For the first time, he'd gotten a home.
The shaven-headed monk had apparently lived here a long time, surprisingly.
The inn's facilities were definitely above average.
It had a bathroom and a kitchen, no less!
Just having a space to deal with your business made this inn worthy of being called an S-tier listing.
To think it would even come with an adorable hamster in the drain. As long as you accepted the risk of plague bacteria, it was undoubtedly a hard-to-find listing.
Adam scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen spotless to prevent the Black Death.
His life in the Imperial Capital was off to a green-light start.
But it wasn't all good news.
"Adam, are you ready?"
"......."
He looked down in the direction of the voice.
It was Achilles on the stairs, his green hair slicked back.
"Why are you calling me by name like we're close?"
"Names aren't allowed? Then what's your surname?"
"I've got no intention of telling you."
"Then I'll call you Adam!"
Achilles Pendragon guided Adam to the Imperial Palace.
From their very first meeting he'd grabbed Adam by the wrist and kidnapped him, and that wasn't all.
He'd even gone so far as to pay the deposit for him.
It was a start like the opening of a thriller movie.
That was why Adam had planned to refuse at first, too.
'You think you can buy me with money? You think I can't find an inn for just myself?'
That was the plan he'd made.
"80,000 gold? For the capital, it's surprisingly modest. I'll pay."
Unfortunately, it was far too big a sum to refuse.
It was all because of housing prices.
The Empire's real estate market: is this really okay?
"The induction ceremony is soon, so let's get going."
As they came out of the inn's alley and the Adventurers' Guild came into view, Achilles spoke up.
"Adam, do you remember?"
"No."
"That's because I haven't told you yet. Back when you saved me, I thought the heroes I'd only seen in fairy tales really existed."
"Achilles, if you're going to flatter someone, you should only do it enough to make them feel good. Isn't 'hero' a bit much?"
"Heh, I meant every word."
Adam quietly put some distance between himself and Achilles.
It was a fear he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Back then I thought, if it weren't for these two, no one would pass this year. Even so, I wondered, is it even possible to beat the Archmage? And then someone actually passed!"
Achilles's praise of Adam went on for a while.
He couldn't understand it.
To begin with, Adam had long since forgotten that he'd even saved Achilles.
As Adam reacted awkwardly and looked around, he noticed that people passing by had started glancing at them.
"Hey, can't you hide that spear?"
"No way. A weapon is a warrior's other self."
"Why are you bringing a weapon to an induction ceremony?"
"Because our Empire's Emperor has the soul of a noble warrior. If anything, what if an assassin suddenly broke in and you weren't carrying a weapon?"
Oh, that actually sounds plausible?
It's a world with mana, so even in the Imperial Palace you should always be ready for accidents!
Although even with mana, I don't think the president walks around the White House carrying a gun.
"Especially when there are few who pass, like this year, they say the Emperor sometimes gives an audience to each one personally. This year there are especially few, so we might even be introduced directly to the Emperor's blood kin. Best to make as good an impression as possible."
"What are the Emperor's blood kin like?"
"I don't really know either, but they say the Emperor's body is like steel and his mana like an unending spring, so the children who inherit the Emperor's blood are all first-rate."
Achilles paused once before going on.
"Except, that is, for the Third Princess."
This is what Achilles said about the Third Princess.
An incompetent who couldn't do a single thing right, neither swordsmanship nor magic. And yet a tyrant with damn strong pride.
According to rumor, she was the Imperial Family's failure, with nothing going for her but her face.
'Isn't that a little harsh?' he thought, but once he heard the anecdotes, it made sense.
"The Third Princess kicked a young lady in the backside at a tea party, and at 13 she punched a baron who was lecturing her on manners in the jaw and knocked him out. There's no tyrant like that tyrant!"
"Well, she's a princess, it could happen. But isn't calling her a tyrant crossing the line? You might be treated as a rebel, and I'm not covering for you then, you know?"
