I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 152

Before Stage 4 began, right after recruiting the Aegis Special Task Force Team 8, led by God Hand, into my command, I had ordered Aider:

– “Keep watch just in case, and report immediately if anything happens.”

– “Huh?! Me?!”

– “Then you, the only one with spare manpower, should do it. Should we, who are busy with defense battles and free exploration, do it?”

The Aegis Special Task Force Team 8 was entirely composed of elves and made up of death row inmates sent from the capital. It was a measure I took just in case, as the existing party members were very distrustful and uneasy. However, they were loyal, fought risking their lives, gained everyone’s trust, and soon completely integrated into this monster front. They were no longer the ‘Aegis Special Task Force Team 8,’ but my ‘Shadow Unit.’ I also came to completely trust the Shadow Unit, so much so that I had forgotten that I had entrusted Aider with surveillance.

***

However, the night before Stage 5 began, Aider came to me with a bewildered face.

“Lord, I think you need to see this data.”

And what Aider showed me was video footage, like CCTV.

“After you ordered the surveillance that day, I was using the remaining system resources to monitor the Shadow Unit, and… just today, this was recorded.”

The screen showed the annex of the lord’s mansion where the Shadow Unit was staying. It was the archery training ground behind the annex. God Hand was out there alone.

– “It’s going to be a problem if you come here.”

God Hand looked around, seemingly troubled, and spoke in a low voice.

– “If someone sees us, our connection will be exposed.”

– “Everyone in the castle is busy preparing for the defense battle tomorrow anyway. They won’t even care about someone like me. More than that, what about this, this?!”

The one who came to find God Hand and said that was… Margherita.

– “The mission I received from the central was only to grasp the movements of this fortress city! But now I’m going to be on the front lines! Isn’t reconnaissance inside the front lines the mission of your Aegis Special Task Force?!”

With just this one sentence, everything was clear. God Hand and Margherita were both spies of the Imperial Family.

God Hand looked around and asked the hysterically shouting Margherita:

– “Did Prince Ash also request the Saintess to participate in the battle?”

– “Yes! He asked me to participate as a reserve. This, this… damn it! It’s not my mission! I came here to treat the sick, not to fight monsters!”

– “Please calm down. Someone will hear you.”

– “How can I calm down?! When they first sent me here from the central, they said the monster invasions would decrease and it would be safe, but not only are the invasions getting worse day by day, now I’m going to be standing on the ramparts myself!”

After venting for a while, Margherita took a deep breath, as if she had calmed down a little. God Hand, who had been listening quietly, nodded silently.

– “Don’t worry. I will protect you.”

– “…Really?”

– “Yes. If that’s what I can do….”

– “No, that’s not enough. I need to contact the central directly. I can’t anymore-”

That’s when it happened.

– “God Hand?”

Bodybag approached from the annex, making a sound. God Hand, startled, turned around in a fluster, and Margherita hurriedly lowered her posture and ran towards the forest behind.

– “Bodybag? Why aren’t you resting inside and what are you doing here!”

– “I was just getting some fresh air… What are you doing, God Hand? Who were you talking to….”

Margherita quickly fled into the forest behind the archery training ground, and God Hand blocked the path towards it with his body and coughed.

– “Talking? Ahem! I was alone. I was just talking to myself.”

Beep.

“That’s all for the video.”

Aider smiled bitterly as he stopped the video.

“Your Lordship’s insight was accurate when you ordered the surveillance. The Shadow Unit are such loyal friends that I almost believed them too….”

“Forget about the Shadow Unit, what about Margherita?”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you monitor Margherita after this?”

Aider looked bewildered.

“From the moment their conversation ended, I changed the surveillance target to Margherita. But she’s just praying in the temple, nothing else-”

“Show me.”

“Yes?”

“That prayer. Show it to me.”

Aider turned the screen. In the central hall of the temple, Margherita was kneeling in front of the goddess statue, praying.

– “I just want to be faithful to the mission given to me….”

Margherita looked up at the goddess statue with a desperate gaze.

– “What should I do now….”

As if the goddess statue would really give an answer.

– “Please… tell me….”

Margherita curled up and continued to pray. Damian was seen on the screen, watching her from afar with a puzzled look. Here, Aider stopped the video.

“After this, she just keeps kneeling in front of the goddess statue.”

“….”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the screen.

“When talking to God Hand, Margherita clearly said, right?”

“Yes?”

“‘I need to contact the central directly.'”

“Ah, yes. She definitely said that.”

“Then that means Margherita has a way to contact the ‘central.’ But she’s just praying all the time… ?”

Without sending a messenger. Without using a carrier pigeon. Just praying in front of the goddess statue.

I glared at the goddess statue on the screen.

Could it be…?

“Aider. Can you keep monitoring Margherita from now on?”

“Due to system resource limitations, it seems I can only monitor one side at a time.”

“Then monitor only Margherita from now on. You can leave the Shadow Unit alone.”

Crack. Crack. I cracked my knuckles and growled lowly.

“I’ll have to fish Margherita out soon.”

“By ‘fishing out’ do you mean…?”

“I’m going to leak false information. False information that will shock Margherita and make the central react in horror.”

I smirked, raising one corner of my mouth.

“Then it will be revealed. Margherita’s means of contacting the central, and the identity of that ‘central.'”

I had a hunch that both of those things would be very useful to me.

***

Present. The lord’s mansion. Reception room. God Hand and Margherita are kneeling before me, bound.

“Looking back, there were suspicious circumstances from the beginning.”

I sat on a chair with my legs crossed in front of them, twirling the cane in my hand.

“God Hand, when you lost both arms in the Gargoyle Legion defense battle, you received surgery from Margherita.”

“….”

“But you didn’t really cut off both arms then, did you? That area was already lost before you came to this front. When you got the name God Hand.”

