Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Himanshu02Jamir scratched his head and asked.

“You’re taking over the assassination of the first prince?”

“It seems that the higher-ups have approved it. Even the Archbishop came here, it’s so embarrassing.”

“Well, it’s true that we made a big mistake by failing twice…”

Jamir looked at the order that had just arrived from the upper echelon with a troubled expression.

[As part of the plan to shake the empire, the request for the assassination of the first prince is temporarily transferred to the Bartuk faction.]

“The Bartuk faction…”

Their sect also had factions according to their branches.

Just as they mainly handled assassinations, the characteristic of the Bartuk faction was that they had many disciples who specialized in frontal combat.

“What if those brute guys really plan a large-scale attack to kill one first prince in the imperial capital?”

“I heard that they sent a considerable number of knights and priests after hearing that we failed twice.”

“Can’t we help them?”

“I tried to say it in advance, but aren’t there many stubborn people on that side? We don’t get along well with them either.”

“Tsk.”

Jamir clicked his tongue.

It seemed that they didn’t want to share the credit with them.

It would have been much easier if they helped them, who specialized in assassination, but it was a problem caused by their bad relationship with the Bartuk faction, which had many pure warriors.

“How do I explain this to Master?”

“…”

Jamir and Shim Bok were silent for a while.

What would happen to their master, who was an Archbishop expelled from their faction, if the Bartuk faction succeeded in the request that they failed twice?

“I think we might die?”

They couldn’t help but pray earnestly at this moment.

‘I hope that the first prince’s skill is better than expected and he survives.’

***

At that time, the emperor and Eurius were talking about the royal martial arts tournament.

“I roughly understand your intention, but do you have to participate in the martial arts tournament at this point? I heard you only founded your knight order half a year ago.”

The emperor wondered why he had to do it. Did Eurius really want to give his knight order some experience by participating in the martial arts tournament?

But Eurius had his own reasons for carrying out this plan.

“First of all, it’s a pretext.”

“A pretext?”

“If I get good results in this martial arts tournament, won’t there be more places where my knight order can be active?”

“Your words are theoretically correct, but… There are many formidable knight orders in the empire. And it’s hard to compete with the Golden Lion Knight Order of Grand Duke.”

It was natural for the royal martial arts tournament to be won by the Grand Duke almost every time.

Their record was overwhelming.

The history of the royal martial arts tournament was quite long, but at least for the past twenty years, the Golden Lion Knight Order had never lost.

“Then why don’t we defeat them? It would be fun to see Grand Duke’s face if we lose this time.”

“Hmm…”

‘He must have some thoughts on this, right?’

It was definitely a good event to ruin Grand Duke’s external reputation. What if he lost to a new knight order that was founded just half a year ago?

Eurius opened his mouth again.

“And actually, there are many benefits if you win the martial arts tournament, right? I have a few things to ask you personally if I win.”

“Heh, you have some requests…?”

If he won with a new knight order, Eurius’ requests would be almost granted as his status would rise.The emperor chuckled. He hadn’t even started yet, let alone won, but Eurius seemed to think he had already won.

‘He doesn’t think Grand Duke will give up easily, does he? He might get a worse result than not participating if he’s careless.’

But he couldn’t help but have some expectations because of Eurius’s achievements so far.

“Then let’s say you won and what do you want to ask?”

Eurius changed his expression to a cautious one.

One of his real reasons for participating in the martial arts tournament was here.

“First of all, I want to access the royal report as a personal request.”

“The royal report?”

The emperor looked at him with a surprised expression.

The royal report was literally the treasure house of the royal family.

The only thing that was unusual was that only the emperor who had properly succeeded to the throne could open it, so only the emperor could grant access.

“Is there anything you want there? Don’t tell me you believe in some nonsense like the legendary weapon or something…”

“Haha, of course not. I just found some interesting items while researching the history of the empire and I want to take a look.”

The emperor didn’t believe his words either.

He was curious about Eurius’s recent moves and was investigating them.

‘There are definitely some things he’s hiding from me…’

But unlike his inner thoughts, the emperor easily agreed.

“It’s not much to see, but that’s not a difficult thing. Then what’s your second request?”

“Actually, the second one might be a bit difficult. I think I need to do this much to have a pretext for participating in the martial arts tournament.”

Eurius answered with a worried expression.

His real goal was to access the royal report.

The other goals, such as ruining Grand Duke’s reputation, were secondary.

He believed that there was something worth it in the royal report.

“If you say it’s difficult, it must be quite a difficult request. Just tell me what it is.”

Eurius began to speak with a still cautious expression.

“Actually, this is a request related to my knight order.”

After finishing his conversation with the emperor and leaving the palace, one person approached Eurius cautiously.

