The Emperor’s Daily Nitpicking - CH 23.1

The crumpled ball of parchment rolled around outside the door and was hidden from view by the corner.

Oswald sat at his desk and rubbed his temples hard, the slightest bit of energy raised earlier abruptly dissipating again. The extended lack of sleep had left him in a state of deep irritation mixed with indescribable exhaustion and mental numbness as if he was too wilted to cope with any great problem that fell before him.

The white eagle quickly adapted to the situation. It was aware that the man in front of him was surrounded by a layer of low pressure, and he might catch someone and tear them apart at any moment. So, after completing the task of delivering the letter, it rolled off the table and lay down on the ground in all directions to rest.

When a person was extremely exhausted, their minds would wander off everywhere. Oswald propped his head up and flipped through two pages of the military reports in front of him before looking at the night scene outside the window. He somehow suddenly remembered the old Parson Manor.

A few fragments of scenes rolled back into his mind and the sleepiness set in –

***

It seemed to be an afternoon in the late spring, one of those days when it kept raining outside, with a few late spring thunderclaps rumblings over from afar.

The broad-leaved privet tree blocked half of the window on the tea room on the second floor of the Parson Manor and didn’t let in much light, making the entire room dark and dingy in the rain.

Oswald sat in a chair by the bed with a book pressed in his hand, but his eyes were fixed on the garden trail outside the window. The path went straight down towards the front and the carved iron gates.

The old housekeeper, Ian, coughed once, clearing his throat, and entered the room while saying, “Young master, it’s not a good habit to be lost in thought while holding a book and will be punished.”

The young Oswald pursed his lips and turned his head, asking, “Is that nasty ghost not coming today?”

The smile lines on Ian’s face became a little deeper. “A courteous gentleman shouldn’t address others like that. His Excellency Fassbinder received a legion transfer order yesterday, ending his spring break a week earlier. He had already left for the base camp in the imperial city. Your fever hadn’t subsided at that time, so I didn’t tell you.”

After Oswald finished listening to it, he first felt grateful and relieved that he could practice a few less silly fighting techniques. But immediately afterwards, he felt some dull disappointment.

He couldn’t tell what exactly he was disappointed about.

He only felt that although Fassbinder was an asshole, he was more interesting than those servants. The manor had just managed to get a little lively, and now it became boringly quiet again.

He stared at the carved gate at the end of the garden for a while before asking Ian. “Will he come again on next year’s spring break?”

Ian thought for a while before shaking his head and telling the truth. “They will only be given a full spring break during the first year in the legion. This is a benefit for the new recruit. He probably can’t come again next year.”

What about the year after that?

He wanted to ask, but the answer should be the same…..

Another muffled thunder rolled past, and before he could strip himself away from his shallow disappointment, the scenery in front of him flashed. The glass window in front of him turned into a wall and a half-opened door two steps further from him, which a couple of maids were hiding and gossiping.

He could vaguely hear one of them whispering. “Have you guys heard why Master didn’t like Young Master?”

Another person made a “hush” and softly said, “Haven’t you guys noticed that he’s looking more unlike Master Knor as the time goes by?”

“He also didn’t look like Madam.”

“Madam has been seriously ill for several years. She’s so thin that her appearance has changed. Can you still make out her original appearance?

“That’s true.”

Oswald stood motionless by the wall, neither wanting to move forward to hear better nor to step back.

Just as the maids were about to continue their speculative discussion, a hand rested on Oswald’s shoulder and tapped it not so gently. “Young Master, you haven’t read your book for today. You can’t be lazy.”

That was Ian’s voice, but he found the one standing in front of him became Kevin when he turned around.

He felt himself being rapidly pulled like a plant and grew taller, his line of sight changing from tilting, looking straight, and slightly overlooking.

On the other hand, Kevin patted the leather bag at his waist and said with a relaxed look on his face. “I’ll take a trip to the Tomb of the God. I’ll be back quickly.”

Then, he turned and ran into a cluster of thorny bushes, skillfully splitting a path through the thorny branches. He turned to Oswald and waved his hand, “See, I told you I alone was more than enough.” Just as he said this, a thorny branch with spikes suddenly sprang up and stabbed Kevin in the heart in the blink of an eye.

Kevin widened his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but blood spilt out of his mouth, and he fell backwards wordlessly…..

“You –”

***

Oswald’s chin-supporting hand suddenly twitched as if he had accidentally stepped off a step and was suddenly awoken by it.

He dropped his gaze and stared at the parchment map soaked with water on his desk for a long moment before silently exhaling a breath.

The hourglass on the corner of the table only formed a thin layer, and it wasn’t long after he had just been startled by the white eagle. But all his sleepiness had been swept away by the few strings of mixed fragments just now, and he had no more intention of falling asleep again.

He rubbed his cheeks to wake himself up a little more thoroughly. Then, he got up and took his cloak and copper wire mask hanging on the side, deciding to make a trip to the Medical institution.

The young emperor strode out of the study door, and the patrolling guard outside immediately snapped his feet together and hurried to follow him. But he had just taken two steps when the emperor in front of him abruptly stopped and looked down as if he were searching for something.

