Separate from the apartment building he rented from Dant, Hiroto the Paradox had a specialized office in Aureatia's upper-class residential area. He had secured this reception room, equipped with ultra-luxurious sofas and other furniture—high enough quality to avoid any bad impressions—along with an endless supply of tea and snacks, first thing after he joined the Sixways Exhibition.
The Gray-Haired Child. Hiroto the Paradox's strength was that he only battled in a domain where he excelled. As long as he had a negotiating room, where conversations couldn't be heard and which he could use at will, it would serve as a far more effective resource for Hiroto than any military force or information.
Though he was under Dant the Heath Furrow's surveillance at all times, Hiroto invited many people to this room, from bureaucrats to shop owners, and continued to expand his circle of acquaintances in various forms.
Now an opportunity to use this reception room in the middle of a Sixways Exhibition match had come.
Right as the match between Soujirou the Willow-Sword and Ozonezma the Capricious was occurring, Soujirou's sponsor—Aureatia's Twenty-Seventh General, Haade the Flashpoint—requested a meeting with Dant.
"I know what you're aiming for in the first round." They were the first words from Haade's mouth.
"Your hidden motive here is that if Ozonezma wins the match, you're going to immediately integrate my camp into yours…and under your guidance, you'll try to bring all the anti-Rosclay groups together."
Haade the Flashpoint was nearly the oldest member of the Twenty-Nine Officials, but he was still a titan who held a tremendous influence on the entire military. After Rosclay's faction, known as the reformation faction and which was scheming to abolish the monarchy, he was the leader of the second-biggest faction—the military faction.
Facing him on Hiroto's side of room were Hiroto the Paradox, who had a
connection to the Free City of Okafu, and Twenty-Fourth General Dant, part of the smallest of all the factions, the Queen's faction. Finally, there was the goblin tactician, Zigita Zogi the Thousandth.
"Ozonezma's been part of your camp from the start. Am I wrong?" asked Haade.
"Indeed, Ozonezma the Capricious is part of our forces." "…What the hell, Zigita Zogi?"
Zigita Zogi was the one to answer the question. He continued on, paying no heed to Dant's reprimanding.
"Come now, Master Dant. There's nothing to keep hidden at this point. Given that we did everything we could to repel such a massive amount of interference, it's only obvious he'd have an inkling toward who was providing Master Ozonezma his support. Besides, we need him to come to us with this conversation, and not to Master Ozonezma himself, too."
"So behind this cooperation between Ozonezma and Zigita Zogi is you, then?"
Haade then shifted his sights to Hiroto.
"The Gray-Haired Child… Heard quite a lot of rumors about you. Not all of them are good, either."
"Nevertheless, it is an honor that you would remember my name, my good sir Haade. I'm Hiroto the Paradox. I am also responsible for acting as a negotiation intermediary for times like this, under the Twenty-Fourth General. Let's talk."
Hiroto extended his right arm, and Haade accepted his handshake.
As he had the external appearance of a thirteen-year-old boy, Hiroto's hand was far smaller than Haade's.
"You're a visitor after all, eh? Your hands are young. Even with leprechauns and elves, a hand's age doesn't lie."
"You're absolutely right. Shall I talk a bit about the Beyond, then? For example, in Aureatia now, you have steam-engine trains running, but—"
"Very kind of you, but I don't have time. I'll get straight to the point. A little while back, there were some number of Okafu's mercs who turned up dead—by the looks of it, there's someone out there slipping spies into different organizations. I want the Free City of Okafu, as a collaborator in the Sixways Exhibition, to take action and uncover these guys. Long and short is, I want Okafu to supply information."
"Of course, we would be thrilled to cooperate with the good General Haade himself. Am I safe to assume you will share the information from Aureatia's
own investigation?"
"Sorry, but I can't do that. Long as we don't know who we're actually dealing with, best thing's to cut down any routes for information to slip out. So I'll offer up a bargaining chip instead. Sorry, this isn't from Aureatia, exactly, but…"
Haade kept up his stern visage as he spoke.
"…I'm fine with putting up a united front against Rosclay. If Soujirou loses this match, it'll get harder to defeat the guy politically either way. I want to join with your forces."
Hiroto observed Haade, never dropping his flawless smile from his lips.
They could absorb the second-biggest faction, Haade's camp, into their own. Given a confrontation with Rosclay's camp was inevitable, to Hiroto's camp, the deal was more than they could ever ask for.
The promise of lies and the truth both being revealed by logic was reason enough to go through with it. He needed to ascertain what the man wanted and what he was afraid of.
It's the opposite.
