FILWTV 70th Update!

“Viscount Frey’s Rebellion.”

 

Olivia Clockford, the Second Princess of the Kingdom of Merica, had become a prisoner of war. But out of all the possible sources, the one that the Kingdom of Gran Flamm learned about this fact from was Olivia’s mother country itself. Specifically, those were one of the very first words Merican envoy uttered when he arrived to conduct post-war negotiations.

The person responsible for the process on the Gran Flamm side blundered heavily by showing his confusion at the unexpected situation. This betrayed that nobody in the capital had the tiniest clue about what had happened.

Princess Olivia, without a doubt, had been taken captive, but the opposing negotiators clearly knew nothing of this. It was Merican envoy’s turn to be briefly confused, but soon, based on this unexpected piece of news, he had suspended the talks and returned home giving “necessity of investigating further” as the excuse.

The negotiation process, that was supposed to start off with Merica at a huge disadvantage, stalled in its infancy. The Merican side wished to exploit the situation, but that required figuring out Olivia’s whereabouts — a problem that resolved itself quickly and effortlessly.

The treacherous Kingdom of Orcus, showing no sense of decency or honor, dispatched an envoy to their erstwhile allies. The Mericans initially expected selfish pleas for forgiveness and succor, but were instead offered information on the Princess’ location and a tantalizing prospect of her unconditional return.

All that was met with much skepticism at first, but all doubts were dispelled by Olivia’s handwritten letter. Merica knew what it needed to know, it began to act towards the Princess’ release.

Those developments filtered to Grann Flam with a bit of delay, but, once that happened, all eyes turned to Bandeaux.

「So Princess Olivia of Merica was captured? That’s quite a feat.」

Said Rion, the person who happened to achieve that feat.

「The magnitude of the achievement is of secondary importance. His Majesty was led to believe that her highness Olivia is being held at your residence, sir Viscount, and tasked me with verifying the veracity of that information.」

And this was said by the royal envoy. His objective was to find out the truth behind the information Gran Flamm obtained from Merica during the aborted negotiations.

「At my residence? Are you sure no sort of mistake has been made?」

「That is the news that reached the palace, sir Viscount. Moreover…..」

The envoy’s gaze wandered towards the warrior-maid standing at Ariel’s side. By a curious coincidence, the girl’s characteristics and what the envoy had been told of Olivia matched perfectly.

The Princess was described, among other features, as a tall woman with silver hair and blue eyes. She was supposed to be a beauty in her own right. And, well, that maid carried herself with an elegance not usually seen in common staff.

「Lord Frey, may I ask who that lady is?」

「Eh? Is there something wrong with that warrior-maid?」

「Warrior-maid?」

This was a role unknown outside Bandeaux. The phrase itself was coined by Venus to describe the clan girls following Ariel into battle.

「Warrior-maids are women who take care of the needs and security of my wife.」

「I see. Who may that lady be, then?」

「A warrior-maid, obviously?」

「…Yes, we have established that already. May I enquire when did you take her into your employ?」

「Quite recently, actually. She displayed a rare talent for military matters, despite being of the fairer sex, and we hired her as an instructor for other warrior-maids.」

Which meant the girl also possessed the Princess’ gift for war.

「…Now I am curious, where did she come from?」

「Originally? Kingdom of Merica, I think?」

「Merica!?」

The country of origin was a match too.

「Isn’t that right? Miss Olivia?」

「W-What!?」

And even the name… Clearly, it was Olivia herself.

「Dear guest, is anything wrong?」

「Sir Viscount, how can you ask? Is that not her highness Olivia in person?」

「A princess seeking employment as a maid? Isn’t that just preposterous?」

「Have you not called her “Miss Olivia” just now?」

「Ah, you’re right, they do have the same name, don’t they? What a surprising coincidence.」

「I implore your lordship to not play the fool! Such coincidences never happen!」

Of course not. As the messenger had said, Rion was just playing the fool.

