I thought for a moment.
Why was my sister in my room right now?
‘There’s nothing strange about that.’
Even normally, my sister would often stop by my room and talk to me.
Because I had deliberately kept my distance from her, our conversations never lasted long, but she persistently tried to talk to me nonetheless.
So there was nothing strange about my sister being in my room.
The problem was.
“Raise your sword, Sigmund.”
Why was she suddenly pointing a sword at me and saying that?
‘No, it isn’t exactly sudden.’
Today, I had appeared before my sister during the Trial in the role of an ‘illusion.’
And given how perceptive she was, she might have noticed something.
Perhaps she had wondered whether that had really been an illusion at all.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Of course, I showed none of those thoughts on my face and tilted my head as though I had no idea what she meant.
“You want me to raise my sword? There’s no way I could be a match for you, Elder Sister.”
“Maybe there is.”
“……Pardon?”
“Just…… maybe there is.”
My sister looked at me with wavering eyes as she said that.
“Raise your sword for me, little brother. I think I’ll know if you do.”
“I don’t mind.”
It wasn’t as though I hadn’t anticipated a situation like this.
Naturally, I had already prepared how to respond if it happened.
I lifted my sword with apparent difficulty, as though merely moving my frail body took all my strength.
Since I had only recently awakened after collapsing, it looked extremely natural.
“Hoo, haa…….”
My sister’s eyes trembled when she saw my wrist shaking.
For good measure, I subtly made my legs tremble too.
Of course, even that wasn’t enough.
I let the tip of my sword quiver as I faced her with a determined expression.
Drip, drip.
I deliberately panted and broke out in a sweat.
Controlling bodily functions wasn’t particularly difficult.
The hardness in my sister’s eyes began to waver.
“……Was I wrong?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I wondered if maybe you secretly entered the Sanctuary today…….”
“……Pardon?”
In a situation like this, acting confident was actually the better choice.
I widened my eyes as though I had just heard something completely incomprehensible.
A short while later.
“I guess not…….”
My sister was the one who looked away first.
She slowly lowered her sword, then spoke with complete confidence.
“Nothing happened, little brother.”
“…….”
“Come to think of it, I’m not even sure what the problem would be. It’s a good thing if my little brother is healthy. Right?”
Her thoughts apparently in complete disarray, my sister rambled as she sat on the edge of my bed.
“I’m a good older sister. I would never suspect my sickly little brother of anything.”
“I see…….”
“You’re feeling all right, aren’t you?”
“Yes, well…….”
I’m perfectly fine.
Naturally, I didn’t say that aloud.
Until the threat known as Schubert was removed, it was best to conceal as much about myself as possible.
Pretending I knew absolutely nothing, I looked at my sister with concern.
“Did something happen during the Trial today?”
“It was just…… something.”
I quickly understood what she was trying to say.
‘So what happened with that illusion during the Trial really stuck in her mind.’
My sister spoke again.
“I liked seeing my little brother healthy.”
‘She liked that the illusion version of me could move around freely.’
“You spoke clearly too.”
‘Meaning she liked that there wasn’t any distance between us.’
That was roughly how I interpreted my sister’s words in my head.
“So that’s why you did this?”
Nod.
My sister nodded.
“You thought that if you crossed swords with me, small habits or sword paths would show themselves, and you could confirm it that way.”
Nod.
She nodded again.
Seeing her reaction brought a bitter smile to my lips.
In the end, the reason my sister worried and suffered was because we were family.
Whether it was Mother or me.
Then I couldn’t claim to bear no responsibility either.
I had known what I was doing and still turned away from it.
“It’s all right.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It was a perfectly understandable thought for you to have as my elder sister.”
I continued.
“Do you want me to treat you as openly as that illusion did?”
“I don’t know.”
My sister tilted her head.
“But…… yes. I think I’d like that better.”
“I see.”
I quietly nodded.
To be truthful, I didn’t know much about human relationships.
No.
Rather than not knowing……
‘Maybe genuine relationships like this just feel unfamiliar to me.’
