Edea: Hero Summoning Conspiracy 224 First Response

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Despite his honorable title as being a summoned hero, Kazuya was well aware that this was just a title that held no particular weight around the real rulers of the kingdom. Though he would have a way with the public, there was nothing he could do if the kingdom had announced him to be evil or deemed a criminal.

This was why he had refrained from taking the king or Alicia's life after he had finally seen the treacherous father and daughter pair that he so desperately wanted to lay his hands on.

Even though he was a summoned hero who was given a second chance, Kazuya did not dare to face the Zweifel kingdom alone. This was why he had planned to gather a group of people that would be loyal to him and him alone.

With his distrustful nature, there were only two ways for Kazuya to be able to put a semblance of trust in a person from Edea. One was if he had known the person to be as trustworthy as his fallen comrades in his previous life. The second was that if their words or actions were guaranteed by life and death.

"This should be the place, young master." Kazuya was led out of the carriage by one of Raizer's assistants that had been tasked to escort him to the mansion where he would be staying.

"Hmm… Not bad." He commented after entering the gates that had led to a mansion that would have passed if it had been built in the noble district.

There were various areas in the common districts of Maynira that had been controlled by merchants throughout the years. These were usually inhabited by the merchants whose wealth and connections were well known in the capital city.

They were not allowed to reside in the noble district as they were indeed not nobles but the individuals that usually lived in such places were either those who were rich enough to be well connected or visitors from other places that would rent out these mansions so that they would be able to avoid the less than desirable places in the capital city.

"I'm sure that the boss would be happy to hear that, young master." The assistant sucked up.

Though Kazuya was indeed impressed with a mansion that had not been built in the noble district, he had no intention of staying here. Rather, he couldn't. It would arouse too much commotion if he did not return to the Eberbach household.

Though he was not directly being monitored, Kazuya was well aware that everyone had been sensitive to his daily schedule. Luckily for him, there weren't many people who had memorized his features so he could waltz around the city freely be minor alterations to his appearance.

The assistant opened the door and watched Kazuya go inside the mansion. There, two figures awaited him.

Their sizes were in contrast with each other where one had been about Kazuya's height and the other one was tiny. These two were, of course, Lucia and Nell who, despite looked mismatched while standing together, were wearing maid clothing that had showed much more skin than the ones he saw the servants in the Eberbach mansion wear.

"Welcome back, young master." Nell gave a mischievous grin as the two girls bowed to acknowledge his arrival.

"This…" Kazuya glanced towards Raizer's assistant looking confused.

"Ah… the rest of the people had been asked to remain because they had to be given a crash course in how to be able to fit their roles. There was also an issue with the clothes they would be wearing so…" oblivious to Kazuya's reason for looking at him strangely, the assistant tried to reason out.

"I don't mean that." Kazuya was well aware of the situation of the others as he had given them a command to learn from Etha and her assistants.

"?" it was the assistant's turn to be confused as he watched Kazuya awkwardly turn back to the two girls.

"Don't you find their uniforms to be too revealing?" Kazuya sighed and ignored the giggling Nell after hearing what he had to say.

"Ah!" the assistant took another look at the girls and although he had been used to such clothing, he remembered that he had once heard the eastern countries had a more reserved culture.

Though the uniform fit Nell perfectly with her well-shaped body, since the two girls were wearing the same uniform, the empty part of Lucia's uniform had been folding due to the absence of any mass. Their skirts were also too short as a slight tilt of their bodies would allow the view of what they were wearing underneath.

"Do you girls have anything else to wear?" Kazuya asked.

"No." Nell grinned as she found his reaction to be quite amusing.

Lucia shook her head sideways as well as the dress she had been wearing earlier had been reclaimed by Etha.

Kazuya frowned and once again turned towards the assistant.

"I w-will make preparations for their clothing right away!" he hastily bid farewell to get what Kazuya needed and inform his masters of Kazuya's complaints about the clothing they had chosen for the slaves.

"What a pain… do these people really think that such clothes would be good for not attracting attention?" Kazuya sighed.

"Are easterners really that reserved? Does this clothing not fit your taste?" Nell approached wearing an amused smile.

She was initially bothered when Etha had provided them with such uniforms to wear but now Nell felt more comfortable wearing it around him after seeing Kazuya's reaction.

"My purpose for putting myself in contact with such loathsome individuals like Raizer does not have anything to do with things such as carnal pleasures. All of you should put it into your heads that the moment I decided to take you away from that place, you were no longer slaves." Kazuya said in a serious tone as he walked towards Nell and placed his hand over the slave crest that was on Nell's shoulder.

"What are you—" her words were cut off by a painful sensation on her shoulder and thought that Kazuya had been activating the crest because of her cheekiness.

"Annul!" Kazuya declared.

The activated slave crest that had been illuminating on Nell's shoulder had slowly started to fade.

Nell herself was currently unaware of what was happening because of the pain she was experiencing but the little girl standing close to the two of them had been witnessing everything that has been happening on the side.

