Chapter 4: The work of a Noble Sovereign

Absolute Sorcery Prodigy: I'm finally back online! I wonder what happened. I had to go out and hunt some wild Naos to kill the boredom of waiting for me to come back~

Master of the Abyssal Depths: For my part, several Nao were too close to my territory, so I didn't even notice the channel's transmission stopped while I was monitoring the situation. Those annoying things...

Lustica replies: All of the worlds of the Human Order are dealing with the Nao in our own way. But leaving that aside, to think that this Master System can create new parallel realities...how ridiculous; it even somehow uses hypothetical concepts of men of science to accomplish what should be impossible...is truly incredible. Although this is the first time I've heard of them being referred to as the "Four Mythical Beasts of Science," however, I'm becoming more and more convinced that Lady Chaos might be an unknown Magician, if not Lady Yumina herself reincarnated.

Absolute Prodigy of Sorcery: I don't know what the Master System is, if it's a Divine Mystic Code or something else created by the First Mage, but the fact that it had a power greater than even the Void Trees that "whatever her name is" used to recreate forgotten stories is truly incredible! Lady Chaos is incredible!

Master of the Abyssal Depths answers:....at least from what we understand from the creepy and accurate works of this Nasu, I can hardly believe that something like the Void Trees didn't exist when their stories detail various aspects of your personal and professional life that no one but you should know about. Honestly, I find the idea that so many people from various parallel worlds could see into my privacy as if I were just a fucking character in one of those so-called video games totally unacceptable... Even with all my Thaumaturgical knowledge I can't fathom it; and I hate to think of the possibility that I'm just part of some common man's magical fantasy with a taste for all things "cool"

Uncrowned Mad King responds: There are stranger things in this beautiful and cruel world, you know? It's like worrying that your parallel world has suddenly been pruned by the universe and then reappearing without knowing what the hell happened; it makes no sense. Just enjoy life by fucking a bear or being fucked by a bear. We all do that around here at home!

Absolute Prodigy of Sorcery responds: Huh? I never did such a thing!

Lady Luck: Did you really respond to his nonsense? This moron... You're not even Russian!

Uncrowned Mad King replies: Goddess, how did you know I'm a handsome, sensual Russian!? Ah...yes, beings at your level are almost omnipotent and omniscient, I almost forgot because you don't feel any different from a human the way you chat with humble mortals like this handsome King ~😅

Lady Luck: 😑

The Eternius Interdimensional Network Users following Lady Chaos, after returning to enjoy the antics of Britannia's Arthur Pendragon, were as lively and casual as ever.

♦♦♦♦

World of Britannia, Empire of Loveritia, Pendragon Central Palace

"Tell me, Anna, do I really have to do this now?" Sora asked, his expression dark.

-My lord... I understand that you seem to have a sudden interest in being by your fiancée and Nava-sama's side after that terrible headache the gossip bulletins are elegantly calling 'The Fall of the Black Dragon Jewel'. However, I ask that you please keep in mind that I, too, need some time off. Therefore, I humbly request that you deal with the aftermath of this unpleasant and incomprehensible disaster as much as you can to ease the burden on your loyal subordinate.

"..."

Those were the words of the beautiful, cold and elegant woman with dark gray hair who looked at him with her amber eyes without changing her expression.

-Then, since I don't see any disagreement, I'll bring the disks with the relevant documents for Urielle to see.

Her voice was certainly pleasing to the ears, even sensual. However, her monotonous tone as she reminded him of his responsibilities made Arthur smile bitterly in his seat as he stared at those brown-framed glasses that glittered preternaturally.

There was a time when a certain Pendragon thought of mischievously convincing his fiancée and her younger sister to have a threesome as soon as he entered the Palace.

Well, those were his initial plans... although unfortunately he couldn't carry them out as soon as he entered the palace in the end.

The reason is simple: state affairs...or something like that.

Of course, Sora had to forget that he was currently a young lord with noble responsibilities and such... He couldn't help but mentally sigh as he thought about how complicated his life would be having to take care of Draco Silva completely.

Thanks to that, instead of being by the side of his two sexy girlfriends who were probably still disturbed by the incident with the demon (?) as well as his two sexy maids, the powerful Arthur Pendragon was now stuck in his office in the Grand Palace, 'wasting time' with this extremely beautiful and sensual woman who, however, seems untouchable, even to him, since she demands him to deal with a ton of paperwork...

It didn't help that she seemed to be quite forthright with her thoughts and didn't hesitate to enforce her demands, even in front of her superior. (Not that I can fire her...)

Sora could still remember with a helpless smile Laura looking at him with puppy dog ​​eyes, Ikaros who seemed ready to draw her weapons before he stopped her and Nava growling adorably in anger at Anna, who literally appeared almost like a ninja at his side, saying "My Lord, come with me" while unceremoniously dragging him away before he could take the two women to his chambers...

What the fuck...? He thought as he growled in his heart.

However, Sora couldn't complain about her that much.

After all, even if it wasn't noticeable at first glance, if you looked more closely at Anna, you could see the slight dark circles under her eyes that somewhat marred her beautiful face. So, just like Laura's pregnancy, she resigned herself to her fate.

But still... How overwhelmed must she have been with work to not want to deal with the aftermath of the demon incident? No helpers? What about the other Pendragon nobles?

"And what happened to the Coria Commander? What are our councilors and clerks supposed to be doing? And the secretary? Shouldn't he be acting as regent? Where are they that aren't working to ease the burden of managing the territory's affairs...?"

Let's see, what the hell is a Coria Comdan....?

It was only natural that Shigaraki Sora didn't know this, as he had only played Britannia to enjoy the beautiful heroine designs and largely ignored the game's irrelevant backstories.

But in this Empire, the Sovereign Nobles, who were Marquises and above, had the right by law to form their own 'Noble Court' to assist them in the administration of their vast lands. The 'official' name was [Coria Aristac], in the classical Romanian language, but the aristocrats were free to give them any name they liked.

And these Corias Aristac, naturally, are usually composed of officials and vassal nobles ennobled by the same lords who created that Coria Aristac in the past. Although new, only Sovereign Nobles had limited authority to ennoble their subordinates and allies, to a very small extent.

Coria Comdan was the name Archduchess Igraine, not Marcus, gave to her family's newly formed Coria Aristac, meaning "Court of Counts." Since even Archdukes were only entitled to grant the noble rank of "Count" to their most loyal and capable subordinates, the majority of her Coria Aristac was made up of vassal counts, hence the name.

Once again, Sora didn't know such a thing, so he was a little confused by the strange ending that came out of her mouth. He found it particularly odd that this wasn't translated, but everything else she said or heard was, though he recognized it as something similar to Latin.

-My lord, even with Urielle's support, both Sir Sebastian and our vassal earls nearly died ending up with the management of the great expansion projects of the Pendragon domains in this vast unexplored territory, having to plan the construction of new colonies in a short time for immigrants and assign their future chiefs the necessary funds so they can build new road networks for the efficient transportation of resources, in addition to making more orphanages for orphans and of course, dealing with the signs of corruption that appear here and there while also taking care of their own lands...

Anna replied unhurriedly with a sarcastic 'What did you expect?' attitude as she continued. "As you may already know, none of them are Awakened at our level who have the stamina to continue for weeks without rest, nor do they have the same degree of [Administration] skill as we do, so forcing them to deal with this situation is in itself enough to make them die from overwork. I can't even hire more competent assistants as replacements without complicating things..."

His expression barely changed as he whispered, but it wasn't hard for anyone to imagine that he held back a sigh.

