Chapter 67 ─ Game

A man was running in the hallways of the imperial palace.

He came to a door and roughly opened it.

"Blake-kun! What have you done!"

It was the prime minister, Prince Blake's uncle, who was sitting in his chair in his office while sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

He savored the coffee as if he had never tasted one.

Blake looked at his uncle the usually never left his office.

"Is something wrong Ojii-sama?"

He was asking in such a matter-of-fact way, it pissed his uncle off.

"You know what you've done!"

The prince finally understood that exaltation.

"Oh, I get it, what about it?"

"You're seriously asking!?"

"Uncle, I don't understand what the problem is. I'm just following the laws."

"Declaring war on a duchy is not part of the laws of the empire!"

A few hours ago, the second prince, Blake Emil von Bryes formally declared war on the Rosenberg Duchy.

Such an announcement shook the entire empire.

The prime minister learned a few hours ago of this event.

"It is not yet too late for you to call this off! I will proclaim that it was a mistake of a phantom official that we punished─!"

"No."

Blake set his coffee cup down on the cup rest as he stood up.

"Uncle, I'm sure you read the report left for you by my vassals which explains my actions."

"I'm not an idiot to pick a fight against one of the duchies."

"But what you are doing will bring severe consequences to the empire!"

"We've already lost one duchy, now you want us to lose two?"

Blake glared at his uncle before saying...

"They mocked me, the second prince in the line of succession, a member of the imperial family, the... future emperor of the empire."

The prime minister's expression was horrified at such a statement.

"... You won't back down will you?"

"No. Uncle..."

The second prince's words, were colder and sharper than ice itself.

"The Rosenberg Duchy, the family members will perish."

The prime minister turned around and before closing the door, without turning to look at him he said.

"Do you know why the Rosenberg duchy is special?"

"No."

"Because they have the future duke who was recognized by the emperor himself. They're not just something random if your father remembers his name and not yours."

Blake huffed as the prime minister walked out.

He sat down and sipped his coffee, which was boiling. But that didn't stop his anger.

(The Rosenbergs picked a fight with me first. They're the only ones to blame here, not me.)

◇◇◇

"What the hell are you suggesting baldy!"

"You know who the hell I am, huh? You know!!!"

In one of the palace's meeting rooms, was an emergency meeting.

Rather, it was a protest by the duchess, Barbara, to the second prince's faction.

At her side were Glenn and Cordelia who were trying to reassure her.

"Duchess-sama, threatening them will not make the problem go away."

"The chief butler is right. Showing your teeth like a wild beast to frightened ministers only makes everything worse."

Barbara was so angry, her red eyes glowing with the rage she felt.

Her white teeth showing like a rabid dog made the ministers of the second prince's faction scared of her.

Only one person was not frightened and he was even calm.

Minister Olgren, who was drinking tea while politely replying.

"Duchess Rosenberg, just as I told you."

"His Highness, the second prince has stated that your vassals have been committing cases of theft from his properties and even assassinations of members of our faction."

"And I tell you that's pure bullshit! I'll will kill you and all of you─!"

Cordelia covered her mouth with her handkerchief to stop her from speaking further.

Glenn spoke in place of his mistress, who was now showing her middle finger to the ministers.

"Forgive my master's behavior, but she is right to be angry.

Glenn's look that was relaxed and refreshing, now changed to a threatening and dangerous one.

"She is right in the sense of wanting to kill someone, I want you to show us that culprit you caught."

"I'm very sorry, but he committed suicide. But as I said in the documentation sent, we have proof."

"I want to see it."

"We sent them to you."

"They sent us a document stating that they had proof, I want to see it."

"I'm very sorry, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you could destroy them."

Olgren's calm smile only made Glenn angry.

"We will protest against the second prince, we will request an audience with His Majesty the Emperor."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible due to the fact that this happened by the emperor himself."

"...?"

"We can't have made a statement without His Majesty's approval, it's normal to know that."

Glenn felt Olgren call him stupid for not knowing something so basic.

"Does His Majesty agree to this?"

"If he approved it, it is because he is indeed aware of it."

"..."

Without a word, Glenn turned around and with his eyes indicated to Cordelia that they should leave.

Cordelia nodded and let Barbara free, but the duchess was not calm at all.

"Don't fuck with me, you bald fuck!"

"I'll will make you all be killed!"

"Messing with a forty-year-old divorced woman is worse than having a knife at your throat!"

"You sure are a virgin who lives with his mother yet─!"

Cordelia again covered her master's mouth as she dragged her out of the room.

Barbara kicked and bared her fingers until Glenn closed the door.

One of the ministers who was frightened said to Olgren.

"... Is this really okay, Olgren-dono?"

"What are you talking about?"

"We just received the order from His Highness Prince Blake-sama. But we can't come to an agreement through the intervention of─"

Olgren who was smiling until recently, slowly looked at the man who was suggesting peace with Rosenberg Household.

"... Do you want to die?"

"No sir, I take back my words!"

The sinister tone of voice and his fox-like eyes made the ministers panic.

Without a word he stood up and walked out.

"I will go to my office, if I am wanted or needed, say I will be back shortly."

◇◇◇

"Yes, everything is going according to plan."

Olgren inside his office, contacted someone.

It was a masked man who had a crow's head front and back.

He was the leader of the Black Crows, a criminal organization that wishes to take over the empire.

