The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 7: Madness of the Saint and Iris (6)

Since the failure of the last operation, one change has occurred in the empire.

Archduke Charles, who had become a hero by catching Edmund and was trying to turn his life around as an emperor candidate at once, decided to change his strategy and tried to increase his power, albeit belatedly.

According to this, Archduke Charles selected a commander to protect the borders on his behalf in Frostville, and then tried to get involved in Solaum’s political battle.

“I heard the news. He said he wanted to increase his power in earnest.”

Hearing the news of him, the Duke of Valois came to him faster than anyone else.

He even braved the cold to visit Archduke Charles’ residence in Frostville.

“I would love to, but I don’t really know where to start as I have no contact with other nobles.”

“Isn’t that why I’m here to help? Don’t worry too much. If it goes according to my plan, the Archduke will definitely be able to become the emperor.”

A proposal that Archduke Charles could not refuse. However, he was still unsure whether the Duke of Valois would be an ally or an enemy.

Insufficient intelligence, but as far as Archduke Charles knew, the Duke of Valois was one of the numerous allied nobles of the Duke of Rossier.

To be exact, he had a position of second-ranked among them.

“How exactly can you help me?”

“I am allied with many nobles. In fact, the horse is an alliance relationship, and you can see it as actually under me.”

“Isn’t the Duke of Rossier allied with you? In fact, the head of your group seems to be the Duke of Rossier….”

“She’s just a new duke. Moreover, according to the previous duke’s will, she is not even an official duke. In fact, she is a duke only by title, but in reality she is no different from a duke’s deputy.”

“… ….”

As soon as the story of Duke Rossier came out, Duke Valois’ expression hardened rapidly.

“So, what do you want from me? Let’s guess, I guess it’s telling Rossi to deal with the duke.”

“As expected, you are quick-witted. To be precise, please help the Duke of Rossier to submit to me.”

“I will tell you in advance. Until I become emperor, I have no intention of putting pressure on the Duke of Rosie. If we recklessly drive out the Duke of Rossi and create a division, this faction will be split in half. Wouldn’t that make the chances of me becoming emperor even lower?”

“Yes, I know. So let’s change the offer. Please help me take the lead in my group.”

“How are you asking for help?”

“I have a daughter who just turned nineteen. The Grand Duke was also old enough to get married. So how about getting engaged to my daughter?”

Archduke Charles looked at the Duke of Valois and was lost in his thoughts.

Even if he is the second-in-command, the Duke of Valois is also a noble with a high reputation. Also, making an engagement proposal first can be seen as an oath of allegiance.

“You’d better think carefully about your engagement. I will try to think positively though.”

“Then, let me make another suggestion. A meeting of nobles will soon be held at my mansion, and I hope that Archduke Charles will also attend. Isn’t this an opportunity to see other nobles?”

“… Yes, I will attend.”

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“Thank you.”

With this, Iris could be held in check even more. The Duke of Valois did not hide his smile.

“Then, I want to ask you something. Seeing that you came to see me, you seem to have judged that I could become the next emperor, but I’m curious about your plans.”

“Even the group I belong to boasts a considerable size, but it still can’t compare to Her Highness’s power. However, there are quite a few forces that do not support Her Highness.”

“So you’re going to capture them all.”

“Yes, and many of them are somewhat dissatisfied with the princess.”

The Duke of Valois divided these nobles into three groups.

The first is a noble family belonging to the Mage Tower wizard who died in the last battle of Speth.

“For example, Isabelle, the lord of the Blue Mage Tower, was the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Clearwater, and Scarlet, the lord of the Rogue Magic Tower, was the second daughter of the Duke of Flame. Having lost their precious daughter to Edmund, they want Edmund’s punishment more than anyone else. However, Her Highness the Princess is under suspicion that she is secretly helping Edmund.”

“… So, let’s convince them.”

The second is the nobles who supported the fallen Calia. Their successor.

“As you know, most of the nobles who supported Calia were stripped of their titles. Her Highnesses handed over the domains they ruled over to the new nobles. However, not all of them support Her Highness the Princess. There are also those who were acquainted with the purged nobles.”

“… There is an element of anxiety. After all, didn’t they support the prince? Aren’t you still loyal to the prince?”

“Now it is. However, considering the antipathy she has for Her Highness, I should be able to convince her enough.

