Chapter 70 Audience (5)
while the party goes on.
Frontier headed to the drawing room with Philly. Aten was also there.
But Bartello did not move even the slightest bit from the chair he was sitting in. Philly didn’t seem to care.
“You don’t have to worry about him.”
Philly said as Frontier looked to the hall as he headed towards the drawing room.
“I’m just tired for a while. He trusts me for everything he does.”
“… … okay.”
In fact, most of the recent emperor’s work has been done by Philly.
Her daughter, Saleh, who will become the next Empress, is assisting her, so it’s a little bit better, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
There are many people who are dissatisfied with the fact that the empress is taking over the work of the emperor.
“Politics is very difficult.”
Philly said.
“When I was young, I believed that I had to prove myself. If I achieve enough results, people around me will change their views. But people who have already made up their minds to become my enemies cannot change their minds like that. The more I do well, the more hostility I burn.”
Philly’s voice was calm, but Frontier could only see his back, so he couldn’t tell the expression on his face.
“The war would have ended long ago.”
Even the voice that mumbled like that, there was still no expression on his face.
But soon Philly returned with a lively expression on her face and grinned at the Frontier behind her.
“Suddenly, I had a personal story. This is not why I called Mr. Frontier.”
“… … no.”
Frontier shook his head.
Frontier knows how hard Philly has been through.
Bartello’s senescence was predestined, and Philly had been involved in politics before that.
Philly is a character who can be either a good or a bad guy at any time depending on the situation. As Frontier did, players always refer to Philly as ‘gray’.
But, good or bad, Philly always works for the Empire. Because the imperial palace is the safest place for her daughters.
In other words, for Philly to become a villain, from the player’s point of view, the Empire has turned into an enemy.
‘What about Philly now?’
Frontier thought as he looked at Philly’s back as he walked back.
In Frontier’s opinion, Philly has gotten pretty close to the line. None of the daughters are dead, and I’ve been on a mission with Philly.
It’s nothing to brag about, but I think Frontier has developed a pretty good affinity with Philly.
But the problem is that it was originally supposed to be Aster’s job.
‘Aster is steadily growing. Aster’s growth engine is someone stronger than him. Originally, in Constell, there was no talent and ability to go beyond Aster, so growth was inevitably slow.
However, it is difficult for Aster to grow beyond the time the players induced it.
In this world that was not attacked in the first place, players moved to squeeze Aster’s growth with maximum efficiency.
It’s about where to go at any time, who to meet, and what to learn from all kinds of communities, exchanging information and devising an optimal route.
Of course, it would be difficult for Aster to be stronger than that.
Above all, Aster has never met Philly in this world.
‘I don’t know if Aster has to meet Philly. But in most cases, Aster and Philly meet quickly. Because Aten, the link, was originally Aster’s party.’
However, Aten here is not with Aster. Follow Frontier.
That’s why Aster hasn’t even met Philly yet.
It is not known what this butterfly effect will cause. I don’t know if it will get better or worse.
There is only one thing that Frontier knows.
that he caused this situation.
‘If one day this situation causes a huge typhoon to come.’
Frontier was well aware that it was up to him to solve it.
* * *
“It’s been a long time since we talked like this.”
Frontier and Philly faced each other in the drawing room.
Obviously we are on the same side, and we met to solve a problem, but there was a strange tension.
Meeting Philly was always like this.
“Then shall we go straight to the point? I and Frontier-san like that too.”
“good.”
Aten, who was listening, tilted her head. It was like a completely different story from ‘three-dimensional map’ for some reason.
“There is a group called ‘Ambu’ in the Imperial Palace.”
Philly’s words. Aten was surprised.
“… … Mom.”
dark part. Its existence is also known to Aten. Being in the position of a princess, I couldn’t understand it, and in the first place, Philly told Aten as if it was important.
-Aten, an empire should always exist as an empire.
As a child, I couldn’t understand Philly’s words.
-If the Empire illuminates a dazzling light, won’t that much shadow be formed? The Empire must be able to embrace that shadow as well.
Philly has been secretly hinting at the existence of the dark buoy since Aten was a child.
You don’t have to know the exact truth. because it’s a child However, the princess should realize the reality a little faster than other children of her age.
In order not to cause the shock to be too great, Philly showed the other side of that reality little by little without Aten herself. So that Aten can make up his mind unconsciously.
Aten has grown enough to attend Constell. Now I know what a dark buoy is and what Philly said.
Therefore, he also knows well that his existence must not be leaked outside the Imperial Palace. So I was surprised. More than anything else, Philly, who values keeping secrets as important, reveals the existence of the dark side.
However, the answering Frontier surprised Aten even more.
“I know.”
“yes?”
When Aten asked, Frontier smiled vaguely.
“Rather than knowing, we met. The character of the dark department.”
Frontier thought of Laurie.
Of course, when they rescued the people in front of the fragments, they promised that they didn’t see each other, but it wasn’t Laurier.
Laurie had already infiltrated the barracks of Yeranhes long before that.
‘From what I’ve seen, I don’t think I’d be in favor of turning people into weapons.’
Laurier gave up her own life just before Frontier saved the characters in the dark and used her powers to save more people.
It was obvious why Laurie was doing the dark part.
This is because, in the first place, he was born and raised there, and Ambu basically moves to protect the citizens of the Empire. I didn’t choose any method, so I just kept it hidden from the public.
However, turning humans into weapons is only to drive out demons from the outside, but they have crossed that line for a long time.
