Lord Ikrel's son will arrive today, and we need to be ready to welcome him. If we get friendly with him first, extract all the information we can from him, and then frame him for everything, we won't have to worry about any competition for Fumiko. We need her to take on Ikrel and Welcia as the new lord. We might even be able to go undetected by Goddess Ifrit longer this way.
"Hikaru, help me with this, please."- Hana is trying to reach a high spot to dust it off since we are cleaning the old cabin that we live in now.
"Sure."- I grabbed the broom with one of my shadow tendrils and guided it to dust the ceiling off. This is paradoxical, but Hana is taller than me, yet she is the one asking for help to clean places she can't reach; well, maybe because I have my shadow tendrils that can stretch more than a few hundred meters at a time.
"Today is the day that Lord Ikrel's son arrives; how will we deal with him, Hikaru? I know what you talked about with Ayame, but are you really going through with this plan?"- Hana is cleaning the rest of the cabin. I could hear the uncertainty in her voice over the telepathic link. I didn't know what to do or say here, but I wanted to go through Ayame's plan.
"Well, the plan goes that we should make Fumiko hate him even more and then have the people vote in favor of Fumiko in the upcoming lord candidacy; in the end, if most people vote for Fumiko, she will get even more land to control, but if people vote for Lord Ikrel's son then we will lose some ground, and we will likely be attacked by his army and the imperial army. We will need to act fast on this matter; I think that Ayame's plan is the best solution here since it eliminates the need to vote for either Fumiko or Lord Ikrel's son."- Hana and I, as of late, we only talked via the telepathic network set up by Sia, since Fumiko is with us more often now. I think it's better because people might lurk around the cabin, or who knows, we can't be too careful.
"Guys, I never told the 2 of you, but my father wanted me to marry someone, Lord Ikrel's son. He had hoped that our relations would be better with this, but I hated Lord Ikrel's son. He is supposed to come one of these days, his name is Rei. His mother was an otherworlder like the 2 of you, but she died when he was little."- Great, another person with a sad backstory that we have to backstab. Even tho he might have had this life, we can't know if he is a good person, but after all that we talked about, he isn't good; why am I even saying this? We will see.
!Suggestion: You can befriend and betray him as Ayame told you. Make up your mind now, Hikaru. You can use your Primordial skill to disguise yourself or shed your disguise at any time. I will make sure to deceive his skill as much as I can!
"I already made up my mind Sia. I will do it the way you suggested. But I might chance my mind after we see him, I don't know for now."
!Being rational like this is not out of your character, but it's rather rare. I will have to congratulate you on this!
"Fumiko, how much do you like Rei? If your dad wanted to marry him, you must have liked him once. Am I assuming wrong?" - I stepped up from my spot after finishing my conversation with Sia. I looked at Fumiko, who was sitting across from me. We just installed a new sort of couch, a small one at that, so that Hana and I can sit or only 1 of us can sleep there in case there is any problem that we will need to deal with or if we have guests over.
"No, you are wrong. I always disliked Rei. He is always showing off, putting people down just so he can get up; plus, he is the one who instilled my fear of monsters, especially of Demons and Ogres. He hates monsters with all of his heart; he thinks that humans are superior to monsters in every way, just because humans can get more skills and evolve more with hard work, or so he says." – Fumiko looked at us with a straight face, her words coming out as hateful toward Rei.
"Well, I guess I am wrong. I think he will have a heart attack if he finds out that I am a Demon and Hana is an Ogre. Sincerely, he sounds like a spoiled brat." I stretched a bit and then looked at the door and windows.
!He will be here shortly, so you have around 5 more minutes to talk freely with Fumiko!
"Yes. He always mocked me for my mana illness and the way my mind regressed because of it. But now I have you 2 to thank for curing me of my illness, or at least for the moment, I still have some times where I regress but it's not as severe as it was before. Thank you, you two".
"I feel a presence, Fumiko, hide."- I know it's Lord Ikrel's son, but we are better safe than sorry on this one.
"Who goes there?"- We heard a knock on the door, and Hana was the first to reply.
"I am Lord Ikrel's son, Rei. I was sent here by the guards of the former Lord Welcia; I command you to open the door, NOW!" - Rei's voice boomed from the other side in a commanding tone.
"It's okay Hikaru"- Fumiko whispered in my ear.
Fumiko walked to the door and opened it.
"Hello, Fumiko. What are you doing in a place such as this? It looks like a recently built ruin, no place for a lady like you. And who are those 2?" - He pointed towards us.
"Hana, follow my actions."- I sent this message quickly over our telepathic network.
"Well, who are you, kid? I don't believe you are Lord Ikrel's son; he didn't mention having a son to us. As Miss Fumiko's advisors, we must protect her from any threat that may come, and you are marked as one. We will let you off the hook for now because Miss Fumiko seems to know you a little. If you try anything funny, we will strike you down."- I can see him trying to grab something from his back; I sent one of my shadow tendrils to keep his hand in place and not move.
"What are you doing with a hand behind your back? If you have good intentions, say that you will do no harm and drop any weapon you may have. "- Hana followed by coming closer to him; I further restrained him. Hana disarmed him and put him on the couch with his hands tied behind his back.
"Geez, your guards are good, but what about my weapons? How will I defend myself?" - Rei looked at us while frowning and probably hating us. We needed to do what guards usually do.
"Don't worry; we will defend the two of you. Now, what do you want with Miss Fumiko? Tell us." - I walked up and stared daggers at him. It might be overboard, but with the current situation, I think it's okay to act like this.
"Well, she will be my bride soon, and we will help keep the 2 lordships. Isn't that right, Fumiko?"- Rei looked at Fumiko with a smile that didn't look real. His hands are still tied, but he is struggling to escape.
"Sia, analyze him."
"Well, I don't know what to say; it's sudden," Fumiko says. She must not let his flattery get the better of her.
"Come on, you know the 2 monsters that were summoned? They are dead and will soon catch who killed our parents as well, and then we can take revenge together on them. What do you say?"- Rei tried to appeal to Fumiko.
"Well, I don't want to kill or hurt anyone."- Fumiko put her hand on her head and lay on the ground.
"Seems like you are still affected by that illness. I want a bride, not a child."- Rei tried to get up from the bed and go near Fumiko, but I stopped him using one of my shadow tendrils.
"I think Miss Fumiko was clear in what she said. Try anything like that, and we will need to tackle you to the ground."- I walked near Rei, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and screamed this in his face. He will be dead soon anyway, I don't like the guy, he is scum. I think I made up my mind that there is no reason or friendship with him.
"What are you doing? Put me down this instant." - I looked him in the eyes, but I didn't show any emotions aside from boredom.
"No, not until you calm down, if you are a threat to Miss Fumiko we will need to kick you out."
"Fine. Are you 2 willing to help me with some investigation to look into my father's murder?"- He pouted.
"Yes. We will do that tomorrow. We need to give Miss Fumiko time to recover, understand?"- I frowned and pressed my forehead against his.
"Yes, sir."- He is getting a little scared now, but that's good.
!Analysis complete. What he said is true; however, he also wants to take over the other Lordships; he is searching for you 2 to assassinate the other Lords. You can take it from here, Hikaru; you know what to do, right?!
"I know exactly what to do, Sia; thank you for the information."
!I beg you to be careful with Rei!