Chapter 44
At night, in the living room of the mansion's inner garden.
It is a room made for relaxation, and during the day, a half-moon raised high in the sky can be seen through the large, well-lit window.
In the living room, with Audrey and Zoe standing by my side.
I was engaged in a mock battle.
Leviathan, the Demon Sword of Water.
The famous painting Fuwawa.
Behemoth, the golden giant bull.
And–the awakened flame dragon Bahamut.
I linked all four of them one after the other to the Armor Ring and had them fight one on one.
Since that day when I first put Leviathan against Bahamut, who was still a Luthiya at the time, my level went up. I've been putting them against each other little by little.
At first, Leviathan was the dominant force, but after it awakened, Bahamut won almost all the battles.
And it was still the case now, with Bahamut's flames consuming Leviathan's water swordsman, and the game was decided.
"Fumu."
"Is there anything, Noah-sama"
"My level has increased."
"Well, congratulations."
"Congratulations!"
Audrey and Zoe congratulated me one after the other.
Name: Noah Ararat
Minister of Justice
Gender: Male
Level: 10 / ∞
HP D+E MP E+E Strength D+E Stamina E+E Intelligence E+E Spirit E+E Speed F+E Dexterity E+E Luck E+E Fire E+A Water D+S Wind E+F Earth E+F Light E+C Darkness E+F
My status in the corner of my eye has gone up one more level, to 10.
What I've learned over the past three years of doing a little bit of everything is that even if I run with the same opponents–that is, just these four–the pace only slows down, but it doesn't mean it doesn't go up at all.
I realized that I didn't need to scramble to level up in the usual way, I just needed to let Bahamut and the others fight.
"But Noah-sama is amazing."
"Hmm?"
What about? I looked at Audrey who was standing there with such a look.
"I've never even heard of such a method."
"How much do you know about how to level up?"
"─ Probably in one way or another. As the wife of a nobleman, I learned a lot to support my husband in battle."
"I see."
If so, then Audrey is right, she knows everything there is to know, or rather, all the usual methods.
After all, she is the granddaughter of the Thunder Prince, an unquestionably respectable bloodline.
The more genuine the nobleman, the more they are ashamed of their ignorance, and Audrey must have received a considerable education and have considerable knowledge.
And yet, Audrey says 'I never heard of this.'
Being born as a noble—a Prince, I have learned a lot of knowledge, but on top of that, I checked with her as well.
"What kind of ability has a '+' in it?"
"I've never heard of it at all. I think it's just Noah-sama. It may be the sign that you are the only one in the world who has been chosen."
"That's amazing, Noah-sama!"
Audrey's words were echoed by Zoe.
Both of them had a look of utter infatuation in their eyes, and it was not a bad thing to be looked at that way.
Now that it's getting late, I think I'll just have another battle and go to bed soon.
Knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door, and when I answered it, Cecily, the guest service maid, came in.
"I'm sorry it's so late at night. Master has a visitor."
"At this hour? It's late, it can wait until tomor-."
"No, wait."
I interrupted Audrey as she was about to say.
"Let's meet."
I got up and left the living room.
I was led out of the inner garden and into the outer garden, not to the parlor but to the entrance hall.
There was a man there, dressed in a worn-out outfit.
His hair was shaggy and his eyes were sunken in.
As I approached him, I could smell his sweat.
"Who are you?"
"I've been asked by Cindy-sama to deliver this."
The man said, holding out a box.
A box to deliver something top secret to me.
Cindy Allan.
She's Byron Allan's adopted daughter, and now, nearly a decade after we met at the party, she's nearly twenty years old and helping him with his business.
She is capable and loyal, so I entrusted her with the box.
" It must have been very important, huh."
I inquired, looking at the man's outfit.
"I've ridden three horses in a row."
"That so. Zoe, bring him his reward. Get him 100 reens."
"I understand."
The head maid, Zoe, who was following behind me, bowed her head and complied.
She took the man and walked away.
I stood there and opened the box.
