Chapter 2

Chapter 1 – Princess, It’s Time to Change Jobs (1)

It was an era of peace.

The Demon Race, who had been waging war, had suddenly vanished.

Rumors that the Demon Race appeared in villages occasionally circulated among the residents, but there was no sign of the Demon King’s Army moving in an organized manner.

However, the atmosphere inside the Imperial Knights was different.

“Another disappearance?”

“The number keeps growing. They aren’t discriminating by the missing people’s status or age.”

Bang!

Commander Hadowk slammed his fist on the desk.

His brow was furrowed, veins bulged, and his gaze sharpened.

The Commander’s face, filled with fatigue, became covered in anger and began to turn red.

Hadowk repeatedly scanned the document he was reading as if he couldn’t believe it.

The Advisor, watching Commander Hadowk’s mood, cautiously continued the report.

“This time, the missing include two court mages. Last week, a group of ore refining artisans on the village outskirts disappeared. This time, it’s a whole group of mages.”

People who had clearly been there until yesterday had vanished completely by this morning.

The Commander scanned the list of missing mages and let out a long sigh.

“Any traces of resistance in the Magic Tower?”

“None.”

“Did you investigate residual mana?”

“Yes, there’s none.”

“Bodies or wounded?”

“None at all.”

All the missing were people whose skills had been recognized and who had been assigned to the regular army.

‘No traces of battle at all?’

That was why the Commander deliberately asked the Advisor once more about what was written in the report.

The Commander wanted to deny this reality.

He hoped the Advisor would tell him right away that the report’s contents had been misreported.

He examined the report he had read and scanned it once again.

“Mages, without a single trace? These are veterans who even took part in the Demon Realm expedition. People with that kind of skill disappeared without a trace of resistance? This is…”

The Commander choked on the word he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“Commander…”

The Advisor finished the Commander’s sentence for him.

“As the report says… I believe the probability of betrayal is high. I don’t think it’s kidnapping.”

The Commander’s eyes narrowed.

Then he stared intently at the Advisor’s face.

“How dare you! Betrayal?”

It was just that those above were hushing up and hiding the truth.

The disappearance of people was not, in fact, something that had only started yesterday or today.

The long war with the Demon Race.

The barren financial situation and devastated land.

The ensuing harsh labor, meager rewards, and excessive taxes that squeezed the breath out of them.

People who could no longer endure it hiding in remote regions and mountains, or fleeing to deep rural villages or neighboring city-states, was a social problem of the Empire.

But such escapes usually risked life amid the dangers of the wild, and on the day they were caught by a search party, a harsh punishment equivalent to treason followed.

The Commander, reading through the report, pointed to a passage and muttered.

“It’s not a simple disappearance? Betrayal is the conclusion drawn based on the commonalities of these cases?”

The recent disappearances were on a completely different track from usual.

“Yes, most are either outstanding mana wielders or Transmigrators who crossed over from another world. And the more serious matter is…”

It was no wonder the Advisor concluded it was betrayal.

“It’s the order in which they disappeared. Colleagues or family members who were close to those who disappeared first are now disappearing in a chain. It feels as if someone is following the links and weaving them together one by one. So… circumstantially, I suspect betrayal.”

The adjutant who had been giving the report swallowed dryly.

No one returned.

No one was caught.

Therefore, no one left behind words of regret.

That meant…

“I don’t think it will end with these disappearances. Not if they are disappearances, that is.”

“Damn it! The Empire’s finest talents are disappearing! And you’re saying even more capable talents will vanish one after another?”

Along with anger, a sense of fear rose in a corner of his heart.

Without leaving even a trace of resistance, people with such outstanding abilities had hidden themselves away.

‘If it is betrayal as this report says?’
‘If the place they headed to is better than this one?’
‘If they truly never return?’
‘If others leave this place too?’

This Empire would collapse in an instant.

The Commander shook his head and denied the reality before his eyes.

“That can’t be. Betrayal is absurd. We all swore to devote our loyalty to the glory of our homeland…”

Loyalty and devotion.

Even if their bodies were crushed, even if they gave their lives, striving for this country was the reason the Imperial Knights existed.

To the Commander, who had devoted his whole life, body and soul, to the Empire’s revival, betrayal was impossible; no insult was as fatal to him as the contents of this report.

Such rumors must not spread through the Empire.

“Begin the search from the border regions. If you find them, show no mercy. Every last one who betrayed the Empire’s grace must be torn to death.”

The Commander clenched his fist tightly and muttered.

At that time, Commander Hadowk did not know.

That on that night, one of the Empire’s most valuable talents was scheduled to disappear again.

***

Deep within the Imperial Palace, the quarters of the 3rd Imperial Princess, Eileen.

While other princesses and crown princes raised the Empire’s prestige on battlefields and at the center of power, Eileen spent the night reviewing the Empire’s administrative affairs before piles of documents.

The Empire’s brain.

Though she was called that, the Emperor merely threw more work at her instead of praising her contributions.

Eileen did not complain about that.

Her origins as an adopted daughter who had entered the imperial family made it so. It was unavoidable.

Eileen thought it was fortunate just to be called a princess now…

But now, she did not.

Thud!

Eileen lightly struck the desk and flopped back against her chair.

Reviewing documents by relying on a small lamp light was extremely exhausting.

