Johann Strauss von Miladin, emperor of the Neue Miladin Empire, was an old man who wanted to approach seventy.
Since taking office when I was fourteen, I have been putting my country together for more than fifty years without a great deal as emperor of this empire.
No, as an emperor in recent years, I would have made a notable accomplishment.
He sent down a small country around the empire to the military gates and suppressed a number of satellite country insurgencies during his tenure.
If future generations of historians were to compile The History of the Neue Miladin Empire, his achievements must be gloriously written down. The number of pages proportional to the length of that reign would be allocated.
Famous - Even if I can't call you, I can't call you Fan. Not to mention no one will be able to point back fingers at you with the Dark One.
It was a fixed view of history.
However, neither in the internal affairs nor in the war did it show any great lapse, but Johan IX had an unmissable shortcoming as ruler of the Empire.
It does not clearly define its own successor.
Johan IX is 69 years old and will be 70 next week.
Healthy, disease-free body. Plus both legs stepping on the earth were still magnificent, brunettes still noticeable on the head, old men who didn't make them feel roughly old, but the emperor was just a human being too, all of them dying.
It's not that far into the future either.
Yet Johan IX still did not even stand as Crown Prince and was keenly involved in politics and the military.
I was trying to master the power within the court all by myself.
It is an indication of the desire of this old emperor, the court sparrows whispered, but Veronica had a different view.
"The emperor is just afraid of death. I guess it just seems like a life-threatening existence to the Emperor, such as the Crown Prince."
When Veronica said so, its proximity showed bitter overtures.
"Emperor -, no, Father, when I was a child, my mother, or my grandmother, was poisoned and expelled from the court. Ever since, he grew up in a minister's house, where he was attacked many times by assassins," he said.
Moreover, the assassins were hired by their real brothers and uncles.
"Later, Father won a court play like washing blood with blood, and he was placed on the throne. I can't help but believe my flesh parents."
I can only count that even such Veronica has met her real father.
Moreover, at that time, it was thoroughly scrutinized for not having the tools used for the assassination.
I never even touched my real father.
"That's how a pathological father is. No wonder you don't let your successor stand tall..."
When Veronica snapped so, she asked the sides for their views.
"How long is the Emperor's life?
and -.
It was a disturbing and disrespectful question, but the proximity answers me indulgently. He is a loyal member of Veronica's loyalty.
"A few more years," he said.
"Will that magnificent father die?"
"Death comes equally, though it may be the emperor of a giant empire, a beggar. That is what God has ordained. He's still healthy, but he's sick of his heart."
"Are you dying?
"They're gathering doctors, pharmacists and clerics from all over the country, but they say there's no prospect of recovery"
"I never mind that monster-like father dying, but I'm worried afterwards. If you die without stipulating a successor, there will always be a successor dispute. Incompetent brothers and brothers will fight for the Pearl Throne."
If you do, the blood of the imperial subjects will flow in large quantities.
That's all I want to avoid.
and Veronica thought.
The proximity seems to agree with that. I've gone about this in a subtle tone.
"Then you just have to make sure there's no successor dispute."
"Don't make it easy for me."
"It's an easy thing. We just need Master Veronica to succeed us. of this empire."
"The Empress has been here a long time."
"But not without examples"
"I don't think Father will nominate me as Crown Prince."
"Really?"
"You know that. My mother's status is low. It's faster to count the right to inherit the throne from the bottom."
"Anyway, His Majesty John IX has dozens of children. Indeed, Veronica's capture by the Crown Prince may be like grasping a cloud."
But the proximity continues.
"That's the same for you brothers who have the highest right to inherit the throne. No, rather, there is a verse that the doubtful sire neglects as being that you are the ones who threaten yourselves."
"True, but I don't even think that's why I'm adored."
"But it may be possible to be adored"
"Is that possible?
"Possible"
With that said, the proximity, takes a single letter out of the nostalgia.
"What's that?
Veronica asks, the vicinity said.
"You know the story of His Majesty's recent obsession with immortality."
"Oh, I know. I hear they're gathering the sorcerers to experiment."
It seems that no impressive results have been achieved, but continues.
