CH 104

"Hohoho, this is quite something."

Randolph visited Charlotte's room, and his gray eyes narrowed at the sight of the two women inside.

With his gray hair, bushy eyebrows, and mustache, he looked like a handsome old man, dressed in a tailcoat suit that was the pinnacle of a butler's outfit.

Using his old observant eye, he had noticed that the distance between the two women, Charlotte and Liz, was getting narrower.

"Should I say 'congratulations'?"

His smile deepened with a mildly amused look. Inwardly, he thought

hoho, interesting.

--From the looks of things, it seems that a day when he will be called the general of Aldora is not far off.

After all, this Grandpa does not have time to grow old.

"Wh- what is there to be congratulation about...? "

As if having a mutual understanding. Charlotte, the lord's wife, and Chief Butler Randolph exchanged glances. If Desmond found out, he'd be stunned to discover how well these two got along, but he's not here, and Liz, who was supposed to be equally surprised, had no time for that.

Without the usual strength in her stare, her ears reddened and pretended to be calm.

"This will require a letter to Earl Bergamot. Have you decided on a date for the wedding?"

"Get to the point! Why are you here! Hurry!" Finally, Liz, who had exceeded her

capacity

raised her voice. "I'm not ready! I haven't talked to my lord! Not yet!"

Fuh-yah!

She blew up and let out a puff of air, leaving little to indicate that she is an overqualified Parliamentary official other than her Girl Scout-like attire, as Desmond refers to it.

Surely it would have had an instant effect if he had given her a cat toy.

"Hohoho, Katherine told me that Desmond-sama can drive women crazy. I wonder if Ms. Liz will be like that too..."

Upon realizing Randolph's words, Liz corrected her posture.

"Well then, let's see what you become when you have subjected to those techniques."

--The lord's wife Charlotte giggles with amusement.

*Stare*

She glared at her unintentionally. But her face is bright red and her eyes are a little teary.

"Oh, how cute."

If that man who can drive that woman crazy were here, he would have said that.

"No, no, I just don't have to take it."

"I cannot allow that. To become Desmond-sama's second wife and bear his child, you must undergo those techniques. That is also a condition I set for you to become his second wife."

Ugh.

Liz stumbled over her words.

"Fufu, if that's your reaction, it seems that you would like to marry Desmond-sama and carry his child."

Charlotte smiles mischievously like a girl who succeeded in her prank. But she still looks cute despite the contents of her words.

"--Hohoho," Randolph laughs." Well, well, it seems like we're on the same side. So, is it correct to assume that Liz-sama will be Desmond-sama's second wife?"

"Then you will also undergo the sexual techniques, correct?"

When Liz turned her head away, her silver hair swayed. Revealed that her face is red to the ears.

""Excellent."" The voices of Lady Charlotte and the butler overlapped.

".....why are you guys so close to each other anyway?"

As she said this, Liz felt the atmosphere between them change completely.

In an instant, she changed from the shy look she had until now and showed the appearance of a capable political official.

"We need to act as a united front."

"Very well."

Randolph nods, and Charlotte offers him a seat, which he accepts.

Now, present here is - the second daughter of the Terrace family and first wife of the Lord of Aldora, Charlotte, the fourth daughter of the Bergamot family and second wife (planned, or rather, certain) Lord of Aldora, Liz, and the "strongest" knight with the title Gray Hound Randolph.

The leading figures of Aldora are all here (although the lord is not present, he is still in the middle of impregnating his mistress, unaware of this meeting that would cause him a stroke if he saw it).

"First, I would like to hear a report," Charlotte says. "How was the harvest today? I have regularly informed about the situation through Katherine."

"Can you tell us about that? Ms. Liz."

There was no reason for Liz to refuse if Randolph had urged her to do so. Although she is surprised that they are already in touch, despite her desire to confront the old merry-go-round who has been keeping it to himself until now, and her desire to spend more than an hour questioning the maid who has been quietly acting as an informant intermediary. But she now knows that Charlotte, who is usually clinging around Desmond these days knew the information thanks to Katherine, but if the meeting was to be held in the context of the Aldora faction, Liz, who is a competent Parliamentary official, should not interject personal feelings or grudges.

The important thing now is that Charlotte, Randolph, and herself join hands for Desmond's sake and prepare for external enemies.

"It's about the affiliation of the spy who visited our territory today..."

