Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 7 - Chapter 4.5

5

The day after, the pair’s friendship shattered like glass, and Belial had to silence their squabbling with force.

Having grabbed the sorcery stone, Alice and I are going to the receiving room in the castle to meet with Lydia.

“What do you want now? I’m so disappointed in you lot. My chances of taking the throne look quite grim.”

Thanks to the fact that the prince went out and loudly proclaimed his acquisition of a sorcery stone, there’s an almost funeral-like atmosphere among Lydia’s supporters.

As the princess lets out a heavy sigh, Alice places the sorcery stone in front of her.

“...This is a sorcery stone of the highest quality... And it’s red—does that mean you slew a dragon?!”

“How we acquired it is a company secret. While our delivery is late, it’s too early to give up on the throne.”

Lydia shakes her head despite Alice’s confident statement.

“...Even if I have a sorcery stone, it’s far too late now. The election to determine the next ruler is going to be held soon. My younger brother, who acquired a stone first, is being feted like a hero. It’d be impossible to make up for that gap in popularity unless my brother makes a serious mistake... This despite the fact that I need to do everything in my power to get the throne...”

Alice looks over at me ,and I produce a single book.

The cover says Election Manual for Evil Corporations in this country’s language, but the original had been written in Japanese.

Lydia’s unable to take her eyes off the book’s title, and I use this opportunity to land a follow-up blow.

“This is a vote-gathering manual that our organization developed. It’s a very popular book with politicians, and we have a money-back guarantee if you don’t see results.”

“Look at the wraparound band on the book. Princess Tillis of the Grace Kingdom gives her approval of it. If you buy the book now, it comes with a free sorcery stone as a gift.”

As Alice and I give our sales pitch, Lydia picks up the volume and clasps it to her chest. She looks at us expectantly, and we give our final
pitch.

“You can get all of this with the originally promised payment!”

“And as a limited-time service to you, Princess Lydia, we’ll provide our expert assistance in putting the manual’s methods into practice!”

“Please, let me buy this book!”

Deeply moved, Lydia immediately decides to purchase the manual.

[Crown Election in Ten Days]

Having converted our inn room into an election office without anyone’s permission, we immediately get to work.

The innkeeper looks a bit troubled by our activity, but Alice has given him a large amount of money, so hopefully he’ll let it slide for the duration of the election.

Lydia’s subordinates will also be doing some electioneering, but we have our own separate election office.

“Have you all memorized the contents of the manual? Even if it comes to trial, I’ll serve as your lawyer and make sure you get off. I’ve got bail money, and I promise you high pay during the election! So go out and get electioneering!”

“This is right up my ally. Leave it to me!” Snow responds enthusiastically to Alice’s announcement.

“I-I was also an officer in the Demon Lord’s Army. I’ll do whatever it takes to seize victory!”

Heine clenches her fist tightly, eager to compete with Snow.

"...Boss, can I just go back to Hideout City?”

“Who’s going to play the straight man if you leave? I’ll give you some Calorie-Z later, so tough it out.”

The level of motivation in the room is a little uneven.

Belial glances around the office with a sentimental look, as though it’s bringing back some memories.

[Crown Election in Eight Days]

And in more royal news: It’s only been a few days since Prince Madia was all over the headlines for acquiring a sorcery stone, but the good news continues. Princess Lydia has just announced that she has acquired a sorcery stone that’s of even higher quality than the one recently obtained by Prince Madia. At this announcement, Prince Madia has issued a statement that his earlier acquisition of a sorcery stone makes him the worthier candidate for the throne. Meanwhile, experts await Princess Lydia’s response—

The news plays from the mystery TV embedded in our office wall.

For the moment, Alice is handling everything to do with the TV station.

Those who win over the press win over the people.

Still, grassroots actions are also important.

I put on a mask to completely cover my face and head out to the nighttime streets of the city.

[Crown Election in Seven Days]

The night is growing late, and the crowds in the gathering places around the city are starting to clear out.

“Hey buddy, on your way home from the bar? I wanted to ask ya something. Who are you planning to vote for? Prince Madia or Princess Lydia?”

“Eep! A-ahm...I’m planning to vote for Prince Madia.”

I nod intently when the young man on the way home from the tavern answers my question. 

“I’m glad to hear that! If you said you were going to vote for Princess Lydia, you would’ve been in a lot of trouble! Y’know, folks like me would be in a lot of trouble if Princess Lydia took the throne. It’d make business real hard for us!”

“I-I see...”

<Evil Points Acquired>

I lightly press my fist against the confused man's chest.

“You tell your buddies that they need to vote for Prince Madia. That they should avoid voting for the princess even if their lives depend on it. Got it?”

“...I...I under...stand.”

<Evil Points Acquired>

I confirm that the young man nods before walking away.

I'm sure the others are busy with electioneering right now as well.

I head back out into the streets to look for my next target.

[Crown Election in Six Days]

And now, more election news. In a recent press conference, Princess Lydia issued a plea: “It’s wrong for siblings to fight over the throne. If we have money to spend on that sort of effort, it should be spent on the people instead. If my brother will promise to rule justly, I’m willing to withdraw my candidacy. ” Her statement is strongly at odds with Prince Madia’s insistence that he alone is worthy to rule—

Since my work mostly takes place at night, I wait in the office until nightfall.

As I’m listening to the news, a busy-looking Alice remarks:

“Things are going well so far. Snow’s been caught by the authorities, but if she doesn’t get greedy, she should be out on bail pretty quickly.”

