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 Chapter 39: Negotiations 

“Ah, welcome! I am Marquis Cedric!” 

Marquis Cedric was the leader of the faction that House Maslias and 

House Raphael belonged to. He was past sixty, which was still a 

healthy age in modern Japan, but he was considered quite old here. 

His skin was pretty wrinkly, too. 

According to Count Maslias, Marquis Cedric had taken up the role of 

faction leader, a role that had been passed down for generations, 

but he had no particular ambitions or drive to speak of, and was 

nothing more than the organizer of a small, temperate faction with 

middle-of-the-road political views. ...Or he had been until last month, 

that is. 

He had started getting carried away ever since the beloved daughter 

of the Goddess Celestine had appeared in his faction. Not only was 

she young, cute, and unmarried, but she was also the head of a 

noble house; it was basically like pulling a triple yakuman or a royal 

flush. 

It wasn’t like he was looking to conquer the world, but he had begun 

plotting great advancements for his faction. No, I’m not saying that’s 

necessarily a bad thing. As a politician and faction leader, it’s only 

natural for him to strive for more power and to push the policies he 

believes in for the benefit of his faction’s nobles and his country. 

...At least, it wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t involved nasty 

tactics like taking advantage of a little girl. So there you have it. 

And so, the marquis’s attack had begun! The marquis didn’t seem to 

have any intention of doing anything to Mariel himself in his old age, 

but he was going to try to get her closer to his grandson and the 

influential aristocrats from his faction, and mentioned those parties 

with obvious intentions... 

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However, Mariel gracefully evaded such invitations by saying that 

she wasn’t ready for any such thing, because she was still grieving 

from the loss of her family, or otherwise because she needed to 

focus on sorting out the confusion in her domain first. 

The marquis hurled words at Mariel like spears, one after another, 

and she deftly dodged each one in a dance of words. 

Whoa... Can’t underestimate these nobles! 

Mariel evaded the marquis’s invitation to stay at his residence on a 

more long-term basis by saying that she needed to prioritize getting 

to know her domain after taking over as head of her household, but 

even she couldn’t refuse his request to meet the other nobles of the 

faction, visit the royal palace, or stop by and see some influential 

merchants. These weren’t requests to Mariel on an individual level, 

but official requests that were part of her duties as the head of the 

Raphael household. 

And when she began to fulfill her duties starting tomorrow, she 

wouldn’t have any supporting fire from Count Maslias at her back. 

 

“I’m tired...” 

The battle finally ended, and only then were we allowed to leave. It 

was pretty amazing that all Mariel had to say about all this was that 

she was tired. 

“Well, it’s important to keep a good relationship with the marquis. 

Otherwise, Mariel would be in opposition to the entire faction. If she 

loses the shield supporting her, she would be swarmed by all sorts of 

adversaries at once...” 

Count Maslias was right. We couldn’t afford to antagonize Maslias 

Cedric right off the bat. If he had just been a regular member of the 

faction, having a personal disagreement with him wouldn’t have 

been a big issue. It was common for aristocrats to have opposing 

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interests, so even those in the same faction weren’t all going to be all 

buddy-buddy with each other. You just had to make sure to take care 

of the key points. 

...And we had just dealt with that part. 

Now we just had to make sure to accommodate the nobles that 

treated us favorably, and completely avoid anyone who might be 

potentially harmful. It wasn’t that I had something against the 

faction itself, but we had to keep a distance from any faction 

members who harbored ill will toward us. This was more of an issue 

on an individual level between noble houses, so it didn’t have 

anything to do with the faction as a whole. 

In any case, the rest was up to Mariel. I didn’t know what the 

opposing aristocrats and Marquis Cedric were planning, but that 

wasn’t a big concern. 

...Why do you think Francette and I were gonna be by Mariel’s side? 

 

“Ah, welcome! Please, right this way...” 

The next day, we — that is, the trio of me, Mariel, and Francette — 

were led by Marquis Cedric and his subordinates and guards to visit 

the nobles of the faction. Honestly, it would’ve gone a lot quicker if 

we had just gathered everyone and met them at once. 

That was my thought process, but apparently, that wouldn’t work 

because we wouldn’t have been able to do much else besides 

exchange quick greetings. According to them, that would have been 

a real shame after inviting Mariel all the way to the capital. 

...That meant these visits were definitely for “that purpose.” You 

know, the one that got mentioned twice. 

“I am Viscountess Mariel von Raphael. Pleased to meet you...” 

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Everyone knew her name already, of course, but it was customary for 

her to introduce herself. As for us, the servant and guard, we didn’t 

need to do anything of the sort. 

Marquis Cedric quickly introduced the two sides to each other, then 

explained that Mariel had taken over as head of House Raphael and 

made some noncommittal comments about how she would remain 

in the faction just as her parents had been. He didn’t mention 

anything about the Goddess at all. 

That was a connection that everyone had to make on their own. This 

meeting was merely to introduce her as a new member of the 

faction, and it wasn’t something they could pursue in front of 

Marquis Cedric. This time was to be spent making connections and 

establishing favorable relations as members of the same faction, to 

set up for when the appropriate time did come. Only a fool would 

make careless comments here. 

And just as she’d been doing, Mariel met with them peacefully and 

without incident. Whoever put those bandits and knights up to that 

whole act wasn’t among the nobles here. It wouldn’t have made 

sense for someone with the advantage of being in the same faction 

and having actual opportunities to meet with Mariel right away to 

take such risks. That was the type of scheme that would be cooked 

up by someone who wouldn’t be able to meet her otherwise. 

...And I already knew who the culprit was. 

The birds had already secretly trailed those knights, but since birds 

couldn’t read the words on signs, I had them lead Emile there to 

confirm the owner of the manor. But I wasn’t too concerned about 

them. Their methods had been a bit underhanded, but they weren’t 

particularly malicious or hostile. 

Although they had hired bandits, it was only for the purpose of 

putting Mariel in their debt as a means of getting close to her. It 

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wasn’t as if they meant any real harm. Now that their original plan 

had failed, they would likely try to make contact with her some other 

way. It would probably be another somewhat underhanded tactic, 

like making us feel like we were in danger without actually hurting 

us, and swooping in to the rescue right after... 

That didn’t bother me. 

...But I did plan on confronting them and talking them down. If we 

could dig up some dirt on the other nobles, it would give Mariel an 

edge she needed. Honestly, this was kinda fun. It was like a PVP 

game. 

...The real problem was the other group. The group that had hired 

the thugs who beat the orphans half to death and hurt Layette. I’ll 

never forgive them! They may think they’ve gotten away with it, but 

I’m not gonna let that fly. The day has eyes, and the night has ears! 

“I am Viscountess Mariel von Raphael. Pleased to meet you...” she 

said to the next aristocrat. 

It was a count this time. The introduction went on like the other 

ones, but... 

“I hear you will be coming of age soon, viscountess? And that you 

have been receiving education as the head of your noble house since 

abruptly becoming the heir and successor... It seems to me that you 

must find a husband, so as to bring stability to your house as soon as 

possible. So, perhaps you would consider my son? My second and 

third sons are also learned in the ways of managing a domain, so you 

could leave it all up to any of them!” 

Yeah, this wasn’t surprising, considering he had his wife and kids 

with him, too, but none of the other aristocrats had gone about it so 

blatantly. The others just casually mentioned that their son was close 

to Mariel in age, at most. 

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“Oh, but I’ve just recently lost my parents and brother, so I can’t 

bring myself to think about that right now... I think I will still be 

mourning for some time...” 

Mariel cast one of her denial spells she had prepared beforehand. All 

of the aristocrats that came at her with the previously mentioned 

reserved approach backed off at this point. 

“Ah, but it’s precisely at times like these that you must get yourself a 

dependable husband to handle the management of your domain! 

Then you can focus on your political engagements to ensure the 

prosperity of your family and faction...” 

Yes, yes, and by “your family,” you mean your son’s family; in 

other words, your own. 

Mariel had incredible name value as the child who was blessed and 

loved by the Goddess, but even without that, she would have been 

an attractive marriage candidate. 

If she had just been the daughter of a viscount, neither the head of 

the house or the successor, she would have been the one seeking a 

house to marry into. But since she was a viscountess, another 

aristocrat would seek to give her his second or third son. And if she 

was to birth him a grandson, the house would become his 

completely. After that, it wouldn’t matter to him if Mariel was to die 

of an illness or in an accident. 

She even came with the bonus of being the beloved child of the 

Goddess. There was no way they wouldn’t be after her. Not to 

mention, a child born from the beloved child of the Goddess even 

had a chance of marrying into the royal family. In fact, that was very 

well within the realm of possibility. 

No wonder they were so desperate to get her... 

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“I’m certain the count and Viscountess Raphael still need time for 

things to settle. Perhaps it would be better to discuss such matters 

on another day...” 

Marquis Cedric decided to step in as the faction leader and the 

coordinator for this meeting. It seemed he was fulfilling his role 

properly. 

“Nonsense! You will be taking her to the temple and royal palace 

tomorrow, will you not?! Of course they will try to take the 

viscountess for themselves! It will be much easier to avoid their 

attempts if we say she is already betrothed!” 

...It seemed the count had no intention of backing off. Well, he 

wasn’t wrong. The royal palace and Temple of the Goddess could 

indeed try to take Mariel in directly, which was much quicker and 

more efficient than waiting for her to have a daughter. It was 

understandable for the count to be worried. But that didn’t mean 

she had any obligation to marry the count’s son. 

“Oh, please don’t worry about that. I have no intention of marrying 

anyone from the Temple of the Goddess, anyone in the royal palace, 

or your children.” 

“You mustn’t say such selfish things! It is a noble daughter’s duty to 

marry for the good of their household! Regardless of your own will, 

you should marry whoever the head of the house...” 

“Yes, and I intend to do just that. ...As the head of my house, I will 

decide who to marry.” 

The count trailed off, realizing what he had said. Yeah, he’d screwed 

up. 

“Uh, but since you are not yet of age, you should obey your faction 

leader, Marquis Cedric! Isn’t that right, Marquis?!” 

I was starting to get really annoyed by this count’s persistence. 

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...But it seemed Mariel was getting even more annoyed than I was. 

There was a smile on her face, but... Let’s just say that I could see a 

vein popping out on her temple. Then, Mariel bent her right pointer 

finger with a repeated beckoning motion. 

...It was the signal that meant, “Get him!” 

Oh, Mariel, if you insist... Here goes, Wrath of the Goddess! 

Boom! Pop! Bam! 

Suddenly, the vases and ornaments on the furniture exploded and 

shattered into pieces. 

“Aaahhhhhh!!!” 

The marquis, the count, and the count’s wife and two children dove 

from the sofa and rolled behind us, away from the explosion. Mariel 

quickly stood up, looked about thirty degrees up into the air, put her 

hands together in front of her and shouted. 

“Please, Goddess, there is no need to murder the count’s entire 

family or destroy his domain for this... It isn’t the time for such 

measures quite yet...” 

“G... G? Gyaaaaaaaaagh!!!” 

Yeah, Mariel wasn’t here to start any fires. The opposite, in fact; she 

had come to the capital to preemptively snuff out any commotion or 

trouble while it was still just starting to smolder. And her method of 

putting out fires was to... 

Well, are you familiar with how they extinguish fires in oil fields? 

They stick some dynamite in there and blow away the flames with 

the explosion! 

 

“...” Marquis Cedric sat quietly during our carriage ride to the next 

faction noble’s manor, looking pale. 

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I mean, he had just seen firsthand what happened when you tried to 

force Mariel to do something she didn’t want to. He was probably 

praising himself for not having done anything like that during their 

meeting yesterday, and likely praying that tomorrow’s visits to the 

temple and royal palace would go without incident, or that he would 

at least be able to get through them safely. 

We finished the rest of the meetings without any issues, and the 

aristocrats who had their sons with them never even brought up the 

topic of marriages or engagements, for some reason. I didn’t know 

whether that had anything to do with the fact that Marquis Cedric 

had pulled one of the mounted guards aside and whispered 

something to him, shortly before that guard rode off somewhere as 

fast as he could. Yup. 

 

The following day... 

It was a doubleheader kind of day, with the visit to the Temple of the 

Goddess in the morning and the royal palace in the afternoon. Or 

maybe it was an irregular doubleheader, since the enemy team was 

going to change midway through. And this was an away game, not a 

home game. But as a game, it wasn’t like the sum of everyone’s 

interests totaled zero; in other words, the amount in the pie that 

would be distributed wasn’t predetermined, so it wasn’t a zero-sum 

game. 

...So, there were ways that everyone could end up happy, but there 

were ways that everyone could end up unhappy, too. However, that 

excluded Mariel. Maybe it wasn’t appropriate to compare this to a 

game, but Mariel was more like an employee of the company 

running the game, rather than a player, so she couldn’t lose. 

The visit to the royal palace would be later because we had already 

visited the faction’s nobles yesterday, so we could prioritize the 

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temple today and claim we had started at the bottom and worked 

our way up to the top. 

