Not long after she regressed.
Ether closed her eyes and imagined.
'I'm a regressor. I'll now explain my plan to bring Adam in as my Right-Hand, so please cooperate.'
'Pardon? Her Highness came up with this? Don't lie.'
'Regressor, my ass. Anyone can see a demon's possessed her! Hey, go get a priest!'
Ether shook her head and finished her self-assessment.
That's how it'll go, won't it?
Even if she said she was the one who'd drawn up a multi-layered plan elaborate enough to draw Adam in, with public opinion as it was, no one would believe her.
That was why Ether carried out every operation alone.
As far as the process went, it was nearly perfect.
But the head of registration wasn't foolish enough to miss a suddenly added exam applicant.
When she was caught and the head of registration asked what on earth she was up to, Ether bowed her head and said this.
"Head of Registration, since I'm asking you like this, won't you pretend you didn't see?"
The good-natured department head spoke, near tears.
"Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. I didn't see anything......."
"What's with that attitude? Did you really hear what I said?"
Ether spoke as she smashed the desk the head of registration was sitting at.
With her bare hands, not a single tool.
She'd hidden it from Adam, but Ether was a rare born powerhouse within the bloodline who'd inherited the Emperor's brute strength as it was.
"If word spreads that I snuck into the Recruitment Exam, it won't be pretty for you."
"B-but, Your Highness the Third Princess... couldn't it get found out even if we stay quiet?"
"Then that'll be your fault too. If life is too easy and you'd like to raise the difficulty, feel free to ignore my request."
Moved by Ether's earnest request, the head of registration deleted Ether's infiltration from his memory.
That was why she'd been able to hide her identity with nothing but a black robe.
But there were 11 successful applicants and only 10 had gathered at the induction ceremony, which couldn't physically be covered up.
The administrator in charge of the headcount was bewildered.
This was already the lowest number of successful applicants in history, and one of them was missing.
On top of that, it was the dark horse who'd helped repel the Archmage; hearing the news, the Emperor also grew suspicious.
"Consul, have you found them?"
A fierce face that made everyone cower in advance, atop an enormous frame.
The Emperor of the Xerxes Empire asked the Consul.
"Who is that applicant who used the greatsword?"
"Even the Exam Management Committee says it doesn't know, so it seems to be beyond my abilities."
The Emperor let out a long sigh and leaned back in his chair.
"A pity. I was curious who the brave one who faced Aicolman was."
"Heh, but we did secure one of them, didn't we?"
The Consul said with a smile.
Knowing Aicolman's skill, he didn't think the man had really been defeated, but a newcomer being acknowledged by the Archmage was a shocking record in the Empire all on its own.
"Sanchez... If that man's disciple has come in, that alone is a great gain for the Empire."
"Consul, you were in the same year as Aicolman, weren't you?"
"Yes. To think that Archmage would go as far as giving him his name. I'd like to meet him myself someday."
The Emperor chewed the apple he'd been eating, whole, as he spoke.
"Probably hard to meet him, wouldn't you say?"
Apple juice dripped onto the floor.
"Couldn't I meet him if I went to the Imperial mages' district?"
"Adam, that young man is an Arcanist."
The Consul flinched for an instant.
It was an unexpected department.
The Consul looked at the Arcanist building across from the Palace and muttered.
"If he's an Imperial Arcanist, he'll be hard to see from now on."
"Well. Maybe not. I hear that young man has become Ether's Right-Hand."
"Ahh......."
"Couldn't you meet him if you asked Ether?"
The Consul laughed, "Haha!" and immediately turned his head to change the subject.
It meant he didn't want to meet that tyrant.
Everyone reacted like this whenever Ether came up, and as her father, he couldn't understand it.
"Why is everyone like this? Is Ether so ugly no one wants to see her?"
"Of course not. Her Highness the Third Princess's beauty rivals even that greatest beauty under heaven of Hosho Kingdom."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well, everything besides that......."
While the Empire's two powerful men talked.
A new recruit arrived at the Arcanist building.
***
The Imperial Palace of the Xerxes Empire.
The barrier at the entrance melted like snow.
