Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. Chapter 133 - A Heartwarming Family Culture

Chapter 133 — A Heartwarming Family Culture

 

The current head of House Brites had three children.

The eldest son, Nicholas Brites.

The eldest daughter, Flora Brites.

The youngest son, Odilon Brites.

The first and second children were born to his lawful wife. Only the youngest, Odilon, had a different mother.

“That was exactly the sort of thing my sister would do.”

Receiving a head massage from Rosalia, Odilon frowned.

“Cultist Karr. One of Lady Flora’s escorts, a member of the Faint Shadow attached to the Thousand Gold Flower Guild under the Silent Alliance, was the one who provided information related to you.”

“They hid their identity perfectly, I assume?”

“They did. But ironically, the way they went to such lengths to conceal themselves was so typical of one of my sister’s Faint Shadow agents that it made them easy to identify.”

Holding the comforter between his index and middle fingers, the young master slightly curled the corner of his mouth.

“My sister probably intended to use the Silent Alliance, which is presumed to be managed by my elder brother Nicholas, to gauge the strength of our expedition.”

She wanted to indirectly assess the level of the expedition run by her adorable little brother. Since they still weren’t important enough for her to seriously move against them, she had merely decided to poke them lightly and see what happened.

“Whether you or one of your teammates died, or whether the outlaws were wiped out, my sister wouldn’t lose anything. Wanting to profit without putting in any effort… that’s exactly like her.”

A heartwarming family culture overflowing with schemes, tricks, and conspiracies. Originally, once you joined forces with Odilon, getting dragged into all kinds of sinister plots concocted by House Brites was inevitable.

“But… From what I’ve heard, she became interested in our expedition even before you won the guild war.”

“The reason seems fairly obvious.”

I poked one cheek with my index finger.

“She simply couldn’t ignore the remarkable accomplishments displayed by this adorable half-elf cultist, Karr.”

“…”

Hoo…

Taking a deep drag from Comforter’s healing smoke, the young master lightly tapped the armrest of his chair.

“I can’t exactly deny that.”

“You mean the part about me being adorable?”

“…I meant the part where you accomplished far more in District Six than expected. But that’s not enough.”

Standing beside him, Sergius nodded.

“Indeed. Normally, Lady Flora wouldn’t have spared even the slightest interest for the Moonlight Expedition, which doesn’t even have a single Gold Badge-class explorer.”

Flora’s expedition consisted entirely of explorers who ranked among the very best in all of Pletica. At this point in time, our members weren’t even worthy of comparison. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have looked twice at the current Moonlight Expedition.

In other words, Flora using the Silent Alliance to interfere with us was completely ‘new content’.

“There has to be someone.”

Leaning back in his chair, Odilon muttered,

“Someone whispering into my sister’s ear and feeding her ideas.”

“…I do have someone in mind.”

“If you’re saying that, then it’s probably close to the truth.”

“Who is it?”

Meeting Odilon’s gaze, I answered,

“Balthazar the Human Thief.”

District Four, managed by House Brites, was the starting area for the Thief class. There was an extremely high chance that Balthazar, the eldest of the Lee family, was serving as one of Flora’s Faint Shadow informants.

“Butler. Have you ever heard that name?”

“…No. He must have joined after Lady Michelle was expelled from the main house.”

Then he probably entered Pletica around the same time I did. He couldn’t have served House Brites for very long. Yet he’d already earned the trust of the eldest daughter?

‘Then again… that’s not impossible.’

Even I hadn’t completely won Odilon’s heart, yet I’d already become a reliable business partner.

So it wouldn’t be strange if Balthazar had risen high enough to offer advice to Flora, the reverse mood-maker of House Brites.

“Young Master. Lord Karr. How do you intend to respond?”

At Sergius’s question, both of us answered almost simultaneously.

“Shouldn’t we pay them back severalfold?” / “Naturally. We’ll return the favor.”

Our thoughts aligned perfectly.

I gave him a thumbs-up.

Unfortunately, he merely frowned in response.

“First, we don’t need to concern ourselves with Brother Nicholas for a while. After Hyena Guild’s defeat, he’ll be busy devising an even more cautious way to approach Cultist Karr.”

