The sunlight peeking through the curtains shine brightly on my face.

Seeing this as the signal for me to start my day, I rise up from my bed.

“Another day, another set of work to do.”

A sigh escapes my lips, thinking of all the paper work I’ll need to settle.

Changing my clothes and performing a few stretches for my stiff body, I leave my room.

Walking along the corridors, I come across no one except for the few maids working this early in the morning.

“Ah, I see you’ve already woken up.”

Turning around to face the owner of the voice,

“Morning.”

Saying a simple greeting, the two of us continue through the many corridors.

A few minutes after leaving my room, we finally arrive at a finely decorated door.

Slamming open the door with a loud noise, my companion snaps at me.

“You! I know this room is yours but please pay even a little respect to the work the people put into it!”

“Eh? But isn’t it fine? I mean……”

Ah! He’s mad.

Sighing in resignation,

“Fine, fine. I’ll try to remember.”

Proceeding to the seat located behind the only desk in the room. I let my body heavily drop down on it, before rotating it to face the desk.

“So then, what are the papers I need to finish for today?”

I ask this to the person in front of me.

A man in his 30s with blond hair and sharp blue eyes. Different from the decorated military uniform he had worn during the hero’s summoning, he was now wearing casual clothes consisting of a plain white shirt and cotton pants. A brown magic bag was slung over his shoulders. The current royal adviser to Helgas’ king, Joziah Mejj.

“Of course. Here they are.”

Taking out a bundle of papers from his magic bag, he lays them down on the desk.

“Here is a summary of them all. Several appointment requests with the heads of the adventurer’s guild, merchant’s guild, alchemist’s guild and craftsmen’s guild. This month’s budget approvals for the agricultural sector. Migration papers for the refugees who had just arrived last week. A detailed report of the strange event that occurred in Gramsfer, which resulted in the destruction of the nearby forest and mountain. Also, a list of Helgas’ recent weapon exports to the country of Nacioldas.”

“T-that’s a lot……”

Contrary to my tired expression, he had a calm look on his face while he was enumerating the amount of work I had to do for today. But considering the difference between us even back then, it’s not that surprising.

While I was born as the sole heir to the throne of Helgas, Joz was born to a family living in the middle-class of a neighboring city so he had become accustomed to dealing with a lot of work. When I was his age, all I did was thinking of ways to skip my lessons or prank others for my enjoyment.

Thinking back on it, I had first met him during one of my many encouragement speeches to the Order of Yurijah’s, the country’s second highest knight order, new recruits. Remembering that he was almost 20 while I was already my 50s at that time makes the bones in my body creak from age.

Back in his prime, he had aspired to become part of the Order of Mikhael, this country’s highest knight order. However, an incident involving an assassination attempt on my life prevented him from pursuing such a dream. Now, even with all the achievements and strength he has gained, he still refuses to take up a leading role in any of Helgas’ knight orders.

His reason being that ‘someone needs to be there to keep you in check’, as he told me.

“Really now……shouldn’t you be looking for a more suitable job or looking for a nice woman to be by your side?”

I unconsciously mutter out those words.

“Hmn? Not really. As I have said before, if I were to leave you, my friend and benefactor, alone, this room would be filled by mountains of papers every day.”

“Ahahahaha……”

Not being able to find a rebuttal to his statement, I instead shift the conversation to another topic.

“By the way Joz, how is the situation of my daughter going along?”

His face brightens for an instant when I had brought up Stephaly.

The doting uncle as always. Though I feel sorry for him knowing that she holds a misunderstanding regarding his being overprotective of her.

Ever since she had been indoctrinated into the Order of Mikhael, he had always found a way to ensure that she obtains the assignments with the least amount of danger.

“Ah, yes. We had just received a message from them with the MagComm.”

Magic Communication Device, or MagComm, is a brand new magic tool that has only seen widespread use in the people of Helgas living in the royal capital, Dravint. Because of its usefulness for spies, there is a very strict law regarding its use outside the capital. So most of the time, they are confiscated when an owner leaves and is given back upon their return.

“And, what did it say?”

“They have just arrived in the town of Thornglen.”

“So they are still proceeding south huh.”

She sure is enthusiastic on bringing that hero back here, maybe I can expect some interesting developments……

“Your highness, please refrain from thinking of schemes while working on official duties.”

Geh, he’s spot on as usual.

“Please ignore it for now---”

“No, I will not.”

“Did the TelInt get anything?”

“……”

“……”

“Yes, we have just intercepted a telepathy message from the country of Forsten that was being sent to the country of Minarl.”

“Minarl, the Dwarves? It’s highly unlikely that the Demons would be able to reach their country this soon, so what would the Elves want with them?”

As I was pondering on this, Joz’s face shows an expression of displeasure.

“Oh, Joz, what’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just that……even after doing this for almost 10 years, is it really alright for us to be simply eavesdropping on other countries’ Telepathy messages with each other?!”

“How many times have I said this Joz? Don’t worry, there’s no way that they’ll learn about this!”

“Not that! Haaaaaaah……for the king, who is a prodigy in magic power application and magic tool enchantment, to be using his talent in creating magic tools like this is just……”

“Hey, hey, I also made the MagComm, so it all balances out, right?”

“If I recall correctly, your highness. That is but one of the many magic tools you have created in the recent years.”

“Ahahaha…….”

“And do please remind me of the TelInt’s original purpose?”

