2 groups 3 hands next

I have my comrades make up for the physical strength I lack, and use my experience and knowledge as a merchant to approach from an unexpected direction. 

The work of Poster-kun is truly wonderful. There's no doubt he is a rare existence within the adventurers. 

He does barely any obsequious actions peculiar to merchants, however, he never does boorish actions. 

He is treating me not as someone from the Goshunait household, but as an individual -as Robito Goshunait. 

If he were to marry my daughter who has been swallowed by authority and has become a pitiful selfish person, there would have been worth in raising her. 

I feel bad for him, but I am sure he would be able to rehabilitate my daughter into someone great. 

"Are you thinking of something, Robito-san?" 

"Aah, sorry. I have no intention of giving up on you taking my daughter, but I was scheming about how to have you meet my daughter at least." (Robito)

"You plan on taking away my escape routes by saying that and—that doesn't seem to be the case. Is there an issue with your daughter?" 

"I am the advisor of Shunait. I have acted as the person who shoulders the Goshunait household. But my daughter got it in her head that she had the same authority when she saw the people lowering their heads at me, you see." (Robito)

Poster-kun is extremely perceptive. If I were to show some sort of sign, he would without a doubt deduce what I want to say or what I am thinking. 

My plan would be even more sturdy if we could add him, but I have to endure on that one alone. 

The Goshunait household is a shadow of what was once the royalty that fought against the Demon Lords. The disgrace of not having been left land by Yugura was passed on to posterity. 

Even after the times when the Goshunait household were mocked by the other influential families as people who have forgotten our pride as royalty and acted elegantly as nobles were now gone; this grievance still continued. 

I was also educated from childhood to desire the resurgence of the Goshunait household from the bottom of my heart. 

But that's about to end with my era. 

The aristocratic wife that my parents prepared for me in order to protect the purity of the bloodline didn't have a bad personality, but it was someone with no ambition. 

She lacked nothing as a wife, but I couldn't help but consider her as someone who is not worthy of carrying the emotions of the Goshunait household together with me. 

As for the daughter that I left my wife to raise… No, I neglected teaching her because she wasn't born a man. There's no point blaming my wife on this. 

I thought things would end with this, but the last opportunity came to me. 

This must be the fate of someone who has been born in the Goshunait household. That's why I resolved myself. 

I will take the country, become the new king, and will open the tied up life of the Goshunait household. 

The techniques they have prepared are not all conventional. I will most likely need to dirty my hands. 

That's why I don't want Poster-kun to join in on this plan. 

I want him to join the Goshunait household while still clean. 

"I see… You must have it rough. But I think that wouldn't have happened if you had kept a proper eye on her though." 

"That's exactly right. I threw the education of her completely to my wife because she was not a son. I don't feel like acting as a father and reprimanding her at this point in time." (Robito)

"The word 'at this point in time' is just an excuse for yourself! You are still on active duty, Robito-san. I think your daughter is hoping for you to face her from the front, you know?!" 

"Is that how it works?" (Robito)

"I wasn't the eldest son, so there were harsh times before reaching the point I am right now." 

I see, so Poster-kun had a past like that, so he can say this with confidence, huh. 

Me who was persistently educated by my parents, and Poster-kun who didn't have the attention of his parents; which one would you say was the happier life? 

No, it is too soon to be talking about life. I haven't accomplished anything yet after all. 

I will look back when I have taken the throne…no, when I have left the throne. 

"I shall believe you if you say so. I will try talking with my daughter alone some time later." (Robito)

"Good. I will tag along in talking with your daughter at that time!" 

"Hahahaha! I would love it if you were to get close to her just like that! Well, let's drink for today!" (Robito)

I slighted my daughter as I thought from the bottom of my heart that 'if I had a son, would it have been a relationship like the one I have with Poster-kun right now?'.

Would I have been able to interact in the same way with my daughter or son? I am sure I could. 

I can laugh in such a carefree manner even with a person that I am not blood related with. It should be fine. 

By the time I woke up, I was on top of a cold stone floor. 

My whole body hurts. It is not just because I didn't sleep on top of a bed. There's pain here and there in my body as if it received blows. 

I get up and check my surroundings. This place is…a prison cell in the Kuama Castle? 

