Just then, an old man who seemed to have accumulated a decent amount of tenure began to open his mouth.
“Your Majesty, I am deeply sorrowful to address you, but it is indeed so. The magical beasts appearing in the North have surpassed the numbers that can be handled by private soldiers. In order to secure weaponry and defensive magic tools…”
“Right, the appearances of magical beasts have increased. So, I believe I supported you with the Imperial Magical Beast Subjugation Squad and all the magic tools necessary for the subjugation right on schedule?”
“However, in the long term, the financial burden on the fiefs…”
“Duke Vielba, I hear there was quite a rumor circulating in society not long ago regarding Lady Vielba’s dress.”
“……”
“Was it hundreds of pink diamonds from the northwestern mine, you said? Shall I call Lady Vielba here directly and ask her?”
The screeching, bone-chilling sound of a chair scraping against the floor echoed, as if the owner of the voice was rising from his seat.
The duke who had brought up the matter said nothing more and simply closed his mouth quietly.
The speaker slowly walked over and stood behind the idiot who was hanging his head and trembling violently right next to me.
No, I don’t know what the situation is, but you seem to be someone of high status—could you please not come close, please?
“Come to think of it, Young Duke Luces, I hear your masquerade ball was quite grand. It seems you allocate a budget for balls, yet you know nothing of your fief’s budget proposal.”
“Y-Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness…”
I could feel the trembling of the guy in the next seat growing even more severe.
For some reason, his gaze kept landing on me and breaking away, as if telling me to do something about this. Luces… Luces, Vielba? No way, surely not.
I began to scan the person looking down at the Young Duke with a side-glance, a man radiating a tremendous aura.
An incredibly handsome young man with sharp features.
Two golden eyes shining menacingly like a beast’s, pitch-black hair, a large build, and a voice lowered in tone.
Above all, the title ‘Your Majesty’ and an aura that was easily on par with an S-class hunter.
He’s exactly the same as ‘Emperor Leonel’ from the web novel I fell asleep reading yesterday…!
I don’t know why I suddenly got dimension-transported, but if he was Emperor Leonel, it was correct to keep my mouth shut right now.
With the intuition of a third-year employee, it would be enough to stay as inconspicuous as possible here, act like an invisible person, and then slip away quietly.
Or so I naively thought.
“To use the property of the Imperial Court, yet you do not even properly know the reason why.”
I clearly saw the Emperor place his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
I couldn’t do anything else except swallow my saliva at the tension suddenly rushing over me.
I just intended to exit the meeting room quietly without any presence, but the owner of the sharp, fierce voice suddenly placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Then, let the second son of Luces answer instead. What is the reason the defense budget for the Luces fief must be increased by as much as 50,000 gold?”
So that son of Luces was me.
Damn it.
It’s bewildering enough to open my eyes and find myself in a meeting room, but now my life is hanging by a thread.
The foolish bastard next to me called the Young Duke of Luces glares at me with wide eyes.
As if telling me to answer properly.
What, you bastard? In the first place, if you had just done well, a situation like this wouldn’t even exist.
If this were the company, questions would naturally come out based on materials I had read, but under circumstances I didn’t even know, the reason the Luces fief’s defense budget needs to be increased?
There was no way I’d know.
In times like this, you absolutely have to cater to the other party.
He’s probably asking repeatedly because there’s clearly no reason to increase it.
“No answer, I see.”
Along with those words, the clattering sound of a scabbard reached my ears.
Crazy, for the result of living a diligent life to be just this.
There are crisis situations where it’s better to trust your mouth over your brain, and right now was exactly that moment.
I desperately opened my mouth.
“I am sorry to the Young Duke of Luces, but if I may dare to offer a word, I believe there is no need to increase the defense budget for the Luces fief.”
I was surprised even myself by my level, flat voice that came out reflexively, but my face maintained a poker face as always.
Revealing sadness, joy, surprise, or fear is for amateurs.
Even if you’re panicked, act as if you’re not—I recalled once again the book ‘Social Life White Paper by a Managing Director of a Major Corporation in His 20th Year’, which gave me the realization that naturally making the next move as if you anticipated this entire situation is the law of succeeding in corporate life.
Anyway, in this situation where the baton has been passed to me, I must absolutely align with the other party’s logic.
A boss at work might throw a document file at most, but he wouldn’t threaten my life; let’s keep in mind that the madman in front of my eyes can actually gun for my life.
In the first place, he’s a slaughterer who completely killed off his own siblings to ascend the imperial throne without competition.
If I say a single wrong word here, I’ll really get sliced and diced.
With one slice, swoosh, and another, snap, I’ll become a headless corpse.
“Does that mean the Ducal House of Luces falsely allocated the budget? It sounds to me like you are saying the Young Duke of Luces deserves to die.”
“After the appearance of the magical beasts, the Duke urgently wished to request the assistance of the Imperial Court to resolve the damage situation quickly. Of course, when the amount of damage was re-calculated afterward, the scale of damage was smaller than expected, so the remaining support funds after the damage recovery were planned to be returned to the Imperial Court, but it seems that part was not sufficiently explained. The fact that the handed-down task was handled inadequately, and the fact that sufficient supporting data for the budget request was not prepared, are entirely the faults of our house. I will follow the wise decision Your Majesty hands down. However…”
“However?”
“Instead of my brother, I will personally take responsibility and take the lead in streamlining the Imperial budget. With this incident as a turning point, I have learned that there are cases where the amount of damage is calculated higher than actual reality due to urgent situations. Though my ability is lacking, if Your Majesty would only permit it, I will do my absolute best to fulfill the responsibility I have taken on.”
Because my life was hanging on the brain I had been spinning so fast for three years, it began to spin even harder.
Acknowledge first, suggest alternative later.
This too was content I had seen in some self-development book.
Wouldn’t a scene like someone’s head dropping and rolling in front of my eyes naturally be a scene that even a modern person who has experienced gate phenomena wouldn’t want to see?
To watch a real person’s head fall to the ground and roll around in 3D—no, 4D?
I can’t watch that.
