NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 88: (2)
If he had just carelessly gone along with the flow, he would surely have fallen into the state of gazing at beautiful women by the pool of a luxury cruise ship in the name of power struggle. However, this was by no means a situation that Tanaka wanted. A position that was involved with an important affair was a domain that a little man ought to never touch.
And yet, as things turned out, he, the leader of little men, was about to be entrusted with an important affair. No matter how he looked at it, it definitely wasn’t something that ought to be entrusted to someone such as himself, so Tanaka was in a daze.
「Yes, but for you to have made your move even without me requesting you to, as expected of you.」
「W, well, yeah. For me, in the place of the powerless citizens, punishing the nobles who are growing fat in their authority is something that ought to be done, after all.」
Immediately got carried away after a slight praise, as expected of him. It seemed that him expanding the sphere of his hobby to include even period dramas wasn’t in vain.
「But still, to think that the nobles would have such a deep connection with demons….」
Echigoya fell into thought. On the other hand, coming to his senses, Tanaka was also formulating a plan to wash his hands of this seemingly dangerous case with some sort of suitable excuse.
It was true that as far as Tanaka was concerned, getting kyakya ufufu with the Imperial princess-chan was a very attractive event. However, with the confrontation between the demons and the power struggle between the Imperial Family and the nobilities, it came to the point where dangerous materials were piling up one after another. Faced with Echigoya, who had actually experienced raids, imprisonment, and other extreme events, as expected even Tanaka-san came to realize it. That the degree of difficulty of this event was too high. He couldn’t help but think that a bad end route with a rather tragic outcome was awaiting him.
Tanaka began to seriously think of a way to escape, no, a strategic retreat. Echigoya, noticing his figure and not wanting to be outdone, also pondered the enemy’s scheme.
After confirming the current situation with Tanaka, Echigoya felt that something was not quite right. What in the world could it be? First of all, he thought that there was no problem about the main force of the demon hardliners that had started to make their move. At present. Nanashi town had now grown to a considerable size. The number of those who could fight had also grown quite sizable. Above all, famous powerful people had gathered at the town. If this town were to cooperate with the demon moderates, it would not be easily defeated, even if it was against the main force of the hardliners. In fact, he even needlessly worried that they might end up being wiped out. The problem was the movement of demon hardliners in the Imperial Capital.
「Demon hardliners are participating in the Imperial Tournament Festival. Even if their objective is to become the champion, I can’t help but feel slightly uneasy about it.」
「Big bro and the others were also concerned about this matter. But since their visible movement is only in the Tournament Festival, it comes to we have no choice but to stop them there.」
Echigoya pondered for a moment.
「If they are aiming to be the champion, then their biggest obstacle should be my little sister. However, the nobles have not made any movement to hinder her from participating in the tournament festival. What is with this contradiction?」
「Imperial Princess-chan? Ah, come to think of it, she won the previous one, right? But is that a real case? I’m sorry to say this, the match was rigged or something, perhaps? Even if it wasn’t, she’s an Imperia Princess, right? She seems to be very popular, so I was wondering if everyone was just being considerate about her, and as a kind of entertainment, ended up letting her win, or something.」
As he didn’t feel that much power from the attack he received previously, Tanaka doubted Echigoya’s words.
「I doubt that was the case. She’s the type that hates that sort of thing, after all. And I also think that her power is the real deal. In the past I used to accompany her on her training, and I was splendidly beaten by her.」
Echigoya replied with a wry smile.
「Hmmm, I wonder what it is….」
At this point, Tanaka suddenly realized. Come to think of it, he’d come to the tournament festival as a spectator, and he felt that the battles were pretty low leveled. He began to suspect that perhaps in fact, although the tournament festival was hailed with such a grand name, it was actually just a festival of a low-level tournament. Echigoya seemed to think highly of his little sister, but as he was a former member of the Imperial Family and a merchant, his evaluation might not be very objective. Moreover, the fact that there were oddball participants such as the knight of the rose was also unimaginable.
With this much information assorted, Tanaka ended up coming up with nothing-but-a-festival theory was not incomprehensible. Tanaka thought about what if he were to participate in the tournament. The only rival he could think of was participant Nikumen, whose strength when equipped with a weapon was unknown.
However, he had missed out on the participation this time, but it was inconceivable that the world would ever leave such a low difficulty event before Tanaka. In other words, the only possibility left was the case of Imperial princess-chan having fallen in love with Tanaka at first sight, thus she had gone easy on him.
「I see! So that’s the case!」
That was right, Tanaka. Wishing for the restoration of Miyagi prefecture, we could only endorse love at the first sight here.
「Did you realize something?!」
Echigoya asked expectantly.
「No, I don’t think it’s something that I should tell you about yet at the moment, brother-in-law-san. At any rate, from now on I’m going to constantly observe the tournament festival. Investigating the nobles will not be easy, and laying a hand on them will undoubtedly be hard, after all. So the best thing to do here should be to focus on monitoring the tournament festival where something is there.」
「You’re right…. I can’t do much, but let me handle the investigation of the movements of the nobles, then.」
「Now that it’s been decided, I’ll report it back to big bro and the others. From now on, I’ll come at night, so if you find out anything about the nobles, let me know then.」
「Yes, I’ll be in your care then.」
Tanaka exhilaratedly left through the window. His face was radiant.
By saying those random excuses, he’d managed to stay away from the power struggle, and he’d also be able to always watch the tournament festival where Imperial Princess-chan was participating. Even if something were to happen, it wasn’t a tournament with a considerable level anyway, and there was also the dependable Yashichi, so there was no problem at all.
「It looks like the time has finally come for me to break free from the misfortunate days.」
The man who was renowned for his ability to magnificently back step away from reality had finally made his move. Tanaka, who was moving through the night sky, could see nothing but kyakya ufufu future.