Chapter 80
Chapter 80
-At the Prime Minister’s Office-
Having read the report from Serena, the Prime Minister looked up at the ceiling.
“The matter regarding His Highness Linus is an issue.”
It would’ve been fine if their transactions could serve to weaken the enemy countries, but their enemies weren’t so naïve.
They would come asking for profits from the side that won, and it was not Linus who would have to prepare the remuneration.
Rather, the burden would fall on the subjects that serve the empire.
The Prime Minister honestly wished that the princes wouldn’t make such selfish promises in their attempts to become the next emperor.
However, such exchanges were common in the history of the empire, so there was no need for him to panic.
Instead, it was Liam who was causing the real problem here.
He was actively trying to form friendly connections with another country and was supporting them with a large amount of supplies.
He was assisting a country that was hostile to the country Linus was involved in, and Linus was naturally aware of this fact.
For Linus, this was no different from having a glove thrown at him from someone he intended to punish.
In addition, Liam had formed a Cleo Faction which had around 200 aristocrats under its banner.
It had initially begun with only about 100 nobles, but the number was gradually growing.
The nobles that had joined the faction were mostly those that couldn’t properly manage their own territories
To be blunt, these noble households were mostly powerless.
By supporting these kinds of households, Cleo was trying to increase his presence.
In reality, it was Liam who was actually providing the resources.
“So he has been gaining power through proper territorial management. It is indeed a rather well-grounded and practical management method.”
The Prime Minister was also in favor of this type of territorial management, not only because of the rare metals that could be gained from it, but also because it did not slight or offend other parties.
However, this meant that Liam was determined to have a full-scale confrontation with Linus.
“How will His Highness Linus react?”
The Prime Minister was looking forward to how this game would unfold.
◇
-Linus’s Room-
Inside, Linus was pushing away everything that was on the desk with his hands.
“That little braaaaaat!!”
Recently, a malicious rumor about Linus was being spread.
The content of the rumor was about Linus conducting shady transactions with people from another country.
It was the truth, and it became apparent to Linus that there was a formidable intelligence network working under Liam.
However, Liam did not seem interested in backing Linus to a corner with this piece of information alone.
It was instead the Calvin faction that was constantly jabbing him with this fact.
Linus truly wished to crush Liam, but he was too worried to do so due to the Calvin faction which he constantly had to be wary of.
When he held his breath and snapped his fingers, a group of men emerged from the floor.
These men had unique masks on them and knelt in front of Linus.
One of the underground organizations behind the empire was in Linus’s hand.
“You appear to be troubled, Your Highness Linus.”
When their leader opened his mouth to speak, the voice did not sound muffled despite the mask on his face.
Linus sat down in a rough manner, not bothering to hide his dissatisfaction.
“It’s time that you guys act. Make an example out of Cleo — and kill Liam.”
They were an organization that specialized in performing dirty tasks like assassinations, and their current employer was Linus.
“Not to mention Liam, assassinating His Royal Highness Cleo would come with a steep price. After all, the female knight on his side is rather skilled.”
The blood vessels on Linus’s forehead twitched and his eyes were about to bulge out.
“And what of it? Eliminate them immediately. I’ll erase any fools that dare to challenge me.”
The masked men laughed.
“Well, they did kill one of our men.”
“Although it’s a bit late, we can take this chance to exact revenge.”
“But will this be fine? There’s still His Highness Calvin to look out for. Are you sure about devoting some of your power to deal with His Highness Cleo? ”
Linus naturally understood what the man was getting at.
Calvin’s case was trickier to handle compared to Cleo’s.
Yet he couldn’t afford to ignore Cleo – or rather Liam – any longer.
“—Erase them.”
With Linus’s verdict, the masked men sank back into the floor, disappearing from the room while being on their knees.
Linus gazed up at the ceiling.
“I hear that you’re confident with the sword, but these men have been active behind the scenes of the empire. They’re not opponents someone of your caliber can handle, Liam.”
They were people that have been working in the shadows of the empire for the past two millennia.
Countless strong knights fell under their assassinations.
Brute strength alone meant nothing against them.
“Although Liam also has a Black Ops of his own, there shouldn’t be as many people in it as the Empire’s. Again, you have offended the wrong person.”
◇
The Inner Palace was shrouded in the darkness of the night.
Inside his room, Cleo was alone and staring outside of the window.
He was sweating and having trouble falling asleep.
“What an unpleasant feeling.”
Ever since Linus declared war on him, he couldn’t sleep in peace.
Realizing how fragile his will was, he felt disheartened.