“Why, to make sure that the neighboring countries---”

I stop speaking midway because his glare.

“To…to know when and where the guards in the palace are so that I could get out easily……”

After I answer, he sighs once again and massages his forehead.

The TelInt, short for Telepathy Interception, is magic tool I had created when I was young. Due to being the sole heir, very strict rules were placed on me regarding my leaving the palace. Since most of the palace guards used Telepathy Magic to communicate with each other, I tried to find a way to figure out their positions by taking advantage of this method.

At first, I tried making magic tools which could pinpoint their locations by backtracking the messages sent via Telepathy. But the strain of magic power used was too small so it ended in failure. Then I realized something, how did one send messages using Telepathy?

With magic power, of course. But then, how did that magic power send almost page long messages to a specific person, who then receives it as simply as someone telling it to them directly.

That’s where my idea of ‘intercepting the messages’ came from. Instead of backtracking, I could simply place myself in between the sender and the receiver, then using the concept of ‘receiving the message’, in theory I could obtain the same information in an earlier time frame.

When I tried it, I also thought of a theory that any magic could intercepted just like what I was trying to achieve. Not in the sense of taking its power for your own, but maybe a way to push an attack away from its intended target by blocking the attack’s path then applying your own magic power to disrupt the original course.

After much trial and error, it worked. But it wasn’t long before my father found out and forbade me from ever publicizing it.

Although I had no plans to, I still found a use for it by making the TelInt.

Unlike the MagComm, this magic tool could only be found in major fortresses owned by Helgas. Also, there was no danger of its theft because as soon as someone else other than the registered used held it, it would implode on itself.

The registration also worked in the same way as identity cards so there was minimal risks.

“Anyway, what’s the content of the message?”

“Right. The king of Forsten was requesting the king of Minarl to send their hero to the country of Farbrent. Due to their hero currently occupied with the battle in Wildern, they cannot assign this task to her.”

“So the 5 ‘Demon Commanders’ are putting up that much of a fight huh.”

It’s been 6 days since they appeared in the outskirts of Wildern. For the battle to last this long, much less against the 3 heroes, is troubling.

“And? The reason for this request?”

“Forsten’s king did not say anything else except for ‘it is of utmost importance’ with a dark tone.”

“Hmmm…….well, their actions are outside of our jurisdiction and it doesn’t look like they’re trying anything against us, so let’s leave it be for now.”

“But your highness, if this situation leads to our city becoming under attack---”

“Don’t worry. Remember, that hero said he’d return if ever that happens so there’s nothing else we can do aside from keeping our morale up.”

Minutes pass in silence as we both go through our own work.

Then, while going through the bundles of paper, a thought crosses my mind.

“By the way……”

“Yes your highness?”

He removes himself from the work he is currently doing and faces me.

“Is there any progress on those Demons who infiltrated the summoning?”

With a regretful look, he shakes his head.

“Sadly, there is none. Not a single trace of magic power remained in their bodies when they were found in the dungeons.”

“I see……according to the head librarian, the hero transferred them there while everyone was frozen, which means the mastermind must have cut off the supply of magic power to the bodies as soon as he realized that they failed.”

“But for someone or something to be able to control corpses is impossible, isn’t it?”

At his question, I reply with my own hypothesis.

“Not entirely. Although it would be difficult, it is possible. But the theoretical amount of magic power needed or the experience in manipulating other bodies would be too much for anyone from this world.”

“This world?”

“Exactly. An example would be---”

“A summoned hero?!”

Joz looks at me with surprised eyes.

As he was about to run out, I stop him.

“Relax. This is only a hypothesis. It’s not set in stone that one of the heroes has betrayed us.”

“But still, this could be important information that needs to be shared with the others!”

“Just sit back down. Even if we do share this, we still don’t know how deep the mastermind had planted his ‘corpse puppets’ into the other countries. Though it looks like he got lucky with the ones he used back then, as their bodies had the innate unique to take the appearance of another person. For now, we should observe for any other movements that this mastermind will do. Then we take action against them.”

“If you say so, your highness……”

The day quickly passes by. After taking a break and eating lunch, we both resume dealing with the work given to us.

When I was almost finished, two papers caught my eye.

“Hey Joz.”

“Yes?”

“What are these reports about? Dangerous rituals in a cave? Sudden floods and forest fires moving across the country?”

“Hmn? Oh yes, it seems the first one is from an adventurer from Kinallen. Initial investigations on the cave he pointed out brought up nothing so they took it upon themselves to check it again. Their party of 8 B-ranked adventurers entered with high class equipment, only for 2 to return with one being in a near-death condition. They claim that a powerful undead resided within the cave and wiped them out. Of course, another investigation was made and once again, it brought up nothing.”

“So why is it here?”

“The adventurer’s guild is asking if it is necessary to put it up as a country-wide request or not.”

“Hmmm……rejected.”

“And why is that so?”

“We cannot waste our resources on a request that is not guaranteed to be true. Furthermore, we cannot even be sure of those adventurers’ legitimacy.”

“I see.”

“Hey, what’s with that surprised look on your face?”

“Hmn? Oh! It’s just that I sometimes forget that you’re a king who can actually do some work.”

“Why you!!!”

Getting carried away by his remark, I forget about the second report I was planning to ask about.

Later that day, after all my work was finished and I was about to sleep,

“Maybe we should improve our agricultural sector after all.”

Thinking those would fix the flash floods and forest fires, my work for today ends.