Maouyome Chapter 13 - The Struggle Of A Tiger Person

Chapter 13 : The Struggle of A Tiger Person

    Barlunt PoV

I'm looking over the reports from my subordinates in my office inside of the Maou's castle. We're still a long way away from our goal.
There's still too many problems in this kingdom.

「Lord Barlunt! This isn't what you promised! ! 」

The door of my office is flung open without any prior warning.
Just when I wondered who dared to do so, it turned out to be miss Reanschild.
How rare for her to come to my office.
She came along with someone else.

「You're being rude. Miss Reanschild」

「Please explain the meaning of this! 」

Her tone is rude. She might be extremely agitated.
Which is a rare thing for her.
The one she has thrown on the floor was a certain maid who I recalled meeting before.

Lets……………I See.

「You won't go as far as aiming for her life. That was why I promised to protect her from the shadows! 」

「Please calm yourself. Miss Reanschild」

「I am absolutely calm! LORD BARLUNT! 」

Uhm, to be honest, I had thought that you're a calm and composed person considering you're the little sister of that muscle brain Adolphus.
It seems you really couldn't go against the blood flowing in your veins.

「Guessing from the situation, may I a.s.sume that person over there has gone as far as aiming for Miss Lefiya's life……… Well then, what are you going to say to me? 」

「She's a person who was often sighted coming in and out of your office, lord Barlunt. Are you still trying to feign ignorance?」

「I believe you're misunderstanding something here. You seem to have lost your usual calm and composed judgement」

I do know this maid.
It might be not a mistake that she often comes in and out of my office. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that she is solely under my control.

「Let me take a custody of her. I want to hear in detail about what happened. And cool your head for the time being. Then come to my office again」

「I misunderstood. Do you really mean it? 」

「I do have some recollection about her. But I don't remember giving her such an order. Though you may not believe me, as I have nothing to prove my innocence either」

Miss Reanschild is suspicious of me.
Though she probably won't believe me, I really am innocent here.

I sit on the sofa for receiving guests, but she refused when I urged her to sit in front of me.
She might have already calculated my actions.
Even so, has she not found a way yet?
Maybe because she's at her wit's end, she heaved a deep sigh.

「In regards to the person who tried to hurt Miss Lefiya, I recalled that I had explained that matter before? 」

「Even without that, I expect that you've already made your move」

「I do try to do somethings behind the scenes, but it doesn't mean that I'm the mastermind behind all of those actions.」

Though fortunately we're working together under one person, this girl, or should I say these pair of siblings really had the worst compatibility with me.

「Do you really think that I'm going to trust that? 」

「Still suspicious of me huh. Well, what should I say in this situation? The one who brought Miss Lefiya to the Maou's castle was me. I do have some plans. however killing Miss Lefiya isn't included in them」

Miss Reanschild gasped after hearing my confession.

「Was it really you, lord Barlunt? 」

Well it might be about the time for that piece of news to be revealed.
It wasn't my wish to reveal that though.

「Let me to tell you the story from the very beginning. It won't be long. This matter began when those big shots under his majesty's wings started to compete for the queen's seat」

After resolving the civil war and enthroning his majesty as the Maou, every one of them started to send their own queen candidate.
I was, in fact, disgusted by their tenacity.

「Though his majesty ended up never choosing anyone amongst those candidates since there's still some remnants of the civil war, a rumor started to spread amongst those big shots. His majesty had already decided on the person who will become his wife」

「And then, what is the matter that connecting you to Lefiysama? 」

「Fortunately I managed to grasp the situation before they knew about Miss Lefiya. I don't know from where the rumor has leaked out, but they became aware of Miss Lefiya's existence and it caused their tenacity to become malice. 」

I mean who would expect that his majesty's beloved one turned out to be a human girl. Though it was their own fault for not considering such possibilities, that fact was a heavy blow to them.

「They immediately made their move to erase Miss Lefiya as soon as they became aware of her existence. They made a plan to invade the human kingdom, burning the village, and a.s.sa.s.sinating her in the process」

Those selfish people aren't even considering the current situation.
They'll use any and every means as long as they can achieve their selfish goals.
It's an extremely disgusting legacy from the previous demon king. [TL : I'll refer the current demon king as “Maou” and the previous one as “Demon King”, btw the previous demon king is an a.s.shole]
They're not even aware themselves that the influence of the previous demon king is etched deep into their personalities.

