Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

“Do all of you possess such weapons?”

“That’s right. We just happened to get them through a certain channel. And our swords are also the finest magic swords forged by Iririka Kingdom blacksmiths. “Of course, we’re well aware that these weapons are far beyond our caliber, but they do come pretty handy. They are excellent weapons.”

Man, these assassins sure are extravagant. They all had weapons that even knights would go green in envy for.

As for the number…… Since they each had a pair of a knife and swords, that would make it a hundred magic weapons huh. Yosh, it looks like I managed to find some great souvenirs for the rest of the Clan. It looks like I’ll barely be able to gift one to each member.

I had noticed for a while now that the rest of the members were gazing at Elna’s magic sword with looks of envy from time to time. It looks like they placed importance on the fact that I personally bought it for her as well.

I was already thinking of buying some for them when I have the chance, but I didn’t anticipate I’d get an opportunity like this all of a sudden.

I threw out the knife and returned it to Elvin.

“Here’s my question then. Who are the ones who hold hostility toward me?”

“First, you should consider His Excellency the Prime Minister and all members of his noble house as your enemies. Also, Count Khalifa and Count Gantz have suffered considerable losses due to the crackdowns led by Your Excellency. They probably hold grudges against you as well. There might be some more, but those are the ones I am aware of.”

Hmm, there are surprisingly few of them. Does this mean the lord of Gantz was also up to no good? This was some good info.

“Does His Majesty the King not hold any animosity toward me?”

“Of course, he doesn’t. In fact, His Majesty seems to favor you a lot, Your Excellency. I’ve heard that he often talks about you to his closest confidantes.”

I see. It did seem that he was favorable toward me in today’s audience…… Though it would have been less complicated if he was hostile toward me as well.

“Then it’s my turn again. Regarding the dragon who attacked the castle, just how did you manage such a feat, Your Excellency? How were you able to persuade it to retreat?

Just as Your Excellency has said, dragons aren’t creatures that humans can normally contend with. Even now, I am still in doubt about what I witnessed that day.”

This man seems to have been present at that time as well. What should I tell him? I suppose I’ll just come clean.

“That dragon, Gloria, is our comrade. She fully understands human speech, and she was perfectly in control of herself during the attack. The reason she seemed to go on a rampage was because of my orders.”

“Your orders? However, you seemed to have barely avoided being eaten at that time, Your Excellency?”

“That was just acting. I asked her to put on a little performance together with me. At that time, the rescue attempt was at risk of being discovered, and I was also poisoned twice. We had to cause a huge commotion in order to safely make our way out of the castle.”

“……Do you mean to say that the dragon was actually willing to heed the orders of a human?”

“That’s right.”

“……Very well. I am convinced.”

“Then it’s my turn again. Once he finds out that you have all died, what do you think the Prime Minister’s next move would be?”

“………You have no sufficient military power under you, Your Excellency, so it would be a bit difficult to pin you with the crime of rebellion and treason, which is a commonly used move. This is especially true considering your current burgeoning popularity among the populace.

He cannot mobilize the national armed forces, and since both bandit attacks and assassinations have failed, he’d probably have no choice but to send his own private forces after you next.

He doesn’t have enough private forces staying in the royal capital, so I believe he’d mobilize the forces from their house’s territory. Their numbers will probably be around four hundred to eight hundred men at most.

Of course, this move will only be played if he judges that you have to be eliminated at all costs, Your Excellency. There is still a chance that he will choose not to mobilize his private troops.

As for the odds of that happening, at my estimates…… it should be about fifty-fifty.”

“Fifty-fifty huh. ……How troublesome.”

“My condolences…… Now then, here’s my question. What exactly does Your Excellency and Her Royal Highness Princess Cleria intend to do? What is your ultimate goal?”

“Founding a new nation.”

“As I thought. Do you really believe such a thing can be realized? Are you that confident that a country can be founded deep in the Great Demon Forest?”

“I thought we’re only supposed to ask one question at a time?”

“……Forgive me. Then you can go ahead and ask a question, Your Excellency.”

“You said earlier that this country needed someone like me. Just what did you mean by that?”

“The Crown Prince of the neighboring country, Cecilio Kingdom’s Prince Rouge has been a staunch advocate of militarism since he was but a young boy, and he has been making some worrying statements regarding his intentions on our country recently.

The old king is still alive right now so he’s been holding back, but this tenuous situation won’t last long. Once the old king dies, I’m sure he will immediately make his move to invade this country. We estimate the probability of an invasion to be about seventy to eighty percent.

Although I have reported about this matter a good number of times already, there is no sign of the higher-ups trying to address it at all. We’ve already wasted far too much time.

And after witnessing Your Excellency’s performance, we have come to think that perhaps you might be able to do something about this sorry state of affairs. That is just how impressive your feats have been.”

This man seems to hold me in very high regard. A single baron wouldn’t be able to solve such a situation though. Ah, perhaps he’s counting on my position as Lord Protector?

In any case, with this, I managed to get some valuable info regarding a neighboring country. That’s a good thing, at least.

“It’s my turn to pose a question again. Just why did you choose the Great Demon Forest to build your territory? A man of your caliber surely knows that it is impossible to develop such a land, Your Excellency. If your main goal is to found a new nation, it would have been better to choose the other options for your reward.”

“It is not impossible to develop within the Sea of Trees. Or rather, we’ve already developed it.”

“……What do you mean by that?”

“I meant it literally. The territory has already been developed. At the very least, people can already live in it.”

“……Forgive me, but I cannot bring myself to believe those words, even if they came from you, Your Excellency.”

“Didn’t you say you will no longer doubt any of my words earlier?”

“But–! …………No, as I thought, I really cannot believe it. If Your Excellency had such divine ability, you would not have found yourself in this sort of predicament.”

“It certainly was careless of me to be lured here by you, but no matter how many of you surround us, we wouldn’t have any trouble at all.”

“No trouble? Even if you’re about to be killed?”

“There’s no way I would get killed in a place like this. It’s the opposite. Sorry, but I’m going to have to take all your lives.”

“……What do you mean by that? Are you saying we’ll lose even with our overwhelming advantage in equipment and numbers? ……What makes you so sure of your victory, Your Excellency?”

“That’s two questions, but I’ll make an exception and answer honestly. Your defeat is due to a lack of information. Your information regarding us is woefully lacking.

A dragon isn’t something that mere humans can normally defeat. When you got the information that I managed to defeat a dragon, you should have assumed that I might be in possession of power that ordinary humans do not have.

Instead of suddenly launching a full-on assault like this, you should have resorted to other means such as stealthily launching magic from somewhere out of view or other means of information gathering.”

I’m well aware that I’ve been running my mouth unnecessarily. It was probably because I was pissed off at this guy for forcing my hand to kill as many as 54 people.

“……You do have a point. However, the two dragons might have felled each other in their fight and Your Excellency merely granted the finishing blow.”

“I wonder if someone in your line of work really can trust the words of another at face value.”

“……You’re right. However, no matter how strong Your Excellency is, did you truly manage to defeat a dragon? ……And in this situation, I don’t think that just three of you would be enough to defeat all fifty of us. If we all come at you without care for our lives, even someone with Your Excellency’s skills will not be able to do anything.”

“That’s exactly what I’m referring to earlier when I said you woefully lack information about me. In the first place, it’s fatal to assume that you are facing only the three of us here.

In other words, your judgment that you are only up against the three of us proves your lack of information.”

The five drones have been hovering 120 meters above us for a while in Silent Mode. Of course, they’ve already gotten locks on all the enemies ages ago.