***
***
At the party venue, Marion was wearing a dress, and expressed her displeasure through a scowl on her face.
“–Now you've done it.”
She usually had an androgynous appearance, but she was currently attending the party as a beautiful woman.
Her dress had been prepared by Liam.
It wasn't to Marion's taste, and she didn't like wearing skirts in the first place.
Normally, she preferred wearing a suit.
Liam was chatting away with the guests that had been invited to the party, and she was annoyed seeing Liam in a good mood after being praised for building such a magnificent spaceport.
(I finally saw a chance at becoming the Family Head, and yet…)
A girl since birth, Marion wanted to become the Family Head of Viscount Algren's household.
Now, however, it had become a thing of the past.
The Margrave, who was the head of the main family, would never allow Marion to take this position.
He spoke to Marion without looking in her direction.
“We sent you to the Capital to ask for support from influential aristocrats. Who told you to meddle in the succession war?”
Marion's job had been to request support from powerful aristocrats.
However, her greed got the better of her.
“—By requesting cooperation from Liam, we would've been drawn in to the succession war regardless.”
“The Capital isn't bored enough to bother with the territories near the border. You should have ignored the succession war and focused on other influential aristocrats. You and your ambitious dream have caused so much trouble.”
Marion had backstabbed Liam for a reason—she had planned on selling a favor during the succession war. Then she could promise immense support to the main family in exchange for her contribution.
She was thinking of using that to become the next head of the Viscount's household.
Rather than receiving support from a Count like Liam, she had been looking for ways in which the main family would receive the support of the Empire itself.
Unfortunately, the Margrave wasn't so happy about this.
“We got the support we needed, yes, but now we owe one to the Banfield Family. If anything happens, he'll no doubt take advantage of us.”
The Margrave knew that Liam wouldn't throw in his support without having his own agenda, and as a matter of course, he was right.
Everything that Marion had done in the Capital had now gone down the drain.
Liam was about to leave the venue, and Marion hurriedly tried to give chase.
When the people around her stepped in to hold her back, she pleaded to the Margrave.
“Please give me another chance.”
After leaving the venue, I wait for a while in the hallway.
Moments later, Marion rushes out in her dress.
Realizing that I was waiting for her, she looks stumped for a second, but quickly tries to regain her composure.
“—Liam-senpai, I'd like to have a word with you.”
I lean back on the wall and laugh before giving my guess as to what she has to say.
“I know. You want to negotiate with me, am I right? And your bargaining chip is the identity of the person who's moving behind the scenes. I'm not interested in what you want in exchange, but sorry… I already know.”
“Eh?”
Marion seems to think I'm bluffing.
“You do know it's not the Lengrand Family, right?”
Behind Marion stands the Lengrand Family, but there's also someone behind the Lengrand Family.
Marion must have arrived at this conclusion as well, but what I'm interested in knowing is the mastermind behind even them.
“A pawn like yourself was probably only informed up to Madam Annabell. With a little bit of thinking, you would've also arrived at His Highness Cleo.”
Cleo was the one who authorized my transfer to the frontier, so logically speaking, his name would pop up.
But the reason I came all the way here was to identify the true mastermind.
At first I thought it was Calvin, but being the honor student that he is, it's unlikely to be him.
Marion stares at me in surprise.
“You knew?”
“I just digged around for information about who could be behind Madam Annabell, and I got the answer. So, who did you think the mastermind was? Oh, it's not His Highness Cleo by the way. I was the one who told him to send me to the frontier.”
“—Why?”
From the beginning, the information that Marion had was of no value.
“Why? Well, it was more convenient that way.”
To begin with, Cleo had been the one to consult with me about the Lengrand Family.
I pass by Marion as she looks down.
“It's your fault for thinking that you can lead me around by the nose. You might have been able to become the head of the Viscount's household if you had just stuck to your orders—it's truly unfortunate.”
Triggered by my words, Marion throws a punch at me.
I take a step back to avoid her attack.
Black shadows appear from the ceiling, the walls, and the floor, holding Marion down with knives pointed towards her.
They're Kukuri's men.
Slowly, Kukuri also appears from my shadow.
Witnessing Kukuri and his subordinates, Marion's eyes shoot open.
“A Black Ops?”
She sounds surprised by how skilled they are.
