The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 8
EP.8 Children of The Emperor (2)
Well, if it were a moment like earlier when Lucas let his guard down, maybe it would work. But facing him head-on like this, no matter how many attempts I made, there was no way I could land a shot on Lucas’s head.
It might take not just a few tries but hundreds, maybe even thousands, to get a single successful hit.
…But for the sake of the story’s main plot, this guy needed to stay alive. He was a key antagonistic character in the original story, after all.
In other words, to anticipate future events, I would have to go through the hassle of resetting time and saving this jerk, even if I went through all that trouble to kill him. What a pointless task.
Besides, even though Lucas annoyed me, and sometimes I genuinely thought about killing him, he wasn’t someone I genuinely hated. I didn’t particularly like any of the male characters in the original game, but I didn’t hate them to that extent, either.
To be fair, my current predicament was partly my own doing.
Moreover, in the original story, the Emperor played an indirect supporting role for the protagonist, primarily through his children. Lucas was one of them.
There was a chance I might become one of them too. After all, it was me standing in this position now, not Claire.
In the original story, Claire didn’t enter the academy from the start. She initially got involved with the protagonist’s party as an outsider and only infiltrated as a transfer student after the story progressed.
She was actually the Emperor’s informant and a spy.
I didn’t know if I would end up taking Claire’s role in this situation. At least, in my opinion, my personality was quite different from Claire’s.
Claire was a character who charmed everyone around her with her little devil persona, only to reveal her true colors as an incredibly sharp and edgy individual. In contrast, the character I had built under the Emperor was a “cold, expressionless type who stays calm no matter the situation.”
I had no choice.
While I had once dreamed of becoming a voice actor and attended a voice acting academy, I didn’t have extraordinary talent for acting. Instead of trying to craft expressions and reactions appropriate for every situation, I opted to maintain a consistent, emotionless demeanor.
This approach matched well with my ability to react as if I could foresee the future. The ability to reset time and start over with full knowledge of the situation made this consistent atmosphere even more fitting.
“Oh, Sylvia. And Lucas.”
Ignoring Lucas, who was trying his best to irritate me, I walked quickly down the palace corridor when someone approached from afar.
Unlike Lucas, who wandered around like a wild child without even bothering to take care of his hair despite being an ‘Children of the Emperor,’ this person had brilliantly shining golden hair that neatly parted in a precise 2:8 ratio, and even the fine hairs of his eyebrows were immaculately trimmed. Like Lucas, he was also one of the “Children of the Emperor.”
The smile on his face when he saw me faded quickly when he saw Lucas. I could tell this wasn’t just my imagination. He had a strong preference for cleanliness, and Lucas, if anything, gave off a rather unkempt vibe.
Despite his noble appearance, this man wasn’t a true noble. Among the Emperor’s children, the only legitimate royal was the blood-related daughter. The rest were all street urchins gathered from the back alleys. Why all these street urchins turned out to be such monsters, I had no idea.
“Lucas, please, at least in the palace, can you button your jacket all the way up?”
“Huh?”
And of course, Lucas didn’t like him very much either. They were incompatible.
“What makes you think you can tell me what to do? Are you trying to act like my older brother or something?”
“I was born a few months before you.”
And he’s taller too.
Saying this now would only provoke Lucas further.
“Hey, Jayden.”
Lucas stormed over to Jayden Fangriffon with a seemingly angry expression.
…But it was obvious that his expression was an act.
Lucas always picked fights with Jayden whenever they met, but it wasn’t just because he didn’t like him. Jayden was already the Empire’s strongest knight.
Lucas, on the other hand, was destined to become the Empire’s greatest swordsman.
The coexistence of the strongest knight and the greatest swordsman was somewhat questionable, but Jayden earned his reputation on the battlefield, while Lucas would later gain his by defeating the Sword Saint. So, the meanings of their titles were subtly different.
Jayden was a soldier who idolized the Emperor and would do anything for him, even if it meant risking his life, while Lucas was a madman with ambitions to surpass the Emperor and become the strongest being in the world.
He also had a tremendous love for fighting. If I had seriously attacked him, he probably would have been thrilled and charged at me.
…Though, as mentioned earlier, I had managed to shoot him in the head before he could even make a move due to his lapse in vigilance.
“Didn’t I tell you before? If you want to give me orders, you’d better start by defeating me with your sword. If you can prove that you’re definitely stronger than me, I’ll follow any command you give, even if it’s to drink horse piss.”
“…Sigh.”
Jayden let out an exaggerated sigh, brushing his face with an elaborate motion, and then pointed dramatically at me.
“Look at Sylvia over there. Every movement she makes is filled with grace! No matter how many times you swing your sword at her, she dodges them all with refined, noble movements. And that’s not all! Even when she meets His Majesty, she shows impeccable manners beyond her years. You should try to be half as refined as your sister!”
All of that was the result of thousands of practice sessions.
But to everyone here, it looked like I had been that way from the start.
…And this was also a significant deviation from the original story.
Setting aside the fact that I was in Claire’s place, Claire and Jayden didn’t get along. Jayden, who liked people who dressed neatly and carried themselves with noble grace, found Claire’s attire to be too “ugly.”
Of course, I had no intention of dressing like Claire, and I thought they didn’t suit my image, so I dressed as neatly as possible.
It seemed that this aligned with Jayden’s preferences and made me his most beloved “sister.”
