————-

“………………Wow.”

　What was written in it was something more dangerous than I expected. An unimaginable thing.

“How was it? “

　Looking at my appearance, Yukari also became curious.

“This is something troublesome. I don't know how to say it. However……”

“However? “

“Well, worry not. Just leave it to me.”

“……Yes, Master.”

　Nodding happily, Yukari didn't ask further. I'm sure she's curious about it, but she decided to leave it to me. Feeling her gaze filled with interest resting upon me, I carefully read the letter of the d.u.c.h.ess again.

　Four pieces of information were written in the letter.

① A list of reliable people.

② A list of people not to trust.

③ The true state of affairs inside the Castall Kingdom.

④ How to learn 《Brainwas.h.i.+ng Magic》.

　None of those spelled good news. From ① through ③ it is understood that the Prime Minister of the Castall Kingdom, a man by the name of Val Morrow, is on the Marubell Empire's side. There are a large number of agents of the Empire inside the Kingdom and they are guiding the public's opinion, and the people in the Kingdom who already know this fact are in an unfavorable position.

　The Kingdom is on the verge of being overtaken by the Empire. If Prince Klaus, who was raised to be the head of the 『Reformists』 under the leaders.h.i.+p of the Prime Minister, becomes a king, the Kingdom will fall into the hands of the Empire. The reforms they are pus.h.i.+ng are “To walk, side by side, with the Empire into a new era”, but the truth is, the Kingdom will become a puppet of the Empire. Behind the scenes, that s.h.i.+tty treaty would arbitrarily squeeze the Kingdom dry. And even though there have been several small countries that had been absorbed and dried out in this same way, the imperial agents have sneaked inside the media in the Kingdom, hiding this fact.

　On the other hand, the people in the Kingdom who know of this fact, also known as the Conservationists, are fighting against it while keeping in mind the second Prince Maine as a successor. However, they are few in numbers. Although they advocate for military expansion, in truth, it has been shrinking. The Kingdom's people have been fervently raising their voice against war. If things continue like this, they won't even put up a fight, ignorant of their fate of being invaded.

　Thus, that's where number ④ comes in, by taking into account the state of the Kingdom.

　The reason why she wrote down the method to learn 《Brainwas.h.i.+ng Magic》, a secret that has been maintained within the Icene family for hundreds of years. I can at least understand that much. She meant to say something like this, “Please, in my stead, do something about the future of the Castall Kingdom”.

　If I think about why she chose me, an answer immediately comes to mind. It makes sense to pa.s.s on the 《Brainwas.h.i.+ng Magic》 to a person clever enough to detect and lift the Brainwas.h.i.+ng on Yukari. If I had perhaps failed, the letter would've never arrived, and Yukari most likely would be recalled by Phillip, repeatedly looking for a new master for her. In other words, she was looking for a worthy successor.

　Well, to be honest, I don't care at all about the future of the Castall Kingdom. However, I made a promise to Yukari, and I'm a bit worried about Maine. Would this settle down if I were to kill the Prime Minister Val Morrow and Queen White?　But then, I feel like I would be made out to be an enemy of the people by the infiltrated operatives. Ideally, Maine should ascend to power and get rid of the rotten parts.

　After giving this some serious thought, I couldn't come up with an answer.

　For now, I'll just finish the fourth purpose, and stick out my neck for this mess after that.

　Preparations for that aren't perfect yet after all. I'll never play a game I'm not going to win. The world's top must remain undefeated. Even a single defeat isn't allowed. It makes no sense unless I'm the number one in the world that everyone recognizes. That's who I am, the best in the world.

“Alright. The next course of action has been decided.”

　For the time being, I decided to put learning 《Brainwas.h.i.+ng Magic》 on hold. After a glance, it looks somewhat, no, very annoying to learn. I have to make some preparations beforehand. Preparations worthy of the top in the world.

“I'll take Silvia and Eko and learn the Transform Skill. Can I leave the servants up to you, Yukari? “

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

“Sorry to have you take action separately from us.”

“No, pay no mind to it.”

　Yukari nodded pleasantly. From the time I started to speak about servants I got the feeling she wanted to say “Please leave their education to me”, and it seemed to me that Yukari had something in mind about the ‘servants'. I wonder if I get that feeling from just her maid clothes?

“The maid clothes look good on you.”

　While parting with her, I gave some words of praise.

　Responding with a “Thank you”, Yukari bowed to me and went back inside. Needless to say, her ears were red. I think I did good in praising her.

———————————–

　Afternoon.

　All of us, except for Yukari, came to the slime forest located between the Royal Capital, Vinceton, and the mine.

“Can we learn it too? “

　Walking next to me, Silvia asked not quite convinced.

“You sure can.”

“No, but I've never heard of a Transform Skill……? “

　Maybe it's a skill that has yet to be discovered in this world. Certainly, its conditions are quite special.

“There are four conditions. It's pretty confusing, so I'll explain it step by step.”

　When I said that, Silvia took out a notepad from her inventory. It's quite Silvilike to prepare to take notes immediately after hearing it would be complicated. Eko on the other hand, was just happily humming while skipping as she held my hand. She really takes things at her own pace.

“１) Inflict exactly four repdigits of damage, from 1111 to 9999, to one type of monster one time or more. ２) Inflict exactly four repdigits of damage, from 1111 to 9999 to a Dungeon boss one time or more. ３) Complete step 1 and 2 within a week. ４) While making a pose, yell, "Transform!". That's all.”

“Wait a moment. Is the last one for real? “

“Yeah.”

“So, it is……”

　While being somewhat shocked, Silvia properly took notes. Eko was yelling “Transーform! ”  while crossing her arms. She has quite a good sense.

“I see. Is the weapon you bought earlier for this matching digit damage thing, Second-dono?”

“Yeah. As we are now, it's impossible for us to do only 1111 damage with our main skills unless the enemy is from an Upper-Cla.s.s Dungeon.”

　Before we came to the slime forest, I bought three simple spears at the Weapon's Store in the Capital. Additionally, we learned the 【Spearmans.h.i.+p】‘s skill 《Soldier Spearmans.h.i.+p》 by reading the book at the Comiket. We're all set to do s.h.i.+tty damage.

　Why come to this slime forest you might ask? Well, slimes have the characteristic of having low attack power, but high defense, and this forest is filled to the brim with such slimes. This is the only forest where you can easily fulfill that condition for 《Transform》, since all there is here are slimes that can be used for the repdigit damage conditions.

“Don't forget to take a note of the repdigit damage. You too, Eko.”

“Umu.”

“Yes! “

“Well, everyone has their spears ready, right? “

“YEAHー! “

“Y-yeahー.”

　Answered the enthusiastic Eko and the not so energetic Silvia. She's like this right now, but she'll probably get hooked up on it once she learns 《Transform》… …I'm afraid to think she'll go out night after night, introducing herself with some weird name and yelling the name of a special attack.

　Well, whatever.

“Alright!　Let the repdigit hunt begin! “

Thank you for reading.

Thank you very much for your support this year.

And I'll be in your care this next year too.

(TLN: Yeah, everything that comes after the ===== in each chapter are the author's notes.)

＜Status Details＞

Named after shogi pieces (The word in bold is the one being used in this translation). From easier to acquire to harder.

Swordsmans.h.i.+p

s.h.i.+eldmans.h.i.+p

Archery

They use the “Form” or “step” system of martial arts. From lower to higher.

From lower to higher, then it changes to the “Dan” system of martial arts, which means Grade.