Gilmore Belch was irritated.

　The reason was the report he had just received. The report was that Sora Giken, who had been granted a signet ring by the Emperor, had appeared in the port city on the other side of the river, accompanied by Kreia Belch.

　The fact that Sora was coming with Kreia was already in Gilmore's mind. However, he had not predicted or even imagined the Signet Ring, and Gilmore let out a snarling breath.

　The sky is now the imperial envoy of the emperor, and the Gokken family must greet him with appropriate decorum.

　If Gilmore had intended to make the sky obey him on the condition that Kreia would be exonerated, he would have made a terrible miscalculation.


"boy. What trick did you use?


　It was only a few days ago that Kreia had left the island. There was hardly enough time for them to get to Onigashima, so how did they manage to get an audience with the Emperor?

　It was difficult for even Gilmore to get an audience with the Emperor in such a short period of time. Even though he was a senior vassal of the Mikado family, he was only a vassal of a vassal in the eyes of the emperor. If the audience was with the Crown Prince, he might be able to manage it, but only if he had worked for the Crown Prince until today.

　It is hard to believe that Sora, who has no rank or position in the empire, and no achievements to speak of, could have an audience with the emperor in such a short period of time, and even receive a signet ring as a sign of confidence.

　It was inevitable that suspicion would arise that it was a fake. However, the imperial signet ring is made from the finest adamantine stone. In addition, the ring is enchanted so that it can be magically identified as genuine or fake, making it impossible to create a forgery.


In other words, it's real.


　I'm not sure what to make of that.

　If the signet ring is real, then the next thing to consider is the purpose of the sky.

　The report on Sora came from the port officials who had crossed the sea earlier, but they did not mention what Sora had come to Onigashima for.

　Issuing a ticket to the island without confirming the purpose of the trip was something that should never have happened. However, the other side had the emperor's seal ring (signet). The officials must have had no choice but to do as they were told.

　The first thing that comes to mind is that the sky's purpose was to move the emperor to acquit Kreia, but this is unlikely.

　Basically, a nobleman who owns a territory is granted judicial and legislative powers in his territory by the Emperor. They have the right to make laws to govern their territory and punish those who disobey the laws. The emperor's tampering with the head of a nobleman was equivalent to trampling on the nobleman's face and rights, and was a bad move that would destroy the relationship of trust between sovereign and vassal. It could have led to a rebellion against the empire or even to turning to other countries.

　If he was dealing with ordinary small and medium-sized nobles, he might be able to suppress their rebellion with his authority as the Emperor of Ad Astera, but the Emperor would not be foolish enough to do so with the Mikado family. It was for this reason that Gilmore decided that Kreia would never be acquitted.

　However, there are some concerns.

　Gilmore wields power in the Mikado family as a priest, and his role includes external negotiations. In this context, Gilmore was approaching Prince Richard.

　This was a stepping stone to lead himself and the Mikado family to greater heights in the next generation of the empire, but to the emperor, it would appear that the Mikado family was neglecting their aging selves in favor of the young crown prince.

　If Sora was trying to persuade the emperor of this point, it is possible that the emperor was trying to exonerate Kreia.

　If Gilmore were in Sora's position, he would advise the emperor to get rid of the Belch family, which was beholden to the crown prince. Then, he would promise to bring the Mikken family back to the Emperor's support from the Crown Prince's support to gain the Emperor's backing.

　With that thought in mind, Gilmore clicked his tongue audibly.


It's not something a boy would think of. Who has the wisdom? Goz Sima or Morgan Sky Sheep?


　Serious, Gilmore thought to himself. Having conspired against many of his own political opponents, the head of Belch is always wary of any plot to bring him down. He is always on the lookout for conspiracies to bring him down, and his vigilance sometimes leads him to create illusions.

　As the saying goes, "Doubt gives rise to fear," Gilmore is now seeing a conspiracy in which someone in the family who has hostile intentions toward the Berch family is trying to get rid of him through the Mikado Sky.

　His excessive suspicion was a reflection of his impatience. He also feels defeated that the conspiracy has been turned against him. If he did not take immediate action, the power he had painstakingly built up until today might be destroyed in a single morning. This was a future that Gilmore could not accept.


　--Gilmore had ambition. Gilmore had ambitions. He wanted to gain unrivaled power in the Mikado family and wield it to the fullest.


　The bigger the stage for wielding power, the better. First it was Onigashima. Eventually in the Ad Astera Empire. If he could finally wield his genius over the entire continent, that would be the true meaning of a man's life. The significance of Gilmore Belch's birth will be known to all people under heaven.