…To the extent that he openly declared that if I ever got a boyfriend, he would personally check his qualifications first.
Why the hell would you need to do that, you crazy bastard?
Well, it was not entirely surprising since Jayden was a character known for his comedic elements as well, so his reaction wasn’t completely out of line.
“…”
Lucas’s expression, which had been full of arrogance a moment ago, now looked genuinely distressed. Yeah, it was a bit much, wasn’t it? Even for a madman like you, it sounded a bit… pedophilic. She was merely twelve years old, and Jayden’s compliments were completely sincere, but still…
“Come on, Sylvia. Let’s go.”
Lucas, who had been speaking in a completely obnoxious tone, suddenly switched to a very kind, older-brother-like voice.
“Don’t stay near that pervert.”
“Pervert? What nonsense is that!”
Jayden, who had been strongly protesting, followed us as Lucas gently but firmly guided me away, taking my shoulder and turning me around.
*
The term ‘Children of the Emperor’ usually has no other meaning beyond its literal one in normal circumstances. However, in this game—or rather, in this empire—it’s used almost as a common noun. Commoners might not know, but among the nobility, it’s used to describe a kind of private organization of the Emperor. And indeed, it was true.
How the Emperor gathered them was anyone’s guess, but those he referred to as “sons and daughters” were all extraordinary humans far beyond the scope of ordinary humans…. and that included me.
“Oh, everyone’s here?”
Lucas said as he opened the door to the audience chamber.
In a normal situation, there should have been knights guarding the Emperor in the audience chamber… but right now, there were only the Emperor and two adults, one male and one female.
“Oh, you’ve arrived.”
Even though he was the final boss of the evil organization in the game, his voice was surprisingly fatherly when he spoke to us.
Emperor Arthur III.
The incarnation of ‘Fangriffon.’
The Emperor who founded the most powerful imperial authority in the history of the Aetherna Empire.
An ambitious villain who literally wished to “conquer the world,” wanting to place everything under his feet.
And the two people kneeling before him were also among those ‘Children of the Emperor.’
The man with long black hair that reached his back, who had a delicate appearance, was, in fact, a very strong paladin. Despite his delicate appearance, his body was lean and muscular with hardly any body fat.
He was quiet, and with a handsome face, he was quite popular among female players of the game.
By the way, Lucas was also one of the popular characters.
Jayden was not.
Next to him sat a woman with a somewhat gloomy appearance, who, in the original story, served as Claire’s mentor. Of course, due to their relationship, Claire called her “sister.”
She wielded a whip-like sword. In the original story, she was already deceased at the start. It wasn’t revealed how she died; she was only mentioned as the original owner of Claire’s weapon.
Apparently, she was very fond of Claire and taught her many things, including her bad personality, which contributed to Claire becoming a polarizing character.
…Well, no, to be fair, it wasn’t really the character’s fault. The blame lay with the author’s writing… but, anyway, there’s no point in nitpicking about that here.
I wonder what kind of swordsmanship Claire, with her natural talent, would learn at the Grace household. If Baron Grace has any sense, he’ll definitely train Claire in swordsmanship and send her to the academy.
The real daughter of the Emperor, the princess, wasn’t present. In the original story, her character arc involved overcoming her inferiority complex towards the ‘Children of the Emperor.’ That process was a key part of her character development.
So, did that mean she might feel inferior to me too?
“Are you feeling well?”
I asked, kneeling in a position I had practiced hundreds of times.
“Yes.”
The Emperor replied, nodding approvingly with a smile.
I could hear Jayden behind me, visibly touched, letting out a sigh of admiration, but I ignored him.
“You’ve been well, then?”
I couldn’t exactly tell him I almost died being sliced in half by my brother’s sword.
“Yes, I’ve been spending my time training as always.”
“Excellent. It’s important not to neglect your training even when you know you have exceptional abilities. You’re old enough now, so I’ll be assigning you a mission soon. Don’t worry too much. It will be a mission you can handle with your abilities.”
Despite being the villain, he spoke in a genuinely fatherly tone, but it was clear that the mission would involve killing someone.
It would likely be an order to kill a noble from the noble faction or put them in a similar state. In the original story, it was said that the Emperor had secretly killed dozens of nobles. There were only suspicions, but blaming the Emperor based on mere suspicions wouldn’t work.
“I’ll be waiting.”
The fact that he was assigning such a mission to a twelve-year-old confirmed that he was indeed a villain.
It’s likely that this Emperor played a role in why Claire’s personality turned out to be so twisted.
“I’ve completed my mission, Father.”
Jayden was the most devoted to the title ‘Children of the Emperor.’ This was also why he wasn’t popular. He was a character without much depth, solely focused on the Emperor.
“Good. Did the count survive?”
“Yes, he didn’t die. But he surely understood your message clearly.”
“Good.”
What kind of words were these to come out of the Empire’s greatest ‘knight’?
“Lucas.”
“It’s done.”
Jayden glared at Lucas’s casual tone, but the Emperor didn’t seem to care at all.
“Excellent. It pleases me greatly that my children perform their duties so well. Continue to do so in the future.”
The Emperor smiled warmly.
…And I was convinced that this smile was genuine. His calling us his children, his self-identification as a father—this Emperor meant every word.
And precisely because of that, he was a true villain.
That’s what I believed.