Look, from now on, you can call me Seven.

Yes.
I understand, Seven. Yes, sir. Seven.

　A day and a half later, we had arrived in Aker, a city in the southern part of the Marvel Empire.

　I had the impression that it was a rural area rich in nature, but it seemed to be more prosperous than the countryside of the kingdom.


''Nevertheless, it stands out.''
It's cool, it's dignified.

'Right!　I guess. I think so too.

　Gloria and Silva sullenly observed my appearance and once again expressed their admiration for me.

　I'm currently using the wraith to change into my "seven" form.

　I have shoulder-length silver hair, a sinewy nose, slit eyes, a tall stature and a toned body. She has a beautiful appearance that is unique to premium-charged tickets. He is dressed in an aloha shirt, shorts and sandals, an example of aloha style.

　In this unrecognizable second-first test appearance, I will visit the Alpha Promenade's house, accompanied by Gloria - that's what Winfiled instructed me to do.

　Or rather, there was not a single instruction other than this one. After visiting the Promenade house, they say I can do whatever I want with the rest.


'Well then, Seca...... excuse me, Lady Seven, Lady Gloria. I'll take my leave. I wish you good fortune.
Oh, Cubero. Thank you. You've been a real pleasure to work with.
...... It's a wonder. Your appearance is completely different, but it doesn't feel different at all.
That's me. I'm the guy.
"?　Oh. Yes, it is, Your Left. Because Second-sama is Second-sama in every guise.

　Smiling, Cubero said.

　I am me, or rather, I am both SEVEN and SECOND.

　In fact, since I've been in Seven for a longer period of time, it's more fitting for me.

　However, Cubero has a keen eye for such things. He has a good eye for detail.

　Well, let's assume that the disguise is so uncomfortable that it's worthy of Cubero's approval.


'Be careful going home!

　With Gloria, he sees the returning cubero carriage off.

'Well, what do we do now?'
What are you doing?　What are your plans?

Let's just walk over to Alpha's house.

　Cubero dropped us off at the entrance to the forest outside Aker.

　Maybe it's because the sun is directly above us, or maybe it's because the forest isn't that deep, but it's also reasonably bright in the forest.

　Beyond this forest is the Promenade family's mansion, apparently. It's where Alpha is being held under house arrest.

　I don't know why the empire is in trouble just because of us coming to Alpha's side, but I want to make sure that we can get Alpha out to the next title fight.

　She had quite a bit of sense. I think she'll shine when she's polished, in my opinion.


　I walked around for about thirty minutes, thinking about things like ......, and then I suddenly realized, "How far away is this?


'It's far, isn't it?'

　Cubero's, you should have given me a ride to the front of the house anyway.

　No, but this rickety road is going to be a pain in the ass to drive through in a carriage. Is it one thing or another?


"Hmm, the carriage is coming.
Let's move out. Let's avoid.

　And, if you ask me, it seems that a carriage came from behind.

　I ducked to the side of the road and waited, and a few moments later, a messy, luxurious carriage passed by, which was disproportionate to the sight of such a remote location.


'It must be ....... Is a king in it?

Someone in the royal family?
We have a crest. We have a Kingsguard.

!

　Seriously?

　Ah, ...... yes, yes. You're supposed to meet him, win-win.


Guess who?

Is that Mr. Wright?
I'm not little Melson, and I'm not Cleara, either.

Light?　Melson?　Clearla?

　No, I don't know one of them. I think the emperor's name was Gordo Marvel, but other than that, I don't remember anything else.


"Mr. Wright is little Melson's brother.
My brother is 16 and my sister is 18.

"Cleara is my sister.
"I'm the wife of the Emperor, Gordo's wife.

'Right. So the First Prince is coming.

There is only the First Prince and First Princess in the Empire.
The emperor is married to his wife, Cleara.

By the way, Miss Melson's got the better claim to fame.
It's a meritocracy, men and women alike.

"Seriously?

