Word of Crimson’s participation in the fighting tournament spread throughout the Imperial Capital in a flash.

As that happened, those who held a grudge against Rei from the Spring War and those who weren’t happy about the rise of a new titled adventurer from the Mireana Kingdom, a long time enemy, naturally started to take action.

With Rei’s public appearance, rumours that he was a big, muscular man, which had been spread up until now, started to be corrected.

Since many people had seen Rei in person in the area, the information spread quickly.

In particular, due to Rei’s delicate and feminine looking face, quite a number of women and, to a lesser extent, some men, grew to like him, causing Crimson’s identity to rapidly become known.

Because of that, it was naturally not difficult for spies from other countries in the Imperial Capital or internal factions within the empire to find out……this included the Third Prince’s faction, whose master was currently under house arrest.

「Oh, Rei really has been doing things flashily. I can’t believe there is so much information already.」

Vihera laughed happily when she heard about it.

Due to her popularity within the empire as well as her personal skill, she was the current leader of the Third Prince’s faction.

Vihera herself had no intention of becoming the leader of her younger brother’s faction, but was unable to refuse when Theorem asked her to temporarily take up the position, in addition to further pushes from Tilleyle, her ardent follower.

After Tilleyle joined the Third Prince’s faction, he had used his own subordinates to gather as much information as possible on people who had yet to join a faction and those who were part of a faction but weren’t given opportunities suiting their abilities. He used his skill to draw in those who were looked down upon by their superiors or, even if he couldn’t make them join the Third Prince’s faction, at least leave their faction to become a neutral party. As a result, he had managed to weaken the military strength of the other factions to some extent.

All of this was for the sake of Vihera, who he respected greatly. Tilleyle, who up until now had worked with such thoughts in mind, couldn’t help but wonder why Vihera was so happy about the information that had just come in.

「Theorem, Vihera-sama’s happiness……」

Theorem was at a loss for words when Tilleyle looked at him.

However, he judged that it would be better to avoid keeping the situation a secret and risk causing confusion at the end. With that in mind, he spoke up.

「Vihera-sama and Rei, also known as Crimson, met in the Labyrinth City Exil in the Mireana Kingdom. There must have been various circumstances at the time, but in the end, they fought each other seriously and……you know, right? Vihera-sama is looking for someone stronger than herself.」

「Of course. But, strength is only one thing, seeing her look so happy means……」

No way. A premonition passed through Tilleyle’s mind and, unfortunately, his premonition turn out to be true.

「That’s right. As you have guessed, after fighting Rei, his presence has grown greatly in Vihera-sama’s mind.」

「……Hah.」

Tilleyle gave a murmur as if his worst prediction had come true.

Hearing his low voice, Theorem couldn’t help but have a bad feeling.

「Tilleyle, if something strange were to happen to Rei, I don’t know how Vihera-sama would respond.」

Those words were hard to believe, coming from Theorem, who had seen Rei as an unexpected variable and tried had to eliminate him using underhanded means during the Spring War.

However, that was only natural. A year ago, Rei and Vihera had no connection to each other at all.

But, things were different now. A solid connection had been formed between Rei and Vihera. If anything, Vihera held a stronger liking of Rei than Rei did for her.

What would happen if one of his subordinates made a move against Rei during this time? If things went badly, Theorem could see the destruction of the Third Prince’s faction in his mind.

It would be fine if Tilleyle fought Rei and lost, but collapsing internally due to the turmoil of romantic relationships was something Theorem wanted to avoid at all costs.

「I see, that may be true. But……I’ll make my own judgement after meeting him in person.」

「……Personally, I don’t recommend doing that.」

For the better or worse, Rei had a strong personality. You could say he was a bit of a blunt instrument.

Because of that, he could quickly build friendly relationships with those he got along with, but those he didn’t get along with would easily feel hatred.

And, Theorem had a feeling that Tilleyle wasn’t one of those people who Rei would get along with.

Tilleyle had long been in love with Vihera, so he probably wouldn’t be able to forgive Rei if he saw his attitude towards Vihera.

(I hope it doesn’t turn into any sort of trouble, but……that’s probably impossible. At the very least, I hope they will only meet after this rescue operation ends. It would be best to avoid the folly of fighting internally while we are busy.)

Because Tilleyle idolised Vihera, he was also quite capable himself, in order to match Vihera’s preference for strong men.

He was strong enough that most adventurers and knights weren’t a match for him. If he were to fight Rei, there would definitely be a lot of collatoral damage to the surroundings.

「……If that’s the case, I see. Then……no, but. Ah, if that happens……」

Was he thinking about his work as part of the Third Prince’s faction or was it something about Rei? Theorem grew a bit worried as he decided to stop listening.

However, as if to draw his attention away from his inner worries, a voice called out to Theorem.

「Excuse me, Theorem-sama. Baron Seotter would like to work with us. For more details, please see this letter.」

Theorem frowned slightly after receiving the report and letter from one of his messengers.

「Baron Seotter? He should be someone from the First Princess’s faction. Why would he come to us?」

Theorem mumbled to himself as he checked the wax seal on the letter. The seal did indeed belong to Baron Seotter’s family crest.

Although he hesistated for a moment, Theorem went over to Vihera, who was still listening into the report on Rei in a good mood.

