Solarian III <<< This bastard just hates his own retainers, yeah.
I kept the capital's security at Very Good.
I raised the Capital Guard's morale to Very Good.
I did not take bribes from people passing through the city gates.
I did everything! I just did it all!
So why did he dismiss me as captain of the Capital Guard?!
Anon: Don't offer loyalty... not that much loyalty.
Anon: A retainer who is loyal to him for no reason? He cannot stop himself from suspecting that.
Anon: Though, given Solarian III's later lore, it is not that hard to understand.
OP: Later lore? Oh...
Anon: This bastard is not normal either.
Anon: Back when he was Crown Prince, his most loyal retainer was a spy planted by the Duke of Sachsen.
Anon: So when talking to Solarian III, you need to make the occasional frank remark.
OP: Okay, I'll try it.
Anon: You gone?
OP: You fucking bastard above, I made a frank remark and got the execution ending.
Anon: LMAO.
Anon: As long as it is not me~~.
Anon: A guillotine speedrun with the Grand General seed is a rare sight.
OP: Damn it, can't I reload this?
Anon: Do you think you can?
Anon: <Jjam Academy> tip) Before choosing the dialogue option for a frank remark, make sure to check the Persuasion stat.
Anon: Tip 2) Surprisingly, even with a high Persuasion stat, the execution ending sometimes occurs.
Anon: Solarian III <<< That bastard is an imaginary bell, lol.
OP: What is an imaginary bell?
Anon: You cannot catch a bell.
The splendid golden procession flowed with stately grace toward the setting sun.
The citizens of the Empire bowed their heads like well-ripened barley before the carriage traveling from the Academy to the Imperial Palace.
Inside the most extravagant carriage among them.
“Chamberlain, what do you think?”
“Pardon?”
Solarian III's sudden question descended upon the Chamberlain.
'What is this? What is he implying?'
He might be asking about the results of the winter tour of the provincial territories, or about the homecoming ceremony that would be held once they reached the Imperial Palace.
Perhaps he was asking for an opinion on the speech at today's Academy entrance ceremony.
An endless tempest of thought raged beneath the Chamberlain's practiced blank expression.
“I mean Lloyd Schultz.”
Solarian III, privately enjoying his reaction, revealed the answer.
“More precisely, the contents of his entrance-ceremony speech.”
“The language was somewhat vulgar, but all I can say is that he did not appear to be in his right mind.”
“That is honestly true.”
For a moment, Solarian III smiled as he imagined frankly telling the Chamberlain, ‘That student suggested planned treason to me.’
Perhaps mistaking the meaning of that smile, the Chamberlain's expression eased considerably.
“Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
“May I ask what disposition you have decided upon for the subject?”
“Disposition...”
Would he quietly have him disposed of, or forgive him by merely revoking his Academy enrollment?
As Solarian III savored the Chamberlain's question, he turned his gaze beyond the carriage window.
Someone not accustomed to serving Solarian III would mistake it for a wordless gesture meaning, ‘I am thinking, so do not mention it again.’
But the Chamberlain, who had served him since his days as Crown Prince, saw the thread of an opening that said, ‘If you have an opinion, speak now.’
“If you have not decided yet, how about extending mercy?”
“Mercy?”
“His language may have been extreme, but it is also true that he captivated the audience with words alone. If he is put to good use, he can spread Your Majesty's greatness far and wide.”
The sharp intent hidden within his polite words was clear: accuse Lloyd of treason, seize a weakness, then use him as a herald and agitator against the great nobles.
Solarian III was inwardly pleased by the sharp intent concealed beneath those polite words.
Yet another suspicion blossomed.
'Could the Chamberlain know which faction Lloyd belongs to, and be saying this because of it?'
“He did not react even when a sword was held to his throat.”
“Pardon?”
So Solarian III tested him indirectly.
“It would have been embarrassing to draw a sword only to do nothing, but one cannot take a student's life. I patted his shoulder instead of taking his head and sent him away.”
“......Surely you do not mean that you knighted him?”
“Why are you surprised? Were you not the one who advised me to extend mercy?”
“Y-Your Majesty. For Your Majesty to personally knight a mere Academy freshman would be far too great an honor for him.”
He had proposed extending mercy, yet reacted against the thought of Lloyd being knighted.
If the Chamberlain and Lloyd had been in league, he would have been pleased.
“You worry over unnecessary things as well, Chamberlain.”
“Pardon?”
“What knight? I only meant that I encouraged him to devote himself to his studies at the Academy from now on.”
“Lloyd Schultz must have been deeply moved by Your Majesty's mercy.”
Only then did Solarian III set aside some of his suspicion and get to the point.
'Deeply moved...'
No matter how he thought about it, Lloyd had not seemed deeply moved by him.
Above all, the things Lloyd had said were far removed from being deeply moved.
“What became of what I ordered?”
“We have prepared Lloyd Schultz's personal records so that Your Majesty may review them as soon as we return to the palace.”
