Spousal Support
Paris's watch didn't look ordinary at all. Regardless of how expensive it was, a considerable amount of mana was emanating from it.
Isaac was looking at it, thinking it might be a protective item, but he just pressed the button on the watch.
"......Eh, why?"
With a face full of despair that he couldn't understand, Paris frantically pressed the button repeatedly. It wasn't a protective item, but rather a communication device for calling subordinates.
"No one is coming. They've all already died."
"That's impossible! What kind of trick are you playing!"
"What kind of trick. I just killed them by charging at them."
"Lies!"
He couldn't believe it, but it was annoying to explain one by one.
After all, Diarose was one of the main funding sources of the Abrarum syndicate, so the treatment in the organization would naturally be different.
Among the people he killed on the way here, there were quite a few former A-rank adventurers and first-class criminals with similar levels of power.
To be honest, they were quite formidable. If he had been careless, he might have been overwhelmed by the flood of blood.
"W, that's impossible! Are you saying you're some kind of 'hero'?"
"I do similar things."
The reason he had to return home once a year was also that. So it wasn't a lie. Of course, he didn't explain because no one would believe him anyway.
Even while shouting at him, Paris's eyeballs were rolling rapidly. It sounded like his brain was being squeezed.
Probably roughly.
'This information that the Empress chose me as a shield for the marriage alliance is wrong. That guy was the Empress's hidden knife from the beginning. The indulgent life that only looked like a rich playboy was all to lull those who would target him or later target him into complacency. Nothing else could explain this situation!'
... He was probably thinking something like that. Unfortunately, all of it was wrong. Nothing in front of him, and nothing behind either.
No need to lull anyone into complacency, no thoughts of it. He had just casually talked while investigating.
The Abrarum syndicate was an organization that even Marianne couldn't easily touch in terms of scale or military power. Especially now, with the predecessor having left behind countless problems and the suppression of rebellions leaving no available manpower.
That's why he had come. For the spousal support of his wife who was working hard on the Hounds and other matters.
"Good. I will surrender."
Paris, who had come to his own conclusion, raised both hands and declared his intention to surrender to Isaac.
It was obvious what such people thought. As long as they had a life, there were infinite ways to escape.
In reality, many imperial executors had ties to the Abrarum syndicate. If they used those who had been soaked in bribes and drugs, the empire's laws would be nothing but decoration.
If the ledgers and various documents and records he had, including this one, were revealed to the world, it would be a significant blow not only to the organization but also to Paris himself. But it would be better than death, and he would live to take revenge on Isaac.
He retreated too much. If this had been right after Isaac arrived in the Imperial Capital, he might have thought Isaac was treating him as a fool.
"Cough?!"
Isaac grabbed Paris's neck and lifted him up. In the unexpected situation, Paris looked at Isaac with eyes full of incomprehension.
What was in his eyes was a question. To that question, Isaac kindly answered.
"Sorry, I don't understand complicated things. The most I can do is throw trash into the trash can. Separation or recycling, the smart ones will figure it out."
"C, cough... li, live...!"
- Thud.
With a slight force, Paris's neck broke and he died on the spot. Isaac casually threw the body of dead Paris and turned around and said.
"Come."
A figure appeared from the darkness. Haria, who had removed the hunting dog-shaped mask, was looking at this side with a very tense face.
"Don't be so scared. I didn't call you specifically to get angry. I had already known that you were following me, as I said before."
After saying that in his usual tone to not scare Haria, Isaac picked up a cigar on the desk where the dead Paris was.
Nice one. Bad guys always end up with good things.
He took out the cigar and put it in his mouth and lit it.
"Oh, as expected, a high-end product. The taste is really good."
Unfortunately, there was only one left in the case. While looking around the desk to see if there was more, Haria asked with difficulty.
"... Did you come to Diarose with the intention of doing this from the beginning?"
"Yeah. Although the treatment was better than I thought, I did enjoy it for a few more days."
Unfortunately, the cigar was really the last one.
While enjoying the aroma of the one he was holding, thinking he might get the same one next time, Haria asked again with a face that still didn't understand.
"You must have eaten the Turquoise Miracle. But how could you be fine? Did you eat a decoding drug in advance after obtaining the information?"
"There's no way. It's not like I had any means to extract internal information from the empire's strongest criminal organization right after arriving in the Imperial Capital."
If it was outside the organization, he could gather information somehow. There were plenty of people who hated the Abrarum syndicate, and there was enough money to make them talk.
But no matter how much, it was impossible for him to obtain internal information. After all, he had expected that they would use some kind of medicine to use him, and it matched, so in the end it didn't matter.
While explaining that, he laughed dryly, and Haria kept her mouth shut for a moment. It was pitiful to see her like that, so as the leader, he should show more kindness.
