Chapter 2

On the first day of the fifth month of this world’s calendar, we arrived at Daide. It was a castle city a bit larger than Tsia, with orange brick walls surrounding it... Apparently this was the capital city, though that was a bit redundant to say, since Daide was a country with only one big city. There had been towns and smaller inn-focused cities along the way, though.

In retrospect, the fact the empire had so many cities this size was pretty abnormal. It was way too big. Or maybe since the Demon Realm was equally big, perhaps it was just Daide that was too small?

We underwent a search at the front gate to the capital. Our waiting time was exceedingly short, since we went through the gate for nobles. Still, I had to wonder how meaningful searches were in a world with {Storage}... One would think that smuggling would be easy as pie, but apparently the lie-detecting tools were there to stop just that. And they used them pretty freely, since nobles committed more large-scale crimes than commoners.

“Are you bringing anything illegal with you, or something that might be thought of as illegal? Any criminal history you need to report?”

“That’s a no to either, though we do have bandits in {Storage} that attacked us on the way here. Any problem with that?”

“Not at all. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Thus concluded the search. Everyone received the same questions. Luckily, the bandit gang in Soto’s {Storage} was completely legal thanks to imperial law. Things would be different if we freed them within Daide, but that would be the separate crime of causing chaos through summoning, and didn’t have anything to do with bringing them with us.

However, while the questioning itself ended without issue, when I handed over the letter from Haku (which she had told me to deliver at the gate), the guards took us to a waiting room and hurried off. The waiting room for nobles was a pretty nice-looking parlor. The red sofa in particular was comfy as all hell. I bounced up when I sat on it, which made me want to jump on it like a trampoline... and Soto was actually doing it.

“Hey. That’s disrespectful, Soto.”

“Awww, but the sofa’s super bouncy, papa! Look at how high I go!”

“It is pretty rare for sofas to be like this,” Rokuko said. “Not even our inn’s massage chairs are this bouncy.”

Well, yeah. Those are just chairs with mattresses stuck on them, so they’re more about sinking into the softness. Same for the ones I sold Haku.

Incidentally, Niku and Ichika were serving as maid-cum-bodyguards, by which I meant they were standing solemnly by the wall. If you asked me, it would’ve been just fine for them to sit down, too. They were both B-Ranks and thus nobles, after all.

After about thirty minutes of waiting, we were finally greeted by... Wataru and Emmymephy. They were about the best visitors I could have asked for, though I was mainly referring to Wataru there, as a warder of evil. Emmymephy was just a bonus. I seemed to recall Haku mentioning something about her being told not to leave Wataru’s side under any circumstance. Heck, he was the one oasis of peace in the middle of Leona’s danger zone, so yeah, I didn’t want to leave his side, either.

“Heya, Keima! It’s been a while,” Wataru said.

“Yup. You’re looking pretty hyped up, my man.”

“Of course! Oh, and I see Rokuko, Ichika, and Kuro are all here too. And... Er, who’s the black-haired girl?” Wataru asked, looking curiously at Soto. This was their first time meeting, so his confusion made sense. I decided to introduce Soto honestly without hiding anything.

“This is my daughter, Soto.”

“Oh, your daughter... Wait, your daughter?! Wh-What?! When did this happen?!”

Wataru, naturally, was shocked. I ignored his surprise and turned to greet the imperial princess, as was my duty as one of her humble citizens.

“Hello to you, too, Princess Mephy. It’s been a while.”

“Hi hi, Keima. I say, I’m just as surprised to hear you have a daughter!”

Looks like Emmymephy’s dying of curiosity, too. Oh well.

“Soto, say hello. Be polite, this is a Hero and the imperial princess here.”

“Okaaay. Nice to meet you! I’m Soto Goren! Teehee!” Soto greeted Wataru and Emmymephy with a cute smile that resembled Rokuko’s.

“I say, I like your spirit! I am Emmymephy Laverio. My friends call me Mephy, so you can, too.”

“Er, right, nice to meet you. I’m Wataru. Uh... Keima? Wh-Who’s the mother? Just asking to be safe.”

“Me, duh?” Rokuko answered, puffing out her chest while sniffing with pride.

“When did...? She’s so big...”

“Also, she’s my little sister,” Niku said, sliding forward.

“Kuro’s little sister... Wait, what?! Does that make you Keima’s daughter, too...? But you’re a beastkin...”

“They have different mothers. Happens all the time, doesn’t it?”

“I-I guess, maybe...? Wait, doesn’t that mean you’re keeping your daughter as a slave...?”

“She also has a different father.”

“That means you’re not related at all!”

“Hey, watch your mouth!” Soto exclaimed. “Me and big sis are connected by the soul! We’re soul sisters!”

“Correct. Soto and I are soul sisters.”

I tried correcting the misunderstanding to avoid any annoying problems, but Soto and Niku got annoyed enough at Wataru’s reaction that they got involved themselves. To be fair, since they were Dungeon Core and Dungeon Master, their souls were indeed literally connected.

“S-Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re still family, even if not by blood.”

“I’m glad you understand!” Soto exclaimed, smugly forgiving Wataru.

“Well, just to be clear, Soto only became our daughter recently. I wasn’t hiding her from you or anything.”

“Er, wait, uhhh...”

“Don’t ask. Rokuko’s home life is one hell of a mess. You’re a noble, too, so you get what I mean, right?”

“Ah. Right. I can understand that... She is Haku’s sister, after all.”

I gave Wataru enough to fill in the gaps himself and left the rest to his imagination. He would probably come to a harmless conclusion, with the truth coming much later, if ever.

“Anyway, this isn’t the best place to talk. Want to come to our inn?” Wataru asked.

“Sounds good. We should have rooms already reserved in the same inn ourselves.”

We took Wataru up on his offer and headed to his inn in Daide. I’d have liked to stick with him this whole trip for safety purposes, but Haku told us to keep clear of him when we were investigating, at the very least. Sleeping in the same inn was fine, and if something happened in the night he could rush over in time and bless us with his {Ultra Good Fortune}. Hopefully. Please.

In any case, we finally stepped foot into the city proper. The gate led into a sizable main street, with medieval-looking buildings made of wood and orange bricks dotting the sides. And, as one would expect near such a large gate connecting the outside of the city to the inside, there were stands everywhere selling stuff. There hadn’t been many outside the gate, but that made sense considering the entrance fee.

“Oho, golly. This sure is different from the Daide I know,” Ichika said.

“Huh? Really?”

Apparently the Daide of her day had been a lot more deserted and open.

“Right, I heard they went through some rapid development recently,” Wataru said. “I think you’ll be pretty surprised, Keima. Look at that stand.”

He pointed at a stand. I looked, and found a stand selling delicious-smelling fried food, karaage. Beside that stand was one selling sweet-smelling baby castellas. Beside that stand, again, was one selling yakisoba with tantalizing sauce. In short, it was a lineup of very Japanese-esque food.

...Not that I can be critical, since in Goren I sold yakisoba and stuff flat out during the dragon incident, but Leona is definitely behind this.

“Y’knooow, Master. Food is culture. They say you can tell what’s up with a country by looking at their food, y’know?” Ichika said, glancing all over the place.

“Alright, alright, buy one of everything, whatever you want.”

“Thaaat’s my master for you! Be right back!”

I handed Ichika a number of silvers, and she happily skipped off to the stands.

“Man, isn’t it crazy to see stands like this outside of Goren?” Wataru asked, looking proud for some reason.

“Think they have a dungeon that drops this sauce and stuff, like the [Cave of Greed] does?”

“Nope. Turns out, they’re making it all themselves. Everything’s made from crops and the like farmed within the country, not stuff produced from dungeons.”

“Wow.”

Now that was impressive. Still, if people in Japan could make the sauces from natural materials, it only made sense that anyone could make them from similar materials. Though Leona was definitely involved here regardless.

“And I haven’t even gotten to the best part! The highest quality toilets here are... Actually, it’ll be more surprising if you experience it for yourself. Eheheh.”

I can guess from his expression that they probably have washlets, the oh-so-popular bidets in Japan. Might even have toilet paper. I considered inventing that stuff myself, but {Purification} kind of renders them pointless.

“Rokuko, I say, do I ever recommend the strawberry crepes. They’re delightfully cute dishes with sour strawberries enveloped by sweet cream. They make me think of Ichigo. Oh, and Ichigo is a minstrel whose songs and dances I’m quite fond of.”

“Hmm, a layer of cream wrapped around fruit... Do they have any melon ones?”

“Melon...? Did I ever tell you of the time I summoned an adventurer to speak, and he overate melons in his excitement to the point that he vomited? I say, take care not to eat too much of it yourself, Rokuko.”

“It’s fine, I’m built for eating endless melons.”

Not technically untrue, since Dungeon Cores can eat forever.

As we chatted, Ichika came back with an armful of food, and we all went to the inn.

“Still, I didn’t expect Daide to be so developed,” I said, seeing all sorts of evidence of the development Wataru had mentioned on the way to the inn.

“I know, right? At this point, the commoners here have a better quality of life than imperial commoners,” Wataru replied.

The most noticeable of all was the glass windows, probably. And it wasn’t just the buildings on the main street with them, either; even when we went into alleys and side roads, we could see into plenty of buildings. Which revealed that even the inside of the windows had a locking system used throughout Japan, the so-called crescent locks where you lifted a handle to activate the lock. That removed pretty much all doubt that it was Leona behind everything. I never thought we’d pick up on her trail so fast...

“Bit late for me to be saying this, but I see Neruneh isn’t with you,” Wataru said.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. We left her behind since she didn’t seem too interested in coming. No rumors of any special magic tools being developed here, after all. Also, it’s dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Aaah... Yeah, I guess so? I can’t really empathize, myself.”

Incidentally, it seems that Wataru took his detours without even being conscious of them. Apparently on our first day here we’re already so close to instadeath danger that Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} is stepping in to save the day? Jesus Christ, how horrifying. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Rokuko and the others after all.

Also, the high-quality toilets that earned Wataru’s high recommendations were washlets, as expected. They were entirely different from Japan’s electronic washlets, however, and were instead sticks with buttons that dropped from a hose on the ceiling. The stick had a hole to let water out, and if you aimed your rear at the button, it would spray out and do some cleaning. But in the end, one would still use the Survival magic {Dry} anyway.

Really, it felt like {Purification} was still the way to go, but Wataru was so happy about it that I just kindly nodded and didn’t bring that up.

