Ch.359The NPC Who Dropped the Sun. (8)

-Click.

“Ugh, wearing two necklaces makes my neck stiff.”

I snickered as I watched Ragni remove the fake subjugation necklace prepared by the Headmaster and roll her shoulders.

“Come on, how heavy could it be? Besides, Your Majesty, the Headmaster, and you, Ragni, could all be actors. Seriously, that wasn’t just thrilling—it was beyond that.”

“Hmph. That king. Standing there so shamelessly. I hit him with my magic head-on, yet he didn’t even blink. If another mage had seen it, they would have noticed my magic wasn’t actually threatening him.”

“Haha, what nonsense. I thought the air had frozen for a moment. Look how sweaty my gloves got.”

After the execution ceremony ended, leaving the square a sea of tears, we returned to Helgot Castle with the announcement that Ragni would remain imprisoned a while longer. Of course, since it was all an act, it’s no secret that we didn’t go anywhere near a prison.

“Ah, Headmaster. About calling her a wench earlier…”

“Forget it. It was a thrilling performance. Perhaps you should teach some of that to your lord instead.”

When the knight who had been guarding the king at the execution—the Captain of the Royal Knights—tried to explain his acting, the Headmaster just snorted and busied himself teasing the king. Phew, it’s finally over.

“It seems like the real punishment is what comes next. Going back to the Academy after this? What if the Imperial students recognize my face?”

“What if they do? Just tell them you were kidnapped by me this time.”

“Hmm, I see. Then why not come to Ponia instead? I’ll treat you better than that rogue Headmaster.”

“Bullshit. She’s already contracted as my assistant. Hey, Assistant, don’t make such a serious face considering such nonsense.”

“Jack, Ponia might actually be a good optio—”

“Hey!”

While outside they say the Empire has collapsed and everyone is crying over losing their lords, the mood here is quite pleasant. Well, all of this is also…

-Knock knock.

“Your Majesty. Men named Dolph and Mac request an audience.”

“Let them in.”

“We greet Your Majesty, the King of Ponia.”

It’s all thanks to the covert operations unit. Actually, quite a few of their members were deployed earlier as agitators among the citizens. Even with so many people, it wouldn’t make sense for the middle knights’ defense to collapse. Though they were controlling their strength, they were pushing together with the crowd. That’s how we were able to create that atmosphere.

“Hmm. Please report.”

“Yes. I, Dolph, will report. Currently…”

Obviously, the news that Ponia won and dissolved the Empire wouldn’t sound good to the citizens. And if left unchecked, the revolutionary group and citizens might take up arms again to protect their country. To prepare for that, we’re using the covert ops unit to manage the atmosphere and prevent lawlessness. And.

“…so currently, 60% of citizens are hostile toward Ponia, 20% are positive, and the rest are too panicked to make judgments. However, William, the leader of the revolutionary group, is secretly moving to gradually absorb the hostile citizens. Once he gathers enough people and grows in size, then…”

“Hmm. Then I’ll step in personally and resolve things through dialogue with the people’s representatives. This is all according to the Princess’s scenario, isn’t it?”

“It’s all thanks to your excellent subordinates and Your Majesty’s support.”

“Hmph. What kind of princess who loves her people is this? She’s completely playing with them like a villain.”

Creating a proper dialogue with the citizens. Moving in a direction to soothe the people’s hearts through talks between the ‘people’s representatives’ and the ‘victorious nation’s representatives,’ not in the name of the Empire. This relies heavily on the Ponia King’s role, but given his success in caring for the mountain keepers and citizens during the Monster Parade incident and my own situation, he’ll surely succeed with this too. It’s an extremely difficult role, but the King himself shows no hesitation in taking it on. Moreover.

“Don’t say that. Ragni Princess’s plan to build a [Neutral City] that she prepared over the past month will create jobs and gather people who feel resentment toward Ponia, making them citizens there. This makes post-war management much easier. Honestly, as an ordinary person, I’m already overwhelmed with just Ponia, and now I’m asked to accept refugees on a similar scale. Even for a large nation, I can only see a future of tremendous shock and damage.”

“Hehe. In my view, you’re already a splendid leader.”

“Tsk. They’re just patting each other on the back.”

Ragni intends to fully commit her intellect to supporting Ponia with this responsibility. From now on, as the Ponia King said, she won’t return to the Empire, but even while staying in Neaty, she plans to help with the Empire’s aftermath through crystal balls and correspondence.

After sorting out several major issues that needed to be publicly addressed, we took a well-deserved rest and talked.

