Empire of Ice Read online

  Chapter 5

  Once I finished negotiating with Eleora, I returned to my office. She’d come here as a vanguard of the Holy Rolmund Empire, but her ambitions had died here in Ryunheit. She and her soldiers had become my prisoners. But Rolmund itself hadn’t given up yet. The ancient empire that lay beyond the Northern Peaks was still in prime condition, and it desired Meraldia’s lands for itself. Unfortunately, the empire was too powerful to defeat in a direct confrontation.

  “Now then, what should we do?”

  I sipped the tea Kite had brewed for me and mused on our next course of action. After interrogating the prisoners, I had a good grasp of Rolmund’s internal political situation. Sixth in line for the throne, Eleora Kastoniev Originia Rolmund wasn’t the emperor’s daughter but his niece. She was the emperor’s sister’s daughter, meaning she wasn’t even in the patriarchal line. Which was why, officially, she was an auxiliary princess. Princesses born to male members of the royal line were considered chief princesses.

  Eleora’s family was the Originia family. It was one of the few families in Rolmund that was officially in the line of succession. The current Originia family consisted of Eleora and her sister. Her sister’s name was Sophie. Though Eleora hadn’t stated it explicitly, it was easy to guess that her sister was being held hostage to make sure she was obedient. The Kastoniev part of her name was inherited from her father’s side. It seemed her father had married into her mother’s family. Apparently, he’d died some years past, but he’d undoubtedly had a hard life. As I relayed everything I’d learned to Kite, his expression turned thoughtful.

  “It’s interesting how everyone in Rolmund has family names. We don’t have any custom like that in Meraldia.”

  “Demons don’t bother with them either. I’m just Veight, and you’re just Kite.”

  “It’s simpler that way.”

  The only people that had anything resembling family names in Meraldia were the families of viceroys and nobles. The residents of the north were all descendants of slaves, so most of them didn’t possess family names. On the other hand, the seafarers who’d arrived from the south used their parents’ given names as their family names, so it was a different system than how Rolmund worked. I picked up a nearby stack of documents and said to Kite, “This is all the information I’ve gathered on the Rolmund imperial family. I know it’s a lot, but please memorize it.”

  “You got it.”

  Rolmund’s current emperor was Bahazoff the Fourth. Most considered him to be a capable, but mediocre, emperor. He hailed from the Schwerin family, and he had two heirs: a younger son who was first in line for the throne, and an older daughter who was fifth. Both took after their father, and the prevailing opinion was that they too would be capable, but mediocre. In general, the noble families preferred stable emperors like that. Alright, we’ll call these guys the “generic family.”

  Next up was the emperor’s younger brother, who was head of the Doneiks family. He was second in line to the throne and had two sons who were third and fourth in line. All the Doneiks family needed to do was remove the crown prince and one of their own would become the next emperor. Which was of course why they were the ones plotting the most. Let’s call these guys the “ambitious family.”

  Eleora’s sister was seventh in line, and beyond that were several distantly related noble families. Typically, the order of succession started with sons of male members of the imperial family, then went to daughters of male members of the imperial family, then sons of female members of the imperial family, then daughters of female members of the imperial family. There were, however, a number of exceptions, so mapping the order of succession often got messy. Emperors who hadn’t left behind any sons had introduced some amendments to the system to try and get their daughters on the throne, which was the main source of the exceptions.

  I finished checking through the documents, then looked up at Kite.

  “You memorize them all yet, Kite?”

  “Hell no.”

  Kite shook his head. He was in the middle of copying the information down.

  “It’s not easy to remember all the branches of another country’s imperial family, you know. Were you able to memorize it all, Veight?”

  “There’s no way I’d be able to memorize all this.”

  All I’d really learned was that Eleora had a lot of rivals. This was starting to give me a headache, so I started pacing up and down the hall muttering, “The emperor’s brother’s family is dangerous,” to myself over and over. Alright, got it memorized. Next I started muttering, “The emperor’s kids are first and fifth in line for the throne,” over and over. Perfect, memorized that too.

