The people who greeted us when we returned to the imperial capital were not military personnel, but civilian officials, including the Prime Minister, who work with the national interests of the empire in mind.
　Besides, I don't know where they heard it from, but they even showed up a nobleman, so it goes without saying that it became very troublesome.


　In their perception, Lionel was still a general of the Empire.

　It seems that rumors were spreading all at once that Lionel was pressing the Emperor to abdicate the throne to His Highness Prince Albert.

　I don't know who started the rumor, but that's why the civil servants of the vizier school and the nobles in the imperial capital were in an unusual situation where they met together.

　Lionel guessed that the purpose of most of them was to gather to find out what Lionel was going to happen.

　Well, it's not hard to see that....
　Normally, no matter how much of a general he is, if he were to press for the abdication of his position, that would naturally be treason, and the crime of treason would be applied.
　But if the Emperor, His Highness Albert and Lionel went to the battlefield together right after that, it's a different story.


　Since Lionel was a vassal of the Empire and also the martial arts master of His Highness Prince Albert, a relationship of trust had already been established....
　If His Highness Prince Albert, who was rumored to have been abolished out of the blue, were to become Emperor, Lionel would have the most military power and voice in the Empire.
　Some of those who have tried to dismiss this is said to have thought that Lionel's actions may have been planned by the emperor with his knowledge or by the emperor.

　This event was to be of considerable importance in the power struggle within the Empire, even more so than the war with the Rubruk Kingdom.
　It was only natural since their future would be greatly affected by how they were able to capture Lionel.......

　When he was a Lionel Imperial General, he never created or entered a faction, and he was always running around the battlefield and not involved in national politics as a warrior.
　"That's why no one in the Empire will know me in depth," Lionel had described himself as such earlier.

　By the way, it goes without saying that it was His Highness Albert who created this troublesome situation.

　It's a very good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
　Because of that, even I.......even we got a lot of attention.

　Incidentally, it was His Highness Albert who was kicked in the back leg immediately after this by Forenoire's wrath, but as long as we didn't know our relationship, there were no civilian and imperial nobles, including the vizier, who would move poorly.
　I don't know if he's more firm than I thought, or if he thinks His Highness Alberto is Lionel's puppet.......

　And now, in the audience room, Lionel was to explain everything.
　The Emperor was sitting on the throne, His Highness Prince Albert was standing next to him, and Lionel was standing on the other side of the throne.
　This time, Dolan has joined us, so the amphibian has been tucked away in a magic bag.
　Naturally, Forenoire followed along, and the curiosity of the thing drew quite a bit of attention, but he deployed his magic circle to threaten anyone who tried to approach him, and no one came close.

　Then Lionel began to speak slowly.

'I was born into this empire, I fought for the empire, I fought to be the foundation of the future empire. There is not an ounce of regret in that. But Your Majesty betrayed me and joined forces with the demon manipulators of Duchy Brange to harm me.
　Then all at once, the place starts to get noisy.
　But Lionel controlled it with his hand and continued to speak.

'I was poisoned on the battlefield nearly three years ago and had the tendons in my legs severed. That was by order of His Majesty here. Then an attempt was made on my life, and I became a slave after I escaped.
　Everyone doubts their ears at Lionel's monologue.
　Well, Cloud had been transformed, so I know how it feels.

I was fortunate enough to be saved by the wise man Luciel, who was there in Yenis, and since then I have been in the service of Luciel. That's why I'm not the person you know nowadays. So I have no interest in the power of the empire or anything else that you are concerned about.

　Then the old man who had claimed to be the vizier raised his hand and voiced a question to Lionel.
'General, then, do you know what exactly the replacement for that general is?


'He is a rare man from another world, a reincarnate born in the duchy of Brange. Already today morning, that person has lost his head with the help of Master Luciel the Wise, and I have lost my head. And I've already had all of the demonization plans that His Majesty and that person were pursuing destroyed.
"...but it could be enhanced to our military strength, could it not?
　The one who raised his voice was a man in his forties who looked like a warrior dressed in armor.

''Then you wanted to become a demon, a human weapon that has lost all reason and emotion?
'No, that's not...'
　The man slumped and fell on his face.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the next few weeks. It is not something that can be obtained by evil methods.
　The audience room was silent.

''As I said earlier, I have already resigned as the general of the empire in my mind. Currently, I'm serving Sage Luciel-sama as a follower and fighting against the demon race, demon kings and evil gods. So you can rest assured that I won't have anything to do with the Empire at all.
　However, when word got out that Lionel had resigned as a general, the people related to the military personnel started to panic, but that was to be expected.
　Lionel's strength is something that would hurt the evil gods as well as his master....

''I've spoken at length, but His Majesty made the empire even bigger with his wisdom, but he had dabbled in the Evil Law and was on the verge of becoming a demon race himself. That's why the emperor of the empire........
　Lionel looked at His Highness Alberto once, then shook his head, shifting his gaze further back and calling out his name.

'Let me advise you that the position is vacant until Saint Melfina selects it, and that the heads of the various factions will continue to run the country as before, and let me have the last word as the general of the Empire.
　What? !　It was quite an unexpected development.
　But for some reason, the vizier and other military officials seemed relieved as well.

　With only one person, His Highness Albert, who seemed to have burned out, as an afterthought, Lionel put a check on the Imperial officials.
''Ah, let me give you one last piece of advice.
　When I told him that much, Lionel tapped Lord Gladys, who was on his way, on the shoulder, and seemed to be saying something to him.

　And when he came over here, Lionel laughed and said.
''Come on, let's get away from the Empire as quickly as possible. The Empire will not have the luxury of paying attention to us for the time being.

　We laughed at Lionel's words and headed out of the imperial castle, launching our airship and escaping into the sky.