Volume 4 Chapter 1 Takumi-kun Will Become A Great Person
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
McGaref was part of the Quvarian Empire in name only. Its political structure was more gesture than chain of command—autonomous in spirit and practice, kept upright by its merchant guilds and an aging council of five.
One of those five was Ralph Kinvale—Shiori-chan’s adoptive father, and, at the moment, the source of a headache blooming behind my eyes.
”You want me to give up my seat as councilor…?” I asked, each word slow, as though tasting something strange.
”That’s right,” Ralph said, nodding as if we were discussing the weather. “You see, I never *wanted* to be a councilor. But it was the merchant guild president’s appointed rotation, and I had no choice. Then the Katarina guild was next in line. I couldn’t bear the idea of *them* holding power, so I had no choice again.”
He leaned back in the creaky chair, his emphasis on “no choice” falling like soft taps on glass. With his rimless glasses and scholarly slouch, Ralph looked more suited to lecture halls than politics. Shiori had once described him as “someone who only thinks about formulas and tea temperatures.”
Watching how tenderly he treated her, it was clear he wasn’t a bad person. A little odd, perhaps—but in McGaref, that hardly made him unique. Kinvale and Katarina were two of the city’s three great merchant guilds. Their friction was historic, their influence enduring.
”But now *you’re* the president,” Ralph went on, folding his hands neatly in his lap. “So I can finally retire. Immerse myself in what really matters—my beloved Shiori and my research. Getting tangled in worldly nonsense is a loss for everyone, don’t you think?”
”I can’t argue with that,” I said, aware that I sounded more diplomatic than sincere.
To be fair, the medicine Shiori developed had changed lives across the empire. From Kahoru-chan’s experimental hair dye to vitality elixirs and pain salves, her work straddled the line between alchemy and miracle. Profits for the Kinvale guild had soared; so had McGaref’s tax revenue.
”I don’t know when our research will settle down,” Ralph said, with a dreamy sort of shrug, “but you’re welcome to do whatever you like with Shiori. I have no intention of meddling in her romantic life. In fact, you could merge Kinvale and Katarina. Take over as president. That way, we’d have a patron—and I could vanish into my laboratory forever.”
His tone was so mild it took a moment for the implications to hit. Merge two major guilds? Install me at the top?
”I think that might be… complicated,” I said slowly. “Wouldn’t Shiori-san need to marry?”
”No, no,” Ralph said, waving a hand like he was dismissing an errant speck of dust. “You’ll be fine. I know Shiori likes you. I overlooked your little ‘experiments’ together because I trusted you. So go ahead—take her. As husband, wife, research partner—whatever works. Just take over the guild.”
Absolutely not. This man was trying to hand over an empire like it was a spare cloak. For someone so uninterested in politics, Ralph had a frightening knack for long-term strategy. He probably had a mistress tucked away in the countryside—Shiori-chan was adopted, after all—and yet she remained his only child.
”I was never suited to politics,” Ralph added with a sigh. “Have you heard about the war?”
”No,” I admitted. “Until recently, I was just managing to stay afloat.”
”Ah, right. You always give that impression. Recently, we realized Shiori’s citizenship was still provisional. My wife scolded me half to death. Shiori didn’t even complain. Kahoru said something about wanting to make her a secretary.”
He shrugged again—careless, or pretending to be. It was hard to tell.
”So, what’s the actual situation?”
”Ah yes.” He leaned forward, voice dropping an octave. “It’s classified, but Bakdu Fortress fell. Yesterday.”
That sentence struck like frost against the skin. I blinked.
”If Seron Dukedom is in danger…” I said.
”Then it’s war. Quvarian Empire versus the Lesta Kingdom. If they move through Seron, McGaref could be the next battlefield.”
Ralph said it like announcing a change in the weather. The fall of Bakdu was seismic—a fortress positioned like a keystone between borders. And he’d just handed that information to me like a footnote in a letter. He wanted out. He wanted *me* in.
War was always somewhere in this world. The Lesta Kingdom and Seron Dukedom had been skirmishing for decades. But if Seron fell, the fight would come home.
”So?” Ralph prompted, with a smile just shy of mischievous. “Will you take the councilor position? I’m getting older. And it might be good for Shiori to inherit someday, right?”
There was no way I could leave this inferno to Shiori. But somehow, by the end of that conversation, I’d agreed. Not just in name. In reality.
* * *
”Oh, so Bakdu Fortress fell?” Weed said, dragging his fingers along the lacquered edge of the table. “That poor country did it? Bad news, huh? Right, Kanare?”
”Um, Takumi-kun… no, I mean, Councilor Takumi now,” Kanare said with a furrowed brow. “Should you really be telling Weed-san all this?”
