第９３７堀：皇帝は何人もいる？ (Part1)
**Chapter 937: Are There Multiple Emperors?**
**Side: Yuki**
*Chirp, chirp...*
The morning birds were singing refreshingly.
Under normal circumstances, I’d probably be pulling a listless face, thinking about how another mundane day was beginning. But today was entirely different. I finished my morning preparations with brisk efficiency.
Before heading to the audience with the Emperor of the Zuraburu Great Empire, I was confirming the current situation with Steve and the others.
"So, the dungeon deployment finished on schedule, right?"
"You got it. The enemy—well, I guess they aren't really enemies—doesn't seem to know what a 'dungeon' even is."
First and foremost, I needed to know about our escape routes in case the Zuraburu Empire decided to turn hostile. It seemed the dungeon deployment had gone off without a hitch.
"You don't think they're just pretending not to know, do you?"
"No way. We’ve carefully placed the entire Imperial Capital, including the Imperial Castle, under our control, and there hasn't been a single reaction. We’ve been monitoring the Emperor himself, even in his private quarters, and he hasn't taken a single countermeasure. Looking at the supplies we've identified, there aren't any items capable of dealing with our dungeon, either. It’s highly likely they don't even realize they're being controlled by a dungeon."
Judging by the situation, it didn't look like they had intentionally lured us into deploying the dungeon within the castle. Still, I didn't want to be overconfident and get tripped up.
"If anything happens, mobilize the troops I have on standby in the forest outside the capital."
"Understood."
With reserve forces already positioned, even if something went wrong, we just needed to hold out for a few minutes until reinforcements arrived.
"Still, it’s strange. They shouldn't know anything about Weed, yet they scheduled an audience for the day after we arrived. Because of that, the dungeonization of the Imperial Castle had to be moved up. I had to pull an all-nighter, boss."
Right. For some reason, the audience had been set for today. That was the only miscalculation.
"Well, if you consider that they might want to hear a report about the destruction of their army—which could be called an emergency—it makes some sense..."
"But it’s weird that they want us involved in that report, too. Though, I guess you could say that’s thanks to us showing off Weed’s military might."
"Maybe we intimidated them too much... I don't know."
It was possible that by bringing a decent force to avoid being looked down upon, we had inadvertently accelerated the audience. But then again, Weed was essentially a nobody here. Should I attribute this to Vol and the others working extra hard to persuade them? No, that’s not something you could explain in a single day...
"Anyway, that's fine. What about information on the Emperor himself? I want it before I head to the audience."
Yes, information gathering and verification were the priorities now. Because the time until the audience had been unexpectedly shortened, our grasp of the castle's details and the key figures of the Zuraburu Great Empire was lagging. That included the Emperor I was about to meet. This was top priority.
"Hold on a second, boss. We haven't verified everything yet. There are quite a few people faking their status with concealment abilities, so we haven't identified them all."
"So they're thorough about that, huh?"
Well, the Zuraburu Great Empire seemed to be a land of swords and magic. It was only natural that some people would possess status-concealment skills. The fact that they used such specialists to hide their details showed just how much the country invested in information. Damn, this alone proved that the Zuraburu Great Empire wasn't just a gathering of outlaws.
"I mean, looking at the info we've gathered so far, they seem to be in a real slugfest with the old-regime emperors. They’d want to prevent assassinations. Actually, the assassins themselves are showing up on our radar pretty easily."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Here."
Steve sent the data to my call device. I checked it and...
"...There are thirteen of them already confirmed?"
"Yup. And we haven't finished vetting everyone yet, so if there are people with high-level concealment, that number will go up. Man, they’ve really made some enemies."
"Well, they say assassination is common in an era of war..."
Thirteen assassins in the Imperial Castle just from a quick sweep. I suppose they hadn't been caught yet because they were just listed as "Assassin from Country X" in their status notes while working normal jobs within the castle. If they were openly labeled as "Assassin," they’d never be hired for castle work.
"Still, none of them are in key positions. They’re guards or maids; nobody is close to the Emperor."
"They might be letting them run loose on purpose. I’m sure they vet the backgrounds of anyone they hire."
"Naturally. They must be keeping them on a leash. Otherwise, the Emperor would have been dead a long time ago. Anyway, forget the assassins. What about the Emperor himself?"
"Ah, well, how do I put this... there are candidates... It’s better if you just look."
Steve sent more data. I opened it immediately...
"There are four Emperors."
"Yep."
"And all of them have 'Emperor' written as their occupation."
"Sure do."
The data showed that all four had "Emperor" listed in their status.
The first was a middle-aged man who looked the part.
The second was a young, flashy male Emperor.
The third was a sharp-eyed, career-woman type female Emperor.
The fourth was a young girl Emperor. Flat-chested, but with sharp eyes.
"So, is the real one among them?"
"Well, you’ll have to use your own appraisal to confirm that, boss. Our investigation is based on the dungeon's management functions, which are clearly a few steps below your appraisal skill. It’s possible they’re all dummies."
"That’s why you’re having trouble determining the truth. So, which one of them was doing government work last night?"
That was the logical way to judge. As I thought that...
"All of them were working properly. I don't know the content of the work, but they were all writing documents that were immediately taken away by attendants, so it’s not just for show. That’s for certain."
"...So they’re using body doubles and actually having them do the work, too."
"Yeah. A body double that gets exposed immediately is useless. It’s actually pretty novel—instead of using doubles with the same appearance, they’re putting different types of people in the same position to cause confusion."
"True. Well, thanks to that, I can narrow down the real Emperor."
"Seriously? I mean, you can just appraise all four of them, right?"
"I haven't appraised them yet. But I'm sure..."
I said that and cast my appraisal on one of the four people shown on the call monitor...
*Occupation: Emperor of the Zuraburu Great Empire (Real)*
It appeared. I’m still very curious about what kind of system manages these status contents, but in this case, it was convenient, so I’d let it slide.