Chapter 366 – Face It.

‘Audience…!’

Ricke himself knows.

No matter how much he thinks about it, his limits are clear when he sees it. In this matter, Roman’s skill and experience cannot be matched.

Because he knows that fact, he trusts and leaves all his judgments to him.

Therefore, even though it was clear that this audience was about a topic related to the family of the Marquis of Skadi, he did not pay any attention to the fact that he was absent.

On the other way.

There is something else that the girl, whose head is covered in pink emotions, cares about.

“Sister. If it’s been a while… Isn’t this the first time you’ve been to the imperial palace in person?”

“It happened several times in the past. It reminds me of the time when His Majesty called Roman. The first time I was assigned to work and visited him was very special.”

In response to Ricke’s question, Eclair raised the corners of her mouth as if she had caught the attention of the lower back.

She glanced at Roman, who was smiling awkwardly.

“Onii-sama’s past history! This is truly precious…!”

“I want to hear! Roman and your sister’s story before they started dating!”

– Shhh!

Encouraged by the warm support of her family, Eclair comfortably leaned into Roman’s arms and buried her body in his.

She raised her hand and gently caressed her lover’s face.

Eclair Dritnara, who is evaluated as a knight with a strict and rigid appearance from the outside, has a truly free atmosphere and a soft expression.

Everyone was naturally accepting it and listening with curiosity.

“In the past, when I first started working, I went to invite Roman to the imperial family, but he was rejected outright. When I came back and listened to the story, I heard that my predecessor was also rejected for the same reason.”

“···.”

It’s fun to look back on the past in a completely changed relationship.

A calm smile did not leave the lips of Roman and Eclair, who clearly remembered that moment.

“Roman. Do you remember why you refused?”

“I probably refused because I don’t know the etiquette.”

“Even if you said that, I can assure you that it wasn’t the reason. What I was thinking of at the time was clearly visible on my face.”

“If I’m going to be honest, it was the biggest annoyance.”

As expected, Eclair chuckled, pulling Roman’s cheek.

There were also girls who were embarrassed and unable to laugh along with the flow.

“Well, is it okay if I refuse for that reason?!”

Seria, who had been quietly listening, lifted her hips and let out her voice.

Eclair continued to explain softly, thinking that her little sister was cute.

“Of course it can’t be done. But… The implications of a noble acting like that and an adventurer acting that way are completely different, starting with the weight. Especially in the current situation.”

Seeing the girls who seemed to vaguely understand, Eclair added one more word.

“If you are a noble, this action could be interpreted as meaning that you will follow a faction of nobles rather than the imperial family, right?”

“Aha… I understand!”

“If an adventurer wants to raise an issue, he or she can do so seriously. However, if the other person, a high-ranking adventurer, politely refuses, the current imperial family does not necessarily raise an issue.”

“Well, the higher-ups are also sensitive because too many adventurers are leaking out to federal or independent countries, right?”

Because there were events that came to mind at the moment, it was easy for Lily, who was caring for Ceria, to draw a picture in her head.

“Now it’s time to say… But it’s just as Liline explained.”

“I’m sure I missed a lot. Before the accident, I’d chewed on nobles while drinking, but I rarely thought about killing them in public.”

Let’s even show empathy to Roman.

Eclair gave a short lecture for girls who did not know the inside story of the current empire.

“The problem is that the more high-ranking adventurers there are, the rarer they are who are friendly to the empire’s nobles or the imperial family. Except for Roman, the balance of the Platinums tends to be neutral or slightly tilted in a hostile direction.”

“Sister. Why is it like that? I can’t believe we all don’t get along…”

Eclair stretched out one hand and placed her hand on Chloe’s head, who had a gloomy face.

“Chloe. The enmity between nobles and adventurers has been accumulating for a long time over many generations.”

“Yeah… Seria told me about it a while ago.”

“For that reason, there was frequent friction between each other, and it was treated as if it were a custom. But one day, killing nobles who looked down on them and going to the Commonwealth began to spread like a trend.”

After an incident where an adventurer dragged a nobleman into the street, insulted him, killed him, and then ran away, they started criticizing and swearing at each other in their respective positions.

