The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 3

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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 3
Kiaros blinked for a moment.
Remarkably, every legal statute Namia had cited was accurate.
Without thinking, he rose quietly and moved the box. It was quite heavy.
‘That woman wouldn’t be able to carry this alone.’
By the time he returned from the warehouse to the department, only five minutes remained until the official end of the workday.
Yet all the department staff had already left—everyone except Namia.
Important security documents lay scattered about the office.
This department fell under the Imperial Palace Knight Order, so maintaining security was the top priority.
‘I’m shutting this department down for certain.’
Kiaros clenched his teeth inwardly, steeling his resolve.
Looking at Namia beside him, her expression remained vacant and lifeless. He moved the box next to her desk and spoke curtly.
“I won’t be coming in starting tomorrow.”
“Ah, I see.”
Her face showed no surprise whatsoever, and her tone was utterly indifferent. She didn’t even ask why.
‘What is this woman?’
His successor was quitting after just one day, yet she reacted like this.
Recalling her vacant demeanor when he’d demanded authority, it seemed likely she didn’t even know what authority she’d granted him.
‘Was she just… memorizing the details because she wanted to delegate work to someone?’
Thus he dismissed the earlier sense of discord.
She’d mentioned joining the Condolence Delegation on a business trip tomorrow. So at least until the day after tomorrow, the authority wouldn’t be revoked.
‘If she doesn’t revoke it even after a month, I’ll claim security was breached due to poor authority management and dismantle this entire department.’
Kiaros gathered his belongings and left the Scroll Management Department without even greeting the woman, who had begun rummaging through the box.
* * *
The next morning.
“Gather round, everyone!”
The Imperial Family—specifically, the Crown Prince, the future of the Empire—was about to depart.
The White Knight Order, the Crown Prince’s direct subordinate unit within the Imperial Knight Order, had been bustling since dawn.
The White Knight Order Commander delivered a speech with wide eyes and a grave expression.
“Do not forget—we must protect His Highness the Crown Prince from any and all danger!”
The knights responded with murmurs, their expressions completely unmoved.
“Didn’t he take down fifteen men barehanded last time?”
“He ran sixty laps around the Training Ground solo during dawn drills this morning.”
“That’s nothing—one aura burst and he levels entire buildings.”
The atmosphere was hardly solemn. The Knight Commander cleared his throat and shouted again.
“W-well, of course His Highness the Crown Prince is far stronger than all of us combined! B-but still, we must protect him!”
Since the schedule was simple, the Royal Guard Knights contingent was small.
The White Knight Order Commander selected five knights, including himself. He then verified the roster of three officials who would accompany them.
“Medical and Health Department—where are they?”
The Guard Unit included a physician and a legal expert. No matter how simple the schedule, one could never predict what emergencies might arise.
A young man from the Medical and Health Department raised his hand.
“I’m Luca Class from the Medical and Health Department’s Emergency Team. I just arrived.”
“Luca Class, noted. And Rennan from the Ministry of Justice is here too. Now then, the Scroll Department… did someone come from that department?”
“Yes, sir.”
I raised my hand while stifling a yawn.
“Namia Loapi from the Scroll Management Department’s Inventory Team, reporting for duty.”
“Namia Loapi…? Gasp!”
The Commander inhaled sharply upon seeing my face.
“Good heavens, what’s wrong with your complexion? Miss Loapi, are you sure you can manage?”
And rightfully so—the dark circles beneath my eyes had descended nearly to the middle of my cheeks.
I slouched my shoulders like a zombie and replied.
“Yes, I… I can.”
The Commander then clicked his tongue with a pitying expression and answered.
“Well, there won’t be much to do anyway.”
His expression made it clear he expected nothing significant to occur, and even less chance that scrolls would be needed.
In this world, magic could only be wielded through scrolls. But the magic contained within them was hardly formidable in power.
‘In other words, the efficiency is abysmal.’
Naturally, the Scroll Department was never a primary force within the Imperial Knight Order. It was merely there to provide auxiliary support to the knights’ operations.
‘Besides, few people even take an interest in magic.’
The Commander glanced at my bag with a genuinely considerate expression and spoke.
“Your bag looks far too heavy. Leave behind anything that seems useless.”
Leave behind what, exactly? As if I knew what was even in it.
That was how little anyone concerned themselves with the Crown Prince.
‘Perhaps after today’s attack, that will finally change.’