-I may seem like I'm doing well right now, although I had to handle everything by myself, by the way, but I still spent hours upon hours alone dealing with the smooth and proper distribution of food to the hundreds of cities and towns in the territory from the hundreds of farming villages under our Sphere of Influence, as well as having to manage the proper storage of mined magic crystals in the proper storage points, as well as having to deal alone with the weekly inspection of schools to see if the allocated education budgets are being used properly, and that was only possible by eating too many Dulcias several times, along with drinking coffee, and I can't keep this up anymore... or I'll become addicted to it. Therefore, I need your help to resolve this matter while I also take a well-deserved rest, my lord.

"..."

That "report" was so long, miss! I don't even know how she said all that so calmly and without taking a deep breath! Your voice shows no emotion, but you're clearly complaining to me, aren't you...? She's literally telling me in my face all the work she does on her own like a machine gun in a completely dead tone!

Furthermore, Anna said "alone" more than three times to emphasize her point. Arthur, or rather, Sora, never expected the day he'd have to deal with a subordinate's complaint in his life, no matter how indirect.

But damn it! That logistical nightmare isn't my fault or Arthur's, it's those stupid nobles from the aristocratic faction who want me to get into Bomenslik Imperial Academy! Besides... This is the first time I've discovered that Dulcias can be as addictive as coffee!

Is it bad to eat them in large quantities? Then you should be careful not to overconsume them...

Having become the original manufacturer of Dulcias, the thought "Did I become a drug dealer in another world?" naturally popped into his mind, like the title of a light novel intended for dark comedy. He quickly shook it off.

Speaking of which... Isn't it strange that a Councilor has better administrative skills than a Secretary? Or am I missing something? He also said something about the colonies...

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Sora finally remembered some backstory about Draco Silva, his territory.

The forests and plains granted to Pendragon originally belonged to the local True Dragon and the primitive species he ruled, who are now driven out or enslaved with each Pendragon expansion following the death of their guardian deity...

Although the Fifth Emperor gave the Pendragons these lands as territories, it was another thing to actually control them, even after more than twenty years since the war.

That was why it was easy for the previous Emperor to grant it to them in the first place, as it was a truly enormous territory with which to expand the "Louritian Domain" significantly, but still filled with quite warlike beastmen tribes and magical beasts of great strength.

They would have to rely on their own resources to gain full control of the territory granted to them by law. So, over the past few years, the family heads had worked hard to achieve this through costly military campaigns.

They planned step by step... And they did it with incredible success so far.

Although the family had a lot to thank Luminia's father, Count Mirian, and his magical technology for, for that... wait... does that mean I'm now a second-generation conqueror?

With his thoughts racing toward that conclusion, Sora felt like laughing, but Anna needed an answer and that definitely wasn't the one she wanted.

-...Fair enough, Anna, I'm here. I'll take care of this for you... Hmm, though it's regrettable, but these vassals of mine will have no choice but to further improve their administrative skills, because they'll be doing this longer than they'd like... since I still have to go study at the Academy for 4 damn years... Ugh... this would be a complete waste of time, if not for...- Arthur sighed bitterly, while inwardly resisting the sudden urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

How curious. Would this guy prefer to work in an office than study at school?

Well... it's true that Arthur only went to the academy to legitimately prove his territorial management skills with an academic master's degree or something because of those idiot nobles who kept accusing him of not being as competent as they said. Though the biggest contributors to this were actually the Imperialists, who wanted to get Arthur as close to Laura as possible, if I recall correctly...

-That's only natural... and after this incident, my lord will probably have to temporarily live in the Bomenslik Imperial Academy dormitories until we build a new residence in the imperial capital...

-That's there too.

"Yes, for that very reason, I don't even know when you'll be able to help us further, so while we have time, please work hard, my lord. If you'll excuse me, I'll quickly bring you the relevant archive discs... Oh, it would also be wonderful if you'd take care of that whole matter of the two villages you've put in competition with each other to end their dispute as well. Thank you very much for your help in advance, my lord."

"..." When did you accept that last thing...?

♦♦♦♦

By the way, you might be wondering who exactly this woman is who can afford to be so shameless with the Lord of Pendragon himself and the only Archduke of the strongest Empire in the world?

It can only be said that she is the direct advisor of the previous Archduke, Anna Estreints von Mirian, who is the second daughter of Count Albert Estreints von Mirian, patriarch of one of the new noble families that emerged from the campaign against the dragon, who serve Pendragon and help them control the territory... In addition, obviously, Anna is also Luminia's younger sister on her father's side.

All Shigaraki Sora knew about Count Mirian was that he was a widely recognized magical genius and a true 'scientist' in his world's terminology, as he was the head of the technological development department or something like that in Draco Silva's territory.

He also recalled that Albert was Archduke Marcus's closest friend, despite his 115-year-old age; making him a clear and formidable ally of the current Archduke, Arthur Pendrago. Furthermore, the lands he administers are north of the Archducal capital, placing him very close.

Also known as the fertile lands of Marthun Forest, the territory he was granted is also one of the richest domains in all of Pendragon, making him one of the richest new earls in the empire. In fact, he might even be richer and more influential than some of the old nobles in the capital.

That two of his daughters are involved in both the servants and administrative affairs of all of Pendragon demonstrates how close the relationship between Pendragon and Streints is; something that was essential to maintain not only because of his wealth and support, but also because he was the one who fostered the emergence of dimension gate prototypes in the empire with his revolutionary magical theories even before he acquired his current nobility.

Inventing technology that could potentially replace Fairy Doors by being easier to build...would obviously make it very valuable.

In any case, his youngest daughter, Anna Streints von Mirian, is recognized throughout the Empire as a rare genius in all matters related to territorial management and administration, on par with Arthur himself. Previously, she assisted the Archduke with territorial matters, and now assists Arthur in his stead as lord of the Draco Silva territory.

She is also known as the 'Fair Flower of Marthun' for her unparalleled beauty and charm among southern ladies, easily captivating the hearts of numerous knights... though she was also better known as the 'Lady of Steel' for various reasons. (That said, she did not avoid numerous marriage proposals from many nobles who coveted her, only to be coldly rejected.)

Also... Anna was the vice-leader of the hidden guild "Secret Organization" that Arthur Pendragon founded to cause trouble for his enemies and overthrow the emperor.

And Yüna claimed that I lacked the ability to name, seriously...

Sora, the "Black Dragon," mocked his predecessor, unaware that a black-haired girl in another world suddenly rolled her eyes.

Either way, the character Anna was also very famous among fans of the game for having a body of divine proportions just like her older sister, with her cute plump butt covered by what looked like a light gray miniskirt that easily appeared in the dreams of countless horny men.

It really was a big, round ass. It seemed quite soft too, as it jiggled when she walked, giving off a very erotic look. One couldn't help but think how great it would be to squeeze those cheeks and slap them, making them quiver deliciously.

Her sexy thighs were covered by calf-high black boots, and Anna didn't hesitate to show off her ample cleavage with shameless confidence both in the game and in this world; revealing impressively perky F-cup breasts that threatened to spill out, pressed firmly against her gray uniform.

Her hair, tied in a bun with black ribbons, along with her glasses, made her look like a typical secretary; not that she acted any different, and the current Arthur could only imagine the dirty things Marcus did to this woman in secret from his wife... if such a thing even happened in the first place.

A lock of her hair fell down the left side of her head, which somehow added to her seductive charm.

