844 – Meaning is what you give it – 1

My grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration banquet was a success.

The only minor problem was that the success of the banquet far exceeded the expectations of not only the craftsman who prepared it, but also the main character, the grandmother.

The Hyeonmyeonggong and Trixie, Marga attended the banquet? It was a variable, but it was okay. The Marquis of Marsallo was strong enough to easily withstand the three dukes’ houses. It was not a family that would collapse under the weight of a fancy guest.

It was just the last day of the banquet. The surprise gift from the Emperor shook not only Masalo but the entire western part of the Empire.

“The grand lady was both delighted and surprised. She said it was too embarrassing for a mere noble to receive it.”

The scepter, a gift from the emperor to his grandmother, is commonly called a scepter. As the word “king” in its name suggests, it is an enormous object that symbolizes the monarch’s ruling power and authority.

Even if the heir to the throne were to use it recklessly, it would be an object that would be punishable by having his head broken. Even if she were the mother of the Marquis and a senior member of the empire, it would be an excessive object to give to a subject. That is the Scepter.

And this crazy emperor sent the scepter to his grandmother as a gift. Even if he had given the crown princess a toy scepter, it would have caused an uproar, but he sent a real scepter to a noble.

‘Are you really crazy?’

The emperor drank his tea in silence, despite my disguised interrogation. Now, I wonder if he has really gone mad.

He is probably the only peaceful person in the empire. Not to mention me, all the guests gathered at the banquet hall were shocked when they saw the scepter in Grandmother’s hand. Even Grandmother, who had trained her mind for 90 years, could not completely hide her bewilderment. She could not refuse it because it was a gift from the Emperor.

“count.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“If you were really happy, wouldn’t that be enough?”

The emperor put his teacup down on the table and spoke calmly. At those words, the hand that was on his knees automatically became a fist.

You crazy kid. Don’t just listen to what you want to hear, listen to what comes after. The problem isn’t that you’re happy, but that you’re surprised.

“…If it was to celebrate the longevity of the great lady, other gifts would have been sufficient. The scepter was too much.”

After using my utmost rationality to transform my fist back into a ball, I opened my mouth more directly. No matter how I looked at it, the gift you sent me was a gift that tasted bad.

“A scepter would be fine. At first, I was planning on sending a coffin instead of a scepter.”

He was left speechless by the emperor’s outrageous remark, which was made by tapping his head.

Surely the coffin I’m talking about now isn’t the one that holds the corpse. Even though the emperor is crazy, he’s not the kind of person to spit out insults at another’s family.

Moreover, he kindly pointed to his head. If so, the crown the emperor is talking about must be the crown, the imperial diadem.

“It’s a joke, so don’t take it that way. The atmosphere was tense, so I tried to loosen it up, but the Count’s fists just became more tense.”

When I reflexively lowered my gaze, the hand that had just turned into a ball had turned back into a fist.

It was a quick turnaround that I didn’t even realize was happening. That must mean the Emperor’s gaffe was so terrible.

“Yes, I admit it. The scepter is an excessive gift.”

As I remained silent, the Emperor sighed and continued speaking.

“But would you want to send the scepter to a nobleman just because he was a burden? I was worried that it would ruin the last of the enjoyable banquets.”

“Why then…”

“Let me be clear first. The Scepter is not a gift that I arbitrarily chose. I had prepared a carriage, a statue, and a ceremonial sword as gifts to send to the Masalo family.”

It was a gift that was far from the word “moderate,” but it seemed appropriate because of the spicy taste of the scepter.

A carriage, a statue, a ceremonial sword. These are the perfect commemorative gifts, especially if they are bestowed by the Emperor.

“Damn. Where the hell do I start explaining this.”

Anyway, the emperor, who had roughly tousled his hair, sighed again,

“I found the Scepter of the Trika Empire in Armenia.”

“yes?”

Something unimaginable came out.

“Thanks to you, the Fifth Reich is showing signs of going crazy again.”

One painful word after another came out.

The Fifth Empire. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name, but I’m not particularly happy about it.

The Fifth Empire, a hard-line hawkish group within the Kingdom of Armenia. A group of lunatics who shout that Armenia should become the fifth empire, following Muno, Trika, Aphels, and Kpelopen.

Of course, since this is a realistically impossible claim, the Fifth Empire is treated as a bunch of crazy people even within Armenia, and to this day, when the Empire and Armenia have established friendly relations, they only have the presence of ‘something like that.’

In such a situation, the Scepter of the Trika Empire was suddenly discovered in Armen. Although it was an item from the previous empire, an item symbolizing the authority of the empire and the emperor fell into Armen’s hands.

“Even without that, those who talk about the Empire have caught sight of the scepter used by the Emperor. How crazy and wild will they be? Even the King of Armen is quite perplexed.”

“No, why did Trika’s stuff show up in Armenia?”

The emperor smiled bitterly at my question.