＊ ＊ ＊

The next day, Niku, Soto and I left to investigate Daide. Niku was wearing her personal clothes today rather than her maid outfit, so I ended up feeling like a father out on a trip with his two daughters.

Rokuko and Ichika were apparently going to go shopping with Emmymephy under Wataru’s supervision. They would be, in their own way, searching for things that didn’t quite fit in this world, with Wataru’s Japanese perspective as an aid. Rokuko and Ichika would probably handle that just fine.

“So, what now, papa?”

“What now, Master?”

With two lolis looking to me for guidance, I laid out the first step of my plan.

“Let’s go to the church first. That’ll be faster than anything.”

What had my curiosity more than anything was Beddhism. As the pope of Beddhism, I needed to give this land’s branch a once-over. It was definitely planted here by Leona, and nothing would start if I didn’t check the place out. I uncovered the location of the church quite easily by asking a chef at the stand we stopped by for breakfast.

We headed to the church while wolfing down the breakfast we bought.

“Tacos! What a weird name, huh, Niku!” Soto exclaimed.

“They taste good. They’re like a salad wrap.”

Ehhh. These tacos are literally tacos. The salad wraps we had at the city of Mikan were similar, but they were called salad wraps, not tacos... I wonder if the auto-translator is causing any problems here? Eh, it’s beyond me.

“Oh. Soto. I should’ve said this earlier, but outside, call her Kuro instead of Niku. Or just ‘big sis’ if you want. Alright?”

“Okaaay.”

“...Understood.” Niku shook her tail with a bit of dissatisfaction at Soto agreeing to that.

Anyway, we arrived at the Beddhist church, but it hit me that I was, indeed, the pope. I had to question whether it would be better for me to state my identity or hide it... Though, thinking about it, I had never been here before. They would probably just look at me like I was crazy if I claimed to be the pope.

I tried approaching the church and checking the place out. First things first, I looked it over. There were no glass windows here, with there instead being wooden shutters that opened from the inside. And... Actually, the church had signs of being reconstructed at points, and didn’t feel at all like a church that had been recently built. It looked, at the very least, like it was ten, no, fifty years old. I wouldn’t even be surprised if it was over a hundred years old, but naturally I had no idea since I wasn’t an expert.

“Sure feels like a church with history...”

“Can I eat it?”

“Uh? No.” What are you, a baby that wants to put everything into their mouth? Though then again, you are zero years old, so... Okay.

Next, I looked at the believers going in and out of the church. Men and women of all ages and wealth demographics were streaming in and out, indicating the universal compassion of the church. They also had the hole-in-center coins hanging from their necks. In short, the same holy symbol we used at our church. That was probably good enough proof that Leona was spreading Beddhism here. Though it was also possible a smith coincidentally cloned them... Though, nah, not like there would be any other church with a dumb pun name like Beddhism.

But really, “stream” was an accurate term to use here. A ton of believers were going in and out. In a surprising twist, it was a lot busier than the cozy church back in our town. The fact this was a capital city with a higher population was certainly a factor, but still. Either way, hiding my status as pope and infiltrating as a normie seemed reasonable.

“Alright, we’re heading in as traveling Beddhists.”

“Understood. You should use an iron holy symbol instead, Master.”

“Good point. And for Soto... Oh, no, wait. We can act like we’re trying to baptize her into Beddhism.”

“That sounds fun, papa!”

I put on an iron holy symbol Niku gave me rather than my usual one. Now, onward into church.

“So this is a Beddhist church!” Soto exclaimed.

“Oooh, they sure are big in cities, huh!”

“Indeed. Let us get you baptized promptly, Soto.”

We thus entered the church with a bit of bad acting. The inside was basically as stereotypically holy as you could get. The artistic interior design aped baroque designs, and felt entirely like a western church.

The nuns were greeting the believers with chants of “oyasuminasai,” and the believers smiled back. In the process they picked the holy symbols up off their chests and tapped them together, which was a Beddhist greeting done in Goren as well.

Pretty peaceful church they have here. Maybe because the nuns aren’t Succubi?

That reminded me, I had a ring Succubus on my hand: Kosaki. I glanced down, only just then remembering she was guarding me like always. She sent a telepathic message that she didn’t sense any Succubus energy from the nuns, which meant they were probably normal humans, yeah.

“Oyasuminasai. Are you here to pray?”

“Aah, my daughter here said she wanted to join Beddhism just like me.”

“Oh my! That’s splendid. Your beastkin daughter here... already has a symbol, so it must be this other one, correct?”

“That’s right! It’s me! What do I have to do to join?” Soto energetically asked.

“Nothing in particular; you are a Beddhist disciple the moment you wish to be a member of the Beddhist church yourself. It is a sub-religion, so you may even continue practicing your original religion.”

“Yaaay! I’m a Beddhist!”

“Indeed, and I am your witness. You are now a Beddhist.”

It seemed even here joining Beddhism was easy as pie. They even kept up the whole sub-religion thing.

“You may buy holy symbols at the store over there if you would like,” the nun said, pointing at a little shopping corner. It was a wooden stand, which also sold pillows and potions alongside the holy symbols. We thanked her and headed that way.

“Papaaa, buy me a symbooool.”

“Hey now, don’t pull.”

Soto made a cute begging pose. The way she gripped my sleeve and pulled me to the store was the quintessential image of a daughter begging for something from her father; truly, she was an expert. Even I couldn’t tell if she was acting or speaking from the heart.

“You, too, big sis! Hurry, hurry!”

“Understood, Soto. Ah... They don’t have any iron holy symbols.”

“Awww, what? I wanted one to match yours and papa’s!”

As Niku said, there were silver and bronze holy symbols, but nothing else. No iron or gold. Though maybe they just weren’t there due to being too expensive or something.

“Excuse me, do you have iron holy symbols?”

“Oh, iron holy symbols? You have to get those specially ordered.”

Incidentally, bronze holy symbols cost three bronzes, while silver ones cost two silvers. Irons had to be specially ordered, and cost about a silver and fifty bronzes. Surprisingly expensive.

“Strange. Iron’s the most popular one back in the empire.”

“Oh, imperials, are we? Well, iron’s a bit more sparse over here.”

There were bronze mines here (albeit not dungeon mines), so bronze was especially cheap. I seemed to recall the prince who came to our town saying something similar. Iron wasn’t impossible to buy, but almost all of it was imported.

Given that they’re importing from the empire, it’s possible some of the Golem iron from our town is here. Feels weird.

“Still, this is a pretty grand church. And here I thought Beddhism was founded just recently,” I said, playing dumb and asking the nun about the building while having Soto settle for just a bronze holy symbol (as per the act).

“Oh yes, this is quite a historied church.”

“What kind of history?” I asked, feeling a bit confused because I knew for a fact I had made Beddhism just recently.

“You see, this church has been around for over eight hundred years, since before the kingdom of Daide was first founded.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t originally a Beddhist church? It was a church for some other religion?” That made sense; nothing strange about an unrelated church having a lot of history.

Or so I thought, but the nun shook her head. “No, no. This is a church of Ancient Beddhism.”

“Ancient... Beddhism?”

“Yes. Ancient Beddhism. To further explain...”

Ancient Beddhism. Such was the name of the religion which worshiped the one and only creator god who created the world in the long past.

The history of the religion traced back to the world’s creation itself, and in fact existed before the concept of ‘religion’ even formed. All humans, or rather, all living creatures, were joined together in harmony beneath the peace-praising Beddhism, and offered their prayers in sleep. Beddhism was practiced by all living things.

And thus, Ancient Beddhism was nothing special at all. It was simply the way of life for everyone, and so melted away over time, until its tenets were so violated by the modern day that it was abruptly reborn.

“And so, while modern-day Beddhism is simply a sub-religion, in truth it is backwards. Beddhism is the true primary religion, the fundamental block upon which everything else is founded. The gods currently being worshiped are the true sub-religions.”

“So you’re saying Beddhism is the church for the creator god, then?”

“Not so. That was the case for Ancient Beddhism, but the creator god has now gone, too, oyasuminasai... Modern Beddhism worships no gods, and exists for the sake of the people.”

In short, modern Beddhism was both the rebirth of Ancient Beddhism, and something else at the same time.

“So, why did Beddhism revive now of all times, exactly?”

“As I mentioned, this church has existed since before the kingdom of Daide was founded. The people of the city hadn’t the faintest idea where it came from or why it had been built, but the holy pope taught us of its origin, and with it, the history of Ancient Beddhism.”

Ahhh. Okay, yeah, Leona. Now that I think about it, Leona did mention something about Ancient Beddhism herself... Wait, pope?

“Er, did you just say the pope taught you? Not a nun, or anything?”

“Indeed, the pope.”

Hm.

“Uhhh. Is the pope’s name Leona by any chance? Black hair, red eyes?”

“Hm? The pope’s name is Lord Tindalos. He is the commander of this country’s mage corps, and the pope of new Beddhism.”

Who the fuck? I mean, I guess she just told me. The commander of the mage corps?

“By the way, when did this pope start spreading Beddhism again?”

“There are many theories, with the most common being either ten years ago or even just one year ago. Though one year ago is surely impossible. The religion was around when I was a child, after all.”

“Huh.”

As far as I could tell, the nun was about twenty years old. That was pretty much impossible, then. Were her memories being altered?

From there, the nun happily told me all sorts of historical tidbits about the church, like the statue with a broken arm, the ancient origins of various scrapes on a pillar, and so on.

Wow, so this stone statue broke when the creator god’s child tossed it in the Bedding Wars around six hundred years ago. Yeah, you heard me, “Bedding Wars.” In short, the war over who got to sleep on the top bunk in a bunk bed... Wait, they’re kids?!

Naturally, all that information came straight from the pope. It was even checked out by someone who could use analysis skills.

Consider the famous thought experiment: The world was created five minutes ago. It spoke for itself, and claimed that all memories and records had actually been created only five minutes ago. It was an impossible theory to deny, since any evidence against it would have been created five minutes ago artificially, and thus would not be valid.

Now, let’s lower the scale of that a bit, from the world to a city. Imagine every human in a city had memories of a fake history implanted in them, and fake buildings made to suit those memories, such that you had a city made a few days ago. Would that city be one with a grand history? Or would it be a city with a fictional history? Subsequently, would the religion with a grand history be real, or fake?

For me, it was the latter, for sure. This pope... Tindalos, the commander of the mage corps, was fishy as all hell. He was definitely connected to Leona, somehow.

“...By the way, are there any black-haired, red-eyed nuns here?”

