Chapter 3
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Chapter 3
Crown Prince Kiaros blinked for a moment.
Remarkably, every legal statute Namia Loapi had cited was accurate.
Without thinking, he rose quietly and moved the box. It was quite heavy.
'That woman couldn't carry this alone, that much is certain.'
By the time he returned from the warehouse to the department, only five minutes remained until the official end of the workday.
Yet aside from Namia Loapi, all the department staff had already left.
Important security documents lay scattered across the floor.
Since this office fell under the Imperial Knight Order, maintaining security was the top priority.
'I will absolutely dismantle this department.'
Crown Prince Kiaros clenched his teeth, resolving inwardly.
Glancing at Namia Loapi beside him, her expression remained vacant. He moved the box to her side and spoke curtly.
"I will not be coming in from tomorrow onward."
"Ah, very well."
Her tone betrayed complete indifference, not a trace of surprise. She didn't even ask why.
'What on earth is this woman?'
His successor was quitting after a single day, yet she reacted like this.
Recalling her vacant demeanor when he'd demanded authority, he suspected she didn't even remember what authority she'd granted him.
'Perhaps... she was simply memorizing it because she wanted to delegate tasks to someone?'
Thus he dismissed the earlier sense of dissonance.
She'd mentioned joining the funeral procession on an official trip tomorrow. So his authority wouldn't be revoked for at least another day or two.
'If she doesn't revoke it even after a month, I'll claim the department failed to manage authority properly, resulting in a security breach, and dismantle this entire office.'
Crown Prince Kiaros gathered his belongings and left the Scroll Management Department, not even offering a farewell to the woman who had begun rummaging through the box.
* * *
The following morning.
"Gather round, everyone!"
A member of the royal family—the Crown Prince himself, the future of the Empire.
The White Knight Order, the Crown Prince's personal guard within the Imperial Knight Order, had been bustling since dawn.
The White Knight Commander spoke with wide eyes and a grave expression.
"Do not forget—we must protect His Highness the Crown Prince from any danger whatsoever!"
The knights responded with murmurs, their expressions utterly unmoved.
"Didn't he knock down fifteen men barehanded last time...?"
"He ran sixty laps around the training grounds alone during this morning's drills."
"That's nothing—one aura burst and he'd demolish an entire building."
The atmosphere was hardly solemn. The commander cleared his throat and shouted again.
"O-of course, His Highness the Crown Prince is far stronger than all of our combined strength! B-but still, we must protect him!"
Since the schedule was simple, the escort contingent was not large.
The White Knight Commander selected five knights, including himself. Afterward, he also verified the three civilian officials who would accompany them.
"Health and Welfare Department—where are they?"
The escort included a physician and a legal expert. No matter how simple the schedule, one could never predict what emergency might arise.
A young man from the Health and Welfare Department raised his hand.
"I'm Luca Class from the Health and Welfare Department's Emergency Team. I just arrived."
"Luca Class, noted. And Rennan from the Justice Department is here too. Now then, the Scroll Department... did someone come from that division?"
"Yes, sir."
I stifled a yawn and raised my hand.
"Namia Loapi from the Scroll Management Department's Inventory Team, reporting for duty."
"Namia Loapi...? Goodness!"
The White Knight Commander inhaled sharply upon seeing my face.
"What on earth is wrong with your complexion? Miss Loapi, are you certain you can manage this?"
And well he might ask—the dark circles beneath my eyes had descended nearly to the middle of my cheeks.
I slouched my shoulders like a zombie and replied.
"Yes, sir..."
The White Knight Commander clicked his tongue sympathetically in response.
"Well, there won't be much to do there anyway."
His expression made it clear he expected nothing of consequence to occur, and certainly no need for scrolls whatsoever.
In this world, magic could only be wielded through scrolls. Yet the magic contained within them possessed remarkably limited potency.
'Which is to say the efficiency is absolutely abysmal.'
Naturally, the Scroll Department held little standing even within the Imperial Knight Order. It was merely expected to provide auxiliary support to the knights' duties.
'Few people have any interest in magic to begin with...'
The White Knight Commander glanced at my bag with genuine concern and spoke.
"Your bag looks far too heavy. Leave behind anything that seems useless."
Leave behind what, exactly? As if I knew what was even in it.
No one had shown the slightest concern for the Crown Prince.
'Perhaps that will change after today's assassination attempt.'
Ordinarily, the Crown Prince would have hovered between life and death before ultimately perishing, leaving no opportunity to investigate the perpetrators. But if I saved him today, everything would change.