「Well, one certainly happened here. Would you please listen to my explanation and think about it carefully?」

Rion showed no sign of faltering in front of the envoy’s angry outburst and replied in a calm tone.

「Certainly, your lordship.」

「If this really was Princess Olivia, why would I even attempt such a ploy? If I were to try hiding the Princess, I would not address her with her name. In fact, I wouldn’t even bring her here. Be assured that if her highness Olivia were to fall into my hands, I would take her to the capital post-haste instead of making her play a maid.」

「That… However…」

Rion’s explanation was perfectly reasonable, but the envoy couldn’t just accept it unchallenged.

「Moreover, I am fully satisfied by the marriage with Ariel, my dearest wife. The thought of taking a concubine never crossed my mind. Even if a beauty, like the Princess is rumored to be, were to fall into my hands, I would not be interested.」

「…Sir Viscount, I do not doubt that, but—」

「Heavens! What can I say to make you believe me?」

Rion looked like he started to tire of the conversation. The envoy had no answer, but with the situation as it was, he could neither conclusively confirm or deny Olivia’s presence in Camargue to his superiors.

「…I fear your lordship will have to make a journey to the capital to explain this in person.」

So he figured the best solution will be to push the problem on Rion. Once Viscount Frey made an explanation in person, even if it proved to be a lie, it would not be the envoy’s problem.

「I will have to refuse.」

However, Rion refused out of hand.

「May I ask why? Your lordship bears the responsibility of reporting important matters.」

「And I will do so in due time. I have just returned from the war. Having faced death at every turn, my body is weary and not ready for long journeys.」

「When can the palace expect Viscount Frey?」

「Hard to say. For a long while now I have been busy with a duty that rightfully wasn’t mine leaving my territory without proper supervision. There’s a lot of piled up, overdue matters I have to take care of first. Sorting that out will take some time, once I’m rested, of course.」

Rion managed to make his answer sound both condescending and bored of the trivia, while at the same time adding yet another reason why he couldn’t possibly go.

The envoy had no authority to accept any excuses, though.

「While sir Viscount’s arguments are sound, I am not the person they should be addressed to.」

And he admitted that honestly.

「Speaking of weariness, isn’t sir tired from his long journey too?」

Rion was confident he had said enough and, suddenly, changed the subject.

「Well, I will not deny….」

「Then, I insist sir gives some rest to your body and soul. And luckily, there are plenty of establishments in town that can be of assistance in this.」

「…But.」

Even as the envoy said that, his resolve was already shaken. He had heard the rumors about Camargue’s pleasure quarter and he was already planning a visit given a chance.

「Your companions are welcome to go too, of course. Hmm… Now that I think about it, reservations might be in order. Worry not, I will handle the details.」

「Is that so… Ah, however..」

「Oh, do not worry about the cost. The castle is unable to accommodate sir properly, so do treat this as substitute lodgings. I have no ulterior motives.」

「Oh, if that’s the case, I guess I will have to accept.」

Since there was no cost, and Rion stated publicly he expected no favors in return, the envoy stopped trying to resist.

「Well then, let’s have someone guide you. Can someone please arrange lodging for sir envoy’s party and guide them there?」

「At once, Lord.」

With this, the day’s negotiations came to a conclusion. But Rion didn’t plan to do away with the subject for just today, he wanted to suspend them entirely for the time being. In the meantime, the envoy would spend the days at the inn enjoying a specially prepared hospitality package. He would be unlikely to complain.

「…What are you trying to do?」

Olivia asked Rion once the Crown’s emissary withdrew. She had been told nothing, just been requested to stand there in a warrior-maid uniform.

「I’m buying time. The bargaining chips are not ready yet.」

「This is not what I ask about. Why did you give them a hint that I am actually Olivia?」

「Ah, that. I need to make them understand that you’re here. It would be bad if the messenger was stupid enough to start believing otherwise」

「…To what end?」

Being, for the first time, faced with how Rion tended to explain things, Olivia struggled. He wasn’t the kind to lay out his plans clearly without some prodding.

