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Volume 4 Chapter 7-3: Lies

「The negotiations are broken then. Honestly, you’re clever, but you’re also a fool.」

「I’m fine being a fool. Above all, when dealing with a liar, I only commit to things that have tangible, physical evidence.」

An exchange of gold and armor like this time. There’s no way to lie about that.

But I won’t get involved. Promises can be broken at any time.

「Liar? What are you talking about?」

「Duke Florandy sent troops without authorization. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t make it in time. I hurriedly caught up and carried out the original negotiation.」

「That’s correct. There are no lies in those words.」

Voldeck said with a smile.

「That’s not true, Duke Voldeck. You instigated Duke Florandy. You whispered that if he didn’t regain this place, he would fall from grace. Maybe you even told him that your troops would reinforce him.」

Duke Florandy’s joy when Voldeck came was bizarre. Without any suspicion, he saw the forces of one of the Four Great Dukes, who should not have interfered, as allies.

「For what purpose?」

「 If Duke Florandy falls from grace, his territory will be yours. Your power within the Four Great Dukes will increase. Furthermore, it also means that you will eventually lead the expedition to conquer Erucy. Therefore, you wanted to rush the already doomed expedition and make it even more desperate, that way you can expose our trump card and wear us down.」

「There is no way I’ll do that. It will reduce the troops that will eventually belong to me.」

「That’s of no concern for you. Unless you exhaust the territory controlled by Duke Florandy to the point where self-governance is impossible, you, the outsider, won’t be able to intervene easily. Someone else from within the same territory will take over. So, you’ll probably say something like this, due to Duke Florandy’s failure, the territory is in a state where it can’t even defend itself unless it’s integrated with yours.」

Duke Voldeck’s eyes widened.

Then he clapped his hands.

「Amazing, that’s an excellent answer. Yes, that’s right. I couldn’t take over unless it was in complete disarray. Thanks to that, I’ll have to spend a lot of money and manpower to rebuild, but I’ll eventually recover everything.」

「By defeating Erucy and gaining magic stones with it.」

「I told you, I don’t intend to pick a fight with the elf village.」

With that, we finally reached the gate.

「Well, Elf Chief, thank you for the meaningful conversation today. I’m too busy to attend the handover in three days, but we will definitely meet again.」

「I hope it’s somewhere other than the battlefield.」

With that, Duke Voldeck and I parted ways.

Voldeck’s Point of View

A luxurious carriage was heading towards the Empire.

「Duke Voldeck, how was it meeting him in person?」

「He seems smarter than I imagined.」

Voldeck, who had been smiling just moments ago, now had an expression as blank as a mask. His young subordinate, seemingly unfazed by this change in demeanor, spoke to him.

「As you said, it was a quick victory, but thanks to that fool Florandy, we got to see their trump card. It would have been a disaster if we charged in without knowing anything.」

「That seems to be the case. However, it appears that having countered their strategy doesn’t necessarily guarantee safety.」

「What do you mean?」

「The Elf Chief doesn’t seem to consider the information leaking as a significant setback. It’s not just bravado; it’s genuine. So, there must be more to their trump card, or they could have even more cards to play.」

「That’s impossible!」

「I’d like to say the same. But you see, it’s probably true. That thing is a monster. From the way he talks, it’s clear that he expects to win against the Empire as a matter of course. In fact, it seems like he’s more concerned about how to win.  I expect that what happened today was only the tip of the iceberg.」

Those words left the young soldier stunned.

His master’s insight is remarkably accurate. If the Elf Chief isn’t a complete fool, it means there are still more weapons like that.

「What surprised me the most was how incongruous he was. I once tried to provoke him to see the real him, and I was astonished by his childishness. Despite his intelligence, knowledge, and even experience, at his core, he’s like a child. It makes no sense. I’ve never seen anything like him.」

「Even if he’s a child, with intelligence, knowledge, and experience, wouldn’t he be invulnerable? How do we win then?」

「Probably, his confidence comes from reverse engineering the Empire’s capabilities that he knows. So, to win, we need to deploy forces the Empire has that he doesn’t know about. Something like a Hero.」

「Our Hero is still missing. The other one can’t move due to the Emperor’s protection. Where could that brat be, just wandering around?」

「She’s probably been killed. Most likely by him. If you analyze the information we extracted from Lurvish, the period when he was absent from the village and the region he headed to, align with the time and location where the hero went missing.」

「A monster that defeated the Hero!? Then we’re even less likely to win!」

「Don’t be hasty. Now is the time to be calm and prepare. Fortunately, we have an ace up our sleeve. A beautiful girl who is the natural enemy of all attribute magic is coming across the sea.」

「That monster? The one who’s been alive for centuries and traveled the world?」

「Don’t call her a monster; that’s disrespectful. I saw her when I was a child. She was truly a beautiful girl. And she’s probably still a girl.」

Voldeck closed his eyes, recalling the memory. A girl with golden hair and emerald eyes, fantastically beautiful. A smile unconsciously appeared on his expressionless face.

「That face is creepy. You’d be better off staying expressionless.」

「You’re so harsh. Changing the subject, there was a time when I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. ‘ I want to obtain what I want by my own hands. I don’t want to take from others. So, don’t try to take from us.’ It’s really foolish, isn’t it? Doing nothing just gives the other party time to act.」

With those words, Voldeck closed his mouth and silently began his paperwork.

With nearly twice the territory, there was plenty of work to do.