How to Survive as a Dungeon Manager in Another World

32 – The Imperial Palace (1)

Valkan Kast, chief executive officer of the Arkan Council of Lords.

At first, he merely followed and aided the unknown man under the Grand Lord’s unavoidable command.

Of course, he had never truly served him from the heart.

Out of the blue, he was summoned and told to attend to some unheard-of fellow – wasn’t it infuriating no matter how many times he pondered it?

However, arguing against the Grand Lord’s decree would only land him in trouble, so he served the man with a clean, business-like mindset…

“Until later, Sixth Lord.”

Kwonseong Kalen, the Third Lord.

The words ‘Sixth Lord’ escaped from Kalen’s mouth, a fixture of the Council of Lords.

The sixth Lordship had remained vacant for centuries due to the existing Lords’ fierce protection of their turf.

They demanded impossibly high qualifications from new Lord candidates, causing even formidable contenders to fall short.

And yet, they acknowledged a human, of all beings.

Moreover, having subdued even Kwonseong with overwhelming force.

Even the Grand Lord went to the Imperial Palace for an audience with the Emperor; in reality, one could say he had chosen his affiliations far too well.

This was no time to dawdle.

The Lordship was as good as confirmed, and there was no telling how long he might be working alongside him.

He needed to make a good impression on him as soon as possible.

Who knows? Perhaps the next Chief of Staff could be him…

‘…That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it.’

I chuckled softly.

His thoughts were as clear as day.

Valkan was a character with considerable weight even in the original work, so I knew him well.

His skills were certainly impressive, but it was his almost supernatural intuition that had gotten him to where he was.

As expected.

Valkan swallowed a sigh, then spoke.

“Sixth Lord.”

“…?”

“If other Lords are scheduled to visit this place in turn, as the Third Lord mentioned, shouldn’t we prepare countermeasures in advance?”

“Why bother? What for?”

“How much do you know about the other Lords?”

“Even your food preferences, you know them all.”

“…Pardon?”

No chance of that working. I nipped his little attempt at buttering me up right in the bud.

I had the original work’s information at my fingertips, so how could I *not* know about the Lords?

They were each and every one continental titans, and such influence inevitably rippled through the very storylines that formed our bedrock reality.

I held up five fingers to him.

“There were five in total, wasn’t there, perhaps?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“First Lord, Magician Ekion. He’s likely off at some academic society gathering at the moment.”

“He departed a week prior, as I understand it.”

“Second Lord, Blackhand Myung-gak. That bag of bones is surely wandering the countryside, hunting for some useful corpse or another.”

“…He departed for the northern territory of Alderender.”

“The Third Lord we saw just now, so that’s settled. And Brainstorm Argen, wasn’t he scaling some mountain or another, trying to snag himself a master-class familiar?”

“…Yes.”

“Then that leaves only one to worry about.”

Fifth Lord, Sorcerer King Etina, remained.

She could be called the strongest sorcerer on the continent, bar none.

The power of sorcery itself was rare and specialized, but a sorcerer who ascended to a certain level experienced exponential growth in combat power.

Etina was no exception.

Not the strongest amongst the Lords, but certainly one of the trickiest.

“No, but why even prepare at all? I never said I’d *be* a Lord, did I?”

“Pardon? Why wouldn’t you become a Lord?”

“Well, why *should* I, on the contrary?”

“You can wield the greatest power on the continent; isn’t it obvious that one ought to?”

Greatest power, my foot.

Ruling over a Lordship the size of a modest city? That wasn’t power, just a burden.

Of course, it wasn’t *entirely* bad.

From the very moment I became a Lord, I’d be completely free from the shackles of money.

Just like at the Academy, I could do whatever I wanted with the overflowing budget.

…Really, mightn’t it be agreeable?

To properly deal with those foreign correspondents that’ll show up later in the original work, it’s best to be prepared ahead of time.

Frankly, if the budget’s right, it doesn’t seem like anything would be impossible.

I was thinking along those lines when–

*Kugugugung*—

The sound of coach wheels rolling in reached my ears.

I ceased my musings and gazed out the window.

A flamboyant, pure white carriage had halted before the office building.

Those emblems affixed to the wheels… the Imperial crest.

“……”

Has Arkan already sent someone to clean up the mess he made with the Emperor’s drivel?

Judging by the extravagant use of an Imperial carriage, the visitor isn’t of a common station. If not someone from the Bureau of Internal Affairs, they’ve likely picked a moderately high-ranking acquaintance of mine to send.

Of course, in my human relationships—as barren as the desert—few figures fit that bill.

I fixed my gaze upon the carriage.

The coachman, seated in the front, dismounted and opened the rear door, extending a hand.

The woman who took it was none other than…

“Selena?”

Selena Lugrithe.

The Academy Headmistress.

“…”

Selena stood motionless, staring at me for what felt like an eternity.

She seemed to harbor some grievance, but all she did was glare, offering no words.

Not particularly surprising.

At the Academy, Selena always acted that way whenever she saw me.

“It’s been a while, Luke Richter.”

“Indeed.”

“…Everything about you is truly out of the ordinary, isn’t it?”