「I’m going to receive a firm invitation to the capital, I guess.」

「And?」

「It will become one more issue to negotiate. Not that I actually plan on making demands.」

He had no intention of pushing for anyone to be killed or stripped of their status. The contents of the negotiations were certain to leak to his targets and cornered humans were both dangerous and unpredictable. Rion wanted the Kingdom to act of its own volition and not under duress.

「I understand… nothing. Do you really plan to continue opposing your country? You may be a very strong fighter, but you just do not have the numbers.」

「I have no desire to escalate this to an armed conflict. If that was my intention, I wouldn’t hand over the army I led.」

Nearly all of the soldiers and knights of the Kingdom that saw combat under Rion in Merica had returned to the capital already. Only those that really didn’t want to leave remained behind. Sol was one of them, but he had stayed to stop Rion if the youth were to go on a rampage.

「How do you plan to do it?」

「With your help, of course. I have a task for Princess Olivia now, shall we proceed to fitting the dress?」

「Eh?」

Olivia still remembered what Ariel had said back then on the battlefield. She was now rather unreasonably wary of this boy that had slept with numerous women in the past.

「…Do not misunderstand, please. New dress is just to demonstrate that you’re being treated well. I can arrange for a set of armor if you’d rather have that.」

「Ah. In that case I’d rather have something like what you wear now.」

「A knight uniform? Is that something you usually wear?」

Rion always had, of course. Ever since the day he had been given the option when serving Vincent.

「The skirts do not agree with me」

「Very well, I’ll arrange to have one made. Some measurements will be required, please bear with that.」

「Certainly. But who will it be shown to」

「Are you really that confused? I expect an imminent arrival of your father’s envoy, he should be within the borders of the territory now, in fact. And, obviously, he will demand your immediate return.」

「…A demand you will reject.」

Allowing Olivia to return to Merica, would strip his stand against Gran Flamm of all its meaning. In the end, Olivia was no wiser about Rion’s plans than when she had started the conversation.

「Oh, I will agree, eventually. As long as necessary conditions are met.」

「What kind of conditions?」

「Is diplomacy something you’re usually involved in too?」

「…No, not really.」

「I’ll make an exception for you just this once. I want a rank in your kingdom, and a higher one than Viscount.」

「…Let me give you a piece of advice in gratitude. That can only happen if you survive.」

Rion could demand, and be promised, anything he wanted. But once Olivia was returned, there would be no reason to honor those obligations and he would likely die as soon as he tried to set foot on Merican soil.

「I thought so as well. I guess it’s necessary for me to remain as the lord of Bandeaux in addition to the demands I listed previously. 」

「…Are you serious?」

Becoming one of Merican nobles while remaining as the feudal lord of Bandeaux… That was tantamount to handing over the territory to Merica. If that were to happen, their sphere of influence would grow vastly and Rion would not only stop being a target, he would become indispensable. Nobody else would be able to protect those gains.

「Who knows what will happen? After all, I am yet to start the talks with either country.」

「I guess…」

Olivia still couldn’t figure out what Rion wanted, but she was now adamant she wanted him in her country. She had realized his talents are not limited to war.

As a member of a royal clan, she valued him higher now than Bandeaux itself.

Some time later, as Rion had expected, Merica’s envoy had indeed entered Camargue. And Rion welcomed his party lavishly.

This was not because he was happy to see them, but to let Gran Flamm’s emissary know the competition was here. This raised more chaos and confusion at the royal court. Conducting independent diplomacy with an enemy nation carried pretty obvious implications.

Viscount Rion Frey, the hero of the Kingdom, had rebelled. And the whole country was shaken to the core.

 

◇◇◇

◇◇◇

 

Arnold entered the room slamming the door violently behind him. This alone was enough for Charlotte and the Clan Heads to figure out the result of his efforts.