......

“Meaning, Snow’s out for the election, then.”

"Exactly.”

Snow did some good work.

I should take a page from her book and try harder.

[Crown Election in Five Days]

“Snow’s maintaining her silence. That alone is enough to be a big blow to the other side. We’ve also leaked information to the TV station we paid off. I’m looking forward to the news tomorrow.”

“The more days she stays silent, the more she gets paid, right? If we’re not careful, she might not speak even after the election’s done and end up staying in jail forever, no?”

As I’m worrying about Snow, the office door suddenly swings open.

Rose hurriedly rushes into the office, out of breath.

“B-Boss, I got news! Miss Heine’s been arrested by the police!”

“Woo-hoo!”

“Good job, Heine!”

Rose casts a skeptical look at us as we let out a cheer.

First Snow, and now Heine. I should put some more effort into this myself.

In other election news: There have been a growing number of incidents of voters being threatened with harm if they> don t vote for Prince Madia. Due to the seriousness of the allegations, the authorities have attempted to question Prince Madia and his advisors, but he has refused to allow their investigations, claiming, “This is a trap set by Lydia’s party’. We have done nothing wrong. ”

[Crown Election in Four Days]

Next in election news: Concerning the white-haired woman believed to be a supporter of Prince Madia, despite the fact that there have been multiple testimonies from voters that she offered them money to vote for Prince Madia, the woman continues to maintain her silence. Prince Madia has issued the following statement: “There are no white-haired women in our party. I’ve never met this woman, so she must be part of Lydia’s party’.” Currently the issue continues to ripple through the electorate. In a related incident, a demon woman has been arrested for making similar offers—

“Agentsix! I know you’re in there, Agentsix! Aren’t you ashamed for using such underhanded tactics?! If you don’t open the door. I’ll kick it down!”

I hear shouting from outside the office door.

Waiting in front of the door, I check the position of the camera before sending Rose out as a messenger from the rear entrance.

"It’ll be about five minutes until the police get here. I’m hoping you get some good shots, ace.”

The cameraman, the one who accompanied Adelie, gives a thumbs-up and nods at Alice’s remark. He’s a freelance cameraman, and Alice spent a huge amount of money to hire him.

“If you’re not going to come out, then I’ll carry out justice in the name of the people! Taste justice!”

I tense my body and prepare myself for a strong blow.

"Gray Thunder!”

"Guh!”

My arms are hit with a powerful impact as the door is kicked down and I'm thrown back.

“Six! Are you all right?! You’re badly wounded! Hold on!”

“Guh... Alice, I’m sorry... Looks like I’m done for... Don’t let those evil bastards supporting Madia win...”

“?!???!?!???!?!”

Adelie, having kicked down the door, goes into a complete confused panic as Alice and I play out our little drama.

And the camera has captured the property destruction and assault.

“W-w-w-vv-wait! Stop! Don’t film this! I didn’t do this on purpose! It’s an accident...”

Adelie desperately tries to defend herself from the shocking footage captured on tape, but the cameraman, caught in the moment of grabbing a huge scoop, pays no heed to her words.

Just then:

“Mr. Policeman, over here!”

“Hey, what are you doing?! ...Ah! Another one of Madia’s people!”

“?!”

Realizing she’s been had, Adelie lets out a scream of frustration as the police conveniently enter the room.

“Agentsiiiiiiiiix!!”

[Crown Election in...]

In election-related news... The recently arrested suspect, Adelheid of no known address and self- proclaimed Apostle, has confessed to being affiliated with Prince Madia. According to sources within the authorities, the accused has an extensive criminal history in the Grace Kingdom, where she was arrested multiple times for causing general unrest...

We listen to the news as we wait for the long- anticipated election results to be announced.

“The latest poll conducted the day before voting day had Princess Lydia with seventy-two percent support, Prince Madia with eleven percent, and the rest of the field with seventeen percent.”

The tension eases in the office as the results of the poll are announced.

"Barring a hell of a last-minute surprise, we should be fine. But things went better than expected this time. Usually, we’d have to call in Lady Belial after this...”

Our interference operations into our opponent’s electioneering had gone better than expected, so there was no need for Belial or me to get involved.

The original plan was for me to disguise myself as one of the prince's campaign operatives and go about threatening the local residents before having Belial drive me off.

Then we were going to advertise that one of Lydia’s allies had defeated an operative who was trying to coerce the residents into voting for the prince.

“You don't need to be concerned about how I'm feeling. Besides, watching the election interference and harassment brought back some nice memories. You remember back when the superheroes tried to get involved with politics and we did everything we could at Kisaragi to stop them?”

“Oh yeah, I remember that. The best part was when Lady Lilith, buoyed by our success, got it into her head to run for election herself and ended up dead last.”

See, in Japan, a candidate running for office has to pay an election deposit.

Now, those who obtain a certain number of votes get that deposit back, but Lilith failed to hit that threshold and went into a crying fit when the government refused to refund her the deposit.

“But wait, didn’t that happen before you got your enhancement surgery? I thought you had no memories from before it happened, but I guess sometimes they can just come bubbling up.”

Belial offers a small smile at my comment and softly shrugs.

The Prince’s chances are pretty much finished. It’s pretty clear who’s going to win this election.

Certain of victory, we wait calmly for the results...

...Only for Princess Nadia to win the crown somehow.