by Dojyomaru
“No, I snuck here with a cloth over my head, so no one should have seen me. It seemed everyone was busy moving around and doing other things.”
“Well, I guess there would be even more of an uproar if you had been found.”
Julius directed Tia to sit down on his bed, and then sat next to her.
“Princess. Please don’t leave this room until everything is settled. It would distract the soldiers of Lastania if they were to discover you are in this fortress.”
“O-Okay. I’ll keep quiet here so that I don’t cause trouble for you.” Tia nodded, but soon looked at him with upturned eyes and asked, “Um... Does my being here distract you too, Lord Julius?”
The hesitant question made Julius shrug his shoulders as if exasperated. “No, if anything, it’s made me more focused. I absolutely can’t allow myself to lose now.”
“You will win, Lord Julius. Absolutely.”
“Heh. When you say that, Princess, I mysteriously can’t help but believe it...” Maybe it was the exhaustion from days of continuous fighting, or the preparations for tomorrow’s battle, but Julius let out a yawn. “Fwah... Excuse me.”
Tia stared blankly for a moment, but then something seemed to come to her, and she patted her lap. “Lord Julius, if you’re tired, please use my lap as your pillow.”
“Ah! No, that would be a bit much...”
“Are my thighs not meaty enough to be a good pillow?” she asked, pouting.
Seeing Tia so blatantly disappointed, Julius gave in and lay down, resting his head on her lap. “...Okay.”
Tia seemed satisfied as she stroked Julius’s head. “I will pray for your good fortune in battle, Lord Julius.”
“Princess Tia...” he murmured. “Then, as they do in the stories of knights, let me dedicate this victory to you.”
They spent a time together that was so peaceful, it would be hard to believe it was the night before the final battle.
In the fortress kitchen, Poncho and Serina were doing prep work for cooking.
They would need to prepare a large amount of food tomorrow. In addition to providing nutrition before the decisive battle, there would need to be a banquet for the victory afterward.
It might seem presumptuous to say that when they hadn’t won yet, but if they didn’t prepare for a feast, it would give the impression they expected to lose. That was why, in anticipation of victory, Poncho and his team were making the necessary preparations.
“Um... I’ll help,” Komain offered, watching Poncho stir a large pot. “When you and Serina are both working, I can’t be the only one to relax.”
“I-It’s okay. We have enough help here, yes,” Poncho said with a troubled smile.
It was true, there were several other chefs in the kitchen helping with the preparations. However, they all looked very busy.
“But...”
“You’ll be going into battle tomorrow, won’t you? Rest for today and get what little sleep you can.”
Komain tried to belabor the point, but Serina shut her down completely. Komain had volunteered to fight in tomorrow’s battle, in order to fight alongside her brother Jirukoma. Given that, she needed to be fresh for tomorrow.
Poncho wiped his hands on his apron, then plopped one of them down on top of Komain’s head. “I can’t fight on the battlefield like Sir Jirukoma. It’s embarrassing, but in terms of strength, I’m not even a match for Madam Serina, yes.”
“A maid is expected to be able to manage a bare minimum level of self-defense after all,” Serina said coolly, with a look on her face that said it was nothing special.
Those martial arts of Serina’s, which make it feel like you’re being glared at by a great wolf, are the bare minimum, are they? Komain felt like she was losing her grasp on what the job of a maid really was, but she knew Serina would just dodge the question if she brought it up, so she held her tongue.
Poncho gave Komain an awkward smile and said, “B-Because of how I am, I can’t help you on the battlefield. In exchange, I’ll be waiting with delicious food, so make sure you come back safe, yes. Let’s eat together, all three of us.”
“Poncho...”
Poncho’s kind words slipped into Komain’s heart.
“That line sounds like it’s coming from a wife sending her husband off to war,” Serina said with exasperation.
“I-I guess it does. I need to get my act together, yes.” Poncho smiled shyly.
