On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 409

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed – Episode 409
What sort of power comes forth?
Power.
Everyone fell silent again, lost in thought.
‘Power that brings joy?’
‘So… he’s just repackaging power to look good?’
That’s all anyone could think.
“You spoke of power that brings joy?”
“Yes. Today, riding in the Imperial Palace carriage, I felt joy. Countless people waved their hands at me and threw flowers.”
“Ah. The Imperial treatment brought you such happiness—a most pleasant thing indeed.”
“I am grateful. Precisely because of this, I wish to share this power with those around me. Then all the people I cherish will find happiness too. That is why I need power.”
Slowly, their thoughts began to shift.
No matter how it seemed like mere packaging, there was something different hidden in those words.
“The power you seek appears to be something quite different from what these people imagine.”
“Is that not what you gain power for—to be happy and content?”
“You are wrong, Teacher Ziel Steelheart.”
The Emperor rose from his seat.
Then he grasped the Helmet of Drakan, the spoils of war passed down through the generations beside the imperial throne.
Drakan.
An empire that once existed within the territory of the present Valdrain Empire.
The First Emperor of this Valdrain Empire had razed that flourishing kingdom, and the war had come to an end.
“Power is the force that makes others submit and bow.”
“Then the citizens would submit and bow to me?”
“If you wish it, they would. If proper power were given to you.”
Ziel answered at once.
“I do not wish that.”
Silence fell again across the hall.
Thought itself seemed to pause.
To say “I do not wish” before the Emperor, for whatever reason—
Relio thought to himself.
‘Perhaps Teacher Ziel was born mad.’
But the Emperor showed no expression.
“Why not? Do you not wish to see them submit and bow? Are you a hypocrite?”
The nobles flinched.
Everyone pretends indifference to power. That is propriety, that is modesty. Yet every soul in the world desires power.
Greater strength.
More strength.
“All those here desire it. But none would dare reveal it openly.”
A tremendous pressure descended.
The Emperor’s vast mana laid bare!
The very mana of the Emperor, whom the Empire called the strongest Master-level being.
‘I’m going to lose my mind.’
‘How long has it been since I faced that mana?’
The Knights endured.
But the nobles who had not cultivated their mana began to sweat coldly and feel dizzy.
“I ask you. Are you, too, a hypocrite?”
The Emperor’s question now descended like crushing pressure—as though answering wrongly would mean losing one’s head.
And through that pressure came an answer.
“I am a teacher at the Academy’s Sword School.”
“……?”
“Without power, my students obey my words, and yet they find joy in them. They bring me joy as well.”
As the Emperor said nothing more, Ziel’s voice continued.
“I wish first to bring myself joy through power, and then to share it.”
“…….”
Ziel had been an orphan.
And an assassin.
Brainwashed, he possessed a blank self.
He had no relationships with others.
“If that is the definition of power, then I do not want it.”
Because of this, standing above others, ruling them, dominating them—none of it interested him.
Ziel was a man whose thinking was far removed from aristocratic convention.
Always by the book.
The self that had set out that way had now arrived at this point.
“If that’s not possible, I’ll offer something else instead.”
“No.”
The Emperor descended slowly from the high dais where the imperial throne stood.
And he took his place on the same ground as Ziel.
“Then all the more reason I should grant you power. If that is what you desire.”
“You just said power exists for obedience and submission.”
“Which comes first—power, or obedience and submission?”
The Emperor finally smiled and released his grip on his authority.
“You possess strength, yet you do not desire obedience and submission. Therefore, I must grant you power.”
At last, the Emperor astonished everyone in the hall.
“I shall bestow upon you the Imperial Peerage.”
The Imperial Peerage!
Everyone forgot their seats at such an extraordinary and tremendous proposal, mouths agape.
“Y-Your Majesty! This is utterly unprecedented and unheard of! Not once has it been granted since the First Emperor bestowed it!”
One administrator cried out in protest, but the Emperor dismissed it lightly.
“Are you saying we cannot deviate from precedent?”
“But, but the position of ‘Imperial Guardian Knight’ is noble and exalted, and requires rigorous verification, so until now…….”
“Are you saying Teacher Ziel Steelheart has not been verified?”
“N-no, that was not what I intended to suggest…….”
No further objections were raised.
Guardian Knight.
If the Imperial Knight stood at the summit of knighthood, the Guardian Knight was a position that transcended even that—one who protected the very Empire itself.
The power it granted was naturally omnipotent.
A single word carried immense force and resonance.
With but a gesture, one could bring every soul in the Empire to their knees.
“I shall grant you the highest power in the Empire.”
“What should I do with such power?”
“As you said—let it bring you happiness, and share that joy with others.”
Ziel fell silent for a moment, then answered.
“I’m afraid that power would not bring me much happiness.”
This time, the hall was astonished in an entirely different way.
Some were so shocked they nearly fainted.
The implication was clear…….
Wasn’t that a rejection?
The Emperor himself had not anticipated rejection, and could only stare at Ziel for a moment.
The tension was thick enough that something might burst, snap, or shatter at any instant.
“Then, what would bring you happiness?”
Ziel lifted his head and answered.
“A bout of sparring with Your Imperial Majesty would bring me joy.”
That day, the courtiers remembered.
The fear of the reigning Emperor.
* * *
Ziel, fortunately, remained alive.
Nor was he confined to a cell.
“Teacher Ziel.”
“Sir Relio.”
Relio had come to the quarters where Ziel was staying.
“It still feels like a dream, sir.”
“What does?”
“That you’re still alive.”
Ziel found that hard to understand.
