The Prime Minister's office.
After reading the report from Serina, the Prime Minister looked up at the ceiling.
"The matter with His Highness Linus is also a problem."
It would be fine if the enemy nation weakened, but the enemy wasn't that naive.
They would surely demand benefits from the winning side.
And it wouldn't be Linus who provides those benefits, but those of us who serve the Empire.
The Prime Minister's honest feeling was that he wished Linus wouldn't make such selfish promises just to become emperor.
However, this kind of exchange had happened many times throughout the Empire's history.
There was no need to panic.
Rather, the real problem was Liam.
He was actively building relationships with other countries and was now providing them with massive amounts of supplies.
He was actively supporting the side opposing the faction Linus was involved with.
Linus had also detected this move.
For Linus, who had intended it as a mere punishment, it was as if a gauntlet had been thrown down.
To top it all off, Liam had established the Cleo Faction.
The number of nobles who joined the faction was less than two hundred.
It started with about a hundred, but the numbers were gradually increasing.
Most of the new members were from houses that couldn't even manage their own territories on their own.
To put it bluntly, they were all powerless houses.
By supporting such families, Cleo was increasing his presence.
The one actually providing the support was Liam.
"So he's been gaining strength through proper domain management. A very down-to-earth approach."
The Prime Minister found himself approving of Liam's management style, which didn't neglect other areas just because he could mine rare metals.
However, what this meant was... an all-out confrontation with Linus.
"Now, how will His Highness Linus move?"
The Prime Minister was somewhat looking forward to seeing how this match would turn out.
◇
Linus's room.
There, Linus swept everything off his desk with his hand.
"That little bratttttt!!"
Recently, nasty rumors about Linus had been spreading.
Rumors that he had made backroom deals with other countries.
This was true, and it demonstrated Liam's high-level intelligence-gathering capabilities.
However, it seemed Liam had no intention of cornering Linus with this.
Instead, it was Calvin's faction that was persistently picking at that point.
Linus wanted to crush Liam for real, but with Calvin present, he couldn't show any weakness, leaving him troubled.
Out of breath, he snapped his fingers, and men emerged from the floor.
The men, wearing distinctive masks, knelt before Linus.
One of the organizations that operated in the shadows of the Empire—Linus had them under his command.
"You seem to be troubled, Your Highness Linus."
When the leader spoke, his voice wasn't muffled despite the mask.
Linus sat down roughly in his chair, not even trying to hide his displeasure.
"It's your turn. Make an example of Cleo—and kill Liam."
They were an organization that handled shady jobs like assassinations.
Currently, they were employed by Linus.
"Liam is one thing, but assassinating His Highness Cleo will be a bit pricey. That female knight by his side is a master."
Veins popped on Linus's forehead, and one of his eyes twitched.
"What of it? Just get rid of them. I'll eliminate the fools who dared to defy me."
The masked men chuckled softly.
"Well, some of our own men were killed, after all."
"Even if they were low-ranking, this is a chance for payback."
"—But, are you sure about this? With His Highness Calvin around, are you certain you want to divert forces to His Highness Cleo?"
Linus understood that as well.
Calvin was more troublesome than Cleo.
However, he couldn't just ignore Cleo—and Liam.
"—Eliminate them."
At Linus's words, the masked men sank into the floor from their kneeling position and vanished.
Linus looked up at the ceiling.
"You seem confident in your swordsmanship, but these are men who have operated in the shadows of the Empire. Don't think someone of your level can do anything about them—Liam."
They were men who had operated in the shadows of the Empire for two thousand years.
They had assassinated even strong knights with their skills.
They were a group that couldn't be dealt with by strength alone.
"Even if Liam has his own shadow division, he couldn't possibly have personnel on the level of the Empire's. You've made a mistake in who you chose to anger."
◇
Night fell upon the rear palace.
Alone in his room, Cleo looked out the window, breaking out in a cold sweat and finding it hard to sleep.
"What an awful feeling."
Ever since Linus's declaration of war, he hadn't been able to sleep well.
He felt pathetic, wondering if he had always been this weak-willed.
Behind Cleo—masked figures slowly began to emerge from the floor.
Cleo turned, startled, and took a step back.
He immediately grabbed the hilt of his concealed sword, and a laser blade materialized.
"Who are you!?"
There was something strange about the masked figures' aura.