The guard almost didn’t stop himself from crashing into him; he clung to the wall while patting his chest: Fuck, scaring me to death!

“Your Majesty, what do you want to look for? I’ll help you.” The guard carefully asked.

He just said these words, but Oswald had already raised his hand and waved it. “No need to. I’ve seen it.”

He bent down, picked up a small ball of parchment beside the wall, unfolded it and gave a cold snort as if he was scoffing at its contents. But the next moment, he tucked it into his pocket.

The guard subconsciously asked out of curiosity. “Your Majesty, what is this?”

Oswald walked away and answered without looking back. “Garbage.”

The guard: “…..”

Why would you put garbage into your pocket?

***

On the other side of the map, Kevin and the others had a quiet night and settled into their tents for an early rest at the foot of Whitehead Hill. Although several men were in charge of guarding in turns during the night, they passed it in peace.

Just after dawn, Kevin prompted everyone to pack up and prepare to get back on the road in the morning.

“Don’t pull the hippogriffs. Let them wait in the woods.” Kevin indifferently said, “They won’t be able to fly up this mountain wall. They will be a lump of cookie if they fall.”

Everyone: “…..” Ancestor, could you just shut up?

Kevin said again, “We don’t need so many people to go up. Leave some here to keep watch while looking at the hippogriffs so that they don’t die from hunger.”

All of the people who had just been green-faced were all normal again at once, and none of them seemed to want to back down here.

“Seriously…..” Kevin leaned against the mountain wall and held his arms, saying with a stern voice, “Don’t feel that you’re terrified before a battle and isn’t manly enough if you stay here. There should be a division of work between soldiers, and several people need to guard here. If you guys don’t speak, I will directly point then.”

After speaking, he glanced around and saw that no one had taken the initiative, so he raised his hand and ordered five men out.

Since yesterday, these five had been paler than the others and were obviously a bit afraid of heights, so it wasn’t worthwhile for them to go up and suffer.

“Although it’s unlikely; if we haven’t gone down from the peak after a week, return and tell O…..tell His Majesty to think of another solution.” Kevin thought about it and instructed. After all, it was not good to talk too full of everything with a group of people going in.

The decided people who would go up the mountain quickly packed up.

Kevin unsheathed the short knife he carried at his waist and sheathed it with a flick of his thumb, holding it in his hand for climbing later.

Ben, the little lion, stood beside him and couldn’t resist asking, “Why can’t we go around and have to climb it? Could it be that the Eternal Waterfall is located at the peak? But isn’t every waterfall hand down?”

Everyone wanted to ask these questions, but they were too shameful to ask. They could only count on a child who could say everything they wanted.

Kevin tried to bore a hole in the wall using the short knife and stroked the knife blade, saying, “You will know after going up. If I say it now, your legs will turn soft.”

Everyone: “…..” Didn’t you know that your words were more harmful?!

Whitehead Hill looks straight up and down, but there wasn’t really no path. If one wanted to climb it, there were still places to put their hands and feet.

Kevin leads the way by himself with a thick rope tied around his waist, connecting to everyone behind him one by one. The group looked like a slithering centipede climbing up the mountain wall from a distance.

“Just check the stone on your hands and don’t look back.” Kevin still had time to warn the others as they climbed up, his voice deep and steady, not even gasping. The straight, towering mountain wall was like a level ground to him.

If he had been alone, he would have climbed even faster, for he knew it was not suitable to stay on this mountain for long. The longer they delayed here, the more likely they would run into something troublesome.

But with a string of clanking sounds behind him, he had to control his speed. When he felt the rope around his waist getting tighter, he would stop and wait until they caught up again before proceeding.

Immediately behind him was the young lion cub, who was simple-minded and wouldn’t overthink. The people behind him were generally of a similar standard and didn’t feel the straightening and bending of the ropes between them, so at first, they didn’t feel that they were much different from Kevin.

When climbing a mountain, especially a torturous one like this, time seems to pass very slowly. It clearly felt like a century had passed, but they still couldn’t see the top of the mountain.

The crowd’s pace dropped significantly, and their hands and feet felt as if they had been filled with lead. With dust and sand on their palms, their grip on the protruding rocks wasn’t so firm, and they had to grab a couple of more before they dared to lift their feet. The entire group’s rhythm gradually became a mess.

“Almost there. I can see the peak already.” Kevin thought for a while before looking back to encourage them.

Looking back from his angle, the black mass of heads was almost directly beneath him, and further down was a bottomless abyss as if the whole group was dangling in the air without any support and a stronger wind could sweep them all down.

But this height was still bearable for him, so he indifferently glanced at the foot of the mountain, which he could no longer see, before withdrawing his gaze and opening his mouth to speak. “Don’t look back. We’ve already climbed two-thirds of the mountain. Although this mountain looks tall, it’s only a thousand more metres. Just think about it; a thousand metres usually aren’t considered a long journey.”

Everyone: “…..”

It was better if this ancestor didn’t speak.

This chapter is three times longer than the usual one, so I’ll cut it into three parts.