  The question was, would I still remember these details tomorrow morning? I passed Lacy in the hallway as I was doing my mnemonic exercises, and she gave me a puzzled look. But I waved her off and continued pacing. During the battle the other day, Lacy had used her illusion magic to camouflage the entrance to the city’s old district as a wall. Thanks to that, none of Eleora’s mage corps had been able to make it inside, which had made it easier to systematically eliminate them. Okay, that’s enough studying for one day.

  I poked my face inside the prisoners’ barracks.

  “Excuse me. Mind if I come in?”

  “Ah, Lord Veight.”

  Warrant Officer Natalia got to her feet and gave me a Rolmund-style salute. The other soldiers followed suit. I replied with a demon army-style salute and said, “Are you finding your accommodations satisfactory? You’re all valuable hostages to make sure the princess doesn’t try anything rash, so if there’s anything bothering you, let me know.”

  I smiled ruefully, and the prisoners smiled ruefully back. They understood the princess well. Even though they’d lost close to half of their troops, the 209th Imperial Mage Corps was surprisingly obedient. When I asked Borsche why none of them were nursing grudges, he’d immediately replied, “Imperial soldiers are trained from day one not to hold any grudges once the fighting is over. We fight not for profit or personal reasons, but for our country; we pride ourselves on being able to put past grievances behind us.”

  The fact that he was able to say that with a straight face sent chills down my spine. You’re allowed to hate me, you know? I thought the people of Rolmund were supposed to be tenacious. However, it seemed Rolmund soldiers considered holding grudges to be the mark of an amateur, and valued order and rationality above all. As a member of the demon army, that was an outlook I couldn’t comprehend. But then, we were more of a rural guerrilla force than a real army. Which was why I decided to respect the Rolmund soldiers’ professionalism.

  One of the soldiers looked up and said, “Thank you again for giving our slain comrades a worthy funeral. You even asked a cardinal to oversee it.”

  “The Sonnenlicht religion might be a little different here than it is in Rolmund, but we have cardinals too.”

  Natalia turned to me and explained, “In Rolmund, cardinals only oversee funerals for military generals or soldiers who’ve been awarded prestigious medals. So, thank you very much.”

  I was glad I’d been able to show my respect to the Rolmund soldiers.

  “If only I’d had an opportunity to talk to you soldiers before the fighting had begun...but I suppose that would have been impossible.”

  One of the officers, Lenkov, nodded apologetically.

  “I’m afraid so. Rolmund’s regulations are very strict. If we’d done such a thing, we would have been stripped of our position and demoted to serfs.”

  “That certainly does sound strict.”

  Lenkov nodded again, “Indeed. Which is why if we returned to our homeland after surrendering, we would either be executed, or sent to join the disciplinary squad. Our families would be punished similarly.”r />
  The disciplinary squad was a special squad that was sent on all the most dangerous operations. None of its members lived long.

  “Yet you surrendered knowing what fate awaited you.”

  To soldiers of Rolmund, surrender was a fate worse than death. The mage corps’ battle wasn’t over yet. Only this time, it wasn’t against us. While these soldiers were important hostages to keep Eleora pacified, they were also a valuable force that could be used against Rolmund.

  Even if it was for the sake of peace in Meraldia, I couldn’t afford to bring Meraldian citizens with me on this campaign. Expeditions into foreign nations were extremely perilous—both for the commander in charge and the troops he was leading. Ideally, I’d be able to make use of Eleora’s family’s troops and what remained of the mage corps to complete my mission. Of course, I needed to win them over if I wanted to do that. As I was thinking such wicked thoughts, Natalia turned to me, her eyes sparkling.

  “Umm, Your Highness Black Werewolf King!”

  Did you just call me “Your Highness”?

  “What is it, Lady Natalia?”