“I have something to tell you, your highness.”

“What is it?”

The person was careful to speak. It was a rather sensitive topic.

“Actually, the second prince asked to see you.”

“Leonhart wants to see me?”

Eurius nodded his head.

He and Leonhart were known as enemies in the palace.

It was understandable that the person was hesitant to speak.

‘He must have come up to the capital for a while to be dispatched to the western front.’

“That’s nothing difficult for brothers to meet! Where is Leonhart now?”

He accepted it willingly, unlike what the person thought.

In fact, it was not a bad thing for him to see Leonhart.

‘Rather, he’s a guy I can’t see often, so it’s good that I have a chance to observe him.’

He followed the person and arrived at a separate room in the palace.

“Second prince! The first prince has arrived.”

Clang!

“Brother, I’m glad you’re well! Please come in.”

Surprisingly, Leonhart opened the door himself and greeted him warmly.

At that moment, Eurius smirked inwardly.

‘He seemed cute when he was young, but his head is still big and he looks like a snake, just like in his previous life.’

“Long time no see, brother. We were both busy on the front lines, so we couldn’t even have a simple meeting. But you came up just in time, that’s good.”

Eurius also entered the room with a friendly expression and sat across from him.

‘He doesn’t look much different from a few years ago, does he?’That was Leonhart’s first impression of Eurius.

In fact, he had been puzzled by his brother’s reputation lately, which was far from the person he knew.

But of course, Eurius didn’t seem to have changed much.

On the other hand, Eurius also had some doubts about his younger brother.

‘Why did such a smart guy play the role of a puppet for the Grand Duke in both lives?’

[Leonhart von Scharnos]

Job: Emperor, Intermediate Knight

Strength: B+ Agility: B Intelligence: A+ Spirit: A+ Force: B+ Force Aptitude: A

Personality: Cold, Ambitious, Charismatic

[Traits]

Imperial Bloodline – You have inherited the player’s bloodline. All your abilities grow faster.

Versatile – You learn any field faster and more proficiently.

‘Nothing much has changed, huh?’

It was true that he had exceptional talent because of his player’s bloodline. But there was something that didn’t match Eurius’s expectations.

‘Did he have nothing to do with those cultists or whatever until this point?’

As far as he knew, the emperor’s death and those cultists had nothing to do with the Grand Duke.

Then the only suspect was this guy, but Leonhart didn’t seem to have any connection when he looked at his stats.

Besides, Eurius didn’t know much about him in his previous life either.

‘He doesn’t look like someone who would bow to the Grand Duke according to his personality stats. It’s strange.’

Leonhart must have had something else to rely on besides the Grand Duke in his previous life. But he still couldn’t figure out what it was.

Of course, despite these inner thoughts, the conversation they had was cordial.

“I’ve heard of your achievements in the north.”

“You’ve also done quite well in the south…”

They were busy complimenting each other’s faces, but their minds were working hard.

Leonhart actually wanted to see Eurius because of the assassination proposal that those suspicious people made.

‘I didn’t give them a definite answer, but if they really succeed in assassinating my brother, this will be the last time I see him.’

But he heard an unexpected question from Eurius.

“Oh right! I forgot to ask you something since you were in the south.”

“Do you have something to say to me?”

“Have you ever seen people wearing black masks in the southern desert?”

“…!”

Leonhart was inwardly shaken, but he hid it perfectly.

How did Eurius know about the masked ones?

“I’ve never seen such people. Is there a problem?”

Eurius bit his tongue.

Leonhart’s expression was so flawless that he couldn’t tell if he was really clueless or pretending to be ignorant.

‘I just asked him casually, but there’s no gain.’

Eurius opened his mouth again.

In fact, the incident where he was attacked by those masked ones in the north wasn’t widely known, but the emperor and the Grand Duke knew about it, so it wasn’t something to hide from Leonhart.

“Actually, I almost died because of some black-masked bastards in the north.”

“I didn’t know you were threatened with assassination.”

But Leonhart couldn’t help feeling guilty when he heard that. He didn’t explicitly accept their cooperation, but they might have done something.

‘Is he asking me this to test me?’

Leonhardt interpreted Eurius’s question as a warning or a probe.

‘Then it means that those masked ones are definitely his enemies.’

Then they might be useful to him in some way.

Time passed as they tested each other and soon it was time for Eurius to leave.

“I hope you come back safely with more honors from the western front.”

“I’m sure you’ll do well in this royal martial arts tournament.”

They both ended their meeting with friendly greetings as they started, but their hearts were different.

‘He must be hiding something… I need to meet him more often and observe him.’

‘If they do as they promised and assassinate my brother this time….’