「Vihera-sama, this is a letter from Baron Seotter. He wants to work together with us……」

Seeing Theorem stumble of his words, Vihera, receiving the letter, thought about it for a moment before recalling some information.

「He was from my sister’s faction, right?」

「Yes. However, I think it is strange that he wants to work together with us. It could be cause Vihera-sama is with us, but if that is the case, other problems will come up.」

「Other problems……such as?」

「There’s a good chance they want to use this opportunity to harm Vihera-sama.」

「Would my sister be that stupid? Oh, it’s not a matter of whether she loves me or anything like that. If she were to make a move on me in this situation and fail, I would definitely become her enemy. Do you think my sister, who knows how strong I am, would do something like that?」

Theorem thought about what Vihera said for a few seconds before nodding back.

「I certainly don’t think she would take such a risky move. Then, for what reason do you think she sent Baron Seotter?」

「Well, surprisingly, I genuinely think that my sister wants to give that kid a hand.」

「……You think so?」

Theorem couldn’t believe Vihera’s thoughts regarding her biological sister’s plans……no, he couldn’t believe it because it was Vihera’s biological sister.

Theorem had blurted out his thoughts with that in mind.

The First Princess was well known for her kindness. Would someone like her, who valued kindness so greatly, create her own faction to get involved in the fight for the imperial throne? Theorem couldn’t help getting confused at the thought.

Seeing Theorem look unconvinced, Vihera replied with an amused smile.

「It’s true that my sister has many sides to her, but she’s not someone ruthless. Basically, she’s someone with good intentions in mind. She probably thoughts things were going too far, which is why she wants to lend us a hand in this matter.」

「……If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be fine for her to help us directly instead of doing it in such a roundabout manner?」

Tilleyle asked a question, probably deciding to leave the matter of Rei alone, as Vihera spoke her thoughts.

「Yes, you’re right. If she was seriously aiming for the seat of emperor, it would be normal to think that way. But, I think the reason for doing things this way is because she believe that if things continue as they currently are, there will be a blood feud between brothers. At least that’s my guess.」

「But, as a result, this three way fight will turn into a four way fight……if we include them.」

「I guess it’s a good thing considering my brothers’ desire for power. She probably wants to calm them down in the best way possible.」

Theorem and Tilleyle both thought about Vihera’s words.

In Theorem’s case, it meant that the First Princess had found out about their aim to rescue the Third Prince from house arrest, which made him feel a chill for a moment, but he then reconsidered that it might be a good thing if they could get their cooperation.

(But……if it causes a lot of chaos in the Imperial Capital, would she still cooperate with us?)

From the sidelines, their actions might be taken as the First Princess’s actions. Such a thought came to his mind but was soon overshadowed by other thoughts. In other words, did it really matter.

Indeed, their actions might be perceived as those of the First Princess. However, he had sworn allegiance to the Third Prince and believed him to the be the only one worthy of becoming emperor.

Not the First Prince, Second Prince, or First Princess.

If their actions were controlled by others, then all they needed to do was to escape that control.

If there was a trap, just smash their way out.

If someone tried to get in their way, he would tear their throats out.

Theorem laughed internally as he realised his thoughts going in that direction.

(It seems I might have been greatly influenced by Rei after all.

The idea of resolving a trap with brute force made him think of Rei, that was how Theorem thought of Rei in his mind.

That said, it wasn’t a false impression as Rei had indeed broken through many traps with brute force before.

Vihera, who had been watching Theorem’s reaction, clapped her hands to get his and Tilleyle’s attention.

「Well, it’s true that no matter what we do, we first need millitary strength. If something happens in the Imperial Capital, Rei and Margrave Rowlocks will not help us. But, I never thought it a good idea to rely on them from the beginning.」

「Yes, that’s right. To be honest, I don’t know about much about Crimson, so I can’t comment on him. However, cooperating with people from other countires to cause trouble is diplomatically unsavoury in many ways.」

「……That’s true.」

Theorem nodded in agreement to Tilleyle’s words as the conversation came to the conclusion that they should increase their combat strength for emergency situations.

「However, simply increasing our combat strength is no good. We also need to train them properly.」

「Please leave that to me. ……Also, regarding combat strength, we might be able to bring in some Demon Soldiers.」

「Huh. I had noticed Cyanus wasn’t around, is that what she was up to?」

Tilleyle nodded at Vihera’s words, as he had also wondered why Theorem’s adjutant, Cyanus, was missing.

「I definitely haven’t seen her in the past few days. However, I heard that the Demon Soldiers are currently under strict surveillance, right?」

「……Fortunately, quite a few of them view me favourable. They were the ones to contact me. It really was quite troublesome.」

Although Theorem said that, he wasn’t unhappy about it.

Rather, there was an unmistakable smile on his face.

「I heard that the Demon Soldiers were rough people……will it be okay?」

Considering that most of the Demon Soldiers had been former criminals, it was no wonder that Tilleyle was worried.

They might be a powerful force, but it was also hard for them to restrain their violent tendencies.

Theorem nodded in response to Tilleyle’s concerns.

「I am also considering the possibility that they attack us. If something like that happens, I will take care of it with my own hands.」

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