On the other side of the barrier spread the Palace's small town.
Adam unfolded a map.
The building exclusively for Arcanists was deepest inside the Palace.
It was 30 minutes from here on foot.
As Adam hurried his steps, a horrid smell reached his nose.
The perfume he'd often smelled in the red-light district.
When he turned his head with a frown, there were women in flashy clothes gathered there.
He immediately withdrew his gaze.
"Sorry, you can go on your way."
One of the three women said.
"Wow... an Arcanist."
"Oh my, he's so young?"
"An Arcanist commuting to work?"
Adam frowned and turned his back.
"Sorry, but I'll be going now."
"Liar. Everyone knows Arcanists all do fieldwork and never come into the office."
"How do you know that so well?"
"Your seniors used to tell us all about it in bed, of course."
For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
"You don't have a clock-in time anyway, right? Won't you play with your big sisters?"
"It's my first day at work."
Along with his answer, a tall woman squealed.
"Oh my, how cute!"
"I'm taller than all of you, though?"
A difference of a whole head in height, and they called him cute.
"While you're at it, who do you think is the prettiest of us?"
"Hahaha! Obviously I'm number 1, so what's the point?"
"Kid, just rate us."
Adam quietly looked over the three maidservants and spoke honestly.
"You're all meh."
In the aftermath of meeting the Empire's greatest beauty just the other day, even the Palace servants selected for their looks seemed ordinary to Adam's eyes.
"So please stop bothering me already."
"Faces are the kind of thing you get used to once you've seen what's inside, sweetie. We know, we've done it plenty."
'What on earth are these people?'
It was the hazing ritual of the Palace women that flustered anyone going through it for the first time.
In truth, even if it was hazing, it wasn't a malicious provocation.
If anything, the problem was an overflow of love.
In the sense that they meant to change their fortunes by harvesting a noble man's seed, these women were, in a way, on duty too.
"Come on, come on. Let's go eat something tasty with your big sisters!"
The women linked their arms through Adam's.
The horrid smell of perfume sprayed on to cover body odor.
Adam frowned and gritted his teeth.
"Haah, seriously. I said I didn't want to, and you keep......."
Just as Adam, getting annoyed, was about to shake the women off.
"Adam!"
In the middle of the Palace street, someone grabbed Adam's wrist.
"Instead of hurrying over, you're dallying with women in a place like this! Is that a new recruit's attitude?"
Long, flowing silver hair and a cool face.
A mysterious man dragged Adam by the wrist from among the women.
He pulled so hard that even the women lost their grip on Adam.
The man took Adam and disappeared somewhere.
Behind them, he heard the women click their tongues.
"Tch, we almost had him."
After walking a long way, by the time the women were out of sight.
Without being told, the man had brought Adam to his destination, the Arcanist building.
"A man mustn't refuse a woman's request. If he does, rumors spread."
"......."
"There's trash in the world that tries to exploit mutual courtesy. Only the Palace has swindlers with methods that novel, but it's best not to even make eye contact if you can help it."
With a dazed face, he looked up at the man and asked.
"But who are you?"
The man, shaking out his silver hair, offered Adam a handshake.
"Forgive the late introduction. Commander of the Imperial Arcanists, Grid Catastrophe."
***
Commander Grid already knew about Adam.
If anything, there were fewer people who didn't.
The commander, having brought out black tea, sat across from Adam in the building's lobby and spoke.
"Recruit, the truth is, rumors about you have already reached my ears."
"Good rumors?"
"That a recruit who used magic on the Imperial Family and blew up a princess is coming."
"That's just a terrorist."
"Well, that is what you did, isn't it? Still, I don't dislike it. The rumor says it was for a comrade?"
"That's not it."
"Enough. Our department needs that kind of loyalty, by its system."
The commander stood at a huge blackboard and explained the department's system.
Adam raised his hand and asked a question.
"Commander, but it seems like there's no one in the building."
"There really are few. There are only 50 people in total."
Adam guessed something was off.
Isn't 50 far too few?
For reference, the Imperial knights numbered around a thousand.
"With this few, can you even call it a military?"
