Jack grinned as he turned toward Lord Silver's subordinate.
"Now, miss. It appears this has been defamation…."
Her face showed shock and shame as the bystanders looked at her in disapproval. They would have expected better from someone related to a Noble.
She had fallen straight into Jack's trap!
"I swear on my honor as a noble retainer that this man is evil and—"
"Now, now, miss. Is reminding us of your background really necessary? We may be lowly merchants, but shouldn't we deserve at least some recognition?" Jack sighed.
His simple words were laced with poison.
Noble Retainer's Honor—> Attempt to bully them with her status
May be lowly Merchant —> Made Jack part of the powerful merchant group.
Deserve Some Recognition —> Resonated with the merchants, for their status was doomed to be lower than the nobles.
The crowd now showed disdain at this "bullying attempt," while Jack's students furiously denounced her for being a horrible human being.
"T-that's not what I meant, I—" She tried to defend herself, only for Jack to cut her off.
"Now, miss. Why the need to slander me such? Is this an order from your Lord, or is it your own initiative? Do not worry. You can answer truthfully, for we are sensible people."
That's when many connected the dots.
They all remembered Lord Silver picking up a fight with Jack for "impersonating a Noble". The thing was, he had never claimed to be one in the first place!
"T-that…!!" She shivered.
This question was so perverse! Before, she only had to explain herself and still had hope to prove her innocence. But now that the spotlight was on her Lord…
"It was 100% my doing! But I swear I—" She couldn't even let the shadow of a doubt land on her master. This was her duty as a retainer.
"Oh? Did this mean you used Lord silver's seal to launch the trial without his permission? Or perhaps did you consult him beforehand?" Jack calmly asked.
She suddenly seemed like she had eaten a mouthful of shit. She obviously had his blessings, but she couldn't admit to it! Also, how did he know about the seal?!
"I-it was all my doing, alone!" She bit her lips, enduring the impulse to murder the fool before her.
It was fine if she took some blame for now. The truth would be revealed later on, and her honor restored.
The judge sighed as he ordered the soldiers.
"Take her into custody, but make sure to treat her well. This could simply be a huge misunderstanding." He wasn't dumb enough to provoke a noble.
The soldiers approached, quickly taking her weapon and armor, leaving her with just her clothes. This was only a formality, so she did not mind, but she should have.
"Oh my god!!! What's this?!!" A soldier suddenly cried out.
In her pocket, he found a small item. It made everyone that saw it recoil with shock and disgust, her first. How the hell was this there?!
It was a small statue of an unrecognizable mass of flesh busy summoning skeletons. An evil deity's effigy?!
— Swing! —
The soldiers all drew their weapons, ready for a fight.
On the side, Jack was acting the most surprised. He was even backing away a few steps away, taking refuge between soldiers and students.
But as the retainer looked his way, she suddenly saw him wink at her. That's when she lost her mind.
"It was him! It was him all along!!! Arrest the bastard! He just winked at me!!" She screamed akin to a banshee as she went wild.
Winked, was it? The thing was, he hadn't….
In the back, a Demon grinned. Gosh, his new master was positively devilish! Such a simple illusion spell was so easy to see through, yet in the heat of the moment…
"I was watching him the whole time! He did no such thing as winking! This shrew's lying through her teeth!!" The soldiers quickly spoke the truth.
That was the last straw that broke the credibility she once had.
- Impossible high anger toward one man
- Unreliable words
- Dubious Statue
Yep, she was one bad apple. She had schemed against Jack all on her own while abusing her position. She only wanted to get rid of her Lord's enemy...or so the story went.
There would never be any mention of the basement the skeletons were currently hiding in nor of a Demon and Fairy's nice gesture of subtly "gifting" someone a statue.
The crowd left, dragging the offender along while the students were already rejoicing that "Justice" had prevailed.
Everything was as it should be....officially.
There was one downside to this whole plan: it would obviously make Lord Silver suspicious. But, there were two possibilities in this case…
1. Jack actually was a Necromancer
2. He had done all this simply to frame the annoying girl and warn her master.
For a Noble, getting a few skeleton soldiers wasn't that hard, even with Necromancy being considered evil in the land, so he'd consider both options for sure.