The Prince unceremoniously grabbed a chair, sat down, and sighed. Deeply.

「The idea was rejected.」

「As we guessed it would, highness.」

It was obvious to Charlotte from the beginning. Trying to send the Clan Heads to negotiate with Rion was doomed to get nowhere, nobody would agree to let a potential enemy have his valuable subordinates back.

「Rion’s rebellion is assumed to be a fact, even though there is no supporting evidence.」

Rion had sent back the soldiers he had been leading. He was not mobilizing his territorial forces. He even accepted the King’s envoy who was apparently on the way back to the capital right now.

「But there is no evidence to prove he remains loyal either.」

「Which is exactly why I recommended dispatching people Rion trusts to ascertain his motives.」

「They remain his subordinates, highness. As expected, I should be the one to go. He may not trust me, but I do think he will talk to me.」

「Impossible. House Fatillas will never consent. Windhills are the only great family that does not support launching a punitive campaign in Bandeaux at the moment.」

「That is an impressive number of enemies for Rion to have.」

Rion didn’t fear his enemies. That was a strong point of his, but it could also be a weakness. Like now, when all those who had refrained from criticizing the King’s trust of Viscount Frey in the past suddenly started attacking Rion all at once.

「That is how impressively strong he has become. Many important people fear him now and they relish the chance to put him down. And many people of lesser status sympathize with him in turn. It is a classic confrontation of those with vested interests in status quo and those desiring change.」

「A confrontation in which Rion’s supporters lack power.」

「Ah, but they do not. And that is a problem.」

「…What is highness talking about?」

「There are officials pointing out that the rebellion can spill beyond the borders of Bandeaux and spread to the entire country. Even in the capital, it is possible to find common citizenry ready and willing to side with Rion and criticize the Kingdom.」

The general public was a very sentimental beast. In the past, it had been made aware of Rion’s and Ariel’s leading roles in the tragedy of the couple’s own life. It had watched, through rumor, gossip, and bard’s song as those two had found a semblance of happiness. It was sympathetic. And now it thought it was seeing the Crown try to take it all from them again. It was not a very logical point of view, but the potential explosion would be no less fearsome for that lack of logic.

「I do not wish for that. If Rion actually attempted a rebellion, he could succeed, couldn’t he?」

「Do not say that, even in jest. Even I was shaken when I heard this idea for the first time. I actually wondered if this was not a long-term plan of his.」

「Begging your pardon, highness. That is not possible.」

「Hmm?」

Kiel was the one to interject. This topic could not be ignored even if it actually was a joke shared between Charlotte and Arnold.

「If the current situation develops into an armed conflict, the losses on both sides would be enormous regardless of the outcome. I do not deny that Lord Frey has little love in his heart for this Kingdom, but he would never let bystanders get entangled in whatever plan he decided to pursue.」

「…That… rings true. Accept my apologies.」

「I should be the one apologizing, highness. I have stepped out of line just now.」

Kiel’s status wouldn’t even normally allow him to share a table with Arnold, so interfering in Prince’s conversation was more than presumptuous. The royal didn’t care much for that, but his personal guard was here too and the protocol had to be at least paid lip service to.

「Let’s go back to the main subject. I have been thinking for a while just what is Rion trying to achieve, with little of note to show for the effort. So I decided to interview the returning soldiers.」

Arnold was being very careful to appear to be speaking to Charlotte, but in reality, he wanted Kiel and the others to hear this. Unfortunately for the young lady, this was exactly why she was at the table today.

「What did you discover, highness?」

「The mater is delicate, do make sure to keep it a secret.」

「Of course.」

「Somebody betrayed us.」

「…Eh?」

「At the very least, Rion appears to think so. He has doubts about why was his command post discovered and how did the enemy learn it was a key target.」

「…Intriguing questions indeed, highness.」

「Lambert, have you learned anything?」

「I have, my Lord Prince.」

The man, called Lambert Scythe, was a member of the Royal Guard and the Crown Prince’s personal guardian. He stepped forward from behind Arnold and began to explain.

