Silent Witch-CH22: Allie’s Anger

When I asked Allie if the Saintess's power came from fairies, she nodded in affirmation.

“There were traces. Luminous particles, like what fairies emit, were left around her. I asked Tinn, too, and it seems the fairy who's always with the Saintess was playing with her in the castle garden.”

“Right?” Allie said, glancing at her own shoulder. It looked like Tinn was perched there again today.

“Did that fairy say anything about the Saintess's current situation? For example, if she seems to be having a hard time, or if she seems happy.”

“She says she's lonely from being separated from her family, but the Saintess herself has said that her work isn't a hardship. However, that fairy seems to be quieter than the others, so it seems we can't find out anything more than that.”

“I see. In that case, it's best if I don't get unnecessarily involved with the Saintess. And as for my royal brother, we should probably wait and see how things play out.”

I shrugged lightly.

For the past few days, my days have been filled with memories of my past life. I find myself nostalgic for my salaryman days, wishing I had a computer here. Because calculations are a real pain, you know.

Ever since the tea party the other day, my royal brother has been completely non-functional.

He just spaces out no matter what he’s doing, showing no reaction to his surroundings. Naturally, all of his work gets passed on to me, but when I finally got around to looking at it, I discovered that almost all of it was being processed according to my royal brother's own direction.

For example, if a village had a poor harvest and needed aid from the country, one person would decide where to procure the goods, another would determine the extent of the shortage based on the village's population, and yet another would set the budget limit. Then a different person would handle the negotiations with the local lord. Up to that point, it's fine. It's definitely more efficient for a company—or in this case, the kingdom—to have specialists handle each part. But after each department does its work, they each submit a single piece of paper to my brother, and it's his job to compile it all.

Normally, the one compiling it shouldn't be my royal brother, but the head of each department. My brother's job is supposed to be to approve it, or to check for errors.

Even for an excellent prince like my royal brother, there would never be enough time for this. On top of that, because he's not practicing proper hourensou——the reporting, communicating, and consulting necessary——his subordinates don't report, there's no communication between departments, and no one consults him midway; they just do as they please. If my royal brother were to sign off on these without a proper look, it would be a complete disaster.

And when I checked, the final straw, the thing that convinced me, was that personnel management wasn't functioning properly.

It was like having people who obviously can't do math in accounting, or guys who are bad at talking in sales.

I called in Neville, one of my royal brother's close advisors, to have him process the finished documents, and I gave him a piece of my mind, but he just nonchalantly spat out that it was my royal brother's wish.

He's a believer in my royal brother, the kind of man who wouldn't value his own life for him.

And that's fine. Having someone like that by his side is necessary for a person who is destined to be king, like my royal brother. But just doing whatever my royal brother says means that when we're in a tight spot like this, there's absolutely no way to cover for him.

I need them to feel a sense of responsibility and finish the work themselves.

I don't mind being hated. When my royal brother eventually becomes king, I want him, at the very least, to take over the throne with the administrative process in the best possible shape. Besides, I don't know how much longer I'll be in the castle anyway.

I thought I'd try to change the situation a little while my royal brother was out of commission. But the Saintess's problems, that whole mess between men and women, she'll have to solve that herself.

In otome games, the heroine has multiple love interests. Of course, they exist in this world, too. Right now, the monk who is by her side at the church might be the closest to her. So it doesn't have to be my royal brother.

Even in a bad end, if the Saintess loses her power, the royal family can just supplement it with military force and defeat the magical beasts. And even if she doesn't end up with anyone, the magical beasts are still defeated with the Saintess's power, so the country itself has no problem.

Well, there's a rift between the royal family and the church, but honestly, I couldn't care less about that. My thinking is that as long as the country and its people are functioning, everything's okay.

From my perspective, it's a problem concerning the Saintess alone. That's why I have no intention of getting involved with her any further.

The only problem is Lord Jumelba, who is targeting Allie. This part of the story was never depicted in the otome game at all. In the first place, Allie's existence, and the existence of fairies, have absolutely nothing to do with the game.

I just confirmed with Allie. the Saintess does indeed receive her power from a fairy.

And hearing from that fairy that the Saintess isn't unhappy with her current life, I decided once again to withdraw from the matter. Well, I'm just a mob character in the end, after all.

“Has even the great Prince Yuma given up?”

Brian chimed in with a smirk.

How annoying. I'm used to being surrounded by enemies, but I don't deal with troublesome romantic affairs.

As I was sulking, Allie tilted her head and asked.

“Are you worried about the Saintess, Prince Yuma?”

“Eh, not really. I just want to know what's going on inside the Royal Capital's church and what Lord Jumelba is plotting. It's because of your situation. And while I don't care what happens between the Saintess and my royal brother, honestly, I'd hate for Lady Garnet to become my sister-in-law like this.”

