CH 2

After sightseeing with Alice around the capital in the morning and fetching Bell whom I entrusted to Chris-san, we decided to return to Symphonia Kingdom. Chris-san told me I could stay for as many days as I wanted but…… but it seems like her serious mode already ended, as she started trying to win me over with her seductive techniques, and how should I say this…… I really can’t calm down being around her. She even said incomprehensible things like asking me to take a bath with her, even though it was still noon…… My reasoning was seriously getting impaired, so I decided to leave early.

After parting ways with Alice at the royal capital, I was on my way back to Lilia-san’s residence with Bell…… when I realized.

Speaking of which, I’m taking Bell home with me……. and Lilia-san’s scary. Really damn scary.

The only way to keep Bell is to tell her that I’m going to take responsibility for her and that I’m going to take care of her with all my heart but…… Yep. What the heck is with this feeling budding up within me…… I feel like a child who picked up an abandoned cat and returned home worried that his parents will be angry with him.

Anyway, I can only be prepared for what will happen. I’d better be prepared to take a couple of hits…… Lilia-san’s power will hit me……. It would be great if she won’t break my head……

[Guruu?]

[It’s nothing. Let’s go, Bell.]

[Gaooo!]

I smile and give a pat on Bell’s back, who was looking at me with concern, as if he could tell I was troubled. Now, I’m ready, so let’s go……

When I returned to Lilia-san’s mansion, I immediately found the person I wanted to see…… Lilia-san, standing in front of the doorway.

However, for some reason, she’s resting on Lunamaria-san’s shoulder and appears to be sick.

[Come on, Milady. Please take a breath of air outside.]

[Uggghhh……]

[You’re so weak to alcohol that your face would turn red over just one glass, but you still drank so many bottles of wine.]

[I mean…… Kaito-san……]

[……Ummm……]

[ [ Eh? ] ]

Lilia-san seemed to have a hangover, looking like she was going to die. It feels like she drank a lot, drinking until noon……

When I called out to them, Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san looked surprised for a moment, before they straightened their backs as if they’re keeping up appearances.

[K- Kaito-san!? S- Since when are you here……]

[J- Just now……]

[I- I- I see…… It’s not that I usually drink a lot of alcohol. It’s just you happen to see me drink by chance……]

[Ah, yes.]

I’m not sure if it was really embarrassing for her to be seen with a hangover from drinking too much, but Lilia-san looked flustered while her face looked red. Of course, I don’t have any intention of pursuing the topic any deeper either, so I immediately respond with my acknowledgement.

[Anyway, welcome back. Kaito-san…… It seems you went through…… a lot…… again?]

At that moment, Lilia-san’s words stopped, her gaze looking behind me…… towards Bell, and she looked astounded. Thereupon, rubbing her eyes several times, she talked to the nearby Lunamaria-san.

[……Luna, I think my eyes are finally seeing things…… I’m having hallucinations of a Behemoth……]

[I’m afraid I can see it too.]

In the middle of her words, Lilia-san’s gaze glued to Bell behind me, and after a moment of silence…… She stood in front of me at a terrific speed.

[Kaito-san! Get back, it’s dangerous!]

[Grrrrrrrrr……]

[Hey! Bell, growling at them is no good!]

[Gaooo.]

[Luna, quickly prepare yourself and prot…… Eh?]

Seeing the dangerous-looking Lilia-san approaching, Bell let out a low growl, as if she thought she was an enemy, so I scolded her with my voice a bit raised. Hearing me, Bell immediately stopped growling and nodded, listening to me properly, so I put my hand over Bell’s head and gently patted her.

[Okay, good girl, good girl.]

[Gaooo!]

[……Luna, I think I’m completely wasted…… I’m starting to have visions of a Behemoth being emotionally attached to Kaito-san.]

[No matter how cruel it may be, it’s still reality.]

[……………..]

[Miyama-sama truly is terrifying…… being able to win over a legendary magical beast……]

Seeing me patting Bell’s head, I saw Lilia-san’s eyes look straight at me…… and it’s seriously scary.

[……Kaito-san, that Behemoth…… What’s going on?]

[Errr, I bought it.]

[You bought it? Ah, come to think of it, I’ve heard that you were in Archlesia Empire, which has a close relationship with Dragon King-sama, which is a country that’s putting a lot of effort into raising high-level monsters. However, I never thought they would even have a Behemoth…… How much was it?]