When Liz begins her report, Charlotte closed her eyes and listened attentively.  She seems like a completely different person from the one who was flirting with Desmond. 

According to Liz's report, there was not much new information. It contains the power structure and the other party's intentions, etc., which is about the same as what has been accumulated up until now. But on the other hand, it means they had already gathered more than enough information.

It was only Aldora that they had infiltrated this time, they had infiltrated other camps in the past according to their families and faction interests, and depending on their skill, they may not have been given information about their own faction, but they may have had information about the other faction. 

As long as these spies are among those ranks, they can be used to penetrate even the darkest secrets of the nobility. When combined with all the data and put through Liz's information-processing abilities, all of the data was compiled like a relational model with frightening accuracy. Makes reliable intelligence available even in this remote territory.

Charlotte listens intently.

"----However, if you have been listening to the previous reports, there is nothing particularly noteworthy to mention-"

Now. the main topic.

"Today, We caught 《Ephemera》."

*Startled*

Charlotte reacted.

"《Ephemera》, you mean that..."

"She seemed to understand her place and opened her mouth easily." Randolph continues from Liz. "Hoho, I would rather not choose my death if it means my information can be extracted anyway whether I am alive or not. As expected, an ice-cold rationalism in order to take the most convenient means. It matters not if the choice does not appeal to her master's interests. - Hoho, or maybe she didn't care about her Lord in the first place?"

He says it meaningfully, but the smile on his face is the smile of a gentle, good-natured old man as if he were saying that he fed the birds on his day off. The two ladies know his personality and are used to it, but knowing him, that chicken lord would be...

horrified.

Randolph wants to drag 《Ephemera》 into this faction. This is not only because《Ephemera》is competent but also because she is, as he puts it, an interesting person, and has the means to draw her in - for this reason, he had Liz act as a lie detector rather than extracting information directly from her brain. 

Inspired by Desmond's idea, Randolph establish a means of extracting information by using Liz, an adept mage in the information field to access the subject's brain directly. The frightening method as it did not matter whether the subject was alive or dead, as long as the hippocampus which controls memory remains. Knowing this《Ephemera》made the most rational decision.

Randolph sends her a look, then Liz continues to reveal the information she has obtained, reviewed, and analyzed from her.

Then Charlotte.

"Hmph, it looks like things are finally starting to move in the open as well."

The two nods at her words. Despite all this, the lord is not present, after all, he is still in the middle of--(same as above).

"So Randolf, what do you plan to do with 《Ephemera》?"

"I am thinking of having her join us."

"If she is not motivated by either duty or loyalty, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages to have her join and she can easily switch to our side. --But it will take a lot of work to offset the disadvantages incurred by her...and also sexual art."

At Randolph's words, Liz stammered, "Uuu......," and Charlotte--

"Katherine tells me that the sexual art can only be used by Desmond-sama, and that it can drive a woman crazy."

Liz's cheeks twitched at the word "crazy".

"If that's the case, then sexual art can be used to attract Ephemera too...so what do you think?"

Randolph's gray, penetrating, mysterious eyes turned to Charlotte, who, with the exception of Desmond, was the foremost expert in the art - or even surpassed him now because of the fact that she has obtained his knowledge. 

Charlotte's red, pretty lips curled up. Like a blooming flower.

"In that case, can I take charge of training her? After all, I'm no stranger to it--"

Randolph couldn't help but narrow his eyes at Charlotte's luscious behavior.

◇

A room in the mansion of a certain noble--

It is an overwhelmingly luxurious room. However, that luxury is not vulgar or flashy, but rather the work of first-class craftsmen, first-class art, and materials that have stood the test of time. Looking at the arrangement of the items, one can see that they were not collected by a wealthy man who wants to waste money, but by a man who wants to enhance the "status" of this room and its owner, who truly understands their value.

However, even understanding this requires an appropriate level of "status". Above all, these items seem to be demanding that the owner of the house possess a "status" that is suitable for them.

The owner, with short-cropped blond hair and blue eyes, dressed in clothes befitting an aristocrat and was unable to suppress the anger that seeped out of him.

"No word from the Ephemera yet?"

"Yes, but no way someone as skilled as her is...."

At the Lord's cold voice, the head of the <Shadow> keeps his mouth shut.

As the leader of the <Shadow>, it is not unreasonable that he let slip such unbecoming, excusing words that he wouldn't normally say. Because Ephemera is the most skilled among the "Shadows" in this faction. It is unbelievable that the report on the first day of the Aldora territory infiltration ended up not being delivered.