Normally, the Crown Prince would have lingered at death’s door before ultimately perishing, leaving no opportunity to investigate those behind the attack. But if I saved him today, everything would be different.
I gripped my bag, which was packed full of defensive scrolls, and steeled my resolve.
‘At least that New Intern brought the materials. I’m grateful for that.’
Arrogant though he was, the New Intern possessed a physique that was remarkably strong. He had moved that heavy crate in one go—had I done it myself, my back would have given out.
He said he wouldn’t be coming anymore starting today, but that was something I’d anticipated.
‘Somehow… I’ll save him. I can save him.’
I’d stayed up all night, but my mind remained sharp.
* * *
Kiaros Polariud, having shed his guise as the New Intern, was a man who seemed like a living sculpture come to life.
His gleaming golden hair and vivid crimson eyes accentuated his presence even from a distance. Combined with the distinctive beauty inherent to dragons, he exuded an otherworldly aura.
‘The Guard Unit… exactly as I saw in yesterday’s report.’
Dressed entirely in black as befitted someone attending a funeral, he swept his gaze across the Guard Unit.
His eyes paused ever so briefly on one woman.
‘That woman…’
Namia Loapi, her dark circles descended to her cheekbones from lack of sleep.
Her large, round blue eyes held no focus today either.
He quickly averted his gaze. In any case, he had no attention to spare for her at the moment.
The weight of heavy responsibility pressed upon his shoulders even after leaving the Imperial Palace.
‘If I collapse now, the Empire collapses with me.’
It was classified information that no one knew, but the Imperial Family was currently in grave peril.
Everything depended on Kiaros alone now.
Yesterday he had been too occupied with other matters to review the Scroll Management Department’s documents.
‘I’ll look at them starting tonight. There’s simply too much to do.’
With the Emperor absent from the Capital, Kiaros had even more matters requiring his attention.
Kiaros departed the Imperial Palace with an impassive expression, accompanied by his Guard Unit.
“Long live the Crown Prince!”
“May Polariud endure eternally!”
Crowds gathered to witness the Crown Prince’s procession.
It was just as they were nearly arriving at the Funeral Hall.
An urgent cry pierced through everyone’s ears.
“Ambush!”
The White Knight Order Commander deflected a flying dagger with a sharp metallic ring, his voice booming across the street.
“Stay alert! It’s a surprise attack!”
Kiaros immediately drew his sword.
‘This can’t be happening.’
His eyes wavered with confusion.
‘I… detected the ambush later than the Knight Commander?’
In that instant, cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Impossibly, he could not sense aura, sword energy, or mana.
‘Could it be… the Dark Period?’
It felt like something he already knew. It was what he had experienced at age ten.
All members of the Polariud royal bloodline experienced it.
During the Dark Period, aura, sword energy, and mana were sealed away, and only by enduring that duration could one later gain the ability to manifest as a dragon.
Kiaros had already experienced the Dark Period at age ten. The sensation of his limbs being severed still remained vivid.
But why now, of all times, had the Dark Period returned?
Only the First Emperor had ever experienced the Dark Period twice, and not a single soul had since!
“Everyone hold your positions!”
Five knights surrounded Kiaros.
It had all happened in an instant. Kiaros furrowed his brow in bewilderment.
With basic athletic ability, he was confident in his technique and strength. But that confidence existed only within the realm of human capability.
“Ahhhhh! Here, here! Three o’clock! The enemies are here!”
The Ministry of Justice Official screamed. Indeed, near him, assassins were preparing a second attack.
It was when three of the five knights rushed toward that direction.
‘It’s a trap!’
Even in his panic, Kiaros’s instincts—primal as a beast’s—made him crouch.
Poisoned arrows whistled through the space where he had been standing.
The ruffians swarming toward the Ministry of Justice Official were merely a distraction—the true target aiming for the Crown Prince lay elsewhere.
“Kyaaahhh!”
“Ugh! Argh!”
People collapsed in various places. It was absolute chaos.
It was then that Kiaros felt a chill for the first time in ages.
“Calculations complete….”
Namia, dark circles hanging halfway down her cheeks, murmured under her breath.
The woman’s voice that followed reached Kiaros’s ears with crystalline clarity.
“Activate!”
Countless scrolls surged skyward.
Simultaneously, a defensive spell unfurled across Kiaros’s entire body, deflecting the poisoned arrows that poured down like a torrential downpour.

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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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