Just thinking about what his 'father' was doing with this woman before he dropped dead while looking at those beautiful round buttocks that were accentuated when she bent down to take out and pick up some floppy disks inside a wooden cabinet... was enough to make his cock very hard right now, something that was already threatening to happen earlier when he smelled her almost irresistible fragrance after she kidnapped him (?).

In fact, he could still faintly smell her in the air, which made him feel a little more excited while, deep down, he wondered what kind of perfume could trigger such a reaction in his body.

Did she release an aphrodisiac in the office...? No... there's no way this woman would use something like that... Unlike her sister, she wasn't even part of the original Arthur's harem in the first place... so this is just the fruit of my perversion...

Regardless of the speculated causes, his steel rod protruded from his black toga as Anna involuntarily shook her sexy hips from left to right to grab something she dropped on the floor, erotically raising that magnificent ass of hers as she bent down and invited him to fully enter her with his penis.

Thank goodness his willpower wasn't that low... otherwise, he would have acted on those desires regardless of the consequences.

It almost feels like he's tempting me....

Gulping involuntarily and laughing wryly at the absurd thought, Sora pushed his seat further to hide his towering erection beneath the large wooden desk, lest this woman who looks as cold as Antarctica attack him if our obvious biological reaction to her attractiveness is so blatantly obvious...

He tried to distract himself from the smell and the erotic sight by looking instead at the office he was borrowing, so to speak.

Mr. Pendragon's office design was the perfect combination of elegance and structural efficiency, with walls clad in a pleasing mix of white, brown, and black, and a large, wood-framed window, which was currently closed.

In a position from which both the beautiful buildings of Baldur's capital and the charming palace garden could be perfectly observed, the occupants could simply open it and stick their heads out to refresh their stressed minds with the peaceful view, filling their lungs with the cold air from outside, which was illuminated by the moon.

Inside, the office was decorated with several paintings that had beautiful drawings of forests and animals, and as expected, it was filled with furniture that he thought was meant to help organize equipment and documents of interest.

There were some lockers, shelves, and even what looked like a logistics box with a suspiciously modern design... everything an office needs.

Here and there you could also see some personal items and of course there was a large sofa for guests.

Each of these items clearly played a specific and influential role in the productivity of the Archduke and his noble attendants, and their precious designs and the high quality of the materials from which they were made not only displayed his great wealth, but also enhanced his most excellent image as the most powerful nobleman of the Loveitia Empire.

One thing Sora didn't notice was that his former self wouldn't think that way and would simply say it's a nice office...

-Here you are, my lord.

-¿Mmm?

Both the strangely stimulating fragrance thickening around them and the beautiful advisor's voice softly echoing in his ears caught his attention again, causing him to turn to look at her, and Sora could only freeze at the sight of her fiddling with a stack of floppy disks on the desk... allowing him to see her heavenly valley between her ample breasts thanks to her shirt, slightly unbuttoned for comfort, which bounced happily with her movements.

Wow!

He mentally celebrated that her face didn't change when he felt how raging his erection was. He couldn't help but think that he really liked sexy secretaries too much (?) if only this would make him want to have sex with her right now.

-These are the archive discs containing the old accounting records containing the construction costs of the mansion in the imperial capital, as well as a list of the items and artwork used to decorate it, such as furniture, paintings, and chandeliers, in addition to...

Anna began to speak as she placed one of the disks into the hole in the desk, causing the runic inscriptions on the blue crystal in the center to light up as she passed her delicate hand over it, emitting her magical energy so that the 'Artificial Spirit' Urielle projected several magical screens in front of him, which displayed the various data stored on the disks.

-That...?

But Sora, who had already grown up with the technological wonders that developed on Earth and even had contact with strange elements like the system, certainly couldn't focus on that.

Because, upon hearing what sounded to him like a request to address accounting matters regarding the downfall of his luxurious house, Sora snapped back to reality and quickly raised his hand to stop her, believing that he was indirectly being asked for money or something to fix a mess he didn't cause, and his mouth quickly voiced his complaints Arthur Pendragon von Draco Silva style.

-Wait, wait... Really? Shouldn't we, I don't know, try to figure out who's responsible for this whole mess first instead of worrying about our financial problems?

Although everyone knew it was a demonic cult and the system confirmed it, Sora had no idea what cult it was exactly, who its members were among the Arcadean nobility and what their true objectives were to kidnap and sacrifice Laura's soul, so it was logical that he had to gather information about the enemies first...

Well, his secretary (?) did not agree with that opinion.

"My lord, we can do that later." Anna adjusted her glasses, which were still shining for some reason as she looked at him. "You should know by now that it's essential to calculate the property and land losses caused by this incident. We need to compile a record of the damages so we can seek proper compensation from the imperial family for their negligence in protecting a noble house. We should also use this to arrange for them to pay monetary compensation to the families of the deceased servants based on their servant insurance. Finally, the next best course of action is to order our guild to keep a close watch on the movements of the other nobles following the attack on Pendragon and act accordingly."

-Hmmp... I see you still refuse to speak the honorable name of our guild.

"..."

As his body unexpectedly let out such an irrelevant and childish complaint with a slightly grumpy tone, Sora was inwardly quite confused.

Let me be clear, woman... I didn't understand a word you said! In fact, not a single word! And it wasn't because you were talking nonstop! What do you mean by asking the imperial family for compensation for failing to protect us from danger? What does the imperial family have to do with our guards failing to protect the mansion from a demonic cult?

Servant insurance? Is it like life insurance? Why the hell do our servants have life insurance that we have to pay out if they die?

And monitor the reactions of the other nobles? What kind of reaction might those rats have to the destruction of one of my damn houses? Mock me? Why do we give a damn whether those idiots mock me or not?

I really... really don't understand!

It should be noted that Shigaraki Sora was not student of the year by any established standard, either past or future, being someone who preferred to use his fists and foul mouth to solve almost every problem he encountered in Neo Tokyo, earning him infamy.

That's not to say he was extremely stupid or anything, with passable grades in high school (a delinquent maybe, but not a bad student!)... it's just that asking Sorq to know how to properly manage a territory or understand political issues was a bit much.

Fortunately for the young Archduke, he didn't have to think about anything personal... since, as if on autopilot, his body already knew what to do from experience; providing vital information to its current occupant as he ran his hand through his disheveled black hair.

—Whatever… Never mind. —Arthur shook his head and began to speak loudly. —Hmm… while it would be a little shameless of me to accept money from the Imperial family given our current vast wealth, I would only gain a reputation as a pushover among those old fools in the capital if I go easy on the Crown and don’t complain about their inability to prevent such a disaster from happening in the first place, which would make them dare to underestimate me even more… No?

Regardless, this atrocity occurred in their domain; it was due to their poor oversight of surveillance that Laura even got involved. It would be a shame if they didn't admit their guilt here when even the 'Emperor's most beloved princess' was in danger, despite the fact that the Imperial Knights' Order is supposed to prevent another demonic attack against the nobles living in the Imperial capital.

Anna nodded silently at his words while inside, Sora suddenly recalled a scenario from the game that explained why the Lunen Family had to pay him in cash for this incident, something Lars himself learned from the First Princess, Katreya Lunen Ivrin Lainervorial.

This may not exactly be common knowledge nowadays, as the aristocracy kept somewhat silent on the matter due to honor and such, but in the past, the imperial capital of Loveritia was the victim of multiple demonic attacks orchestrated by cultists directly towards the nobles residing in mansions within the capital.

Although they eventually managed to defeat them all with the support of the Paladins of the Tripartite Order, quite a few high-ranking nobles died after that unprecedented disaster. 

