A man in a room tapped his fingers on a desk in displeasure.

The more he listened to the report by the person in front of him, the more irritated he became.

Eventually, his irritation reached a peak. Instead of tapping his fingertips, he clenched his fist and slammed it down on the desk.

A dull thud echoed through the room and the person who had brought the report gasped involuntarily before shutting his mouth.

Giving them an irritated look, the man spoke.

「In other words, we were unable to obtain any information on Mercurio’s camp. Is that what you’re trying to say?」

「No, that’s still not certain. As subordinates of Prince Shurus, the people working behind the scenes are excellent. However, if some unexpected situation were to occur, there’s nothing we can do……」

The man tried to tell his master that he wasn’t responsible for the situation, but Shurus saw that and slammed his fist on the desk again in irritation.

The man stopped speaking at the even louder bang.

「We’ll get hold of information on Mercurio before Kabajid. That way, we can act before Kabajid and dispose of Mercurio’s rebel army whenever we want. That was what you said when you advised me to send scouts, right?」

「Y-Yes. All of this was for the sake of Prince Shurus……」

His subordinate spoke with a fawning smile and Shurus’ gaze became even more stern.

「I thought I rejected it. Now is not a good time to make a move. ……Am I wrong?」

The person who spoke was not the man in front of him, but a woman in her twenties, sorting documents in a corner of the room.

The woman spoke without seeming to care that her boss and master, Shurus……the Second Prince of the Bestir Empire, was exuding an aura of irritation.

She ignored the noble in front of Shurus, who seemed to be pleading with her to cover him.

「That’s right. That’s definitely what I heard. Since our strength is currently lower than that of His Highness Kabajid, I thought we had concluded that we should conserve as much strength as possible. But, to move even a small intelligence unit just because you wanted to take credit for it, I can only laugh rather than be appalled.」

Even though she said it was amusing, the woman’s gaze was icy.

In the first place, it took a lot of money to raise an intelligence unit, and it wasn’t just Shurus who had worked hard to create one, but the woman, his aide, as well.

And yet, their intelligence unit had been so easily damaged, it was no wonder that her gaze was cold.

「W-Well, that’s……I-I was only acting for His Highness Shurus. I never would have imagined that His Highness Mercurio would have such capable people in his ranks. But even so, the people who were sent out were pathetic. It should only be natural for at least one of them to return. In addition……」

The noble tried to deflect responsibility, but his attitude only served to irritate Shurus even more.

Furthermore, he made such belittling remarks about the members of the intelligence unit he had trained with such care. Shurus, who wasn’t a very patient person, couldn’t bear it any longer.

「Shut up!」

Along with an angry shout, he slammed his fist on the desk again, sending another dull thud through the room.

The thud was even louder than before, causing the noble to flinch and shut his mouth again.

Compared to the other two princes, he wasn’t that particularly skilled in domestic affairs, but when it came to military command, the Second Prince easily surpassed the other two.

In fact, he would likely rank quite highly in the military.

With such skill and a short temper, he wasn’t someone that should be angered.

That said, that was exactly why many who were unable to curry favour with the First Prince, Kabajid, the mostly likely candidate to succeed the throne, joined the Second Prince’s faction. Nobles who were good at domestic affairs hope that they would be valued more highly.

The man who was currently cowering in front of Shurus was one of those people and it was for that reason that Shurus didn’t have high expectations of his abilities.

However, having judged that his future was in jeopardy if things continued like this, he had tried to jump ahead……in the end, he had been unable to achieve anything. He had moved the intelligence unit directly under Shurus without permission and not a single one of the people he had moved returned, leaving him in a terrible position in front of Shurus.

「……Haah. Well, it’s fine. We were able to confirm that Mercurio’s camp has a certain level of strength. For now, I’ll be happy knowing that.」

Shurus decided that it would be a waste of time to get any more angry and the noble’s eyes lit up, as if coming to the conclusion that this was all due to his own actions……in other words, that it was his achievement.

「I’m glad that I was able to be of use to Prince Shurus.」

「……Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, you’re fine now, so go away.」

「Yes!」

The noble, whose expression had changed from fear to joy in the space of a few seconds, gave a bow before leaving the room.

Shurus looked at him with amazement before sighing deeply as he held his head.

「A lot of capable people are on my brother’s side. I understand taht. But still, forcing such an incompetent person on us……is this also one of my brother’s attacks?」

「That’s right. If it is, it’s a pretty effective means of attack. It would be one thing if he was just incompetent, but he’s active despite being incompetent, so the damage he inflicts in greater. ……Although, I do wonder why he suddenly took action after being so quiet up until now.」

「……Do you think it’s was my brother’s doing?」

Shurus’ aide thought for a moment, but could only shake her head.

Although she was Shurus’ aide, she still had no idea what the noble’s intentions could be for doing something like that.

No, it was true that the noble wanted to make a name for themselves. But, she couldn’t understand what motivated the man.

Why would they choose that man when so many others could have been their pawns.

「There may not be any particular reason.」

「……Was it just a coincidence?」

「Yes. If it really wasn’t, it was probably just be a warning.」

「It would be no joke if a warning like this could cause such major damage to the intelligence unit we nurtured so carefully.」

Shurus’ sighed at the words of his aide, as if he couldn’t handle it.