[Errr…… That’s 280 white gold coins, so that’s 28,000,000R.]

[……Huh?]

It was 2.8 billion yen. Well, when I think about it again, I really made quite an outrageously expensive purchase. Hearing my words, Lilia-san stiffened and her eyes opened wide, and then, she flusteredly began questioning me.

[……W- Wait a minute! 28,000,000R you say, where the heck did you get that much money!?]

[Ah, that’s……]

[Please don’t tell me you got it by some illegal means, did you…… Kaito-san! What’s the meaning of this!? Please explain!!!]

[Gueehhh!? Li- Lilia-san, i- it hurts……]

[I don’t remember raising Kaito-san to be such a person!!!]

[I don’t even remember being raised by you though!? A-Anyway, please calm down! I’ll properly explain to you how I got him from the start!!!]

Lilia-san seems to be quite shaken, grabbing my collar and violently rocking back and forth, and it may have just been my imagination, but I can’t feel the ground on my feet. Lifting the 170cm me to the air, seriously, how strong are you, Lilia-san. T- The girls in this world really are frightening. Mainly in terms of combat abilities, I mean……

Anyhow, my desperate plea paid off, as Lilia-san managed to calm down and let go of her hand that was holding onto my collar. Anyway, I’ll tell them the details inside, but in the meantime, I was wondering what I should do about Bell, but before I knew it, Sieg-san was standing in front of Bell, staring at him.

[Guruu?]

[Bell, Sieg-san is someone who has always been helping me, so you’ll have to get along with her properly.]

[Gaooo!]

[……………..]

Sieg-san continues to stare at Bell and after a little while, as if she made up her mind, she reaches out her hand. Bell seemed to be listening to what I said properly, as she didn’t avoid Sieg-san’s outstretched hand, and quietly let her pat her head. And that’s when I noticed that Sieg-san’s cheeks had a slight blush to them, and a lovely smile on her face that shows that she’s very happy.

It seems that I wasn’t the only curious one about this, as Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san were also looking at Sieg-san with a slightly dubious expressions on their faces. When Sieg-san noticed our gazes, she took out a piece of paper and a pen from her pocket before showing it to us.

“……It’s really cute. Kaito-san, you have a good sense of picking up pets.”

[……H- Haahh…… Thank you.]

Apparently, she had that expression just now because Bell was really cute, and Sieg-san immediately returned her gaze to Bell and continued patting her body with a smile.

[……Hey, Lunamaria-san.]

[What is it?]

[It’s just that… Isn’t Sieg-san a little different than usual?]

[……Sieg has always been a big animal lover, and that’s exactly why if you left them alone, she would just smile and pat that Behemoth around all day long.]

[I- I see…… H- However, Behemoths are considered as monsters, right?]

[I think it’s fine for her as long as it looks like an animal.]

Just as Lunamaria-san said, Sieg-san seemed to really like animals, as she have an innocent smile of a little girl, which was a far cry from her usual calm, mature, and feminine atmosphere. The expression on her face, which I don’t often see, was very cute and I realized once again that Sieg-san is an attractive woman.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

In a small hill overlooking the capital city of Symphonia Kingdom, several shadows descended.

[Good gracious, it’s troubling how there’s hot-tempered people among us…… with that said, I think just me going should be enough.]

[No, there’s no need for Bacchus-sama to move. You can leave it to us……]

In response to Bacchus’ words, one of the other three Demons around him responded by getting down on one knee, a man clad in heavy armor with a long beard and the aura of an old soldier.

[Fumu, well, you seem to be in a hurry to get the job done huh…… I’m going to repeat this just in case, but don’t misread Megiddo-sama’s intentions.]

[ [ [ Hahh! ] ] ]

As Bacchus announced in a dignified voice, the remaining two Demons also kneeled and deeply bowed their heads.

[Well then, first of all…… let’s go find an inn to stay at.]

[Eh? Aren’t we going to head over there right now?]

[My, my, please don’t make us old people do anything rash. If we do this before “Phantasmal King-sama’s subordinates set up the barrier”, Death King-sama will be able to sense us. You don’t need to be in such a hurry.]

