The Prince Wants to Retire

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Crown Prince Wishes to Retire

54. War at the Gate! (2)

As I watched Kariel, who wanted to throw himself back onto the battlefield despite already having more than enough on his plate, the ministers were in a tizzy.

Why on earth is he doing this?

With all the masters we needed sent off, Kariel’s declaration to join the fray himself drove the ministers to the edge of madness.

Kariel’s position in the Empire was absolute.

Although he had younger brothers who could take the throne, the chaos that would ensue if Kariel were to be lost couldn’t simply be calmed by them alone.

“Your Majesty, do you really have to go?”

“Can’t we just send the Fire Priests instead?”

Kariel shook his head at the ministers’ pleas.

“I must go to confront the Existence of Hell.”

Though he said this with a firm expression, the ministers weren’t budging this time.

It wasn’t just the West Continent; it was the East Continent.

If he had just stuck to being holed up in the Giant’s Fortress, they might have debated it at least.

But Kariel insisted on directly dealing with Roman.

From the ministers’ perspective, they had no choice but to vehemently oppose this.

“We must settle this before the Demon King fully awakens.”

“However…”

Against the ministers’ resistance, Kariel shook his head.

Truthfully, he didn’t want to push this far. But the situation was just too perilous.

Having experienced in his previous life just how monstrous the Demon King was, he felt he absolutely had to intervene.

If Glen had already become a Grand Master, he might not have had to go this far.

But Glen was still weak.

He needed to buy time before he gained the absolute strength of his past life.

‘If we can’t prevent the summoning of the Demon King, then I have to at least buy Glen some time to grow.’

If the Demon King had already been summoned, he needed to weaken the demon forces and even inflict a critical wound on the Demon King.

To do this, he had to concentrate all of the Empire’s military power against the demons.

This was precisely why Kariel was planning to head to the East Continent.

“We need to send troops to contain Roman.”

“However…”

“If there had been even one Grand Master in the Empire, I wouldn’t have had to make this decision.”

The ministers fell silent at Kariel’s words.

“Is it truly your desire to remain idle while a being that might be stronger than a Grand Master approaches? Is that truly what you wish for?”

When Kariel asked this, the ministers could only once again fall silent.

“Trust me. I promise I’ll come back alive.”

Kariel’s words prompted the ministers to raise their heads and look at their Emperor.

The undying promise of Ignit was mostly kept by maintaining his status as a supreme entity, and he had accomplished the great feat of unifying the West Continent.

“I’ll burn Roman to the ground, so trust me. And… let’s limit opposition to today. There’s much work to be done.”

With that, Kariel left the protesting ministers behind and stepped outside.

As they watched his confident back as he walked out to the Grand Council Meeting, the ministers sighed.

“If he’s going to be so adamant…”

“It will be hard to stop him.”

The Minister of Finance sighed in response, and the Chancellor followed suit.

“However, we must stop him. The Empire barely holds together because of His Majesty’s presence.”

It hadn’t been long since they had conquered the Holy Nation and the Southern Kingdoms.

Moreover, under the current threat of demons and the Existence of Hell, it was Kariel’s presence that sustained Ignit without much chaos.

Without his leadership, it was uncertain how well the central power would hold.

“Still, we must do something. Is this not what His Majesty desires?”

At the Chancellor’s words, the ministers bowed their heads silently.

Their Emperor always burdened them with difficult tasks.

He was a ruthless leader who made them work late into the night, piling upon them mountains of tasks, yet strangely enough, they missed him when he was gone.

“Move! If His Majesty desires it so desperately, it is our duty to comply.”

Ultimately, the ministers, who had been kneeling in submission to the Chancellor’s words, stood one by one and returned to their places.

As all the ministers took their positions, the Chancellor sighed briefly and quietly made his way to the Emperor’s Palace.

*

“Did you convince them?”

“It’s done, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

At Kariel’s words, the Chancellor let out a short sigh.

“Your Majesty, please let me go now.”

The aging Chancellor, appearing worn and haggard, pleaded with Kariel.

But Kariel shook his head resolutely.

“I promised I wouldn’t let you go until Luther matures.”

The genius from his past life was steadily growing at the Academy.

Thus, Kariel had no intentions of letting go of the Chancellor until Luther graduated and officially stepped into the bureaucratic world.

There was no one in the Empire with the experience and steadiness of the Chancellor.

“…If I wait for him to grow, I might die first.”

“I’ll instruct the priests to take extra good care of you.”

“…”

The overworked Chancellor was already being looked after by the priests, who sent precious medicinal herbs monthly, but seeing his haggard state, it seemed even that was insufficient.

“If that’s the case, call him in a little earlier.”

“Excuse me?”

“Luther. In this emergency, he can be called even if he’s not in the graduating class.”

At Kariel’s suggestion, the Chancellor’s expression grew puzzled.

“He’s still young, isn’t he? He needs more experience.”

“Bring him in and let’s see. If it doesn’t work out, we can always send him back.”

The Chancellor tilted his head at Kariel’s proposal.

“You trust that young man, don’t you?”

Kariel smiled at the Chancellor’s words.

Upon seeing that, the Chancellor gained some certainty but still couldn’t help tilting his head.