「My Lords, Lady. Allow me first to explain how I have arrived at my conclusion. I was tasked with preparing a detailed chronological report of the events of the war against Merica. That required not only a careful lecture of the written accounts, but also face-to-face interviews with the soldiers that returned from the front.」

「I see. What did you find?」

「The written accounts do not match what the soldiers say, my Lord Prince.」

「…How do they differ?」

Up to this point, everything that Lambert said matched Arnold’s expectations. The Prince also had become aware of the irregularities and that had been what had prompted him to have his Royal Guard investigate. The only important unknown remaining was what did the written and oral accounts of the war disagree on.

「In the exact order of two events — the assault on Viscount’s Frey command post and the Merican army’s about-face to attack towards the south.」

「The command post was attacked first, I presume.」

「If the accounts of soldiers are to be believed, my Lord Prince.」

Lambert did not look upon Rion kindly, he treated the young Viscount’s hostility towards the Prince as unforgivable. Nevertheless, he could be trusted to investigate thoroughly and impartially.

「If the soldiers do not lie, and I fail to see why they would, the written reports from the war have been doctored. They state clearly that Merican army turned south first and then found the command post by accident second. This is not a benign case of an accidentally messed up chronology.」

The Crown Prince Arnold was very explicit in what he was telling Charlotte, and, “coincidentally”, the Clan Heads.

「Does this mean that Rion was sold out to the Kingdom of Merica, highness?」

「That is a justified point of view. And, in my opinion, the main reason behind his actions.」

「So if we find and catch the perpetrator…」

「The matter is more complicated than it looks. The documents are co-signed by the Marshall of the Crown and the Head of the Intelligence Bureau, implicating both of them in the betrayal. At the very least, we are talking about dismantling the management of both the Kingdom’s spy network and its armed forces. The effects will be hard to overstate.」

「…I see, but that is what Rion wants, isn’t it. If fear of consequences will stop you from grappling with this problem, then you will have to face a more serious one. Thank you very much, highness. I understand at last.」

If those two very important people were actually traitors, more conspirators were almost guaranteed. The high echelons of Crown Army, a considerable number of high-ranked Intelligence Bureau operatives… Maybe even whole organizations if passive collaborators were to be included.

Not only would the affected branches of government be thrown into chaos, they would also lose trust and respect of the citizens. Exposing them would have to be handled very, very carefully.

However, were Rion to place Bandeaux under Merican reign, his fief would be shielded from the worst after-effects. The situation could yet develop into an existential crisis for the Kingdom.

「Yes, we do know his reasons. But I think he is overdoing things a bit. How exactly does he plan to defuse all this when he gets what he wants?」

「Asking the person himself is likely the fastest way to know, highness.」

「…So in the end, we are back to that, eh?」

Even though things were clearer for them now, they still ended up back where they had started from. And somehow, nobody found the idea of asking the person behind this mess for more details in any way strange.

57 Replies to “FILWTV 70th Update!”

  1. Holy COW RION GOING POLITICKING! LOTS OF MANEUVERS, POSSIBILITIES….UPDATESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! *eyes rolling back* On a more regular note, pretty sure Maria and Co. are involved the question is, how will Za Warudo will react? Thanks for the update as always. I feel pissed off at Sol somehow even though I understand him, must be because Rion is more awesome. Thanks and take care always translators.

    1. Call me a weirdo or an oddball, but I enjoy the mental battles more than physical battles. People know how to hold a sword, but only few know how to put in danger a whole country whit a few words… technically not a few but that’s the idea.

      1. Yep, I like social and political manoeuvres. It takes an agile mind and an instinctive understanding of game theory. Especially as shitty as politics is, you’re only putting your reputation and your rivals’ on the line. You’re not dragging hundreds and thousands of civilians into it and getting them killed like you would in a war.

