/
In the imperial capital of the Elysian Empire, there was no one to greet us upon our return. It wasn’t that we wanted a grand welcome for our triumphant return as a research team, but we were not welcomed by the public, not even by the ordinary citizens, and the atmosphere felt weird.
“Miss Yuki. Lady Mary. The Emperor wants to see you.”
As soon as he returned, we were summoned by the emperor. I had planned to ask for the cooperation of the Minister of War, Mr. Eo and Mr. Yuto to meet with him, but it seemed that there was no need for that trouble. Mary and I went to the audience chamber to report on the Messiah clan and Rafishal.
“Yuki, Mary, thank you for your help. I’ve already heard the report of the survey team from Brule. The resurrection of the Great Sage Rafishal is a great deed.”
Sitting in the emperor’s chair was not the emperor I knew. Mary muttered when she saw his face.
“‘Prince Amuno

”
“Hey, Mary. Lord Amuno ascended to the throne three days ago. He is now the Emperor of the Elysian Empire. It’s not polite to call him prince!”
A high-ranking official, whose name I did not know well, pointed this out to us.
“What happened to the emperor?”
“The former emperor passed away due to illness. That’s all there is to it.”
The emperor died

the day we were leaving, though he didn’t seem to be feeling too bad

.
“Brule told me you might have something to tell me.”
The new emperor, Prince Amuno, asks me. I’ve heard that Prince Amuno is a member of the Messiah family. If I talked about it badly, my life would be in danger.
“No, all I wanted to tell you was the report of the survey team. Dr. Brule has already told you that, so we have nothing to say.”
Mary, too, knew the situation well and immediately responded.
“Well, that’s good, then. You can go back now.”
We bowed our heads and turned to leave the audience chamber. Then the new emperor spoke as if he remembered.
“Yes, I forgot to tell you that starting today, you will be joining the newly established Special Forces. This is the empire’s most powerful magicraft unit. In order to call yourselves the strongest, you must be perfect both physically and mentally. For that reason, I order you to spend a month in the Imperial Medical Research Institute.”
For some reason, I was horrified to hear that. Mary seemed to feel the same way and her face was pale. I could tell that we didn’t have the right of veto, as the guards began to gather around us in droves.
“We will escort you to the Imperial Medical Institute.”
One of the guards said, but I was tempted to say that this was not an escort, but a detention.
If I were to be taken to the Imperial Institute of Medical Research, I had no idea what they would do to me. I looked around to see if there was anything I could do. However, there was no one there that I knew. If the Minister of War, Mr. Eo, had been there, he might have been able to help me

.
As Mary and I hesitated to go, the guard said as if to hurry us.
“Let’s go quickly. Master Rafishal is waiting for us at the Imperial Medical Institute.”
I knew it was Rafishal’s idea

.My bad feeling turned to certainty.
But without a magicraft, there was nothing we could do. Valiente was also in the hangar and would not be able to help us. The guards took us straight to the Imperial Medical Institute

At the Imperial Medical Institute, Rafishal was waiting for us, as the guards had said.
“The Messiah clan is really good, they’ve been faithfully carrying out my orders from ten thousand years ago and preparing for this. Thanks to them, we can move quickly.”
“What are you trying to do to us?”
When I asked, Rafishal smiled and said.
“I’m going to give you the best present that you’ll ever want to thank me for.”
“A present?”
“Ludia is not a fixed number, you know. I’m going to examine your latent abilities and dimension classes now, and raise your Ludia value to its maximum level. Depending on the potential ability and dimension class, your Ludia value will be amplified by at least several times, and depending on the class, by several dozen times.”
“Ludia value amplification

Is that even possible?”
“Yes, it’s possible. It’s a common technology in ancient civilizations. I’m going to use it on you.”
I don’t want that, but it seems impossible to refuse.
“Don’t worry, the cost of amplification will be minimal.”
Rafishal said when he saw us looking worried. Mary asked a question.
“What is the price?”
“The deterioration of the soul. We call it that, but don’t worry. It’s just becoming a little less human.”
I didn’t know what it meant, but those words scared me like nothing I’d ever felt before.