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At the time when the royal family member of Serende made contact with Raheight, Arcreal was by his side. 

Tsudwali remembered Arcreal talking about that time before. 

I heard the report of Tsudwali and immediately sent Molari to where Arcreal is. 

If the resident of Yugura is trying to investigate the royal family of Serende, I guessed the royalty would try to pull something in order to seal his mouth. 

But the reason why I sent Molari was because I wanted to capture someone from Serende who approached him, so that I could negotiate with the resident of Yugura’s planet and get an advantage. 

“To think there would be someone who could corner Arcreal to this degree.” (Ritial)

I look down at Arcreal who is in bed, unconscious. 

His breathing is calm, but there’s nothing we can do aside from watching how things unfold for the near future. 

Arcreal was mostly wounded in two spots. 

The wound on his chest was deep, but we have finished treating it. 

The issue is on the head. The attack that destroyed his cranium and reached his brain. 

There’s a lot of mysteries when it comes to the brain, contrary to the other organs which have had their workings mostly clarified. 

There may be magic that affects the brain, but the theory of it is unclear. 

And so, even though it is possible to regenerate the shape of the brain with healing magic, impairments happen in most cases. 

It is clear that the reason why he hasn’t woken up even though we have finished the treatment is because of the damage he received on his brain. 

But there’s nothing more we can do here. 

Nothing else aside from waiting for Arcreal himself to recover. 

“My apologies…” (Molari)

“There’s no need for you to apologize, Molari. It is exactly because you went to Serende together with Tsudwali that she remembered the information, and I could decide to send you to Arcreal. Arcreal was saved thanks to you.” (Ritial)

I analyzed Arcreal, and guessed a number of locations he could have gone to afterwards.

Molari went through those places, and managed to reach Arcreal. 

Arcreal was already fighting an assassin by the time Molari arrived, and she witnessed how Arcreal collapsed right before her eyes. 

The assassin was also pretty wounded, but he was still standing as if natural, and tried to finish him. 

Molari judged that it was dangerous to fight a powerhouse that could corner Arcreal even if he was seriously injured, and immediately escaped with Arcreal. 

And that leads us to the present.

“But to think Arcreal would be defeated… Was he an Illegitimate?” (Yasutet)

“It would be better to not make assumptions, Yasutet. If it is just in the sense of defeating Arcreal, even a civilian with no power at all managed to do it. But…I can’t deny that the possibility is high.” (Ritial)

The reason why the resident of Yugura’s planet managed to hold Arcreal back was because he saw through his weak point. 

He used the shallowness of Arcreal’s experience for having left everything to his talent. 

The assassin this time managed to overcome all of that, and managed to get his attack reach. If I consider the information Molari gave, I can imagine the method he used to corner Arcreal. 

I can, but it is in theory so impossible, it is hard to feel the reality of it. The ones who can make that possible would really be the Illegitimate of Yugura. 

To think Serende, which we used as our home base, still had an unknown Illegitimate. 

He was most likely picked up by someone before the surroundings viewed him as an abnormality…

“Does the resident of Yugura’s planet know this?” (Yasutet)

“Molari saw the assassin. We should be able to investigate the background of that assassin if we tell them the information. But…” (Ritial)

The royalty that cooperated with Raheight remembered Arcreal and sent an assassin? I feel it is not that simple of an answer. 

In the first place, if it had been a royal family member who has an assassin that can kill Arcreal, things would be settled if they simply sent that assassin to kill the resident of Yugura’s planet.

Is it an assassin that’s not suitable in fights against multiple people? Is there a factor that doesn’t allow the assassin to kill the resident of Yugura’s planet? 

No, there should be other methods if that were the case. 

The conclusion I have arrived at is that the royalty that made contact with Raheight together with Arcreal and the royalty that sent the assassin are two different people. 

Then, the one who sent that assassin was most likely either Prince Washekt or Princess Hilmera. 

The existence of the resident of Yugura’s planet can shake the balance of the ones aiming for the throne. 

Their objective is most likely to draw out the secrets of the other royal family members to take away their advantage for the throne. Thus, they tried to send an assassin to stop the resident of Yugura’s planet from getting that information from me or Arcreal. 

Prince Washekt and Princess Hilmera should know that I made contact with the resident of Yugura’s planet. 

And so, they targeted Arcreal… 

There was a factor to judge I haven’t obtained the information of Arcreal? It is most likely because the moves of the resident of Yugura’s planet are equal between each royalty, or are they leaving the royalty in question for later?

