I lost Aryandor and returned to where Haruna was.
As soon as Haruna saw me, she ran towards me.
“How did it go? Chancellor Ophilus… … .”
“There was no respite. I don’t even know what happened.”
“… … Wasn’t there?”
“Uh, Aryandor was alone.”
If Ophilus was killed by Aryandor, there should be a trace of it.
There were signs of a fight where his body was.
But there was nothing there.
Even the blood of Ophilus did not exist.
I couldn’t figure out what was going on there either.
Time magic was used so much that it was difficult to know what type of magic was used.
“Perhaps… … Were there any other strange things?”
“He said something strange.”
I explained what happened to Haruna.
Aryandor suggested a way to return to the original world.
Haruna listened carefully to the story and sat down.
“Would you mind waiting a moment?”
“What?”
Haruna closed her eyes without answering my question.
Then, an unknown power flowed out of her body.
I could sense the energy emotionally.
“… … Dimensional magic?”
so for a while.
Haruna stood up.
“What did you do?”
“I found out what happened.”
“Is that possible?”
“I don’t know exactly, but to some extent it is possible.”
“So, what happened? What happened to Prime Minister Ophilus?”
Haruna hesitated and opened her mouth.
“Should it be a good thing… … . Or should I say it’s a sad thing… … .”
“Well?”
“Ophilus-sama is not dead.”
“Not dead?”
“But, it’s like being dead.”
What do you mean?
As I watched with a puzzled face, Haruna stood up.
“There are gaps in the world. time, space, and dimension. There is that gap.”
“aperture?”
“The world we live in seems like a connected world, but it is not. We just see the connection and we can live there.”
“… … So what about that?”
“Ophilus-sama headed for that gap.”
“then… … .”
“Perhaps alive, but not really alive. As I just said, we can only live in a continuous world. If you go into such a disconnected place, you will be in a state of being, but not being.”
A state that exists but does not exist.
It was contradictory, but I knew what it meant.
“In order not to hand over power to Aryandor… … Did you make that choice?”
“From what I have seen, yes.”
I made a subtle expression.
Should I say I’m happy with this… … .
If you asked if Ophilus was a good person, I couldn’t answer.
He was a time magic user, and the fact that he raised Aryandor had not changed.
I didn’t really know about Ophilus.
I don’t know what he was doing or what kind of relationship he had with Aryandor.
I was in doubt.
Who the hell is Ophilus?
How did you live
“Haruna.”
“yes?”
“Tell me about Prime Minister Ophilus. Now I need to know What the hell is Aryandor trying to do, and what is the relationship between Ophilus and Aryandor?”
“… … It must be a long story.”
“Does not matter. It’s like a story I need to hear someday.”
That’s how I started listening to Haruna.
***
imperial palace.
Nobles in high positions were gathered, and even the emperor and Li were there.
In the center of those people stood Ian Astria.
“Then let the appointment ceremony begin.”
Rudy announced the death of Ophilus and pushed the date of the appointment.
There was nothing good about leaving the imperial duke’s office for a long time.
It was only when Ian sat down as the duke quickly that the people of the Empire could be stabilized and he could respond to the rebels.
The emperor descended from a high place and held the coffin he had prepared.
“I will recognize Ian Astria as the head of the Astrian family.”
Originally, the appointment ceremony required several procedures, but due to the situation in the empire, it was being conducted in an abbreviated manner.
When the emperor crowned Ian, the surrounding nobles applauded.
The nobles clapped their hands and whispered to each other.
“Then what will the state of the empire be now?”
“Since Prime Minister Ophilus is dead, is it a noble world?”
The nobles laughed, and the emperors trembled with anxiety.
Since one of the two dukes disappeared, I thought the power would lean towards the aristocratic faction.
“Heh heh… … .”
“finally… … .”
The time has come for Ian to receive the coffin and give his speech.
He stood in front of the nobles and looked around.
“It took a lot of steps to get me to this point. In the process, many nobles helped me, and I will never forget this help.”
At Ian’s words, the nobles raised their eyebrows.
This is because those words sounded as if they were repaying the nobility.
However, the laughter did not last long.
“But not now. Now is not the time for us to fight each other. The aristocrats and the emperors don’t have time to worry about things like that. We have a very dangerous enemy before us. rebel. We have to fight them.”
“… … What do you mean by that?”
“Attack the rebels… … ?”
The nobles looked at Ian with bewildered eyes.
“I make no distinction between the nobles and the imperial ones. I will give a seat according to a person’s ability and give him a reward. And I will no longer allow partisan fighting. When it comes to partisan fights, I will not stand by.”
Those words came as a shock to the nobility.
They thought it would be their own world, but Ian had no intention of supporting the aristocrats.
“I think the reason people like the rebels were able to exist was because of the rotten nobles. So I will take this opportunity to cut off the rotten parts and build the empire right.”
With those words, Ian’s speech ended.
The aristocrats were upset, but Ian didn’t even care about that.
A guy who can’t agree with his words anyway is just garbage.
There is no reason why a properly capable person would not agree with Ian’s words.
Whether you are the emperor or the nobility. Whether you are a good family member or not. Whether or not he flattered Ian.
If you have the ability, you can sit in a middle position.
In this way, we were able to attract all talented people.
And I will do my best to show my abilities.
to get to a higher place.
To get better performance.
After finishing the speech, Ian walked down the hallway alone.
While walking like that, I entered a room in the Imperial Palace.
“Have you done this? Rudy Astria.”
“It was good.”
Rudy was there.
“The situation seems to be going the way you want it to.”
“It’s not the only flow I want, isn’t it?”
The reason Ian gave such a speech was because of the deal with Rudy.
Rudy offered Ian a deal instead of giving up his position as head of state.
At first, Ian turned down the deal.
Not because I didn’t like the deal, but because I wanted to compete on an equal footing.
He didn’t want to be the one who cowardly took the duke’s throne by his brother’s concessions.
He competed fairly and tried to become a duke.
However, Rudy’s attitude was also tough.
He had to attract Haruna by giving up his position as head of state, and it was better to deal with the rebels to move freely than to be held captive as a duke.
In the end, the deal was concluded only after Rudy explained that giving up the dukeship was not for Ian’s consideration, but for a better outcome.
Of course, the transaction had nothing to do with it.
To keep the space magic and to help you with a few things.
In fact, it was close to asking for the status quo to be maintained.
Ian talked to Rudy to some extent and asked a question.
“Then what are we going to do now?”
“First, we’re going to investigate the magic tools we collected.”
“Magic?”
“Ah, those magical engineering supplies.”
I said the item that was on Raven’s head.
“Are you investigating it?”
“Yes, for now, Luna is looking at the tool, but I don’t know what will come out.”
Ian looked at Rudy like that.
“Did you hear something from Haruna?”
“Yes, to some extent.”
Rudy heard the past from Haruna.
Of course, it wasn’t accurate.
Even Haruna didn’t know all the past.
I’ve only heard of vague sketches.
“When I know exactly, I will explain everything.”
“Yeah, then go ahead.”
Rudy got up and went outside, and Ian looked at Rudy’s back.
Obviously he took the duke’s seat, but Rudy felt like he was higher than him.
“… … I thought there was nothing more above the peacock seat.”
Ian laughed bitterly.
He has succeeded in taking the duke’s place, but there is no time to be satisfied and enjoy it.
I had to be more diligent.
In order not to become an older brother worse than my younger brother, I had to go further.
“I’ll be busy for a while.”
Ian got up from his seat, packing up his luggage.