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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
When Amidio saw Prince Renald approaching him, he was overcome with the desire to run away.
But his legs wouldn’t listen to him and wouldn’t move.
The surrounding guards seemed to have no idea what was going on.
In the first place, there were few people who knew the Prince’s face directly, unless they were nobles.
The only person whose name had been mentioned so far was the first court magician, Oke.
His name was well known to the public, but again, few people would recognize his face.
It was objectively true that the sudden appearance of the magician and the others had ordered something to be done to stop the regular army from engaging in combat.
Among them, the person kneeling to the adventurers’ group leader stood out, but those who were watching would not have expected it to be the Prince.
If Amidio had anything to attack at this point, it was these facts, but he had already lost the desire to do so.
The sight of Prince Renald kneeling before the adventurer was such a shock.
“Oh, um. The army has withdrawn, what are we going to do?”
One of the private soldiers beside Amidio asked that, but the words fell on deaf ears.
With the princes approaching, Amidio had his hands full thinking about his future fate.
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Prince Renald went to Amidio’s place with his men, who came with him by transfer magic.
Kousuke did not follow along.
From this point on, the discussion would be between the nobles and the Royal Family.
The Royal Family had already reached a decision on taxes.
Regarding the taxation of adventurers, the Royal Family decided that there should have been no room for the nobles to interfere.
The Royal Family could not approve of a tax in the name of activity tax.
At last Prince Renald, coming up to Amidio’s sight, addressed him.
“Viscount Amidio. Do you have anything to confess?”
Amidio, who had lost his composure at the sudden questioning, regained some of his composure.
He was more of a nobleman than a mere adventurer, and he felt that he would not be ignored at all.
The prince was on his knees a moment ago, but it was his pride as a nobleman that made him think that way.
“What do you mean by ‘confess’? I was just trying to catch an adventurer who was trying to evade taxes.”
Amidio’s excuse was certainly not wrong.
After all, that was the reason for the written order to move the regular army.
It was probably the best excuse he could come up with at a moment’s notice.
Amidio decided to use the written order as a shield to claim that he had a legitimate reason.
“Tax evasion… huh?”
To which Prince Renald returned a scornful smile.
“So, I ask you, how can a person who has properly paid the taxes owed evade them?”
The question was advantageous for Amidio, because of the existence of the order.
“Isn’t that an odd argument? Isn’t it because they don’t pay their taxes that they are supposed to have an order like this and for the regular army to move?”
Amidio had no choice but to say that he was acting in accordance with the order, and there was no way for him to avoid Prince Renaldo’s pursuit.
“Orders, huh…. Of course, you have those orders, don’t you?”
“Of course I do…!”
Amidio reached into his pocket.
There in it was the order book that moved the regular army.
He had not expected to use it, but he had brought it with him for something.
Thinking that it would be a chance to make a comeback, he rushes to take it out.
He didn’t even know it was a trap.
“Ho. This is the order form. It certainly looks authentic.”
“Of course it is! It can’t be a fake!”
Amidio goes out of his way to be loud and strong, since the order book itself was indeed genuine.
But it was important to Prince Renald that the written order be genuine.
Prince Renald made sure to check the signatures on the order form.
This would prove that the nobleman who signed it was also involved in this matter.
“I see, it is indeed authentic.”
“Yes, indeed!”
Amidio nodded broadly in response to Prince Renaldo’s hammering.
Holding the order in his hand, Renald smiled.
For Renald, this was what he wanted.
Prince Renald’s next words caused Amidio to freeze.
“Then, I will take this as proof of injustice.”
“…Huh?”
Prince Renald handed the order to Armin, leaving Amidio stunned.
Armin nodded once after checking the signature on the document.
“Indeed, it is well signed.”
Armin immediately handed the order to Oke.
Oke, who was handed it, also checked the signature firmly.
“Indeed.”
Oke nodded once and immediately handed the order back to Prince Renald.
Seeing these exchanges, Amidio finally understood the meaning of the previous exchanges.
He knew that he had been set up.
It was already a done deal for Prince Renald and the others that Amidio was cheating, and they wanted to make sure that there was more to the connection than that.
And now, the very order in Prince Renald’s hand would be the evidence for that purpose.
After all, the order was signed instructing him to send out his troops.
What better proof could there be?
Amidio realized that after all this time, but he could not take it back anymore.
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By this stage, Amidio had come to understand that he had been set up, and his face was pale.
“When in the world did you start…. No, before that, that was… Who is that guy?”
Amidio was muttering with an air of stupor.
For Amidio, the move he had made with the intention of punishing the rebellious adventurer had somehow fallen for Prince Renald’s trickery.
In fact, that was not true, but Amidio, who did not know Kousuke, could be forgiven for thinking that Prince Renald had set the whole thing up.
“Well… By now, you should understand why I’m here, right? You will be punished in a dignified manner. I’ll let you know what it will be as soon as possible.”
“…”
Prince Renald coldly delivered his final sentence to the stunned Amidio.
He knew that he would have to delve deeper into this matter to find out what punishment Amidio would receive.
Kousuke, who had heard via Alec, told him that similar things were being done in other territories.
Starting with Amidio and the great noble he belonged to, the final objective of the Royal Family was to investigate which nobles were involved in this matter.
The Royal Family had no intention of taking any easy measures with regard to this issue of the adventurers’ tax.
At this point, Amidio, who had lost all interest in making excuses, had one thing he really wanted to confirm.
“One thing. Can you tell me one thing?”
“… What is it? What is it?”
“Who, who was that adventurer?”
It all started with that adventurer.
Moreover, even Prince Renald kneeled before him.
It was a reasonable question.
“I’m not sure if it’s right for me to tell you that.”
That was enough to tell him that he was a man of considerable importance.
“I see.”
Amidio muttered at last, and his shoulders slumped.
