Reborn Into A Dark Social Game World With Completely Loyal Friends. - Chapter 15: A small change.

A small change.

It was an event that would become a major political upheaval for the kingdom.

The royal family had been implementing as many policies as possible to make the kingdom a better place and to prevent it from worsening. However, some nobles had the opinion that in order to achieve even greater prosperity, it was necessary to absorb other countries and steal their technology and capabilities.

“For the development of our country, it is not permissible to undermine other nations for that purpose.”

Those were the king’s words, but to the greed-filled nobles, they were merely an obstacle.

Kindness? What can kindness alone accomplish?

Under this sentiment, they intended to depose the king and create a stronger country… Since there were a fair number of people who agreed with these words, small distortions gradually began to emerge.

And today, a coup d’état erupted in the kingdom.

“Commander! The royal castle has already been occupied, and the whereabouts of the royal family members are unknown.”

“Well, they probably won’t kill them. They still have utility… If they kill them, the knights will surely storm in.”

“…Hmm.”

The commander pondered the words of his subordinates, Aesir and Le.

It happened shortly after the commander arrived in the kingdom, but the distortions within the kingdom had been visibly apparent in the past few days.

He had thought that this would eventually explode… and unfortunately, his prediction had come true.

“I thought we were only here to investigate the case of the missing princess, but we’ve gotten ourselves involved in quite the event.”

“Indeed… What do we do now?”

“First, let’s join up with the kingdom’s knight order and plan our strategy.”

“Understood.”

With their course of action decided, the three of them started running.

Fortunately, there were forces willing to cooperate with them, so from here on, it would be a test of the commander’s abilities.

The commander is a commander—their ability to command enhances the movements of others.

Le and Aesir were fully aware of this greatness, and a few members of the knight order, including the captain, had already benefited from it.

“Alright, let’s begin preparations for our counterattack.”

This was the first event that would make the existence of the commander known to the world… The operation to liberate the capital was about to begin.

“Commander… It seems there are other suspicious groups aside from the nobles who instigated the coup and the people they hired.”

“What?”

“We don’t have enough information on them yet, so it would be wise to prepare for unforeseen circumstances.”

“…Understood.”

“Now, let’s go, Commander.”

As the three conserved in this manner, there were two people watching them.

One of them was aiming a long-range rifle, peering through the scope, and the target of the rifle was the commander’s left chest.

“It’s quite carefree of them, considering they’d die from a single shot at this distance… Well, the distance from here to there is quite considerable, so it’s no wonder they haven’t noticed.”

The man with a fierce expression said this as he pulled his face away from the scope. It seemed he had no intention of sniping from here, and a rather relaxed atmosphere prevailed despite the situation.

“Hey, Nee-san, that guy over there is supposed to be the commander.”

“Let me see.”

The voice was bold and confident. The woman standing behind him had a rather striking fashion sense, revealing a lot of skin and exuding a certain allure. Her flaxen hair flowed in the wind, and her toned abs and ample chest suggested a well-honed physique. Despite her striking appearance, there was a coldness about her that warned others to keep their distance.

“Is that guy your type, Nee-san?”

“Shut up and be quiet.”

At her stern words, the man flinched. Her presence was evidently quite intimidating. The woman looked through the scope at the commander and, after a moment, sighed and shook her head.

“…Doesn’t seem like it. He’s not what I’m looking for.”

“I-I see. Should we kill him?”

“Leave him be. I only brought you along for my own whims this time, and I didn’t bring any other allies. Besides, we don’t owe anything more to those stingy nobles.”

“Got it. So, should we head back?”

“Yeah… Seriously, this is irritating.”

The woman once again glanced in the direction where the commander, who shouldn’t have been visible from such a distance, was located.

(Recently… it’s been really recent. The word ‘commander’… I’ve been searching for someone whose face I don’t even know. But even though I had high hopes for you, seeing your face didn’t stir anything in my heart… Ah, this is really frustrating—who are you, this person who occupies my thoughts so?)

The woman finally turned her back and started walking away. Behind her, the burning capital, engulfed in flames due to the coup, asserted its presence with a fierce intensity.

