The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 6: Council of Nobles (6)

The biggest weakness of the Etoile supporters that has been pointed out so far.

And the biggest reason that those who support the princess.

After driving Her Highness out like that, who are you going to appoint as the next emperor?

Of course, it is not that there are no candidates at all.

“Wouldn’t it be fine if I became Your Highness the Prince according to the natural order?”

“In fact, the prince was only mentioned as a candidate for emperor because of Calia alone. He is still too old, and his skills have not been properly tested. Even after the fall of Calia, she lost all of her own powers.”

“Then… How about Archduke Charles, who is third in line for succession?”

“How does that country boy who has been in the north for a long time know about the return of the empire?”

The problem was that everything was flawed. The Duke of Valois refuted all the proposals of the other nobles. Then he looked at Iris with a triumphant expression and asked.

“So, what does the Duke of Rossier think? If Her Highness the Princess is not qualified to be the next emperor, then who should be the next emperor?”

No matter who you picked, the answer was wrong. The Duke of Valois’ question was just a confirmation.

“I don’t think it’s time to discuss the next emperor.”

“You don’t know when His Majesty will pass away, but isn’t it the right time? The future of the empire as well as the imperial family is at stake.”

Thus, Iris tried to evade her answer, but the Duke of Valois persisted.

The other thing is Iris, who kissed her saintess and her, but neither she nor her saintess could come up with a clear answer to this part.

I prepared something else instead.

While Iris was contemplating her glance at the door, someone opened the door and came in.

It was Mark, a mage from the Noir Mage Tower.

“Sorry for interrupting you in the middle of your talk. There will be an inspection in a while.”

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like Mina Yun, a mage expelled from the Noir Mage Tower, is here.”

“Why is that b*tch here?”

“There are rumors going around that he and Edmund are holding hands. It’s for your safety, so please stay still.”

He checked each shadow of the people in the meeting room by passing an electric current through them.

“Huh? Excuse me….”

The nobles looked at Mark with uncomfortable eyes, but at that moment, Godfrey pointed to the shadow of an escort knight and said,

A shadow that is too long for the height of the escort knight.

Mark immediately sent an electric current through the shadow, but in an instant, the shadow returned to its original state.

“… It seems to have run away.”

Marc said with an angry expression. He bowed down to apologize to the nobles, then went outside to pursue Mina.

However, the atmosphere in the conference room became chaotic because of what happened just a moment ago.

Iris didn’t miss the chance and hit the ball right away.

“A person named Mina Yun. He originally worked as Her Highness’s right-hand man, right?”

“… ….”

“When excommunicating her from her religion, Her Imperial Highness responded by forbidding her indulgences in a timely manner. And even now, they are criticizing Etoileism because there was no solid evidence.”

Iris spoke softly, but she could hear the anger in her voice.

“And this is the result. Her Highness, the princess, tolerates her rampaging like this.”

“If you think about it that way, isn’t there a problem with the Etoiles who missed Mina?”

“At least, Etwarkyo is trying to catch Edmund as well as Mina, even holding her hand with Noir Magic Tower.”

Iris emphasized once again.

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The Duke of Valois was well aware that it was in fact a means of avoiding embarrassing questions, but it was ambiguous to ask again because the atmosphere had already passed.

“Due to the circumstances, it would be better to end this meeting ahead of schedule. Let’s meet again next week. Until then, I hope you think carefully.”

In preparation for the unexpected, Iris used the incident as an excuse to end the meeting early.

Aristocrats who felt uneasy about what had just happened did not show any objection.

Rather, they wanted to get out of the mansion as soon as possible.

“Aren’t the escort knights sparring today?”

However, the Duke of Valois seemed to have regrets about the remaining schedule.

“Duke of Valois, do you really have to stick to such sparring in this situation?”

“Isn’t sparring among escort knights one of the few things these old men do? If we go back like this, everyone will only feel uncomfortable, but we should change our mood and go. Duke Rossier, what do you think?”

Iris was already aware of the tricks of the Duke of Valois.

It is said that the Duke of Valois recently hired a new escort knight, and his skills are said to be outstanding.

This is how he wants to express his superiority.

“… If that’s what you want, only those who want to remain. Others may go.”

At Iris’s words, the other nobles hurriedly rose from their seats. In such a large meeting room, there were only Iris and the Duke of Valois. Only their escort knights remained.

“There are only two of us left. Do you really have to?”

“… Could this be what you were aiming for?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Mina showed up a while ago. Isn’t it fake? Otherwise, I would not have shown up at the right time and rescued you from trouble.”

“Mina may have already been eavesdropping on our story from the beginning. It was just a coincidence that the sorcerer I hired belatedly detected.”

“That sounds interesting.”

The Duke of Valois stared at Iris. Iris looked at him undeterred by this.

“There is no point in sparring because there are no spectators. Today, I will also go away. But Duke Rossier, let me ask you one thing personally.”

“… Please speak.”

“What did you receive from the Church in return for supporting the Etoiles?”

“What do you mean?”

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t go the exact opposite way with the previous duke.”

