My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"I ruined so many people's lives with the medicine I made! Please, please! Punish me! I beg you!"

Amaryllis wept as she told everything: she had been lured by Gram, a non-blood relative who was the Uruk Adventurer Guild master, under the pretense of studying abroad; she had been persuaded to enter a handsome-and-beautiful contest on a whim and won; and then, when receiving the prize, she'd been locked in an underground cell and blackmailed with hostages including members of the Elf race. Even though she knew the drug destroyed people, she was forced by Gram to keep manufacturing the "enhancement drug."

Only as she explained did it finally register that Amaryllis Cluster and Gram Cluster shared the same surname. At first she had thought it was like how you can find two or three "Satos" or "Tanakas" in the same grade, but they really were relatives—albeit distant.

Gram's crimes were exposed far more widely than his usual cover-ups could handle. He was driven from his position as prime minister, and the Lagoon family's royal name was stripped. After that, Gram bought his way into adoption by the Cluster family of the Reytis kingdom, far from the Beastmen lands. In other words, it's where Amaryllis's mother—Kohana Sakuya's cousin—was married into.

The "study abroad" to Uruk under the pretext of studying pharmacy was not Amaryllis's wish. Her father was from a collateral branch of the Cluster family, so he couldn't refuse Gram, who had been adopted into the main house. In short, Gram called her because he knew she was a pharmacist and knowledgeable about pharmaceuticals and thought he could use her. It fits the image of a villainous powerbroker to find useful people and exploit them—Gram was no exception.

Incidentally, Gram's misdeeds hadn't reached Yamato Country. Uruk likely controlled information to prevent the royal family's scandal from spreading, and among nobles it's common to take distant relatives as adopted heirs or to give prestigious names to talented children to protect them, so people took the official story at face value.

Still, one might expect someone to notice something off. But the person who introduced her was the then-King Igusamu of Uruk—someone the Cluster family wouldn't want to cross. It had gone through King Reytis, too, so no one dared refuse. Even if they felt doubt, they had no connections to probe further.

In the end, the Lagoon family didn't expel Gram. On the contrary, they likely accused him of crimes he hadn't committed to gather grounds to eliminate him later. Perhaps Gram suspected Igusamu would cut him loose, so he fortified himself excessively with enhanced soldiers.

"—What? You imprisoned and threatened my precious, precious Amaryllis? I'll kill him."

The moment Kohana Sakuya, having heard Amaryllis's story, muttered that, the room temperature dropped sharply. Even with no wind in the room, Sakuya's hair floated and white sparks crackled around her. Though we stood at some distance, I saw her pupils widen. Her left hand reached out for something normally at her left side and missed the air.

We'd been told by Kanzou before the meeting that etiquette required placing one's sword on the right so it couldn't be drawn instantly, so everyone—Sakuya included—had their weapon on the right. But she seemed so enraged she had almost forgotten.

Amaryllis shuddered harder, sobbing so pitifully even I felt sorry for her. I instinctively placed a hand on her back to soothe her.

"Hey hey, Sakuya-chan, settle down~."

"See? The Amaryllis-sama you're so intent on protecting is completely terrified."

Under pressure that would make an ordinary person faint, Yayoi Tsukimi and Miki Kaminari calmly stepped in and spoke as if used to it, and that seemed to steady things. They must be experienced—otherwise two noncombatants wouldn't be able to keep such calm faces under that weight. With them soothing her, Sakuya's pressure and the sparks gradually diminished.

I remembered the documents that Yoru had stolen as evidence of Gram's crimes from the Uruk Adventurer Guild attic. They listed human trafficking and that Amaryllis had been bought as a slave. Fortunately, the trade claim was falsified, but on paper it said that after the contest Amaryllis had been reduced to slavery and then Gram purchased her.