Chapter 28

The Royal Palace (1)

“Do you want its waist to be tighter?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“For shoes, which one….”

Within the guest room where guests of the royal palace used to stay, Ian was surrounded by numerous maids. They were all young maids of the royal palace.

“Which one do you prefer? Rose or gold?”

“…… I prefer gold.”

“Excellent choice sir!”

The maids were collecting clothes for Ian.

In addition to this, they were also clothing Ian.

However, since he was going to meet the emperor, this was an unnecessary process.

“Mr. Page, considering your age, his Highness allowed you to meet him directly rather than organising a council meeting.”

A servant’s voice was echoing in the room.

The room had a decent soundproof construction.

“Hence, you will meet his Highness after the council meeting.

The council meeting where every rank of noblemen gathered.

Ian had expected to meet him there.

That was a common royal manner which needed to be kept by the receiver of the emperor’s order.

However, the current emperor considered Ian’s age.

Since the council meeting might be too much pressure for a young boy, he allowed him to meet him personally.

“If there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask these maids. They will serve you properly with excellent skills.”

Yes, Ian could see their skills.

They quickly turned Ian into a noble gentleman.

“I understand.”

“Then, excuse me.”

The servant left the room very quietly.

People said they were trained to walk quietly, and the servant’s walk was as silent as a ninja.

‘Hmm. It’s bit nerve racking.’

Ian never had a chance to meet the current emperor in person. When he graduated the academy and started to gain an interest in politics, the current emperor had already been sick as a dead man.

‘I heard a lot about him, though.’

The public estimation of the current emperor was literally, perfect.

In politics, he managed to balance between nobles and the ivory tower and gathered the power of nobles sharply. In managing a country, even if it was an era of war, he managed for the country’s well-being. He was a man who would be recorded as a good and wise king.

‘Except his tenacity for the crown prince.’

Even though, the end of the current emperor wasn’t good.

He forcibly raised the crown prince as his reclaimer, and eventually not only the 5th prince and the ivory tower turned away from him, but also the other nobles and people of Greenriver. And that was the biggest mistake he made.

‘Nevertheless, he was a great man.’

Often people called mages as a ‘sage’.

However, it’s one of the biggest misunderstandings about mages.

Ian was once an 8th class mage, however he was far from being a ‘sage.’

‘Sage’ itself only represented someone’s ‘magical talent.’

It didn’t represent the ‘wise’ nor ‘philosophical’.

‘Rather, many of them are lacking in wisdom.’

Most of today’s mages are narcissists.

Some mages locked their doors and just spent their lives on research.

For such men, that kind of ‘wisdom’ or ‘philosophy’ could be expected.

‘Even I wasn’t that much different from them.’

A mad magical research to overcome the wall formed by ‘class’,

Joining the unity war that Ragnar held.

These two things were everything Ian did in his former life.

‘On the other side, the emperor is on a different level of great man.’

A man with extreme wisdom and judgment.

And Ian was about to meet such a man.

It was natural to feel nervous.

The only emperor Ian had served in his former life was Ragnar.

And there was nothing special between them, since they were friends.

‘It will be nice if I can learn some lessons from him.’

Instinctively, Ian looked over at the window.

Of all the rooms in the palace, they let Ian wait at the closest room to the separated palace.

It was the palace where the royal princes were living.

Thanks to that, Ian could see the garden, that ‘the bastard’ loved so much.

‘What would he doing at this moment?’

He must be somewhere in the separated palace.

Born by a concubine, the fifth prince. The one who was the most like the current emperor, but the one who was cold blooded, unlike his father. The once old friend of Ian, but now he was Ian’s foe.

‘Ragnar.’

What should I do in this timeline?

Ian had thought about it since the first day he returned.

Yet, he couldn’t get any clear answers.

However, there was one thing he was sure of.

‘Pay back as much as I suffered.’

He hadn’t grown up yet.

It was too early to take his revenge.

The despair, and betrayed heart.

Ragnar would suffer in same way.

“Sir Ian, his Highness is waiting.”

A few minutes later, the servant reported to him.

“Let’s go.’

Ian followed the servant.

On the way, many people passed Ian.

Not only servants, but nobles who were coming out from the council meeting.

Everyone glimpsed at Ian.

“Is he the mage?”

“The one who arrested the spy…..”

“I heard that the spy was a 3rd class mage.”

There were no differences between the northern territory and the capital.

Their faces were full of curiosity.

Though, since they knew he was called by the emperor, no one had doubts about his power.

“Impressive, even though he is still young.”

“Seems the ivory tower are panicked about him.”

“No doubt. That kind of talent is not the usual kind.”

“It’s much more than just unusual.”

“What was it, the first mage? He called by this title.”

“The legend among mages?”

“Heh? That’s exaggerated…..”

Noblemen were a type of men who always had their ears and eyes open.

They had a large amount of information concerning Ian.