        So, between war and politics, I prefer to solve things with politics when still possible.

  2. If this does escalate to a war though, I highly doubt the soldiers would really willingly fight even if they do fight, especially after they’re led to believe there’s a traitor among their higher-ups who want them dead, and it was Rion who saved them.

    Thanks for the chapter 🙂

    1. then again those would be the 9.000 that got back…and iirc the kingdom had more than 100.000 levies
      sure it’s a huge force, but not enough to flip the situation by itself

      also, i don’t think he’ll let it get to that point…he’ll make everyone believe so, but in the end claim victory through sneakier means before anyone realizes he had made his move

    2. This can’t escalate to war, the kingdom will cease to exist if Rion actually sided with Merica. That’s pretty well established now. All the clan heads could do is to wash hands, while the military and intelligence head is to wash their necks.

  3. for some reason… while thinking about who is the traitor … can’t help it but the king… impossible thou but idk just my intuition… since the king was planning something .. and the one who can move that 2 higher ups well dots are connecting unless those 2 got seduced by Maria the idiot~!

    1. Impossible. He showed signs of ambition, but he was forcefully talked out of it by the knight commander. Even if he ended up trying to go through with it anyway, the king wouldn’t try to betray rion that way. He has tried to let rion accumulate achievements, shine and succeed, hopefully to eventually rebuild relationships with Arnold and be a great asset to the kingdom. He also knows it’d break his wife’s heart if Rion died. Hes seen her grieve for far too long and despite the knight commander’s urgings, he couldn’t bring himself to eliminate Rion just due to his wife’s feelings. Heck, later, in the strategy meeting, he himself makes an effort to connect with Rion, getting happy at being served tea by his daughter in law, as if they’re all a real family. This series is written too well for the King to suddenly do such a massive 360 with no prior foreshadowing, and attempt to betray Rion.

  4. of the kingdomact against the traitors, rion will gain position
    if the kingdom doesn’t act, rion will be protect by merica

    mwhaha, perfect plan for one who doesn’t care about is country

  5. so this is as planned rion, hahaha~ you all dance on the palm of his hand,
    and that maneuvers , very damn smooth ~ btw I suspect maria and her subordinate as who betrayal ~
    thank you for the chapter ~

  6. Thanks for the chapter.
    I don’t understand why. Although the crown prince become, well, not bad anymore, i still don’t like him. Maybe Vincent’s incident really hurt me. I hate the king more though. Just what did the king think?they threw away Rion since he was little, but want him back because he is grown well and talented. What happened if Rion just a normal person?no brain, no dual element?i doubt they would even pay a slightest consideration to him. AND they were hoping Rion would somehow have a bromance with his brother. Forgetting everything that happened. So shameless. I want the royal family to go extinct and Rion took over already

    1. The King is a somewhat foolish and incompetent one. Not bad but not as outstanding as a monarch is supposed to be. But he isn’t to blame about Rion’s being thrown away, though. Remember, the Queen saw his heterochromia and was heart broken. No one would accept that heterochromia in a royal was acceptable. They’d think the kingdom is doomed and such, its considered an omen of disaster. Theres no logic behind it, but the same can be said for a lot of our beliefs in the real world. She had no choice but to have Rion thrown away and pretend that he was kidnapped. She got her just desserts for it tho, in some sense. Arnold and the King themselves both remark how she never smiled since then, until she saw Rion.

      The king didn’t even know the whole story at first. He gave out the order to search for the kidnapped princess and only later was told in secret about it being a boy with heterochromia. Ofc, rion’s overwhelming talents do make the king want to make use of them, but keep in mind that his primary motivation is still to keep his wife happy.

      1. The king rubber ordered the execution of the heir to one of his nation’s most powerful ruling families without even bothering to read the charges. More recently he intentionally baited a declaration of war from their neighboring rival nation while only barely holding off an army of literal demons, despite being made clearly aware that entire cities of his civilians would die. He is not just incompetent, he is also a violent tyrant.

