It was the 17th day of the Water month, one day after Megiddo-san’s tempestuous invasion.
Megiddo-san made as much ruckus as could, and after saying “I’ll come again”, he left…… He really is like a storm.
The 16th of the Water month was a peaceful day, so I thought we could have another peaceful day today…… but that’s apparently not the case……
[Here, master. Tea.]
[Eh? A- Ahhh…… Thank you.]
[Master, I brought you some cookies.]
[……Ahh, unnn. But before that, can I ask you a question?]
[ [ What is it? ] ]
After confusedly accepting the tea and cookies offered to me from both sides, I put them aside…… and moved my gaze at these two people standing in both of my sides, wearing maid outfits.
I honestly don’t understand the situation at all. I have no idea why these two are wearing maid uniforms or why they’re calling me master.
[……Why are you here? “Eta-san”, “Theta-san”……]
[Master, please don’t add honorary titles to our names. Please call me Eta.]
[Please call me Theta too.]
[…..Ah, yes. So, why are Eta and Theta calling me master?]
Yes, for some reason, the red-haired twins who attacked us before…… Eta and Theta arrived in Duchess Albert’s mansion this morning in maid uniform, and for some reason, they are now calling me master.
I have no idea why this happened, so I asked, and in response, Eta and Theta got down on one knee and had their heads lowered as they answered.
[This life was picked up by master……. Then, I will use this life master picked up for master’s cause.]
[I will serve master. Serving you…… will all that I have.]
[……Ah, unnn, errr…….]
[Y- You bastards…… You just appeared out of nowhere, and now, you’re spouting incomprehensible things!]
As I am astonished at the words that they straightforwardly told me, that they wanted to serve me, the quivering Anima grabs Eta and Theta’s shoulder.
Unnn, there’s a dangerous atmosphere around me but…… If I just let them like this, I feel like I would get swept away by the situation, so I’d really like to get Anima to sternly tell them off.
Thereupon, Eta and Theta lowered their heads and got down on one knee in Anima’s direction as well.
[I apologize for the delay in greeting you, “Chief Retainer”!]
[……C- Chief Retainer?]
[The Chief Retainer is master’s best confidant…… Please guide us well.]
[T- The best confidant……]
Ahh, this is no good…… Anima has a clear look of happiness on her face.
Her mouth has been twitching since a while ago, and her cheeks are dyed red, looking like she’s feeling the peak of happiness.
[……It seems that you two surpass the others knowing that master is the best one in the world……. Good! Strive hard to be subordinates worthy of master’s name!]
[ [ Hahh! ] ]
[……Oi, you……]
It seems that Eta and That completely intend to serve me, and they don’t look like they would listen to me when I stop them now.
When I let out a sigh while slumping my shoulders in dismay, I heard a similar sigh.
[…..Three subordinates with the strength of high-ranking demons and a Behemoth…… Geez, Kaito-san, wouldn’t that make you pretty powerful already…… Seriously, how could this happen to you……]
[Now, now, Lili. That just shows how attractive Kaito-san is. Besides, it’s advantageous for us to have so many talented people staying in the mansion like this.]
[That…… may be true but……]
[Being too serious is also a problem, you know? You need to be prepared to take advantage of Kaito-san’s connections, or else you won’t be able to serve as the head of a noble family. Look, you need to be more confident and firm.]
Lilia-san was holding her head in her hands, while Sieg-san, who was next to her, gently comforted her.
Since they’ve been best friends since childhood, the two of them seem to have a good affinity with each other, and Lilia-san may even be grateful for Sieg-san’s presence, someone who doesn’t tease her as Lunamaria-san does, but gently follows up with her.
Lilia-san, who immediately regained her composure thanks to Sieg-san’s help, asks Eta and Theta to help her with her work as well, if they’re going to live in the mansion.
Eta and Theta aren’t as stern as Anima, and following Lilia-san’s words, the other servants brought them out of the room to learn their jobs.
[……Anima.]
[Y- Yes!? M- My apologies! Without listening to master’s will, I just went ahead and……]
Confirming that Eta and Theta have left, when I called Anima’s name, Anima’s shoulders twitched and she hurriedly got down on one knee, as if she thought I’m angry.
After chuckling looking at Anima like that, I put my hand on Anima’s bear-eared head and patted it.
[I forgot to mention, but thank you for what you did on that day before yesterday. I was saved because you came, Anima.]
[Fwaaahhh…… M- Mwaster’s petting my head…… I- I’m so honored!]
Although she rampaged here and there, Anima actually treated me well.
When I patted her head with the thought of expressing my gratitude, Anima looked befuddled, with tears in her eyes…… Geez, each one of her reactions is quite exaggerated.
[……Because that guy is saying it like that so smoothly, more and more people gather around him……]
[Sieg, it looks like you would be facing lots of troubles.]
[I’m ready to face that long ago.]
After patting her head for a while and then, putting my hand away, Anima looked a little regretful, but soon changed to a look full of motivation. After saluting and saying “I’ll be patrolling”, she left.
After wryly smiling about how she’s the same as usual, I turned to Lilia-san and Sieg-san and spoke.
[Speaking of which, where’s Kusunoki-san and Yuzuki-san….. Also, Lunamaria-san?]
[Aoi-san wants to learn more about magic, so she’s going to the magic school to listen to a lecture. As for Hina-san, just as she usually does, she went for a run. Luna has gone to pick up the mail.]
