Side Story 36. Anemone Smiled Brightly (12)

"This is my friend, Doomstone Blade."

At my introduction, Doomstone nodded and greeted the duke with a simple, "My name is Doomstone."

The suit-wearing men who were standing around glared at Doomstone when he gave a direct, rude greeting that was unbefitting of a meeting with a duke. Doomstone snorted harshly as he saw the furious hot gazes focused on him.

Not showing any signs of displeasure at Doomstone’s actions, Duke Arthemius smiled and said, "Uh-huh-huh-huh, I didn't recognize such a precious guest. I want to treat you to a meal as an apology, so why don't you sit down and eat with us?”

I was a little surprised by the duke's reaction, but it was understandable. Although it wasn’t common knowledge to the public, Duke Arthemius would know that "Blade" was the last name of the chief of the Crow Tribe. It was probably that only historians, markets that traded with the Crow Tribe, and upper nobility knew the surname Blade.

The name of the legendary warrior, Doomstone's grandfather, was also famous due to children’s stories, but his surname was not well known. Mrs. Arscilla also most likely did not know that Doomstone was a Crow.

When the duke said he would treat him to a meal, Doomstone laughed joyfully and took out two chairs. "Ahahaha! Thank you for your offer, but I eat quite a lot. Will that be okay?”

I smiled as I sat in the chair that Doomstone pulled out. "Oh, my. He's so... Ohohoho. Please excuse him. He's not used to imperial etiquette yet."

Duke Arthemius had a pleasant smile on his face. "Uh-huh-huh-huh, that’s all right. Just a single additional person's mouth won’t strain my wallet, so eat as much as you want."

"That's nice to hear." Doomstone sat down and ordered every item on the menu without any hesitation. It was really like Doomstone to not refuse even though each dish was pricy enough for an ordinary person to be severely burdened if they bought even one.

Duke Arthemius smiled at the relentless Doomstone as if he found it entertaining. He asked, "Did you put on makeup to get those wrinkles?"

As I watched him open a bottle of champagne, I grew surprised. "Oh, how did you know?"

"That's because he looks too old to be Zendia-nim’s son.”

"Do you know my father?" Doomstone looked at Duke Arthemius with a startled expression.

So, the name of Doomstone's father is Zendia. I got some useful information.

"It's only to the extent of occasionally sending and receiving news by letter. When I was young, I accompanied the chief-nim on his trip after he was heartbroken. Since he got dumped at that time, your appearance and age don’t line up.”

"Hahahaha! Were the letters that sometimes came from Ahjussi?"

I was surprised to see Doomstone call the duke ahjussi without hesitation.

On the other hand, Duke Arthemius didn’t care, and he chuckled. "That's right. Oh, of course, some of those must have been Joshua's letters as well as mine.”

After saying this, the duke became depressed. The person who the duke referred to in a friendly manner, Joshua, must have been the captain who was reputed as the gatekeeper of the Great Wall.

The obituary that was released after the showdown with the young Mercenary King had such a great social impact that it was said to have caused the entire Empire to grieve. It was understandable that the duke was sad, as Joshua was a hero who even passed up a promotion to the head of the army to protect the border. This was even more applicable if they were close acquaintances.

When Duke Arthemius became depressed, Mrs. Arscilla skillfully changed the subject and inquired, "But what happened? I was surprised to hear the news about you."

Duke Arthemius also looked at me interestedly. At their gazes, I smiled. "Ohohoho, I don't think that's something to talk about during a meal. Since the food is coming out, why don't we go to a room to talk after the meal?"

As if he could gather something from my suggestion, the duke smiled bitterly and nodded. "That would be good. Wife, wouldn’t it be a waste if the delicious food before us grew cold after a long story?"

As expected, Duke Arthemius knew that my story was not something that should be talked about in such an open area. While the dishes were placed on the table one after another, the duke picked up a fork and knife and said, "Then let’s eat."

I ate in a friendly atmosphere with a fragrant scent and a sweet melody, but there was a cold tone between Duke Arthemius and me. As expected, he was a formidable person.

* * *

Returning from a fairly long vacation, Glont headed to the imperial palace as soon as he arrived at the capital.

"Yahoo! It's been a while. Have you been well?"

As soon as he entered the imperial palace, he was greeted by Achilles, a goodwill ambassador for the Crow Tribe and an honorary knight of the imperial family.

Glont covered his mouth and laughed. "Ohohoho, I’m always doing well. Mr. Achilles, have you been feeling well without any accidents?”

At Glont's counter, Achilles avoided his gaze and said something else. "Iyaa~ The weather is nice today, right?"

"Mr. Achilles?"

Turning around so abruptly like that seemed to mean that he must have caused quite an accident. As Glont stared at him with a fed-up expression, Achilles waved his hands in a cold sweat, forming an odd image when combined with his giant stature. "It’s, it's nothing! A person called the guardian knight of the Fairy Tribe visited the capital, and so I greeted him a little...”

Glont followed Achilles’ gaze and looked in the direction he was staring at. In the view past the window, the ground was dug up, and the outer palace was destroyed.

"Ha-a..."

