Act 3-33: An Extremely Unbelievable Report(Side: Edward Loto Amelia)

The Amelia Kingdom, first conference room.

「What? Can you repeat what you said just now?」

The king of the Amelia kingdom, Edward Loto Amelia, unexpectedly asked the intelligence officer to repeat their report.

「Count Ketzer’s attempt to attack the Akinashi territory, where Her Highness Rosemary is staying, by hiring Serpent Blood has been thwarted by the three kings of the underworld―」

「AIN’T THAT O— Cough! I mean the part after that!」

Edward couldn’t help but strike at the armrest of his throne to show his irritation to 『Grass』, who tried to repeat their report for the second time.

「Duchess Felis worked together with the three kings of the underworld, the 【Tao Family】, 【Lost Forest】, and 【Crimson Raven】 and subjugated the revived Evil Dragon Deboa.

Although an unidentified dragon from another world then appeared from Deboa’s corpse, Her Highness Rosemary’s royal guard, Kai Heineman, slaughtered this dragon as if he were trampling on a mere lowly bug.

After that, Duchess Felis, who represented Wind Cat’s folks, and all the leaders of the three kings of the underworld pledged their allegiance to Her Highness Rosemary.」

That news was akin to a storm blowing into the frozen conference room. Rather than getting shocked, most people in the conference room were filled with confusion. They had no idea whether the reputable Grass, who was known for almost hateful accuracy, was joking when reporting this matter. No one in that room had any idea.

But, the current Edward had no such leeway to worry about his vassals. Thus, when he kept his silence.

「You’re all too noisy. Be quiet.」

A tall, black-haired man, the Amelia kingdom’s prime minister Johannes Roosevelt, who was standing beside the king from the very beginning raised his voice to control the situation.

Even though his voice wasn’t that loud, everyone in the room could hear it. They immediately turned silent.

「Grass, I believe in you. At least until a moment ago. Now let me ask you for the last time. Is that information credible?」

The one who had sent Grass to Akinashi territory was none other than Edward himself. The reason was to escort Rose. Rose was a political enemy of the high-ranking nobles of the Amelia kingdom, who over-followed tradition. The high-ranking nobles hated Rose enough to have even someone of Fracton’s status sell her to the empire. Thus, it wasn’t just Grass; Rose’s escorts were also standing by near Akinashi.

In fact, the best option was to send Arnold to escort Rose, but unfortunately, Arnold was currently attending an anti-demon race conference in the neutral city 【Babel】 as Edward’s representative. Thus, Edward had no choice but to entrust Rose’s protection to the kingdom’s strongest force, Saint King Sorcery Knight Order.

Kai Heineman was far more powerful than Geralt. Thus, he had assumed Kai Heineman could at least buy some time till the reinforcements from Saint King Sorcery Knight Order could arrive.

And yet, the emergency turned out to be a literal over-the-top national crisis.

「Yes. I swear upon the god in heaven that my report contains no falsehood!」

Grass didn’t even try to lie. Reporting falsehood was the biggest taboo for an intelligence officer. Otherwise, he wouldn’t do that kind of job filled with danger.

「What do you think about this situation, Johannes? Do you think such a feat is possible?」

「Your Majesty, this is no longer the matter of possible or impossible. IT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.」

「But, this is the revival of the legendary evil dragon that has been sealed for three hundred years, you know!? And of all the time, it just happened to take place when that tomboy daughter of mine HAPPENED to stay in Akinashi. As if I can take that as a MERE coincidence!」

「Yes. That’s why this was most likely the plan of Rosemary’s faction.」

「You mean they planned to revive the evil dragon that almost destroyed this kingdom in the past from the very beginning!?」

「The only ones who can become citizens of East End are the people of Wind Cat. But, they are famous thieves who pillage Count Ksar’s house for their food and wealth. If they wanted to be pardoned, Count Ksar’s house had to commit a felony toward the kingdom or Her Highness Felis had to gain an achievement big enough to cancel the charge they have committed until now. Look, it’s exactly what happened this time, right?」

Surely, by attempting to assassinate Rose, Ketzer Ksar had pretty much committed a felony toward the kingdom. Not to mention that the kingdom had long since been aware of the crimes he had committed in his own territory. Once the government used that as a charge against him, not even someone of his status could protect himself. As if the charge alone wasn’t enough, the achievement of subjugating the legendary evil dragon alone was enough to free Felis and the Wind Cat’s people from their crimes and overthrow the Ksar house and send them to the gallows.

But, that was only possible if Felis and co. managed to defeat the evil dragon. Normally, such a plan should have failed.

「Doesn’t seem like a plan made by a sane person.」

「Because even that legendary evil dragon is nothing more than a slightly bigger lizard for the one who made that plan.」

「Kai Heineman, huh…」

「Yes. He might be slightly disrespectful, but his skill to draft such a bold, dangerous, yet rewarding plan for Her Highness Rose and the ability to accomplish that plan is enough proof of his calibre.」

「I know that! We’re talking about the legendary evil dragon that almost drove this kingdom to its destruction in the past, you know!? No sane person will draft a dangerous plan that involves such a dangerous creature, not to mention that he involved the three kings of the underworld in that operation too!」

「Your Majesty, this is simply the difference between his recognition and your recognition. The three kings of the underworld aren’t bound by the limit of a race like many other humanitarian organizations. But, they can’t subjugate the evil dragon Deboa by themselves. They’re akin to freebies from a street stall that happened to have caught Kai Heineman’s attention. But, their allegiance to Her Highness Rose guarantees enough manpower for Her Highness Rose to manage her own territory. That’s their only value to Kai Heineman.」

「So the key player of this plan is none other than Felis’s Titan, eh. But, that spirit isn’t a reliable force. Could it be that Felis has finally understood how to use Titan properly?」

One of the four great elemental spirits, the spirit king of the earth―Titan. Despite his tremendous power, he needed a large amount of life force from many humans to use his power. A long time ago, due to the intense power struggle in the kingdom, a maid who was a childhood friend of Felis ended up in a comatose state for many days after she gave her life force to Titan to protect Felis. Ever since that incident, Felis had become extremely reluctant to use Titan’s power. Thus, no one had ever expected that Kai Heineman could force Titan to work for Felis for free.