There were capable people in his faction, but there were also many incompetent people who couldn’t join his brother’s faction. And, when he thought about how those incompetent people were holding him back, he felt extremely helpless.

「In that sense, Mercurio may be more fortunate.」

「General Theorem is certainly a capable man. But, Your Highness, there are ways to use incompetent people. No, how you use such people is a measure of a leader’s ability.」

「I know that. Even if they themselves are incompetent, that doesn’t mean their subordinates are also incompetent. Besides, as nobles, they have a certain lvel of strength. Since there is strength in numbers, being able to use people like him is one of the qualities of an emperor.」

Shurus’ aide smiled at his words as she spoke up.

「If Your Highness is aware of that, then my father will be pleased.」

「……If Atomis was still alive.」

The face of the man he called his mentor flashed through his mind, but there was no way to revive someone who had already passed away from illness.

it might be possible if there was a magic item from an ancient magic civilisation. But, that was something that only existed in fairy tales.

Probably disliking the dark atmosphere, Shurus cleared his throat as he changed the topic.

「That man needs to pay for his crimes. Let him take a shot at Mercurio’s…….the rebel army. If we can get a glimpse of their hand, it will be good enough for reconnaissance. We’ve lost of intelligence, so we’ll have to get him to give us what we need.」

Even though he was a subordinate in his faction, Shurus had no hesitation in treating him like a disposable pawn.

「Yes. It is certainly important to see the cards they have in their hand. What about the information we have?」

「……There’s no point in hiding it. Let it be known to my brother and sister. It will be a favour to them.」

「Princess Frizione as well? What would she think about this? Honestly, I don’t think she would support the defeat of Prince Mercurio.」

「That’s true. But she has no choice to participate. If my brother or I were to capture Mercurio, he would certainly lose his life. That was why she helped to put him under house arrest, to save his life.」

She was a kind sister, but she had made a rather bold move. Remembering his sister, Shurus’ mouth twisted into a smile.

In fact, he had expected her to side with Mercurio. That would have meant splitting into two groups, Kabajid and Shurus, and Mercurio and Frizione.

However, Frizione didn’t do that. She understood that even if they split into two groups, they would be disadvantaged in terms of power and combat strength.

And so, in order to protect her younger brother’s life, she had chosen to side with Kabajid and Shurus.

As a result, she had protected her brother’s life, preserved her own power, and secured a certain degree of influence over the two princes.

「But in the end, the Third Prince’s faction exploded out and ruined everything.」

「That can’t be helped. Rumours spread that we were trying to kill him while he was under house arrest. From their point of view, it was a threat to the life of their master, whom they’ve pledged loyalty to. It might have been suspicious, but they had no choice but to take action……that’s basically it. They probably didn’t have the time to double check.」

The rumour that Mercurio was going to be assassinated, which had spread unnaturally quickly, crossed Shurus’ mind.

There was no doubt that the rumour was spread intentionally by someone, but it wasn’t yet known who.

Since it hadn’t been spread by him, he judged that most likely candidate to be his older brother, his biggest rival. But, even that wasn’t absolute.

It was a family feud in the powerful Bestir Empire. Naturally, there were many who would benefit from this, so it wouldn’t be surprising for someone else to be behind it.

As for the party that would benefit the most, the Mireana Kingdom was the most suspicious.

The Mireana Kingdom had been their arch enemy for many years, and having the Bestir Empire lose national power through civil war would be of the greatest benefit to them.

Or, it was possible that a neighbouring nation that had been occupied by the Bestir Empire was working behind the scenes, hoping to gain independence.

Considering that, there were many possible suspects, as the Bestir Empire was a powerful nation.

「Anyway, the die has been cast. Now that this has happened, we’re serious about crushing Mercurio. To that end……」

「We need to expose their hand, if even slightly.」

「That’s right. ……His forces alone are too few in number, so we’ll pick out some useless people and provoke them into thinking it’s a good opportunity to gain achievements. Only those people will join. I’ll have my knights see to that.」

「……To be honest, as the Second Prince’s faction, centered around Prince Shurus, we don’t want our fighting power to be reduced too much.」

no matter how incompetent they were, there was still power in numbers. There were those who could surpass quantity with quality, like those with titles, but they were generally the exception.

Therefore as his aide, she honestly wanted to avoid reducing the strength of their own forces as much as possible.

Shurus’ seemed to realise this as he shrugged his shoulders and replied.

「I understand your concerns, Amare, but if the prey we’re reeling in is large, then the bait has to be accordingly luxurious, right? Besides, the ones we’re sending out are the incompetent ones who are expendable anyway.」

His aide, the woman known as Amare, thought about what her master had to say for a few seconds before sighing deeply.

「I understand. ……I guess, considering that those who admired Her Highness Vihera will join them, the strength of the Third Prince’s faction will be about 2,000 soldiers. In that case, would it be okay to send 3,000 soldiers from our side?」

「A little more……no, considering the difference in training, maybe that’s about right?」

「Yes. They have General Theorem, the Flash, with them. I think this difference in numbers will be just right.」

「I see. In that case, please do some groundwork with my brother and sister. My sister will especially ask for Mercurio to be captured alive, so I’m sure she’ll agree if we accept that. My brother will probably also welcome the reduction in the forces under my command.」

「I understand. ……This is finally the first step for Prince Shurus to become emperor.」

Shurus nodded with a ferocious smile at the words of his aide and childhood friend Amare.

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