Chapter 84 - The assassin sees through
Translator: VALIANT
After my secret meeting with Duke Romanlung and Princess Farina was over, Tarte and I returned to our room.
Dia was there to greet us.
She served us cups of tea, which was a rare treat coming from her. I guess she was concerned about Tarte, who was looking dejected behind me.
[Great work today. You look the same as usual, Lugh. But you, Tarte, you look drained.] (Dia)
[Ugh, I’m so tired. Even though I haven’t spoken even once. The atmosphere was so tense.] (Tarte)
[Looks like you don’t handle that kind of stuff very well. So, did you hear anything interesting?] (Dia)
Dia’s gaze was on me.
[Yeah, I heard some interesting stuff. I’m going to tell you all about it.] (Lugh)
I had been granted permission to share the contents with my assassination team.
If they were going to give me that permission anyway, I would’ve wished for them to let Dia take part in that meeting from the beginning.
After we finished drinking tea and talking about the assassination of the Sexond Prince, Dia stroked her chin to gather her thoughts, then she opened her mouth.
[Why target the Second Prince? Based on that conversation, shouldn’t we go after Countess Granfelt instead? Maybe then, the Second Prince will come to his senses, and she would be a much easier target than him.] (Dia)
[I can think of a few reasons. Until now, the Second Prince has been an exemplary puppet for Duke Romanlung and Princess Farina. That’s why he can predict their modus operandi. …If we handle this poorly, he might direct his anger over the murder of his lover toward Princess Farina.] (Lugh)
The Second Prince was nothing more than a puppet.
He didn’t have much ability himself.
However, in addition to his position as the Second Prince, he had a lot of achievements to his credit thanks to Duke Romanlung and Princess Farina.
In terms of authority alone, he surpassed the two of them.
If he ever acted rashly and bared his fangs at them, he would show them hell.
[You may have a point. No other pawn would be able to match his position as the Second Prince plus his achievements.] (Dia)
There were other princes.
However, even if they switched to a different pawn, they would still be too weak to strike the Second Prince.
This happened because Princess Farina was too efficient in educating him.
Competent as she was, she may have prepared a plan to keep the Second Price under control, but the demon’s seduction was far beyond her expectations.
The fact that it could defy those expectations should be considered a reason for maximum caution.
[There must be some other reasons. Those two don’t think that the Second Prince is the only one who fell for her. …The first thing to do is to get rid of the Second Prince, who is the most harmful element, to overcome this emergency, then we monitor the movements of Countess Granfelt, find the other corrupted pawns, and dispose of them. If we kill Countess Granfelt without knowing which pawns she has corrupted, and the other pawns go mad, this country would be doomed. Love is a scary thing. It’s impossible to reason with it. We can’t kill Countess Granfelt in this current situation. …If this were a situation where it would be the end of us if I didn’t kill her immediately, I’d do it, but it’s not.] (Lugh)
This was probably another one of Countess Granfelt’s schemes.
She created a situation where she couldn’t be easily killed, and even if she was eventually targeted, she could use her demonic powers as her trump card to do whatever she wanted by force. In fact, as a demon, the moment she had sneaked deep into the kingdom, she could always just crush the Alvanian kingdom.
The reason she hadn’t done it was because she enjoyed her position as Countess Granfelt.
She was more focused on gaining power and indulging in pleasure in the kingdom than destroying it.
That’s why she wouldn’t do anything to destroy Alvan.
I knew what it was to work behind the scenes, so I could tell that much, but those two people expected that based on her actions, and were playing a game with Countess Granfelt, confident that she wouldn’t wreck the board itself.
[They sure sound incredible.] (Dia)
[I guess. Their bloodline is terrifying. The goal of Romanlung is human evolution, at the end of which they’ll become true humans. The results of repeating the same process for hundreds of years are Duke Romanlung and Princess Farina.] (Lugh)
[They want to evolve from human beings to human beings? What’s up with that?] (Dia)
[They have a different set of values. From their point of view, human beings today are incomplete, imperfect, and less than human. So, they gather people for their perfect parts, polish them, and in doing so, they nurture real humans. That’s how they think.] (Lugh)
Although others tended to focus only on selective breeding, the Romanlung also devoted themselves to refining their talents, or in other words, to their education.
They spent the same amount of time on education as they did on selective breeding for hundreds of years.
