Game Opportunities Become Reality Episode 42
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Game Opportunities Become Reality Episode 42
13. Appearance Before the Auditors (4)
After the meal with Crown Prince Michael, we had tea time.
Unlike the meal, tea time proceeded quietly. As the Crown Prince seemed to be organizing his thoughts for a moment, I also refrained from making conversation and calmed my racing heart while anticipating what was to come.
"But, if I may."
Then, a question suddenly occurred to me, and I cautiously addressed the Crown Prince.
"Yes, go ahead."
"First of all, it's fine that I obtain a marquisate from Prince Luke's faction, but if Your Highness shows no reaction at all during that process, wouldn't it rather arouse suspicion?"
The Crown Prince readily nodded at my question.
Of course, as the one who proposed the plan, he had clearly thought about that point as well.
"Yes, that's true. So I plan to act like I'm opposing it, then back down as if overwhelmed by the momentum."
To avoid suspicion, that would naturally be necessary.
But I thought that alone was insufficient.
As the Crown Prince, who was already keeping betrayal in mind, seemed to think he'd profit as long as I obtained the marquisate anyway, I felt there was no need to end this matter in the form of a retreat.
"Instead of ending it that way, if you yield the marquisate to Prince Luke, I believe Your Highness should also gain something in return."
"For example?"
At my words, the Crown Prince made the fox-like expression characteristic of his narrow eyes and asked for a detailed explanation.
"This time, due to the trouble with me, the Marquis of Ereiven suffered great losses. But isn't it nonsensical for the marquis, a pillar of national defense, to lose 40% of his military strength over personal feelings? In my opinion, he does not seem fit to hold the title of marquis."
"In exchange for yielding the marquisate, we take away the marquis's command from the Marquis of Ereiven?"
"Wouldn't that be a good justification? Even just demoting the Marquis of Ereiven to count would be no small loss for Prince Luke's side."
The military force a marquis can possess rivals that of a marquis or duke, and is 2.5 times that of a regular count.
That's why the Marquis of Ereiven losing half his troops was, in essence, a suggestion to let him live as a mere count.
"That sounds like a thought laced with personal feelings."
"I won't deny it."
Isn't it only right to beat down the Marquis of Ereiven, my sworn enemy?
An opportunity to tighten the leash and torment him had come there was no way I'd let it pass.
"What if Prince Luke refuses to let go of the Marquis of Ereiven's leash until the very end?"
"Then, it might be a solution to make one of the counts from Your Highness's faction into a marquis. Since I'm becoming a marquis by adding my military achievements from the battlefield, it's also worth proposing to promote one count who distinguished himself in this war as well."
The reason I mentioned promotion to marquis rather than full marquis in the second proposal is that I needed to give the Second Prince at least some feeling that he had gained something.
There is a big difference between a new person appearing to become a marquis and siding with the Second Prince, versus an existing key figure in the Crown Prince's faction a count becoming a marquis.
Moreover, am I not a marquis with an Aura Master count attached?
'If this plan is accepted and things flow as intended, I can maximize the effect of the betrayal.'
Yet, as he nodded with a slightly surprised look, the emotions I sensed from the Crown Prince were somehow different from what I expected.
[Relationship: Suspicion / Alliance]
[Status: Perplexed / Intrigued]
His current state as shown on the Myriad Mirror was too complex to pin down with a single word.
Suspicion, all of a sudden?
At a loss, I was flustered and had to call out to him.
"Your Highness?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. Um, Master Lawrence..."
"Yes, please speak."
"By any chance, could you tell me who you met from the Second Prince's faction before meeting me?"
He probably already knew exactly who I had met, didn't he?
I listed the names of the people I had met at the Noble Auditor's Office, just as he wished.
"Prince Luke, Marquis Hamington... and Baron Walker."
Nine names in total.
He nodded quietly, as if checking whether it matched what he knew, then let out a small gasp of "ah."
[Relationship: Interest / Alliance]
[Status: Perplexed / Admiration]
And then his emotions changed anew.
Seeing that, I thought of one possibility.
"So it seems we were thinking alike."
"Haha, can you read minds, Master? You even caught onto the betrayal plan earlier."
I can't read thoughts outright, but I can infer them through the Myriad Mirror.
With a response that was practically agreement, I could now understand the way he had acted earlier.
When I blurted out a plan he had never explained, he was flustered, wondering where the plan had leaked from.
"Impressive. I had both options in mind."
