Chapter 129 – Volume 8 Chapter 4. Randy
Volume 8 Chapter 4. Randy
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Inside his home, Marion woke up in his bed next to a sleeping woman. She’d called out to him the previous day.
Having woken up, Marion raised his hand. By doing so, the windows no longer blocked the sunlight from penetrating into the room.
The room came to life and began to move on its own, preparing for whatever was in store for the morning.
Marion climbed out of his bed and got ready for work.
As the woman showed no sign of waking up, he called out to her.
“My lady, it’s time for you to wake up.”
Hearing his sweet and gentle voice, the woman woke up from her slumber.
Then, she remebered what happened last night and covered her body in a hurry.
“You’re cute.”
Marion found the woman’s reaction to be rather lovely and reached out to touch her hair.
The woman turned bright red and rushed to the shower room with her clothes which were scattered around her.
“She was so enthusiastic about it yesterday… Now, I should really start heading to work.”
He looked out the window that overlooked the gray scenery which was the Capital.
“I don’t like how dark and squalid the Capital is… That said, I do like the fact that there are a lot of beautiful women here.” [1]
That was his impression of the Capital.
◇
“Good morning, Liam-senpai.”
Marion greets me with a friendly smile.
I’ve been meeting him at the elevator almost on a daily basis.
“As always, you reek of perfume.”
Marion whisks out his terminal to brag about his achievement from last night.
“I found this cute girl and managed to lay my hands on her. Oh, this is the one I’m talking about.”
It seems like the smell of perfume around him is from the woman.
The picture of the girl that he’s showing me right now is different from the previous one.
He gives off the impression of someone who always hits on women at night.
Apparently, a lot of women are decieved by his cutesy appearance.
All I can say to that is… He’s quite good.
Marion then proceeds to show me his recent achievements.
All his targets seem to be mature women. Is he into strong-looking beauties?
“How ’bout it, Liam-senpai? Wanna do it as well? It’s pretty much an all-you-can-eat buffet.”
The eyes of ordinary women change the moment you tell them that you’re an official working for the palace.
After all, officials are considered winners among winners within the Empire.
Hence, they’re extremely popular in the Capital.
“Tell them that you’ll be returning to the countryside when your training’s over. I bet they’ll scatter the moment they hear that.”
“I’ll do just that when I break up with them. Even so, does Liam-senpai have no interest in women? Is it because you feel bad for your fiancée?”
Feel bad for Rosetta? Is he stupid?
Why should I care about what Rosetta thinks?
She belongs to me, not the other way around.
It’s just that Amagi and Brian will start bugging me if I play around too much.
Amagi will be like; “You laid your hands on them, so you should take responsibility.” While Brian will be like; “Lord Liam’s finally taking an interest in women! Oh… but please be careful of honey traps. Everything’s fine aside from that.”
Wait a sec… Do they want this to happen?
They’ll probably be noisy about it if I were to so much as touch a single woman, so I won’t be doing that.
“None of the women here would suit my standard.”
“That’s quite the bold statement. One night stands are quite fun, you know?”
Seeing Marion being all smiles, I can’t help but think that he’ll be stabbed by one of those women eventually.
Then again, he’s an aristocrat.
If he really does end up getting stabbed by a commoner, he would be seen as a failure among the aristocrats.
We get off the elevator once it arrives at our floor.
As I’m heading to my seat, I stumble upon Randy and his goons chatting near my desk early in the morning.
“Congratulations, Lord Randy.”
“Thanks.”
“By joining the Cleo Faction, the Lengrand Family will rise to an even more prominent position.”
“Yeah, and things will only get busier from here on out, so I’ll need you guys’ help.”
They’re hanging out near my desk and talking about the matter of the Lengrand Family joining the Cleo Faction.
Marion stares at me with a look of interest.
“They’re trying to provoke you.”
“Let them be.”
Ignoring Randy and his lackeys, I sit down, only to have a file dumped on my desk.
“Hey Liam.”
Randy drops the honorifics and puts his hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t think we’re that close. Move you hand.”
