Book 8: Chapter 9: Liam's Right-Hand Man

Book 8: Chapter 9: Liam's Right-Hand Man

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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 reasonshe 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 ordersit'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.

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 knights 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 Klausthe 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.

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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.

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Klaus got to work with a heavy heart.

Brian (): 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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