On the other hand, we could tell the temple that we had prioritized 

them over the royal palace. I could tell Marquis Cedric had really 

thought this through. We normally wouldn’t have to worry about 

such things, but since this involved the beloved child of the Goddess, 

there were all sorts of things like the power dynamics at play that 

had to be considered. It wasn’t easy being a working adult, and a 

mid-level manager at that... 

In any case, we arrived at the Temple of the Goddess. 

The question was, what sort of position did the temple consider the 

beloved child of the Goddess to occupy? Did they see her as only a 

little girl who had just happened to receive the blessing of the 

Goddess, and thus consider her lower than a priest? Or was she like 

the Goddess and Angel, who were above priests, who after all were 

merely human? And how did the fact that she was an aristocrat 

affect the temple’s ranking system? 

I’ve only played the role of a goddess and the Angel, so I didn’t know 

much about her so-called beloved children. It wasn’t like Mariel 

knew anyone like that herself, so she didn’t know either. 

...In fact, maybe the people at the temple didn’t know either. It was 

like an SSR (Special Super Rare) card that had never appeared before. 

Well, well, what would happen now...? 

Wait, whoa! 

The members of the Temple of the Goddess all appeared in a row to 

greet us. 

It appeared the beloved child (Mariel) was an UL (Ultra Legend)... 

 

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“Thank you for coming. We of the Temple of the Goddess 

wholeheartedly welcome you...” 

One of the bishops had led us to this room, and an archbishop 

greeted us with those words of welcome. This was the person who 

held the highest religious rank within the capital, which also meant 

that he was the highest-ranking religious figure in this country. There 

had only been a pope and cardinal in the Holy Land of Rueda, but 

now that Rueda had been wiped out, those ranks no longer existed. 

Well, some country out there may have appointed one on their own, 

but it wasn’t like anyone would take that seriously. It would make 

much more sense to appoint one here rather than accept some 

random person from another country as pope. But then, they had 

witnessed the destruction of the Holy Land and the fall of their 

priests... And then there was us, with Celestine at our backs. 

The temple surely had received accurate reports about that incident. 

They couldn’t afford to do anything stupid here... 

In any case, it seemed all the countries were now on equal grounds, 

with their own archbishops, without any issues. 

...At least, that’s how it seemed on the outside. 

Of course, each country had their own relationship between the 

temple and royal palace, and there were differences in their political 

influences, financial situations, and the power of the countries 

themselves, so they were never truly equal, and there may have 

even been some archbishops vying to become pope out there. 

Though, it seemed that truly evil priests were pretty rare. I mean, 

this was a world where a goddess actually existed, and divine 

punishment was a very real thing... 

And an entire country had been destroyed for that very thing a little 

more than four years ago, and the priesthood there was still in 

shambles... 

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Actually, there was a case of divine punishment just a few days ago! 

There was no way anyone would plot to do evil when the very 

person involved in that incident was right here. 

...Unless they were planning on picking a fight with the Goddess, that 

is. 

It didn’t seem possible that whoever was behind the attack on the 

orphans and Layette was related to the Temple of the Goddess. If it 

had been someone from the temple, they would know very well how 

dangerous it was to pick a fight with her. As such, the culprit was 

very likely to be someone who only had incomplete information, 

someone who didn’t understand what the Angel was capable of, or 

someone who thought it was all a hoax and hoped to capitalize on it. 

...Though, it was possible that they were just stupid. 

Some inoffensive conversation went on for a while longer, then... 

“What do you say, Viscountess Raphael? Would you consider 

becoming a priestess of our temple to serve Lady Celestine along 

with us...?” 

There it is. Here we go... 

And of course, Mariel’s reply was... 

“No, the Goddess did not help me so that I would become her 

priestess. She stopped House Raphael from being taken over by evil, 

and offered me her divine strength so I could become the true 

successor of my house and protect my domain. If I forsake my 

domain to become a priestess, I would be getting my priorities 

completely wrong. It would be betraying the Goddess’s own 

kindness...” 

Yup, that was a perfect response. There was no way a priest could 

counter that. And just as expected, the archbishop stood in silence, 

at a loss for words. 

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Mariel only said “the Goddess” in her statement and never actually 

mentioned Celestine by name. If she had, that would’ve been a lie. 

The Goddess that Mariel was talking about was me, so as long as she 

phrased it that way, it was technically the truth. 

...To her, anyway. 

They still tried to tie her down, asking her to be an honorary 

priestess, to have her sign the temple’s name list, to show up only 

during religious rites, or to get involved “just a little bit,” but all such 

requests were shot down. 

If she had agreed to be a priestess, even in name, they could have 

used her, and she’d be within their social hierarchy. As it was, she 

may have been a follower of Celestine, but she was still the normal 

head of a noble household, so she didn’t have to follow orders from 

the Temple of the Goddess. 

Aristocrats only had an obligation to follow their own beliefs and 

those orders from the king that they agreed with, so long as they 

weren’t completely irrational or unfair. Even if the king tried to force 

an unreasonable order, nobles were often able to reject it, ask other 

aristocrats of their faction for help, or request help from powerful 

merchants they were close with. That was the whole point of having 

factions and keeping up exchanges with the merchants. 

Well, this country’s king had never been a dictator, most of its 

important policies were decided in meetings between influential 

nobles, and the merchants actually had a lot of sway here, so things 

were run somewhat differently compared to other places. 

And so, we quickly left the archbishop behind as he watched us 

regretfully, knowing full well that he couldn’t force us to do anything. 

It seemed Marquis Cedric wasn’t so adept at dealing with the Temple 

of the Goddess, so he didn’t say much during this visit, but Mariel 

handled it just as we had discussed beforehand. 

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And now, we just had the royal palace to deal with. This was 

probably going to be the most troublesome one. 

The king here apparently had less authority compared to other 

countries, so he was more like the highest-ranking aristocrat rather 

than the actual king, or someone to fill a title that they needed solely 

to have someone in the same position as the kings of other realms 

during negotiations... 

In any case, his position wasn’t the same as a traditional king. This 

had probably been a normal kingdom before, but that’s my 

understanding of how things were now. 

...Maybe he would be easier to deal with if he didn’t have that much 

authority? No, no, that would be all the more reason for him to cling 

desperately to such an opportunity. He would use anything he could 

to increase his power... 

Anyway, we returned to the marquis’s manor first to have some 

lunch. 

We rested well afterward, then off to the royal palace we went... 

 

“I-I’m actually starting to get nervous...” Mariel had been acting 

pretty unconcerned up until now, but her resolve seemed to weaken 

as we approached the front gates. 

She may have been tough, but she was still a fourteen-year-old girl, 

so I couldn’t really blame her. I figured I should give her some 

encouragement... 

“I’m sure you will be fine! Sir Roland taught you all manner of things, 

did he not?” 

“Y-Yes...” 

Marquis Cedric was in the same carriage, so I had to talk in-character 

as a servant. 

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Mariel’s cheeks turned pink at the mention of Roland’s name. 

  

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Roland had joined the journey as a guard, but that really was purely 

a pretext. I had actually introduced him to Mariel as the guardian 

knight of the Goddess Kaoru and a gentleman of high status. I said 

something similar about Francette, too. So in Mariel’s mind, Roland 

was someone who was far above her in social standing. 

...I mean, he actually was. And he was needlessly attractive, so I 

couldn’t blame Mariel for blushing. 

...Yeah, not much I could do about that. Even if Francette was in 

somewhat of a bad mood because of it... 

So, what Mariel had learned from Roland was, of course, how to deal 

with royals, how to interpret their behavior, what they were plotting 

when they did certain things, and other various anti-royal 

techniques. After all, if he wasn’t going to be useful now, when was 

he ever?! 

This is your only chance to shine, so you’d better make it count! 

I had given him those words of encouragement, but he had been 

pretty down afterward. I wonder why... I was just telling him I had 

high expectations of him. Anyway, our preliminary training and Q&A 

simulation were perfect. 

Roland was absent today, as were Emile, Belle, and Layette, but I told 

Mariel that Sir Roland was surely watching over her from afar, and 

she nodded with a determined look. 

...I mean, Roland wasn’t dead or anything, but Mariel wasn’t familiar 

with Japanese phrases, so she probably interpreted it as him 

watching over her in a general sense. 

And so, we arrived at the royal palace! We passed right through the 

front gates, thanks to the presence of the marquis and his family 

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crest on the carriage. Once we got out of the carriage, the marquis 

led us into the room where we were to wait for an audience. 

There were a few other guests there before us, and it seemed that 

we were the last to be seen. I figured he would want to get through 

the others quickly and use the rest of the time for Mariel. 

Francette was dressed like a maid today, matching my look, and the 

divine sword Exgram was inside my Item Box. It wasn’t as if we could 

bring an armed guard in to see the king. Though, I would only need 

one second to pull the sword out of my Item Box and pass it to 

Francette. I doubted any situation would really change much within 

that one second. 

... Hey, Fran. You’re a maid right now, so stop looking around like 

you’re ready to kill any threat! 

And so, once the others were done with their audiences, it was 

Mariel’s turn. Mariel and the count walked ahead in a line, and we 

followed shortly after, looking down so as to avoid staring directly at 

the king’s face. But I’d been told this event was just for exchanging 

brief statements, and the real discussions would take place in 

another room. 

...I guess that was to be expected. There was no way we could enjoy 

a hearty conversation with one knee on the ground while talking to a 

man leaning back in his fancy chair atop his platform, after all. 

Some time later, we moved to a relatively smaller room, one that 

wasn’t used for super-official discussions, and had our first real 

meeting; the others had mostly been cookie-cutter exchanges of 

pleasantries. 

We were led into the room first, and after we stood there for some 

time, the king and several others who seemed to be his ministers and 

such also entered. We had entered the room in the opposite order 

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from before, but that wasn’t surprising. It wasn’t like we could make 

the king wait for us. 

“Welcome...” 

He began to say something once seated, then trailed off when he 

looked over in our direction...or rather, when he looked at Francette 

and me standing behind Mariel and the count. 

Yeah, he probably found it weird to find some seemingly unrelated 

people here. Of course he would. It was extremely unusual for a 

maid to attend a meeting like this. Normally, someone of such a low 

rank would stay in the waiting room. 

Of course, the guards that guided us here had tried to lead me and 

Francette to another room at first, but Mariel insisted that we stay 

with her. When the guards argued that they couldn’t agree to that, 

she turned on her heel and started to leave. The guards stopped her 

in a fluster, and she told them to report to the king that the guards 

had made her leave. 

To be told that you’re going to be held personally responsible is 

probably one’s worst nightmare for anyone working at a public-

facing job like this... 

After Mariel had made her declaration right in the guard’s face, he 

had glanced at his colleague...but the other guard stood several 

meters away, pretending he hadn’t heard anything. It wasn’t as if 

they could go to the king or minister to ask where they should take 

the maids. And if he was to ask his superior, he would just be told to 

figure it out himself. 

...Because he didn’t want to take responsibility for it either. Their 

superior could just claim his men did it without running it by him to 

avoid being held accountable, after all. He might be criticized a bit 

for not training his men well enough, but it was far better than taking 

the entirety of the blame on himself. 

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And what would happen if word reached the king that someone had 

decided to turn away the beloved child of the Goddess...? Yeah, he’d 

have quite the happy future waiting for him. 

So, in the end, the flustered guard ended up deciding to lead us into 

the room as if nothing had happened. He let us in so naturally that 

the other guard waiting in front of the room ignored us, too. And 

since the king had no idea any of this had happened, it seemed he 

figured there was some sort of reason we were here that the 

coordinators were already aware of, and therefore decided not to 

think about it too much. 

Of course he did. Who would even imagine that a little noble girl 

would force the royal guards to let her maids into a meeting with the 

king?! In any case, the count and Mariel were motioned to take a 

seat, so they each sat down. 

Francette and I stood behind Mariel, of course. Francette was 

probably thinking about how it would take a moment longer to draw 

her sword and cut down an opponent from a seated position. 

...No, we aren’t cutting the king down! We’d be wanted 

criminals... 

The sword was in my Item Box, anyway. 

“...What happened to your parents and your brother was truly tragic. 

They were great aristocrats, and such wonderful people...” 

The king obviously didn’t mean it, since Count Maslias had told us 

that the king had barely ever interacted with the late Viscount 

Raphael. They’d probably seen each other when Viscount Raphael 

first took over as head of the household and during important 

ceremonies, but it was questionable that the king even remembered 

the faces of the lower nobles. That said, Mariel surely didn’t mind 

receiving those comments, even if she knew they were just flattery. 

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Mariel lowered her head quietly. They exchanged pleasantries for 

some time, then the king finally moved on to the main topic. 

“Though you may be a young woman, your resolve to succeed your 

father, and to protect your domain and its people, is highly 

commendable... But is it not too heavy a burden for your shoulders? 

I’d like to propose an idea. What do you say to me becoming your 

caretaker and protecting you from the rabble who mean you harm?” 

Here we go... 