“Count. Do you by any chance know anything about the history of Trika?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”

“Around the middle of Trika, there was an incident where the Emperor and the Crown Prince got into an argument and the Emperor beat the Crown Prince with a Scepter. The Crown Prince died as a result of the incident, and the Emperor, who later regained his senses, threw the Scepter into the river. After that, the Emperors of the Trika Empire did not use the Scepter.”

“Could it be the scepter you threw away back then─”

“It must have flown down the river to the northern sea and gotten caught in a net. What luck.”

The emperor drank the lukewarm tea in one gulp and sighed again.

I felt awe at the sight. Until just a moment ago, I thought it was the crazy actions of a crazy emperor, but it turned out that things had gotten so bad that he fell backwards and broke his nose. How could something from the previous empire be found now, and in Armenia at that?

…

“Your Majesty, it is truly regrettable, but what does that have to do with the fact that you granted the scepter to your Highness the Lady?”

I almost accepted it and moved on, but then I felt a sense of discomfort later.

I admit that the Emperor was visited by a crazy idiot. But what does that have to do with giving the scepter to your grandmother?

“Oh, I almost missed the important explanation.”

Fortunately, the emperor nodded and continued speaking, as if he was not trying to sneakily pass over the matter.

“This is an attempt to eliminate the authority of the Scepter. Rather than worrying about something that’s over a thousand years old, it’s better to just pretend the Scepter doesn’t exist.”

“yes?”

It’s strange. It’s clearly a detailed explanation, not a sloppy one, but it’s hard to understand.

Take away the authority of the Scepter? Just treat the symbol of the monarchy as if it doesn’t exist? What does that mean?

“Anyway, the authority of a monarch does not come from objects. The authority of a monarch is merely temporarily contained in objects. In the history of the continent, were the monarchs who were weak because they did not have a scepter? Even the Trika Empire lasted for hundreds of years without a scepter before falling.”

“That’s true, but.”

“That’s why I hurriedly made the Scepter and sent it to the Marsallo family to prevent the Fifth Empire from causing chaos and to prevent something like this from happening in the future. So that the Scepter would no longer be the exclusive property of the monarch, but would be a decoration for the nobles of high rank.”

I found myself nodding my head. At first, I thought it was nonsense, but the more I listened, the more it sounded plausible.

The emperor’s words are right. Objects exist for the convenience of people, and it is impossible for people to be manipulated by objects. A monarch can reign as a monarch with just a crown, a royal seal, and a throne. What’s so great about a mere scepter?

“Besides, do you know how many septa have gone missing as countless nations have risen and fallen? Every time one of those is discovered, there will be lunatics who will start talking about the qualifications of a monarch or something. Rather than seeing that happen, we should just relegate septa to the exclusive possession of the nobles.”

I nodded again at the reaction that it was tiresome just thinking about it.

Can we roughly assume that the jade seals of the Three Kingdoms are spread across the continent in the tens or hundreds? If that is true, it would certainly be good for one’s mental health to treat the jade seals as neighborhood decorations rather than as belongings to the monarch.

“It’s a shame that the poor King of Armenia has been destroyed. We finally found the relics of Emperor Trika, but we have to lower their value. I’m sure he’ll be a little upset.”

At the same time, I sent my condolences to the King of Armenia, who became an innocent victim.

If it weren’t for the mad group called the Fifth Empire, if it weren’t for the idiots who would talk about the Empire when they saw Emperor Trika’s Scepter, this Scepter discovery incident would have been a laughing matter. The King of Armen is happy to have obtained a precious treasure, and the archaeological community is happy to have discovered an artifact that Trika must have put his heart and soul into. What a joyous event.

However, in order to keep the Fifth Empire and countless other imperialists in check, the Emperor deliberately tries to lower the value of the Scepter. Suddenly, it goes from being a treasure with authority to just a treasure.

“Don’t worry. The Empire has decided to collect the scepter that Armin discovered.”

The corners of my mouth began to tremble at those words that made me worry.

You cruel b*stard. It’s not enough that you’ve turned someone else’s treasure into shit, so you’re going to rob them? Are you even human after doing that?

“Don’t misunderstand, this has already been discussed with the Armenian side. We agreed to lower the value of the Scepter, and if any Armenian artifacts are found on Imperial territory, we will unconditionally hand them over. The reverse is also true.”

“Oh, yes.”

I was convinced by the Emperor’s kind remark.

Of course, it would be difficult for the Emperor to handle such matters on his own. It was possible because an agreement had already been reached with the King of Armenia.

‘It’s an Armenian artifact.’

Wouldn’t it be possible for artifacts associated with Armenians to come from Imperial territory? The Empire and Armenian territories have never overlapped.

‘…It’s probably just a ceremonial provision.’

After thinking about it for a while, I quickly came to a conclusion.

It is virtually impossible for an Imperial artifact to be discovered in Armenia, or for an Armenian artifact to be discovered in the Empire. The discovery of the Trika Scepter this time is not only unusual, but also bizarre.

So let’s pretend that clause doesn’t exist. There’s no need to memorize it.

It seems right that the world oppresses the emperor.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry, but could you say that again?”

– The jewel used by the third king of Armenia was discovered in the County of Sorden.

‘This shit.’

Why is that coming out there?