Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 4 - Chapter 2.1

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CHAPTER 2

Vs. the Sky King

Following the discovery of the mysterious facility, we managed to strong-arm Lilith into putting aside her tantrums about spending more points, forcing her to wipe out the worst of the monsters nearby before returning to our campsite. The day after…

Currently, the other agents are off using heavy equipment Lilith provided in a display of generosity, working under Alice’s direction to resume construction.

As for me…

“How’s this, Six? I switched to a short-sleeved lab coat, so I’m showing off a little more skin now. What do you think?”

“I think that, despite all your smarts, you’re actually kind of dumb, Lady Lilith.”

I’m stuck at our campsite babysitting Lilith, since everyone else foisted the responsibility on me.

“What?! I take your advice, and your reaction is to make fun of me?!”

“When I said show more skin, I meant show off your midriff or lower your neckline or something. All you did was switch to a summer lab coat.”

Having completely misconstrued what I told her, Lilith had rolled up her sleeves, showing off her upper arms here and there.

Me, I’ve taken off my typical power armor and put on a formal black suit.

Today, at Lilith’s request, we’re meeting with this country’s de facto ruler, Tillis.

Currently, the relationship between Tillis’s domain and Kisaragi is in a delicate balance.

From the leadership’s point of view, they want to use diplomacy to bring this kingdom into the fold without bloodshed.

“So, Lady Lilith, what’s the plan for taking over this country?”

I’m pretty sure that Alice, who’s a lot cleverer than her creator, has already tried a few different negotiating tactics.

“Why, we’ll go with gunboat diplomacy, of course. This nation owes us a bit already for the agents we deployed, starting with you, Six. We can come up with some pretexts related to that and make some unreasonable demands! If they won’t capitulate, we’ll threaten to force them under our banner!”

“Whoo! That’s mighty evil of you, Lady Lilith! That’s exactly what I expect from the winner of the Most Antisocial Leader and Most Scheming Leader surveys!”

“Heh, now, now, flattery won’t get you much more than spending money, Six… Say, who conducts those extra surveys? If you just tell me, I won’t get mad or anything…”

Grace Kingdom, Princess Tillis’s chambers.

“Welcome, welcome! I’ve been looking forward to discussing matters with a member of the Kisaragi leadership!”

“You have our apologies! Our sincerest, deepest apologies! But our agents need to conduct acts of villainy in order to protect your kingdom…”

After hearing about what we were doing on our way to the castle, Lilith bobs her head up and down in apologetic bows.

“Indeed! Evil Points, was it? We’re well aware of that necessity. Which is why there are standing orders to ignore little acts of misbehavior on the part of your agents.”

“And we sincerely appreciate your—”

“However!”

The wily scientist, pride of the Kisaragi Corporation, is at a disadvantage against the scheming princess.

Which is to be expected. The kingdom just has way too much ammo to use against us.

“However, the moment we think to thank them for fixing our kingdom’s artifact, they implement a terrifyingly unacceptable activation prayer! No sooner do we send them to escort our diplomat to another country than they go ahead and trigger a war!”

“Y-y-you have our sincerest apologies!”

This is hopeless. Alice is a much better negotiator.

“Just recently, your employees began sneaking into my bedroom, and while I slept, they played Jenga, had a cookout, and, to top it off, attempted to go to the bathroom! Why would anyone think to relieve themselves, naked , inside a maiden’s bedroom?! None of this makes any sense! Please explain their logic to me!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I honestly don’t understand it, either!”

There isn’t even a hint of the confidence she was showing earlier, and she’s currently getting trounced.

I try to subtly offer my struggling boss a bit of help.

“Lady Lilith, Lady Lilith. You need to put more emphasis on my exploits. I’ve taken out some of the competition’s leadership, for example.”

“Oh, right. You need to take the exploits of our Agent Six into consideration! I believe it’s quite the achievement to have taken out some of the leaders of the so-called Demon Lord’s Army!”

At my whisper, Lilith suddenly returns to the offensive…

“On the matter of eliminating the leaders of the Demon Lord’s Army, we’ve already paid out a substantial reward to Miss Alice…”

“Oh?”

…only to be promptly batted aside.

Oh, that’s right. I remember Alice telling me something about getting a huge bonus.

She said I’d spend it all if I got the whole amount, so she’s been doling it out daily as an allowance.

“Indeed, our kingdom is paying a monthly stipend as a defense fee to all your agents, Sir Six included. The amount is greater than what we pay our own knights!”

“Oh! That’s right! Lady Lilith, the pay that we’re getting from the kingdom’s actually more than our pay from Kisaragi! Considering how long I’ve been working for Kisaragi, that’s messed up, isn’t it?!”

Lilith twitches hearing this.

She’s reminded that in my reports I noted I was getting paid more by this kingdom than by Kisaragi.

“…Yes, now that I’ve mentioned it…Sir Six, why not bring the other agents with you and become knights of our kingdom…?”

“Well…! Today was only intended to serve as an introduction! Six, we’ve taken enough of Her Highness’s time, don’t you think? We hope you’ll continue using Kisaragi’s services in the future!”

As Lilith attempts to leave the room with that remark, I hold her in place.

“When I last made this request of Miss Alice, she rejected it out of hand, but I would like to ask once again! Please provide us with technology! Share your advancements with our kingdom!”