"——!"
The contents of the box were a simple note.
His Majesty has fallen ill.
That was all it said.
The next morning, after having breakfast in the grand dining hall with Audrey serving, as usual, Cecily came in again.
"Master, the eunuch from the royal palace is here."
"Finally here..."
I furrowed my brow slightly and stood up.
"Is this about yesterday?"
Audrey asked.
"Maybe."
"Is that so ... It's amazing though, that you got the news so much sooner than it was official."
"That's why I left the box with Cindy."
Besides, this is something I learned from His Majesty.
I have learned the importance of freshness of information from the many times it has been done to me.
Even at this level, I'm still not as good as His Majesty, but I'll get to ... sooner or later.
With that in mind, I headed for the parlor in the outer garden of the mansion.
There, I found a surprising person.
"Curuz!? You?"
"Yes. I have an Imperial Decree."
In a case like this, I, as the Prince, and Curuz, as the eunuch, should have kneeled and bowed to me when we first met, but Cruz said, 'Imperial Decree'.
In other words, he's His Majesty's representative, and as long as he's delivering the Imperial Decree, he's His Majesty himself.
So I did the opposite, and got down on one knee and bowed to him.
"I hereby order Noah to be the Prime Minister for one month until my return. Everything but military affairs will be entrusted to him."
"I comply."
I complied and stood up.
Cruz took his place and bowed to me on both knees.
"It's been a long time, Your Highness the Wise Prince."
"Stand up. Why did His Majesty ask me to do this?"
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Yesterday, Cindy gave me some news, but it was unofficial, so I just brushed it off.
"His Majesty's condition is not good."
"What?
"It's the so-called Summer Heat."
"Summer Heat."
"However, since he fell ill once and because of his old age, at the advice of the palace physician, Goud, we have decided to take a one-month summer retreat."
"I see. ..."
I was a little relieved.
This is why the summer resort is probably for important reasons.
It can be seen from the fact that he has thrown away most of his political affairs, yet he has not let go of his military affairs.
"His Majesty also said. 'You have been watching me closely, and I can trust you with this.'."
"..."
The space between the lines pricked me like a thorn.
You've been watching me closely–that's not literal.
Maybe, Cindy's box has been discovered too.
"As expected of His Highness the Wise. His Majesty has only one person he trusts so much."
"Don't flatter me too much. Anyway, I understand. What about affairs of state?"
"He wants you to stay in Almeria, and he'll have the documents forwarded to you."
"Okay then. Zoe. Give Curuz 5,000 reens.
After sending Cruz off, I sighed.
I then calmed down and noticed.
His Majesty had fallen ill a while ago, and the order of Prime Minister had distracted, so I hadn't noticed.
Name: Noah Ararat
Prime Minister
Gender: Male
Level: 10 / ∞
HP D+SSS MP E+SSS Strength D+SSS Stamina E+SSS Intelligence E+SSS Spirit E+SSS Speed F+SSS Dexterity E+SSS Luck E+SSS Fire E+SSS Water D+SSS Wind E+SSS Earth E+SSS Light E+SSS Darkness E+SSS
How, my status was something like never before.
The "+" part behind your ability.
The "+" that went up as the person followed was all "SSS".
I was surprised and asked Zoe who came back to cast a spell on it so that it could be seen by others.
Name: Noah Ararat
Prime Minister
Gender: Male
Level: 10 / ∞
HP SSS MP SSS Strength SSS Stamina SSS Intelligence SSS Spirit SSS Speed SSS Dexterity SSS Luck SSS Fire SSS Water SSS Wind SSS Earth SSS Light SSS Darkness SSS
"M-Master ... wow...."
Zoe was taken by surprise and dumbfounded almost to death.
Suddenly, the "+" increased significantly.
In the same way that I once received the fief when I was born and water became S.
It's clear as daylight that this happened because His Majesty entrusted his Empire to me for a month only.
"A whole nation, a treasure, ...."
I was excited about the not-so-impossible future.