　However, Gilmore has no intention of overtaking Miken Shikibu and ruling the Miken family. His loyalty to Shikibu, who had discovered him as a low-ranking bannerman and brought him up, was genuine. What Gilmore wanted was to spread the power of the Mikken family across the continent as an agent of Shikibu, who had no interest in political power.

　It was part of this ambition that he approached the Crown Prince. Whenever the Crown Prince or the Crown Prince's ruling party requested for the provision of forces, he would dispatch the bannermen of the four flags with the highest priority to win their favor.

　This includes the case of sending Jijinbo to the Canary Kingdom.

　It was a tightrope walk that could have violated the "do not trespass, do not let trespass" rule, but Gilmore was unconcerned.

　In Gilmore's mind, that law was nothing but a chain that bound his ambition, and he felt no itch when he broke it. Rather, he believed that such an old code should be abandoned as soon as possible, and he intended to move to break it when the time came.

　If the Gouken family's military power could be used externally, the Seirin Bannermen would dominate every battlefield. It would be easy for them to overthrow the three great families and take control of the noble families of the Empire. No, it would not be a dream to replace the Imperial Family and rule the Ad Astera Empire.

　Gilmore's allegiance is to Miken Shikibu, not to Amadeus II. And of course, not Prince Richard. I will not hesitate to expel the Ad Astera family and raise Shikibu to the position of emperor if the opportunity arises and if Shikibu allows me to do so.

　In this way, Shikibu would reign over the empire, and Gilmore would control all the machines under him.

　Ragna, a close friend of the Belch family, would take over the Mikken family from Shikibu, and his son, Diarte, would succeed him as the Sword Saint. The power of the House of Belch would be passed down to the next generation without interruption, and the name of Gilmore, the ancestor of the family, would be written in golden letters in the history books.

　--For now, these plans are far from ambitious. Much more time is needed to realize them.

　But they are not the product of dreams or delusions. Gilmore has the power to make sure of that. It has taken him many years to acquire it.



　It all starts here.

　I won't let a little boy who just showed up get in my way.

　Originally, Gilmore saw the connection between Sora and Gozu Sima as a danger and intended to eliminate it before it became an obstacle to his ambitions.

　However, after the previous battle with the demon gods, he realized that Shikibu had an abiding interest in Sora and decided to use him instead of eliminating him.

　It was with this in mind that he used the strategy of offering her a legitimate child.

　The content of Dialto's plan was to send Klimt to the demon's gate with the suggestion of releasing his sister, and to tell this to Kreia so that she would be forced to leave the island and go to the sky. As the legitimate son of the Berch family and the flag officer of the first flag, Diarto was in a position to do all the work involved in this plan. He could easily set his sisters against him and change the defenses of the demon gate to suit his needs.

　But that's only on the island. Gilmore was skeptical about Sora helping Kreia, to which Diarte replied, "I don't think so. Sora, who had hurt Gosu and Klimt, released Kreia, who he had taken hostage, without doing any harm to her. This one thing shows that Sora Miken definitely has feelings for Kreia Belch.

　After careful consideration, Gilmore adopted this proposal.

　Even if Sora abandoned Kreia, it would be a good opportunity to get rid of the ungrateful adopted daughter (Kreia) and the rebellious adopted son (Klimt) at once.

　If Sora had come to Onigashima to help Kreia, he would be placed under the command of the Goken family on the condition that Kreia's crime of leaving the island would be forgiven.

　Of course, forgiveness does not mean that he will be exonerated. Leaving the island is a great crime. Even if he escapes death, it will be a reason to keep him in prison until he dies. This way, Sora can't leave the Miken family in the future.

　Or you could do the exact opposite. Give Cryer to Sora as his wife.

　Gilmore does not have a good impression of Sora, but he is still attracted to his ability to defeat demons. If Sora has feelings for Kreia, he can bring her into the Belch family by giving her to him.

　In this way, the power of the Berch family would not be shaken even if the Shikibu returned Sora to his legitimate son.

　From Gilmore's point of view, it is not necessary that the next head of the family should be Laguna. As long as Sora is in line with Gilmore's will, he does not mind having Sora as the leader. It would be a shame to see all the money and effort that had been spent on Laguna go to waste, but it would not be bad if he could gain the power of a demon slayer in return. That's what I was thinking.

　--But Sora saw through our ruse and refused to follow Gilmore's intentions, even dragging out the Emperor. If that's the case, then we shouldn't even think about using or taking in the emperor, we should just dispose of Sora and those who are connected to him as we originally thought.


"Who is there? Bring Di'Art to this.


　Gilmore, who had ordered his retainer outside the room to fetch his son, slowly lifted the corner of his lips.