“Ritial-sama?” (Yasutet)

“Let’s observe for now. There’s a high chance we would expose him to danger if we poke carelessly.” (Ritial)

What I can tell is that there’s someone on the royal family’s side that is cooperative towards that man and has an assassin that can corner Arcreal. 

It wouldn’t be good to bring out a new obstruction to him when he is currently being hated by 3 members of the royal family as of present. 

◇◇

Rakura was about to be assassinated, and Melia was about to be kidnapped. 

The face of Comrade didn’t show much surprise despite hearing those reports, and he was simply listening in silence to the reports. 

“About the woman that was alive, she was hired with money, and simply got the order to crash onto me at their signal.” (Mix)

“That goes the same for the old lady. She was simply ordered to separate Melia from me once we came to ask stuff.” (Ekdoik)

We called Masetta for support when carrying the men that we captured, and questioned the old lady while at it. 

But the end result was that we didn’t get any noteworthy information. 

The men that I captured didn’t have poison in their person, contrary to the one that attacked Rakura. 

It is great that we managed to capture the assailants, but this is most likely…

“I tried drawing out information from the men with Stomach of Perplexion, but they simply obeyed orders from a letter, and they weren’t even aware of who was the one that sent them.” (Dyuvuleori)

“Figures. Haah…” 

Comrade sighed lightly after hearing the report of Dyuvuleori. 

The men were like hoodlums. They are probably the unit they use to do the dirty work of companies and nobles. 

A bunch that just go into action when told the plan, and wouldn’t hurt the royalty at all even if they were to be captured.

According to the details of Dyuvuleori, they would regularly get a bag with letters detailing their next job along with gold in their gathering spot, and they simply followed that. 

The one who carried the letters was a civilian. Most likely someone who received anonymous letters and given orders. 

“I don’t like this. They simply give orders to the unskilled while they just watch from above. I don’t feel like they have any intention of getting results.” (Mix)

“They are simply throwing stuff at us and if it works, they consider it a lucky stroke. Their main objective here is to give us a warning and to intimidate us. ‘We are going to be stabbing more and more’.” 

With how things are going, there’s a high chance Haakudoku has been attacked as well while he is recovering. 

Comrade already had the Butler Army hiding below the bed and in the shadows of the furniture, so I think he will be able to deal with any direct attempts though…

Speaking of which, Tsudwali apparently showed up in Haakudoku’s place the other day, but Comrade said to leave it be. 

I thought there was some sort of approach from Ritial, but…maybe it was a personal matter of Tsudwali? 

“Just in case, I shall take charge of going together with Masetta to meet Haakudoku.” (Ekdoik)

“That would be a great help, Ekdoik. And so, about Melia…” 

Melia’s body quivered at being called. She is most likely bothered that she was almost kidnapped.

“Comrade—” (Ekdoik)

“Make sure to never be alone and always have a spare of Ekdoik’s chains. Can’t even go to the toilet carelessly, so make sure to be thorough about managing even your water intake.” 

Comrade cut off my words and told this decision to Melia. 

He predicted I would follow up for Melia, and cut me off as a way to say there’s no need for that. 

It is true that there’s nothing for me to say if Comrade has decided that. 

“O-Okay.” (Melia)

“I have said this before, but I was plenty aware of the possibility of Melia being targeted. We managed to stop their attempt with Ekdoik, so there’s no issue with that. If you are scared, I can give you work at the base, so please decide that by yourself.” 

“I am okay!” (Melia)

“Good. It is true that you may have less actual combat experience than the others, but you are a hundred times better than me. I could have died at worst with an ambush from the back.” 

“Haha…” (Melia)

Melia made a dry smile, but Comrade most likely didn’t say that as a joke. If Comrade were to be attacked in the same way as a resident of this world, he might seriously die.

The next day, Comrade decided to walk through the city together with Ilias. 

Melia seemed to be fine, but there was still a bump on her head, so I had her rest. 

“But is it okay, Comrade? I don’t think they will try to pull off something right after yesterday, but…” (Ekdoik)

“If you are worried, please be several times more overprotective than when with Melia. I don’t have a shred of pride, so you can protect me without caring about anything like that.” 

“G-Got it… So you can even tell that.” (Ekdoik)

“Melia is someone who wants to grow as a holy knight too. Anyone can tell that she doesn’t want to be thought of as deadweight. I can also tell how you will act after seeing Melia like that.” 

If I had spoken in a way that would cover for Melia, she might have blamed herself even more. 

I feel like he is a bit too on edge, but it seems like the heart of Comrade still has a bit of leeway if he can still think of his allies. 

There’s no location in specific today we have decided to gather information from. 

Comrade apparently wanted to organize the information we have gathered until now, and wanted to walk around Serende in his own way. 

