After ensuring everyone's eyes were on her, Furni pulled out a map of Camillaya from the inner pocket of her clothes.
“Mm-hmm, looks interesting.”
Looking at Furni as she spread the map in the middle of the carriage, and the territories on it marked with numerous circles, the eyes of everyone on board revealed wicked grins.
“For the past month, the great Lady Furni has been keeping a close eye on the internal affairs of Camillaya.”
“But haven't you been sleeping the entire month?”
“Don't interrupt!”
Exposed, Furni delivered a headbutt to Cecil, who had raised the question.
“Hiss!”
Cecil felt as though his nose had slammed into a thick, heavy wall. Even with his extremely powerful physical body, he had to clutch his nose and stumble back.
“Now that the party pooper has shut up, let's continue.”
Furni pointed her finger to a location on the map near the border.
“These points marked in red are the nobles who are clearly heavily dependent on Keith, and who also shamelessly began extremely oppressing the populace after Keith took power.”
“So, why don't we just completely cut off Keith's retreat?”
“This place happens to be very close to our current position, making it perfect for our first stop.”
Aliviel looked toward the spot Furni was pointing to.
Indeed, she passed by that territory during her daily scouts.
The mental state of the humans inside was just like that of the demons in the past; it was hard to imagine how these fellows could live in such an environment.
But...
“Furni, you're using our hands to help you clean up the parasites of the Empire, aren't you?”
Just as Aliviel was about to speak, Ivelia beat her to it, asking the very question the other demons wanted to ask.
“...”
The atmosphere in the carriage fell silent the moment that question was posed.
Caught in the act, Furni looked like a criminal confronted with evidence, completely unable to defend herself.
Because that was indeed her intention—to leverage the demon race's abundant high-end combat power to directly root out all these imperial parasites.
Whether it was the people or the Empire, everything would improve once Kainster took the throne.
Seeing Furni remain silent, the carriage remained shrouded in quiet.
Lin Ling looked at Furni, who was hanging her head in the middle of the carriage, and then at everyone else's gloomy expressions.
“Why is everyone so quiet? Isn't this exactly what we should be doing?”
Lin Ling stood up from Ivelia's embrace and walked straight over to Furni's side.
“Even if Miss Saintess goes directly to drag down that guy named Keith in the capital, the local nobles won't just agree to it.”
“Furthermore, even if Keith is no longer the Emperor, with my soulmate as another legitimate heir, those nobles will still use their influence to suppress my soulmate's decisions.”
The carriage jolted during Lin Ling's words.
“Eh?”
Lin Ling wanted to say more, but with the sudden jolt of the carriage, Miss Saintess found it impossible to stand steadily in the center.
“We never said we wouldn't agree.”
Seeing Lin Ling on the verge of falling, Ivelia quickly stepped forward to pull her back into her embrace.
“Naturally, everyone has already thought about this.”
“Furni.”
“What we are angry about is, why did you hide it from us?”
Ivelia felt a tinge of anger toward the guardian dragon's actions.
The demon race had received Furni's help before; as a member of the demon race, Ivelia would not forget her kindness.
Yet now, even when there was a perfectly justifiable reason, Furni had chosen to keep them in the dark.
Such behavior from Furni undoubtedly signaled to everyone: “I don't trust you, and I think you will refuse me.”
Even with Kainster's commission serving as a foundation, this sort of thing...
But they were demons, and entering another nation was...
“Hey, hey! Right now, everyone is part of the Hero's party!”
Ichikawa walked over to Furni's side, his anime T-shirt practically gleaming.
“We are companions, after all!”
“Swinging our swords against injustice and oppression—isn't that exactly what a Hero is supposed to do?!”
“If there's any trouble, just dump it all on the Hero.”
Ichikawa's words successfully swept away everyone's lingering concerns.
Now, they shared a common identity: members of the Hero's party.
As for the current Emperor, Ichikawa would never forget the rain from that day. For such an Emperor, the nobles clinging to him were naturally of the same breed.
Ichikawa flashed a confident smile at Furni beside him.
It was hard to believe that the guy shouting “we are companions” here was someone who suffered from severe social anxiety just a month ago.
“Ichikawa, you look seriously cool right now.”
“Miss Saintess approves of this plan! Since we're cleaning out parasites, we might as well wipe them all out!”
Standing up from Ivelia's embrace, Lin Ling expressed her stance to the demons.
“Well, there's no helping it then.”
“Let's proceed with Furni's plan. After all, since Miss Saintess has already agreed, we who serve as aides naturally have no objections.”
Cecil chuckled. To a demon, such an undertaking was undoubtedly entertaining.
The others waved their hands dismissively.
Oh well, having this prince become the Emperor would certainly be more beneficial to the demon race than Camillaya's current incompetent ruler.
It was just that this long journey would have to be extended a bit.
Phelan looked in the direction of the Demon King's Castle, where a commission agreement he had signed with Karl still remained.
Karl would help handle affairs while they were away on this long journey, and for that reason, Phelan had also asked Zona to assist him.
As for his fiancée, Phelan was still willing to place his trust in her.
He truly hoped Bishop Karl could hold out against the chaotic affairs of the demon race.
“So, why don't we use teleportation magic?”
Once everyone had decided to proceed with the plan, Ichikawa brought back the initial question.
“Because using teleportation magic leaves traces of mana.”
Ivelia spoke up to answer his question.
“Even with concealment, the teleportation magic of the demon race differs from that of humans.”
“If we teleport directly to assassinate them, the worst-case scenario would be triggering a massive coalition of races to lay siege to the demon race.”
After all, no emperor would want an invisible sword hanging over their head while they slept.
Rate on N.U.
