Chapter 10

As the retired Royal Guard members joined, we took on an appearance that could be mistaken for a hunting party of a spoiled young master.

However, the retired veterans, who were supposed to be supporting that young master, treated me as just Zeta's servant.

The retired veterans looked at me with insubordinate eyes that said, ‘I don't take orders from someone weaker than me.’

I sympathized with Zeta for a moment.

It must not have been easy to command these headstrong people as subordinates.

No.

Thinking about it, I was in bigger trouble.

Because I was the one who had to control them.

Next time I see her, I'm really going to confront Zeta.

And ask her why she sent only people like this.

Ryuba threw a question at me on behalf of the other Snow Elves.

“So, we have to watch His Grace Isak's surroundings?”

“Not his surroundings. We have to watch everything about him, down to the smallest detail.”

“When this job first came in, we were told we just had to escort a hunting young master. Then it suddenly changed to a local reconnaissance mission, and now you're saying we have to conduct surveillance. Does this make any sense?”

“I'm sorry about that. But isn't it normal for the situation to keep changing once you're in a real battle?”

“A brat who has probably never caught an animal with his own hands is talking like a participant in a battle.”

“That's a fact, so I have no rebuttal. Instead, Her Grace Zeta will express her gratitude to you all later.”

“You're as smooth as the emperor in his youth.”

Ryuba looked at me with displeasure, but when I just kept smiling, he let out a sigh of resignation.

It was a way of saying he would let it go for Zeta's sake.

I was slowly getting a feel for how to handle these free men.

They might not know the royal family, but they respected Zeta's face and authority.

Sometimes, it's better to step aside or run away than to confront things head-on.

It meant there was no need to break a sweat trying to persuade and humor them one by one here.

I decided to use that to my advantage and freely sold Zeta's name.

If there's a certified check, it would be a waste not to use it, right?

Ryuba crossed his arms.

“Listening to the story, the content is very serious, so what on earth is happening in the capital right now?”

“What everyone hopes won't happen when an emperor changes, but what is bound to happen when the issue of succession is uncertain.”

“You mean a rebellion. This has become a headache.”

I was genuinely impressed when Ryuba simply summarized the core of the story.

“Your insight is remarkable.”

“We've lived for many years. We can tell this much with a single glance.”

Although retired, these people were also figures who were directly and indirectly connected to the political scene.

Understanding what I had implied, they all made complicated expressions.

Well, in the (theoretically) long history of the empire, what kind of things wouldn't have happened?

Since the Snow Elves were a long-lived race, perhaps some among them had experienced it directly.

“I get the gist of it. The emperor left things in a bit of a mess. That's why Grand Captain Zeta called us.”

“That's about right.”

“But it's a truly unbelievable story.”

“What is?”

I thought Ryuba was doubting me, but that wasn't it.

He was just rambling on with an old story, as befitting a long-lived person.

“His Grace Isak's family has served the empire by protecting the border since before the emperor was born. But for his descendant to harbor such impure intentions. The ancestors would weep if they knew this.”

“It might have been like that in the past, but the past is the past and now is now. They just educated their descendants poorly.”

“That's also true. Anyway, it will be hard to avoid a bloodbath.”

“For now, our goal is to stop Isak.”

“Then who will be the next emperor?”

“Do we really have to talk about that now?”

“It's an important matter concerning the throne. There has to be an opposing faction.”

Ryuba scratched his beard with dissatisfaction, then paused.

“Wait, you're also a member of the Akardi family.”

“That is correct?”

“Can't you just claim the right of succession? What's the reason for a problem with succession to arise? Can't you just go to the Senate and claim the throne? If those blockheads have any sense, they would listen.”

Ryuba seemed triumphant, as if he had grasped the core of the problem.

But unfortunately, he was wrong.

“That would be difficult.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Are you asking because you don't know?”

I retraced the memories that were injected into me when I entered this body.

Leon Akardi was a royal.

A relative of the emperor and a collateral branch of the imperial family.

As the only remaining person in the Akardi family, he was in a position to claim the right of succession.

However, Leon Akardi had acted like a hooligan so much that his reputation was not good.

He didn't even have a faction.

