The Emperor's Intentions

Within the hour, the emperor is riding a carriage towards the downtown area of the noble district. The royal crests and golden plating has been removed from the carriage to avoid unnecessary commotion at his parting.

"Your majesty," His attendant asks from his seat across from the emperor. "Why must you go out and meet the criminal yourself?"

"Bah!" the old man coughs, "After my palace has been so rude to him, I'll have to apologize personally."

"Daddy!" a girl in a frilly dress pouts next to the emperor, "why did you wake me up and make me come with you? You don't usually take me on outings."

Fondly, the emperor pats Princess Emilia's head and says, "You're have a 12-year-old body again. I think it's time you go out and see the world a bit more often."

Of course, what the emperor didn't tell Princess Emilia is that he's hoping she can catch the dragon slayer's eye. Emilia is the youngest and most beautiful of the imperial princesses. On top of that, she's already been tested by his mages, and they've all agreed that she has a strong spirit.

Given how keenly the emperor has watched Haalfrin over the years, he knows very well about the man's marriage to a magicless commoner called 'Tanya'. He also knows that Tanya had an innately strong spirit too.

After that, Genris had his researchers compile a psychological profile of Haalfrin, and they all concluded that he's not very picky about who he allows into his life; the ONLY real similarity between all the people's he's genuinely liked were people with strong, attractive spirits.

After all, the Demon of the Pit is obviously the type of man who is swayed by spiritual beauty - not physical beauty.

Plus, given Haalfrin's past marriage, Emperor Genris knows that Haalfrin is the type of man who's incredibly loyal in marriage. Not only would he feel safe letting his daughter be married to a man like that, but he also knows that a marriage would adequately tie the mage down.

Of course, Genris doesn't plan on flaunting his daughter too obviously, lest he annoys the volatile dragon slayer. No, the most he can do is have the girl around and hope that something comes of it.

Even still, this whole trip was even a surprise to him, and bringing her along was an improvised move. Even now, he's considering how to deal with her presence in this carriage, and how to introduce her to Haalfrin.

"Dad," Emilia scrunches her eyebrows, "You made me dress up and look really pretty. Aren't I a little too young to be shown off to boys? Are you trying to be rid of me already?"

The emperor coughs uncomfortably, "But my dear! You know that 5th Gate mages age a lot slower than 2nd Gate mages like you. You'll be all grown up in a few years, yet he'll remain the same."

"So it's a 5th Gate mage you're showing me off to?" she scrunched her eyebrows. "It's not General Fisco, is it?"

"Ehem," the emperor's personal attendant draws their attention. "Are you sure it's a good idea to try setting up your youngest daughter with a man like that? He's an ex-prisoner of the Pit. He can't be a good man!"

"Nonsense!" the emperor waves this notion away, "My investigations have already told me how he was sent there on a false accusation. Besides, he's proven himself a dutiful man - both before his imprisonment and after.."

"D-dad," Emilia raises her voice in concern, "who are you talking about? A prisoner? Is meeting his man really safe?"

The emperor ruffles her hair again and says, "He's the most powerful mage in the empire."

"More powerful than you?" the girl asks. As far as she knows, the emperor himself and Commander Fisco are the only 5th Gate mages in the empire. He can't be talking about the Threshold Commander, since that man has never been in the Pit. Who could they be talking about?

"His name is Haalfrin," the attendant tells the girl.

"... Are you talking about that arena champion from a few years back?" She looks up and tries to remember what he looks like.

She's seen several recordings from her fights, and she has to admit that he's quite impressive. He looks a little too skinny for her liking. His face isn't overly handsome, but he's at least not ugly. "Isn't Sir Haalfrin a 2nd Gate mage?"

"No. He's been a 5th Gate mage this entire time," Emperor Genris tells his daughter.

"The whole time? A 5th Gate?" Emilia can't quite believe it. "Father, I assume you covered this up from the public. Why'd you do it?"

"Because the one who slew the 4-horned dragon at the Pit, and he's a god-candidate," comes her father's short reply.

This time, it's the princess's turn to get surprised. "…What? WHAT!? Oh…"

After she gets over her surprise, the princess gets a little flustered. She always knew she was going to have to marry a powerful man one day, but she didn't know it was going to come this soon, nor to someone so eminent.

…She goes oddly silent.

Seeing that his daughter appears nervous, the emperor consoles her, "Don't worry, dear. It's not guaranteed you'll marry him. I'm not going to bring up marriage talks unless he appears interested in you and if you, yourself, take a liking to him. If one of you isn't interested, we'll just pretend you're here for an outing with your father. Keep quiet about all this unless I bring it up first, you hear me?"

From Emperor Genris's point of view, he's not marrying his daughter off. Technically, he's just giving her an opportunity to meet an eligible husband.

...Well, Princess Emilia doesn't see it that way, though she manages to hide her frustration quite well.