“… As you can see, it is my safety.”

Iris said while managing her expression as much as possible. The Duke of Valois smiled meaningfully.

“Well, nothing in this world is more important than life.”

With these words he left.

Iris let out a sigh of relief only after he was completely gone.

And Arthur, the escort knight behind her.

No, Edmund secretly let out a sigh of relief.

‘… Dalian somehow avoided the worst moment.’

***

“This is a tool used for secret communication instead of a crystal ball. If you put it in your ear like this, you can communicate with us. Oh, and since talking to us is done telepathically, you just have to communicate it with your thoughts without moving your mouth. Edmund-sama, have you ever learned telepathic magic?”

This morning. Before entering Rossier’s mansion, Mina and Rafaela made the final preparations.

After thinking for a long time yesterday, I decided that it would be best to transform into an escort knight. You can wait in the conference room while the meeting is in progress, and just stand by without saying anything.

“Looking at it, Iris’s escort driver seems to have 3 shifts. So, we change at about 8-hour intervals, but you can change it when you enter the room after the escort mission.”

And now. While the escort knight is still sleeping, I intend to switch places with him.

It was really fortunate that the escort knights of Rossie Mansion had separate rooms. If there were other people next to him, it would have been difficult.

“Now then, are you ready?”

“I am ready. And you know you have to convince that escort driver, right?”

“Don’t worry. We will do our best to convince you.”

Rafaela reassured me. I signaled to Mina that I was ready, and she grabbed my arm and teleported away.

And when I arrived at the escort knight Arthur’s room, I copied his appearance in an instant, and Mina took Arthur and disappeared.

– For now, we will convince this person, so you… Don’t forget your shift in 10 minutes. Until then, I will give you as much information as possible.

Actually, the real problem started here.

Although most of the time today I just had to keep my mouth shut with the nobles, but Iris and other people in the mansion could talk to me for the rest of the period.

Of course, you should improvise as much as possible, but you still need to know the information you need.

So now, Raphaella and Mina are trying to convince Arthur to cooperate as much as possible.

Ah, of course, persuading him also had the purpose of keeping his mouth shut.

– Okay. As you said, I was persuaded when I told him about the assassination of Duke Rossier.

And fortunately, before meeting Iris, Mina and Rafaela somehow managed to convince her.

Anyway, it seems that due to the nature of the escort knights of the Rossier mansion, loyalty to the Duke of Rossier, who preceded Iris, was more effective than Iris.

After receiving information from him that I could refer to when acting, I set out to escort Iris.

“Duke? What’s wrong?”

And Iris looked at me suspiciously for a moment, but then she turned away without saying anything.

After removing Iris’ doubts, she was able to greet the nobles and attend the noble meeting as scheduled.

But there was something that kept getting stuck in my heart.

“Never mind. You guys are worried about the fights that will come later.”

Dalian right after the meeting.

According to Arthur’s explanation, nobles often have their escort knights fight each other when they meet like this.

It was a spectacle in its own way, but on the other hand, it was also a means to show off their strength.

And the escort knight of the Duke of Valois, who is keeping Iris in check, stared only at me throughout the meeting and subtly kept me in check.

Perhaps the Duke of Valois brought Iris to break her nose, so he must be quite talented.

But I wasn’t afraid of him.

I was worried about having to fight instead.

– How about Arthur’s fighting skills? What sword technique does he mainly use?

– Wait a minute. How can I explain this in words….

Because it was an environment where it was too easy for me to find out that I wasn’t Arthur. In particular, Iris has been watching my swordsmanship for three years, so it’s a perfect situation to be suspicious if my habits are revealed even a little bit.

So, while collecting as much information as possible, I hoped that this sparring itself would not happen.

“It looks like Mina Yun, a mage expelled from the Noir Mage Tower, is here.”

Fortunately, a miracle happened. Suddenly, the magician of the Noir Magic Tower broke in and completely ruined the atmosphere in the meeting room.

Of course, the Duke of Valois, who persevered to the end, gave him a moment of shock, but as the onlookers were gone, he, too, withdrew.

In this way, after I safely completed my escort mission without getting caught, I was able to return to my room after safely switching to the next escort driver.

– I’m in.

And just in time, Mina showed up with Arthur.

As she looked at me, who looked exactly like herself, Arthur was stunned.

“… Do not worry. All I’m aiming for is to kill one Iris. If only she were to fall, she would never appear here again.”

“… ….”

Arthur nodded her head with a firm expression. And Mina took me to the hideout.

“Good job.”

Raffaella greeted me as soon as I returned.

I never took off my mask until then.

“Whew… It’s been a long day. How did you convince Arthur well?”

“It wasn’t easy. But when I showed him the evidence, he believed it too.”

Perhaps the proof is the conversation Mina recorded between her saintess and Iris.

So I turned her head to Mina as well.

“Your help was great today. Thank you.”

But Mina had a slightly dissatisfied expression on her face.

Before I could ask, Mina opened her mouth first.

“But Edmund.”

“Why?”

“So you. What are you going to do when you’re done with your revenge?”