050 – Rank Advancement
* * *
After finishing his shower, he stood before the mirror, gazing at his status window.
—
Mikhail (22)
[Abduction] – Inactive
[Espionage] – Isabella Lilit
[Sleep] – Active
[Infiltration] – Active
[Silence] – Active
—
“Just a skill that prevents one from speaking, then.”
The Infiltration skill had been more disappointing than he’d anticipated.
He hadn’t felt compelled to experiment with the Silence skill.
But looking at himself in the mirror, he felt he should test it out at least once, and it seemed like a skill he wouldn’t need to use on someone else.
“I’ll find out once I use it, I guess. Silence.”
He immediately cast the Silence skill upon himself.
“Saaa~ranghaeyo~.”
Knowing my luck, anyone hit with a Silence skill wouldn’t hear a word I said…
“Master, you probably shouldn’t sing.”
“?!?!”
“Why are you so surprised, nya?”
The shame of being caught stark naked, singing my heart out…
“…Just forget you ever heard it. Please.”
“Mya?”
“Memory wipe! Personality alteration…!”
…Myaong?
Why, oh why, does the Kidnapping skill not include memory erasure?
Just needed to delete one of us – Isabella’s memory, or my own…
But wait, more importantly.
“How did you even get in here…?”
I locked the door tight…?
I even kept watch through the peephole every now and then…
How did this cat get in?
“I can go wherever I want.”
What is that, some kind of cheat-code skill?
Sleep, Kidnapping, Peeping, Infiltration, Silence.
Don’t make my five skills look so pathetic, jeez…
“Eueh?”
Now wasn’t the time to focus on that. I grabbed Isabella by the scruff of her neck, hoisting her out of the bathroom.
“What kind of woman sneaks in while a man’s showering?”
“I didn’t sneak! I came in confidently! And you touch my butt without permission all the time!”
“…That’s my rump.”
“It’s my butt!”
“Rump and butt are distinctly different locations. A fingertip difference separates a 15+ rating from a 19+ rating.”
“What kind of crackpot theory is that?”
“In any case, you are forbidden from entering.”
Myaaaoong!
Scritch scritch scritch scritch
Ignoring the cat scratching and wailing at the bathroom door, I finally realized that the Silence skill wasn’t quite what I’d thought.
“If that’s the case, then why Silence… …Eh?”
Having lived my entire life with a body devoid of Aether, I was only now coming to the belated realization that I had no Aether at all.
‘…Could it be.’
Until now, I’d thought the Silence skill prevented the target from speaking…
“Wow… I can’t use Aether.”
The Silence skill is…
It was a skill that literally ‘silenced’ the target, preventing their aether from reacting.
‘This is totally League of Lege…’
You could say it was similar to a certain game.
If afflicted with the abnormal state ‘silence’, you couldn’t type in chat; rather, you couldn’t use skills…
The situation felt remarkably alike.
“…I like it. A lot.”
If the infiltration skill had been more disappointing than expected,
the silence skill had an overwhelmingly more satisfying effect than he had envisioned.
“I’ll put you to good use.”
This skill will be incredibly usef-
“Use what?”
“?!?!?!?”
“Use what to good use?”
First, he needed to deal with this trespassing feline somehow.
…
“I sleep for a month at a time, unlike other people. Otherwise, I can’t endure the aether that gnaws at my life.”
The Princess had certainly said so.
Aether gnawing at life.
If so… what would happen if he placed shackles on her heart, preventing aether from being generated?
‘I guess I’ll know the detailed results in a month.’
The outcome was unknown.
Only God would know the results of this deed.
He simply hoped that this child could have even just one more happy day.
“Sweet dreams.”
Having finished what he had to do, he left the Princess’s bedroom straight away.
As expected, His Majesty was waiting for him in front of the door. He moved to close the bedroom door and drop to his knee, but…
“…Don’t strain your injured leg.”
“How dare I…”
“Are you not a special friend of the Emperor?”
“How dare… …I am…”
“It is a friend’s request.”
Please, just let me kneel…
“…”
This burdensome request, masquerading as a command, was too much. He cautiously rose to his feet, casting his eyes downward.
“I am truly sorry. Not only have I made you waste an entire day, but I have also burdened you with an unreasonable request concerning my daughter.”
“Ahem…”
Normally, in this kind of situation, a phrase like, ‘It is nothing, Your Majesty. It is my honor to serve!’ would have been quite touching.