When I answered honestly, Allie's expression obviously showed her relief. Hmm? Was she worried about something?

As Allie stared at me, I grinned without knowing why. Heh.

“I understand that you're skilled, and big-hearted, and, I might add, surrounded by enemies. But even so, I think…”

Allie straightened her posture, looked me straight in the eye, and declared in a clear tone.

“I think you should get angry a little more, Prince Yuma. Yes, you should get angry.”

“Huh?”

“Towards His Majesty the King, towards His Highness Lenanino, and of course towards that man Neville from earlier and your ex-fiancée——the way they treat you is too careless. It's too unreasonable. You should get angrier.”

At the words telling me to get angry at the King and the Crown Prince, Lady Chiffone, who was next to us, let out a shriek.

“Wh-what are you saying, Allie? What do you think will happen if someone overhears you saying something like that?”

“But something that's too terrible is just too terrible. I, too, had this power forced on me by a fairy and am in a difficult position, but I love Tinn, and I'm grateful that I got to meet Chiffone. So I was telling myself that this situation couldn't be helped. But your situation is different, Prince Yuma. You are trying your best. I think it's wrong for everyone to take that for granted. They're getting carried away because you don't get angry.”

As Allie spoke, a small wind began to blow around her.

This is bad. Her emotions are affecting her, and magic is starting to activate. This is the castle's office. If magic were to go off in a place like this, it would be a huge problem.

Brian seemed to have noticed too, our eyes met.

I gave Brian a look, asking him to get Lady Chiffone away from Allie so she wouldn't stop me from what I was about to do.

Brian nodded and pulled Lady Chiffone, who had also noticed Allie's magic, away from her. Seizing that opening, I hugged Allie. From the front.

“!”

The excess power drained out of the surprised Allie. Of course, the magic fizzled, and the small, tornado-like clump of wind vanished.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked down at Allie in my arms. She seemed to be utterly stunned from the surprise. Sorry.

I gently released Allie and asked if she was alright.

“Thank you, Allie. I'm so happy that you'd get angry for my sake. But you can't use your power here. Even though we've cleared the room, it would be terrible if someone saw.”

“Ah, I…”

“It’s okay, so don’t worry. Look, Tinn is worried too.”

I pointed to the particularly bright light and stroked her back to reassure her.

“Ah, right. I’m sorry, Tinn. I was about to use your power for something foolish.”

When I asked Allie if the Saintess's power came from fairies, she nodded in affirmation.

“There were traces. Luminous particles, like what fairies emit, were left around her. I asked Tinn, too, and it seems the fairy who's always with the Saintess was playing with her in the castle garden.”

“Right?” Allie said, glancing at her own shoulder. It looked like Tinn was perched there again today.

“Did that fairy say anything about the Saintess's current situation? For example, if she seems to be having a hard time, or if she seems happy.”

“She says she's lonely from being separated from her family, but the Saintess herself has said that her work isn't a hardship. However, that fairy seems to be quieter than the others, so it seems we can't find out anything more than that.”

“I see. In that case, it's best if I don't get unnecessarily involved with the Saintess. And as for my royal brother, we should probably wait and see how things play out.”

I shrugged lightly.

For the past few days, my days have been filled with memories of my past life. I find myself nostalgic for my salaryman days, wishing I had a computer here. Because calculations are a real pain, you know.

Ever since the tea party the other day, my royal brother has been completely non-functional.

He just spaces out no matter what he’s doing, showing no reaction to his surroundings. Naturally, all of his work gets passed on to me, but when I finally got around to looking at it, I discovered that almost all of it was being processed according to my royal brother's own direction.

For example, if a village had a poor harvest and needed aid from the country, one person would decide where to procure the goods, another would determine the extent of the shortage based on the village's population, and yet another would set the budget limit. Then a different person would handle the negotiations with the local lord. Up to that point, it's fine. It's definitely more efficient for a company—or in this case, the kingdom—to have specialists handle each part. But after each department does its work, they each submit a single piece of paper to my brother, and it's his job to compile it all.

Normally, the one compiling it shouldn't be my royal brother, but the head of each department. My brother's job is supposed to be to approve it, or to check for errors.

Even for an excellent prince like my royal brother, there would never be enough time for this. On top of that, because he's not practicing proper hourensou——the reporting, communicating, and consulting necessary——his subordinates don't report, there's no communication between departments, and no one consults him midway; they just do as they please. If my royal brother were to sign off on these without a proper look, it would be a complete disaster.

And when I checked, the final straw, the thing that convinced me, was that personnel management wasn't functioning properly.

It was like having people who obviously can't do math in accounting, or guys who are bad at talking in sales.

I called in Neville, one of my royal brother's close advisors, to have him process the finished documents, and I gave him a piece of my mind, but he just nonchalantly spat out that it was my royal brother's wish.

