Translator: Adam Seacord

Editor: Weasalopes

「Oh, what’s the matter? While not as rare as a Wyvern dish, this dinner is top cla.s.s.」

「O-Of course, My Lord… But you have really tasted a Wyvern before?」

「Yes. The first dish, a fried dish, and the broth-based soup were both remarkably delicious. Oh, and not that I could be certain that it was Wyvern, but I did sense the magic of a dragon when I ate it, so the meat certainly belonged to a monster above a certain power level.」

Avin declared, leaving Roano without room to mention further doubt. During the ma.s.s-appearance of large monsters five years ago, both Avin and Layotte had seen Wyverns with their own eyes. Naturally, they would have touched a corpse; there was close to no chance that either of them would mistake the magic of a Wyvern.

「I’ve enjoyed tonight’s dishes. What a nice surprise that Terrona can be made into such a high-cla.s.s dish with just a little bit of work.」

「I’ve heard that Terrona with one of your condiments (soy sauce, was it?) is quite delicious, too. Which do you prefer?」

「With soy sauce, I’m confident that I can elevate most dishes to a certain level, but that just seems like a stew than Terrona to me.」

Avin nodded internally. Terrona is a traditional dish of Farlane, made by boiling all parts of a Shulp, a bird native only to Farlane, except for its guts, in stock.

Due to its long history, many regions boasted their own touch on Terrona (cooked with demi-glace sauce instead, or cooking seafood with it, for example). So, they could still call it Terrona even if they cooked the bird in soy sauce or ponzu. For Haruna, however, the difference seemed significant enough, almost like the difference between toastini and toast.

「You are a chef, after all.」

「It would seem so, My Lord.」

Haruna nodded sincerely. In the end, Roano decided that he could trigger an international crisis if he went through with it, and rushed to call off his men from poisoning the roll cake that Haruna had brought.

What Roano didn’t know, was that all deserts given away by the j.a.panese party already contained a significant amount of all-purpose potion. While the potion lasted (for three days) most any poison would be neutralized immediately upon application.

「My Lord, have you heard?」

「Of the blatant trap?」

After Avin and Haruna had left, his henchmen addressed Roano.

「As blatant as it may be, this is also a prime opportunity.」

The henchman said, more aggressive than expected. With how things were going, Roano would have preferred to keep his distance, but he was running out of options.

「My Lord. How about using that a.s.sa.s.sin, now?」

「Yes! Fortunately, we have a potential double on the ready. If all goes well, even Princess Elena will be outcast.」

「That’s a very precarious “if”…」

Roano rejected, cinching his face. Unfortunately, he wasn’t too optimistic to think that he would emerge scot-free after jumping into such an obvious trap. Even if the a.s.sa.s.sination were a success, Roano’s family would be the top suspect.

They had attempted to isolate them through rumors in the first place because they wanted to blend in the shadows by introducing the unknowing middlemen into the picture. Now that that had failed, Roano wasn’t feeling too lucky. Truth be told, he wanted out of the whole situation. Someone like Roano, who wasn’t as afflicted as Katrina or Barold, had little reason to aggressively try to eliminate Haruna or Aearis. If he backed away now, Roano would avoid capital punishment for sure, and even a purification, he estimated, would only leave him bedbound for three months or so. The best course of action seemed obvious to him.

He would lose some ground considerably since he had opposed the royal family more than once now, but he doubted that he would be driven to poverty. He never explicitly opposed the royal family, and he was one of the better lords, according to the people. Even now, he didn’t oppose the royal family because of hatred. Roano was only dissatisfied that, despite his solid work in politics and in developing his land, increasing tax revenue fair and square had gone underappreciated. For his position, he felt undervalued. He had only sided with Katrina because of the horrible rumors about Aearis and Elena falling ill. Who wouldn’t do the same?

「Marquis Roano… We are on the same boat already, and it has sailed.」

What pulled Roano out of his thoughts was Katrina’s lap dog, who had materialized without Roano noticing.

「Sailed?」

「Given how blatant this trap is, it wouldn’t take a far stretch of the imagination to think that the royal family has tabs on everyone here. Even if you do nothing, all it would take is one person here to act upon impulse… That will be all it takes for them to try and get rid of everyone here.」

「…」

Barold accurately pointed out what Roano had been willfully ignoring. He glared back with disdain. No matter what excuse he would make, it was true that Roano was aiding in the coup against Aearis. He even provided the a.s.sa.s.sin, indicating his history of eliminating political enemies by force. It wouldn’t be hard to find evidence for that.

「Besides… It’s all too late, now.」

「Too late?」

「Indeed. Someone seemed to have, impulsively, put in an order for your a.s.sa.s.sin under your name… Somehow.」

「What!?」

「So, you best prepare yourself.」

A thin grimace of cruelty illuminated Barold’s forgettable face.

