Chapter 157

The left temple of Icarus twitched nervously .

“I don’t understand what the hell Abel-dono is trying to do…… hanging around me . My lord, don’t tell me that this boy has told you something bad to do?

Icarus seems to think that Lark’s attack on him was due to some change .

He seems to suspect that the cause of this is me, a foreigner to this territory .

I’m old enough to have a good sense of what’s going on .

“What the hell, hey, what’s going on?”

“It was rumored that the lord was estranged from Icarus-sama…… . Didn’t he intend to use this as an opportunity to erase it?”

The residents sense the disquiet and begin to make a commotion .

“…… Could you step back for now, please? Right now, I’m presenting the results of the alchemy research I’ve been doing with Rinoa-san at the moment . ”

“Hm? Hoho, with Rinoa-dono as the centerpiece, announce the results of her alchemical research…… . ”

Icarus showed a little pretense of thinking, then grinned .

Then, at once, his face turned stern and the rage in his voice increased .

“Abel-dono…… No, Abel, I know what you’re after!”

He suddenly called out .

Perhaps it was for the purpose of staging a performance for the residents, as Icarus seemed to be peering sideways at his surroundings .

“…… what is it?”

“In fact, I recently received a report that my lord saw me transcribing my research report……”

“Report……?”

Icarus hid his mouth and chuckled .

The corners of his mouth lifted in a grin .

“Kukukuku …… You can cut the white off now, too, ……”

For a moment I wondered what he was talking about, but if it’s a copy of that, I have a revised version in my possession now .

You’ve opened up the conversation at the right time .

This way, when I present it to him later, he won’t get bogged down .

“Oh, that! Yes! Yes, I’ve been shown!”

I said with a biting smile, and Icarus’ expression froze .

Icarus shook his head and re-partitioned with a cough .

“I knew it! I was wondering why he would do that, but I’m guessing it was so you could steal it and sell it to your people! And you will report the results of that here and there first, and then later on you were going to say with me that I hadn’t done anything about it and banish me from the territory!”

“…… Hmm?”

Who’s going to crunch that poorly written report?

I mean, it’s been going back and forth and not making any progress…… .

“I failed to see how the kid inspired you to do this kind of underhanded thing, my lord! I knew for sure that my lord feared that you would lose your position…… But no way, this!　What a pity that the territory must now come together to deal with the crisis!”

A-, are you seriously saying this……?

No, from Icarus’ point of view, that’s the only thing he can think of .

Nevertheless, what terrible remarks .

Who in the world was trying to kick off the lord by dragging their feet so much in the crisis of the territory…… .

If you look at the residents, many of them seemed to be convinced by Icarus’ story .

“I see, that’s why they didn’t tell Icarus-sama…… . ”

“We’ve never heard of a faction of the Vice Group developing crops, after all…… I knew it was created by Icarus-sama . ”

It certainly clears up the questions, and it makes…… sense?

As a resident, it would make a lot more sense than hearing that Rinoa’s faction has suddenly completed the crop .

“You’ve become impatient, my lord . ”

Icarus throws a few words at Lark, perhaps in a whisper so that those around him can’t hear .

He seems to think that he has completely won .

Well, let’s let them catch up with us at best .

We still have a lot of cards in hand .

We can’t win with credit and mouth, so I’ve made it possible for us to beat you with our achievements .

It’s well within our expectations .

“No, we’ve already completed the crop, you know . ”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve already finished it . Icarus-san, you were in the process of researching it, and that’s a pretty basic of the basics……”

Icarus lets out a long sigh .

“I’m sure my research is still in its infancy . But alchemy is deep…… and not as flimsy as you fools think . I’ve said it before, haven’t I? Oh, how many times do I have to tell you! If you’d read one of the decent sorcery books, you wouldn’t be able to say something stupid as you……”

Icarus closed his eyes and shook his head in relief .

It’s true that this is the second time Icarus has lectured me on the difficulties of alchemy .

However, unlike the last time, this one is after I have already demonstrated my achievements to the residents .

Even the residents seem to be feeling uncomfortable with this exchange and are tilting their heads .

It’s natural .

The person claiming to have been plagiarized has already denied what he has announced .

“No, it’s already ……”

“Ahhhh! All right, that’s enough! Let’s get this straight . You are not the kind of sorcerer that can stand in front of me! You’d better get the hell out of here before you embarrass yourself any further!”

Icarus shouted and moved his arms, pretending to sweep up flies .

But then he froze, holding his pose .

“……mm?”

He noticed that the people around him were reacting in a strange way .

“I said that I’ve already completed it . We’re about to start presenting the arrangements and providing the residents with them from today for practical use . ”

“What, huh?”

Icarus let out a dumb voice with his big mouth open .

“You’re in the way, so can I ask you to step back?”

“Y, you …… such an instantly recognizable lie…… hastily, haphazardly…… how can you say that, how shameless can you be……”

Icarus’s eyeballs giggled as he said it, and he seemed to be checking the complexion of his surroundings .

His face paled and he bit his lip .

Finally, he must have sensed that something unusual was happening .

The magicians of the Icarus faction were also beginning to be dismayed when they saw Icarus’ impatience, after grinning at first .

“Haha, I get it, J understand it now!”

“You guys gave me some nonsense report to get rid of me! Yes, that must be it, that’s all I can think of!”

“Nonsense……?”

“Yeah, that’s right! You must be presenting your false research findings here, thinking it would be six months before the results came out anyway! In the meantime, you’re was going to use today as a starting point to get rid of me! You did a bold move, you thought that if you got rid of me, the rest would be under your own heaven!”

