Chapter 46
Geez... If you're coming, you could at least call, couldn't you?
S-sorry, Sis.
April said that and joined us with a sullen expression.
The moment we entered, everyone in the restaurant froze up, so she must have contacted them then.
Fortunately, it hadn't been long since we'd ordered, so we were able to eat together.
"Hmm... So what were you two talking about so enthusiastically?"
After we finished eating, April asked while eating the mini cake that had been served for dessert.
When I looked at Vincent to ask whether it was all right to tell her, he shrugged.
A gesture that meant, 'Do whatever you want.'
I immediately summarized the situation for her.
April was a member of the Douglas Kim family too, and more than anything, she was crazy about gossip.
Gossip about the 'arrogant adopted noble.'
April listened with interest, then smiled coldly.
"......Interesting. I did feel that he was starting to show his true colors after the family head's influence began to wane."
"The family head's influence is weakening?"
"Yes. Just to be clear, I don't mean that his status is wavering. Because of his willful personality, the World Nobles' Council has increasingly been rejecting his opinions."
'She still doted on him, but filtered what he said'—that was the feeling.
Douglas was indisputably a born noble and one of the founding members of the World Nobles' Council. He would never be driven from the position of family head, but the matter of succession was different.
Put bluntly, wouldn't it be a serious problem if someone accepted money and installed a nine-year-old elementary-school brat as family head?
From the World Nobles' Council's perspective, they probably wanted to prevent any possible disaster in advance.
"Wait, then that means..."
"If things go badly, the position of family head could pass to Wang Gangdu. Ordinarily, they would respect this faction's opinion, but that opinion is divided... and Wang Gangdu unquestionably has powerful backing."
'......Divided.'
Looking at Douglas Kim's current situation, it made sense.
There was a main house occupied by the family head, with four separate annexes standing apart from one another.
Athens—Lee family.
Eretria—Jo family.
Corinth—Kang family.
And finally, Thebes—adopted nobles.
Each of the major factions had taken one for themselves, which gave this family a more unusual character than any other.
Normally, born nobles would have absolute priority when selecting a family head, but unfortunately, each of them apparently had some flaw.
The capable Vincent had gained a reputation for being impulsive because of the Gale incident, while Athens had lost its distinct identity because of me.
The Baron of Corinth worked hard, but apparently lacked forcefulness.
"That's why Wang Gangdu is gaining ground. He's capable, and, though I can't say for certain, he probably has some born-noble blood in him too."
"Ah..."
But then I suddenly thought of something that bothered me.
I slightly furrowed my brow and asked April.
"But, Sis."
"Yes?"
"......So in the end, this is really about power, right? Because China is powerful."
"Right?"
'......'
I held up my palm and told them to wait a moment.
I called the people saved in my contacts one after another.
My heart fluttered at the thought of being praised.
*
-Uh... Lady Raebi?
"Ah, hello. I'm sorry for contacting you so suddenly. Are you busy?"
-I'm not particularly busy. Go ahead.
"Ahaha... Um, about the lesson fee you mentioned before..."
-The lesson fee...? Oh! Yes, yes.
"......Could I receive it in a slightly different way?"
*
-Hello there.
"Teacher. Would you rather be reported for child abuse, or grant my wish?"
-What's with this all of a sudden...? Have you gone crazy, Raebi?
"If you keep denying it, I might just withdraw from the conference."
-No, you can't. That would tarnish my reputation.
*
-Oh my, Lady Raebi! Has your busy period passed?
"Hehe... Were you ever as busy as Lady Iroha? Well, this is blunt, but I have a favor to ask."
-Ask anything!
With Iroha as the last, I finished making my requests to every powerful person I knew.
Enrico had been difficult because he resisted, probably out of pride, but I still managed to secure his promise.
Of course, there was a small price.
On the condition that I show him my 'true abilities,' I promised to invite him to my workshop someday.
"......What did you just do?"
Vincent stared at me with his eyes wide, while April also gave me a strange look.
Since I hadn't revealed the first person's name, they were merely curious at first, but from Teacher Enrico onward, both of their mouths fell slightly open.
