Chapter 432

I took my pocket watch from inside my robe. Beneath a thin strip of moonlight blocked by the ebony bookshelves, I could clearly see the second hand ticking away. Even the darkness was clear tonight. The end was drawing near without a shape, carrying the faint almond scent of prussic gas.

Faced with a pre-apocalyptic situation that no one on the continent knew about—not even me, not completely—it almost felt as though I were being rewarded with this brief moment of rest for the exhaustion of running all over Vienna for the past half-day.

I took a deep breath. I could almost smell oxidized nuts brushing the tip of my nose. I still couldn’t let my guard down. Every minute and every second counted.

Now, Hans Gruber, the importer, would be sending sixteen tons of fake Acqua Panna to retailers and restaurants throughout Austria.

‘No.’

They were already sending it. Even now, freight trains loaded with fake Acqua Panna were leaving the port city right next to Italy, cutting across the plains of Hungary and stopping in countless major cities throughout the Empire.

‘Once it reaches the restaurants, it’ll be too late. We have to seize it before then.’

It had only arrived at ten last night—roughly half a day before the Prime Minister’s death—so transportation had taken time, and it hadn’t yet spread across the country.

But from today onward, things would become dangerous. Once restaurants across the country opened their doors this morning, Austria would be ready to become Pleroma’s puppet state.

Since Acqua Panna required a certain amount of mana to turn into either a ‘mind control drug’ or ‘Atropos,’ the Old Humans wouldn’t suffer any immediate harm. But if the New Humans who ruled the country became Pleroma’s puppets and handed the power over life and death to a cult, it would mean the fall of the Empire—and the beginning of an age of misfortune for the majority of its people.

Every Austrian-Hungarian would end up serving Pleroma. And in this situation, the ones who would cause the most trouble if they were affected were, without a doubt, the Imperial Family.

‘Even if we stop the fake Acqua Panna from reaching the restaurants, if something happens to the Imperial Family…’

Unless we wiped out the imperial family by this evening and established a republic, this anti-Pleroma operation would be a failure. I checked the time and asked the ambassador, “How is Austria’s request for assistance coming along?”

— [The Imperial Palace has requested ten divine power mages of the Special Management Grade and fifty divine power mages of the grades below that from the Papal See. The Papal See has responded that they will open a portal at 9:00 AM today for humanitarian reasons.]

Special Management Grade refers to people like Narke and me. Even within that category, the ranks are further divided using Greek letters. And even among those ranks, there are people who can freely use mind-manipulation magic and those who cannot. Depending on what ranks the Papal See sends, and how many of them, our job could become considerably easier—or not. But worrying about that was a luxury. The real problem lay elsewhere.

‘Nine o’clock?’

I lightly bit the inside of my lip. Too late. Pleroma would hear the news too. By then, the fate of the continent would already have fallen into their hands.

“…All right. Thank you. Could you pass one message on to the Papal See?”

— [Of course. Please go ahead.]

“Lord Farnese of the 101st Unit, who can use divine power, is already here, so send only forty-nine divine power mages of the lower grades. This isn’t a request from the Imperial Family. It’s an order from Lord Farnese.”

It wasn’t as though I was in a position to meddle in their diplomacy. All I was really saying was that we weren’t returning right away, while sending the Papal See a certain signal.

The ambassador said nothing. After a long silence, he gave me his final farewell.

— [I hope you return safely.]

Now we would deal with the problem right in front of us. This time, it was simple.

Just as I had been thinking all along, all we had to do was prevent the Acqua Panna from reaching the Emperor and the members of the Imperial Family.

I cast a concealment spell and left the building, then followed Narke’s signal into a back alley. In front of a shabby residential building, a pale hand suddenly shot out and grabbed the hood of my robe.

“Hey, you could at least—!”

Narke smiled gently and held out his hand. I instinctively went to give him a high five, then realized that the person in front of me looked entirely unfamiliar and awkwardly asked, “What?”

“I want to try it like Julia does~”

“…….”

I slapped my hand against Narke’s, whose eyes were shining with anticipation. Narke broke into bright laughter.

The strange holiness he had radiated when he was pretending to be a ninety-year-old elderly was nowhere to be seen. He felt like a student his own age. Of course, he had always been a high school student, but strangely enough, he seemed even more like one now than he had on the day we first met, when he had jumped down from a building in the middle of the night and greeted me so boldly.