While Kukuri and his tribesmen did struggle during that one particular fight against Calvin, they possess outstanding abilities that put them a cut above the others.
“Return her to the venue without killing her.”
That would serve as a greater punishment for Marion.
◇
Around that time, the Calvin Faction was told of the line-up for Liam's fleet.
More so than Liam himself, they had a problem with one of his subordinates.
Calvin narrowed his eyes.
“I see. Klaus, Liam's right-hand man, is here.”
Calvin held Klaus in high regards, and for good reasons too.
During the large war with the United Kingdoms, Klaus had been the Deputy Commander.
For those that didn't participate in the war, it was as if Klaus had taken command in place of Liam and Cleo.
This was an upsetting news to the Calvinist aristocrats.
“The man who hunted down the United Kingdoms in a short period of time.”
“He's said to have obliterated them without mercy.”
“By bringing such a man with him, is he seriously trying to bring us down?”
Klaus's name was more well known to his enemies than his allies.
Calvin couldn't relax with Klaus at their rear.
(With such a monstrous tactician watching us from the back, our soldiers would be too wary to fight properly.)
Even he couldn't predict what a tactician like Klaus would do.
After all, Klaus was someone who brought the war to an end in an extremely short amount of time, bringing home a victory when everyone thought it'd last much longer.
Not only that, he used the battlefield to clean up the Calvinist aristocrats within the fleet.
For Calvin and his allies, Klaus was a highly dangerous knight.
Worse yet, he couldn't recruit this capable knight to their side.
Many Calvinist aristocrats had been slain by his hands. As such, the others would not approve of Klaus's entry into their faction.
Calvin and his men came to the decision that they should be more vigilant of their rear, not noticing that a group of young aristocrats were gathered in one corner of the conference room.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is acting too afraid of Liam!”
The young aristocrats gathered at the table were dissatisfied of Calvin's attitude towards Liam, which they deemed cowardly.
This group mostly consisted of young lords that just succeeded their households and representatives dispatched by influential aristocrats.
A showy aristocrat put forth a proposal while he played with his bangs.
“Rather than allowing Liam to do as he pleases, wouldn't it be more interesting to have him clash with the Kingdom of Dominion?”
The young aristocrats looked at one another after hearing the proposal.
“But His Highness already rejected that plan.”
“We're not going to make it too obvious. We'll lure the Kingdom of Dominion's army and have them strike at our weak point. Then, we'll purposely be slow in sending reinforcements, giving them the opportunity to break through and infiltrate.”
One person noticed something as he was listening to the showy aristocrat's plan.
“Then does that mean the decoys would have to fight the Kingdom of Dominion seriously? Will we not be informing them of this plan?”
“Our enemies have beast-like instincts. We'd need decoys who'd fight to the bitter end.”
In other words, they'd be throwing their allies under the bus.
The operation that Calvin had refused was going to be carried out by the young aristocrats.
The Guide was also present at the scene.
“Good, they'll guide us to where Liam is. Let's tell Gudwar about this and have his favorite prince take the lead in attacking. Hmm, but as things stand, these guys would probably forgo laying down the groundwork for this plan. Which means that Calvin would notice them sooner or later. —I guess I have to get involved.”
In order to fulfill Gudwar's request, the Guide decided to help the young aristocrats in their plan by keeping Calvin in the dark.
The Guide watched on with cold eyes as the young aristocrats got riled up.
“—You really think that's enough to deal with Liam? They're a useless bunch through and through.”
Our plan will definitely work!
The Guide was fed up by how optimistic these aristocrats were.
◇
-Inside the bridge of the Gudwar Kingdom of Dominion's flagship-
Gudwar was waiting for the Guide's return, feeling deeply unsatisfied.
Just as he was wondering when his favorite Izel would get to be deployed onto the battlefield, the bridge came to life as an intelligence officer of the Kingdom of Dominion arrived with some new information.
Even Izel felt excited by this piece of news.
“Klaus? THE Klaus Sera Monto is on the battlefield?”
Klaus' name had spread to even Izel, but he'd collected his information from the United Kingdoms, not the Empire.
Izel's subordinates were also thrilled.
“I heard he's a fierce man who crushed the United Kingdoms.”
“Isn't he a tactician though?”