It’s not yet time for these Demons to immediately achieve their goal, Bacchus told them with a wry smile and started walking slowly towards the royal capital.

[Now then, Miyama Kaito…… Let me figure out what you’re worth for……]

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

After I finished telling them my story, Lilia-san puts down the cup of tea she was drinking and exhales.

[……I see, so let me get this straight, Kaito-san was going to have a meal together with this Alice-san person, but ended up going to the Monster Race in the Archlesia Empire, where you earned over 400 white gold coins, and happened to buy the Behemoth…… And afterwards, you were invited to the royal castle of Archlesia Empire as a guest of honor.]

[Y- Yes.]

[Ahhh, my head hurts. Luna, it seems like my hangover’s getting worse. I understood what the words mean, but it’s like my head is completely denying to understand it……]

[No, I’m afraid that headache is from something else.]

Lilia-san holds her head in her hands as she looks down. Indeed, even when I’m the one who told that, I also couldn’t believe it. We were supposed to just be going to eat yesterday, but before I knew it, lots of things suddenly happened.

[……I’ve had enough. Kaito-san’s scary……]

[Milady. It may have turned big, but I doubt he intends to do that himself…… Anyway, Miyama-sama.]

[Yes?]

[I think I heard that there’s a game that spread from the world Miyama-sama is from……]

[A game? What is it?]

[Yes, it’s that game called “lottery”. You should come with me next time.]

[……Oi, Luna.]

How should I say this…… Lunamaria-san is still acting as she usually is.

Surprisingly, I think this person would closely get along with Alice, in the sense that both of them are no-good people……

[Anyway, Lilia-san. Can I request this of you? Can you put Bell’s matter aside? Of course, I’ll pay for her food and other stuff.]

[……Hmmm. Indeed, that child was quite attached to Kaito-san, and I don’t think she would be a danger but…… However……]

When it comes to Behemoths that are even called legendary magical beasts, as expected, even Lilia-san wouldn’t give her permission immediately.

Anyway, I need to sincerely request her that…… is what I thought, but an expected covering fire flew out of nowhere.

[Isn’t it fine, Milady?]

[Luna!?]

[If it’s Miyama-sama, he should be able to take good care of her. And even if you were to refuse, you can’t just throw out the Behemoth in the middle of nowhere and hope it doesn’t know the way home, right?]

[That’s certainly true but……]

[Fortunately, it’s still a baby, so it wouldn’t grow to be so enormous in a few years or decades.]

Hearing Lunamaria-san’s words, Lilia-san looked as if she was thinking about this for a moment. I’m really grateful for Lunamaria-san’s support but……

The heck is with this? Hearing her support me makes me think that she has some hidden agenda, was my heart really that foul?

[……That certainly is the case. Alright. Kaito-san, you would have her sleep in the stables for the meantime, but we’ll have an exclusive shed for her in the future.]

[Thank you very much!]

[However, I have one condition.]

[A condition?]

With Lunamaria-san’s help, Lilia-san finally allowed me to keep Bell.

As I say my thanks, Lilia-san has a wry smile on her face when she told me that she has a condition.

[……Bellfreed’s food and the cost for the construction of her shed…… I’ll be the one paying for it.]

[Eh? No, but……]

[I won’t yield on this one. Let me return the favors every once in a while.]

[Return…… the favors?]

Hearing Lilia-san’s words, I significantly tilted my head.

Lilia-san returning favors to me? Isn’t it the other way around? If someone have favors to pay, it should be me since I’ve always been in her care. Even though I always brought her troubles……

[……I’m grateful to you, Kaito-san. Thanks to Kaito-san, I…… the two goals I promised myself when I received my peerage…… I’ve come so close to making them happen.]

[Eh?]

[Your presence here is more valuable than you realize, Kaito-san. Because Kaito-san is staying here. That single point alone has given Albert Duchy the voice that rivals…… or even surpasses those of any great nobles.]

[Does that help your goals in any way, Lilia-san?]

What are Lilia-san’s two goals? I think I know one of them…… that’s she’s trying to get Sieg-san’s voice back. However, I can’t imagine her second goal. From Lilia-san’s expression and the way she said it, I can somehow imagine that this is a long-cherished goal but……

[……One of them is as Kaito-san may have guessed, to get Sieg’s voice back. This has been put on hold due to Sieg’s own wish. While the other one is…… The culprit who fed false information to the 2nd division back then. I want to find that out.]