The eldest brother Nicholas’s personality flaw: An excessively perfectionistic psychopath.

“As for Sister Flora… She’s probably trembling with rage while plotting another scheme. She’ll think her plan was flawless and magnificent, and that the Silent Alliance simply ruined everything through incompetence.”

The second sibling, Flora’s flaw: A hopeless narcissist.

“Then… How about keeping an eye on Lady Flora while attacking the Silent Alliance?”

“I was thinking exactly the same thing.”

Today we were unusually in sync.

I held out my hand for a high-five.

Unfortunately, he recoiled in disgust.

“Young Master. Which do you prefer? Absorption, or destruction?”

“You’re asking a question with an obvious answer.”

“I thought so.”

That brief exchange was enough to settle our course of action.

A bright smile, one that suited him surprisingly poorly, spread across Odilon’s face.

“The Silent Alliance. We’ll seize every outlaw guild under it.”

It was a policy I couldn’t have been more satisfied with.

[The Wise One smiles approvingly, declaring it a truly wise idea!]

“My friend Pierre will become an invaluable ally.”

“Right. That outlaw. What is he doing now?”

“He casually returned to Hyena Guild’s headquarters. He said he’ll focus on taking control of the guild for the time being.”

The guild master wasn’t an idiot. Naturally, he’d suspect Pierre might have been responsible for the operation’s failure. It would take some time for Pierre to dispel those suspicions and quietly seize control of the guild.

“Then we’ll have to secretly support that outlaw from the shadows. In the Brites’ family way.”

“I think that’s for the best.”

“Butler. Get that outlaw’s contact information from Cultist Karr. Cooperate with him… but stay vigilant.”

“Understood.”

With Sergius, an expert in covert operations as an Infiltrator-class explorer, involved, things would likely progress quickly. It probably wouldn’t take Pierre long to completely take over the Hyena Guild.

“Once Hyena Guild is under our control, we’ll systematically absorb the others one by one.”

“Do you already have a plan?”

“To begin with… I’ll tempt the idiots by promising overwhelming support if they join me. Then I’ll slowly sow division among them.”

Odilon wore the most excited expression I’d seen since we’d first met.

The third sibling’s personality flaw: A sociopath incapable of understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings.

Every single one of them carried serious issues. That was all thanks to the current head of House Brites, a man who treated all his children equally… by emotionally abusing every one of them.

“Once the Silent Alliance completely belongs to me… I’ll execute everyone except the competent ones. Keeping too many outlaws under my command would only make things noisy.”

A terrifying scheme befitting both the youngest son of House Brittes and a sociopath.

Trembling in fear, I cautiously spoke.

“Instead of executing them… Let’s offer them as sacrifices to the Evil Gods. Living sacrifices who first experience hope before plunging into despair are considered exquisite delicacies by the Great Ones.”

“That’s even better. Very well. I’ll hand all the useless outlaws over to you.”

Watching this beautiful act of sharing, Brownmane quietly trembled and averted his eyes.

“For the time being… We’ll support the outlaw Pierre while gathering information through the Faint Shadow agents. We still don’t know how Sister Flora will move…”

The sickly young master had apparently reached today’s conversation limit. He was slowly beginning to melt into a slime-like heap.

“…I should head upstairs. Cultist Karr. Do you have anything else?”

“I need to purchase ingredients for the offering rituals I’ll perform using the corpses we acquired this time.”

“Discuss it with the butler.”

“I may spend as much money as necessary?”

“Do as you please.”

Rosalia escorted the staggering young master out of the basement.

Smiling pleasantly, the butler Sergius addressed me.

“Lord Karr. What shall I procure for you?”

“I’ve written everything down here.”

Handing him the note I’d prepared beforehand, the elderly butler quietly bowed.

“I’ll have everything ready before tonight.”

 

***

 

Near the central plaza of District Six stood a library. Leaves of the World Tree.

Despite its grand name, the building looked rather shabby.

Still, thanks to its unique atmosphere and charm, quite a few townspeople frequented it.

“Yaaawn…”

The librarian, Kiji, let out a long yawn as she entered the library.