"Yes, father…"

Noticing he failed to calm her nerves, the emperor continues, "My girl, I'm not going to marry you to a man who would treat you poorly. If that man proves to be crass and barbaric, then I won't even bring up any marriage talks with him."

Finally, Princess Emilia calms down, and she smiles again.

With all that out of the way, the emperor nervously taps the door and wonders, 'Now all that's left is to see if Haalfrin is willing to listen to us… If a woman doesn't work, all I can do is give him a good impression of the imperial family.'

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Half an hour later, the emperor's nondescript carriage rolls up to Haalfrin's inn, and 3 of his bodyguards riding around the carriage hop off their horses and head inside.

Within a minute, the 3 men trot back over to the carriage with stiff expressions on their faces. One of them discreetly parts the curtain on the carriage, and he says quietly through the window, "Sire, Haalfrin has left the inn about an hour ago. The innkeeper doesn't know where he went. He only knows that he left towards the west – away from the palace."

"Leaving the city, huh?" the emperor sighs before ordering, "Take some men and find out where he's going. I guess this afternoon outing has turned into a road trip." He turns to his attendant and says, "Notify the guards at the west city entrance to have travel gear prepared for us by the time we get there."

'Please,' the old monarch pleads to the gods in his heart, 'please make sure Haalfrin doesn't cause any trouble before we find him…'

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"Haalfrin!" Prella calls out through the howling wind, "you don't have to do this!" The World gate and the small pavilion around it is already in sight, so she doesn't have much time left before the Demon of the Pit does something that can't be undone.

They both slow down, and Haalfrin sets Prella back on the ground. She looks up at Haalfrin, who is holding onto a bone ax floating in the air.

Despite Dakka being the Slain, and Haaalfrin, the Slayer, the dragon still has a gargantuan mana pool compared to human. When they both realized that they'd have to fly a long distance, Dakka volunteered to fly them all with his mana.

"You can stay here," Haalfrin says curtly. He has Dakka momentarily stop and lower them all to the ground. Once they're low enough, he drops Prella off on the ground. "I know where the gate is now. Just… run off or something."

"No wait!" she screams again, but he flies off without her. "F###!"

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Meanwhile, Haalfrin holds onto Dakka's bone ax as they fly forward again. "Bro," Dakka says in an excited voice, "I'm ready for a rematch."

"Rematch against who?"

"The Threshold, obviously!" Dakka answers matter-of-factly. "I came through with 3 of my brothers before, and I had to sneak through like a coward to get on the other side."

"So…," Haalfrin asks, "You want revenge?"

"Hmph!" Dakka huffs proudly, "I'm a 4 horned dragon now! I also have you! This battle will be glorious! …And fun. Yes. Gloriously fun!"

"Anything you want to warn me about before I bust my way through?" Haalfrin asks.

"…" Dakka is silent for a moment before he replies, "Don't try to break down the Threshold Walls. They're indestructible. You'll have to find your way through the hallway on your own. Also, don't bother smashing the traps and enchantments. They have some ridiculously advanced Time magic going on in there. I mean, everything broken just repairs itself automatically, no matter how badly you damage stuff. If you want to wear down their munition, don't bother. I don't know how, but they never run out of arrows, lances, or mana stones."

"… Is that all?"

"That's all I can think of," Dakka finishes.

"Good. Let's get this started."

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The Emperor's carriage whirrs along a finely paved road across the countryside. At this point, the roads are enchanted to move any carriage on it across automatically, so the horses were ditched, and they move along at 3 times the speed.

"Father…," Emilia asks, "Why do you look worried?"

Of course, it's because the emperor has been receiving telepathic reports about a man flying straight to the World Gate with luggage in one hand and a middle-aged woman in the other. However, not wanting to unnecessarily worry his daughter, the old man pats her head and says, "It's nothing dear. I'll have it taken care of shortly."

As they get closer and closer to the World Gate, the carriage comes to an abrupt stop.

The emperor leans his head out the window and shouts with a red face, "Why did you stop the carriage!? We won't make it in time at this rate!"

Before the driver can answer, a familiar face appears beside the carriage. "Your majesty," Prella Vanteri bows. "Hurry to the world gate! Haalfrin is about to go through the gate!"

The emperor barely pauses to think before he commands, "Get in the carriage!"

Prella hops in with a confused look on her face. Once she squeezes between the attendant and the bodyguard sitting across the emperor and the princess, she looks down with an ashamed look, "Your majesty… why didn't you leave me behind? I'm just a disgraced noble."

Without looking at her, the monarch crosses his arms and says, "You know him better than us. You might help in dealing with him."

Besides, Haalfrin at least has a good, working relationship with the Vanteri Family, given how he stayed as a Teacher for one of their daughters for nearly 10 years. It wouldn't hurt to have a Vanteri along for the ride.

Princess Emilia swears she spotted a tear drip down Lady Vanteri's eye at these words, though the older woman is quick to wipe it away and pretend everything was fine. "Thank you, your majesty," Prella says reverently.