[…………….]

[The person who can switch the information that Knight Corps had…… it would probably be a noble with considerable power. Putting aside when I was still part of royalty, when it was just the me who just acquired my peerage, even if I had found out who did it, they would have just laughed it off. In order to make them pay for their crimes, I would have to be an important voice for the country…… And I need the power of a noble for that.]

I see, now that she mentioned it, I guess that would be understandable. It can be said that that person is someone who had hurt Lilia-san’s dear best friend, so it wouldn’t be any wonder if she were searching for them desperately.

[Ummm, about that culprit……]

[I still don’t have any idea at this time. I may not even find it…… but I will still keep looking.]

Strong words told with certainty and determination.

Finding them is definitely Lilia-san’s long-cherished wish.

[……It’s not that I intended for this right from the start, and I feel really sorry that I’m using the power that Kaito-san has given me. However, I still thank you from the bottom of my heart. Especially for letting me meet Chronois-san, I can’t thank you enough.]

[I don’t know what to say about that one but……. I’m glad if I’m able to help Lilia-san, even if it’s just by accident.]

[……Really, thank you very much. That’s why, even if it’s just this much, please allow me to return the favor.]

[Yes. Thank you very much.]

Exchanging glances with Lilia-san, we thanked each other feeling some sense of embarrassment. As if she was embarrassed, her face still red, Lilia-san turns to Lunamaria-san to switch the conversation.

[Even so, for Luna to side with Kaito-san so strongly…… Are you up to something?]

[…….H- Hahaha, don’t say something stupid……]

[……She’s up to something.]

[No, it’s not that exaggerated…… It’s just that I want to discuss something with Miyama-sama……]

[Discuss?]

I also felt she was somehow acting strange, but it seems that Lunamaria-san had some purpose when she sided with me. I’m very uneasy, but thanks to Lunamaria-san, I’m able to keep Bell, so let’s listen to what she wants for the time being.

[……From the information I received, I heard that Underworld King-sama is developing a new magic tool right now…… So, well, I’d really like to buy it if I could…… and I was hoping to ask Miyama-sama to help……]

[……A- Alright.]

[Thank you very much!]

Where the heck did this zealot get his information from!?

The magic tool Kuro is making is probably the calculator I asked her before…… But I haven’t told anyone about it, so how did Lunamaria-san get that information? Could it be that there’s some kind of strange network among Kuro’s followers?

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

The 11th day of the Water month.

As Lilia-san agreed to let me to keep Bell, she made various arrangements for me to take care of her, but as Bell’s owner, I had to take care of her myself, so I spent my free time in the morning learning how to brush her fur from Sieg-san, who seemed to know a lot about pets. Thanks to Sieg-san’s good teaching skills, I felt like I could manage to do it by myself next time, and feeling very satisfied with my earlier performance, I’m currently eating lunch with Lilia-san.

[Speaking of which, where’s Kusunoki-san and Yuzuki-san…… and Lunamaria-san?]

[Aoi-san wants to learn about magic, so she’s attending a lecture at a magic school. It looks like she’s going to have lunch at the canteen over there today. Meanwhile, Hina-san was keeping up to her scheduled running and hasn’t come back yet. As for Luna, she went to pick up the mail.]

[I see.]

I had heard that Kusunoki-san went to a magic school to attend their lectures, but I see, she sometimes ate lunch over there huh. It’s true that depending on the time of her lectures, it may be more efficient if she were to have lunch there.

And as for Yuzuki-san…… Well, there have been times when she’s been so absorbed in running that she ran really far and missed lunch. She really is quite lively huh……

As I was thinking about this, Lunamaria-san came into the dining room with a large number of letters. Seeing that outrageous number of letters, a displeased look appeared on Lilia-san’s face.

[Luna, don’t tell me those are……]

[A lot of them were indeed addressed to Milady…… but about half of them are “addressed to Miyama-sama”.]

[Ehh?]

I thought it’d just be Lilia-san getting a bunch of letters again like before, but almost half of them were apparently addressed to me…… Why?

[Addressed to Kaito-san?]