Without moving a muscle on his face, he traced his enemy's thoughts in the second before he answered with words of his own.
Haade's camp, or Kaete's camp. Or possible even Iriolde's. There is definitely a camp enacting a large-scale covert operation in this Sixways Exhibition. Yet here is a request for a one-sided information exchange in regard to that investigation. He's trying to confirm Okafu's level of involvement by how I answer here. It doesn't seem like he'll seriously follow through on his request. Then what is he really asking for here? Haade first tried to verify our goal from the third match. If Soujirou loses, he wants to join forces—if this condition to the deal is the true request and he's just wrapping it up as a bargaining chip, what does that mean? The first possibility that comes to mind is that he has a plan that is guaranteed to absorb our camp into his own. As for another possibility… Haade is trying to win the first round by any means possible. In other words, he doesn't necessarily need to have Soujirou as his candidate if he's able to get the results he wants…
His brain went through his massive number of thoughts one by one—he still
didn't have enough information.
He would need to hear Haade give them additional answers himself.
"These mysterious covert operatives. We have been referring to this force as 'the invisible army.' Since there are some who appear to be part of this invisible
army within Okafu, we have just begun conducting our own internal investigation. From the beginning, we intended on sharing information regarding this subject if there was anyone else who wished to get rid of this mutual enemy. Given the need to prevent any leaks of information from Aureatia's investigation, it would be best not to join forces instead. As you just said yourself, we have confirmed that spies have infiltrated Okafu as well," said Hiroto.
Hiroto tried the most straightforward method of agitation. He only rejected the request that appeared to be the man's true objection.
"That's welcome news. But we still have to win the Sixways Exhibition, too. The worst outcome is while we're all busy dealing with this invisible army or whatever, Rosclay ends up winning the whole thing. If Ozonezma does get through the third match, he'll meet Rosclay in the second round. How're you planning on fighting him if that happens? Believe me, that guy's advancing through."
"…Ha-ha-ha. Fair enough. If we challenge him as an opponent in the second round, it will be the same as having Aureatia itself as an enemy. If you're taking that carefully into account with your proposal, that is very appreciated."
"Master Haade. Actually…in addition to your cooperation in the Sixways Exhibition, there's something we'd like to ask for, as collateral for the information from our investigation."
Zigita Zogi interrupted the conversation from the sidelines. He had purposely cut Hiroto off to ensure they weren't pressed for a clear answer about joining their forces. Hiroto understood that.
Haade puffed cigar smoke.
"I'll hear it out. What is it, then?"
"To get straight to the point, do you have any guesses at the true identity of this invisible arm?"
"Former Fifth Minister Iriolde the Atypical Tome," Haade immediately replied. He was one of the possible suspects whom Hiroto's group had previously considered. "He's a damn monster who's sat fat on top of this country's aristocrat class since the Central Kingdom era. Back then, there were people with his personal support in every damn government agency, and he knew everything that went on in the Central Kingdom, down to how many rats lived in the sewer. Might still be true now.
"But would such an influential player really stay retired from public life without trying to force himself into the Sixways Exhibition?"
"Just the opposite. Jel and Rosclay thoroughly crushed Iriolde to make sure he didn't get involved with it. Suspicion of corruption, unfair hiring practices— whatever it was, no lack of examples with the old bastard, see. Guess you could say he had it coming, but basically, it means Iriolde has his reasons to pick a fight with the Aureatia assembly."
"…I see. However, I have a differing opinion on the identity of this invisible army. I believe there is a chance our enemy is a unit of corpses being commanded by multiple vampires."
"…Vampires?"
"Indeed, the former Fifth Minister's influence is extremely powerful, and he might have many potential allies in many of the different factions. However, that still only concerns Aureatia. The invisible army has also infiltrated our forces in Okafu as well. Mercenaries without any involvement with Aureatia or the old Central Kingdom. There are several examples, in other organizations beyond our own, of people disappearing after exhibiting suspicious behavior. When comparing those names, none of them had any relation to the other— No. The correlating factor that they were all unrelated was far too obvious to ignore. In other words…we can look at this enemy of ours as possessing a means to freely flip a random target into a spy."
"With vampires, the most recent example would be Obsidian Eyes. So for instance, you think Zeljirga the Abyss Web is able to set up this massive conspiracy? While performing in the street?"
"No."
"If so, it would mean that there is a powerful parent unit among the remnants that Enu the Distant Mirror failed to slay."
"That's one possibility. However, given what we know of vampire biology, creating this number of corpses in such a short time clearly doesn't add up. Therefore, as of right now, our realistic explanation is the existence of multiple parent units."