“Hmm... Oh, the one with the analysis skill Lord Tindalos arranged was a black-haired, red-eyed nun. She, too, was a Beddhist, I believe.”

See? Done and done. We’ve got the clues, and Leona’s almost guaranteed to be in this city. Ehhh... I’m starting to feel like this is a game of hide-and-seek or something. Bleh.

“Papa! I want a pair of these socks that warm up when you wear them before bed! Get one for big sis, too, please!”

“The store’s selling that kinda stuff, too?”

In any case, the socks did look pretty comfy and warm, so I bought enough to bring back to Rokuko and the others, too. By the time we were done, mass was just beginning.

The main chapel was filled with long pews, just like a normal church. We participated in the center, out of sight. A priest of Beddhism stood before a podium and began regaling a tale of Beddhism.

“In the past, a religion known as Ancient Beddhism was commonplace upon the land,” he began, repeating what we had just heard.

The idea was that the nun at the stand had grown up hearing these speeches, presumably. The priest ended by saying this: “And now is the time for the people of the world to embrace a Beddhism without a god. Let us acquire peace without relying on the whims of the divine.” Such was the end of mass.

They don’t count sheep here, huh? Like “one sheep over the fence” and everything... Oh, you do it once a week? Neat. That’s here, too. The recreation’s pretty high level... Hey, Soto, you’re drooling. {Purification}.

＊ ＊ ＊

Anyway, the Tindalos guy was clearly the most suspicious here, so the best thing to do seemed to be to use our authority to set up a meeting. What was our authority, you asked? Well, the authority of the empire’s imperial princess, of course.

Having finished our investigation and returned to the inn, we met up with everyone and discussed matters with Emmymephy.

“And that’s how it is, Princess Mephy. Could you set up a meeting between us and the commander of this country’s mage corps?” I asked.

“Mm, I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Wait, really? But you’re the imperial princess.”

“I, too, investigated Daide’s branch of Beddhism at the First Empress’s request, of course, but the man calling himself pope, Tindalos, avoided all of my requests for a meeting.”

The question was, did Tindalos avoid them on purpose, or was Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} at work here? If Tindalos was Leona, or someone pretty close to Leona, it was probably safer to say the latter was at fault.

I glanced at Wataru, who was here as Mephy’s guard.

“I mean, I know you’re the real pope, Keima.”

“Oh, nah, that’s not it. I was just wondering if the meeting would happen if you sat it out, Wataru.”

“Huh? Don’t be crazy, I couldn’t do that. Haku asked me personally to guard Princess Mephy. She’ll need a guard then more than ever.”

Yeaaah, he’d have to take responsibility if anything happened to Emmymephy. Just how far would his {Ultra Good Fortune} go to protect him?

“I could just go on my own,” I suggested.

“Not if the meeting is held for me to introduce you. Commanders are high enough in status it would be quite rude for me to not be there,” Emmymephy replied. I would have thought she could just write a letter of introduction, but apparently things were more complicated. International politics were fully in play here.

“Maybe you should just go back to the empire, then?”

“I say, don’t be ridiculous. I’m here posing as an exchange student in their academy, I could not return just like that without warning.”

“I see.” Well, my suggestion was pretty reckless anyway, so no harm done.

That was when Rokuko interjected, patting Soto’s head while giving her a lap pillow. “So, Mephy. Does Tindalos have any relatives in this academy you’re attending?”

“Oooh, I say, what a sharp observation Rokuko! Now that you mention it, he does have a grandchild there. You could meet him if you pose as one of my guards and come with me to the academy!”

Rokuko nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think we could enter the academy, too?” she asked.

“Hm? I just said you could come as my guards.”

“No, I mean as students. Think about it. It wouldn’t be strange for you to have brought a bit of an entourage along with you, right? You are the imperial princess, after all.”

Rokuko’s idea was completely out there. Emmymephy paused to think it over.

“You do have a point, I say. Or rather, considering Rokuko is so high in status, maybe I would be part of the entourage? That is actually closer to the truth,” Emmymephy said. It was hard to tell whether she was joking or not. Rokuko was Haku’s little sister, so.

“Mamaaa, what about meee?” Soto cooed.

“Mm, right. You might as well use the opportunity to join us at school. It’s not every day you get this kind of opportunity. So, Mephy. Does the academy have a section for elementary schoolers?”

“It certainly does. But, who exactly is... Ah, never mind. She looks enough like you that I know she’s related to the First Empress, too,” Emmymephy said, with a bit of a distant look in her eyes. Her assumption was correct, in any case.

“Oh, and that’ll make you a student, too, Keima! Man, I can’t wait to see you wearing a school uniform.”

“What’re you talking about, Wataru? I’m Rokuko’s guard. Were you guarding Princess Mephy in a school uniform, huh?”

“I mean, yeah? Right, Princess Mephy?”

“Erm, no? You guarded me in the same thing you’re wearing now.”

Wataru and Rokuko sighed, their pitiful lies having been blown away.

“Mephy. You need to go with the flow and say he wore a school uniform,” Rokuko instructed.

“Right, Princess Mephy. Read the room a bit more.”

“Er, I say, am I in the wrong here?”

“Nah. These two are just being idiots. You gave the right answer, I assure you.”

I was one step away from being forced into wearing a school uniform. Good grief, how many years has it even been since I last wore a school uniform?

“That’ll make me Rokuko’s maid, then,” Ichika said. “Master’ll be free to investigate and stuff if I’m sticking with my girl Rokuko. Guess Niku can look after Soto?”

“That works for me,” Niku said. And so the two maids on the side had their places settled.

But still. Back to school, huh?

＊ ＊ ＊

The Kingdom of Daide’s Royal Academy. Emmymephy was visiting as an exchange student in Daide’s singular school for noble children. It was one of those places where only the most extraordinary of commoners even had a chance of enrolling. There was a fairly expensive tuition fee to attend, but it was shaved down for us since we were Emmymephy’s associates and would only be attending for a bit. Oh, and I would charge Haku the costs later. Though I had to say, the power of political authority was truly something to behold. To think we would get enrolled the day after we sent our request.

We found ourselves in a classroom built like a stairway, just like lecture halls in Earth colleges. Rokuko introduced herself in front of the blackboard.

“Hi, I’m Rokuko Tsia,” she said, borrowing the name of a noble house in the empire... or rather, the Tsia house. This was on Haku’s instructions. There was a lot of red tape to commoners enrolling, and it would have been far too unusual for a foreign commoner to enroll in the first place. If she called herself Laverio, everyone would know she was imperial royalty, and Labyrinthart wasn’t a name we wanted to say here. That said, Haku didn’t want her to go by Masuda or Goren, so Tsia was her compromise. Soto was probably introducing herself as Soto Tsia in the elementary school section with Niku as her bodyguard-cum-maid.

“Rokuko, I say, over here. The seat next to me is free,” Emmymephy called.

“Ah, Mephy. I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Rokuko sat down in the seat next to Emmymephy’s. A small stir ran through the classroom, as anyone on such friendly terms with the imperial princess was surely a big deal, even if only in the empire itself. Incidentally, I only learned this recently, but the Tsia house was a surprisingly big deal. They were as powerful as one would expect for a house capable of managing the entire Tsia region. Probably too powerful to just casually drop by the church of a small town, but meh. Also, the Pavella house was about equal in power.

Anyway, I didn’t need to introduce myself (since I was a guard), so I was just standing at the back of the classroom and watching it all unfold. I’m just a guard. My job’s to watch over my lady and keep quiet.

I nodded to the other guards and mingled. Wataru waved with a goofy grin, and I noticed some people flinching at that.

“Wataru, did you do something so terrifying that people would be scared of me just for being your friend?”

“Hahaha, nah. Some of them just asked me to train them, and I obliged.”

Apparently some of the guards here were bold enough to challenge a Hero. Or well, maybe some were just curious to see how strong he really was, when it came to pass that they fought alongside each other.

“By the way, do we not get chairs? My legs are gonna get tired.”

“There’s staff rooms for servants, but guards generally need to stand all day for work,” Wataru replied.

“Oh. Oh...”

And that’s where Ichika went already... I’m starting to regret infiltrating as a guard instead of as a student. Well, at least I can use Golem Assistance.

Anyway, it was time to see what they were taught here in the academy. The first lesson was math.

“Anyone can do this much, can’t they?” Rokuko asked.

“Those on our level, at least. I say, I would be the shame of the imperial family if this were beyond me.”

Yeah, it’s just basic arithmetic. Multiplication and division, huh? That’s about elementary-school level. Rokuko can handle it no problem, and so can Emmymephy. Seems like the Daide nobles aren’t slouching in their studies, either. They’re doing fine. Though... Not quite all of them, I see.

“Aha, only after doing guard duty did I realize just how much you stick out when you don’t study. Nobles study hard under tutors so they don’t show weakness in situations like this. It’ll just get exploited later, otherwise,” Wataru explained.

“Being a noble must be rough, huh?”

Wataru and I chatted quietly in the back of the room, where the students couldn’t hear. I was supposedly on guard duty, but it felt more like I was just sitting in on the class. There were other guards, and really, did one need guards in the middle of a class? Were they preparing for a terrorist attack or something? Well, I didn’t feel like one was coming. I wanted to sleep.

“They’re nobles, so they apparently need to get used to having guards with them at all times, no matter what they’re doing.”

“Again, nobles sure have it rough... Do you think they’d let me sleep if I said it was for religious reasons?”

“I don’t think anyone will stop you, but are you sure you want to do that?”

Sure. My actual objective here should really be to leave guarding Rokuko and the others to Wataru, then go off searching for Tindalos’s grandchild. At the very least, said grandchild doesn’t seem to be their classmate. Ehh... I’ll keep an eye out for a bit, then go search for them.

Not having anything else to do, I leaned against the back wall and locked my position into place with Golem Assistance. I’d be resting while entrusting my Wearable Golem with protecting my body.

Next period was a dance lesson. A natural part of a noble’s curriculum, really.

“Please form groups of two, one girl and one boy in each,” the instructor announced.

Egads! The anti-loner weapon, “form groups of two” has been unleashed! What will Rokuko do, when this is her first time attending the class?!

“What’s the plan, Mephy?” Rokuko asked.

“Mm, I will pair with Wataru. An imperial princess cannot so lightly dance with just any man.”

“My my. I’ll pair with Keima, then. I don’t want to dance with anyone else, so.”

What in the... Guards count for this? Oh, it’s for emergencies... Wait. Does this mean I have to take dance lessons, too? But I’ve never danced before.

