Side Story

[Mission: Get Some “Viola Sapphires”!]

In the break room in the Royal Guard’s station, Chamomile, Alkanna, and Angelica gathered close together, whispering with uncharacteristically serious expressions on their faces.

“I hear that the Fisalis Duchy is going to be selling ‘Viola Sapphires.’”

“With the highest quality ones being called ‘Viola Eyes,’ too.”

“And on top of that, they aren’t actually on the market yet.”

It seemed that they were talking about the “Viola Sapphires” that had debuted at the Argenteias’ evening party a little while earlier.

“My little brother said they were incredibly beautiful. Dammit, I wish I’d seen them too~! But the party was mostly for unmarried men, so a married woman like me couldn’t go...!” Angelica lamented, holding her lovely silver-haired and ponytailed head in her hands.

“Ah, so your little bro got called to the party. The whole thing was to find a partner for Lady Verbena, wasn’t it?”

“Your family has a barony, after all. He was one of the lucky candidates.”

Angelica glared at the two other smirking women. “My family isn’t suitable for a duke’s daughter, but he got an invitation nigh demanding his presence,” she said, sighing about how dukes’ daughters were a pain in the ass.

“Your brother is the prime minister’s secretary, isn’t he? He’s handsome and he does his job well, so the prime minister must’ve remembered him.”

“That’s all an act, though... But enough about my brother. Sapphires!” she screeched, realizing that the topic had changed to her brother rather than the original topic of Viola Sapphires.

“Oh, yeah!”

Chamomile and Alkanna grinned, trying to dodge the blame with a smile. Angelica glared at them bitterly before clearing her throat and getting back to the subject at hand.

“I’ve heard from the jeweler’s that those sapphires haven’t made it to Rozhe yet.”

“Pommier? Then what was Madam wearing to the reveal?”

“They had her jewelry made from already-unearthed samples specifically for the debut.”

“I see~” The two nodded at her explanation.

“But they’re gems Madam herself wore to the party, and they’re named ‘Viola Sapphires,’ at that. Once they get to Rozhe, they’ll be super hard to get,” Angelica said with a serious look, after stopping the other two women.

“That’s right. It’s not only young ladies who admire Madam wanting them, but greasy nobles looking to suck up to the duchy are gonna be going for them too,” Chamomile agreed, looking grim.

“I want to get them before they get really scarce just because some aristocrats start throwing money around to buy them all up!” declared Alkanna.

“Wait, shouldn’t you be wanting to get them first so you can show them off?” retorted Angelica.

Then...

“Basically, we want to get the ‘Viola Sapphires’ before anyone else does!” all three of them said in unison.

Dubbing their plan [Mission: Get the Viola Sapphires Before Anyone Else], the three women started discussing the difficult question of how they actually could get them before anyone else.

“Why don’t we just stake out the shops for when they get delivered?”

“And grab ’em as soon as they come in!”

“No, we don’t have that sort of time, do we?”

The women were all technically members of the Royal Guard, and since they were female knights, they mainly guarded the inner palace. And because there were very few female knights, their hours were tight and they had very little free time.

“Having the money but not the time really stings.”

“It really does. We’re getting paid a ton, but it just keeps piling up uselessly since we have no time to spend it.”

They sighed. Both their former Special Operations posting and their current Royal Guard postings paid kinda (no... very) well because of their uniqueness. As a result, the ladies were all pretty rich.

“Then let’s use them,” Alkanna said in a flash of inspiration.

“They have more free time than us, and there’s a ton of them. They’d be able to take turns and keep constant watch on the shops.”

“That’s a great idea! They’re good at this kind of thing, too!”

“And when the sapphires arrive, they can buy them in our names!”

They all nodded, pleased with their wonderful idea.

“Let’s go find and grab them! Oh, we still have some break time left. With how long it’ll take to explain, we’ll need to finish our manhunt by halfway through our break—by the time the ‘period bell’ rings, in other words. Once we find our prey, we capture them. Then, we’ll explain until the ‘hour bell’ rings at the end of our breaks. How about it?”

In the three women’s minds, the men of their section had become little more than their prey. And in order to hunt said prey, Chamomile quickly formulated a plan in her mind. She was as serious as she would be on an actual military mission.

There was still a bit of time until the bell to mark halfway through their break, but since they wanted to catch as many men as possible, they had no time to waste.

“Okay. Let’s go with that.”

Their eyes glinted. If any other knights saw them like this, they’d be shaking in fear.

And so, the three women went off to hunt... or rather, kidnap their former colleagues, and scattered to search the palace.

“Time to change guards.”

“Good work.”