"That's an intriguing idea. So this thing you want as collateral for our collaboration—it's got something to do with that?"
"That's right. In order to investigate further into this enemy of ours, I would like to receive the vampire antiserum."
"…Hmm, I see."
Before the era of the True Demon King, their continent had a history of waging wars against vampires. It was in that era when a vampire antiserum formula was discovered. It was technology that hadn't cropped up on the
goblins' new continent, where Zigita Zogi and the others had been born.
"I'd love to share some with you, but it'll be tough, to be honest. I don't really know much myself, but the ingredients needed to manufacture it are unique, and apparently, there's a limit to how much you can make at once. I think there's some number left over from the Central Kingdom era, but over half of the Twenty-Nine Officials still haven't even been inoculated yet. If we're going to push them aside and hand some over to you all instead, with my level of authority, the best I could do is one vial, maybe."
"…One vial," Hiroto answered in Zigita Zogi's stead. "That's plenty. If Zigita Zogi can be inoculated, then even in the worst possible situation, we will still be able to keep our organization functioning. One vial of antiserum. That will be the conditions for our deal."
Hiroto knew the rarity of vampire antiserum. A mere one vial—while terribly unreliable terms for the deal—was, in actuality, very difficult to obtain. He couldn't let this chance slip by.
"Then we're good on how to deal with the invisible army, right? Getting back on topic, what're you going to do about the Sixways Exhibition?"
"How are we going to fight in the second round—is that it?"
Hiroto pondered. Was he really supposed to answer right here that he would join forces with Haade? The general wasn't a simple enough man to let Hiroto keep his position ambiguous.
If the proposal was simply that he wanted power to oppose Rosclay, then Hiroto was definitely supposed to accept it. However, if that wasn't the case—he needed to confirm if he had some other hidden intentions as well.
"Incidentally, General Haade, there is something that's been on my mind." "What?"
Hiroto didn't necessarily have a complete read on Haade. However, he could ask questions that would lead him to the heart of the matter.
"How exactly did you intend on fighting in the semifinals?"
There was a brief silence.
Hiroto could feel in his skin that the atmosphere in the room had changed.
Haade opened one eye wide, then slowly took a puff of his cigar…before pushing it into the ashtray and extinguishing it.
"…I could I ask you lot the same question, couldn't I?" "Tee-hee. You might be right there, but—"
Right at that moment, the reception room door opened. An older female staff officer entered the room and whispered something in Haades' ear. He frowned,
standing up and donning the coat he had hung on the wall.
"There's been a slightly problematic incident. Someone's tried to steal a missive of mine at the castle garden. A castle garden soldier apparently cut him down, but the culprit resisted and cut the soldier's arm, too. Feels bad since I'm the one who dropped in, but I want to go back and question the soldier myself. I'll be sure to make it up to you."
"Tried to steal…? So spies were mixed in with your men, too, huh?"
"Yeah, Dant. Looks like they can slip in anywhere they want. Invisible army's the perfect name for 'em. You better pay close attention yourself while the Sixways Exhibition is going on."
Haade, accompanied by his staff officer, departed the reception room.
Zigita Zogi slowly stuffed his cheeks with baked treats while he gazed out of the window at the carriage galloping off. He commented as if to himself. "That staff officer just now was readied ahead of time."
"True. Just a little bit more, and I felt like we could've gotten some important information out of him… The general's a shrewd man."
"What do you mean? You're saying he fabricated some incident to force the conversation to end?" Dant asked.
Dant cast doubt on their conversation for the first time.
Ostensibly, this was a meeting between Dant and Haade, but for their string of back-and-forths, Dant had stood silent with his arms crossed. He likely felt that when it came to Hiroto the Paradox's specialty, negotiation, it was best to not speak up unnecessarily.
"The incident itself is not a lie, I would say. Otherwise, he'd run into trouble when it was investigated later. However, even if there hadn't been such an incident, he must have prepared some sort of urgent topic ahead of time. So then that staff officer's entrance would've been a setup they had planned in advance just in case. He could've tapped a small radzio hidden in a pocket to signal her," said Zigita Zogi.
"…How do you know that? You didn't see him actually do that, right?" asked Dant.
"It's plain enough."
Hiroto answered the question this time.
"Right before he left, Haade pressed his cigar into the ashtray to put it out, correct? Unlike cigarettes, you don't normally snuff out cigar flames like that. You lean it against the ashtray and wait for it to go out naturally… Since even if a cigar's flame goes out, you can light it again and still smoke it. Haade knows this, of course—which means then that the moment before the staff officer came to him, he already didn't have any intention of smoking his cigar any further. That would signal that he knew he was taking his leave shortly."