…Wait, wait, calmly remember what happened yesterday. 

I drank together with Poster-kun, left the tavern just like that…and I don't remember anything else after that. 

My clothes are pretty tattered too. Is this…blood?

I can't remember anything…

"Oi, is there anyone here?!" (Robito)

"What?" 

When I raised my voice, the soldier keeping watch poked his head out from his post. 

A Kuama soldier. There's no doubt this is the Kuama Castle then. 

"Why am I here?!" (Robito)

"Don't remember anything? Well, you were pretty drunk, so I can't really say that's not possible though… You crashed onto someone on the street yesterday night and it ended up in a fight. You both were drunk, so that can happen. It is good that there were no casualties, but if the guards didn't make it in time, you would have pummeled him to death, you know?" 

"Wa…" (Robito)

I look at the back of my hand. It is true that my skin is peeled and I can tell there's pain as if I punched something relying on brute force. 

Is the blood on my clothes from that person…? He apparently isn't dead though…

Just what in the world am I doing at an important time like this…?

"They have finished treating the person. They don't plan on suing you, so you won't be detained for that long." 

"I-I should have had company with me! What happened to him?!" (Robito)

"Aah, that young man? He was caught in the fight and cleanly lost consciousness. He apparently did join in on the fight, so I was thinking about putting him in a cell just like you, but…when I checked the possessions of that young man, it turned out that he was a merchant from Taizu. We are in a situation where Kuama doesn't want to get in trouble with Taizu. We entrusted him to a group that is heading to Taizu and having him be punished by them." 

"No way…" (Robito)

The bodyguard by my side… Right, he said he wanted to drink between us men alone, so I separated from them. 

He is already outside of Kuama… How can this be? To think I would drag him in this manner…

"He did entrust me with a letter. It is just scribblings though." 

"W-What did he say?!" (Robito)

I hurriedly take the letter the soldier gave me and open it. 

[—To Robito-san:

We both got in some serious trouble, huh.

But I only have gratitude towards Robito-san who swung his fist when a drunkard mocked me and called me a weakling. 

It is a shame that we are parting ways in this manner, but I am thinking of coming back to Kuama once I have made up for my punishment in Taizu, so let's have a drink again at that time. 

P.S: You will become a good parent. Treasure your daughter.

From Poster.]

"…We have been told the details by that young man, too. It will go in your criminal record, but it won't be that big of a sin." 

The words of the soldier comforting me were not entering my ears. I see, I did that for the sake of protecting the honor of the man that I thought of as a son…

But with this, I already can't…no…this might be fate, too.

◇◇

"We should be fine with Robito now. I would say there won't be any grief even if we were to lengthen his detention by saying it is a bit busy." 

"I am currently questioning to a worrying degree about whether we are actually allies." 

After the matter of Robito was over, we took off our disguises and reported to King Zenotta. 

By the way, Robito actually didn't do anything. 

I laced a slow acting sedative on his drink at the tavern, and drank together with him. 

I normally would fall asleep just like him, but most of the drugs in this world work on the mana of the person themselves. Depending on the case, you might not even get affected at all by them. 

I exited the tavern with the sleeping Robito and put him inside the Stomach of Perplexion of Dyuvuleori who was on standby outside. 

Dyuvuleori transformed into him using the Back of Misperception. That's how we caused the series of events. 

After that, we took Dyuvuleori to the prison of the Kuama Castle while still in the appearance of Robito, and released Robito inside of the cell. 

We injured his whole body in a convincing manner and left. 

As for the pain, there's apparently the ability of the Stomach of Perplexion to burn the experience in your brain or something. I should ask in more detail later about how that works. 

Also, the one playing the drunkard was also a disguised devil prepared beforehand by Dyuvuleori. 

We could have used a random drunkard too, but in the case Dyuvuleori is someone who can't hold back, Robito would end up being a murderer, so I arranged it in this manner. 

Most of all, I would feel bad for the drunkard dragged into this. 

That would have been fine too if we are to do this thoroughly, but I could judge there was no need to go that far. 

"The rumors have already spread in Kuama. Lower their reputation by causing trouble just before the coup d'etat happens. With this, even if Robito were to talk about a justified reason, the only ones who would share this would be the ones within his faction." 

