Act 3-10: Wind Cat’s Confusion(Side: Felis Loto Amelia)

Deep in the 【Demonic Forest】 of East End―Wind Cat’s hideout.

Dozens of people were gathered together in a squarish cave. Every one of them had an expression that looked like they had chewed on bitter bugs.

「Rosemary, eh! She’s the most decent one amongst my oldest brother’s children. But, that was the past. I no longer have any confidence in her. After all, she has received her education in that den of low-lives called the royal palace.」

「B-but, the rumor said that Saint-sama is a really kind person―」

A petite woman around twenty years old was trying to say her opinion, but…

「The kindness of royalties or nobility isn’t extended to citizens. It might be just philanthropy as a front.」

Felis Loto Amelia shot down that notion while combing her silky blonde hair.

「My lady, we’re also exhausted. All of us are about to reach the limit of acting like chivalrous thieves.」

A tall, lanky, yet well-built gentleman with white hair and beard said so as if to rebuke the princess.

「Lucas! We’re not chivalrous thieves! We are the resistance!」

「The only ones claiming so are us. On the outside, we are called a bunch of thieves. Please realize that we have to cooperate with outside parties if we want to stir some trouble in the Amelia kingdom. In the first place, do we really have to perform this dangerous stunt?」

Felis crossed her arms, pondering at Lucas’s words. Then…

「But that offer might be a trap prepared by the government. We aside, Akinashi’s citizens might become those disgusting pigs’ prey, you know?」

Felis could still shoot that opinion down with a fair argument.

「Indeed! That’s why I think we have to gamble on this chance. Are we going to get recognized as one of the people by this world or rot away in this place? We have extremely limited options, you know!」

Felis had an agonizing expression on her face for a while, but…

「So, what’s Oliver’s opinion about this matter?」

She asked Lucas after heaving a deep sigh and erasing the agonizing expression.

「According to him, there is a low chance that Her Highness Rose came up with this plan on her own. However, she doesn’t seem to be lying.」

「So that means Rose has been appointed as the lord of East End during this crown contest, right?」

「Yes! Although she seems to be contacting one of the information brokers we’re familiar with, the news about her being the lord of East End is true.」

Lucas was a cautious man. He would never offer a suggestion to Felis unless he had seen a chance to win. For him, even the seemingly weak Rose was worthy of his trust; she was worthy to be entrusted with the future of Felis and the Wind Cat.

「Crown contest, is it? Which means that she has already chosen her royal guard. Do you know who her royal guard is?」

A Royal guard was akin to the knight leader of the crown contest’s winner. Although there were one or two cases in the long history of the Amelia kingdom where the royal guards didn’t become knight leaders, each participant of the crown contest had received the authority to appoint a temporary royal guard. In short, a royal guard was something akin to the face of the crown contest’s participant.

Yes! The crown contest wasn’t just a competition to decide the future ruler of the kingdom. It was also a power struggle between merchants or nobles in the kingdom. The merchants or nobles supported their chosen participants, believing that the one they supported was the most appropriate person to become the next ruler.

“This person is definitely going to win the crown contest.” The participant would receive support as long as they could show their supporters that they could win the contest. And since Rose was participating in the contest as well, Felis concluded that Rose had, at the very least, chosen her royal guard.

「About that…」

Lucas faltered for the first time today.

「What’s the matter? Tell me the identity of Rose’s royal guard.」

Felis noticed that something was amiss. Lucas was an extremely efficient man. The news might be a disadvantage for her and the others, but she had never seen Lucas hesitate like this before.

「The gift holder of 【The Most Incompetent in This World】, Kai Heineman. He seems to be the grandson of the previous sword saint.」

「The most incompetent in this world? Are you sure that Rose really choose someone with that seemingly-worst gift as her royal guard!?」

As if she can win the crown contest with the possessor of such incompetent gift as her royal guard.

「It might sound strange, but there’s no doubt about it.」

There’s no need to discuss this matter anymore then.

""

Rose might have been assigned this territory only for the duration of the crown contest. It would be deprived by the kingdom again once the crown contest has ended. If Rose loses this crown contest, the East End and the Wind Cat would be put under the control of that ugly Pigzer. [TL: Pig+Ketzer = Pigzer]

The citizens who belong to Wind Cat are nothing more than the relatives of rebels or political offenders. In a certain meaning, they are nothing more than slaves. What would happen to them once this territory falls into the hands of that Pigzer is as clear as the day.

Since the probability of Rose winning is pretty much zero, we shouldn’t take such a gamble. Let’s just ignore this.

「Yes, if not for Her Highness Rosemary’s other knight being Zack Prower, I might have had the same opinion as you.」

「Zack Prower? Is he strong?」

「Yeah, I saw him only once before in a small martial arts tournament, but his strength is simply overwhelming.」

「He’s stronger than you?」

「His strength and pure combat sense might be above mine. And he’s still young. I still have an advantage in combat experience, though.」

Lucas used to work as the knight captain of the saint king sorcery knight order in the Holy kingdom. Sorcery knight order is the gathering of mage knights. Lucas was cut above the rest of his peers even in martial arts. That shows just how powerful he was. Therefore―

「Something doesn’t feel right here. Since she has someone like Zack as one of her knights, why she doesn’t appoint Zack as her royal guard instead?」

「That’s exactly what I mean, Milady! I heard that Zack himself said Kai Heineman is far more powerful than him.」

「Seriously? The gift holder of the joke-like gift “the most incompetent in this world”?」

That was a natural conclusion in this world dominated by gifts. Like the blood running in one’s veins, a gift was akin to a curse for its holder, making them easily get betrayed and trampled upon by the others, especially in this Amelia kingdom. And Felis had enough of that. So she had basically assumed that incompetent meant weak. This wasn’t because she looked down on them; it was more like common sense.

「Yes, and Her Highness Rose has no doubts about that too. It seems Oliver-dono is also half in doubt regarding this.」

「That’s only natural! But, I have to say that this situation is going in an unpredictable direction.」

At least, that’s his personal opinion as someone on the same level as a knight leader. That’s an extreme advantage, especially in the Amelia kingdom. Many other rulers outside the Amelia kingdom hold a steadfast belief in martial arts first and gifts second.

The problem is what should we do now? Since Rose has received a pretty much impossible challenge in the crown contest in the form of East End, our existence is crucial for her.

The risk we might face after accepting Rose’s proposal isn’t actually that big. But―

Just when Felis was deep into her whirlpool of thoughts, the sound of loud and fast-approaching footsteps disturbed her. And then,

「T-THIS IS BAD!!」

A black-haired youth rolled into the room. His face was ashen pale.

「Is something the matter?」

Lucas rushed to the youth, grabbed his shoulder, and asked in a calm voice.

「I-I went hunting in the southwest lake. There…」

""

The black-haired youth’s explanation was too confusing for many in the room to understand.

「Calm down! It’s okay! Now tell us what you saw in the southwest lake?」

After reassuring the youth, Lucas went straight to the point, which everyone was most curious about.

「A-a lot of soldiers are gathering right in front of the lake!!」

The black-haired youth replied with a shrill voice.

Thus, the story rapidly progressed in the worst direction for Felis and the others.