Lantana was just switching places with the next guard for the king’s office, ready to take it easy for a bit. Since the ‘period bell’ hadn’t rung yet, he decided to head back to the station after a nice cup of tea in the palace cafeteria. He walked through the halls, but...

“—Halt, villain!” Feeling a terrifying presence behind him, he immediately drew his sword, standing ready.

“Don’t call me a villain! And don’t swing that dangerous thing around in here!” With the clang of metal on metal, someone blocked his sword. The person who lightly parried his blow while humming that they were in the palace was—

“Chamomile!”

“Whatever—it’s good that you sensed me behind you. I’ll praise you for that! Now, you’re on break, right? I’ll treat you to a cup of tea in the cafeteria!” she said with unsettling cheerfulness, grabbing Lantana’s arm and dragging him off.

“W-What’s up with you, all the sudden?”

“Oh my... is it so wrong that I want to treat my cute junior to a cup of tea?”

“No, it’s just that you’ve never done that before! You always make us pay...” he said, with a chill creeping up his spine.

“What did you just say?”

But one icy glare from Chamomile was enough to make him stop. “I didn’t say anything!”

After switching shifts guarding the prime minister’s office, Jean decided to take it easy in the break room rather than fighting his way through the busy cafeteria. Just as he’d left the palace and stepped onto the path to the station...

“Guah!?”

Someone wrapped their arms around his neck from behind, pinning him in a headlock. Turning his head a bit to make sure he could still breathe, he tried to see who had grabbed him.

“You’re too careless. Just because Rozhe is pretty safe doesn’t mean you can let your guard down,” the person behind him said, popping their face out from behind him.

“Alkanna!?”

“You’re slacking off. Do we need to do a little more hazing here?”

“No no no no no!”

Jean went white as Alkanna smiled.

“Whatever. Come to the station with me.”

“What~!? What are you gonna do to me? Will I survive it? Someone, help!”

“Oh, shut up and walk!”

By the time the “period bell” rang, six poor former spec ops men had been captured by the Bombshell Trio, just because they had happened to be on their breaks at the time (or even just starting them).

Thus.

“Keep watch for when the Viola Sapphires get to the shop, okay☆” ordered the Bombshell Trio.

And so, cowed by the women’s “request,” the men nodded, and were made to take shifts on their breaks or days off to stake out Pommier’s shop.

A few days later...

“I hear you’ve got the guys watching Pommier,” Cercis said, popping into the station’s break room while the Bombshell Trio were trying to relax a bit.

“Who squealed?”

“We’ll have to string the culprit up when we catch him.”

The women exchanged looks, whispering to each other.

“And I heard that you all want ‘Viola Sapphires,’” the Vice-Captain said with a sigh, giving them all a disgusted look.

“They’re Madam’s sapphires! Of course we want them! Immediately! As fast as possible!”

“If we wait too long, they’ll be all gone!”

“That’s right!”

The lady knights all lashed out at him.

“You’re all idiots. You’re going about this the wrong way! I can’t help but sigh... Well, whatever. Viola wants to see you, so come to the manor tonight.”

“Huh? Madam’s calling for us?”

“It’s been a while, huh?”

“I wonder what’s up?”

They were all confused as to what Viola might want with them.

“Also, let those guys off the hook from your demands. Alright?”

“Fiiiiiine.”

Leaving the three confused, Cercis turned and left.

That night, they followed him home to the Fisalis residence.

“Ladies, I’ve heard that you’d like some sapphires. I would have given you some as a gift if you’d just told me! Pommier has buyers lined up already, so I’ll give you some newly-mined ones. I know you’re in a hurry, but since they’re natural goods, I don’t know exactly when they’ll be available. Please, wait just a bit longer,” Viola told them all with a big smile.

“So we should’ve asked you from the start—!?” the trio cried weakly, crestfallen.

By the way, the men who had been on stakeout duty were all given Le Pied handcrafted hairpieces, brooches, or bracelets made from smaller stones as presents.

A while later...

After waiting excitedly for their famed sapphires, Viola called the Bombshell Trio back to the Fisalis manor to pick them up. Having been waiting for this moment, the three happily rushed to the manor the instant their work was over. When they arrived, they were led to the salon by the maids.

“I apologize for making you wait. Master and Madam will be here soon, so please enjoy some tea while you wait. I’ll prepare it now.”

“Oh, don’t mind us!”

Since it seemed as if Viola and Cercis were entertaining other guests, a few maids started serving the ladies sweets and tea. The maids moved gracefully, never looking the least bit rushed, and soon the room was full of the scent of sugar and freshly brewed tea. A moment later, all three knights had a delightful array of treats available.

“They are currently entertaining the owner of Pommier. He arrived a short while ago to deliver the jewelry we had made for you knights.”

“What jewelry?”

