Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 449

449: There Are Many Kinds of Compliments

The security level of the mansion seemed to have met Shino-san’s standards.

…If the target had been information, not my life, then we might have failed.

The reason everyone’s morale was so high was because the enemy’s objective in this training was my assassination—or was that just my conceit?

Shino-san looked at me and opened her mouth.

“Again, may I ask for your cooperation?”

I nodded.

“—On one condition.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“You will be careful about safety.”

“Yes. I promise to be extremely careful.” Shino-san nodded.

“I would like the candidates to wear something like a number tag, in a conspicuous place, for identification.”

“Yes, I will do so.” Shino-san nodded.

“The examiner will wear a maid uniform.”

“Y…es?” Shino-san froze.

For the first time, her expression changed a little… I think. She looked at Liz, as if for help.

Liz looked at me with a serious expression.

“…May I also ask for a reason?”

I, too, put on a composed face.

“How about, to induce a mental disturbance in the candidates?”

“I see…?”

“You just thought of that, didn’t you?”

Shino-san, who was tilting her head, and Liz, who was sighing.

“…Something within me says, ‘Turn the conversation in an interesting direction.’”

“…As expected of someone who has made ‘having fun’ the basic policy of an entire army.”

“Now that we have achieved our initial objective, it is no exaggeration to say that this is the main event.”

“I might have wished it were an exaggeration.” Liz, who was already in a state of resignation.

“…The initial objective?”

At Shino-san’s question, I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“—Human extermination.”

I was the Lord of Disease.

Species: Human.

Objective: Human extermination.

…There had been a ‘human’ who had declared that, and had repeated it, as if to carve it into their being—and had achieved it.

Now, there were no humans left. Humanity was extinct.

And yet, ‘I’ was here.

“…You’re good at switching gears. —Are you interested in being an assassin?”

“Wait, senpai?! Are you scouting Master?”

“We are always short on personnel.” Shino-san said, as if it were nothing.

Liz pressed on.

“No, but that’s why we’re planning to replenish and train, right?”

“We should thicken the ranks of our instructors. …We have lost many of our subordinates.”

“Ah…”

Even among the assassins above Liz, two had not returned from Itria. The assassination squad that Liz had led, and the Order of Disease that Harken had led, had both been almost completely wiped out. While the extent of the damage varied from department to department—it was not at all unusual for a unit to have been literally ‘wiped out.’

“B-but, this person’s combat ability is not very…”

“She is a Greater Wraith, is she not? At the wedding, she had kicked away a Dark Knight.”

“She lacks practical experience.”

“That is within the range that can be supplemented with training. If she has the aptitude and the enthusiasm, she will catch up.”

“Guh, a Greater Wraith is also unstable in many ways.”

“The working conditions are negotiable.”

“And there are also questions about her stealth ability.”

“The fact that she can notice a presence that has been ‘removed’ from her consciousness means that with training, she can surely do the reverse. It is a two-sided technique.”

Liz, who had been given a precise answer to each of her points, fell silent.

“…It is up to Master to decide.” She glanced at me.

She would, in the end, leave the decision to me. At least, if it was a matter of duty. She was my subordinate, my vice-commander. It was her job to offer her opinion, and sometimes to admonish me. But—she did not have the final say.

“But I… do not want you to become an assassin, Master.”

And on top of that, she stated her opinion, reservedly.

“If you say that, Liz. —I’m sorry. I am a supreme commander of the Sixth Army, so I cannot become an assassin of the Royal Guard.”

“…I see. But ‘forever’?”

“…No.”

Now, I could not irresponsibly cast aside what I had been carrying. At least, not for a little while. Until I had made sufficient preparations, so that no one would be troubled, even if ‘I’ were to disappear.

I would bear this name—the Lord of Disease.

But I had also obtained another name. Daisy Finis, a name to be by Liz’s side.

“Then, when you are considering a new job, please consider us as one of your options. It is a workplace where you can work, even if you hide your name and your origins.”

“You’re persistent.”

“Senpai… is there no option to give up?” Liz asked Shino-san, who showed no sign of giving up.

“There is not. Only giving up kills a person.”

She declared, clearly.

“To consider all options, for the best result. And the option to give up is always the worst.”

Her words were truly easy to understand.

“…But I will respect your personal will. I cannot trust a power without a will.”

“I see. …Then it’s fine.”

“The salary is rather high. And I will arrange for you to work with Lizlit as much as possible.”

“Wait, senpai, are you still negotiating?”

“In a way. If necessary, I will make it mandatory for my subordinates to wear a maid uniform. The choice of attire is free.”

I couldn’t help but look at Liz.

“…Liz.”

“Wait, what are you being moved by?!”

“Wait, no. Um, I just.”

“Then I will make Rebecca’s uniform a maid uniform!”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this. —And besides, that’s after she retires… a story…”

Retire.

Rebecca, who had said the word that had not been clearly stated, looked as if she had made a mistake. The assumption that I would (re)join as an assassin was based on the premise that I would no longer be a supreme commander, and that the Sixth Army would probably be disbanded.

It was not an impossible story. The reason for the existence of the Sixth Army, to have achieved the extermination of humanity and to have reached the end of the war, was now a mere formality.

“…It is an attractive offer.”

To work under Shino-san would probably be fulfilling, in its own way. In the coming era, there would probably not be many violent incidents. And Liz had also said. That some of the maids near Your Majesty were members of the Royal Guard, in disguise. …In other words, it was a workplace with maids. But…

“My maid is only Liz.”

“…I feel like I’ve been flirted with.”

Shino-san muttered and nodded.

“Understood. Then again, when you are considering a new job in disguise, please consider us as one of your options.”

“You’re too persistent.”

She really didn’t seem to know the option of giving up.

“I will not force you. But I would like you to remember it as one of your options. If anything comes up, please contact me. I will teach you a special means of communication later.”

“I know that. A technique to close the distance by asking for their address.”

…Was the contact information of the top assassin of the Royal Guard such a light thing?

“You’ve taken quite a liking to her, haven’t you, Master?” Liz, with a sidelong glance.

“Yes, I have.”

Before I could answer, Shino-san replied.

“Huh…”

“I can understand why the Sixth Army is so popular. …Though it seems you are not recruiting any additional personnel.”

The reason for the existence of the Sixth Army was gone. The sixth unit, which had been established for the purpose of destroying the enemy’s domestic infrastructure and to act as a decoy to expose the unstable elements in our own country, was no longer needed. It would not disappear right away. But eventually.

I turned my gaze from Shino-san to Liz, Rebecca, Samarkand, and Harken.

“If the Sixth Army is popular, then it’s thanks to all of you.”

—Especially Liz. If it hadn’t been for her, who had acted as a go-between with the subordinates as a vice-commander, then it probably wouldn’t have even functioned as a unit.

Liz and Rebecca, who had received my gaze and my words, blushed, and Samarkand and Harken exchanged a glance and nodded.

“Well then, the placement of the traps for the test…”

“Yes.”

Liz and Shino-san, with the trap map, put their heads together and began to discuss. I smiled.

“—Please make it a difficulty that is just on the verge of breaking their spirit. Like showing them a little bit of hell.”

“Master, why are you saying such a dangerous thing?”

“Because that’s what Shino-san said, right? The selection and the training of the elite who will bear the next generation. That’s why I am convinced that we should be as strict as possible, to cultivate a spirit that will not break, no matter the situation.”

Shino-san, who had been staring at me, muttered.

“…No, I didn’t say that much. As expected of the Lord of Disease.”

I couldn’t hear her well. But. I had a feeling I had been praised.