After saying the line he'd wanted to try out for ages...

With Carnegie watching him leave, wearing an expression that clearly said, What the hell is this guy talking about? Lin Ge walked away without looking back.

A few seconds passed...

“You son of a bitch! You’re just a half-grown brat, and you dared to play me?!”

Crash—

Carnegie’s fleshy, fat-padded face twisted with rage.

He kicked over the chair Lin Ge had just been sitting in, then flipped the whole table, dishes and all.

Drawn by the commotion inside, the other nobles, who’d been waiting next door, hurried over.

One look at the wrecked room and Carnegie’s furious expression told them everything. The negotiations had gone badly.

“He’s just the Count’s eighth son, married off into some other family, and he still dares to act so arrogantly. He really doesn’t take Lord Carnegie seriously at all.”

The pockmarked man said indignantly.

“If you have even a little ability, you can make something of yourself, even as a count’s eighth son. You don’t have to marry into some remote backwater. We’ve offered him a better choice, and he doesn’t even know how to appreciate it. Hmph. He deserves to be married off.”

“Exactly. Anyone with even a shred of ambition and self-respect wouldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Lord Carnegie went to all that trouble for nothing.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“You can say that again...”

...

One after another, they chimed in to defend Carnegie. A few even suggested teaching Lin Ge a lesson, so he’d learn what deserved respect.

But Carnegie reined in his anger and waved a hand.

“As far as I know, Count DeWitt is actually opposed to the Empress’s policies behind the scenes. I thought we could use him to win the Count over and strengthen our revolution’s support. But now... Hmph. I doubt he’s any more welcome at home. I heard he was spouting nonsense at the gathering this time because... Never mind. Like you said, if he had any real ability, his family wouldn’t have married him off to some impoverished backwater.”

“Then should we find a chance to... take him out?”

A man with a pencil mustache made a slicing motion across his throat.

“Hmph. He’s just an incompetent good-for-nothing. He’ll never amount to anything.” Carnegie waved a hand. “This is a critical time, and we’re already short on people. There’s no need to spare anyone just to deal with a nobody like him.”

“But what if he tells the city lord and the others on us one day? What do we do then?”

“There’s no need to worry. Even if he does tell them, that little girl Alice won’t dare do anything to us.” Carnegie smiled contemptuously. “The Territory is desperately short-handed, and the beastfolk are invading. She can’t afford to move against us when she needs every person she can get. By the time she realizes she needs to act... Heh. We’ll already have complete control of Bota City—and the entire Grayshawa Territory. She and her lot won’t be able to throw their weight around anymore.”

“As expected of Big Brother Carnegie. You’re practically our idol.”

The fat pigs chimed in one after another, nodding and praising him as they kissed up to him.

Carnegie grew positively smug, acting as if he were already the lord of the Territory.

“Anyway, we still need to build up our strength and find a way to get Rosetti to learn stronger forbidden magic and go to the battlefield. Then, we can cripple...”

“What about the things I asked you few to take care of earlier? How did they go?”

“Don’t worry, it’s all taken care of, Lord Carnegie.” The pockmarked man grinned proudly. “The beastfolk are simple-minded. You only have to nudge them a little, and they fall for it like fools.”

“Good. Nicely done.” Carnegie nodded with satisfaction. “Once this is taken care of, we won’t even need to fan the flames ourselves. She’ll keep meddling with forbidden magic on her own. And when the time comes... Heh. Our beloved city lord will be all alone, and the entire Grayshawa Territory will be ours for the taking.”

“As expected of Lord Carnegie.”

As they clapped and showered him with praise, Carnegie and his men drank and celebrated, toasting in advance to the day they’d claim victory.

...

At the same time, elsewhere...

The moment Lin Ge left the hotel, he regretted it.

Of course, he didn’t regret turning down Carnegie’s invitation. A suicidal stunt by someone with nothing better to do—and not much in the way of balls, either—wasn’t even worth thinking about.

Lin Ge simply couldn’t bear to leave all that food behind...

It’d been so many days since he’d last seen a proper spread... and he hadn’t even touched a bite...

Sigh. Nothing mattered more than eating well and getting your fill. Even if you wanted to look cool, you had to eat first.

Could he still go back and get the food packed up?

“Forget it. I’ll go catch some fish in the river instead.”

He rubbed his flat stomach.

If he went back, he’d be eating dry flatbread with pickles again. The fish here might taste strongly of mud, but at least it was meat.

It’d satisfy his craving, more or less.

He went to the riverbank, found a branch to use as a fishing rod, and baited it with some crumbs from the flatbread he’d brought along. His simple fishing rod was ready.

He found a shady spot by the lake and stretched out to fish. If he was lucky, he’d get to eat some delicious fish without doing a thing—and take a nice little nap, too.

Fishing was probably Lin Ge’s favorite thing to do. It took hardly any effort, and he got delicious food out of it. What a joy.

But...

“I can’t sleep~~~”

He closed his eyes for a little while, then lazily sat up and stretched. It wasn’t that Lin Ge didn’t want to sleep. He just had something weighing on his mind, and couldn’t drift off in peace...

By now, he understood exactly what was going on across the Grayshawa Territory.

First, here was the conclusion he’d reached.

The simplest way to get Bota City—and the entire Territory—out of this crisis without disrupting Lin Ge’s lazy, kept-man lifestyle was to simply eliminate Carnegie and the others, who were plotting a coup.

But getting rid of them would only be the beginning of the real trouble...

Bota City was already severely short on capable people. Eliminating Carnegie and his men would remove the threat of a coup, but the posts they held would be left vacant and unattended.

Judging by the way they carried themselves, they’d probably been lining their pockets for years. They were likely also responsible for the way the commoners here treated the nobles.

Even so, they’d managed to keep the city stable. That showed they had at least some ability...

They definitely had to die—but not right now.

From what he’d heard from Rosetti, she understood this too. That was why she hadn’t dealt a death blow to Carnegie and the others. Perhaps that was what Alice wanted...

Putting it all together, they had to resolve the beastfolk problem threatening Bota City before dealing with Carnegie and his men.

Otherwise, if they got the order wrong, Bota City would destroy itself before the beastfolk even invaded.

That meant the key to solving all this lay with Rosetti...

But then there was her identity...

“Sigh, what a pain. Does this mean I really have to step in myself? I don’t want to work...”

He sprawled out on the ground, limbs spread wide. He had enough information now; he just had no idea where to start.

What could he do to keep his carefree kept-man lifestyle without doing anything at all?

What a pain~~

While he fretted, Lin Ge fished for a while longer.

But just then, approaching footsteps broke the quiet...

“Hey, little brother, do you like fishing too?”