As a result, many prestigious noble houses, not exactly the most loyal to the Imperial Crown, hesitated to reestablish any kind of residence in the capital of the Empire for reasonable fear of another attack that would threaten their lives.

This lack of desire to set foot in the capital and reside there was something the imperial family neither wanted nor could allow from its nobility.

Although they raised considerable funds from taxes on the territories they had granted to the nobility, the bulk of the imperial family's wealth came from the aristocrats' spending on luxuries available only in the imperial capital.

The famous boutiques with beautiful dresses designed by the best couturiers, the elegant and beautiful restaurants filled with spectacularly presented dishes and delicious flavors, the bustling auctions where wealthy nobles could spend their fortunes like crazy...

All the luxury businesses—owned by bourgeois families who contributed to the imperial family's wealth in exchange for maintaining their business licenses—began to suffer severe losses as a result of this decision.

After all, if all the nobles eventually "fled" the imperial capital because of the demons, the commoner class would hardly want to work in a place where even the all-powerful imperial aristocracy was afraid to live.

There was no doubt for a second that the vast majority of civilians would flee to the safe noble territories as a result of the aristocratic movement, and those rich bourgeois would lose both their customers and a large number of workers in an instant… and would easily fall into ruin, unless they also abandoned capital, which there was no doubt they would do to join those nobles as their private merchants.

And in the end, the result would be that the imperial clans would suffer significant economic losses that would affect the crown's coffers, something that the emperors used to negotiate with other kingdoms and empires without getting into debt with their own nobility.

Although one might think, "Can't they force them to stay? They're the most powerful in the country!" as if it were the most natural course of action, forget about the Three Imperial Clans; none of this country's emperors could afford to do such a thing.

Not because they value the freedom and free will of the common people as if they were saints, but because the Church could take advantage of the situation to turn the citizens against the imperial family if they start acting like tyrants out of nowhere.

Furthermore, the imperial clans had a clear philosophy engraved in their minds by the founders on how they should govern Loveritia.

And that philosophy persistently teaches that what makes an empire or kingdom isn't its nobles, its officials, or even the ruling family itself… What makes a nation is its people; that's what the three Founders believed, and it was also something Sora wholeheartedly agreed with.

Because seriously, what would a nation be without its people? 

A nation without supporting subjects, or even inhabitants, isn't a nation at all. It's common sense that something like that would be nothing more than a group of well-dressed idiots trying to control each other in a pointless fight.

Anyone with a straight head knew this and would take full advantage of it to sway public opinion in their favor. The Founders knew it, the Third Emperor of the time knew it, and, naturally, their enemies (at least the intelligent ones) knew it too.

If the Emperor really intended to force the citizens who wanted to flee the Imperial Capital to stay against their will, all that would be needed was for the priests of the Creation Church to say that the Imperial Clans were planning to feed the commoners to the demons for them all to join the Church's side and help them overthrow their evil rulers; allowing them to fulfill their wishes of founding an "eternal divine nation"; the first great empire dedicated to the worship of Emmanuel.

The Emperor and all the imperial clans understood that they could never give the Church, much less Arcaden, the opportunity to destroy them in any way, so whether it was because of their philosophy or because of this matter, such a terrible act was strictly forbidden. 

However, they still had to prevent the nobles from leaving... and forcing them to stay was obviously not an option at that point.

Things seemed to take a turn for the worse for the Emperor and the Clans when the Church's Inquisition openly offered its power to protect the capital, keeping its inhabitants safe.

That, of course, was rejected without hesitation, as it amounted to admitting enormous military power of the Clergy into the Empire, something that neither the three imperial houses nor most of the nobles wanted.

To avoid the problematic scenario of losing the greatest source of his wealth or depending on the church as guardian of his population, the Emperor of that time gritted his fists and teeth and promised greater protection to the nobility residing in the imperial capital through the Order of Knights of Lunen, who would no longer only protect the imperial palace, but would also patrol their mansions in case of any cultist attack against them.

Since the Holy Lunen Knight Order was packed with many Saber-Class Aspirants in one place, it was hoped that the nobles would feel safer by continuing to live in the imperial capital.

And since they needed to have sufficient numbers to keep both Lunen Palace and the entire capital safe, the order was no longer exclusively for the sons of the nobility, but also allowed entry to talented knights of commoner origin, something that in the past would have been considered completely unacceptable for the Imperial Court.

Furthermore, to ensure that no desire to leave would arise again, the Lunen family not only decided to no longer collect taxes to allow nobles to reside in the imperial capital with their mansions—granting them title deeds to the lands they purchased in the names of their family heads—but the third emperor even swore to compensate any damage and property loss each noble family suffered due to cultists and any other types of terrorist attacks on their domains.

This included valuables such as art, jewelry, clothing, and any luxury items that had been destroyed in such an attack and were in their name.

…Which meant that even if a jewel worth an entire weapons warehouse was destroyed at the hands of demons or cultists, the Lunen family would have to painfully open the coffers of the national treasury to repay the nobles who suffered because the Knights of their house did not do a good job in the incompetence they developed.

Something like this would hurt, but it was the best they could do at the time. Of course, it was decided that a thorough investigation would be carried out to prevent any fraud against the Imperial Crown, as they didn't want to enrich any liars at the expense of a significant portion of the national treasury.

Since then, 500 years have passed and there has not been any significant incident since then, and it should have continued like this for a while.

…In fact, in the game, what happened to the Pendragon Manor should have happened to a marquis a few months later in a relatively similar incident, if Sora remembered correctly. That was also the reason Lars learned about the matter.

However, in this reality, the cultists plaguing the Holy Kingdom of Arcaden somehow managed to launch a meteorite into the grounds of Pendragon Manor—the most important noble mansion in the capital—not only summoning terrifying lesser demons that killed many of its innocent servants, but also destroying the mansion itself with a magical bomb.

It was practically the same as spitting in the face of the entire Imperial House and the Archduchy of Pendragon.

And since the Lunen family was the one who insisted to the church forces ever since the incident that it would be their Knight Order that would deal with any threats to the inhabitants of the imperial capital—whether of demonic origin or not—they would naturally be the ones to bear the blame for the cultists completely destroying the capital's most important noble mansion.

That is, they had to pay, and a lot.

It seems I'll have to take quite a bit of money out of my father-in-law's pocket for the sake of House Pendragon's dignity... I wonder if Laura would be angry about that... No, she won't; she's someone who values ​​responsibility, she'll be fine with this.

Wait

—Actually, this is not the only concern we should have.

—...You mean what will happen when what happened in the imperial capital becomes known to all the inhabitants of our territory, right?

-And

"It's no big deal, is it? I'm perfectly fine, and the news that I killed a high-ranking demon will spread quickly among the population, boosting my reputation among the more religious subjects in the land. It's not really what I intended, but..."

—No, what I mean is… What if some hostile nobles started spreading rumors to distort the true story about the outcome of the battle, making them believe that you were injured after killing the dominion, or even that you were dead after succumbing to them? You know how popular you are among the population, especially in the capital, thanks to the incredible reforms you decreed.

The mere possibility of your current master being injured and incapacitated could create enormous anxiety in people, especially if he's suspected of being dead. In fact, it's safe to assume that once word of this incident spreads, countless citizens from the surrounding territory will come to try to see if you're okay, even if there's no lie involved...

Anna sighed before continuing, “…As if that weren’t enough, we have the third princess, your fiancée, in this palace, who was also involved in the incident. Many of the House Pendragon vassals not affiliated with our Court might insist on coming to see you just to meet a member of the Lunen imperial family and express their ‘concern’ for Your Highness once they find out, and that would only cause us potential trouble if they go too far.”