”Come on,” I said, flashing a grin. “He’s the military advisor for my clan. No harm in asking an expert—even if he’s a little *unofficial*.”
”I understand… but still…”
We weren’t at the clan’s stronghold. Or at a battalion outpost. We were in a narrow, well-swept room above the brothel where Kahoru-chan worked. Secret meetings are easier when no one wants to be seen entering. I’d bribed the landlady for discretion—not hard, considering nearly a third of her staff belonged to me, in one way or another. Lately, she’d been hinting about selling the place and retiring to the countryside.
”So,” Weed said, leaning in, “what’s the move?”
”It’s strange that Bakdu fell so quickly,” I said. “But if I were the Lesta commander, I’d keep going. Wipe out Seron. And if I had anything left—come straight for McGaref.”
Weed tapped out a slow rhythm on the tabletop—*tap, tap… tap*. His sigh followed like smoke through a crack in the wall.
”That’s how it’ll be, I suppose.”
”This city has only two defending battalions. That’s absurdly thin for our size. I knew relations with the imperial capital were strained, but this bad?”
”We might get reinforcements,” Kanare said. “But the road through Seron was always the most convenient…”
”Right. We’ve prioritized that side,” I said quietly.
There were two possible invasion routes from Seron: one aimed at McGaref, the other toward the capital. We were closer. But the highway led to the heart of the empire. Naturally, they’d guard *that*. Leaving us exposed.
”But you know, Kanare,” Weed said, tilting his head, “I never said McGaref would fall.”
He scratched his stubble with the heel of his hand, laughing low in his throat.
”If I command Takumi’s clan, a foreign army will feel like a stiff breeze. If all goes well, not a single soldier lost. I might even go down in history—a great strategist remembered in song. And afterward? Seron Dukedom, ripe for the taking. You all could claim independence in the name of victory.”
”No,” Kanare said, smiling with careful restraint. “That’s not something we’re really considering…”
But he didn’t deny it. Which told me everything about McGaref’s political undercurrent.
”Well then.” Weed’s eyes glinted. “Takumi. Use your new councilor title. You’re going to build something—a private force. A military that answers to no clan.”
He stretched, shoulders rolling back, as if warming up before a fight.
”My hands are itching.”
And so, inevitably, my fate tilted on its axis. The world, once composed entirely of classmates, was expanding—suddenly, violently.
* * *
Later that night, with the secret meeting behind me, I returned upstairs.
Three women waited.
Each of them moved with the practiced grace of performance, but something unspoken passed between us—ownership, yes, but also something tender beneath the choreography.
One brushed her fingertips along my collarbone, her touch as light as breath. Another leaned into my shoulder, laughter humming against my skin. The third slipped behind me, her whisper warm in my ear. Their movements folded into each other—syncopated, seamless, deliberate.
The room filled with the sound of shifting limbs and muffled fabric, of breath catching against breath. The mattress gave a long, contented sigh beneath us.
No commands were needed. No titles spoken. They already knew what I liked—when to press closer, when to tease distance, when to bring their rhythms in sync with mine. They played me like a memory they’d memorized.
The heat built slowly—like steam rising through the floorboards—until the air itself felt flushed. I let myself sink into it, into them, into the quiet intensity of being *wanted*, *obeyed*, *known*.
For that hour, no one spoke of war, or council seats, or falling fortresses.
Only skin. Only breath. Only the music of bodies moving like a pact never spoken aloud.
And when silence finally settled over the room again, it felt earned.
Like the pause between battles.
Notes:
• Quvarian Empire – Ruling kingdom. Harsh world, restricted freedom.
• McGaref – Fortress city, adventurer hub.
• Ralph Kinvale – One of McGaref’s councilors; Shiori-chan’s adoptive father; a researcher at heart; seeks to retire and has proposed that the protagonist replace him.
• Kaho – 3rd Army leader. Worried, ceremonial magic.
• Bakdu Fortress – A key fortress of the Seron Dukedom; its unexpected fall prompts concern in McGaref.
• Seron Dukedom – A neighboring dukedom that faces the prospect of total surrender to the Lesta Kingdom; its fall may trigger war with the Quvarian Empire.
• Lesta Kingdom – A kingdom neighboring the Quvarian Empire; currently at war with the Seron Dukedom and potentially the Empire.
• Kanare – The stern battalion commander, who once led Chinatsu, shares a solemn mission, his eyes reflecting battlefield memories.
• Weed – He is a retired knight and martial arts master, appeared as a sword seller, known for his bloodthirsty grin and elite ‘Sword Master’ skill.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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