「…If the boat sinks, you’ll drown with me.」

「All I want is bloodshed. And plenty of it. With every corpse, holiness fills the land. With enough holiness, that rotten G.o.ddess falls.」

Seeing Barold’s madness surface, Roano was speechless. He was dumbfounded by these statements that utterly contradicted what Roano perceived as Barold’s character.

「…Then why didn’t you do this from the beginning?」

「Easy. The best outcome was for there to be many more like me. I need to fill this city with holiness, and fill it with people who rejected the curse they call the G.o.ddess’ Blessing. Of course, thanks to those pesky adventurers, that plan has failed, a moment before its fruition.」

Barold spat out. This was the first time that anyone here had seen him show emotion like this.

「Either way, you only have one choice, tomorrow. So, ladies and gentlemen…」

Returning to his monotone, Barold had weaved his words like a rope around their necks.

「Are your armies ready?」

「…I’m exhausted…」

「Good job out there. Ya lookin’ wiped out.」

「Not at all physically, but mentally? It was brutal…」

In Haruna’s room inside the castle, Hiros.h.i.+ was setting up this and that as Haruna was aching in exhaustion.

「Ya really had a long day, huh?」

「Mm-hm. It wasn’t too bad thanks to Prince Avin, but still…」

「I’ll listen if ya wanna talk ’bout it?」

Haruna sighed. The fact that Hiros.h.i.+ was saying this signified how bad she looked, Haruna thought. She decided to take him up on his offer.

「What is their problem…」

Surprised by the low tone of her voice, Haruna continued to let it out, anyway:

「“The lowly adventurer thinks she can buy allegiances with food.” “Oh what tasteless gifts!” “She even begs the servants for favors!” And they make sure you can hear them, you know?」

What was being said, by all accounts, were laughable. Haruna took none of it to heart, but it infuriated her that grown adults were seriously devoting their time to such antics. Exhausting, to say the least. It was painstakingly obvious that any attempt to retort would have been met with a cacophony of nonsense. On the other hand, silence would have been interpreted as affirmative. This sort of maliciousness worked like body blows, slowly but surely. In this past week, Haruna’s spirits were being chipped away, considerably.

「The worst part, though, is that they look down on people that make potions and tools. Never mind that they reap the benefits! They can’t do anything on their own. They don’t have the charisma, or the leaders.h.i.+p to command anyone without their t.i.tles. They have no idea how fragile the ground is they’re standing on…! And they mock you, just for how you look! They say that Mio-chan is worthless! Right to my face, too!」

Haruna was never bothered by the insults and sarcasm about her. If she had let those things get to her, she wouldn’t have made it this far in life. But when they looked down with their narrow mindset at someone whom she valued, respected, and even liked in a way, she felt almost murderous rage. When they went as far as to deem their lives worthless, her blood boiled.

Haruna let out all of those feelings bottled up inside her. Some parts were told in spit-fire rants, and others in staccato whispers. Without stopping his work but dedicated his attention toward Haruna, and occasionally making eye contact with her, Hiros.h.i.+ listed to all she had to say without saying a word.

「…Alright.」

Hiros.h.i.+ said, summarizing his reaction into a single word, weighted with emotions, after he saw that Haruna had gotten out everything she wanted to. While Haruna picked up on the weight behind his response, she still couldn’t get over the simplicity of his response. Who could blame her?

「Alright? That’s it…?」

「I mean, I’m sorry ya got the short end of the stick, here, but I’m pretty use to people talkin’ smack ’bout me, in different ways than ya…」

Hiros.h.i.+ said, putting out some of the fire in Haruna.

「Used to it…」

「Sure, I’m p.i.s.sed at what they said ’bout Mio, and I’m real sorry ya had to hear it in person. And I’m grateful you’re mad ’bout it, too. But it ain’t somethin’ me or Mio can apologize for, ya know? So, I’m sorry all I gotta say is “alright”… It’s all I can say, really.」

「Well, yeah… You’re right…」

Haruna started to cool down, hearing this. In Hiros.h.i.+’s shoes, she could see that it might have been difficult to react any differently. She might have been happy to see him enraged as she was, but that didn’t seem like something Hiros.h.i.+ would do.

「It’s just funny too, that they don’t even realize they’re startin’ to get isolated…」

「Isolated?」

「Naturally, if folks that yell at everybody all holier-than-thou start talkin’ smack ’bout the folks makin’ their lives easier, they’re gonna start losin’ friends pretty fast.」

「How did you know?」

「Lay told me. They’re ’bout to take the bait with the giant hook. Let’s just sit back and watch the train wreck.」