Chapter 24
Clang, clang.
Five days later.
Kraush lifted his head to see the hustle and bustle of horses working hard, just like he was.
Soon, the imperial city walls came into view.
“We’re almost there.”
“True that.”
After hearing the merchant woman’s words, Kraush raised his hand to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight.
The capital of the Empire, like Hardenhaarts of Starlon, was at a similar latitude.
Thanks to that, the closer they got to the capital, the colder the air felt.
‘Still a long way to go to reach the capital, though.’
But for now, entering the Empire itself was worth celebrating.
“Wow, tomorrow is the end of the year. Luckily, I’ll get to spend New Year’s with people!”
“Spending it with drug addicts, right?”
“Did you know? Sex while high on drugs is supposed to be amazing!”
“I turn 14 tomorrow. That’s child sexual harassment.”
“Come on, nobles are promiscuous, so they all do it, even when they’re young.”
What on earth goes through this girl’s head?
Having lived a rough life, she sometimes dropped lines that were completely out of this world.
“Oh, Balheim-nim might not know about this stuff. How about this? I can tell you about it as a New Year’s gift! Don’t worry, I don’t need to be included on your first time.”
“I think slicing your mouth would be a great idea.”
“Hey, am I worried you’ll take my advice and then later I’ll be raising your baby? Hee hee, just give me one mansion and I’ll turn a blind eye to everything else.”
Kraush decided it was better to stay silent.
“I’ll report you for sexual harassment before I ever report you for drug dealing.”
“Giggle! I’ve never actually gone in that direction, now that you mention it! Shall we check it out?”
The merchant woman seemed thrilled, perhaps realizing they were nearing their destination.
Thanks to her enthusiasm, the carriage quickly approached the imperial walls.
“Please stay inside for now.”
There’s no good coming from getting caught by an imperial broker with a child in tow.
Thus, Kraush opened the barred door and flopped down among the sleeping drug-endowed creatures.
After a while, he heard the merchant woman chatting with someone, and the carriage rattled as it moved.
Several hours passed.
As Kraush patiently waited, the carriage finally halted.
A moment later, the covering was lifted, and he heard the clanking sound of the barred door opening.
“Tada! We’ve arrived!”
She proudly declared.
As Kraush walked out, he saw an inn and the streets of the Empire.
It looked like a city near the castle walls.
So it seems they got in safely.
“Good job.”
“Hehe, you saved me from a bandit group along the way, didn’t you? So are you leaving right away?”
“Of course.”
He planned to find another carriage to head straight to the capital.
Understanding his intention, the merchant woman showed a hint of disappointment.
After all, they had shared 15 days together.
“Kraush Balheim,” he introduced himself.
Upon hearing that name, the merchant woman’s eyes widened, followed by a bright smile.
“I’m Lara!”
“Take care now.”
“If you ever get lonely once you grow up, come find me! Kraush-nim, you’re a legend!”
She still talks that way until the end.
But if fate allows, they might meet again someday.
Kraush waved goodbye before moving on.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Empire.”
Meanwhile, Crimson Garden landed on Kraush’s shoulder.
“Don’t you have quite a few minions planted in the Empire?”
“One is preparing for the academy, and the other is in the palace. I don’t really know about places like this outskirts.”
So even Crimson Garden had minions at the academy.
“Hehe, you’ll be a senior by the time you arrive.”
Well, if she enrolled now, she would technically have started a year before him.
“And who is that?”
“Isn’t uncovering that part of the fun for later?”
Saying that, she flew up into the sky.
Truly a fascinating creature.
‘One year ahead.’
Kraush looked up at the sky.
Maybe it was because it was winter, but the sky felt particularly high.
‘Not far away now.’
Feeling the day when he would face the generation of the skies was just around the corner, Kraush began searching for a carriage.
Fortunately, finding a carriage heading to the capital wasn’t too difficult.
The Empire is vast.
Perhaps for that reason, Kraush had to endure a long carriage journey for nearly a month.
