Chapter 55: The Reason the Royal Palace is in an Uproar

When I returned to the royal palace, the whole place was in chaos. It was a total uproar, but as someone who had just gotten back, I had no idea why. There was no way I could know.

Miss Marin told me,

"Lord Robby, I’m terribly sorry, but I must report to the Knight Order headquarters. Please return to your room. If anything comes up, your assigned maid should contact you."

She bowed and hurried off.

Even as the palace boiled over with activity, I walked along the edge of the corridor so as not to get in anyone’s way and returned to my room. The maids also seemed unusually restless. Many of them had furrowed brows. Normally no one ever ran in the hallways, but today several people were sprinting, and no one scolded them. Officials were hurrying somewhere with armfuls of documents. Whatever was happening, it was clearly a major incident.

I waited quietly in my room for someone to arrive. The rear palace seemed to be in an uproar too—maids passed by in the corridor speaking loudly. I caught fragments like "The magic beasts..." and "The subjugation force..." I couldn’t quite make it out, but it sounded like something had happened with the magic beast subjugation force. That couldn’t be good. If it were good news, the atmosphere would feel completely different.

It reminded me of something.

Back when I worked at the company, there would be a huge defect that risked stopping the customer’s production line. The entire place would descend into pandemonium. Selecting personnel for the sorting team to go to the customer site, arranging transportation, securing local accommodations, selecting and producing replacement good products, investigating the root cause and implementing countermeasures, choosing quality assurance and manufacturing staff to explain the defect to the customer... It was exactly the same. A sudden, explosive crisis—though really just stepping on a landmine that had been buried for a while. Total hysteria from top to bottom.

During the countermeasures meeting, the manufacturing manager would be incredibly eloquent while the factory manager sat in grim silence. Everyone was thinking, "No way the customer will accept that excuse. Well, if you’re the one explaining it to them, fine," but they were overpowered by the volume of his voice. Even when Quality Assurance made a logical point, the manufacturing manager’s shouting would shut them down.

In the end, the factory manager would say, "We’ll go with that. Quality Assurance, write up the countermeasures document for the customer," then look around and ask, "So who’s going to explain it?" The manufacturing manager would feign ignorance and reply, "I’m busy, so send the section chief," while the manufacturing section chief’s face filled with despair.

Later, when it came time to pick personnel for the sorting team, someone from Quality Assurance would mention, "I believe we also supply the customer’s Thailand factory. We’ll need to send a few people there too." Then the same impressive manufacturing manager would look around and ask, "Does anyone here have a passport?" No one would raise their hand (even if they had one, they wouldn’t, because they didn’t want to go. The manager didn’t want his subordinates leaving and creating holes in the long-term production schedule). His eyes would sweep the room and land on me, the salesman. "Hey, you went to Indonesia last month, right? Sorry, but I need you to go. Wahahaha!" he’d laugh. I, now one of the poor sacrificial lambs, would be sent home to catch the early morning flight. In his eyes, sales, engineering, and quality assurance all just looked like they were playing around! I thought bitterly. I wanted to say it to his face someday, but unfortunately I died first...

Those dark memories came flooding back.

Knock, knock, knock. There was a knock at the door. It was Cass who opened it. She was carrying a tray covered with a white cloth.

"Lord Robby, I’m sorry for the delay with your lunch," she said, removing the cloth and placing the tray on the table in front of me. Compared to usual, the meal was extremely simple. When I looked at Cass curiously, she seemed uncomfortable and explained,

"I’m sorry. The kitchen is in chaos right now. Many of the cooks have been pulled over to the main palace. There was a sudden meeting and a lot of people were summoned, so they needed to provide meals for them. All the rear palace cooks ended up being taken away... The maids prepared this instead."

"What happened in the main palace?" I asked.

"Well... we still don’t have clear details, but from what I’ve heard, the force that went to subjugate the magic beasts was attacked by them, and the command headquarters suffered considerable damage."

"Damage!? Is that true?"

"Yes, it seems so. Ah, of course not the entire force was wiped out, but apparently the command headquarters—where His Highness the Crown Prince was located—was suddenly assaulted by the magic beasts, and His Highness along with quite a number of others were killed..."

"My brother!?"

I said "brother" naturally, even though I had never even seen the Crown Prince’s face. The words just slipped out.

"Yes, that’s what they’re saying. Because of that, there’s a big meeting right now with His Majesty the King and many others discussing what to do with the subjugation force—whether to send reinforcements, who should lead the new unit, and so on."

"I see... That’s serious. No wonder the palace is in such an uproar. But still, for my brother to be attacked by magic beasts... What was the Knight Order doing?"

"I don’t know the details, but I heard they were caught off guard."

"Even if they were caught off guard, it shouldn’t have resulted in the Crown Prince’s death and such heavy losses, right?"

"You’re absolutely right. I wonder what the Knight Order was doing... In any case, the palace is in chaos right now, so please stay in your room, Lord Robby. Do not go out anywhere."

She repeated the important part twice, huh?

"Understood. I’ll behave myself. By the way, did you prepare this meal yourself, Cass?"

When I asked, Cass lowered her head.

"You noticed? I’m sorry. The kitchen was in terrible shape, so I made something simple with what I could find so I wouldn’t be in the way. If it doesn’t suit your taste, I can have someone else make something else?"

"No, it’s fine. Thank you."

When I thanked her, Cass looked a little surprised, but she bowed and left the room.

At this rate, it might be impossible to see Stevie tonight... In the middle of the palace being in total uproar, if I’m the only one having a good time and it later becomes public, people will probably say, "What the hell is that prince doing!?" But there will probably also be people who defend me saying, "The 11th Prince is an idiot, so he doesn’t get it. Can’t be helped."

Well, I guess I should quietly spend this period of self-restraint.