The method we used was to capture Robito and the others through methods other than the sin of bringing down the nation.

If a candidate were to be arrested in the middle of an election, there's barely any in the populace who would support them. 

It would be a different story if they were extremely charismatic, but Robito and the others don't have anyone like that. 

What's important is to announce this crime. 

If we do that, no matter how much of a groundbreaking justified reason they come out with, it will be harder to make it effective. 

"According to the information I got from the jailer, Robito is waiting for his punishment obediently without resistance. Looks like you have also properly taken away his motivation. How scary…" (Zenotta)

"Robito wasn't a criminal from the core after all. If we stimulate his conscience to a moderate degree and make it look like this is a branching route in his life, he should flow in a good direction on his own." 

"I don't think reforming the people who are trying to capsize the country is as easy as you make it sound though…" (Zenotta)

"Robito being so easy to manipulate saved him. If I had judged him a person that's a bit more stubborn, I would have imprisoned him as a murderer." 

Robito had the weak point of him being aware that taking away the country is 'evil'.

The fact that he didn't try to bring me in as an ally because he didn't want me to dirty my hands was telling of the kindness in him that still remained. 

"True… But arresting a citizen with false charges doesn't feel good…" (Zenotta)

"If he were to be arrested for the crime of causing a coup d'etat, it would be an execution no questions asked. Making him wake up with a light crime is better -a lot better." 

"What should I do if this accepting sensation becomes a habit." (Zenotta)

"I think an evil face would fit you the best." 

"R-Really? …Like this?" (Zenotta)

King Zenotta took out a mirror and looked at it with a nihilistic face. He is at an age where he yearns to become an old man with a bad boy face.

It would be amusing to just watch like this, but let's progress here. 

"Next would be Chenias and Gestaf." 

"Ah, right. Are you going to act at once?" (Zenotta)

"I have already finished my preparations with Chenias. She has most likely already been reported and the Kuama soldiers who know nothing should be causing a riot at her residence." 

"Report? What in the world did you set?" (Zenotta)

"'I heard a scream from the house of Chenias Morganais' -is the report." 

"…Seriously, what did you set?" (Zenotta)

"A few young boys in unseemly attires." 

"What are you doing?!" (Zenotta)

To think my heart would flutter by the weird face of an old man. But it is indeed a nice face.

But I might end up in prison instead at this rate, so let's reveal the magician's secret. 

"Don't worry. It is just transformed devils. Carrying them in brazenly would be impossible, so I set them in her private room with devils that can sneak in through the openings. And then, when the soldiers come to investigate thoroughly, the devils will transform, and they will be found." 

"…By the way, how did it look?" (Zenotta)

"I made it so it looked as if she bought young boys who were kidnapped from the countryside somewhere, and she was enjoying her fetishes." 

"No, no, of course the person herself would deny it!" (Zenotta)

"Actually, Chenias Morganais does have those fetishes. She didn't actually buy young boys, but she has bought tools and indulged in her imagination." 

When I saw Chenias Morganais once, I got a faint impression that she had such inclinations. 

And so, when Chenias was away, I had devils sneak into her house, and after checking every nook and cranny, I found numerous wonderful tools. 

That's when I thought of this method in an instant. 

"But…" (Zenotta)

"There's traces that Chenias has touched all the tools. Who would believe someone like that when she says 'I do have that fetish, but I haven't kidnapped children!'?" 

"I am glad my hobby is knitting…" (Zenotta)

"After that, it is okay to just retrieve the devils with the excuse that it is to safeguard the children." 

And then, speaking of the devil, the messenger told us that Chenias Morganais has been apprehended. 

The person herself was claiming she had no idea about the children, but was keeping silent about the tools. 

The children were taken by the relief team member that caught up afterwards. 

By the way, that was Dyuvuleori. It seems like he safely retrieved them. 

"The Yugura Church can tell if you are lying after all." 

"But won't that prove that she didn't kidnap the children?" (Zenotta)

"Yeah, that's why Chenias won't be charged for the crimes in the end. It just means that her inclinations are now brought up to light." 

