‘Cloud…!’

The demonic man who had trampled on her innocence and virtue!

Lorraine glared at him with a hot, smothering gaze. Perhaps he felt the look in her eyes, he turned his head right towards her.

‘Uh?!’

The one left embarrassed was Lorraine.

Cloud peeked at her and gave her a wink. It happened so quickly that others couldn’t see it, but she saw it clearly.

‘This lip rapis†?!’

Lorraine’s eyelids quivered.

But when she snarled, he had already turned his gaze elsewhere.

Cloud left the trembling Lorraine behind and slumped into the chair brought by the knight. As he leaned back against the backrest, for some reason, a slightly lackadaisical attitude was portrayed.

In the silence that ensued for a moment, it was Lorian who spoke first.

“Long time no see. The last time I saw…”

“Cull the greetings, let’s get right to the point.”

Cloud interrupted Lorian with an openly exasperated voice. His rudeness made the people who were boot licking Lorian croak. However, Lorian, the person in charge, only slightly wiggled his eyebrows.

“Did you ask for an increase in the number of people allowed to enter? I’ll start with the conclusion. No.”

“Why?”

“You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you?”

“I don’t want myself satisfied with such a vague answer. Kindly explain properly why you can’t provide a place to rest for the staff of the Army marching to support the Kingdom of Alitia.”

“First military pressure, then just motive, got yourself quite the toys to play, uh?”

Cloud looked at Lorian with a disgruntled expression. When that expression was combined with his slightly informal posture, it birthed a great synergy.

“Hero Warrior. Your behavior is a bit rude. Even though you are a Hero, just the same, Hero Lorian is the Prince of the Kingdom of Carta. We’ll want you to be polite.”

One of the nobles of the Kingdom of Carta, who could not hold back his anger, said it as if to bludgeon him.

At his words, Lorian clicked his tongue inwardly, and Cloud responded as if he had just been waiting.

“Politeness? Who gave you the right to stand on high moral ground and demand politeness and civility when you barge your way, with an army, pounding at the doors of an uninformed host’s house?”

“…We are sorry about that.”

Cloud snickered at the apology that didn’t look boding well for the aristocrat.

“Didn’t consider apologizing to the messenger, did you, then? As soon as the poor guy arrived, he flopped down, sweating loads. So I halted writing my ‘polite’ letter and came all the way here.”

His words were uncourtly, coarse.

But no one objected.

Even if this plan were to succeed, it didn’t mean Cloud will lose out. Judging from his rapid growth, there was a high possibility that he would continue to win and hoist up in the future.

That’s why they didn’t want to be remembered by him for nothing.

There was no love lost between Lorian and Cloud, but just because Lorian was present currently didn’t mean he would always protect them.

Maybe if things got complicated, he might even cast away a sacrifice or two.

So the nobles kept their mouths shut.

Sweeping his gaze at the nobles who remained silent, Lorian sighed.

“I present my deep apologies both to you and the princess. But we couldn’t help it either. The request for support from the Kingdom of Alitia seemed very urgent. We forgot the basics because we only thought about advancing briskly. Accept our sincere apologies.”

Lorian lightly tipped his head forward.

In response to his apology, Cloud’s demeanor became colder rather than milder.

His frivolousness erased, he said coldly.

“You know how farcical this looks? You guys seemed to be declaring war on the Kingdom of Prona. That’s no different from questioning the authority of the Church when this is the site where a Heavenly King was vanquished.”

“We never intended to do that.”

“Even if you didn’t mean it, the result won’t change. I will send a letter to the Empire and the Church to formally protest on this matter.”

“Once again, we present our apologies on the matter, but it will only get complicated to stretch this further.”

“What complications? No matter where you look, the fault’s yours.”

“I concur. However, if our forces are forced to retreat now, the Kingdom of Alitia will suffer devastating damage from the Orcs. You know they’re coming.”

“Ah, what bothers me is not the Kingdom of Alitia, but you. The scattered-brained slipshod idea to impose the moral absurdity no sane mind would believe. Huh, could this be called a political threat?”

A chilling conversation.

The aristocrats in the tent darted their gazes at each other, the atmosphere was heavy, where blades colliding against each other seemed likely to happen any moment.

If a fight broke out between the two Heroes, they would be the first to be swept to death, so they had no choice but to be perceptive to momentary changes.

Fortunately, the pensive atmosphere did not last long.

“I have no intention of threatening you. I just said that all three Kingdoms could suffer great losses from this incident.”

“If we let you go beyond this, only we will lose.”

“Then, we will make amends for those losses.”

“How?”

“I’m aware the damage the Heavenly King has done to the city is great. To the point where citizens are not even equipped with basic food, clothing, and shelter.”

They would provide food, water, and sustenance.

They could afford enough because they’d have prepared enough supplies for various situations.

Lorian’s proposal was something like that.

After thinking about it for a while, Cloud added one more condition.

“That’s not enough.”

“…anything more you want? Tell me. I shall accept it as long as it is not unreasonable.”

“Huh, not unreasonable? Then pay the toll.”

This time, Lorian was silent.

Again, it wasn’t long.

“All right. We will remunerate. How much will it be?”

When Lorian accepted his last offer, Cloud grinned.

“Welcome to Lupus, guests. Please, let’s negotiate the intricate details inside.”

The cold expression from before morphed into a warm smile so bright that the distant demeanor was nowhere to be found.

* * *