Deeply submerged in Ezekiel’s subconscious.
Doooon…
Once again, the sensation of an out-of-body experience felt familiar. This time, it was near the heart. Simultaneously, the figures of elementals huddled in a corner came into view.
They appeared to be having a serious operation meeting.
Ezekiel crept closer to get a better look.
“~~~~~~”
“~~~~~?”
Two girl elementals were bustling, scribbling something on the ground with twigs. What they were drawing looked suspiciously familiar to Ezekiel.
It was the faces of the princesses.
The Sun Elixir Spirit pointed at the 2nd Princess in order.
“~~~~.”
It turned out the story wasn’t complicated at all.
The 2nd Princess Hedera had a Dragon Spirit within her, while the 3rd Princess Solana housed a Holy Spirit.
“…!”
“~~~~!”
The two spirits continued their excited chatter. If they could just pull all these spirits into Ezekiel’s body, wouldn’t they have successors?
“~~~~?”
How? the Blood Spirit asked.
Then, the Sun Elixir Spirit began to sketch something.
“…”
Ezekiel lost his words.
What the Sun Elixir Spirit was drawing was a scene of Ezekiel rolling around completely naked with the princesses.
“…Hey.”
Just as Ezekiel was about to voice his thoughts…
“…!”
The Sun Elixir Spirit pushed him away in shock.
…And that was how he snapped out of the subconscious.
Beeeeep—
With a ringing in his ears and a severe headache, Ezekiel opened his eyes.
The sunlight streamed warmly through the window. His heavy body was comfortably nestled in a soft bed.
“…!”
He tried to spring up but stopped short.
The familiar royal patterns were on the ceiling. Right, this isn’t a battle situation. Looks like I made it back safe.
‘Which means…’
After contemplating his return, his head filled with questions. There was so much he needed to know.
How much time has passed? What happened to the princesses? What about the Demon Lord and the Emperor? And what about Arcne…?
Meanwhile, he was also worried about his own condition.
After half-heartedly mimicking the Emperor’s techniques, he wondered if he had suffered any side effects. But soon enough, he realized that was just paranoia.
Thud—! Thud—!
He was just exhausted from depleting his mana, not that his physical condition was poor. The techniques he had unleashed helped improve his realm.
Just as he was about to get up…
“…Are you awake?”
A familiar voice rang in his ears. It felt very welcome, as it had been quite a while.
It was Agnes, his personal secretary, who had always been by his side before the betrayal of the Purple Magic Tower.
“Yeah.”
“Indeed. Then, if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
The woman entered the accommodations of the imperial palace.
Her slightly sharp bobbed hair fell softly, and her trademark impassive expression always rested on her face.
Yes, it was indeed Agnes, his personal secretary.
“…”
A brief silence hung in the air. It was a moment filled with nostalgia.
When things went awry in the underground maze, they had worried for each other. Yet here they were, reunited, unharmed.
It was no surprise that relief washed over him.
Ezekiel broke the silence first.
“When I last saw you, your arm was all bandaged up. Are you feeling better now? I was quite worried.”
In response, Agnes allowed a very faint smile to grace her lips.
“…Even in such a situation, you still care about my well-being. Truly, you are unique, Inspector. In fact, I was quite worried about you. I thought there had been a great mishap.”
“You actually cared about me? I had no idea.”
Ezekiel’s words seemed to brighten Agnes’s mood. Despite disliking his tone and jokes, hearing them now felt incredibly comforting.
“Not just me, but all the mages from the Blue Tower and the Imperial Tower are safe. It’s thanks to you volunteering as a hostage and being captured by the Demon Realm. Everyone was eagerly waiting for your safe return.”
Ezekiel quietly pondered.
Seeing Agnes reporting to him as his secretary made him feel like he was finally returning to a normal life.
“So, are you feeling alright?”
“Feeling great. It’s a long explanation, but I’ve had a major realization regarding the manipulation of energy.”
“You accomplished that even while being held hostage? Truly, you are remarkable…”
“More importantly.”
Ezekiel couldn’t help but cut Agnes off. There was something urgent he needed to ask right away.
