The Baby Villain Dreams of Conquering the World

Chapter 29

Episode 29

The suspicious visitor said they would kidnap the Young Lady Lucifer and then take her life.

'They must be politically connected, I suppose.'

She didn't know who they were, nor was she interested in the affairs of high-ranking people. Elena just wanted to see Duke Lucifer fall into sorrow and despair like she had.

How much would he weep in agony if the daughter he so desperately sought died at a young age?

'The Duke must feel the same pain as I did.'

Actually meeting Flora, who turned out to be a lovely and warm child, made her hesitate.

'She's a child who will die anyway, so I shouldn't get attached.'

Elena sorted through her surging emotions and then brightened her expression.

Then, with her usual calm face, she turned to leave.

Unaware that she had unconsciously clenched her fist, as if afraid the warm warmth she had held in her palm would disappear.

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It was good that she ambitiously came to visit, but Athanas seemed to have stepped away briefly, as the office was empty.

'This is what I mean, even if you are a Lucifer, you should at least post guards outside your office.'

Flora pressed her forehead, unable to hide her dismay at this lax security.

But that was only for a moment; she soon broke into a wide smile.

'Of course, I'm happier that no one is here.'

Fortunately, Isaac was also away, so she could examine the office without worrying about anyone noticing.

Humming a tune, Flora headed towards Athanas's desk in the center.

'It's high too.'

Groaning, she climbed onto his chair and then hoisted herself onto the desk in one go.

Some documents got a little crumpled, but she landed safely on the desk.

"Now, shall we take a look?"

Among the piles of documents, there must surely be some related to business.

Flora began flipping through the stacked documents one by one.

'Oh, found it! Next year's business report.'

With the new year just a month away, business-related reports had piled up from all over the territory.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Flora's eyes shone sharply.

However, this passion didn't last long.

"Wh, what is this?"

Because all the reports sent by the businesses contained requests to tentatively suspend operations.

"Why? Why? Why are they stopping all business?"

"Because the number of monsters has increased exponentially, causing severe damage to the business sites."

And the answer to her question came from behind her.

Flora was so startled her shoulders jerked violently.

If she had been standing on the floor instead of the desk, she would have jumped high on the spot.

Clutching her startled chest, Flora slowly turned around.

Isaac was watching her, his monocle glinting, having entered without her noticing when.

"Northern businesses consist of the timber industry using coniferous trees and the mining industry extracting from copper mines. Therefore, most businesses are located deep in the mountains and take a direct hit when the monster population increases. It seems they proposed this measure to reduce casualties."

"......"

"Since it's difficult for His Grace the Duke and the Young Lord to stay there throughout the season, there's no way to handle it. We're already struggling to expand business, let alone suspend it, so His Grace is quite worried."

He even smoothly provided information she hadn't asked for.

"S, so?"

The words she barely managed to utter were worse than saying nothing.

"Yes, even if northern goods are handled at low prices, this also makes up most of the territory's operating expenses."

"I, I see."

Flora awkwardly rolled her eyes and tried to get down from the office desk.

But Isaac stopped her and showed her a new document.

"So, it seems His Grace and the Young Lord will likely be going out for many monster subjugations next year."

"Like mercenaries?"

"Yes. I don't know if you're aware, but the Lucifer bloodline has good recovery. Their skills at subjugating monsters are excellent, and their will to subjugate is overflowing, so they're good to use in place of Executors as long as you can pay well."

My, my goodness.

Where has the dignity of the ducal house gone?

"For territories that cannot request help from the Executor Bureau, the Lucifers are practically high-quality mercenaries, so monster subjugation requests come frequently. Fortunately, the fees for the two gentlemen rise each year, so next year's territory operations shouldn't be a major problem for now."

"Th, they sell their bodies to earn money?"

"Speaking directly, yes. That's the only way we can provide relief for victims of monster attacks. We can just cut the castle's maintenance costs a bit more."

At Isaac's detailed explanation, Flora was horrified.