The maid explained why the trio was waiting, possibly on orders from the duke and duchess, but her explanation only surprised the ladies. They looked at each other, wondering why they’d be getting any jewelry when they thought they were just getting the gems.

“Yes. It seemed that Madam felt it was wrong to only give you the gems themselves, and instead had them made into necklaces that won’t interfere with your work,” the maid explained further.

“Madam did all that?” Chamomile asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” the maid replied, nodding with a smile.

“Wow! Madam is so thoughtful!”

“And she had them made into necklaces so we can wear them on the job!”

“Wah! That’s so amazing!”

“Just giving us Viola Sapphires was generous enough, but commissioning jewelry for us on top of that!?”

“What should we do!?”

If they hadn’t been in the duke’s manor, the three women would’ve been writhing on the floor, absolutely overcome with love for Viola’s generosity once again.

“Madam is wonderful, isn’t she?” Angelica reflexively looked to the maids for agreement.

“Yes, she is! She’s so good-natured, and the pride of our duchy... Ah, please excuse me.”

“It’s fiiiine, don’t worry! We know exactly what you mean!”

The maid unintentionally answered the question casually before rushing to compose herself, but the Bombshell Trio laughed it off, not minding.

“Thank you,” she said, relieved that she hadn’t been scolded for acting in a manner unbecoming of a first-class servant. But that only lasted a moment.

“Besides, anyone would become a fan of hers after getting to know her even a little bit.”

“Yes, that’s absolutely right! You understand!” the maid reflexively agreed with Alkanna’s statement, before slapping a hand over her mouth.

“We totally get it!” the trio agreed, slapping their hands on the table and leaning over.

And so, little by little, they broke down the maids’ resistance.

“Not only is her face adorable, but she’s kind, and her conduct and thoughtfulness is wonderful, too.”

“And she’s sensible.”

“Ahh~ the list of her good points is neverending!”

The Bombshell Trio continued praising Viola.

“She actually puts incredible effort into things behind the scenes. It’s quite admirable,” said the maid, emphasizing how hard a worker Viola was.

“Oh, wow! Really?”

“Yes. Whether dance or manners, she tries her best day after day at difficult lessons without a single complaint.”

“Just what I’d expect from her!”

“That makes me think even better of Madam!”

“Me too~”

The three lady knights broke into smiles imagining her throwing herself into her dance lessons.

“And she doesn’t only think of herself! She changes all of the flowers decorating the manor every day! She picks whichever flowers are the most beautiful. Just looking at them heals us,” the maid who had prepared the snacks joined in, pointing out the flowers in the salon.

“Oh, those are lovely! Those ones, too?”

“Yes.”

“It isn’t just the flowers. Looking at Madam herself heals you, too.”

“Yes, that’s right!” The maid agreed excitedly, having found comrades who understood.

“I can see why the Vice-Captain fell so hard for her.”

“He’s completely in the realm of ‘doting.’”

The ladies started smirking again, remembering Cercis waiting on Viola.

“Yes. Master’s overprotectiveness increases daily,” another maid joined in with a lukewarm smile.

“Oh, but Madam doesn’t seem the type to like being restrained, does she?” Angelica asked, since the magnanimous duchess seemed like she would hate being restricted by someone else’s worry.

“She doesn’t really notice.”

“Or mind.”

“She just ignores it.”

The three maids answered, trying their best not to laugh.

The Bombshell Trio, on the other hand, did not. “Pfft!” They burst out laughing, shoulders shaking.

“He gets treated the same way at home!”

The knights found it hilarious that the duke and duchess acted the same both privately and publicly. Learning that she wasn’t just some lazy wife made them love Viola even more.

And so, having found kindred spirits, the Bombshell Trio and the maids kept chatting with each other about how much they adored Viola.

Then, while they were all excitedly discussing her good points, the duchess herself appeared.

“Kyaaaa~! What are all of you talking about!?” she cried, flustered and bright red as she tried to stop them. After finishing her conversation with the jeweler, she’d brought the necklaces—only to find the group talking about her. She was in such a panic, she completely skipped the greetings.

Cercis looked pleased with himself as he observed Viola getting adorably flustered, so he was fine. But the maids saw Rohtas standing behind them with a serious look and ducked their heads, hurrying back to their stations by the wall.

But the Bombshell Trio laughed indifferently, saying, “We had a nice little chat about you!”

“Ah, geez~ That’s embarrassing! What were you talking about!?”

“Lots of things~”

“We’ve fallen for you again, Madam!”

“You’re the best! It’s a waste letting the Vice-Captain have you!”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand!”

Viola blushed even harder, hiding behind Cercis. Seeing that, the Bombshell Trio and the maids (and of course Cercis himself) only thought that made her even cuter.