The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne

Chapter 295: Reason for Siding

Very wellwe will start Silvers inquiry now.

Said Pitman after he received a nod from Torosin.

Delaying it any more than this is probably impossible.

If they are going to get overwhelmed with a majority vote anyway, it would be better to just start the inquiry.

In this inquiry, we will look into Silvers recent actions one by one.

Pitman reads out the prepared document.

If my actions were to be found inappropriate for an SS-rank adventurer then there will probably be some penalties for me.

Using that penalty, Torosin will probably try to place some limitations on my actions.

First of all, as you all know, the Empire is currently in the middle of a succession war. The candidate who comes out on top will receive the title of the crown prince which makes that person the next emperor. As one of the three great nations of the continent, the conflict within the Empire which is located at the center of the continent will have a huge impact on the continent as a whole, regarding this the Adventurer Guild has been keeping a close eye on its development. Among the candidates for the Empires throne, it appears that Silver has been favoring one of the candidates, the Eighth Prince, His Imperial Highness Leonard Lakes Adler. To prove this allegation, we have prepared the eviden.

That is correct.

Before Pitman got the chance to cite his evidence, I admitted that it is the truth.

As he never thought that I would admit that so readily, Pitmans mouth hangs open. Seeing him like that, Torosin urges Pitman to proceed with a light cough.

Ah, th, then Silver. You are admitting that you have been participating in a major political conflict even while being an SS-rank adventurer!?

That was what I just said.

This is a clear violation of the Guilds rule! An SS-rank adventurer is equivalent to an army, not to mention that you are representing the adventurers as a whole! We might be able to overlook this if you are a common adventurer but when an SS-rank adventurer shows favoritism like this, it will bring the Guild and the Adventurers neutrality into question! This is clearly careless action on your part!!

Pitman is getting heated up.

In response, I shrugged my shoulders.

Lying here is not an option. If I lie in a place like this then I will end up having to follow up on it in the future. In the first place, I already have an overwhelming advantage here. There is no point lying to them now.

No matter how you look at it, I am clearly more involved with Leos faction. Pitmans side should already have the proof for that. It wouldnt be a problem if I can address them one by one but if the proof keeps piling up then they might be able to use them against me.

Since they will be able to prove it sooner or later, it would be better to just admit it right now.

Silver. Do you have any excuse?

Clyde worriedly asked me.

In response, I give him a nod.

First, I will state this. I have a cooperative relationship with Prince Leonard. I have made contact with him many times through Miss Finne here.

Yes. that is correct.

Then it is decided! Silver! Your action is clearly inappropriate for an SS-rank adventurer!

Vampire.

I said that to Pitman in a small voice.

All council members cock their heads puzzling why I brought it up.

I continued with a bitter smile.

Sea Dragon, Demons, Spirit Turtles, Holy Dragons. Do you know what I am getting at?

Are you listing the monsters that you have subjugated!? You think that we can tolerate your actions with your recent achievements!? You better think again if you think that we are going to let you go with this!

Thats right, they are all high-ranking monsters that I subjugated. Dont you think that it is strange?

What is!?

Even if I am an SS-rank adventurer, dont you think that it is too strange that I have encountered so many high-ranking monsters in such a small amount of time?

Clyde nodded.

The other council members expressions also indicate that it is surely strange.

They might have become numb to the frequent appearance of high-ranking monsters.

Originally, the Empire is located in an area with almost zero appearance of high-ranking monsters. Even if I encounter one, it is usually a monster that escaped into the Empire from another subjugation attempt. In other words, in most cases, they are monsters that flowed into the Empire from other places. It is on the level that when one appears once a year, it will cause great panic to the Empire. Well, the Sea Dragon did appear inside the waters of the Principalities but the Empire was still an involved party.

So what!? Just because you encountered more monsters, it is okay for you to get involved with a political conflict!?