Perhaps it was because, compared to when we’d first met, I had started seeing that inexplicably subdued smile on Narke’s face more and more often. I didn’t know what it was that he couldn’t tell us, but at some point, he had become like this.

After seeing that quiet darkness in him, perhaps his brightness now stood out even more. I smiled along with him, and Narke briefly looked away. Then he smiled again and patted me on the shoulder.

“You did well.”

“Isn’t it a little early for that?”

“That’s true, but~”

Narke said it with an air of feigned innocence. I asked him about what he had been doing while I was infiltrating the Ministry of Commerce and National Economy.

“How did it go?”

“I’m going to sleep like a log for the next twelve hours or so. I wrote down the formula, so check it later.”

Narke said this as he tugged at the Roman collar of his clothes, loosening it around his neck. Now that I looked closely, his clothes were different from before.

“You changed clothes.”

“Did I? It’s not that I changed—I literally just changed into them right now.”

“Here?”

“Yep.”

It must have been inconvenient to take his eyes off the surroundings for that long, considering how long it took to button everything up. Apparently, he was confident he could take down anyone who followed him, though. He probably had a concealment spell up anyway, but still.

Narke was wearing a black cassock with dark edging. His hair was an ordinary, somewhat dull blond that could be seen anywhere, and his eyes were blue. He didn’t seem to have altered his features much, yet somehow he didn’t look like Narke at all. He looked like a complete stranger. Unless someone knew that he was a master of divine power and consciously paid attention, there was no way they would recognize him as Narke Farnese.

Still, I knew he was using divine power, so I quickly got used to seeing him like this, too. It was a type of cognitive distortion spell. Just as I was about to snap my fingers, having already decided on the face I would use, Narke pointed at the carrier and spoke.

“I brought yours too. Change into it.”

I looked up at the sky above the residential neighborhood and asked with an utterly dumbfounded expression, “Here?”

“Yep~”

“Huh…”

I gave a hollow laugh and looked around. It was a narrow alley between houses, so it should be fine. There was no reason we couldn’t do it. All I had to do was put on the cassock and button it up, anyway.

Thinking that, I opened the carrier and tilted my head.

“Huh.”

“Huh…”

The court official standing before the Oberhofmarschall of the Hofburg Palace blinked rapidly and drew his lips inward. In a distinct Central German accent, he asked the Austrian in front of him to confirm what he had just heard.

“You mean a group of divine power mages is coming from the Papal See today, at nine in the morning?”

“No. Before that, the Archbishop of St. Stephen’s Cathedral is coming to bless the Habsburgs and the Empire, as I already told you.”

The Oberhofmarschall answered with an annoyed expression and waved his hand, clearly telling him to leave quickly now that he understood.

At six in the morning, the Archbishop of St. Stephen’s Cathedral was coming to the palace to give his blessing to the Emperor and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The court official had not been informed of this until four in the morning. He left the room with the list given to him by the Oberhofmarschall tucked against his chest and hurriedly pulled out his pocket watch.

Surely I must have read the time wrong. He had to have. But cruelly, the hour hand pointed straight at four in the morning. The sight made his future seem darker than ever.

‘The Papal See?’

It had been barely half a day ago that investigators had been constantly going in and out of the Imperial Prime Minister’s Office, right in front of the Emperor’s bedchamber. It had happened just before he himself had put his head down on his pillow. And now they had guests from abroad? If they were divine power mages of the Special Management Grade, weren’t they essentially cardinals?

Even if this was merely an official visit, they were still distinguished guests. There were only five hours left until their arrival. Not five weeks. Not five days. Five hours!

The court official hurried across the black-and-white marble hall, laid out like a checkerboard. The clicking of his heels was becoming increasingly undignified, but he had no time to care. In fact, he barely even had time to walk. In the next five hours, he had to prepare the Imperial Palace so that neither the Oberhofmarschall, His Majesty the Emperor, nor the Vatican would have cause for embarrassment, while also arranging a reception appropriate for a secret visit.

‘…No. How happy I would be if I actually had five hours left.’

He did not even have five hours. The most important preparations had to be finished within two.