"To think I proposed something you'd already considered as if it were a great idea I feel a bit embarrassed."
"No, not at all. I'm glad I got to see your judgment firsthand. As expected, achieving the 7th Circle at age twenty isn't a feat just anyone can pull off."
I shrugged.
My proposal had come to nothing, but since I'd managed to infer the Crown Prince's plan in advance, my standing with him seemed to have risen even further.
"I'd rather not make an enemy of Master Lawrence if I can help it. Let's stay close from now on."
"Haha..."
I felt the same way I didn't want to make an enemy of him either.
"Oh dear, the tea's gone cold. I'll have them bring a fresh pot."
"No need. I've been here long enough; I'll take my leave."
We had already spent more than enough time together.
I was tired from today, and I just wanted to go back.
"Very well. Here, take this."
"Isn't this a terminal?"
"Yes, a secure terminal that can't be wiretapped. If there's anything I need to convey separately, I'll contact you through it."
Mine was already an expensive secure terminal sold by the Bringam Empire, but whatever the Crown Prince had handed me felt like it must be something even more special.
He gave me and Arcia each a terminal with a different design.
"See you again."
"Yes, I look forward to it."
And then I entered the secret room once more with Arcia.
The Crown Prince took the switch out of his pocket again, dispelled the space-travel obstruction spell, and sent us to another location via teleport.
"Where is this?"
The place we arrived at was a warehouse at the entrance of the royal castle that the Crown Prince had prepared in advance.
According to the Crown Prince, it was a warehouse used jointly by the shops doing business within the castle grounds.
As we stepped out of the warehouse, a row of warehouses lined up across the corridor.
I realized anew the Crown Prince was a thoroughly meticulous man.
Just how many places like this had he set up inside the royal castle?
We left the warehouse and came out into a dim alley between buildings, then made our way toward a spot where we could sense people nearby.
Soon, we reached a commercial building at the castle's entrance where ordinary citizens were allowed.
"Huh? My lord?"
"Young lord?"
There, I spotted Knight Captain William and the Demon Sword Lopes, both receiving a load of shopping bags from a store clerk in front of a souvenir shop stall.
"Enjoying yourselves, I see."
At my appearance, the shop clerk's eyes went wide in surprise, while William and Lopes, for some reason, turned pale and hid their shopping bags behind their backs.
"What's with you two?"
I was about to say we should head back to the territory, but their strange behavior piqued my curiosity, so I used the Myriad Mirror's clairvoyance.
"Huh?"
And I was able to see what they had so desperately tried to hide.
I could tell that what they'd bought was the same as the merchandise laid out on the stall no clairvoyance needed for that.
"What is this?"
I walked up to the stall and picked up two finely crafted figurines.
"I I never thought I'd see you in person. It's an honor."
"Hello."
The commoner shop clerk jumped as if she'd seen a celebrity, but my attention was fixed on the objects in my hands.
'Why would a royal castle souvenir shop sell something like this?'
To my bewilderment, the figurines were modeled after me and Arcia.
[The holy icons of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts! Figurines of Lord Adrian and Lady Arcia are now in stock!]
In other words, William and Lopes had bought our figurines in bulk.
Arcia, usually a woman of few words, said one thing as she looked at the two of them.
"Perverts?"
It seemed her mental dictionary had failed her in choosing the right word.
But that short, blunt remark struck the two of them hard.
"N-no, that's not it."
"We bought them out of respect..."
The entrance into the capital for the Noble Auditor's Office summons had been unconventional from start to finish.
[The Prius Republic, whose national debt ratio rose by as much as 12% in a single year. Extreme corruption that makes the Liseth Islands hesitate in their attempt to introduce a republican system.]
[Crown Prince of the Croysen Empire: A republic is the embodiment of delusion. Presidents and local governors elected by popular vote care only about popularity contests, and lacking any sense of ownership over the nation, they try to squeeze out whatever benefits they can within their term.]
[An economy showing signs of inflation is cast aside the Prius Republic focuses solely on military power.]
[The hope of the Prius Republic lies only in the fortune of Manuel Lucas, which came into the hands of the president's son, Lewis Fairmont.]
[Is the fortune of Grand Duke Lucas that fell into the hands of the Prius Republic's president's son real?]
-KWAANG!
"Do you mean to say that the fortune of Grand Duke Lucas has truly fallen into the hands of such rootless scum!"