[Yes, most of them are from nobles. Miyama-sama has become famous since the Sacred Tree Festival, so I’m sure there are many nobles who would want to interact with him.]

[……Ehhh, that sort of stuff is kinda……]

[Yes, I figured you’d say that, so we’ll check the letters of such nature and discard them.]

[That would be great.]

To be honest, I don’t like interacting with nobles. If everyone of them is just like Lilia-san, it would have been fine, but with people like Count Toady lurking among them, interacting with them sounded like it would be a pain in the ass……

Anyway, the fact that so many letters were addressed to me, I guess it’s probably related to what Chris-san mentioned about how rumors were spreading about me? I’m not really sure, but the timing of the arrival of these letters fits just right.

After Lunamaria-san reassured me that she had taken care of it, she placed a letter in front of Lilia-san.

[Most of them can be checked later, but Milady, this one needs to be handled urgently…… sent from the royal castle. Signed by his Majesty, the King, and addressed to Miyama-sama.]

[……Brother, if you were thinking of stupid things again…… Kaito-san, do you mind if I check what’s inside?]

[Yes, please.]

A letter from that siscon king huh.

After confirming my approval, Lilia-san opened the seal of the letter and started to read it…… and after a few moments, she tilted her head.

[……What does this mean?]

""

[Milady, what was written in the letter?]

[Let’s see. To sum it up, he was apparently feeling sorry for the rude actions he had done to Kaito-san before. He wanted to apologize to Kaito-san in person, so he requested that you visit the castle.]

[……Yes?]

To be honest, I didn’t understand what she said right away. He had done rude actions to me? What is he talking about? ……Ahh, was it the fact that I didn’t get an invitation to that night party back then? However, why is he apologizing now, after a month has already passed?

[……Luna, do you know anything about this?]

[According to the information I’ve gotten, Underworld King-sama won’t get anywhere near the castle since that incident back then, and it seems that his Majesty, the King’s position is getting worse. And just the other day, I heard that World King-sama had visited the royal castle and severely criticized his Majesty, the King for that incident.]

[Lunamaria-san…… How did you even know all this?]

[I have a lot of “comrades” in the royal castle, so I got these information from them.]

When she said “comrades”, was she talking about fellow followers of Kuro? I see, the reason why Lunamaria-san is so well informed is that she got her information from other followers huh.

Hmmm, but even if he says he wants to apologize……

[I don’t really care about that incident though?]

[Even if Kaito-san sees it like that, it doesn’t mean the people around you would see it the same way, right? Right now, Kaito-san is an existence that even the royal castle can’t disregard. He would definitely want to make a clear apology and restore his reputation.]

I mean, what the heck are Lillywood-san and Kuro doing? Especially Lillywood-san, who visited the royal palace and severely criticized the King…… How the heck did she end up in that situation……

Even so, what should I do about this? I don’t really care about the king, but if I refuse here, I guess it would be like splashing mud in this country’s honor huh? In that case, I guess it would be better if I just accept his apology.  I’m sure 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 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…… Let’s see?]

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 colored pink with a heart mark to seal it.

What’s this? C- C- C- Could this be a love letter……

""

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.

If I were to have thought of this carefully, I would have thought it was strange that someone would send me a love letter when I didn’t know many people in this world, but I didn’t have the composure to notice that.

Then, as I nervously turned it over…… It was signed with the name “Chris” as the sender, so I immediately tore it up and threw it away.

[……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 letter with a big sigh…… which is 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.

Going back to my room with the letters I had received, I decided to read Neun-san’s letter first. Neun-san’s letter was in Japanese, written with extremely beautiful handwriting…… and the contents of the letter were very typical of Neun-san. I could tell from the contents of his letter that he was very nervous, as she went from one topic after another, and then, for some reason, she ended up passionately talking about anmitsu.

Does she…… like anmitsu?

For better or for worse, it’s easy to write a reply to a letter that’s very much like Neun-san, so I’ll buy some stationeries tomorrow and write my reply. After I finished reading Neun-san’s letter, I picked up the next one, the letter from Chris-san. I wonder what she had written towards me? As I had such a thought in mind, I tilted my head upon seeing the contents of the letter.

[Arehh? What’s this?]