"…Aaah, right." (Zenotta)

Even if you are innocent, if there's a crime scene in front of you, you would have to be apprehended to confirm the details of the situation. 

And then, that will be spread to the public -along with your hobbies. 

The reason why I prepared devils transformed into children was to make the ruckus bigger. It must have been plenty effective. 

"With this, the reputation of Chenias will take a nosedive. I think we will need to observe and see the results for a bit, but considering her personality, she won't be walking out in public out of embarrassment from her hobbies having been revealed." 

"I feel like this is terrible mental damage compared to Robito." (Zenotta)

"Chenias is the type that doesn't mind it if it is just a small issue. But it seems like that wasn't the case for what was hiding inside of herself, so I took this method." 

"I am impressed you can stab right in the vitals of someone with such precision. Now all that's left is Gestaf!" (Zenotta)

I saw the weak points of Robito being his conscience and Chenias being her shyness, so I took those methods. 

But if they don't have weak points, I really wouldn't be able to choose my means. 

That's right. Like Gestaf. 

"Actually, Gestaf has been pulling some strings on the back. He made it so that the details of Robito and Chenias were easier to be investigated and created openings on both of them." 

"What?!" (Zenotta)

"I have made contact with the right hand of Gestaf once after all. It should be safe to assume that he didn't share that information and acted in a way so that the other two were easier to aim at." 

"…So Robito and Chenias were in the way?" (Zenotta)

"If you cause coup d'etats in 3 countries, you can reduce their ability to oppose them. Robito and Chenias must have been allies for Gestaf, too." 

"Then why do something like that?" (Zenotta)

"Most likely a trade disease. If the reason for the foundation of the guilds has been transmitted all the way until now, Gestaf must have inherited the dislike towards other guilds as well." 

"Dislike…huh." (Zenotta)

"Countries were newly born through Yugura. The Heriodora household struggled despite not being included in this and founded a guild. They weren't caught up with the categorization of a country, and tried to become the existence with the vastest influence even without territory. The Heriodora household dreamed of this, so they must not have a good impression of the guilds that came afterwards." 

"True. If the adventurer guild was united as one, it wouldn't have lost in influence to the Yugura Church." (Zenotta)

"And so, he obtained the opportunity to steal away the country with the contact of Raheight's group. But the other guilds joined in on this. Gestaf must have felt resentment from this." 

He would even use his enemies for the sake of this -that's Gestaf Heriodora. 

He has shut himself completely at his residence, and isn't allowing me barely any opportunities to get information to read him. 

"Despite that, you can still manage something, right?" (Zenotta)

"He doesn't have anything resembling a human weak point, moreover, he has Haakudoku." 

"Aforementioned person that excels in detection magic, huh…" (Zenotta)

"They are regularly using detection magic on the whole residence because they know we are keeping an eye on them. They are doing it at random intervals, so if they were to detect our people at that time, they would be able to deal with it immediately." 

The devils being able to infiltrate almost anywhere if there's openings is pretty crazy, but Haakudoku is basically a human security system with his detection skills. 

As long as we can't grasp the information of Gestaf, we can't prepare effective methods against him. 

"T-Then, what should we do?" (Zenotta)

"King Zenotta, he is the only one left, so can't you just deal with him even if he were to cause a coup?" 

It is not like I don't have any cards ready, but there's the risk of battles breaking out if we were to use these methods.

I would like to throw this back to King Zenotta as someone who wants to wrap this up peacefully. 

"It is…not like I can't…but it would be while the Scarlet Demon Lord is attacking, right? I think it would be a bit hard…" (Zenotta)

Stop peeking at my face with anticipation. Even if you make a face like that, I won't feel compelled to help out… Can't be helped.

"Looks like I have to use the method that I thought we wouldn't need to use if I were to find an effective method against Gestaf." 

"Ooh, so you have one! Then, I will act as if I know nothing and wait for the good news!" (Zenotta)

"Too bad. I would like you to work a bit here." 

"What… I have a turn here?! I can't improvise, you know?! You are going to prepare a script, I hope!" (Zenotta)

"There's no acting or anything like that." 

"I see… I see…" (Zenotta)

King Zenotta looked dejected. Are you the type of man that says he doesn't want to go, but you actually do?