She pressed her eyelids firmly with her fingers and let out a groan.

“Finish the supply route budget proposal by tomorrow morning? This isn’t an amount a person can handle… With just an abacus and no Excel?”

A workload that would be overwhelming even with modern computer programs.

Eileen let out a sigh with bloodshot eyes and looked at the mountain of documents.

“Even if I’m reborn, it’s a work hell! Maybe I’ve fallen into a sloth hell that repeats through reincarnation…”

Rattle. Rattle.

The sound of the window shaking in the wind, the lamp light flickering, and a cool dawn breeze brushed her neck.

Eileen sighed and thought.

‘Did I leave the window open and forget…?’

The windows of the quarters would surely have been checked by the maids, and there was no one but her alone in the room who could have touched the window.

That meant someone was in this room!

Just as that thought crossed Eileen’s mind…

“With that level of work intensity, you must already be burned out, Princess.”

A small voice was heard.

“Who…!”

Eileen hurriedly turned her head.

What appeared from the darkness was a woman dressed in pitch-black clothes. A priestess once praised as the Empire’s Saintess.

It was Erica, who had suddenly disappeared one day.

Traitor.

The Fallen Saintess, Erica.

“Erica?”

“How unlike you to be surprised. It’s a shame that your abilities are rotting away in the Empire, Princess. The Demon King has made a very special offer. I trust that this time you will come over to the Demon King’s Army.”

As if this were not her first or second time visiting the Princess’s quarters, Erica smiled naturally and sat in the chair across from her.

“Are you trying to kidnap me?”

“That wording is a bit off. It’s not kidnapping, it’s scouting.”

Then she politely took a document from her bosom and held it out to the Princess.

“Today, you will leave this place and come with us. We will take you to a place that recognizes your value, Princess.”

Eileen looked at Erica’s hand.

Skin far smoother than in her priestess days, and a relaxed smile.

“Hmm…“

Outside the door, the footsteps of guard knights on patrol could be heard.

But the Princess did not inform them of the intruder’s presence; she merely unfolded the contract Erica had held out and stared intently at it.

“A four-day workweek, flexible clock-in and clock-out outside core work hours…”

Eileen looked at Erica with suspicious eyes.

It was a suspicious offer.

“Preparations to bring you safely are complete. If you come over, I promise you treatment on the level of the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“Treatment on the level of the Four Heavenly Kings meant you would let me form my own team.”

“Exactly. As expected of a Transmigrator, you catch on quickly!”

Such a sweet offer.

The Fallen Priestess smiled and rose from her seat.

“Princess, you’ve finally made up your mind.”

“…”

The Princess said nothing, but as if she could tell just from her expression, Erica gathered mana.

Shortly after, a red portal opened from her hand.

“Hah, yes, I do have a mind to. I do. That’s why I haven’t held you back until now.”

She looked back and forth between the enormous pile of documents and the red portal before her eyes.

Empire Eastern Supply Route Reorganization Plan.

Northern Military Supplies Redeployment Plan.

Western Fortress Food Transport Budget Proposal.

Dungeon Exploration Team Personnel Assignment Plan.

And a one-line instruction the Emperor himself had sent down on top of the documents.

[Report before tomorrow’s breakfast.]

“Even by your standards, isn’t this workload insane? Am I Cinderella? Even that stepmother wouldn’t have worked her this hard?”

Those were not words befitting a noble mouth.

Erica tilted her head as if she didn’t understand the Princess’s complaint.

“I don’t know who Cinderella is. Is she a famous person?”

“There is such a thing.”

Before she was a princess, in her past life, she had been a logistics operations team leader at a large distribution company.

She knew by instinct what this level of workload meant.

It was not an amount that could be finished by grinding one person down.

There was no computerized logistics system, no Excel, and no automatic dispatch system.

All that was on the desk were an abacus, parchment, ink, and a seal.

And only documents stamped with the insane slogan, [I pledge firm loyalty by devoting body and mind to the glory of the Empire!]

In her past life, the Princess had been an office worker.

Dawn clock-ins, late-night clock-outs, weekend shifts, holiday overtime.

She prided herself on having rolled through logistics centers as much as one could.

But after dying from overwork and reincarnating into another world, an even worse working environment was waiting.

At least in her past life, there was Excel, and they really paid a lot.

But the labor and exploitation that would be ordered again after tomorrow’s breakfast.

This place that saw her only as a tool, not as a princess.

‘Because you’re smart.’

‘Only if Your Highness does it will the Empire survive.’

‘You must bear the responsibility befitting that position.’

They wrapped it in nice words, but the meaning was one.

‘You can do it, can’t you? You do it. There’s no particular reward, though.’

At this point, being a princess was not a noble status but a rank with nothing but responsibility.

And unpaid, at that.

As if she had made up her mind, she rose from her seat and said.

“I’ll go. That would be better.”

“Good.”

As soon as the Princess answered, red light burst from Erica’s hand and swallowed the Princess into the portal.

The next morning, the Imperial Palace was turned upside down.

Because Princess Eileen had disappeared without a trace.

The chair she had been sitting in and the documents on the desk.

Only the extinguished lamp light sat there, deserted.

The Princess’s disappearance also had no trace of resistance and no letter.

This time, too, only the person had disappeared from that spot.