He could tell they were strong, but it felt like a different, alien kind of strength compared to a knight's.
As the masked figures fully emerged from the floor, they revealed—that they were holding the heads of other, similarly masked men.
Some were holding torsos, others just heads.
A cold sweat wouldn't stop running down Cleo's back.
(Who in the world are these people!?)
Just then, the door was thrown open violently, and Tia burst in.
"Are you unharmed, Your Highness Cleo!"
Tia held a rapier in her hand, its blade stained with blood.
She seemed to have been splattered with blood herself, as there were stains on her clothes.
Cleo saw Tia and called out.
"Be careful! These people are dangerous."
But those dangerous figures parted to make a path for Tia.
Walking through, Tia approached Cleo and confirmed his safety.
"You seem to be alright."
A surprised Cleo looked at the masked figures and understood.
"Are they allies?"
"Yes."
After confirming Cleo's safety, Tia began to make a call on her communicator.
"It's me. —I see, understood. Lord Liam's life is the top priority."
Cutting the communication, Tia turned to Cleo and explained the situation.
"His Highness Linus has made his move. It seems he dispatched assassins after us, and simultaneously after Lord Elliot of the Klave Company."
"Assassins?"
Cleo recalled the shadow division that had access to the rear palace and looked at the corpses held by the masked figures.
(Could it be them? I've never seen them before.)
But if that was the case, these masked figures were a problem.
After all, they were wearing similar masks.
"Are you sure they're allies? They're dressed almost identically."
Are they from the same organization, hired by Liam? As he pondered this, Tia urged him on.
"More importantly, we must move quickly. Lord Liam is worried."
"—Understood."
◇
The Klave Company's headquarters building.
The conference room was stained with blood.
Elliot, sitting in his chair, pretended to be unfazed by the scene before him.
With his legs and arms crossed, he stared at the traitors in front of him.
"—Was it on His Highness Linus's orders that you betrayed me?"
The captured men in suits were executives of the Klave Company.
Around them lay the bodies of hired assassins.
"Chairman, we're so sorry!"
"B-but, we were only thinking of the Klave Company's survival!"
"We'll never do something like this again!"
Around Elliot stood masked men.
One of them, twirling a knife playfully, brought his face close to the executives, revealing his red eyes.
The executives then foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Around Elliot were the three guards dispatched by Liam.
The conference room window was pierced and covered in a fine web of cracks.
The mark of a sniper.
"Chairman Elliot—it seems these guys tried to get rid of you in coordination with His Highness Linus's move. Well, this is the result of them acting on their own."
"Is that so? What a shame."
Elliot's back was drenched in sweat.
(I never imagined he had personnel of this caliber.)
He had expected skilled knights to be sent as guards.
However, the ones who actually came were Kukuri's subordinates.
The three of them had taken down more than ten hired assassins.
Outside the window—it seemed the sniper had already been dealt with as well.
The masked men began to confer.
"What about Lord Liam?"
"The Chief is guarding him."
"More importantly, I've got something interesting to share."
Watching the guards cheerfully chat in front of the corpses, Elliot had mixed feelings.
(This means if I make a clumsy move to betray him, I'll follow the same path as these guys.)
Liam was terrifying.
But at the same time, he found him incredibly reliable.
(Lord Liam, I will make use of you. To become the true top of this company in both name and reality, and to make it grow, I need your power.)
He had been prepared for rough business ever since he took over the major trading company.
Now, Elliot was delighted to have gained such a powerful ally.
◇
Meanwhile.
On the rooftop of the hotel where Liam was staying, masked figures were locked in a fierce battle.
The one fighting Kukuri was one of the most skilled members of his organization.
And that man was growing impatient.
"Who are you people? Why do you use the same techniques as us!?"
The reason the man was flustered was because they used the same techniques as his own group.
He immediately understood that they weren't just similar; they were identical.
Kukuri replied.
"The same? No, you're mistaken~. It's not that we're the same, it's that you copied us."
"W-what are you talking about!?"
Before the confused man, Kukuri's shoulders shook with laughter.
"You're not one of us, I see. Did you steal our techniques and start a new organization? That would explain why your skills are so crude. The oral traditions have been lost."
The man scanned his surroundings.
His comrades were being taken down one after another, and his anxiety was mounting.