In Rondel, where gods exist and miracles and supernatural powers abound, there are 4 continents and 20 nations.
In Rondel, even the weakest nation has a territory the size of India, a population exceeding 50 million, and the military and economic power to match so compared to Earth, the power balance between nations is fairly well aligned.
However, even in such a world, there exists a mutant-like force that stands out alone, and that was none other than the 'Bringam Empire,' always ranked first among the Four Great Empires.
Its population is 920 million, and 30% of the world's GDP belongs to the Bringam Empire.
The nation is located on Defteron, the largest continent in Rondel, alongside the Kingdom of Rhinehearts.
One-third of the Defteron continent, where 11 nations are situated.
It lavishly occupies 20% of the world's landmass.
Furthermore, it possesses the military might to single-handedly contend with the Croysen Empire, the Elysian Coalition, and the Prius Republic the other three of the Four Great Empires making it the United States of Rondel, and calling it the ruler of the world would not be an exaggeration.
However, when explaining the Bringam Empire, there's no need to list lengthy figures one statement alone simply proves its greatness.
It is the homeland of Manuel Lucas, the pioneer of the magical era who led Rondel into its golden age.
-The imperial palace of the Bringam Empire, the Golden Dragon Palace of the Golden Castle.
"Say something if you have mouths! Are you telling me our empire's efforts and costs poured into fortune exploration were lacking compared to theirs!?"
The empire's emperor, Edward Noah Bringam, sat upon a golden throne in a great hall adorned with gold on all sides, befitting the name 'Golden Castle,' and bellowed at the ministers bowing their heads before him.
Not a single minister could answer the emperor's roar; they merely bowed their heads even deeper.
"We are deeply sorry."
"Hah! How utterly frustrating!"
The Bringam Empire's obsession with Grand Duke Lucas's fortune far exceeds what other nations anticipate.
Everyone knows of Grand Duke Lucas's greatness, but if there was one place that truly understood its value, it was none other than the Bringam Empire.
They clearly knew that far more of Grand Duke Lucas's research records remained unknown to the public than were known, and they were convinced that their value remained valid even 20 years later.
Thus, while many treasure hunters and nations chasing a quick score dropped away, the Bringam Empire never once reduced its search scale.
Yet when the Prius Republic, whose search scale wasn't even one-hundredth of theirs, suddenly claimed to have acquired the fortune, the emperor had no choice but to rage.
"Head of Intelligence!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What do you think? Do you believe the Prius bastards' claims are true?"
In the end, the emperor asked the opinion of Countess Elfrid, a female Archmage of the 7th Circle who could be called the head of fortune exploration.
"I believe the possibility is about 50%."
"Half, you say?"
"Yes."
At that, the emperor let out a hollow laugh and demanded an explanation.
"I have examined their investigation process their approach was far more backward compared to ours here in the Bringam Empire. Of course, the location where they claimed to have obtained the fortune was somewhere we hadn't anticipated, but if it could have been acquired that way, I believe someone would have gotten their hands on it 10 or 20 years ago."
"Continue."
"And above all, they don't know the cipher at the heart of the fortune at all. Grand Duke Lucas scattered hints here and there using a cipher called 'English.' Yet they claim to have obtained the fortune while ignoring this entire process unless the hints laid out like riddles were all a deception, it doesn't add up."
The emperor stroked his chin, thinking she certainly had a point.
But the problem was that this was merely their speculation, not confirmation.
"Then why, despite such a dubious situation, do you still give the Prius Republic a fifty percent chance of having obtained the fortune?"
"That's because the hints the Grand Duke scattered about could have been meant purely to toy with us... or..."
Under normal circumstances, someone would have scolded him for speaking nonsense about a great man, but the Bringam Emperor, who was approaching his sixtieth year, was someone who remembered the Grand Duke Lucas in his lifetime, so he swallowed his words.
"That man was more than capable of doing something like that."
If Adrian had heard this answer, he would have been surprised, wondering if the Grand Duke Lucas was really that kind of person.
"And the other reason?"
"I thought there was also a strong possibility that someone else actually obtained the fortune, and the Prius Republic was dragged in to divert attention."
"Why bother, though? If it were me, I'd just quietly keep it hidden why divert attention and announce the fortune's appearance?"
"It could be a situation where the one who obtained it is already under suspicion, or some variable we don't know about has arisen. We need to examine the possibilities from multiple angles."
Head of Intelligence, Countess Elfrid, had approached the truth through inference alone.