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Chapter 0237 Ambition
“Oh, here we are. Food and drinks are being prepared. So, you may rest for a while.”
“Thank you, Mister Rodrigo.”
Zack said to the butler who welcomed him, went to the back room, and finally took a breather.
The place is the basement of the ‘Embassy of the Kingdom of Ju’, one of the ‘collaborators’ helping the rebels from the shadows.
Of course, if King Raymond were to find out about this, it would be a big problem.
But, on the other hand, if King Abel seizes control of the entire kingdom, their act as a ‘collaborator’ would be a way to have him owe them one.
After weighing the two, His Highness Prince Willy, the eighth prince of the Kingdom of Ju, chose to be a ‘collaborator’.
In the back room, there were those who had escaped from the ‘southern hideout’ earlier.
Only one among them was not from there.
“Prince Willy…”
“In person…”
Zack and Scotty hurriedly fell to their knees.
They were indeed members of the Royal Knights. Very unlike the rest of the adventurers.
“Oh, no, you two, this is a shelter. I’d appreciate it if you’d dispense with the formalities.”
Prince Willy said with a strained smile.
“There’s food and drinks, so please fill your stomachs first.”
Prince Willy said and invited them to join him, and also those who came in behind them.
“You must be the members of ‘Morning Star’ and the…’Valkyries’. Please, come on in, everyone.”
The rebels, who were able to finally breathe easy, exchanged information as they ate.
“Is it true that you people defeated Harold Lawrence?”
“Yeah, Hector from Morning Star cut him down with a single slash.”
The ‘Valkyrie’ swordswoman Imogen asked, and Zack told her what he had seen before his very eyes.
“I see, that’s why the guards retreated. Nice one, Hector.”
“Oh it was nothing…”
Hector’s face was beaming as he was praised by Imogen, who is well known as a beautiful swordswoman in the royal capital adventurers’ guild.
Oriana, the scout, was looking at him with a stern gaze.
When Hector noticed her gaze, he hurriedly tightened his expression…though it was probably too late in so many ways.
“Don’t worry, Oriana. No one in the Valkyrie is into Hector.”
Seeing Oriana, Abigail, the scout of the ‘Valkyries’ said to her with a grin.
“O-Oh no, it’s not really my business…”
Oriana hurriedly waved her hands in front of her face.
Seeing this, Abigail continued her words.
“Because the one Imogen truly in love with is King Abel.”
“What?”
Many of the rebels who were there shouted in surprise.
Among them was His Highness Prince Willy, who was drinking grape juice because he was still a minor.
“Ms. Imogen, His Majesty Abel’s…that is to say, the queen’s position?”
Prince Willy’s words drifted around with a deeper meaning than he thought.
“Imogen…how ambitious.”
“Oh no, hey! You’re mistaken!”
Imogen, who must have gotten flustered with C-rank adventurer Showken’s mutterings, hurriedly denied it.
But the bond between women is always strong.
“Imogen is the daughter of a viscount, so becoming the first queen might prove a little difficult, but second onward is pretty doable.”
The one who said that was the ‘Valkyrie’ magician Mew, whose father is the Marquis of West Wing.
“I see!”
“What the hell are you seeing?”
The Valkyries were unanimously convinced, but Imogen denied it again.
“Talk about the ladies’ man…”
“The role model of our second son union.”
Listening to such glamorous talk on the side, Zack and Scotty toasted Abel’s rise to the top.
“You two are acquainted with His Majesty Abel, I presume.”
His Highness Prince Willy spoke to them as they were toasting.
“Yes. We’ve known each other since we were young…”
“Him and Zack especially, have been up to no good since way back.”
Zack answered seriously, and Scotty mixed it up a little.
“Oh, so you were schoolmates.”
Prince Willy nodded his head slightly a few times.
“I heard that His Highness Willy also studied at the integrated ‘Royal Academy’.”
Due to the many children of the aristocrats and wealthy families who lost their lives in the royal capital uprising, several schools for the middle class and above in the royal capital were merged.
One of them was the ‘Royal Academy’, a school that students attend until they reach adulthood at the age of eighteen.
