The Response to my Drunken Proposal was Surprisingly Good

✦ Chapter 27 – I Will Teach You What Fear Is (1) ✦

Rumors always spread faster than anything else.

Even faster to those who have been waiting for them.

In the imperial capital, at the temple dedicated to the Sun God—

“Hehehe…”

The Angel of the Empire, the face of the Empire, the Third Princess… Solana burst into girlish laughter. It was a face difficult to imagine from her usual kind and mature demeanor.

“A bet. And with the former captain of the Imperial Knights, no less.”

However, Solana’s face showed no concern. Her expression was filled only with interest.

“It’s simply astonishing. To cause such a stir right after taking office, this Inspector must be an unpresidented figure. Isn’t that right?”

Meanwhile, the priest who brought the information quietly thought—

…It’s ‘unprecedented’, not ‘unpresidented’.

But he didn’t dare voice his thoughts at this moment.

“Yes. We’ve certainly never seen an Inspector like this before.”

He nodded anyway. At least he could wholeheartedly agree that this Inspector was unprecedented.

What was a Magic Tower Inspector?

Most Inspectors simply served their terms leisurely, living in luxury before retiring. It was a cushy position as long as they didn’t cause any incidents. That was about it.

But an Inspector who actively stirs things up?

…It had been a long time since they’d seen one. No, it was the first time.

“Ahem.”

In any case, Solana seemed pleased with the news the priest had brought, occasionally flashing inscrutable smiles in all directions.

The priest, at a loss for words, said—

“I apologize. It seems I’ve disrupted the Third Princess’s morning prayers by bringing this news.”

“Not at all. I requested this information in the first place.”

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

As the priest withdrew, Solana was alone again. Now she would need to start her day as a Saintess.

She pushed away all thoughts except those of one person, then clasped her hands and closed her eyes gently.

“Oh Sun God…”

At dawn.

Without fail, every single day, Solana’s routine began with a prayer for the peace of one single man.

~~••~~••~~

“Your Highness.”

“Speak.”

“Forgive my impertinence, but what is your relationship with the Inspector?”

In the top floor of the magic tower, in the VIP room reserved for the Second Princess, Hedera furrowed her brow while resting.

“…………”

Hedera silently looked at Valken for a moment, then—

“Hah.”

She sighed deeply as if in understanding.

Come to think of it, that’s right. Their interaction and conversation when she encountered Ezekiel in the tower’s corridor… Valken had been right there, witnessing everything.

The letter, true feelings, and so on. There were some provocative words for someone unaware of the circumstances. It wouldn’t be strange to think of it as a romantic relationship.

Fortunately, Hedera was in a position where she could simply give orders.

“Forget it.”

“Yes. As you command, I shall forget.”

Valken bowed respectfully.

“I knew from the start that it wasn’t my place to interfere. However, Your Highness, what I was concerned about was…”

“I know what you’re thinking. You were worried about my Ascension Ceremony.”

Hedera cut off Valken’s words.

“Valken, I know your loyalty well. But there’s nothing I consider more important than the Ascension Ceremony. Whatever attitude I take towards the Magic Tower and the Inspector, know that there are absolutely no emotions involved.”

“…Yes. Your Highness is perfect.”

— Your Highness is perfect.

A phrase Valken had uttered countless times while serving Hedera.

But for the first time, as he spoke those words just now, Valken felt something like a stone catching in his heart; because the current Second Princess seemed imperfect to him.

The Ascension Ceremony.

To pass it safely, one must achieve flawlessness. In other words, the more one sheds their human aspects and truly becomes a dragon, the better.

…But the current Hedera clearly wasn’t like that.

As a skilled knight, Valken could see it without fail. The subtle changes in Hedera’s facial muscles and fingertip movements when dealing with Ezekiel, different from her usual demeanor.

Clearly, at that time, Hedera had some kind of emotion.

‘Ezekiel, just who in the world are you?’

Thanks to this, that was Valken’s only question.

“I suggested this performance proposal purely out of curiosity about the Inspector’s abilities. Though it’s grown into a bet with you, that’s not a bad thing.”

“…Do you believe the bet will actually happen?”

Valken asked incredulously.

However, Hedera continued speaking calmly, “You can tell just from his presentation. It’s not simply a matter of being good at magic. He has boundless creativity.”

“It was certainly impressive.”

“Impressive? That’s not enough to describe the feeling. It’s more like, how should I put it…”

She suddenly stopped speaking and waved her hand lightly.

“Ah, never mind. I’m talking too much. It’s unbecoming.”

To Valken’s eyes, it seemed the princess had gotten a bit excited and was about to continue, but consciously stopped herself.

“Anyway, do your best, my loyal knight.”

“…Your Highness. I am Valken.”

Valken said with a somewhat suppressed tone.

A Knight’s strength in handling sword qi and sword techniques was no less than a mage’s. Moreover, Valken was the former captain of the renowned Imperial Knights. He had rarely experienced defeat.

Valken sometimes felt disappointed by this aspect of Hedera.

Despite being in a position revered by other knights, Hedera would often make comments to Valken as if he fell short of some standard.

As if she had seen something too incredible. As if nothing else could impress her anymore.

“I know. I’m telling you this because I know how great Valken is.”

But the next moment, Valken doubted his eyes.

Because he thought he saw a hint of that very impression in the princess’s eyes.

“…This bet might be quite challenging for you.”

~~••~~••~~

In the corridor of the Imperial Magic Tower.

Nox, the leader of the pragmatic faction, was a connoisseur who knew how to enjoy alcohol. The only problem was being drunk in broad daylight.

