Volume 3 - CH 9

Act 3-9: Ugly Desire(Side: Ketzer)

――A certain mansion in the royal capital of the Ksar territory.

It was a gorgeous room decorated with expensive but seedy-looking ornaments and stuffed monster’s heads hanging on the wall.

Sitting in the centre of that room was a fat noble with two beauties, whose eyes had already lost their intelligent lights, waiting upon him by his sides.

「I wonder what brings the messenger of the royal palace to this place?」

The messenger clad in a white robe and a white mask that hid their face was holding a handkerchief that they used to block their nose and mouth from the unpleasant air and the stinky odour in the room.

「Ketzer-dono, it’s an order for you.」

「Order? From who?」

That question made it clear to the messenger of the royal palace that only a few people could order this man, Ketzer, due to his peerage.

「Currently, the girl planning to overthrow the order in this kingdom is staying in the mining city, Akinashi. Moreover, that girl seems to want to work together with Wind Cat to achieve her goal. Carefully use this information, and restore the order of this Amelia kingdom.」

After reading the message, the messenger left the room in a hurry as if they were escaping from the room.

「This order of the imperial court. I see! That rumor is true, eh?」

Ketzer’s expression, which was dyed in the color of lust, resembled that of a toad as he started to laugh. His reaction was natural since this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for him to fulfill his dream.

Just when Ketzer had grasped the information that the Wind Cat was hiding in the 【Demonic Forest】 forming a punitive force to subdue the latter, some piece of good news came upon him.

The first was that the one supporting Wind Cat was none other than Oliver Akinashi of the knight peerage.

Three hundred years ago, an evil dragon had appeared in the eastern territory of the Amelia kingdom. There was no end to the evil deeds the Evil Dragon committed, from destroying the city to burning its citizens alive. And the place where this Evil Dragon was subjugated was the current citadel of the Akinashi territory. Moreover, since that Evil Dragon had built its nest right on top of a mountain range vein, the Akinashi territory was well-known for its abundance of precious metals. These precious metals could be exported to create magic tools and many other things.

Normally, the Akinashi territory should be under the jurisdiction of Ksar’s count since it and the Ksar territory was literally next to each other.

However, back then, the Amelia kingdom’s government had granted that territory, along with the knight peerage, to the otherworlder who had subjugated that Evil Dragon―Kotetsu Akinashi.

If it became known that Oliver Akinashi was involved with Wind Cat, he would’ve committed treason against the kingdom.

Then Ketzer could not only get rid of Oliver Akinashi but also snatch that rich territory. As long as he played his card wisely, he could use his merit in subjugating Wind Cat to absorb the Akinashi territory into the Ksar territory.

The second piece of news was the news about the royalty who was hailed as the mad princess of the Amelia kingdom, the first princess. Rosemary Loto Amelia was currently staying in Akinashi territory.

Rosemary, who wanted to abolish the noble system, was viewed as the common enemy of all nobles with noble blood in their veins. A majority of the nobles wanted to banish her from the Amelia kingdom. Thus, although Ketzer had no idea from which big-shot had the self-proclaimed messenger from the royal palace come from, the other party was clearly affiliated with the Gilbert faction. Ketzer was almost convinced that it might be the order of Prince Gilbert himself.

Prince Gilbert was regarded as the champion who would continue the tradition of the noble society. In Ketzer’s opinion, Prince Gilbert had a gentle and cool-headed judgment, and he also honoured tradition and order. The difference between their beliefs was the reason for their cold war. Thus, as part of the Gilbert faction, Ketzer felt that he had to accomplish his duty.

The third piece of news was the news about the chief of the Wind Cat. Their leader turned out to be the vanished princess, Felis Loto Amelia.

「Nufufufufu! All the advantages are on me.」

The order Ketzer had received was to assassinate Princess Rosemary and push the blame to Oliver Akinashi of knight peerage. At the same time, he would also be dealing with Duchess Felis, who was colluding with Oliver. And his reward for accomplishing his duty was Akinashi territory.

「Princess Rose and Duchess Felis! To think that I’ll get the chance to add the two of them to my collection.」

Princess Rose was the undisputable, number one beauty of the Amelia kingdom. And the vanished Duchess Felis was also a country-toppling beauty. Moreover, the effect of her gift maintained her youthful appearance.

A mere lord like Ketzer would have never dreamed that he would ever come across a chance to turn the two beauties into his slave.

Humph! It’ll be regarded as treason if the public were to learn of this, but their beauty is worth the risk.

They’re going to be treated as deceased princesses once all of this is over anyway. The top officer is noble. In short, I’m acting as Prince Gilbert’s vanguard. They’re not going to investigate this matter seriously. It would end easily as long as I prepare corpses of burned women with the same physique like them.

「Contact Serpent Blood’s boss.」

Ketzer licked his massive lips with an entranced expression as he ordered his retainer.

Serpent Blood was one of the top ten mafias in the kingdom. Ketzer had been in a good relationship with them for a long time. He used them to do his dirty jobs, such as buying noble lady slaves, trading prohibited goods, looting, kidnapping, or robbery.

And this time, I’m going to use them to kidnap the princess and massacre the Akinashi territory in the name of treason.

Let’s commence the operation at the same time as when the hunt for Wind Cat in 【Demonic Forest】 of East End would begin. Even if many of the subjugation forces would die in the process, they’re nothing more than disposable pawns. The preparation to take control of 【Demonic Forest】 is already in order. The next thing to do after securing the Duchess is to dispose of the mercenaries to get rid of all evidence.

「How exciting!」

Once upon a time, Ketzer had gotten the chance to see Princess Rose in the royal capital. Her beauty made one think that she was a goddess. Imagining her beautiful face twisted in fear as he tormented her was enough to make Ketzer extremely excited,

「I’m looking forward to that day!」

He spoke with undisguised desire.