Peace Hunter

Duke Remy, Duke Darwin, and Duke James sat at the same table in one of the rooms in Duke Remy's residence. The three of them appeared to be discussing something.

"I heard that Javier failed the academy entrance exam again. This year's entrance exam was his last chance to become a student at this academy. With these two failures, it's only right that we remove the Elf heart from his body and give it to a more deserving child," said Duke Darwin.

"That's right. He had the opportunity to receive an Elf heart as his own, but he squandered that opportunity by failing. Normally, using an Elf heart would have made him powerful, allowing him to use a wide range of magic for a relatively long time without fatigue, even some high-level spells without fatigue. Using an Elf heart also increases his mana capacity. But he lost again in the entrance exam competition," said Duke James.

"I understand that you two are deeply disappointed by Javier's failure. He has already failed the academy entrance exam twice. This failure bars him from becoming an academy student forever."

"Indeed, we conducted experiments on several children to become our strongest warriors. As you know, these 'subjects' had their hearts replaced with Elven hearts. The reason we chose Elven hearts as replacement hearts for our 'subjects' was because they possessed a higher Mana capacity than humans in general. While some races possess superior Mana capacity than Elves, since we are close to the Elven kingdom, we decided to kidnap and kill several Elves from that kingdom and take their hearts for our 'subjects',"

"The Elves we kidnapped were not ordinary Elves, but Elves serving as knights in the Seleria kingdom. The reason, of course, is because the Mana capacity of ordinary Elves and those serving as knights is very different. Although ordinary Elves have a higher Mana capacity than humans in general, Elves serving as knights have an even higher Mana capacity,"

"As a result of our actions in kidnapping the Elves serving as knights in the Seleria kingdom, the Seleria kingdom accusing our kingdom of being the perpetrator of the kidnapping of the knights. Especially after the bodies of the Elf knights were found in San Lucia. The Elf King was naturally furious and demanded that the kingdom of San Fulgen find the perpetrator as soon as possible,"

"We blamed all the blame for this on Lord Louis because the bodies of the Elf knights were found in San Lucia. Lord Louis naturally denied this, as he wasn't the culprit, but us. Because the perpetrators weren't found, the Elf King became even more furious, resulting in a strained relationship between San Fulgen and Seleria. It's a shame that our relationship with them has become strained, but it's necessary for our plan to succeed. Furthermore, if our plan succeeds, we can easily reestablish relations with the kingdom of Seleria,"

"In Javier's case, I initially intended to kill him and take the Elf heart from his body for use by another child. But now I've changed my mind. I won't kill him and will still let him use his Elf heart," said Duke Remy.

Duke Darwin and Duke James were shocked when they heard this.

"Why didn't you just kill him, Lord Remy?" asked Duke Darwin.

"Lord Darwin is right. While the 'subjects' are powerful due to their vast Mana reserves, all that will be in vain if they lack combat experience," said Duke James.

"I understand what you two are thinking. Javier's failure to become a student at San Fulgen Academy deprived him of the opportunity to gain combat experience. As you know, San Fulgen Academy teaches almost everything there, with little theoretical instruction. The academy even uses a points system as a prerequisite for advancement or graduation. The points earned include exams, all of which involve combat, academy tournaments, and daily matches, which are mandatory matches for students during their time at the academy. This implies that the students engage in frequent combat. This is why we send 'subjects' there so they can gain experience in combat,"

"In Javier's case, because he failed, he didn't have the opportunity to gain combat experience," said Duke Remy.

"As you said, Lord Remy. You understand perfectly well, but why did you let Javier have the Elf Heart even though he failed?" asked Duke James.

"That's because I can still use him for other jobs. While he can't gain experience at the academy, he can gain experience with the jobs I'll give him later," said Duke Remy.

"Other jobs? Are you going to make him a Duke or a Royal knight? But I think that's impossible, considering he failed his entrance into the academy, and all the Duke and Royal knight are former academy students," said Duke James.

"No, I'm not hiring him as a Royal knight ​or a Duke knight. I'm hiring him as a 'dark' knight. Well, let's just say his job is similar to an assassin," said Duke Remy.

"A assassin? I doubt he'll be able to work as one, given his reckless behavior," said Duke James.

"Well, we'll see. Now let's talk about our main objective, which is to assassinate Queen Kayana and the entire San Lucia family at the ~Matchmaking Battle~. Before we get into that, I'd like to ask you two, is it tiring for you to pretend to be respectful when you're with Queen Kayana?," asked Duke Remy.

"It's certainly tiring to pretend to be kind and respectful when you're with her, even though she's the target we must assassinate. But what can we do? If we're not nice to her, we'll be suspected," said Duke James.

"That's right. While it's tiring to keep up the pretense, we have no other choice to achieve our goal," said Duke Darwin.

"Well done to you two for being able to pretend when you're with her. I hope you can continue this pretense until we carry out our plan."

