Do you have a minute?　Mr. Second.

'Oh?　Oh.

　I slept until noon, ate a slightly late lunch, and was mattifying myself with a cup of tea that Yukari had brewed for me after dinner, when Winfiled, who had approached me in a hurry, beckoned me to come over and invite me over.

　I glanced around the living room, but no one said anything to me. Those guys who were so assertive this morning seemed to have changed their mood.

'............'
　It's likely that the gray, two-buttoned, tall and beautiful spirit walking quietly in front of me has made some kind of move. To talk those trash out of it, she's the most skilled warrior in the spirit world.

　If so, it looks like I'll be spending the afternoon with her today. Or is it him?　I don't know if there's any particular gender?　I'm not sure, so I'll ask her later. Fortunately, she's made today's plans a simple one.

'Here,'

　After moving for a while. The place where Winfiled stopped walking was a balcony that overlooked Lake Vanilla. It was the centerpiece of this lakeside mansion. Quite a nice view. And it's also nice to feel the cool autumn breeze caressing your burned-out body after a meal.

What are you talking about?

　When I asked him that, Winfiled tilted his head just a little bit as if to say, "Let's talk about it first," before opening his mouth.


''Um, Lady Duke Lucia Icine?　Have you gotten anything from me?　For example, ...... yes, like a list of enemies in the Kingdom of Castal, or how to learn brainwashing magic,

"--Hey!

　I'm horrified.

　Did I tell you about the letter from the Duchess?　No, he didn't talk about it. And moreover, I haven't told you anything about my relationship with the female duke. Did Yukari tell you that?　Perhaps so, but if so, how can you be so pithy about it?

　...... This guy has gone from completely zero to top secret in just a few hours of reasoning to top secret matters?

'I didn't read your thoughts,'

　My heart took another big jump. Because it was at that very moment, just now, that I tried to be concerned about that possibility.

'I heard a lot of stuff from the Master, from Sylvia and the servants and so on, and then I deduced it. Was I right?

　Winfiled smiled mischievously and said, "Well? I nodded my head. I don't know if it was a man or a woman, but I honestly found it cute.

'...... right. But it's a 99. There was even a letter from the female duke that politely included a list of people I could trust.
'Oh, I see. Ah, ......

　You look a little depressed, "You too, huh? I suppose he wanted to get 100 points anyway, but for me, I think it's already 120 points just because I was able to get to the method of learning the brainwashing magic in this half day.

''So what's the main question?''
Oh, yeah. I'll announce my priorities.
Me?
'Yes. We just need to let the second prince win. ...... right?
"Oh ...... ah?　It would be bad if the Kingdom of Castal became a vassal state of the Marvel Empire, right?
Hmm, what will happen next?
Hmm?

　Somehow, I don't think the story is engaging.

''The Kingdom of Castal will be ruled by the Marvel Empire if it goes on like this, right?
Yes.
Isn't this a problem?
It's not as bad as it sounds, I think. Just don't turn on him.
...... I see.

　So if you're quiet, no blood will be spilled.

'But they'll kill the royals, won't they?
''The empire won't kill us, but if it continues like this, the first princely faction will do the second princely faction. There will be a stealthy battle underneath the surface as to who will rule the country after it becomes a vassal state.
'Oh, you will.'

　So the Empire is trying to use its operatives to make the city bloodless. It was more serious than I thought. What isn't serious is the First Prince faction or .......

''But the empire had an image of a martial artist. It's surprisingly political.
'Maybe the Empire is thoroughly unforgiving of any nation that turns on it?　So maybe that's why he's a martial artist, I guess. We don't have much information on him yet, so it's hard to say, though.

　It wasn't a muttered response I was expecting to hear, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got an answer that made perfect sense. A smart person can speak in a pinched, slow manner, but can still have a good conversation.

Okay, okay. Do you want to help the second prince by keeping the kingdom alive, or do you want to help the second prince by becoming a subject of the empire?
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean. For me, I'd rather have the Kingdom of Castal remain.
Well, why?
Because the title fight will be the same as it was before,
'Oh. Right, yeah.

　The title fight will be held here in Vinston, the royal capital of the Castal Kingdom. If the Castal Kingdom becomes a dependency of the Marvel Empire, the location of the title fight may be changed, and there may be some changes in the rules as well. If it's not good, there might be no more title fights.
　In order to become the "undisputed world number one", I would like to participate in as many title fights as possible and win as many titles as possible. I'd like to win as many titles as possible in order to achieve my goal of being the best in the world, and I'd be in trouble if there were no more titles to fight for.

Then, I'll go in that direction.

　Winfiled said as he moved his fingers around as if to say, "Change that way.

　Huh?　So you're saying that the original strategy was to become a subordinate state to the Empire?　So maybe it's hard to help Mine while keeping the Kingdom of Castal alive: ......?

Yeah, I'll be fine. It would be harder for Mr. Second to not get it right, you know.

　Once again, she's guessing my thoughts right out of the box. It's just that a genie with such a crazy brain is saying it's okay, this must be okay.

What do you mean, I'll be fine?

Mmm ...... To be honest, you know, I'm really, really excited about .......

...... What?

　Excitement?　Why is this happening again?

You see, I'm a spirit, but I'm very weak. I inherited half of the water and half of the earth from my father and mother, and what happened to me is that I have half the power to get out of it.

　Angolmore said. Water and soil are halfway decent.

