Frondier followed Philly's lead, strolling through the Imperial Palace.
He realized this was his first time entering the palace since the war. Despite the lack of people, there was a sense of busyness in the air. They were probably occupied with the restoration and processing after the war.
‘…As expected, I can't let another war break out here.’
The Empire wasn't prepared for another war. Due to the unique nature of the Empire, with Manggot being the only potential enemy on the continent, their sense of preparedness for such a situation was weak.
Frondier had informed his father, Enfer, about the devils in the west. Worried that his words alone might lack credibility, he had also asked Elodie, a fellow witness, to do the same.
Even so, he wasn't sure how much Enfer would believe him, but as long as he kept it in mind, the Roach and Shroud Knight Orders would act as guardians while they were in Manggot.
‘Philly must have already received information about the devils, is this somewhat boisterous welcome because of that?’
Frondier had built a considerable amount of trust with Philly. Of all the characters he had met so far, they were the ones who had doubted each other the most, but perhaps because of that, their current trust was strong.
This trust wasn't a belief that Philly was a good person, but rather an understanding of what kind of person Philly was.
It wouldn't be strange to think that Philly was waiting for him and preparing to welcome him for that reason.
‘…Is there another purpose?’
As Frondier followed Philly's back, his thoughts accelerated.
Following Frondier's back, Elysia struggled to quell the confusion that spread like ripples through her heart.
‘Wow, everyone passing by is greeting Frondier. So politely….’
Elysia was lost in thought, marveling in Frondier's stead as he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.
It was as if Frondier was now receiving the treatment she had received when she was royalty. No, perhaps even better.
‘Both Frondier and mother are taking it for granted. Frondier must have done something during the war….’
The only thing Elysia knew about Frondier recently was the one line that he had achieved great feats during the war.
Even if it was a great achievement, there was a limit to what Elysia could imagine.
At best, she imagined that he had stopped the monster attacks pouring out of Constel in the middle, just like what she had experienced.
Of course, that was also a great achievement. Something no one else could do.
Yet, even so, Frondier was still the ‘human sloth’ afterwards.
Therefore, the current change in situation didn't feel real to Elysia at all. It felt like a dream. A dream where she would wake up and wonder for a long time whether it was a nightmare or not.
Frondier suddenly stopped walking and spoke.
“Have you brought a guard?”
“A guard…… what do you mean?”
Philly asked, looking back at Frondier.
Frondier narrowed his eyes and said.
“……Someone is watching us. If it's someone Your Majesty doesn't know, I'll take care of it.”
At those words, Philly blinked for a moment.
Then, as if realizing something, she widened her eyes, a rare occurrence.
There was no doubt. He was talking about the shadow agent, Ednet. He was watching them using stealth.
‘I told him not to approach like that!’
She knew Ednet's stealth was excellent. It wasn't that she trusted her own senses, but the fact that he had reached her without being detected by anyone in the palace was certainly impressive.
However, Philly had warned Ednet. She told him not to even come near them while Frondier was around if he didn't want to see something unpleasant.
Philly didn't know how good Frondier's senses were, but the risk was too great if Ednet was caught.
Ednet must have been confident. Confident that no one in the palace would notice him, and that Frondier would be the same.
But that confidence turned into nothing more than arrogance at this moment.
“Ah, right. It's my guard. The entire palace has been busy lately, so it's inevitable that the defenses are neglected. Just in case, I've assigned a guard.”
Philly changed her expression and said with a smile. Both her expression and excuse were quite plausible considering they were made up on the spot. As expected, the Empress's skills shone even at this moment.
“I see. As expected of Your Majesty.”
Frondier nodded as if convinced. However, in Frondier's case, it was impossible for others to be sure if he was truly convinced, so Philly simply believed that he was.
Walking forward again, Philly felt her face flush. She clenched her teeth.
She had believed that there was room for improvement in the shadow agents, but instead of improvement, hadn't their level dropped even lower than when they were purged by the devils?
Meanwhile, Frondier thought.
‘…He seems to be using stealth.’
In Frondier's case, he had a ‘sixth sense’ that made stealth techniques ineffective. It was a sense that could even pierce through Elodie's magic. It was almost impossible to surprise him.
However, the only problem was that the sixth sense was so good that he couldn't gauge the opponent's level.
‘I don't know if he's hiding well or not.’
Right now, Frondier could pinpoint Ednet's location. He was no different from anyone else.
Therefore, even if Ednet was hiding using all sorts of stealth techniques, Frondier couldn't tell whether it was a ‘combination of all sorts of stealth techniques’ or ‘just that’.
However, there was one other thing he could tell with his sixth sense.
This ability, which he had originally obtained by devouring the soul of Helheim, was extremely sensitive to ‘killing intent’.
‘He seems to think of me as an enemy. Does he know me?’
Frondier felt Ednet's killing intent. It wasn't that strong, but Ednet was clearly trying to kill him. However, the killing intent was so weak that it felt clumsy.
‘It's not like a personal grudge, he's just trying to kill me because he has to.’
Was this also because he was Philly's guard? Because Frondier was behind Philly's back?
But Philly was the Empress, and she inevitably walked ahead of everyone else. Was he saying that every time this happened, Philly's guard would reveal their killing intent?
Within the palace, someone who wanted to kill Frondier but was protected by Philly.
Frondier let out a sound unconsciously after finishing his thoughts.
To Philly, it sounded like he had grasped the situation.
Frondier roughly understood,
Philly realized that Frondier roughly understood.