"That baron is my father."
"What a devilish tyrant."
As he nodded along, sympathizing with the Third Princess's outrageous deeds, they'd arrived at the Palace entrance before they knew it.
***
The two of them put on Palace entry badges.
Departments and uniforms would be issued later.
A guard took the lead and guided them to the site of the induction ceremony.
"Please go in here."
They opened the huge red door and went inside.
Thanks to the open ceiling and the chandeliers, even though it was indoors, everything sparkled gold.
"Are we the last?"
About 10 people had gathered in the huge central hall.
Adam looked around.
'Why don't I see Ether?'
Thinking she'd come eventually, he stepped into the central hall.
Achilles looked around.
"Look at that. Just like I said, everyone brought weapons, right?"
Sure enough, everyone was holding a sword or a staff.
Adam was the only one empty-handed.
It also meant there were no Arcanists.
"All rise!"
10 minutes after they entered the hall, a Palace unit commander wearing epaulets shouted.
"His Majesty the Emperor is entering!"
With the call, a grand fanfare of trumpets echoed, and the induction ceremony began.
As if he'd been waiting for the music, the Emperor strode down the grand staircase at the front of the hall.
Everyone, Adam included, looked up at the Emperor.
He was far too enormous to be an emperor.
"Everyone looks in good spirits."
A towering height of over 2M that even a cloak couldn't hide.
Adam, a country bumpkin, experienced cognitive dissonance.
I never saw anyone like that on Aicolman's estate, though?
So there are people that big in the capital.
He acted nonchalant so as not to look like a hick.
"Hmm, ordinary enough."
"No way. Is that really the same species as us? As expected of His Majesty the Emperor!"
It seemed Achilles was seeing him for the first time too.
His Majesty, with his enormous frame, sat on the throne.
"There are few people this year."
"My deepest apologies, Your Majesty."
The Consul went down on one knee.
"I will order that preparations be made more thoroughly in advance next time."
"It's fine. Doesn't that mean they're all the more elite? Watching the match got even my heart pounding. Where is the talent who fought that Archmage?"
The Emperor looked down around the hall.
"Well, he was wearing a cloak, so we weren't able to identify him."
Adam didn't step forward, even though he could plainly hear it.
He didn't want to open his mouth for nothing and end up with his hand chopped off and stuffed as a magic circle specimen.
He'd also told Achilles to keep Adam's information sealed.
"Adam, looks like everyone's only looking for you."
"Actually, even if nobody says anything, it'd be easy to find me if they put their minds to it."
"What? How?"
"If you gathered the people who watched the match and took out the students who passed earlier, naturally only you and I would be left."
Achilles, Adam and Ether were the last to pass, so anyone who'd watched the whole match could tell that Adam was the robed man.
"But to do that, you'd have to memorize the faces of the ones who passed earlier. Unless you've got a really sharp eye, finding the passers would be hard."
"True. But where would you find someone like that?"
Just then, he felt like his eyes met the Emperor's.
"......."
It's my imagination, right?
In that instant, Adam felt the same sensation as when Aicolman had first brought him to the mansion.
The look alone made his blood run cold.
The Emperor whispered into the ear of the Consul beside him.
"Consul, have the children all gathered?"
"The Fourth Princess suddenly left on an adventure and is absent, Your Majesty, but all the others are waiting."
"Good."
The Emperor cleared his throat once and spoke.
His voice was loud enough to make the entire hall ring.
"You are the Imperial Army, the knights and mages who will serve the Imperial Family from now on. I would like to make a small request of you, who possess outstanding talent. Will you hear it?"
Every applicant went down on one knee and bowed their heads.
"You are talents who passed an unusually grueling exam this year, so I have gathered my children in this place to have you exchange 'greetings' directly with the Imperial blood."
The moment the Emperor finished speaking, the air grew heavy.
Achilles, beside him, was even breaking into a cold sweat.