‘What a miserable task.’
Perhaps because he primarily used spatial magic during his days in the sky generation.
He just couldn’t adapt to the carriage.
“Oh, Kraud, practicing swordsmanship again today?”
“Yep, gotta do it every day.”
“Ha ha, I hope you place well in the martial arts tournament!”
Thanks to that, he became quite friendly with the coachman.
Calling him by the temporary name he’d used, the coachman laughed heartily.
“We should arrive by dinner. Fortunately, you’ll make it just in time for the martial arts tournament.”
Hearing the coachman’s words, Kraush wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.
The fact that today would be the end of the carriage journey brought him relief.
The problem was the headache of figuring out how to return.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t even go back.’
For a moment, the thought crossed his mind as the carriage journey had been quite tiresome.
Though he had promised the chick he would return, so he couldn’t just brush it off.
And just as the carriage started again…
Kraush arrived that evening in the imperial capital, Shiraan.
In some ways, the world’s richest and most developed city.
Upon arriving, Kraush stretched lightly.
“Lucky me.”
Perhaps it was because he had no good memories associated with the Empire.
Kraush couldn’t help but mutter sharply.
Then, without pause, he began walking.
Though it was dinner time, they were likely still accepting sign-ups for the martial arts tournament.
With the tournament registration deadline looming just until tomorrow, Kraush decided to register today.
‘But first.’
Kraush rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the transformation potion he had received from Darling.
He didn’t care how he transformed, just that he didn’t look like himself anymore.
‘First, to a place where there aren’t many people.’
Finding a suitable hiding spot, Kraush opened the potion’s lid.
The unique scent of the potion pierced his nose, but he downed it without hesitation.
A moment later, Kraush felt his face contorting in all directions.
Probably the potion’s influence.
After a brief waiting period, the feeling in his face eventually faded.
“Crimson.”
As he called for Crimson Garden, a crow landed in front of him.
“Can you see in front of you?”
As if sensing a reply, Crimson Garden tilted her head and asked.
“See in front? What do you mean?”
Kraush raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“What kind of reaction is that? What do I look like?”
“Exactly as it sounds, you sure look suspicious.”
Kraush didn’t understand what she was talking about and walked out.
Then just as he glanced at a window nearby, Kraush froze.
“…What is this?”
His eyes looked nearly closed, almost like someone suffering from allergies.
Fluffy, unkempt black hair that resembled a scruffy dog.
For some reason, there was a boy who evoked the image of a shadowy figure.
And as Crimson Garden, in her crow form, perched on his shoulder, it was quite the sight.
[ So I see? ]
“Eyes are eyes, I guess.”
With a baffled feeling, Kraush looked at his transformed self.
For some reason, he felt Darling’s chuckle ringing in his ears.
‘She imagined my character, huh?’
Was this how she envisioned it?
Kraush let out a long sigh.
No matter how he looked, that didn’t matter.
His face appeared suspicious, but it wasn’t worth worrying too much about.
[ Now you really do look like a crow. ]
Crimson Garden giggled.
Not that it was her business to laugh about.
[ You better head off to register, though. ]
Following her advice, Kraush began to walk, lest he miss the registration deadline.
＊ ＊ ＊
At the registration area for the Epania Empire’s martial arts tournament.
Since it was organized by the palace, the registration building was managed by the palace, and a fair number of people had gathered there.
Given that it was a tournament hosted by the Empire, many figures from around the world had converged here.
Thanks to that, the martial arts tournament was more bustling than ever.
“Hmm, quite a crowd. Full of interesting characters.”
Just then, a voice as clear as a gem rang out.
There stood a doll-like girl with hair that shimmered like the blue sea.
Though she donned expensive fabric, she was practically clinging to the first floor registration area from the second floor.
“Looks like a lot of fun kids have gathered. How intriguing.”
“Princess Sizelry, please mind your behavior. If His Majesty saw you like this, he’d blow a gasket.”
