Leave a comment

More than 60 days had passed since I’d summoned the heroes from the other world. Although the plan had gone well until the summoning, from that point onward, it progressed slowly, and after being fed up with it for a long time, I could finally start preparing to move forward with the plan.

In my private room, I sipped tea made by the maid and thought about my future plans. However, it was just too difficult to come up with good ideas. As such, I couldn’t help but mutter, “Just what am I supposed to do…”

“Are you asking about the heroes, Your Highness?”

“Yes. I must somehow make up for the delay in the plan. I’m fed up with trying to sweeten up to everyone.”

“It certainly sounds tiresome. We had to make major changes in our plans, didn’t we? Though there were a number of them with Skills that we’ve only seen in the legends, so I don’t think we need to rush.”

“Their existence certainly is a big deal. If they grow up well, they’ll definitely minimize our damages. Their presence alone would’ve allowed the original plan to progress several times faster. That’s why I find the irregularities even more annoying. I’ve heard that several people got away during the latest disturbance. And it’s precisely because my expectations were high that I’m so discouraged now.”

The heroes were summoned for the purpose of employing them in the war against the Nigel Kingdom.

The Nigel Kingdom, or also known as the Demon Kingdom, was led by the Demon Tribe, whose dark-skinned residents were all formidable in battle. Although they were few in number, they possessed a belligerent quality and often engaged in skirmishes with surrounding kingdoms.

It was also because of these skirmishes that it became clear that the power of the spirits was growing weaker.

A Spirit was integral for a kingdom’s prosperity. Which was also why each of the six kingdoms possessed one.

It was to a point where an agreement had been signed where if a kingdom obtained two spirits, the remaining four kingdoms would annihilate it.

And if a Spirit weakened, then prosperity was lost. The easy way to overcome this was to take away the spirits of other kingdoms.

If the situation escalated just a bit more the Demon Kingdom would surely act. It was already known that they were increasing their forces.

To counter this, and conversely, to seize the spirit of the Demon Kingdom, we opted to summon the heroes. Something that was only known and passed down in our kingdom.

In the past, they’d been summoned to defeat the common enemy of the six kingdoms, and to protect the world from the crisis of its collapse, which had been feared even before the coming of the six kingdoms.

Summoning heroes had been done at several turning points in the world’s history. This time it was to unify the kingdoms.

With the help of the heroes, not only would we be able to obtain the Demon Kingdom’s spirit, but all other spirits as well. And then all other kingdoms would have no choice but to serve under Fraus.

Fraus would become the center for humanity’s prosperity. The people in the kingdom of Fraus would live happily.

And heroes were the ones who would become the leading force and stars of the establishment of this united kingdom. I would have given any amount of such glory for the people.

But, in the end, heroes were no more than tools. They were to be put to slavery and made to work for the Fraus royal family.

However, the act of a single boy had derailed that plan.

Although Father had been careless, he’d had no choice but to agree to the contract due to the heroes still not being under his control.

He’d probably viewed it as unimportant, thinking it was a contract that he’d be able to annul.

And yet, because of him, I was forced to put into effect a plan that I couldn’t even call a plan.

The idea was to buy time so that we could curry the heroes’ favor, and make sure that their presence would not be discovered by other kingdoms.

“That boy really didn’t know his place.”

“Oh no, he knew his place well. His position was not strong, not outstandingly powerful, nor did he have the brains to devise a plan to overturn everything.”

“That’s why I say that he didn’t know his place. If he did, he wouldn’t have challenged the king. Because of what he said, he made his position amongst the heroes even worse.”

“We are the ones that made him lose his position. And it worked better than we thought. There are some amidst the heroes with a good head on their shoulders. If that boy had made his true intentions clear sooner, things could have taken a completely different turn. That’s why I believe he knew his place well. The time he made that contract with my father, that was the only time he could’ve acted since the beginning. The very reason he never underestimated us is because he is not excellent. Although we couldn’t tell the effect of his skill just by looking at his status, from just the name we could tell that it was something we had to be on the lookout for.”

Many of the skills heroes possessed were powerful. That was why we planned to first check them and then work to manage them properly.

And yet, that boy had already known what he was capable of the moment I showed my face.

“So you’re saying he acted before we could confirm his status? Isn’t that just worrying too much? Even though we were able to escape the situation quickly in the end, that boy took a very dangerous bet.”

“If you were to look at it from his point of view, then the summoning is no different than being kidnapped out of the blue. If that were the case for you, wouldn’t you be willing to take a few bets to save your life? Furthermore, in his case, he would only be making a verbal promise to my father, about whom he knows nothing.”

“I guess you’re right. I’d probably act too. Then why didn’t the other heroes see us as enemies?”

“Did you know the world was once in a crisis? The enemy who was the cause of the crisis came to be known as the Demon Lord. That is something that not we, the residents of this world, but the heroes came up with.”

“So in other words, the heroes believe that by defeating the Demon Lord they’d be saving the world?”

“The heroes are all at a young and tender age. If you think of them as adventurers, then they’re at the stage where they believe they can get rich quick and do reckless things. There’s a lot to be excited about with the goal of saving the world.”

“Aren’t you the same age as them, though, Princess?” She teased me with that, so I struck a sultry pose.

She then poured tea into a cup as if to put me in a good mood.

“Now all we have to do is wait for our efforts to bear fruit. It was definitely worth it to try and curry favor with the heroes while we were buying time. Going back to our topic. In other words, when that boy was summoned he managed to check his skills before reaching the audience hall. He then understood what he had to do, and protected the heroes during the time in which we would be most prone not to notice. It was because he wasn’t excellent that he put everything he had into that only chance for a surprise attack. Afterwards, he trained himself so that he wouldn’t be killed, without making a single mistake. That single action of his cost Fraus 60 days of our time and the loss of one maid.”

“You’re saying that as if you weren’t planning to get rid of that maid in the first place.”

“The maid aside, it really was annoying. Did you know that amongst all the heroes, that boy’s status went up the most? I heard that his numbers had grown twice that of any other hero. If we had taken a bit more time maybe we wouldn’t have been able to kill him.”

“It’s great that he was in such a position then. If he’d had the Hero skill, then we really wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

“That’s right. It really was annoying. We had to act in ways that wouldn’t violate the contract while also trying to figure out just how much we could get away with. All while trying to convince the heroes to turn on him and kill him. Although I’m in a position where I can control people, I never thought that I’d be able to control people from a world I know nothing about so easily.”

“That just makes it feel even better.”

The maid’s comment opened my eyes.

This time I had summoned the heroes, and had thought up a plan when all was about to fail.

I was only able to prepare the barest minimum because everyone had initially thought it was a waste of time, and I had received a lot of criticism. Nevertheless, I could now say that everything worked out okay.

The current settlement was also something that had been reached under my leadership.

Although it had taken a bit of time, it was worth it because it gave more credibility to my voice.

That was why I was impatient to move forward to the next step as soon as possible.

At the same time, the sense of accomplishment that I’d achieved now beckoned me to give myself over to its afterglow.

I finally understood that there was no way I could come up with a good plan in such a condition.

Although I’d been sulking earlier, in the end, I was nothing more than another girl who’d gotten rich way too quickly.

“You’re right. Let’s get some rest for today.”
“Of course. I am sure that tomorrow will bring you a new wave of wisdom.”
“Well, I might have another cup of tea, then.”
“Certainly!”

The time was still early afternoon, and I decided to enjoy that peaceful time by resting.