The Scheme
The empire's top entertainment facility, Diarose, which was also considered one of the continent's premier gambling and pleasure spots, suddenly closed its doors without warning.
No forewarning at all. Under the Empress's decree, those connected to Diarose were arrested one after another and stood before the imperial court.
People assumed the Empress had finally drawn her sword, but their hopes were dashed when the real entity behind it, Abrarum, remained untouched.
The information linking Diarose and Abrarum had been thoroughly sealed off. After Diarose shut down, unidentified corpses began piling up in the back alleys of the slums for several days, yet no one paid them any attention.
Since Abrarum was originally an unknown organization, most people accepted it as inevitable and moved on to the next topic of conversation.
The topic was simple: who had dared to touch Diarose, one of Abrarum's primary funding sources.
The official announcement claimed that the Imperial Guard had raided Diarose, a fierce battle had broken out, and evidence of victory had been found. But no one believed a word of it.
Newspapers and magazines printed and published whatever they wanted without missing a beat. Yet no mere press could possibly uncover information blocked by the imperial government.
As a result, speculation ran rampant under the guise of novels. Thanks to that, interest in Diarose faded rapidly after just a few days.
"It's only natural. No one tells the truth, everyone just writes their own delusions. Who would believe any of it?"
Standing in the Hounds headquarters, Gilbert read the magazine Boros had brought and tossed it into the trash as he spoke. Derigan, who had been sipping milk, nodded in agreement.
"It's good for us. If the Hounds' secrets ever leaked out, we would be the first ones killed."
There was no subject to identify who would do the killing, but it was unnecessary to ask. Who else besides the imperial government?
Saying "there is such an organization" and "clearly there is such an organization" were two completely different things.
After the rebellion, the Empress had swiftly purged the remnants, turned the country upside down, and even sparked a civil war. The reason she enjoyed such widespread support from the empire's citizens was because she had cleverly used propaganda claiming the common people were important.
During the previous emperor's tyrannical rule, the empire itself might have survived, but internally, especially among the citizens, the hearts of the people were rotten.
So when the Empress personally stepped onto the execution platform and chopped off the heads of corrupt nobles and power figures, the vast majority of citizens who had suffered for so long gave her their fervent support.
Of course, revealing the Hounds' identity wouldn't spark a rebellion or shake the Empress's foundation. But some impact and seeds of future suspicion had to be endured.
Since they had to accept it, from the Empress and imperial government's perspective, it was far simpler to just eliminate the issue temporarily. Who would know if it was recreated after it calmed down?
In the end, they were a disposable tool that could be used when needed and discarded when not. No glory, no honor.
"Instead, there is money. Yesterday, I finally got to spoil my family a bit. I never knew my wife's eyes could get that big. I kept scratching my itchy spots that I didn't usually scratch, thinking she might have done something dangerous, and I almost died explaining it."
Gilbert laughed cheerfully as he spoke. Derigan smiled. In the long history of the Hounds, Gilbert was one of the rare cases who had formed a family after joining the organization.
Even Gilbert's wife knew about the Hounds. They had met because of the Hounds' work, so it couldn't be helped.
Thinking back to that time, Derigan thought it was truly a miracle that they were now living together and had a child.
Suddenly, someone who had passed through his mind.
"Speaking of which, the leader isn't here. I remember entering the leader's room after distributing the reward money, but I don't recall whether he stayed in the headquarters."
"Ah, the leader? He went out this morning."
"Where to?"
"Where else would he go?"
To Derigan, who was asked to ask that question, he belatedly remembered what their leader truly liked.
"This time, who is it?"
"According to Haria, who went on a tailing mission while cursing and swearing as usual, she said it was some merchant's daughter or something?"
After Gilbert's explanation, Derigan stared at the milk he had poured and fell into thought.
As a result of what they had directly witnessed in Diarose that day combined with Haria's account, no one in the Hounds doubted the leader's skill.
'But... I still don't know what he's thinking.'
"Don't worry, he won't die. What the leader said in Diarose."
It was clear that he had accurately seen through their trauma and deliberately shown his strength to reassure them.
'But why? Why is someone with that level of skill now worried about us who just met him?'
It was hard to understand what he was aiming for and acting on. After the Diarose incident, they had investigated every woman the leader had met, just in case.
In fact, meeting women might be a cover, and each action might not have had any deeper meaning. But what they could confirm was only that the leader truly loved women and possessed tremendous stamina.
"Hey. Don't overthink it. We just need to do what we've always done and follow the orders well."
Gilbert patted his shoulder and spoke. He had the same worries as Derigan. Not only that, every Hound shared the same concern.
But his conclusion was that no matter how much they thought about it, nothing would change. That was correct. After all, the one holding the leash was someone else.
"We have more trouble than the Empress and the imperial government. They also didn't know the leader's power at all."
"Indeed. I'm sorry I couldn't see the ones with the best faces hugging their heads."
The seasoned two hunting dogs laughed slyly while looking at each other.
