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““Humbly reporting for duty, Lady Tilea.””
“Thank you for coming.”

Edim and Orty entered the room and knelt before me like retainers. It was like knights in the presence of a king.

It was a game to them, yes, but they still treated me like their master, and behaved with loyalty. Sometimes I’d go with the flow and order them to do this or that, but never would I have imagined that I’d be ordering a murder.

The target might have been an inhuman villain, but perhaps they’d look down on me for resorting to murder. Maybe we couldn’t go back to being friends after this. But this was all I could do to protect Timu. If the state wasn’t moving to stop him, then I had to stop him myself.

There was no option except for his assassination. Would it even work? He was a living legend. Legendary for his evil, but also legendary for his power. Stories about his prowess in combat were innumerable.

A famous magical scholar once said this about the Fiend.

‘Of all the humans, who, you ask, was capable of the most efficient and destructive magic? Was it Ven Vete, who defeated an army of a thousand on his own…? Was it Schuement, known as the invincible general…? Or perhaps Miyamu Sashi, undefeated in his lifetime…? I do not boast of knowing every human in history, but of the ones I do know the most fitting answer to the question is one man. Sam Gordon.’

There were plenty of other accounts too, like how ‘Sam Gordon’s power can’t be described’ or ‘There isn’t a bit of waste in Sam Gordon’s spells’.

Huh. Thinking about it, was I getting Edim and Orty involved in a fruitless battle?

…No, no, it’s fine, it’s fine.

Orty’s family was rich and powerful enough to create this underground empire. And Edim was a vampire. Her power was beyond any normal adventurer. With the two of them cooperating it was definitely possible to kill the Fiend tonight.

“Lady Tilea…?” asked Edim in confusion.

Oh, oops. She must have been confused because I had been silent all this time.

“U-Umm… the truth is…”
“Yes?”
“Uuu, I can’t. I can’t say it after all.”

I had lost my resolve. The two of them were just looking at me so innocently that I couldn’t. They totally trusted me. How could I ask companions who trusted me so deeply to do something like murder.

“Lady Tilea, is something the matter?” asked Edim.
“Ah, umm… I had a favour to ask, but I just can’t…”
“Lady Tilea, please don’t feel hesitant. Order anything you wish of us.”
“It is as Edim says,” agreed Ortissio, “I may lack skill, but I will give my all in your service, Lady Tilea.”

So they said, but…

Was it really okay to take them up on this? I really didn’t want such good people involved in this. Not Orty, and especially not Edim. Edim had already suffered so much. After finally being able to live a normal life, was I going to ask her to jump back into the world of violence…?

No, I had to hide this from them…

But, no, Timu and I were in danger. It had to be these two if I wanted to save Timu.

Uuu, what was I going to do? While I was agonizing over my dilemma…

“Edim. It looks like it’s time,” Orty said with a subdued expression.
“Eh? What do you mean?” asked Edim.
“A sudden summons. And what’s more, strict orders to keep this a secret from everybody else.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. I was ordered in particular to keep this from Lady Camilla.”
“Indeed. And even after that, Lady Tilea hesitates. There is only one order this could be.”

Ohh! Orty, have you awakened to telepathy or something?

How could he have guessed…

“Sir Ortissio, what order has Lady Tilea been hesitating to give?”
“There could only be one. The liquidation of Lady Camilla.”
““Haah?“” screeched Edim and I.

What the hell was this guy smoking? Had he finally gone nuts?

“T-That can’t be… Why would Lady Tilea order Lady Camilla’s liquidation!”
“Edim, in the long run there can only be one leader of the Evil God Army. At present Lady Camilla’s authority is too large, and undermines Lady Tilea’s.”
“I-I don’t want that. I can’t betray Lady Camilla.”
“Enough, Edim! Uuu, I-I don’t want to either…”
“So let’s…”
“Enough. We must endure it for the Evil God Army! Even Lady Tilea didn’t want to do this,” Orty persuaded Edim in tears.

Mmmn. I knew Orty was an idiot, but to actually be this much of one…

“That’s enough, Orty. If you keep saying stupid things I’ll pull out your tongue.”
“Hiiie! M-My deepest apologies.”
“Geez~ As if I could ever hurt Timu! Honestly, you were being so ridiculous I was speechless.”
“Then Lady Tilea, are we not going to be erasing Lady Camilla?”
“Of course not! That’s too much to even joke about.”
“T-Then, what might our mission be? Everything was so hush-hush so I had thought for certain that…”

Orty seemed really embarrassed. For certain that, what? Apparently he had misunderstood entirely. Geez, this has really done a number on my mood.

“Hahh, it’s not Timu. The reason I called for only you two is because there’s something I want from just the two of you.”
“I see. What a relief.”
“What a- …What I’m going to ask of you will make you criminals―”

And not just the type of criminals who end up in jail.

Considering it was a wanted man and a vampire, the consequences for being caught were enormous. I needed them to understand this.

“Ahem, what I’m asking of you might even lead to your deaths, you know.”

The two of them stared blankly. I must have startled them. Apparently they really hadn’t expected this.

I wasn’t surprised. Anybody would be afraid of losing their lives.