Incidentally, beyond that is the so-called ‘university’, such as the Central University and Magic University.
“I was finally getting used to the ‘Royal Academy’, only for the royal capital to fall in this war…. Of course, the school is closed now, but I do worry about how everyone is faring.”
His Highness Willy is a prince of the Kingdom of Ju, albeit a small kingdom, and since he is inside the embassy which is essentially a sovereign territory, King Raymond and his faction had yet to make any conspicuous move, but he was quite worried about the situation of his schoolmates back in their homes.
“I hope His Majesty Abel takes control of the whole kingdom as soon as possible.”
Willy muttered.
Zack and Scotty nodded their heads in agreement.
“Speaking of which…does His Highness know what happened to the Schwarzkopf family?”
Scotty asked, not so much about the family as a whole, but about Natalie Schwarzkopf, with whom he had fought with on the Desborough Plains.
She infiltrated the royal capital with Zack and Scotty and should have made contact with her family.
“Yes, I do actually. The head of the family, Leith, died during the fall of the royal capital, and his daughter, Natalie, succeeded him as head of the family. She led her family and fled to the west.”
“Oh Natalie, I didn’t know that…”
Zack muttered.
“As I recall, the Hookah* family, the family of the Minister of Finance, who was under house arrest at the time…collaborated with them to escape.” (TLN: Changed from ‘Fuka’ to ‘Hookah’)
“Both the Hookahs and the Schwarzkopfs are nobles with fiefdoms in the western part of the country, I believe.”
“It seems there are quite a few nobles like the two families whose lords are under house arrest in the royal capital.”
Prince Willy explained about the Minister of Finance Lord Hookah, Scotty supplemented, and Zack speculated.
“With their lords still in captivity in the royal capital, they can’t declare their support for King Abel, I suppose.”
Prince Willy said nodding his head.
“The more lords that are freed in this way, the more supporters Abel will have. Then King Raymond will be forced to make some kind of move…”
Scotty muttered, and both Prince Willy and Zack nodded in agreement.
The royal capital, in the newly bestowed mansion to Parker Fletcher, Count of Kirkhouse.
In the living room sat Parker, King Raymond’s right-hand man, and four adventurers.
“To have been summoned by the Count personally, this must be a very important request, am I right?”
The party leader, San, the swordsman, cut to the chase.
Normally, it is polite to remain silent until Parker, who holds the higher position of Count and assistant to King Raymond, begins the conversation, but…that didn’t seem to mean anything to him.
The four members of the A-rank party ‘Five Dragons’ were sitting there.
“That’s right, it’s an extremely important request. There is someone I would like you to eliminate. The reward is 500 million florins for each of you.”
“Whoa~”
San muttered quietly, and the other three couldn’t hide their surprise.
Even though they’re A-rank adventurers, they had never received a request for such a large amount of money.
Five hundred million each means two billion florins for the four of them….
“Fifty million upfront, and four hundred and fifty million when the job is done.”
Parker conveyed plainly without changing his expression.
“That’s another unusual split. Usually it’s half first, half later…. In other words, it’s a tricky job. So, who is the assassination target?”
“Oh, how astute of you.”
“It’s a no-brainer. What else would you have us do? So, who is it? A target that would cost us tooth and nail to kill, I’m guessing the Explosive Blaze Magician?”
“No, don’t touch him. The one we are commissioning you for is King Abel.”
Parker said without hesitation.
“Makes sense…. assassinating a king who also happens to be an A-rank adventurer…. No doubt, we’re the only ones who can pull it off.”
The swordsman San smirked.
The other three also smiled wanly.
“As for the method, I leave it to you. The deadline is within a month. King Abel is in the lord’s mansion in Rune city. He’s been inside the mansion the entire time except for when he went out to the town square for the coronation ceremony, so he’s well protected…”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll kill anyone who gets in our way. That’s okay, right?”
“Sure, no problem. Then, I’ll leave it to you.”
Parker nodded, and the swordsman San, confirming this, gave several slight nods with a sinister smile on his face.