Achilles laughed pleasantly as Glont sighed deeply. "Hahahaha! But His Majesty the Emperor said he would let it go. That guy, Marsen, also said he was sorry and said he would build a bridge for His Majesty to interact with his country as he wanted. So as a result, it’s hurray, hurray, hurray, right?”

"What’s hurray about it? Ehew, the soldiers will be the ones working themselves to death repairing that."

At Glont's complaint, Achilles scratched the back of his head apologetically. "B- but I'm still cooperating in building the specialized counter unit against the battle races.”

"That's that, and this is this. Ehew. What can I do? His Majesty said he would let it go."

If he had been there, he would have stopped Achilles somehow, but Glont had no choice but to leave the capital on vacation, so he couldn’t help it. Glont glanced at Achilles and asked, "If it’s the guardian knight of the Fairy Tribe, is it the same Marsen from 100 years ago?"

Achilles nodded. "Yeah. I think it is because he was so strong that I got beat up without being able to put up much of a fight.”

"Is that the expression of someone who was beaten without being able to fight back?" From Glont's point of view, he could only see traces of Achilles being excited and destroying things.

"Khmm! Should I say that the destruction is from a warm-up? It’s just the aftermath of us testing each other out. When we went all out, the battle ended quickly. He was extremely powerful. As expected, he is Old Man Galak-nim's friend after all."

When Achilles brought up Galak's name, Glont recalled something he had forgotten. "Ah, you might already know, but I met a person named Doomstone while on vacation."

In addition to the dam destruction incident, the newspaper contained news about 300 knights getting crushed. A count even got beaten halfway into becoming an idiot, so Glont thought there was no way Achilles would not know.

However, contrary to Glont's expectations, Achilles was surprised as if this was the first time he’d heard of it. "... What? The Doomstone that I know? The eldest son of the chief?”

"Yes, that Doomstone. I heard that you know each other. No?"

At Glont's question, Achilles laughed pleasantly. "Ahahaha! I know him well. If you don't know Doomstone, the greatest villain in the village, you're not a Crow! I miss him. In the past, I used to go around catching dragons with him. Well, back then, he was so young that he only ran away, let alone catching one.”

Glont looked at Achilles reminiscing. It was as if he were talking about the days when Doomstone was going around catching insects with a runny nose.

"But why did he come out? Errands? No, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles external errands. Then, did he run away from home?”

At Achilles's guess, Glont nodded. "He asked me to refer to it as him going out."

"Ahahaha! That's just like him! By the way, if it's worth running away from home, is the chief about to retire? Well, the chief is also old, so it's time to decide on a successor."

His story was so widely known that there were no Crows who did not know of Zendia's dark history.

Achilles requested, "Oh, later, please find out where he is for me. I’ll have to fight him and see how powerful he’s gotten after such a long time. The last time we met was five years ago, so he must have gotten much stronger, right? Even back then, when compared to his peers, his strength was much higher than the norm.”

Glont readily agreed. "Either way, If you look at the newspaper, you'll learn about his whereabouts, but I'll organize it for you later."

In many different cases, Doomstone was making headlines in the newspapers, whether it was taking down a count’s castle, collapsing a mountain while saying he would deal with landslides, or overpowering bounty hunters and tying them naked.

Expecting that they would have arrived at the Holy Land Percival by now, Glont told Achilles, "Then, I’ll head out first. I have to talk to His Highness the Crown Prince for something."

"The Crown Prince? Okay. Let's train later." Achilles waved his hand, letting him go, although he was feeling discontent.

Glont left Achilles behind and headed to the crown prince's palace. After arriving in front of the crown prince's office, he took a deep breath and checked the note given by Anemone before knocking.

At the heart of Anemone's plan was the crown prince. If the crown prince could not be persuaded, they wouldn’t even be able to attempt a rebellion. He hoped he wouldn’t make a mistake.

Glont went inside as a voice told him to come in.

* * *

After the meal, I asked Duke Arthemius for a private meeting. The duke readily accepted, and Duke Arthemius and I had a lengthy conversation.

Upon hearing my plans for rebellion and the reason why the Blood Emperor needed to be removed, the duke looked at me with cold eyes. "Have you not thought that I might take the side of His Majesty the Emperor and attack you and Duke Asteria? It’s dangerous to reveal such a detailed plan to someone who hasn’t agreed to it."

I smiled at the voice that didn’t contain a single emotion. "Of course, I thought about it. I'm not an idiot who can’t even think that much."

The plan I told the duke was only one of the numerous strategies I had in mind. Among the schemes we had, there was also a plan for a situation where Duke Arthemius became an enemy. However, it was just that the difficulty of the plan would dramatically increase or decrease depending on whether or not Duke Arthemius could be recruited. Compared to recruiting the crown prince, he was not as essential.

I wonder if Glont ahjussi is doing well. It shouldn’t be difficult if he just does what I told him.

"But Your Highness the Duke will accept it."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because the life of Arcanta, your only son, is at stake."

Anger arose in the eyes of the originally indifferent Duke Arthemius. "You dare threaten to kill my son right in front of me?!"

"Oh, my. When did I say I was going to kill him? It is the Blood Emperor that threatens the life of your son."

After I said this, the duke stared at me with a frown on his face.