But before she could figure it out, the guard who had contacted the inside through a magic tool ran back and respectfully opened the city gate for them.
This scene really made Fern believe Ash's nonsense. She could not help looking at Frieren with admiration, "Lady Frieren is amazing. You really got in this easily."
"Hehe~ Who do you think I am? Do I even need to say it?", Fern's praise made Frieren quite pleased. She puffed out her chest and walked proudly at the front.
Ubel quietly came to his side and whispered, "If she starts making trouble later, I'm not helping~ okay?"
"You never helped in the first place, did you?"
"Haha, true~ Then I'll just enjoy the show~", Even after being glared at, Ubel only laughed carelessly and followed after Frieren.
Sense did not say a word. She only sighed softly and shook her head before silently following behind them.
———
Thanks to the magic Ash got from Serie, even though the imperial city took the blunt of his anger, when the group rode in a carriage toward the palace today, nobody noticed anything strange.
All traces of the past damage were gone, leaving only calm and peace. Sunlight fell onto the old stone roads, giving off a faint glow.
Countless guards still patrolled the imperial city. Their posture was upright, their eyes sharp, and they carried out their duties seriously.
Only the uniforms of the mages leading them had changed into something nobody recognized.
Maybe it was some kind of special organization? After all, they were responsible for maintaining order in the imperial city, and since the imperial city was the center of power, tighter protection was naturally needed. Everyone could more or less understand that.
The group slowly passed through the luxurious streets and finally arrived before the palace covered in red carpet. Only then did they step down from the carriage and walk onto the bright red carpet, heading toward the core of imperial power under the escort and watch of the guards.
The corridors were filled with exquisite carvings and brilliant colors, all showing the nobility and luxury of the royal family.
Inside the spacious audience hall, nobles and ministers stood lined up on both sides. They wore luxurious clothing and dazzling jewelry, their faces carrying solemn expressions.
These nobles and ministers represented the interests of different families. Their existence both supported the royal family and acted as a balance against it.
Huge murals hung on the walls of the hall, depicting the glorious history and great achievements of the royal family. Lavish chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, constantly giving off soft light.
At the far end, atop the high steps, stood the throne symbolizing imperial authority. Its main body was gold, but more precious gems such as anti-magic stones were embedded within it, enough to provide the emperor with protection while seated upon those steps.
Frieren, Fern, and the others quietly stood in the center of the hall, waiting for the emperor to appear.
They felt both nervous and expectant, unsure what result this audience would bring. For some reason, the ministers also said nothing at all, making the audience hall feel solemn and heavy.
The emperor, who had long since received the report, did not make everyone wait too long. Carrying dark circles under his eyes and looking worn out, he walked from the side of the audience hall to the throne.
He sat upon the throne, propped his chin with one hand, looked down at them, and urged them with a faint trace of humiliation in his tone, "You are Frieren, the mage from the Hero's party, right? If you have something to say, say it directly."
"..."
'Why does this feel a little strange?', Frieren, already kneeling on one knee, felt that even the fake king Ash had impersonated gave off more of a ruler's presence than this emperor. This man instead felt like a stray dog that had lost its home.
'He is clearly an emperor, so why does he feel like a defeated dog? Has the nobles emptied out imperial authority?', She froze, unable to understand why.
But Fern quickly reminded her in a low voice that the emperor was still waiting for her answer. Frieren returned to her senses, temporarily setting aside the strange feeling as she carefully chose her words, "Your Majesty, I came to the Empire this time because of what I saw and heard along the way, which left me uneasy, so..."
Frieren once again explained everything she had said before, along with the abnormalities she had discovered, recounting every detail to the ruler on the throne. At the end, she continued, "I fully understand that the Empire's thousand-year foundation is enough to face any danger, but the demons are reviving now. Please stop the internal fighting. Otherwise, the world will surely suffer terrible disaster, and by then the Empire, weakened by mutual destruction, may not survive either."
"So what?"
"Huh? You mean..."
The emperor's simple response immediately left Frieren speechless. Her mind stopped working entirely.
She had prepared all kinds of arguments beforehand, but... this emperor simply did not follow normal logic at all.
If the Emperor did not even care about his own country, then what else was there left to say?
———
Inside the audience hall, because of the emperor's worn-out words, the atmosphere sank into strange silence.
Whether they knew the truth or not, nobody really knew what to say at this moment. The emperor gripped the armrest of the throne, lowered his head, and did not even dare look at Ash. Yet he still could not stop himself from speaking through clenched teeth, his voice carrying even despair, "Even if the Empire is destroyed, so what? Even if humanity goes extinct, what does it matter? That was bound to happen sooner or later anyway!"
"It... it shouldn't have reached that point yet... As long as Your Majesty stops now, there may still be a chance to turn things around."
