CH 313

New Strategy 2

“Umumumu umumumu……”

If the other party is clearly a villain or criminal, there are many ways to deal with them.

But these ones are difficult……

They must leave voluntarily, not by force, but in a way that does not leave a lasting grudge. And we need to do it in a way that does not hurt the women’s side…

It’s one thing if it’s just one or two, but there are many of them. And if one person gets eliminated, another one will immediately follow suit, there will be no end to it. That’s why traps and entanglements against specific individuals are meaningless…

And since it’s a matter concerning noble families, it’s not good for me, a noble from another country, or Micchan, a daughter of a Marquis, to interfere. At best, as a fellow member of Society, I can only give them a little advice.

“Umumu, what should we do… Micchan, do you have any good ideas?” (Mitsuha)

“Again, with your unreasonableness…

Well, first of all, convince the person who’s pushing themselves that [there is no merit in marrying one of our members], or [convince their current engagement partner that they have an advantage] so that they won’t cut ties with them.” (Michelle)

“Oh! And how, exactly, will you do that?” (Mitsuha)

“It’s up to you to figure that out.” (Michelle)

“Even if you act unreasonably like that… Micchan, you’re not as useful as I thought…” (Mitsuha)

“That’s my line!!” (Michelle)

Oh, she got mad…

“It’s just a light joke… I’m sorry, my bad!!” (Mitsuha)

Oh no, she’s really mad!

=====

Perhaps thinking it was getting worse, the maid hurriedly intervened between me and Micchan and refilled our tea.

As expected, the maids of senior aristocratic families were different, weren’t they?

When the master and mistress were not present, the house steward or the head-butler would probably take care of the house, but as expected, he would not be present at the talks between the young lady and her friend, who was her guest.

So there were only two maids here, one as a waitress and the other one, in case they were asked to do something, but they quickly offered me the teapot and poured me some more tea at the same time, as if they knew the perfect timing.

…Of course, because then we would shut our mouths at once.

“…………”

And, Micchan, who had guessed the maids’ intentions, remained silent even after the tea was poured.

Yeah, for a proud aristocrat’s daughter to honestly accept this kind of “consideration from a servant at the risk of being offended or offended by an unnecessary gesture” would not be possible……

Way to go, Micchan.

Sasu micchu!! (さすみつ！！)

…Wait, it’s all my fault!

Right, sorry!

So, I slightly bowed to the maid, expressed my gratitude, and got back on track.

“Anyway, here are the reasons for the flood of engagement proposals:

Overwhelming beauty due to high-end cosmetics and makeup techniques that are not available anywhere else.

Members are given priority in purchasing Yamano products… For personal use only…

The Wennar Barony’s rescue mission, the divine soldiers who protected the convoy, and the words from the goddess, made them treated as saints.

There is also the story that the great victory in the naval battle against the Norral Kingdom was thanks to the prayers of our members.

In other words, if you take one of our members as your wife, you will have connections to me, Viscount Yamano, and potentially, the Goddess. Moreover, your wife is a beautiful girl herself.

…No good. There are so many benefits, I can’t think of any way to make them give up!” (Mitsuha)

Micchan was also troubled by my analysis of the situation.

“…Ah!  Speaking of which, the [effect of deterring early marriage] is that the right to preferentially purchase Yamano products for their family would be transferred to the married family upon marriage…

You mentioned before that you were having trouble getting a lot of engagement offers, right? And then I told you that if you tell them that, there would be no more marriage proposals, right?” (Mitsuha)

“That is [if you get married], so even if it has the effect of delaying marriage, it won’t have the effect of deterring engagement.

Besides, if the deterrent effect would be only on your family, it will only serve as a reason for the other party to push marriage as soon as possible.” (Michelle)

“Ah, I see…” (Mitsuha)

No good….

“Besides, if the other party says something like [After marriage, we’ll give your family half of the purchase limit], the deterrent effect on the family may not be so great.” (Michelle)

“Oh……. That’s true, they can’t hold the marriage off forever, so you can deter them from marrying too early to some extent, but not at a reasonable age. There’s a limit to how far you can go…” (Mitsuha)

Umu umumumu…

No good, I can’t come up with something.

“Let’s discuss that matter at a later date… For now, let’s proceed with the next tea party meeting…” (Michelle)

Yeah, even if I push it, I can’t come up with a good idea.

For now, let’s proceed with urgent matters.

=====

“Why don’t you just ask the messenger to do it?” (Sabine)

“Yeah, that’s right.” (Colette)

“……Eh?” (Mitsuha)

The two engineers who were hospitalized in a hospital on Earth, specifically, London, after a gunpowder explosion have already been discharged and returned to their world.

The one who lost a left arm had few other injuries, and the one who was unconscious due to excessive bleeding did not need to be hospitalized for so long after recovering with blood transfusions and fluids.

I had warned the hospital very strongly about stalling, and they either hoped that [if they handled it properly, we would bring back another patient], or they thought that it was more profitable to get a large sample than to stall with small samples, so they properly discharged them within McCoy-san’s expected period of time.

So, Sabine-chan and Colette-chan had been released from their duties as interpreters and attendants. And were now free.

No, they still have a princess education and a vassal education, respectively, even so……

I brought Sabine-chan to the territorial mansion today to consult with the two of them in my private office about the [measures against pushing the engagement].

Frankly, I did not expect Colette-chan to be helpful in this matter.

But lately, I’ve been asking a lot of favors from the two of them, and the three of us haven’t spent much time together outside of Colette-chan’s hospital room, so I just really wanted to spend a little more time with them.

I wanted to make Colette-chan feel that she could be helpful to me without being physical.

I was expecting Sabine-chan to be the provider of ideas.

……And so, this opinion came out.

“The Goddess has given her blessing to the Society and its members, right? If that’s the case, then I think it means that she will be displeased with those who force the members into engagements that they don’t agree with, won’t she?

Then, doesn’t that mean that there will be no problem with the engagements that the members wanted? And only those unwanted engagements, either those that are currently being arranged or those that are being forced upon them, will be no good?

In other words, anything the members don’t like, anything the other side forces them with, anything the parents force them to do, is out.

And everything that the members want is safe…” (Colette)

“O… Ohhhhhhhh!” (Mitsuha)

Of course, the [messenger] that Sabine-chan and Colette-chan are talking about here is me… In other words, they’re telling me to play that role, like during the [Eras] rescue operation… (『イーラス』)

“… So, specifically, how do you [ask the messenger]?…” (Mitsuha)

““You’ll have to figure that out yourself!””

“Ah, really?” (Mitsuha)

……Yeah, I knew it…….

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Author’s Note:

As usual, I will take a two-week New Year’s vacation.

Updates will resume on January 11, starting with “Noukin” at midnight…

Thank you for your continued support in the coming year. (^^)/

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Translator’s Note:

[Eras]『イーラス』= The name of the ship that was wrecked by the storm. She captured it by rescuing the crew and made it look like it was being taken by the goddess. Also, Colette was the supposed ship’s soul.