‘Empty words.’
He was a young man who fully intended to be compensated for today’s events.
I waited, expectation brimming within me…
“Choose one.”
“..?”
His Majesty was asking me to choose one.
“..One, you say?”
“Indeed. Speak just one thing, whatever it may be.”
“..Based on what criteria?”
“Whatever it is you desire to possess, or to become, or to do. Anything at all.”
“And if I choose, what happens then?”
“It shall be made real.”
“..!”
Anything at all, and if I just pick one, it becomes reality?
‘What should I even ask for??’
Isn’t there that feeling?
Normally, cravings come easily, but the moment lunchtime or dinnertime rolls around and you have to actually pick a menu…
A situation where you absolutely cannot decide.
“That’s… well…”
This was precisely that situation.
I pondered, and pondered deeply, what would be best to choose…
“Might it be acceptable to use that one… not for myself, but for another?”
“Anything at all. Within this Magocracy, that one thing you choose shall be made real, whatever it may be.”
I realized there was nothing I could possibly do that would be more useful than this.
“I…”
…
Having finished my business in the Imperial Palace, I returned to the dormitory, the hour already well past dawn.
“Shall we eat something before sleeping?”
“It’s not good for the body to eat before sleep.”
“But it is delicious, no?”
“Eh?”
“How dare a mere cat contradict the opinion of a human, the apex of all creation.”
“..But I am the apex of all creation.”
Just a talking cat… Ah, right, Ms. Isabella was a True Ancestor Vampire.
‘Humans were the apex on Earth, but… here at Arcane Campus, is a True Ancestor Vampire the apex of all things? Hmm… that makes sense.’
Unlike others, I had resolved to acknowledge the truth if it was spoken to me.
“Just a talking cat.”
‘I was about to offer the apex of all things a suggestion that we partake in a late-night snack together.’
“Patiently await the pat-on-the-rump punishment.”
‘Thoughts and words got mixed up. Oh well.’
Lightly disregarding Ms. Isabella’s words, I began to pat her behind with vigor.
Pat pat pat pat.
“Mya?!”
“Speaking of which, Lady Isabella.”
“Uh-huh?”
“Did you eventually find your way home?”
“Yep! Almost there!”
“…Almost there, you say?”
“That’s right!”
‘..What does “almost found her way home” even mean? Is it hidden in some kind of maze?’
“Um… how much longer will it take?”
“Around the time the master’s arms and legs are all healed?”
“They say that’ll take about a year.”
“…Lies.”
“Bring me the Orb of Truth. With it, I shall prove my innocence.”
“Just wait a wee bit…”
If I sent her away now, she truly might just steal the Orb of Truth from the Imperial Palace.
So, I immediately pulled her into a tight embrace, effectively restraining her.
*
While taking a brief rest near the northern border.
“A letter has arrived.”
“From where?”
“It’s a letter sent from the Imperial Family.”
“Hmm? From His Majesty?”
I heard the news from my wife that a letter had arrived from the Imperial Family.
“Is it something urgent?”
Therefore, I immediately opened and checked the letter…
“Eloise… Marquisate…?
The letter stated that the Eloise Marquisate’s elevation in rank was approved, and they were scheduled to be officially appointed as the Eloise Duchy.
“…Dear?”
“What does it say?”
I called for Julia, who had come all the way to the northern border to assist her husband, and showed her the contents of the letter.
Once Julia Aley had also reviewed the entire contents of the letter…
“Eloise… Duchy…?”
As if we weren’t husband and wife, I could see my wife reacting exactly the same way I did.
“I wasn’t seeing things, then.”
“Suddenly this, what…?”
“It says to return to the Imperial Palace as soon as possible for the Duke Investiture Ceremony, so I need to go and find out what happened as quickly as possible.”
Although the fact that our rank had been suddenly elevated was bewildering.
“We’re… becoming a Duchy?”
“Seems that way?”
Now, joy was surging ahead, surpassing my bewilderment.
Well, I suppose…
“Everything will be easier now.”
After all, the title of Duke was the highest rank within the Magic Kingdom, second only to His Majesty.
Until now, even with a vast army as a Margrave, he had been forced to live cautiously, reining himself in due to the scrutiny of other Dukes.
But now, he no longer needed to be mindful of their gazes.
“I should visit the Imperial Palace as quickly as possible.”