With the serious a.s.surance from none other than one of the most famous commanders in Edea at the moment, Kazuya smiled and showed the photos of the men who he had unmasked.

Each of the faces was of course, already dead. The images shown showed a single b.l.o.o.d.y hole on their foreheads which they had already a.s.sumed had been from the hero's soul weapon.

"This…!" Julian's expression immediately darkened. There was no doubt that Elrich could recognize some of them since there were times in the past where these people were sent to train with the subordinates under the duke.

Since the Eberbach family had taken the stories from the hero Raphael seriously, they had based their military structure on the principles of the stories that he had shared. Though many thought that the ideas were preposterous since they are two different worlds, the success of the Eberbach family throughout the centuries had left nothing to dispute.

Even when the kingdom had changed hands, the Eberbach family had played a major role because of their unique military structure. That is why the royal shadows unit was based on some of the successes of the Eberbach family. Specifically, their information network and their elite units.

"Seems like I'm owing you a bigger debt as time goes by." Elrich had seen enough. There was no doubt that these men were indeed from the royal shadow unit. Even an elite one at that.

"This is preposterous! Are you trying to sow discord in the kingdom!?" Julian immediately pointed his finger at Kazuya.

Julia looked worriedly at her father and tried to gesture for him to stop. With Kazuya's temperament, how could she not be worried?

"I see… I get it now. These people must be from a faction against Elrich-san." Kazuya nodded as if he had just understood the situation completely. "I don't think I need to remind you that I have no idea of the political situation in this kingdom since I have not even settled myself in this world yet. Besides, I would not have kept you here to see the evidence if my purpose was indeed to stir up trouble between you n.o.bles." Kazuya looked Julian in the eye.

"Frankly, neither am I interested in it. So unless you involve me, in which I would a.s.sume what you are trying to do right now, I will not move for the benefit of each side since the main purpose of my summoning was to take care of the problem with the demons."

"I'm not…" It would be a terrible mistake on his part if the hero ends up helping the Eberbach house despite the hero's declaration of neutrality.

"Then lower the finger pointing at me before I end up shooting it off your hand." Kazuya used a threatening tone which immediately startled everyone who was present.

"You…" Julian bit his lip. A young man who wasn't even half his age dared to command him.

"If I had learned anything from my trip outside of this city is that this world is full of dangers. The current me will not be enough to deal with creatures who have lived with an abundant amount of mana since birth. With the abilities I am now able to do compared to when I was on earth, I have to slowly try to integrate it with my current self." Kazuya stealthily glanced at Julia who worriedly looked over her father.

"Tell your king that I will consider his offer after I have trained myself to be capable of the expectations this world has of me." Kazuya ignored Julian's dissatisfaction and continued.

For now, he should give the king's faction some kind of a.s.surance now that he had caused the relations.h.i.+p between them and the duke to worsen up to this point. That would give them second thoughts about trying to deal with him along with Elrich.

Of course, Kazuya didn't want history to repeat itself. This was why he had disguised his voice to sound like the leader of Sodina's attackers and recorded that conversation. A scapegoat was already provided so Elrich had a specific person to attack.

The Keller family is one of the most loyal supporters of the king's faction. In Kazuya's previous life, they held the position that Elrich used to occupy and had been the biggest military power in the Zweifel kingdom. The Keller army was also one of the armies that marched towards the demon king's castle to make sure that Kazuya and his loyal supporters would not be able to return from their final journey.

With this move, not only will Kazuya be crippling the king's faction from allying together to deal with the Eberbach house, he would be weakening their forces greatly once Elrich moves against the Keller family. With him as a witness, they wouldn't dare paint Elrich to be that bad guy unless they wanted to include the hero in this fiasco.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Elrich…" Julian turned to the duke. He wanted to dissuade him from doing anything irrational.

"Save your breath, Julian. You know me well enough to know what comes next after this." Elrich waved his hand and prevented Julian from saying any more. "You should quickly inform those in the palace that anyone who dares lend a hand or side with the Keller family will share their fate. But those who come forward with any help or information will be rewarded with the Keller family's territories that I have no use for."

Elrich's solid stance made Julian s.h.i.+ver. Every time Elrich had moved himself, there would be a bloodbath. Though the Keller family was one of the largest military families of the king's faction, alone, it did not even have half of the power and number that the Eberbach forces had.

What's more, with his declaration, the greedy n.o.bles in the kingdom's faction will not hesitate to point their fangs towards the Keller family so they could benefit from the already guaranteed fall of the military family.

"No!" Julian suddenly stood up. "I will not move an inch from this spot unless you swear to consider talking to the king about this matter!" he was desperate. There wasn't anything else that he could do at this point.

Elrich frowned. If he made a move against Julian, there was no doubt that they would have an excuse to persecute him. The king's royal guard was indeed making a stance to protect the kingdom's peace after all. The situation was now in a stalemate.

"I say, aren't you being a bit too bull-headed?" Kazuya broke the tension as he glanced over at Julian. He was annoyed at what this man doing in desperation.