"…I get it. You might be right there. Guess I should've known more about how you smoke a cigar, then. So that'd mean that the question about the semifinals was an inconvenient topic for Haade?"
"I can't say with one-hundred-percent certainty, but…"
It was because Haade felt it was a sign. That was how Hiroto perceived the reaction.
In regard to the question itself, Haade likely could've come up with any number of stopgap answers. However, he was scared of treading the waters that
lay beyond it.
"Though there isn't anyone who can hope to best Master Hiroto during face- to-face negotiations. He likely understood that for himself. He hammered home the linchpin, the possibility of a collaborative relationship, and left… Although our side obtained more information, the conversation ended with him achieving his bare minimum goal, too. He's acting very carefully on one hand, but on the other, he's resolute. If Haade the Flashpoint intends to win against Rosclay in the second round—it seems he has some sort of big trick up his sleeve when the time comes," said Zigita Zogi.
"…A big one, huh," Dant bitterly murmured. "Big ambitions. Big goals. A mighty hero. That's all it is with him, and everyone else, too…"
After this meeting, Ozonezma the Capricious lost. The all-powerful and horrible trump card that had been hidden even to Hiroto's camp was Ozonezma's own cursed past itself. As someone who knew the True Hero, he would eradicate all those who fraudulently claimed this achievement—realizing the very goal he had been risking his life for was a mistake, he chose to withdraw himself.
Dant visited Hiroto's room on the third floor of the apartment complex in order to give him the full account.
"Ozonezma lost." "…So I heard."
"I want to ask you something. Did you think he was going to win?"
"With a relatively high probability, at that. To be honest, I'm having a hard time believing it myself."
Hiroto wore an almost bitter smile.
"So even the Gray-Haired Child can have poor judgment, huh?" "Yes. Unfortunately."
For Dant, it was a complicated fact.
It certainly wasn't that Hiroto the Paradox had the strength to always calculate what was going to come and prepare for it. If anything, that was the tactician Zigita Zogi's area of expertise. Just having Hiroto the Paradox with him didn't mean he was always going to win.
But seeing him look upset by the reality of Ozonezma's defeat, Dant felt like
he finally was able to spot a glimpse of humanity contained within the man before him.
"…I've wanted to ask this for a while." Dant sat himself down in a chair.
Currently, Zigita Zogi wasn't with them. He was out conducting his own investigation ahead of the morrow's fifth match.
"What is your personal goal here?"
"Exactly as I've told you before. The resurgence of the goblins on this continent. A peaceful coexistence with the minian races."
"That doesn't answer my question. That's Zigita Zogi's goal, isn't it?"
The main fighting power of their force—from the mercenaries of the Free City of Okafu, to even Ozonezma, who had been given a hero candidate slot— acted according to Zigita Zogi's strategies. In truth, the Gray-Haired Child, considered the biggest mastermind in modern history, didn't lead his camp at all and seemed devoted to simply assisting Zigita Zogi's plan instead.
"Would you be satisfied if I said it was out of pure self-interest? If I'm able to gain a seat of power during a critical era of reform, then I'll be able to create vested interest for myself, even long term."
"That's not it. If you were that materialistic, then we wouldn't be going through trouble like this. Even I can understand that."
"You've got me… I had decided to avoid speaking about this in front of my constituents, but…"
"..."
Hiroto vacantly stared out of the window and ran his eyes over the starlike gas lamps.
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Then he gave a terrifying answer.
"…I don't have any."
Hiroto the Paradox let out a chuckle and then a sigh. "…Excuse me?"
"It's the truth. I don't have any goal myself. A course for Zigita Zogi to reestablish the goblin race. A opportunity for Ozonezma to subjugate hero candidates. Securing a participation spot with your cooperation, General Dant, was simply to fulfill my commitments to help them with each of their different goals, and I myself don't intend to work on a goal that goes beyond my wishes as their supporter."
"......"
"That's why I've been careful not to say it. It sounds like a lie, doesn't it? Constituents are funny in that they claim to want an upright politician, clean of any materialistic motivations, but inwardly, they firmly believe that such an individual can't possibly exist. That's why I am not trusted enough to speak truthfully about a goal like this."
"That's absurd…"
Dant tried to suppress the vertigo. It was inconceivable. Could there really be someone capable of behavior that essentially amounted to taking over the land's last great nation without goal or thought to any reward?
Still, Dant knew. Hiroto wasn't lying.
"So basically…that's all there is to it? Their battle in the Sixways Exhibition here is simply compensation to their supporter…and that itself is the result you're looking for?"
