The thing that set them apart from mere mercenaries were the invisible people in the air. They were a band of riders who were keeping pace with the riders on the ground while under the effects of invisibility magic.
There were creatures called hippogriffs in this world. They were born of the mating of a male griffin and a mare, and these magical beasts had the front half of a griffin and the hind quarters of a horse.
Perhaps it was because of their mixed blood, but hippogriffs were easier to rear and train than griffins, and they were very popular as flying mounts.
And then, there were the riders of these beasts to consider.
Flying creatures ―even if they were monsters― would command an extremely high price if they were put on the market. They would not be something that simple sellswords could afford.
Indeed, the entire act of being mercenaries was a facade intended to deceive various people.
The true identities of those on the ground were the Empire’s royal guards, while the ones in the air were the Imperial Air Guard. The latter were elite troops who were shrouded in invisibility mantles that cloaked both riders and their mounts from sight.
Of course, that meant the owner of the carriages was none other than the ruler of the Baharuth Empire, Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix himself.
There were several reasons why he had disguised his unit like this, but the biggest one was because the Emperor and his knights openly riding through Kingdom territory would cause an international incident ― and that could not be allowed to happen. As such, the exterior of the carriages was more plain than the interior ― although it was still far more luxurious than regular carriages.
In this convoy, the security around the third carriage from the rear ―Jircniv’s carriage― was heavier than those around the others.
Even the roof of his carriage had been refitted and now there were two archers hiding in the luggage compartment.
The interior of the carriage was supremely decadent. Judging by the furnishings alone, it was more akin to a high-class suite than a simple carriage, from the furred upholstery on the walls and floor to the soft and comfortable seats, which had been designed to not cause even the slightest bit of discomfort over long journeys.
Only three people were permitted to share this luxurious conveyance with Jircniv, which meant that total of four people occupied the space of the cabin. Although the idea of four people squeezing into a single carriage might seem restrictive and uncomfortable, that was merely the uninformed imagination of those who had never rode in a first-class carriage before. In truth, all four of them had adequate space to sit in any way they chose.
“―Your Majesty, Your Majesty, perhaps it is time to wake?”
The voice stirred Jircniv from his doze.
His fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose, and he yawned, followed by a grunt as he stretched himself out. Relief flowed through him as his stiff body loosened up and he yawned again.
“Your Majesty, it seems like you had a good rest, but are you still troubled?”
Jircniv shook his head at the man who had woken him up, the secretary Roune Varmilinen, who had been allowed to ride in the same carriage as the Emperor.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing like that. I still need some time to clear my head, I’m feeling better now.
Although, it seems my afternoon nap took a fair bit longer than expected. Have I even slept that long since I was a child? After all, there’s a whole mountain of unfinished business back in the capital, and I never had the time to waste on that sort of thing… but now that I’ve begun this journey, I find that I no longer have anything to do. Perhaps I should thank Gown for this.”
“Ah, indeed, Your Majesty’s always busy, but why’s that?”
The man who spoke as though he wasn’t addressing the Emperor was the leader of the Empire’s Four Knights, Baziwood.
Normally, those words would have invited censure, but nobody in the carriage said anything.
Jircniv smiled bitterly and replied to his excessively informal, yet excellent subordinate:
“The blame for that can be laid at the feet of the Blood Emperor, because his reforms were pushed through too quickly for society to catch up with them. He is truly a foolish man. So much effort could have been saved if only he’d waited and accumulated a corps of competent men before taking action. You lot should scold him when you get the chance. Ah, but remember, when you do, you should suggest an appropriate course of action for him to take as well.”
Everyone in the cabin smiled wryly in response.
Originally, the administration of the Empire was left to the nobles ― in particular, the Court Council. Seats on the Council were entrusted to those who had been educated since birth to handle them, or to those with enough money to invent an appropriate reason to be awarded such
responsibility. Given the benefits such positions conferred, that was only natural.
However, due to Jircniv’s purge of the nobles, the amount of officials and bureaucrats had been reduced, but the work that they had to do had only increased. While this was a logical consequence of such actions, it meant that the workload of everyone involved had increased explosively, and Jircniv himself was no exception.
It was only after he had done away with numerous worthless nobles by the power of the Blood Emperor that he realized that even such worthless individuals had their uses.
Still, he did not regret his decision.
He had to carry out his purge when he did. Had he missed the chance, the authority to command the knights would have been stripped from him by the nobles, and his father’s death would have been meaningless.
And so he gave the word, and opened a path to the future for the Empire.
Women had to endure pain in order to give birth to a child. Similarly, the vast amounts of work he did every day was a necessary pain he had to endure in order to give birth to a radiant and reborn Empire. Beyond the difficulty that lay before him now was the treasure that he sought.
That line of thinking brought the topic of his own descendants to Jircniv’s mind.
Jircniv was not married, but he already had children. He had not yet taken an empress consort and merely sired some offspring with a few women that couldn’t even be considered mistresses, only concubines that he felt some affection for.
Unfortunately, there was no love in those relationships, but he hoped one of his children would prove to be suitably talented.
In the future, if his empress’ children were incompetent, and his concubines’ offspring turned out to be more suitable, he would gladly switch their places in the succession as needed.
“Even so, all the work that I laboured day and night to complete can hardly be considered the regular state of the country’s affairs. If only I could train up a cadre of officials that could take over these tasks… it would let me return to the tasks I should be doing, making high-level
pronouncements like the Emperors of old. And I certainly don’t want my child, the next Emperor, to have to suffer as I did. After all, if my descendants are overstressed, they’ll curse my name.”
The present Empire had been built by the work of an excellent young man, or rather, generations of talented men had laid the stable foundation that was the Empire. It was this foundation that Jircniv intended to use for building his great work, the Empire of the future. However, that did not guarantee that the next Emperor or the one after him would be equally talented.