        As for the queen, I’m not inclined to say suffering guilt and remorse is any kind of equitable punishment for condemning her own infant son to an unthinkable sequence of horrors just to protect her reputation.

        While Yueld may have given undue blame on a couple points, don’t lean too far the other way to absolve the royals of their actual crimes.

        1. This is medieval era. If the popular belief says that having different colored eyes brings calamity, everyone would believe that without question. A child with that kind of stigma being born in the royal family can be seen as an omen or curse to the whole kingdom. No matter how illogical that may be, the first time a calamity hits the kingdom, (like the demon menace) everyone would flip their shit saying that it was caused by the 2nd prince and if worse, the “cursed” royal family. This might even make it hard for Rion who may be led to believe all his life that all the misfortune the kingdom suffered were his fault.

          It’s a pretty bad position and tbh I kinda understand the Queen. She could’ve made sure Rion is in good hands though, until perhaps the time he can safely return to royal family came.

          1. I’m kinda surprised that they didn’t do a cover-up kinda thing. It’d be brutal but they could’ve taken out / blinded one of his eyes so no-one would’ve known. He could have grown up perfectly fine and pampered (tho half blinded) with his family. It would have kept rumors from spreading, and they could have let out that there was an attempted assassination when he was born as an explanation for the eye. I’m actually wondering if his parents did throw him out when he was born or if he was actually kidnapped after birth. If the midwife or attendants saw the ill-omened eyes of his while he was born, they could have easily kidnapped him and thrown him out without the queen noticing or being able to stop them.

          2. If you think about it, it was an on-the-spot decision by one, very exhausted woman that just spent a whole night in a childbirth with complications. You can’t expect her to think clearly. You can’t even expect her to make sense. She’s not cruel either, she just improvised the first humane solution that came to her mind. And then she lied to everyone else, and it was a lie of the kind that grows legs quickly and is very hard to undo safely.The only other person present and awake at the time, the midwife, was probably of a commoner/lesser noble status and would neither dare to question, nor offer advice.

          3. Guessing his parents will release info about him being of descent in the negotiations chapter. He can now use the excuse of not wanting to be apart of a family that selfishly through away their child to starve and be raped continuously when a child.

            That’s a pretty good excuse to disown your family.

  7. At first when I saw the title, I went like “Finally!? Yeah!”. But then, I thought “Rion didn’t have enough cards on his hand yet”, so I kinda excited of what would our little scheme would do. And oh good heavens, Rion never betrayed my expectation.

    So, Rion was literally using Maria’s own weapon to cut her back. Since she used the Marshall of the Crown and the Head of the Intelligence Bureau to attack Rion, he, instead, took a circled way and using Merican Kingdom to ensure his position first. It was like “Ya bitch want to kill me using this group’s top dogs eh? Lemme tell ya, I’m also a member of that group. You kill me, they’ll bite yer neck”.

    Grann Flamm was in a state where they couldn’t receive any attack from outside, since they were busy dealing with demons within their territory. The one and the only one who could repel such attack was Rion, and that Rion was now also a member of another kingdom’s noble. In addition, he also had Olivia, a princess from Merican Kingdom, on his hand. Both Grann Flamm and Merican couldn’t lay their hand on Rion rashly.

    Talking about fighting force. Merican and other Kingdoms will always glad to give Rion a hand to destroy Grann Flamm. On the other hand, Bandeaux’ main force, the strongest army as of now, whose loyalty laid only towards Rion, was on the capital. In addition, Rion was regarded and revered as a Hero by the whole citizen of Grann Flamm. Let’s say a war broke down right now. While all the troops Grann Flamm had was dispatched, Bandeaux army would betray, and the citizen would execute a coup d’etat. Grann Flamm Kingdom would collapse so easily. (Well, Rion would die tho. Like, as if Merican would forgive him).