  Brimming with curiosity, she said, “I’ve seen all of the Black Werewolf King plays.”

  “Yes, you told me before.”

  In fact, we’d even gone to see one together. That had been quite an exhausting experience. Natalia blushed slightly and finally asked, “Well, I was wondering, which one will you choose?”

  “What do you mean?”

  For a moment, I didn’t understand her question. But after a few seconds of stiff silence, I suddenly realized she was asking about my romantic interests. Man, how exactly does she see me? Those events were all embellished for the play, they had no bearing on reality.

  “I’m too busy with work to be thinking about romance.”

  It was an unexpected question, but I answered honestly. Natalia nodded gravely to herself.

  “I see... You’re too busy. Thank you very much.”

  She obviously didn’t trust my answer. Well, believe whatever you want.

  After discussing things with Eleora’s officers, I reaffirmed that I’d need to orchestrate a coup in Rolmund if I wanted to keep these soldiers safe. Since they’d die if they went home as-is, they all promised to cooperate with my plan. I guess having overly strict rules can backfire on you. I better make sure the demon army doesn’t end up like Rolmund’s.

  Once I finished talking to the mage corps, I returned to my office and found Master loitering around. Our new Demon Lord doesn’t do much work, huh? Master had finished her daily checkups on the wounded soldiers and was lazing about on my table. She was eating her way through a large plate of expensive sugared bread.

  “Master, if you eat that much, you’ll get fat.”

  “You should know best of all that I won’t,” Master replied with a pout. Her lips smeared with sugar, she stuffed her mouth full of another chunk of bread.

  “I have depleted a lot of mana these past few days, tending to so many injured people. I need this food to replenish my energy reserves.”

  “Why not just stand in a fire for a few minutes?”

  Master could absorb any form of energy, be it chemical or heat, so she didn’t need to eat high-calorie foods. She ignored my question and said, “Imagine how surprised the people will be when they learn that the mysterious beauty who has been healing enemies and allies alike is actually the Demon Lord.”

  “Ah... sorry.”

  “Why are you apologizing?”

  Master tapped her legs excitedly on the seat of my chair as she chewed on a mouthful of bread.

  “I thought it’d be rude to our allies to keep them in the dark, so I told them you were the Demon Lord.”

  “Wha!?”

  “I told you the other day that it was time we started revealing to everyone that you’re actually the Demon Lord, remember?”

  Master washed down the bread she was eating with a glass of milk and shouted, “I thought I was meant to be the one to reveal that! Don’t steal away one of the few pleasures this old lady has left in life!”

  “You never told me you were looking forward to doing it yourself...”

  I wolfed down a loaf of bread myself, then asked, “By the way, Master, you’ve rendered the prisoners unable to use magic, right?”

  “I have been absorbing the mana in the city, so they should be powerless, yes. Right now, no one should be capable of using magic in Ryunheit without my permission.”

  I knew it, Master’s ability to absorb mana supersedes mine.

  “The truth is, I think I’m capable of doing something similar, Master.”

  “Mmm. It appears you were able to safely inherit a fraction of my power.”

  “Yeah, but is that really alright?”

  Master smiled gently at me.

  “You were granted an instinctive understanding of the vortex during my ritual. Because you’ve been keeping up with your studies, you can tap into the principles that govern it, but you yourself remain unchanged.”

  “It would be nice if I could absorb the phenomena magic creates too.”

  Eleora’s flames had been pretty hot. Master’s smile grew wider and she said, “As I taught you when you first became my disciple, mana is a currency. It is because it has yet to be exchanged for power, that it is manipulable. Once that currency has been converted into heat or motion, it is difficult to revert to its original form.”

  Meaning my vortex powers would only work on extremely specific weapons like the Blast Canes. If I was to put it in video game terms, I could only negate energy weapons. Master picked up the last loaf of sugared bread, tore it in half, and offered one half to me.

  “However as long as that currency has yet to be converted, you can absorb it. If your opponent intends on casting a spell, absorb the surrounding mana before they can do so.”