Thats the point. These monsters have begun to appear more frequently after the succession war began in earnest. To be specific, this happened after Prince Leonard nominated himself as a candidate. Curiously, Prince Leonards candidacy seems to have something to do with the monster appearances.

It is a matter of course. Most of the time, I and Leo were moving together and Silver only appears to intervene when Leo is in a pinch.

However, the amount of times Leo got into trouble lately is too strange. How come he got involved in so many incidents?

The answer is his candidacy.

The recent appearances of high-ranking monsters is pretty much linked to the Empires succession war. I dont know about the Sea Dragon but it would not be strange to say that its seal was broken when Prince Leonard was sent to the Principality. And the Spirit Turtle, do you think that was only a coincidence?

I wonder. That thing is a natural disaster after all. Well, the fools who provoked it and broke the seal might be involved in some kind of scheme though.

Even if we leave the Spirit Turtle aside, the rate of appearance is still too abnormal. Of course, I was busy dealing with each and every one of them. Thanks to that I need time to recover my magic power. With that being the case, I need accurate information. Thats why I was exchanging information with Prince Leonard who is directly involved with the succession war. Of course, he does use this information exchange to his advantage but this is still much more preferable than finding the Empire suddenly collapsing right?

The appearance of high-ranking monsters is related to the succession war and it often involves Leo. If you exchange information with Leo then you can make a move even in an unexpected event. Doing that would make me appear to side with Leo but that is inevitable.

Thats what I am saying.

On the other hand, Pitman was silent.

Hes probably thinking of a way to find fault with me.

While being glared at by Pitman, Torosin opened his mouth.

Silver. With the power you possess, surely you could have dealt with the monsters without relying on such information, no? You may have indeed prevented the chaos from the monster appearances but it is still true that you are shaping the history of the Empire right now. Through your intervention, Prince Leonard is steadily approaching the throne, no?

To get Prince Leonard closer to the throne is to distance the other candidates from it. Dont you think that this will benefit the stability of the continent as a whole? After all, two of the candidates were clearly involved in the summoning of the Demons. The Demons were summoned because a girl with innate magic went berserk. Princess Zandra was involved with the organization that kidnapped the girl and a faction inside the Imperial Army was involved with the experiment responsible for making children with innate magic went berserk. The leader of that faction is Prince Gordon. I wouldnt mind if you praise me for keeping those two away for the throne you know?

Even the council has not grasped the confidential information of the Empire.

If they dig deeper then they should find that all candidates besides Leo are dangerous.

In that case, the only option is to push Leo to the throne.

However.

Even so, that is no excuse for you to get involved in a political conflict. You should have contacted the Guild with that information and asked for our support.

Would you dispatch reinforcement if I asked?

Of course.

I see. But unfortunately, I do not trust you. It would only increase my trouble if you dispatch someone to get in my way instead.

You should stop using baseless conjecture like that.

It is not a baseless conjecture. I am telling you a fact. First, did you not bar me from the Spirit Turtle case? If the council can grasp the situation inside the Empire and try to make the best move possible then removing me from the case is incomprehensible. In fact, it took the cooperation between me, Elder Egor, the Hero, and the Celestial Princess to subdue the Spirit Turtle. I can imagine what would happen if we leave such a monster to the S-ranks

All of them would have died and the Empires northern region would have been wiped out. The reason why the incident only ended with the terrain being leveled was how Silver gathered powerful allies to fight it at the frontline.

Egor gave his conclusion.

That incident showed the councils many failures.

The more they try to place the blame on me, the more their blunders become more apparent.

Realizing that, Torosin immediately wrapped up the topic.

I understand. Certainly, that was our mistake. I shall apologize for that. I understand why you choose not to contact the guild and solve the incident on your own. Therefore, we will overlook the fact that you have involved yourself with the succession war.

So he chooses to cut his loss and change the topic huh.

But.

He seems to have forgotten that the Empires representative is also present here.

Please wait for a moment. As an Imperial Ambassador, I have something that Id like to ask the council regarding that incident.

This is far from over.