"It's a rare breed, like me. It's called impregnation. I was one of the worst half-bloods ever, so the Great King found me.
So?
I mean, the Great King, he's such a terrible character, isn't he?　She's insinuating.
Wow. ......

　Is it common knowledge that he has a bad character? I don't know if he has a personality like that even in the spirit world. I'm sure he doesn't have any friends. And guess what, he's just guessing, which means, "This weak, half-breed spirit is my deputy! And you're saying that you're going to be sarcastic to the other spirits, right?　Wow. ...... Wow.

I'll get back to that. So, I thought, I'm weak, and I'm the Great King's deputy, and I'm a military strategist, and I'm definitely not going to be able to respond to the ...... summons. But today, he summoned me.
Okay. So you're excited.
Yeah. But that's not the only reason. Mr. Second, that's why.
Me?
Yes. ...... Phew.
What's going on?
Hmmmph!

　Winfiled put a hand over his mouth to hide his smile. Then he opened his mouth with a giggle, wondering what was so funny.



'Such a strong piece, me, never before.'


　A chill ran down my spine.

　It was a casual word, but its power was tremendous.


　--A pawn. I'm not going to be the only one. I'm going to have to say it. I'm sure that the political battle that is about to unfold is a game for Winfiled, just like chess or chess.

　What is this? This is a ridiculous person. I'm not going to leave it up to this guy: ...... I'm not sure I'm the right person to think that.


　I'm just saying.

　I'm the exact opposite of that. Winfiled, this is a trustworthy guy.

　I'm sure you'll be able to see that this is a game, because that's what I think of this world as a game, and that's what I think of it. It's a game, and I think it's a game.

　...... I know. I know what it feels like to be a Winfild, and I know what it feels like to be me. You feel the same way, don't you?　You think it's just a game, don't you?　And I saw its shadow on me. So you dare to call me a pawn in front of me. Didn't you?


'Hahahaha!'

　The question in my mind was affirmed by Winfilled's broken face.

　I can't help but laugh. Me and this guy are a lot alike. I didn't realize how funny and happy that was. Right now, me and Winfiled and our feelings are one in the same.

''Hmph!''
Ha, ha, ha, ha!

　I can't help but laugh at this stuff.




　Well.
　After laughing at each other for a while, we came to ourselves and remembered that we were in the middle of a conversation. We were in the middle of a conversation.

"What's the order of precedence?
Yeah. First, brainwashing magic. Second, the second prince.
Wait a minute. I'm going to share with you how to master the art of brainwashing.
Yes.

　I took the letter from the female duke out of my inventory and told her briefly what it said.

''Let's see... ...... I'll take 300 attacks from a slave with assassination skills, which is a requirement for learning.
Well, you can learn by the end of the day, then. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll visit the Second Prince.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you say end of the day, or is it now?　I mean, look, it's crazy. It's a contradiction in terms of being attacked by slaves.

　Slaves cannot take aggressive action against their masters. But that doesn't mean they can't fulfill the conditions if they break out of prison like Yukari did, because they would no longer be slaves.

　There was only one way I could think of. The one where I would have someone other than me enslave a slave with the [Assassination Technique] to attack me. However, in the first place, I wouldn't want a slave like Yukari who possessed an 【Assassination Technique】 unless she was too wacky. So even if I wanted a slave to learn the [assassination] technique, one of the conditions for learning it would be that he or she would have to kill a human being, which is why I'm unwilling to do it. Hence, I've been putting off learning brainwashing magic with the excuse that it's a bother, and I've been putting off learning it.

　And now what?　Can you remember it today?　Seriously?　This is Master Winfiled.

Well, the Master has a boy under his command who knows how to assassinate people, Miss Eve.
"Whoa, don't tell everyone!　I get it!

　Putting aside why Winfiled already knows about even Yukari's subordinate's skills, he found out how to learn brainwashing magic easily.

''So all I have to do is let Yukari control that Eve or something like that with her Katsurama Yarn Manipulation and have her attack me?
Yeah, you're right.

　Alright. Among the [Yarn Manipulation], if you use the [Gui Ma Yarn Manipulation], you can control a human as a puppet for a certain amount of time. If I let Yukari control Eve using this skill, Eve would probably be treated as part of Yukari's equipment, and she would be able to attack regardless of her servitude contract. What a loophole, I thought to myself.

　I'm sure Winfiled came up with this method the moment I revealed the learning conditions, right?　...... Isn't that crazy?


Well, let's go learn more.

　We left the balcony and headed for the servants' mansion.

　Yukari said, "Go ahead and wait at the lakeside house. I received an impatient call, "I'm going to take a walk and see how the servants are doing," but I replied and refused. Yes, it seems that the number of servants has increased. Since he was the master of the house, I felt that I had to visit him at least once.

　Winfiled and I walked along the road, which was now quite autumnal in color. I don't know why we have to walk so far, even though we are on our own property, but this elegant view of the trees turning red makes me feel glad that we bought the house.


Do spirits have a gender?

　As I was walking leisurely, I was curious, so I asked him.

It's there. I have one, or rather, I can decide for myself. By the way, I'm a woman.

　Really? You can't make a free decision. So Angolmore hasn't made up his mind yet.

"You know, I just decided on a girl.

Oh, yeah. What's that got to do with it?

Hmmm, secret.

　Winfiled smiled meaningfully and put his index finger to his mouth.

　I was a little nervous.