　Awesome emperor. You're in a position where you can legally surround yourself with all the people you want, and you'd rather leave a lot of heirs behind, but you have a wife all to yourself.

　Is she really a maid, Kriara? Well, I'm sure of it. If it's Gloria's sister.



'Oh, there it is.'

　Five minutes later, we arrived at the Promenade family compound.

　There's a gatekeeper, but there's nothing to worry about. After all, there's an elf princess over here.


You don't look familiar. What brings you to the House of Promenade?

　............ Huh?


Oh, I see. They don't know.
The gatekeepers are humans, not elves.

　Hey!　What do you wanna do? So.

Hey, um, I'm Gloria, by the way.
I need to see you. I need to see you.

　Gloria tries to stick with it for a while.

　The gatekeeper took one look at her and then uttered the same stern expression as ever.


''I haven't heard anything like that.

　Of course not. I don't have an appointment.


I'm sorry, Seven." ......
I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.

　Gloria looked back at me and started to lurch about.

　I don't know what to do, but hey .......


'Yeah, why don't you get the people at home to come over?

It!
Good idea. We're hiring.

　Gloria spins around to face the gatekeeper and opens her mouth.

''Hey. Tell the people at home that someone named Gloria is visiting.
Report and communicate.


　The gatekeeper said, "No.

'No.'

Why?
Why?　Why?

You are a shady bastard. Do you think they'd let you meet the master?

　You're right.


Okay, it's no use.

　I took out 16lb of fluorocarbon from my inventory to use a last resort early on.

　Then I immediately activated the Gui Ma Yin Manipulation technique.

"!

　The gatekeeper was startled and was about to draw his sword in resistance, when his body stopped moving with a snap.

''Wha, what did you do!''

　《 Gui Ma Yarn Manipulation》 is a skill that allows one to manipulate an object to which a thread is attached.

　And it has an interesting property.


''Gloria, cut this thread.

Okay, okay.
I'm going to cut it off.

　Gloria took out her staff from her inventory and cut the strings with a sputter with 《Infantry staff technique, payment》.

　Immediately after.

''

　With a crunch, the gatekeeper is stunned (stunned).

　That's right, the "Katsurima Yarn Manipulation" is designed to stun the target being controlled when someone other than the user cuts the thread. By using this, it is possible to stun the opponent unharmed.


''Seven, that's rough.

I'm missing someone.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

It was a joke.

　I don't care about anything, because this is how we can get inside safely.

　Gloria will be in great demand from now on.


"Now, where do we go in?

　From inside the grounds, I look over the mansion.

　Breaking through the front door isn't bad, but if I'm going to go through, I want to go straight to Alpha's place.

　So, I sneak in through the back door.

　I didn't run into any of the servants, either because they were few in number or because they were busy welcoming the royal family.



'Oh, isn't this the place?'

Yeah, maybe.
I've got a key, bolt.

　The room at the far end of the second floor is really like that. There is a bolt on the outside, and the bolt is fitted with a padlock.

　But a padlock, eh? I'll have to smash this bolt to pieces. ......


...... oro?

　Upon closer inspection, the padlock was open.

　I see, the owner of the room is in the process of being let out. Most likely, he's being escorted out by Light-kun or something.

　We went into the room for now. If we stay in the corridor for too long, we might run into someone.


"Huh.

　The inside of the room that was supposed to belong to Alpha was very bleak. Other than the necessities of life, there was nothing special about it.

'Ah, there's a book.'
It's a notebook, a thin book.

　Gloria walked dazedly over to the notebook on the desk, perhaps intrigued by it. As expected of a self-proclaimed bookworm, whether it's a notebook or not, it seems that anything in the shape of a book will do.


　Now, what to do next?

　It seems that it's impossible for Alpha alone to retake it, so let's just go to the place where Alpha, his parents, and Light-kun are all gathered, without any more hassle. I'm sure Princess Gloria would forgive me for trespassing, too.


Hey, Gloria--


　I turned to her to suggest to Gloria what I had just been thinking about, but that's when I noticed something strange.