How should I say this……. The letter from Chris-san feels strange. The content kinda feels passionate…… Like a love letter overflowing with self-interest, but there is lots of useless stuff written on it, making it a little difficult to read. I have Translation Magic automatically casted on me when I was summoned along with the Hero. It has an effect not only on the words I heard, but the words I read. As long as “I don’t think consciously think about using Japanese”, it was an amazing magic that allows me to write and read the letters of this world as if I’ve known them since birth…… but even when that’s so, there are many parts of Chris-san’s letter that I don’t understand well. I don’t think an Emperor like Chris-san would write a letter littered with wrong grammar. In that case, does that mean she made use of a unique way of writing in this letter? Unnn? I don’t know. Just as I was about to ask someone about this, someone knocked on the door of my room.

[Ah, yes!]

[Kaito-samaaaa, I brought the laundryyyy. Can I come iiiiiin?]

Hearing the lisping, or rather, the slow way of speaking that voice had, I understood who had come to visit me.

[Yes. You can come in.]

[Well theeeen~~ Please excuse meeee~~]

With another call, the door opened and a petite woman dressed in a maid uniform entered the room. She’s a beauty with slightly long, dark gray and a height of about 120cm tall, but her eyes are unfocused…… Her black eyes, as if they were staring into the void, feel rather strange.

Bringing along neatly folded laundry, the girl turned towards me and nodded once, before she carefully put them one by one into the chest of drawers provided in the room.

[“Illness-san”, thank you as always.]

[Noooo~~ Please don’t mind iiiiit. This is my job after allllllll.]

Her name is Illness-san, a maid working in Lilia-san’s house and acting as my personal maid. Lilia-san tried to give me, Kusunoki-san and Yuzuki-san our own personal maids to take care of our needs. However, although there are many among the servants with whom I now have a good relationship, the surrounding people felt like I was an irregular presence in this mansion in the beginning, and I was often shunned. As I was in such a situation, Illness-san nominated herself as my personal maid.

[I’ve really always been in your care.]

[Kuhiii, kuhihihi…… I’m glaaaad that I can be of uuuuuuuse.]

After hearing my words, Illness-san let out an eerie smile that could be better described as a grin rather than a smile. A peculiar way of speaking, unfocused eyes, and a peculiar smile…… With her like that, how should I say this…… I don’t mean to sound rude, but she looks like a creepy person. In fact, I thought she was a scary person when I first met her.

After putting away the laundry, Illness-san turned her head towards me and tilted her head.

[Oyaaa~~ Kaito-samaaaa, you look a little tiiiiired.]

[Eh? D- Does it look like that?]

[Yeeeees~~ Just a little biiiiiit. Wait for a moment, okaaaaay? I’ll brew you some teeeeeeea.]

[T- Thank you very much.]

[No, noooooo~~]

With that peculiar smile on her face, Illness-san went out of the room again. A few moments later, she came back pushing a cart with a pot on it, and served me a nice smelling tea and some sweet smelling cookies.

[Here you goooo~~ They’re a little hooooot, so be careful, okaaaaay?]

[Thank you very much. They’re really tasty.]

Unnn, well, she’s rather easy to misunderstand at first glance. Rather, I actually misunderstood too. At first glance, Illness-san may look eerie…… but she’s actually “a very kind and caring person”. In the first place, she came forward while I was feeling constricted in an unfamiliar environment at that time and she had been taking care of my personal affairs since then. I’m extremely grateful to her. The room that Illness-san cleans for me is always spotless, the perfectly made beds are very comfortable to sleep in, and the clothes she washes for me don’t have a single wrinkle. Moreover, when I’m tired or can’t sleep, just like this time, she prepares warm tea and sweetly baked butter cookies for me. These butter cookies seem to have been made by Illness-san, and they’re really delicious. Its crispy, pleasant texture and gentle taste seems to soak into my heart.

Illness-san is an amazing person who is capable and very considerate towards others. To be honest, she’s someone I can’t raise my head at. In fact, I’ve heard that not only me, but Lilia-san also feels the same way towards her. It seems that Illness-san is actually a Demon, and she had been serving as a maid in the royal castle since Lilia-san was a child…… a princess, and when Lilia-san became a Duchess, she even begged Illness-san to come along with her. It seems like not only is Illness-san a top-notch maid, she’s also an excellent instructor, as most of the maids in the mansion were taught the basics of their jobs by Illness-san. Moreover, she was apparently so competent that she has been entrusted to take over Lilia when she’s away. If she’s that good, she could have been the Head Maid…… but Illness-san was astonishingly just a common maid. Apparently, Illness-san doesn’t like to stand out…… so she often plays the supporting role, and she herself prefers to do such miscellaneous work and doesn’t try to get a higher position.