For months now its members and bases have been destroyed by a mysterious individual named Licht, who is actually Razel.

And Olgren is one of the three right hands of the leader, the Yatagarasu, but at the moment only he is left, the others were killed by Licht.

"Are you sure everything is going according to plan?"

"Yes, very sure. I managed to convince the prince that it was all the Rosenbergs' fault and thus declare war on them."

"Won't the emperor be looking for a way around this?"

"No, in fact, it's true when I say that when he read it he laughed a lot. He even said it was interesting, I can't say we are counting on his support, but in saying that this will go on."

"Good. The Rosenberg Duchy has been in our sights for a long time, I never figured that worm Alvin would run."

Eli´s father, the former duke, was part of the Black Crows, not a member. In fact, he was just an outside executive who could take advantage of them such as loans of money and certain favors.

The problem was that the men who went that day to search the duke's house, not only didn't find him, but also nothing that they could use as an excuse to claim the properties assets, to make it worse the whole palace found out and immediately took action on the fact.

The black crows suffered an economic defeat since the loans to the former duke were in the millions.

That made their desire for revenge against them burn day by day, but as it was an indebted house, they could not do anything to them.

But one day came their salvation, at the same time also their undoing.

Razel, who not only paid the debt, but also recovered all that was lost.

The black crows could not believe this ridiculous miracle.

"Possibly the emperor on the day he named that boy with the only heiress of the duchy as his betrothed, may have known we were on to them."

"... Does that mean we may be in a trap?"

"I don't think so, that man even knowing who were on our side, didn't lift a finger. Since he has people to do the job, he doesn't do it, you have to be thankful for that."

"The emperor is a dangerous man, no one knows what he is thinking."

"The real danger is not him, but that spawn that backs him up. He never moves, he never leaves him alone, we can't kill him if that sword saint never leaves his side."

"That's why we'll focus on executing the Rosenberg, take his property and make him our new base."

"Olgren... you already failed me several times, if you fail me again this time... you know what will happen to you."

"Yes... don't worry leader, everything is going like clockwork."

"I hope, don't contact me until you bring me their heads on trays of gold."

"Gorororo, you can be sure of that."

With that strange smile, the meeting ended.

Right there, someone knocked on the door, Minister Olgren said to come in and a familiar face entered.

"Good morning Minister."

"... What do you want Grin?"

A man with pale skin, thin, mold-green hair and dead fish eyes bowed to show his greeting.

It was Baron Grin, a nobleman who was demoted for allowing Regulux to achieve the event of trying to destroy the villainess.

That caused his desire for revenge against Razel and Rosenberg Household to grow to the point that he created a secret faction, the Anti-Rosenberg.

Grin closed the door and handed some folders with documents to Olgren.

He looked them over carefully and then a sinister chuckle appeared on his face.

"Perfect Grin, with this we're almost done, how's our spy doing?"

"Awaiting orders and reporting."

"Good, keep it that way."

Grin gave a half turn and before leaving said.

"By the way minister, did you see that woman's expression?"

"Yes."

"It was gratifying."

The two of them showed their worst worst smile at the Rosenberg family's crisis.

To make it all worse, Olgren had a secret he told no one and it involved the Rosenbergs.

◇

We quickly arrived at the mansion in the capital.

Sitting in an armchair in the living room was Barbara with a towel on her forehead, Cordelia was giving her a cup of tea while Glenn was calling someone.

Eli yelled after she came in.

"Mom! What happened?"

Quickly Eli and Lily ran to hug Barbara, Celia and Evelyn were a little weirded out by the sight of such affection.

Barbara stood up and her daughters hugged her.

Their heads sank into her huge breasts.

When Eli removed her head from that big breast, very worried she said.

"I heard the news, did the second prince really declare a war game on us?"

War game.

One of the most popular events in the game.

This event was very rare and only happened when you came into conflict with some noble.

The reason for its name is because a long time ago, there were insurrections in the empire.

These insurrections were the work of traitors.

If the palace sent forces to deal with them, it meant that a part of the country was weakened.

Enemy countries would seize the opportunity to attack.

So one day, an emperor came up with the brilliant idea of creating a way to avoid these problems.

If someone wanted to kill someone they hated, or if someone wanted to betray the empire, the palace would make the necessary adjustments to bring that event about.

In other words, create a "game" where killing your opponent is allowed.

From the player's point of view, it is interesting and exciting a conflict, but from my perception is scary this.

Since the second prince, just like the game, declared war on us.

Only the one responsible for this happening was Regulux as Lily was gaining power in the palace.

That caused rumors to spread about Regulux replacing the second prince, as that fellow was short tempered, he declared a war game on Regulux, his own brother.

It bothered me that things somehow run just like the game.

Cid grabbed my shoulder and said.

"Razel, let me try to convince my older brother, I'm sure this is a misunderstanding."

I said. "Fine, I'll take you up on it."

"Leave it to me."

Cid acted very cool as he left to go to the palace.

Really, why do game events happen? And even worse that it's one that only happened after the time skip.

◇◇◇

In a house with a large garden, a man was relaxing with a book while sunbathing.

He placed his drink on the glass rest and resumed his reading.

While he was so relaxing, a servant approached him.

"My lord, this came for you."

The man took the red envelope that was in his name, opened it and then his eyebrows twitched.

"This doesn't happen every day."

The man stood up and quickly went to change.