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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
Bad premonitions were usually right.
Of course, there were those who state, because those were negative feelings, they were hard to forget, and therefore, felt accurate.
However, for Kousuke, especially since he became a living god, bad premonitions seemed to have become increasingly accurate.
This time too. It happened soon after he felt a bad premonition.
Oddly, Peach came into the lab, looking a little impatient.
Currently, Isnani had gone to the 5th layer, so Kousuke was the only one in the lab.
As a side note, a separate room was purposely built for creating golems.
So Kousuke and Mitsuki were in the lab, and when they saw Peach’s condition, they looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
“Peach, what happened? Why do you look so flustered?”
“Kousuke-san, come here for a minute. This is urgent.”
Then, without hearing Kousuke’s reply, she took Kousuke’s arm and left the lab.
“Wait a minute, what happened?”
“It’s better to ask them directly than to hear it from me~”
Peach came to him saying such a thing, having calmed down somewhat while they were walking.
Kousuke was inwardly wondering what had happened to make Peach so upset, but for the time being, he kept quiet and let her take him away.
Naturally, he was followed by Mitsuki.
Peach brought Kousuke to the meeting room where the regular meeting was always held.
Three people were waiting for him in the room, which was rarely used except for regular meetings.
Two of them were Shrein and Floria.
The other one was not a member of the administration, but a high-ranking official of the 5th Floor executive branch.
Kousuke remembered him because he had been there at the last regular meeting.
Kousuke tilted his head, unable to think of a reason for him to come here, even though it was not a regular meeting.
“What’s wrong?”
“Kousuke, you came.”
They all looked overtly relieved to see Kousuke.
Seeing this, they recognized that something was really going on.
The dignitaries who had come here also had overt expressions of relief on their faces when they saw Kousuke’s face.
This dignitary, as if prompted by Shrein, began to talk about what was going on.
As he listened, Kousuke’s face began to go blank.
It all started when Kouhi visited the 5th Floor to pick up the golem materials he had ordered from Schmidt.
Collecting the materials itself went off without a hitch.
The problem was what happened after that.
Wondering what was going on, Kouhi did not return to the Administration Floor immediately after receiving the money, but instead took a look around the 5th Floor.
Kouhi, of course, was well aware of the fact that her appearance attracted a lot of attention.
Using her appearance, Kouhi started to hear rumors about what was going on in the town.
Among the rumors was the one that started this incident.
To put it simply, they were all rumors that were meant to put Kousuke in a negative light.
Kouhi, who heard the rumors, did not do anything at that moment, but went straight to the executive branch.
Naturally, someone who did not know Kouhi, responded to her first.
However, a high-ranking official who happened to recognize Kouhi’s face passed by the spot, and his face paled.
He said that when he saw Kouhi’s expression at that moment, he instantly understood what was going on.
Kouhi was immediately taken to another room and placed in Alec’s custody, and the official came directly to the Administration Floor after receiving Alec’s permission.
Kousuke had to deal with what was in front of him.
“Mitsuki, please don’t run off without me.”
Kousuke’s words caused everyone but Mitsuki to look at her and inwardly break out in cold sweat.
Her expression was smiling, but everyone could see that she was livid.
“Oh? Why so?”
“Just stay put until I know what’s going on. Okay?”
” haah. …Alright”
Mitsuki nodded her head, as if reluctant to do so.
Seeing this, all the rest let out a sigh of relief and looked at Kousuke.
Their gazes were probably an indication of their expectation to deal with Kouhi, who was currently on the verge of causing a typhoon.
“…I knew my bad premonition would be right…”
Kousuke thought to himself as he was led by the dignitaries to the 5th Floor.
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“Oh, I can’t. This is just impossible for me.”
That was Kousuke’s line the moment he saw Kouhi’s expression in the administrative office.
Alec’s expression when he heard that line was something to behold, but Kousuke was having none of it.
“Let’s just calm down for now, Kouhi.”