I answered shamelessly.
"Power is something you overwhelm with even greater power."
"Huh? So that's why you called? ......Which teacher did you call?"
"Hehe, that would be..."
"If you say it was Teacher Enrico, I'll build a tower of bumps on the crown of your head."
'Huh?'
I quietly stood up and hid behind April.
From Vincent's reaction, I instinctively realized that something had gone wrong.
"I-it was Teacher Enrico."
"You insane, complete lunatic!!!!"
'A-ahhhh!!!!'
Fist drills began spinning at both my temples. Hiding behind April had done me no good at all—I was grabbed immediately.
The pain was beyond anything I had imagined.
For about ten seconds, with my feet hanging in the air, I could only grimace beneath the throbbing pain, unable even to scream.
Fortunately, April pulled him away, asking what kind of undignified behavior he thought he was displaying.
“…Dignity? Is that really something you can talk about?”
But Vincent suddenly flared up. April then mocked him again, implying that he was still hung up on the past.
The two of them, who had barely exchanged a proper word throughout the meal, suddenly began arguing heatedly.
After recovering somewhat from the pain, I leaped between them and waved my hands frantically.
"Wait! Why are you two suddenly fighting?!"
"If you weren't a woman, I'd have knocked your jaw sideways ages ago."
"Go ahead and try. Typical of a barbaric Eretrian."
'This isn't an insult to the family, is it...!'
I had a bad feeling that they were about to start fighting again instead of reconciling. A murderous gleam slowly filled Vincent's eyes, so I hurriedly played my trump card.
"Sis! If you apologize to Big Brother right now, I'll custom-make you a ring!"
"I may have gone a little far. Sorry, Big Brother."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No? I'm being sincere."
"Ha, forget it. Just sit down, both of you."
Fortunately, Vincent sat down as though trying to swallow his anger.
April sat down after whispering to me, 'If you forget the promise, I'll kill you.'
Still, I decided that someday, I needed to dig into those two's past.
"So... why was I scolded?"
"Because you offered a deal to that 'Enrico Meitner.' Right, Big Brother?"
"Don't go around talking to me with that pointless smile. I really fucking don't want to get attached to you."
Vincent sighed heavily with an exasperated expression. Then he gave a hollow laugh and spoke to me.
"Academy teachers are all elite graduates by default. But even among them, the fact that the best of the best—the chief teacher—came from the insignificant Meitner family means there must be a reason for it."
"I don't understand."
"You're going to get stripped bare. From what I heard earlier, you said you'd invite him over, right? The other islands will probably be thrown into an uproar too. He'll make up an excuse to tour them."
Apparently, strange items were scattered everywhere in his wake.
Invisible traps for surveillance, pranks, and hacking—things no one could even find without someone with tracking abilities. It was certainly a habit befitting an Item Crafting major.
Clearly, doing something like that recklessly would cause problems in all sorts of ways.
"But... I never said when I'd invite him, did I?"
"Huh?"
"The family head can simply ban him from entering. We can put it off until the next family head is chosen."
"......Are you serious? They say ignorance makes people fearless, but you've got some nerve."
'You'd be the only person who'd dare play around with Enrico,' Vincent muttered, then added that I'd give him a huge headache.
But I saw things differently. Even so, would he really kill me?
Besides, if I buttered him up properly, I figured I'd be able to get plenty of tips from him too.
But the real problem lay elsewhere...
"But Teacher Enrico isn't particularly political, so why did you make that kind of deal with him?"
"......Uh."
"Heh-heh, you're obviously going to get fleeced. Seriously, consult someone before you do anything."
What I had thought would resolve everything spectacularly and earn me praise had actually been a completely pointless blunder.
I felt a little deflated, but since the remaining people were quite powerful, I still managed a relatively relaxed smile.
April, who had been listening quietly, opened her mouth.
"The Shimizu family stepping in would certainly help. But who was the first person you called?"
"Ah, Lady Bella Cecil."
"What? Who?"
"Bella Cecil. You don't know her? I heard she's Aiden's fiancée."
"……Do I look like I'm asking because I don't know?"
