Children of the Holy Emperor - Chapter 178

Collins, the director in charge of logistics distribution in the eastern region, was utterly baffled by the sudden request for a meeting.

“Sir Masain? Why me all of a sudden?”

Of course, they had a superficial acquaintance. Although he currently had no right of succession, Masain was a proper member of the Imperial family.

Therefore, whenever they met at official events, Collins never failed to pay his respects to him. He also didn’t hesitate to extend a perfunctory invitation for Masain to visit Regina whenever he had the time.

But doesn’t one usually consider that a mere formality?

Anyhow, given Masain’s status, Collins had no choice but to offer him at least a cup of tea.

Soon, a tall and handsome knight entered the office, following the guidance of the secretary. With a bright smile that belied his Imperial family’s distinctive blond hair, he greeted Collins.

“Director Collins. I heard you left immediately after attending the first banquet at this year’s birthday celebration. I’m glad to meet you like this, as I couldn’t bid you farewell separately.”

“That’s because I was so busy with work, Sir Masain.”

It was a direct rebuke, implying why he was seeking out a busy person.

However, despite Collins’ displeasure, the knight didn’t lose his sociable smile. Considering his noble background, his demeanor was truly unassuming.

“Then you’ll be even busier from now on. You may have to see me more often soon.”

“What do you mean…?”

“His Highness Prince Morres has recently taken an interest in the redtail business. Eastern Ortona redtails are currently procured through the Kipros Union. The entire eastern logistics distribution, including Kipros, falls under Director Collins’ responsibilities, if I’m not mistaken?”

Business? Is that why he came to see him?

Collins asked suspiciously.

“Is this something the Imperial Palace is officially promoting?”

“No, not yet. It’s still His Highness’ personal idea at this stage.”

“Then, have you brought a detailed business proposal?”

“It’s still under preparation.”

“……”

Collins made no attempt to hide his discomfort as he glared at Masain, who was sipping his tea.

No matter how much of an Imperial successor candidate he used to be, it was all meaningless now that he had been reduced to a Clanos. Treating him as a member of the Imperial family out of courtesy was already more than he deserved.

Moreover, he had recently even thrown away his position as the commander of the Imperial Knights. Then, wasn’t he now a worthless existence from whom no practical benefits could be gained by showing respect?

In comparison, Collins himself already held the economic reins of the eastern region. He was a de facto power holder belonging to the most powerful interest group on the continent, capable of swaying the very existence of a nation.

There was no need for him to go out of his way to accommodate the whims of such a young man with a mere facade of importance.

‘…Should I just chase him away?’

Collins twitched the fingers he had been keeping under the table.

‘Are you here, Lord Raum?’

[I’m listening, Contractor. Kekeke.]

The demon’s grating voice, like scraping metal, echoed in his mind.

It may seem obvious, but Collins was a demon contractor. With the demon’s help, he had easily disposed of the numerous enemies he had faced on his way to this position.

[This one has a faint trace of primordial blood. He’ll be tricky to touch.]

‘So it’s impossible?’

[Of course not. Kekeke.]

Collins’ demon, Raum, was particularly skilled in manipulating the mental realm. He could show people hallucinations, cause nervous breakdowns, and even make them lose consciousness by instantly inflicting a great shock to their minds.

Just as he had done to many others before, Collins intended to use such a trick on Masain.

After shocking him and implanting a suggestion to quietly leave, it would be perfect. There might be some minor aftereffects, but not to the extent of hindering his daily life. The demon’s power would be unleashed with a mere snap of his fingers.

Click, the knight quietly put down his teacup, and just as Collins was about to exert force on his fingers.

Knock, knock.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Sir Masain. If you’ve finished your business, would you kindly accompany me to visit the branch manager’s office?”

It was the secretary of Branch Manager Schmidt who had come to the office. Collins quickly withdrew the demon and gauged the secretary’s reaction.

‘That high and mighty branch manager? Why is he suddenly looking for someone like this?’

However, the mystery was quickly resolved.

“His Highness Prince Morres is urgently seeking you, Sir.”

“His Highness?”

“Yes, Sir Masain. He said that thanks to you, he has successfully concluded the necessary matters, so he asked me to tell you to stop by the branch manager’s office and return together with him.”