Seeing the tide turn against him, he tried to flee, but Kukuri's subordinates surrounded him, cutting off his escape.
Several of them touched the floor, and sinister runes spread across the surface, blocking any teleportation magic.
Realizing there was no escape, the man, conversely, became calm.
"—You may be trying to confuse me, but it won't work."
Two thousand years had passed since Kukuri and his clan were turned to stone.
If, in that time, this man's group had stolen their techniques and formed a new organization, his suspicion was understandable.
He would never imagine—that beings from two thousand years ago had been revived.
"Confuse you? Hmm, an occupational hazard, I see. You're very suspicious. Well then, shall we bring this to an end?"
Kukuri closed the distance to the man and extended his arm.
The man leaned back, dodging the arm.
Kukuri's hand grazed the man's mask, exposing the area around his mouth.
The man's lips were curled into a smile.
"I've landed a blow."
As the man said this, what looked like insect legs—spider-like legs—burst through his clothes from his back, and all eight of them stabbed into Kukuri in an embracing motion.
They pierced Kukuri from the back, their tips peeking out from his chest.
Kukuri's surrounding subordinates were shocked.
They approached with weapons drawn to help.
The man seemed to know he was going to die, but he laughed, happy to have taken Kukuri with him.
"I'll take all of you with me!"
A bomb planted in the man's body activated.
It had enough power to blow away the entire hotel, along with Liam.
The man was laughing, believing he had completed his mission at the cost of his life, but Kukuri, whom he thought he had killed, began to move.
His red eyes glowed brightly as Kukuri happily thrust a hand into the man's chest and pulled out the bomb.
The bomb had been disarmed.
The man, spitting blood from his mouth, looked at Kukuri in astonishment.
"H-how?"
"You shouldn't feel relieved over something like this~. But, it was truly wonderful. That technique is something we don't possess. We shall investigate you thoroughly."
Kukuri pulled out the legs impaled in him.
He didn't look like he had suffered a life-threatening injury at all.
The man was restrained by Kukuri's subordinates.
Kukuri continued to observe and touch the man's body with great interest.
"A hidden weapon modeled after a spider, is it? It even has poison. Hmm—not bad, but not great either. Still, I am interested. Is this a technology that reproduces the characteristics of other living creatures?"
As Kukuri was investigating with interest, a subordinate spoke to him.
"Lord Liam is calling for you."
"Mmm, what a shame! Well then, half of you are to collect the corpses and investigate them thoroughly. They are our juniors, after all, so handle their bodies with care. By the way, I want to study him alive, so keep him that way."
The man, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, had his mouth gagged, and treatment began.
Kukuri headed to Liam's side.
◇
By the time Kukuri was summoned, the assassins had already been dealt with.
"Is it over already?"
"Yes. The fact that he sent such skilled operatives suggests His Highness Linus is serious."
"Too short-sighted."
He had provoked him, but he hadn't expected Linus to resort to assassination as a reflex.
A prince should be more thoughtful.
Kukuri surmised the enemy's feelings.
"He also has his conflict with His Highness Calvin. He probably wanted to deal with us quickly."
"So he thought he could get rid of us easily."
In other words, he didn't even consider us a threat.
An unpleasant thought.
He welcomed an underestimating enemy, but he couldn't forgive being looked down upon.
But for Linus, his main target was Calvin.
We were probably just a nuisance to him.
—Thanks to that, the situation was very advantageous for me.
Linus, Calvin, and the Emperor—it's best to deal with them one at a time.
Well, I'll have a small fry like Linus disappear soon enough.
If he can't even tolerate this much and tries to eliminate me, he was bound to lose to Calvin eventually anyway.
"By the way, if they sent people strong enough for even you to call them skilled, isn't Cleo in danger?"
"He has been rescued safely, so please rest assured."
Kukuri is competent, a hard worker, and truly admirable.
A world of difference from those two idiots somewhere.
I'm so happy to have met such an excellent subordinate.
Could this also be thanks to the Guide?
I really owe him one.
I should offer a prayer today as well.
"I'm going to see Cleo."
"As you wish."
Wakagi-chan (゜∀。) "I won't disappear! I'll definitely remain in everyone's hearts. I'll appear anywhere and everywhere and leave my mark!"
Brian (´;ω;`) "While Lord Liam is in such trouble, I'm getting tangled up with a strange plant... it's painful."