“You mean I should have been dead?”
“In most cases, yes.”
“Why is that?”
“Well…….”
Relio struggled to find where to begin, and after a moment of thought, settled on an answer.
“Because it would give them a pretext to attempt assassination.”
“Assassination doesn’t necessarily require a face-to-face meeting.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Ziel had actually thought it impossible to commit an “assassination” during a sparring match where everyone could see.
He could kill, certainly, but there was no guarantee he could eliminate all the witnesses as well.
“And I don’t assassinate His Majesty the Emperor.”
Relio, faced with such an obvious statement, struggled again for how to respond before finally opening his mouth.
“That—of course not. One mustn’t do such a thing…….”
“Yes. That’s correct. Assassination is not something one should do.”
Where was this conversation heading?
But setting that aside, there was one crucial fact.
“Phew. In any case, I never imagined His Majesty would accept.”
Namely, the Emperor’s acceptance!
Remarkably, the Emperor had agreed to the sparring match.
“I thought you would.”
“You mean I lack imagination? Well, of course I do…….”
“No. I thought His Majesty would accept.”
“…….”
His way of thinking was certainly different from ordinary people’s.
“But truly…… are you actually going to spar?”
“Yes.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
The Emperor had proposed the sparring match for several months hence.
That day would surely be the busiest and most tense in the history of the Imperial Knight Order.
“Well, ahem. As for the sparring—never mind that. Not that we should leave it at that. But are you truly refusing the position of Guardian Knight?”
“Yes.”
“But taking that position wouldn’t cost you your post here at the Academy…….”
“Why should I protect the Imperial Family?”
His words came to an abrupt halt.
“I am a teacher. I protect my students, not the Imperial Family.”
Relio understood then.
Or rather, he had misunderstood.
‘So he refuses to be bound by the Imperial Family!’
He was indeed different.
The moment one accepts the position of Guardian Knight, one gains the duty to protect the Imperial Family.
Power has always carried responsibility in its wake.
Though Ziel surely hid his true intent, by refusing the Guardian Knight position, he had subtly revealed his intention!
‘Indeed, he is Teacher Ziel.’
This was what it meant to possess a different caliber.
Had he accepted the Guardian Knight position, wealth and honor would follow, and he could have lived an extraordinary life!
Yet he remained as a mere Academy teacher—what could he possibly be preparing for?
‘When I return, I should have some chicken skewers before heading west. And…… I’ll have to give Chef Teo a vacation.’
He could not have known that Ziel was preparing for something utterly mundane.
“But Teacher, I have a personal question.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you request a sparring match with His Majesty, of all things? What kind of…… ‘joy’ does that bring you? According to what you’ve said, you find happiness and joy through power, and wish to share it with others.”
The qualification to spar with the Emperor.
In a sense, that too was power.
But it was quite removed from what one ordinarily imagined power to be.
“I find it…… somewhat difficult to comprehend, I must say.”
“The Emperor is strong.”
“Pardon?”
“Master-level. Stronger than Eimus Kundel, Head of House, Daren Rihart, Head of House, and Knight Commander Benjamin.”
“Ah…….”
It was his first time learning this.
At such ranks, Master-level practitioners rarely had occasion to spar or fight one another.
Propriety forbade it.
“Therefore, I wish to spar. To discover what kind of strength I do not yet know, and to share the joy of that knowledge with others.”
“I see.”
So that was the reason.
Naturally, Relio didn’t believe it.
‘There’s definitely some hidden intent behind this!’
Ziel was strong.
And because of that, his words weren’t taken at face value.
Just like now.
So Relio would never catch on to his true intention.
That wonderfully simple goal: to spar with the Emperor and milk his expertise dry!
“By the way, are you preparing well for the Masquerade Ball?”
“Is there something to prepare?”
“Yes. You must dance. The Masquerade Ball is a place where people dance.”
Ziel gestured toward the mask.
“I understand one simply puts that on and leaves.”
“Yes, that’s true. But once you put it on, everyone will know. That you’re Teacher Ziel.”
Relio glanced around the empty room, then suddenly lowered his voice.
“Everyone in the entire family is waiting for the Ball, sir.”
“Why are you whispering? There’s no one hiding here.”
…….
“And what—are you saying someone will assassinate me? Or spar with me at the Masquerade Ball?”
Relio found himself at a loss for where or how to begin.
“Who would assassinate you, sir? Who would challenge you to a sparring match at a Masquerade Ball…….”
“Then what is it?”
Ziel had attended a Masquerade Ball before.
Though it was to assassinate someone.
In any case, he couldn’t think of a reason why people would target him.
“It’s because many people are looking for partners.”
“Is that what you meant.”
“Yes. You’ve reached marriageable age, sir, your House has been restored, and moreover…….”
He was handsome.
Even without the first two facts, his appearance was more than enough to captivate people.
“In any case, you’ll be quite popular, sir.”
“I see. Then I have a question.”
At last—was he showing interest?
“What food will be served at the Masquerade Ball?”
…….
“I’ve heard that food at the Imperial Palace is quite varied. Yet this is what you ask?”
Ziel recalled the concept of “nonverbal expression” he’d read about in a book.
If someone didn’t answer despite being asked a question, it meant either they couldn’t find an answer, or the question itself was wrong!
Relio’s current expression seemed to suggest the latter.
“Of course not, Teacher Ziel.”
“I see. That was inappropriate. I understand. Let me ask a more appropriate question.”
Ziel asked again.
“What alcohol will be served at the Masquerade Ball?”
“Ah.”
Relio sighed.

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