Behind such a Cleo, a group of people wearing masks slowly rose up from the floor.
Stunned, Cleo turned around and took a step backwards.
When he grabbed the handle of a sword that he had hidden on him, it turned into a laser blade.
“Who are you?”
There was something peculiar about these men who were wearing masks.
Cleo knew that they were powerful, but compared to a knight, he perceived a different type of strength dwelling within them.
When the masked men fully got out from the floor and showed their entire bodies, he saw that they were holding the heads of other men that were wearing similar masks.
Some of them still had their torsos intact. Others had nothing below their necks.
Cleo couldn’t help but drip cold sweat.
(Who are they!?)
Just then, the door suddenly opened and Tia entered the room.
“Your Highness Cleo, are you well?”
Tia had a rapier on her hand, and it was drenched in blood.
Some blood seemed to have splashed on her as well; there were some blood marks on her clothing.
Cleo called out to Tia.
“Be careful! These people are dangerous!”
These “dangerous” men stood aside when they saw Tia enter.
Tia walked past them and approached Cleo to confirm his well-being.
“So you were safe.”
Cleo was stunned, but he soon came to a realization.
“They’re on our side?”
“Yes.”
Tia, having confirmed Cleo’s safety, took out a communicator and contacted somebody.
“It’s me… Yes, I see. We must always prioritize Lord Liam’s life.”
Tia then cut off the communication and explained to Cleo what was happening.
“His Highness Linus has made his move. Assassins were dispatched to us and Elliot of the Clave Company.”
“Assassins?”
Cleo recalled that there existed Shadows that came and went from the inner palace.
He turned towards the corpses on the hands of the masked men.
(That’s them? It’s my first time encountering them.)
But this was also problematic in its own right as the masked men in front of him had on similar masks.
“Are they truly on our side? They have similar appearances.”
Did Liam hire people from the same organization?
He was having such thoughts when Tia beckoned him to hurry.
“Rather than that, let us move quickly. Lord Liam will be worried otherwise.”
“—Fine.”
◇
-The Head Office Building of the Clave Company-
The inside of the meeting room was covered in blood.
Elliot was sitting on a chair, pretending to be unmoved by the sight in front of him.
He was staring down at the traitors in front of him with crossed arms and legs.
“Was it His Highness Linus’s instruction to betray me?”
The men in suits were the captured executives of the Clave Company.
The hired assassins were sprawled around them.
“I’m sorry, Chairman!”
“We acted in consideration of the Clave Company’s future!”
“This will never happen again!”
Standing besides Elliot were some masked men.
One of them who were spinning a knife close to his face walked to the executives and glared at them with his blood-red eyes.
Frightened, the executives fainted as they frothed at their mouths.
The three escorts around Elliot were personnel dispatched by Liam.
On the windows of the conference room were small cracks that suggested a shooting.
“Chairman Elliot, they were apparently trying to match His Highness Linus’s movement to remove you from this world. Basically, this is the result of their own decisions.”
“Really? What a pity.”
Elliot’s back was drenched with sweat.
(I never imagined that such an impressive force was around me.)
He believed that some capable knights would be dispatched as his escorts.
In reality, it was Kukuri’s subordinates that were sent to protect him.
The number of hired assassins that were killed by these three had exceeded ten.
Even the sniper outside the window was not spared.
The masked men began a conversation.
“What of Lord Liam?”
“The head is with him.”
“Let’s talk about something more interesting.”
Elliot had mixed feelings when he witnessed his escorts chatting merrily with dead bodies next to them.
(If I were to turn coat, the same fate awaits me as these guys.)
Liam was very scary. Yet at the same time, he was very reliable.
(Lord Liam, I won’t be holding back. To make the company grow and for me to become the leader of this company both in name and in authority, I would need your assistance.)
From the time he assumed leadership of the huge trading company, he was prepared to weather the storm.
Elliot was pleased to know that he had gained a powerful ally.
◇
-At that time-
On the rooftop of the hotel that Liam resided in, people wearing masks were fighting fiercely.
The person who was against Kukuri was one of the most powerful combatants in the organization.
But this man was panicking.
“Who are you guys? How are you guys using the same techniques as us!?”
He was losing his calm because their opponents were employing the same techniques as they were.
He had quickly recognized that their techniques were not similar, but identical.
Kukuri responded to the question.
“Same? No, you’re wrong. They’re not the same. You are simply imitating us.”
“W-what are you talking about!?”
Kukuri’s shoulders shook as he laughed at confused man in front of him.