“Hahaha! Hahahahaha…!”

He burst into laughter bordering on madness.

“Finally! The magic tower has finally avoided being sold!”

But the next moment, he suddenly sat down.

“Hic… *sob*! Waaah!”

He exhaled heavily, wailed, and shook his head violently.

“We’re ruined. Ruined, I tell you! A bet with the Second Princess’s guard knight… Have we leapt up only to fall even harder? What will become of this magic tower now…!”

“…Bipolar disorder? Poor thing, at such a young age.”

Ezekiel, who had been watching this scene, commented.

Agnes, who had been observing Ezekiel, also remarked, “Isn’t this all thanks to you, Inspector?”

While Nox seemed out of his mind, this was actually the atmosphere throughout the entire Magic Tower. It was good that they avoided being sold, but how could they win this bet?

The situation was utterly incomprehensible.

…Of course, Ezekiel, the person directly involved, couldn’t have been more nonchalant.

“Save your thanks for after we win the bet. It’s too early now.”

“That wasn’t gratitude at all. This is what we call sarcasm. Sarcasm is—”

“Enough. You’ll be grateful anyway. Because we’re going to win.”

“Where does that confidence come from…? Anyway, look at this.”

Agnes, who had been walking down the corridor, suddenly stopped.

In the center of the Imperial Magic Tower’s corridor was something like a giant blackboard, covered densely with documents of different colors at regular intervals.

“The Imperial Magic Tower isn’t run on taxes alone. Requests we receive are posted here as documents, and we earn rewards for solving them.”

“It’s so crowded. Are there always too many requests?”

“Hardly any come in. They’ve piled up because we can’t solve them.”

“So you’re saying it’s been in the red for about 10 years straight.”

“…Yes.”

Agnes cleared her throat expressionlessly.

“Actually, these aren’t requests exclusive to our tower. Other magic towers, knightly orders… They all receive them simultaneously.”

“I’d expect so. Anyone who can solve them will do so.”

“The important thing is, it’s not that we’re incompetent and that’s why it looks so crowded. These are just the ones that other towers and knightly orders couldn’t solve either.”

Agnes said with a dead serious expression.

In any case, more noticeable than the content of the current missions was the color. Among the white papers, there was one that stood out in yellow.

“There’s one with a different color. What’s that?”

“We use different paper colors according to difficulty. White is medium, yellow is high, red is extreme. That sort of system.”

Ezekiel closely examined the yellow paper.

[Request for Purification of Erosion Phenomenon]

[The erosion phenomenon in the Ruiple region is severe. Magic beasts and even monsters are appearing. As soon as possible….]

“Recently, the erosion phenomenon in the Ruiple region has become serious. We’ve cleared out magic beasts and monsters multiple times, but the problem is they keep reappearing as if nothing happened.”

“So it’s a request for identifying the cause, not just elimination.”

“Exactly. The Blue Magic Tower has already tried twice and failed, so there’s been discussion about upgrading it to a red request recently.”

Ezekiel understood why the paper was yellow.

Simply eliminating magic beasts wasn’t difficult, but if the goal was to find and eliminate the cause of their constant reappearance, the difficulty inevitably increased greatly.

“I’ll need to choose carefully by the end of today. I understand for now.”

Agnes nodded silently at these words.

At the same time, she felt relieved.

Is there a more important strategy than carefully selecting requests with a possibility of success?

In fact, Agnes had been very worried about what to do if Ezekiel suggested taking on the Ruiple region request.

…That one was practically impossible. A request that shouldn’t be attempted.

Moreover, Valken had already accepted the Ruiple region request. If Ezekiel accepted it too, it would mean competing in real-time in the same region….

…The thought alone was terrifying. ​

Of course, Agnes now understood Ezekiel’s extraordinary abilities.

However.

‘Performance missions require at least three people.’

If the other two held Ezekiel back, wouldn’t the situation become much more difficult? The opposing side would have at least three knights of Valken’s caliber working in perfect unity.

So there was a better strategy.

“It seems we’d be better off handling multiple white requests. We should aim for quantity.”

Yellow requests were worth 10 points, white ones 1 point, so if they worked hard to solve about 10 white ones, they might manage a draw.

Fortunately, Ezekiel nodded, “I got it. I’ll think about it.”

Relieved, Agnes unnecessarily added—

“Yes. I’ll assist as much as I can.”

Ezekiel suddenly handed her a box.

“Fill this with sunweed.”

“………..”

Agnes was about to protest but closed her mouth. She realized she had just volunteered to assist.

Just now, in fact.

In the end, she pursed her lips and did voice an objection.

“Sunweed is very hard to come by these days.”

Ezekiel’s gaze turned to Agnes’ cube.

“…It’s true.”

A bead of sweat formed on Agnes’ forehead.

“It won’t work even if you threaten to take my cube hostage.”

“Then explain why.”

“Ruiple is the main producer of sunweed. I understand they’re having trouble with the erosion phenomenon lately. Distribution has also been cut off due to monsters.”

“I see.”

Agnes finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next moment.

She realized there was nothing to be relieved about.

“……….!”

The yellow request paper attached to the board.

The request that Knight Valken had already accepted.

Ruiple region, high difficulty, identifying the cause of erosion — Ezekiel was closely examining that request paper after removing it.

“…Insolent monsters.”

The Inspector muttered with a rather serious expression.

“Looks like I’ll have to teach them what fear is.”

“…………..”

…Agnes felt like she already knew what fear was.

End of Chapter. . . . . . . .Thanks for Reading. . . . . . . . .