Vol. 6 Chapter 9 – The Formula for Vi…

—Huh? Something seems a bit…off?

While watching Liam being cornered, the Guide had been checking up on various things.

He cocked his head to one side.

There was no doubt that Liam was suffering—or rather, he was growing impatient.

He could also feel Liam’s anger being transmitted to him.

Despite putting up a front and partying around, Liam was clearly occupied by something.

The expeditionary force had won, but the victory came with a steep price.

All things considered, the Cleo Faction should have dipped in power; however, it appeared as though the Cleo Faction was more united than ever before.

“Am I being delusional? No, wait!”

The Guide realized what the problem was.

“I see—I didn’t provide Liam with enough support!”

Liam was certainly in a tight spot, but he was still someone that had forced the Guide to swallow a bitter pill on numerous occasions.

If Liam was such an easy opponent, the Guide wouldn’t have had so much trouble dealing with him.

Thus, the Guide attributed this sense of unease to a lack of effort.

“More—I just have to bless Liam even more! B-but am I doing things correctly? Why does it feel like I’ve made a big mistake?”

The Guide was worried.

Suddenly, he was reminded of the two children that had been raised to kill Liam.

Years ago, he had provided Eulisia with his support, only to be betrayed by her later on.

He was anxious to see whether or not those two had lived up to his expectations.

He wanted an answer to this question immediately, but he wasn’t as powerful as he was before.

Whenever he recovered a sizable portion of his strength, he spent it all on supporting Liam.

For some reason, Liam would suffer every time he did so.

If it meant he could bless Liam and make him miserable, the Guide was willing to put up with drinking muddy water in order to survive.

As he lacked the energy to gather information, the Guide had to pick up newspapers from the ground whenever he wished to search up information.

Fortunately, he found what he was looking for on one of the featured articles.

The post contained information about what he wanted to know.

“Kuuu! I’ve been using up too much of my power trying to support Liam. Gathering information used to be so much easier.”

Sounding a bit regretful, the Guide began to read the article.

The electronic newspaper also featured the video that Rinho had taken.

“Senior Brother, are you watching~? I’m coming to get you~”

In the background, the schoolmaster and the high-ranking disciples of the Kurdan Style Swordsmanship were lying on a puddle of blood.

With a smile on her face, she declared that she would be taking Liam’s life.

The Guide’s heart was warmed by the madness in her voice.

“Ah~ what a pure concentration of madness. If it’s her, slaying Liam would be—Hm? Wait. Where’s the other one?”

Flipping to a different page, he found out that the other one had laid-waste to the headquarters of the Arend Style Swordsmanship.

“Yasushi, you did a fine job raising the two trump cards. I believed in you.”

The Guide expressed his gratitude towards Yasushi, who was no longer in the Empire.

“Once everything is over, I’ll make sure that you’re unhappy. After all, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t trained Liam to this extent.”

The Guide threw away the electronic newspaper and left the scene with light steps.

A translucent dog stared at the newspaper that had fallen to the ground and picked it up before heading towards a certain direction.

◇

-At a party venue where the victory of the expeditionary force is scheduled to be celebrated-

I’m currently relaxing in the waiting room and having a conversation with Elliot of the Clave Company.

“So the theme of today’s party has changed to the commemoration of the expeditionary force. Am I understanding this correctly?”

To commemorate the overwhelming victory of the expeditionary—wait, that’s not right.

To commemorate my overwhelming victory, Elliot has brought with him a lot of gold and expensive wine.

This is blatant bribery, but I like it.

“We’re just holding a small celebration amongst ourselves. According to Tia, the United Kingdoms turned out to be formidable foe, and great damage was done to the Empire.”

I say so with a grin.

It seems like Elliot has understood the message I’m trying to convey.

“For driving back such a powerful enemy, the right to succeed the throne would likely be given to His Highness Cleo. On the other hand, the Crown Prince’s standing would drop because he fled and shirked his responsibility before a crisis.”

“When all is said and done, I have won.—So, how is Calvin reacting to this news?”

“Those around him are clamoring to take action, but the person in question seems to be remaining calm. Either that, or he’s trying to appear calm in front of the others.”

I’d rather have him come charging in recklessly.

Calvin’s inaction is really troublesome.

That said, we’ve managed to significantly weaken the Calvin Faction while strengthening our own.

By lending money to the other lords, my influence has grown as well.

