Riot Grasper

"- What the hell? You're not going out for a drink after all?

I was Rahal invited by Rick, but I'm just here as part of a visiting team, but I can't go out and have a drink with someone in a position as Lord's Son.

"I'm sorry, but that's another time. We need to talk about something more important now."

Having snuck into Rick's private room, Rahal decided to talk about the purpose of this visit in a washed-up manner.

If we don't get his help here, that's what we're here for. It doesn't make sense.

"- After all, is that the purpose of this inspection..."

Always floating, Rick grinned uncommonly and bitterly before gently biting his lips.

It must be a complicated feeling because my own father is about to start something noisy.

"... you knew Rick too"

"Come on, can you honestly nod to such a question? You're part of the inspection team now, aren't you?

"Oh, so is that"

He asked me if I knew I was planning a rebellion, and there's no way I could say 'yes, I am'.

"Well, I don't doubt you even now for telling me the truth."

"... Anyway, not as good as this. Can't you manage to convince your father?

If you thought about it before you moved on to action, you might be able to do something about it.

"You know... it's easy to say that persuasion, but I don't think that stubborn father would change his opinion so easily. Mostly, you're always playing around in the city. You're not supposed to have ears to hear what I'm saying. And..."

Even though I said what it was, Rick eventually nodded with a sinister face.

Rather than being rooted in Rahal's serious glance... he originally seemed to think that he had never crossed the line without contention or anything, even as an individual.

"... ok. I'll just try. I don't know how it's gonna turn out."

"Oh, please"

Rick scratches his head poly unfortunately.

"I don't know... I haven't seen you in a long time and it's been a noisy story. I've been wanting to have a nice drink for a long time."

"... sorry"

Finishing the story, Rick spoke as if he remembered, on Rahal's back as he tried to get out of the room.

"Speaking of which, did you see Alisha safely in Imperial Capital?

"Oh, my God"

"Right. Good for you."

Rick said so, laughing at it.

"... lik"

"Hmm? What?

"No... after all, it's nothing"

- That night, in front of the office.

A slightly nervous facial lik stood.

Concon, and modestly knock on the door.

"- Get in."

A voice sounded as if rigour was seeping out, and he stepped into the office.

To tell the truth, Rick was not good at his own father.

Being a free-flowing character, he has often been angry with his father since he was a child.

I started laughing and doing things over whenever I was only pissed off and seriously thought there would be no such thing as bumping my opinions on each other in the future.

Oh, and if Rahal hadn't pushed his back, he wouldn't have even been facing each other like this.

"It's unusual for you to show your face here. What's the matter with you?

"Father... No, Father. Could you please reconsider?"

Rick tried his best to persuade himself.

Once upon a time - before the Toggle region was still absorbed by the Empire, this land flourished as one nation.

It's not like Rick and I don't know what it's like to try to regain our glory back then.

But even though he came under the control of the Empire, it doesn't mean he's been treated badly otherwise.

Fortunately, the Toggle region is also blessed with climate.

Even if we pay taxes, we still have room for people's lives.

Wouldn't it be good if we could continue our lives now, even if we didn't bother to do anything dangerous?

It's just self-gratification to dream of past glory and take unscrupulous action.

... The last word I said was that Rick was also ready to be beaten.

For the first time I bumped my opinion from the front, my father had an attitude like seeing something smiling somewhere - nothing like being a sweet development.

"- Gu!

Rick blew up the next moment.

He was struck in the face with a tight clenched fist.

"The fool. Now, look to the future more often. The Empire......... spread its forces too far. Even if we had allowed some discretion to local lords, the central emperor would need excellent governance. If you ask me, the former emperor has been defeated, and it is not said that it is the young emperor who is not even a year old yet who has succeeded the new emperor. If it becomes impossible to rule a vast empire…, it will eventually be possible for those who are in the midst of a power struggle to gain real power. How can such rotten pigs keep their heads down?"

In so doing, the father calms the voice that was absurd a little and goes on with the words to teach.

"You said this land is climate-friendly, didn't you? But there are starving deaths every year in the colder lands of the north much more than here. The ones who made power our face would generate more refugees if they imitated it more like squeezing out money than they do now. What do you think would happen if those people poured into this land?

Rick was silently listening to the words as something iron-smelling, raw and warm was about to pour out of the back of his nose.

"It is not easy, however, to escape the reign of the Empire and become independent. But there are a lot of local lords with ideas like mine. If there is a rebellion in Toggle this will spread its spark everywhere. And… there is no power in the present imperial capital to contain it"

My hand is gently offered to Rick, who was falling on his butt.

The hand was powerful and I felt like I missed it a lot.

"Leave everything to me. You are... a little too sweet, but you have the charm to attract people. Playing around is on the right track, and learning a lot will surely make you a good ruler. I'll make the ground."

That said, his father let his cheeks loosen slightly.

... This is cowardice.

I usually try to convince them with sweet words only at times when they say they were just harsh words and actions and didn't have much parent-child conversation either.

Too easy to understand, candy and munchies.

But Rick didn't feel like saying anything more.

Because he barely even knew what was going on in the Imperial Capital that his father told me about.

The remorse and the opposite of it coincided, making my eyes slightly hotter.

"... excuse me"

Out of the office, the wind strokes his battered cheek fluttering.

"Ouch - my father's, he beat me to death for not being old."

As I rubbed around the swollen area, something like a small shadow moved.

"That's..."

That little shadow is probably my sister Ray.

My brother Ren is nostalgic for himself, so if he sees him, he should call me about it without running away.

It's a hot and humid night, so I guess I didn't sleep and even took a walk down the hall.

It was also embarrassing to see his father beat him in the face, so Rick followed him on the spot.