I give him a warning, but Randy simply smiles with a look of ridicule on his face.
“His Highness Cleo has summoned me today. I’m busy, so I want you to do my portion of the work as well. We belong to the same faction, so it’s fine right?”
Cleo reported a few days ago that the Lengrand Family will be joining the faction.
That, in and of itself, isn’t all that surprising.
As a matter of fact, I feel somewhat underwhelmed.
“Sure. As someone that stands at the top of the Cleo Faction, it’s part of my responsibilities to take care of the newbies. Do your best to wag your tail before His Highness Cleo so that you can become well-liked.”
Randy’s expression undergoes a minute change when I utter those words with a smile.
He’s still smiling, but his cheeks are twitching.
As an aristocrat, it’s baffling that he can’t even maintain his poker face… Such a thought flashes through my mind for a split second.
Since he’s an aristocrat, the people in his territory and mansion must have always shown him respect.
He’s not used to being mocked, which is why he’s having a hard time holding back.
He was probably treated like royalty inside his territory.
“Then I’ll leave you to it.”
Frustrated, Randy and his goons leave the scene.
Marion, who has been watching the situation unfold, speaks to me while sounding exasperated.
“You’ve landed yourself in a tight spot. I didn’t think His Highness Cleo would accept the Lengrand Family into his faction. From how big the faction already is, I don’t think he should have rushed things.”
The addition of one more inconsequential aristocratic family won’t change the situation by much in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention that these opportunists jumped ships only after analyzing the current situation.
They’re very likely to betray us depending on how the future unfolds.
It doesn’t make sense to accept someone into your fold when you can’t trust them… Or maybe it does.
“Let’s sit back and watch how far the Lengrand Family can go.”
I pick up the file that Randy has left.
The file contains quite the bit of content. Despite how small the file is, the amount of data inside it is large.
He probably piled up all his work, then threw it at me.
Marion speaks to me as I’m closing the file.
“With that much work, overtime is pretty much confirmed. Need some help?”
“Nope.”
I don’t intend to do overtime.
I’ll finish things up before it’s time to leave.
◇
Even though it was work hours, Randy and his goons came over to a resting area located inside the building.
It was a cafe-like place with waiters and waitresses, and other aristocrats like them had been gathered there since the morning.
Some of them even smelled of alcohol.
The young aristocrats who were originally meant to be training were lazing around.
Randy had stopped by to kill some time before his meeting with Cleo.
His goons were mocking Liam, thinking that he was just putting up a front.
“In the end, he has to do our work. That’s all there is to him.”
“His military and personal combat skills are exceptional, but he’s just too slow when it comes to politics. Just what we’d expect of an aristocrat from the countryside.”
“It’s our job to lead these stupid countryside aristocrats.”
Looking at the Empire as a whole, the Lengrand Family, which Randy was a part of, was located relatively near the Capital.
As such, it was well-developed.
Due to this, they looked down on aristocrats like Liam who hailed from the countryside.
However, Randy was slightly different from his entourage.
“But it’s precisely these countryside aristocrats and their armed forces that are backing His Higheness Cleo and his faction. Make sure you never compete with them in anything other than politics.”
“W-we’re already well aware of that, Lord Randy.”
Randy did not belittle Liam’s personal skills and the Banfield Family’s military might.
He knew that it was Liam who defeated the Berkeley Family, also known as the Pirate Nobles.
Randy pondered about his future plans.
(Liam will be expelled from the Capital in the near future. We just have to be patient until then.)
With Cleo’s help, Randy was getting ready to kick Liam out of the Capital.
(No matter how much military might you have, you won’t be able to survive in the world of politics.)
Randy was picking a fight with Liam through political means, something which could not be swayed by military might alone.
◇
In the back palace, there was a building dedicated to Cleo’s use, and Lysithea was fuming with anger inside it.
“Cleo, why did you agree to Randy’s ideas!”
Cleo was signing electronic documents in his office, documents which were petitions from poverty-stricken aristocrats asking for support.
Some of these petitions looked clearly suspicious, yet Cleo signed them and promised support as if he was trying to splurge money.