As I faltered, feeling at a loss, Rokuko whispered into my ear. “Keima. You can just watch and learn at the start, no?”

“Oh, good point.”

Indeed. We had our secret weapon: Golem Assistance. I could dance perfectly just by copying someone else’s demonstration. However, it only worked with Rokuko and me in a team. The Golems wouldn’t be able to react to any unexpected moves whatsoever.

And so, after observing the instructor perform the dance in a pair of their own, we likewise performed a perfect dance. So perfect it seemed we were being controlled by something else, even.

“I didn’t know you and Rokuko could dance, Keima,” Wataru said.

“We’re just copying what we see,” I replied. And by the way, both he and Emmymephy danced perfectly. Just what one would expect from a Hero and an imperial princess. Incidentally, Rokuko and I both had metal plates slid into our shoes, just in case we accidentally stepped on each other’s feet.

Practical magic lessons up next, huh? This is some real-deal fantasy-world stuff.

The class moved to the sports field. Rokuko and the other students changed into gym clothes... and when I saw the clothes, particularly the lower half, I was shaken to my core.

Bloomers? Why bloomers? They went extinct in Japan, but to think they found new life in a fantasy world... That said, these purple crotch-protecting garments might be completely unknown to children these days. I mean, maybe. Whew... Their thighs are sparkling.

“Hey, Wataru. Are those, uh... pants really acceptable? Feels like they’re showing a lot of leg here.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re bloomers. Apparently a Hero introduced them at some point, and they’re considered very proper and ladylike to wear for exercise.”

I’m starting to get the feeling anything’s okay as long as it comes from a Hero. But it doesn’t look like anyone’s embarrassed here. I guess it’s fine, then...

Also, I thought that the bloomers were Leona’s work, but apparently it was possible that some other hero had spread them.

Once everyone gathered together and the bell rang, class began.

“O Fire, become a sphere and smite my enemy—{Fireball}!” the instructor exclaimed, launching an example fireball that hit a target perfectly ten meters away. “Now, do the same, and likewise hit targets with magic. Ball-type spells won’t break the target, so go as hard as you want.”

Apparently this lesson was about controlling the power of one’s spells. It was true that learning how to cast a spell from a skill scroll was very different from being an expert at using the spell. Most magic involved launching ranged attacks, and the aiming of those attacks depended on one’s personal skill.

Even spells that went head-on, like my {Element Shot}, would miss if my aim was bad to begin with.

“The more mana you use, the more it grows. Using stronger spells is good for improving one’s mana capacity as well, so cast them to your heart’s content. You can use any mana potions you have with you.”

One could similarly improve their mana capacity by praying and doing visualization training while it was at full capacity. I seemed to recall Ichika mentioning something like that in the past.

Anyway, almost all the students depleted their mana reserves and ended up exhausted. Almost all the students, because...

“Rokuko, I say, how are you still standing? You haven’t even drunk a potion yet...”

“Mm, I’ve barely even warmed up. Really, my throat’s more tired than anything.”

...Because, in a surprising twist, Rokuko remained standing no matter how many {Fireballs} she cast.

“Keima,” Wataru said. “When did Rokuko get so much mana?”

“Remember whose little sister she is and take a guess.”

“Ah. Right.”

To be honest, though, I had no idea, either. Was it possible she and I shared the same mana capacity, due to our soul bond? It was possible. Another theory was her capacity exploding due to her sleeping in the Divine Bedding every night. She prayed Beddhist style by sleeping, and was pretty much constantly at max mana due to the bedding. Everything was set up for her capacity to increase.

The truth of the matter was yet unclear, but either way, we knew that Rokuko could launch off {Fireballs} for a solid hour without running out of mana.

Incidentally, as for her control, at the start she was missing so bad she hit the target of the person next to her, but by the end she could land hits ten times in a row, which was enough to pass the lesson.

After exercise was history, which really made me question if they wanted to put their students to sleep. The only saving grace was that lunch came later, not before. Though I was already sleepy. Despite having just been watching.

“Aaah, and as for this section... Rokuko, could you read it aloud to the class?”

“Certainly. Denka Daide, the first king of Daide, devised a plot to earn independence from the three superpowers: the Laverio Empire, the Demon Realm, and the Holy Kingdom. The plot was the Tri-Country Armistice. The first king was known as the Sage of Arbitration, and...” Rokuko said, listing off Daide’s history without even looking at the textbook.

“...Incredible. You are well learned, I see. Everyone would do well to learn from your example,” the instructor said when she was done.

“I say, Rokuko, I’m impressed! I would expect nothing less from one of my retinue.”

“Oh, this is cake. I just had to memorize what I saw.”

“I-I had no idea you were such a genius...!”

Rokuko was bragging, but I alone had seen the trick she pulled. And that wasn’t an analogy. Indeed, she had used the camera function of the dungeon to record her textbook ahead of time and cheat by reading it aloud from a screen nobody else could see but her and me. That’s dirty! You’re so dirty, Rokuko! And that’s why I can trust my back to you, partner.

By the way, Rokuko’s streak of perfection didn’t last forever. It all came crashing down in etiquette class.

“Rokuko, how practiced are you with tea manners?” Emmymephy asked.

“Mm, I’m not sure. I’ve had tea parties with Haku and my friends, but I never really thought about manners before.”

One could say that manners were habits formed over a lifetime. It was pretty harsh for Rokuko, who had only ever had friendly tea parties with close relatives.

“That may be all fine and good normally, but you’re a high-ranking noble from Tsia, and you need the manners to match. I say, what about using this opportunity to learn a bit? When you get married to Keima... Well, he’s a baron right now, no? There’s no harm in learning manners now while you’re lower in rank.”

“You have a point. Teach me well, Mephy.”

“As a member of the imperial family, I’m not too familiar with lower-level manners myself. Even if I marry down, I will still be treated as a member of the imperial family... W-Well, this is why they have instructors!”

And so, Rokuko likewise began studying manners. Though apparently she had learned much from watching Haku’s graceful moments, and so aside from the condescending sneers that leaked out unconsciously while imitating her, she didn’t do half bad. She even earned extra points for memorizing the names of everyone introduced to her after just one go.

“Rokuko sure is smart,” Wataru said. “I can’t believe she can remember everyone’s names just like that. I have to write everything down on a notepad if I want to keep all the names in order.”

“Yeaaah,” I replied, glancing at my map. As expected, she had tagged everyone currently in the classroom. That certainly would let her check everyone’s name without memorizing them. What a cheat skill. No need to worry about messing up names like that. One could say that dungeon functions were actually just Rokuko’s innate power, and all she was doing here was using her skills to their limits, but... It was so dirty that it kind of crossed a line and became refreshing, somehow.

As an aside, Ichika participated in the tea party as a maid, and her service was sublime. Apparently she had experience working as a maid in a noble’s mansion to pay off a debt. I was surprised she would be so motivated to hone her skills in something that didn’t have to do with money or gambling.

Anyway, we made it to noon. We met up with Niku and Soto, who had been in the elementary section, and went to eat lunch.

“Papa, mama, school is so much fun! There’s even a legendary tree and stuff!” Soto exclaimed energetically the second we saw her. Glad to see she was having a good time.

“A legendary tree, like, one where if you confess beneath it on graduation you’ll be happy forever?”

“Uh-huh! You need to schedule a reservation for it!”

Their legendary tree has reservations...? I guess it makes sense, it’d be too crowded to confess otherwise.

“So, Kuro. How was Soto?” I asked.

“Very orderly. She took her praying seriously.”

“She slept in class, then?”

“Yes.”

I see, she slept. That’s my daughter for you.

“Give back the ounce of respect I felt while eavesdropping from the side and thinking the prayer thing was serious,” Wataru said.

“Wataru. The real shameful thing here is forgetting that Beddhists pray by sleeping. Aren’t you a Beddhist, too?”

“I mean, technically, but...” Wataru scratched his head.

“It’s fine, I listened to the teacher while sleeping!”

“Indeed. There were no problems, even when the instructor called on her,” Niku added.

“Well, that’s... impressive?”

Let’s see here... She probably had Niku record the lesson as her Dungeon Master, then had her secretly tell her the answers using dungeon functions. Like mother, like daughter.

Lunch was served via a food ticket system. Everyone was used to it, given how those Daide people had been fine using it at our inn, too.

“Rokukooo, girl, I’ll bring your food to you. I’m your maid and all, so yeah. Whatcha want?”

“What do you recommend?”

“Mm, this fox udon! I just had some earlier, and lemme tell you, it was some hot stuff,” Ichika said. Apparently she had taken the time to eat her fill earlier, under the excuse that she needed to “make sure her master had the best meal possible.”

“Fox udon... So it’s made with little foxies?” Soto asked.

“No, it has fried stuff in it, like fried tofu or chicken,” Wataru replied. “It’s called fox udon since foxes love fried food. Wait... Do foxes in this world love fried food, too?” Wataru tilted his head.

“It’s probably a recipe Ishidaka spread, yeah? The udon in the Demon Realm came from him, too.”

“Aaah, right, Ishidaka the Hero, the God of Food. Good point.”

Almost all food coincidences can be traced back to Ishidaka. Wait... Does that mean the stands we saw when we first came here were from Ishidaka, not Leona? No, no, they would have been there a long time ago, and Ichika would have known about them. No doubt that it’s Leona’s work here, too.

Emmymephy secured a table with six seats for us, and we sat down. Ichika standing by the side as per her maid duties made it so only six of us needed to sit. Soto sat between Rokuko and I, while Wataru and Niku sat around Emmymephy on the other side. Wataru looked at me head-on and nodded. “Yep, she’s your daughter,” he said. Indeed.

“Chopsticks are tricky...” Soto said. She shakily lifted up her chopsticks to try to eat udon, only for the noodles to slip away every time.

“I know how you feel, Soto. I say, it took much time before I could use chopsticks myself,” Emmymephy said.

“It’s useful to learn how to use chopsticks. Since they’re just sticks, you can carry them around anywhere,” Wataru replied, while stabbing his fork into pasta with meat sauce.

But you’re not going to use them? Well, I suppose pasta is another thing entirely.

“You can just use a fork if you want, y’know,” I said.

“Nuh-uh! I’m gonna use chopsticks like you, papa!” Soto declared, grabbing udon with her chopsticks again, and shoving her face into them directly before they could slip out. She then slurped them up. How heartwarming.

“By the way, you and Rokuko already know how to use chopsticks, huh?” Wataru asked, probing deeper for the first time in a while.