"Stay out of this. This matter concerns the kingdom." Julian didn't want to give Kazuya the chance to interfere.

"I was planning on discussing a cooperation between the duke and myself regarding my training. I believe that is a matter of the kingdom, is it not? In my opinion, since you did not even try to help with my earlier concern and the discussion about my subordinate has been made clear, you should have overstayed your welcome." He shook his head sideways and looked at the captain with contempt.

"So what? Are you going to make a move on me?" he provoked Kazuya. It would work on his favor if the impulsive hero did such a thing, so he decided to focus on him instead of Elrich who seemed to have already realized his intention.

"Why do I need to make a move against you when I can get you to scram on your own without lifting a finger?" Kazuya sipped his cup slowly before turning behind.

"JULIA! If your father does not remove himself from the Eberbach residence within three minutes, I command you to disembowel yourself with this b.u.t.ter knife!" he took the knife from the table and tossed it for Julia to catch.

"WHAT!!?" Julian looked towards his daughter who helplessly caught the knife.

"Now, I believe you should be able to understand a little about what Elrich-san is thinking of. Will you stubbornly stay here and watch your daughter kill herself before your eyes hereby proving that you choose the kingdom over her life, or will you step back and inform your liege about the traitorous actions of one of your subjects and let the duke enact the justice he deserves?" Kazuya grinned.

"If it were me, if this kingdom causes as much as a scratch on the skin of any member of my family, I would not rest until it has fallen. So, count yourselves lucky that I was the one called here instead of any of them."

"YOUU!!!!" Julian's temper reached its boiling point. He immediately grabbed the hilt of his sword as he glared murderously at the hero.

*BANG!* a bullet immediately flew past his face.

"That is not a wise choice for a seasoned person like you." Kazuya gestured to everyone around the room who had prepared themselves to engage Julian. "You won't be the only one going to the afterlife if you decide to go on this path, I guarantee you that." He purposely glanced over to Julia whose begging look calmed the enraged Julian down a bit.

"So, this is your soul weapon…" Julian was taken aback. He heard that it was able to penetrate personal barriers like it was nothing and was skeptical about it. Experiencing it himself, he understood it, the people around him would be able to easily handle him even if he were to reveal all his prowess.

"A minute and a half left." Kazuya simply smiled and ignored his remark.

He was already aware that a man who was as experienced as Julian had understood something. There was a little distance between them, so the gun's weakness was easily seen through. Once they knew of its barrier nullifying abilities, one who was capable enough would only need to enhance both their sight and reflexes to dodge the small trajectory of the projectile it launched.

"Fine, you've made your point." Julian raised both his hands as a sign of surrender. "I will inform the king of this matter." Knowing that he only had a little over a minute, he moved towards the exit.

"Make sure to tell him everything truthfully." Kazuya smiled as he waved the cellphone on his other hand. He had secretly recorded their conversation to make sure that only the truth would be relayed.

"Hmph!" Julian quickly made his way out followed by Zwei who was gestured by Elrich to make sure that he left.

The two who shared the table with Kazuya had different opinions about the hero after what had just happened. Elrich, of course, had nothing but praise for how Kazuya had magnificently handled the matter. For his daughter, however, she felt that the young man was not only underhanded but devious as well. She did not like the fact that he used Julian's daughter's life to make him leave despite her relations.h.i.+p with Julia herself.

"I wish to thank you for a lot of matters, Kazuysan. With how things turned out, I believe there are too many to mention." He politely bowed with grat.i.tude.

"Please raise your head, Elrich-san. Like I said before, I will not hesitate to help someone in my vicinity as long as I deem it as the correct move. This aspect of my personality does not make me deserve to bear the t.i.tle of 'hero'."

"Please don't belittle yourself like that." This was why he looked highly upon this person. He does not deny his shortcomings, nor does he change principles when it suits him. "I believe a true hero is not someone who seeks to please the people, it is someone who fights for what is truly right despite all difficulties."

Kazuya smiled. He believed that this man was indeed worth saving. All the thoughts of hesitation over what he did for the Eberbach house had disappeared. It was better to have such a wise and honorable man amongst the rotten and greedy n.o.bles cared about nothing but to fulfill their own greed and agendas.

"What are your plans now?" Kazuya smiled as he asked.

"I will need to go back to my territory before the king can get a chance to detain me to the capital." He glanced over to Zwei who had acknowledged his intentions and left the room quietly.

"I see… Though I won't be able to offer any help, do note that I would have done the same, if not worse."

"I am glad to hear that. This must be why I've felt that we will get along fairly well." Elrich gave a light laugh.

Both of them valued sentiment a lot. If anyone dared to point their blades at them, they would retaliate in kind. But, if their enemies dared to point their blades at their loved ones, these two were the types who would throw everything at their disposal in retaliation.

"I wish you a safe and swift victory." He smiled in return.

"Thank you. I shall leave Sodina and Zwei to be your hosts while I am away. I believe that my daughter would be able to help you with getting used to what you need to in our world."

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