"... That means."
When he came to his senses, he was caught in the act.
At first glance, the focus of the topic seemed to be focused on the Duke's evil deeds, but this should not be taken lightly considering what the other person will say next in a situation where the truth is nailed down. There will definitely be significant repercussions.
It's already too late to take a step back. In times like this, there is no choice but to change the topic and change the flow of the conversation... Paul, who had been listening quietly to ease the current situation, opened his mouth.
"Can we interpret this to mean that Cruel Hardt knew Deon Hardt's position in the demon world?"
"No. I don't know. Maybe he sent him because they believed in Deon Hardt's skills."
"Definitely the safest place..."
"Even if it is dangerous, is it more dangerous than the human world? Aren't easily visible risks better to deal with than political and subtle risks? Besides, you can't kill a Duke carelessly, but you can kill a monster or demon. Whether risk factors can be eliminated is also very important."
Dan had a relaxed smile on his face, as if it was funny.
He was the owner of the gambling house... no, the owner of the guild. Is there any way that a modification like that would work?
Still, he wasn't happy about continuing the meaningless war of words, so he asked a question first to prevent him from asking him again about the same topic.
"First you were telling lies, and now you are trying to bite the deceased?"
"... You're the one biting the deceased right now, right?"
"It would be difficult to equate this with that. I was just trying to clear the wrong person's name by revealing the truth, and what you were trying to do was to attack the deceased with an unconfirmed complaint."
The way he spoke became increasingly poor.
When Paul closed his mouth, Dan shrugged his shoulders proudly and spoke sharply to everyone watching the screen.
"To summarize, it means that the person who killed Cruel Hardt was the Duke. If we interpret it a little further, we can say that the culprit behind Deon Hardt going to the demon world was also the Duke."
He didn't know who tried to raise the Duke's image, but they were the ones who brought out the dead first. Therefore, the fact that the Duke has been reduced to another object of disgrace by everyone is also something they brought upon themselves.
Dan raised the corners of his mouth.
'Do they say that digging up the grave of a person whose grave sins were revealed after death and decapitating the body was called a lieutenant?'
Since the names of the dead are being brought out and are being torn to shreds like this, this could also be said to be a lieutenant's trial in a different sense.
'Well, the Duke is a criminal.'
He had no intention of writing to sinners. Especially if the victim is someone he knew.
Dan, thinking of Deon watching from behind, calmly continued speaking.
"In other words, the claim that Deon Hardt killed his own brother to suit the tastes of the demons is completely wrong."
In the end, the story went around again and returned to the initial topic.
As a result, the 'reason why demons accepted Deon Hardt' that Paul claimed was broken into pieces. At the same time, the argument that 'they accepted Dan because he was Deon Hardt's subordinate' also lost its basis.
Humans who have observed this situation will think that the claim that 'only humans related to Deon Hardt are accepted' has lost its force.
'Wouldn't we be accepted too?'
'Can't I trust this?'
'The Demon World has always insisted that it accepts humans other than Deon Hardt, so you never know.'
In fact, it is true that Deon Hardt killed his family.
So, he reduced the width of the slander to his brother, but fortunately, it seems like they haven't noticed yet. Well, he intentionally made it confusing, so it's understandable that they were going crazy.
Deon Hardt's name was cleared and the Duke's reputation was tarnished.
At the same time, since Deon and the demons clearly insisted on what they wanted and created an atmosphere, it can be said that they got everything they wanted.
It's a complete victory. Dan gave an evil laugh.
***
"You said that you would just tell the truth."
I said hesitantly.
"I just told the truth."
Dan laughed.
I quietly looked at his face and let out a dull sigh. I definitely tried to scold him properly, but even if I couldn't, I tried to hit him in the back of the head...
"... You did something useless."
All that comes out is a light bruising.
This was the part that surprised me. I think this is an issue that deserves a long fight.
Instead of the fierce anger, a blunt voice came out.
"Do you think I stayed quiet because I didn't know how to explain to someone?"
It's not that I stayed quiet because I couldn't find a way to clear my name.
If I had his way, he could have gathered evidence and somehow solved the problem the day I heard the rumor that was spread in the human world during the war of words with the Revolutionary Army. After that, there was plenty of time to resolve it.
Still, I stayed still.
Because I thought that the ultimate cause of Cruel's death was myself.
'If it weren't for me, Cruel would have survived.'
If I hadn't killed my family, if I hadn't misunderstood, if I had tried to talk to Cruel even though it was too late... then he wouldn't have died.
In other words, it is I who killed Cruel. So I stayed still.
Perhaps it also contained some form of atonement.
"Sorry."
"... It's okay."
Dan ruined it all, but even so, a subtle, unidentifiable emotion takes precedence over anger or irritation. There I realized something.
'... I guess I was more exhausted than I thought.'
So maybe I was waiting for someone to recognize me and solve this problem to relieve me of this burden.
Of course, realizing that fact won't change anything.
In the end, I gave up scolding him and opened my mouth.
There was no eye contact.
"Was it intentional that you dragged out the time with the introduction at the beginning? To induce the Revolutionary Army to invade."
"Yes."
"I can't believe you were planning something like this..."
"I'm sorry."
"I said it was done. Don't apologize anymore. Anyway, we finished it safely, so let's just move on."
If it had ended even a little badly, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
Still, I have to check things out. I guess I've sorted out my emotions to some extent. I lifted my gaze from the guy's chin and made eye contact.
"You couldn't have gotten the documents on your own. I clearly said earlier that they were 'unidentified people.'"
'You may have heard that recently, organizations mainly responsible for contract killings were completely destroyed by an attack by unknown people to the point where recovery was impossible.'
