Jobless Rising! ~I’ve Become a NEET. I Acquired Lewd Skills and Lived a Life of Sex in the Other World and in Japan. Before I Knew it, I Was Impregnating A Harem of Ladies?!~ - Chapter 93: Rumors Stirring in the Imperial Capital: Filmeria and Princess Avies

Chapter 93: Rumors Stirring in the Imperial Capital: Filmeria and Princess Avies

In the three weeks before Touya returned to the otherworld of Reival, several events stirred the imperial capital. Specifically:

“Lady Erinabel’s retainer… saved Lady Filmeria from Alkrom!?”

“I hear Lady Erinabel herself is personally training him.”

“They say he fought mock battles against multiple knights without even breaking a sweat!”

…These were rumors about Touya.

Erinabel, who had never taken a retainer before, recently elevated a commoner man to her service—a story that had spread earlier.

At first, various rumors circulated, but since Filmeria herself confirmed Touya saved her, attention was now shifting to his abilities.

“They say Lady Erinabel spotted his potential while patrolling the lower districts.”

“I heard the higher-ups are considering rewarding that retainer.”

“What…!? A commoner…!?”

Regarding Filmeria’s abduction, it was known that Cerialis ultimately intervened with her power.

But the fact that the retainer shielded Filmeria from Alkrom’s deadly blade with his own body until Cerialis arrived… this was starting to ripple through the capital.

“Think about it. Lady Filmeria is of the bloodline of the first Twelve Radiant Generals and a distant relative of the imperial family. He protected such a person, literally putting his life on the line.”

“…So the empire needs to reward him somehow to save face, huh?”

“I see… The Fimirun family holds the rank of Second Count, and Lady Filmeria herself is a Third Countess…”

Had Touya emerged unscathed, the story might not have grown so large. But the tale of him guarding Filmeria despite being slashed across the back by Alkrom had become a celebrated legend.

The more nobles talked, the more pressure the empire faced to act officially. Failing to reward him would only further alienate the nobility.

Aranx’s faction was already struggling to maintain unity.

“But a reward for a commoner? It can’t amount to much, can it?”

“Well…”

“You know something?”

“It’s just a rumor, but… they’re considering granting him the rank of Tenth Count.”

“What…!?”

The rank of Fifteenth Count is merely a quasi-noble title, often granted to capable commoners serving high nobles, purchased by wealthy merchants, or awarded for battlefield valor.

It comes with no pension and is largely ceremonial, allowing high nobles to bestow it at their discretion. Most who receive it never rise higher.

Some quasi-nobles do ascend to true nobility, but it’s rare, and jumping straight to Tenth Count was unprecedented.

“Is that… true? Hard to believe…”

“They say Princess Avies is involved somehow.”

“…? Why would Princess Avies, a royal, be involved…?”

“Well… I heard that before Lady Filmeria secluded herself, she was close with Princess Avies. Perhaps the two discussed something about this retainer…”

Regardless, a man who was a commoner until recently might receive a noble title. In that sense, Touya was steadily drawing the attention of the capital’s nobles.

Avies Kainzbern: The princess’s pale gray hair shimmered, her bangs intricately braided, and her eyes sparkled like emeralds.

Her mother was once hailed as the empire’s most beautiful maiden, and Avies herself was now called the “Moonflower” for her radiant beauty.

The half-sister of Aranx and Yugdovarn, this stunning young woman was currently in the imperial palace, conversing with Filmeria.

“So… I’m just glad you’re safe…”

“Princess…”

The two, being close in age, had been friends before Filmeria’s seclusion. This face-to-face meeting was their first in a long while.

When Avies heard Filmeria was caught in an incident, she reached out, wanting to talk. Filmeria gladly accepted, leading to this conversation.

Filmeria recounted the events of that day. While her story aligned with what Cerialis had told Avies, Filmeria spoke in greater detail about Touya, Erinabel’s retainer.

“A commoner with no magic… yet so remarkable. This Touya person.”

Avies seemed intrigued by Filmeria’s talk of Touya—or rather, Filmeria was deliberately steering the conversation to spark that interest.

The entire reason Filmeria decided to meet Avies face-to-face was to talk about Touya.

“…Princess Avies. What I’m about to say, I ask you to keep in strict confidence…”

“…This Touya, the retainer. There’s something more, isn’t there?”

“Yes. You know of my foresight, don’t you, Princess?”

Filmeria’s foresight was known to every noble in the capital. Some called it a symbol of ill omen, earning her the unfortunate moniker “Wailing Priestess.”

After a noble’s death triggered by one of her visions, Filmeria largely withdrew to her mansion. Avies, of course, knew this.