"That's... quite possible." Sora frowned.

He rested his arms on the desk, above which the magic windows still floated, and thought for a while.

Was this guy so popular that people cared about his life or death? Wow... he reminds me of those politicians on Earth who won the hearts of countless people and got them to follow them like messiahs...

What kind of decrees might Arthur have made to make everyone concerned about his well-being? Is it possible that he did many amazing things for his people that no noble who valued only his wealth and glory would ever do?

Come to think of it, although it was never shown, in the game it was said that the lands of Draco Silva were a good place to live, especially for non-human races, even more so after Arthur Pendragon took control of the territory.....

If so, I'm really in the shoes of an amazing guy now... Speaking of which, why the hell do I keep getting this erection? Is what I smell really an aphrodisiac...?

Finishing thinking about things that had nothing to do with the topic at hand, Sora looks at Anna; she was looking at him silently, waiting for his words, with eyes that contained slight suspicion.

Just as she tilted her head slightly in visible confusion, Arthur shook his head and sighed, "Let's worry about that later... If people want to come and see if I'm okay, then we'll make an announcement throughout Baldur's capital city to show them. As for the retainers... let them enter the Great Palace if they want."

"...I'm sorry, my lord?" Anna blinked, showing a puzzled expression for the first time since they met. He couldn't help but laugh at the thought of her being so cute and repeated to himself,

—I said I let them come. If they want to meet Laura, fine. But warn them that if they insist too much, they'll have to deal with me.

I can't stop those who helped the Archduke achieve success from coming here to "look after my well-being"... but no matter. They can come and greet my future wife if they want, but if they only come to stress her out with flowery words, eager to turn her into a powerful connection to use as they wish, then I hope you're prepared to take a beating from me, their boss.

After all, Laura is pregnant, so she needs to be treated with great care, like a delicate flower. He chuckled at that thought.

"I understand..." Anna nodded weakly, not seeming entirely convinced or understanding of his reasons. However, it didn't really matter.

Now it was time for Sora to carry out his duties as Archduke. Looking at the mana-made holographic screen in front of him, which displayed a wealth of data, he rubbed his temples, grateful that the "AI" Arthur would be handling all of this.

♦♦♦♦

As Sora had expected, he didn't have to handle the paperwork (?) himself; his own body made use of its abilities and stats to take care of the matter for him... Was it lucky that the system didn't urge him to try to learn management by using more of his precious SP?

However, that didn't stop him from being aware of the information that entered his head like a wave while Arthur's eyes processed and analyzed the accounting records with a speed that was not inferior to the one he used to evaluate female beauty.

That's why he was incredulous.

What is all this?

The documents Sora was holding (literally, the windows turned out not to be holographic...) spoke of the cost of purchasing the Pendragon estate in the Imperial Capital, the cost of building the luxurious mansion he was originally supposed to live in, the cost of the artwork within it—some of which were valued at billions of royal gold—being so valuable in purely artistic terms that many art collectors would go mad at the loss; and even the cost of the damned silver spoons within, which were already prohibitively expensive for the average citizen on their own...

And compared to the construction of the mansion and the elements with which it was decorated, the purchase of the property was cheap.

These 400-year-old paintings by a certain Johnson Milton von Althusser cost over a hundred thousand royal gold coins in total? That's enough to buy a grand mansion in any country! Is Arthur's father really that crazy to spend that much money on mere paintings? It was a pure waste of his money, Oji-san!

Obviously he wasn't an art fanatic.

A set of antique silver flatware valued at $1,780 in real gold? Is this a joke? Haha... Not funny!

Of course, you prefer to use cheap cutlery. After all, they're not so unnecessarily expensive that you'd hesitate to even touch them...

…The Archduke's personal carriage, which was originally kept in a special area as a sort of high-performance car he didn't want anyone to touch… is worth… 125,800 royal gold coins…

And the sculptures made by a legendary sculptor in the different rooms of the mansion... even surpass it in value... how horrible...

Although Shigaraki Sora liked quality cars, a luxury carriage would be the last thing in the world he would spend so much money on.

Antique sculptures? Why would you be interested in something like that? It would be better to sell them for a high price than to buy them for a high price.

Although Sora would accept it if it was a well-made statue of himself in the thinker pose... he had a strong urge to act narcissistically for once in his life.

Phew… the price of the materials needed to apply the hundreds of minor enchantments the mansion had was the worst of all these useless expenses… Even the most famous auction house in the imperial capital wouldn't see this huge amount of money for years, unless they were to display an extremely rare item from the ancient era… Oh, forget it, the mini space portal in the mansion was the worst…

No... Really? A functioning mini-portal? In your own home? Why would you have something I'm sure isn't for the personal use of a single family in one of your many mansions, Lord Marcus, also known as "Father"?... It can't be that all those mansions have a mini-portal... Right? No way... Right? Even if your personal research chief is the one who technically brought them into existence...!

“…” Sora looked through the documents; they contained information indicating that the Miniportal in the Imperial Capital was connected to the Archduchy of Draco Silva’s private teleportation network.

The only one of its kind in the entire Empire, which cost a fortune.

"..."

Of course... It had to be this way, right?!

This is simply incredible! We're richer than I imagined... and the imperial family will only get poorer because of us! I'm sorry, Laura, for being such a bad fiancé!

Although he still had to finalize all the finances, the amount of money that Lunen's family would have to compensate House Pendragon not only seemed, but probably was so significant... that Arthur almost felt sorry for the debtor, his father-in-law, the current emperor.

Almost...

In fact, even with his limited knowledge as Sora, he could imagine the Emperor's poor treasurer shedding tears of blood at the shocking figures written in those documents. For that man, he did feel some pity...

By the way, the 'Royal Gold' mentioned here was the currency with the greatest purchasing power in the Loveritia Empire.

A true work of art where each one had the image of the founding Emperor who reached the pinnacle of human power during the end of the last Era as a man who ascended to walk alongside Emmanuel and the 7 Gods in the celestial lands of Saikanus.

With 91% purity of black gold and 9% neutrenun at its core—two highly valuable arcane ores—just ten of these coins were enough for an ordinary girl with no powers to decide to fight against a massive Orc encampment.

It was so valuable... And why is it called 'Royal Gold' even though it's an empire? Simple; it sounds better than Imperial Gold... At least, that was the Author's official explanation on the 'Neo World' social network.

My 'parents'... spent a lot of money on luxuries...

Although his Three Palaces were already the height of grace and luxury, Sora knew that the Archduchy of Draco Silva wasn't as rich in the past as it is today since he and Nava took control of the place after the incident where they died, so... Where the heck did the money to pay for all this come from!?

The amount of royal gold the archdukes possessed was simply absurd. The only explanation for such a thing was that they had stolen countless treasures from ruins and dungeons, or something along those lines. Otherwise, how could they have spent so much?

Even the thousands and hundreds of magical plants containing the herbal ingredients needed to cure the disease that threatened to destroy civilization beyond the empire more than two decades ago should not have been given to them in such quantity, or the other nobles would have joined forces to destroy them years ago regardless of their heroism.

At least, according to what Sora knew of the Britannia game, that was the case.

Gods, administrators, whoever, please! Reveal to this humble mortal the secret of those two—about which dungeons and ruins were robbed by that mad and wasteful duo in the days of their youth!

I want more of that for myself!

...Of course, Sora received no response to his shameless plea to the divine while his body was still diligently managing the finances. And it was at that moment that Anna suddenly brought him a report.

