Volume 3 Chapter 53 There Are People Who Are Unreasonably Bad At Rock-paper-scissors
When Marquis Lucian came to visit, Randy decided to take him to the living room. He couldn't just greet such a big noble and Liz's dad at the front door.
"Hey, I got called from the palace──."
As soon as Luke opened the door, he froze with a bad smile on his face. Randy was standing there with a big noble from the kingdom behind him, someone even Luke recognized.
Luke quickly stood up and said, "I-I'm sorry!" while bowing deeply.
"Well, it seems I'm in the way, so..."
Luke tried to leave the living room quickly, but Randy called out with a mischievous smile, "Hold on, Luke." Luke tried to hurry away, but Cedric put a hand on his shoulder.
"Lucas Highland, former noble. I wanted to talk to you."
Luke, who had the right to inherit a dukedom──though he thought he had given it up──was someone Cedric was curious about.
"N-No... someone like me──."
"What are you saying? Lord Alan sent you to Hartfield because he thought you'd be fine. I'm very interested in you too."
When Lucian smiled warmly, Luke slumped his shoulders and went back to the sofa.
"Your Excellency and Sir Cedric, please have a seat──."
As Randy moved the sofa, he said, "Oh, I'll get some tea," and started to leave the living room when Luke stood up again and told Randy to "wait."
"It's weird for the host to prepare everything. I'll do it."
"Huh? The host should handle this kind of thing."
Randy frowned, and Luke insisted, "Is there a servant who makes a noble do this?"
As a result...
""Let's play rock-paper-scissors.""
They were going to settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors again.
"Wait a second. The loser has to prepare, right?"
"Of course. It's like a punishment game."
"Y-Yeah, that makes sense."
They couldn't say the winner gets to run away. With Luke agreeing to Randy's plan, they both got ready to play rock-paper-scissors, a game they absolutely couldn't lose.
And the result was...
"Well, just sit back and relax, former noble."
Randy laughed and left the living room, while Luke let out a frustrated "Grr." Even though Randy lost, he was smiling, while Luke looked annoyed despite winning. They were both quite rude, but they didn't realize it.
"Alright, this seems interesting, so I'll just leave them for a while."
As Randy was leisurely preparing tea and snacks...
"Young master! What are you doing? This is my job!"
Rita rushed down from the second floor and pushed him out of the kitchen. It seemed the others upstairs noticed the Marquis' visit and came down.
"So, what are you doing, Harrison?"
"Well, I guess I don't really need to be here."
Harrison was relaxing in a chair in the hall, laughing, "You've got it tough, young master." Randy envied how carefree Harrison looked, but since Rita was back, he had to return to the living room to be polite.
"Remember this later."
"I can't. I'm bad at remembering things."
Leaving Harrison sticking his tongue out, Randy sighed and went back to the living room. There, he found...
"Yeah, he has been an idiot since he was a kid──."
Luke was already getting comfortable, sharing Randy's embarrassing stories with Lucian, Cedric, Liz, and Cecilia.
"Hey, stupid Luke. Why are you making stuff up?"
Randy walked in with a frown, and Luke snorted, "It's not made up!"
"Haha. It seems Lord Alan has had a lot of worries since back then."
Lucian laughed heartily, and Randy, feeling embarrassed, slumped down onto an empty sofa just as Rita came in with tea for everyone.
The 4 of them enjoyed tea and chatting for a while, but when an unexpected silence fell, Randy decided to speak up.
"So, what's the reason for Your Excellency's visit?"
Randy noticed Lucian reacting with a "Huh?" while finishing the last bit of his tea. After asking for a refill, Lucian took a deep breath and started to speak.
"I wanted to see my daughter's face... that's the main reason, but──."
Lucian smiled at Liz, who was sitting next to him. Randy noticed Cedric staring at Liz as she smiled back, but he decided to ignore it for now.
"You guys must have an idea of why I'm here, right?"
With a wry smile, Randy replied, "I have a rough idea."
"It's about the 'Crown Prince assassination suspicion,' right?"
Lucian nodded at Randy's probing gaze. Cedric, who had been signaled, began to share what Chris had been interrogated about.
There was a church behind Chris, or rather, the Pope.
The Pope's goal was to create chaos in the country.
"Chaos? What does he plan to do with that?"
Cecilia blurted out, and then quickly bowed her head, looking really small.
"No, it's fine, Miss Cecilia."
Cedric smiled his charming prince smile, but knowing he was a serious sis-con made it a bit awkward. Randy knew another guy who could pull off a prince smile, but he was a bit of a mess too...
"Hey, you're thinking something rude, aren't you?"
Luke, sitting across from Randy, was giving him a sharp look, but Randy waved it off, saying, "It's just your imagination."
"Anyway, let's answer Miss Cecilia's question."
Cedric returned to a serious expression and continued with the Pope's crazy idea for a new country.
"The Holy Empire of Leonar... right?"
"Putting his name in the country's name is just the peak of narcissism."
Randy snorted, and Cedric laughed, saying, "Yeah." The ultimate goal seemed to be founding a Holy Empire named after the current Pope, Leonar Spiteo.
"But how does causing chaos equal building a country?"
Randy and the others exchanged glances at Cecilia's question.
"If the country is in chaos──"
"People will want to cling to God, right?"
Cecilia nodded at Luke's words and continued, "So..."
"Deliberately making the country fall apart, stirring up the believers──"
"Stealing the country in the name of God, something like that."
Cedric wrapped up, and Cecilia nodded with a serious expression. It seemed like a crazy theory, but it could definitely be a reason to create chaos.