"Now about our plan to assassinate Queen Kayana and the entire San Lucia family. We initially agreed to assassinate them at the ~Matchmaking Battle~ because that's the only time all our targets can gather. The reason we killed them all at once was to avoid any suspicion on the ones we missed. If we succeed in killing Queen Kayana and the San Lucia family cannot, the San Lucia family will be on high alert due to Queen Kayana's assassination. This will make it difficult for us to kill them. And vice versa,"

"The reason we're killing Queen Kayana is so we can seize this kingdom and control it as we please. That's why we need to kill Queen Kayana. We must also kill the San Lucia family because they are close to the royal family, especially Queen Kayana. Because of this close relationship, it's possible that the San Lucia family will rule this kingdom if Queen Kayana dies. Although they will only rule temporarily until the next Queen is appointed, this will hinder our goal of taking over this kingdom. Therefore, we must also kill the San Lucia family."

"However, there's an obstacle hindering our plans, ​Princess Irene has canceled her participation in the ~Matchmaking Battle~ because she's currently dating Rid Archie. Since Princess Irene is no longer a participant in the Matchmaking Battle, the San Lucia family will also not be present at the Matchmaking Battle, which could derail our plan, as we cannot kill both the San Lucia family and Queen Kayana simultaneously.

"Therefore, to ensure our plan continues as planned, we have two options, create another event that Queen Kayana and the San Lucia family can attend, or kill Irene's current partner, Rid Archie. If we succeed in killing Rid Archie, Irene will lose her partner, allowing her to return to the Matchmaking Battle. Our original plan can also proceed as planned if Irene returns to the Matchmaking Battle. In your opinion, which of these two options would you choose?" asked Duke Remy.

Duke Darwin and Duke James paused for a moment, contemplating. After that, they both began to answer Duke Remy's question.

"Both options are equally difficult. For the first option, it's difficult to decide which event to create that both Queen Kayana and the San Lucia family can attend. As for Queen Kayana, I'm sure she will attend any event held as long as we invite her, whereas for the San Lucia family, it's difficult to invite them. Initially, they were supposed to attend the Matchmaking Battle because Irene was a participant in the event. However, after Irene was no longer a participant, they were confirmed to be absent from the Matchmaking Battle. Therefore, it was difficult to organize an event that the San Lucia family could attend.

"As for the second option, killing Rid Archie is no easy feat. You've seen the recent newspapers that described him as a 'hero' for his significant contributions to fighting off the attackers who attacked the academy, indicating that he's no ordinary student. Furthermore, Lord Darwin had previously sent his knights to kill Rid Archie, but his knights ended up dying instead. Both of these options are truly difficult," said Duke James.

"I agree with Lord James," said Duke Darwin.

"I understand, and I also agree with your opinions. But even though both options are equally difficult, we must choose which one we will take to ensure our plan succeeds.

"Just so you know, King Albert is also considering an event that Queen Kayana and the San Lucia family can attend," said Duke Remy.

"So King Albert is also considering a new event, huh?" said Duke Darwin.

"Of course, after all, King Albert also wants to get rid of Queen Kayana. But even if King Albert is also considering an event, I think this first option will still be difficult. So the only option left is the second, which is to kill Rid Archie," said Duke Remy.

"Do you have a plan to kill Rid Archie easily?" asked Duke James.

"I'm not sure if it will be easy or not, but I do have a plan. Previously, I received news at the academy that Rid Archie is currently serving as Elevrad's vice-chairman," said Duke Remy.

"I also received that news from Enzo," said Duke James.

"I was also informed by Florian," said Duke Darwin.

"If he's now Elevrad's vice-chairman, that means there's a possibility he'll visit our residence to propose an event Elevrad is hosting. If he visits our residence, we can trap him and kill him," said Duke Remy.

"Back then, I also tried to trap him during the exam, but that trap didn't work and instead resulted in the deaths of my knights. Do you think this plan will work again?" asked Duke Darwin.

"Your trap failed last time because you only sent ordinary knights to trap him. At least send some powerful people to handle him. Therefore, in this plan, I decided to bring some 'subjects' to assist in this plan," said Duke Remy.

"That seems like a very good idea. Since we're trapping him in our territory, the 'subjects' participating in this plan will be able to unleash their full power when facing Rid Archie, unlike when they were at the academy. I'm confident we can kill Rid Archie if we use the 'subjects' who are unleashing their full power," said Duke Darwin.

"That's right, that's why I chose this plan. What about you, Lord ​James, do you agree with this plan?" asked Duke Remy.

"It seems like the best plan right now, so I agree with Mr. Darwin," said Duke James.

"Then the three of us agree to this plan. Now we must prepare this plan to ensure it doesn't fail. If this plan fails, it seems I'll have to personally intervene to deal with Rid Archie," said Duke Remy.

-To be continued