“U-Um, Lady Tilea, so it’s just a dangerous mission then?”
“It is. And what do you mean ‘just a dangerous mission’? It sounds like you’re making light of this but there’s only a five percent chance of survival, you know.”
“Hu hu hu.”
“W-, What’s the matter, Orty? You suddenly started laughing.”

Had he gone mad from the fear?

“Lady Tilea, I have been waiting for this very moment. I, lowly Ortissio, will not hesitate to die for you. Please grant me this mission, Lady Tilea.”

Aaahh~ I should have known. Any chuunibyou would get fired up by the words ‘dangerous mission’. This was for real though. It was actually really dangerous. I had to teach this idiot reality or else.

“Orty, you don’t seem to have understood the seriousness of this, so let me teach you.”
“As you will.”
“Do you know who Sam Gordon, the Fiend, is?”
“N-, No, I do not.”
“I see. Then let me talk about him first.”
“U-, Um, Lady Tilea,” interrupted Edim with a raised hand, “I was actually thinking of bringing up Sam Gordon as the agenda for our next War Council.”
“So you know the Fiend, Edim?”

“Yes. I was originally a human so Sam Gordon was famous in my circles.”
“Then you know that right now Sam Gordon is in the Capital, doing unbelievable things, right?”
“Yes. Gordon foolishly encroached on the territory of the Evil God Army. I found it hard to stand as well. I had considered eliminating him but decided it was better to discuss it at the War Council first.”

I see. So Edim’s vampire network had already informed her about what he had done. And she couldn’t bear to stand by either. That’s why she thought of doing something about it, and wanted the advice of the War Council; in other words, Dryas and the others.

Edim was such a kind girl. But bringing it up with the War Council would alert Timu as well. As long as we had no options except killing him, it was better to limit the number of people involved.

In other words the War Council was out of the question. Orty, Edim, I’m sorry for this.

Of course, I couldn’t just sit back and have these two do all of the dirty work while staying uninvolved myself. I would only slow them down so I couldn’t come along with them, but I could at least be a conspirator in the murder.

After gathering my resolve, I gazed at the two of them.

“Edim, Orty, listen carefully.”
““Yes.””
“By ‘dangerous mission’, what I want the two of you to do is assassinate Sam Gordon.”

Again, I was met with blank stares. This time they really did seem bewildered. Even if he was atrocious, I was still talking about a murder…

Were they disgusted with me?

But, but, I really had no choice here. I decided to explain the circumstances―

“U-, Um, Lady Tilea,” asked Edim.
“W-, What is it?”
“In other words, the mission is just to erase Sam Gordon?”
“Yes, that’s right.
“U-Um, please wait a moment. That isn’t really dangerous at all. Actually, you could call it simple even…”

Apparently Edim had no compunctions about murder. Then again it was the Fiend after all. Maybe the Fiend had done even worse things than I knew, and Edim heard about it from her vampire kin. Could it be that she had planned on suggesting murder at the War Council too?

Anyway, I’d worry about the ethics later. For now the problem was whether or not she could really assassinate the Fiend. Why was she so confident? Even if she had the power of a vampire he was still the legendary Fiend.

“Edim, I know that since gaining the power of a vampire you can enter Super Edim mode. But this is still the Fiend.”
“Yes. But he’s just a human.”
“W-, Well, he is but… The Fiend is a first-rate mage. And the Fiend knows that he has enemies everywhere, so he’s fortified himself in his manor. The defense stats of his manor are definitely insane. And he’s hired a huge number of mercenaries so you’ll be outnumbered too.”
“Lady Tilea, the number of mercenaries is at best a few hundred. There is nothing to fear.”

Edim’s confidence was still unshaken.

W-, Why was she so sure that…

Gasp! Was she going to fight with her kin?

S-, She couldn’t. Bringing in everybody like that would increase the casualty count too much. Ah, but if Edim’s life was in danger then maybe it couldn’t be helped.

“Edim, are you planning on bringing your kin to battle as well?”
“No, if I brought everybody it would attract too much attention. And I would probably lose a large number of them. It isn’t an issue. I’ll sneak in and take his head.”
“Can you really do it?”
“Yes, I have confidence. And with Sir Ortissio’s support we already have an excess in offensive ability.”
“It is as Edim says, Lady Tilea. With my Second Division handling support, not one of them will escape.”

Edim was this confident even without her vampires. But relying on her was all I could do. I just had to trust that she knew what she was doing.

And Orty was filled with confidence too. When it came to him though, it was just the empty words of a chuunibyou. Actually, I was starting to feel nervous about relying on him. Having his family as help was really appealing though. I couldn’t imagine that we could do this without political support.

“Edim, Orty, I understand. I’ll believe in you two. I’m sorry for asking this of you, but please come back safely!”
““Milady! We will return with Gordon’s head!””
“And Orty, please thank your parents for me.”
“Hahh, and by parents you mean Mami―”
“Haahn?”
“Hiiie! N-Nothing. Yes, I’ll thank them.”

Phew, Orty was about to talk about Mamira again. Even at a time like this he was still acting like a chuunibyou. Would things really work out?