Positioned near House Banfield’s home planet were several ships from the Empire’s special forces. In one such ship’s hangar, some of Theodore’s most talented subordinates had gathered. The leader of the group held a test tube-like container that held Liam’s genetic material.
“We got hold of it more easily than I thought we would.”
Most of those gathered looked relieved, but some seemed almost disappointed by how smoothly the job had gone.
“We didn’t see those shadow operatives, did we?”
“I’ve heard there aren’t many of them. Still, it was kind of anticlimactic, wasn’t it?”
“They’re just bloodthirsty beasts from a bygone age. They’re not good for anything other than assassination.”
The group had obtained information on Kukuri’s organization beforehand, yet they hadn’t encountered its members. That gave them a very unfavorable view of the operatives, who evidently couldn’t even defend the mansion where their master lived.
There was another reason these men had succeeded in their mission, though. He was beside them in the hangar, panting.
“Wh-who do you think enabled you to do this? Do you even know how much trouble I went through so you’d achieve your objective?”
Having lost his body, the Guide had been reduced to his top hat. He’d been run ragged; he was burned here and there where he’d protected the men as they carried out their mission. He’d finally recovered his body back on the Capital Planet, only to lose it once more on this mission to obtain Liam’s genetic material. But this group had only avoided Kukuri’s forces and retrieved that genetic material thanks to his guidance.
In his hat form, the Guide cried, “If not for me, you’d all have died—and not just once or twice! You’d have suffered hundreds of deaths! Where do you get off acting so blasé, huh?! Damn it…”
The Guide had watched them from the shadows the whole time, ensuring they’d pull this off, yet the men knew nothing about that. They smiled nonchalantly as the Guide wept, looking up at Liam’s genetic material.
“It was worth all the trouble, though. Liam…your worst enemy will be you yourself!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“This is disgraceful, Kukuri.”
Tia was participating in this investigation from the Empire’s border, transmitting her image and audio to this specially designed dome-shaped room. Her large hologram gazed down at Kukuri coldly, and those physically present in the room wore the same expression on their faces.
Marie looked so pissed that she’d crossed her arms to keep herself from cutting Kukuri down where he knelt before them. “Not only did you let thieves infiltrate the mansion, you even let them get away. How useless can you be? Aren’t you embarrassed to have allowed this to happen on your watch?”
Kukuri could say nothing to either woman. Instead, he apologized only to me. “If need be, I will apologize with my head and the heads of all my subordinates present during the incident. However, we continue to swear allegiance to House Banfield. Please, if you can allow us one chance to make up for our mistakes…”
“Cutting your heads off would just make your organization more useless,” I scoffed.
I actually had a very high opinion of Kukuri’s group, but they’d really screwed up this time. Tia and Marie were as furious as they were because they understood that only too well.
Only my head knight Claus hurried to defend Kukuri and his forces. “Lord Liam, punishing Sir Kukuri’s operatives too severely will affect their ability to serve in the future, and we have no personnel with whom we could replace them.”
Kukuri’s group been so useful thus far that I’d left things of this nature to them completely, but that had backfired this time around. Claus raised a good point, though, so I decided to let that go for now. “I’ll let you off the hook this time, in light of your previous achievements. I don’t need your heads,” I told Kukuri. “What I need is the heads of the thieves. If you have to, search every nook and cranny of space!”
Those thieves had snuck into my mansion and needed to be punished for that.
“Yes, sir!” said Kukuri.
Tia and Marie both looked dissatisfied with his response. They likely thought I was being too lenient with him. It was true that this was the kind of mistake someone should really need to repent for with their death. But…if I were the kind of guy who’d kill Kukuri for this, I would’ve killed Tia and Marie a long time ago. Had they forgotten how many mistakes they’d made? I gave them a harsh look, and they corrected their expressions.
Claus must’ve sensed the shift in the air; he moved on to report something else. “Lord Liam, regarding the next matter we need to discuss…”
“That attack on Prince Cleo, yeah?”
“Yes. Someone attacked His Highness, killing all the guards we assigned to him. That includes three operatives working for Kukuri in addition to knights and soldiers.”
“They were wiped out, eh?” I muttered.
Everyone looked back at Kukuri. He was feigning calm, but I had to imagine that his blood was boiling.
“Some clan of darkness you are,” Tia remarked, rubbing salt in his wound. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”
Kukuri didn’t respond.
“You must’ve gone soft,” Marie added. “I mean, letting this happen at such an important time, with the wedding coming up? How do you plan to take responsibility if the ceremony has to be postponed?”
She was hitting him with all the bloodlust she had, but Kukuri let it wash over him. Why did she care so much about the wedding, anyway? It had nothing to do with her. I would’ve been happy to postpone it.
In the midst of all this unpleasant tension, it sank in once again that the only person present who’d never disgraced himself was Claus. He always just got his work done quietly.
I glanced at him, and he started defending Kukuri again. “The knights guarding the prince died as well. The enemy must’ve been quite powerful. Blame for this can’t fall on Sir Kukuri alone.”
Claus was on the money, and in any case, we couldn’t waste any more time on this. We had to solve the problems right in front of us. “Claus is right. Send Prince Cleo new guards. If we have to, we can have Ethel’s Royal Guard—”
As I began planning, Claus shook his head. “Prince Cleo says he doesn’t require more guards from House Banfield.”
“What…?”
“He said he won’t trouble us after what happened. That said, I imagine his real feeling is that we’re untrustworthy. From now on, his guard will consist of forces he assembles on his own.”
I’d lost Cleo’s trust, eh? Well, it was true that he’d been injured despite the guards we’d provided for him. We bore responsibility for that.
Marie’s brow furrowed. “We’re untrustworthy? How many personnel, and how much material and money, does he think we’ve provided him up till now? The damned brat wouldn’t even be a figurehead if not for Lord Liam.”
Tia didn’t quash her complaints about Cleo either, but at least she seemed a little calmer than Marie. “The knights we assigned to Prince Cleo were elite. To have bested them, the enemy must’ve been quite formidable. Lord Liam, I’d suggest sending someone from this group to the Capital Planet.”
I did want some intel on what was happening on the Capital Planet, and any of the people present could probably carry out that mission. Tia and Marie had personality issues, but they could both get a job done when they needed to. Kukuri had failed this time, but he had a good track record otherwise. Meanwhile, Claus was more dependable than anybody.
“Well, I wish I could send Claus… Tia can’t leave the border with the Autocracy, and I want Marie to defend the home planet. So I guess only Kukuri can go.” I grinned at him.
He stood slowly, evidently picking up on what I was saying to him. “I would very much appreciate the opportunity to redeem myself.”
“Very well. You won’t get another chance.”
“No, sir!”
“Claus, consult with Kukuri about the personnel we’ll send to the Capital Planet. I’ll leave deploying them to you.” Although I’d decided to send Kukuri, I couldn’t leave this to his organization alone. He’d need numbers to investigate and respond to whatever they uncovered.
“Yes, sir,” Claus responded calmly.
Meanwhile, I thought, Yes! This is it! In the past, I’d stupidly decided to surround myself with beautiful female knights. But experience had taught me that there were personality flaws that no amount of good looks made up for. Tia, Marie—that refers to you.
Kukuri approached Claus. “Sir Claus, I can tell you exactly what I’ll need. Let us discuss this right away, shall we?”
Claus shot me a look, so I nodded, and he left the room with Kukuri.