—My lord, I have just received the information obtained during the interrogation of the thief.

Weren't you going to rest, Anna? Although I guess it's not much anyway ...

—Oh, really? Tell me.

What Anna told him almost made him laugh…but because of its absurdity and anger.

Almost.

It was a rather stupid thing to do, but just before the mess with Count Betano in which Arthur demonstrated his extraordinary skill in battle and the power of an Awakened Torrius, a very stupid thief had infiltrated the mansion.

This daring girl, intending to steal the treasures hidden in the mansion, used a bomb that could absorb mana from the surroundings in large quantities, unleashing a powerful magical explosion, thus destroying the safe in the mansion's basement.

But the girl was really stupid and too trusting for her own good.

Apparently, she was hired by an unknown source to steal Pendragon and it was that same source that gave her the magic bomb that would absorb as much mana as possible to cause a more powerful explosion... The fact that she almost died during the massive explosion explains the rest. ....

Well, in short...the explosion and the summoning of the demons were two events that just happened to happen at the same time by pure chance...unbelievable as that may seem!

That's why when Sora queried the system about the demon incident, only the information shown above appeared...

Sora wasn't entirely sure how the problem of the thief and the magic bomb was resolved in the original story, as the mansion was never attacked that way in the game, as far as he knew. However, it was clear that the butterfly effect caused by the current Arthur only made things easier for the mastermind behind the scenes.

It's up to him to find out who caused this, so he can eliminate it quickly, avoiding future problems on his part.

Another thing to discover...

As for the magic barrier?

This was, of course, the work of the foreign cult, and only disappeared because the magic bomb absorbed the mana that sustained it as a source of power once it was activated; fueling the magic bomb enough to destroy the entire mansion, nearly blowing the little thief to bits, who was caught thanks to Jonathan grabbing her as she tried to flee in flames among the terrified servants.

The butler remembered all the servants in the mansion, and she was not one of them, which made him believe that the girl was the cause of everything at that moment.

Sora had to say he was impressed Jonathan could figure something like that out in the middle of all that mess, especially since the poor thief was on fire... literally.

Things got even more ridiculous when the girl who was “saved” — so to speak — admitted to doing all of this during the demon’s rampage; without having the slightest idea what was going on, only finding out after going outside with the intention of waiting for the explosion to happen and being surprised by the mess that the mansion’s exterior had become.

The only reason this girl was able to infiltrate in the first place is because she possessed a rare trait that made her nearly undetectable to almost any means of magical or natural perception, evading detection even from someone like Luminia.

Unfortunately for the young and beautiful criminal, this was a trait she could no longer use at the time due to the severe loss of magical energy.

A trait that makes her almost completely undetectable... Could it be?

Sora suddenly remembered there was such a character in the game. A short, blonde girl with curls (maybe) and a hat, with nice thighs...

With that description came a nickname: La  Ladria Induprehunsibi.

I knew they called her that in the underworld on the continent... Whatever that means. 

As for everything else, I could only remember that her real name was Janhep or something like that, and that for various reasons she became one of the many slaves in the service of Arthur Pendragon's 'Secret Organization', using her trait for information gathering and disinformation missions, assassinations, and guess what?

Her specialty: theft; she is supposedly an expert in the latter.

He hadn't expected the girl to become a slave in the first place because she dared to steal from the Pendragon family...  Sora could now see why in many cases it would be foolish to rely too heavily on one skill or trait, and he took it as a reminder not to do the same.

After all, even the Noble Phantasms weren't invincible. 

At least Sora didn't want to end up burned like that little idiot for believing that one of his powers as an Aspirant/Awakened made him infallible.

Anyway, while technically a minor villain, Janhep caused some minor events under Arthur Pendragon's orders that ended up involving the protagonists, so it was safe to assume that the so-called "Idea of ​​the World" made sure she lived on, even with the changes brought about by her arrival.

It was terrifying to see how this world continued to struggle to follow the original plot so subtly. Is it an effort to avoid the causal destruction of those  Great Events the System spoke of?  

Sora felt that was the case, but for now it wasn't something he could focus on.

—Send my order to make her our new slave and to immediately work in the secret organization.

—Understood, my lord.

Well, the girl is still useful. Let's leave that part of the story intact...

So he decided and calmly went back to doing his thing, dealing with documents….

♦♦♦♦

One surprising thing about the idiot's failed robbery attempt with explosives was that the objects and treasures stored inside the mansion's safe managed to survive the tremendous explosion thanks to the powerful runic enchantments it had, as well as the highly resistant materials with which it had been constructed.

In this way, the surviving servants and guards, under the orders of Steward Jonathan, were able to bring many valuable things to the Pendragon territory through the carriages that also survived the entire disaster by being in isolated stables.

That was a blessing in disguise. At least, that's how Sora saw it.

Why, you might ask?

Well, according to the [History] function of the Master System, many of the items once in the destroyed vault included ancient coins, damaged tools and weapons, as well as beautiful lost handicrafts; all originating from ancient civilizations whose archaeological value and scarcity gives them tremendous value across the continent, many of which were enough to cause several individuals to be willing to kill for them at any cost, or in even less extreme cases, purchase them for 15 times their weight in gold.

Why were all these things kept in a mansion where people live only according to their aristocratic whims? I'm curious...

As Sora looked at the list of all those things and quickly read the explanation of the system, several calculating thoughts came to his mind...

Then a name caught his attention and his breath stopped for a few seconds.

This is... a sword from the ancient Norse dwarven kingdom! Those things are usually high-level items!

Old Norse Kingdom.

Shiragaki Sora only knew of this powerful civilization from the game [Britannia: Lost Order], which historically emerged a few centuries after the virtual reality game that preceded it; although it is only mentioned in a short arc where the 'Hero' Ritsuka and her companions fought against an ancient dwarven automaton...

However, at least he knew how valuable any item that came from that dwarven civilization could be.

After all, the Norse are an ancient nation from a bygone era belonging to the Dwarven civilization that lived in the lands of the same name somewhere on the continent lost to history.

It is now known that any fruit of Norse technology is valued as invaluable treasure by many empires and kingdoms of this world; disdain for non-human species like dwarves in no way diminishes their value.

And it was simply inevitable.

After all, the power of dwarven weapons could not even be fully replicated by the current technology of modern humans; despite all the reverse engineering efforts made so far by magical engineers from both the Wizarding Tower and the many Britannian Kingdoms.

An ancient Norse magical cannon, capable of launching elemental projectiles in multiple volleys, could easily destroy the castle of a small kingdom leaving nothing but a gaping hole, for example.

These were the most commonly used defensive weapons today by powerful lords of a territory against large waves of magical beasts or invasions of barbarian races.

Just like the previous Archduke Marcus, and of course, like the current Archduke Pendragon, Arthur.

They were amazing weapons that, although the vast majority were extracted from ruins, were relatively intact and could still utilize their full power.

That in itself conveyed how terrifying the 'Great Calamity' was to destroy a kingdom with such powerful technology...even though it was just a backstory with no apparent impact.

"Lysots sverud? This is a sword from the Norse civilization, right? Are there more treasures from the ancient Norse kingdom in the family's possession? Though it's strange that this is the only one with a name in their language..." Her voice was filled with intrigue as she spoke of the sword named in a language that was almost dead according to the game's lore.

—Yes... There are many more artifacts from the Norse Kingdom in other mansions. As for this one, they discovered its name with the help of an old dwarf who was passing by, so it can't be helped.