“Sure. I mean, don’t a bunch of adventurers know how to use them? All Heroes throughout history have used them and stuff, so it’s not too uncommon, even if most people don’t know how to use them. Look, Niku’s using them, too.”

“Yes. I use them, too,” Niku said, deftly clinking her two chopsticks together with one hand.

“Okay, good point... And it seems like most people in this school can use them.”

“Me too, dude,” Ichika called while nomming on a sandwich. She apparently learned how just so she could eat food made for chopsticks with chopsticks. She always showed an extra level of passion when food was involved.

We had shortcake as our after-meal dessert. Not even our inn offered cream with fresh fruits and creams except on special orders. They put a lot of effort into it, maybe due to this being a school for nobles.

“How much does each of these cost?” I asked.

“Somewhere in the silver range, for sure,” Rokuko replied.

“Mwahaha, but today is my treat! I say, eat to your heart’s content!” Emmymephy exclaimed.

“Yeees! Long live Princess Mephy! I love ya, Princess Mephy! A princess among princesses!” Ichika declared.

“Yes, yes, shower me with your praise!” Emmymephy puffed out her flat chest with pride at Ichika’s praise.

“I wanna eat a whole cake, not just a slice!”

“Agreed, Soto.”

Soto and Niku were nomming away at their cake with incredible speed. Soto could use her {Teensy Reproduction} to eat more of it whenever she wanted now.

Come to think of it, does the reproduced food she eats disappear from her stomach an hour later? If so, that might be good for a diet. Though it would mean the food wouldn’t be good for emergency rations.

“Still, I didn’t expect you to be such a good student, Rokuko. I was surprised all morning in class,” Wataru said.

“I’m not the owner of a whole inn for nothing,” Rokuko replied, sounding a bit proud. Not that she should have been proud, since she basically just used her dungeon functions to cheat everything except the math and magic lessons.

“You do know that will just make you stand out, yes?” Emmymephy asked.

“That’s the plan. The better of a student I am, the easier it will be to meet the commander’s grandson or whoever, right? Also, it’ll be good for gathering rumors, too.”

“True. If you’re going to stand out, better to be competent and liked than incompetent and disliked,” Wataru commented.

“If this has Wataru’s seal of approval, it must be the right call. Don’t you think so, Keima? Eheheh.”

“Yeah, but can’t we just look up his details and go talk to him directly?”

“Maybe they would tell us what class he’s in if we go to the staff room?”

I had Ichika investigate that afterwards, but long story short, the staff had already been instructed not to tell students what they knew about pretty much anything. Apparently, one part of the noble training for students here was learning to gather and manipulate information. They had to find ways to meet important people themselves without relying on the teachers.

Thus, we continued our school life while starting a search for Tindalos’s grandson. There were twists and turns, but we spent several days having our fill of a cozy school life.

Rokuko easily secured her position as an honor student, and ended up popular with boys and girls everywhere. I watched over her from behind at times, entrusted her to Ichika and Wataru at others, while searching the school (claiming that I was canvassing the area to better defend my liege when questioned) at other times, and even took naps in a place behind the school that got a nice amount of sunlight.

Wow, people sure do like to come to the backside of the school. I’ve seen girls fighting, boys confessing, couples forming, and even magic tools exploding in experiments. Ah, youth.

Unfortunately, Tindalos’s grandchild evaded me entirely. It was bizarre. There was some invisible force blatantly ensuring that we didn’t meet. My suspicion was on Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune}.

And so, after yet another peaceful day, Rokuko came into my room while I was lazing about.

“Keima, do you have a second?”

“Sure. Did you figure something out?”

“Nooope. But I’ve heard some funny rumors, like about the seven mysteries of the school.”

A school having seven local mysteries was a pretty common thing. Very school-like. I was sure our town had its own set of mysteries at this point. Maybe it was fate for that kind of folklore to develop in places.

“What kind of mysteries? A ghost in the bathroom, perhaps?”

“Oh, you know about her? Uh-huh, it’s Hanako of the bathroom.”

“Wait, her name’s literally Hanako?” Okay, instantly I understand that Leona is behind this. Because, I mean, Hanako of the bathroom is literally a Japanese urban legend.

“What else?”

“Umm, let’s see. The singing minstrel one hears at midnight, the forbidden hall, the dancing skeleton specimen, the stairs that grow more steps at night, the talking portrait of the first king, the time-traveling mirror... People were talking about there possibly being a new one soon, about disappearing socks.”

“Yeah, those are some standard mysteries, even down to an eighth mystery on the verge of being added.”

Given that they even had a legendary tree, it might be safe to say that Leona was behind all of them as well. As that thought crossed my mind, I noticed Rokuko rubbing her legs together anxiously.

“Hm? Gotta use the bathroom?”

“No! Um... Keima. Since we have school off tomorrow, do you want to go on a date?”

“A date? A date, huh... Like you and I going out alone together?”

“Right, a date. Let’s go somewhere, just you and me. I’ve talked to people in class, and it turns out there’s tons of date spots around that’ll bless a couple with happiness if they visit them!”

An invitation from Rokuko was pretty appealing, but... it would be hard to just relax and have fun when Daide was so dangerous, and while nothing notable had happened yet outside of the bizarre detours Wataru made on the first day, the fact that the situation might change at any moment kept us tense.

“I’m a bit hesitant to do that in this situation. Especially with Soto and everyone with us.”

“Grr, I guess you’re right...”

Though, for sure, I would have loved to go on a date if things were a bit more safe.

And so, I refused Rokuko’s invitation.

＊ ＊ ＊

“You know, Rokuko, Keima. There’s a class called dungeon drills,” Emmymephy said, after I gave up on meeting Tindalos’s grandchild once again and moved to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

“Dungeon drills?”

“Quite.”

Apparently the school had dungeon drills as well. It was dungeon-delving practice meant to give one experience with entering dungeons and fighting. It would be useful to students by training their bodies and minds, or whatever.

“So this country has dungeons, too, hm?” Rokuko observed.

“I say, there is one within the school! Have you heard of the forbidden hall? I hear that room is a dungeon.”

“Where is it?” Rokuko asked. Emmymephy gestured vaguely toward the center of the building. “Ah... Did they make the school around the dungeon? Or the whole country, maybe?”

“Indeed. It’s been here since the founding of the school, or rather, since the founding of the country.”

“What kind of dungeon is it?” Rokuko asked.

“I don’t know the details myself, but apparently all sorts of monsters appear within,” Emmymephy replied. Apparently it was a multicultural dungeon with Slimes, Goblins, Kobolds, Wolves, Giants Bats, and more crawling about. It was the perfect place for getting experience in class. It wasn’t a secret, either; even exchange students like us were free to know about it.

Guess with it being such an ancient dungeon, Leona won’t have much to do with it... Though it’s possible it serves Leona or something.

“I want to try dungeon drills, too, Mephy!” Soto exclaimed, shooting her hand up.

“Excellent, because in truth these drills will be held jointly between the elementary and advanced sections of the academy. We will be accompanying you all and teaching you as we go.”

“Isn’t that predicated on us having visited the dungeon before?” Rokuko asked.

“We haven’t had the drills before since we’re exchange students, but students in the elementary and intermediate sections have had them. And we’re allowed to bring our guards with us as a security measure,” Emmymephy replied. The idea was for the elementary students to be guarded by the advanced students, while the intermediate students went in on their own.

But wait, that would definitely mean the dungeon is pretty old. At least two or three years old. Though I guess if they faked memories for Beddhism, it’s possible they faked history for the dungeon, too.

“What will I do?” Niku asked.

“Elementary students can bring guards, too, so you’ll be coming with us, Kuro.”

That was convenient. Maybe Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} was helping out? Also, Tindalos’s grandchild was apparently an intermediate student, and in dungeon drills we had to keep our distance from them. At this point it seemed faster to just give up and petition Tindalos directly, but that probably wouldn’t help, either. Gah, this is frustrating. Like being surrounded by soft, annoying walls.

“Do you have a second?” came a voice. A boy that seemed to be about as old as an elementary schooler was speaking to us. He seemed like he would be pretty good-looking when he grew up.

Emmymephy put on a smile, facing him and his entourage. “Oh my, Prince Jedha. What brings you here?”

“Princess Mephy, how do you do? I am simply here to talk with this oh-so-rumored exchange student.”

“I say, I do not recall allowing you to address me by that nickname, Prince Jedha.”

“My apologies, Princess Emmymephy.”

Apparently this silver-haired boy was the second prince that had proposed an engagement with Emmymephy. He looked at Soto and moved to continue. Wait, by rumored exchange student, he means her? Not Rokuko?

“I am Jedha Daide, the second prince of Daide. And you are Soto Tsia, of the Tsia noble house?”

“Yes? Nmnmnm... What of it?”

C’mon, Soto. At least stop shoving your face full of cake when someone’s talking to you.

“Ahaha, not faltering in the least in my presence, hm? Interesting. I would expect nothing less of one of Princess Emmymephy’s friends. Ah, I see... This must be how my foolish older brother feels about that Summer girl.”

“Prince.”

“Yes, I know. I won’t waver even if she comes to seduce me.”

He was playing a little comedy show with his retinue like we weren’t even here, and I had no idea how to react. Maybe he wanted us to toss a few coins into his upturned hat? Though since I was working as a guard, the right move here was for me to say nothing.

“So, whaddaya want?” Soto asked.

“Ah, yes, Lady Soto. I was wondering if I might be able to scout you into the Public Morals Committee.”

“The Public Morals Committee?” Soto asked.

“In the past, this school was run by the student council... the first prince, but now the Public Morals Committee has taken up their responsibility. I would like some skilled helpers... and I am in search of skilled vassals to aid my political goals. I have chosen you as one such possible vassal.”

“I see, I am pretty smart! Nobody can beat my taste in socks!” Soto puffed out her chest with pride. “But no. I’m a Beddhist, so I don’t take on any unnecessary work.”

“I-Is that so? No helping that, then. How about you and I form a party for the dungeon drills, then?” asked the second prince, leading right into a separate request. Was this perhaps the ancient negotiating technique of requesting two things in a row to make it harder for the person to reject both of them? In which case, this would be what he actually came here for.

“That would be fine, yes? You have to form a party with someone, after all.”

“Mm, I was planning to pair up with Mephy and the others, though.”

“Fear not. Elementary students can form pairs regardless of the advanced students with them.”

It seemed that both the advanced and elementary students needed to form parties of four, with the resulting group being eight people plus bodyguards; a fairly sizable group. But the imperial princess couldn’t form parties with just anyone, so it actually made sense for her to pair with the second prince.

