In the hall of audience, a messenger from the kingdom came today.

''Your Majesty's secret orders, Your Majesty.

　He looks like a man, his voice is a high-pitched, feminine language.
　His frame is definitely a man, but he has no beard or larynx...a eunuch.

　The so-called eunuchs, the ones in the so-called rear palace who are most closely involved in the king's private life, the eunuchs.
　I had a bad premonition about the "secret orders" brought by the eunuch.

　However, it's hard to disobey them.

It's no need to look so difficult, just take this first.

　The eunuch smiled bewitchingly and opened a sealed letter.

　When he received it, he felt some strength(,).

''Mmm........''
You know.
What do you mean?
It's a light seal. It's a secret mission. We can't risk anyone opening it but him. I'm the delivery person and you are the recipient. If anyone else touches it, it disappears automatically.
I see.

　I nodded, but I was getting more and more exasperated.
　I can't even imagine what kind of a nuisance it would be, an order so secret that it would bring out such a seal.

　However, it's hard not to disobey--I think I said the same thing just now.

''Huh........''

　I open the seal with a small sigh.
　The seal was of the Aegina Kingdom style.
　The method of opening the seal has been handed down only to the king and each nobleman.

　In short, only the king and the head of each noble family has a duplicate key, it's a seal like that.
　It is opened in the way I was taught when I took office.

　Of course, a seal of this level, you can open it with all your strength, but I didn't do it because that would be the beginning of the trouble.

　I took out the contents, which had a lingering scent of magic.
　It was a letter, I read it.

　The first half was contentless rhetoric, a favorite of royalty and nobility.
　You can skip that and just read the text.

"Aristocratic power?
Yes.
Measuring and rating your aristocratic power... how could you do that again?
Have you ever heard of the Seven Great Thieves?
I've heard of the Seven Ortians.
Oh, so it's you.

　The eunuch smiled effeminately.
　I got a little goosebumps, but I resisted.

'It's all the same to me, that way too. The seven ortias, the most popular whores on the continent, are rated. As I recall, that one has points attached to it.'
Yeah.

　I don't know why they put it on, but it's in a ranking format, and they're rated in a point format.

　All seven of them are quite beautiful, and I hear they're booked up to three years ahead.

　Incidentally, the girl I'm patronizing, Oltia, was ranked 97th in the latest rankings.
　I don't know whether it's high or low, but I heard there are more than 10,000 prostitutes who call themselves Ortias, so it must be high.

　Well, whatever it is.

'As well. 'Not the points, but the bounty rankings for the Seven Great Thieves, which Your Majesty is fond of. It's exciting to see, he says.
I see.

　I don't understand that feeling.

''So they're going to measure the aristocratic power of all the nobles in the kingdom and grade them on it.

　You made your point.
　But I don't think we can take advantage of it.

　Even if it's a secret mission, there's no way that the people who got the ranking will end up enjoying themselves.
　I'm sure that they'll show off their work to someone else, and it will leak out sooner or later.

　So let's keep it in check.
　I don't know how to evaluate it, but let's suppress the power and cheat.

　I'm serious about this.
　It may be a contradiction, but we're going to seriously suppress our power.

　This is where we start, this is where we're going to get serious.

　To do that, we'll start with information.
　I asked the eunuch a question.

The eunuch said, "What do you want me to do? ''How do you intend to measure your aristocratic power?''
It's okay. It's over.
Huh?

　What... what does that mean?

'Giggle, you just had a change in your eyes after listening to me. Cheerful, determined eyes.
Mmm.

　They've seen through me.
　They certainly did.
　I decided that I was going to "seriously suppress my abilities".

　It's a different connotation from the norm, but I'm still enthusiastic about it.

I'm sure you've heard the story and everyone is eager to get a high score. That's why it's best to measure before you understand what's being said.
Before you understand-- ha!

　Poof, he looked at the letter he was still holding.
　Technically, the seal that contained the letter.

　The seal.

''No way.''
Yeah, so the act of solving it is a measurement in itself.
Yuck!
Incidentally, the results are supposed to be sent to Her Majesty immediately.
Oof!

　I was beaten.........
　My enthusiasm was shrugged off and I slumped my shoulders in disappointment.
　I didn't think they were ahead of me.

''There's no need to be so downhearted. I'm sure the results will be sent to messengers like me after His Majesty confirms it, so it's not too early to tell.
Oh....

　That means that after the king sees it it's too late.
　The eunuch took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, a piece of paper imbued with magic power, and he could see from a distance that letters were emerging from it.
　Was it an instantaneous transmission mechanism?

　The eunuch who saw it.

''Oh my goodness, I didn't expect this.
Well, what's the surprise?
The ghostly duke, Tania Titiakis, has fallen from first place to second place.
...that's what it means.

　A gulp escaped his throat.

'Congratulations,'

　The eunuch congratulated me.

　I'm not happy.
　I'm not happy that I got first place because I couldn't cheat and cheat.

"The point is, Master Chitiakis was 371--what?
What?

　The eunuch rolled his eyes.

　The previous 'oh my goodness' was a completely smug statement, but this 'eh' was clearly of a different quality, a surprise.

''Duh, what's wrong?''
"...Master Cano, what kind of cheating did you do?　No, I don't think it's possible to cheat on the things you've made the wise man prepare for you.
What's this all about?

　I had been keeping my distance (partly because I was dealing with a eunuch), but he (?) I approached the paper and looked at it.

　The words emerging from the paper--.

"Hermes Cano....9999....

　After I saw that, I froze again, too, with a plop.

'Why didn't you set the limit to three figures!

　And then I made a displaced plunge that made me sigh later.