Just as great nobles lived like kings in their provincial territories.
In the capital and the Imperial demesne, the Emperor lived quite literally like an Emperor.
In such a capital, even the personal records of an Academy freshman could be secured before a cup of coffee had time to cool.
“Ah, and tell Wegner, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, to enter the palace.”
But cross-checking was essential.
Had the Imperial Intelligence Bureau succeeded in learning more than what Lloyd Schultz himself had submitted to the Imperial Patronage Association?
Had he deliberately omitted any information?
And where had Lloyd Schultz come from, and what had he been doing, to approach him so boldly?
“I shall obey Your Majesty's command.”
As the Chamberlain bowed his head, Solarian III closed his eyes as well.
It seemed that his work would continue after he returned to the palace today.
***
It had failed.
“By His Majesty's command, Wegner Inglebert, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, is to enter the palace at once.”
“Ah...”
“You are to bring the documents containing Lloyd Schultz's personal records as well.”
Lloyd Schultz, the freshman who had delivered a speech at the Academy entrance ceremony that openly denied the primogeniture of the nobles.
His attempt to flee the capital and escape the Emperor's blade, which was reaching for him because he had dared approve such a man as a scholarship student of the Imperial Patronage Association—an association operated in the Imperial name.
“Ah...”
Failedfailedfailedfailed.
“......I shall be back shortly.”
With a hollow expression, Wegner left his wife, Sage Inglebert, what would perhaps be his final farewell and departed the estate.
Why did the Imperial Palace, which usually seemed so far away, arrive so quickly today?
The carriage he rode with the guard reached the Imperial Palace at a speed fit for a head falling from the guillotine.
“It has been a while, Wegner.”
“......Simeone.”
Chamberlain Simeone received him calmly.
“Where is His Majesty?”
“In his office.”
Simeone's expression said that, as fellow Court Counts, they both understood.
It said that not everything in the world went according to plan.
At that, Wegner burst into tears.
“Simeone, I...!”
There was so much he wanted to say. I truly did not know. This is so unfair. That mad bastard Lloyd, and so on.
But not one of those thoughts took proper shape as words.
Rather than offer half-baked comfort, Chamberlain Simeone patted Wegner's shoulder and quietly stepped aside.
“Your Majesty, Wegner, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, has entered the palace.”
“Let him enter.”
With an unnamed attendant's voice, the door to the execution chamber—no, Solarian III's office—opened.
“Wegner Inglebert greets His Majesty the Emperor, master of the Empire.”
Perhaps because he had only recently returned to the palace, Solarian III was still in traveling clothes. Yet even when Wegner entered, he did not so much as glance at him.
He only stared intently at documents whose contents Wegner could not know.
The wall of exclusion, as cold and high as though there were no reason to speak with someone already dead, towered before him.
'Ha...'
By then, Wegner began to boil inside with injustice.
'When you get down to it, was this not really just an accident?'
Just as even a skilled driver might have a traffic accident, and a knight who had trained all his life might sometimes drop his sword.
All he, the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, had done was select the wrong scholarship student once, by chance.
Granted, that student had caused a massive incident by denying the Emperor's legitimacy itself through his rejection of hereditary nobles' primogeniture, at an entrance ceremony the Emperor had attended in person.
Anyway.
'My entire family has to be executed for treason because of one mistake?'
It was unfair. So unfair.
Just as the inner child within Wegner, who had devoted his entire life to the Emperor and Empire, was being stained blacker and blacker.
“Ah, you are here. Did you bring the documents I ordered you to bring?”
Only then did Solarian III look at Wegner.
“Your Majesty, I saw potential.”
Wegner's mouth defied his brain's command to bow his head first and made a frank statement instead.
“......Potential?”
“I saw potential in Lloyd Schultz. Even before me, the chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association and a Court Count, he did not lose heart; he knew his value precisely and led the conversation.”
“......”
“The many patronage associations run by the hereditary nobles covet him. If it is a crime that I, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, persuaded him personally to become a scholarship student and made the promising Lloyd Schultz a worker for Your Majesty!”
As Wegner's brain turned white at his mouth's unexpected outburst.
“Then I am indeed a criminal and will accept any punishment. But.”
“But?”
“......My family has committed no crime. I beg you to extend mercy to them.”
Before he knew it, he was on his knees, shedding tears as large as chicken droppings.
Solarian III gave no reply, and Wegner merely waited for his disposition.
Only the crackle of firewood in the office's hearth danced noisily.
How many breaths passed through his heated nose?
“......That fellow is quite a find.”
Solarian III's quiet mutter broke the silence.
“Is the Chamberlain outside?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Bring what we prepared.”
At Solarian III's command, Chamberlain Simeone brought in an object wrapped in splendid cloth.
“Wegner Inglebert, raise your head.”
“......Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Chamberlain, do your duty.”