But House Raphael, along with their parent household of House 

Maslias, were under the faction led by Marquis Cedric, which was 

separate from the royal family and the temple, more akin to a 

merchant faction. 

...In other words, the king was trying to headhunt her right in front of 

the leader of the faction that House Raphael belonged to. Maybe he 

figured that Mariel was an innocent young girl who wouldn’t 

question the authority of a king, and that she would leap at the 

opportunity to have such a powerful figure at her back. But we had 

expected this would happen. 

Mariel replied, “I am incredibly grateful for your kind words, Your 

Majesty. ...However, I must humbly decline your offer. Count 

Maslias, whose household has been the parent house of House 

Raphael for generations, is already my caretaker...” 

It was the obvious response. Mariel didn’t owe Marquis Cedric 

anything, but there was no way she could have betrayed Count 

Maslias. The king didn’t know much about the relationship between 

Mariel and Count Maslias, but maybe he was aware that she 

wouldn’t turn her back on her parent house or faction so easily. The 

king, therefore, followed up with his next attack without hesitation. 

“So, what do you say to marrying my son?” 

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...He wasn’t even listening to Mariel’s response... In fact, the king 

intended to ignore her intentions and push his own agenda through 

by force. He was looking down on her as nothing but a lower-class 

noble, and he was completely ignoring Cedric, who was a marquis, 

albeit a minor one. 

“Your Majesty, Viscountess Raphael has just recently lost her family, 

and...” 

Even though it was the king he was speaking to, Marquis Cedric 

couldn’t let such pushy and thoughtless behavior pass. However, 

when he chimed in, the king simply pretended the marquis didn’t 

even exist. The king tried to go on, but... 

“Your Majesty, I do believe your sons are the crown prince, who is 

forty-eight, and his brother, the second prince, who is forty-five? And 

as far as I’m aware, they are both married already... Is this an 

invitation to be a mistress, perhaps?” Mariel asked with a smile... But 

her smile didn’t reach her eyes. 

Yes, of course we had already done some digging into the king’s 

relatives. I mean, a “prince” could be middle-aged, or even an old 

man if the king had lived long enough. It wasn’t as if every prince was 

young and handsome. It stands to reason that some of them are bald 

guys with beer bellies... 

Then I noticed Mariel’s right pointer finger bending as if tugging on 

an invisible string. 

Whoa, she’s mad! I think I can see a vein popping in her temple... 

So, I guess we’re doing this? 

No, I didn’t think explosions would be a good idea when dealing with 

the king. It could cause a coup d’état or something... 

“This is a great offer, is it not? This way, you will be a member of the 

royal family and...” 

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Pang! 

“Gaaah!” 

The king lurched forward in pain, his minister and guard staring at 

him, frozen and speechless... 

I mean, of course they’d react that way. A metal basin had just 

landed on the king’s head out of nowhere... 

We were indoors, so there was nothing but the ceiling above us. Just 

empty air. There was no way such a thing could have come falling 

down. That is, unless a goddess was involved... 

Of course, I made sure to be very careful dropping this metal basin. 

They tended to be pretty hard and heavy. In those comedy sketches 

from way back when, the metal basins were made of aluminum or 

softer material, the person who was getting hit by them wore special 

wigs with a thin layer of metal in them, and intricate calculations 

were done when dropping them to ensure the angle would be just 

right, so there were all sorts of precautions in place. And then there’s 

Celes, who just dropped that wooden bucket without putting much 

thought into it... 

Yeah, I’m talking about that time when Layette was kidnapped! 

So anyway, since we were dealing with an old man here, I made sure 

to use a metal basin made of super-thin aluminum, one that couldn’t 

be used for its intended purpose due to its light weight and softness. 

There were a few drops of potion inside, which allowed me to 

conjure it as a “container.” 

Its appearance and the sound of its impact were pretty noticeable, 

but it shouldn’t have hurt too much. 

“Wha...” 

The king stood there dumbfounded, staring at the metal basin as it 

clattered around on the ground. 

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Then... 

“I-It disappeared!!!” 

Yeah, I put it away into my Item Box. I didn’t want it to become a 

target of their worship as the Holy Basin or something. 

“...” 

Then, after some time had passed in silence, Mariel unleashed her 

special move, the one that she had rehearsed so many times. 

“O Goddess, please wait a little while longer before choosing to 

destroy the royal palace after murdering the royal family and its 

ministers...” Mariel said, clasping her hands together and looking up 

at a thirty-degree angle into the sky as she uttered the prayer. 

It was the same move she’d pulled at the count’s place. 

Then... 

“Gyaaaaaa!!!” 

Within the chaos, I glanced over to Marquis Cedric to see a serene 

smile upon his face. It seemed he had come to a realization... Or 

maybe it was the expression of a man who had simply given up, or 

decided to stop thinking... 

But the chaos settled as abruptly as it had come, and the king and his 

ministers stood from their chairs and lowered their heads. I thought 

they might even end up rubbing their noses on the ground, but guess 

not... 

“I-I apologize. Forgive my discourtesy... A-And, please, quell the 

Goddess’s wrath on our behalf!” 

It was unheard of for the king to lower his head to a mere 

viscountess, and an underage girl no less, but he was seeking 

forgiveness not from Mariel, but from the goddess at her back. So 

that was completely fine, then. 

Page | 163  

“Then you must never bring up talk of marriage before me ever 

again. You must never meddle in my affairs or say anything about me 

to my parent house or anyone else. And you must never get involved 

with House Raphael for any reason...oh, that is, unless it’s about 

providing support, monetary or otherwise, upgrading my title, or 

other such beneficial topics...” 

Whoa, Mariel just threw some off-script lines in there just now! She’s 

got quite the nerve for someone with such a cute face... 

As for the king, he nodded repeatedly like a broken toy, without even 

thinking of denying her... 

All right, mission complete! 

 

Some inoffensive conversation went on for some time after, then we 

dispersed. 

The king and his men were frozen in fear at the idea that it could all 

be over with one poorly chosen comment. The tables had turned so 

drastically that it was hard to tell which side was the little girl’s. 

The worst part was the impish smile on Mariel’s face as she made 

politically risque comments to provoke the king, knowing full well 

what was going on in his mind. 

...You’re scaring me here! 

And so, the day ended without issue. Tomorrow was going to be the 

main event. 

No, to Mariel, yesterday was the preliminary skirmish, today was the 

main event, and everything from tomorrow onward was nothing 

more than finishing up some unsettled business. But providing 

support for Mariel was nothing but a side mission for us. Our main 

objective was something else... 

Page | 164  

Yes, we were here to flush out the ones who had gone after Layette. 

And tomorrow, we were leaving Count Maslias’s manor to stay at a 

fancy inn so we could do our own thing. 

Now that Mariel had finished her round of greetings, led by Marquis 

Cedric, she would meet with other noble houses regardless of faction 

and get connected with the merchant houses in her capacity as the 

head of House Raphael rather than as the beloved child of the 

Goddess. It was too much to ask of the other parties to come by for 

those meetings while we were staying at Count Maslias’s place, so 

we decided to move out. 

And of course, they all came to visit. 

Aristocrats from Mariel’s faction. Aristocrats from other factions. 

Politicians. High-ranking military officers. Merchants. Priests. 

Speculators and swindlers. And people who seemed like normal 

people in public, but were actually the bosses of criminal 

organizations... 

I had already expected that things would quickly get out of hand with 

influential people brute-forcing their way to arrange meetings as 

soon as we moved to the inn. That was why we stayed at Count 

Maslias’s place, but surely word of the incidents at Count What’s-His-

Name’s manor and at the royal palace had already spread. I had 

already informed various groups of the conditions and procedures 

for meeting with Mariel, so I had already narrowed down the 

selection of people hoping to see her. As such, I figured things 

wouldn’t get too chaotic. 

Those who had heard about “the Goddess’s frustration” probably 

wouldn’t say anything that crossed any lines, and those who were 

devout or already well-informed would know to watch their tongues. 

But anyone who assumed Mariel was just a little girl taking 

advantage of sheer coincidence, or some average girl who had just so 

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happened to be saved by the Goddess, or a naive child who could be 

taken advantage of with a little smooth talking...well, they might try 

making a move again. And that noble who tried to fake a crisis just to 

swoop in to the rescue would probably come, too. 

And more importantly... I was almost certain that whoever had 

ordered the attack on Layette would contact us again. That was why, 

for us, this was the “main event”... 

 

“Thank you for everything. I will be sure to repay your kindness one 

day...” 

With that, Mariel and the rest of us left Count Maslias’s manor. The 

count saw us off with a smile. 

Even though he was spooked by the Mysterious Explosion at the 

Count’s House Incident and the Mysterious Metal Basin at the Royal 

Palace Incident that he heard about from Marquis Cedric, he seemed 

to understand that Mariel herself was just an ordinary girl and that 

nothing bad would happen as long as you didn’t try to force her to 

do something against her will. He had acted a bit awkward around 

Mariel for a bit, but he was now back to his usual grandfatherly 

demeanor. 

Speaking of which, Marquis Cedric had maintained his serene 

expression after leaving the royal palace, as if he had been rid of a 

spirit possessing him. It seemed that he had returned to the 

relatively humble and gentle old man he was before, after giving up 

on his ambition of using Mariel to rise up in the world. 

Word about the incident at the royal palace probably wouldn’t 

spread too much, but the mysterious explosion at the count’s house 

had to be known among the nobles within the faction at the very 

least. Some of them might try to ask for favors just because they 

Page | 166  

were in the same faction as Mariel, but I doubted they’d try to get 

too aggressive. 

As for the rest of the nobles, Mariel could work with those who 

would be useful to her and reject any who weren’t. That was all up to 

Viscountess Mariel von Raphael, the head of House Raphael. 

Our booking at the inn had been arranged by Count Maslias. It was a 

suite of five rooms, including a drawing room where we could hold 

meetings, so it suited our needs nicely. Two of the rooms were 

bedrooms; one of them was for the mistress and the other was for 

servants. Each bedroom came with four beds. 

Mariel, Layette, Francette, Belle, and I were staying in the mistress’s 

room. Roland, Emile, and the two male servants from House Raphael 

were staying in the other. The female-only room was a bit over 

capacity, but Layette was sleeping in my bed, so it wasn’t really a 

huge issue. 

We had to split the guys and girls, since there was no way Francette 

would stay apart from me while in foreign territory, and there was 

no way I was gonna do without Layette... That left no other option. 

The rest of the servants were in other, cheaper rooms. It may have 

been a fancy inn, but there were still rooms for servants and guards, 

too. 

We moved to the inn, rested, and had some meetings in the 

morning, then had some brunch and a siesta to prepare for the 

upcoming afternoon battle. They say you can’t fight on an empty 

stomach, and that you should rest after a meal no matter what. 

There is meaning to any saying that has been passed down from 

olden times. You can’t go wrong if you follow one. 

I took a nice long rest after the meal, but since we had taken brunch 

pretty early, Mariel’s meetings with the guests started first thing in 

the afternoon. The staff at the inn were already aware that we would 

Page | 167  

be having many guests, since Count Maslias had made sure this was 

communicated upon booking the rooms. Since this was a high-end 

inn, many influential and famous people visited often, so they were 

used to this sort of thing. That was why they had a suite like ours in 

the first place. 

According to the count, the inn’s staff members had said that it was 

an honor to have the child of the Goddess stay at our inn and that 

we shouldn’t hesitate to ask for anything, so they would surely side 

with us if some sort of argument broke out with a visitor. Even if that 

visitor was someone of high status. 

Though, it was only natural for the inn to protect their paying guests, 

unless they were criminals or something. What kind of high-end inn 

would sell out their guests in the face of authority? And if they did 

anything like that to Mariel, I’d make sure they regretted it. 

Anyway, our meetings with the guests had begun... 

The first ones to pass through seemed to be from a noble family. 

Apparently, they had been in line since dawn. We had given out a 

prior notice that Mariel would be seeing visitors here from the 

afternoon onward. Some of the servants had been staying at this inn 

since arriving from the capital, so we probably could have started 

receiving them from early morning if we wanted, but... 

“Bet the servants and the inn’s staff weren’t too happy about that...” 

They were probably woken up from their sleep. Mariel had a forced 

smile on her face in reaction to my comment. 

Well, that was part of their job, and that was probably the whole 

reason why they were staying at this inn with us in the first place. 

Maybe we were lucky that there weren’t any people who had 

decided to wait here all night. I don’t think I could have handled it if a 

bunch of people stayed here overnight, chatting it up and screaming 

Page | 168  

with their friends to keep themselves entertained. Someone 

probably would have called the guards. 

“But if they lined up that long, they’re probably retainers rather than 

the aristocrats themselves.” 

Mariel was right; no aristocrat would bear such discomfort for so 

long. They probably had their retainer line up to deliver an invitation 

to their manor or some other message. Though, Mariel wasn’t going 

to take up an offer like that. 