“Dolph, Mac.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“What will you two do now? I’m no longer ‘Your Highness,’ and I plan to return to Neaty. I should tell you in advance that I can’t ask you to follow me. It wouldn’t look good for me to be accompanied by other men where my husband is.”

While the King and Headmaster started some kind of competition over Ragni, completely ignoring us, Ragni asked about the future plans of the two men who had requested her help and followed her orders tirelessly until today. Hmm. Assassin Kyaru and Mac, who was the Queen’s knight in the game.

Their levels are still around 200, making them decent forces, but honestly, having men around my woman makes me a bit uneasy. Just look at what happened with Ragni’s mother—in this world, you never know when or where NTR might happen. That’s because my woman is so beautiful!

“…Actually, if you would allow it, we discussed with our unit members that we would like to continue following Your Highness.”

“Even if the Empire is gone, we would all like you to remain our lord.”

“Wait, are you all masochists? You weren’t happy when I beat you and took you under my command, were you?”

“No, we weren’t.”

When she voiced her suspicion that they might all be perverts, the two immediately denied it, making Ragni chuckle. Really. Where did that self-centered queen go? Only an adorable and brilliant woman remains.

“Then, I’ll allow you to follow me as you wish. I do think I need some hands. We’ll have to discuss compensation later, but given your numbers, I won’t be able to employ you for long.”

“We don’t care about compensat—”

“No. I told you. I’m no longer royalty or anything, so I can’t move people with loyalty alone. That’s just how the world works.”

She said she would employ them not as a covert ops unit but as an ‘information gathering group.’ She wanted the two of them to lead this group, reporting problems and maintaining security in the [Federal Neutral City] construction area. After finishing her explanation, Dolph and Mac knelt on one knee before her and swore their loyalty like knights. Ah, this is something. Ragni’s own specs are already formidable, and now she has troops who follow her with loyalty? Truly frightening.

As the arrangements for Mac, Dolph, and the covert ops unit she had gathered were being settled, the argument between the King and the Headmaster was also coming to an end.

“Anyway! Until the warp gate is installed, the assistant belongs to Neaty’s Headmaster! Don’t think about taking her away!!”

“Tch! That warp gate better work properly! Damn. Since you’re offering to install such an amazing device, I have no choice but to back down. But just wait and see in a year!”

“You’re popular, huh?”

“I’m telling you. That’s why Jack should pay more attention to me. Are you going to let someone else take me away like what happened to my mother?”

“God, please look at this. Just thinking about it makes my head spin.”

I read that diary myself, and it was truly absurd. I skipped all the scripts in the game, so I didn’t know. Honestly, the part about loving Ragni at the end wasn’t unpredictable, but I never imagined the NTR. Ugh, damn. Dark fantasy is scary. It’s even scarier when you have many women you care about!!

As we continued chatting, Mac and Dolph left first, and the King also excused himself for additional meetings with vassal states and allies, leaving just the four of us including the maid Kara. Phew, finally a chance to catch my breath…

“Hmm, perfect timing. I haven’t had a chance to talk to just the two of you. Now that the major events are over and you don’t need to be out in public, come with me for a bit.”

“Huh? What’s up?”

“What is it? If it’s more paperwork, I’m really sick of it.”

“Don’t worry. It’s physical work.”

No, that’s not great either.

We made somewhat reluctant expressions, but the Headmaster said he wouldn’t have time from now on either and reached out toward us. Wait, that’s—

-Pop!

“Ah, shit.”

“Huh? What? Teleport? Where are we?”

“The Empire’s border, on the road to Ponia. I’ve set up teleportation magic circles in various places to save magic power since I’ll be going back and forth to Ponia frequently. There’s not a soul around here.”

Because of the war, dozens of villages have vanished from this area. After saying that, the Headmaster moved away from us, levitated his staff to sit on, and began speaking while resting his chin on his hand.

“I want to verify and demonstrate the effects of levels and stats. I won’t have time to do it myself in the future. I have quite a few questions, so for now, I want you two to fight each other.”

“What? Suddenly?!”

“…I see. I don’t fully understand what you’re curious about, but there were things I didn’t understand either.”

I really don’t want to do this, but Ragni seemed to catch on to something and started preparing by tearing the hem of her dress and even drawing her gun. Wait, are we really doing this?!

“Let me be clear: both of you go all out. I can heal injuries as severe as broken bones, so we’ll stop if either of you breaks something.”

“Ah, no…!!”

“Jack, I think this is truly necessary. This is important enough that we should probably call all the other women to try it too.”

I really didn’t want to do it and was about to refuse, but after hearing Ragni speak so seriously with those red eyes, I reluctantly took off my formal jacket.