　Gloria was reading the note with a wrinkled brow and a very uncomfortable expression on her face.

　What on earth was written in it?　I walked behind her and peered into the notebook with her.



'........................,'

　It was a diary.

　And it was also an accusation.

　The latest page contained a statement that today, from now on, an unwanted marriage with His Highness the Light was to take place, with despair.

　Going back from there, I could understand the situation Alpha was in.


　Alpha's father, Laska Promenade, is a first-rate scum as far as this is concerned. A man who will stop at nothing to achieve success. That may be his own daughter, but he uses her like a tool with no regard for human rights.

　His relationship with the Weissroy family was the talk of the winter title game. That was also orchestrated by this father.

　Laska Promenade is a summoner, apparently. More than ten years ago, this is the man who, at the request of Elnte, blinded Alfred by using the demon Blind Lake, a demon with blindness skills.

　As a result, he was able to set up a match with the Viceroy family through a referral from the Mix family, where Elnte had served as an archery instructor. He had then decided to wait for his daughter's coming of age, i.e., when she was a hundred years old, to get her engaged.

　However, the Viceroys could not afford to do this for free. The Promenade family is an emerging aristocracy, and although the Mix family says it well, the daughter of such a family is no match for the Viceroy family. Hence, I put a condition that Alpha must at least prove that she has first-rate skills as a sorcerer before she can be welcomed into the Viceroy family.

　As such, Alpha would aim for the Battle of Eishou. Ostensibly, this is a battle for an engagement. In fact, it's an assessment of his wife.

　However, something unexpected happened during the battle for the General and the Eishou. Alpha won the battle.

　As for the Weissroy family, it was a bitter result. It turned out that his heir, Nil, actually had no talent for magic.

　The Promenade family, on the other hand, is furious with Rasca for destroying their decade-long marriage.

　He puts his daughter under house arrest in her room, and now he's looking for his matchmaker in one way or another.


　A man named Selam appeared out of nowhere and begged Rasca to become his apprentice. He was impressed with Rasca's summoning skills.

　Alpha was very suspicious of the serum, but Raska felt better and allowed him to study under him.

　Then, in the twinkling of an eye, he and His Highness the Prince of Light were set to meet.

　This is definitely a trap, Alpha wrote in his notes.

　Serum is a spy of some kind, and he's probably setting up the match-up with His Highness Wright in order to trick him - he said.


Selam: ......

　That sounds familiar. Yes, wasn't it the Imperial Dog that was snooping around the kingdom, as I recall?　In addition, it was the man who had taught Elnte the craziness of the drug.

'Revealing the injustice of the Promenade family after they were married, or something like that?
Mr. Light, you can't be emperor. You can't inherit anything.

　Okay, so that's what you're after.

　So the guy who is in the way of the lights and who would be happy if the Second First Test died is the owner of Salem.


...... Melson?

　Normally, this guy is the only one I can think of.

　Even though he's the first in line of succession to the throne, there would be a contingency. My brother would not be welcome here. Besides, I once sent the dead body of Prime Minister Val Moreau to the Emperor by courier. I think the next emperor should be careful. He'd want me to disappear.

"Melson, little girl," he said. ......
It's her character, sir. She's a smart girl.

　Gloria also said this.

　Well, yes. It's certainly shrewd. You could call it cunning, or sneaky, or whatever. To put it bluntly, it's a tactical strategy of anticipating the future and eliminating the risks to yourself.

　To tell you the truth, I don't dislike that strategy. I can sense the cleverness of Raspberry Bell.

　But I hate that stance. It's just that he's comfortable in his own safe zone, while risking the lives of those under his command to get rid of anyone who gets in his way. That is truly cowardly.


Okay, that's what I'm going to do.

　Let's consider Laska, who blinded Alfred, Selam, who taught Elnte the crazed agent, and Melson, the coward, to be the enemy.

　We will smash the intentions of these three men to pieces and take back Alpha. That's the goal.

Let's go ruin the match.