Of course, we didn’t allow people to swap places with someone else 

after lining up to see us. If we permitted that, a bunch of people 

would have just hired stand-ins to line up in their place. Anyone like 

that had no right to see the child of the Goddess. We had spelled it 

out plainly on the notice, too. 

Inside the room, Mariel sat on the edge of an oval table with her 

retainers on either side. Roland was to their right, I was to their left, 

and Francette was to the left of me. This arrangement was the 

compromise Francette had suggested, so we could still protect 

Mariel while Francette could protect me. This way, even if the 

person sitting on the other side had a weapon, Francette and Roland 

could stop them for sure. This arrangement also allowed Mariel to 

see any signals given out by us, and by her retainers, who had done 

prior research on the capital’s inhabitants. 

Belle and Emile had Layette with them, and sat in chairs behind 

Mariel. They insisted on escorting me, too, and we couldn’t just leave 

Layette by herself in foreign territory, so this was the result. 

And the first one to enter the room was... 

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Baron Dorivell.” 

The old man was a baron, and although Mariel was new to her title, 

she was a viscountess. Besides, he was the one who had asked to see 

Mariel, so she was obviously the one in a higher position here. But 

Page | 169  

even then, it seemed hard to speak with such reverence to a girl that 

wasn’t even of age yet... 

Though, he was an aristocrat, so I’m sure he was able to put his 

personal feelings aside. There must have been times when he had 

spoken to a count who was younger than him, or even the son of a 

marquis. 

...Wait, it wasn’t his retainer who lined up after all?! The head of the 

noble house himself had been waiting here since before dawn! That 

was actually pretty impressive. 

But why had he gone through all that to speak with Mariel..? 

“Much like House Raphael, House Dorivell was saved by the 

Goddess. As someone who received the grace of the Goddess, I 

humbly offer you my full support. Please don’t hesitate to call for my 

aid, should you ever need it.” 

Huh? Wait a minute... 

“I will never forget the day you saved my oldest son Challotte with 

the Goddess’s medicine. My household will pass down the word for 

generations to come, and I vow that we will rally to the Goddess’s 

call as her vanguard to the very end. My entire family line shall 

devote ourselves to you...” 

...Wait, why did he just turn slightly to face me instead of Mariel? I 

had worn a mask back then, so he shouldn’t know what my face 

looks like... But those words were obviously not meant for Mariel. 

That meant... 

  

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I gave him the faintest of nods. It was so slight that it seemed like my 

head just so happened to move a little bit unless you were paying 

attention. 

The baron’s face then broke out into a wide smile, then he bowed 

deeply...directly toward me. 

He knows... 

Oh well! 

“If Lady Mariel is ever in danger, please do come to her aid...” I said, 

playing the part of a ladies’ maid...though no ladies’ maid would dare 

butt into a conversation between her mistress and another 

aristocrat. 

The baron nodded deeply again, then spoke to Mariel for a bit about 

practical matters before he left. 

“Lady Kaoru, was that...” Mariel began to ask. She had addressed me 

as “Lady Kaoru,” but since there was no one around besides her own 

retainers and servants, I let it slide. 

“I cured his oldest son when he was ill. That’s all.” 

“...” 

The members of the Raphael household all looked at me with 

exasperation. 

What did I say? 

In any case, it was time for the next guest. 

“I am Eridel of the Griffon Trading Company. It’s a pleasure to meet 

you!” 

“Ah...” 

“Huh? Ah...” 

Page | 172  

Our eyes met, and we both froze. Yes, we knew each other. It was 

one of the four merchants from the capital who had gone to 

Convenience Store Belle to try to get ahead of his colleagues. 

“Why are you here...?” 

Don’t ask me... 

“I was hired by the viscountess to accompany her on her expedition 

to the capital. What of it?” 

It wasn’t as if this guy had authority over me, so I didn’t care to be 

polite. 

“...” 

Eridel made an awkward expression, but it seemed he couldn’t think 

of anything to say and ignored me to speak to Mariel. 

“Thank you very much for your time today. We of the Griffon Trading 

Company...” 

But two of her retainers and I were already sending hand signals. 

“Untrustworthy.” 

“Untrustworthy.” 

“Untrustworthy.” 

Yup, my assessment matched with that of the two retainers. 

Mariel nodded slightly, so she likely wouldn’t promise this guy 

anything. 

“...Good day, then...” 

A few minutes later, Mariel had ignored all requests from Eridel and 

ended the meeting as quickly as possible, sending him off on his way 

with her magic spell that actually meant “Get the hell out of here 

already.” 

Page | 173  

Eridel looked like he still wanted to talk, but it seemed he wasn’t 

shameless enough to hang in there after being told so blatantly that 

the meeting was over. But maybe it had something to do with 

Francette being there, adorned in her knight’s gear instead of her 

maid outfit, and lightly touching the hilt of her sword. 

“Okay, next visitor!” 

Then a middle-aged man dressed like a merchant entered the room. 

“Ah.” 

“Ah.” 

...Right, the four merchants from back then were the heads of big-

time merchant groups. It made sense that the others would take the 

same course of action as Eridel had. I mean, he had taken a long 

journey to visit the child of the Goddess, so there was no way he 

wouldn’t try to see her when she had come to him... Of course. 

Afterward, we went through the rest of the four merchants, along 

with various other merchants and aristocrats. I mean, it wasn’t as if 

all of those merchants were bad guys. Other than the one who tried 

to get ahead of the others and the one who had gotten violent, they 

were normal, mild-mannered but driven people who ventured out 

through danger to try to seize a chance to make some profit. And 

their information-gathering was top-notch, too. 

So, Mariel talked to those two normally. Her two retainers also 

signaled that the two decent merchants were fine. 

Mariel dealt with some visitors off-handedly, while making favorable 

connections and deals to change goods produced from each other’s 

domains. As she interacted with aristocrats, merchants, and the 

priests that were added to the mix for some reason, “he” appeared. 

Yes, the phony aristocrat who had stirred up fake trouble to paint 

himself as the hero. He wasn’t from the same faction as House 

Page | 174  

Raphael, but a slightly bigger one. Supposedly, it had connections to 

the Temple of the Goddess... 

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Harold von Halarel. I have heard you are 

familiar with the Goddess, so why not connect with House Halarel, 

which has strong ties with the Temple of the Goddess, and receive 

her blessing together?” 

Of course, I had already flashed the signal meaning, “This is the guy!” 

And so... 

“Are you sure you don’t mean you have strong ties with bandits?” 

Mariel hits him with a super fast pitch straight down the middle! 

Well, making small talk with the likes of him would have been a 

waste of time, anyway. 

“Wha...” 

I wasn’t surprised to see his shock as the color drained from his face. 

“Wh-What sort of baseless... Where’s your proof?!” 

He became aggressive so suddenly, even though he was talking to a 

little girl... He seemed rather flustered. But Mariel didn’t seem to 

care. 

“Proof? I heard it directly from the Goddess herself. What other 

proof do you need? And it’s pointless trying to convince me of 

anything. After all, I already know the truth. You cannot fool me with 

your excuses, and your arguments will have no effect on me. I don’t 

seek anything from you, and nothing you say will convince me that 

the words of the Goddess are lies and your words are truth. 

Therefore, you are the one who made the bandits attack us. It’s not 

possible for you to change this fact. You must realize this, do you 

not?” 

There was nothing he could say in rebuttal to Mariel’s statements. 

There was no way Mariel would doubt me after I had directly told 

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her the culprit’s name, and the count was wasting his time trying to 

deny it. Besides, how could he deny the words of the Goddess when 

he was supposedly a supporter of the temple? Furthermore, Mariel 

had only pointed out that he was responsible for the bandit attack, 

and didn’t touch on anything about the mounted soldiers he had 

prepared to “save” us from the bandits. So, as it was, it sounded as if 

the count had tried to orchestrate an actual attack on us. 

But it wasn’t as if he could say that he actually had soldiers ready to 

help us or something like that. That would have been equivalent to a 

confession that he’d set up the bandit attack. Though, if you ask me, 

admitting that he tried to set up the phony attack to get closer to 

Mariel but didn’t intend to harm her in the first place was way better 

than being seen as someone who had tried to arrange an actual 

attack on her. We already knew about the whole bandit incident, 

after all... 

The count was sweating pretty hard now. But hadn’t he already 

gotten reports from his soldiers that Mariel was protected by dogs 

and birds, the servants of the Goddess...? If so, wouldn’t it be natural 

to assume that the Eyes of the Goddess was still involved with 

Mariel? Why didn’t he think of that possibility? 

Could it be that he didn’t believe Mariel was loved by the Goddess as 

they said? Did he assume that she was a fake, but still tried to get in 

contact with her to use her anyway? That would make sense, since 

he wouldn’t have tried to deceive or challenge someone who was 

favored by the Goddess otherwise. 

Before, I thought that maybe he wasn’t so bad, considering he didn’t 

intend to actually hurt Mariel...but come to think of it, he was an 

aristocrat who was chums with bandits... 

Out! Yooou’re outta theeere! 

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Of course he was a scoundrel! He must have done all sorts of 

scummy things using those bandits! What was I thinking...? 

“I would understand if I had made a report and you were trying to 

talk your way out of it. But what good do you think your excuses will 

do when I know the truth? Now, if you don’t wish for me to expose 

your deeds to the others, leave at once!” 

It seemed the count just gave up upon seeing Mariel so clearly 

displeased, and he left without putting up any further argument. As 

for Mariel... 

“I told him to leave if he didn’t want me to expose him, but I never 

claimed I wouldn’t expose him if he left... That man left because he 

didn’t want me to expose him. That is all, and it has no effect on 

what I decide to do!” 

Mhm, looks like Mariel has fallen to the dark side... 

And after dealing with several other visitors... 

Twitch! 

Someone entered the room and reacted with surprise the moment 

he saw us. The surprise showed only for a moment, but in that 

moment his face had frozen up. I noticed that in that moment of 

frozen surprise, he was looking right at me. 

“I am Dobul, the head of the Banshee Trading Company. Regarding 

the beloved child of the Goddess, Viscountess Raphael...” 

Mariel dealt with this merchant lightly, as she had with many of the 

previous visitors. 

He was more persistent than any of the others, and Mariel couldn’t 

hide her displeasure in the end as she sent him home. I then told her, 

“Gimme a minute!” and leaped out of another door. 

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After that, I went outside through a side exit and raised my right 

hand... Then the one who had been waiting by this exit came flying 

right away... Literally. 

I ran around the side of the inn and pointed at a certain man... It was 

the merchant from earlier, walking out of the front door and looking 

rather angry and frustrated. 

Follow him! 

Got it! 

“It” affirmed my order, then flew into the sky in wide, circular 

motions. ...Of course, “it” was a member of the bird troops that 

served House Raphael. 

I mean, I knew the merchant guy’s name and the name of his 

business, but instead of using that information to find the location of 

his shop and residence, it was much easier to follow him. Someone 

might alert him or a guard if a stranger started snooping around... 

So, for now, I decided to try to find out where this guy lived without 

asking for information from anyone else. I didn’t bother putting on a 

disguise. It had been four years since I became known as the Angel of 

the Goddess and Celes descended upon the peace conference. I’m 

pretty sure there were a lot of people who had seen me or taken 

drawings of me to other countries since then. So, it wasn’t too crazy 

to imagine that someone recognized me here, a country so far from 

the Kingdom of Balmore. 

And if he decided not to say anything, pretending not to recognize 

me even though he clearly did... That made him very suspicious. 

“I apologize for the wait!” 

I quickly returned to the room and got back to the meetings. There 

were still many more visitors to see. And so, we got right back to it... 

Twitch! Twitch! Twitch, twitch! 

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“...Huh?” 

One after another, I started seeing more visitors react to seeing me 

by freezing for a moment, then acting as if nothing had happened. 

What is going on? 

Just then, Roland seemed to notice me thinking hard and muttered, 

“...Are you sure they’re not just getting scared by the look in your 

eyes?” 

Damn it!!! 

I made sure everyone who reacted to seeing me was tailed after they 

left. I had prepared plenty of troops for this purpose just in case. 

Hahaha... 

Actually, all of the bird troops had come with us and were just 

chilling in trees and roofs around here, anyway. They had come all 

the way here with us, so they weren’t gonna pass up a chance to do 

something interesting or to earn special rewards. 

But really, how can they be so smart?! You had a hand in this, 

didn’t you, Celes?! Whatever you did to make them smarter, if you 

could give me some of that... No, no, I can’t think about that! 

Surely, there would be some sort of downside to going through such 

a thing. No, no, no, I wouldn’t be me anymore. I would be a different 

person entirely. If I made my eyes cute and my breasts bigger using 

potions, that wouldn’t be me anymore... 

Hey, shut up! 

“Do you think it’s one of them, Kaoru?” 

“Hnn...” 

All I could do was groan in response to Francette’s question. 

I had Emile and Belle follow the birds to check the homes of each of 

the visitors who had reacted upon seeing me, but none of them were 

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suspicious. Nothing much had happened since the meeting. If any of 

them knew about me, they surely would have made some sort of 

move by now... That must have meant the person I was looking for 

wasn’t among Mariel’s visitors this time. 