Well, in short…… Illness-san is caring and kind, a top-notch maid and instructor, but she’s still humble and not conceited. She’s an astonishingly great person.

If I were to describe Kuro as a motherly woman, like the sun wrapping you in her warm embrace and bringing a bright smile on your face, then Illness-san is like the moon who gives you advice on the path you should take behind the darkness, gently supporting you behind your back.

""

Thereupon, it suddenly occurred to me that I should ask Illness-san about Chris-san’s letter, which I didn’t understand. Illness-san is a very excellent person, and since she’s been a maid for a long time, I think she would know a lot about nobles’ letters. In addition, among the servants in this mansion, I talk to her as often as Sieg-san and Lunamaria-san, so she’s someone I can easily consult with.

[Ummm, Illness-san. Do you have some time to spare right now?]

[Yeeess~~ It should be alriiiiiiight. Is something the matteeeeer~~?]

[I actually received this letter, but I’m not really sure what it meant……]

[Would it be alright to look at iiiiiiit~~?]

[Yes.]

[Well theeeen, please excuse meee~~ Oya, now this is quiiiiiite a high-class letter, isn’t iiiiiit? I seeeeee~~ It’s from Archlesia Empire’s Emperor huuuuuuh. It’s no wondeeeeer~~ I remember this beautiful handwritiiiiiing.]

While I was grateful for her mature response that doesn’t bring up the contents of the letter, a question popped into my head. Illness-san looked at the letter and said it had beautiful handwriting. This means that although it seemed like there was lots of useless stuff written on it, was this perhaps just a common way of writing in this world?

[So~~ what part of the letter do you not understand?]

[Errr, there were phrases, or rather, words that I’m not familiar with……]

[Ahh~~ I seeeee. These are called decorative words.]

[Decorative words?]

[Yeeeeees~~ It’s the nobility’s custom to add decorative words to adjust the length of sentences and make the whole letter look more balanced.]

I see, so they’re not words that have any particular meaning, but just words that decorate the text……

[It’s a custooooom that has evolved to express elegance and graaaaace, even in a letter that only had words and letteeeeers. I suppoooooose Kaito-sama wouldn’t be very familiar with theeeeem.]

[I see…… I don’t really understand it, but I guess Chris-san’s letter makes good use of those decorative words huh.]

[It is saaaaaaid that you can tell the rank of a noble by the way they use decorative wooooords. As expected of the Emperoooooor, they’ve composed a beautifully balanced letteeeeeer.]

After saying that, Illness-san displayed the letter to me and explained in detail about the decorative words. There were apparently various ways to use them, such as adding words to adjust the position of line breaks and improving the balance of words, but Illness-san’s explanation was easy to understand, so I was able to understand it somewhat. However, could it be that……

[……Errr, Illness-san. Could it be that I would have to write my reply like this?]

[Let’s seeeee. Kaito-sama isn’t really a nobleeeee, so I don’t thiiiiink you would need to put any ornamental words in your replyyyyy…… but I suppoooooose it would be better if you let the other party knooooow.]

[Ughhhh, h- how should I say this…… Thinking about all that sounds like it would be difficult……]

[Kuhihi, I suppose soooo. If you’d liiiiike, do you want me to write a response for you?]

Much less a noble’s letter, I’ve never written a normal letter before, and I feel that these decorative words were too high-class for me. However, seemingly understanding my thoughts, Illness-san kindly offered me a helping hand.

[W- Would it be alright?]

[Of coooooourse. Kaito-samaaa, please tell me what you’d like me to respoooond~~ I’ll write that in the letteeeer. There shouuuuuldn’t be a problem with me writing your response for youuuuu.]

[I’m really thankful for that…… but errr, would be alright for you, Illness-san? Ummm, your work, I mean……]

[That wouldn’t be any probleeeeem. Rather, the others were even telliiiing me to get some more reeeest.]