“…I do think it is a good country…though.” (Ilias)

Ilias muttered this while we were walking in the city. 

I can agree that this is a good country. 

Each person is living their own lives, and I can tell their earnestness from their voices and expressions. 

The cityscape of Serende is as energetic as that of other countries. 

Ilias hesitating on saying the last part was most likely because she felt the contradicting nature of it. 

The gazes that we could feel every now and then in the city, and the emotions held within them. I can’t feel strong hostility from them, but there’s no doubt they are wary of us. 

A lot of people must have been ordered to ‘keep an eye on those people’. 

With these many eyes on us, there’s no doubt Comrade has felt them too to a certain degree. 

But Comrade directed a sarcastic smile at Ilias contrary to that. 

“There’s no point being so on edge. Just tell me when you feel killing intent. I can’t react to feelings outside my vision after all.” 

“There’s no need to even ask, but…” (Ilias)

Comrade has no choice but to leave all the ambushes to me and Ilias. 

He would just exhaust his mind if he were to think too much about it. 

Is he thinking things won’t go as the candidates plan? 

We continued walking the city just like that, and he would begin chatting with someone when he sees fit. 

It feels close to what Melia was doing, but he sporadically took a long time or a short time to finish the conversation. 

He must be checking whether they are someone who he can draw out information from while chatting with them. 

“The love of ruins from Prince Washekt is really famous. It is not only nobles and merchants, he also speaks to the populace to cooperate in protecting the ruins. Well, even if we can’t provide money, we can at least help out in cleaning on free days after all. I don’t think treasuring the inheritances of the past is bad.” 

“I see. Don’t you go inside for cleaning?” 

“We might break something if we carelessly touch anything. There are ruins with traps too, so we wouldn’t just enter on our own unless we don’t care about our lives. But there would be the need for quite a lot of participants in the ruins tour plan of Washekt-sama. It really would be safer with the instructions of a specialist. Everyone must be interested.” 

I see. What the civilians don’t want to get involved in are stuff that companies and nobles have an influence in. They provide information about the special products of this country without much resistance in this manner. 

We can get something out of even a conversation like this one. 

For example; we can assume that there’s donations from the nobles and companies to provide protection to the ruins. If we learn about the flow of that money, we can investigate the influential power of the people who are supporting Washekt. 

We could read that there’s something hidden if there’s an unnatural amount of gold flowing. 

“I heard that he is quite the ruins lover, but his proactiveness is also impressive. It seems like Princess Hilmera has been influenced by this as well.” 

“You could say that. Hilmera-sama has been helping out Washekt-sama the whole time. I feel like it should be fine for her to do stuff a bit more for herself though.” 

“It doesn’t seem like Princess Hilmera interacts much with the other members of the royal family. Do they not get along?” 

I thought it was harmless talk, but Comrade suddenly threw a pretty straight question. 

I feel like this person is on the side of Washekt, but it felt like he was kind of thorny towards Hilmera who is close to Washekt. Was Comrade bothered by that?

I observe the conversations of Comrade often. I feel like I am beginning to understand what Comrade thinks. 

Even if there’s still…a gap between our communication skills. 

“It is partly because of the difference in age. But there are also rumors.” 

“Rumors?” 

“Aah, it is nothing. I don’t want to talk behind the back of the royal family.” 

“Haha, there’s no knowing where there might be ears after all. You shouldn’t spread weird rumors about stuff like not being related by blood after all.” 

“! Y-Yeah. It would be one thing if it were a good rumor, but bad rumors shouldn’t be spread, right?!” 

That reaction just now…did Comrade cause that purposely? 

Comrade wrapped up the conversation there and we headed to the plaza where people gather to rest. 

There were a lot of mothers and children, and the children were having fun playing around while being watched over by their parents.

“Comrade, about the conversation just now…” (Ekdoik)

“It isn’t that impossible of a story…that Hilmera isn’t related by blood with Washekt and the others.” 

This is something we learned from the investigations until now, but the mother of Princess Hilmera was the wife of the brother of the current king of Serende before she became a queen. 

But the king of Serende married her after his little brother died, and Princess Hilmera was born less than a year after that. 

In other words, she had Princess Hilmera before she became a queen. 

It is possible that the father isn’t the king of Serende. 

And it seems like the people of Serende are pretty conscious of this possibility. 

“Princess Hilmera not being related by blood with the other siblings doesn’t have much to do with us though?” (Ekdoik)

“Not directly.” 