I gathered my bag, which was brimming with defensive scrolls, and steeled my resolve.
'At least that intern brought the materials. I'm grateful for that.'
Arrogant as he was, the intern possessed a physique of remarkable strength and had moved that heavy box in a single trip. Had I attempted it myself, my back would have given out.
He said he wouldn't be coming anymore starting today, but that was something I'd already anticipated.
'Somehow... I will save him. I can save him.'
I'd stayed awake all night, yet my mind remained sharp.
* * *
Kiaros Polariud, having shed the guise of an intern, was a man who seemed like a living sculpture come to life.
His gleaming golden hair and vivid crimson eyes commanded attention even from a distance. Combined with the distinctive beauty inherent to dragons, he emanated an otherworldly aura.
'The escort unit... exactly as described in yesterday's report.'
Dressed entirely in black as befitted someone attending a funeral, he swept his gaze across the escort unit.
His eyes paused for the briefest moment on one woman.
'That woman...'
Namia Loapi, whose dark circles descended to her cheekbones from lack of sleep.
Her large, round blue eyes remained unfocused even now.
He quickly averted his gaze. In any case, he had no attention to spare for her at the moment.
The weight of responsibility that had followed him out of the Imperial Palace continued to bear down upon his shoulders.
'If I collapse now, the Empire collapses with me.'
Though classified as top secret and unknown to anyone else, the Imperial Family was currently in considerable peril.
Everything depended entirely on Crown Prince Kiaros alone.
Yesterday he had been too occupied with other matters to review the Scroll Management Department's documents.
'I'll look at them starting tonight. There's simply too much to do.'
With the Emperor absent from the Capital, there were even more matters requiring Crown Prince Kiaros's attention.
Crown Prince Kiaros departed the Imperial Palace with his escort, his expression stern and unyielding.
"Long live the Crown Prince!"
"May Polariud endure eternal!"
Crowds gathered to witness the Crown Prince's procession.
It was just as they were nearly arriving at the Funeral Hall.
An urgent cry pierced through everyone's ears.
"Ambush!"
The White Knight Commander deflected a dagger hurtling toward him with a sharp metallic ring, his voice booming across the chaos.
"Stay alert! It's a surprise attack!"
Crown Prince Kiaros immediately drew his sword.
'This can't be happening.'
His eyes wavered with confusion.
'I... detected the ambush later than the Knight Commander?'
In that instant, cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Impossibly, he could not sense aura, sword energy, or mana.
'Could it be... the Dark Period?'
The realization felt achingly familiar—something he had experienced at ten years old.
All members of the Polariud Royal Family underwent it.
During the Dark Period, aura, sword energy, and mana were sealed away, and only by enduring this phase could one later gain the ability to manifest as a dragon.
Crown Prince Kiaros had already experienced the Dark Period at ten years old. The sensation of his limbs being severed remained vivid even now.
But why—why now, of all times, had the Dark Period returned?
Only the first Emperor among all dragon-kin had ever experienced the Dark Period twice, and not a single soul had since!
"Everyone hold your positions!"
Five knights encircled Crown Prince Kiaros.
It had all happened in an instant. Crown Prince Kiaros furrowed his brow in bewilderment.
With basic physical reflexes intact, he was confident in technique and strength. But that confidence existed only within the bounds of human capability.
"Ahhhhh! Here, here! Three o'clock! The assassins are here!"
A Justice Department official screamed. Indeed, near him, the assailants were preparing a secondary strike.
It was just as three of the five knights rushed toward that direction.
'A trap!'
Even in his panic, Crown Prince Kiaros's instincts—primal and bestial—compelled him to duck.
Poisoned arrows whistled past the space where he had stood.
The thugs swarming toward the Justice Department officials were merely a distraction—the real target, Crown Prince Kiaros, lay elsewhere.
"Kyaaaah!"
"Ugh! Argh!"
People collapsed in various places. It was absolute pandemonium.
It was then that Crown Prince Kiaros felt a chill for the first time in ages.
"Calculation complete...."
Namia Loapi, her dark circles extending halfway down her cheeks, murmured under her breath.
The woman's voice that followed reached Crown Prince Kiaros's ears with crystalline clarity.
"Activate!"
Countless scrolls surged skyward.
Simultaneously, a defensive spell unfurled across Crown Prince Kiaros's entire body, deflecting the poisoned arrows that rained down like a downpour.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org