When Kariel had first commanded him to raise Luther, he had felt that Kariel saw Luther as the next Chancellor.

If he had said to make him work in the bureaucracy right upon graduation, anyone could have guessed that.

The issue remained that he was still young.

“Curious about why I trust that young man?”

“…Yes.”

“Because he’s like me.”

The Chancellor stared at Kariel with an incredulous expression.

Though his superior, Kariel was a monster in his eyes. To say he was the same as him?

“He’ll do well. So, just trust him.”

“…Understood.”

Yet, despite still wearing a skeptical expression, the Chancellor could no longer say anything but to trust him.

Once Luther, who was far more capable than he could ever hope to be, began to establish himself, it would lead to a far more stable system.

The young geniuses flocking around Luther and his siblings were already showing results.

The ideas they generated at the Academy were innovative enough to be immediately put to use.

“He’ll be fine.”

The unfortunate geniuses from the past.

And Luther, the unprecedented prodigy who had sustained the Empire until his death.

There had been countless geniuses lost in the wars of his previous life.

With their presence, the Empire could develop more rapidly even in his absence.

Already, some structure had been set up around former rebel geniuses like Baker and Curios Turing.

Weapons Master Baker.

The God of Alchemy and Chemistry, Curios.

The Father of Engineering, Turing.

Those who had barely been incorporated into Salem as former rebels were now playing vital roles in the capital’s core operations across various fields.

The same applied elsewhere.

The Imperial Guards were also active in numerous sectors.

Arshuna, concurrently serving as Central Magic Tower Lord.

Toto, who was establishing the foundational exercises and basic training methods for soldiers.

Iris, laying the groundwork for close combat and training Rangers and Special Forces.

Brion, researching the weaknesses of Monsters and Demons while building surgical foundations.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Guard was training promising individuals they personally selected in order to expand their ranks.

With all the young geniuses chosen by Kariel laying down the foundations, there would be no turmoil simply because he stepped away from the capital for a moment.

Having calculated all this, Kariel felt prepared to venture into the East.

*

A few days later.

Seeing his two younger brothers who visited the Emperor’s Palace, Kariel smiled.

“Please take good care of the capital.”

At Kariel’s words, his younger brothers sighed.

They shuddered at the memories of when Kariel had previously left the capital.

“It won’t be as tough this time.”

Kariel said this to relieve their worries, but they didn’t believe him. They had painfully learned from experience that they couldn’t fill Kariel’s absence with their own strength.

“Please, comfort Miriel before you go.”

“Yes. She’s been feeling down since you’re heading to another dangerous place.”

“…Really?”

Kariel’s expression darkened at his brothers’ words.

“She’s blaming herself for not being helpful.”

At Seriel’s remark, Rufiel beside him sighed.

They had tried to console Miriel, but this time, her mood wasn’t lifting easily.

“She wants to be helpful….”

“Don’t tell me… Are you planning to make Miriel work already, big brother?”

“There’s no way he’d be that heartless….”

As the two younger brothers looked at Kariel, horrified, he replied while gazing at them.

“I’d rather have her working than sulking around, don’t you think?”

After saying that, Kariel rubbed his chin, thinking it might not be such a bad idea.

“After all, the palace has become a bit chaotic.”

Since he still wasn’t married, the Head Maid and the Attendant Hall shared the authority to manage the palace while the Minister of Internal Affairs provided assistance, but the reporting system tended to be messy, and the budgeting often went awry.

Kariel was thinking of granting Miriel responsibility for the internal palace matters.

As soon as the decision to let Miriel handle the house was made, the ministers and his brothers shook their heads in disbelief, but instead, Miriel clutched her fists and exclaimed confidently.

“I can do it! I’m gonna help my brother!”

The worried faces of everyone turned anxious at Miriel’s declaration.

Everyone wondered how much help she would actually be. But Kariel believed she wouldn’t fall short.

Considering his past life’s experience, Miriel’s talent rivaled Luther’s.

Having been educated since early on, he trusted she would prove her worth.

“All my tasks have been wrapped up.”

-So, are you heading to the East now?

“Yeah.”

At Surth’s question, Kariel looked up at the night sky as he answered.

-Don’t freak out.

“I’m not freaking out.”

At Surth’s words, Kariel felt his pride tingle and cleared his throat.

-You’re totally freaking out.

Seeing Kariel’s obviously tense expression, Surth mumbled to himself, chuckling.

Bickering back and forth with Surth, Kariel spent his last day at the Imperial Palace.

*

And the next day,

Duke Welch, guarding the Supply Line, and the Demon Hunter Division all headed north to join the Main Forces.

That was when Roman zeroed in on the Supply Line with greedy eyes.

With a massive wave of demons converging, even with Masters Achelio and Talion present, they inevitably struggled to defend the Supply Line.

Just then, urgent news arrived for Talion.

“The Supply Line in the southern region has stabilized.”

“Did the Fire Priests arrive?”

“Yes, but that’s not the reason it stabilized.”

Talion tilted his head at the Shadow’s report.

“Then what is it?”

“His Majesty personally intervened.”

Upon hearing the Shadow’s words, Talion gasped in shock.

“What?!”