Chapter 67
“Well, what should I do?”
After that, I returned to the mansion and tried soaking the cursed necklace I’d gratefully accepted from Carla-sensei in salt.
Since it was handmade by Carla-sensei, better safe than sorry.
Carla-sensei apparently left for the royal capital after that. It would take her about three or four months to get there.
Farewell, Carla-sensei.
Hopefully, when I enroll at the academy, she’ll be a little kind to me as “that kid from the family she used to tutor.”
“Aaaah... What should I do?”
But unfortunately, even if Carla-sensei’s opinion of me might not have been all that great, the situation hadn’t changed at all.
That’s right.
The problem of “Sieg-kun having absolutely no motivation”—which affected not just my life as a mob character, but the very foundations of this world—was still unresolved.
I still had no connection to Sieg-kun.
Without a connection, it’d feel unnatural to act, but I couldn’t just approach him on my own and risk making a weird impression, like I had with Genesis.
“All right, all right. ‘Dear Lady Iris,’ then...”
Half resigned, I sat at my desk in my room and wrote a letter.
Incidentally, I was writing to Iris.
Iris kept sending me all sorts of messages, like “What was that thing you said the other day? Explain yourself,” and “Come to my territory soon. Or I’ll come to yours.” They were quite a nuisance... No, not that. They were heartwarming messages.
In terms of family rank, I could ignore her without any problem, but she was a baron’s daughter with the bizarre distinction of being descended from the royal family.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
So I kept fobbing her off with harmless replies like “I have a stomachache” and “My magic’s been acting up a little...”
“Wait, I already used ‘I was bedridden after my magic went berserk...’ before. Could ‘My magic’s acting up and my whole body is convulsing...’ work? I’m running out of illness excuses.”
But—
“Ultos-sama, another one of those letters?” came a reproachful voice.
“What is it, Riera?”
I turned around to see Riera, the maid with dazzling long golden hair, looking at me with a somewhat exasperated expression.
“Ultos-sama, um... aren’t you going to do something next?”
“Do something?”
“You achieved such splendid results in Lyon, and yet... I’m just so frustrated...! Ultos-sama was so impressive, but you haven’t been given any recognition at all. And lately, all you do is write fake letters or get strange necklaces, without doing anything!!”
“Just so we’re clear, I don’t plan on doing anything like what happened in Lyon again for a while.”
What exactly did this girl want me to do?
I made sure to set that boundary.
“B-but... I want the world to know about Ultos-sama’s achievements...”
Riera lowered her head sadly. She was beautiful, so it made for quite a picture.
But, Riera, looking as forlorn as an abandoned puppy won’t work on me.
I wasn’t going to tell her about the things I’d done.
Obviously.
What idiot would go around saying, “I picked a fight with a major criminal organization” or “I attacked the mayor in the middle of the night”? It’d make me sound like some savage who couldn’t be reasoned with.
And to make matters worse, my only source of information was what I knew from the game.
I’d just be treated like a total lunatic.
“Then at least do something splendid next!”
“Like what?”
“R-right! For example—”
Saying that, Riera promptly pulled out a notebook.
It was an item I’d never seen before.
“What’s that?”
“My notes! Lately, I think up Ultos-sama’s achievements every night before bed.”
I see. Our maid seemed to be pretty worn out.
Maybe I should give her some time off soon????
Thinking that, I humored Riera.
“...So, for example, what sort of achievement?”
“Yes! First, Ultos-sama goes to a diplomatic gathering with another country.”
“Oh?”
A diplomatic gathering.
It didn’t exactly appeal to me, but the House of Randall was, after all, a fairly distinguished family.
There was a chance—
“Well, it’s not impossible.”
“Right?! And then...”
Saying that, Riera closed her eyes.
She wore a dreamy expression.
“At the diplomatic gathering, Ultos-sama would take control of the situation in no time at all, playing every country like a fiddle!”
“I see?”
Right, I was giving her time off.
“Riera... Don’t push yourself if you’re tired, okay?”
“I-I'm not! Why are you looking at me like I’m so pitiful?! I-I'm not tired, and I mean it!”
Honestly, her being serious was more frightening.
“...Why would a child attend a diplomatic meeting between countries? Besides, the bigwigs from each country aren’t that stupid.”
“No matter how wise the people from other countries might be, none of them could stand against Ultos-sama when he gets serious! Ultos-sama would masterfully play every country and make his presence known to the world!!”
“..........I-I see.”
Riera’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
But I was just thinking, “Is she for real???”
Seriously, what was this?
A child arguing circles around diplomats from every country! What was this, some sloppy web novel plot?
“Riera, there’s no way something like that could happen in real life.”
I sighed and spoke to the maid who kept trying to pull me away from my mob-character life.
“Besides, Father’s not stupid enough to send me somewhere like that.”
There was no way.
My father was certainly kindhearted, ignorant of the world, and easily deceived, but surprisingly, he did understand aristocratic norms.
Even if Father had been manipulated by Gregorio so thoroughly in the game, there was no way he’d send a child to a diplomatic gathering as if sending him on an errand.
Besides, I had plenty of other things I needed to do. Why would I go out of my way to step on such a landmine?
I wanted no part of trouble.
And so, I managed to fob off Riera, who looked dissatisfied—
But I had forgotten.
There are more idiots in this world than you’d think.
A few days later.
I stood frozen before my father, who had just returned to the mansion.
“...Father. Could you say that one more time?”
“Of course,” Father replied.
Then, with a dazzling smile, he said:
“Ultos, would you please represent the House of Randall in diplomatic talks with another country?”
—Huh?????