“How long has it been since I came to the Imperial Palace?”
“Ah, it’s been exactly one week.”
One week.
That was quite a significant amount of time. Suddenly, memories of the moments just before his consciousness faded rushed back.
─…Huh? Wasn’t I in the embrace of a demon woman?
─Didn’t I just blurt out ‘my wife’?
─What was that, what happened?
He seemed to recall collapsing into Arcne’s arms, the princesses’ voices echoing clearly in his mind. What had happened after that was genuinely concerning.
He got up immediately.
“…I need to go out right now.”
“Pardon? As I mentioned, the mages from the Blue Tower and Imperial Tower are safe. Are you worried about the rewards? Rest assured, everything has been splendidly settled.”
“It’s for another reason.”
“You should take at least a month to rest after regaining consciousness. It would be best for you to recover…”
“Resting is poison for me.”
Ezekiel said briefly, rising from his seat.
Since the moment he bore the burden of a terminal illness, there had been no such thing as leisure in his life. No, more importantly, he was worried about Arcne’s condition.
Agnes blinked in disbelief.
“…Are you really leaving?”
“Yeah, have there been any updates about the Demon?”
“Updates about the Demon? Well, I haven’t come across anything.”
A wave of anxiety washed over him from Agnes’s short answer.
Why wasn’t there any news about the Demon? Had Arcne been killed in the Demon Realm and then he returned?
“Ah.”
At that moment, Agnes’s eyes lit up.
“There’s a group in the Imperial Palace called the Tribunal, right?”
“The Tribunal?”
Ezekiel was familiar with it.
They were the elite among the Empire’s inquisitors and oversaw the treatment and execution of high-ranking creatures captured from the Demon Realm.
“I heard that, for some significant matter, the Tribunal has been extremely busy in the past week.”
It had to be about Arcne.
Ezekiel’s heart raced even faster. After thanking Agnes briefly, he tried to leave the room.
“If you go out now, your ears might be bothered. Many witnesses saw the princesses take care of you upon your return. There are lots of stories circulating.”
“I’ll manage. Thanks.”
In fact, the sight of a princess carrying Ezekiel was no surprise; it had happened before during his battle with the 1st Princess. Ezekiel shrugged it off as he stepped outside.
“…”
But soon, he couldn’t help but feel the weight of Agnes’s words.
“…The Inspector of the Imperial Tower?”
“Finally, showing up. It’s been a week, hasn’t it?”
“It would be great if I could ask about the various rumors.”
He had felt a growing number of people recognizing him before, but this time it was on a completely different scale. It seemed nearly everyone in the Imperial Palace had something to say about him.
“There was a peculiar atmosphere among the princesses, right?”
“I heard rumors about a dispute over who would carry the Inspector. Since you’re here, it might be good to ask.”
“…How would I even ask about such matters?”
There were far too many people discussing Ezekiel, but ironically, none approached him.
It was due to the rumors involving the princesses.
Amidst all this, there was someone who uniquely approached Ezekiel. No, it would be more accurate to say appeared out of nowhere.
“The Imperial Palace holds silence as a virtue, yet it seems there hasn’t been a moment of peace lately. One might say it has become quite troublesome, thanks to you, Inspector.”
Suddenly appearing was Ilaref.
“…The Emperor’s lackey?”
“It feels odd to hear that from someone other than the Emperor. Just call me by my name, comfortably.”
He was dressed like a butler in bright white, with monocles perched on one eye. This man who had appeared out of nowhere was indeed one of the Emperor’s lackeys.
“I’m Ilaref. You’ve regained your senses much earlier than I expected. We have many things to discuss regarding the commotion in the Imperial Palace; let’s talk for a moment.”
“…Later.”
Ezekiel tried to brush past Ilaref. As he often did, he intended to head to the audience chamber to speak with the Emperor.
However.
“…Later? I recommend you do it now. The Emperor is currently not in the audience chamber. In this area, there’s no one who knows better than me.”
He adjusted his monocle with a smooth motion.
“Oh, and there’s also the matter regarding the Goddess of the Demon Realm.”
Goddess, Arcne.
Ezekiel’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.