Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 206

I can’t stay in a daze forever.

I’ve gathered enough information; I need to get moving.

In this situation, the person I should talk to isn’t my lady, Princess Valiere.

It would be proper to report to Sabine, who’s acting as the local commander, and then go together to see Princess Anastasia and Duke Temeraire.

Before anything else, I need to report the situation.

“Wait.”

Martina tugged on my arm as I was about to go.

What now? I need to hurry.

I glared at my retainer in irritation, but she returned the look with a frown.

“As your retainer, I must first ask how Lord Faust intends to act.”

“What do you mean, how?”

The conclusion is already decided.

No matter how Martina tries to persuade me, I have no intention of changing my course.

Still, the idea of consulting wasn’t a bad one.

So I listened to her opinion.

“Just one question. You don’t need to think too hard about it; just answer quickly.”

“Alright.”

Martina seemed to be turning things over in her sharp mind, hesitating for a moment before finally speaking.

“Do you intend to betray Anhalt?”

“Not at all.”

It didn’t require any thought.

Fulfilling the wishes of my lady and fiancée, Vali-sama, in the Polydoro Territory, and keeping the promise not to betray Duke Temeraire; the Geas I swore to Queen Liesenlotte in the royal castle of Anhalt; the trust of the knights who agreed with my vision; not betraying my friendships with Princess Anastasia and Duchess Astarte; and keeping the promise to have children with Katarina someday—each of these is a vow that must not be broken.

“I have no reason to betray. If you believe I’m lying, Martina, feel free to slit my throat right here.”

“…Isn’t what’s most important to you the honor of your territory and your mother’s name?”

“That’s true. If necessary, I would become a dog or beast. If we starved, I would raid other lands to feed my people—that’s my pride. But if I sank that low, my people would abandon me long before that.”

It’s obvious.

I state the clear truth.

Everything I’ve done so far has been filled with reasons not to betray.

“No matter what happens, there’s no reason for me to accept the Pope’s invitation.”

“I understand. Perhaps, no matter how minimally it’s dressed up, the Pope isn’t lying. Even if betraying would guarantee the safety of Polydoro?”

“Enough.”

Martina sighed deeply.

And then—as if she’d seen something blinding—she looked at me for just a moment.

“I apologize. If Lady Helga, the head retainer, were here, she would likely have given you the same harsh advice.”

She shrugged, as if to say she’d fulfilled her responsibility as the stand-in head retainer, and smiled at me.

“Please include in your report that Lord Faust has no intention of betraying. At the very least, Princess Anastasia will be relieved.”

“You think I’m being seen as a disloyal vassal?”

“It’s the opposite. Princess Anastasia worries that she may not be a worthy master for Faust, and fears being abandoned because of it.”

What nonsense.

…Though I’d like to say that, I had just been given a long explanation about how her ancestor, who assassinated the emperor, was not at fault.

“I see… Well, that does ring a bell. I’ll make sure to tell her directly.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

I’ll speak with her before the formal start of the inquisition.

Speaking of which…

“I have a question for you too, Martina. Earlier, you said, ‘Even if the safety of Polydoro is guaranteed?'”

“At the very least, the Pope is no fool. Even so, I believe there’s some reason to think her claims of securing the supremacy of her religion and power are absolute.”

Really?

Is that really the case?

“…Despite the superhuman ‘Loser’ under Temeraire’s command acknowledging defeat from the start and even suppressing internal rebellion as a clan leader, his position was not guaranteed. That disagreeable loli-hag Nahid says she was told to simply submit and offer everything to me. She’s complaining that the one who thinks every place horses can run is her own property is making such demands.”

To put it bluntly, the strong have absolutely no reason to show consideration for the weak.

Unless you secure some form of collateral. Or unless you’re a valuable existence for the ruler’s future.

You must be someone of significance to Toktoa Khan.

Value or significance?

I have no idea what I should do or what I could accomplish to be recognized.