Selena muttered, her gaze drifting elsewhere.

Her eyes landed upon the twenty individuals sent by the Monarchist Society.

Among them, her attention seemed particularly drawn to Balkan, who met her gaze head-on, suggesting they were acquainted.

“Acquainted, are you?”

“Balkan Cast. Chief Executive Officer of Arcana. Just a loyal pup who barks when Arcan tells him to, *woof woof,* ain’t he?”

Balkan chuckled softly at Selena’s blatant sarcasm.

Then landed a blow right on target.

“I think I’m better than a self-proclaimed vice-lord whose written papers are more than half nonsense, though.”

“……”

Well, true enough.

Selena’s papers were, without exception, full of holes.

Thanks to that, it was easy to collect credits due to all the things to refute.

Anyway, that’s not the important part.

I asked her directly without wasting time.

“Did the Imperial Family order you to bring me?”

“That’s right. I don’t know the specific reason, but just know it’s an imperial decree.”

“Then let’s go right away.”

“Okay, hop on right now. Oh, *eep!* Not next to me! Another carriage! There are plenty of better carriages over there!”

…She treats me like some kind of monster.

She’s been like this for all five years at the academy, but somehow, it always leaves a subtly unpleasant feeling.

I swallowed a sigh and boarded the carriage Selena pointed out.

Then, Balkan tried to board after me, and Selena furrowed her brow.

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m about to board the carriage.”

“So why are *you*? The only person summoned is Luke Richter, understand?”

“You speak in riddles. Isn’t it natural for a guard to accompany the master they serve?”

“???”

A puzzled tilt of the head.

“Master? Guard? Who is whose?”

At Selena’s question, Balkan’s finger pointed towards me.

“I shall enter the palace as the guard of the Sixth Lord.”

“…What? Sixth Lord? Who?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m speaking of Lord Luke.”

Selena gaped at me, frozen in my seat.

“A Lord? *That* Lord I know? Even the Sixth Lord, the one vacant for centuries?”

“Accurate.”

“…Ha, hahaha.”

Why’s she acting like that?

I cut through her ramblings.

“Aren’t we leaving?”

Still reeling from the shock, she blinked for a long while.

She stood there muttering things like, ‘Has Arkan lost his mind?’ or ‘How will he handle that weirdo?’ as she boarded the carriage.

And then, she added one last remark.

“…The Lord Council is screwed.”

Clunk! Clunk!

“……”

It was the Empire’s finest carriage, prepared directly by the Imperial Family, yet the jolting remained.

This world, astonishingly, only excelled in magic. Metallurgy was, rather, inferior to even Earth’s medieval ages.

The concept of springs or suspension didn’t exist, so every time we crossed a bumpy road, it felt like my backside was being beaten.

I thought about creating a blueprint and selling it to the Imperial Family, but then reconsidered.

The aftermath was too much of a hassle.

It was then.

Screeeeeech!

The carriage braked abruptly, throwing me forward so hard I almost crashed into the front.

About to say something about the sudden, violent driving, I looked out the window.

“What is it?”

“Monsters.”

I looked where the coachman pointed.

Not far away, black smoke billowed acridly from a village.

It was a village located smack-dab in the middle of our path.

Kieeeeeeek—!

In the distance, something like dozens of shadowy silhouettes were running towards us, each of them monstrous-class beasts or higher.

It could have been simply passed by, but in any case, to reach the Imperial Palace, one must invariably pass through that village.

So I intended to step forward myself, but Selena took the lead, stopping me.

“Move aside for a moment, would you? You may be intelligent, but magic is another domain altogether.”

Selena took the lead, stopping me.

Then, she drew up her mana.

Merely by the act of mobilizing her mana, the atmosphere was crushed by pressure, and the earth trembled.

“…”

Normally, I would have quietly watched her prowess unfold.

But, this time, I could not.

Because.

‘All of that is money.’

For a Censor, promotion hinges on a strict meritocracy.

And the fastest way to fulfill the requirements is, quite literally, to produce results.

What use is capturing demonic beasts? Hand over the corpses to the Imperial Family; that’s all results and money.

And the right to dispose of the corpses rightfully belongs to the one who dealt with the monsters.

Therefore.

“Accelerate (加速).”

The azure shimmer, all the more vivid thanks to the shard absorbed in Khalmash, cuts across the air at supersonic speed.

“Revolve (回).”

As if possessing a will of their own, they became lines, became planes, and covered the sky.

Fragmented sparks, blooming in full force, enveloped dozens of monsters charging like a cage of lightning.

As if glued to the space itself, they could not move a muscle.

Then.

“Time (時).”

The lightning cage encompassing them began to compress, as if shrinking.

At that very moment when an immense flow of time fluctuated.

“End (終).”

Screeeee!

The enormous cage of lightning was compressed into a single point.

Pressure tore through space, and from the ripped space, an icy wind howled.

“!!!”

Dozens of fiends, trapped within the oubliette of time, rushing forth. Their flesh, shriveling and twisting like mummies.

And…

Selena, pulling her mana high to unleash a grand spell formation…

“Wh, what the…”

Once more, a gurgling sound, and she flipped over.