It seemed it wasn’t going to go so easily... But whoever it was had 

sent multiple people from the capital, so they were at least 

somewhat persistent. 

They didn’t try to make an aggressive move to get in contact with 

Mariel, who was an aristocrat and hard to get to, and they didn’t try 

to make contact with me, even though I was living as a normal 

commoner. Instead, they had taken the extreme route of taking a 

hostage. It was hard to believe they would pass up such a perfect 

opportunity... 

Ah. 

“Was that everyone who asked to see Mariel?” I asked Mariel’s 

retainer, the one who managed the appointments. 

“No, we accepted all meetings from noble houses, whether it was 

with the head of the house or their retainer in their stead. However, 

with the merchants, we turned down anyone who wasn’t the head of 

the company themselves, or had a bad reputation, attitude, or 

manners. We also only accepted large trading companies, and turned 

down any smaller company unless they had an exceedingly good 

reputation... We would have had far too big of a list otherwise.” 

Ah, that made sense. Without rules like that, everyone would have 

made an appointment for the sake of it. We should have asked for a 

reservation fee. Not only would we have narrowed down the 

numbers, but we could have made some good money. 

Come to think of it, even though all aristocratic types were let 

through, Mariel had acted coldly when it had been a retainer coming 

in instead of the aristocrat in question. It was only natural for her to 

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react that way. If they thought sending a representative in their 

stead was good enough for this girl, of course they’d get the 

appropriate treatment back. 

Maybe they had just been trying to send a retainer to invite Mariel to 

a dinner or a party, but she wasn’t going to accept invitations from 

strangers to waste half of her day with them. And she couldn’t bring 

guards or any of us to a dinner or a party, so she’d be in enemy 

territory all by herself. I couldn’t let her go to such an event, not that 

Mariel herself had any intention of agreeing to something like that in 

the first place. 

So, everyone who extended invitations by deliberately sending their 

retainers had bombed completely. It was pointless to negotiate with 

someone who wasn’t even the head of the house, so Mariel just 

went through the pleasantries without talking about anything too 

specific, turned down all invitations, and had them leave pretty 

quickly. 

The retainers had turned pale, desperately trying to salvage the 

conversation, but she had no obligation to keep it going. It didn’t 

matter to her what rank the retainer’s master was. It was impossible 

to accept invitations from literally every high-ranking noble, and she 

was simply turning down their invitations because her schedule 

didn’t line up, so there was no one who could criticize her etiquette, 

either. 

If they tried to make any accusations, the higher-ranking nobles from 

her faction should protect her. Especially considering she was a 

young and single young woman who was the head of a noble house, 

and the beloved child of the Goddess, the entire faction would have 

lent their collective strength to guard her. That was what factions 

were for in the first place, so they’d better... 

So, there were no issues there. I was pretty sure of it. 

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Now, the problem was the merchants who hadn’t gotten an 

appointment. If they wanted to get in contact with me or Mariel, 

they could have just used conventional means, assuming they were 

aristocrats or big-time merchants. Just like those four merchants 

from before. But instead, they went straight after someone who was 

connected to me. 

That meant I was dealing with “those types.” 

Why didn’t I realize it until now...? 

“Do you have a list of people who were turned down?” 

“Yes, of course. Such lists do tend to come in handy later on...” 

Yeah, now that’s a capable retainer. 

  

  

Chapter 40: Bishop 

Francette and I left the inn together and wandered around the 

capital. I wasn’t wearing my maid outfit, but clothes that made me 

look somewhat wealthy. Francette was in her maid-looking outfit 

because it was easy to move around in rather than her knight’s 

equipment, and carried her sword concealed in a tube-shaped 

container. 

I didn’t bother changing my hair color with potions or putting tape 

under my eyes to alter my appearance. I hadn’t worn any disguises 

before now; if I suddenly started, the people from House Raphael 

might have let it slide, but the others would have found it odd. I had 

been hanging around Mariel for a while, so a lot of people probably 

recognized my face and hair color by now. 

And the number one reason I wasn’t wearing a disguise was because 

I wanted to settle this whole business already. We had already 

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gotten Mariel’s business out of the way, but Convenience Store Belle 

was still closed, and we didn’t have access to fresh seafood like we 

did in that city. 

...I mean, I did have a bunch of seafood in my Item Box, but it just 

wasn’t the same. Besides, I was supposed to be Mariel’s maid, so we 

couldn’t use the inn’s kitchen and start cooking dishes just for us. 

So, that’s why I wanted to get this all over with. Anyway, this was 

meant to be bait. Bait to bring out those who wanted to make an 

aggressive move against me, rather than Mariel... 

If they were up to something, they’d probably have someone 

watching the entrance to the inn. That way, if they caught Mariel 

stepping out, they could make contact with her and act like it was 

just a coincidence. And if her servants stepped out, they could make 

contact and try to get information from them via bribes or threats. 

Of course, whoever was behind it would send one of their thugs in 

their place, to make sure their own name wasn’t revealed. 

That was why I dangled this bait out for whoever was on lookout. 

They would surely report that Mariel’s maid was dressed in a most 

un-maidly fashion, and accompanied by a maid of her own. Anyone 

who knew me...or rather, “the Angel of Balmore,” would definitely 

take the bait. 

I had been thinking just that when someone approached me. 

“Pardon me, may I speak to you for a moment?” 

The person who spoke to me had to be around fifty or so. He was an 

overweight man and seemed far from the fighting type. He had a 

mild-mannered demeanor and looked most like the retired head of a 

merchant house, probably safely married. 

But of course, I didn’t let down my guard based on his appearance. 

Swindlers tend to seem honest, after all. 

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Francette was using her right hand to reach into the tube she was 

carrying... Yes, she was gripping the hilt of the sword concealed 

inside. I had no doubt that if the man suddenly pulled a blade out of 

his chest pocket, she would cut off both of his arms before he got it 

anywhere near me. 

Francette knew this, so she wasn’t particularly nervous or anything, 

but it was possible that he had some trick up his sleeve... He could 

have had a needle or poison mist concealed in his mouth, or he 

might try to blow us up along with him with some explosives... There 

was a possibility that he had set up an ambush, too, so we couldn’t 

let our guards down. 

“You are?” 

“My name is Goscal. I have been sent here at Bishop Bruce’s request 

to act as a mediator with the Angel. I say ‘mediator,’ of course, but 

my role is simply to bring you Bishop Bruce for your meeting...” 

Unexpectedly, I had been approached by the Temple of the Goddess 

rather than a merchant... But if he was making contact with me 

instead of Mariel, he either knew who I was or he wanted to gain 

favor with one of House Raphael’s servants... Wait, what am I, 

stupid? This guy just called me “the Angel”... I need to get it 

together... 

Well, it made sense that the temple would have more accurate 

information about the incident at Balmore than a merchant would. 

They were one of the involved parties, after all. They must have been 

directly contacted by the Temple of the Goddess in the Kingdom of 

Balmore. Their intel had to be far more accurate, considering 

merchants had to piece together vague rumors they got by word of 

mouth. Likewise, the royal palace seemed to be putting in an effort 

to gather accurate information, but the “accurate information” 

they’d been getting mainly consisted of rumors or official 

Page | 184  

announcements that had been released by Balmore’s royal palace, 

so their info was heavily manipulated... 

So, anyway. 

“Please lead the way, then.” 

Yep, of course I was gonna take the sketchy invitation. That was the 

whole point of putting out the bait... 

 

“Thank you very much for coming. My name is Bruce, and I am a 

bishop.” 

The fat man Goscal led us to an inn that was pretty fancy, albeit a bit 

lower in status than the one we were staying at. I figured if a woman 

screamed in an inn of this level, it was highly unlikely to be ignored, 

regardless of whether or not that woman was a guest with a room 

here. 

Though, if something was to happen, it would probably be them 

crying for help, not me. Francette could deal with any ambush with 

her superior reflexes, and I could use my Item Box and potion-

creating abilities as long as I was given the time to act, so there was 

nothing we couldn’t handle... Probably. 

“I’m Kaoru. She’s a maid... So, what business do you have with me?” 

The fact that Francette and Roland were traveling with me had never 

been made public. Well, I guess the fact that I had left on a journey 

had never been made public, either. In any case, I couldn’t mention 

Fearsome Fran here, considering her name was the second most 

well-known in Balmore, next to the name of the kingdom itself. 

Me? I was known as the Angel, and the name “Kaoru” was far less 

known than Francette’s. It wasn’t like that bothered me or 

anything... No, really! 

Page | 185  

Anyway, I decided to introduce Francette as a normal maid who 

happened to be holding a dubious, tube-shaped object, and I only 

gave him my own name. This Bishop Bruce guy was after me, with no 

interest in some random maid, so this was no problem. 

Just who was this bishop, and what was he after...? 

“Pardon me for getting straight to the main topic. To tell you the 

truth, I am not from this country. I’ve come from the Kingdom of 

Brancott, and I am here on behalf of the royal palace there.” 

Wha... 

Brancott, the kingdom where that stalker crown prince was from... 

The temple there was always clashing with their royal palace for 

power, just like this country and the Kingdom of Balmore, so there 

shouldn’t have been such a thing as a priest working for the royal 

palace... 

But I heard that the state of the Temple of the Goddess in each 

country had changed since the peace conference with Celes, so it 

wouldn’t be surprising if the system wasn’t how it used to be... I 

wanted nothing to do with this if it was related to that crown prince, 

but that didn’t seem to be the case. 

But I was surprised this guy had followed me this far. That stalker 

prince had long since given up, after all... So, what did he want? 

“Well, regarding the king’s heir, many have voiced their opinion that 

the wise Prince Ghislain is more deserving of the throne than your 

enemy, Prince Fernand. However, there are fools who support the 

useless and impudent Prince Fernand, spurring on dissidents, and we 

worry for the future of the kingdom...” 

Oh, it was just some internal trouble... It might have been a big deal 

to those involved, but it didn’t mean anything to anyone else. No 

matter who became king, it didn’t really change things for farmers or 

foreigners... That is, unless that king was an absolute fool. 

Page | 186  

This had nothing to do with me, sure but there was one thing that 

was annoying me. It seemed that I was being used as one of the 

reasons for this internal struggle. 

True, that stalker prince had caused a lot of trouble for me. But it 

had been years since then, and according to the rumors, he was 

relatively respectable when it came to other matters, and it seemed 

like he wasn’t that bad of a choice to be the next king. 

Comparatively, the second prince left something to be desired in 

terms of intelligence and personality. You could say he was the ideal 

target for disloyal retainers to take advantage of. 

So, it seemed like they didn’t want the prince using my name to take 

the throne... And yet, it looked like they assumed I’d side with the 

second prince, and wanted to use me because of what happened at 

the party at the royal palace and the way I had avoided the stalker 

since... 

When I was in Balmore’s royal capital, the second prince’s people 

had kept trying to approach me, but I had turned them all down. In 

fact, I had told them the “Kaoru” who caused that incident at the 

party at Brancott’s royal palace and the “Kaoru” known as the Angel 

of Balmore were two different people, Alfa and Mifa, so I didn’t like 

how they just ignored that and tried to take advantage of me, 

assuming the two Kaorus were one and the same. 

“And so, we would love for you to announce your official support for 

Prince Ghislain, Lady Angel...” 

I had been staying silent, so the Bishop Bruce guy kept blabbing on. 

Did he even realize that he had presumed to mix up Alfa and Mifa? 

Lying to other people was one thing, but why was he spewing this 

nonsense to the very person it concerned? 

Maybe he thought my explanation was a lie, or he didn’t have 

accurate information? Hmm... 

Page | 187  

Either way, there was only one answer. 

“I am not interested in the affairs of the human masses.” 

“Wha...” 

  

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Page | 189  

  

Yeah, I’ve always had a policy not to discuss politics, religion, favorite 

baseball teams, or ramen. Those conversations never turned out 

well. 

“Y-You...servant of the devil!!!” 

Huh? Why had he flip-flopped so quickly? He snapped way too easily, 

don’t you think? I was supposedly the messenger of the Goddess, 

right? Sure, he hadn’t gotten the reply he was hoping for, but he 

went directly from asking nicely to calling me a servant of the devil? 

That was a bit extreme. Something was fishy. It was far too 

unnatural. It was like that’s what he thought of me the entire time, 

and he’d accidentally let his thoughts slip out... 

Come to think of it, that reminded me... There were some people 

who called me that long ago... Yes, they were priests of the religious 

nation now lost, Rueda. 

“One of Rueda’s, huh...?” 

“H-How did you know?!” 

Wow, what an idiot... 

This guy was probably always on the deceiving side and had never 

experienced things the other way around. Not many would try to 

fool a priest in a world where the goddess actually existed, after all. 

“You fled from Rueda, and now you’re plotting to manipulate the 

idiot second son of Brancott. You never learn, do you...?” 

“Wh-Why, you...” 

