"Why hasn't anyone come?! Who are you?!"
"How rude. I'm the one who protected the Third Princess, you know."
"Wh—so you're the Black Adventurer? You don't look that strong, though... This is a recommendation from Lady Natalia. Be grateful. If you can bury orcs and lend a hand to the Princess Guard, you should be at least somewhat useful, right?"
"About that—when the Third Princess and her party were nearly wiped out by Royal Oaks, I was the one who saved them. That female knight is either a liar or just showing off..."
"Wh—you're the one being disrespectful! Are you saying the Third Princess fabricated the whole thing? ...Hmm? Come to think of it, your face looks familiar—ah, you're that good-for-nothing Alan from the Vermilion family! You tried to fool me by making your left eye glow, but you can't pull one over on these eyes! Kill you here as a traitor to the royal family, and the Marquis will surely promote me even further. Die now for the sake of my career!"
The count grabbed a decorative sword from the wall and pointed it at me.
Well, guilty as charged.
But I really don't feel like cutting down a petty little man like this myself.
I pulled a Royal Oak corpse from my magic bag.
"Wh—that blue-green orc... So there really were Royal Oaks?"
"That's right. And the First Prince was its master."
"Then that means the favors I showed that prince have all backfired..."
"You don't need to worry about that. You're going to die here anyway, so just let this orc kill you. Necromancy, activate."
I activated the necromancy spell from my [Dark Magic].
The Royal Oak's body, which had been split in two, fused back together—and then it rose to its feet as a corpse with nothing reflected in its eyes.
I then pulled a larger sword from my magic bag and handed it to the Royal Oak.
"Alas, the Count bravely confronted a Royal Oak that suddenly appeared and rampaged through his estate, but perished in the battle."
"H-what do you think you're doing?! The Church won't stand for corpse manipulation! You heretic!"
"Heretic? That's rich coming from someone who forcibly conscripts lower-ranked adventurers and works them to death during stampedes. And you won't even reinforce your outer walls because it costs too much money? You're unfit to be a lord."
"Shut it! A drop-out who can't even use skills has no right to lecture me on what it means to be a lord! ...Wait, hold on — if you're manipulating that corpse, does that mean you actually can use skills?"
"It's far too late to realize that now. The moment you said you'd kill me just to suck up to someone, your fate was already sealed. Now — do it!"
And so the Royal Oak slashed Count Fanda over and over, killing him.
He confirmed the Count's body was lifeless, then dispelled the necromancy.
He carved a few slash wounds into the Royal Oak as well, and finally drove the sword the Count had been holding into the beast's chest.
It was a crude little trick, but he decided to make it look like the Royal Oak and the Count had killed each other.
Then he casually strolled out of the mansion.
◇◇◇
The Royal Oak's sudden appearance had annihilated every soldier in the mansion.
The Count managed to defeat the Royal Oak, but tragically lost his life.
The Count's heir was hurriedly recalled from the royal capital, and after a series of formalities, inherited the title at a young age.
The circumstances behind the Royal Oak's appearance remained unknown, but upon receiving the report, the royal family made no further inquiry and simply approved the succession of the Count's house, bringing the matter to a close.
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Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Gentleman Thief] [Dark Magic] [Rock-Iron Magic] [Holy Magic]
Rank: Bronze
Thank you always for reading!