Being the evil lord that I am, I was thinking of charging them with high interest, but I gave up on that thought since we’re all fellow evil lords that belong to the Cleo Faction.

Villains should cooperate with other villains in times of need.

We should only fight when we have the leeway to do so.

Until we drag Calvin down, I won’t do anything against them.

As Elliot and I are having our discussion, Wallace enters the room looking haggard.

“This is bad, Liam!”

“What’s wrong? Are you done preparing for the party?”

He’s pale and appears hurried, so I listen to what he has to say.

“That’s the thing! You suddenly changed this into a celebratory party for the expeditionary force, so we don’t have the necessary supplies to prepare for it. We basically have to start again from scratch!”

“Say what!?”

I had changed the content of the party in the spur of the moment without thinking about what that would entail.

Wallace holds his head in despair.

“No, we can’t celebrate a victory without that thing!”

To keep myself entertained, I put Wallace in charge of the parties.

This friend of mine has become much more reliable.

Seeing him in distress, I turn towards Elliot.

“Elliot, quickly prepare whatever’s missing.”

“Please leave it all to me. However, since we’re in such a hurry, it might cost more than—”

“FOOL! It’s my party that we’re talking about! Money isn’t an issue!”

Damn it! This has completely caught me off guard.

Anyway, to resolve this crisis, Wallace and Elliot would have to cooperate closely with each other.

Wallace has a tired look on.

“We’d have to replace most of what’s already been prepared. What we have right now just won’t do for a victory party.”

I silently watch Wallace as he worries over what to do about the party.

Others might think that his talent is useless.

However, I beg to differ.

—He has grown to be a fine man.

From an evil lord’s standpoint, it was the correct decision to pick him up.

The talent that Wallace has is indispensable for an evil lord—after all, it allows me to enjoy parties.

I want to give my past self a thumbs-up for picking up Wallace.

◇

While this was going on, the core members of the Calvin Faction had gathered in the inner palace.

They appeared to be agitated.

“Your Highness! Some of the aristocrats are planning to attack Count Banfield!

“—That’s not good.”

Calvin was truly in a bind this time.

“Which ones?”

“The relatives of those that perished in the war as members of the expeditionary force. Some of them had even lost their descendants. They aren’t willing to let things go, and they want revenge, even if that means they have to withdraw from our faction.”

The Calvin Faction was huge, and many of its aristocrats were incapable of looking far into the future.

As such, managing them was a difficult task.

This time around, many of them had lost their relatives.

Although some of them were indeed seeking revenge out of grief, most of these people simply wished to regain their family’s honor.

Besides, quite a number of battleships had been lost through this war, and some of the aristocrats weren’t ready to let things slide.

(It will be in our best interest to stop them, but they’ll direct their dissatisfaction towards us if we force them to back down.)

They were angry at Liam at the moment, but if he tried to thwart their plans, Calvin would become their next target.

I thought our victory was guaranteed!

I thought everything would be fine!

How are you going to compensate us for the damages!?

—They had volunteered to participate on their own volition, yet they were now searching for a scapegoat to vent their anger on.

It didn’t make any sense at all, but human emotions had always been fickle.

Many aristocrats were weak-willed and lacked self-control.

It was the result of growing up sheltered in a mansion.

Attending preschool and joining the military helped, but only to an extent.

The capable ones serving under Calvin had sour expressions.

“At such an important time…”

“Can’t they tell what’s good from bad?”

“If they cause trouble, it’ll reflect badly on His Highness’s reputation—”

Calvin sighed lightly.

“—Allow them to leave if they wish to do so.”

“Are you certain, Your Highness? If they misbehave after leaving the faction, they’ll indirectly lower Your Highness’s reputation.”

“Let’s take this as a chance to get rid of some baggage. Our faction has grown too much. We have some cleaning-up to do before we can confront Liam in a fight.”

The aristocrats nodded and excused themselves from the room.

After confirming that everyone has left, Calvin snapped his finger.

A will-o’-the-wisp appeared in the air.

Then, the fire swelled up, transformed into the shape of a human, and knelt down before Calvin.

This figure was dressed up like a ninja and adorned with accessories.

These accessories suggested that he was of a higher rank compared to the ones that Kukuri fought.

“—For what reason have I been called?”

“Some idiots are about to launch an attack on Liam-kun. Find a chance and try to shave off some of Liam-kun’s Black Ops. Did you find any useful information about them?”