As Collins was still bewildered, Masain rose from his seat, smoothing his clothes with one hand.

“It seems His Highness’ business discussions will proceed at the branch manager’s level. Our meeting ends here, it appears.”

With those words, the knight’s figure suddenly seemed larger to Collins, who blinked his eyes.

The knight was originally a well-built young man, but now, wasn’t he looking down at Collins from a height that easily surpassed his head?

‘…Is it my imagination?’

However, Collins soon realized the reason. At some point, an ominous aura had begun to emanate from Masain’s entire body. Even Collins, who wasn’t an Aura User, was unconsciously feeling intense pressure from him.

The knight’s firm jaw still held a habitual smile, but his eyes as they stared at Collins were so fierce that they seemed to be flickering with flames.

“Be grateful to the branch manager’s secretary, Director Collins. The fact that your hand is still attached is solely because he interfered with what you were about to do.”

At those words, Collins finally noticed that one of the knight’s hands had been resting on his sword hilt the entire time. He was ready to draw his sword at any moment.

“That disrespectful attitude towards a member of the Imperial family, I’ll overlook it for today. You can consider it a reward for allowing me to stay at the logistics transit center until now.”

The knight, who had spoken in a chilling tone, turned his body without even a farewell.

As he watched that solid back figure leaving the office, following the secretary, Collins belatedly broke into a cold sweat, feeling a rush of tension. The realization that he could have really lost an arm if he had made a wrong move finally sank in.

It was then. The demon suddenly started making a fuss in his mind.

[Ack?! Look at that! The sword he’s carrying! That’s a Holy Relic!]

‘A Holy Relic?’

[Yes! If he had drawn that, both of us would have been in big trouble! Did you know?]

A chill ran down Collins’ spine.

He belatedly recalled the fact that the Emperor cherished his nephew so much that he readily bestowed a Holy Relic as an academy graduation gift.

‘Who… who the hell did I make an enemy of?’

Suddenly feeling his legs go weak, Collins staggered and barely managed to move, slumping into a chair.

After collecting himself for a while, he suddenly realized that he wasn’t the only one in the office and was startled.

At some point, a dark figure had been leaning against the wall like a shadow.

A pale face partially covered by jet-black hair.

Gray eyes that occasionally emitted an eerie light.

“Wh-who?”

As he stammered the question, the demon Raum screamed in his mind.

[Damn it, shit! Since when?]

‘Why, why are you acting like this?’

[The Emperor is here! Quickly, get away, Collins!]

As the bewildered Director Collins abruptly stood up, the figure who had been silently observing him opened her mouth.

[Matthew Collins, Director of the Northern Branch of the Merchant Union. You have several counts of tax evasion, dozens of counts of theft, and also dozens of counts of murder. It seems you have no shortage of crimes to be judged for.]

‘What the hell is this? Lord Raum! Lord Raum?’

Feeling that something was amiss, Collins urgently called out to the demon. But Raum, who had disappeared somewhere, was not responding at all.

“Ah…”

As Collins turned pale and took faltering steps backward, the woman, who had been gazing at him with cold eyes, slowly spoke.

[For now, I’ll leave your punishment to you, Dame Sharon. What will you do?]

Then, the Exorcist chuckled huskily, as if sobbing.

“I accept Your Majesty’s command. It is right to execute a sinful demon contractor on the spot.”

Execute on the spot?

Before he could even fully comprehend the meaning of those words, whoosh. Suddenly, a sharp silver sickle flew in front of his eyes. And that was the last sight Collins saw.

Splat!

With a long silver line, blood splattered on the office wall.

***

While waiting for Sir Masain, Seongjin was curiously looking around Schmidt’s office.

He had expected the place where a demon worked to be somewhat different, but instead of summoning circles drawn in blood, the office was crammed full of various documents covered in numbers.

The demon branch manager seemed to be doing his job properly, contrary to expectations.

“By the way, why is it so quiet outside? There was such a huge commotion until just now?”

“They probably didn’t sense the anomaly, Your Highness. This office has a relatively sturdy barrier in place.”

The branch manager respectfully answered Seongjin’s question. In a short span of time, his attitude had become exceedingly polite.

He was personally sorting out the data Seongjin had requested, occasionally entrusting the selected documents to his subordinate.