“That doesn't matter. A man of such caliber should have some strong warriors under him.”
Klaus, the man who one-sidedly beat up the United Kingdoms.
Izel couldn't help but express his excitement from hearing this knight’s name being mentioned.
“I was starting to think that Calvin's head wouldn't be enough. However, with a bigshot like him, things have changed. So, where's Klaus-dono?”
The intelligence officer told them what he knew.
“Rather than the front lines, he's situated at the rear where a base is currently under construction.”
“He's not on the front lines? Why? With a knight like him, isn't it common sense to place him on the front lines?”
The members of the Kingdom of Dominion believed Klaus was more suitable as the commander than Calvin.
It was baffling to them that Klaus wasn't the one leading the fleet.
The intelligence officer went on to report where Klaus was.
“He's located behind a fleet that seems unusually weak.”
Izel came to an ephiphany after hearing that.
“—So that's his plan. He intends to lure us in before hitting us.”
Deliberatly luring their fleet deeper into the Empire.
Izel's advisor cracked his neck.
“Klaus, the man that trampled on the United Kingdoms, will be waiting for us once we take the bait. —It's not a bad strategy. Izel-sama, what shall we do?”
Izel closed his eyes and smiled.
Then, his eyes shot open, and he raised his right hand forward.
“There's but one course of action! If there's a trap, we just have to push forward!”
No need for strategies!
That was essentially Izel's message, but his men showed great excitement over being told that they'd be attacking.
Gudwar was watching everything transpire in the bridge, his octopi legs wriggling in anticipation.
“Fufufufufufu! So, there's a strong man like him. Liam and Klaus—the Empire has a lot of powerful guys as well! I'm looking forward to it~”
Gudwar couldn't wait to see Izel fighting against Liam and Klaus.
As a cherry on top, people would die in the hundreds of millions along the way.
It was an irresistible temptation for Gudwar.
◇
At Augur's spaceport, Klaus, who was working in his office, felt a strange chill.
“I've been getting the chills lately. Am I just tired?”
Klaus often suffered from Liam's unreasonable behaviors, but normally, his days would finish after a round of serious work.
Today was as normal as all the others.
Lately, however, a feeling of unpleasantness had been surrounding him.
“Is it because I got assigned to a planet near the front lines? I want to go home soon.”
Klaus didn't want to be the Head Knight. He just hoped for the peaceful days to continue.
He knew himself that his abilities weren't outstanding.
He wasn't particularly fond of fighting either, and he still couldn't believe he was given the title of Head Knight by the Banfield Family.
“I can head back once Lord Liam's training is over. Three, no if nothing happens, then in two years I'll be able to return safely.”
When he first heard Liam saying that he would be heading to the frontier, Klaus was worried about what the future held for him, but he was now getting confident that everything would end peacefully this time.
However, the unpleasant feeling wasn't disappearing.
“—Let's just focus on work.”
He received a report from his subordinate just as he was about to finish up for the day and leave.
***
Klaus gazed far into the distance with hollow eyes.
(So this is what that unpleasant feeling was about.)
However, reflected in his subordinate's eyes was the figure of a Head Knight who was calm and collected.
A massive fleet is approaching, but he's so calm about it! The Head Knight is amazing!
That was the kind of expression on his subordinate's face.
“I'll report this to Lord Liam myself. Get the army ready to sortie, and don't forget to start collecting information.”
***
Klaus got to work with a heavy heart.
Brian (′；ω；｀): “The postscript section was taken over while I was on a business trip to Mishima Yomu's notepad. It's painful.”
Wakagi-chan (゜?゜): “It's your fault for leaving an opening! Both the regular and the limited editions of ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs' Volume 6 are on sale! The limited editions come with CD Dramas, so have fun with those!”
Wakagi-chan (′?｀*): “Chapter 23 of the manga will be released on the first week of next month, so make sure to check out chapter 22 before that. Also, we're accepting pre-orders for Volum 4 which has Milene on the cover, so make sure to buy this too!”
TN: Last week, I made sure that the message that said “Read only at RainofSnow” was written in white font so that it won't be visible to the readers until it's copied and pasted to a pirate site, but apparently our website does not have the function of changing the color of the text, and the message was visible to the readers. I apologize if it caused any inconvenience.
***
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