"And the reason the Turquoise Miracle didn't work is no special reason. It's just that I ate too much and developed tolerance."
"What? What do you mean. Don't say nonsense. Do you know what the Turquoise Miracle is?"
Of course he knew. So he was saying it.
"Or are you trying to make fun of me?"
"You wouldn't find it fun if you tried to make fun of me. Anyway, the thing you call the Turquoise Miracle is originally something the elf assassin unit mainly used."
Since he didn't know the exact name, in the Meyer Kingdom it was called something like 'toad skin from the Hell Swamps' or similar. The drug that the elf assassin unit used as one of their main methods.
One of their main tactics was, when surrendering or making peace with other groups, to mix the powder into the food they offered to the enemy.
Then, after the enemy under the influence of the drug was slaughtered, it was over. Because it was too common and well-known to Meyer Kingdom soldiers, it was no longer an effective tactic.
"At first, I was also hit by it once, but the effect didn't last long. Still, the feeling was good, so I ate it whenever I could, but because I ate too much, now the effect is gone."
"Such nonsense...!"
This was the first time Haria showed such a passionate reaction. She probably roughly knew where the Turquoise Miracle stood in the continent.
"By the way, it seems there's no record here, but there is a decoding method for that."
"Really?!"
He didn't really have that thought, but if it was spousal support, it was spousal support, and moreover, it would benefit the Meyer Kingdom, so it was fine.
"I did say it that way, but it was a bit embarrassing to call it a decoding method. This is a method that the ancestors of the Meyer Kingdom, who had fought with other races and gained experience, used."
"So what is it!"
"Just boil tea with Dawn Grass and drink it. Not only does it cure withdrawal symptoms, but it also completely heals without any aftereffects, including addiction symptoms."
When Haria heard the explanation, her face became astonished. Why was that? Maybe the feeling of being tricked because it was too simple?
However, the following words from Haria made him realize he had been mistaken.
"Is that hard to obtain?"
"Yeah? It's not in the empire either? In the Meyer Kingdom, it's as common as weeds. ......Ah, so you used it as a drug?"
Dawn Grass was really a common herb in the Meyer Kingdom. Although common, it was definitely a medicinal herb, so when you caught a cold, you drank it boiled.
He had drunk it often when he was young. Mainly on the battlefield.
"Then..."
"Send a letter to the Meyer Kingdom. I'll send as much as to feed all the empire's citizens."
It was a pity he couldn't see his father's and family's faces when receiving the letter. They would definitely be shocked.
When the explanation to Haria ended, people came. They were Hounds wearing hunting dog masks, like Haria.
They came faster than expected.
"This is..."
"What the hell..."
"How did this happen..."
He didn't wish for their death, but anyway, his subordinates must have thought he was dead and come. But when they came, all the combatants were massacred and the manager was dead too.
They had no choice but to be surprised. Still, it was boring to explain the same thing twice.
"Details, ask Haria. I have to take a shower."
As he walked past the Hounds, he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten and turned around and said to them.
"You saw it? Since your leader didn't die, don't worry anymore."
--
Isaac really went to take a shower, and the Hounds' gazes, blankly staring at his figure, all turned to Haria.
As expected, Haria sighed and said.
"Explain it back at headquarters. First, let's secure the evidence of illegal organization activities lying around here. ......The leader can't let the Imperial Capital Garrison snatch away the achievements he made."
No one among the Hounds missed the change in Haria's title. Also, since she said she would explain back at headquarters, no one didn't know that asking now would be meaningless.
Therefore, before Haria's words were finished, the Hounds started moving busily. While Haria was organizing the explanations to give to her colleagues, she unconsciously turned her head and looked somewhere.
It was the direction Isaac had disappeared in. Even though he was already out of sight, Haria stared blankly in that direction for a moment.
--
Late at night. The Empress of the Vlata Empire, Marianne King Vlata, was quietly looking at a report in her study.
It wasn't reading. She had already read it once. Normally, she wouldn't look at a report she had read once again, but for some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off it now.
The report from the Hounds detailed what her husband had done.
How Isaac had destroyed Diarose, one of the largest funding sources of the Abrarum syndicate, in an instant.
The process itself was simple. There had been some investigation, but in the end, it was destroyed by force.
The fact that he did it with personal strength was definitely shocking. Shockingly so.
However, what really bothered Marianne was something else.
Since it was a report from the Hounds, of course it had Isaac's signature. Haria wrote the report itself, but the final approval was Isaac's role as the leader, so there was nothing strange about it.
It wasn't strange. No, it was strange.
Marianne looked at a part where Isaac had briefly written the reason for destroying Diarose.
"......"
There, only the word 'Spousal Support' was written.