Considering the upcoming civil war, it would be difficult to claim the throne unless he had illegal, violent, and military means.

This was a part that even the Grand Captain of the Royal Guard, Zeta, could not cover, and I didn't want to risk my life on such an adventure right now either.

But Ryuba, perhaps misunderstanding something, looked at me with pity.

“Oh dear. You should have acted more properly. Then there would have been no problem.”

“Wait a minute. I think you're misunderstanding something.”

“Right, let's just leave it at that.”

“……”

Ryuba's tone was completely disbelieving.

I gritted my teeth inwardly.

This is all my karma.

“Let's get back to the main point. So, is it possible to watch His Grace Isak?”

“It's not impossible. But we'll need more people than this for that.”

I looked around at the Snow Elves gathered around the campfire and agreed that the number was small.

This number would be enough to watch only Isak, but that wouldn't do.

Isak would also use his subordinates to plot things rather than move directly.

To watch each of Isak's subordinates, we would need a lot more people.

One must be fully prepared for any eventuality.

After some thought, I decided to pull out the certified check once again.

“Ryuba. You're not the only retired veterans in the capital, are you?”

“That's right. But why?”

“Please summon all the retired veterans residing in the capital in Her Grace Zeta's name. I don't care how much it costs.”

As the Snow Elves' eyes widened in unison, I grinned.

If you can't handle a job, make it so big that you can't handle it.

Then you can pass the responsibility to someone who can.

Even if I get chewed out by Zeta for this later and have to sell the imperial detached palace, I have to live for the now.

Retired Royal Guard members……, assemble!

***

I had been misjudging Zeta.

Zeta was not just a certified check.

She was a black card with no limit.

“How many people did you say in total?”

“About 70?”

“Wow.”

I was dumbfounded as I looked at the people who had gathered in Zeta's name in front of me.

There must have been at least dozens of Snow Elves.

And all of them were retired veterans from the Royal Guard.

This was an achievement made in just one hour after delivering the news.

As I was marveling at the number, which was much larger than I had expected, Ryuba scoffed.

“Not everyone is here yet. If we gather the people who are out on their jobs, there will be over a hundred.”

“Hehehe.”

“Their combat sense might be a little lacking since they stopped training, but that's fine. Being a former Royal Guard member doesn't just go away.”

“Hehehe.”

A hollow laugh came out as a bonus.

Indeed, I had been thinking wrong.

There's a being who controls the Royal Guard, the core of the Imperial Central Government, has immense influence in the Senate, and commands the retired Snow Elves like her own limbs?

Anyone could see that she was the mastermind.

“Your Highness, pull yourself together. Why are you so out of it?”

“I'm fine.”

“I don't think so. Shall I slap you once to bring you to your senses?”

“Grrr.”

“Oh my, a royal is biting people!”

I ignored Theo, who was holding my hand and shedding tears, and slapped my cheeks.

No.

Let's pull myself together.

How fortunate it was that Zeta was on my side and not an enemy.

Only Isak was to be pitied.

“But can we trust all these people? What if someone betrays or reports us?”

“You don't have to worry about that. There's no one who would betray Grand Captain Zeta.”

“If that's the case, then that's a relief.”

“What, you don't believe me?”

“No, I just have a question.”

“What are you curious about now?”

“His Majesty is just an emperor, but why is Her Grace Zeta called Grand Captain?”

The Snow Elves ignored even the emperor, but they used a title of respect only for Zeta.

They only added the title of Grand Captain, but considering they didn't even attach a title of respect to the emperor, even that was a huge deal.

Moreover, the Snow Elves willingly responded to the request to assemble under Zeta's name, even though it had been a long time since they had retired.

This would be impossible without an immense amount of trust having been formed.

What on earth had happened?

Why do they show infinite trust to the captain of a unit they had only served in in the past?

Ryuba, who heard the question, chided me.

“You call that a question? Isn't it obvious?”

“……?”

As I was bewildered, Theo chimed in.

“Mister, His Highness is just a human. It's a story from at least a few hundred years ago, so of course he wouldn't know.”

“Humans these days. They record diligently but never look back at it.”

“No, if it's an event from a few hundred years ago for humans, isn't it the same for elves? Wouldn't it be strange to remember something that wouldn't be strange even if it became a legend?”