[Heehhh, so Kusunoki-san went to a magic school huh?]
[Yes, I’ve written a letter of introduction. She actually doesn’t want to enroll, just listening in to a lecture.]
Kusunoki-san apparently went to the magic school, and it looks like Kusunoki-san, who originally had great talent for earth-attribute magic, will be pretty awesome if she studies it in earnest.
As for Yusuki-san…… Well, as usual, seems to have gone for a run. She really is quite lively huh……
Just at that moment, Lunamaria-san arrived with a large number of letters.
Looking at the ridiculous number of letters, Lilia-san had a displeased expression on her face.
[Luna, don’t tell me those are another……]
[A lot of them are indeed addressed to My Lady…… but about half of them are “addressed to Miyama-sama”.]
[Eh?]
I thought Lilia-san received a large number of letters again, like before, but apparently, nearly half them are addressed to me…… Why?
[To Kaito-san?]
[Yes, most of them are from nobles. Miyama-sama is becoming more and more famous after the Sacred Tree Festival, and there would definitely be many nobles who would want to have connections with him.]
[……Ehhh, that sort of stuff is kinda……]
[Yes, I figured you’d say that, so we’ll just check the contents first before discarding those kinds of letters.]
[Thank you.]
Honestly, I really don’t feel like interacting with nobles.
It would be fine if everyone of them was like Lilia-san, but people like Count Toady are troublesome to deal with……
After Lunamaria-san reassured me that she will handle it, she placed a letter in front of Lilia-san.
[My Lady, a letter from the royal palace…… Signed by His Majesty, the King, and addressed to Miyama-sama.]
[……What kind of idiotic stuff is Older Brother thinking about now…… Kaito-san, may I have a look inside?]
[Yes, here.]
For some reason, there seems to be a letter addressed to me from the Siscon King, to which, Lilia-san suspiciously looks at the letter and asks if she can check inside.
After making sure she received my approval, Lilia-san opened the seal of the letter and began to read it…… before she slightly tilted her head.
[……What does this mean?]
[My Lady? What in the world is written there?]
[Errr, you see…… To summarize it, he was really sorry for being rude to Kaito-san in the past. He said he’d like to apologize in person, so he’s asking if you could visit the royal palace at least once.]
[……Yes?]
I have to admit, I had no idea what he was talking about.
Has he ever been rude to me before? What is he talking abou….. Ahh, is this by any chance about not getting an invitation to that evening party?
However, why would he do that now?
[……Luna, do you know anything about it?]
[According to the information I’ve received, His Majesty, the King’s position has considerably deteriorated since that incident, as the Underworld King stopped coming to the royal palace. And just the other day, World King-sama visited the palace and chastised His Majesty, the King for that incident.]
[Lunamaria-san…… How do you even know that?]
[I have lots of “comrades” in the royal palace, so I have information from there.]
When she says “comrades”, is she talking about Kuro’s followers? I see, the reason why Lunamaria-san is so well-informed is that she got her information from other followers……
However, even so……
[It doesn’t really bother me that much……]
[Even if Kaito-san doesn’t care about it, the people around him probably don’t see it that way. Right now, Kaito-san is an existence that even the royal palace can’t disregard…… and I’m sure he would want to make a clear apology to restore his reputation.]
Anyway, what the heck are Lillywood-san and Kuro doing…… Especially Lillywood-san, who visited the royal palace and gave a stern scolding…… How the heck did she end up in that situation……
But this is, hmmm…… I don’t really care about the king, but if I refuse here, it would be like splashing mud in this country’s honor, and even Lilia-san wouldn’t like it if her brother’s position became worse.
[……I understand. I’ll go later, so can you please reply to that for me?]
[Understood. At that time, I will go with you.]
[Thank you.]
So, it was decided that I would visit the royal palace at a later date with Lilia-san.
And after that, Lunamaria-san began placing some letters in front of me.
[Also, these ones seem important.]
[Errr…… All of these?]
Looking at the letters placed on the table, the first one was…… from Neun-san.
Come to think of it, didn’t we talk about exchanging letters before? Unnn, I’ll read this later and write my reply.
As for the second one…… an envelope that, for some reason, is color pink with a heart mark to seal it.
What’s this? I- I- It’s not a love letter, right……
Embarrassing it may be to say this, but I’ve never received a love letter before, so receiving a letter that looks like one, I reflexively gulped as I looked at it.
Then, as I nervously turned it over…… It was signed with the name “Chris” as the sender, so I immediately tore it up.
[……That person seriously is……]
Tearing up the letter that, no matter how I look at it, is a honey trap, I looked at the third one with a big sigh…… Is a letter signed with “To Miyama-sama, who tore up my letter”.
As if she completely saw through what my actions would be, she still sent that joke of a letter…… That person really might be the one I fear the most……
Dear Mom, Dad—– It seems that it’s hard to live everyday in peace, as immediately after Megiddo-san arrived, we had to do various stuff like visit the royal palace, but anyway—— the next trouble appeared.
<Author’s Notes>
We already met the Underworld King, Death King, World King, War King, and Phantasmal King…… The next one would be the Dragon King huh.
Soon though…… It would be the story about Kaito, going to visit Isis’s castle and his visit to the Demon Realm.
T/N: 5/44