“In that case, I’ll form a party with you on one condition.”

“A condition? And what would that be?”

“Give me all of your classmates’ socks as payment.”

“Er. S-Socks?” The second prince blinked in surprise. “All of them would be a bit much... There’s faction politics to consider, for instance.”

“Aw, really? Then I’ll take socks from each of the maids that work in the castle. Those will be easy to get on your orders, right?”

“Er, I suppose?”

“Negotiations complete! Please and thank you. Oh, and make sure they’ve actually worn them!”

Soto mimicked the negotiation technique that had just been used on her. And it actually worked. Are you sure about this, prince?

“Erm... And the other two can be those twins you’re often seen with, I suppose?”

“Uh-huh. That works!”

Those twins, huh? Apparently they were Soto’s classmates. They were two identical twins most people couldn’t tell apart, but Soto could easily, which made them like her.

“I shall see you when the time comes, then,” the prince said, then left.

Wait... But he said advanced students need four people, too, right? What’ll we do about the two others?

“Hey, Princess Emmymephy. Got any ideas for the other two in our own party?”

“I-I’ll manage somehow! I’m the imperial princess, I say!”

At the time, I had no idea what was about to happen... Or at least, I should have thought something ominous like that.

Soon came May 13th, the day of the dungeon drills. We would be meeting our other two members at the sports field.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Koreha Nyarlathotep, daughter of Crawling, the duke of the Nyarlathotep house.”

“N-Nice to meet you! I’m Summer Yog-Sothoth! Oh, I’m the daughter of Baron Yog-Sothoth.”

The gray-haired Lady Koreha and pink-haired Lady Summer introduced themselves. The two of them were subjects of extraordinary attention here, largely due to their romantic relationships with the first prince.

Prince Harkes, the first prince of Daide. He was previously engaged to Koreha, but the engagement was canceled before he entered the academy. He then fell in love with Summer at first sight after beginning to attend there. There wasn’t any conflict between the two of them, but everyone seemed to think of them as enemies, since the student council showed clear favoritism for Summer, while others whispered in the shadows that Koreha was clearly the superior choice for the prince to marry, on top of Summer being unfit to be queen due to her commoner origins.

“Uh, Princess Mephy? Why did you pick the two girls with the most baggage in the entire school?”

“I-I chose Koreha-chan having little choice due to my status as the imperial princess, and she recommended Summer-chan to join us...!”

And that wasn’t the only problem. Koreha was glancing at Wataru and me, especially at our hair and faces, while muttering, “They’re Japanese, aren’t they...?” to herself. Summer, meanwhile, was looking straight at me and striking a victory pose while shouting, “I’ve finally found him!” That wasn’t good.

“I say, Koreha is the investor behind the cafeteria and restaurant that are the talk of the town. They were impressive even to me. If they were in the imperial capital, I might find myself visiting them with regularity,” Emmymephy said.

“Oh, those stores?” Wataru chimed in. “I went with her, and they were definitely pretty good.”

“I am glad that they suited your fine imperial tastes,” Koreha said with a laugh, having composed herself. She then greeted Wataru. “I thank you for your service, noble guards.”

“Certainly. You may trust your safety to us, my lady,” Wataru said, returning Koreha’s greeting with a polite smile.

...Wait, did Wataru not hear her muttering? Maybe his {Ultra Good Fortune} blocked him from hearing it. Let me check.

“Hey, Wataru. She was just saying something about Japanese people.”

“What about it?”

“What do you mean, what about it? Aren’t you searching for Japanese people? I just look like one, but maybe she was Japanese in a past life or something,” I said. I thought he’d care more about it, since he kept probing me for hints about me being Japanese.

“Oh, did I not mention it? I’m looking for a way to get back to Japan. Not for myself, but for one of my juniors, who does want to go back.”

“Hm? I guess you might have, maybe?”

“This person... Well, I don’t really sense they have anything to do with Japan, so I don’t care.”

You don’t... SENSE it, huh...? I mean, I guess that kind of gut instinct is important for Wataru, since he has {Ultra Good Fortune}. Sure.

Koreha and Summer both looked like they wanted to tell us something, but they couldn’t interject while Wataru and I were talking to each other. Perfect. Hopefully they would continue to not interject. I got the feeling that nothing they said would be good for us.

Immediately after all that, class started, and we met up with Soto and the others.

“Papa!” Soto exclaimed, rushing this way while waving. I caught her in a hug and patted her head. Niku bowed, keeping a bit of distance between us as most maids would. The second prince and a pair of twin boys were following behind us.

And that was when Summer finally spoke to me. “U-Um! Does her calling you papa mean, um, that you are her father?” she asked, looking at me and at Soto, who was nuzzling against me.

“Hm? I mean, yeah.”

“No way... Um, so, the mother is...”

“Mm.” I glanced Rokuko’s way, not saying more than I had to. Summer followed my gaze and paled.

“Wh-What a twiiiist...!”

How is that a twist? I’m so lost here.

“What, you’re Lady Soto’s father?!” “Greetings, please give your daughter to us!” The twin boys stepped forward and spoke simultaneously, despite not having introduced themselves.

“We’re,” “Meter,” “and Lacie,” “the sons of Count Dagon!”

Okay, this is annoying. Are they incapable of not talking at the same time, or taking turns speaking?

“Mm? Wait, if you’re Lady Soto’s father, doesn’t that make you the head of the Tsia house, Bonodore Tsia?!” the second prince exclaimed. Now that he mentioned it, that logic was perfectly sound, considering Soto was going by the Tsia name.

As I pondered what excuse to use, Emmymephy butted in. “Not quite, second prince. Soto’s not related to Duke Tsia by blood; I say, this is her real father. You’ve seen how skilled Rokuko and Soto are.”

“...Ahhh, she’s adopted. Understandable.”

Nice follow, Emmymephy. You didn’t even confirm that she was adopted, either, since that’d be a lie. Is this the political power of the imperial nobility? I take back everything I’ve ever said about you! You’re not just an idol otaku after all!

Anyway, to summarize, since the twins talked in a very annoying and confusing way, they looked so similar that even their parents sometimes didn’t recognize them. They’d picked up a habit of swapping places for fun, but in a surprising twist Soto was capable of easily distinguishing between the two of them. They interpreted that as a sign of true love, and thus wanted her as a wife.

“...Nah, that’s stupid. Would you ask me to marry you if I could distinguish both of you no problem?”

“That would,” “never,” “ever happen!”

“Don’t believe me, huh? So you’re Meter and you’re Lacie, right? I’ll turn around, so swap places as much as you like,” I said, taunting them. And naturally, I distinguished them without any issue. By tagging them with the dungeon functions, of course! Niku and I could use them just as well as Rokuko and Soto, since we were Dungeon Masters.

“So, what was all that about love, you tantrum-throwing children?”

“A-Amazing...” “How did he do that...?”

“Got it? There’s nothing special about what Soto did. Hell, even Wataru could tell you apart. Right?”

“Wha? M-Me?”

“Say what?!” “Just try it!”

The twins ran off to Wataru, leaving me alone. At least they were full of energy.

Shenanigans aside, we all finished introducing ourselves and headed to the dungeon. There was a courtyard in the center of the academy by the dungeon’s entrance, and while it was open now, there were gates that indicated it was usually closed off.

The second prince and the twins stood at the front, while the girls took position in the middle. We bodyguards held up the rear. At first I was uncertain about the elementary kids taking the front, but thinking about it the entire point of this exercise was getting experience for the elementary students. This formation had been selected by Lady Koreha, and we bodyguards would only step in when things got dangerous.

Then, once we were a little further back than bodyguards really should be, Wataru came whispering to me. “So, Keima. How’d you distinguish the twins? I just randomly guessed and got it right each time, but...”

“I figured you would. Well, not to spill the beans, but I just tagged them in a way they didn’t notice. Simple, right? Soto’s probably doing the same thing.”

“What in the? Good as ever at pulling tricks, I see. Like daughter, like father...”

The trick to deceiving Wataru was to never lie in any capacity. Works every time.

Once we entered the dungeon, we did pretty much standard guard work. We were there for emergencies only, and since things were going fine we basically just watched. Or rather, us getting involved subtracted points from their score, so it was a last resort.

“O spear of light, pierce mine enemies— {Lightning!}”

Lady Koreha pierced a disfigured Slime’s core right through. Her control over magic was superb. It was the kind of skill one couldn’t get straight from a scroll.

“Thanks,” the second prince said. “Swords don’t do much against slimes. Your skill with magic is clear to see, Lady Koreha; is this the boon of receiving a queen’s education? My brother’s foolish actions are more painful to consider by the day.”

“Your praise honors me,” Koreha replied, bowing her head.

“Could you leave the next Slime to me? This is class, so let me do stuff, too.”

“Certainly, Rokuko.”

“I say, you are both so reliable. Isn’t that right, Soto-chan?” Emmymephy asked.

“Uh-huh! I’m starting to think we’re invincible!”

Those in the middle were having a peaceful chat... only for Lady Summer to stealthily fall back from the group. She was gesturing our way, apparently wanting to discuss something secret with us.

“Um, Keima, was it?” she said.

“Hm? Is something the matter?” I asked.

“Do the phrases ‘heroine’ or ‘character with a route’ mean anything to you?” she asked abruptly.

“Uhhh... What, is this about a play or something?”

“Erm... My apologies, think nothing of it. More importantly, you are ever so heroic, Keima! When I saw you a moment ago, I almost fell in love at first sight!”

When she said ‘heroine,’ did she mean the heroine of a story? Hmm. The daughter of a baron, and a former commoner. Pink hair. And having a route? Hmm. Oh yeah, it’s all coming together. Think I have a good idea of what Leona’s planning now. This is just a guess, but...

...Leona’s trying to use this entire country to make a “story.”

I guess it’s like a reality show? She prepares the participants and environments, then lets everyone go wild. Nobody can predict how the story will develop from the start. It’s a genre that sells on completely unscripted tragedy and drama born from real-life interactions. Many of them involve romance.

If one were to think of this entire country through that lens, then the one could consider Beddhism, the weird stands, and the Japanese-style stuff as the “setting.” And with the stage set, she had prepared a heroine... or a protagonist, maybe? This baron’s daughter, Summer, had probably been chosen for that. She may have looked plain on the surface, but she actually had the face of a movie star, and her pink-blonde hair was as traditional as you could get. She was the quintessential heroine anyone would love. And indeed, the student council and first prince had completely fallen for her.