“Hey, don’t bring up Father. I can still hear you yelling in my ears.”
She scolded her attendant who stood beside her, and it was none other than Princess Sizelry Ephania, the fourth princess of the Empire.
At the age of fourteen, the youngest among them, but the intensity in her eyes was anything but ordinary.
That made sense.
Even at such a young age, she had a brilliant mind that could rival the best in the Empire.
It was quite famous that when she was seven, mathematicians of the Empire struggled to solve a problem she had figured out.
But she had one notable flaw.
She was as uncontrollable as her age.
She would delve into anything that piqued her interest, using her sharp mind to outsmart her attendants, sometimes even escaping the palace.
Because of this, those who admired her sharp wits shook their heads, believing she wouldn’t rise as an imperial candidate.
However, that was a story told by those who didn’t know her well.
One of the attendants who had accompanied her since birth, Sera Betella, was well aware of her true intentions.
‘She’s acting foolhardy on purpose so she won’t be considered as an imperial candidate.’
Though she possessed remarkable intelligence, she was physically weak.
If someone like her were to get caught up in the brutal power struggles of the Empire, her body wouldn’t withstand it.
So she acted the fool even more.
She cleverly diverted attention from herself so that no one could recommend her for the imperial throne.
Sera felt both pity and relief as she acknowledged her intelligence.
She was much better suited to live freely than to be an emperor.
“Muahaha, all these delicious-looking ones! I’ll scoop them up one by one and send them to Rahelrn Academy, so be my delicious prey!”
The problem was, her reckless tendencies seemed to grow stronger each day.
“Your Highness, don’t you think that smile is a little too much? Your pretty face will get ruined.”
“Hey, Sera, the face is the most effective tool to express emotions. I can definitely handle it well in that regard! I should be praised, not criticized, right?”
“I’m just worried for you.”
“Dare you lecture the fourth princess? Fourteen years old is too young.”
What an eccentric princess she was.
“Hey? Ooh, look over there!”
In an instant, Sizelry seemed to spot something interesting and pointed between the railings.
Sera reluctantly approached, and there was a boy.
With closed eyes and a gloomy face.
The fact that he even had a crow perched on his shoulder made him look like a dark wizard.
However, the sword hanging at his waist suggested he was likely a swordsman.
“Why does he seem to give off the vibe of a villain? He’s just like a Baheim, the Empire’s nemesis!”
“Why is Baheim in this place? Still, he seems a little suspicious.”
Once he opens his eyes, I feel like something gigantic will happen.
Then Sizelry abruptly jumped down from the railing, her little body darting off without warning, and she shook her finger disapprovingly.
“Oh no, Sera! Judging someone by their looks is a grave error.”
“Didn’t you just say he smells like a villain?”
“That’s why I need to check for myself.”
“Wait, Your Highness!”
Sera blurted out, but Sizelry had already suddenly jumped from her perch.
Thud!
“Your Highness!”
Swallowed by the crowd, Sizelry smoothly slid down a slope near the railing as if riding a slide.
In the time it took for Sera to gasp in awe, Sizelry landed effortlessly on the ground.
“Now then, villain candidate, disclose your identity to this princess!”
With a playful grin plastered across her face, she dashed through the crowd.
Just as she was navigating through the throng of people.
Due to her petite frame, which was frail from her weak constitution, she accidentally bumped shoulders with an unexpectedly advancing man.
Bump!
“Ouch!”
As a result, she felt herself tilting forward dangerously.
A suddenly extended arm gently nudged her stomach just before she fell.
That was when her eyes met with those of the boy she had been watching.
‘That boy…’
He was the same one she had been observing, the one with closed eyes.
“Such a mischievous little brat.”
As she gazed at him, the boy casually mused, lifting her back up.
“Be careful next time.”
With that said, he continued walking away through the crowd, paying her no mind whatsoever.
Sizelry felt her speech falter for a moment, tilting her head.
“Brat?”
What an odd thing for him to say. Did he know her?
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