A Hundred Years and a Day

Policy decided.

Melius gave me the necessary information.

“The elves want to secure Alicia for blood transfusions. Regular transfusions for constitutional improvement — that’s what the elders call it.”

“So the elves can’t kill Alicia. They need her alive to keep drawing blood.”

“Right. If they stop the transfusions, her vision will recover. Slowly, but it will.”

“I thought natural vision recovery was impossible?”

That was why I had considered trying to get a Grade One or special-grade celestial healing potion.

Melius explained.

“It goes against the natural order, but that’s what happened.”

“Then once we settle this, just give it time and it recovers naturally……”

“The biggest problem is the two escorting the princess — Berk and Wayne. Both wield third-rank magic blades. Even if all of Librata’s soldiers rushed them at once, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Magic strength was classified by rank, and the higher the number, the stronger.

Each rank increased what you could do with magic.

I laid it out.

“Living long and practicing steadily increases your magic, but control ability is separate. Even someone with third-rank magic might only be able to use first or second-rank magic blades.”

“Right. Both of them achieved enlightenment and can wield third-rank magic blades. They’re exceptional even among the post-war generation. Worth the elders assigning them to the princess.”

“Does this put you at ease?”

I summoned my magic lightly.

Third rank, as expected.

Melius went silent. Heinkel jumped to his feet in shock.

“I knew you defeated Marquis Crocell, but…… you’re really third rank?”

“Why so surprised? Live long enough and everyone gets there.”

“Third rank is rare among humans. Maybe through Magic Inheritance, but otherwise…… Young Master Rigen achieved it independently? That makes you a genius……”

“Trade secret. Don’t report this.”

“I’m already in deep enough to die anyway. My lips are sealed.”

Heinkel grinned at my joke.

Melius spoke evenly.

“A human reaching third rank in their youth — a prodigy. Let’s say you’re equal to Wayne and Berk. If we create the right situation, maybe we can manage it. But what happens after?”

“You’re worried about elven retaliation? Future consequences?”

“That’s a problem for later. The main issue is whether the Fourth Princess will agree. I myself……”

Melius turned to me.

“I tried what you’re trying now and failed.”

“Tell me how it went. I’ll learn from your mistakes.”

Melius spoke gravely.

“After the Day of Lamentation — the day the emperor, the empire’s center, passed — holes opened everywhere. Even in the imperial family. The Fourth Princess sought shelter from that chaos with the elves. The elves had never accepted a half-elf into the spirit tree before, but they had no choice. Lisera Karakas was the emperor’s daughter with elven blood. Abandoning her meant self-destruction.”

“They took Lisera in because they were afraid of falling behind the other clans in the power struggle? Even though they hated that she was half-elf?”

“……Yes. That’s right.”

Melius sighed.

“It was an uneasy alliance from the start. Then the princess’s forced constitutional improvement plan surfaced, and the situation turned horrific. I found out late and opposed it, but it was already in progress. I tried to help the Fourth Princess escape the elders’ surveillance.”

“And?”

“But the princess herself refused my plea. She said it was necessary work for the elves’ sake. That it was unavoidable to stabilize the empire’s chaos.”

“She knew from the beginning.”

I shook my head.

Lisera had joined the elves with full awareness and resolve.

Melius nodded.

“Yes. The princess said she would fulfill her duty to restrain the elves’ recklessness. There was merit in the belief that as long as she was there, the elves wouldn’t attempt anything more reckless.”

“……”

“In the end, I had to back down. And I was exiled to this backwater.”

Melius looked at me.

Asking for the answer.

“So, son of Librata. What will you do? Even if you eliminate all the escorts……”

“I’ll expose it.”

“What!”

Melius’s eyes went wide.

Heinkel, who had been listening, looked horrified.

“W-wait. If this scandal breaks, it’ll be uncontrollable! Forget the elves being destroyed — the Fourth Princess, the Sixth Empress, no, the entire imperial family’s dignity and authority could collapse! The empire’s current structure would be shaken!”

“Then everyone will have to work themselves to death.”

I spoke flatly.

I had already decided.

“Seeing this mess, I’m overturning everything. I’ll start with the resolve to expose it if necessary.”

“……What if the elves try to stop Young Master Rigen by force?”

“The two escorts are first tier warriors, right? Kill one as an example and they won’t dare try anything. Then threaten the elves that I’ll expose this truth to the world if they push further. The experiments stop automatically, the princess is protected at Librata. Time passes, her vision returns. Done.”

“But what if Her Highness the Princess refuses? This was her own decision.”

“Well……”

What parent in the world stands by while their child undergoes human experimentation?

I had to stop it no matter what.

Even if it meant revealing my identity.

But that was my private resolution — publicly, I needed a different reason.

“Incidents always happen without consent. I’ll report afterward that I eliminated the villains disturbing Her Highness’s eyes and ears out of patriotic devotion.”

“That’s a coup.”

“Just cleaning. Room cleaning.”

I’m a former emperor — it’s not really a coup, is it?

I organized my thoughts.

“If the elves start guerrilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics, it gets messy. So I eliminate everything in one night. The problem is the two heads — settling Wayne and Berk.”

“The plan?”

“This is why I pushed all the elves into the west wing. I’ll capture Wayne and Berk and protect the princess. You all wait in the east wing. If elves escape and attack, capture them.”

Sending ordinary soldiers and knights against people who wielded third-rank magic blades was asking them to die.

And if chaos spread, Lisera could be in danger.

I would handle it myself.

Heinkel said with difficulty.

