The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 19
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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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Chapter 19
Kiaros and Fron underwent urgent treatment.
Fron barely survived at death’s threshold, but the Royal Physician said she would never move with agility again.
Of course, Kiaros’s condition wasn’t nearly as severe.
“Take the medicine for just a few days and you’ll be perfectly fine.”
Unlike Fron, the dagger had only grazed him, and he possessed a natural resistance to the poison.
“Still, if you’d taken a direct hit, it would have been catastrophic.”
The Royal Physician wrapped a bandage around his arm as he spoke.
“Especially during the Dark Period….”
Kiaros lowered his head and fell silent.
The Emperor had warned him so earnestly, yet the boy hadn’t understood how dangerous the world truly was.
Had he not carelessly spoken the words “Dark Period” aloud, Fron would never have been wounded.
Guilt rippled across the arrogant boy’s expression.
“Fron will recover fine after a few months of rest.”
“But she said she can never move as she did before….”
“It will certainly be difficult for her to continue serving in the Imperial Knight Order. However, she considers it deeply honorable. Please don’t worry yourself.”
The Royal Physician smiled warmly as he spoke.
“That sharp tongue of hers remains intact, and Fron is perfectly sound. For a guard knight, sacrificing one’s life for their charge is simply the natural order of things.”
….
“So please don’t burden yourself with concern. Your Highness’s safety is what matters most.”
Kiaros’s safety.
Had that mysterious girl not been there, Kiaros might well have been wandering between life and death.
Thanks to those scrolls he’d dismissed so lightly, they had shielded him and allowed him to survive.
He slowly lifted his head and asked the Attendant standing beside him in a low voice.
“Has there been any word from Count Kalto’s Residence?”
“No, Your Highness. We sent word immediately, but no one has visited.”
“Have you checked the Library again?”
“Yes. However, the Librarian didn’t know who that child was either. Still, she said the girl visits frequently, so I asked her to contact us the moment she returns.”
The Attendant spoke respectfully.
“She’ll likely come to Count Kalto’s Residence by tomorrow, or perhaps the Library. Don’t concern yourself, Your Highness.”
“And that Goblin….”
“His Majesty the Emperor is conducting an immediate investigation. There are many peculiarities, but fortunately, we captured him alive, which makes tracking his backers much easier, or so I’ve heard.”
That they’d managed to capture the Goblin alive was also thanks to that girl.
Had he collapsed there, the guard knights would have swarmed around him while the Goblin escaped.
“His Majesty the Emperor wishes to convey that Your Highness should not concern yourself with external matters and focus on recovering your health.”
At the Attendant’s words, Kiaros released a shallow sigh.
Now, in the midst of his own Dark Period, he finally felt just how distant the existence of a dragon truly was.
‘I too must become an existence like His Majesty when I grow.’
Kiaros felt his heart ease at the same moment his shoulders grew heavier with the weight of that realization.
“Sleep well, Your Highness.”
The Royal Physician handed over a sedative and spoke.
“Everything has already been resolved, and by tomorrow you will be able to understand it all.”
Kiaros nodded and went to bed.
However, the Royal Physician’s reassuring words were only half correct.
The next day, everything had been resolved, but he could not know everything.
“Your Highness, it appears Goblin is an escaped test subject. There was a vile criminal organization in the Southern Region conducting experiments on magical beasts.”
“A test subject? There was an organization conducting experiments on magical beasts?”
The Emperor himself had swept away the magical beasts’ habitats, yet some still remained among humans.
To Kiaros’s question, the Attendant spoke respectfully.
“Yes. The modified Goblin possesses considerable intelligence and can understand human language.”
“I see….”
“It seems that when the Emperor exterminated the magical beasts, they harbored resentment toward him. Unable to approach His Majesty directly, they instead followed Your Highness.”
It was something I had never imagined.
How could they conduct experiments on magical beasts, enemies of mankind though they were?
Kiaros asked in astonishment.
“Experiments on magical beasts… is such a thing even possible?”
“Yes, it is remarkable. His Majesty identified the criminal organization and had them all executed by beheading.”
“Executed….”
“His Majesty reasoned that any organization capable of conducting such experiments on magical beasts would be capable of far worse. Indeed, they committed countless illegal acts to facilitate these experiments.”
It had all transpired in less than a day. The Emperor’s administrative efficiency was truly remarkable.
The Emperor always said that speed was crucial in matters such as these.
Kiaros too had been learning the duties of a sovereign by observing the Emperor since childhood, one lesson at a time.
“A few remnants did escape, but they are all being pursued.”
“I see….”
“The headquarters has been eliminated, and with the magical beasts exterminated this time, there will be no further experiments conducted on them.”
Kiaros wanted to ask a few more questions but decided against it.
After all, I was currently in my dark period and merely an ordinary youth. There was nothing I could do to help.
As the Emperor had said, it was best to focus on my slower-than-usual physical recovery.
Instead, I asked about something that had been nagging at me all this while.
“Then what about that girl? Did you find out who she is?”
“Ah, well….”
At Kiaros’s question, the Attendant spoke with an awkward expression.
“She did not appear at Count Kalto’s Residence, nor at the Library. Since we have no knowledge of her appearance, tracking her is proving difficult.”
This place was not the Capital, so there were not many people to command.
And the capable informants were occupied pursuing the remnants of the Dark Organization.
“Still, we must search for her. She is my benefactor.”
Kiaros spoke quietly.
“There is no rush, but we can search steadily.”
The Emperor had said there would be things to learn during this dark period.
Kiaros learned helplessness, guilt, and a sense of crisis.
It was an emotion the boy had never experienced in his short life.
At the same time, I learned something else—gratitude, and how to express it.
[If someone saves your life, you have to look them in the face and thank them directly!]
He still hadn’t properly thanked her. So he resolved to express his gratitude properly, just as The Girl had said.
His promise to grant any wish was sincere. Kiaros had lived with a certain arrogance born of his station, but he wasn’t the type to make empty promises.
Yet The Girl’s wish was….
[I want to marry a man with an absolutely, absolutely, absolutely enormous amount of money!]
She looked young, but her desires were surprisingly materialistic.
In that case, wouldn’t she eventually come to Count Kalto’s Residence?
He tilted his head and asked his Attendant.
“By the way, who is the richest man in this Empire?”
And he quickly added.
“Ah, around my age.”
The Girl appeared to be roughly his age at most, and no matter how wealthy a man was, she wouldn’t want to marry someone old enough to be her grandfather.
The Attendant then answered with a look that suggested he was asking the obvious.
“Well, if you mean the richest boy around Your Highness’s age… that would be Your Highness the Crown Prince himself, would it not?”
Kiaros’s mouth fell open at this sudden realization.
‘Of course! Among all the ten-year-old boys in the Empire, naturally I would have the most money!’
It was truly an obvious fact.
The Imperial Treasury was overflowing, and the budget allocated to him was equally enormous!
“Yes, that’s right.”
Kiaros nodded slowly.
He was beginning to understand what he should say when he met The Girl again.
“In any case, continue searching for that child. After the Southern Region inspection is complete, I’ll deploy my Ravens to find her.”
If The Girl’s wish was to marry a wealthy man….
First, he would need to reveal that he was that man and ask if she would consent to marry him.
After that, Kiaros fidgeted with his fingers and added.
“I want to thank Fron directly as well.”
The Royal Physician shook his head in surprise.
“There is no need to go to such lengths. As I mentioned, Fron was simply doing what was required of her.”
The old Kiaros would have agreed and thought no further on it. But he shook his head and spoke.
“No. From now on… I will always thank my lifesavers directly.”
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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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