April's mouth fell open like a hippopotamus's. Her eyes blinked slowly, while her hands fidgeted helplessly in the air.
It was a gesture that seemed to ask, ‘Are you serious?’
After that, the meal descended into chaos once again. I thought they were overreacting just because she was somewhat more powerful, but both of them practically foamed at the mouth as they demanded to know what I was thinking.
I calmed them down first, then explained the rest.
Apparently, neither of them knew the details of my lessons with her.
It had involved a full week of private meetings. Regardless of her intentions, it hadn't been a small sacrifice for me, so Bella's side had offered to pay me a lesson fee.
They seemed eager to settle it with money, but I had held off on requesting compensation as my trump card.
"So even though I only gave her a brief acknowledgment... this is still a formal transaction, right?"
Vincent seemed somewhat reassured by that.
"So that's what it was. That's a surprisingly sound judgment for you... Amazing."
"Little one, what were Lady Bella's items like? Since you saw them, you can make something similar for me too, right?"
I ignored April's nonsense as best I could.
Vincent looked at her as though she were pathetic, but she paid him no attention.
Not long afterward, the World Nobles' Council convened the family heads.
The main agenda was how to respond to the increasingly frequent S-rank Gates and anomalous Gates.
The succession problems of the elderly family heads were also brought up. Albert Cavendish was said to have stated the following.
'Do not interfere with other families in the slightest. That is an act permitted only to the British royal family. If anyone is found to have forgotten their place, I will take it as a declaration of war.'
And so Wang Gangdu's dream of becoming family head was utterly shattered.
Although the identity of the Chinese family backing him remained carefully hidden, it was clear that they could no longer make a move.
Wang Gangdu's presence faded rapidly.
He stopped even visiting the dungeons he frequented, holed himself up somewhere, and then, at some point, left the island and stayed away for several days.
No one made any attempt to harm me or requested a meeting.
As the social season slowly approached, one astonishing piece of news after another reached us.
In the early hours of the morning, I was secretly summoned to the main house, where Douglas and Jennifer were waiting for me.
"Wang Gangdu is missing?"
"Yes. Apparently, he failed to make it out of an A-rank Gate."
"How could he make such a mistake...... Besides, I didn't hear anything about an A-rank Gate operation today."
"It wasn't in Korea. He suddenly rushed off to Shanghai on business, and the accident happened right afterward."
'......Suddenly?'
"The situation is far too strange. Could he have been silenced?"
"Who knows? Anyway, it's a relief that such a troublesome problem has disappeared. It's all thanks to you, Raebi."
"Ah, yes. Th-thanks..."
'Wow, this man.'
I was strangely impressed.
Even though Wang Gangdu had been a member of the family, Douglas didn't seem particularly concerned that he had disappeared.
He let out a hearty laugh, saying he'd been worried the succession selection would become noisy.
When I asked whether he wasn't concerned about the family that had planted a spy, he firmly stated, 'That's for the successor to handle.'
Whatever conspiracy was brewing, it meant that Douglas couldn't be touched anyway.
I had no idea what Douglas's true identity was, but his laughter brimmed with mischievous confidence.
"Hmm... Anyway, I understand. So you called me here to tell me to be careful."
"Hmm? What are you talking about? You're mine. Anyone who touches what's mine gets wrecked. There's no one in the world who doesn't know that."
'......What will you do when you step down as family head?'
"Then why did you call me?"
"Ahem."
Douglas stared pointedly at Jennifer, as if telling her to explain instead.
An incongruous smile appeared on Jennifer's face.
"In recognition of your accomplishments, I will formally acknowledge you as a member of the family."
"What? ......Then people won't hate me anymore?"
"That's right."
"W-wow!"
Something began swelling in my chest.
The people who had regarded me as a thorn in their side were suddenly no longer a problem.
Somehow, it felt as though I was truly becoming a member of Douglas Kim's family.
"Do you recognize us as your family too?"
"Of course!"
"Good. Then from now on, you're the Baron of Thebes. Select a proxy to perform your role during your time at the academy."
......Uh, what?