    Oh man, oh man. This series really is “Falling in Love with the Villainess”. Except it was a villain instead, and that villain was our MC.

    1. Both sides tried to kill Rion. Rion gathered leverage to use against each. Neither side can afford to ignore this because Rion has set himself up in a way that he can play kingmaker and pick which side wins the war.

  8. Hmmm it’s interesting to see the princess as a maid, but she is at least better then 90% of the Noble’s in the kingdom, she can see that Rions usefulness is not just in military and instead of wanting revenge she wants to hire him

  9. Thanks for the chapter!!!!!! Man, I wish there was like buttons so that I can show how great some of my fellow readers’ comments really were. Nonetheless, I never seen somehow maneuver so skillfully in politics before, and even the seeds he planted previously already starting to affect the situation.

    It is kind of sad that most of the higher nobles can’t see or don’t care about how dangerous the situation is, especially with the chance of all the subjects revolting, but it is good that at least the royalty and some others are likely to see how bad things really are. That country really are doomed if they attack Rion, and most of the powerful people can’t see it due to their greed for fame and power……… Not to mention, I love how the novel foreshadowed the conspiracy and how Arnold and company discovered and discussed about the inconsistencies.

    Muahahahahhahaha. If things are done correctly, information could end up leaking to further enhance the clever glory of Rion Frey. After all, he is the hero who protected his soldiers from the traitors and protected his subjects from the corrupt officials.

  10. So let me get things straight…. Through Rion’s actions a very real possibility of the governments infrastructure is compromised and worse case leading to the collapse of the government in turn the kingdom itself. And their reactions to Rion’s actions is he’s “overdoing it”, wouldn’t any and all actions revolving the government infrastructure be huge? Aren’t they just saying “he should have never made known the huge corruption in the government and die a dogs death” who cares if they remained oblivious of such a huge issue until said individuals feel ready to eliminate the royal family because they’ve become difficult to manage.

    The more I learn just how incompetent they are, the more I feel impressed their still alive and the kingdom remains functioning despite everything pointing to its demise from outside and inside influences.

  11. Oh my… When first reading this chapter, i just simply thought that our MC are going to kill the little rat (or maybe i must say that is the big one?) in the Kingdom. But when i read the comment section, it become something has larger scale than before…
    Well, seem like Maria will face the Kingdom’s collapse in the worst situation (of course for herself)
    The event has evolved to a different league!
    Hope you can leave this world in peace, Miss Maria xD

  12. Now, I’d pay two kidneys (add one lung and half a heart as well) to watch a chess match between Rion and Zero. Look at that, both four-letter names, both with letters ‘o’ and ‘r’.

    LOL, F*** it, the world needs more LNs/WNs with this kind of MCs….and the story, so daemed engaging without the cringe.

    Diplomats in my country could learn a thing or twelve form Rion, TBH…

  13. I fcking love this guy. He can dance circles around in both physical and mental battles (or at least stand his ground very well), and ughh what more can I ask for in a protagonist xDD. Thanks for the chapter!

  14. You know Rion probably has already figured out who released that information. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he did it himself. He know before hand that the command post was going to be overrun and he knew where Olivia was going to be. This guy’s chess game is strong and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was setting up the pawns to take out all the knights and rooks at once. Don’t forget the translation group said that there was about 147 chapters in this translation. So I think this whole arc is going to finish in another 10-15 chapters. Thank you for the chapters.

      1. Sorry, I knew it was around that amount for chapters, but because I’m usually working when I read the chapters I don’t have time to look back sometimes. Can’t wait for the next one.

  15. “And somehow, nobody found the idea of asking the person behind this mess for more details in any way strange.”

    Is this… a case of… Rion’s Plot Armor kicking in? Rion’s already a major player and the World has already maneuvered him back and forth, so I figured with Maria getting being bumped off the road it could be time to make it more obvious why people fall apart around him.

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