Having been touched by the warm atmosphere between them, Komain smiled happily too. “Yes, I’ll definitely come back safe. Because the Ishizuka family table is where I belong.”
Tomoe and Inugami were bringing supplies to the large room where injured soldiers were carried.
Looking around, most of the bandaged soldiers were sitting. The only ones lying down were those with serious injuries, and they had light magic casters next to them providing treatment.
Amid what could have easily been a dark scene, Tomoe deliberately chose to act cheerful. “I brought more bandages and three-eyedine!”
The medic handling the wounded saluted her. “Good work, Lady Tomoe!”
“You medics all look so tired,” Tomoe said. “Are there a lot of people wounded?”
“No, the people here all have comparatively light wounds. Those with major external wounds are given priority for treatment with light magic, and those with the most serious cases are carried back to Lasta. These are all people who’ll get better with some bandages and medicine.”
“Oh, they are?” Tomoe said happily. “Well, please keep doing your best for them.”
Tomoe and Inugami turned over the supplies they brought to the medics.
Once the handover was complete, Inugami whispered to Tomoe, “Would it not be best for you to get some rest now, Little Sister?”
He was saying that out of concern, but Tomoe shook her head.
“I want to do whatever I can. I want to be helpful.”
“What are you saying? During the battle at Lasta, we were able to learn about the lives of lizardmen and find a solution.”
“Still...I want to help more.”
“Ookyakya, how admirable!” a voice laughed.
When Tomoe looked up in the direction of that cheerful voice, Kuu and Leporina had just come in.
Inugami stepped forward, putting himself between the two of them and Tomoe.
Seeing the look on Inugami’s face, Kuu was confused. “Hold on, hold on, what kind of look is that? Did I do something to upset you?”
“Maybe he’s Tomoe’s guardian?” Leporina said. “Remember, Young Master, you did hit on her once.”
Kuu clapped his hands. “Oh, yeah, they are kind of similar. Ookyakya, it’s fine! I’m not gonna hit on Bro’s little sister when Taru’s not around.”
“Normally you ought to restrain yourself more when she is around, though...” Leporina murmured, looking exasperated.
Inugami remained silent.
I wonder what kind of face he’s making... Tomoe couldn’t see Inugami’s face from her position.
“Why are you two here, by the way?” Tomoe asked. “Did you get hurt somewhere?”
Leporina let out a troubled laugh. “Oh, no. We were looking for any spare cloth that might be around.”
“Spare cloth?”
“My cudgel got all dirty during the battle today.” Kuu extended his cudgel, which was splattered with what was presumably lizardman blood. It had already dried and turned dark, but there were signs he had rubbed at it too. “The cloth I was using to clean it tore. I’ve gotten a lot of the blood off, but there’s a lot of intricate design work, so I couldn’t get it all. Making sure my weapon’s properly maintained can be a matter of life and death after all.”
“You were the one who insisted on cool engraving, even after Taru told you it would just make maintaining it more of a pain, Young Master.”
“Ookya? Did I do that?”
As Kuu laughed and tried to dodge the issue, Leporina put a hand on her hip and sighed.
Watching the two of them, Tomoe mumbled, “If I just had the strength to fight, I could do more...”
“Ookya?” Having caught that, Kuu cocked his head to the side. “What is it, little girl? You want to fight?”
“Um... I was thinking if I did, I could help Big Brother more.”
“Ohh, that’s not gonna happen.” Kuu shot her right down. “This is one of those things where it’s a question of potential. You’re too nice to stand on the battlefield. Even if it’s for Bro, if you’re up against a fierce beast, you’re not going to be able to kill, are you? Besides, no matter how hard you train, you’ll never be more than a single soldier. You can’t help much like that.”
In the face of Kuu’s reasonable argument, Tomoe could say nothing. She just tugged at the hem of her outfit.
Inugami tried to say something to stand up for her, but there was nothing wrong about what Kuu was saying, so he couldn’t find the words to.
