The Minister Of Foreign Affairs Was Watching

“What has been done about the person heading to the Kingdom of Sorakil?”

After hearing from Ururu, who had been keeping a close watch on the meeting held by the chancellor and the others… Kiriku and I were confirming several details about the contents of that meeting.

“Once they leave the royal capital… crush them.”

“Ururu, please capture that person without killing them. They will be necessary to crush the chancellor.”

“…Understood.”

Ururu nodded at Kiriku’s instruction.

Still… they must have been holding that meeting in secret, yet it had been exposed without a single detail left out. From the other side’s perspective, that had to be a nightmare. From my perspective, though, nothing could be more reassuring.

“There are no problems with Efaria and the others’ protection, right?”

“They’re fine… Cougar is with them now.”

“If it is Cougar, then there should be no problem. Still, even if they are the chancellor’s faction, it does not feel as though they have that much of a connection to the Kingdom of Sorakil.”

“It would seem so. Most likely, among the participants in this meeting, the ones siding with the Kingdom of Sorakil are the chancellor and one other person… The rest are likely fools blinded by power.”

Because Ururu’s report did not include her own subjectivity and simply relayed the conversations at the scene matter-of-factly, each person’s intentions and relationships were easy to bring into relief.

“Though just hearing the report makes me angry because they have far too little loyalty…”

“…True. Efaria is still young, but I do not think she lacks future prospects, and the chancellor’s faction also seems to see that as dangerous. So why would they betray her?”

I felt a slight doubt at Kiriku’s vexed manner and asked.

No, were there not far too few merits to betraying her? The chancellor’s faction’s actions… no matter how I looked at it, it felt like they were heading straight for ruin…

“Fools blinded by power probably do not even notice that their judgment is mistaken.”

“To begin with, these people gathered to devise measures against Einheria’s demands, right? In the end, their only measure against us is the chancellor buying time? I do not understand…”

“We have not yet mentioned making them a vassal state this time, after all. Perhaps the chancellor believes our demands are merely for show?”

Did he mean that the demands were so extreme that he thought our real demands would come later?

That felt far too carefree in its own way… Einheria was in the middle of invading one country after another right now, and even though it was my own country, I thought we seemed like the sort of people who would make accusations and invade at any time. If an opponent like that made such demands, I thought they should be much more wary…

“It feels like there is a gap in awareness between us and the other side.”

“The chancellor’s faction lacks judgment because they have not been able to obtain information about us. The difference in the amount of information both sides possess likely appears as a difference in awareness.”

When I said that in exasperation, Kiriku explained the situation.

“I see. A difference in information, huh… So that is why they look like they are doing something so misaligned.”

“From Lord Fels’s perspective, aside from the chancellor himself, the members of the chancellor’s faction may seem as though this is no time to be doing such things, but to them, the only obstacle is the Holy King’s house. They believe they can deal with Einheria after they seize real power.”

“In this situation, the fact that they are still trying to spend their energy on internal strife makes me feel pity. Well, mainly for Efaria and Guriel…”

It was far too pitiful that people like this were throwing their weight around as important figures…

“This is no more than conjecture, but the reason the chancellor’s faction is acting this thoughtlessly is likely because the chancellor and his people are guiding their thinking.”

“Hmm…”

Did that mean the brainwashing the chancellor let slip during the conference?

“Even in the meeting we just heard about, there were moments where it seemed the flow of the conversation was being guided. What makes the chancellor cunning is that the one who guided it was not the chancellor himself. We previously captured the assassin who attempted to attack the Holy King’s double, and we discovered that the order came from a member of the chancellor’s faction, but we were never able to obtain evidence that it had been the chancellor’s order. Most likely, as in this meeting, he indirectly guided the other party and made them give the assassination order.”

It seemed a little different from brainwashing… but in the sense of manipulating another person’s thinking however he liked, it was something similar.

The chancellor’s methods seemed more troublesome than I had imagined.

“Spending a long time lowering the Holy King’s house’s centripetal force and making them lose their aversion to the wicked path of assassination… After putting in this much time and effort, making this country into a vassal state from which they merely drain as much money and resources as they can… feels somewhat not worth the cost. The Holy King’s group may be misreading the Kingdom of Sorakil’s aim.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. At least, if I were someone from the Kingdom of Sorakil, I would not use this country as something to be discarded in that manner.”

“Hmm… But the one who spent all that time and effort was the chancellor, was he not? If we think of it as simply skimming off the profits, would it not be a good bargain for the Kingdom of Sorakil?”

When I said that, Kiriku placed a hand on his chin and opened his mouth while showing a gesture as if thinking a little.

“…I do not yet have any proof, but there is a possibility that the chancellor has served the Kingdom of Sorakil from the very beginning.”

“…You mean the chancellor did not betray the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, but was an agent of the Kingdom of Sorakil from the start? Why do you think that?”

“The chancellor’s movements do not seem to be those of a man trying to obtain the Lufelon Holy Kingdom for himself. The position of chancellor is by no means cheap. By merely adjusting his use of power slightly, he should be able to do something close to moving the country freely. However, the chancellor appears to be using that power to carve away at the strength of the Holy King’s house and the nobles. In fact, despite the disorder among its upper ranks, the Lufelon Holy Kingdom’s national power has not declined. It looks as though he is removing obstacles for the next ruler and preparing the kingdom so that it can be governed swiftly.”