The Archbishop of St. Stephen’s was a clergyman of a rank not unlike the distinguished guests from the Vatican. No matter that he was Austrian himself, he could not be treated carelessly simply because they shared the same nationality. In practice, everything had to be finished in time for the distinguished guest arriving two hours from now. Unless, of course, he wanted His Excellency the Archbishop of St. Stephen’s to see servants rushing around the Imperial Palace in a panic.

Since the visit was to be kept secret, there was no way to put on an elaborate ceremony with military bands or a rented square. They had to receive the distinguished guests using nothing but the abilities of the people responsible for running the Imperial household.

The court official had dealt with urgent preparations for major events like this several times while serving in a small German principality, but this was his first time facing one in an empire of this size. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. The sheer scale of the palace complex, with its more than two thousand rooms, was becoming overwhelming.

He hurried toward the cross wing of the Leopold Wing, the building on the left side of the Hofburg Palace. After going down one floor, he knocked on the door of a room being used as a bedroom by one of his subordinate court officials.

The subordinate had been summoned here and there ever since the Prime Minister’s death and had only just managed to lie down. When he opened the door with a bewildered expression, the court official widened his eyes and rattled off his orders at breakneck speed.

“Ring the bell in the servants’ quarters and have everyone get up immediately. The Archbishop of St. Stephen’s will be coming to the palace at six to give his blessing. And at nine, the Papal See is sending a cardinal and several priests. Go inform the people in charge about the distinguished guests who will be arriving and have them make the necessary preparations!”

“Pardon? The Archbishop? Wait—!”

The court official hurried away. He had to go to the kitchens. After that, he needed to have the coachmen stand by, find a scribe, check on the servants—especially the Kammerdiener and Lakai—rearrange the guards’ positions, and assign interpreters. He also had to open the chapel, the palace’s own church. The order did not matter, but there were so many things to take care of that even if he handled one every five minutes, it still would not be enough.

For the next hour, the court official ran all over the sprawling palace. One hour remained. They still had not managed to put everything in order, but at least the instructions were gradually being passed down. The servants were left with nothing but bewildered expressions that seemed to say, How are we supposed to do all this in an hour? But that was not the court official’s concern.

He pointed to the servants gathered in the basement of the Leopold Wing, one after another.

“You. Find rooms where the guests can rest if they require them. They should be able to accommodate at least fifty people. And Chef, can I leave the meals entirely in your hands? His Excellency the Archbishop may decline to dine, but we must have something prepared regardless. Given the poisoning incident, the tea should have a mild aroma and a light color. No alcohol is necessary.”

“O-Of course.”

The chef, temporarily brought in from another noble household, answered with a pale, trembling face. He was probably thinking that he, too, would be questioned once this was over. The palace’s regular chef had been under investigation since the Prime Minister’s death and was unable to come. There were countless other staff who had been removed from duty in the same way.

‘With all the middle management gone… honestly.’

They had to receive distinguished guests with staff who had only just begun working at the palace. The court official pressed a hand to his forehead and slowly looked around. His head was beginning to ache, and he could no longer immediately think of what needed to be done next.

“And… now…”

“You’ve nearly finished. If there’s anything you need the Kammerdiener to handle, please give me your instructions.”

The Head Kammerdiener spoke politely. Only then did the court official realize that he still had to organize the servants. He gestured to the Head Kammerdiener.

“Bring the Oberhofmarschall’s personal Kammerdiener here.”

“He is currently being interrogated.”

“Then where is the Kammerdiener who assisted me?”

“Mr. Hans is also being interrogated at the Ministry of Magic.”

“Then His Highness the Prince’s Kammerdiener?”

“He is being interrogated as well.”

“…….”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but most of the Kammerdiener had at least some connection to His Excellency the Prime Minister, so there aren’t many of them left.”

That much made sense. A Kammerdiener was a servant who stayed at their master’s immediate side. They rarely had much occasion to interact with another Kammerdiener’s master, but they all worked within the Imperial Palace, right next to the Prime Minister’s Office. The Investigation Bureau suspected that some sort of contact between them might have allowed the poison to make its way into the Prime Minister’s Office, which was why most of them were now being interrogated.

