“What should I do… Perhaps I should go back to farming.”
He was originally a farmer. He could barely remember, but he remembered the basics of farming from a corner of his head. Everything else was swordsmanship. To put it nicely, he lived his life with a single goal.
“That… doesn’t sound so bad… but, will you consider serving the Kingdom along with me?”
It was not a bad proposal. He could never win against a monster like Shalltear, but as a human he considered himself to be among the stronger ones. However...
“I’m not really used to working as a team. I’m not very good at grovelling either.”
“Do you think I do a lot of grovelling?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you do. It’s just that I imagine all of the people who work in the palace to be like that... Gazef, your idea isn’t bad at all. Fighting for someone else… Ah! Speaking of which, I met a boy called Climb.”
“Climb? Are you referring to a boy with hoarse voice?”
When Brain affirmed Gazef’s voice rose in pitch out of surprise.
“You met Climb? He’s the Princess’ bodyguard, so I didn’t think he would leave her side that far…”
“I saw him while he was training in the city.”
“Training in the city… He’s not very talented so it would be impossible for him to be stronger than he is now. What remains for him would be to improve his physical strength. Was it that kind of training? If not, then I should give him a little word of advice.”
“Hmmm, with the sword… he is talentless. But in some ways, he was superior to me.”
Gazef made an expression for Brain to stop joking.
Of course, the difference between Brain and Climb was absolute, and aptitude could not be compared. However, in front of the truly strong, Brain realized it was like comparing how fast snails could race each other. Above all, having the heart to stand against the killing intent of people like Sebas must be praised highly.
The broken me would have ran away. But if it was Climb, he would never run away with the person he’s supposed to protect behind him. Someone like him… might be good enough to cut the tip of that monster’s pinkie.
Gazef had curious expression on his face, but Brain remained silent. Instead, he told the story of the assault on one of the brothels run by the Eight Fingers.
“Is that so… with Climb.”
“If you think inconvenient things will happen to you, it’s okay to just kick me out. Now that I think about it, it would be a problem for you if somebody who dealt with the underground world goes in and out of your household.”
“No, it’s no problem at all. As a matter of fact, I welcome it wholeheartedly. They’re scum who dirty the Kingdom. I would have liked to stand at the front as you smashed into that place, if it was possible.”
“Are the Eight Fingers that harmful to the Kingdom?”
“It’s quite disgusting. They control most of the Kingdom’s underworld. With the money they earn, they buy out the nobles and exploit the commoners as well. Even if we try to crush them, the nobles they’ve bought out always interfere. If we want to strike, we’ll need to hit the hidden facilities spontaneously like you did, Brain. Even then, they hold more power than average nobles, so if we fail, the repercussions will be huge.”
“Between the hammer and the anvil.”
“Yea. It would be good to deal them some blows like you did. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.”
“What about invoking the Royalty’s authority?”
“It’d be impossible due to the opposing Noble factions. The real problem though, is that they have bought out people in both factions.”
Heavy atmosphere surrounded the two as they drank and ate silently.
Part 2
Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th, 17:01
The members of Blue Rose visited the castle early in the morning. All of them carried a large sack and every time they touched the floor, metallic sounds echoed from within. It was their equipment. Because they were entering the Royal Castle, it would be problematic to walk around fully armed to say the least.
Released from the burden of having to lug everything around, everybody stretched their shoulders and arms. The leader, Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra watched Renner with envious stares.
“So your duty as princess starts now?”
Renner did not have much political power, but still had jobs to do as a princess.
“Don’t worry, I can put them off a little bit.”
“My, my.”
Lakyus made a mischievous face. Renner followed suit, but went back to her serious expression once more.
“Lakyus, as soon as you’re prepared, I want you to carry out what we talked about.”
“Why? From what I heard yesterday, weren’t we going to attack one at a time in absolute secrecy?”
Evileye, the mask wearing mage style magic caster asked.
She did not take off her mask even though she was in the royal palace. The only reason such suspicious attire was permitted was due to the fact of her being an adamantium ranked adventurer, the peak of humanity's finest. Also, the fact that the leader of the group, Lakyus, was nobility helped out as well.
“Actually, an unforeseen problem came up last night, so we need to adjust our plans accordingly. Evileye-san, yesterday….”
Renner told them about the attack on the brothel last night. The congratulatory gazes from the Blue Rose made Climb stand even more rigid in embarrassment.
Truthfully, it was not Climb, but the two people who were with him who had truly saved those girls who were suffering in the brothel. Climb didn’t feel as if he had done anything praiseworthy. In fact, Climb was glad he was not reprimanded and felt somewhat relieved that the plan wasn’t completely ruined by his actions.
“You’ve done well, cherry boy.”
“Gagaran is correct. Capturing one of the Eight Fingers... is a great achievement.”
“...‘Undying King’ Deibaanku, ‘Void Executioner’ Peysilian, ‘Dancing Scimitar’ Edstrom, ‘Thousand Kills’ Malmvist, ‘Devil of Illusions’ Succulent and the leader, ‘Battle Demon’ Zero.”