The Lord uttered in disgust. He had heard of his legend. But for those of generation younger than the one he had built his legend on, there was a part of them that thought that a legend was nothing more than a legend, a myth. Furthermore, until now there was occasionally information they get from the spies, although it was easily obtained information and there was nothing suspicious. The information that the legend has now indeed become just a legend, that the 《Gray Hound》 has declined.

Or that's what they thought.

However, if it was because all of the released agents forget their duties and are sent back, the situation up to now is nothing more than behavior designed to catch them off guard. If that is the case, they have no choice but to doubt the authenticity of the information they received until now, and - frankly - they are not even sure if it is really the 《Gray Hound》 that is intercepting the intelligence or not.

--《Heretic of Damwead》.......

The Lord clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth.

A coward who fled on his first battle, a pathetic failure of a nobleman. And an unforgivable fool who sought to share the magic with the commoners, a magic that was reserved for the nobility.

Cultivating the soil, building city walls...... Those are the tasks of the commoners but he did it with magic. Magic is not something to be used to mimic the commoner's works. The nobles wield magic and kill monsters that commoners cannot defeat, or take land from other nobles and savages while the commoners cultivate the land and enrich the nobles as their natural obligation to those who protect and shelter them. Furthermore, according to what he has heard, he even gave his seeds to the commoners.

--ridiculous!

A man who has no pride, What kind of a nobleman is he? Regardless of how many commoners with magical powers come to challenge them, they will never be able to defeat a noble mage who has been trained through a legitimate magic training founded on venerable and strong blood and a long history of development. --The mere existence of a fool who has forgotten the preciousness of his nobility is enough to make him sick.

Though it is easy to crush it, there's nothing more annoying than crushing bugs.

And it is a wound to the pride of nobleman to be bothered with such a man, no matter how much of an eyesore he is.

The Lord asks.

"What is the credibility of the rumor that Charlotte is pregnant?"

"Well..." the person responds.

"it seems to be true. Although we cannot be certain, it seems that the Terrace household has begun to make a move even from a baseless rumor. The Damwead viscount is still silent."

"Kuh..." The lord shows a face as if he bite into a bitter bug. 

The fact that Charlotte is pregnant completely overturns the fact that he sent a woman that cannot bear a child home from an allegation into an ultimate insult. All the unreasonable demands and special treatment that he has received until now have suddenly turned into his weakness.

"How foolish..., That woman shouldn't be able to get pregnant ......."

his thinking was that.

That woman had insulted me by taking my seed and not getting pregnant. She deserved to be given to a man like that. And The other nobles also agreed.

It was also a good move to suppress that heretic.

He was popular among the lower classes of nobles. Although he was a nobleman, he was a lowly, insignificant figure compared to the rest. But if someone tried to attack Desmond and had him executed, it was possible that they would join forces and even start a rebellion. That was more trouble than getting rid of a bug and he take no chance of losing.

If it had come to this, he should have just taken care of it in one fell swoop. He never expected Charlotte to become pregnant and for someone like Ephemera to be defeated on the first day - not to mention from what he has heard from those other nobles,  it would be best to assume that they cannot be attacked by espionage and manipulation.

And what now then?

"Tsk."

And the Lord, Marquis Peter Swift clucked his tongue in disgust.

"Invite him to join our peer. Send an invitation in my name to Desmond Damwead. Inform him that his wife must also be present."

So let us inquire whether she is conceived or not. Baron Desmond Damwead, the current owner of Charlotte, and myself, the Marquis.

Even if Earl Terrace is a noble with a long and distinguished history, he is still an Earl.  Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. If one disregards that hierarchy, the order of a noble society will collapse. The Earl of Terrace has no say in the matter.

Desmond is a coward who flees on his first battle. There was no way that he would not yield his head when he was pinned from above. Besides, just by discarding one child and woman or even just one woman, he would gain the backing of the marquis. If he is a nobleman, this is nothing but benefits. Both of these options may unpalatable, but he cannot turn his back on either of them. He may also be allowed to enjoy the rich that was leached from Terrace. But only in an amount commensurate with his status.

Was that the wrong assumption? To begin with, Aldora Territory is in the middle of nowhere. No one would have known what might happen to them on the way here.　　

"...... I guess that would be best."

Peter muttered darkly.