That day, in front of God Hand’s operating room, Bodybag said this:

– “God Hand had already lost both hands in an operation two years ago.”

– “Both of his lost hands were replaced with metal prosthetics. Because he was a metal mage, he had no problem handling the prosthetics like real hands.”

– “After replacing both hands with prosthetics, he also changed his codename to God Hand.”

“The arms you lost that day, the arms you cut off, were not real arms but metal prosthetics.”

“….”

“Margherita pretended to make a great sacrifice so that you could gain our trust. Isn’t that right?”

Lilly, who was listening to my words, looked at God Hand with a pale face.

“Is that true, God Hand…?”

“….”

“But that day, you lost your arm trying to save me….”

God Hand, who had been silent, slowly opened his mouth.

“It is true that I was injured by a gargoyle that day and had an additional amputation of my forearm.”

It was as if he was speaking to Lilly, not to me.

“However, most of what the Prince said is correct. I faked a minor injury as if it were a big deal to gain the trust of this front….”

“….”

“But Lilly, everything I told you that night was true-”

Lilly left the reception room without listening any further. God Hand, looking at the spot where Lilly had disappeared, shut his mouth and lowered his head. I clicked my tongue, watched the scene, and shrugged.

“I don’t care if any of you are spies of the Imperial Family. It’s strange if there aren’t any spies in the first place.”

The Everblack Empire is a country that has taken over more than half of the continent. It is natural to have spies all over the world, even within its own territory. Moreover, if a prince is out here in this remote area, it is inevitable that he will be monitored.

“If you are loyal to me and fight on the front lines risking your lives, I don’t care if you report the current situation here to the higher-ups.”

I growled at them both.

“But you shouldn’t have been caught.”

“….”

“….”

“Now that it’s come to this, who on this front can trust you? You might be spies with other agendas, not comrades fighting monsters together.”

Right now, the relationship between the Imperial Family and me, the Third Prince, isn’t that bad. But you never know what will happen in the future. For example, if a succession issue arises later, if another prince who has seized power in the Imperial Family decides to kill me, it is entirely possible for these spies to sabotage this front and assassinate me. They are like a bomb collar the Imperial Family has put on my neck.

“…Your Highness.”

God Hand, gritting his teeth, looked up at me as if he had made a decision.

“It is true that I received a secret order when I was sent here. But Your Highness, none of my subordinates knew about this.”

I glanced at Bodybag and Burnout, who were tied up in the corner of the reception room. They were trembling in shock at this situation. God Hand continued.

“Above all, I have already decided to give my life here. My loyalty is true. Please believe me, Your Highness! And….”

“Stop! God Hand, I’ll hear your story later.”

I cut him off and turned my gaze to the side.

“Now, we need to hear our Saintess’s story.”

“….”

Margherita has been silent since being bound, her eyes closed, as if she had given up on everything.

“As soon as I declared rebellion and gave you time, Saintess, you immediately ran to the temple, without knowing that my subordinate was monitoring you.”

“….”

“I was curious how you contact the higher-ups. And the identity of that ‘means of communication’ was very surprising.”

***

Earlier, when I gave them an hour’s grace, Margherita immediately ran to the temple. I was constantly watching Margherita through the surveillance screen of the system window. Margherita sat in front of the goddess statue in the central hall, then gave up on praying and just spoke.

– “Reporting. Prince Ash has declared rebellion. I repeat, Prince Ash has declared rebellion.”

After a long silence, a crackling, low-quality voice came from the goddess statue.

– 「Rebellion?」

It sounded like a phone call with very poor reception, but it was clearly audible.

– 「Say it again, accurately.」

– “Prince Ash has declared rebellion.”

– 「Is that true? This matter is extremely serious. There must not be even a single piece of misinformation.」

– “It’s true. I just heard it with my own two ears.”

– 「…….」

The goddess statue was silent for a moment, then spoke.

– 「Prince Ash said to gather again in an hour?」

– “Yes.”

– 「Then join Prince Ash and continue to monitor him. Monitor closely and report again whether he is really planning a rebellion, and if so, what method he is planning.」

– “But, this is no longer my mission! I’m just a healing priest…!”

– 「Everything is for the Goddess and His Majesty the Emperor. Don’t complain.」

– “….”

– 「I will wait for the next report. Contact me before midnight today. Over.」

The conversation ended. Margherita looked up at the goddess statue with resentful eyes, then left the temple again and returned to my mansion.

***

I smirked.

“To think there was a magical communication device capable of long-distance communication, and that it was in the form of a ‘goddess statue.'”

“….”

“That’s why I couldn’t know whether you were praying hard in front of the goddess statue or reporting the situation here to the higher-ups.”

Communication magic is a representative ancient magic that was known to have disappeared along with teleportation magic. But it seems that it didn’t disappear, but the Imperial Family monopolized it and only allowed their spies to use it. We are struggling to send messengers, write letters, and fly pigeons every time we need to contact someone far away, but these spies have calmly built a high-speed communication line and are using it only for themselves. These cheap bastards.

Margherita bit her lip tightly. I brought my face close to hers, who was avoiding my gaze.

“Saintess. No, Margherita.”

Tap. Tap. Tap. I tapped the palm of my other hand with the short cane in my hand and chanted ominously.

“I don’t doubt your faith, nor your sincerity in treating patients, nor your nobility in carrying out medical activities in this remote area.”

“….”

“But you were a dog of the Imperial Family, a spy. And you hid that fact from me. You deceived and betrayed me, the son of the Emperor, the commander of the Southern Front, and the lord of this city.”

Tap. I gripped the cane on my palm as if I would crush it, and smiled gently.

“You have to pay the price, right?”

“….”

Margherita slowly opened her mouth.

“Are you… going to kill me?”