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...

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 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...”

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 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.

“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...

“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.

...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.

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 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)...

“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...

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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 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.

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.

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?”

...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...”

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.

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.

“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...

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 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 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 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 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 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...

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...”

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.”

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 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 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!

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.

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!

“...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 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 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.

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.