The Place Where I Was Sold as a Slave Was the Imperial Palace

(68)

＜If you want to use me…＞

* * *

Neither the Emperor nor Boris specifically told them where the procession was going.

Boris, in particular, hardly speaks after participating in the procession, unlike the way he used to stick around and teach them one by one.

He rarely appeared in front of people.

He always stays near Rudy and the Emperor like a shadow, and only occasionally looks in all directions.

Maybe an escort?

However, it was unknown whether she was protecting the emperor or protecting Rudy.

Occasionally, when their eyes met, wrinkles formed around their eyes and they became a smirk.

I wonder if that’s what being a nice gray gentleman means.

If Rudy was a woman in her thirties, the atmosphere would have made her heart flutter.

Later, when I grow old, I thought that I wanted to become a man like him, not an emperor.

*

The procession moved slowly in a circle as if marching through a large city with an imperial palace.

When he first came to the city, Rudy couldn’t afford to get into a wagon full of slaves and properly explore the streets.

It was difficult to even look outside when entering the imperial palace, but he didn’t have the energy to care.

Seeing this city, so now is the first time.

Some of the people who filled the streets were dressed in fancy clothes, while others were shabby and dirty.

However, the streets were clean, and when you entered the streets full of shops, it was full of life.

There are many travelers dressed as if they are not from this country.

The procession also passed the street where there was a market, and there were also boys roaming the streets selling exotic goods.

If you look a little further from the procession, you can see the buildings under repair intermittently.

It’s not because it’s too old.

Some may be under repair, but most of them seemed to be a little prettier, cleaner, or expanded.

In the crowd that had gathered, there were many who, knowing that they would not come close, leapt into the air to offer the Emperor fruit or bread or something hand-embroidered.

The emperor raised his hand to such people, or occasionally rode by the side of those who approached the procession on horseback.

Mainly when the children approached the procession.

While tilting her large belly to the side, she reached out and stroked the child’s head.

Each time, cheers erupted from the crowd, and shouts of “Long live the Emperor” filled the streets.

I could see that this fat emperor was loved and respected by the people of the country.

The soldiers in the procession were vigilantly on all sides, but when the emperor approached the crowd, they did not point their weapons at or approach the people in particular.

At that time, attendants, not soldiers, were close to the emperor.

Considering that the attendants who are said to be teaching Levin are also inside, they are probably people who double as escorts.

Suddenly, the miserable images of the people of Dicoquaria, which I had seen during the frantic escape, overlapped with this street.

A lonely wind blows through my chest.

‘The streets I saw there and this country are so different.’

This bright street seemed to show off their happiness to Rudy.

Suddenly, what Boris had said came to mind.

[The ruler who is the worst for his people is neither a tyrannical person nor a person indulging in luxury and pleasure. A ruler who makes the enemy’s horses trample my country is the worst ruler for his people.]

What he said is absolutely right. Having experienced it myself, I know for sure.

Rudy stared at the people forlornly, but the emperor turned halfway to look at him.

I hold out my hand and call him.

As they rode closer, the emperor spoke.

“They are the same age as you. You wouldn’t have had a chance to meet your peers. Go closer once. Tell me what those children are saying.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Rudi said, Boris held out his arm and dismounted him.

As Rudy walked toward the crowd, Boris casually joined him and spoke to the children.

It was a natural attitude, but if you look consciously, Boris is escorting Rudi.

As we approached the children, there was a small commotion among the people.

“Golden slaves!”

“It’s His Majesty’s golden color.”

With a buzz, people’s eyes turned to Rudy.

Children who are similar or one or two years older than Rudy come closer and reach out their hands to see if Rudy’s necklace is strange.

“pretty.”

“Did the emperor give it to you?”

“Do you live in the imperial palace?”

“Are you a woman or a man?”

Someone scolds the children for embarrassment.

“These guys! This one belongs to His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Don’t touch it carelessly!”

However, the children did not appear to be intimidated. On the contrary, he moved closer to Rudy to avoid being caught by the adults.

Neither the soldiers, nor Boris, nor the nearby attendants stopped him.

It must be because the emperor often had contact with children.

Ah, indeed, this country and Dicoquaria are different.

Rudi guessed why the emperor had sent her to the children, and laughed bitterly.

There are several reasons, but the biggest ones are probably two.

One is to teach the emperor himself how to treat his people through experience, and the other is probably to make Rudy feel attached to the people of this country.

It’s easy to pretend to be a child in an adult conversation. However, it was difficult to disguise it when you were with children of your real age. When a fake stands next to a real one, it will quickly reveal itself.

Rudy exchanged a few words with the children, careful not to appear strange.

Nothing much. It seems that the children were just curious about Rudy next to the emperor.

While he talked with the children, the emperor waved to the crowd on the other side of the procession or rode lightly through the crowd.

Contrary to his arrogant and pretentious appearance in the imperial palace, the emperor in the crowd seemed free-spirited.

As if checking to see if Rudy was looking closely, he occasionally met his gaze with the emperor.

*

The slow-moving procession of the emperor finally passed through the outermost gate.

A large number of people followed to the outer gate, and the line of ordinary people following the procession was longer than that of the emperor.

“Is it always like this?”

As Rudy asked backwards, Boris nodded.

“okay. The emperor goes out to see the people whenever he has a chance. He often travels to other regions, but the capital city where the imperial palace is located is exceptionally close to the people.”

Boris grinned.

“Today, because of you, people are in more trouble. Because when you are with His Majesty, you stand out in a different way.”

It seems to be talking about appearance. When the two of them stand side by side, it’s like having Santa Claus and the elves chased from hell.

After leaving the city, the emperor got into the carriage for a while.

