Lord of Charm



Kisuke could solve it all with his charm, but he had other plans.

'They can help me get closer to the prince.'

He turned to the guards and activated his charm.

"It makes a lot of sense. I will give you 15% then, and I hope you can keep taking care of me in the future."

"Haha, you're a very empathetic junior, Little Brother. We will take it gratefully then."

The guards smiled and accepted his payment. The merit points were saved in their watches. In the imperial guard, the automatic assistant was called Alekusa, and it was pretty much the same as Alessa from the academy.

After transferring the points, the guards were already charmed. He gave the extra points to make them easily suggestible.

"Big Brothers, when are you alone with the prince?"

"We are alone with him 15 minutes before you arrive and 15 minutes after you leave. There are a few other similar gaps during the day."

"I see, thank you for telling me. I'm leaving now, see you tomorrow."

He gained 100 merit points from this session, which was quite lucrative. 8 hours guarding shift granted 80 merit points, but Kisuke earned 100 points by training with the prince for two hours and a half including the break.

After paying 30% of his earnings to the guards, he had 70 points left. Advancing to the Sergeant rank costs 36,500 points and required the guard to be at the True Mage Stage.

After paying for gear, training facilities, and food, a true mage could accumulate enough points after a year and a half. True Mages received 150 merit points per guarding shift, so their accumulation was much faster.

'I wonder how many merit points I'm going to get from this plan.'

He passed that day by pretending to listen in General Knowledge class and Magic Control. The next day, he left early to arrive 30 minutes before his session with the prince started.

"Hey guys, how are you?"

He smiled at the two guards at the entrance.

"Oh, hey newbie. Aren't you here too early today?"

"I am. I was just thinking about how much we hate the sixth prince for not letting us benefit from being close to him. How can he expect our loyalty like that, right?"

His eyes shone in green as he spoke, and the two guards had hypnotized expressions.

"Shh, keep your voice down. His instructor is an advanced mage, he is inside with him now. But you're right, I can't be loyal to him."

"If another prince offered you resources for giving him data on the sixth prince you'd agree, wouldn't you?"

"I would."

"Me too."

The guards nodded in agreement. As Gale's charm continued affecting them, they kept sympathizing with his words, making them develop more and more hatred toward the sixth prince.

"You should make it clear, or he won't understand that you stand here every day to guard him, willing to put your life on the line in case of an attack."

"What do you suggest, Little Brother?"

One of the guards asked while being deep in thought. He felt that Kisuke's words made sense; they needed to make the prince understand he needs to appreciate them more.

"Soon, he will be alone with you for 15 minutes. One of you should wear a mask and beat him up, and the other can come after a few seconds and chase the attacker out. This way, he will see why it's so important to have you guys by his side."

It was a bad plan no matter how one looked at it, but to the charmed guards, it seemed like the ultimate plan. This plan just covered everything!

They didn't even notice the biggest problem; the suspicious guy with the mask would have had to pass through them to enter the prince's house.

"You're right, Little Brother. We will do that when the time is right."

"Good, good. Remember, you're the one who came up with this idea, so never mention my name or that we met today. Additionally, you're going to forget the sixth prince's rank and you will attack as if he was at your stage."

This time, he used a lot of mana. He used his power as an advanced mage to the fullest for the last command, as not being found out was the most important part.

He quickly left and went to complete the next step of his plan. 

The guards were standing in a daze for a few seconds before shaking their heads and returning to their positions.

"What happened here? I've sensed a strong mana fluctuation."

The prince's instructor came out of the prince's house with a frown.

"Nothing Sir, we were just trying something."

"Oh ok. Keep it down then."

Although guards shouldn't "try things" during their shifts, he didn't really care since he wasn't their commander.

-------

Meanwhile, Kisuke ran to find the two guards who were guarding the outer wall of the palace.

While the formers were only standing guard in front of Tanjirou's house, those two were guarding the wall around the palace's territory.

"Sirs, I have something urgent to report!"

The guards who were looking outside turned around and saw Kisuke running toward them.

"Who are you?"

"Urara Kisuke, Sir. I've been serving as the sparring partner of the sixth prince since yesterday."

"What is it that you need to report?"

"Sir, my session with the prince starts in half an hour, but I came earlier because I didn't want to be late. When I arrived, I suddenly heard the two guards whispering between themselves. I quickly hid and listened."

"So you eavesdropped on the guards. What is so urgent?"

"Sir, they complained that the sixth prince doesn't appreciate them, so they plan to attack him after his instructor leaves. You must save the prince!"

His charm affected the two guards and they nodded seriously.

"But you should wait for him to attack the prince before saving him, this way you can get even more merit. They only want to beat him up, so he isn't at risk. Make sure to kill the attackers to get maximum benefits!"

He gave them one last instruction before leaving.