「As if.  ………. It might be true. Despite our still chaotic domestic affairs, they're about to bring about even more conflict with the human race」

「Unfortunately, they're the kind of people who will use EVERY means available if it's to achieve their own goals. But there's no way I can just sit on my lapels and overlook their acts that are completely against his majesty's policy to rebuild this kingdom. 」

I stare right into Reanschild's eyes.
I'm doing my best on my own. Groping around the undersurface of the people. I'm aware that I couldn't be as straight as these pair of siblings.
But, my loyalty towards his majesty isn't fake.
No matter what kind of doubt other people have towards me, that is something that I wouldn't yield no matter what.

It seems this girl can't understand such concerns of mine.
But then, she nodded to me.

「Fortunately, I knew their plans beforehand and moved ahead of them to secure Miss Lefiya. The next plan is to shelter Miss Lefiya in the place within my reach till things cooled down, and send her back to human world later, but then……… This matter escalated beyond what I predicted」

「………… Beyond your prediction? 」

「The biggest mistake was the fact that his majesty knew about Miss Lefiya, but an even bigger trouble was the person herself」

The person who I sent to take her was beaten by her.

No, hold on.

How did she beat someone who I sent as an envoy to take her under our protection?
Ever since then, things kept straying from my original plan.
I must guarantee her safety before those guys raid her village. But the person herself didn't think that it's needed.

What in heck is wrong with that girl's brain. Is she really a human?

Thus I was finally forced to take the last choice of using hollow knights to spread fear in her surroundings and turn the village into our hostage.
Hollow knights are something akin to the army's ultimate weapon.
These matters then came to light to his majesty when I used the hollow knights.

「The hollow knights arrived in the village and spread fear amongst them since Miss Lefiya's specs were something beyond the “Normal” realm and normal envoy couldn't handle her.」

「…… My apologies. It seems to be clear as day」

「I have no choice but to force her to pledge her allegiance to his majesty when her matter became known to the public. I thought that no one would attack someone who pledged their loyalty to his majesty openly in public, but……」

「She brilliantly messed up your plan again. I also witnessed that moment. It might be your fault in this matter」

「My position is the representation of everyone's feelings. I can't act carelessly by overlooking such future troubles. To be honest, I also lost my cool when Miss Lefiya abused his majesty. It seems that I lost my cool and betrayed everyone's feeling when I showed such an unsightly display of shouting at her」

Even if she has nerves of steel, she went too far.
Is there any other girl besides her who would go as far as insulting his majesty in front of the demon race, in the innermost audience chamber of the royal castle?

「I felt that your acting was beyond the norm, but………」

「So be it. Now I have no reason to kill her when I'm going as far as to take her under our protection. You may believe in that much at least」

「Though I have somewhat understood this matter…….. Such a sudden development is………」

I'm staring again at her who was still pondering about something.
I believe that this girl will understand my intentions.

「You and me should know best how painful it feels to have someone important to us killed」

I know her body trembled lightly hearing that.
Thus I can secure her as my cooperator.

「The one who saved me from that suffering was his majesty. There's no way I can kill his majesty's dearest person. It was my intention to keep things in moderation」

「My deepest apologies」

It seems she understood my intention.
I couldn't feel anymore hostility from her figure that was bowing her head in silence.

「You tend to make mistakes when you're in rush. Well, at least you've calmed down now」

「I did something extremely discourteous towards you」

「The promised things should arrive before long. I'm going to call you again later. I sincerely wish for you to not do anything reckless till then. …… You're to be by her side. Since it'll save me a lot of trouble just by having you by her side」

I presented something to her in order to gain her cooperation. But, I think she'll cooperate with me even without that thing. Even if she's sincere about that, there'll come a time when I need to do this.

Since that thing is something that she definitely can't let go.

「I'll be in your care then」

She left the room with a pale face.
My promise is fulfilled. Though I feel sorry for using more than the necessary means to compel her to cooperate with me.
My apologies.

Since it seems that those people who are trying to kill Miss Lefiya are more dangerous than my expectations.
I looked at the maid who's sitting on the floor.
This matter was already way beyond my expectations. What in the h.e.l.l happened there?
In fact it had caused a severe headache for me.

Things had spiralled beyond my control. Furthermore, my contact with that girl ceased that day.
Reanschild, vanished like a wisp of smoke.