The priest’s anger reached a boiling point as I scoffed at him. It 

seemed he never had an ounce of reverence for me in the first place. 

Either he only intended to use me in the first place, or maybe he was 

planning on tricking me somehow, or he was actually plotting to find 

Page | 190  

some opening to kill me so he wouldn’t have to worry about me 

anymore... 

“Whatever the case, diiiiiieeeeee!!!” 

Fwsh! 

Oh, so he was planning to kill me after all... 

Maybe he had just decided to go on a whim right now, but 

considering he had a knife hidden in his chest pocket, it was probably 

pre-planned. 

“Gyaaaaaa!!!” 

The priest screamed, eyes bulging, as he stared at the severed wrists 

where his hands used to be. The hands in question could be found on 

the floor, one of which was still gripping the knife. 

He was a total amateur; he had slowly pulled out a knife, pointed it 

at me, and charged. There was no way Francette would have let that 

pass without doing anything. 

“Wh-What’s the... Aaahhhhhh!!!” 

By the time the inn’s staff members came rushing in, Francette had 

already sheathed her sword and returned to being an ordinary maid 

holding a dubious-looking tube. 

“It appears this thug has been struck with divine judgment. A priest 

who threatened a servant of the child of the Goddess and attacked 

when the servant refused to obey has been captured. Report as such 

to the royal palace, Temple of the Goddess, and the child of the 

Goddess. Quickly!” 

“A-A-As you wish!” 

Good, it seemed the situation was under control with my preemptive 

move to make sure they wouldn’t cause a scene or try to have me 

arrested me. The priest was in no state to explain his side with all 

Page | 191  

that pain, fear, despair, and confusion anyway. The best he could 

hope to do was scream and roll around until someone came to pick 

him up. Now, I was curious to see just how good the police in this 

country were at interrogation (torture). 

Oh, and the fat person who had led us here was in the corner of the 

room, trembling on the floor. He was too scared of the look in 

Francette’s eyes to even think of running away. 

Good, Fran, you’ve mastered the Nagase-style Art of Glaring! 

 

“...And that’s what happened.” 

I had just finished explaining what happened to Mariel, Roland, the 

rest of our party, the royal guards from the palace, and the priests 

and paladins from the Temple of the Goddess. Then the royal guards 

and the priests started arguing about who was going to take the 

culprit into custody... 

I mean, I didn’t care who took him in as long as they told me the 

result of their interrogation. I’d instruct them through Mariel to 

make him blab about what he was plotting against the Angel, not just 

the child of the Goddess, so that should be covered, too. 

If I didn’t specifically tell them to do so, I probably wouldn’t find out 

about his plans to use the servant (me) to harm the child of the 

Goddess. After all, it was likely that their plot had targeted me rather 

than Mariel... 

It seemed their plan was to deceive and use me, and if that didn’t 

work, eliminate me. But I didn’t care about any of that. The question 

was whether or not they were the ones responsible for the attack on 

Layette. That was all I cared about right now. 

 

In the end, the royal palace’s people took the culprit into custody. I 

guess that was to be expected. The Temple of the Goddess had no 

Page | 192  

legal authority in this case, and this could have ended up becoming a 

huge deal, so it wasn’t something that could be left for the temple to 

handle. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the king himself had said he 

wanted his people to handle this investigation. 

I put the severed hands into my Item Box before the people from the 

temple and royal palace came by, and I used a potion to stop the 

hands from bleeding any further. 

I also told the culprit, “Don’t mention anything about me being the 

Angel. You will strictly refer to me as Mariel’s maid when you testify. 

If you are remorseful and confess everything, I may consider 

reattaching your hands,” so I figured things would probably work 

out. 

It wouldn’t be a big deal if he did end up blabbing about me, because 

I’d just move on to a new country. Just like that time I created a 

potion-dispensing mini Goddess statue and fled... 

Honestly, I wanted to question him myself, but with the inn’s staff 

and other patrons starting to gather around us and the fact that 

people from the royal palace and the Temple of the Goddess were 

likely to be here soon, it wasn’t really possible at the moment. What 

a shame... 

Well, I could just join the interrogation, what with my connection to 

the beloved child of the Goddess. I was a victim and directly involved 

in the incident, so if Mariel wished it, no one was going to stop me 

from attending the questioning of the one who meant her harm. If it 

came down to it, I could definitely get through by talking to the king 

directly. 

Yeah, this “beloved child of the Goddess” thing was pretty 

convenient. I mean, I could do the same by using the Angel’s name, 

but that would complicate things later on. The child of the Goddess 

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could just feign ignorance and get away with anything, but the Angel 

would be swarmed with all sorts of requests. 

Telling people that I wasn’t the Angel was no use, so I had partially 

given up on that already. Maybe it wasn’t catchy or clear enough, but 

Friend of the Goddess never did catch on... Damn it!  

 

It turned out I didn’t have to talk to the king after all. As a direct 

witness of the incident and the maidservant of Mariel, who was the 

target of the attack (or so we claimed), I was invited to the 

investigation along with Francette. This was strictly an investigation, 

and the real interrogation was to take place later in a room that was 

specifically for that purpose. I guess that wasn’t the type of thing you 

should show a lady... In my mind, I had decided it was an 

interrogation. It could have actually been torture, but for my own 

mental well-being... 

Anyway, I was surprised to find that the king himself was there. He 

probably wasn’t getting directly involved with the investigation, but 

he couldn’t just ignore the fact that the beloved child of the Goddess 

had been dragged into intrigue in his own country’s capital. If 

something went wrong, it could have incurred the wrath of the 

Goddess. Yes, from the infamous Celes. 

Of course he’d show up... 

As the investigator asked various questions, I chimed in and asked 

some questions of my own. The investigator probably didn’t like that, 

but he couldn’t ask the right questions without all of the context. I 

was the only one who could ask about the attack on Layette that 

happened in Count Maslias’s domain, or in other words, the city 

where Mariel’s villa and my shop were located, as well as the 

situation in Brancott and details about the Rueda survivors. Besides, 

he answered with a sense of urgency whenever I asked a question, 

so it made the investigation go rather smoothly. 

Page | 194  

And so, the king let out a sigh of relief to find out his kingdom wasn’t 

at fault, the investigator wondered what he was gonna do with the 

culprit, and we were deep in thought trying to figure out how to deal 

with this next... 

 

“Guess it’s about time for us to leave...” I said to everyone at the inn. 

There may have been things I had to do, but I didn’t need to be here 

at the capital for them. For now, the priority was to escort Mariel to 

her villa in Count Maslias’s domain or to her residence in her own 

domain. The villa was probably safer. Afterward, I would deal with 

the remnants of Rueda to make sure they wouldn’t try anything 

funny again. That was the only option I had. 

“What? Are we fleeing without doing anything?” Francette asked, as 

if shocked by how weak-spirited I was being. 

“...Think about it. This isn’t the enemy’s home base. It’s just their 

grunts here. Not to mention, we’ve already captured him to be dealt 

with. As such, we’re not running away. We’re pushing toward the 

enemy to attack!” 

“Ah...” Francette’s face broke into a smile. 

How badly do you want to fight?! 

According to the information that the priest had given us, after 

Rueda’s corrupt priests had fallen apart, some of them had gathered 

their funds and converted them into gold, jewelry, and expensive art 

pieces, then left the country through Balmore and moved into the 

Kingdom of Brancott. After that, they moved farther to the east and 

split between those who fled to another country on the main 

continent and those who put down roots in Brancott as a means of 

plotting their return. Some of them turned their assets into cash to 

make their way in the financial world, some of them gave up their 

ambitions to live a life of leisure in hiding...and some of them 

Page | 195  

planned to make a glorious return into the world of religion as a 

priest once again. 

The ones who had left to go east or gone into hiding were fine. 

Whatever they had done in the past, I wasn’t interested in doing 

anything to them. It wasn’t as if I was a citizen of Rueda or the police. 

But those who were striving for glory in Brancott in the world of 

religion or finance... They were gonna be an issue. 

If they had been honest and announced themselves as survivors of 

Rueda who had taken their money with them and escaped here, the 

marquis of the Rueda territories now within the kingdom of Balmore 

would have sent out a team to arrest them and seize their funds. 

Brancott wouldn’t want any trouble with the Kingdom of Balmore, or 

rather, the Goddess Celestine, so they would probably have handed 

them over without resistance. 

So naturally, these guys kept their origins a secret and made up some 

lies about being high-ranking priests from a far-away country or 

sages that had been living in isolation until that point. Normally, no 

one would take them seriously... 

Like I said, “normally.” The massive fortune they had taken out of 

Rueda was enough to overturn any sense of normalcy. 

One of the only two friends I had once told me the day after reading 

a manga that was purchased at a used book store... 

“The world is all about money, zura!” 

  

  

 

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Chapter 41: Going Home 

And so, we were quickly on our way back home. 

The leader of House Raphael’s faction, Marquis Cedric, the king, and 

the archbishop of the Temple of the Goddess all desperately tried to 

stop Mariel, but she responded saying that she didn’t feel at peace 

staying in the capital where her maid had been attacked so blatantly. 

The king and the temple (especially the temple) couldn’t say much to 

that, considering the attacker in question was a priest himself. 

Not that they would have dared to be pushy with Mariel in the first 

place... 

As for the priest who had tried to attack me, when I told him I might 

consider reattaching his hands, I did try to fulfill the promise... I only 

said I “might” consider it, and he was a bad guy, so I could have just 

ignored it. I didn’t want to break any promises if I could avoid it, but I 

didn’t have the time, since he got executed soon after. 

I was surprised how quickly it happened, but since we got all the 

information we needed from him, this incident didn’t have much to 

do with this country, and no one wanted to really get too deeply 

involved. Not to mention the Kingdom of Brancott and the Kingdom 

of Balmore would probably have demanded the priest’s assets, so it 

seemed they put an end to him to avoid all that trouble. 

Well, it was better to nip such troubles at the bud. Yup. 

 

“What the?” 

And so, we returned to our home sweet home, Convenience Store 

Belle, located in the capital of Count Maslias’s domain. We had 

already seen Mariel and her crew off at House Raphael’s estate in 

Count Maslias’s domain. It was far safer than Mariel’s home base in 

House Raphael’s domain out in the countryside, and the location was 

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much more convenient, with it being so close to Count Maslias. That 

was probably why her parents had always stayed there, instead. 

Mariel’s country manor could probably be completely destroyed by 

an attack from twenty to thirty bandits or so... Mariel had once told 

me that very thing before. So, it was probably best for her to stay 

here for some time. I doubted anyone would try something with the 

beloved child of the Goddess, but even if they didn’t try anything 

blatant like a direct attack, it would be a pain in the ass for her if they 

begged her for help several nights in a row or something. 

Anyway, that was fine and all. But... 

What was this sketchy-looking piece of paper stuck on the shop’s 

entrance? 

“Contact me at once. ￡∮§ The Iron Saint” 

I was able to read most of it, but it would’ve been impossible to 

decipher for anyone else... 

Although, what kind of language was it if there were parts of it that 

even I couldn’t read? 

I was giving it some serious thought when Roland spoke up from 

behind. 

“Ah, this is for me.” 

Huh? 

“It’s a secret code used by the royal family. It says, ‘Contact me at 

once.’” 

Yeah, I could read that part. 

“What about after that?” 

“That part says from ￡ to §, or from the royal guard to me. The 

symbols represent the sender and the intended recipient.” 

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Ah, so since they were symbols, even a language master like me 

couldn’t decipher them without knowing who they represented... 

So what did this “Iron Saint” represent? Maybe I needed to 

understand the corresponding word to decipher that, too... 

As I groaned and struggled to figure it out... 

“‘The Iron Saint’ is just the name of the inn. The emissary must be 

staying there. Besides, that part is written in normal text, not in 

code.” 

...Damn it, I was overthinking it! 

Anyway, it seemed this person had to urgently speak to Roland. They 

could have just checked in at the shop a couple times a day, but since 

they put this notice there out of sheer urgency, I decided to head to 

the Iron Saint inn instead of going back to the shop. 

If I had gone inside and sat down, I wouldn’t have wanted to move 

again for a few hours. All my stuff was inside the Item Box, so I 

figured it would be better to go straight to the inn. For a moment I 

debated whether I should leave Belle with Layette, but considering 

that this smelled like something that could be a pain to deal with, I 

didn’t think Belle would just stay home without a fight. 

Belle and Emile certainly were loyal to me, but that didn’t mean they 

would do whatever I said. They would sometimes go against my 

orders if they thought it was for my own good. Though, they 

wouldn’t ever disobey a firm order, as long as it wasn’t 

unreasonable... 

In other words, they wouldn’t listen if I told them to leave me and 

run, or to prioritize their own lives over mine, but they didn’t 

hesitate to obey the less important commands. Even if they put their 

own lives in danger. 

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I always told them not to act that way, but... I realized the other day 

that this tendency of theirs was a bad influence on Francette, so I 

had been re-educating them... 