He looked at Grass.

「This is just my personal opinion, but I don’t think Felis-sama can control an unbridled horse like Titan without outside interference.」

It was a shocking remark.

「The report also mentions that Kai Heineman might be a summoner, too. Does that mean he offered great compensation in order to let Felis unleash Titan power?」

An equal compensation was indispensable to use a higher-ranking existence’s power. This was the absolute truth for all summoners.

「No, that’s wrong. How should I say… Rather than offering compensation, it’s more like…」

「NO COMPENSATION YOU SAY! Don’t beat around the bush and just tell us already!」

An old man wearing a navy blue robe, the chief of the court of sorcerers, ended up losing his usual composure and pressed Grass to answer.

The normally gentle-looking old man wasn’t the kind of person who would scold others for this matter. That showed just how important the contents of the report, which involved summoning arts, were and how essential it was for the sorcerer.

「It looked like Titan was frightened of Kai Heineman.」

""

As if a bomb had exploded in the throne room, that piece of information set the room abuzz.

「HOW RIDICULOUS!! I can still understand if the spirit king liked him!! And yet, frightened? Of a mere human on top of that!!」

Upon hearing the chief of the court of sorcerers shouting like that,

「That’s something you can say since you have never seen the one called Kai Heineman MADE HIS MOVE IN PERSON. THAT is no longer a human. Anyone who was there and saw that scene will naturally understand why Titan is so frightened of THAT.」

Grass’s outburst, which was filled with his raw emotions, was enough to cause another hustle and bustle in the throne room. But all of it was shut down with a single glance from the prime minister.

「We have strayed from the topic. What are you going to do, Your Majesty?」

Johannes forcefully changed the topic.

「Any evidence of the subjugation of the Evil Dragon?」

「The body has already vanished since it was used as a medium for divine possession, but fortunately, Deboa was decapitated before that happened, and its head didn’t get used as a medium.」

There was no doubt left if there was clear evidence of the subjugation.

「Since that’s the case, let’s show that head and recognize the achievement of those who fought Deboa.」

「Does that mean you’re going to recognize the three kings of the underworld and Wind Cat as official citizens of East End?」

「Yes, they subjugated that disastrous evil dragon, after all. And that’s just one of the rewards.」

One could say that allowing the three kings of the underworld, whose power rivaled a part of an army division, was a huge windfall for the Amelia kingdom. Originally, such an event could flip the kingdom upside-down. But the uproar could be avoided with their achievements in the subjugation of the evil dragon Deboa.

Edward could only marvel at Kai Heineman’s brilliant countermeasure.

「But, is there any evidence about Ketzer Ksar’s attempt to kill Rose? Even if the people employed by Ksar have confessed about this matter, punishing him is going to be difficult if he insists that he’s not involved in this matter, you know!」

「Regarding that matter, we have received a secret message from Kai Heineman.」

Johannes was the one who replied instead of Grass as he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it over to Edward.

Contrary to his usual expressionless face, Johannes now wore an extremely malicious smile as he handed the letter to Edward. Seeing that, Edward couldn’t help but wonder what was written in the letter that was enough to make his monster-in-human-skin prime minister, who was famous for his mind of steel, show such a sinister smile. Going by his experience, Edward guessed that the things written in that letter were an extremely malicious plan that could ruin the target.

(Dammit, like hell I want to see that kind of malicious plan.)

By now, Edward had already been convinced. Both Johannes and Kai Heineman were the same kind of people: those who enjoyed such malicious schemes more than three meals a day.

Edward resolved his heart as he broke the seal, then scanned the content of the letter.

「Is this, true?」

Edward unconsciously asked Johannes while doing his best to suppress the boiling hot rage that almost drove him to the point of madness.

「In the letter that Kai Heineman sent me containing the details of this matter, he wished for Your Majesty to confirm it by yourself.」

「Understood.」

Edward understood that he had to confirm that with his own eyes to prevent any mishaps.

A mere count! How dare he plot against royalty… I guess it’s about the time I taught Ketzer Ksar of his position.

Edward tried his best to suppress the rage in his heart.

「Johannes. Tell Kai Heineman that I’ll play along in his little game.」

「Yes, Your Majesty!」

Johannes replied while placing his right hand on his chest and bowing respectfully.

This might be the first time in the Amelia kingdom’s long history where a mere count dared to plot against a royalty to such a point. Fine then! If the content of this letter is true, then the real culprit must be hiding in the dark. If other princes or princesses are involved in this matter, then all of them would receive severe punishment for their crimes.

(Okay, calm down now. Confirming the truth comes first.)

Fortunately, only Edward’s close aide was in the throne room right now, so outsiders had no idea about this situation. But this didn’t mean that it wouldn’t leak outside. Thus, he desperately suppressed his rage and acted like usual to prevent any traitors amongst his aide from suspecting his behavior.

After he somehow regained his composure, Edward looked at Johannes, who stood by his side.

「Well then, time to do our daily duties.」

And so, the government’s affairs resumed along with Johannes’s command.