I Don’t Want To Be the Main Character

107. Giraffe (2)

1.

It has been a full fifty years since the former court magician, Lorenzo Tonali, assumed the position of court magician.

In other words, Lorenzo Tonali had already ascended to the rank of Archmage over fifty years ago, and had devoted his entire life to his research, living as a stalwart court magician of the empire. If we consider the time period when Lorenzo became a court magician, it was even before the current emperor ascended to the throne.

The sudden death of the old wizard who had lived as a court magician for half his life naturally left a void.

For example, the appointment of a new court magician was problematic.

“……Ugh.”

Because of this, Voltaire, the Countess of the Palace, was having a headache. Whenever she had some difficult administrative work to do, she had a habit of chewing on her quill, and today was the second time she had changed her quill, which she had rarely changed recently.

It was an unprecedented case for at least fifty years. It had been almost fifteen years since he had been appointed to the position of Palace Count, a practical position that handled major and minor palace affairs.

Although Voltaire Palatine succeeded his predecessor as Count Palatine, she never dreamed that she would be the one preparing the process for the appointment of a new court magician.

When it came to the court wizard Lorenzo Tonali, he was a great wizard recognized by everyone on the continent, and it was common knowledge that excellent knights and wizards could extend their youth and lifespan with their magical powers.

At first, he clicked his tongue when he heard the news that Lorenzo had lost his life in an accident during a magical experiment, saying, “It’s like a monkey falling from a tree.” However, when it actually came to his work, he couldn’t just click his tongue and leave it at that.

“You’ve clearly appointed more than one court magician, but you’re saying that you’ve been handling things in a haphazard manner without even creating a manual for your successor?”

Voltaire, the Count of the Palace, who suddenly created something out of nothing, sighed and grumbled.

However, it is not right to simply curse at her predecessors. To borrow the expression of the Countess of the Palace herself, all of her predecessors who handled things in a rule-based manner without a manual were ancestors of the Countess of the Palace. From her grandmother onwards, that is.

As a descendant of a family that had served as counts of the palace for generations, Voltaire was in a difficult dilemma as he could not criticize his predecessors, but he also had to create something from nothing to get things done.

“How should I do this… Even if I’m trying to do something trivial, I have to first check if it’s an overstep of authority and even negotiate the budget.”

“Mom, if that’s the problem, just ask.”

“hmm?”

The daughter of the courtier, who was working as an apprentice to gain practical experience, asked as if she did not understand.

“Isn’t it true that the youngest son of the Weiss family is the one who becomes the court magician? Then why don’t we just go and ask him? We can discuss how to handle it.”

“You’re still young and don’t know. The important thing is not to reflect the opinions of the parties involved. The real headache is that the Count of the Palace has to fill in all the details, starting from the framework.”

“I’ve heard rumors that you are favored by Her Highness the Second Princess.”

“……That’s true. I participated as a partner during His Majesty’s birthday celebration last time.”

“Even if there is a problem, wouldn’t Her Highness the Princess take care of it? She said she did it according to the person’s opinion, so you’re not going to find fault with her?”

“Hmm…….”

The courtier was silent. It was clearly a reasonable opinion.

The nobility is a privileged class. They can’t be punished for such a trivial matter. In addition, serving as a count of the palace was considered a great privilege and an outstanding honor even though there was no special compensation. So it would be inappropriate to use Ludrick’s past life as an example and compare him to a simple civil servant, but it is true that there is a certain feeling of that.

And it was impossible for the civil servants’ characteristic self-preservationism to not apply to honorary positions such as the courtiers.

After a long moment of deep thought, Count Palatine Voltaire nodded.

“I should go to the lab and meet with Ludrick Weiss myself.”

This appointment process was planned to proceed entirely according to the wishes of the parties concerned. Even if Ludrick really wanted an incredibly extravagant and grand appointment ceremony, I was prepared to compromise to some extent and accept his demands. If the higher-ups later questioned him, I could say that I was simply following the wishes of the parties concerned.

Then, the second princess, Elena Esgeland, who seemed to have a fairly close relationship with Ludrick, would naturally support the Count of the Palace.