A rare bitter smile appeared on Anna’s normally stoic face, intriguing him even more, “I still remember how many teams of archaeologists invaded the gates of the Great Palace to fervently request the Archdukes to allow them to analyze the artifacts of the Norse Kingdom, only to be quickly rebuffed and expelled, as the Archduchess liked the weapon in her personal collection and the Archduke was a worrying hoarder of treasures…”

—I see... But then why was all this in the imperial capital's mansion?

Despite his excitement about the potentially good items hidden among the junk (?), that's what he was most curious about.

—...Because shortly after the Archdukes' incident, many thieves-for-hire attempted to infiltrate the palaces to steal at the behest of unscrupulous archaeologists and other individuals hostile to Pendragon. It was a problem having to deal with all this every time despite the continually improving security measures, so my sister came up with the idea of ​​moving all these valuable treasures out of the palace through the mini-portals and used her authority as Grand Overseer of the Palace to have them executed immediately.

Sora mentally raised an eyebrow at that.

Grand Overseer of the Palace….

He took a moment to remember what that ridiculously important title entailed no matter how you looked at it, before something clicked in his mind as he recalled some of the information about Luminia Streints von Mirian that Yüna herself had mentioned...

If he remembered correctly (and he thought he remembered everything Yüna had said), the Grand Overseer was one of the Six Great Officials of Draco Silva, created shortly after its founding by Igraine Pendragon von Draco Silva, the Archduchess.

In this position, Luminia was in charge of managing the personnel and finances of both the Coria Comdan and the House of Pendragon.

Because she had authority comparable to that of the lady of the house to appoint people of her choice to various roles in the Three Palaces, the Grand Overseer had enormous influence over both the sovereign and all politics that took place within the Capital City of Baldur.

As such, it was widely regarded as the highest "soft power" position within the territory.

In fact, considering both her strength and the fact that she was also the lover of the current Archduke, it can be said that Luminia Streints von Mirian was truly a terrifying figure in many ways.

Although her younger sister Anna, as advisor to the Archduke, also has enormous political influence.

Anna continued the story, “That’s when we decided to use the less valuable treasures as decoys to trick them along the way, making them think we were taking them all to the southern and eastern mansions using disinformation tactics to throw them off track, when in reality they were taking the most precious items to the mansion in the Loveria Capital for immediate protection. In a place with several Dragon Knights coming and going left and right, even if they knew about it, only the boldest of fools would try anything there… Normally speaking.”

Anna finished with dark eyes as she remembered the recent burglar, whose break-in ended with the destruction of valuable private property.

—...It's like that

—I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, but you were dealing with grief at the time, and we knew you weren't interested in that stuff, and since it was a legacy from your parents, we figured even if you knew, you'd still let it go…

—No, I really don't care, so don't apologize.

Sora, seemingly satisfied with the explanation, reassured Anna, who was a little nervous (?), and looked again at the realistic image of the ancient sword displayed on the magic screen, his unusually fine, calculating eyes focused on it. (Yes, this thing created digital images as good as those on mobile devices back on Earth!)

As a weapon created from one of the 6 most powerful magical civilizations of Britannia's Ancient Era, Sora could see with certainty that this ancient item—regardless of its original value in ancient times—had inestimable value in the current times… in terms of pure archaeology, if it were clearer.

The Norse, like any other dwarves, were primarily a civilization of blacksmiths, but at the same time, they were warriors, who were particularly feared not only for their destructive technology and prowess in battle, but also for their mystical and enormous  Forge Cities  with which they could create hundreds of weapons so powerful that they strengthened the military power of their kingdom to a level where they feared no one before the great calamity.

The use of ancient dwarven runes on Lysots sverud, in particular, made it hard to believe that it was not a class 5 weapon or higher, by today's standards.

Even though it was damaged, that didn't matter; it could still be sold for millions in real gold to societies of intellectuals obsessed with understanding the continent's past or the ancient magical ways of the dwarves.

———That's why Sora now seriously considered selling them.

Not only because of the money they would make from the sale, of course—since they were obviously too rich to obsess over that—but because of the need to improve their relationship with the archaeology guilds and form useful connections for the future by negotiating a price that both parties would be happy with.

Sora remembered a bit about how those intellectuals would play a very important role in the game's plot during the New Ruins of the Norse Kingdom arc, and thought it would be good to form a network of connections with them beforehand to prepare just in case.

While I can't sell them at their current price or higher, I shouldn't sell them too cheaply either. After all, House Pendragon shouldn't appear to be in desperate need of them or anything; I won't humiliate my family name like that...

That's what he thought.

To some, it might sound wrong to sell his family's treasures, as well as a weapon from his mother's collection that she valued enough to upset countless prestigious researchers, but from what he understood of the game, it was the most logical move here if he truly wanted to destroy the Emperor.

However, Sora knew well that the original Arthur would not hesitate to sell off several of his family's belongings—which were inconsequential—in order to curry favor with certain powerful individuals in the game, including personal belongings of his own parents.

And while the current Pendragons had significant economic power and their military might was more than decent, their actual political influence across the empire... left much to be desired. That was painfully obvious, even to Shirghaki Sora.

It was true that most of the Empire's nobles, especially the Imperial faction, might appreciate the bloodline of Heroes and dragon slayers like Marcus and Igraine, but the reason was already more than obvious, and it was not enough for their son, Arthur, to be able to use the nobles' power for his benefit as much as he would like.

Of course…without resorting to unpleasant measures that would destroy the reputation he built.

According to the game, in addition to his secret organization, Arthur Pendragon needed certain nobles who were neither hostile to him nor allied with any faction to come over to his side in preparation for the future, using means other than marrying his daughters or something like that.

Thus, he did not hesitate to use various excuses to convert some of his parents' properties into resources to achieve this.

The boy had feelings for his parents... but they weren't strong enough to stop him from doing something like that without a second thought, or maybe he was just too pragmatic.

And like Shigaraki Sora, who considered the tactics of displaying excessive wealth as a status symbol to be nothing but ridiculous at best, he also had no problem doing such a thing.

The only likely reason Arthur didn't touch the mansion's treasure is probably because only the Archduke knew the key to open it.

And luckily for him, his new slave opened the doors for him to carry out any future plans he set his mind to... at the cost of a mansion much nicer than his uncle's luxurious house in Neo Tokyo.

…He felt some pain when he thought about it, and decided they should definitely make the guy go through some difficult missions later. Sora could be just as mean as Nava…

While having those thoughts, Sora automatically continued counting the ever-increasing number of various coins, which he had to mentally convert into actual gold just to reduce the number, and even then, it was still quite...

Come to think of it... Isn't this supposed to be a magical device capable of performing calculations? Why would Arthur bother keeping track of everything himself? More than that, why was the family's administrative body in such poor shape even with things like this?

Sora already knew these desks with strange spheres.

They were basically this world's AI-powered computers called "Artificial Spirits," and in the game [Britannia: Lost Order] Bomenslik Academy showed other similar devices that were used to improve the efficiency of teachers, or something like that.

He realized that the Artificial Spirit supporting Pendragon's administration was what Anna called Urielle….He couldn't help but feel confused as to why the administrative core of all of Pendragon still crashed even when he used its computational power to his advantage.

Wasn't this the runic core that made colonization possible?

He recalled how Yüna, who was much more enthusiastic about the game than he was, had cheerfully explained that Pendragon was the only noble clan that was able to so efficiently colonize a territory that was previously a wilderness at the hands of phantom beasts in just a few years, much to the bewilderment of the nobles.