Dan nodded.
"Yes, the Lofty Knights helped."
"As expected..."
Then something seemed suspicious.
They said they had a headache and were tired... I tried to change their mind later, but it was so blatantly suspicious that I couldn't ignore it. Even so, I thought it wouldn't cause any harm to me, so I let it go.
I remembered the suspicious reaction I saw when I stopped by the mad dogs' dormitory to bring them alcohol, laughed and stepped away.
"Where are you going?"
"A place where wild dogs might be."
"Probably at the training ground."
Dan, who quickly realized that it was the Lofty Knights, quickly responded and followed me. As if the tension was relieved by the gently flowing air, my mind was coming up with pointless thoughts.
'They have been upgraded from crazy dogs to wild dog. Should I celebrate this?'
But aren't they too well tamed to be a wild dog? No, to people other than Master, they are like wild dogs...
"The guild is..."
"Yes? The wild dogs?"
"What?"
"Yes?"
"..."
I stopped quietly, curled my middle finger and thumb and placed them on Dan's forehead. Immediately after, bah!
And I heard the sound of something breaking.
"Wake up."
"... I think my soul will leave before my mind comes in..."
"It's okay. You won't die."
I started walking again.
Hearing the sound of footsteps following behind me, I recited what I had said a moment ago.
"Did the guild retreat in time?"
"I haven't confirmed it yet, but if it goes according to plan, it should have fallen in properly."
"Life doesn't always go as planned, so check it out as soon as possible."
"Yes."
"And speaking of the second leader of the Revolutionary Army..."
It was a bit confusing at first, but now I understand.
I frowned as I remembered his youthful face on the screen, where he looked like he had just shed his boyishness and become a young man.
"I think it's the guy I saw at the Salvation Church."
"Are you talking about the Salvation Church?"
"Yes. You don't know because you didn't follow, but there was a boy who was taking care of a girl."
At the time, I only saw him in passing, and he had grown so much that I didn't notice it quickly, but seeing him a second time from an observer's point of view, I think I'll know for sure.
"The name of the current leader of the Revolutionary Army is..."
"Paul."
"Yes, it was Paul."
The name of the boy who infiltrated the Salvation Church and called out to the girl while talking to her was also Paul.
'Sheia! What are you doing! We have to go!'
'Ah, Paul! I'm sorry, but I think I have to go.'
I chuckled, clearly recalling a fairly old memory.
"It's a common name, but even the face is the same, so there's no doubt about it."
It's a little surprising how he got to that point, but I'm not curious.
Rather than asking such useless questions, the first thing that filled my mind was the thought that it was okay, even though it was bothersome because he interrupted twice.
I remembered the boy's harsh gaze as he took away a girl named Sheia. If you look at what he's taken care of like that, you can probably use it as a weakness. If done well, it may be possible to remove him cleanly.
I gathered my thoughts and called Dan.
"Find a girl named Sheia. She was a poor kid who belonged to the Salvation Church. For a poor person, she has a unique name, so she won't be difficult to find."
"Sheia... It's definitely unique. All right."
Meanwhile, I arrived near my destination and stopped.
Why stop here when you can just go a little further? Dan, who was thinking about the name and almost crashing into me, tilted his head and called out to me.
"Master?"
"..."
He waited, but there was no answer. He slowly came to the side and looked at my expression. A look of absurdity appeared on his face as he looked at the training ground.
"...?"
At the same time, a question appeared on Dan's face.
Why did you do that? Is there anyone in the training hall? He wouldn't make that kind of expression when no one was there.
Naturally, he followed my gaze and looked at the training ground. Contrary to expectations, most of the Lofty Knights were present in the training hall as usual. ... No, there were more than usual.
Probably more than the number of members of the Lofty Order that he knew of.
"Is this some kind of place where Corps Commanders visit...?"
I muttered helplessly.
Dan chuckled softly from behind, but I looked at the scene in front of me with slightly cold eyes.
There, Trover, the Commander of the 9th Corps, was demonstrating physical power, which he claimed was magic, against the mad dogs.
"This is body strengthening magic!"
"Waaah! Awesome!!"
"As expected, you know a thing other than two!"
"How much training do we have to do before we can use such strong magic?!"
"Body strengthening magic is quite a high level magic. Even though you are still clumsy, you seem to be quite talented as you are doing quite a bit. If you practice consistently, you'll be fine!"
I remember it clearly because I once served as referee in a sparring match between Dernivan, the adjutant of the 5th Corps Commander, and the 9th Corps Commander. The body strengthening magic shown by the 9th Corps commander... was clearly just a physical strengthening exercise.
What high-ranking magic... Why are you so crazy about something like that?
"Was it high-level magic? Please teach me simple low level magic too!"
"Then shall I teach you the silence spell?"
"Oh, oh! yes!"
"As a low-level magic, silence magic is very easy! You just need to quickly hit the other person's uvula with the blade of your hand."
"Okay!"
"The important thing at this time is power control! If you focus only on speed and apply too much force, it may turn out to be a killing spell rather than a silencing spell, so be careful!"
As far as strength control goes, it's not magic, right...?
Dan was already trembling with his mouth covered. I, who had been watching with pitiful eyes the mad dogs casting 'silence magic' on each other's necks, stepped into their space.
As if only then had they noticed my visit, their attention immediately focused.
"Captain!"
"You're here!"
"I enjoyed the screen! It was great!"
"I'm so glad that you were cleared of false accusations!"
Stop. My steps faltered.
Whether they knew it or not, the members of the Lofty Knights smiled brightly and shouted.
"We are learning magic now! We will learn it properly and show you a cool show later!"
... Ah.
I smiled faintly.
"... Okay."