That became the starting point for bursting the pent-up fire.

“The guy who first started might have been a stooge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was the one who had been bragging all day long about how the Federal Bureau treated adventurers.”

Roman vaguely remembers the adventurer who first caused the incident and disappeared.

His gentle demeanor and speaking skills were so outstanding that they reminded one of a conman.

He often served drinks to the adventurers around him, building a rapport with them, and even approached Roman with a wish to buy him a drink.

“Roman’s guess may be valid. However, even if the adventurer was sent by the Federation, the reason such a method was possible is because the nobles in the empire had a deep-rooted perception of ignoring capable adventurers.”

“Well, there is something about being self-employed.”

“His Majesty took the situation more seriously than anything else. He ordered the nobles to show proper courtesy to adventurers while avoiding situations that could lead to conflict.”

In reality, it was an act of repairing a barn after losing a cow.

A raccoon who is obsessed with keeping the federal government in check will maintain this policy for as long as he lives.

“It has become rare among adventurers these days to openly criticize nobles… If the empire maintains the current atmosphere, the problem may be resolved someday.”

“Well, I’m hopeful, but it’s a difficult problem to solve right now.”

Roman and Eclair’s conversation concludes with an absurd opinion.

Rike, who had been silent, raised his hand.

“By the way, sister.”

“Hmm?”

“What were you like before? Is it the same now as it was in the past?”

Eclair, who was now lying down and monopolizing his arms, moved her gaze and looked at Roman’s face.

“Hmm… Back then, there was a youthful look around the eyes and jawline. But I remember that the eyes were full of venom and didn’t hide the fierce energy.”

“Did I do that?”

“It was definitely like that. Looking at my current impression, it is difficult to recall the appearance and atmosphere of the past.”

Roman looked back on the past and hugged Eclair, who looked happy like a child.

“It’s because I found peace of mind, unlike before.”

*****

A few days have passed since I expressed my approval to the scroll that Eclair brought to the mansion.

Roman boarded the carriage sent by the Adventurer’s Guild and headed to the imperial palace located deep in the capital.

The location of the imperial family is close to where public officials in the capital conduct internal affairs.

Not having to travel for a long time by carriage was a great comfort to him, who disliked being cramped.

‘···How soon will we be gone?’

I don’t remember exactly.

In the past, I would go in and out of the imperial family as if I were eating and drinking, doing requests non-stop.

While living with Rike, there was a tendency to focus on daily life and intentionally stay away from the adventurer work itself.

Squeak-

Upon arrival, the coachman in a suit politely opens the door.

Roman got out of the carriage and turned her sore neck around.

Roman, who arrived at the entrance of the imperial palace, was dressed in clothes that clearly showed that he was an adventurer rather than formal clothes.

A middle-aged man who saw this and came over bowed his head in courtesy.

“I will guide you from here.”

“Let’s go.”

There are magnificent buildings visible along the way.

There is a separate space for the empress to stay and separate buildings for her concubines.

‘I’m greedy… But it’s still needlessly wide.’

The places where each prince can stay are extremely large.

No matter where you look, the splendor is so great that it feels like a tourist destination.

‘Plus, it’s a waste of manpower.’

The quality of security at places where the royal family stays is different.

From Roman’s perspective, the level of knights and wizards who are standing still in their positions without making a sound is not bad, and their number is not small.

I can’t help but get the impression that he is overly worried as he always alternates between eclairs and famous knights as escorts.

“···.”

Roman, who was walking at a pace comparable to the time taken to travel by carriage, frowned at the feeling of momentum.

“Is there anyone scheduled to have an audience with you today besides me?”

When Roman asked a question to the person walking in front, a formal answer came back in a dry voice.

“I can’t tell you that without permission.”

“Hmm…”

When I turned the corner of a building that was comparable to a work of art.

Roman looked closely at the person approaching from the other side.

He holds a sword scabbard similar to Enoch Skadi, but his skills are completely different.

‘···Jurgena di Venta.’

Even if it’s the first time we actually meet each other.

Roman was certain that this person was one of the three knights of the empire.