He had no objection to the interrogations, but an aristocratic New Human could not be left without a Kammerdiener. At the very least, several Kammerdiener had to be stationed where they could attend to the Archbishop. Fortunately, not every Kammerdiener’s master was involved in today’s schedule, so those who had nothing to do could be brought in as temporary Kammerdiener. Even so, they definitely needed to secure some reserve staff.

If there were no Kammerdiener available, they could always look among the servants of lower rank. The court official checked his watch and asked anxiously, “What about the Lakaien?”

“The Lakaien were released after only a brief investigation. They’re all here.”

“I’ll have to see them myself.”

“Yes. I’ll take you there.”

The Head Kammerdiener went up to the ground floor and hurried toward the central Swiss Palace. There was a room there used as a gathering place for the Lakaien. Even on the way, the court official continued giving the Head Kammerdiener instructions.

“Considering there was an attempted poisoning, we must make sure the guests see nothing that could possibly appear threatening. Select only young men with sufficiently presentable appearances to make a good impression. You understand what I mean.”

“I understand perfectly. However…”

“Only those suitable for presentation. Important figures from the Papal See are coming, so we need people who can serve as the face of Austria. If their first impression is even slightly unfavorable, send them back.”

“I’ll do my best. But if appearance is the criterion, I doubt there will be many among the Lakaien who meet your standards…”

The court official grabbed the back of his neck and let out a long sigh. The Head Kammerdiener stopped in the hall of the Swiss Palace and answered him with utmost courtesy.

“Understood. Just tell me how many you need, and I’ll select them and bring them out.”

“Choose ten. Eight will remain on standby at the site, and I’ll select two to accompany the honored guests.”

“Please wait a moment.”

The Head Kammerdiener entered a room at the end of the corridor and soon returned with ten Lakaien. Perhaps they saw this as an opportunity to be promoted to Kammerdiener, because the young Old Humans looked bright and eager. The court official watching them, however, did not share their enthusiasm.

“Are there no taller ones? They need to be closer in height to New Humans.”

“There aren’t many Old Humans over 180 centimeters. There are about two, but I’m afraid you won’t find their appearance satisfactory, sir.”

“Hmm…”

The court official was not pleased with the selection. If the New Human Kammerdiener had not all been taken away for questioning, he could have stationed New Humans throughout the palace. But the people standing before him now were all Old Humans.

Being Old Humans was not the problem. In fact, the fact that they could not use magic was more of a welcome advantage. But, unfortunately, their first impressions were not as favorable as those of New Humans. They might have looked handsome enough by Old Human standards, but to New Humans, they still had the immature faces of youths whose hormones had yet to be properly regulated.

The court official knew that this perception of young Old Humans was his own prejudice, but he had no intention of setting it aside now. The people these Lakaien would be serving were all New Humans, and most of those New Humans would probably think the same way he did. He had to choose according to their standards.

The Head Kammerdiener cast a soundproofing spell and spoke cautiously.

“Sir, they were already selected after passing numerous requirements when they were hired as Lakaien. There is no one in the Imperial Palace with a better appearance than these men.”

“There are plenty of Old Humans who look like New Humans, aren’t there? Are you telling me that not a single one of our palace Lakaien is like that? I’ll take a look myself.”

“But…”

The Head Kammerdiener led the court official to the Lakaien’s quarters with an uneasy expression. When the court official barged into the room, the Lakaien sitting around the table hurriedly rose and bowed to greet him.

Under a soundproofing spell, the Head Kammerdiener spoke carefully.

“As you can see, these are all the men we have. The Lakaien I showed you earlier are the only Old Humans we have who can stand in for the Kammerdiener.”

“…Haaah…”

At this rate, the Vatican is going to get the impression that we’re running the Imperial Palace with commoner Old Humans. The court official clicked his tongue in disappointment and turned away. Then, something that had just passed by caught his attention, and he abruptly turned his head back.

“Wait.”

One of the young men had caught his eye. The court official slowly furrowed his brow, then parted his lips and beckoned to the tallest young man standing among them. The young man looked confused for a moment, but soon composed himself and stood before the court official with the calm, disciplined expression expected of a Lakai.

“Did you call for me?”

The Head Kammerdiener watched the court official with a puzzled expression as he called the young man forward. The court official pointed at the blue-eyed young man and asked his name.

“What is your name?”