“I see… The chancellor is not moving for the chancellor’s own sake. That is why you think Efaria and the others may be misreading his aim… We are still in the middle of gathering information on the Kingdom of Sorakil, yes?”

“Yes.”

The chancellor had originally been someone from the Kingdom of Sorakil, huh… Certainly, thinking of it that way seemed to make more sense.

To be honest, I also could not believe that the chancellor himself wanted real power over the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.

Judging from the state of the meeting, even though arrangements about the Kingdom of Sorakil and the next Holy King had already been made, the members of the chancellor’s faction did not seem to know anything about it.

If the chancellor considered the members of the chancellor’s faction his allies, it would not have been strange for that information to have already spread among them. Even if he had hidden it until the very last moment, there was no meaning in not revealing it during the earlier meeting.

After all, the next Holy King was the royal crazy prince. There was no doubt he would become an extremely troublesome Holy King.

And yet he had not informed the members of the chancellor’s faction about that. Despite planning to raise up a Holy King who would clearly cause trouble.

Most likely, there was still some reason he had to keep something hidden.

“The chancellor is trying to contact us somewhere outside the conference. What should we do about that?”

“If you would permit it, may I basically handle that? The chancellor’s statement that he wants to buy time is likely sincere… but that is probably for the sake of the Kingdom of Sorakil. Therefore, he should try to obtain as much information about Einheria as possible, but we too want information. Would you allow me to investigate, including the other side’s objective?”

“Hmm… Then I will leave that to you, Kiriku. In the meantime, I will spend time with Efaria and the others. If an attack happens while I am present, things will become quite interesting.”

“…I do not think even the chancellor’s faction is that foolish, but… I also feel that I cannot say it is absolutely impossible. Understood. If an attacker appears while Lord Fels and the Holy King are together… may we allow them to attack instead of capturing them beforehand?”

“That would be more convenient, yes? No problem.”

…No, there was a problem. A huge problem.

I was worried about whether I could respond to an attacker on the spot, and if they secretly attacked with poison, a bow, a blow dart, or something, there was a chance I would be hit directly…

If it was poison, the ring that nullified status abnormalities would nullify it… probably. Most likely.

In experiments, simply wearing the ring had prevented poison and paralysis… though it was poison and paralysis from Sword and Legions. Also, I had tried to be conscious of not being conscious that I was equipping the ring, so whether it would really protect me in a completely defenseless state was… Also, I should have tested poisons from this world too…

Well, that was a problem too, but more than that… as the Overlord, it would be extremely bad if I could not gracefully handle a surprise attack.

Presence, bloodlust, and things like that… I did not understand any of it… No, I could tell when my children were really angry and things like that, okay? I was the type of Overlord who could read the room… but that and this were different, right?

Should I just say I would deliberately take one hit…? No, no, if my neck suddenly got cut open, it would be over, right? I had to somehow make my response to the attacker vague in a good way…

“If the thieves try to assassinate us without showing themselves, have Cougar deal with them and drag them out to where we are. If they directly attack us, Lynferia, I leave it to you. Do not kill them under any circumstances.”

“Yes, sir!”

Good, with this, the thieves’ fate and my fate were both decided!

There was no need for me to deal with them myself… because I was the Overlord, after all!

Important people did not need to fight personally!

So of course it was only natural to leave it to Cougar and Lynferia!

“That said, I doubt an attack will occur while I am with Efaria. They were even discussing what would happen if they harmed me in the meeting. If an attack happens, it will probably be at night, when Efaria is alone.”

“That is true. If someone that shortsighted exists, many things would become easier for us, but there is no way such a person could be in the center of the government. If early, an attack will occur tonight… at the latest, within three days, the Holy King will be attacked. As long as Cougar is there, there is no doubt we can capture the attacker alive, but there is also a possibility that they will be killed before Cougar secures them.”

“Killed before Cougar secures them? …Ah, something like bringing in a corpse and insisting it was an attacker sent by Einheria?”

“Yes. What the chancellor wants most right now is time… so we cannot deny the possibility that he will use such a method to confuse the situation. If there is a miscalculation, it is that our connection with the Holy King is stronger than the chancellor thinks. There is almost no chance the Holy King’s group will suspect the attacker is one of Einheria’s people. Therefore, he will not obtain as much effect as he expects… but even so, he will be able to buy a little time.”

“We are going to crush their contact with the Kingdom of Sorakil, so even if he buys some time, it will not help, will it?”

“If it is a messenger sent from this royal palace, we can certainly crush them, but that is not necessarily the only means of contact. Even Ururu cannot watch every single person alone… Personally, I would like to settle this quickly.”

Certainly… I had heard there were also messages using birds and the like, and no matter how much Ururu was the strongest Minister of Foreign Affairs, there had to be a limit to what she could do alone… probably.

I also felt like Ururu would somehow prevent everything… but there must surely be a limit.

So it was only natural that Kiriku wanted to settle this in the short term without giving the other side as much breathing room as possible.

“In that case, it seems fastest after all for Efaria and me to be attacked.”

“That is precisely why it is the most unlikely option.”

As Kiriku said that with a rare wry smile, I smiled as well.

The things one wanted others to do were not done, and the things one did not want others to do were done… The world was generally like that.

However, that concern would be swept away in an instant.

Because… flags were collected all too easily… and that too was one of the truths of the world.