SIDE Chapter 65 - You sly dog, you got me monologuing.

One of my subordinates came to report a strange paper filled out by a young boy. Foxhound? I've never heard of it. Is it even a real organization? The paperwork wasn't important after I heard a description of what the boy looked like. The brown hair is common but green eyes? Very few actually have eyes like that. His paperwork says that he's 12 years old and that's around the time that the Goddess was able to escape thanks to grandfather's death. I don't really agree with how my grandfather acted in the past but if this boy is the Goddess's child then he might be here to get revenge on our family. I'll need to see for myself what he looks like.

It had been a long time since I saw her so I can't really tell if he actually resembles the Goddess or if it's just my imagination. The eyes look the same but it might just be a coincidence that a boy from a village close to here happened to have green eyes. I'll need to get the answers out of him. There are some soldiers getting ready to go retake Newton so I can just get information from him about the attack and ask about his mother at the same time.

I think that just about confirms it. Silver hair and green eyes even though she looks young. I almost feel bad for the kid since he's a bit gullible and just told me everything he knew. I wonder if he even knows anything about his mother; I can't imagine that he would give her description if he knew that people worshiped her. I'll have to tell my brother about this. He's smarter than I am so he'll know what to do next.

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The mission is simple. Find a way to get the target into the Regent's custody. The details might be a bit more complicated but the plan I've developed will surely work. I just need to buy the aphrodisiac, slip it into the target's food, and then wait for the family to report the target to the soldiers--giving the soldiers a legitimate reason to arrest the target. The aphrodisiac only works on humans so the target was sent to live with a woman that was living with her demihuman daughter. The only risk is the target being injured or killed by the demihuman but the boss has given me the all-clear.

The target is out shopping and the demihuman isn't on the ground floor. On the magic stove is a pot of food that's simmering. The guardian is currently tending to her bakery so now is the perfect time to move in. The lid was a bit hot but thankfully I'm wearing gloves so it didn't hurt that much. The aphrodisiac has been mixed in to the cream stew now so it's time to go back to headquarters and wait for the results.

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The spy's infiltration mission has failed. I'm not sure why the Regent keeps him around when he's so incompetent. Either the aphrodisiac didn't work or the boy didn't eat the food since there were no reports from the woman or her daughter. That idiot should have stayed nearby to ensure that it worked. Thankfully there's a good opportunity to target the woman's business and force the entire family into slavery. It would have been easier if the spy was smart enough to plan ahead and put him into a home that was already struggling with debt but I can work with this.

The business isn't doing extremely well but the woman's bread is popular enough to keep her business afloat. I've tried the bread and it was extremely delicious; perhaps I'll buy her once she's forced into slavery. Ah, not good. I was drooling for a bit there. The problem would be finding people to make a complaint against the bakery so that the Regent can officially fine the woman. It'd have to look legitimate in the eyes of the mayor's office for it to be approved by the kingdom. It will cost a bit of money but if everything goes well then the Regent will not only pay me back but also give me an extra reward. The Regent's brother is always talking about how money doesn't solve everything but I'll prove him wrong. I'll never get along with those soldier types.

It was a bit expensive to cover the healing fees for the beggars but each of them gave signed statements saying that they had to receive healing after eating the bread from that woman's bakery. Now I just have to head to the Regent's office to get him to approve of the fine, file it with the mayor's office, and then hand over the official document and inform the woman that she has one week to pay the fine. It needs to be an unreachable for someone that has a business that size--one hundred gold, perhaps? Any more and it'd seem overboard but any less and she might be able to sell her equipment and pay it off. I'll bribe the realtors just to make sure that she doesn't get the money to pay the fine.

The trip from the mayor's office took longer than I expected it to. The soldiers noticed a group of demihumans blocking the road as they purchased a bunch of food and I had to park the carriage while they did their business. What a bunch of savages; hopefully when the Regent takes his father's place as Duke he'll finally ban them from entering the cities.

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I don't know how it happened but my plan failed. Maybe the cream stew was only eaten by the demihuman. The Regent isn't happy with me since that aphrodisiac was expensive. That shitty adviser's plan seems to have worked since the guardian broke down in tears saying that she couldn't afford the fine. Now I'm on babysitting duty, watching the target to make sure he doesn't escape.

I'm starting to think that the adviser's plan isn't going to work. There's no way that they can afford to buy two demihuman slaves with their current finances; especially that Minotaur. Someone must be backing them from behind the scenes. They even visited the mayor's office while carrying a small sack; likely to pay the fine.

He sure has been in that cathedral for a long time though. I wonder when he'll come out. The women that came with him have already left. I feel hungry but I ran out of food already. I think it has been an entire day already.

Why isn't he out yet? Is it the Church that's backing him? Just who is this kid to get the Church to support him? The Regent should hear about this... but what if he comes out when I'm not looking? Please just come out and go home so I can eat something already.

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Besides my brother they're all useless. I thought that Terry's plan would work but I just received a notice from the mayor's office about the fine being paid and that we couldn't continue to deny this Ms Flours from doing business. They're probably going to tell my father about this but I guess that it's not going to hurt me in the long run so that doesn't matter.

My brother is convinced that he's a fool that's not suitable for politics and my sister is so obsessed with magic that she hasn't even been replying to my letters. If she didn't have a guard that sent me updates on how she's doing then I wouldn't even know whether or not she was still alive. Well, in any case, it's not like my father has any other choice than to pick me as his successor.

There is one thing I'm worried about with this Gren kid. It seems like the Church has been sheltering him but I don't know how reliable that information is since it came from Cero. It's pointless to go against the Church right now before I become the Duke. I'll have to re-investigate using a different team and find out if Cero's report was accurate. This would be a lot easier if I could get a spy into the Church but they're too vigilant now.

If he's really being backed by the Church then I'll need to change my plans. I'm not going to make the same mistake that my grandfather did; abducting someone under the Church's protection and becoming a target. It's not like the only way to control someone is through coercion.