First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 22

“That’s correct. There was an order for you to come to the office after taking sufficient rest. By the way… are you alright?”

The attendant asked worriedly, looking at my haggard face.

In fact, casting large-scale techniques had put some strain on my body.

If I had my way, I would have preferred to enter the bathhouse first to relieve my fatigue and ease the burden on my body.

“Right now, to His Majesty…”

“Your Highness!”

At that moment, a knight in armor urgently rushed into the room where the attendant and I were.

“Did you not return with the knights?”

“Ah.”

He seemed flustered when he couldn’t see the knights who should have returned with me.

“Actually, I have something to report about that…”

I said gloomily, lowering my eyes slightly.

“They’re dead. All of them.”

“What…?”

The knight opened his mouth as if asking what I was talking about.

I told him the lie I had fabricated as if it were the truth.

While exploring Gerpelt Forest to subjugate a goblin settlement, a high-level monster from the deepest part suddenly appeared.

The watching knights judged it to be an emergency situation.

They immediately halted the mission and blocked the monster’s path while making me escape.

I couldn’t confirm their fate, but they were most likely dead with high probability.

The knight trembled after hearing my words.

“Such…”

He collapsed to his knees with a devastated expression.

I didn’t know who he was, but he seemed to have had deep relationships with the dead knights.

I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and spoke with a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry. Because of me…”

“N-no, Your Highness. You have nothing to apologize for.”

“B-but still…”

I trembled both fists and bit my lips hard.

Teardrops fell from my eyes.

The knight looked at me with pitying eyes as I shed tears, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion.

“B-because of me, people… people died… *sob*, *sniff*.”

“Y-Your Highness…”

The knight couldn’t do this or that and waved his arms aimlessly.

Then he pulled me into his embrace and gently patted my back.

“You survived well. If Your Highness hadn’t returned, those guys wouldn’t have had the face to meet their ancestors in heaven either.”

“…Ugh, *sob*.”

“Please don’t cry. Just returning alive like this is enough. Those guys would surely be happy too.”

The knight also wailed while resting his chin on my shoulder.

The attendant who came to deliver the Emperor’s message also wiped away tears with the back of his hand.

The room instantly became a sea of tears.

My back and shoulders gradually became damp with the knight’s tears.

“…I will report to His Majesty first.”

The knight who had been crying for a while stood up with reddened eyes.

“Please rest first. That’s the priority.”

“…Alright.”

The knight left the room with the attendant who had come earlier.

With a creaking sound, the door closed, and I was left alone in the room.

My face, distorted with sorrow, instantly returned to its usual cold expression.

‘What a despicable thing to do.’

Acting out the normal reaction of a boy experiencing death for the first time was easy.

Just four people.

The deaths of those I had never even met.

In truth, it stirred no emotion in me whatsoever.

It was because I had already smelled far too much blood in the Demon Realm.

‘…How enviable.’

To grieve over someone’s death, to mourn.

The fact that one could shed genuine tears.

I thought it was, just a little bit, enviable.

* * *

I warmed my body comfortably in the hot bathhouse.

It felt like the fatigue from battle was instantly disappearing.

I sat in the hot spring for a long time, watching the white steam rising.

After enjoying the hot spring bath for the first time in a while, I changed clothes and headed to Taeyang Palace.

The spire that rose steadfastly as if to pierce the sky was always a magnificent sight.

The Emperor’s office was located deep inside Taeyang Palace.

I knocked on the sliding door of the office.

“Your Majesty, it’s Cael.”

Emperor Brunei is a Sword Master.

He would have known I was coming just from the sound of footsteps from afar.

-Come in.

A cold and emotionless voice came from beyond the door.

I opened the door with a creak and entered.

The office was overall a bleak space.

Except for absolutely necessary items like desks, chairs, and candles, there was nothing for personal entertainment or satisfaction.

The Emperor sat at his desk, rustling through documents while conducting his duties.

“I greet His Imperial Majesty.”

I bowed to the Emperor according to the etiquette of the Argent Empire.

The Emperor put down his pen with a thud.

Blue eyes looked at me.

“I heard the story from Sir Pablo. While exploring a goblin settlement, a high-level monster from deep in the forest suddenly appeared. The knights made you escape and died in battle. Is that correct?”

The knight who had embraced me and wailed earlier must have been named Pablo.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

I answered confidently.

The Emperor’s eyes scanned me as if trying to discern my true intentions.

No matter how much he scrutinized, he wouldn’t be able to see through my lies.

“I see.”

The Emperor responded briefly and tapped the desk with his index finger.

Heavy silence pressed down on the office.

And only after a long while did he open his mouth.

“Actually, Ifreet Duke is currently in the Imperial Capital.”

Is he talking about that 9th Circle Grand Mage?

The annual birthday banquet for the First Empress was coming up soon.

He probably came because of that.

“The Duke said this. He felt powerful energy waves near Gerpelt Forest. Coincidentally, it was the same area where you, Cael, were dispatched for practical training.”

The Emperor continued speaking.

“It must be related to that monster from the depths that you claimed to have witnessed… Tell me once. What happened there?”

I answered immediately.

I had already thought of excuses to prepare for when I would receive such questions.