It was a blueprint perfectly drawn in my head.

2.

“…So, what do you want to do with the appointment ceremony?”

“That’s right.”

I was surprised when an old woman suddenly came to see me, but she turned out to be the court lady.

Well, come to think of it, this is a world where gender is reversed. In a place where the princess, the grand duke, and the admiral are all women, it would be surprising if the countess of the palace were a woman.

The Count added cautiously, perhaps interpreting my brief silence in another way.

“…And there’s no need to speak so highly of it. You’ve been appointed as a court magician. The position of court magician is not hereditary, but is given the honorary title of marquis and is treated equally to a marquis. It’s a bit burdensome to speak so highly of it.”

“Oh, if that’s so.”

In fact, just a year ago, the central nobles in the capital, even those with real power like the Count of the Palace, were in such a high position that no one would dare look up to them.

Even if they are all counts, there are bound to be different ranks within them. A person who has advanced into central politics and held a high-ranking position like a count of the palace cannot be placed on the same level as a count from a humble family whose name is not even known.

But seeing her having such a hard time just because she was appointed as a court magician made me feel like I was in a different world.

I guess I’m realizing anew that a lot has changed in the past few months.

“So you’re saying that I can do the appointment ceremony however I want…?”

“That’s exactly right. In fact, the very idea of ​​a court magician appointment ceremony is quite vague and abstract. The last one was held fifty years ago.”

“…So you’re saying that Master has been a court magician for fifty years?”

“That’s right. To be honest, we don’t have any data on our side either. I don’t know if it was lost because it’s from fifty years ago or if it never existed from the beginning, but there’s no data left on how it was done before either.”

At first, I nodded to the honest words of the courtier.

I wonder if there was no need to create a manual since the appointment ceremony for the court magician itself was held irregularly, once every few decades.

As a result, the decision-making power was entirely in my hands.

“So you’re saying that since you can’t refer to precedents, you’ll do it according to my opinion?”

“That’s it.”

The courtier nodded.

I’m the one holding the knife handle.

No, it’s a bit strange to call something as trivial as a hilt. In any case, the person holding the appointment ceremony holds the power to decide how to proceed.

There was no need to worry. My answer was already set from the beginning.

“Let’s make it as simple as possible. Let’s skip the meal order and only do the ones that are really necessary. Is that possible?”

“If the budget is spent too excessively, the executive branch will criticize no matter how much you sell the names of the parties involved, so it may be possible to omit to some extent… What did you say?”

“Since it’s all just empty formalities anyway, I want to keep it as simple as possible. There’s no need to make it long.”

“…….”

The speechless courtier looked at me with an expression as if he had not expected this, as if he had been hit by a blow.

No, I was just saying that because I was really annoyed and wanted to just get it over with quickly.

Is it really something to look at with such a strange face… …?

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“It’s okay, I have nothing else to say… I really think it would be best if we could keep it as brief as possible.”

“……This is unexpected. Since it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, I thought they’d make it as grand as possible. This is a completely unexpected perspective.”

“It’s all about money, but where can you get that if you dig the ground? It’s all taxes. And I thought it would be annoying if I made a fuss about it for no reason.”

“You are… really strange. Oh, don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean it in a bad way. I should say that you don’t know where you’re going.”

The courtier, who had been looking at me with a strange look for a while, nodded and said that he would proceed as he pleased, and left.

After the palace lord left, just as I was about to close the laboratory door.

“Hey, boy. Can it really be that simple? After all, it’s a once in a lifetime honor, isn’t it?”

“Ah, Rasil. It’s been a while.”

Rasil, who hadn’t been seen for a while, showed up with skin that had become more copper-colored. The more she looks like a golden sun, the more I want to tell her to refrain from natural tanning.

Rasil put his arm around my shoulder quite naturally and smiled brightly as he spoke.

“I heard a very interesting story from His Highness the Grand Duke.”

“yes?”

“You said you wanted to choose all five because you couldn’t just pick one? I didn’t know you had such a brave side.”

No, what the hell is this?