Every relationship I knew had been thoroughly transactional, based on absolute obedience to superiors, or consisted of people deceiving and exploiting one another.
I had never had family.
Nor comrades.
Even so, there was one method I at least knew in theory.
“Come on, then you should’ve said so sooner.”
In situations like this, the shameless one won.
“……H-Huh?”
“Well, if that’s what you want, Sis, I guess there’s no helping it.”
I put on the thickest skin possible and pushed forward without hesitation.
My sister, flustered by my reaction, said,
“But when I told you before, you just smiled and…….”
“No, no. That never happened.”
“No, you really…….”
“Let’s get along, Sis.”
I refused to give my sister any opening to construct a logical argument and simply bulldozed ahead.
I had more or less decided what kind of younger brother I would be, too.
A sickly younger brother who wanted to get closer to his sister but was extremely shy.
It sounded like a hastily improvised setting, but so what?
“Yeah. This is much more comfortable.”
“Y-Yeah?”
My sister tilted her head again.
She clearly wasn’t displeased, but she seemed utterly bewildered.
“Huh?”
She was still tilting her head even as I pushed her out of my room.
***
“……So that’s what happened.”
“I’m not sure whether I should call that impressive or…….”
After I gave Deckard a rough summary of what had happened between my sister and me, he clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“How can a person be like this?”
“What? Why? What is it?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
Deckard shook his head and continued.
“Still, if you are going to be shameless, you need to go all the way. If you only half-commit, you end up neither here nor there.”
“Advice from experience?”
“Hoho, you know me well.”
Deckard looked at me with a sly smile.
It was a simple remark, but I understood the meaning behind it, so I smiled back.
“Good work today.”
“Hoho. I am being compensated properly for it, so is that not only natural?”
Deckard answered with his usual good-natured smile.
“In any case, this turned out well. You have reconciled with the young lady, so I doubt you will have much to worry about on that front anymore.”
“Well, that part…….”
“The Second Wife must be able to breathe a little easier now as well.”
“…….”
Deckard’s words made my mouth close on its own.
Mother had never shown it openly, but the truth was that she had been quite worried.
‘I have no excuse.’
The guilt from my previous life was one thing.
The present was another.
Were my feelings really what mattered?
What mattered were the people who were worrying and suffering because of me right now.
“Judging by your expression, it seems you were aware of that much.”
“I’m reflecting on it.”
“Of course. I know that.”
Deckard grinned.
“Our young master is…… well, defective in some rather strange places, but you are a good person.”
“Sir Deckard, must you?”
“Let us call it revenge for dragging me into the Sanctuary on the spur of the moment. Do you have any idea how much displeasure I had to endure from His Highness because of that……?”
“…….”
Now I really had nothing to say.
“I do have a position to maintain, you know. His Highness let me off with nothing more than a few looks this time, but next time, I truly do not know what will happen.”
“Ah, I said I’m sorry.”
“Tsk. If this were me in my younger days, I really would have grabbed you by the hair and dragged you out of there. But since the result was good, I cannot even complain properly…….”
Deckard shook his head.
Of course, he was fully entitled to say such things.
“So what do you plan to do from now on? I understand that the First Young Master is making some rather dangerous plans.”
“First, we need supporters.”
“Hmm…….”
“Of course, Father holds absolute authority within the house. No one can deny that. But…….”
“When the Grand Duke is absent, the First Wife holds that authority.”
Deckard answered without hesitation.
She was both the Grand Duke’s wife and had one of the Four Great Houses behind her, so her influence could never be taken lightly.
Unless someone was selected as the heir to Messiah, there was no way to overpower the First Wife.
I had no idea why Father had entered into a political marriage with a family of black magic that stood at the opposite extreme from the Sacred Flame.
Regardless, what mattered was that the First Wife possessed considerable authority within the house.
As a result, more than a few vassals had aligned themselves with her.
Our side, on the other hand, was painfully weak.
Mother came from an ordinary viscount family.