Then, a goat demon with a large lump on the back of its head would glance at Seongjin with resentful eyes and neatly stack them to one side.

“What about the clergy? They didn’t notice even though I blatantly released demonic energy?”

“Priests don’t frequent this area much. All the large churches in the city were relocated far away long ago.”

Seongjin slightly raised an eyebrow.

“Relocated?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Even though we hide our demonic energy well, priests are very uncomfortable beings for us.”

According to Schmidt’s explanation, separating the logistics transit center and churches was a relatively simple matter. By utilizing the Merchant Union’s capital to donate good land and funds, new churches were invariably built on that land.

Of course, it cost a tremendous amount of money, but there was little opposition to carrying out that task. Distancing the churches was something no one desired. Many of those in key positions in the Merchant Union were demon contractors.

Seongjin was astounded.

“They’re all playing well in the demon’s grasp, is the Empire’s economy really okay like this?”

Then, Schmidt shook his head.

“Contrary to expectations, demons themselves do not incite contractors to cause large-scale harm. Unless it’s a place like a dark cult hidden in the borderlands, performing special rituals while offering sacrifices.”

“Why is that?”

“Only by not crossing the line can we at least preserve our lives. His Majesty the Emperor’s eyes reach every corner of the Empire.”

According to the ‘Successful Imperial Living Guidelines for Demons’, as long as a few taboos were not violated, the Emperor did not greatly interfere with whatever demons did. Apparently, he had been bound by a strange rule called the [Agreement] for several years.

Originally, the Emperor in the early years of his reign had nothing to hold him back.

He drove out demons from the capital in the blink of an eye and was busy executing demon contractors on sight.

He took a friendly stance towards vassal states but showed a resolute attitude in expelling demons hidden deep within their societies.

That’s not all. He frequently demonstrated miracles across the continent, and when the opportunity arose, he would personally invade the Demon Realm and slaughter demons, making them tremble in fear.

But he suddenly stopped a few years ago, after the [Agreement] was established. Since then, the Emperor did not leave the capital and did not touch demons unless they were extremely bothersome.

“Agreement? What the hell is that to make him do that?”

As Seongjin frowned, Schmidt shook his head.

“Even demons do not know the specific details of it.”

However, through various experiences accumulated over the past few years, demons had also established their own standards regarding the permissible range.

First. Harm humans using demonic powers, but do not greatly exceed the limits of human capabilities.

It was possible to easily eliminate one or two enemies using demonic powers. After all, the same effect could be achieved by carefully planning and hiring assassins.

However, summoning demons in a way that would catch the public’s attention or harming people while excessively revealing supernatural phenomena would result in the Emperor’s intervention.

Second. Do not use demonic powers to throw society into chaos.

Demonic powers could be used for economic gain. But suddenly summoning demons to cause large-scale massacres or triggering supernatural disasters that would disrupt continental logistics would also inevitably lead to the Emperor’s punishment.

‘So that’s why the Empire operates relatively stably despite having so many demon contractors.’

As Seongjin was thinking that, Schmidt’s expression turned grave.

“And lastly, above all else, the most important thing.”

Third. No matter what happens, absolutely never carelessly touch the Emperor’s children.

“…Children?”

“Perhaps Your Highness knows more about that matter?”

Responding to Seongjin’s question with a counter-question, Schmidt added meaningfully.

“Do you remember what happened to a dark cult that tried to kidnap Your Highness in your childhood? On that day, those inside the Cult of Repose couldn’t even leave behind a single bone fragment properly.”

…Kidnapping?

Just as Seongjin was about to ask something more.

“Aargh! Guards! Guards!”

“It’s murder! Someone died here!”

“Priest! Quickly summon a doctor and a priest!”

Followed by banging and rumbling! Countless footsteps echoed through the corridor.

Seongjin and Schmidt, who were facing each other, simultaneously opened the office door and went outside. A chaotic scene of the corridor filled with security guards running around in a panic unfolded before their eyes.

“Where is it? Where did it happen?”

“It’s Director Collins’ room!”

“Hurry up!”

And through the people running in one direction, the figures of the secretary and Masain walking this way could be seen. Masain’s face as he looked at Seongjin was filled with bewilderment.

“Why all of a sudden? Director Collins, you say. The place I just left is his room, Your Highness.”