But why did she start talking about ‘heroines’ to me? She seems a bit too careless and inexperienced to be one of Leona’s people... I have no idea what Summer’s goals are. Guess I’ll be a bit on guard with her. There’s no such thing as being too on guard when it comes to Leona... Or, well, maybe there is. Can never be sure with her.

“Would it please you to accept my offer of friendship? If I understand the situation, your wife and child have been taken by Archduke Tsia, leaving you free at the moment. I believe I would be able to provide you comfort in these trying times. If you would tell me the inn you are staying at, I may come visit you at a later da—”

“Please return to the formation. I am but a humble guard,” I said. Okay, I’m starting to think she’s less a spy from Leona and more a honey trap sent by Haku. Either way, sweet heroine, I’m turning you down.

I shooed Summer away.

From there, we finished the dungeon drills with not much happening, aside from the second prince striving to fight the most out of anybody. Summer kept looking my way longingly even after I shooed her away, but she settled with just watching me from afar, and obediently didn’t try to talk to me again.

Oh, and I did try to stealthily communicate with the dungeon’s Dungeon Master, but didn’t get a response. Though it was possible that he just hadn’t noticed me since there were other invaders.

Anyway, with Leona’s plans now a bit more clear, we regrouped to discuss our future plans. We all gathered back at the inn.

“First of all, regarding Tindalos. I feel like we can’t meet him because Wataru’s with us,” I began.

“Me?”

“Yeah. It’s clearly bizarre that we haven’t been able to meet him after two entire weeks.”

There had to be some force at work here, and the most obvious candidate was Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} keeping us apart. After all, we had been called here since Haku was suspicious of that possibility to begin with.

“I see...”

“So, if we’re going to keep investigating Tindalos, I think we should do it completely separate from Wataru, not share information, and never mention Wataru or Princess Mephy’s names during the investigation. That should probably lead to us meeting him. Whaddaya think?” I concluded.

“...You may have a point. But what should I do, then?” Wataru asked.

“Keep guarding Princess Mephy. Oh, and that means you shouldn’t do anything either, Princess Mephy.”

“I say, I’m the imperial princess and you’re ordering me to do nothing... I’m the imperial princess...”

In my opinion, it seemed pretty logical for an imperial princess to be guarding the back rather than attacking from the front.

“Also, it’s a bit late for this, but I say, we need to hurry! At this rate, I will be wed to the second prince, and the only wedding I need is one with Ichigo!”

Emmymephy was quite insistent on Ichigo being her wife... The delusions of idol otaku were truly something else. I was starting to think I should have recommended her to be Mikan’s Dungeon Master instead.

“So you say, but I can’t think of anything else for you to do. Any ideas?”

“Grrr... Ah, I know! I must attend a night party next week and greet the king of Daide. That will make it possible to meet Tindalos himself, no? I say, this is something you could only ever do with the help of the imperial princess!”

The phrase “night party” caught Rokuko’s attention.

“Oh, a party? That sounds fun. I’ve been wanting to attend one of those! Especially since I bothered to learn etiquette in class.”

“The First Empress expected that and sent a dress for you alongside a message. There’s one for Soto as well. I say, the First Empress never fails to impress!”

“Wait, really?!” Soto exclaimed, equally excited. I had to wonder when Haku had made the dresses, and when she’d measured them for their sizes.

“Papa, mama, let’s go to the party! It’s a party!”

“Hmmm...”

It would probably be perfectly safe if we attended with Wataru. If we could attend without his {Ultra Good Fortune} cockblocking us, that is.

“We’ll have the party be a branching point where we search for Tindalos on our own afterwards. How about that?”

“That works for me. We’ll keep going as we have been until then,” Wataru said.

“I say, sounds like a plan.”

“Okay, Keima. So, what do we do until then? Keep going to school?” Rokuko asked.

“Yeah. Sounds good to me.”

In which case, it would be best to start investigating the oh-so-suspicious Summer on my own after the party. Who knew what Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} would pull. Wouldn’t be strange if it cut us off from any clues, just like how it was blocking us from even meeting Tindalos’s grandchild?

＊ ＊ ＊

Without any progress in our investigation, we reached the day of the party—May 31st. Information on Tindalos was shockingly sparse, which left no doubt that Wataru’s {Ultra Good Fortune} was really breaking its back here. It was getting to the point that we couldn’t even meet Summer anymore.

“This is pretty intense... Is it because I’m going solo starting tomorrow?” I asked.

“There’s no denying it at this point. I guess I’ll back out as promised,” Wataru said with a shrug, having never expected his {Ultra Good Fortune} to interfere with the investigation so much. Yeah, with it going into overdrive this hard, anything I tried to investigate would probably disappear instantly. We had been using Wataru as a safe zone, but honestly he was getting kind of terrifying.

“Finished dressing Rokuko up, my duuuudes. Soto’s up neeext,” Ichika called.

“Okaaay! Thanks, big sis Ichika!” Soto called, rushing over. Ichika was putting the dresses from Haku onto them. I really had to kneel in awe at how skilled Ichika was in all walks of life.

As Soto left, Rokuko walked in, as if changing places with her.

“So, Keima? What do you think? Does it suit me?” she asked. It was a dark-blue dress that left her shoulders exposed. There were few frills, and while the skirt was fairly long, it was still a slender dress that showed off her curves. She had on gloves and Knee Socks Golems for dancing, so she would have no problems there. She also had bracelets on her arms. They were the Lionheart Bracelets for defending against charms, but they still suited her. As one would expect from something made by the God of Darkness.

“Yeah, it looks perfect on you.”

“Could you try to be a bit more emotional when praising me?” Rokuko asked, shaking her head.

“It brings out your intellectual side. Just what Haku would choose, I guess?”

“Hmph, right, that’s better. And proper clothes suit you surprisingly well, too, Keima.”

It didn’t really matter, but I was wearing a fancy tuxedo suit myself.

“You look sharper than usual, and, how do I put this... Pretty fast!”

Fast...? Seemed like Rokuko was as bad at giving compliments as I was.

Next came out Soto, wearing a black-and-white dress with a poofy skirt. She had a different, fluffy skirt underneath the poofy one. It was called a panier, I think? It was what pianists wore at recitals, or at least, cliché ones.

“Papa! How is it?! Cute, right?!”

“Yeah, it looks perfect on you.”

“Keima, you literally just said the same thing to me.”

What can I say? Don’t expect me to have an expansive vocabulary for praising girls’ outfits.

“Err, you look like you’ll be popular in that!”

“I’ll be popular?! Yay!”

Okay, good. Soto being happy means mission accomplished to me.

“Master. The carriage is here,” Niku said, bowing her head and wearing a maid outfit. She and Ichika would be participating as our servants.

“Now! I say, off to the castle we go!” Emmymephy declared.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Wataru shouted in turn. Emmymephy was wearing a frilly outfit, while Wataru was in his usual Hero gear. Since Wataru was a Hero, his formal wear was his usual adventurer gear, in contrast to most people. For a second I wondered if I could have done the same, since I was a so-called adventurer noble myself, but apparently the low rank of baron wasn’t quite enough for that to pass.

“Also, bit late to be asking, but where’re your maids, Princess Mephy?”

“I can put on a dress myself! I say, any member of the imperial family should be able to get dressed without assistance!” she declared. Apparently her dress was specially made for her to be able to put it on herself. As a side note, she had brought maids with her to the country at the start, but they had all vanished at some point. Ah, they went to investigate places Wataru had avoided, I see...

“Well, it happens often, I say. I’m quite used it, thanks to the First Empresses’ prophecies and all that.”

“I admire how you can take this in stride.”

We lived in a world where human life did not hold much weight. But either way, we got in the carriage and headed to the castle.

Despite having to take detours due to accidents on our way to the castle, we arrived safely and on time. We didn’t bother thinking about what would have happened had we not taken the detours, since what was done was done.

After passing through the entrance, we found ourselves in a party hall with a sparkling chandelier. There was catering for food and open spaces for dancing. The stairway with ornately carved guardrails led up to second-floor seating. Emmymephy guided us to said seating. Apparently it was for VIPs.

After making it to the top, we found the king in his formal wear lounging atop a fancy sofa with red cloth covering it. He looked around forty, which was young for a king.

“Oooh, Princess Mephy. You have done well to come tonight,” the king said.

“I thank you ever so much for inviting me on this fine night, your highness,” Emmymephy replied with a honed courtesy. Her manners as an imperial princess were perfect. The king, meanwhile, lifted his palm in a half salute directed her way. That was probably what the royals of Daide did instead of bowing their heads.

“So, how was Jedha? I am told you took dungeon drills with him yesterday.”

“He was adorable, and I find much like a little brother now,” Emmymephy said, emphasizing that he was just a brother and nothing more. Apparently it was important for her to continually re-emphasize that she had no plans on marrying him.

“I see. Well, please do enjoy yourself today. There will be space for you to rest here, and you may come again whenever you like.”

“I say, I am most gracious. Incidentally, a series of circumstances have left me unable to greet Lord Tindalos, the captain of the mage corps, but I pray that today will finally be the day we meet. Where might he be?”

“He is not here. There was some important ritual for him to attend, or something of the like.”

Another miss. Unsurprising.

“Can I greet his family, at the very least...?”

“Erk. My apologies. Not even I can speak directly against the Tindalos house...”

How does that even make sense...? Oh, the king doesn’t have much authority since he only recently became king after an assassination destroyed faith in the royal family? Meanwhile the Tindalos house is extremely powerful right now because the head of house doubles as the pope of a major religion and the commander of the mage corps? He has more power and authority than the literal king? Okay, guess we don’t get to meet him today.

We decided to switch gears and just enjoy the party.

We danced to the orchestra, ate the catering, and... Okay, that was actually all there was to do. After all, I had nothing to do with the socializing; I was just kind of hanging around Emmymephy... That was the plan, anyway, but Koreha and Summer from the dungeon drills were here. I didn’t see the twins or the second prince anywhere, though.

“Good evening, Princess Mephy, Lady Rokuko, and Lady Soto.”

“Good evening, Lady Koreha, Lady Summer. I see you are here together,” Princess Mephy replied. The two of them were, indeed, joined at the hip.

“Indeed. After all, this is a party celebrating the return of my former betrothed... the first prince and his retinue, the student council. They’re your lovers, aren’t they, Lady Summer?”