The ninja threw a shuriken at the wall, and the shuriken burst into flames, turning into a scroll which spread itself before them.

Information about Kukuri and his subordinates were recorded there.

“According our clan’s ancient records, they’re most likely members of the Shadow Clan which should have been destroyed 2,000 years ago.”

“The Shadow Clan?”

“The Shadow Clan was one of the organizations that served the Emperor some 2,000 years ago. They were called the Shadow Clan because no one knew their true origins.”

“Isn’t 2,000 years ago the era when Blacks Ops were prevalent? Did the Banfield Family shield them until now?”

“No.”

“No?”

The Chief Ninja threw another shuriken, and it projected the figure of a lone member of the Shadow Clan.

It was Kukuri.

“He was the most feared man at the time, and he answered only to the Emperor. Unfortunately, he was turned into a stone statue by his master, and rumors say that the statue was destroyed.”

“—And yet you’re implying that he managed to survive? Couldn’t someone else have inherited his techniques afterwards?”

“That is unlikely.”

“Why?”

“The other organizations joined hands to eradicate the Shadow Clan. My ancestors took part in it as well. ‘Don’t spare anyone’—those were the Emperor’s words.”

After turning Kukuri and his subordinate into stone statues, the Emperor of that era had ordered for the complete eradication of the clan.

It was unlikely for anyone to have survived.

Even if someone did survive, he or she would not have been able to inherit Kukuri’s skills.

Nurturing a Black Ops such as the one that Kukuri led required a stupendous amount of financial resources.

“Your Highness—those men should know the ins and outs of the inner palace.”

“How annoying. Things have changed a lot since 2,000 years ago, but if there’s a hidden passage that only they know of, it would be a hassle to deal with.”

The palace had undergone reconstruction numerous times, and old ruins were discovered ever once in a while.

With the passage of time, many secret locations had been forgotten.

“Based on what we know, it’s safe to assume that their skills have not deteriorated after being revived. We’re lucky that they’re so few in number.”

Each of them was extremely skilled, but there were only a few of them.

(Overall, we still have the upper hand, so there’s no need for us to be too desperate. Having said that—)

Knowing that a legendary Black Ops had revived, Calvin felt uneasy.

“—Can you erase them?”

With Calvin’s words, the Chief Ninja turned into flames and scattered.

“As you will.”

◇

-Back at Liam’s party venue-

Ruffians hired by the hostile aristocrats were hiding among the furnishings installed at the venue.

“Do aristocrats party every day?”

“Over the course of one night, they squander enough money for ordinary folks to live their entire lives comfortably.”

“Let them enjoy it while it lasts. We’ll be burying them here anyway.”

These men had volunteered for the job to make a quick fortune out of it, and they were holding their breaths to remain hidden.

They had sneaked in with the furnishings that had been prepared for the party.

Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been impossible.

However, they had received the support of many aristocrats along the way.

Their preparation was perfect.

The one downside was that they couldn’t tell what was going on outside.

They had installed cameras on the furnishings, but they couldn’t see what was happening outside because the furnishings were covered by a piece of cloth.

The narrow space where the ruffians were hiding occasionally shook.

“They’ve been moving us around from a while ago.”

“Have we been discovered?”

“If they did, we would’ve been instantly shot to death. There must have been a change of plans.”

These ruffians weren’t alone.

A lot of people had sneaked into the party venue.

Even if they failed in assassinating Liam, they would be able to cause some massive damage.

—Or at least that was what they thought.

A punishment worse than death awaited those that failed.

They planned on self-detonating in the event that they were caught.

By doing so, they would cause some degree of damage no matter what.

The shaking subsided, and the ruffians waited for the party to begin.

However, no one came over to remove the piece of cloth even after a long time.

“—Did they remove the furnishings from the venue?”

“Sh*t! Hey, we’re heading out. The party venue must be close!”

“Contact the others!”

The ruffians jumped out from where they were hiding.

They had been moved to a warehouse.

The others that had sneaked in with them came out of their hiding spots looking stunned.

“H-huh?”

“What the heck is happening?”

“W-we should quickly raid the venue!”

The men left the warehouse, only to realize that they were quite a distance away from where the venue was.

They rushed towards the location of the party venue in a hurry.

Unfortunately, they were later discovered and slaughtered by Liam’s knights that were standing guard.