“This way.”

Amongst all the whispering, he reached the main castle of the royal palace.

Ian was standing in the space which was focused on the emperor’s glory.

“Your highness, the mage Ian Page requests to enter.”

“He may enter.”

Over the door of meeting room, a voice filled with depth had come out.

It was the voice of emperor, Terry Greenriver.

“Please come in.”

The door was very well maintained, so it opened silently.

Soon, Ian could see the inside of the meeting room.

“I bow to you, your highness.”

Next to the emperor stood the crown prince.

Pretending he was familiar with Ian, he ostentatiously greeted him by raising his arm.

“Turn up your face.”

The emperor looked at Ian’s face in detail.

His eyes looked like Ragnar’s.

Actually, it should be the opposite way.

“The guest of the Northern territory, Ian Page, right?”

While reading a paper the emperor murmured.

It was a report of Ian Page.

“In a short period, you contributed many things.”

“I appreciate your praise, your highness.”

“You don’t need to exert yourself. You wouldn’t have had a chance to learn all these manners, would you? It is enough, sit on the chair.”

Don’t exert yourself. You wouldn’t have had a chance to learn these manners.

Ian already heard exactly the same in his former life.

The moment when he met Ragnar the first time.

The bastard said the same thing.

Well said, Blood is thicker than water.

“You must have gone through many troubles. Do you like the mansion? I especially gave the  whole of it to you.”

“It was such a giant mansion that I had never even seen in a dream.”

“So do you like it? Or not?”

The emperor trickily questioned.

Ian replied calmly.

“I really appreciate it. My mother was very happy about it.”

“Hmm, I see.”

The emperor nodded.

Ian’s reply satisfied him quite.

“Then do you guess what I am going to say? The reason I sent the crown prince and invited you to the royal palace, and gave you the mansion instantly.”

Of course, Ian knew it.

However, he had to choose what answer he will give to the emperor.

‘Should I answer him straightly?’

Ragnar used to like to speak directly to the point, because he believed that the one who speaks directly was usually honest.

Since he was similar to his father, the emperor was more likely to like direct speech.

‘No, not yet.’

It was too early.

Until he gets everything he wanted, he needed to pretend he was just a 12 years old boy.

“Isn’t it because I have some special talent?”

“Talent? What talent?”

“According to people, my magical talent is better than others. So….”

Ian mumbled purposely.

“So you’re saying you are good at magic?”

“It’s putting me to shame, but yes that’s what I heard.”

“Do you think that’s all?”

“…….”

“Really?”

Ian didn’t answer any longer.

Instead, he kept silence while moving sluggishly.

To pretend he was embarrassed, Ian purposely did it.

“Father, he is still a young kid. What more do you expect from him?”

The crown prince covered Ian. As he moving some expensive china, he made an embarrassed face. With this unexpected reaction from the crown prince, the emperor couldn’t say anything.

“….. Very well then. Your talent, I value it highly. Even other mages are impressed by you.”

If there was no cover from the crown prince, the emperor would have tried to interrogate Ian more.

He hadn’t even started properly.

The boy contained an unfathomable amount of talent.

There were so many things to ask.

‘Rather, I’d better support the crown prince for now.’

This time, the crown prince covered Ian himself.

In this case it would be better for the emperor not to interrogate Ian further.

So that Ian would follow the crown prince more.

‘There is still enough time to ask.’

As the emperor determined, he changed the topic.

“As I heard, you contributed high merit for arresting the mage who was suspected as the spy of another country. Is it true?”

“As she tried to harm me, I just defended myself.”

“And you survived it, didn’t you? That’s the merit you earned.”

Surviving the mage’s assassination attempt, and he managed to catch her alive.

Furthermore, he figured out a mana inscription, which was a very important clue.

Ian deserved it.

And Ian had expected it.

“As a citizen of the empire, you contributed to the empire. Anyone who contributed must be rewarded. Tell me, is there anything you want?”

Finally, it had come.

The question Ian had been looking forward to listen to.

A special rewarding system of the current emperor, which the crown prince had mimicked.

‘I had thought about it a lot.’

Officially, It was Ian’s first visit to the royal palace.

He couldn’t ask for something specific.

Such as I am looking for a specific record.

I want to find something that is hidden in the royal palace.

He couldn’t ask those things.

Ian had thought about it for long, and finally he got the answer.

‘I am a young kid.’

The most important fact at the moment.

Ian was still a young boy.

Although he contained monstrous talent, it had no relationship with his age.

Yet most people would think like that.

“….. I want to tour.”

“tour?”

It would be an inappropriate request if he was an adult.

Not only that, he would be looked at with suspicion.

A trick he used before with the crown prince.

That was an Ian’s solution.

“I want to tour around many sides of the royal palace, and I want to illustrate it to my mom. To let her know that what it is the royal palace looks like, and how wonderful of a place it is.”