In any case, telling Belle to stay home right now would have been an 

unreasonable order in her mind. She would give her life to protect 

me, and considering I was heading into what could be trouble, it was 

only natural for her to try to approach the whole situation as my 

bodyguard. 

Well, it didn’t seem like I was in any immediate danger, and she 

could hear what happened from Emile later, so she probably would 

have backed down if I strongly insisted, but there was no need to go 

that far. 

And so, we all headed toward the Iron Saint inn as a group. 

 

“Sir Roland, it’s so wonderful to see you again!” 

It had only been a few months since he had left the kingdom, but the 

royal guard went down on one knee and lowered his head, getting 

overly emotional. 

Well, he may not seem it, but Roland was the brother of the king, 

and he would have definitely become king if he hadn’t gotten injured 

in that accident, so now that he was healed, people saw him as the 

person who should have been king. 

His younger brother, the current king, was a good person, and 

Roland himself wished for his brother to remain on the throne, so it 

was a rather peaceful kingdom, without any power struggles within 

the family or worries about assassinations by disloyal retainers. 

...Considering his status and position, maybe I had been treating him 

pretty badly? Oh well. In my view, he was just a pesky bug that had 

followed me on my journey against my will. In fact, he was a 

traitorous insect and a spy for the enemy, plotting to sabotage my 

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important mission to find a marriage partner! He deserved whatever 

treatment he got! 

“Yes, well done coming here. Are you alone?” 

“Sir! There are two others in the capital, and we sent one more to 

the east, just in case!” 

Roland had told me he was keeping his family up to date with letters. 

He must have been sending reports on our movements through 

those. So when the emissary arrived in town and found that we were 

away and the shop hadn’t been abandoned, he probably asked 

around, then quickly found out about the miracle of the Bird 

Aristocrat and how we had headed for the capital. Considering the 

time frame in which we temporarily closed the shop and all the other 

factors, it would have been easy to figure out that we all went to the 

capital together... Unless he was an idiot, that is. 

  

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A member of the elite royal guard, and the one who was tasked with 

the most important role, no less, couldn’t have been an idiot. 

“What happened to those four?” I asked as the question came to 

mind. 

Four royal guards had been sent to find us. Since we were talking 

about four royal guards, I was reminded of those four: Those royal 

guards, who I had granted one each of the Divine Sword Exhrotti 

after repelling the western Aligot Empire forces. Shouldn’t they have 

come here? Roland had appointed them as his personal knights, 

after all. But this emissary wasn’t one of them. That probably meant 

the other three were likely different people from the royal guards I 

knew. 

The emissary understood my rather vague question and replied. 

“The Four Walls are out securing the eastern border, my lady!” 

“The Four Walls” was obviously referring to those four royal guards. 

The name was likely supposed to mean they were the four walls 

protecting the kingdom. The emissary knew me, so he answered in 

the same respectful tone he gave to Roland. But his reply did make 

me wonder... 

“Securing the border? On the east side? But to the east are Brancott 

and Balmore, which are your two closest allies. And why were all 

four of them sent to secure that side of the kingdom?” 

“That...is what I was about to explain...” he said with his brow 

wrinkled a bit. 

Ah... It was one of those “I was just about to!” moments... My bad. 

Please go on and explain... 

“There has been a political change in the neighboring kingdom of 

Brancott. We have reports that the second prince’s faction has taken 

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over the royal capital, and the first prince is said to have escaped the 

capital, but this has not yet been confirmed. And the second prince, 

who has become the provisional ruler...” 

Yup, I knew what was coming. A classic move! 

“He’s making a move to declare war against other countries as a 

means to search for the first prince and control the military and the 

public sentiment, right?” 

“Indeed. You are quick to catch on, Lady Angel...” 

I thought so... 

This was the most basic of classic moves! I’d seen it so many times 

that it was straight out of a TV drama playing at 20:45. They might as 

well start pulling out inrō pillboxes or bringing the Edo legal system 

into it. 

“I have a message from His Majesty, Sir Roland. For the sake of 

confidentiality, I was ordered to relay it to you directly rather than 

via a written message. Here it is... ‘Please come home, Big 

Brother~!!!’ ...That is all.” 

What the heck?! 

Ah, Roland’s got his face down on the table... He didn’t have to look 

so disappointed... 

  

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“Now, now, no need to make that face...” 

Roland hung his head from his brother’s unexpectedly pathetic 

message. I mean, they were so close, and he was a cute younger 

brother relying on his big bro, so I thought he should let it slide. My 

younger sister Yuki had relied on me for all sorts of things, and I did 

the same to my older brother. It was nothing to be ashamed of. It 

was proof of their close bond. 

Oh... Maybe he didn’t mind it as a brother, but it was unbecoming of 

a king? I guess I couldn’t blame him, then... 

“...So, what are you gonna do?” 

I actually already knew what Roland would do. He was the brother of 

the king, after all, and his home country, brother, retainers, and his 

people were in danger. If he didn’t go back to help them now, I didn’t 

want him in my party. I was more concerned about what Francette 

would say. Would she go back with Roland, or continue on my 

journey with me? 

“Lady Kaoru, I must ask to have some time away,” Francette said, 

naturally and without a hint of hesitation. 

  

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Well, that was the only correct thing to say there. Francette was 

Roland’s betrothed, an aristocrat of the kingdom...and a knight. 

There was nothing else she could have said. Roland nodded with that 

same natural look, as if he knew she was going to say those exact 

words. ...Yeah, I knew. Of course I knew that was the kind of person 

Francette was... 

And so... 

“...Then I’ll go to the realtor and stable to cancel the contracts. It’s 

okay to clear out the shop tomorrow, right? And can you handle the 

business side of things yourself, Kaoru?” 

“Yeah, sure. Tell them they can keep this month’s payment.” 

“Got it!” 

With that, Emile was off. Belle, who was holding Layette in her arms, 

looked as if she expected this, too. 

  

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They all understood so well. 

“Huh?” 

...Except those two. 

“Listen, the orphans under my protection, the people who took care 

of me, people that I took care of, and many of my acquaintances are 

living in the capital. And whoever was working with that rotten priest 

who ordered the attack on Layette is on the enemy’s side.” 

Yes, the “enemy”... The so-called second prince that had been set on 

a pedestal may have been told that I was his ally, supporting his bid 

for the throne, but screw that. They were all my enemies! 

“And...” 

“And?” 

“They used me as a tool for their plot to seize the throne... Did you 

think I would let them go when they fabricated an oracle from the 

Goddess and spread their twisted message for their own personal 

gain?” I responded to Roland and Francette’s simultaneous response 

with anger boiling in my voice. 

Roland and Francette went down their knees and lowered their 

heads. The emissary did the same. Yes, it was time for a temporary 

return home. 

 

“Finally, my time to shine!” 

It was time for Ed to work for the first time in a while. 

“We need to get back to the country where we lived before we left 

for this journey, stat! Can you do it?” 

“Of course!!!” the five reliable voices replied in unison, and we were 

off. 

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I was gonna bring out the chariot after we got some distance from 

the city. So, for now, I held Layette in my arms as I rode Ed. 

  

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We had already finished paying off our balance at the stable. 

“Okay, let’s go!” 

In dire cases when we really had to hurry...like when the children at 

the orphanage were in danger...I would do anything, without holding 

back. I would zip across the ocean in a high-speed cruiser, no, a 

jetfoil, or even fly there on a VTOL craft or helicopter, or even use a 

flying boat, or speed through the streets in a land cruiser... 

But those methods would definitely cause a scene, and while I could 

produce ships and flying crafts as “potion containers,” we still 

needed someone to pilot them safely. I may be able to drive 

something like a land cruiser because I had a driver’s license, but not 

only would it cause chaos, but someone would probably stop us and 

take us in for questioning. 

It’d be over if someone blocked the path with a carriage or log, and 

there would be times when we would have to stop due to conditions 

on the road, coming across a bridge, or running into other carriages. 

We would still need to rest, too. If we were ever surrounded, I 

couldn’t just run over innocent soldiers to keep going... 

Yeah, those methods shouldn’t be used unless it really was an 

absolute emergency where every second counted. 

And so, we took the normal route of riding on Ed and the other 

horses. With their potion-enhanced power, we didn’t need to waste 

time stopping at inns, and could get there very quickly. 

 

“...But I wonder why they decided to attack our Kingdom of Balmore 

when we have the Angel. Sure, you may be away temporarily, but it 

seems insane that anyone would think of making a move on your 

home territory...” Francette said during our meal-time break, and I 

couldn’t blame her for wondering. 

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“They probably thought the Angel had abandoned Balmore, or that 

Balmore had lost the blessing of the Goddess. And since I rejected 

the first prince of Brancott, they likely assumed I would support the 

idea that the second prince should take the throne. Pretty 

presumptuous, or maybe someone filled their heads with such 

ideas... Seems like they think the Goddess is on their side. Must have 

bought into someone’s nonsense...” 

“Oh, I see...” Francette said, accepting my explanation right away. 

According to Roland, the countries to the east of the Kingdom of 

Brancott, Drisard and the Kingdom of Jusral, were not only big 

countries themselves, but there were powerful countries positioned 

to their rear toward the mainland, so they weren’t to be trifled with. 

So, this war to distract from the usurpation had to be with either the 

Kingdom of Balmore or the Kingdom of Aseed to the west. And 

Balmore had supposedly been abandoned by the Angel and forsaken 

by the Goddess, so it was an easy target to declare war on. 

Well, an official declaration of war or actual fighting hadn’t broken 

out yet, but according to the spies and plants in-country who had 

been feeding us reports, those details were pretty much accurate. 

Their target would probably only be one country. It was highly 

unlikely for them to wage a two-front war here. 

What they didn’t know was that the Kingdom of Balmore had formed 

a secret alliance with Aseed, as the country to their south that also 

shared a border with Balmore. So, whichever they decided to invade, 

the other would automatically join the fray. This alliance had actually 

been formed in preparation to deal with the Aligot Empire, and the 

two countries had come to that agreement in top-secret meetings 

after the previous peace conference. 

One may think their alliance wouldn’t work as a deterrent against 

attacks unless publicly announced, but the purpose was to deliver a 

fatal blow to attackers with an unexpected attack rather than to 

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deter them. And announcing their alliance could have put the other 

countries on alert, supposedly... 

Well, I didn’t really understand politics. I decided to stay out of it. 

That is, except when it would be to my advantage. 

And so, we began our advance once again. Considering we had a 

carriage drawn by a single horse, we were going at a ridiculous pace. 

Well, it was Ed’s crew, after all. And they were all doped up with my 

potions. 

So, we were traveling separately from the royal guards. We would 

have had to match their pace if they were with us, which would have 

slowed us down significantly. Even if Roland sent them back before 

us to deliver the news of our return, we definitely would have gotten 

there first. 

So instead, he had the emissary stay in the city to inform the other 

three that their mission was complete. “Take it easy!” as they say. 

And so, we continued at our own pace. We would dash through 

Brancott first, then into our old home of Balmore. 

After that? 

...Behold the wrath of the Nagase Clan!!! 

...And so, here we are. The Kingdom of Brancott... Yup, this was the 

place where pictures...no, wanted posters of me had been passed 

around. Not to mention, this was a stalker nation, one that had sent 

their highest-ranking guards to the Kingdom of Balmore just to take a 

look at me, all so they could remember what I looked like. 

They’re stalking me on a nation-wide scale! 

...And so, we came up with a plan. We had the ability to learn, after 

all! 

“So, we will be splitting into teams. Roland and Francette will be 

Team Kobold. Everyone will be Team Horn Rabbit!” 

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“...” 

The other five stared at me with a look that said, “There she goes 

starting something weird again...” 

“The enemy is probably checking travelers based on the number of 

people we had in our group the last time we passed through, so 

we’re gonna throw them off. I’ll also be wearing a disguise. Layette 

wasn’t with us last time, and by splitting our party in two, our 

composition will be completely different.” 

Two aristocratic-looking knights... They could be brother and sister, 

colleagues on the same mission, or lovers who had run off. Whatever 

the case, it wasn’t a particularly strange combination, and it certainly 

wasn’t weird enough that a border guard would investigate. In fact, a 

guard would be risking his head if he did... Not in the figurative 

sense, but literally. 

Then there was the group of four commoners. Three of those were 

underage girls. A guard wouldn’t be cautious of such a group. If 

anything, he’d worry about them. Three sisters traveling by horse 

but unable to find a carriage... And the older brother who seemed to 

be a fledgling hunter as their only guard, as unreliable as he seemed. 

There was nothing unnatural about it. It was just a run-of-the-mill 

kind of group that could be seen tens or hundreds of times a day. 

They had thought Roland and Francette were my bodyguards the last 

time they saw me, so now that they wouldn’t be with me. It was 

highly unlikely they would think I was the Angel. And with my 

disguise added to the mix... I would become the perfect mother. The 

other four seemed to understand after I gave my explanation. 

Layette still didn’t seem to get it, but she didn’t count. 