Nor did her family have connections to the Imperial Family that granted them influence or wealth exceeding their title.
Put simply, we were not even in the same weight class.
And no lunatic would board a ship that was obviously going to sink.
Then what did I need to do?
‘Give them a reason to believe in us and support us.’
I needed to show them the ‘possibility’ that the Second Wife—no, that my sister—was qualified to become the heir and could become the next Grand Duke.
“……Can that really be done?”
After hearing my plan, Deckard asked with a deeply worried expression.
“Is there really anything that can overcome the backing of one of the Four Great Houses?”
“In the long term, I’ll be able to fill that role myself…….”
Father had expectations of me, and frankly, I knew better than anyone that my growth was far from ordinary.
But I was only ten years old right now.
It was still too early for me to step onto the front lines.
That was why I needed something else.
“I already have something in mind.”
“Something in mind……?”
“Mercenaries.”
Deckard tilted his head.
“……Mercenaries? In one of the Four Great Houses, of all places, mercenaries will not mean much.”
“Ordinary mercenaries wouldn’t. But you know this too, Sir Deckard.”
I looked directly at him.
“There are mercenary groups that even ‘great nobles’ cannot ignore.”
“……Special-Grade Mercenary Companies.”
“That’s right.”
Mercenaries had grades.
Likewise, ‘mercenary companies’ had clearly defined grades of their own.
Low Grade, Intermediate Grade, High Grade…….
Even a High-Grade Mercenary Company possessed combat power comparable to the knight order of most noble houses.
Then what about Special Grade?
They possessed enough military strength that even the Imperial Knights or the knight orders of great noble houses could not ignore them.
A small noble house could be wiped out by the power of such a mercenary company alone.
There were only three mercenary companies throughout the entire continent that were called Special Grade.
Because of that, they did not belong to anyone.
It was not as though there were any law forbidding them from doing so.
It was simply their pride.
And because they possessed both that pride and the strength to back it up, they were called Special-Grade Mercenary Companies.
“I intend to ask one of those Special-Grade Mercenary Companies for cooperation. At first, in the form of a ‘commission.’”
“……Wait, young master. Are you serious? You intend to bring one of those ‘Special-Grade Mercenary Companies’ into a noble house?”
“Yes. That is the plan.”
Deckard shook his head.
“That is not a good idea. Those people are not the sort to bow merely because someone is a great noble. A High-Grade Mercenary Company would be possible, but…….”
“It’s fine. I have a plan.”
I tapped the armrest as I continued.
“Special-Grade Mercenary Companies have internal foundations befitting their status. They’re firmly organized under the charisma of their commanders.”
“That is correct.”
“But there is exactly one exception. One mercenary company whose internal situation is in chaos.”
To put it plainly, it was in a state where no one would be surprised if it lost its ‘Special Grade’ designation at any moment.
I spoke its name.
“<Red Serpent>.”
Of course, this fact had not yet become public knowledge.
Yes.
Not yet.
“……!”
The moment that name left my mouth, Deckard’s breathing grew rough.
I pretended not to notice and continued.
“The position of commander of <Red Serpent> is currently vacant. For reasons unknown, its commander disappeared well over ten years ago. Ever since the commander vanished, <Red Serpent> has been rapidly rotting from within.”
“Th-That…… is true, but.”
“So we solve that problem.”
We would resolve the issue plaguing the Special-Grade Mercenary Company <Red Serpent>.
And ultimately.
‘We take <Red Serpent> for ourselves.’
That was my plan.
“Hmm, I see. It certainly sounds like an incredibly ambitious plan…… but how exactly do you intend to do that?”
“I’ll submit a commission.”
“I see. A commission…… Well, that is a reasonable approach. What will the commission be?”
I answered Deckard.
“The assassination of Sigmund Messiah.”
“…….”
Deckard fell silent for a moment, then dug a finger into his ear as though wondering whether he had misheard me.
Once he realized that he had, in fact, heard correctly, his face contorted.
“No, what the fuck?”