“I, I see . ……”

How can he cling so much here .

I couldn’t help but be convinced .

Certainly, there is that way to do that .

Whether this was a lie or not, it would buy some time for the residents to be skeptical until the crops were ready .

“How long have you guys been involved in crop development! It would take you at least months to even try it once…… It’s strange, it’s all strange!”

I give a signal to Mea .

Mea nods at me and brings me the pot of Ortem that I used for the demonstration I gave to the residents earlier .

The remnants of the burning Ortem Gourd from earlier have already been removed .

I take out the seeds of the Ortem Gourd and embed them in the Ortem pot .

“Hey, you, what are you doing ……”

“Grow”

I wave my wand at the Ortem pot .

The Ortem pot sprouts out and grows as it goes .

“………… mm?”

Icarus rubbed his eyes silently .

In less than ten seconds, a long vine grew out of the Ortem pot and hung on the ground .

More and more leaves grew .

“No way…… this…… Im-, impossible, this is impossible!”

“So, how many months will it take you to try it once?”

When I asked, Icarus’ face, which was already rushing with blood, grew redder and redder .

“This, this is such a stupid thing to do! I won’t admit it!”

Icarus swung his big staff and tried to hit the Ortem pot .

“Puppet, dance!”

I waved my wand at the Ortem pot .

The Ortem pot did a big back-air swing .

The vines of the Ortem Gourd swung around and caught Icarus in the face .

“Obu-!”

Icarus released his staff from his hand and fell on his ass in place .

I took two big steps closer to Icarus .

“T-, this ……”

Icarus crawls to the ground, holding his worm swollen face from being struck by the vines with his left hand while he pats the soil with his opposite hand, looking for the staff he dropped .

Then I throw the bundle of paper in front of me .

Icarus picks it up, mistaking it for his staff as it touches his hand, looks directly at it and frowns .

“Wha-, what’s this ……?”

“Your report…… I have corrected it . It’s just watered down with unnecessary explanations and most of the substance was missing, and there was a lot of questionable data in the key areas, so it’s hard to believe that the study was conducted properly . ”

Icarus saw the contents and his body trembled .

“Y, y, you…… how far do you have to go to taunt me to feel better!”

Icarus cries out as if he’s out of his mind and starts tearing through the bundle of copies of the report, one by one, in the form of a demon .

“Wind”

As I chanted, a gust of wind blew and sent the bundle of paper flying towards the residents .

“Ah, ahhhhhh!”

Icarus struggles to reach out, but there’s no way he can hold back all the papers that fly in any direction he wants, piece by piece .

“H-, hey, help me, help me out! Collect it!”

Icarus yells at the sorcerers under him .

While the sorcerers were cringing, the residents began to pick up the pieces .

“Don’t touch them, you fools! Give it back, give, give it back! That’s bullshit! Everything that is written is an accusation! So don’t look…!”

Icarus screams as he rolls around .

I look at him and turn my head to Lark with a pout .

“Lark-san, it’s over . For now . ”

“Mm-hmm . ”

Lark nodded and took a deep breath .

“My residents, listen up carefully! Icarus has been a sorcerer in this land since my father’s time! But for the last ten years, they have been drowning in that authority, just lazily gorging themselves on gain and lining their pockets under the pretense of being immersed in crop development research! The shameful sight of the current case, and the years of research into crop development, will tell you that much from the report! From this day forward, Icarus Ezeida is permanently banned from Fage territory!”

No dissenting voices were raised .

“…… Maybe that guy spent years working on a study that would take years in only a few days . ”

“I don’t know how he managed to get away with it all this time . ”

“Hey, look at this one . This paper over here is almost red all over and I don’t even know what it says anymore……”

A lot of backbiting and insult ensued .

A defeated general is such a thing, by all means .

And the only reason why Icarus had the power to speak out and his previous selfish behavior was tolerated because he was the only hope as an alchemist in a distressed territory .

Now that Nalgarn was already dead, the massive thinning of the magic beast problem had been successfully thwarted, and the water problem had been resolved, the only reason left to cling to Icarus at this point was crop development .

There is no way that the residents would be able to defend Icarus now that the Rinoa faction, which they had been mocked and obstructed, had beaten them to the punch in the last issue, the only stronghold they had .

That’s the extent of their trust that they have gained by taking advantage of their weaknesses and sprinkling false hopes around .

It is only natural that the residents will not protect them, but even the magicians of the Icarus Faction will only be confused .

Betting on the ignorance of the residents and insisting that the deficit correction was a misguided nonsense would be meaningless after they had lost so loudly .

It’s not a matter of how you make up for it, because it’s definitely a meaningless research result for the territory in the future .

All of the words that were fired at me here have now have become spiked boomerangs that pierced his entire body .

There is no excuse for it now .

“No, no…… this is not it! Funny, it’s all funny! It can’t be like this…… this ……”

Only Icarus alone didn’t seem to have given up yet .

He staggered to his feet and tried to get closer to Lark .

Euris quickly stepped forward and blocked the space between Icarus and Lark .

“I won’t let you get any closer than that . ”

Icarus glared at Euris, but his shoulders slumped dejectedly when he noticed the other Private Army members approaching him with their hands on their scabbards .

As it was, the members of the private army took him away and walked off somewhere else .

I guess it’s all over now .

As I was thinking about this, I saw Icarus glaring at me as he walked away .

His eyes were filled with hatred .

I blinked, and the next thing I knew, he was looking forward in a mature manner and was being taken away .

“Abel! It’s finally over!”

Mea calls out to me happily .

“…… I hope so . ”

I replied, looking at Icarus’ back .