"…That's right. General Dant, what do you think a politician is?"
Hiroto picked up a piece on the strategic map, which was still spread out on the floor.
"Let us say that right here is an individual named A. He has a goal he wishes to achieve, but it would be difficult to accomplish with his strength alone… Conversely, there is someone he has absolutely no contact with right here, B. B has a separate goal of his own, but just like A, it will be impossible with his power alone."
"Hold on. What do you mean by 'A' and 'B'?"
"…Ah, right, well… Think of them as a type of symbol from the Beyond for now. Anyway, the two of them presently don't have any knowledge of the other's existence. If things stay that way, it'll mean neither of them will achieve their goal—that's where C appears."
In between the two pieces Hiroto lined up together, he placed a small additional piece.
"C can't do anything. He doesn't possess power that could help A or B, and he probably doesn't even have accurate knowledge regarding their goal at all. He's the weakest of all."
"You're saying that supposing A and C or B and C pooled their power together, they'd still only be able to display the same amount of power as if they were alone?"
"That's right. However, C possesses a power that these other two don't. The weakest one among the three gathered is good friends with both A and B. Through C's intermediation, A and B form a brilliant cooperative relationship,
and they can achieve both their goals. Perhaps, there might be a bit of compensation for C. The end result is that all three characters are able to become happy together."
"..."
"This C is a politician."
The sound of a carriage cantering down the faraway road faintly reached the pair. All was calm.
In the small apartment-complex room, where no other eyes could reach them, Hiroto was giving a speech to a lone listener.
"There are those who assert that a politician needs to have charisma that attracts others, proper knowledge and strategy, conversation skills to prevent any slip of the tongue, and a grand vision of the future. This understanding is mistaken. It's best to pass things off to those capable of such feats. I believe that the only power a politician requires is the ability to become friends with anyone. Connecting through personal relationships those seeking power for their goals and those who can lend power for their goals—for that, a politician's will isn't required and won't have any problems, whatever the goal may be. Since it is the politician's supporters who should decide that."
"Basically, this is what you're getting at… Hiroto the Paradox. One, you alone were born a politician. And two, as a politician, you're not doing anything out of the ordinary."
"If the people desire an honest and upright politician with no self-interests, then that is the politician they will get."
Hiroto the Paradox's outward appearance was young. However, there was no mistake that he had lived longer than Dant.
A visitor's age was their age when they were driven from the world of the Beyond.
Had he recognized the structure of society through this viewpoint of his all while in his early teens?
"That is nothing more than extreme populism. If you keep chaotically realizing your supporters' wishes, then society will eternally stagnate. If you're not lying right now, then I think what you're describing is a truly nightmarish politician," said Dant.
"Perhaps. However, I'm able to choose for myself who to receive support from as well."
"..."
The Queen's faction, which Dant belonged to, was the weakest in all
Aureatia, and it generally would've been the very first group stamped out during the Sixways Exhibition.
And yet…regardless of the actual circumstances at play, Dant was still able to keep fighting. He was borrowing the power of goblins, mercenaries, and this mysterious visitor politician.
Was that really all because Hiroto had chosen for himself whom to make his ally?
"…Hiroto the Paradox. I heard you created a goblin nation-state." "That's right."
"Why did you decide to ally yourself with goblins?"
Hiroto was, without any doubt, a minia. When he came from the Beyond, minian civilization was surely the first one he came into contact with. Allying with one of the minian-eating monstrous races—and, in addition, leading the goblins, with their strikingly low intelligence, to common sensibilities—was an inconceivable judgment to make.
"That's…something I don't fully understand myself, actually." Hiroto laughed a bit and looked at his own hands.
It wasn't clear where exactly Hiroto the Paradox's deviance as a visitor lay. Was it his silver tongue? His negotiation skills? A mentality that didn't possess any desire of his own?
"I thought that would make them better."
Or was it a different, far more fundamental ability?
"Make them better? You're saying that there was such room to improve among the goblins back then?"
"Yes. Undoubtedly… General Dant. Why were the goblins driven away from this continent?"
"Don't ask me questions you already know the answer to. Because they caused harm to minian races and ate them."
"In that case, what about goblins who don't eat humans?" "…What do you mean?"
The monstrous races ate the minian races. As long as this fundamental principle existed, the sort of new society Zigita Zogi and Hiroto aimed for, where they would coexist together, could never arrive.
However, as long as Hiroto's committed pledge to Zigita Zogi didn't waver, it meant the means did exist.
"Indeed. They've gotten better." He smiled in the darkness.
"That problem has already been taken care of."