Master’s Smile

C92 – The Kingdom’s Mastermind

“I-Impossible….”

The prince, one of the most important figures in the kingdom, was in his private room with his hands wrapped around his head.

As the first-in-line in succeeding the throne, he was able to do almost anything he wanted within the kingdom.

There was only one problem that troubled him so much.

“Inicken was annihilated…you said…?”

The cause of the prince’s astonishment was the report of the destruction of Inicken, a dark guild that he had nurtured since its creation.

It was one of the few dark guilds, which was also the most feared and atrocious guild in the kingdom.

If this fact were to be known to the people, it would surely cause confusion, but of course only the prince and a few of his aides knew about it.

The princess, his sister, who had already become his enemy both in name and reality, seemed to sense something going on with him, but even so, she would not have known that the prince was conspiring with Inicken.

But, the prince didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

As the “Iron Queen (Inicken)”, had been destroyed without a trace.

“I can’t believe those guys lost… N-No, it’s just that Yelquchira is full of monsters, huh…!?”

The prince gritted his teeth in frustration.

The reason why Inicken got destroyed was due to the request that the prince had made.

It was a request to defeat “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”, which was also a dark guild like Inicken but more feared by the top brass of the kingdom and guilds.

Despite that, the request wasn’t because he had a vendetta against Yelquchira.

The prince was only worried that his greatest enemy, the princess, would join forces with a dark guild just like he did.

Among the dark guilds, there were only two that were believed to be active in the kingdom, Yelquchira and Inicken.

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The latter was already in the hands of the prince, hence it was only Yelquchira that he had to worry about.

Thus, in order to nip the danger in the bud, he sent out a request to take them down.

But the result was an utter defeat.

The prince ended up losing his excellent pawn, and there was even a possibility that Yelquchira now saw him as an enemy.

“That damn Rousseld, to think that you still lost so badly after constantly gloating about that strength of yours…!”

The prince was trembling in anger as he remembered Rousseld’s unpleasant laugh.

Rousseld was a man he didn’t like and trust as a human being at all.

However, the prince had a lot of faith in his fighting ability.

That’s why losing Rousseld was a serious blow to him as he had lost an immense military pawn.

Of course, as a prince, he had a fair amount of other pawns.

Among them, there were even those who were equivalent to Ritter, who was well known for her strength even among the knights.

However, they were still the Kingdom’s knights.

The prince’s knights were rough and more similar to adventurers than the princess’ knights, but he couldn’t openly give dirty orders to them.

At such times, it was more convenient to have a dark guild as a pawn for handling those kinds of jobs….

“Damn it! Who the hell should I order to do the dirty work now!?”.

The kingdom knights under the prince’s faction would definitely obey if it was his order.

But obeying wasn’t enough as they must also have the ability to execute them.

He didn’t have much faith in them in that regard.

In the past, when he incited Longmann, one of the hero party members, to attack Yelquchira, he had also dispatched the knights.

Yet, it was annihilated completely as they weren’t strong enough.

In that respect, Inicken was an ideal pawn….

“Sigh… Calm down. For the time being, I have to make sure that she doesn’t find out that I had a connection with a dark guild….”

The prince muttered and started to think if there was any troublesome evidence left behind.

Although, it was most likely safe to say that there wasn’t any physical evidence left.

Even when he brought in Inicken, there was no written contract, only a verbal one.

It wasn’t that he didn’t consider the possibility of betrayal.

The prince had a great amount of strength, and he himself was a skilled adventurer who frequented the adventurer’s guild.

An all-out clash with Rousseld would probably result in his defeat, but he could at least buy himself some time.

In the meantime, he could call in his best forces.

After all, there was no trust between the prince and Rousseld’s group.

They were just using each other for their own benefit.

“So, next is the witness testimony….”

The prince thought so and decided to call his maid to summon a certain man.

After waiting for a while, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The prince urged him to do so, and the door opened for the man to enter.

He was far taller than the prince, and his fearless face resembled that of a fierce veteran warrior.

He was wearing thick armor, but it was easy to guess that underneath it was a well-trained body.

His crimson cloak, which only those approved by the king were allowed to wear, was fluttering as he walked.

“Is there anything I can do for you, my prince?”

“Hmmph! I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t have something to do!”

The prince snickered disapprovingly at the knight who had knelt down in front of him.

Not wanting to be in the same space that long, the prince immediately started talking about his business.

“You know that I had raised those Inicken lots, right?”

“It is as you say….”

“They were annihilated by Yelquchira.”

“…….”

The knight did not react when he heard the prince’s words.

No, the prince couldn’t see it, but his eyebrows, part of his face that had been looking down, had twitched.

“…You…, want me to defeat Yelquchira?”

“Nonsense!”

This time, the prince gave a clear scornful laughter at the knight’s words.

“I’m sure Rousseld didn’t tell Yelquchira that it was by my order. To begin with, it was Rousseld who wished to fight them.”

The prince remembered Rousseld, who, for some reason, accepted the request to defeat Yelquchira.

“Besides, it can be expected that the winner of the conflict between both guilds would have suffered considerable damage. They would have been weakened before I could even take action.”

The prince’s prediction was certainly reasonable.

But unfortunately, it was severely off-point.

“Instead, you will be of great use in the struggle for the succession to the throne, which is sure to intensify from now on.”

“I am well aware….”

The knight replied to the prince’s words while looking down.

And the prince nodded his head in satisfaction.

“Good. Now, I have an order for you. Investigate and report to me anyone who knows or thinks that I have a connection to the dark guild. And, if I deemed them unnecessary,ーーーdispose them.”

“…Ha!”

Hearing the prince’s order, the knight stood up.

He then bowed in front of the door and left the room.

The prince looked away and let out a chuckle.

“Things have been going badly lately, but with that man around, I will not be defeated, as the next king of this kingdom shall be me.”