The room was dark and all of the lights were off. The room was only illuminated lightly by the moonlight peeking through the gap between the curtains. There was a sofa and table in the center of the room that was meant for receiving guests, and a large desk and bookshelf placed near the wall. This room was an office.
There was a figure of a man behind the desk. Seated in the chair with the lights still off was a silver-haired man in a jacket with a standing collar.
He was in his late twenties, had handsome features and a body that one could tell was well-trained even through the thick fabric of his jacket. He had his eyes closed inside the dark room, but he wasn’t sleeping. He didn’t just have his eyes closed, there wasn’t a twitch of movement from his face or mouth, and his expression was unchanging, almost like it had been frozen. The way the moonlight lit up his silver hair and the contours of his face gave him a somewhat surreal look.
The man's name was Johann Eisfeld. He was the clan master of Lorelei, 3rd Star of Regalia.
It had been about ten years since Johann came to the imperial capital. These days, he was a Seeker who had made a name for himself in the imperial capital, but surprisingly, he was a mediocre man in his rookie days.
By no means did it mean that he was weak. After graduating from Seeker training school, he was recruited by Lorelei, which was already a major clan, and even after joining the clan, he was strong enough that he didn't get in the way of others.
Johann’s Job was Spearman, a Job that could attack from both short and medium range. As he was a man who had a good memory and was able to handle anything skillfully, being a Spearman, which was a Job that was able to perform various roles well, meshed well with Johann’s nature.
However, even when being generous, his abilities were above average at most. There were plenty of Seekers who were better than Johann. Even within Lorelei, there was no one who saw Johann in a different light, and although he had been recruited, there were no plans to treat him as a candidate to become an executive.
While capable, he was a jack of all trades and master of none that didn’t have any outstanding abilities. That was the evaluation of Johann from those days.
It was after about five years had passed that his evaluation started to change. Johann, who had been mediocre the entire time, suddenly started to show remarkable results. It was such an abrupt change that there were many people who were surprised, both inside and outside of Lorelei, but it wasn’t a bad thing. The Lorelei clan master at the time was delighted because he believed that Johann’s talent had awakened, and decided to treat him as an executive candidate.
However, from that time on, accidents started occurring within the clan. They were winnable battles. There were no mistakes in their strategies. And yet, for some reason, people started to die. On top of that, those that died were all executives or executive candidates. In the end, in just one year, six members had died in battle.
The clan master felt that he was responsible and resigned. The sub-master became the successor, but he also lost his life in battle. And the one who became the new clan master was Johann. Lorelei, which had lost a total of eight important members, no longer had anyone left who was suitable to be the clan master other than Johann.
However, oddly enough, regardless of the fact that they had lost a lot of important members, the strength of the clan was overwhelmingly superior after Johann became the clan master. In fact, Lorelei being recognized as one of the Regalia was something that happened a mere six months after Johann became the clan master.
「Master, are you in?」
There was a knock on the door of the office. It appeared that a clan member had some business with him.
「……Yes. Come in」
Johann opened his eyes slowly and responded to the person behind the door.
「Excuse me」
The door was opened and a tanned youth with black hair wearing a black coat walked in. He had androgynous features and his mouth was hidden by the collar of his coat. His appearance was black from head to toe, with his eyes the only part that was red.
He was Zero Lindrake, the sub-master of Lorelei. His Job was the Swordsman series A Rank Job, Dark Knight.
「I’m turning on the lights, alright?」
When Zero clapped his hands twice, the lights in the room turned on. The lights came from a chandelier that was suspended from the ceiling. It didn’t use candles, but responsive light stones that would light up in response to a set sound.
「Two secret letters addressed to Master have arrived. One is from Volcan Heavy Industries. The other is from the second prince, Prince Caius」
Johann accepted the letters from Zero and opened them with a paper knife. The contents of both letters were reports that everything was proceeding smoothly with the plan.
「......How are things going with the『bio plant』?」
「There are no problems. As expected from the technology of the Republic of Rhodania」
「Is that so? ......Hmm, well, of course」
Johann sneered as he stood up from his chair, walked over to the window and turned his gaze outside. Lorelei's clan house was a 20-story building. The night view from this top floor office was truly beautiful. Spread out below him were lights that looked just like a sky filled with shining stars――or a myriad of glittering jewels. It was certainly a superb view.
「If railway tracks are laid throughout this country, it'll bring about astronomical economic benefits. And the person who has control over it all is me. When that happens, let alone the Seeker Guild, even the Emperor would probably grovel before me. The battle against the Variant as well, there's nothing to fear if I'm the one in command」
Johann, who had said that with an arrogant smile, turned back to face Zero.