“So it does indirectly, huh… Do you get what that means, Ilias?” (Ekdoik)

“In the case Princess Hilmera is the child of the little brother of the king of Serende, the people who supported the little brother of the king could join the side of Princess Hilmera.” (Ilias)

Comrade nodded as if saying that’s exactly right.

I see. Even if Princess Hilmera was young 10 years ago, there might be a high chance that there would be people who would cooperate with Raheight and his group to use her and get back the political power. 

But there’s no shadow of a person like that as far as our investigation goes around Princess Hilmera… 

Anyways, this information should be useful for Comrade to understand the heart of Princess Hilmera. 

“Now then, let’s get along with the madams next!” 

“Madams… Are you talking about the mothers? What do you plan on doing?” (Ekdoik)

“It is obviously your turn, Ekdoik.” 

I tilted my head at first, but I understood the intention of Comrade after seeing the result. 

Comrade bought a doll for children from a street stall nearby, and stuck the joints of the doll with my chains. 

Basically, he wants me to serve as an entertainer by using dolls. 

It is the technique to use the flexibility and resilience of strings to make it look like the dolls are alive, but I can control my chains freely to begin with, so this is easy. 

I control the two knight dolls, remember the sight of the knights of Taizu sparring, and make it look like they are fighting intensely.

A pair of children came by and were watching this with sparkling eyes. 

The mothers were looking at us with suspicion at first, but when Comrade told them we wanted to practice our street performance and to please cooperate, their wariness lowered little by little. 

 And so, they are now having a fun talk together. 

“I see. You can buy them so cheaply despite the quality being that high?” 

“The subordinates gather ingredients and then choose the stuff that would suit the palate of the royal family. The ingredients that are not chosen flow into the market. They go bad a bit faster because of this, but the quality is guaranteed, so the competition is fierce.” 

I have heard that the goods that enter the mouth of the royalty come from their own line of production. 

The ones that arrange it, the ones that prepare it, and there’s even people who serve as the poison tasters. It sounds like an awful lot of work. You could say it is the trait of a country with a history in poisoning. 

But what’s more shocking about this is the ability for Comrade to draw out conversations. 

He would grasp the wariness of the other party without using any magic at all, and would lead them by using words that would make them want to talk. 

Also, he is making a smile I rarely see, but it is hard to believe that’s a fake smile. 

If I could smile like that, maybe I would get a bit better at gathering information? 

Ilias was watching Comrade getting along with the mothers with hard to describe eyes. 

She must be used to this already, but her face is like that of someone who has given up on even being baffled at this point.

I feel like I made a similar face to that one when I saw Rakura sprawled on the ground and sleeping from drinking herself unconscious. 

“Good work. You now have more you can do with your chains.” (Ilias) 

“Right. But if I want to earn a living with street performances, I would need a bit more tools for the trade.” (Ekdoik)

“No, there’s no need to consider it seriously.” (Ilias)

Comrade is playing around while carrying children. 

The mothers were wary about it at first, but they are now watching that sight with smiles on their faces. 

Can you get that much trust in such a short period of time? 

The children seem to be more interested in the dolls I am controlling. 

They are poking them with their fingers, so they would get really merry when I move the dolls to match this. 

To think the children who normally don’t even try to get close to me because they are scared of my appearance would smile so easily like this… How mysterious.

“Now then, it is about time we pack things up and return.” 

“Yeah. Alright, that’s it for today! Let’s play next time!” 

“Eeh, nooo.” 

“One more time, lift me up~!” 

The guard of the children is also completely…no, he is liked by Rakura who has the personality of a child to begin with, so this reaction might not be that much of a surprise. 

“My arms are kinda at their limit though… Damn it, can’t be helped! Come on, line up! Oi, Ekdoik, Ilias! Don’t just watch and laugh! Help me satisfy these guys!” 

“I don’t mind that, but…won’t the children be hurt if I were to lift them up?” (Ekdoik)

“Better than being grabbed by the grip strength of Ilias.” 

“Wait a moment. I can’t just let that one slip by.” (Ilias)

The children obediently make a single line. 

Comrade rolled up his sleeves and lifted the children one by one. 

There’s a side of me that’s relieved from seeing this. 

Comrade has always been in a constant tense atmosphere since the battle against Raheight and his group was settled. 

“Ilias, hold back properly, okay? Don’t throw them while saying ‘so high, so high’, okay?” 

“As if I would do that!” (Ilias)

That’s why I couldn’t help but wish for such a peaceful time to continue for a while longer to heal the heart of Comrade. 

Ilias, who is smiling by the side of Comrade, must be thinking the same. 

“Oi, Ekdoik.” 

“What?” (Ekdoik)

“That child there is an assassin. Seize him.”

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