‘The dark part of the empire is huge. Laurie was used as an obsolete word at the time, so his status probably isn’t that high. Perhaps Laurie will not approve of the dark mana injection plan.’
Conversely, the current Laurie is highly likely to cooperate with Frontier.
As a member of the dark club in the first place, I can give Frontier meaningful information.
The question is where and how to meet.
“Eden Hamerlot’s explanation is correct, but not necessarily.”
Philly said.
“There is no contradiction in the information, but it is too dependent on luck to move and find a tangent place as Edden explains. It’s also a fairly low-risk gamble. Nevertheless, Mr. Edden managed to set the meeting point in just one shot, and he put a large number of people there as if he was sure of it.”
Philly said as if piercing Frontier’s eyes.
It looked like he was peering into Frontier’s, but there wasn’t even such a thing.
“Besides, it is very different from the explanation I heard last time. It’s been corrected. When I pointed out that, in Edden-san’s eyes, the way he looked at me—”
“I was there.”
Frontier replied meekly.
There was no need for Philly to pierce the frontier.
“I provided information to Edden.”
Frontier was going to be honest from the beginning.
At Frontier’s words, Philly opened her eyes wide as if surprised for a moment, but then smiled.
“Where did you get that information?”
“Angus, the leader of the lab, blew up.”
Of course, in reality, it was revealed through analysis skills, but the result is the same.
Philly said.
“… … It is said that Angus, after being arrested and subjected to considerable interrogation by the police, did not answer any questions asked, and was only talking nonsense all day.”
“It is.”
“You wouldn’t be able to open your mouth with clumsy torture, would you?”
There was nothing to say about those words.
Having nothing to say, Frontier simply answered.
“But I let it open.”
Gulping, Aten’s throat, who was listening to it, trembled. She was thinking of the cruelest torture imaginable.
Philly asked.
“Then do you know why I am talking about Ambu and why?”
“… … Yes.”
The analysis skills that Frontier possesses cannot select and choose the information they can obtain.
When using analysis skills, it is impossible to know only his name or only his family relationships. Even Frontier himself cannot predict what category the information from his analytical skills falls into.
The biggest reason that Frontier obtained useful information through analysis in the mana injection case was that he poured a huge amount of mana with the intention of exposing the enemy to the very bottom.
So, of course, Frontier knows.
“It must have been Darkbu who led the mana injection plan.”
Aten’s breath was swallowed by Frontier’s words.
From here on, it’s not really something to talk about anywhere.
Of course, soundproofing and security magic are thoroughly applied in the place where Philly welcomes guests, but Aten’s spine was eerie without realizing it.
‘Not the entire dark part.’
Frontier knows not only what Ambu did, but who the character is.
But it’s too hard to explain how we got to that.
Philly nodded.
“yes. The problem is that Ambu is on the side of the Empire. I am the Empress of the Empire.”
“It must be painful to judge.”
Philly shook her head this time.
“It’s a loss if you throw it all over.”
“… … Indeed, it is.”
Frontier knew what Philly meant.
“In that case, I want to pick out only the minimum number of people who led the mana injection. Does that mean?”
“yes. I think I crossed the line when I left them alone recently. So, you decide to come up with a plan like that. I hope I can set a good example for this opportunity.”
Rather than implementing a plan that sacrifices citizens, I don’t like having the mind to think of such a plan. Philly said so.
Don’t even think like that in the future.
Let’s not even dare to even think about it, let alone execute it.
“The dark side of the Empire is a double-edged sword. They do not exist outside the empire, so there is no need to choose any means or methods. You have the freedom to do anything, and at the same time you are not responsible for it. Instead, they have a different price. What is it?”
“Since it does not exist, no one cares if it dies.”
Philly smiled contentedly at Frontier’s answer.
“Mr Frontier, can you help me? I will give you enough examples.”
[A sub-quest has been created]
[Sub Quest: Thinning out]
•Description: The group that planned the mana injection belongs to the dark department. Execute them at Philly’s orders.
• Goal: Eliminate the mastermind and collaborators of the plan.
•Reward: Separately paid according to quest performance. Missing some of the mastermind or allies, losing rewards if you kill someone else in the darkbuoy, or failing if you kill someone who isn’t in the darkbug.
•If you fail, you lose Philly’s trust.
This is a quest that has been around for a long time.
‘At first, when I ran here and there to solve the mana injection plan, the quest didn’t even come out.’
Frontier smiled bitterly.
In fact, I know why the quest didn’t appear. It was not the time for him to leave.
At the time, it was a joint operation, so even the Imperial Palace and Constell participated, and even if it wasn’t Frontier, the institute would have been caught one day.
It was only Frontier’s arbitrariness that attacked Edden and his companions and captured Angus in the lab. It was a movement that had nothing to do with the quest.
But this time, it was a proper quest. Frontier felt that things were going well after a long time.
“All right.”
“Yes. I also like that Mr. Frontier is cool.”
“But there is something I would like to ask you about.”
“I don’t like the name.”
“… … How did His Majesty know that Ambu was behind this incident?”
“I can’t hear you well. weird thing I don’t think you’re calling me, so I guess you can’t hear me.”
Philly tilted her head and closed her eyes. It seemed like they wouldn’t even listen if they didn’t change their name. You probably won’t even respond.
“… … Philly.”
Frontier hesitated and said without hesitation.
Aten, who widened her eyes as if in disbelief, glanced back at Frontier.
“… … Mr. Frontier, even if you don’t know the case, that’s… … .”
“sorry. It’s my karma.”
Regarding this title, Frontier had little to say for excuses.