  “You mean like Energy Drain!?”

  “What is that?”

  “Uhh, nothing.”

  It appeared I had a new offensive option now. Master finished off the last of the bread, then smiled at me again.

  “You have become a werewolf capable of devouring mana. Truly, the title of Weremage suits you. As your master, I am proud of you.”

  “Thank you very much. Hehehe.”

  I should try this power out next time I get a chance. I munched on my chunk of bread, laughing to myself.

  Eleora was still recovering from her injuries, but she was stable enough that I figured she’d be happier with her subordinates around. From what I could tell, she was partial to Natalia and Borsche. Borsche was an accomplished warrior as well as a mage, so I was a little unsure about leaving him with Eleora, though. In the end, I decided to let Natalia stay with her instead. They were the same age too, so they’d probably enjoy each other’s company.

  Today, too, I was struggling to memorize the Rolmund imperial family’s lineage. Just memorizing the names of the royal family and its three branch families wasn’t too bad. It was remembering the respective levels of influence each had that made the task so difficult. I also needed to learn who the important figures in Rolmund’s military and court supported. Plus, I needed to know who the feudal lords, Sonnenlicht clergy, and rich merchants were backing as well. This task was further complicated by the fact that all of these people switched allegiances frequently. My information wasn’t even completely accurate, since a lot of these deals were made behind closed doors, and Eleora’s men didn’t know everything.

  God, what a pain. I was ready to just give up on trying to memorize everything.

  “I can’t do it. Kite, you memorize it all.”

  “Oh, I already did. All of it.”

  “Seriously? Including all the various factions backing the princes and princesses?”

  “Yep. I was originally an investigator, remember?”

  I’d forgotten he used to be a bureaucrat. A true coastal elite.

  “Kite, want me to make you some tea?”

  “Huh? Where’d that come from?”<
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  I was lucky I had such an excellent vice-commander. The least I could do was brew his tea. Just as I got to my feet, there was a knock on the door.

  “Open up, you damned werewolf! I know you’re in here!”

  The loud knocking was coming from a much lower spot on the door than normal. Kite gave me a confused look. I smiled and nodded to him.

  “Don’t worry. He’s one of Master’s fellow disciples.”

  Kite hesitantly opened the door, and a fluffy something barreled into the room.

  “Die, you fucker! Today’s the day I settle the score with you, Veight!”

  A rabbit the size of a canine launched itself at me, its ears flopping around. Its fur was brown, and its ears were on the short side for a rabbit. I wasn’t too familiar with rabbit breeds, but it most resembled a Netherland Dwarf Rabbit to me.

  “You look well, Ryucco.”

  “Of course I do! I’ve gotta be in top shape if I’m gonna squeeze the life outta you!”

  Ryucco thumped the ground repeatedly with his leg. Like me, he was one of Gomoviroa’s disciples. Though he wasn’t part of the demon army, he’d go anywhere and do anything for Master. Kite stooped down and examined Ryucco’s face.

  “Veight, who’s this rabbit-looking person?”

  “He’s a lagomorphus. They’re a race of timid, peaceful demons that live in forests and plains.”

  “This guy doesn’t look timid or peaceful.”

  Everyone who met Ryucco said that at first.

  “Just watch.”

  Grinning, I transformed into my wolf form. Ryucco hopped several feet into the air and shouted, “PYAAAAAAA!”

  He bolted to a corner of the room, and wrapped the window curtains around him, trembling.

  “Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You damned werewolf, I-I-I-I-I’m not scared of you at all!”

  He was panicking so much he couldn’t even get the right words out. Kite’s jaw dropped open, and I transformed back into my human form. As I put on a fresh shirt I said, “Because they’re cowardly by nature, a lot of lagomorphus try to intimidate people with belligerent attitudes. They’re especially terrified of werewolves, by the way.”

  “Who isn’t scared of werewolves?”