“Will the enemy move that way? If both attack together, won’t even you struggle?”

“What they want is Alicia. What we need to secure is Lisera. And Wayne and Berk have to protect the princess. When the board opens, one will come for Alicia, the other stays to protect the princess.”

“Ah.”

“I wait, capture one, then capture the remaining one and secure the princess. Not one versus two — one versus one, twice.”

Heinkel looked at me with admiration.

But for me, having fought countless battles as a commander, it was simple.

Think about what the enemy wants.

I asked Heinkel.

“You have a way to send word outside, don’t you?”

“……Mm, professional secret.”

“When this breaks, the elves will definitely try to kill you. They have to prevent the Queen of Assassins from learning about this situation.”

“She probably already knows.”

I shook my head.

“The Queen of Assassins wouldn’t know the details of the experiments either. If she did, she would have ordered you to secure Alicia’s blood. It would give her leverage over the elves.”

“Ah.”

But Heinkel had never received such orders.

In fact, he looked shocked even now.

“……Wait, Young Master Rigen. Are you actually a genius? How do you grasp situations this sharply?”

“Don’t look at me with touched eyes. People who look at me like that later come asking me to solve everything when problems arise.”

“No, but I really want to.”

That’s why I wanted to retire.

But now it’s different.

I need to put this one to work too.

I smiled and said,

“I’ll use you as bait to hook Wayne and Berk. Hide well if you don’t want to die.”

“Field agents are flies’ lives anyway, but you’re being awfully blunt.”

“I’ll give you my share of sandwiches too, man.”

Heinkel gave a bitter smile.

“Understood. I’ll hide with extreme caution. Even if someone’s taken hostage, I won’t come out.”

“Good. Then Melius, I’ll write a letter and you deliver it to the elves.”

“Got it. Before that.”

Melius stood and opened a storage cabinet.

He returned and handed me a sword.

“Use this.”

“A universal sword?”

To properly use a magic blade, you needed a sword custom-fitted to the user.

But those were expensive.

So for emergency backup, or for those without money, universal swords were developed for general use.

“It’ll withstand third rank a few times.”

“Better than nothing. Don’t ask for it back.”

“As long as Her Highness is safe, I don’t care.”

Melius’s words.

His voice was as passionate as when recalling me, Sirik Karakas.

I took the sword and declared.

“No point dragging this out. I’ll settle everything tomorrow night.”

A hundred years of waiting.

And one last day of waiting.

Evening.

The Fourth Princess of the Millennial Empire, Lisera Karakas, sat listening.

“The situation has become urgent, Your Highness.”

The speaker was Wayne.

Unable to see, she had developed exceptionally sharp hearing.

From the height of the voice, she could even tell he was kneeling.

“The Noble Assembly has already sent people toward Librata. We must secure Alicia as quickly as possible and return.”

“There must be no violence under any circumstances. The elders promised me this, yet now that promise has been broken and is about to be broken again.”

“……”

“Do you think I’m being naive, Wayne?”

Lisera spoke firmly.

“Sacrifice is natural in any endeavor, but it must never be taken for granted. His Majesty the Emperor often said this. Yet you’re harboring very dark thoughts right now.”

“……”

From voice and tone alone, she could gauge his state.

Wayne was hiding something.

From her, the princess?

No — even the authority of princess was ephemeral.

When Sirik Karakas suddenly left the world, everything changed. The imperial family was no exception.

Lisera had been forced to seek shelter with the elves.

No — it wasn’t that she had nowhere else to go…… but she couldn’t leave her mother alone.

Lisera suddenly felt anxious.

“You’re planning to spill blood here, aren’t you? Or did the elders plan this from the start by sending both you and Berk together? And Patrick’s rudeness — was all of this planned?”

“……”

Elves planned for the long term.

The very plan forcibly changing her body had been ongoing for over fifty years.

“What kind of madness is this! The elders are breaking their promises and trying to cause upheaval in the empire. Do you think you can cover this up after committing such acts?”

“……I apologize. It will be over soon.”

“Wayne, wait.”

But Wayne stood and left.

Out the door.

She had to stop him.

“Wayne!”

Lisera rose from her seat, but the door closed.

Having stood suddenly, Lisera lost her balance and fell forward.

A hard sensation.

The handmaids who should support her had already been dismissed.

She was alone.

Lisera lay there and blinked.

Her unseeing eyes stung.

“……”

Should she cry because it was miserable?

Before being a princess.

Having to pretend not to hear when called mongrel.

Enduring the pain of her body being carved away, yet the elders break their promises and plan to spill blood.

How many evils have they committed, and how many more are they planning?

What can a princess left alone in darkness possibly stop?

“……Father.”

The words came unbidden.

She wanted to see him again.

People praised Sirik Karakas for commanding the world like a tempest, but the father she remembered was different.

Someone who smiled awkwardly and shyly.

Who loved to play jokes.

Who smiled even more foolishly when you smiled foolishly at him.

“Father.”

Lisera repeated silently.

She missed him terribly, but she could never see him again.

Then she had to resolve this alone.

Somehow.

As the proud daughter of her beloved father.

“Right.”

Lisera slowly pressed her hands to the floor and rose.

She could do this even without sight.

She steadied her breathing.

Steeled her resolve.

“Is anyone outside?”

She couldn’t give up.

If she couldn’t stop it, she had to borrow strength.

From the son of Librata she had spoken with earlier.

The one who had made her feel strangely at ease.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I need writing materials. Come in.”

She had to tell him.

Everything.

One day before the reckoning.