“You are different from us. Did you guys start a new organization after stealing our techniques? No wonder your skills are so rusty. The core has been lost.”
The man surveyed his surroundings.
He was starting to get agitated as his colleagues were being defeated one after another.
As the situation was not in their favor, he tried to escape, but Kukuri’s subordinates encircled him, preventing him from doing so.
When several of them touched the ground, a terrifying rune enveloped the entirety of the rooftop, hindering the activation of all movement magics.
The man judged that there was plausible escape route, but he regained his cool.
“You’re trying to confuse me; however, it’s not going to work.”
Two thousand years had passed since Kukuri and his gang were petrified.
Suddenly being told that a new organization was formed based on the techniques left behind by Kukuri and his associates, it was no wonder that the man had his doubts.
The possibility of people from 2,000 years ago reviving never crossed his mind.
“Confuse you? Hmm, this might be an occupational disease. You are very skeptical of others’ words. Now, we should wrap things up soon.”
Kukuri shortened the distance between them and extended out his arm.
In response, the man leaned back to avoid his arm.
Kukuri’s hand managed to touch the man’s mask, exposing the man’s mouth which warped into a smirk.
“Got you.”
As the man said so, insect-like legs that resembled a spider’s appeared from his back, piercing through his clothes and stabbing at Kukuri from eight separate directions simultaneously.
It penetrated Kukuri from his back and came out from his chest.
Kukuri’s subordinates that were around them expressed astonishment and were about to wield their weapons to help.
The man knew that he was about to die, but he cackled because he was able to drag Kukuri down with him.
“I’ll have you all accompany me to hell!”
The man planned to activate the bomb implanted within his body.
The bomb had enough firepower to blow away Liam along with the entire hotel building.
Thinking that he could accomplish his mission in exchange was his life, the man chortles.
Unfortunately, Kukuri, who the man thought he had killed, started to move again.
With his eyes glowing red, Kukuri punctured the man’s chest with his bare hands and pulled out the bomb, disarming the bomb in the process.
The man who was now vomiting blood from his mouth was shocked to see that Kukuri was alive.
“H-how?”
“You shouldn’t have lowered your guard. Regardless, that was an eye-opener. A technique which we do not possess. We’ll be studying it in depth.”
Kukuri pulled out the legs that were stuck within him.
The way he did so showed that he hadn’t received any life-threatening injuries.
The man, on the other hand, was detained by Kukuri’s subordinates.
Kukuri then observed and touched the man’s body with interest.
“A hidden mechanism modeled after a spider? They’re also properly smeared with poison. Hmmm, they’re not bad, but they’re nothing amazing either. I’m intrigued, though. Is there a piece of technology that can reproduce the characteristics of other organisms?”
One of Kukuri’s subordinates spoke up as he was engrossed in his investigation of the man’s body.
“Lord Liam is calling for you.”
“Hmm, how unfortunate! Then half of you will remain here to collect the bodies and examine them. Since they can be considered our juniors, treat their corpses with care. That said, I want to study him while he’s breathing, so don’t kill him.”
A gag was put on the fainted man, and his treatment began soon after.
Kukuri proceeded to head to Liam.
◇
I call Kukuri after the assassins have been cleared up.
“Is it over?”
“Yes. His Royal Highness should be serious about this seeing as considering that he sent his experienced veterans.”
Although I knew that he was unnerved, I didn’t think he would reflexively react by trying to assassinate us.”
A prince should be more thoughtful.
Kukuri infers what the other party is thinking.
“He also has a dispute with His Highness Calvin. He probably wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible.”
“He thought we could be easily disposed of, huh?”
Simply put, he didn’t put me in his eyes.
How boring.
I’m always welcoming towards enemies who aren’t vigilant. Nonetheless, I won’t stand being looked down on like this.
For Linus, Calvin should be his main rival.
We’re nothing but an annoying obstacle to him.
—Thanks to that, we’re in a favorable position.
Linus, Calvin, and the Emperor. It’s better to deal with them one at a time.
That said, I’ll have the insignificant Linus disappear first.
Since he’s so impatient to erase us at the first sign of provocation, he would have lost to Calvin one day anyway.
“If he’s sent assassins strong enough for you to describe as experienced, won’t Cleo be in danger?”
“Please be assured as we have already taken him under our protection.”
Kukuri is really efficient at doing his work and is an excellent subordinate to have, unlike some two idiots.
I am blessed to have met such a great subordinate.
Is this also thanks to the Guide?
I can’t thank him enough.
I shall pray today as well.
“We’ll head to where Cleo is.”
“Acknowledged.”
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