This was because even with the incredible technologies granted to humanity through sorcery, there was a time when many of the colonies established by kingdoms and empires in wild and dangerous lands failed to gain a foothold, others were lost forever to monster attacks, while a few became bandit settlements.

In most cases, a subsistence economy was established...and in such an environment, the progress of the conquest was usually very limited, in many pieces of land there were no resources similar to those of the country of origin and the difficulties in building and making the colonization of the territory to be conquered prosper were enormous.

But Sora knew from Yüna that in such an environment and to alleviate these situations in favor of Pendragon, Albert Streints von Mirian, father of Anna and Luminia, created expert systems called [Formolau Asumblutionis Standurdizatoe] or simply FAS.

These devices were connected to this rune device to help the Pendragon settlers who were in distant parts of the territory so that they could maintain a life with a high level of magical technology while staying in contact with the lord, thus avoiding returning to a subsistence based on barbarism and giving them a huge advantage over the rest of the aristocracy.

In this way…the people of Draco Silva were able to easily maintain almost equal technological power no matter where in the territory they lived, allowing them to more easily unite around the Archduke's rule… This was a top-level secret kept by magical and divine oaths that was only revealed when Arthur had to flee, as he recalled…

Anyway, with something like that under Urielle's control in addition to the other incredible functions the machine possessed thanks to Albert's secret modifications, Sora couldn't help but ask Alice-chan: Why were they still having so much difficulty?

<Answer: According to data extracted from the Laplace Archives, it is simply too costly and inefficient to abuse the Artificial Spirits' computing function, and furthermore, their capacity is too inefficient compared to modern Earth technology>

Hmm? Sora was surprised, how is that?

Alice-chan quickly explained the situation to her.

<Although the Artificial Spirit could use the desk's rune core to perform calculation tasks on its own thanks to the power of the runes acting as a makeshift brain, both Arthur and Anna avoided using this function for various reasons, the main one being... that it wasted too many magic crystals with each use>

Oh yeah?! But wait... don't we have plenty of magic cores anyway?

<Let me finish, Master!>

Oh, okay… Sora mentally scratched his head at that tone.

Alice then went on to explain that while the device in front of him looked high-tech and was capable of doing things that didn't fit a world of magic, it was in fact a magical device made with rune art; so it wasn't all that surprising that it could create things like solid light windows despite the fantastical environment of the world in question without necessarily being as complex as Earth's scientific technology.

However, in terms of computing power... it was far inferior to the first computer on Earth, and it cost a lot of energy to use it to perform large, simple calculations, and it would be even worse if you tried to use it to count a large sum of money.

While it was true that the Archduchy of Draco Silva had many magic crystal mines under the family name, it should not be forgotten that it was still a finite resource of strategic value to the empire.

It was already considered wasteful to use it in the automata of the Archducal Palace. Using it to count money? That's a crime! (Not literally, but...)

No one, not even the Archduke of the powerful House of Pendragon, was willing to waste them like that… Furthermore, to use those functions in the first place, the Artificial Spirit must be able to use magecraft, but it can only efficiently generate Maryoku from the mana of magic crystals when its master gives it enough Od as fuel.

And the master with enough Od for such a task was, naturally, Arthur Pendragon, who had departed for the capital.

So what's up with this?

Sora couldn't help but be surprised at how inefficient it seemed to rely on that thing to do calculations.

I didn't know what the world's first computer looked like, but it sure sounded primitive compared to even the oldest calculator in Neo Tokyo... and something that's only slightly better than that at calculating money didn't seem very useful.

Thinking about it this way, office work efficiency could only be maintained with the power of these two instead of the current Imperial technology, right? At the very least, these things would have to be on the level of the first mobile phone to be truly useful... Right? Or perhaps being able to display at least 10 percent of Arthur's computing power would also be sufficient...

In fact, the two present in the office of the great lord of Pendragon were powerful Awakened who possessed high intelligence parameters and a high degree of administrative skill that reached the realm of the supernatural, incomparable to the machine before him.

It could be said that the final boss's computing power was second only to that of an Angeloid like Ikaros...

Something that can already be seen currently with Arthur, whose maryoku was running and fluctuating from his magic circuits into his body and fueling his brain capabilities instinctively as he read, analyzed, and calculated the data and numbers before him at high speed under the influence of his abilities.

Arthur Pendragon's own brain had a processing and calculating capacity no less than that of a slightly outdated computer thanks to his high level of intelligence, and given his high level of administrative skill, his efficiency was incredible. Thanks to this, Sora, without realizing it, was learning at a rapid pace.

If he wanted to, he could also accelerate efficiency by using his magic circuits at full capacity. Although currently, there was no need for that.

That's why it doesn't take long to do everything, something that according to the Master System, the rune core would have taken an hour to do on its own, wasting valuable magical energy.

And when he checked it, Sora was surprised to find that all the Od he lost to generate Maryoku, along with the biological energy used by his brain, was recovered in an instant without him doing anything to restore it, such as using Dulcias.

Hahaha... this body and this ability are incredible. Doesn't this mean that if I manage to get a 12th grade in both intelligence and management, I'll be able to calculate and analyze information at the level of a quantum supercomputer?

Well... maybe that's an exaggeration... but in this kind of world, who knows?

♦♦♦♦

In the modern world of Britannia, the monetary system seemed to be quite simple, to the point that someone like Sora found it not so difficult to understand; or at least to grasp the basics.

Something that, of course, was due to the fact that the developer didn't want to complicate their lives by imitating the complex monetary system of [Chronicles of Saint Grial].

To begin with, cash here was called Loveri, and one Loveri was the equivalent of one Japanese yen; only unlike the yen, Loveri was the most valuable dividend in the entire Centoria continent and the known world.

Common gold was worth about 1,000 Loverin, silver 100 Loverin, copper 10 Loverin, and bronze 1 Loverin. Special coins, such as royal gold or black gold, were both worth 100,000 and 10,000 Loverin each.

Bronze, copper, and silver coins were clearly the type of coins used by the lower and middle classes among commoners, adventurers, and common merchants, while gold, black gold, and royal gold were more common among burghers, nobles, and royalty.

Furthermore, you don't have to be a genius to understand that certain products and services, both in the Loveitia Empire and in other countries, can only be purchased with certain currencies.

For example, the former Archduke's carriage, which had become useless scrap and was overvalued, is one such object.

While to sleep in the cheapest inn, you have to pay silver coins to the innkeepers, or at least that's what he learned about the game when he saw how Lars paid only silver coins to sleep a few nights in an inn during a summer vacation trip.

Based on the things Yüna taught him during their study sessions, Sora imagined that in the most important transactions between high-ranking noble houses and powerful organizations, any payment with currency lower than Royal Gold or Black Gold would be an insult to the other party.

It's not an impossible scenario; in fact, it's clear as day that the aristocracy and the world would work that way.

Although that possibly important information was stored and understood by his head regardless of his will, it only took Sora less than half an hour to count the amount of money he should collect from the imperial family.

And the total sum was so great that his eyes trembled no matter how many times he recalculated it in his head. But no matter, even leaving aside the conversion of common currencies like gold, silver, or copper, the amount... was still too much!

2,090,067,812,300 trillion Loverins....or converted into pure Real Gold, 200,678,123 million....200,678,123 million Real Gold!

Such was the absurd and unreal amount of Loverins (in real gold) that the ruler of the Empire, alias his father-in-law, owed to the Pendragons.

A debt of 200 trillion Black Gold coins, which is 2,090,067,812,300 trillion Loverins! I don't think anyone in the entire history of this fantasy world has ever had such a huge debt!

I'm sure of it....!

Sora might even bet on it.