Dimensional Descent

Grand Prime Ministers Ji, Dove, and Green settled the atmosphere down. Everyone already knew the bias the court had for Leonel. The fact that this sort of proceeding was happening at all was a testament to that. But Leonel himself didn’t seem to be very appreciative of it.

If this had been just two days ago, it would have caused a great deal of dissatisfaction. But now everyone already knew how this would end. After what Leonel had done for their weapon and pill industries, everyone understood that he couldn’t be touched.

Useless? Riding on past valor? Taking advantage of connections?

Who could even dare to say such a thing anymore?

What no one knew was that Leonel hadn’t even planned this out. He had only been on a walk with his wife when he saw the ridiculous state of their Crafters. He chose to take action for the sake of his mother and Anastasia.

The former because he wanted to do something for the Fawkes family since that was what she would want, and the latter because he needed practice using World Spirits as the foundation for his Crafts.

Although there was still a little adorable fairy on his shoulder right now, he had still succeeded. This was the same way Anastasia could still appear anywhere while her Segmented Cube still completed its daily tasks.

This wasn’t just because a World Spirit could split its attention so many ways, though that was true as well. Rather, it was a layer more complex than that.

Leonel had used the World Spirit as a proxy for controlling the laws of the world. He was essentially using the World Spirit to gain permission from the world to use its energy as he pleased.

This accomplished several things. First, the energy would be taken from the surroundings and didn’t have to be replenished. Second, much of the computational load would be handled by the laws of the world that worked on the simplest evolutionary principles. And third, this left Leonel only having to leave a guiding hand.

This was a level of Crafting that left Grand Prime Minister Green in so much awe that he passed out trying to comprehend it. And the crux of this matter was certainly about to become very important… very soon.

”Leonel Morales,” Grand Prime Minister Ji began with a calm cadence. ”Unranked Imperial Prince, son to the late First Imperial Princess, may she rest in peace.”

Grand Prime Minister Ji had a clear solemness to him that made it evident how much he respected Alienor. It was hard for anyone not to respect such a woman.

”To—”

”And Velasco Morales,” Leonel interjected, his gaze calm.

Grand Prime Minister Ji’s gaze flickered, but he still nodded in the end.

”To—”

”And Velasco Morales,” Leonel repeated.

This time, Grand Prime Minister Ji couldn’t help but frown. Leonel’s intentions were clear: he wanted him to say the words.

”… And Velasco Morales.”

Leonel couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t call out his mother’s name and only referred to her by her title. There wasn’t much to say about this, but if he planned on skipping over his father as well, that wouldn’t be allowed.

Since they were introducing him, they might as well remember that he was a Morales. His mother’s name was Alienor Morales, not Fawkes. His father’s name was Velasco Morales, not Fawkes. His name was Leonel Morales, not Fawkes. His wife’s name wouldn’t be Fawkes, and their child’s name wouldn’t be Fawkes.

”… Has been accused of killing members of the Imperial Family and committing fratricide. Would you like to refute these claims?”

Leonel tilted his head to the side. Was this guy trying to sweep them up into one group?

”Depends on which one you’re talking about,” Leonel said with a smile. ”I’ve heard several have died in the last few days. A shame, really.”

Grand Prime Minister Ji froze, and the Third Imperial Prince’s family shook with rage.

”… There are four counts of each for eight total.”

”Interesting, but I only killed one person,” Leonel said with innocent, blinking eyes.

This time, Grand Prime Minister Ji maintained his calm.

”So you reject six counts?”

”Well, I reject all eight. I was just curious about why there would be eight in the first place,” Leonel replied calmly. He was truly not taking this seriously.

”Imperial Prince, if you insist on making a farce out of these proceedings, we will hold you in contempt. We will lock you up for six months.”

Leonel almost yawned. If he had been tired, he might have really gone that far. This was all a waste of his time, too much of a waste of his time.

Unless he was training or spending time with his wife, it just wasn’t worth it to him.

”Listen… whoever you are,” Leonel’s gaze became cold. ”I’ll say this once and once only. I’m only allowing this because of my mother. If not, not only would I not even be here right now, but I wouldn’t have the patience for any one of you.

”So let’s speed run to the end, shall we? I didn’t kill those three utterly worthless idiots. I did kill one of their mothers, but only after she attacked my courtyard first. Both my wife and I were in that house, and she attacked to kill, so I counter-killed.

”I hope that’s enough for your little proceedings. You can fuck off now.”

Leonel turned and really walked straight back into his courtyard.

”HALT!”

Grand Prime Minister Ji completely lost his temper, his aura erupting like a volcano.

Before he could do anything, though, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. This time, it was Grand Prime Minister Green who stepped forward.

”I understand the arrogance of the young, and you have indeed contributed more to this Empire in a single day than we old men have in a lifetime, but there are rules that an Empire must abide by. If you want to act as you please, then a price must be paid.”