he retired, Glont reorganized the single-party system within the imperial army into a three-party system so that they could keep each other in check. And as its leader, he implemented a rule that disallowed dispatched allied battle races from making political moves. It was the best he could do to prevent this from happening again.
* * *
In a carriage leaving the imperial palace, Duke Asteria smiled faintly as he sat with Glont. "You have boring eyes. Do you resent me?”
When he asked about how he invited Arscilla, Glont avoided the duke's gaze. "I don’t know. I suppose that's how much the duke needs the prime minister."
Duke Asteria smiled. "You’re not denying it. It’s nice that you’ve always been honest, whether in the past or now. Or, should I say stupid?”
"What is it that you want to say?" Glont looked at Duke Asteria with a displeased expression.
"What do I want to say? Didn't I already say what I wanted to say? You’re stupid."
Glont was momentarily incensed at the duke's playful tone, but he restrained himself.
Looking at him, Duke Asteria burst into laughter. “Huh-huh! It's not like you to hold it in."
Soon after the duke's teasing, Glont became furious. "What are you doing? Why do you keep provoking me!?"
Duke Asteria stared straight into Glont's eyes, tilting his chin in his hand as if he was satisfied. "You need to be scolded."
"That's....”
He had nothing to say in his defense because he’d created a scene in front of the emperor, saying he was going to kill the prime minister. However, the duke’s ensuing words left Glont with no excuse.
"If you killed the prime minister, you'd definitely be beheaded. I can't let you escape either. Then what would you do with your only daughter? Didn't your wife pass away a few years ago? Haven’t you thought about what she would go through, a girl who is still just a child?”
“…….”
Looking at Glont, who bowed his head without an answer, Duke Asteria sighed. "Why aren't you answering? I guess it's obvious. You probably thought I'd take care of it on my own. What a shameless fellow."
Glont couldn't raise his head at the duke's rebuke. It was because everything he said was true.
"I'm sorry."
Duke Asteria clicked his tongue at Glont's apology. "Tsk tsk, do you still think I called Mrs. Arscilla to save the prime minister?"
"... Is that not the reason?"
The duke sighed deeply. "Of course not. While it is true that the child is competent and useful, he's conspired with my old enemy behind my back. Once you catch a person once, you’re bound to catch them twice. If I had it my way, I would have killed him myself.”
"What?"
"The fact that he wrote his guidelines for the future in advance was probably because he was prepared to be killed by me, not you.”
Glont was surprised by Duke Asteria’s words. "Then, why…?”
"Tsk tsk, as expected, your head grew dull with anger. You should understand if I already said this much. You're the one I wanted to save."
Duke Asteria did not necessarily mention that this also paid off his old debt to Arscilla. Glont was already touched, so there was no need to pour cold water over him.
"Didn’t you go through the effort of bringing a sword into the audience room to kill yourself with it? After all, you could kill the prime minister with your bare hands."
Glont did not deny the duke's conjecture. Holding Glont's shoulder, Duke Asteria said, "You're the one I need. And if you die, who should I drink and talk about Anemone with?"
The duke confessed his feelings as it was. It wasn’t a lie at all.
Glont felt Duke Asteria’s sincerity, so he bowed his head and wiped away tears. Duke Asteria added, "And just in case, I also talked to Hildegarn. If you can calm down, try to be the Adventurers’ Guild director.”
"Oh, but Mr. Hildegarn is still well."
Duke Asteria shrugged when Glont hesitated. "He's more suited to be a scholar than the Adventurers’ Guild director. Doesn’t he also collect strange books? Like the Fairy Tribe's language dictionary or magic theories that have been lost."
"That's true, but...”
"By now, Hildegarn must be asking His Majesty for permission to step down and to place you in his position. After you become the Adventurers’ Guild director, this will give you a small job and let you read until retirement. Hildegaard would want that, too.”
The duke then gave a signal to the horseman, and the carriage stopped. "You should get off here. I heard that you left the Dragon Tribe friend you were supposed to visit this time to Sir Bloody? If you run over there now, there probably won’t be any casualties.”
"Ah…!"
When he said this, Glont recalled that Orphina was supposed to come to the empire, but he had left Bloody in charge of Orphina's welcome because he was worried she would interfere with him.
"Something urgent happened! Please excuse me first!" Glont rushed out of the carriage and headed for the imperial army command headquarters.
By the time Glont arrived, Orphina had already regarded Bloody as the biggest bastard in the world. Orphina's dispatch to the empire’s army was delayed due to some interference between the Dragon Tribe and the empire’s harmony, but this was only a small hiccup.
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