Within the document that the King approved, he basically gave me every right to determine what happened in our little group.

If I deemed it fit, I could even remove Fabian and Damien from my team.

“F-father really… wrote this…?” Fabian was still struggling to accept his empty position.

He never had any real authority, to begin with.

“Do you understand now? I wasn’t going to say anything before now, since I wanted to be considerate of your position. If you had behaved, you would have continued to be our Leader.”

I had no use for figureheads who wouldn’t listen to what they were told.

“Your existence in this group was for mere decoration, Fabian. I allowed you to come because I initially thought you’d be simpler to bring along, but I suppose I was wrong. You’re annoying, and that makes it difficult to focus.”

This was simply me bullying a young man, but he deserved to hear those words.

In my eyes, Fabian was nothing but a child. That was shy I had been considerate for so long, but even kids had to grow up at some point.

“H-how dare you talk to the Prince that way!” Damien Lawcroft growled at me.

It was a wonder how such a man was able to lord over me back when I still studied at Ainzlark.

Just as Neron told me, he indeed was a man worthy of pity.

“Be quiet. How dare you address me, the representative of the King in such a manner? That’s treason, you know? Are you going to be taking responsibility for that?”

That was enough to zip Damien’s mouth shut. Fabian, who had expected his assistant to defend him and turn the tables was now staring at the powerless Damien with disbelief.

‘It’s a tragic sight, really. Fabian… you shouldn’t be relying on that man.’

Even though Damien had kept quiet once treason was mentioned, it wasn’t as though he wasn’t already guilty of that offense.

‘Conspiring with that organization, Damien…’ I smiled at him.

The true reason I allowed Fabian to come with me was that Damien would also accompany him.

He was my true target from the get-go.

‘It’s better I have this traitor in sight than leaving him to run rampant in the Royal Capital.’

Besides, I would be able to glean quite some information from him.

Considering his level of power and intelligence, though, I surmised he would be among the lowest Rank. Most likely even lower than Legris.

‘… And that guy didn’t know much.’

Still, even the smallest bit of Intel had its uses. I just had to ensure they were accurate.

There was a chance that the enemy would try to mislead me with wrong information, so I had to be careful.

‘This is quite an intricate game…’

But, I had no plans of losing.

“If you understand, get out of my sight. Go rest in your rooms and wait for further instructions.” I said to the two, still cross-legged.

For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. I could sense foreboding, and an unsettling sensation lurked amid us.

“This…”

The emotions of Fabian, in particular, were in an uncontrollable torrent. Before long, it erupted.

“T-this has to be false! It’s fake! I refuse to believe it!”

‘Really? This is the best you could do?’ I nearly rolled my eyes as Fabian burst out in complaint.

“You’re lying! Father would never–!!!”

‘Okay, that’s enough.’

>VWUUUUUMMMMM!!!<

Instantly, I spread my Mana Pressure around me, enveloping both Fabian and Damien in it.

Their bodies shuddered, and their eyes nearly whitened as a result of the impact.

I didn’t go all-out, and only utilized a portion of my Mana Core, yet they were both in a state of shock… and FEAR!

Their legs gave up strength, and the two of them crumbled to the ground. I simply watched them kneel from my seated position.

“I believe I made myself clear…” My words came out softly as I stared coldly at the two pathetic excuses for Mages.

“E-eeekk…”

With my glowing eyes, I fixed my gaze on them, causing sweat to pour out of their pores and their bodies to shake even more.

“… Go to your rooms. Now.”

They couldn’t move because of the pure state of terror they were in, but I could tell that they understood my message.

>SHUUUUUUUUUUUUU<

Once I retracted the Mana Pressure, Fabian and his lovely assistant skittered away–dashing straight for their respective rooms.

“That should settle things, for now,” I murmured, looking at the three witnesses in the room.

“Haha. Don’t mind me…”

Their gazes showed that they weren’t going to ever cross my words ever again–out of both respect and fear.

‘Ah, this is what I was trying to avoid. Now, the mood is ruined thanks to those idiots.’

The upside was that no one would be challenging my authority anytime soon. Other than Serah, I could most likely handle everyone else present.

‘Speaking of Serah, where is she…?’

As I made this thought, a knock sounded on our door. It was faint, and I could sense the one who was responsible for it.

‘Why do I have a bad feeling about this?’

***************************

Freya was the one who was knocking.

She came for two reasons.

One was due to an incident that Serah caused. As I feared, she was indeed up to something.

Fortunately, it didn’t aggravate the Elves in the slightest.

The crazy woman had simply challenged the strongest Elf–the Elf Queen to combat.

As a result, we were supposed to watch the ‘friendly spar’ between two members of Allied Kingdoms.

I shuddered at the thought.

The second reason was a personal invitation for me.

Apparently, the Elf Queen wanted to have a private discussion with me after her spar with Serah.

‘Hmm. Is it because of the Memoir, or…?’

Either way, it didn’t matter.

After all, I also wanted to have a private conversation with the Queen. There was something I desperately needed to know.

“Ivan, please fetch Fabian and Damien. We’ll be attending this friendly spar.” I grinned.

While I had mixed feelings about watching two monsters fight, my heart was racing with excitement. That was because I knew for sure…

… We were all in for a treat.

‘This should be fun.’

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[A/N]

I need more reviews and interaction for this story. It’s to encourage me and also get your suggestions.

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Thanks for reading!