He's a believer in my royal brother, the kind of man who wouldn't value his own life for him.

And that's fine. Having someone like that by his side is necessary for a person who is destined to be king, like my royal brother. But just doing whatever my royal brother says means that when we're in a tight spot like this, there's absolutely no way to cover for him.

I need them to feel a sense of responsibility and finish the work themselves.

I don't mind being hated. When my royal brother eventually becomes king, I want him, at the very least, to take over the throne with the administrative process in the best possible shape. Besides, I don't know how much longer I'll be in the castle anyway.

I thought I'd try to change the situation a little while my royal brother was out of commission. But the Saintess's problems, that whole mess between men and women, she'll have to solve that herself.

In otome games, the heroine has multiple love interests. Of course, they exist in this world, too. Right now, the monk who is by her side at the church might be the closest to her. So it doesn't have to be my royal brother.

Even in a bad end, if the Saintess loses her power, the royal family can just supplement it with military force and defeat the magical beasts. And even if she doesn't end up with anyone, the magical beasts are still defeated with the Saintess's power, so the country itself has no problem.

Well, there's a rift between the royal family and the church, but honestly, I couldn't care less about that. My thinking is that as long as the country and its people are functioning, everything's okay. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

From my perspective, it's a problem concerning the Saintess alone. That's why I have no intention of getting involved with her any further.

The only problem is Lord Jumelba, who is targeting Allie. This part of the story was never depicted in the otome game at all. In the first place, Allie's existence, and the existence of fairies, have absolutely nothing to do with the game.

I just confirmed with Allie. the Saintess does indeed receive her power from a fairy.

And hearing from that fairy that the Saintess isn't unhappy with her current life, I decided once again to withdraw from the matter. Well, I'm just a mob character in the end, after all.

“Has even the great Prince Yuma given up?”

Brian chimed in with a smirk.

How annoying. I'm used to being surrounded by enemies, but I don't deal with troublesome romantic affairs.

As I was sulking, Allie tilted her head and asked.

“Are you worried about the Saintess, Prince Yuma?”

“Eh, not really. I just want to know what's going on inside the Royal Capital's church and what Lord Jumelba is plotting. It's because of your situation. And while I don't care what happens between the Saintess and my royal brother, honestly, I'd hate for Lady Garnet to become my sister-in-law like this.”

When I answered honestly, Allie's expression obviously showed her relief. Hmm? Was she worried about something?

As Allie stared at me, I grinned without knowing why. Heh.

“I understand that you're skilled, and big-hearted, and, I might add, surrounded by enemies. But even so, I think…”

Allie straightened her posture, looked me straight in the eye, and declared in a clear tone.

“I think you should get angry a little more, Prince Yuma. Yes, you should get angry.”

“Huh?”

“Towards His Majesty the King, towards His Highness Lenanino, and of course towards that man Neville from earlier and your ex-fiancée——the way they treat you is too careless. It's too unreasonable. You should get angrier.”

At the words telling me to get angry at the King and the Crown Prince, Miss Chiffone, who was next to us, let out a shriek.

“Wh-what are you saying, Allie? What do you think will happen if someone overhears you saying something like that?”

“But something that's too terrible is just too terrible. I, too, had this power forced on me by a fairy and am in a difficult position, but I love Tinn, and I'm grateful that I got to meet Chiffone. So I was telling myself that this situation couldn't be helped. But your situation is different, Prince Yuma. You are trying your best. I think it's wrong for everyone to take that for granted. They're getting carried away because you don't get angry.”

As Allie spoke, a small wind began to blow around her.

This is bad. Her emotions are affecting her, and magic is starting to activate. This is the castle's office. If magic were to go off in a place like this, it would be a huge problem.

Brian seemed to have noticed too, our eyes met.

I gave Brian a look, asking him to get Miss Chiffone away from Allie so she wouldn't stop me from what I was about to do.

Brian nodded and pulled Miss Chiffone, who had also noticed Allie's magic, away from her. Seizing that opening, I hugged Allie. From the front.

“!”

The excess power drained out of the surprised Allie. Of course, the magic fizzled, and the small, tornado-like clump of wind vanished.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked down at Allie in my arms. She seemed to be utterly stunned from the surprise. Sorry.

I gently released Allie and asked if she was alright.

“Thank you, Allie. I'm so happy that you'd get angry for my sake. But you can't use your power here. Even though we've cleared the room, it would be terrible if someone saw.”

“Ah, I…”

“It’s okay, so don’t worry. Look, Tinn is worried too.”

I pointed to the particularly bright light and stroked her back to reassure her.

“Ah, right. I’m sorry, Tinn. I was about to use your power for something foolish.”

Allie said, pressing her cheek against the light on her shoulder.

Thank goodness. It seems she’s calmed down.

PREVTOCNEXTLikeLoading...