"C-Can you repeat what you just said? What do you wish for?"
"I want to be an adventurer."
My father's eyes widened in surprise and had a complicated expression written all over his face. He was silent for a while until he asked again.
"At what age are we talking about?"
"13."
He became silent again. He thought about something deeply for a while before speaking again.
"T-That would be hard to approve… you know, with the whole thing with your mother and stuff…"
I nodded. I already knew that this would happen. The sole reason why I can't become an adventurer is because of my mother. I mean, she would eventually say yes when I'm old enough but I wanted to become an adventurer when I turn 13, which would be pretty hard.
"First of all, why 13?"
"Ah, it's because I wanted to experience being an adventurer before I officially go to school and 2 years amount of experience is relatively short but should be enough. I also planned on finishing everything in the palace at 11 years old or lower so that I have at least 2 years' worth of preparing to become one…"
"That… is actually quite smart. Having at least 2 years' worth of preparing to become an adventurer is pretty nice, I myself only prepared for a couple of months so 2 years would give you an advantage. Plus, having 2 years of experience as an adventurer would give you a bit of an advantage on your school. Wait, which school are you planning to go to?"
"Aurora Maxine University."
"The same one as your sister? Then being an adventurer before being a student there would be great. Most students there would at least have some experience in battle so you would at least be able to be equal to their level. Though, when you said you wanted to finish everything in the palace by 11, do you mean you want to finish every single lesson that is going to be taught in the palace in only 3 years?"
"Yes."
He seemed surprised by my statement. Believe me, I would too if I were in his shoes. To be honest, despite my having otherworldly knowledge from my previous world and a unique skill that can get all the knowledge in the world, I doubt I would be able to surpass my sister in pure talent in terms of intelligence.
This means I wouldn't be able to finish everything in just a year like my sister, but I could probably do it in 3 years or lower without any help from my skills and that's what I want to do. And I also needed 2 years' worth of preparation because I want to do a lot of things in that time period that takes a long time to do each so 2 years is just about the right amount of time.
"But… how are we supposed to tell your mother about this? Your mother would definitely not approve of this."
"And that's why I made that wish. Because you will be helping me!"
"W-What?!"
My father looked scared for a moment there. He looked genuinely terrified as to what was about to happen. But he has no choice either way because I for one knows that he always keeps his promises, so he wouldn't be able to refuse.
I smirked before hopping off and telling my father in a cheeky voice: "We better hurry up~"
He was absolutely terrified. I mean, I am too but looking at his expressions just made me feel better a bit. After he set his life together, we started heading out. I asked him where is she since she wasn't in his office and he explained that she was taking a break somewhere in the garden.
We went there and sure enough, our mother was there while drinking tea and… wait, is that alcohol?!
"Ooka-san! What is that bottle?!"
"O-Oh! Tomo-chan! I didn't know you were coming… oh, this? Nah, it is nothing-"
"Are you seriously drinking alcohol this early? And isn't that…"
"Brandy?! Dear, did you steal wine in the vault again?"
I knew it. One look at the bottle and I already knew it was brandy, of course, it is. It was one of the alcohols that I made when I accidentally made the [Spirytus Rektyfikowany]. I thought I wouldn't need to revisit this again.
The reason I was making alcohol was just so that I can probably sell different types of alcohol when I eventually leave and start a winery business, which might also be used as an intelligence network, but when my mother found out that I was making alcohol, I just stopped since who knows what she will do with it.
"U-Um… fine, here…"
She handed over the bottle to us and I quickly snatched it and threw it directly to my [Unique Skill: Compact Storage] and made sure I placed it in the [Isolation Section] to make sure that nobody can get it. I also heightened my senses and my detection and perceptive skills to make sure she isn't carrying any other bottles, thankfully she didn't.
"Aw… I was looking forward to that…"
"Ooka-san, we need to sort out this alcohol addiction of yours before I start banning alcohol in our empire and make sure to never let you drink even a sip of alcohol in your life."
"Ehh, you can't do that! Besides, I'm the Empress, you can't-"
"That's precisely it! You are the Empress and you are acting like this?! Plus, I have you know that even though I'm not the crown prince, I'm the one who manages the work of the crown prince since Eric is still a toddler, which means I do have authority to do it."
"Wait, that's not how it works! How can you have authority over me?"
"I can rally up the nobles to increase my authority."
"Ugh…"
She finally stopped. I never thought I have to use the 'Rallying up the nobles' trick to defeat her. Normally this wouldn't work since nobles in this empire works quite differently and it wouldn't really undermine her authority whatsoever but she personally doesn't want to deal with anything regarding nobles since she seems to have bad memories regarding it so this was the most effective way to deal with her.
"Ugh… fine… So when can I drink alcohol then?"
"When it is night, 1 or 2 times a month, and you are not drinking in a public space like this. And it has to be alcohol that is not too strong that you start going nuts again."
"Hey, that's not fair! Only 1-2 times a month? That is too small! And you shouldn't call your mother nuts!"
'I mean, she is right Tomo, that was disrespectful.'
'Since when did I have proper respect?'
'True but still.'
'Fine, but just this once.'
'Tomo, no-'
"Ok ok fine. But you still aren't allowed to drink too many times. If I see you drinking again without any permission, I will make sure you will not be able to drink alcohol anymore."
"Fine… So, what are you two doing here?"
I completely forgot. We went here so that we can talk about becoming an adventurer.
"About that, we are going to talk about something important."
"What is it?"
We sat down and started explaining. Of course, my mother was not happy about this.
"So you are telling me that you want to become an adventurer at the age of 13?!"
"Yes."
"I will not allow it."
"Why not?"
"Because it is dangerous! I'll only allow it until you became 18 or you finished school."
"But I told you the reason why-"
"I know you did and I think it is a very nice idea but it doesn't mean I'll allow it. After all, even your older siblings don't do that."
"But we did? I mean, we did things that adventurers usually do, it's just that we aren't adventurers officially…"
"But it is completely different. You guys going out in the wild is for training and since both of them are there with you, there wouldn't be too much of a problem. But you going as an adventurer means that nobody will guarantee your safety! Plus, you are a Prince! Being an adventurer as a royal will greatly affect your experience and will most likely turn you off from doing anything like it."
"But I can just not?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can just become an adventurer as a normal person, not as a prince, right?"
"...But what about your face?"
"I doubt that anyone outside the capital knows my face, after all, we don't go out of the capital and show our faces around. Plus, I can change my face with my skills, right?"
"But how about your title, stigmas, your traits?"
"I can just suppress them?"
"Have you learned how to do that?"
"Not yet-"
"Exactly. There is a reason why commoners and royals are completely different. You just have so much authority and have a title as a Prince that even if you hide the fact that you are a prince, you emit such an aura and pressure as one that anybody that is a commoner would easily just falter and kneel down to you because of your bloodline. And that's why I said you are only allowed until you are 18 or higher since you have probably learned how to control it by that age."
"Ok then… but what if I managed to do it before turning 13?"
"What? That is not-"
"What if I did? Would you accept it?"
"...Still no. If you miraculously managed to control it before turning 13, I can't guarantee that you will be safe."
"How about you test me then? Oh, wait, how about-"
"Notice. The constellation [Angelic Lover of Lust] supports the incarnation 'Tomo Tsukuyomi' and claims that he is strong enough to become an adventurer."
'Nice timing, Aurelia!'
'Yeah yeah, I thought you would do it so I just did it before you.'
'Yeah, thanks.'
"Wait, was that a… constellation?!"