「I'm counting on you to arrange a press conference. For the sake of keeping others in check as well, it's a good time to make the announcement」
「I've yet to obtain signatures from everyone, are you sure that it's alright?」
「It's fine. That's what the second prince is for」
「Understood」
Zero bowed and left the room. Johann, who had been left alone in the room once more, placed the letters in an ashtray on the desk and lit them with a match. The flickering flames gave Johann's triumphant expression a red hue.
†
†
After leaving the office, Zero heaved a deep sigh as he walked down the hallway.
「......Tch, that mediocre man」
Just when he had clicked his tongue and uttered an insult in spite of himself, a voice spoke in his head. It was a communication via a telepathic Skill. The low male voice spoke calmly to Zero.
『It’s me. Is everything alright on that side?』
『It's unusual for you to contact me directly like this, isn’t it?』
Zero thought of the owner of the voice and grumbled with a smile.
『It's because it’s an important time. I’m also going to make my move soon』
『In that case, please make it quick. If you leave it to that arrogant man who has forgotten his place, the plan that you’ve put so much effort into might very well all come to nothing』
The owner of the voice laughed delightedly when Zero spoke without mincing words.
『Don't say that. He’s also working hard. He has a little too much pride and he gets tunnel-vision sometimes because of that, but he has served me well as my proxy』
『You’re the one who chose that man. It’s natural for you to cover for him, isn’t it?』
When Zero replied him, the owner of the voice seemed a little surprised.
『What's wrong? You’re in a pretty bad mood, aren’t you?』
『I'm the one who has to clear up his messes every time, you know? Of course I’ll be in a bad mood』
『Hahaha, that makes sense. Sorry for all the troubles you’ve had to go through』
『It’s alright, it’s my job』
So, Zero continued.
『What is it that you want?』
『Yeah, there's something that I'd like to ask of you. ......You remember the Snake, I assume?』
『Noel Stollen, right? Of course』
Noel Stollen――clan master of Wild Tempest. Not a day went by without hearing about him. After all, he not only cleared the false accusations against Hugo the Puppeteer and helped capture the culprits of the prison bombing incident, he was also a Hero who had even succeeded in subjugating a Lord.
Wild Tempest was now the clan that was the closest to becoming one of the Regalia. So that they wouldn’t get kicked out of their seat, every clan currently in the Regalia had started to become wary of Snake. Lorelei, in particular, had to be more vigilant than the other clans because of the history they had from the public joint interview that Johann had participated in.
『Snake is cunning and proficient at information warfare. As you well know, in order to achieve his goals, he even used us, not to mention the high nobility. I believe that he has most likely heard about our plans already』
『Is he going to try something against us?』
『Definitely. Snake intends on hunting us down. If I were Snake, that's definitely what I would do』
The owner of the voice asserted with a confident tone.
『For the sake of realizing our long-cherished dream, we cannot allow Snake to interfere. It appears that Snake uses an excellent information broker. I've no doubt that he has infiltrated us as a spy. Diligently perform strict checks at all times. Even if no signs of a spy are found, act on the assumption that there is one. Make absolutely sure that the information doesn't leak out』
『Understood』
An information broker, huh? There are various types of them, but those who are good at infiltration are troublesome. There would be no problems if the spy could be rooted out quickly, but seeing that this is his livelihood, it won't be easy to catch him out. On the other hand, if we doubted everyone involved, progress would fall behind significantly. We'll want to quickly smoke him out using any means necessary in order for the plan to proceed smoothly.
『From now on, I'll leave you completely in charge of dealing with Snake. Relay that to him as well. You may act at your own discretion. I'll take full responsibility』
『In other words, does that mean that I don't have to worry about collateral damage?』
When Zero asked with a savage smile on his face, the owner of the voice answered immediately.
『I’ll allow it. This is war. Kill those that are in our way, even if they’re babies』
Really short chapter this time, even shorter than Leon's, but next chapter isn’t so I didn’t combine them... It did give me time to update and edit more chapters for Part 1 though. At this time, I've updated until chapter 9. 1st arc is done, but a long way to go still... The changes were starting to peter out, and I was beginning to think that there weren’t going to be any more, then interestingly, a bunch of additional lines were added to the fight at the end of the arc. Also, the imperial capital got bigger lol. Noel used to run 45 km by running 3 laps around the capital, but now runs 50km by running 2 laps. XD
We got to find out about Johann's background this time and yeah, if things like that happened, it's no wonder there are dark rumors about him. He's pretty ruthless, but I wonder what happened to change him 5 years ago... And Zero, wow that's a chunni name if there is one haha. But more importantly, who's he talking with? Is there someone controlling Lorelei from the shadows? From 5 years ago maybe?
Stay tuned, for in next chapter, there's a surprise reappearance of an old character and we'll get to see Noel interacting with the main heroi...
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