CH 337

Sorority 2

Adelaide-chan has followers.

It’s a bit unusual for a daughter of a newly emerging viscount to have followers.

Such people would normally be daughters of a duke or a marquis, or at least a daughter of a powerful count or higher.

But for that to be the daughter of a small and weak new viscount family…

…Well, maybe it was because of her debutante ball…

Did the heads of the noble families like it, did the children themselves like it, or did they just want connections with me, the Hime Miko…?

Anyway, Adelaide-chan has pawns now.

Of course, a daughter from a Count’s household and above would not become an entourage of a daughter from a Viscount household, so Adelaide-chan’s pawns are daughters from either a Viscount household or a Baron household.

I’m sure the daughters of senior aristocrats would want to make Adelaide-chan their entourage, but after that debutante ball, Adelaide-chan was able to have her own entourage in an instant, and by the time the senior noble ladies tried to talk to her, it was already too late.

…Yeah, Adelaide-chan is a cute, smart, energetic, sincere, and caring child, so it’s only natural that she would be admired by the other young ladies.

Indeed, the fact that I organized the debutante ball and that she is good friends with me, the Hime Miko, probably had a little to do with it, but even without those things, Adelaide-chan has become popular.

And when I checked with Adelaide-chan herself, it seems there’s nothing strange among her entourage.

Well, if the parents and the person themselves are burning with ambition, no matter how much Adelaide-chan is a friend of Hime Miko, she won’t be an entourage of the emerging Viscount family…

Rather than becoming an entourage of Adelaide-chan, they would try to have a deeper relationship with me, the adopted daughter of the Marquis, the head of a merchant association, and the tutor of Sabine, the Third Princess… Although, I heard that Sabine-chan was discovered to be a genius, so I was immediately dismissed from that role… She thinks of me as an older sister who was one of the heroes of the “Royal Capital Absolute Defense Battle”, and is currently the most charming girl in this country, with outstanding proportions…

Oh, and uh, there was also a saint-sama recognition from the fireworks at a debutante ball…

Yeah, Beatrice-chan, good luck!

So, although there are some who have become followers at the behest of their parents, they are only “protecting themselves, by clinging to the slightly stronger ones among the weak”, and they are only telling their daughters to “befriend the daughter of Viscount Reiner”. They don’t seem to have any strange ambitions or goals, they’re all good girls, probably.

And at parties, it is said that the children of higher-ranking aristocrats will come and act together, but usually, it seems that only the daughters are the ones acting on their own.

…Good, easy to use!

The only problem is that…

******

“Eh? It’s not much of a problem, you know?” (Adelaide)

“Eeh~!” (Mitsuha)

Regarding the selection of the initial members when the Sorority was launched, I explained that I was thinking about how the “Society” in the new continent was…

In the new continent, the presiding officer was the daughter of A Marquis, Micchan No. 2, which made it possible to coordinate various behind-the-scenes activities and automatically eliminate those who didn’t want to work under Micchan No. 2.

But with Adelaide-chan presiding, a daughter of a Viscount family, and me, Hime Miko, as her backer, there won’t be anyone who’ll object, right?

This is also the reason why Sabine-chan can’t preside over the event.

It’s not that they won’t participate in a gathering hosted by Her Royal Highness… They can’t… The position of the noble daughters will be a big hurdle.

However, it’s impossible to accept all noble daughters due to the number of people, and some of them have difficult personalities.

Even if they treat me and Adelaide-chan properly, if they are arrogant to other daughters, especially to those who are lower in rank than themselves, the atmosphere will not be as congenial as that of the Society of the new continent.

On the other hand, it is also against our philosophy of ‘regardless of parent faction’ to be overtly selective when sending out recruitment invitations for the initial members…

When I explained the situation to her and discussed it with her, Adelaide-chan replied, “It’s not much of a problem, you know?” I was very surprised.

“Why not just say from the beginning that it’s a gathering of the daughters of lower-class nobles and upper-class commoners? I am a member of a Viscount family and I’ll be presiding over this gathering, so there’s nothing strange about it.

And then, I will hide the fact that Mitsuha is involved and that Princess Sabine will be joining us when issuing the invitations.

…I may be able to sneak in some information to those who absolutely need to join…

And the initial members should be only the daughters of noble families below the rank of Viscount and the daughters of some upper-class commoners.

Later, when word spread and the daughters of Counts and Marquises began to apply for membership, the restriction of ‘Viscounts and below’ would be removed. But at that point, the rule was already in place that ‘new members must be unanimously approved by a secret voting of the members’, so…” (Adelaide)

“And those who we don’t want can never join…

If it’s a Viscount family or below, there’s no problem if we choose the invitees arbitrarily, right?” (Mitsuha)

“Of course!” (Adelaide)

It’s impossible to have everyone, so it’s unavoidable to narrow down the number of people.

And then…

“Since Sabine-chan is an honorary member, a mascot, there’s no problem. No one will complain about Sabine-chan being here.

…Ah, it would be bad if I didn’t invite the second daughter of the Count Pasteur family as soon as possible.

The child whom I made cry because I couldn’t go to the debutante ball since I didn’t know about the presence notification in the royal capital… I told her to be my friend, so I’m not going to leave her alone. I have to take this opportunity to collect flags…” (Mitsuha)

“Collect the flags?” (Adelaide)

“Ah, no, it’s nothing!” (Mitsuha)

Right, how can such a phrase exist in this world?…

“Also, Beatrice-chan…

Once it became known that I’m heavily involved in the Sorority, it would be natural for Beatrice-chan to join, although I have no choice but to wait until the rule of ‘Viscount or lower’ is abolished… As expected, it’s unreasonable to treat her the same as Sabine-chan…

Yeah, until then, let’s have Beatrice-chan focus on her ‘Beatrice Trading Company’…

Adelaide-chan, is there anyone above a Count’s family that you want to add sooner?” (Mitsuha)

“No. I know some good people, but I believe there will be no problems even after the restrictions are lifted.” (Adelaide)

“… Alright then, let’s move in that direction!” (Mitsuha)

******

It’s been less than a month since then.

Me, Adelaide-chan, and Sabine-chan secretly made a list of daughters to invite as initial members, and asked Marquis Bozes, “Are there any noble families among those who are not desirable to be approached?”.

Then the Marquis said, ‘Mitsuha is finally starting to feel like a noble!’ I was happy to hear that, I do… but, well, yeah, right…

Everything else is almost ready.

After all, it’s easy to feel comfortable with a combat-proof strategy.

Along with the deterrent effect of me as Hime Miko, and Sabine-chan, the possibility of an enemy appearing is extremely low…

On the other hand, I have to be careful not to let the daughters who can’t join become too strong or take too much of a share…

Okay, let’s stick the “attractive daughters in good condition” around me as explosive reactive armor and start the operation so that the enemy’s attack cannot reach me!

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