THE CONSPIRATORS: CHIEF OF THE ELVES

"A failure?"

"Yes, my lord."

Even though Telepathy, his voice is trembling.

He must be afraid I will blame him for this loss.

Why does he think I would waste my time on such worthless things?

There is nothing to be gained from complaining every time a disposable thing is wasted.

The only distinction between those lesser elves is whether they are mass-produced, low-cost inferior items or high-cost, slightly useful custom-made items.

The failure of the former is already factored into my plans. Even for the custom-made items, I do not have overly high expectations.

No matter which might fail, I will not be surprised, let alone become angry enough to dole out punishment. Although I suppose there is one irregularity among my custom-made items that was rather unexpected.

"Was it Oka…?"

"I am sorry we were unable to meet Lady Oka's expectations."

The mass-produced object babbles something, misinterpreting my aside.

Oka: the custom-made item that was created as my child.

I was certainly surprised she turned out to be a reincarnation of a human from another world.

But I am grateful to Oka. Because of her, I was able to find out very quickly about the existence of the irregulars known as reincarnations.

That is why I have bestowed upon her the privilege of being my daughter.

As she requested, I am prioritizing the protection of the reincarnations. Depending on her future achievements, I may even consider granting her a position close to mine in both name and status, though she will never be my equal, of course.

She has proven herself most indispensable. Simply by being a reincarnation and having the accompanying knowledge, she has proven more valuable than any other custom-made item at my disposal.

And furthermore, she has that skill. The skill called Student Roster. It is as though she were sent to me by a god, no?

And I do mean a genuine god, not some foolish being like an administrator.

To think that the day would come that I would be grateful to a god.

But this is truly the ultimate gift. It would be impolite not to exploit it as much as possible.

As she is but a sapling, Oka can only deal in information, but I intend to put her to work as soon as she is ripe of age.

No doubt she'll be more than willing if I say it is for the sake of her precious students.

If I protect the reincarnations as she wishes and continues to soak up the nectar of her knowledge, she will surely carry on even if she has slight suspicions.

Just imagining such a comical sight improves my mood greatly. Yes, Oka is a very devoted daughter indeed.

And I shall have her dance for me.

"Heh-heh-heh."

"Y-you seem to be in a good mood, my lord…"

Yes, I suppose I am. Impressive that a worthless throwaway can perceive my emotions.

For that much, I will credit him.

However, he did fail to kidnap Keren's daughter, and that is unacceptable.

"Let us return to the matter at hand. So you say that you attempted two separate strategies, and both of them failed?"

"Yes, my lord. The first time, as I reported, we were hindered by a spider monster."

I think back on the contents of his earlier report.

He carried out a plan to kidnap Keren's daughter, a reincarnation, but failed.

Twice, no less. The first time, they had robbers attack the carriage carrying the mother and child. The second time, they attempted to break in to the mansion in a direct attempt to steal the child.

However, a spider monster foiled the first attempt, and during the second, the parties involved met with an abrupt and mysterious death.

The throwaway reports that they believe these deaths may be related to the spider monster from the first attempt, and I am inclined to agree. It cannot simply be a coincidence. I must assume that our interloper was aware of our plans and arranged to interfere with them in advance.

Damn you, Ariel, how did you sniff us out?

If a spider monster was involved, it can be only her doing. One would think that utilizing the various slave-trade and human-trafficking channels to mask which children were our real targets should have thrown her off the trail. Although that was originally intended as a countermeasure against a different man, not her.

I never expected that Ariel would interfere since she wasn't already keeping a lookout for such things.

But if word of our movements has leaked to Ariel, I must assume that man knows, too.

At worst, I may even need to take on Ariel and that man at the same time. Ariel is a powerful individual, but that man—Dustin, the pontiff of the Word of God sect—has the might of a massive organization behind him.

It is difficult to say which is worse, but it would be unwise to make an enemy of either. I do not know whether Dustin is aware of the reincarnations yet, but he is very inconveniently located.

Keren County in Sariella is exactly where he has been setting up his little schemes. Whether he is aware of them or not, if we take any more noticeable actions, we are sure to catch his eye.

If we must do battle with Ariel and Dustin at the same time, I will require a warrior with both the power to keep Ariel in check and the adaptability to outwit Dustin's plans on the spot. I do not have such a thing, even among my custom-made items. In which case, I am left with only one option.

"How do you wish me to proceed next, my lord?"

"I will take care of it personally."

The throw away is silent, evidently stunned by my response.

"Be sure to keep a close watch on that spider. If there is any development, report to me at once,"

I order, then pause for a moment.

"Are you listening? Whoever you are, I shall deal with you directly. If you plan to attack me, you had best be prepared."

This last part is a message for anyone who might be listening in.

The mass-produced throwaway will surely not understand any of that, so I cut off our telepathic connection.

He may be taken out before my arrival, but the loss of any number of mass-produced objects is of no consequence to me.

Now it is time to take action of my own. My goal is to capture the Keren girl, the reincarnation. Disposing of Ariel's offspring is my secondary objective, or if Ariel herself should appear, I shall dispose of her, too, if I am able.

This will be a perfect opportunity to test out the new Gloria type-A model.