The emperor’s carriage was very large, and it was equipped with a bed, a sofa, and even a desk that doubled as a dining table.

Rudy sat there for a while, but then came out.

Rudy’s carriage is prepared separately.

It was smaller than the emperor’s and had no desk or bed, but the chair was long and soft enough to sleep on.

Levin also stays in Rudy’s carriage.

It was the title of escort and servant.

I dozed off for a while, relying on the wagon’s shaking, but the movement stopped.

Levin opened the window, stuck his head out, and said the procession had stopped.

It looks like it’s time for a meal.

When he came out of the wagon with Levin, attendants were unloading food from the wagon and pouring fire and water with magic tools.

I snooped around to see if there was anything I could do to help, but the attendants drove me away with a gentle smile.

Speaking of the movement of the emperor, I thought that he would definitely stay in the city, but surprisingly, tonight seems to be a camp.

It is said that the Emperor is used to camping because he has been wallowing on the battlefield since he was young.

The attendants laughed as they said in unison that even if there were no eyes on others, meals were often eaten with the soldiers.

Since it is autumn, the days get colder before the sun goes down. Bonfires were burning everywhere, and pots that looked like pails were raised.

The emperor came out of the wagon just as the stew, which looked like grunt, whose contents were unknown, began to boil here and there.

It wasn’t the flashy clothes he always wore, but the rough clothes he would only see on a battlefield. As the emperor landed, an attendant draped a thick fur over the emperor’s shoulders.

As the emperor approached the campfire, another attendant took a chair from the wagon and brought it back.

The emperor sits among the soldiers and talks, beckoning towards Rudi.

As they got closer, Rudy, Levin, and the soldiers were caught in the gap.

After the emperor ate the same grunt porridge as the soldiers, he wandered around the campfire with the wine he always drank.

Rudy also chased after him and was petted by the soldiers.

From nob le mt l dot com

Days like that continued.

*

The procession moved slowly out of the imperial capital, visiting frontier cities near the border.

As Levin said, it must have been a domestic inspection.

Although he had learned from Boris, the empire he felt as he walked around was enormous.

Perhaps because of the distance, there are many cases where the clothes in the frontier cities are subtly different. Some places were so exotic that I thought they were completely different countries.

Although not as much as the capital, the border towns were quite bustling and lively.

In winter, it is said that there are many cases where children are sold in houses that are difficult to live in, so not everyone is living well.

But nowhere else could he be as naked as Dicoquaria.

Once in a city, they were entertained for several days by the local nobility or stayed in a mansion owned by the imperial family.

Even when staying in a mansion owned by the imperial family, it is not only the procession that is present. Over several days, nearby nobles came to visit.

As a result, a month or two flew by while I wandered around the border cities.

Now that they had circled more than half a turn around the border city, they thought about returning to the capital by going around the rest of the way, but the procession rather left the empire and moved to another country.

*

Around that time, soldiers from the frontier joined in, and the scale grew a little bigger.

Among the soldiers who joined from the frontier, there were a few magicians. The sorcerer is said to be under the direct control of the emperor, but I heard that he was mobilized for the war against Dicoquaria.

“What kind of weapon does the sorcerer use?”

When Rudy asked Boris, the emperor in front turned around and grinned.

“I’d like to see that for myself later.”

Boris laughs too and nods his head saying he’s right.

“I don’t know just by hearing this.”

There didn’t seem to be anything special about the soldiers who were called sorcerers. Like other soldiers, they had weapons such as swords and spears.

Rudy took a closer look at them and realized that they were wearing flute-like sticks around their waists.

It was in a long leather pouch, and at the emperor’s command one person showed the weapon inside.

The only difference from the flute is that the magic stone is placed where the hole should be. It was a yellow magic stone similar to the necklace worn by the slave of the Duke of Watoring.

As if it had already been talked about in other countries, it passed smoothly without taking much time at the border.

*

Traveling in winter is not easy. In some cases, the wheels would spin or slip when it snowed.

The empire tended to have wide and well-maintained roads where people traveled a lot, but other countries did not.

As much as possible, people followed the route known to be safe, but sometimes it was difficult to proceed as it was.

It was only at this point that Rudi realized that the procession’s destination was Dicoquaria, and that was the Duchy of Watoringu.

This time, as the emperor’s companion, they go back to the place where they were transported in the slave wagon.

I feel weird.

And the closer I got to Dicoquaria, the bitterer it felt as if mud had been applied to my heart.

As I moved towards it step by step, the surroundings became miserable little by little each time.

As we entered Dicoquaria, the miserable appearance intensified. There were several places where human bodies were dumped in the fields, and everywhere you looked, you could see skinny people.

Even when I entered the city, only the surroundings changed, but the people looked the same.

In the street, an unsold slave stood like a dry branch with dead eyes.

There are many people who are kicked with the jingle of metal necklaces.

There were rare people who seemed happy, but they were not the people of Dikoquaria.

From nob le mt l dot com

Dicoquaria, a land of vibrant imperial cities and dead hearts.

Involuntarily, his eyes turned to the floor.

The emperor, who was going ahead, glanced behind him and said,

“Don’t keep your head down. Look closely at those people. Those are the people of a country ruled by an ugly ruler.”

“…”

He guessed why the emperor brought him to this country, but he had no intention of rejecting it.

It is not because they have the consciousness that they are the country they were born in or that they are citizens of their own country.

It’s just that there are people I can save with the power I have without much loss, but it’s just that it’s getting harder to pretend not to know that.

Even if these people were citizens of a country that had nothing to do with them, the conclusion would probably be the same.

If you’re going to use me, that’s fine, use it. I will use you too…

＜ If you try to use me… ＞ End