Chapter 138: The Emperor’s Solo Journey
The next morning, I set out alone.
In the morning campsite, most of the soldiers were asleep, but a few were still on watch.
Avoiding the awareness of those soldiers, I left the campsite alone.
Just like the night before when I went out with Henry, this time too, I had no issues and was not stopped by anyone.
Although it was called a campsite, it housed an army of thousands, and even in a makeshift arrangement, it resembled a small town.
However, since it was still outdoors, stepping outside the campsite revealed an expansive, empty grassland.
I first oriented myself to the direction and then began to walk.
My first course was west.
After walking for a bit, I noticed. Someone was following me from behind.
“How many, Livyathan?”
I did not turn around and asked Leviathan while maintaining my walking speed.
[Three. All of them are lightly armored.]
“That means they must be Henry’s men.”
[Why do you think so?]
Leviathan asked with curiosity.
“Henry was convinced last night, but that doesn’t mean he endorsed it unconditionally. These are probably the ones he assigned to support me just in case something happens.”
[Then, are they the ones hindering the master’s actions?]
“Yes, but—don’t get worked up.”
I chuckled and halted Livyatha.
It was amusing how unchanged it was.
Ever since its days as Leviathan, it had a tendency to get angry immediately if it sensed anyone showing me disrespect.
It was an interesting magic sword, possessing both the loyalty of a faithful dog and the ferocity of a mad dog.
“That said, having them follow me will complicate things ahead.”
[In that case, grant me command.]
“Perhaps…”
I thought for a moment and shared my thoughts with Leviathan.
“Do you think you can handle it?”
[No hassle.]
Its reassuring response made me decide to leave everything to it.
I continued walking.
Eventually, I found a rock a size of a chair, sitting alone amidst the grassland.
Standing in front of the rock, I took out a pen and paper from my pocket and quickly scrawled something.
I placed the written paper on the rock and stood a little further away.
After a while, three lightly armored men, just as Livyathan sensed, arrived in front of the rock.
“Where did His Majesty go?”
“He was just here a moment ago.”
“Search for him!”
The three of them looked around, glancing about.
Despite being in very close proximity, they completely overlooked me.
To an outsider, it must have looked like a bizarre scene, but this was also an application of consciousness guidance.
Through Livyathan’s gaze diversion, they looked around but made sure not to see where I was.
I thought this would be easy.
The inspiration came from an experience I had while searching for something long ago.
Sometimes, when looking for something, there are instances where no matter how much one searches, they cannot find it.
After a while, when they look back, they wonder, “Why didn’t I check here?”
I used that as a reference.
Humans, even when they think they’re searching thoroughly, often tend to overlook something.
Combining that with Livyathan’s gaze diversion, it became possible not to be found even at a distance where our eyes could meet.
“Oh, this!”
One of the men searching for me discovered the paper I had placed on the rock. As he picked it up, the three gathered around to peek at it together.
“It’s something written by His Majesty…”
“‘Show this to Henry’…”
“Incredible… he easily saw through our tailing.”
“That’s not all; he left this while we were looking at him and then vanished.”
“What should we do… with this?”
The three of them exchanged glances, their faces contorted as if they had bitten into a bitter bug, and looked at the paper I had left behind.
Soon enough, someone let out a sigh, and they turned around and retraced their steps.
The paper I left behind only had the words “Show this to Henry” written on it.
That was all it said, but I was certain that Henry would understand everything just by taking a glance.
After seeing the three of them leave, I turned around and started walking again.
☆
The town of Kukuruku.
The town where Jerry Eisen was stationed.
It was a small town in the western borderlands, quite desolate compared to not only the imperial capital but also the regional capital of Almeria.
While it was indeed desolate, it wasn’t devoid of vitality.
Young men, presumably off-duty soldiers, were drinking, eating, and making a fuss all over the town.
For a town near the front lines, this was a fairly typical scene.
Such towns aren’t places that seek productivity.
Instead, they aim to provide drinking, gambling, and purchasing to capitalize on the high wages that the soldiers receive.
As long as this is the main business, vitality naturally follows.
I walked through the town with the consciousness guidance still active.
“Hmmm, it’s one of those heavier Western dialects.”
Since they were supposedly subjects of the Empire, they were speaking the official language of the Empire.
However, their dialect was so thick that even when I tried hard to concentrate, I could hardly understand one-tenth of it.
[Do you need my translation, My lord?]
“Ah, that’s right. No, it’s fine. If I can understand one-tenth of it, I can roughly imagine the rest.”
I declined Livyathan’s offer.
That was my honest opinion.
It hadn’t been long since I entered the town, but I could already infer from the scenes around me that most of the conversation revolved around “drinking, gambling, and purchasing.”
So it wasn’t worth the trouble of getting Livyathan to translate for me. I continued on my way toward the town hall.
Upon entering the town hall, I head for Jerry’s location.
These types of government buildings generally have a similar layout, so I headed toward where the most important person was likely to be.
After walking for a while, I arrived at a room with double doors fully opened.
Stepping inside, there was Jerry.
Jerry was seated in front of a splendid desk, reading something with a deeply furrowed brow.
“What are you reading?”
“Who—who is it! No, my lord!?”
Jerry was immensely surprised when I cut off the gaze diversion and revealed myself.
He hurriedly stood up and raced over to me.
“I didn’t know you had come, my lord—are those useless fellows unable to even send a single report?”
“Hahaha, don’t blame the subordinates; I snuck in unnoticed.”
“My lord?”
“Indeed.”
I said that and activated gaze diversion with Livyathan again.
Feeling something behind him, Jerry turned around sharply.
However, realizing there was nothing there, he turned back with a bewildered expression, as if he had been played for a fool.
“Huh? My—my lord?”
When Jerry turned around, he lost sight of me right in front of him.
Just like the three followers Henry had sent after me earlier, he had lost track of where I was.
Jerry searched for me around the room, eventually peeking outside the door into the hallway, but still couldn’t find me, leaving him confused.
At that moment, I cut off the gaze diversion.
“Here I am.”
“Eh!? Wh-where were you, my lord!?”
Seeing me standing where I initially was, Jerry was utterly shocked.
“This is what I meant. You understand now why no one reported that I had come this far?”
“Ah… that’s impressive. How on earth did you…?”
Jerry was tongue-tied, still unable to accept the events unfolding before him.
Next chapter will be available tomorrow.
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