"Stop now? Haha! More importantly, since you dared come here, are you not afraid the assassination plan against you will continue? Or do you have something to rely on?"
The emperor's miserable laugh and question instantly made the still-dazed Frieren and Fern tense up. They subconsciously glanced back at Ash.
It was precisely because Ash was here that she had the courage to step into this center of power that wanted her assassinated.
But it was only at this moment that they realized Ash was the only person in the group who had not knelt down. He was even standing there lost in thought.
Before they could stop him, the emperor above finally gathered his courage. Carrying a somewhat self-destructive feeling, he interrupted everyone's thoughts, "What I said just now was a joke. But, Mage Frieren... tell me, between humanity and your own friend, which would you choose? Would you kill your own friend for the greater good?"
"Humanity and my own friend? Kill my own friend for the greater good?", The strange question left Frieren stunned.
The chancellor beside him could not hold back anymore and stepped forward slightly, respectfully reminding the emperor, "Your Majesty, you have overstepped."
"?", Frieren's mouth stayed wide open for a moment. She could not help wondering if she had heard wrong, or if the chancellor had spoken incorrectly?
An emperor overstepping? In this age of absolute monarchy, the ruler was viewed as the embodiment and representative of the nation, possessing absolute authority and power. The ruler was the ultimate owner of all property, rights, and subjects within the country, while subjects even carried the duty of ensuring the royal family prospered forever. So how could there be such a thing as overstepping?
This unbelievable statement made Frieren even suspect whether this official was tired of living, or if his whole family had some grudge against him. But...
Even though the statement should have sounded extremely strange, the emperor unexpectedly did not get angry. Instead, he lowered his eyes and weakly waved his hand.
"I was just asking. Why are you so worked up?"
"Cough!", Feeling that the topic was becoming strange, Ash suddenly coughed lightly. Then, while the girls were still stunned, he directly walked from the back toward the front exactly like a repeated scene, slowly climbing the long staircase.
Time itself seemed to freeze at this moment. Before Frieren and Fern could stop him, he had already reached the top of the stairs where the throne stood, arriving at the imperial platform.
What was especially strange was that neither the knights, mages, nor ministers tried to stop him. Ash simply waved his hand and said, "I want to sit here. Move."
Ash spoke calmly, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
But to the girls below, it sounded like thunder exploding from the ground itself. They could not say a word. Yet, even with him acting this overbearing, nobody spoke up to stop him, as though this truly was only natural.
Actually, Ash was usually quite polite toward people. It was just that the emperor's words really annoyed him, so naturally he stopped being polite too.
The emperor on the throne widened his eyes. Though he could not suppress his anger, a complicated look also flashed through them. After a brief silence, he actually slowly stood up and gave up the throne.
What happened atop the imperial platform truly made people wonder if they were dreaming... At least every girl stared with wide eyes, too shocked to speak.
Although Ubel and Sense had already heard him talk about the situation yesterday, hearing it and seeing it with their own eyes brought completely different levels of impact.
Ash calmly sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and swept his gaze over the people below. Linie, who had disappeared somewhere in the morning, naturally appeared beside him and very naturally stood at his side as his guard.
This situation was far beyond imagination. Frieren and Fern were the most shocked, both of them even feeling a lack of reality toward everything before them.
Ash slightly raised his chin and said, "I think what Frieren said makes sense. The demons are eyeing humanity right now. If human nations continue fighting each other, it will only benefit the demons."
"W-wait...", Frieren finally recovered from her shock and stammered, "Th-this... what exactly is going on? Could it be.... even the Empire..."
"Frieren, there's no need to be surprised. I wasn't intentionally hiding it. It's just that you probably wouldn't have believed it even if I told you, so I temporarily left it unsaid. But yes, it's exactly what you think."
"This isn't even a matter of whether I believe it anymore, right?.B-but? Why?"
Even after their short exchange, Frieren still had not calmed down from the shock.
"Because..."
"Because?"
"Frieren, I've realized it!"
"What exactly did you realize?"
"This world needs to change. And the best way to fill this world with peace is, as expected, to turn all nations into one whole, whether demons or humans," Ash's gaze swept across the people below, "For a long time, this world has been filled with endless war and suffering. Only by unifying every nation will there be a chance for this endless warfare to end, and for true peace to finally come to this world that has never known peace for even a moment."
"So you've been lying to me the whole time. You're actually the Demon King?"
"I never lied to you. I also don't really want to become the Demon King. Right now I'm not one either. But I do have that plan, so there's no need to make another trip to the Demon King's castle. Because what you'll see there will definitely still be me. In other words! I'm the biggest mastermind you imagined," Having finally fully confessed, Ash stared straight at Frieren, trying to see through what she was thinking. He also added one more sentence, "And you, do you want to stop me?"