"…!!" the girl's usually emotionless sight had a flicker of emotion that Kazuya failed to notice as she observed what was happening.

The process did not take long and Kazuya took a step back after he finished what he had intended to do. While he was still unsure of what his action would entail, with his knowledge of how much the previous Nell disliked the crest on her arm that she nearly mutilated her arm just to get rid of the mark, he opted to remove it right away.

"You…" finally noticing that the crest that had tied her to servitude had disappeared. She looked at Kazuya with both confusion and astonishment.

He chose to ignore her for now and stepped in front of Lucia before placing a hand on the slave crest that was drawn on the back of the little girl's neck.

"I'll be leaving the two of you here to think about what you want to do next." Kazuya raised a hand to prevent Nell from talking as he spoke.

He handed the two of them a magical parchment each. They were soul contracts that he had prepared beforehand.

"Read through them and decide if you want to work for me or not. This is a requirement and it is non-negotiable. You may continue staying here while you figure it out." He declared before turning around and heading back to the door.

Dealing with Raizer and getting the old necromancer off his back had already taken too much of his time today so Kazuya left without hesitation. Though he might have come back with the two of them already missing, he did not mind.

Though he wanted Nell to come with him, he wanted her to do so out of her own volition. This was the conundrum that he had thought about even before coming back to Edea.

Without joining his party, all his fallen comrades may have had a better chance of survival. Since the church and the Zweifel kingdom had been conspiring against him, it would have been better for them to not get involved in his matters at all.

Despite that, Kazuya still missed their company a lot. Something in him also believed that he would be able to protect them better this time around. This is why he decided to leave it to Nell to decide for herself.

Though it may have not been to his advantage with her just meeting him, Kazuya was satisfied with leaving it completely to her.

-

Meanwhile, in the capital city of the sandy southern lands of Filodoxos, Buce.

"Zeig, have you finished your preparations for going to the Zweifel kingdom?" The king of Filodoxos greeted his eldest son as soon as he entered the room.

"Yes, father. I will be leaving Buce and set out for Maynira tomorrow. The unexpected success of their hero summoning may affect our plans." Zeig Hazard, the crown prince replied filled with determination.  

Folodoxos, as one of Zweifel kingdom's allies, had been able to receive the news of the success of the hero summoning early. This actually surprised the father and son as they had made arrangements to have some of the people involved in it to delay the process as much as they could.

Considering the reported difficulty of the hero summoning process, they initially thought that their contacts had betrayed them. The news they received about the events that transpired after this new supposed hero had arrived, however, had alleviated those thoughts.

"Do you think the plan you proposed will still be do-able?" The king asked his son seriously.

"I believe there is still a high chance that it will succeed. I have invested a lot of time when I thought of this plan and have studied and learned everything I could about the current royal family." Zeig said with confidence but the king felt something was off.

"But…?" the king asked.

"I will not be sure until I arrive there. The hero's arrival, as well as his actions, may have affected my initial plans in enticing the Zweifel kingdom's royal family. I pushed forwards this trip as soon as we received the information we currently have."

"Are there any changes from what you explained to me?"

"Nothing worth mentioning. I will be heading there with only a few guards and offer our support by leaving Robert behind to join the hero's entourage. I believe that they would feel our sincerity since Robert's talents and reputation have already reached their ears." Zeig explained to placate his worried father.

While they may have been well informed about the success of the hero summoning, due to the efforts of Benino and those who were present at the summoning, what actually happened at the site had been kept under a strict level of secrecy.

Alicia's injuries were covered up to be a miscalculation in the influx of energy when their summons was answered. This would be so that no other nation would even think about trying to get the hero they so painstakingly summoned to be stolen from them by other nations.

Despite that, the shaky relationship between the hero and the Royal family was not something that could not be covered up. Because Kazuya had played a key role that ignited the skirmish between the Eberbach family and the Keller family, there had been rumors coming out that the hero was not completely confident in the Zweifel kingdom's royal family.

"Robert's reputation is second only to yours though… what if you are asked to join the hero's party?" The king asked in a worried tone.

While he had many children, none of them even came close to having the qualifications close to his eldest son. He was afraid that they would not be able to refuse it if the more powerful Zweifel kingdom demanded Seig to join such a dangerous journey.

"That should not be a possibility." Seig showed confidence in his statement that superseded the confidence he had when they were discussing their plans earlier.

"Are you really about what you said that the Zweifel kingdom is the one stirring up the troubles themselves?"

"Not the Zweifel kingdom alone. It should be the church of light that is supporting their claims that are not making many people doubt their claims. I believe that those two will definitely let us in on their real plans as soon as we show them that we are giving them our support."

"Then the hero…"

"What hero? That person is nothing more than a tool that will be used to make us humans the unprecedented ruler of Edea. This is why my trip cannot be delayed. We need to be early to get a bigger piece of the cake."

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