The corners of Kiaros' mouth, who had finished reading the letter, turned up into a sarcastic smile.
“Ha.
The Ministry.
The assistant doesn’t even know the name of the department.”
“Maybe the Magic Tower Master is not interested, so it is unreasonable to expect interest from his assistant.”
“What kind of Magic Tower Master is on indefinite leave… How could the head of the organization be so irresponsible.”
“I understand.”
The assistant spoke calmly.
“I think… he's having a hard time with his daughter.
The Tower Lord may be eccentric, but he's never been to this extent.”
The assistant looked at Kiaros before continuing.
“There's more than one or two things to worry about at the moment, so, in many ways, wouldn't it be okay to put the pass management stuff on hold for a bit?”
“Hmm.”
“I understand that you are skeptical about the scroll management department, but for now, Your Majesty...”
When the assistant mentioned the Empress, Kiaros interrupted him very firmly.
“We will talk about Her Majesty later.
There is not enough evidence yet.”
“But it is true that many people have doubts.”
“I know.
You should be especially careful to prevent rumors from spreading easily.”
With that, Chiaros ended the discussion and slowly sat down at his desk.
The office was already filled with all the documents related to the Scroll Management Department over the past ten years, and it was subpoenaed under his authority.
Now that the Emperor had secretly gone to the west to recuperate, Kiaros had an enormous workload ahead of him.
“For now, send a response to the Magic Tower confirming that the Activation 172 Scroll number has been written correctly.”
Kiaros spoke slowly.
First of all, the message from the Magic Tower was unpleasant.
He thought their certainty that an official letter from the imperial family contained incorrect information was arrogant.
However, the only place to ask for an opinion is the Magic Tower.
“Add to that the fact that Miss Rawabi produced 166 pieces in one night.”
He hadn't mentioned it before because he wasn't sure, but now that he had personally verified it, this was information he had to include.
After completing the instructions, he slowly placed his hand on the scroll management section document.
But he was distracted from the first page.
“She was crying very sadly.”
That woman who was nice to the intern who quit after one day of work...
“But.”
Kiaros paused for a moment, then spoke to his assistant.
“It's a bit suspicious.”
“...Yes?
Do you mean Her Majesty?”
“No, Namiya Rawabi.”
The assistant looked a little confused.
Then he tilted his head and answered.
“No?
She is a true talent and an exemplary civil servant of this era, and she has helped His Royal Highness the Crown Prince twice.”
Kiaros frowned and crossed his arms.
“She seems smart, so it's doubtful she's in that department.”
"Well, I think she's kind of a weak test taker.
It's surprising there are a lot of those people.
There's a surprisingly great humanity to her."
"The look in her eyes changes so quickly.
Is it possible for a human to do that?
It's very suspicious."
“My eyes also change when I leave work.
Isn’t that usually the case?
She is a real office worker who uses her soul efficiently.”
“Even the family background is not ordinary.
It is very suspicious.”
“It is common for a child to move into a relative’s home as an adopted daughter.
She has grown up well even in a difficult environment.”
“Besides, is it possible for a human to cry this sadly?
And why would she cry when she will be compensated by the Crown Prince personally.”
"Seeing someone cry is always heartbreaking.
She seems to be an adult who can express her grief in a healthy way."
“….”
His assistant was competent, but he had the drawback of being a bit tactless.
Kiaros stared at his assistant.
"…naturally!"
Fortunately, his assistant had the advantage of picking things up after a while.
“This is my opinion, but yours may be different.
If Your Highness feels that there is something suspicious about Miss Namiya, then you should of course investigate further.”
Only then did Kiaros nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Yes.
Then the missing Baron's younger brother, who is supposedly Namiya Rawabi's biological father.
Find out his whereabouts one way or another."
“Yes, I understand.”
“I'm looking into it because it's very suspicious.”
"Yes, this is correct."
“I don't look into it because it bothers me constantly.”