Lord Silver could easily deal with Jack, but what ungodly price would he have to pay? More importantly, would it be worth it?
Jack was peacefully smiling at this moment, for he knew that the higher one is, the more one is afraid to fall…
"Pfft— You're smiling deviously again." A tiny Fairy remarked as she floated near his ear while invisible.
She couldn't help but rejoice, for she had finally redeemed herself from her previous mistake with the Moon Elf.
"It's because I am happy. Now, shall we get started on the next step? Everyone, gather up. It will be time for a play!" He called out.
Students, previous hobos, and skeletons (masked) all came out to stand at attention. As Jack started explaining his next plan, they listened attentively.
They were tasked with playing a prank on someone. The whole thing sounded extremely strange, but they knew that he had his reasons for everything.
After all, his goals were way beyond their understanding.
In fact, they weren't the only ones lost. Even his closest confidants had no clue what was going on. All they understood was that he was targeting the Moon Elf.
But, no matter how they looked at it, wasn't this really just a prank?!
Oh well, they would soon know…
━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━
In the most luxurious hotel in the City, a man suddenly slammed his desk so hard that it broke, sending splinters all over.
"M-my Lord?!"
A nearby maid jumped in fright. This was the first time in her life that she saw the elegant Lord Silver showing anger. What news did he just receive?!
"No need to mind me. Leave me alone for now. I need to think." He did not man his bloodied hand nor the mess, his heart in disarray.
The annoying impostor was actually a scheming devil.
At this moment, Lord silver instantly saw through the many schemes. His subordinate was foolish and easy to fool, but he was different.
But because of this, he understood how thorny this guy was.
Right now, he had turned public opinion on his side and made it incredibly difficult for him to make a move.
Any attempt on his part to investigate or apprehend the villain would be met with incredible backlash and would further support the "Jack is a victim" narrative.
He spat out in annoyance. If this was the Capital, he could have the man's head on his bedside table in an hour. Sadly, this wasn't possible here.
He was strong and could personally assassinate the man easily, but he wasn't naive enough to believe this would come without repercussions.
No matter the options, they all ended up with him coming on top but being incredibly weakened. By then, his adversaries in the Capital would simply finish him.
"Jack, was it? You're good. Real good!" He uttered twice.
For him to commit a commoner's name to memory was a miracle. In fact, it had only ever happened twice, and both were long gone from this world.
He chuckled as he fished out an Amethyst Amulet from his pocket, staring intently at it. Was it really worth it to use something so valuable on such a miscreant? Probably not…
But, a Noble's Honor was priceless.
The man thought himself clever for capturing his subordinate and tying most of his moves, but he had made one fatal mistake. He had made him feel threatened, and this deserved death.
Lord Silver decisively crushed the Amulet.
A purple puff of smoke escaped from it, forming a visage akin to a genie. The being's astonished glowing eyes rested on its summoner.
"Wow! How unexpected! The mighty Lord Silver requesting assistance? Could the world be ending?!"
"Worse, someone insulted me."
"….Right."
"I need you to come here, personally. I need to know all the secrets he holds as soon as possible." Lord Silver solemnly requested.
"WHAT?! Do you know what you're asking?!… Of course, you know, you're Lord silver." The being remained silent for a few seconds. "Fine, I'll grab my things, and I'll be there soon."
The connection was then aborted. The noble couldn't help but grin as he pictured what would soon happen.
No one in this world was entirely clean, and the Royal Seer's specialty was precisely figuring out people's dark secrets.
Calling him for help was akin to using Hellfire to light up a twig. The annoying bastard would never recover from this.
The only question was…should he end him or enslave him?
But he slowly calmed down, forgetting his anger. He stared at the mountain of paper that had flown away along with the desk's destruction. Right, he still had his initial mission to prioritize.
After all, finding the source of the mana renewal was more important than taking revenge on one annoying commoner...