Not caring one bit about the heavy atmosphere, Kuu continued. “Besides, you have a more special power anyway, don’t you? The ability to talk to animals, was it? I hear you used that power of yours to get more rhinosaurus trains going.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah...”
“If you ask me, that’s a whole lot more useful than being able to fight. In my country, we use numoths to get around in winter, but we have a hard time getting more of them, you know. If we had your ability, I feel like we could set things up for them to breed more easily...” Kuu trailed off, getting a thoughtful look on his face. “Hm? Maybe we ought to borrow your power...have you talk to the numoths for us...”
“Um, pardon me, but Little Sister is the adopted daughter of the former king and queen, and is therefore royalty,” Inugami said stiffly. “Even with a bodyguard, sending Lady Tomoe to the republic alone is simply not an option...”
Kuu just waved his hand. “That’ll be fine. No need for her to leave the country. We’ll arrange the numoth, and if she can come to a town or city near the border, they can talk there.”
“Even for that, you’d need His Majesty’s permission.”
“Bro wanted some numoths. I turned down his request because we need them for defense, but if sharing information between the kingdom and republic will make it easier to breed them, I don’t mind letting him have a few. The south of the kingdom is cold too, so he should be able to raise them. Well...I’ll need my old man’s permission too, so it’ll take a while, I’m sure, but I’ll have to try talking to Bro about it later.”
Kuu grinned at Tomoe.
“When the time comes, little girl, I’ll be counting on you. Ookyakya!”
“...Okay! I’ll do my best!” Tome said, clenching her hands into fists.
She must have been happy to know there was something she could do.
Inugami and Leporina looked on with smiles.
Meanwhile, around that same time, Ludwin, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia, and Kaede, his staff officer, were performing their final checks. In tomorrow’s operation, Ludwin would be in the main camp, while Kaede would take command from close to the front line.
“I prefer commanding on the front line, though,” Ludwin sighed.
“We can’t have the commander-in-chief saying that,” Kaede told him. “Please, stay put this time.”
“Ahaha... All right.”
Once their final checks were finished, the two left the war room.
“I’ll be counting on you tomorrow, then,” Ludwin said.
“Yes. May fortune favor you in battle, Sir Ludwin.”
Parting with Ludwin, Kaede walked a short distance, and ran into Halbert and Ruby standing at a corner.
Seeing them, Kaede cocked her head to the side and stared blankly. “Did you stay up to wait for me?”
“Couldn’t get to sleep, that’s all,” Halbert said.
“He says that, but he just wanted to see your face,” Ruby grinned.
At Ruby’s spilling of the beans, Halbert turned a bright shade of red. “Wha?! Ruby! Now listen, you!”
“Hehe! I’m happy to see the two of you too, you know,” Kaede said with a giggle. “You’ll be fighting in the air while I’m fighting on land. Hal, it’s going to be more dangerous for you, so you must be careful, you know. And you can’t push Ruby too hard.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Don’t screw up and get hurt or anything. If you end up in trouble, we’ll definitely come save you. Right, Ruby?”
“Hehe!” Kaede giggled. “That’s right. I’ll protect you and Ruby too.”
With both sides having acted like they were better than the other, the three of them cracked up laughing.
While they were laughing...
“Oh, my, you all seem to get along well.”
The three turned to see who had addressed them, and Excel was standing there with a smile.
The sudden appearance of the commander-in-chief of the National Defense Force made them all reflexively salute as members of the military.
“Wh-Why, it’s Duchess Walter! I’m sorry we didn’t notice you sooner,” Hal said hastily.
“Ohh, it’s already late at night, so let’s have none of that.” Excel waved her hand at his apology on behalf of the group.
In place of a speechless Halbert, Kaede asked, “Um, what are you doing here, Duchess Walter? I thought you would be asleep by now.”
“Hmm... I was concerned about His Majesty, and went to his room, but Aisha turned me away at the door. They just love him so much.” Excel put a finger to her lips, as if troubled.