But my protest was simply ignored by the Snow Elves.

This is why they're a long-lived race.

“Now, listen up. Grand Captain Zeta is the last Managarm and the first of the Snow Royalty. She led our starving race from the barren Selan to this prosperous Miklagard. So it's only natural that we trust and follow her.”

Ryuba, having finished his explanation, seemed to believe that I had naturally understood.

But the only part I understood was that Zeta had a very noble status among the Snow Elves.

I looked at Theo, who was fluent in both cultures, with a blank look.

Theo smiled bitterly and explained.

“Grand Captain Zeta was the royalty of Selan and was the one who proposed to the first emperor to establish the Emperor's Royal Guard. Thanks to her, many Snow Elves were able to escape starvation.”

“So there was such a story.”

“It's a story from several generations above me, though.”

I was surprised.

Then how many generations older was Ryuba, who remembered that?

Now I could understand why he was talking about being a free man in front of royalty.

To an old Snow Elf, humans would probably look like just children.

I looked at Ryuba with eyes of respect.

Then Ryuba averted his gaze.

“What's wrong?”

“Actually, I didn't experience it myself, I heard it from my grandfather.”

“……”

“B-but it's true that my family has served in the Royal Guard for generations!”

“Ah, yes. I'm sure you have.”

“It's true.”

“Enough, let's just get to work.”

***

I ignored the beet-red Ryuba and gathered the retired veterans.

The retired veterans' emergency contact network was connected according to their former units.

So reorganizing the retired veterans was not difficult.

The best thing about them was that they judged and acted on their own without being ordered.

“The agile ones will be assigned to watch His Grace Isak's mansion and close associates……”

“What about the reconnaissance mission?”

“We don't need to send many. You know the road conditions. There are only two roads that His Grace Isak's army could possibly move on.”

“Then let's assign more people to the capital side.”

The retired veterans, being experienced, judged on their own.

In an instant, the completed intelligence network began to operate.

Thanks to that, I was able to step back without any burden.

It's much better to stay still than to interfere in a field I don't know and ruin things.

Why should I get involved when they're auto-hunting on their own?

Theo said with a relieved face.

“Your Highness, you had a rapport with Grand Captain Zeta, didn't you? If that's the case, you should have told me sooner. I was worried.”

“Ah, was that what you were worried about?”

“Of course. There was no word from Grand Captain Zeta about mobilizing the retired veterans. So I thought, maybe there was some kind of hint that I didn't know about.”

“There was nothing like that?”

“Your Highness?”

“Zeta probably doesn't even know what's happening.”

Theo's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe it.

I shrugged.

The truth was the truth.

“Theo, we're already in the same boat. If Zeta dies, I die, and if I die, Zeta dies. You die as a bonus. You don't want to die yet, do you?”

“That's true. I still have a long life ahead of me.”

“It'll be the same for Zeta. She'll probably praise me when she finds out.”

“I really hope so.”

When I grinned, Theo let out a sigh of unknown meaning.

“Why the sigh?”

“I was just thinking, it's a good thing Your Highness is not my subordinate.”

“What? What did I do?”

“Your Highness……”

I shot him a look that meant, ‘Choose your answer carefully.’

Then Theo trailed off and chose his words.

“You have a knack for surprising people. You try to lead the situation in the direction you want, as if you know the right answer. Don't you?”

“The attempt to put it mildly was good. I'll give you 10 points.”

“Out of how many points?”

“100. Because you're wrong about me knowing the right answer. I'm just doing my best in the given situation. I'm struggling to survive.”

Theo had a thoughtful expression for a while and then said.

“Then isn't it 50 points? I got half of it right.”

Oh, for crying out loud.

Just then, the information network that the retired veterans had established in the capital finally caught a movement.

A messenger came galloping on a horse, excited, and shouted.

As expected of a Snow Elf, he naturally spoke informally.

“Spotted!”

“What was spotted?”

“One of His Grace Isak's close associates left through the west gate of the capital. They confirmed his face and that he's using the name Nilion.”

My eyes flashed and I shot up from my seat.

“Nilion? Nilion of Apollia?”

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