“My foresight, which has never failed… was proven wrong. Twice.”

“What…?”

“The first vision was of Lady Erinabel’s death. The second was my own. Both by Alkrom’s hand.”

“No…!?”

Filmeria’s visions always foretold someone’s death, an unerring glimpse of a fixed future. This certainty fueled rumors—some even whispered she chose her visions’ targets or cursed those she saw.

Her foresight was that precise, so the claim it had failed stunned Avies, her eyes widening in shock.

After all, the visions involved the empire’s mightiest knight and Filmeria herself—an extraordinary anomaly.

“But both I and Lady Erinabel were saved… by Touya-sama.”

“…!! He altered the future you saw…!?”

“Yes.”

Filmeria elaborated on Touya.

His decisive action, his chivalry in saving a stranger like her, his courage and skill in standing against Alkrom despite lacking magic, and his unprecedented feat of shattering a fixed future.

“You may laugh, but… I believe Touya-sama might be the hero of the prophecy.”

“That’s…!”

Avies realized Filmeria sought this meeting to share this belief—and its implications.

(I’m not actively involved in my brothers’ conflict… but that doesn’t mean I approve of the civil war draining the nation. I’ve told Filmeria this before…)

Avies herself was skeptical of the hero prophecy. The prophecy book was lost, and the hero summoned from another world a thousand years ago might have been exaggerated by the people of that era.

She trusted only what she saw or verified facts, not baseless rumors. She wasn’t quite a realist, but she didn’t swallow gossip wholesale.

Yet, if the prophesied hero truly appeared, the implications were immense.

(Even if the hero’s actual power is uncertain, in this exhausted state, a true hero’s emergence could generate tremendous influence…)

With the civil war wearing down both nobles and commoners, a prophesied hero’s arrival would offer hope to many.

They’d expect the hero to end the conflict, repel foreign threats, and unify the empire. Even if the hero lacked such power, the belief alone could shift the tides.

If word spread, risks would mount. Forces opposed to imperial rule might rally around the hero to overthrow the current dynasty and establish a new one. As a royal woman, Avies wouldn’t remain untouched.

Yet Filmeria had shared this only with her, not spreading it further. That carried weight.

(Whether this hero is real or not, the fact that only I know—while my brothers remain unaware—could make me a key player, despite being a powerless princess…)

Filmeria likely felt overwhelmed by the idea of a hero and hesitated to inform the emperor.

Avies understood Filmeria’s choice to confide in her.

“…I can tell from your words that Touya is exceptional. But that alone feels like thin evidence to call him a hero…”

“Touya-sama is… from another world.”

“…What?”

“He travels between our world and his. Lady Erinabel has witnessed him return to his world multiple times.”

“…!!”

A man with no magic yet able to match Alkrom, who shattered a fixed future—an anomaly beyond reason, just like the hero of old, a visitor from another world.

Avies now understood why Filmeria believed Touya was the hero.

“…Has anyone else heard this?”

“Only Lady Erinabel and I know.”

“I see…”

It was too early to believe fully. Avies hadn’t seen Touya travel between worlds herself.

But dismissing it as Filmeria’s delusion was too risky. If Touya was truly the hero, securing him before anti-imperial forces could was critical.

“Princess Avies. Honestly, I don’t view the ongoing civil war as good for the empire. …No, until recently, I didn’t think about such things.”

Filmeria’s heterochromatic eyes gazed into Avies’s.

“But meeting Touya-sama… I thought he could show me a future I’ve never seen. Perhaps he could bring a new order to the empire…”

“Filmeria…”

“There’s no proof he’s the prophesied hero yet. But he has the strength and radiance to make me believe he could be.”

As Filmeria spoke of Touya, her cheeks and ears flushed slightly, her gaze earnest yet tinged with affection—a clear sign she was conscious of him as a man.

“When will Touya next come to this world?”

“It’s uncertain, but I heard it won’t be longer than a month.”

“I see… Then, when Touya appears, tell Erinabel to bring him to me.”

She’d need a reason. The simplest was granting him a noble title, which she had the authority and justification to do.

This would also make it easier for Erinabel to bring her retainer to the palace. A new noble swearing loyalty to the imperial family was a plausible pretext.

If Touya proved to be the hero, her role in elevating him to nobility could later be leveraged.

(Now… I must discern what kind of man this Touya is. Could he be the empire’s savior in these chaotic times? Or its destroyer? Or perhaps just an ordinary man, destined to fade into history’s depths…)

For now, meeting him was the first step. But days later, a shocking report shook the capital.

The great lord Jairas Lufred had defected to Yugdovarn’s faction.