“Then they must have taken some collateral. At the very least, something that makes the Pope completely believe she has a guarantee.”

“Hmm.”

I’m intrigued.

To say I don’t want to know would be a lie.

“Martina, can you understand what that collateral might be?”

“I can speculate. But speculation is just that—speculation. It’s better not to say anything that might cause confusion.”

Indeed, hearing mere speculations would probably only confuse me further.

Then it’s better not to ask.

Knowing the Pope, she might tell me everything before the killing begins.

“Well then… I’m planning to go see Sabine.”

“Lord Faust.”

Our consultation is over.

I could end the conversation with Martina here.

But this time, I speak not to organize my thoughts but for Martina’s sake.

“I know what you want to say. It’s about Sabine’s obvious poor condition, right? No matter how skilled the Pope may be, for her to find traces beforehand means Sabine is in extremely poor form. We must find a way to get her back on her feet. The field commander for the Pope’s assassination can’t be in such a miserable state.”

“As long as you’re aware of it.”

Sabine’s scheme against the Pope.

Since she was at a loss for words, I wondered what terrible things she might have done.

But from what I heard from the Pope, it seems she just sold off her brother—or was it a relative, I don’t know—to a clergyman.

Then she killed the priest who bought him and swapped him out.

I see. Normally, one would think to keep that hidden.

It’s truly an ugly honey trap.

It wouldn’t be strange for her to feel remorse or regret toward her family.

“If it were the usual Sabine, she would have boldly and with a sheepish grin said, ‘I just sold my brother off as a male prostitute, killed the priest who bought him, and replaced him! I also perfectly extracted the information!’ without a doubt.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what Sabine would do. In fact, she probably wouldn’t even think it was a bad thing. Since it was useful for Vali-sama and herself, she might even say her brother is grateful. That’s the kind of person she is.”

Sabine is scum.

Even without saying it out loud, she’s scum.

That’s the image everyone has of her.

“Sabine is a psychopath and human trash. She’s a woman who wouldn’t feel a thing about killing anyone other than Princess Valière or her own kin. If she killed a priest, she’d strip him of his silk robes and sell them off at a pawnshop. That such a Sabine is thinking she did something so terrible she can’t even speak of…”

“She’s unwell. Clearly unwell. Are we really okay with this?”

Martina’s concern is valid.

I share her anxiety.

What everyone needs from Sabine now isn’t humanity.

It’s Sabine as the psychopath and scum who has lost her humanity.

She doesn’t need a human heart.

We don’t need it.

If it’s for her lord’s sake, she wouldn’t even properly carry out her lord’s orders.

For the sake of Vali-sama, herself, and her kin, she thinks everyone else can be used up and die.

She is a killing machine without a human heart, recognizing everything useless to herself as garbage, disposing of it like wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Even though the results were good, I’ve heard how much chaos Sabine caused during the march to the imperial capital with Vali-sama.

“If Vali-sama knew about Sabine’s current state, she’d probably be delighted. She’d think that goodness as a human has finally sprouted. She’d shed tears and even genuinely thank God from the bottom of her heart. But there’s no need for that now. Vali-sama might be the only one in the world who would be happy to know of Sabine’s remorse.”

Therefore, if a conscience circuit has been added on afterward, we have to remove it.

If her performance drops due to unnecessary morality, everyone will be troubled.

For the sake of the world, she must remain a psychopathic, chimpanzee-level piece of trash.

She can awaken as a human being later.

It’s something I never would have imagined when we first met.

“I’ll make an effort to get her back to normal.”

“Can you manage that?”

“I can make it happen, one way or another.”

It might require some rather drastic counseling.

In other words, something wonderful happened that made a human heart sprout in her.

I need to refute that as an illusion.

“Let’s go see Sabine right away. While we’re at it, I’ll have a little talk with her.”

“I’m counting on you.”

There’s not much time until the Inquisition.

By then, I need to organize the information I obtained from the Pope, return Sabine to her original chimpanzee self, and rework the assassination plan.

This is what I must do.