“That monster was the first of its kind I’d ever seen in my life. If I had to make a comparison, it looked closest to a dragon without wings.”

He frowned as if recalling a painful memory.

“The monster’s primary ability was fire. I saw trees melting from the heat of the flames it breathed.”

In truth, it was the result of my stellar creation spell.

The melted trees in Gerpelt Forest would be discovered soon anyway.

“The knights shouted at me to run and fought against the monster. Actually, I don’t remember much from that point on. I was so shocked… I fled without seeing how the battle ended, but the knights… I don’t think they could have survived.”

“Hmm.”

The Emperor pondered thoughtfully.

He didn’t seem to doubt my words.

“I understand. A fire-using monster. I’ll reference this for the subjugation operation later.”

He seemed to consider it fortunate to learn that its primary ability was flame, as if he hadn’t expected much to begin with.

Though it was all complete bullshit.

“Still, you managed to survive and return from that situation. I have high personal expectations for you.”

The Emperor interlaced his fingers and looked at me.

“It would have been a shame if you’d died so pointlessly there. There’s much you need to do going forward. First, focus more on physical training. I’ll speak to Count Gamillan about…”

“Your Majesty.”

I interrupted the Emperor mid-sentence.

The sense of unease I’d felt ever since entering the office.

I looked straight into the Emperor’s lifeless eyes and spoke.

“If your son nearly died in a dangerous place, shouldn’t you at least show some concern?”

This man was my biological father.

Though I don’t know much about the concept of parents.

Other fathers would naturally embrace their sons and ask about their wellbeing first if they returned from the brink of death.

Not interrogate them for information with an emotionless face.

‘So different from Ellia. Hard to believe they’re married.’

I’d often felt maternal love from her.

But I’d never once felt paternal love from this man.

The Emperor’s expression changed completely.

“…Don’t speak nonsense.”

Emotion showed on his face for the first time.

Irritation.

Irritation at having his words cut off mid-sentence and his precious time wasted.

“I’ll forgive this only once. If you hadn’t shown outstanding talent as a swordsman, I absolutely wouldn’t let this slide.”

The Emperor’s gaze as he spoke those words was identical to someone I knew well.

Someone who acted like the first divine throne, pretending to be noble while considering everything except himself worthless, thinking of others as disposable chess pieces.

That damned Demon Lord.

‘Now I think I understand what kind of person you are.’

I hadn’t had many opportunities to face the Emperor over the past ten years.

But I’d heard countless rumors about him.

A blood-crazed war god who conquered and subjugated three entire nations during his reign.

Perhaps the Emperor was different when he was young.

But what remained here now was just a madman who viewed everything around him as tools of war.

“I apologize. I overstepped my bounds.”

I hastily apologized.

You don’t avoid shit because you’re scared of it, but because it’s filthy.

I didn’t want to get more entangled with this man.

“Now get out.”

The Emperor coldly issued his dismissal.

I bowed to him according to protocol and left the office.

* * *

I returned to my residence.

I sat cross-legged in my room and practiced aura cultivation.

Hot beads of sweat trickled down my temples and back.

With the clear goal of reaching 9-star to handle all the demonic energy from my previous life, there was no time to rest.

As I sat quietly with my eyes closed, someone knocked on the door.

-Your Highness, it’s me.

It was my adjutant’s voice.

I stopped cultivating and stood up.

“Come in.”

With my permission, the door opened and a middle-aged man of considerable age entered.

“Did you find out?”

“Yes.”

The order I’d given him was to investigate who had assigned Gerpelt Forest as my mission location.

I just needed to confirm whether the culprit was from the First Empress’s faction.

The adjutant began reporting the information he’d investigated.

“First, the person who gave final approval for this training’s mission locations and objectives was Imperial Guard Captain Count Zeroph Gamilan.”

I listened silently to my adjutant’s words.

“Originally, there was no plan to assign Gerpelt Forest as Your Highness’s mission location from the start. Though there would have been some difference from the others given your high skill level, his judgment was that Gerpelt Forest was still too dangerous.”

The royal family’s sword training was under the Imperial Guard’s jurisdiction, and setting up practical training missions was naturally their domain as well.

“However, at that time one of the knights strongly argued for assigning Gerpelt Forest as Your Highness’s mission location. The reasoning was that it would be right to maximize Your Highness’s growth within the safe environment of practical training, given your historically outstanding talent.”

The adjutant continued.

“This argument must have been persuasive, as many knights agreed with him. They must have had high expectations for Your Highness as well. They probably thought even the notorious deep parts of Gerpelt Forest would be relatively safe at the outskirts. There would be protection from the evaluators too.”

Right.

I don’t want to blame the knights who agreed either.

Their thinking was reasonable.

I didn’t know it would turn out like this until I went there myself.

The knight who first made the argument. His identity is what matters.

“That knight’s name is-.”

The adjutant’s lips parted and uttered several syllables.

“3rd Imperial Guard Captain, Branden Newslid.”

Branden Newslid.

A name I’d heard several times before.

If he were a noble, I would have immediately known which royal’s faction he belonged to.

Unfortunately, Branden Newslid was of commoner origin.

Until I heard it directly from his own mouth, I couldn’t know clearly whom he served.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was no way.

“Bring that bastard before me right now.”

Abuse of power exists for times like this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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