Strike Aftermath (3)

This is the day.

Lord's Ikrel son will arrive today, we need to be ready to welcome him. If we get friendly with him first then extract all the information we can from him and then frame him for everything, we won't have to worry about any competition for Fumiko. We need her to take on both Ikrel and Welcia as the new lord. We might even be able to get under the king's radar this way.

"Hikaru, help me with this please"- Hana is trying to reach a high spot to dust it off since now we are cleaning the old cabin that we live in.

"Sure"- I grabbed the broom with one of my shadow tendrils and guided it to dust the ceiling off.

"Today is the day that Lord Ikrel's son arrives, how are we going to deal with him Hikaru?"- Hana is cleaning the rest of the cabin

"Well, the plan goes that we should make Fumiko hate him even more and then have the people vote in favor of Fumiko in the upcoming lord candidacy, in the end, if most people vote for Fumiko she will get even more land to control but if people vote for Lord Ikrel's son then we will lose some ground and we will likely be attacked by his army and the imperial army. We will need to act fast on this matter"- Me and Hana ended our talk. We now talk only via the telepathic network set up by Sia, Fumiko is in the house with us.

"Guys, I never told the 2 of you, but my father wanted me to marry someone, Lord Ikrel's son, he had hoped that with this our relations will be better but I ended up hating Lord Ikrel's son. He is supposed to come one of these days, his name is Rei. His mother was an otherworlder like the 2 of you but she died when he was little"- Great, another person with a sad backstory that we have to backstab.

!Suggestion: You can befriend him instead. I devised a new plan. Since you will use your disguise you can say that the people the king is searching for are dead, this will carry more weight coming from the 2 children of the Lord and will also confirm that there is someone else to look for. If you go with your original plan, you won't hurt anyone, since both of his parents and if it works perfectly Fumiko won't be as affected by his death since she will hate him!

"That's a good idea as well, I think we will do a mix of those 2 things that you mentioned now."

!I like how you think. I see that you already devised your plan to dispose of Lord Ikrel's son.!

"Fumiko, how much do you like Rei? I mean if your dad wanted to marry him you must have liked him once. Am I assuming wrong?"- I stoop up from my spot and looked at Fumiko that is sitting across from me. We just installed a new sort of couch, a small one at that so that me and Hana can sit or only 1 of us can sleep there in case there is any problem that we will need to deal with, or if we have guests over.

"No, you are wrong. I always disliked Rei. He is always showing off, putting people down just so he can get up, plus he is the one that instilled fear of monsters, especially of Demons and Ogres. He hates monsters with all of his heart, he thinks that humans are superior to monsters in every way, just because humans can get more skills and evolve more with hard work, or so he says"

"Well, I guess I am wrong. I think he will have a heart attack if he will ever find out that I am a demon and Hana is an Ogre. Sincerely, he sounds like a spoiled brat"- I stretched a bit and then looked at the door and windows.

!He will be here shortly, you have around 5 more minutes to freely talk with Fumiko!

"Yes. He always mocked me for my mana illness and the way my mind regressed because of it. But now I have you 2 to thank for curing me of my illness, well it still acts up from time to time but I can control a lot more with the help of you 2"

"I feel a presence, Fumiko, hide"- I know it's Lord Ikrel's son but we are better safe than sorry on this one.

"Who goes there?"- We heard a knock on the door, and Hana was the first to reply.

"I am Lord Ikrel's son, Rei, open the door, NOW!"

"It's ok Hikaru"- Fumiko whispered in my ear.

Fumiko walked to the door and opened it.

"Hello, Fumiko, what are you doing in a place such as this? It looks like a ruin that was recently built, no place for a lady like you. And who are those 2?"- He pointed towards us.

"Hana, follow my acting"- I sent this message quickly over our telepathic network.

"Well, who are you, kid? I don't believe you are Lord Ikrel's son, he didn't mention having a son to us. As Miss Fumiko's advisors, we have to protect her from any threat that may come and you are marked as one. For now, we will let you off the hook because Miss Fumiko seems to know you a little bit. If you try anything funny we will strike you down"- I can see him trying to grab something from his back, I sent one of my shadow tendrils to keep his hand in place and not move.

"What are you doing with a hand behind your back, if you have good intentions, say that you will do no harm and drop any weapon you may have"- Hana followed by coming closer to him, I further restrained him. Hana disarmed him and put him on the couch.

"Geez, your guards are good, but what about my weapons, how will I defend myself?"- Rei looked at us while frowning

"Don't worry, we will defend the 2 of you. Now, what do you want with Miss Fumiko? Tell us."- I walked up to him and stared daggers at him.

"Well, she will be my bride-son and will help keep the 2 lordships. Isn't that right Fumiko?"- Rei looked at Fumiko with a smile, a smile that doesn't look real.

"Sia, analyze him"

"Well, I don't know what to say, it's sudden"- Fumiko doesn't know what to say.

"Come on, you know the 2 monsters that were summoned, they are dead and they will soon catch who killed our parents as well, and then we can take revenge together on them. What do you say?"- Rei extended his hand toward Fumiko.

"Well, I don't want to kill or hurt anyone"- Fumiko put her hand on her head and lay on the ground.

"Seems like you are still affected by that illness. I want a bride, not a child"- Rei tried to grab Fumiko from the ground but I stopped him with one of my shadow tendrils.

"I think Miss Fumiko was clear in what she said, try anything like that and we will need to tackle you to the ground"- I walked near Rei and grabbed him by his shirt collar, and separated him from Fumiko.

"What are you doing, put me down this instant"- I looked him in the eyes, I didn't show any emotions aside from boredom.

"No, until you calm down, if you are a threat for Miss Fumiko we will need to kick you out."

"Fine. Are you 2 willing to help me with some investigation to look into my father's murder?"- He pouted.

"Yes. We will do that tomorrow. We need to give Miss Fumiko time to recover, understand?"- I frowned and pressed my forehead against his.

"Yes sir"- He is getting a little scared now, but that's good.

!Analysis complete. What he said is true, however, he wants to take over the other Lordships as well, he is searching for you 2 to assassinate the other Lords. I think you can take it from here Hikaru, you know what to do right?!

"I know exactly what to do Sia, thank you for the information"