"Yes, of course."
“It's not out of personal interest at all, it's a public investigation.”
"Yes, of course."
The assistant nodded repeatedly at Kiaros's words.
He answered with sincere sincerity and enthusiasm.
“I will send this to the crows in the south, who were busy searching for the girl.
They can immediately investigate the disappearance of Namiya’s biological father.”
Southern crows.
Kiaros was not comfortable giving them extra work when they were doing other tasks.
But Namia Rawabi seemed too suspicious to ignore, necessitating further investigation.
'Oh wait.'
He frowned as he was about to look at the documents again.
'That girl should be Namiya Rawabi's age now, right?'
Soon he started remembering the past.
It was when he was ten years old and going through his first dark period.
—
It was summer when Chiaros turned ten.
He left to inspect the south with the Emperor.
At that time, the emperor was in very good health.
He even appeared as a dragon and annihilated the hordes of monsters that prevailed in the south in one fell swoop.
“I also want to turn 25 quickly, Your Majesty.”
Looking at the Emperor, Little Kiaros spoke expectantly.
The Emperor patted his head and said with a gentle smile.
“You have to get through the dark period first, Kiaros.
One day, the dark period will come for you too.”
“But I just have to bear with it.”
Since he had been superior to others since the moment he was born, Kiaros did not consider the Dark Period to be a big problem.
In his eyes, humans were ridiculously weak.
What's more, he was born with powerful dragon blood even among the royal family.
"I don't know when the dark period will come, but I hope it will pass quickly.
I heard that at that time, I won't be able to use my aura and my body will become very weak.
It's literally just a waste of time."
“Okay, Kiaros.
That's because you're still an arrogant, immature kid who doesn't know much.
It won't be a waste of time.”
The emperor spoke affectionately to his son, who had not yet known humility and imperfection.
“You will also learn something as you go through the dark period.
The experience of weakness is also an experience.
In fact, an arrogant little child like you might become stronger.
However, even if that is the case...”
But he did not forget to add in a low tone.
“Kiaros, you must endure the dark period well.
You must never let the outside world know that you are much weaker than they think.
If you fall, the empire will fall.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
Kiaros replied lightly.
He has been told that he is the future of the empire since he was a child.
“By the way, Your Majesty, I heard that there is a really big library nearby.
Can I go there tomorrow?
I want to look at some textbooks on southern swordsmanship.”
The Emperor was invited to the Southern Lord's castle.
Chiaros prefers to read interesting southern books rather than show his face in the most boring places.
“Well you never know when the dark period will come, so take your guards with you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
It had been years since Kyros had heard the same warnings about the Dark Period, but there was no sign of it coming anytime soon.
‘It's just a library, after all.’ Well, moving discreetly is boring.
To hide his identity, he wore simple clothes and covered his blond hair with a hood.
He didn't even think about changing his appearance because it was his special ability that he hid even from his family.
After reading some dueling books in the library, he started to feel anxious.
'Maybe I should stretch a little.'
When he put the swordsmanship book back in its place, his eyes inadvertently turned to the girl sitting by the window.
‘Why do you draw so hard?
'She looks small'
Her wide-brimmed hat was pulled so low that not even half of her face was visible.
He couldn't even be sure of her hair color because her hair was carefully twisted.
But since she was wearing a long skirt that reached her ankles and old shoes with straps,
He could guess it was a girl.
'She hasn't moved for a while.'
The girl was busy drawing with her cheap pen on a piece of cardboard lying in the library.
Upon squinting, he saw a pile of books related to the manuscript next to it.
'Is this little girl interested in magic?'
The dragon Kiaros had no interest in scrolls or magic.
He just thought the little girl had great focus.
'It's amazing how someone like a cotton doll with tiny hands and feet can shake and write something.'
After paying this much attention, Chiaros went out to the library's backyard.
He was about to try swinging a sword in the New Southern style he had just read about.
'Huh?'