And so, I wore my disguise to the border checkpoint and we split into 

two groups. Just in case things went south somehow, Team Kobold, 

consisting of Roland and Francette, made sure there were only two 

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or three groups between them and the rest of us, also known as 

Team Horn Rabbit. 

If we had gone first, Team Kobold would have had to run through the 

border checkpoint without going through their inspection, which 

would have been a huge deal. With us being in the back, they would 

only need to come back to us after their inspection was done, 

allowing them to avoid the serious crime of breaking through a 

border checkpoint by force. It may seem like a minor detail, but it 

made a huge difference. 

Now, it’s time to go to the border checkpoint! 

...We got through without incident. 

Yeah, I thought so. 

Of course, I had put the chariot back in my Item Box, and I was riding 

Ed with Layette in my arms in front of me. As such, we were all 

considered normal riders carrying light personal items. Since we 

weren’t bringing in any goods to sell, they weren’t gonna tax us or 

anything. We basically got a free pass, and they just hurried us on 

through. 

This was all thanks to my superior ability to disguise myself, of 

course. I changed the color of my hair and eyes. I also used invisible 

tape, adhesive, and Foundation...I mean, foundation...to make my 

eyes droopy. Though, if we’re talking about the rise and fall of a 

nation, I guess Foundation works too. The words sound the same, 

anyway. 

My hair and eye colors were one thing, but by making my eyes 

droopy, I had changed my appearance in a way that was directly at 

odds with my raison d’être, allowing me to avoid suspicion 

completely. This was the core part of what made me “me” as a 

human being, and the ultimate part of my existence that allowed 

everyone to recognize me...hey, shut up! 

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In any case, we entered the Kingdom of Brancott without any 

apparent suspicion. 

“...I’m surprised we got through without being questioned...” 

“Huh?” 

Emile had made this comment suddenly, out of the blue. 

“Why? There was nothing suspicious about us, was there?” 

“A normal commoner child wouldn’t be able to ride a horse, nor 

would they have the money to ride a horse bus, but we had three 

whole horses... We were definitely suspicious.” 

... 

“You should have said so before we went in there!!!” 

If he had given me a heads up, I could have prepared some sort of 

excuse! I mean, even if I had thought of one, we had ended up 

getting through without being questioned, so it would have been a 

waste of effort, but still... 

“Next time, be sure to mention it if you notice something! Got it?” 

“R-Right...” 

He probably thought my plan was foolproof just because I had 

thought of it, and that it would have been rude to question me. 

That’s no good. No good at all. I had to educate him some more... 

After crossing the border, we regrouped with Team Kobold right 

away. Now we just had to split up when entering cities and when 

leaving the country. Or if we ran into any dubious-looking groups of 

soldiers... 

If we caught sight of one from afar, both teams could make some 

space between us naturally and act as if we were separate groups. 

Inside the city, we could check in to the same inn separately and 

gather at one of our rooms later on. Though, really, we would mostly 

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be camping, and we were only going to stay at an inn once every few 

days or so. 

Of course, we could move a lot faster by doing the camping-only 

route. That could shave off a lot of wasted time. Even if it got a little 

dark, we could use chemical lights to illuminate our path. There 

might not be asphalt to walk over, but there shouldn’t be any issues 

as long as we traveled over a decently-kept main road. 

But with two-thirds of our members being female, we couldn’t stand 

going without a bath at least once every couple of days. Even I had 

this desire, so it was probably even worse for Francette and Belle, 

who were with their respective loved ones. 

When I said as such to Francette and Belle... 

“What? No, not really...” 

“I haven’t really given that any thought...” 

Y-You two... I-Is that how it is for other people? 

Maybe it had to do with their historical backgrounds, our cultures, or 

even our natural dispositions... W-Well, maybe things were different 

here compared to Japan, where it was normal even for commoners 

to take baths since olden times... 

But I couldn’t stand not bathing, so we were staying at an inn with a 

bath once every few days! But, well, until then, we were going to 

camp out for now. And we would avoid the royal capital, instead 

passing through the south and thus into the Kingdom of Balmore... 

“We’re staying at an inn tonight. Then we head for the capital, Aras.” 

“Whyyyyyy?!” 

Haah... Haah... 

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“Why would we go out of our way into a place where we’d be very 

likely to get recognized?!” I couldn’t help but yell at Roland in 

response to his ridiculous comment. 

What was he thinking?! Was he an idiot or something...? 

“No, thinking ahead, it would be best to check on how things are in 

Brancott and gather what information we can as we pass through. 

No one was expecting you to return, so I don’t think the risk is too 

great, either...” 

Hmm... Roland did have a point too. But... 

“Instead of us amateurs taking a huge risk in getting exposed, we’ve 

been getting intel from spies, plants, and lower aristocrats that have 

been paid off, right? That royal guard knows the first prince, so we 

already have a source of info, don’t we? What need is there for us to 

go to the royal capital in person? Give me a reason besides a self-

serving one!” 

“Urgh...” 

He’s actually at a loss for words! 

That meant he just wanted to go because he felt like it. That little... 

 

Aaand we made it to Grua, the royal capital of the Kingdom of 

Balmore! ...The capital of Brancott? Like hell we’re going there! We 

took a vote. It was five versus one. A landslide. 

Francette, who could never agree with putting Roland and I in 

danger... Emile and Belle, who have sworn me their undying fealty... 

And Layette, who didn’t understand what was going on, but was on 

my side anyway... There was no way I’d lose in a popularity contest. 

And so, while ignoring Roland’s rueful expression, we took a route 

far to the south to avoid Brancott’s capital and safely arrived in 

Balmore’s capital. Going back home and asking the king for the latest 

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information was far quicker and more accurate than bumbling 

around trying to gather intel in Brancott. And hadn’t we gotten a 

message from the king asking him to hurry back?! Even though he 

was Roland’s younger brother, he was still the king, so he should 

follow his little brother’s instructions...or rather, his command... 

So, we arrived at the nostalgic capital, Grua. This place, the Kingdom 

of Balmore, was home to everyone besides Layette and myself. Even 

for someone who didn’t have a homeland in this world, like me, 

well...it was the closest thing I had. 

I had arrived in this world in the Kingdom of Brancott, and although I 

had stayed there for a while at first, I couldn’t bring myself to call 

that place my homeland. If I did, the people from there would get 

carried away, and who knows what kind of nonsense they would 

start saying then. 

Anyway, we began heading for the royal palace. If we went to the 

palace, we would get something to eat... I mean, we needed to 

gather information first and foremost, as well as check to see if there 

was anything urgent to take care of. 

  

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Of course, I had stashed the chariot back in my Item Box and had 

taken off my disguise since crossing the border and entering 

Balmore. There was no need to be in disguise here, and there was no 

need to put my chariot out on display, either. I was known 

throughout this kingdom, so as soon as people saw that I was the 

owner of the chariot, they’d start bothering me or bombarding me 

with requests. 

That stuff was annoying, to be honest. I couldn’t just punch them in 

the face or blow them up for coming at me with requests or invites, 

which made them all the more troublesome to deal with. They didn’t 

give up after a rejection or two, either. I actually would have 

preferred that they attack me instead. Then I could crush them and 

be done with it... But no one in this country would try such a thing. 

Actually...who knew how things were now? I wouldn’t be surprised if 

Rueda survivors or spies...no, maybe even assassins from Brancott 

were lurking around. That Bishop Bruce guy who had tried to 

manipulate me and then immediately turned to kill me when that 

didn’t work... 

That guy’s attitude had done a complete one-eighty far too quickly. 

The thought of killing the Angel had to have been brewing in his 

mind even before we met. It was likely that he already had a pre-set 

plan to talk me into doing what he wanted, and if that failed, he was 

just going to try to kill me... Actually, he was probably just following 

orders for the first part, but actually wanted to kill me the entire 

time. 

I had a feeling they thought of me as a fiend, an enemy of the 

Goddess, a heretic, and a servant of the devil, someone who had 

brought ruin to Rueda...or more like ruin to everyone in Rueda 

involved with religion. But no matter how you looked at it, it was 

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Celes herself who had dealt the finishing blow... A religious group, 

ended by the hand of the Goddess they worshiped. 

Yeah, nope. I had never heard of anything like it before. 

Well, it wasn’t like they could go kill the Goddess herself, so I guess 

they had to direct their hate toward me. The attack that had made 

me go on a journey in the first place was caused by a single rotten 

priest from Rueda too. It was unlikely that that priest was the last 

one of those critters. 

I mean, that Bruce guy had already admitted clearly that there were 

many others who had gotten out alive. And, supposedly, there were 

several who had taken part of Rueda’s massive treasury with them, 

providing them with enough dry powder for all sorts of schemes. 

Well, it was probably better to think about this stuff after talking to 

the king. I was about to get the latest info soon enough, so it was 

pointless to think it over now. My head had been tilted downward 

and staring around Roland’s feet until now, but I looked up as I 

processed that thought. You gotta look up with your back straight 

and walk with confidence when going down the street...wait, what?! 

“Whoa!” 

A massive crowd had gathered to either side of the street, everyone 

happily waving their hands at me. Then... 

“Hurrah for the Lady Angel! Hurrah for Lady Fran! Hurrah for Sir 

Roland!!!” 

...I guess that was to be expected. The Angel of the Goddess, the 

great hero of the kingdom, and the brother of the king were all 

marching in together. Not to mention, the Angel had returned for 

the first time in months. Their fervor was understandable. 

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And now that I had appeared, well, you know. There were gonna be 

expectations for the return of my potions. The ones for sale, and the 

Goddess’s mercy, in the form of the Tears of the Goddess... 

No, the Tears of the Goddess were one thing, but I didn’t have any 

intention of putting my potions up for sale again. Those things were 

a devil drug, something that would halt the progress of medical 

science and medicine, putting an end to doctors and apothecaries 

completely. They weren’t something I should bring back. What if a 

huge supply of them started going around, but then I wasn’t around 

fifty years later or something? It would be an absolute catastrophe. 

Me being absent would be one thing, but what if I was still here, but 

potions weren’t being distributed anymore? Humans could never 

relinquish a luxury they have grown accustomed to. It probably 

would be for the best for me to leave this country again once I was 

done with my business. If I stuck around, the orphans of the Eyes of 

the Goddess would never leave me alone...I mean, leave the nest 

and become independent in their own right. 

Maybe this was some sort of curse to bind me... 

“Kaoru, we’re here!” 

“Oh... R-Right.” 

No good, I was zoning out with my thoughts and hadn’t realized we 

were already in the king’s office. There was no way we were going to 

be sent to the audience room, given the members of our party. 

“Pardon us!” 

Roland knocked lightly and opened the door. He pushed it open 

without waiting for a response, but that wasn’t an issue here. This 

wasn’t a place where the king would be conducting private affairs, 

after all. And even though they were related, here, they were just a 

guy and his older brother. It was standard for Roland to speak to the 

king with deference in public. They could go back to treating each 

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other like brothers when they were alone or among their inner circle, 

but that would not fly out in the corridor where others could see. 

“I’m so glad you’re back, Brother!” 

And the moment we closed the door behind us, Roland’s brother 

Serge burst into tears and hugged him. He wasn’t incompetent by 

any means, but he had always gotten support from his capable 

brother Roland whenever he needed it. With the threat of war 

looming in Roland’s absence, Serge must have been quite worried. 

Well, he would probably fulfill his duty as king adequately enough if a 

war did break out, but having his brother by his side would make a 

huge difference. 

Back when I was a student, I was also often asked by my classmates 

and underclassmen to accompany them when breaking up with the 

guys they were seeing. Supposedly, just having me there scared 

whoever they were breaking up with, so they didn’t have to deal 

with any threats or persistent demands. 

That’s why I was known as the Master of Breakups. Everyone said, “If 

you’re gonna break up with a guy, ask Nagase, the specialist in the 

field!” 

...Shut up! Not once have I broken up with a guy myself! 

How am I supposed to break up with someone when I’ve never 

dated anyone before, damn it?! Haah... Haah... 

Anyway, we would hear what King Serge had to say, then decide how 

to deal with this from there. Or “who” to deal with... 

Hurting Layette and the orphan children... Using my name as one of 

their excuses to usurp the throne... Trying to deceive and manipulate 

me, then trying to kill me when that failed... 

Did they think I would let all that slide without doing anything? Even 

though there was no telling when they might hurt my loved ones 

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again if left unchecked? Even though it would spread the idea that 

nothing would happen to anyone who messed with us? The pheasant 

would not be shot but for its cries... 

Wait, why was His Majesty the King backing away with that tense 

look on his face? Yeah, one of my two friends had often told me, 

“Don’t ever smile when children are around.” 

...Shaddap!!! ...Wait, oh! 

We were in the royal palace, weren’t we? Didn’t I say that one time 

that I swore to Celes I would never set foot in the palace again? Oh 

no, I was thinking too hard on the walk here and completely forgot 

about that backstory... Not only did I waltz on into the royal palace, 

but I was all the way in the king’s office! This was bad, I had to come 

up with some sort of excuse...