Volume 11 Chapter 5 Part 8
Gozer reports in low voice. I could hear him well, though.
He receives Gozer’s report with his chest filled with pride. The Duke is after all a Duke.
Even if it is rotten, a sea bream is still a sea bream, after all.
「Since the plan has been set int motion so abruptly without any prior notice, it might be difficult to inform everyone about the commencement of the operation, so the current 80% of the personnel should be more than enough for our needs.」
「However, there is one problem though.」
「What is it?」
「Well…」
Gozer hesitates while looking toward me with a complicated expression. Apparently, it is something he doesn’t want the outsiders to hear.
「It is alright. Lord Michio has agreed to lend us a hand with the operation.」
「Lord Michio has done that?」
「Yes, since he has visited the Earl of Selmar’s castle before.」
He didn’t tell Gozer that he dragged me there with him, it seems. Had he told Gozer that, he wouldn’t have given me that dubious look in the first place.
「Is that so?」
Gozer looks at me with the eyes that contained pity in them, almost as if the man of the world has found himself a companion.
I’m certain that Gozer is subjected to the Duke’s manipulation everyday.
「So, what is the matter that is troubling you?」
「Actually….」
Since Gozer’s voice was low, I didn’t get to hear much of what he said from that point onwards, but he was speaking an awful lot of names, or that someone went to someplace. At least I think that is how it went.
There appears to have been a slip up while circulating the emergency summons… but was it a miss? Or perhaps an accident?
「Then, it would be better to start ahead of schedule.」
「I guess so.」
「As soon as the minimum number of people has assembled, we will execute the operation. Excluding Lord Michio and his companions, that would be 4 people in total.」
「I understand.」
With a decision having been made, Gozer then leaves the room. The Duke closes the door and returns to his seat.
「I am sorry. There was a need for a small modification to the tactics. We might be starting earlier than expected.」
「Did something happen to my younger brother?」
When the Duke sits down, Cassia asks him that. Apparently, Cassia managed to hear her younger brother’s name in Gozer’s report which was full of other names.
「No, nothing happened to him.」
「Is that so? Good.」
Cassia heaves a sigh of relief.
「Cassia’s younger brother is her cousin. He is next in line to become the Earl of Selmar.」
The Duke looks at me and explains.
He is her cousin even though she said younger brother?
Naturally, Cassia’s cousin means he is a member of the Earl of Selmar’s household, so he meets the qualification to succeed the title, I guess.
Even though he said he would invade the Earldom of Selmar, he doesn’t seem to be intent on destroying it. He plans on merely replacing the person who is going to be responsible for governing it, or installing a capable person as his puppet, perhaps?
「He will be the next Earl of Selmar?」
「Yes, but for that to happen, I need to have him participate in this operation by raising his army. However, when an Adventurer from my Knight Order visited him, there were other people together with him. It would have been better had they been unrelated; however, they were someone connected to the Earl of Selmar. For what reason would a member of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy visit a relative of the Earl of Selmar? Any smart person would figure the reason out in no time.」
「And, due to that, you want to have it carried out as soon as possible?」
Since there is a likelihood of the other side noticing it, we need to start earlier before they get the chance to prepare, huh? Is that what you are trying to say?
Since even Gozer didn’t know the exact time of the operation, I don’t think Cassia’s cousin knew it either. And since he didn’t know, he could accidentally be with anyone at that time. Isn’t the Duke’s unpredictability responsible for this?
「As an insurance policy, I planned on waiting till they fell asleep; however, that option is no longer available to us. As soon as minimum preparations have been done, we will break into the Earl of Selmar’s castle. Onward from that point in time, there shouldn’t be any significant problems for us to deal with. And since we’re doing it at night, there shouldn’t be any accidental audience to witness it. Also, since the territory of Selmar isn’t far from here, you don’t have to be worried about the time difference.」
It would have been better had we invaded late at night as we would have had to face a small number of people due to the most of them being asleep.
The earlier we start, the more the risk; however, it is still better than the information leaking to the Earl. There doesn’t seem to be any need to consider the time difference with the territory of Selmar as well, which is a plus.
「Your Highness.」
A knock on the door followed by Gozer’s voice came for a second time,
「Gozer?」
「I bring the news.」
「Are the preparations done?」
「Yes, everything is ready.」
Once he heard that, the Duke draws his Ocihalcum Sword. After lightly nodding toward me, which surprised me, he opens the door.
On the other side of the door, there are two more men beside Gozer. One is a Knight whom I have met before.
「It has been a long time.」
「T-This is?」
The other man is already surprised, but that should be a given. If you were to see the Duke holding the sword the moment the door opens, I daresay that pretty much everyone would have the right to be surprised.
The man looks at Cassia as if asking her something, but Cassia just shakes her head.
「I will go straight to the point. I would like for you to become the next Earl of Selmar.」
You haven’t even discussed it with him beforehand, and you’re already jumping straight to the conclusion?!
He is going to persuade him right here, it seems. In other words, this poor soul who has been brought over is Cassia’s cousin.
Were the talks supposed to be held tonight in order to avert the uproar since it would be a hit or miss?
Unfortunately, he cannot declare that he is in conflict with others.There is a chance that he would refuse after the talks were held, and he must also be worried that the information would leak to the Earl of Selmar if he refused.
Or worse yet, instead of refusing, he could have pretended to be helping him and betrayed the Duke at the last moment.
So then, did he choose not to discuss it with him beforehand? That way, he won’t have the opportunity to inform the Earl of Selmar about anything if he discusses it with him right now.
If he opposes, he can be restrained until it is all over. And even if he tries to double-cross the Duke, he won’t have the time to prepare anything.
「Are you… are you going to kill the Earl?」
He squeezes these words out of his throat as his face turned pale, and when I say that his face turned pale, I mean really pale, almost as if all the blood has been drained from it in an instant.
Without saying a word, the Duke gives him an exaggerated nod.
「You knew this would happen eventually, so pull yourself together.」
Even Cassia called out to the man with a calm yet insistent tone.
「That… b-but…」
He knows it as well. However, I still don’t get it. Is it really such a disgraceful matter for a noble to not be able to subjugate a Labyrinth in his territory? And whenever such a thing happens, is overthrowing the one who has failed at that a natural thing to do?
But if the ones gathered here right now all understand that, then it should be a given that the exact same thing can be said about the Earl of Selmar, and so he must be expecting this.
He must know he is in danger since it is natural for him to be overthrown due to his inaction against the Labyrinths…. no. Had he had enough war potential, he would have surely put it to use in the Labyrinths already.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Harem in the Fantasy World Dungeon
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 50 hours
The honourific title for a duke is “Your grace” not “your highness.”
“your majesty”: king
“Your highness”: Queen, princes & princess
“Your grace”: Duke, Archbishop
“your lordship”: barons, vicounts, counts, earls, marquis, margraves, bishops.
“her ladyship” ladys inc. the duchess. (could be phrased “her ladyship the duchess of harz” for example)