---
"Shouldn't we make him step down from the position of Hounds leader?"
In response to a middle minister's words, silence fell over the meeting room. This meeting was not the ordinary daily gathering to manage state affairs.
It was the center of the empire, precisely the meeting where only the closest aides of Empress Marianne King Vlata and the leaders of the forces that supported her could attend.
In this meeting, secret and dangerous information that couldn't be easily disclosed in the state council was exchanged non-stop. Today's meeting was no different.
They were a very small number of people who knew about the Hounds. Usually, even the empire's nobles didn't know the Hounds' existence exactly.
In any era, if a noble committed a wrong, the fact was reported to the emperor's closest aides. Then the emperor and aides would use the Hounds to eliminate the cause of the wrong and receive compensation.
Now, the role had broken down and transferred from the purged previous emperor's forces to Marianne and her closest aides.
The topic of today's meeting was naturally about Isaac. Although interest in Diarose had disappeared quickly, the law that one incident doesn't happen twice didn't exist.
So, they were discussing Isaac's treatment, but unexpectedly, opinions were quite divided.
"Absurd! He massacred the top-tier combatants of Diarose who even the imperial knights couldn't easily touch! To send him away when he could be used as power!"
"It's not to expel him from the empire! And there's no evidence that the ones he killed were really him!"
The Imperial Guard who arrived late reported that it was hard to believe, but a group of many people consisting of former A-rankers and first-class criminals seemed to have been affected by one person.
They couldn't guess who it was because they didn't know the Hounds' identity, but the people gathered here had received the Hounds' report, so they naturally heard that the person was Isaac.
The opinions after that were divided into two large groups. One was to appoint him as a knight immediately to strengthen the forces' power, and the other was to give him an appropriate reason and send him far away because he had an unexpected power.
"The Hounds must have plotted something and used him as a shield!"
"What would the Hounds do such a thing for? Moreover, can you see that it's possible to confront one of Abrarum's top powers with just the Hounds?"
Since they had no intention of persuasion and were just frustrated with each other, it didn't end. Normally, Marianne would have intervened with her majestic charisma, but she just sat with her chin on her hand and watched quietly.
Because of that, the meeting didn't seem to calm down. Among them, there were vassals who sincerely loyal to Marianne, precisely her original family, but most were not.
They were just a group that had been absorbed by Marianne during the previous emperor's time when they couldn't fit into the mainstream power class and made into her side, and then gained power after her victory.
'Even though they fought with one heart and one mind during the rebellion... this is the result already.'
If she could, she would have killed everyone except the real closest aides, but she couldn't easily remove her meritorious vassals. While enduring a sigh that was about to come out, when Marianne was about to speak.
"Everyone, please calm down. What you are talking about is His Majesty's consort."
Marianne's eyes narrowed with suspicion. The name that quickly focused the attention of the entire meeting room on herself was Fabian Jericho.
The current head of the Jericho Ducal House, which had led the construction of the empire following the first emperor.
He was originally one of the central figures of the previous emperor's forces, but he quickly switched sides by sensing the signs of rebellion like a ghost and maintaining power.
He had joined hands for victory, but he was also a person ranked first on the Empress's 'list of people she would definitely kill someday'.
After confirming that Fabian had focused his attention on himself, he continued.
"Isaac is undoubtedly a being with unexpected power, but even so, it's just the individual physical strength of one person. It's hard to think he will become a big threat."
Fabian's words directly pointed out their anxiety. In the end, the anxiety of those raising their voices now was exactly that.
What if the Empress's consort threatened their power. Fabian's story continued.
"Also, the position of the Hounds leader originally serves to block arrows that would come our way. If they are excellent in martial prowess, they can maintain that role for a long time, so it's actually good for us."
"Although Duke Jericho's words have some truth... what if he does something like this again?"
To that, Fabian smiled. The minister who asked the question thought Fabian was mocking him and tried to get angry, but Fabian was faster this time too.
"What problem is there? The Hounds is a secret organization, so there's no way their identity will be revealed. Moreover, Abrarum was a target that we also had to eliminate, but for various reasons we couldn't touch it easily. Since you didn't ask us to do it, but we directly touched it, isn't it good for us?"
Including the minister who was trying to get angry, other people also started agreeing with Fabian's opinion. On the surface, it was right.
No matter how strong, individual physical strength, and the Hounds is a secret organization, so they can't move on the surface. Moreover, since they had already touched Abrarum, they wouldn't stay still.
If they fought each other and Isaac eliminated Abrarum, it would be good, and even if not, they could cut down the forces like this time, so in any way, they were in a structure that benefited them.
On the surface.
"Well, that's true."
" Duke's words are correct."
"We seem to have become too sensitive."
When opinions converged, the meeting quickly stabilized. After finishing his speech, Fabian quietly returned to the position of a spectator, so the others didn't care, but the Empress and her vassals were different.
'This bastard, what's his scheme this time?'
Until the meeting ended, Fabian didn't open his mouth again.