'Is this territory really going to collapse soon?'

She knew the facts, but hearing it directly was even more shocking.

No, providing relief for victims is good, but if the territory is struggling, shouldn't operating costs be reduced according to the decreased income?

Cursing the inflexible Athanas, Flora swallowed a tear.

Sitting there with a dazed expression, she heard an admiring voice from above.

"Hmm, it's a story difficult for a four-year-old to understand, yet you grasp it well."

"......"

Come to think of it, the content was so shocking she forgot to pretend not to understand.

"I heard the orphanage you lived at focused on education; it seems that was true."

For a four-year-old who lived as a commoner to understand difficult words and try to learn about the territory's business and operations was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

Wiping the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, Flora laughed innocently.

"And you seem quite intelligent for your age group, Young Lady."

Isaac smiled slightly, and a peculiar atmosphere flowed between the two.

"His Grace said you were still too young to shoulder the Lucifer mission, but now it doesn't seem that way."

His wary gaze made it seem like he viewed Flora as an intruder.

She had only intended to use a bit of her intellect to figure out how to earn more money, but being treated like a spy felt unfair.

Under Isaac's persistent gaze, Flora finally couldn't take it and shouted what she had wanted to say all along.

"But our castle is too poor!"

"......F, Flora?"

She didn't even notice that Athanas had arrived behind her.

"D-Dad?"

Even at Flora's flustered voice, Athanas stood frozen, holding the doorknob, unable to move.

Poor, poor, poor...

The voice full of the grievance Flora had just shouted echoed in his ears.

'......Ri, right. The orphanage Flora lived at was quite wealthy.'

Mrs. Finny didn't spare support for the orphanage children, and thanks to that, Flora grew up lacking in nothing, like a child from a wealthy merchant family.

The east had relatively warm weather even in winter, and although monsters invaded indiscriminately like in the north where the Lucifers were, Executors resided there, so major damage was rare.

'Did I bring her here for nothing?'

If I had left her at the orphanage, she could have enjoyed a much more affluent life than now.

Did I do something unnecessary?

The thought he had harbored since first bringing Flora here grew larger upon hearing her words.

'It's all because I'm lacking.'

If only I were a bit more capable, if only I could have awakened my divine power, then I could have shed the label of betrayer and actively continued business.

Overwhelmed by self-reproach, it felt like someone was choking him, making it hard to breathe, his chest feeling tight.

"Dad?"

Flora called out to Athanas anxiously several times, but he seemed too shocked to move a muscle.

Feeling resentful, Flora glared sharply at Isaac.

'......Did you do this on purpose?'

Even though the words were her own, she resented Isaac, the instigator who led her to say them.

'Wait... But why do I have to be so careful?'

Wasn't she the one who had looked forward to the day Duke Lucifer Athanas would suffer because of her?

'It doesn't feel as good as I thought?'

Athanas, looking like he might collapse any moment from shock, resembled a large but emaciated bear.

"F, Flora."

Athanas finally regained his senses and called Flora, but couldn't easily continue after that.

'Well, it's hard for a parent to say sorry for being poor, pride and all...'

Somehow, she felt like she had become a terribly unfilial daughter.

Clearing her throat, Flora smiled brightly.

"Even if we're poor, I like being by Dad's side."

"......"

It was meant to be encouraging, but Athanas bowed his head gloomily as if he had been struck again.

"My, my."

Even Isaac was looking at Athanas with a pitying gaze.

"It seems His Grace has received quite a shock. Since he's shocked, it would be nice if you could come up with some excellent ideas to replace these businesses while you're at it."

'Are you using me for shock therapy right now?'

Isaac helped Flora down from the desk and smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress.

"Or perhaps the intelligent Young Lady has some ideas to offer?"

It seemed certain that Flora didn't appear to be an ordinary four-year-old in Isaac's eyes.

Flora looked at Isaac once, then at the still gloomy Athanas, and finally nodded helplessly.