Head still bowed, Adam spoke to Achilles.
"Hey, what's wrong? It's just a greeting."
"Adam, just how little common sense do you have?"
"We get a little close and you start dissing me right away?"
Hearing the truth, Adam got triggered.
"Th-this greeting isn't just a greeting. When the Emperor says greeting, it means a friendly match......."
Then does that mean we get to see the Emperor's blood kin up close here?
"Now, come out!"
The Emperor called his children in a friendly tone.
The First Prince, the First Princess, the Second Princess and the Third Princess slowly descended the grand staircase.
Every one of them, from first to last, was a stunning beauty.
But he didn't look closely at any of them.
Partly because he was indifferent to people's looks to begin with, but mostly because his gaze was fixed on the Third Princess.
The Third Princess's blond hair rippled like a stream, and her features were like a finely sculpted work of art.
But another reason, one that went beyond that beauty, drew Adam's gaze.
"Ahhh......."
"Hey, bow your head! How can you look straight at the princess's face like that!"
The woman who appeared to be the Third Princess was Ether.
***
The Emperor's blood kin began introducing themselves on the grand staircase.
From the First Prince to the Third Princess.
The Emperor's 4 children bowed their heads and introduced themselves, but he couldn't hear a thing.
Is this a hidden-camera prank?
Are they half-sisters?
Is the Ether I met at the exam the real one? Or is that the real one?
His brain couldn't keep up.
Ether politely lifted her skirt slightly and began a curtsy.
"Greetings. The Third Princess, Ether Hawkeye, pays her respects."
The way she lowered her head was every bit a princess.
"Adam, isn't it amazing? To think we'd even hear the name of a royal. It really feels like we've made it into the Palace, doesn't it?"
"Dunno."
After answering coldly, he gently closed his eyes.
Just give me a little time.
But before he knew it, the mood had shifted to the start of the friendly matches.
The Consul told them to rest easy since a high priest was on standby nearby, and called for someone to step forward first.
"Is there anyone who requests to spar first?"
"Me!"
Achilles raised his hand high.
"You've got spirit! Is there anyone you'd like to spar with?"
"I would like to spar with the Third Princess, Lady Ether!"
Everyone froze at that answer.
"Insolent fool! How dare you speak Her Highness's name so carelessly!"
"W-wait, more importantly, what did you say? With Her Highness the Third Princess?"
The Consul asked again in a trembling voice.
"Yes!"
It was a truly confident answer.
And a shameless one, too.
Every noble knew the Third Princess was scrap-grade with no talent for swordsmanship or magic, and he requested a friendly match knowing that?
It was a reaction that meant, This guy is really trying to beat a royal and win, what a despicable bastard!
"You truly wish to spar with Her Highness the Third Princess?"
"Yes. In this place, I want to be able to stand a little prouder for my stained family."
At those words, the Consul and the other applicants murmured.
-Th-that shameless bastard. Is he really planning to win?
-He can't beat the others, so he picked someone he can go easy on. If anything, that's the safe choice.
But Achilles didn't budge.
"Hmph! Let them grumble."
"Achilles."
"Adam, I don't know how you'll see me, but I'm going to win."
"No, stop."
Adam grabbed Achilles by the shoulder, trying to hold him back.
He didn't know Achilles's skill, but he was sure he couldn't beat Ether.
At the very least, Ether was the strongest knight Adam had seen in his life.
"I hope you won't think I'm a coward."
"No, I think it takes amazing courage."
He meant it.
Today you're going to be the Imperial knight who lost to the scrap-grade Tyrant Princess.
Your family's going to be blown to pieces for real.
"Backing out after the friendly match has already begun is also a discourtesy. Even if you stop Achilles, the friendly match has already entered the procedure."
The friendly match between Ether and Achilles of Pendragon began.
"Are the two of you ready?"
Today, a fallen house was about to be born before his eyes.