Seriously, what is this person up to?! Halbert and the others thought as they looked at her with cold eyes, but Excel was legitimately concerned for Souma.
She was thinking, During the meeting, it felt like His Majesty was pushing himself a little hard, but, well, it seemed Roroa and Naden were in the room with him... I suppose he’ll be fine.
In order to switch into a new frame of mind, Excel clapped her hands. “By the way, you three were on Castor’s carrier, weren’t you? From your perspective, is that idiot son-in-law of mine doing a proper job as captain?”
“Huh? You mean Captain Castor?” Halbert looked to Kaede and Ruby. “Uhh...yeah. I think he’s a reliable captain.”
“He swabs the deck even now that he’s captain, so the crew all respect him,” Kaede said.
“He said, ‘Hey, as a red dragon and a dragonewt, we’re kind of similar, huh,’ and struck up a casual conversation with me,” Ruby added.
Hearing their opinions, Excel grinned. “I see. So he’s doing all right then.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course he is.”
“Well, I do hear he went to a place he shouldn’t have with those crewmen who respect him so much, though. Hehe...”
It felt to Halbert and the others like the temperature had just dropped ten degrees.
Then Excel looked to Kaede and Ruby. “You two are engaged to Sir Halbert, right?”
“Y-Yes,” said Kaede.
“That’s right.”
Excel nodded at their response, then took on a lecturing tone. “Men have been known to get carried away easily. That is why, as women, we must hold their reins. Complimenting, encouraging, and lifting them up at times, while reprimanding and slapping them in the butt at others. We can’t lean too much to one side. The secret to familial happiness is keeping your partner in control without upsetting him. Do I make myself clear?”
““Y-Yes!”” Kaede and Ruby saluted in unison.
Halbert was alone in clutching his head. What kind of face am I supposed to make while listening to that sort of talk...?
With a satisfied smile at the three of them, Excel drew a fan from her chest and opened it. Then, covering her mouth with the fan, she let out a jolly laugh. “Well, my daughter Accela, who is Castor’s wife, is not a woman who will just wait around. That is something Castor will learn for himself shortly, I’m sure.”
As Excel let out a laugh that seemed to imply something, Halbert
felt a cold chill run down his spine.
If I get married, are Kaede and Ruby going to act like that...?
As soon as the thought occurred to Halbert, he swore to himself he would never defy them.
◇ ◇ ◇
While everyone was spending their time in their own way, I was in my room looking over some documents.
Though the Living Poltergeists I had left in the castle were still doing paperwork, I had brought some non-urgent work for my main body to do whenever my hands were free.
I faced my desk in silence, signing off on the documents I had looked through.
“Hey, hey, Darlin’,” Roroa broke in. “Do you have to do that right now?”
“Seriously,” Naden added. “You come all this way, and then you still bury yourself in work?”
When I turned around, Roroa and Naden were sitting on the single bed and looking at me.
They were both in one-piece pajama outfits, and Naden had the mitten-like covers on her antlers that she wore while sleeping.
Naden mentioned that her antlers poked holes in her pillow while sleeping in human form, so I had sewed those for her. They had no proper name, but I was calling them horn covers.
...Wait, those two looked like they were totally planning to sleep here.
Aisha, by the way, was standing guard outside the door. It sounded like she’d just chased off Excel who was trying to come in and tease us. Good job!
I looked over a document as I told them, “There’s always work to do. If I don’t get as much done as I can, it piles up.”
“The consciousness ya left at the castle’s workin’, ain’t it?” Roroa said.
“Shouldn’t you rest up before the battle tomorrow?” Naden asked.
“Well...I know that, but...”
Then the two of them started whispering to each other.
“I’m thinkin’ this is a case of that, Nadie.”
“Yeah. I’ll bet that’s what it is.”
What exactly was this that that they were talking about?
The two of them stood up, and then each firmly grabbed one of my arms.
“Big Sis Cia was tellin’ us, ‘When Souma works more than he needs to at night...’”