She’d been sleeping at home until the evening before, finally coming to work, yet she wasn’t the least bit hurried.

Since she owned the library and was also its only employee, Kiji was the ultimate slacker.

‘I really should stock some new books soon…’

She had work to do, but her eyelids kept drooping.

‘Maybe I’ll just do it tomorrow…’

Even after sitting behind the reception desk, she continued nodding off and putting off work.

Tap.

Suddenly, a faint sound echoed from somewhere inside the library. A noise so slight that an ordinary person would’ve missed it.

“…”

Quietly rising to her feet, Kiji walked straight toward the source without hesitation.

Books that weren’t returned within a month were protected by a theft-prevention Mystery that destroyed the culprit’s mind.

So even if someone stole one, it wasn’t really a problem. But retrieving it afterward was such a hassle…!

‘It’s over here.’

Between two bookshelves. A gloomy corner deep within the library. Holding a thick book, Kiji slowly approached.

Soon, she came face-to-face with the mysterious intruder. Then she let out a helpless laugh.

“So it was just a cat…”

The uninvited guest that had snuck into the library was a tiny cat.

Oddly enough, its fur was a dull shade of green.

“…Huh?”

Quietly observing the animal crouching beside the bookshelf, Kiji narrowed her eyes.

Looking more closely, it wasn’t actually a cat…

“…A lion cub?”

 

***

 

On a night that had grown rather chilly, I descended into the basement of my house.

“Lord Cultist! These are the items the butler prepared!”

Rachel, the maid and one of the Faint Shadow agents, bowed deeply while presenting me with a luxurious cloth bag. A high-quality dimensional storage tool.

I emptied everything onto the floor.

“First, please place these near the altar over there.”

“Yes, sir!”

Rachel immediately followed my instructions, attaching the neat rectangular stones to both walls beside the basement altar. Then she carefully arranged the expensive candles.

“Lord Cultist! If that’s everything, I’ll head upstairs now!”

“Just a moment.”

Stopping Rachel as she prepared to leave, I pointed toward the statue lying on the floor.

A stone statue depicting a majestic crow. I intended to replace the worn-out statue that every cultist started with, so I purchased a new one.

In fact, I’d bought two.

“Would you like to take one?”

An official invitation into the faith of the Twisted Truth.

“…!”

Rachel’s eyes widened as she hurriedly picked up the crow statue.

“I’ll treasure it! Glory to the Twisted Truth!”

[At last, another believer has joined! The Wise One smiles with satisfaction!]

Honestly, it was probably less about genuine faith and more about trying to get into my good graces…

Still, Lord Lidni was pleased; Rachel would be happy to have earned more of my trust, and everyone benefited.

“Lord Ridni. This is only the beginning. Eventually you’ll have so many followers that you won’t even have time to keep watching over me.”

Offering a respectful yet perfectly reasonable bit of flattery toward the Wise One, I turned toward my ritual assistant.

“Abel. Are you ready?”

“Of course.”

Clutching his Offering Recipe Notebook, Abel answered solemnly.

He looked slightly nervous. Understandably so. This would be the grandest offering ritual we’d held so far.

“Undead, please enter.”

Responding to my voice, three undead staggered forward before the altar.

Tonight’s offerings numbered three. Since Lord Okail had only recently received the supreme delicacy known as the Eclipse Wyvern, this ritual would instead be for the remaining three Evil Gods.

Crackle!

Squirm!

Lord Su’eje and Lord Lriria protested, asking why Lidni was receiving another offering.

“Please calm yourselves.”

The Evil Gods had absolutely no intention of cherishing or loving one another.

As such, they constantly grew jealous of each other like this.

The greatest difficulty faced by a cultist possessing the True Believer trait. At times like these, it was necessary to calmly settle everyone down.

“If you keep this up… I’ll spend the rest of my life as a modest and well-behaved half-elf. And I won’t burn anyone or resurrect anyone as undead, either.”

The moment I declared this firmly, both Evil Gods instantly quieted down, as though they hadn’t been making a fuss at all.

[What a bunch of filthy, gloomy complainers! :D]

“I’m starting now. So everyone, please stay quiet for just a little while.”

It was time to begin the Triple Offering Ritual.