Master’s Smile

C117 – Where Malice Goes

“Damn it! F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, FUUUUUUUU*K!!!”

“…Ihihi.”

Returning to his estate, Lintz mowed down what was left of his desk and revealed his anger.

Wissen, who was watching him closely, was not frightened by him, and instead laughed eerily.

“HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME, THELDOOORFF!!!”

Lintz scratched off his head fiercely as he spat out curses.

Theldorff, who had always been his close aide, was no longer here.

“Weeell, we were the ones who put the curse on Theldorff-san’s daughter in the first place. If he found it out, of course he wouldn’t want to be on our side, would he~?”

Wissen made a sound argument, but it did not reach Lintz.

Theldorff had already officially announced that he was leaving Lintz’s faction.

The reason was of course kept under wraps, but many rumors about Lintz might have done something wrong had emerged around those involved in the throne selection.

Though, to begin with, Theldorff’s chivalrous spirit was closer to Neena’s rather than Lintz’s.

Nevertheless, there were many who suspected that there was something behind Theldorff’s support for Lintz.

Lintz had always snickered at such criticism, but the loss of his faction’s greatest asset was not something to be laughed at.

What was even more distressing to him was….

“In addition~, Prince Lintz has to give up being the king because he lost a duel to Ritter-san~! Ihihihihihihi!!!”

“SILEEEEEEENCE!!!”

Lintz drew his sword and slashed at the desk.

He glared at Wissen, breathing roughly, yet Wissen still kept a frivolous smile on his face.

“Still~, what are we going to do now? There’s no way we can manage this straightforwardly any longer. The details of the duel were already written~! And at this rate, Prince Lintz will have no choice but to withdraw from the selection indeed~.”

“Y-You think I will accept something like that…!?!”

“Even if you say that~…”

The reason Lintz proposed such a “high risk, high reward” duel was because he thought that he would definitely win.

No one could blame him for putting his faith in Theldorff.

Theldorff was the strongest, as well as the leader of the kingdom knights, so there was no way he could be defeated by his enemy no matter who.

Even if it was against Ritter, the strongest knight of Neena’s faction.

However, his prediction was wrong.

It was true that Theldorff had the advantage in the early and middle stages of the battle, but right after Ritter used her demonic power in the latter half, the tables were easily turned and he was defeated.

Lintz thus closed off his own path to becoming the king.

“T-There must still be a way…! Somehow, someway…!!!”

“There are already documents as proof, you see~. Although it is possible to use Prince Lintz’s forces to make it disappear, Princess Neena is no fool. Don’t you think she may have already made a move using those documents~…?”

Wissen said so without caring about a single thing.

Well, it didn’t matter to him whether Lintz became the king or not.

Wissen would be happy as long as he could do his research. Hence, he was with Lintz because Lintz had provided him with a large research fund and guinea pigs.

And the prince was now unable to talk back.

He could send assassins to erase the documents, but none of the remaining knights in Lintz’s faction were likely able to complete such a task.

The reason was that more than half of his forces were knights who followed Theldorff.

Since Theldorff had left, the knights who followed him also left the faction.

As a result, Lintz was left with nothing but roughnecks who could hardly be called knights.

Although they were certainly used to combat, they were not like the knights who followed Theldorff.

“Damn it!!! Then what should I do…!?!”

“There’s nothing else other than giving up the throne indeed.”

“That would not be acceptable!! There’s no one else other than me who is going to be the king! Not Neena….! I-…I must be the king…!”

Lintz argued so, but he no longer had any idea that would break through his current situation.

He had lost the duel he had set up, he had destroyed his own path to becoming king, and he was still struggling in an unsightly way.

“Ihihihi!”

Such a situation was desirable for Wissen.

“Then, we have no choice but to resort to force~”

“W-What are you-…?”

Lintz raised his head, hearing what Wissen had just said.

“Y-You want me to kill Neena…?”

“Yes! What~? We’ve done a lot of ugly work already, right?

“B-But….”

Wissen was right, Lintz had done a lot of dirty things ever since.

But there was still something about killing a family member that kept him from taking a step forward.

“N-Neena will always have Ritter and that guy called Master by her side. I don’t know about the latter, but Ritter, who had defeated even Theldorff, is already a massive nuisance, you know?”

Lintz, too, had been in and out of the adventurers’ guild, and he was no stranger to battle.

He knew that he would never be able to beat Ritter.

Though, he was unsure if he could beat Master.

“Ihihihi!! I guess so~. Seeing that they could defeat the chimera, my experimental animals won’t even be of any use.”

“Then-….”

“Then~! Let’s change the way we think~! We can pull Ritter-san and Master-san away from Princess Neena instead~!

Lintz was dumbfounded at Wissen, who immediately interjected Lintz with his own suggestion.

“There’s no way we can do that.”

“No, no, no, Princess Neena, unlike Prince Lintz, is a kind princess who truly cares for her people. If she knew that a calamity had befallen them, I am sure she would send the two people she trusts away from her to help.”

Seeing Wissen’s maniacal smile, Lintz finally realized what he was proposing.

Sweat beaded up and his body began to quiver.

“N-No way, you….”

“Oya? as expected of Prince Lintz, you guessed it right. Indeed, the place to direct your forces isーーー”

Wissen bent his mouth in a ghastly grin, laughing in an eerie way and said,

“ーーーーーーThe people who live in the royal capital.”