"We don't go out to battlefields. Our performance is measured by carrying out missions that quietly affect the Empire."
Something like secret agents of the National Intelligence Service?
Adam organized it in his head along with the explanation.
The Imperial Arcanists took in petitions or assignments handed down from the top, and the results they achieved were reflected in personnel evaluations.
"So, elite adventurers."
The commander got triggered at that.
"We carry out every job the Empire finds burdensome, like infiltrating other nations and wiping out adventurer nests. Which means they're all jobs no one else could do if we can't."
"Only Arcanists, with spell speed faster than mages and versatility greater than warriors, can carry out delicate and dangerous work!"
Having finished his explanation, the commander took an at-ease stance and gave Adam an order.
"Adam, first you need to form a team."
"A team?"
Team composition was free.
But not anyone unrelated to the Empire, nor anyone from the Adventurers' Guild.
Since they handled Imperial equipment, members had to belong to an Imperial public institution as well.
Adam nodded as if he understood.
"That's why you said the system needs loyalty."
"Quick on the uptake. I like it!"
The commander, seemingly tired after finishing the orientation, sighed and poured black tea.
"As a bonus, if your mission performance is low, it all goes into your personnel evaluation."
"My salary goes down too, I suppose?"
"Of course. If you're unlucky, you could even be dismissed. The moment that happens, you're treated as a criminal."
Engraving that in his heart, he sorted out what he had to do in order.
'Solving the magic circle's curse.'
Let's think about this one once Ether comes.
I can ask Ether after I'm assigned a department.
'Next, forming a team.'
This one seems like the hardest.
In his past life too, the professor he'd hated most was the one who ordered them to find their own group project members.
The first person who came to mind was Achilles.
But he's not unemployed, so there's no way he'd work with me, right?
He's an Imperial knight, so he'll have his own job.
Who else is there?
Just then, the lobby door flew open.
The commander frowned at the uninvited guest who'd suddenly come in.
***
The uninvited guest poked her head in and blinked both eyes.
Rippling blond hair and blue eyes shining like sapphires.
Just Ether setting foot in the Arcanist building was enough to make Commander Grid's brows draw together immediately.
"What is it?"
Open hostility.
It seemed they didn't get along.
"Recruit, you mustn't run your mouth carelessly in front of her."
"How mean... What did I ever do?"
Ether teased the commander in a playful tone from the start.
"Lady Ether, did you come here to play?"
"Am I not allowed to come play?"
Ether waved at Adam as if to show she knew him.
"Out of the way, Commander. I came to see my Right-Hand today, you know?"
The commander tilted his head.
After all, there was no one in the building but the commander and the recruit.
"Right-Hand? What are you talking about?"
"Lady Ether, good to see you."
Adam stepped out ahead of the commander and greeted Ether.
"Why didn't you acknowledge me right away?"
"It's embarrassing."
"Wow... how mean. I came all the way here from the Palace tower to see you."
Paying no mind to the commander beside her, Ether whined playfully.
"More importantly, do you always talk like that?"
"Yep, always like this! If you live this freely, sometimes people go even crazier for your good deeds."
"You know how to live life."
"I didn't grow up for nothing, you know!"
The commander was dumbfounded, looking at the two adolescents (25 years old).
To be precise, the way he looked at Adam changed.
After all, being friendly with the Third Princess was, in the Palace, labor impossible for an ordinary mentality.
"Recruit, what on earth are you?"
The commander put a hand on Adam's shoulder.
His eyes implied, what the hell are you?
"Right-Hand? Are you being threatened with something?"
"No. It's a mutually beneficial relationship we've both agreed to."
"With that Third Princess? Is she threatening you with your family, perhaps?"
"I have family, but he's not someone who'd get threatened."
"If there's something you want to say, tell me later."
He had a feeling the commander was looking at him with pity, but a good thing's a good thing.
Since Ether was here anyway, Adam figured it was good timing and spoke to the commander.
"Commander."
"Wh-what is it?"
The mood's loosened up, and I've already said I'm her Right-Hand, so it should be fine, right?
"The team for carrying out missions can be anyone, right?"