"I don't even want eternal life in the first place. Humans, it's only natural that they grow older and die. When you become my emperor, such research will crush you first."
"I totally agree. But think the other way around. His Majesty is obsessed with immortality. If Veronica could unwind the law of immortality to His Majesty, wouldn't Veronica also be happy to remember and let her stand up?
"I see, indeed, it may be, but if your father were immortal, wouldn't he be my emperor?"
"Nothing really needs to find the law of immortality. We just have to convince them that we can get closer to immortality."
That's what the proximity said, he gave a single report.
"What's this?
"It's a suspicious document that went to the Imperial Intelligence Department about two years ago."
Veronica reading it out.
"There are signs of the creation of Homncrus in the Imperial Lowen Region,"
Reading that out, Veronica asks nearby.
"But in the end, was this a debauchery?
"Yes, that's how the intelligence department interpreted it. Then I scrutinized the magicians of the Lowen region, but no one created the dwarf in the flask."
The proximity went on like this, asserting so.
"- At least among the living, though."
Veronica frowns when she hears the words. Be sincere in the vicinity.
"Then when we independently investigated, reports came up that a certain sorcerer disguised his death and fled the country."
"Well, that's suspicious. Do you know what the child thinks?
"Yes, I thought I had fled the country and the man's name was Kate, the disciple of that bloody witch. In the past, I had a background as a serving magician in the Empire, but other than that, I was a man who had drawn to the back of Lowen's mountain and had dawned on his research."
"That bloody witch's apprentice..."
"The kite man has a blonde daughter. I contacted the village human, but at a time when I thought Homncrus was born, a maid of kite visited the village and said she was looking for human and goat milk."
"I see, that's suspicious. Do you have that daughter's file? And of a man named Kate."
Neither. When the man nearby says so, he gives the material.
Veronica receiving it.
Veronica glances at the material.
One by one, take the time and carefully turn the page, but the fingers also come together on a certain page.
That page was accompanied by a painting that magically copied the form of Kate and her daughter in Copy.
Veronica was nailed to the painting.
It happens unexpectedly.
And it leaks out by accident. The words in the depths of my heart.
"I can't believe you have such a wonderful lord and a lovely daughter in this world."
The proximity that I couldn't hear that word was "is...?" He has a face.
Veronica, noticing her close-eyed gaze on the side, twirled around showing her upbeat cheeks and coughed gently.
Talk without turning around.
"It's a fairly well-researched material. But there is no certainty yet. I need to be more scrutinized if this girl is a homunculus."
"I understand. Do you want me to get you to Kanja?
"No, that's useless. This is an important task. I can't leave it to others."
"Say?
"I'm going to the Lean Grad School of Magic to find out who Kite is and who Fiona is."
"Are you going out of the empress?
"That's such an important task. If this person named Kite really created Homunculus, I want to know how to make it."
"Some hands take away a daughter named Fiona and turn her into a research material?
"Do you simultaneously turn the wise man who creates the dwarf in the flask and his master, the bloody witch, against the enemy?
"... if only that would make the Empire feel safe."
"No, that's bad. I wouldn't hit a hand like that. I want to keep them on my side and prepare them for the war for the throne to be fought."
"But these two are no different. Wouldn't it be easy for you to be on your side?"
"Not really. All you have to do is promise a reward for this man named Kite."
"I thought it might be the kind of man that moves with money."
"Maybe. But what about the throne of the emperor of this Neue Miladin empire?
"No way, Your Highness..."
"No way. If this man is the man I imagine he can dedicate himself to this man. If you become my husband, you will be co-ruler of the Empire."
Veronica affirmed so and asked if there were any vacancies in the teaching position in Leanglard nearby.
Just then, Kate's activism swept away conservative teachers and the School of Magic was plagued by a serious shortage of manpower.
Additionally, the Empress Veronica was the bearer of a different colour background, and despite her royal family, she had a witchcraft heart and was a first-rate magic warrior.
This is how a new teacher comes to Leanglard School of Magic, but Kite doesn't know it yet.
That Veronica fell in love with Kate when she saw her portrait.
That Fiona, her daughter, liked it too.
And the incident caused by Veronica's assignment was also outside of Kate's assumptions.