"You really were the one who attacked the imperial city yesterday, right?", Frieren slightly narrowed her eyes, carrying a trace of questioning in her gaze.
"That's right."
"You really did trick me!"
His expression stayed calm, but Frieren became so angry she could not help standing up. She looked so furious she almost wanted to bite him.
But he only shrugged and slightly curled his lips upward as he corrected her, "I never said I wasn't. You just assumed it yourself."
"Isn't that still tricking me?"
"If you insist on calling it tricking, then fine. But it can't entirely count as tricking you, right? After all, I planned to tell you the next day anyway."
"Then why didn't you say it from the start?"
"Well, actually this is...", Ash deliberately dragged out his voice and revealed a mysterious smile. Hearing him stop halfway through the sentence made Frieren extremely uncomfortable, to the point she could not stop herself from angrily demanding, "What is it? Just say it!"
"It's nothing really. I just thought it was interesting, especially your expression right now. So I decided to tell you the next day instead. This way is more fun."
Although he wanted to stay serious, he still failed to stop himself from showing a barely restrained smile.
Seeing his pleased expression after successfully teasing her, the corner of Frieren's mouth twitched and the anger in her heart grew even stronger. There was even a feeling of frustration toward someone failing to live up to expectations as she scolded him, "It's one thing when you act like this normally, but are you still treating this like a game now? Do you even realize how serious this is?"
"Don't get so worked up. Put that aside for now," He silently set an imaginary box to the side, acting out an invisible performance before finally putting away his smile and turning serious, "Actually, whether you support or oppose me, what I'm going to do won't change. But if you want to stop me, I can give you a chance."
"What chance?", Frieren slightly frowned, her eyes full of caution, afraid he was treating her as entertainment again.
"Simply put, duel me. As long as you defeat me, everything I have will naturally collapse. How about it? That way you won't need to challenge all the great demons and the two largest and strongest human nations."
"Before that, can I punch you in the face first?", Frieren gritted her teeth and raised her fist. Ash slightly raised his eyebrows and replied unhappily, "I'm offering such generous terms, and you don't even know how to appreciate it?"
"You're actually talking to me about appreciation? If I remember correctly, I was the one who taught you magic in the beginning, right?", The girl below only looked at him coldly, leaving him speechless with one sentence.
"That's true..."
The moment he fell silent, Frieren continued in a cool tone, "Duel me, Ash. If I win, you'll listen to me."
"Uh, although I was the one who suggested it, I only said it casually for fun," Ash looked a little surprised and cautiously replied with some difficulty, "Are you really doing this?"
"Of course! If I win, you'll give up your plan of becoming the Demon King and ruling the world, and find some other way to achieve peace. Because... your idea is absolutely impossible to accomplish."
"I won't argue with you first about whether it's possible or not. More importantly, I don't think you can win."
"Are you looking down on me?", Frieren narrowed her eyes again and fixed him with a sharp stare.
This made helplessness rise inside him, and he sighed lightly.
"Frieren, I'm not looking down on you, it's just... sigh! Forget it. A duel it is then."
Even though he did not really want to fight, before Fern could stop them, Ash was forced to agree.
Although midway through, he thought their shocked expressions were pretty interesting, in the end things seemed to spiral slightly out of control and turned into a duel.
But since the decision had already been made, Ash did not intend to avoid it.
———
Everyone left the audience hall together and arrived at a duel arena inside the imperial city used specifically by mages and warriors, a broad plaza.
The top of the duel arena was open, but the national defense barrier inside could still be activated. Unless someone used the corresponding spell formula to break it, it was basically impossible to breach.
As a place for mages and warriors to duel, there really was nowhere more suitable. At least here, there was no need to worry about damaging the surrounding buildings.
Sunlight fell over the plaza, making it especially bright. The emperor nervously stared at the two below and, for the first time in his life, sincerely prayed to the Goddess from the bottom of his heart, 'Frieren... do your best! Goddess, please bless this mage who once defeated the Demon King and let her create another miracle!'
While praying sincerely, he completely forgot that the Empire had planned to assassinate Frieren.
Although it was not his order. After all, he had not even been born at that time. But the assassination attempt against Frieren's master, Serie, really did involve him.
Still, there was no need to care about those details right now. Anyway,if someone who did not know the truth saw the current situation, he would look like the real victim. Perhaps the Goddess really would sympathize with him.
In the end, the power Ash possessed was simply unfairly strong. Even for the sake of fairness, the Goddess should lean slightly toward Frieren, right?
This was what the emperor hoped for.
At the duel grounds, the two stood opposite each other in the plaza. The atmosphere should have been tense and heavy.
But...
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