Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 26 - Chapter 1

Attack

Monday, December 20th

“...But the truth is that I’m going to be dismissed any moment now, so we should move on after we take a little break to collect ourselves.”

“You sound so happy even though you’re saying something so pathetic.”

“Ahaha, well there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Elexis’s cheerful laughter echoed through the troop transport vehicle. Like Maya had said, he didn’t look like a man that had just lost everything.

Once the clock struck 9 AM, Koutarou would use his vast wealth to buy up shares in DKI, and there was no doubt that the first thing he would do once he became the largest shareholder was dismiss Elexis as CEO. But since it was still before business hours, there weren’t any issues yet. He likely wouldn’t be barred from the building until that afternoon at the earliest. Naturally, the same was true for Maya and Darkness Rainbow.

“But where do we go, young master? The company’s being taken from you, right?”

Orange’s question was completely understandable. Elexis losing his position would mean that he didn’t have a place even at any of DKI’s branch offices.

“Even if I’m cut off from the company, he can’t touch my private property. So don’t worry. It’s not like I’m being dismissed for failing to properly manage the company or anything.”

Publically, DKI was currently doing quite well. Despite that, Elexis would be dismissed at the request of a specific shareholder. It would be an internal affair, and Elexis couldn’t be held personally liable for anything since the company was in good order and doing well for itself. If the reason for his dismissal was over DKI’s intervention in national affairs, Elexis might have been held accountable, but as Koutarou and the others were in a hurry, they wouldn’t be able to go that far. He would simply be dismissed on the whim of a shareholder with no charges brought against him. Elexis knew that would leave all of his personal assets and private property in tact.

“For example, I’m thinking of lying low in one of my villas.”

“One of? So you’re still stinking rich without your company...”

Crimson was shocked at Elexis’s words. So much so that she momentarily forgot the pain of her wounds.

“It’s not all mine, you see. It’s the wealth of my family, amassed over two thousand years or so.”

“So you’re our young master in more ways than one, huh?”

“Crimson, I don’t want even you calling me that.”

While Elexis was from a family of commoners, its lineage could be traced back to the Melcemheins, a band of knights from two thousand years ago. Elexis was a direct ancestor of a squire from that band, and some generations after their knighthood was abolished, his family started a successful business and amassed a great deal of wealth over the next millennia or so. It was practically nothing compared to Koutarou’s fortune, but that was hardly fair. Compared to most anyone else, Elexis was still extraordinarily wealthy.

“I’d like to see the ocean. Folsaria didn’t have one after all.”

“Oh, that’s a good one, Bluie! Young master, do you have a seaside villa?”

“Of course. What season would you like it to be?”

“You’re that rich?!”

In contrast to its austere exterior, the interior of the transport vehicle was filled with a certain contentedness. That was largely in part due to Elexis’s and Orange’s naturally easygoing and cheerful dispositions, but it was also because everyone aboard knew that even though they’d lost, they’d given it everything they had. Everyone, that is, except for one person.

“Jeez, they’re all so carefree...”

Only Green kept out of the conversation as she stared out of the small window of the transport vehicle. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand how the others felt. There was just something specific she’d wanted to accomplish in their fight, meaning the taste of defeat was especially bitter for her. She couldn’t look back on it with the same satisfaction they did. Instead, she rued their encounter with Koutarou and the others as she idly stared out the window.

Green’s real goal had been to kill Maki. She didn’t honestly have too much of an opinion on Maki as a person one way or the other. In fact, she’d found it somewhat regrettable when she first learned that Maki had become an enemy. But despite her indifference for Maki, Green cared a great deal for Crimson. Too much, perhaps. And she considered it a problem that Crimson was so interested in Maki, even after becoming their enemy. She couldn’t stand it. That’s why she was plotting to eliminate Maki and keep Crimson’s attention all to herself.

“Yellow, don’t you have someplace you’d like to go?” Crimson asked as the conversation continued.

“Well... sort of. There’s somewhere I’d like to go, but I have to make it first,” Yellow replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I want to build my own home, however small it may be, somewhere with nice scenery.”

“Oh, what a fun dream. When you build it, make sure you invite me over!”

“Of course.”

“Try not to destroy it while you’re there, Crimson,” Purple half-jokingly chimed in.

“I would never! Who do you think I am, Purple?”

Though she was still looking out the window, Green’s ears were focused on Crimson’s voice. Green wasn’t good at expressing her feelings, so this kind of thing happened often. And that’s why she admired Crimson, who always spoke her mind without hesitation. In reality, Green and Maki were a lot alike, though Green would never be able to admit that.

“...Huh?”

As Green continued to stare out the window, something flashed past it. She’d only seen it for an instant, so she wasn’t really sure what it was. She pressed her face against the window to try and get a better look outside, but it was already gone.

“I wonder what that was...”

She figured that must have just been a bird passing by, but the battle-hardened Green decided to use her magic to make sure just in case.

“...Precognition.”

Green used her specialty divination magic to peer into the future around Crimson. Since she was the most important person to her, she cared the most about what might happen to her.

“Oh no! Everyone, look out! We’re going to be attacked!”

When she looked into the future, Green saw something that looked like a big hole opening up in the transport vehicle. The outline of the hole was blurry, but she was sure about the rest of the vision. In other words, she was quite sure something was about to happen in the transport vehicle.

“When, by who, and from where?!”

“Greater Protect All!”

Ignoring Crimson’s questions, Green immediately cast a defensive spell. Her mana formed into a plate-like shape over where she’d seen the hole appear in her vision, which happened to be right behind Crimson.

Boom!

Not a moment later, a hole opened in the body of the transport vehicle.