[Wow… It’s a bit of a turn off when they go that far.] (Dia)
[And yet, that’s not even the end of it. There are still many other kinds of legends surrounding them.] (Lugh)
There was one famous anecdote about them. There was a time when they started a war with nothing but the military power of the dukes, and destroyed a country just to get the blood they sought.
There were ways to get it without going that far, but if they had left survivors with a grudge, it would’ve become an international issue, which would be detrimental to the kingdom and conflict with the interests of the royal family. That’s why they crushed them completely and followed up with the neighboring countries perfectly.
In addition, they did everything in parallel. In particular, if the greatest masterpiece of the generation was a man, and there was a woman who suited his fancy, he would have a baby with her regardless of everything else.
And in their clan, everyone but the masterpiece served the head of the family as superior vassals. The Romanlung who were not chosen as the greatest masterpiece were considered failures, only the few elites could speak in the name of Romanlung, and there was a limit to the number of children they could have. Because it would reduce the purity of the Romanlung blood.
The exception to that would be the spare plan, the one who would move up a rank if the masterpiece ever broke.
The whole clan would accept it. I honestly didn’t know of any other clan that was so true to themselves.
I was relieved that their greatest masterpiece for this generation was a girl. Had it been otherwise, they could’ve set their eyes on Tarte, Dia, and even Maha.
Even if Duke Romanlung had been a tad younger, it would still have been out of line for him to go after them. …But if he ever did, I would instantly turn on him.
[Even though I was standing behind you, Lugh-sama, I was terrified. That’s how different the air around them was. Also, I was shocked to learn that they knew about Maha.] (Tarte)
[So was I, but it’s fine if that’s all they know. The information that Maha and I are lovers was a decoy that she and I had prepared. After all, it’s in humans’ nature to be relieved when discovering a secret that was hidden from them. Once they do, they won’t try to dig any deeper and find out more than that.] (Lugh)
The fact that Maha and I were lovers was phony information.
We concealed it to the point that a top-notch intelligence agency could find it if they really invested themselves in it.
The greater the hardship in discovering information, the greater the credibility. They would assume that if this intel was so carefully hidden, then it had to be true.
Additionally, my relationship with Maha could be seen as such, and the dealings between Tuatha Dé and Orna were supposed to be confidential. This was a weakness of mine that satisfied them.
That’s why it would act as a stopper to prevent them from connecting the dots between me and Illig Balor.
[As usual, you’re very well-prepared. But it’s not really fun to be one-sidedly cornered in an argument. Even if you say you managed to hide the most important information, it doesn’t change the fact that Orna or Maha being targeted would be a painful blow. I wonder if there isn’t some weakness of theirs we could exploit.] (Dia)
[There is. I discovered a secret between Princess Farina and Duke Romanlung during our meeting.] (Lugh)
[Whoa, I’m impressed you managed to find one.] (Dia)
The Romanlung probably didn’t even realize I noticed it.
It was thanks to my Mystic Eyes, the hidden treasure of Tuatha Dé, that I was able to notice.
I revealed the big secret.
[Princess Farina’s father is Duke Romanlung.] (Lugh)
[Um, Lugh-sama, the fact that her body double is the daughter of Duke Romanlung is indeed a secret, but knowing this is not a threat to them, everyone in the royal family already knows that.] (Tarte)
[Nevan is his daughter, but so is Princess Farina. The two of them are twins.] (Lugh)
[…Eh? EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!?] (Tarte)
Tarte screamed in surprise.
[I could see their mana with my eyes. Each mana has its own color. Between parents and children, their mana look alike to some extent, but between twins, it’s almost a perfect match. Princess Farina was supposed to be Duke Romanlung’s niece, but the resemblance was too great. She and Nevan are nearly identical. …Officially, Duke Romanlung’s younger brother is established as the son-in-law of Farina’s mother. But Princess Farina’s father is unmistakably Duke Romanlung himself.] (Lugh)
I don’t know their reason for doing something so roundabout, but this is the undeniable truth.
Having an affair with the royal family would be a huge scandal, not only because they had sex with each other, but also because they conceived children together.
…Duke Romanlung had the Royal Princess give birth to twins, leaving Farina, who had cherry-blossom colored hair, a sign of royalty, in the royal family, and taking Nevan, who had no proof of royalty, as his own child.
Of course he would be on Farina’s side. She was his own daughter, after all.
But it wasn’t out of parental love. Princess Farina herself was a Romanlung. So it would help them attain the long-cherished desire of their household, which was to become true humans.