***

As expected, the story had finally begun to move.

However, for those living in the Holy Kingdom, although it was indeed a significant event, it was not something they would directly intervene in.

As mentioned before, there was no capacity to send aid to other nations on a national scale, and generally, they only took action when the Holy Kingdom itself was directly threatened.

“Does it concern you, master?”

“…Well, yes.”

Stepping away from Mia and the others, who were exchanging information about the kingdom, Minato nodded at Thanatos’s words.

“It does concern me. Even though I know how things will turn out if events continue as they are… I wonder what the commander, who is actually on the ground, feels about all this.”

In the first place, Minato indeed had the power to intervene if he wanted to.

However, the positions of his two current allies were extremely precarious—Mia was always associated with the name of the Holy Kingdom, and Thanatos, being known as the Calamity Black Dragon, couldn’t easily appear on the public stage.

Even if Minato wanted to take action, as an ordinary person, what could he really do? Moreover, if he were to explain the mastermind behind the events or the background of the incident, the people of the kingdom would surely wonder how Minato knew such things and might suspect him as an enemy, leading to his capture. This was almost certain.

“To people who don’t know the circumstances, claims about being reincarnated or having memories of this world would just seem like the ravings of a lunatic. It might be irresponsible as someone with such memories, but we have no choice but to rely on the commander to do his best.”

“That would be for the best. A coup that splits the capital… It is large in scale, but if the commander cannot resolve something of this magnitude, he will not survive.”

Minato continued speaking.

“Even if everyone who fully trusted me were here, or if all my other allies were present, the outcome in this world would still be uncertain… Even after the decisive battle with the moon, this world will continue, and ending the battles I remember won’t necessarily bring peace.”

In other words, how Minato chooses to live in this world would become crucial once they reached that point.

“…Well, I’ll just keep doing my best. Since I’ve come to this world, rather than despairing, I want to strive to do what I want… right? With Mia and Tana-chan by my side, I don’t want to keep looking down… and I can’t abandon the people who came from the empire either.”

So, there’s no choice but to go as far as I can, Minato thought with a smile.

Seeing Minato’s determination, Thanatos seemed pleased and embraced him fully with her wings.

“Hey-!?”
“I will definitely protect you, master. So please, do not despair or shoulder everything alone—we will always be by your side.”

Now, as they reaffirmed their words of loyalty, Mia, who had finally finished her conversation, returned. The news she brought was, as expected, about the beginning of the Capital Turmoil Arc.

However, there was something a bit concerning.

“The coup this time is indeed led by the nobles.”

“But?”

“…It seems a highly skilled organization intervened briefly. However, due to some contractual issues with the nobles, they pulled out.”

“How did you find that out?”

“Apparently, someone from that organization mentioned it when they met the commander of this world.”

“Really…?”

In Minato’s memory, the enemies consisted of the nobles and the disposable thugs they hired. There shouldn’t have been any mention of a highly skilled organization.

Moreover, if someone had met the commander, Minato would have remembered. He quickly searched his memory but confirmed that such a thing had never happened.

“They supposedly told Machina in a transmission. The boss of the organization personally came to say that the trash nobles who didn’t pay the contract fee could perish—a woman with a skull tattoo on her shoulder.”

“…What?”

A skull tattoo on the shoulder… a highly skilled organization.

These two pieces of information brought a certain person to Minato’s mind… It seemed Mia and Thanatos had the same thought, as the three of them spoke the name simultaneously.

“Fran?”

“Fran, right?”

“Fran?”

Fran—she was the name of the woman who led the most powerful assassin group in the underworld of this world.

Moreover, Fran was someone whose trust level with Minato, Mia, Thanatos, and Yuzuriha had been maxed out to 100.

“No way, seriously? Why would Fran be here… Is that for real?”

“I haven’t seen her myself, but… it seems so. They said she carried two swords at her waist.”

“Oh, that’s definitely Fran.”

“…Ah, this is going to be another source of stress for you, Master.”

It seemed things wouldn’t always progress according to Minato’s memory.

Afterward, Minato felt a bit of a stomachache and rushed to the bathroom.