“Oh, Master, you’re here. Please wait while I crush this infidel for the time being.”
The words that were about to go out his throat, ‘You don’t have to crush him for me,’ never made it out.
He knew it was useless to say it.
“Alec, what’s this all about anyway?”
Rumors spread throughout the 5th Floor that Kousuke was being disgraced. That was the cause of the problem.
Kousuke didn’t think Alec would just stand by and let that happen.
Alec let out a sigh.
“It’s not like there haven’t been rumors like this before. It seems that they have been deliberately induced recently…”
Kousuke hastened to offer advice in response to Alec’s apologetic statement.
“Alec, I don’t care about political games. It seems you don’t understand, so I’ll tell you, it’s already too late. You’ll get involved if you don’t say what needs to be said, you know?”
At Kousuke’s words, Alec stopped moving and looked at Kouhi.
He knew exactly what Kousuke was talking about. And that his words now were akin to stepping on a tiger’s tail.
Alec naturally knew of the existence of the rumors.
As he’d mentioned earlier, he even had some idea of who was deliberately manipulating him behind the scenes.
He had planned to get solid evidence and use it to his political advantage, but Kouhi’s presence blew it all away.
Kousuke was right, if left unchecked, not only him but the executive branch itself would become the target of Kouhi’s wrath.
Kouhi would not hold back just because it was the executive branch of the 5th Floor.
“…The parties involved here have already been allocated. Most of the places that are pulling the strings behind the scenes are also…”
“Tell me.”
Kouhi answered shortly and simply.
“Master Kouhi, if you make good use of this time, the position of this town will be more…”
Alec managed to explain the advantages and tried to dissuade her, but Kouhi ignored all of them.
“It doesn’t matter. Are you going to tell me or not?”
Understanding that this was an ultimatum, Alec immediately presented Kouhi with a single document.
“Here’s the information we have so far, in case you’re interested.”
Kouhi left that room as soon as she received the document.
She probably went to the Defrayer Clan to get some information to back up the report.
Even Kousuke could tell that much.
Alec let out a sigh when he saw Kouhi leave.
But then Kousuke looked at Alec and grimaced.
“Alec, I’m sorry, but it’s still too early for you to feel relieved, you know?”
“What? What do you mean…?”
Alec was about to ask what was going on when he saw Mitsuki standing by Kousuke’s side and immediately understood what Kousuke meant.
Alec cleared his throat and looked at Mitsuki.
“Well, I’ll let you off the hook this time because it’s your first offense. But the next time you do the same thing… Maybe Kouhi will immediately make a move, even if I don’t.”
Both Kouhi and Mitsuki were angry with Alec because of this incident.
Or, more accurately, against the executive branch.
The executive branch dared to overlook rumors that unfairly undermined Kousuke.
They wanted to gain political advantage by exposing those who were intentionally spreading the rumors.
However, both Kouhi and Mitsuki feel that they were equally guilty when they let the rumors go unchecked.
The only reason they overlooked it this time is because of Kousuke’s heavy reliance on Alec.
“…Understood.”
Alec bowed to Mitsuki and Mitsuki backed down.
As Kousuke was also concerned about Kouhi’s movements, he could not stay there any longer, so he had to immediately leave the executive branch.
Peach, who had come with them, told Alec after Kousuke and the others had left.
“For Kouhi-sama and Mitsuki-sama, Kousuke-sama is their tiger’s tail, so you shouldn’t think of using him in any way you could think of~”
“…I wish you would have warned me first if you could.”
“Oh my~. I thought you already knew that because of what happened when Floria first got introduced.”
When Peach told him, Alec finally remembered what had happened.
“…Indeed.”
Peach threw some words of consolation for the depressed Alec.
“Well, the situation is different from that time, so it’s not unreasonable. However, it would be better to make sure that the means we use before and from now on, no longer cross that line”
“Let’s do that.”
Alec nodded gravely in agreement with Peach’s words.
