112 第百十一話『組織の長』 (2/2)

I spent my childhood in the back streets under the thumb of the Great Saints. There is no way that such a lowly commoner would have the opportunity to even touch a book, let alone learn about things.

The only thing I learned was how to read and write, which was taught to me by Mr. Nines at the orphanage. In fact, I would say that I am lucky.

But more than that, I had to learn where people hide their purse bags and what people look like when they are not careful. Well, what, that's a slightly different story.

I leave the learning to the saints. I've got the bare minimum. What do you think of my response to Belfain?

As if to return the favor, she cracked her lips lightly and spat out her voice.

I was expecting the saint to be a little stumped when it came to answering the alliance, but as if to mock my shallowness, Mattia simply opened her mouth.

It's obvious, there's no such thing as an alliance. Isn't this a false plan that is too transparent in its intentions? If I could have, I would have cut the messenger loose right then and there.

Mattia's fingertips scrawled words on the parchment with a pen. It's been like that since a while ago. But there was no sign of weakening, and she said in a firm voice. It was as if he had really decided to do this all along.

Mattia's eyes narrowed as he continued.

But as the head of the organization, I can't do that. But as the head of the organization, I cannot do that. The best thing to do would be to treat them as enemies in your heart.

That would be undeniably true.

In the event you're not sure what to do, you can always ask your doctor. That's not good. You can't be sure that there will not be someone who will truly come down to the heraldry in the future.

Therefore, you should be happy with the alliance, accept it with open arms, and dismiss it as an enemy in your heart.

Well, I suppose that's quite reasonable. Provided that we're a solid, monolithic force that can't be seen to crumble, and that we have the strength to show them off.

Unfortunately, that's not going to happen.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm not sure what to do.

What if Belfain bites into that force, not as an enemy, but as an ally? There will always be those who have unnecessary ambition and double-mindedness.

If there was a sufficient difference in strength between the two sides, such a thing could be prevented, but there was almost no difference in strength between Galuamaria and Belle Fain, which made me think that the other side, which is known as a mercenary nation, had a significant advantage.

It's no use, after all, we have to take them as enemies. It is too dangerous to pretend to be trapped and bite the enemy's throat. It's not an approach we should take as an organization, let alone as individuals.

But, Lugis. But, Lugis. Don't get too far ahead of yourself. There are still some in the heraldry community who think that we should form an alliance.

Not everyone can come to conclusions based solely on calculations and calculations, as Mattia did. Naturally, there will be those who think that maybe, just maybe, this is a great opportunity.

Well, if you ignore them and force them to reject the alliance plan, you will have a problem with that. The head of an organization is a troublesome person.

I'm asking Ann to guide our opinions so that we don't get sick as an organization. She's a very good coordinator, and I'm sure she'll be able to adjust some, if not all, of the issues without causing too much discontent.

So don't say anything strange, either. Mattia seemed to have written up a piece of parchment.

What a terrible thing to say. I think Fialaat and Mattia both think I'm an incompetent brat.

I know exactly what you mean. If I'm alone, but if we as an organization let our emotions get the better of us, we'll find ourselves in a deep pit of hell.

So, yes, it's that simple. I let out a slow exhale as I pulled the cigarette from my mouth.