Speaking of which, Lunamaria-san mentioned how the amount of work Illness-san does is “more than 10 times” as much as the other maids. Moreover, it’s not that she’s forced to do it either. It’s just something that Illness-san willingly does. According to Lunamaria-san, her workload is something 'she could never replicate”. Indeed, now that I think about it again, Illness-san not only takes care of me as my personal maid, she also acted as Lilia-san’s representative during the Sacred Tree Festival.

Rather…… I don’t think I’ve ever seen Illness-san resting. Whenever I meet her, I feel like she’s working……

[Errr, I’m really grateful that Illness-san is helping me, but please don’t push yourself too hard. If you’re busy, you can turn down my request.]

[Don’t worryyyyyy. Reeeeeecently, there has been an increase of excellent children after aaaaaall. So much that I’ve become a liiiiiiittle time on my haaaaands.]

[……I- Is that so.]

Illness-san, who does more than 10 times as much work as a normal person and is the representative of the Head of a noble family, says she still had some free time on her hands…… She’s quite an outrageous person. In any case, since she was kindly offering, I decided to presume upon Illness-san’s kindness and ask her to write the letter for me. She even prepared stationery for me, how should I say this…… I really can’t raise my head before her.

Thereupon, with a very beautiful handwriting, Illness-san wrote down what I told her in no time.

[Weeeeeell then, I’ll go send this letteeeeeer.]

[Really, thank you for everything.]

""

[Don’t mind iiiiiit.]

[Thank you so much.]

[No, nooooo~~]

I always find myself relying on the kind Illness-san. Rather, even when I don’t think about it, I would always be helped in many ways. I wish there was something I could do to repay her……

As I had such a thought in mind, a small hand was suddenly placed on my head and began gently patting me. When I looked up, I saw Illness-san standing up before I knew it, patting my head as I sat down on my seat.

[If it’s thanking meeeee, I’ve already received iiiiiit.]

[……Eh?]

[When I’m of use to Kaito-samaaaaa, Kaito-sama tells me “Thank youuuuu”. That’s mooooore than enough of a reward for meeeee.]

[……Illness-san.]

[Kuhihi, receiving more than that would be too muuuuuch. That’s why, you don’t have to mind it anymoooooore.]

Saying that, Illness-san moved her hand off my head, gave me a neat bow before leaving my room. How should I say this…… She really is overflowing with motherliness, extremely warm and kind, without a hint of gaudiness…… that I couldn’t help but feel charmed by her. To be honest, I think she’s even cool…… I suppose she is exactly those so-called mature women……

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

In the office of the imperial castle of Archlesia Empire, Chris was looking at the letter that was sent by Kaito.

(……Thinking that I had nothing to lose, I sent him a letter, but for him to reply this quickly…… What a conscientious person he is. It felt like he wasn’t that fond of me, but I suppose he doesn’t hate me huh? If that’s the case, I suppose it’s fortuitous then.)

Chris was a little surprised that she got a response from Kaito, but it was better for her than she had expected, so there wasn’t any problem. Then, when he opened the envelope and saw the letter inside, a look of astonishment appeared on Chris’ face again.

(This is quite…… a beautiful letter. Did he ask someone to write for him? This is quite a charmingly beautiful letter.)

Chris was astonished at the beauty of the letter she received, but she proceeded to read it. The contents of the letter were simple and bland, as if it really were written by Kaito, but the decorative words scattered all over the letter made it look brilliant.

(I wonder who wrote this? It doesn’t seem like…… it would be Duchess Albert. I’ve exchanged a few letters with her, but the way she uses decorative words is different. ……At any rate, the way they’ve drawn the curves is very splendid. It’s even overwhelming. The balance of the sentences is also beautiful. There are only a few people in their whole country who could write a letter like this…… I wonder if the Albert Duchy had actually employed a civil official with this much skill? I suppose I would need to change my evaluation of them.)

Without the Head of the Albert Duchy knowing, she’s getting a higher reputation than she ever had before.

(Ahh, he got me. If I receive such a great response, I’d better improve the quality of the next letter I send, lest I’ll be embarrassed. I guess this is to be expected of Miyama-sama. He seems to have a great network of contacts. Ahh, it’s making me want to have him more and more.)

And subsequently, without Kaito knowing, Chris’ impression of him had also increased.