The third is those who are dissatisfied with the princess for various reasons.

They’s main grievances were the speedy conclusion of a peace treaty with Speth and the blocking of the issuance of indulgences.

Other than that, there are those who claim that she lacks legitimacy because she is a woman, and there are those who are dissatisfied with her because she treats her own estate poorly.

“Those who are dissatisfied with the ban on issuing indulgences are loyal to Etoileism, so it won’t be difficult to win them over. But how do you convince those who insisted on playing Speth? I am also against attacking Speth forcefully.”

“There is no need to inform the Grand Duke of your opinion. Instead, you only need to criticize Her Highness for hastily signing a peace agreement.”

“… The risk seems high. If the princess refutes it properly, it will be neither one nor the other.”

“Then you can put this on hold. Anyway, the point is to bring these scattered nobles together.”

Still, after hearing the Duke of Valois’ explanation, Archduke Charles, a novice in politics, had a good sense of what to do.

But his last element of anxiety.

“No matter how much it is, the real power of her empire is still the princess, so what are you going to do with her last blow to bring her down?”

“The last shot will be that alien. It’s still just a suspicion, but if conclusive evidence comes out, even if she is the princess, she’ll be heavily criticized.”

… It’s a problem because it’s difficult to find that conclusive evidence.

Still, things looked much better than when she was frustrated in her last operation.

If the Duke of Valois said, he too would soon have a force that the princess could not ignore.

***

“Duke of Valois, you bastard bastard!! Did you strike first and call Archduke Charles?”

Meanwhile, Iris also heard from the saintess that Archduke Charles was attending the next meeting.

As soon as she heard the news, she tore her hair out.

It was absurd. At the last meeting, when you demeaned him as a country boy who protects the north, you can’t believe he’s going to change his stance now.

But apart from that, Archduke Charles joined hands with the Duke of Valois. In other words, the initiative of the next meeting will be held by the Duke of Valois.

And starting with that, I will try to reduce her position. That foxy bastard somehow wanted to be the leader of this group.

By far….

Iris bit her nails and couldn’t hide her nervousness.

Even after changing her bedroom, she continued to have nightmares, so she was exhausted. So her head is not working well.

But even if her condition was normal, there was no way to reverse this situation at once.

While she was thinking for a while, her servant knocked on her door and came into her room.

“Duke, the church sent me a package.”

“At Etoile?”

I haven’t heard anything from the saintess……. Iris opened the package with a suspicious expression.

In the box was a teddy bear.

“What kind of teddy bear?”

Iris tilted her head. But she soon noticed that the teddy bear smelled strange. It was a strangely familiar floral scent.

After examining her doll for a while, Iris realized that she also had a strange sense of touch.

‘I think I did something with magic… ….’

Iris called Marc to look at the teddy bear.

“Well, it has a reality-bending spell on it.”

“Reality manipulation magic?”

“A magic that temporarily changes the shape of an object. It’s not that great once you know the principle. And… It can be easily unlocked like this.”

Marc immediately removed the magic from the teddy bear.

Then Iris was shocked.

Because the teddy bear turned into a bouquet of Mystic Roses.

This can’t be a coincidence.

“It’s a flower, check if there is any poison in it… ….”

“No, please leave now.”

“But….”

“Right now!”

Iris raised her voice and drove Marc away, then raised her bouquet with her trembling hands.

Then a small card fell from her bouquet. The card read:

– I know what you did.

Crooked handwriting. This was clearly Edmund’s handwriting.

“Edmund you damn bastard!!”

Iris was furious, slamming her bouquet on the ground.

In time, however, her anger turned to fear. She sat down, trembling all over her body.

“… So, what are you going to do now? Are you trying to reveal the truth?”

Coming to think of it, Edmund did the same to Calia. Didn’t it start by exposing Calia’s evil deeds and taking away her wealth and her honor?

The same thing was about to happen to her.

“Ha ha ha… …. Ha ha ha ha ha… …. Ha ha ha ha ha… !!!”

Iris went mad. She looked at Edmund’s card again.

I understand his goal well. He will reveal the real culprit who killed the duke in Rossier and have Iris stripped of her dukedom.

“I… how did you get the position Do you think you will hand this over lightly?”

Iris said, crumpling her cards.

She felt rather grateful to him. Thanks to her, she woke up.

She held on to her heart again.

I will defend her power by any means necessary.