I thought Nevan was their next greatest masterpiece, but it was actually Princess Farina, and Duke Romanlung may be planning to switch stages from a ducal family to the royal family for the development of true humans.
However, in this current situation, where I had no concrete evidence of their parentage except my own senses, I was in a position of weakness.
Just as they probed into my relationship with Maha, I had to probe into theirs and find some evidence.
[No one in their right mind would have the nerve to commit adultery with the royal family. Isn’t it dangerous for you that such people have their eyes on you, then? And wait, why don’t they marry the Hero into their family instead? You may have the better skills, but what they want is the hereditary strength of a living being.] (Dia)
Oh, so Dia still doesn’t know that Epona is a girl.
But even if she had been a boy, Duke Romanlung still wouldn’t have picked her.
[No, because what Duke Romanlung wants to create is a true human. Heroes and demons are monsters, so they’re not recognized as humans. What his clan is aiming for is the ultimate breed of human. If they stray from that, they’ll fall into the monster category.] (Lugh)
If all they wanted was power, they could factor in demons, monsters, or any other such powerful creatures.
…Although the successes had been few, some families had done so in search of power.
However, the Romanlung chose not to do that.
They loved humanity. And because they did, they believed in human potential, and put their faith in humans. They believed they didn’t need to cross-breed, and that they could reach the ultimate form as human beings.
[I see. Then you should become a Hero, Lugh!] (Dia)
[That’s a great idea, Dia-sama! Then they won’t come after him anymore!] (Tarte)
[…If it were that easy, I wouldn’t be having such a hard time.] (Lugh)
The Hero was an irregularity even the Goddess could only create one of in the world. No one could do anything about that.
[Anyway, this concludes our business in the royal capital. We’ll go back to Tuatha Dé for a while.] (Lugh)
[Um, what about the assassination of the Second Prince?] (Tarte)
[I could kill him now, but it’d be too risky. In the case of royal murder, even without evidence, you’re sentenced to death on suspicion alone. Plus we have a deadline of two months. We should consider all the possible measures. So we’ll wait for Princess Farina to give us the Second Prince’s schedule.] (Lugh)
Though even without looking at his schedule, I had pretty much decided on the timing to kill him.
There was going to be an event just perfect for that.
[Phew, we can finally go home.] (Dia)
[I’m glad to hear it. I was wondering how our vegetable garden was doing.] (Tarte)
[I know Tarte didn’t like it here, but didn’t you like living here, Dia?] (Lugh)
[Sure, it’s comfortable here, but I can’t make any progress in my research when I’m not in my workshop.] (Dia)
…Her workshop. It was a room in the Tuatha Dé mansion that Dia had thoroughly remodeled into a magical environment.
I couldn’t understand why something like this was necessary for the purpose of magic development, which was done by rewriting formulas. But I couldn’t complain either because she was actually giving results.
I should check out what she does there next time.
[I see, so we’ll be busy at home too. The last time we fought a demon, we barely managed to win. So we’ll have to get stronger. I’ve got two things to do. First, I finally received an appraisal sheet. With this, we can take a look at your skills and reassess your fighting styles depending on what you two have.] (Lugh)
[Ah! So you obtained it, at last.] (Tarte)
[I’ve always wanted to see one of those.] (Dia)
I used my authority as the Holy Knight to order one, but apparently, the senders ran into some trouble, and it had only arrived now.
Depending on what skills the two of them had, there were more things they could do.
[Next, we’ll turn our【Possibility Eggs】into skills. This skill is a mirror that reflects our hearts. It’ll definitely give us the skills we need.] (Lugh)
This skill could read its user’s way of life, their cravings and so on, and transform into a suitable skill.
In some cases, it could turn into an S-tank skill.
That’s why I chose to use it.
I wanted us to get new skills before our next fight with the demons.
[But, Lugh, how do we hatch those eggs?] (Dia)
[I don’t understand how this works either.] (Tarte)
[Actually, neither do I. I’m still trying to figure it out, but we’ll have to try a few things and see how it works out.] (Lugh)
Maybe I should ask Epona about it.
This skill was hers to begin with.
I’d better pay her a visit before we leave the royal capital.
…Besides, I should ask her to look after Naoise.
That craving for power, plus the fact that the snake demon Meena had taken an interest in him.
I just couldn’t stop worrying about him because of that.