The day before the hearing.
「Yes, sensei. First of all, I don’t understand what a 『hearing』 even means.」
I raised my hand sharply and asked the muscle daruma sitting in front of me.
The daruma nodded magnanimously and turned his gaze to the person beside him.
「Please explain. Hey!」
Something must have happened, as the Idiot Prince twisted his face, slid off his chair, and vanished.
Remaining was Frea-san, who had been summoned suddenly for today’s… whatever role this was, looking quite displeased.
「Teacher?」
「…A hearing is originally a process of requesting written answers to problems and examining them carefully. However, someone in the past apparently said, 『Isn’t it troublesome to gather, read, and check documents one by one?』 so now, under the name of a hearing meeting, it has become a place where relevant parties gather to discuss and resolve issues.」
Even though she was in a bad mood, her explanation was easy to understand, which was helpful.
So, why was Frea-san here?
「In short, you will probably be thrown into a field of verbal maneuvering, deception, and tripping each other up tomorrow, where you must plead your innocence.」
I threw an angry document bomber at my idiot aniki, who had returned.
He caught them all with a slap of his hands.
「What is this bullying? Don’t I have anyone on my side?」
I thought it was natural to have someone like a lawyer present.
「As your ally, or rather, your consultant… I am supposed to sit behind you.」
「I request a substitution. At least let it be oniichan.」
「Idiot. Can the new King do such a thing?」
The other party, looking exasperated, gave an obvious answer.
Then this must be the correct choice, right?
「Then let it be Frea-san instead.」
「…I refuse.」
「Why!」
I was genuinely surprised when she bowed her head gracefully. I had believed that she, at least, would be on my side.
Perhaps sensing my slight despair, she opened her mouth with a reserved, wry smile.
「As the daughter of a high-ranking noble, I believe there is no problem with my position as a consultant. However… the fact that I am Argusta-sama’s subordinate makes it very difficult. The opponent will surely complain, saying things like, 『If she is a subordinate, she cannot disobey her superior’s words, can she?』」
「That… does seem likely.」
「Well, for that reason, I, your superior, will sit behind you.」
「No, wait a minute. Isn’t that logic strange?」
Frea-san refused because she was a subordinate, but if my superior, the idiot aniki, appeared… Wait, huh?
Looking at me tilting my head, the muscle daruma yawned annoyingly.
「In short, if you are cornered by the opponent and defeat seems imminent, I will throw you a lifeline.」
「…Is it okay to lose?」
If that was the premise, my feelings became much lighter, until—
「Only if you are willing to let go of Noie.」
「So it’s a battle I cannot afford to lose!」
Don’t joke around. Why is Noie involved?
Seeing me growl, my idiot aniki scratched his head.
「The opponent probably wants Noie. Well, it’s likely Noie.」
「Why?」
He turned a slightly serious face toward me.
「The Anti-Dragon Alliance… It sounds like a nice coalition concept, but we judged its true nature to be a strategy to spy on each country’s dragon countermeasures. Every nation basically wants to keep its military strength hidden. But there is one country that announces it openly without hiding anything.」
I didn’t even need him to say it. It was the Kingdom of Univance (us).
「The Republic intends to take the lead in this alliance and borrow Noie from us. And there is no guarantee that Noie, once taken away, will return safely. No matter how many agreements are made, they cannot be trusted. After all, the opponent desires Noie… the power of a Dragonslayer, so badly they would crawl to get it.」
Aniki shrugged as if to say the explanation was over.
I understood well. In short, to prevent Noie from being stolen, I just had to defeat the opponent with words tomorrow, right?
「…As a last resort, is it okay to have Noie throw a dragon at them?」
「That’s not a last resort. You’re planning to threaten them with that from the start, aren’t you?」
「…Actually, doing it would be problematic, but saying it with words should be fine.」
「Frea… Don’t say unnecessary things. I will be in the same place tomorrow.」
「Then please come fully armed.」
Frea-san, still looking displeased, turned her head away with a huff.
Had my idiot aniki done something… or was it related to 『that day』?
I didn’t want to dig deeper and blow myself up, so I skipped over that conversation.
「So, in the end, I just have to defeat the opponent with words?」
「That’s right.」
I did something like this in my previous world. As part of a class… was it debate?
I remembered thoroughly arguing over a single topic, split into two sides.
In the end, I remembered making enemies of the entire class… Wait? I don’t remember what I did wrong.
「Well, if you tell me to do it, I will… but how do I actually do it?」
My idiot aniki responded to the natural question.
「Consider this practice. We’re starting real combat now.」
As expected, he was an idiot. It made no sense.
「I don’t understand what you’re saying.」
「Are you an idiot?」
The humiliation of being called an idiot by an idiot!
He pointed to the person sitting next to him with his chin, and as my idiot aniki shook slightly, perhaps because something happened under the desk, his face distorted for a moment.
「…You’ll practice against Frea. Let me warn you, she is terrifying in her own way.」
「Is it just me, or does she feel less strong and more scary…?」
「Something wrong?」
「「Nothing at all!」」
Aniki and I both bowed our heads to Frea-san, who smiled faintly.
Apparently, royalty shouldn’t bow their heads lightly, but I hoped they would overlook it in the face of a life-threatening crisis.
And so, we were stabbed repeatedly with blades of words.
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