- The next day.

An investigation was initiated by the inspection team.

On the surface, the lord was also cooperative, disclosing a pile of paperwork to the inspection team, saying, 'If you want to look into it, feel free'.

If you scrutinize the information you bring home in Imperial Capital, you may find something suspicious, but you haven't left any evidence that you can see right away.

It would be too late if rebellions broke out everywhere while we were doing such a long thing.

- That's how when the building was in a rush, there were two people facing each other elsewhere.

"... can we just relax here? You're an escort for the inspection team, aren't you?

"The main task of the escort is to protect everyone from the dangers on the road. Well... except to say that he's the kind of person who would kill the inspection team with his mouth shut."

Rather, it would have been easier if Rick's father had been such a bearer of simple thought.

"Still, you still had a place like this."

Rick and Rahal have been friends since childhood.

You didn't even have to worry about people's eyes all over the city, you knew how many hidden places.

Now one of them, they're face-to-face in an empty house that the two of them used as a secret base.

Of course, it was a long time ago when it was used as a secret base.

"Hehe, okay? I still clean occasionally, and it's convenient to have a place like this."

Indeed, the Lordship Hall is a bummer, and a great place to tell confidential stories.

Not mentioning what he is currently using this place for, Rahal asked single-handedly.

"... you couldn't convince me, could you?

I guess he beat me up. If you swell your face and see how you are forced to make a smile, you don't have to ask.

"... oh"

"I'm sorry I said I couldn't. But we don't have much time. I need to think of another hand right away..."

"Hey, Rahal."

"What's up?

"Really... should I stop it?

"What..."

Rick, who just thought it was something he'd cooperate with, suddenly said that.

Indeed, it is decided that there has never been a dispute or anything beyond.

But his father has an idea and he's moving on.

If a younger than one year old child takes over the throne and the children who think only of their own interests will take power, the country will be rough.

The words my father was speaking came to my mind last night.

"... I think you're a little too kind, but if you learn a lot, you'll be a good ruler."

"If... but if Toggle could have gained independence from the reign of the Empire, I have something to try. Look, the Empire has a lot of contempt for the Subhumans because of Cricheianism, right?

Discrimination against the subpeople gets worse the closer they get to the imperial capital, Gran Bern, which is the heart of the empire. Although it is not so fiercely condemned in the provinces, it is nevertheless not an easy environment for the subpeople to live in.

"I've been bad at that for a long time. I've always wished we could all get along better. If Toggle is independent, I'd like to try to make that kind of crap teaching a country where it's clean and refreshing to water and everyone is free to stay. Of course... I don't think it's that simple."

"Rik......"

"Ha ha... I'd have to be nice to a beautiful woman for being an animal man, an elf, a dwarf"

Saying so like a blindfold, Rick stared at Rahal with a serious face.

"I'm honestly glad Rahal came worried. But... is the empire now something that needs to be preserved until then?

Rahal could not, for a moment, say back to the word.

As long as a man like Gilbaran is going to have real power, it seems like he can perish.

Just because I spent a few years as a soldier doesn't mean I'm so attached to the empire itself.

"... come back. Rahal."

I was driven by the urge to inadvertently grab my stretched hand.

But I can't do that.

"A newborn young emperor - do you know who Mihasa's mother is?

Rahal took a breath and then spat out those words.

"No... this is a country on the eastern edge of the empire. No further information has come in."

"... it's Alisha."

"What... you say!?"

Rick seemed surprised by this too, keeping his mouth shut about what he had said.

Indeed, Alisha was invited to the Imperial Capital as a side chamber, but there are many such women. There is only one person who can bear the succession of the emperor and be the queen at last.

I guess you didn't think Alisha was in such a position.

"I see... I think I somehow see why you're in a hurry. So you don't want to put his kid in danger."

Rick loosened his mouth subtly.

"That's the clumsy thing to make... you are"

"Shut up. But that's not the only problem."

And Rahal also told us that Alisha is currently missing.

"Is that true...?

Rick distorts his face like he bites his teeth.

"Oh... she - Alisha said she wanted you to tell her she was doing fine. I don't want you to worry. So... I wasn't sure if I would even tell you that I was missing... gu, ha... ha!!"

Suddenly, Rahal tried to hold his chest and began to suffer, and Rick rushed over.

"Oh, hey! Are you okay?"

"Stop... now, get away from me... stay away!

Cold sweat blows out of his facial pores and his heart seems to envelop him in a sticky, black liquid, like a tar.

"Gu......! You're kidding me... At that time, if you still had stopped forcefully, for this!... No, no, it's not Rick's fault!

Like talking to himself, Rahal's appearance of denying it to himself immediately after spitting cursing words is unusual, no matter how he sees it.

"... why, why only you! What the hell am I... glad I stayed when the three of us were there, but whose fault is it... my fault? No, you're not. Then whose fault is it? We have to protect him... get his kid... why bother him? Who did? Rik... I want to be with you, though. Ugh, ahhh!

"Hey, I said calm down. Laha -"

A tingling pain struck Rick.

Feels like I've been smashed in the stomach with something.

When I look him in the eye, he's protruding like a boneless iron stick.

No, it's not.

It's not sticking out, it's sticking out.

"What, yeah. This,... laha... l...?

Rick fell to the floor like he had lost his strength.

The twist, twist, and slowly the blood seeps out.

"Ha... Speaking of which, you... have always handled knives well, haven't you..."

- At the same time, at the Lordship Hall.

Hera, a member of the visiting team, turned her face toward the city of Erindal.

Not that I can see anything directly from inside the building, but she shrugs.

"I did say then," I can help you, "but... you didn't say for free, did you? Ha-ha-ha... what words inspired you?