"So, the reason you came here today is to align our stories about the 'Crown Prince assassination suspicion,' right?"
"Align our stories, huh..."
With a sigh, Lucian took a sip of his new tea and looked at Randy. It felt like he was being tested or evaluated, making Randy furrow his brows slightly.
"To be precise, I wanted to hear your opinion."
Lucian leaned forward a bit, and Randy leaned back, surprised. It was understandable. A regular student couldn't just jump into the battle of seasoned politicians.
Even if it was his second life, he had no experience in such matters.
"An opinion, you say..."
Randy's mind was racing with various ideas.
The relationship between the kingdom and the church.
The position of the Marquis family.
The organization of the church.
Considering all these factors, he tried to come up with a plan, only to immediately shoot it down.
In the silence, everyone was looking at Randy, but no one said anything. Only Randy's "Hmm" could be heard echoing in the living room.
(My opinion? Honestly, just smashing things physically would be the easiest, but... that would cause a lot of problems.)
Randy held his head in his hands, knowing he couldn't come up with a plan to resolve such a big situation. Well, he had a few ideas, but he had no clue how effective they would be.
Lucian probably understands this too. Even though Randy isn't a normal student, he's not a politician like them. Still, he wants to hear Randy's opinion. Realizing this, Randy lifted his head slightly.
(Ah. Is it because I... no, Victor is involved?)
Randy finally figured out Lucian's real intention. Lucian doesn't want Randy's opinion.
Once Randy realized this, he let out a big sigh. It was a mix of relief and disbelief, as if everything that had been bothering him just came out with that sigh.
"...Your Excellency is too kind."
Randy gave a wry smile and looked straight at Lucian.
"I don't need any favors for Victor."
Lucian looked at Randy, still smiling slightly.
"Feel free to use me however you like. Well, since you're talking about favors, I can kind of guess what you mean."
After another sigh from Randy, Cedric chuckled, and Lucian looked impressed.
"Is that okay? You're the main person involved and the biggest contributor, you know?"
Lucian leaned in more, but Randy shook his head.
"It's fine. I don't think it was that much trouble."
Randy's confident statement made Cedric smile back at him.
"Wow... I expected it, but I didn't think it would turn out just like Lord Alan said."
Lucian nodded in satisfaction and revealed that he had contacted Alan when the assassins started lurking around Liz and Randy. He also mentioned how he had involved Alan and asked how the Viscount family would respond once things settled down.
What Alan told Lucian was:
──Mr. Lucian can do whatever he wants. My foolish son probably doesn't care at all.
Randy wanted to frown at that, thinking, "That old man..." but Luke, who heard it, nodded in agreement, saying, "As expected of Sir Alan."
"Well, just like the old man said, I really don't care."
Randy shrugged, and Lucian bowed his head, saying, "That's a relief." As Randy hurriedly asked him to lift his head, feeling anxious about the scene...
"Can I ask you one thing?"
Cedric looked at Randy with a serious expression.
"You said you could make some predictions... what do you mean by that?"
With Cedric looking interested, Randy turned to him.
"For this situation, our Victor thinks that even if it's hard with the church, we can claim compensation from the kingdom. So, I guess... Your Excellency plans to temporarily stop fighting with the government to go after the church."
* * *
After meeting with Randy and the others, the Marquis was in a good mood as he rode in the carriage.
"He's really an interesting young man."
"Yeah."
Cedric nodded and glanced across at Liz, who looked somewhat proud.
After that, they received a message from the kingdom's government, asking them to come to the palace tomorrow. The message was about Randy and Elizabeth, but Lucian, who was there, said to the messenger, "I also want to meet tomorrow."
The messenger was nervous and tried to politely decline, but the Marquis insisted, "His Majesty would probably prefer it this way," so they decided to take the request back for now.
It was a sudden request, but the king had no choice but to meet them given the situation.
Randy understood this, which is why he told Liz to enjoy her time at her family's home after a long time and left her in the Marquis's care. He planned for Liz to return to the Marquis's residence in the royal capital and go to the palace with the Marquis tomorrow.
In the carriage, the main topic of conversation was still about Randy.
"With just that one word, he understood my true intentions..."
Lucian looked happily out the window, and Liz across from him puffed out her chest and said, "You know he gets things done when it matters."
"I guess I have to admit that..." Lucian mumbled.
Cedric quickly replied, "It's still too early for that," making Liz blush and look down.
"Anyway, it's about tomorrow's meeting."
Lucian said this and turned to Liz with serious eyes.
"Tomorrow, you're the one who will be in charge of Randolph."
The Marquis had a serious look on his face, and Alan's words echoed in his mind.
──If you're in charge, things will be calm. But... if you let go of him, the palace might explode.
Alan had been laughing, but if that really happened, it wouldn't be funny. He thought it was a joke, but after hearing about 'Time Crossing' and the battle with the dragon at Randy's place──he even saw some dragon materials──it seemed like Alan was telling the truth without exaggeration.
"The biggest worry for tomorrow's meeting is whether our side will cause trouble."
Lucian, Cedric, and Liz all laughed at how strange that worry was.
* * *
"Hey Harrison, let's get some food."
"Rita went with someone else, so there's nothing here."
Harrison sighed, and Randy clicked his tongue and said, "Alright, let's play rock-paper-scissors," raising his fist.
""Rock!""
......
"Then I'll go for the troll-sized burger at 'Dragon's Grill' on the main street."
Harrison laughed, and even though Randy grumbled, "Where do you find a servant who treats their master like that?" he left the house.
"Young master is super strong in fights, but he's terrible at rock-paper-scissors."
Harrison thought, but Randy didn't hear him.
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