“Yes. By the command of the great and impartial His Majesty Solarian III, I hereby award a medal and prize money to Wegner Inglebert, chairman of the Imperial Patronage Association, and encouragement money to the interviewers of Imperial Patronage Association Interview Team Two.”
“......Huh?”
“Glory to the Solarian Empire.”
“Huh?”
Amid Wegner's stunned, metallic voice.
“If I punish a Court Count who fulfilled his duty for me, who would thereafter devote themselves silently to my service?”
Solarian III's sinister smile gleamed as it reflected the moonlight that had by then settled softly over the room.
“Do not forget to leave Lloyd Schultz's personal-record documents behind. Ah, I have issued him an Imperial Palace Access Pass, so it would be fitting for you, Wegner, to give it to him.”
To be honest, Wegner did not remember much of what happened after that.
Simeone fastening the medal to his chest with an expression that was desperately suppressing laughter; Wegner scrubbing away his tears, bowing to Solarian III.
The memory of leaving the Imperial Palace, getting back into the carriage he had arrived in, and returning home.
Remained only as a hazy impression, like a lake shrouded in dawn mist.
That was because.
“Ah, you are back?”
“You are home?”
“Y-You! Why are you here...!”
What welcomed Wegner, back from a living dreamland, was.
“The series of events at today's entrance ceremony was unexpected for me as well. I thought it only proper to come and explain, but when I heard you had entered the palace, Chairman, I shamelessly waited until now.”
“How can such a young student have such excellent manners?”
“Hahaha. You flatter me, Mrs. Inglebert.”
“Mrs. Inglebert sounds so distant.”
“When I first met you, I thought you were Miss Marta's older sister.”
“Oh my, oh my.”
Lloyd was smiling and chatting as he sipped tea with Sage Inglebert.
“So, did you meet with His Majesty safely?”
“L-Lloyd Schultzzz!!!”
Wegner's legs gave out, and he collapsed where he stood.
Only the medal pinned to his chest glittered throughout the night.
***
“Haa...”
The moment I returned home, I sprawled across the bed like a limp, wilted scallion.
It had truly been a long day.
It began with the unexpected information from Professor Garahevi that Solarian III would observe the entrance ceremony, then my speech at it.
After that, I had been taken away by an Imperial Guard Knight with a sack over my head, met with Solarian III disguised as the Chamberlain.
And, in the end, watched him draw a sword and point it at me.
“Ah, I want a status window so I can coast through this too.”
Nothing had come easily.
Usually, possessors were given a talent or perk that astonished the Mage Tower Lord, had the Knight Commander fret, and made princesses court them. That was the rule.
Still, the return was certain for the risk.
The heavy feel of the Imperial Palace Access Pass I had just received felt pleasant in my hand.
“That mad bastard Solarian III.”
Reality was cold in a way utterly unlike playing <Jjam Academy> as a game, where I merely clicked a mouse from beyond a monitor.
The chill of the longsword was vividly real.
Had things gone a little differently, I might have been thrown into a capital sewer with my head separated from my body.
But Solarian III, who was desperate enough to strengthen imperial authority, ultimately took my hand.
“Strengthening imperial authority...”
There was one thing I had learned for certain while playing the Chancellor seed: shake the line of succession, and you could shake the hereditary nobles.
But even so, I could not relax.
The fact that all I needed to do was shake the line of succession was, conversely, proof that it would be very difficult to shake the hereditary nobles by any other means.
Even shaking the line of succession itself was difficult unless something as major as the Nobles' War occurred.
My top priority was to prevent the Nobles' War from happening in the first place.
Therefore, I had to find a way to interfere with the hereditary nobles' lines of succession without starting a Nobles' War.
And I could roughly see that ‘way.’
“I finally get the Academy seed~”
The sons of concubines and other illegitimate children who made up the overwhelming majority of Imperial Solarian Academy students.
If I used them well, I could somehow interfere with the line of succession.
Though I would have to carefully build up that somehow from now on.
For the moment, though.
“Ah, I want chicken.”
I entrusted everything to the embrace of the bed, which warmly held my utterly exhausted body.
It was the end of a day both long and short.
***
Current Quest: Enroll in the Imperial Solarian Academy
Quest Complete!
As a reward, ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Divine Power’ increase!
Achievement Unlocked!
How Did You Even Do That?: Obtain an Imperial Palace Access Pass within one year of enrolling in the Academy
As a reward, affinity toward those affiliated with the ‘Imperial Palace’ increases!
Achievement Unlocked!
Superstar of the Patronage Associations: Be selected as a scholarship student by seven or more patronage associations.
As a reward, affinity toward each patronage association's operating faction increases!
Bonus Stat Status
Persuasion 2
Divine Power 2
Additional effects unlock when they increase past a certain value.
Bonus Affinity Status
Academy
Imperial Palace
Duchy of Sachsen
Duchy of Frank
Margravate of Rheinland
Red Tower
Blue Tower
Golden Castle