“What are you talking about, Sister?”
Lysithea noticed the petitions and criticized Cleo for promising help so carelessly.
“Y-you’re going to sign all of them? If you thoughtlessly give them support, more and more people are bound to come knocking on your doors!”
“They’re in dire need of help after being attacked by the Kingdom of Dominion. It wouldn’t be right to abandon them.”
Given these reasons, Lysithea couldn’t say anything back in return.
“You should first consult Count Banfield about this.”
Cleo let out a small laugh.
“W-what’s with that laugh? Count Banfield’s the one who’s funding you. Don’t you think it would be unreasonable of you to not consult him?”
Cleo continued to sign the documents, but gave a small nod to acknowledge Lysithea’s logic.
“But of course, I’ll talk to Count Banfield about it later on. I’m thinking of giving him an important task while I’m at it.”
Lysithea was relieved to hear that.
After taking in the Lengrand Family, Cleo had been trying to set them up against Liam, and she had been feeling a sense of crisis from knowing that.
“That’s good. It would be a bad idea to make light of Count Banfield.”
“I know, I know. As nothing more than a pretty decoration, I need the support of a powerful aristocrat if I wish to survive.”
Oblivious to politics, Lysithea took Cleo’s words at face value.
“So, what important task are you going to give to Count Banfield?”
Cleo’s eyes were on the electronic documents, and he was signing them without paying too much attention to their contents.
“One of the aristocratic households fell to ruin. Their territory is under the direct control of the Empire, but because it’s located at such a remote area, someone needs to be dispatched there. I’m thinking of sending Count Banfield.”
“…Huh?”
Lysithea was so shocked by his words that her reaction was delayed.
An aristocratic household has fallen to ruin. Since the lord was gone, someone had to be dispatched to take control of his planet… Everything made sense up to that point.
The problem laid in the fact that Liam was being dispatched there.
“You’re planning on removing Count Banfield from the Capital!? Y-you can’t! It’s because he’s here that nobody’s making any moves! Cleo, you must rethink this!”
“Not only is Count Banfield very skilled militarily, he’s also good at governance. He was able to successfully revive his territory after all.”
“Even if he’s the right fit, it wouldn’t do to dispatch such irreplaceable personnel!”
Seeing that Lysithea was about to cry, Cleo described the situation of the planet which Liam was scheduled to be dispatched to.
“Sister, that just goes to prove how important that planet is. Faced with the Kingdom of Dominion’s invasion, the Empire’s citizens are evacuating. It’s crucial that we hold onto a base which can provide logistical support to the army confronting our enemies. They’re begging for someone with both military experience and skill. I can’t refuse them.”
Lysithea became silent after being told that it was necessary for the Empire.
Cleo pushed on.
“I’ve also received the Prime Minister’s permission. Although it won’t be easy on Count Banfield since he’s still young and in training, the Prime Minister believes that he will live up to our expectation. Besides, if he pulls this off, we can prevent Brother Calvin from claiming all the credit. We would be recognized as having played a part in the war.”
Lysithea’s shoulders dropped.
“I’m relieved to hear that Cleo’s thinking about things from various angles, but without Count Banfield, who will protect you and back you in his absence?”
Cleo answered calmly.
“I’ll have the Lengrand Family do their best.”
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Brian (´；ω；｀): “It’s painful. Enemies are appearing left and right. It’s painful.”
Wakagi-chan (屮゜Д゜)屮: “Get hyped! Volume 6 of ‘The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs’ will be released on July 30th, so get more hyped!”
Wakagi-chan (; > <): “Kuuu! I should work even harder to promote the products–”
Wakagi-chan (*ノ∀ノ): “R-right. For the sake of promotion, I’ll-I’ll strip! I’ll reveal my nudes! Surely, that will make the readers go wild! It will double the sales, no doubt! It’s Naegi-chan’s nudes, you know! Kyaaaa~!”
Brian (;・`ω・´)?: “…Aren’t plants normally naked?”
[1] Liam should take a page out of Marion’s book.