“Lady Koreha, please do not phrase it that way. We are all just friends. I have only one true love,” she said, attempting to look my way, but since Rokuko and Soto were beside me, she ended up shifting her gaze back awkwardly. “Aaah, my true love is here, but I haven’t been able to meet him at all... Such a shame...”

I heard that. Why the heck are you calling me your ‘true love’?

From there, Summer took deep breaths, clenched her fists with resolve, then came walking over to speak to me directly.

“Excuse me! Can we talk alone for a moment?” she asked.

“No. I couldn’t leave my partner’s side to speak alone with another woman.”

“Um. Ummm... In that case, Lady Rokuko can come with us,” she said. Apparently Summer wanted to talk to me no matter what. I looked at Rokuko.

“That’s fine with me,” she said.

“...Alright, then. Wataru, could you look after Soto for me?”

“Absolutely. You can count on me.”

With Rokuko’s permission, I left Soto in a safe place (beside Wataru) and went with Summer to the balcony. There was a cold wind blowing, and nobody else was there. The perfect place for a secret discussion.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about, Lady Summer?” I asked.

“Errrm... Um, Lady Rokuko, could I ask you to step away for a moment?” Summer asked, smiling at Rokuko.

“Uh, no? Why do you think I came with you?”

“Ngh! I-Is there any way I can convince you?!”

“No?”

“P-Please? Just this once?”

“Again, no. Keima’s my partner.”

The flat rejections were making Summer get teary-eyed. She abandoned her attack on Rokuko and shifted my way.

“I would like to talk to you alone. Could you ask her to leave as well, Keima?”

Summer’s eyes have been shining red for a while now. And...

“My Master! Do you remember I exist? I’m providing you protection right now, don’t worry!”

Kosaki, the ring Succubus I was wearing beneath my glove, was speaking to me. Thanks, Kosaki. I knew wearing you at all times just in case something like this happened was the right idea.

“Lady Summer. Just to be clear, {Charm} doesn’t work on us, alright?”

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Whatever might you be talking about?! I-I wasn’t, goodness!”

Pink hair, red eyes. Now that I thought about it, I knew quite a few girls who looked like this back in Goren.

I grabbed Summer’s shoulders and held her in place. “You’re a Succubus, aren’t you?”

“Ngh!” She visibly flinched. “N-Not at all. Why, that’s the cruelest thing anyone has ever said to me!”

“Yeah, yeah, you made your bed when you tried to {Charm} us. We might’ve been in danger if we didn’t have anti-charm equipment on us, y’know. Too bad. But anyway... What’re you planning?”

“A-Anti-charm...? Ngh... Y-You’ve left me no choice!”

Summer shook me off and jumped back, putting distance between us. And then, she...

“Please! Please talk to me, I’m begging you!”

...She started shamelessly groveling before me!

“Hm...? Wait, Lady Summer. Have you and I met somewhere before?” Rokuko asked.

“W-We did the dungeon drills together...?”

“Mm, I feel like I recognize you somehow, but whatever. Go ahead and say what you want to say. We’ll hear you out. Right, Keima?”

“Yeah, sure. Get up already. This may be the balcony, but people will notice if a noble lady keeps genuflecting.” I held out a hand and helped Summer up.

“Y-You’ll listen to what I have to say?”

“Yeah. Just spit it out already.”

We came here to listen to her in the first place. But to think she was a Succubus. It was hard not to think about that one evil god when Succubi were involved. Did Leona throw Summer at us out of pity because our investigation wasn’t making any progress? Curses.

“Erm, for starters, could I ask how you came to this country, and how you have been spending your time here? In as much detail as possible.”

“Why do you want to know about me?”

“It’s important,” Summer said, her eyes serious.

Ehhh, I don’t really want to tell her that. I guess I’ll just use this opportunity to dangle Haku’s involvement as bait.

“We came to this country to investigate why Princess Mephy was proposed to.”

“Princess Emmymephy’s engagement... I see, that’s the flag! Ah, excuse me, please continue.”

“I can’t give the details here, but... Let’s just say the Beddhist Church is involved.”

“Beddhism... I see, it’s all coming together,” Summer said, nodding to herself about something.

“Don’t just nod, explain yourself to us. First of all, do you serve the God of Chaos?”

“Um, ah, wha? Why are you mentioning her?”

“Her,” huh? Interesting.

“I see. How about you tell us what you know?”

“Sorry, I don’t have time for that right now. But... I will have time tomorrow. I’m willing to tell you everything I know tomorrow, even. Could you hold on until then?”

Hm.

“Sure, if you swear it with Contract magic.”

“No problem. We can meet up tomorrow and I’ll tell you anything. Heck, if I break the promise, you can do anything you want with me. You can sell me, fuck me, do whatever,” Summer said, completely dropping her noblewoman act.

“Doesn’t that phrase go ‘you can cook me, boil me, or do whatever’?”

“Wait, is that what you’re into? Groooss. I’m a Succubus and even I think that’s groooooss... Er, kidding, just kidding. I’ve been pretending to be a human so long I kind of just knee-jerk make fun of fetishes? Naturally, I’ll play along with any kink! I can change my face, too, so I can do things even your little girlfriend there can’t!”

Eh. Whatever. In any case, I used the {Treaty} to make a contract with Summer. Summer even went so far as to suggest locking it down to June 1st to make doubly sure, and if we didn’t manage to see each other, we could just repeat the process. Seemed like she was completely ready to tell us what she knew.

And so, I told Summer what we had done since coming here.

“Uhhh, I think we went to that store around noon.”

“Could you be a bit more specific?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, we went when we were hungry, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Rokuko interjected, “That was about twenty minutes after the lunch bell rang.”

“Why do you remember that, Rokuko?”

Summer really pushed for details, checking the dates and times for everything. Not really understanding why, we answered Summer’s questions without spilling any of our secrets. She sure had a lot of questions for someone who supposedly didn’t have time to answer ours.

“Thanks, Rokuko. You sure helped me out a lot.”

“Eheh, don’t worry about it. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Huh? When did Rokuko and Summer get so close? She’s not being charmed, is she? She’s still wearing the Lionheart Bracelets?

“By the way, Master, Rokuko decided Summer was her friend since she praised her relationship with you.”

Whoa, random advice from Kosaki. Seems like Summer had deepened their bond without the use of skills... That was yet another strategy Succubi had for winning their targets over. Good grief, will Succubi ever not be a pain?!

“Hey, Succubus bitch. Don’t mess with my Rokuko.”

“My name is Summer, good sir, and please do not say such slanderous things. I am simply attempting to gather what information I can,” she protested. Still, why did she want to ask so much about my schedule?

Well, we answered all her questions. Surely she’ll be willing to answer at least one of ours.

“Hey, Summer—” I began, only to be interrupted.

“THE FIRST PRINCE, PRINCE HARKES DAIDE, HAS RETUUURNED!”

What incredible timing. The first prince had arrived at the party.

“Oh shit,” Summer said, grimacing as if she had bitten down on a bug. What do you mean, ‘oh shit’?!

“Summer! Summer, where are you?! Oooh! There you are, Summer!”

And on top of everything, the first prince immediately launched into a mad dash right toward us. Hey, prince, shouldn’t you be greeting the king first?!

He had brought his two lackeys with him. I didn’t see the ‘shadow’ adventurer with them. They had probably returned home, having completed their mission.

“Summer! Aaah, my beloved!”

“Prince Harkes, aaah, um, w-welcome home!”

Despite being picked up and swung through the air like a child, Summer put on a smile so cute one could practically hear a sparkling sound effect.

“It’s a bit jealousy inducing, but you do make a heartwarming pair. Could you share a bit with us?” Crusch said.

“My thoughts exactly. Give ’er here, Harkes,” Kenho agreed.

“Ahaha, I can’t budge, not even for my left- and right-hand men! You can greet them though, my love.”

“Erm, welcome back, Lord Crusch, Lord Kenho,” Summer said, putting on the tone that she was only greeting them because the prince had allowed it. The two lackeys smiled happily nonetheless. Er, is that really what you want?

“Hrm? Who is this man?” the prince asked, glaring sharply at me.

“Er, me? Uhhh, I’m...” I trailed off, not sure how to explain this.

“Excuse me. I am Rokuko Tsia, one whom Lady Summer has graced with her companionship at the Royal Academy. This man is my husband,” Rokuko said, and the prince’s expression flipped as soon as he heard the word husband.

“Ah, I see! You are Summer’s school friend, and he is your husband! Hrm... You weren’t discussing taking Summer as a second wife, were you?”

“I would never dream of it. I have eyes for only one woman. Right, Rokuko?”

“Indeed.”

“Hrm, I see. I appreciate loyal men like that. After all, I’m just as loyal to Summer,” the prince said, begging a flirty tirade that I really couldn’t care less about.

“Incidentally, prince, should you not go greet your father?” Rokuko interjected once the ranting calmed down a bit.

“Oh, yes, that’s right! If you’ll excuse me, Summer, I’ll be right back.”

“Right...” Summer watched the prince and his retinue go with a somewhat tired expression.

“So, the prince and his squad are all in love with you, huh?”

“It is all but guaranteed that the prince will be relinquishing his status, though. The Tindalos house is simply too powerful... In any case, I gave him a bit of attention, and in an instant he just... His retinue, as well. I’m used to it by now, I suppose. Oh, and to be clear, I did not use {Charm} at all. I have my pride, at least.”

It seemed that even princes fell like nothing to the effortless charms of a Succubus. Or well, maybe the prince’s group was especially weak minded. Really, it was more than possible that if she had tried to use {Charm}, the anti-charm equipment they were no doubt wearing would have protected them.

“Also, Rokuko, you sure just casually called me your husband, huh?”

“What, got a problem? We have a kid already, you know.”

“Nh. What’ll you do if Haku hears, huh?”

“We can just say I said it because we have a kid.”

Yeah, okay, I have no more escape routes. I need to strengthen my anti-Haku armor once we get back.

“I say, welcome back!”

“Welcome back!”

After splitting up from Summer and returning, we found the rest of our group devouring the feast. Niku and Ichika were digging in, too.

“Here you go, big sis! Aaaahn!” Soto said.

“You got it, girl! Maids gotta follow orders, so I’ve got no choice! Aaahn,” Ichika replied, opening her mouth wide.

“Nom nom...”

Incidentally, Koreha was nowhere to be seen. She had apparently gone off to talk to one of the first prince’s retinue... Crusch, who was actually her older brother.

“You should try this roast beef, Keima. It’s pretty good. But anyway... Find anything out?” Wataru asked.

“Not telling. Who knows how your {Ultra Good Fortune} would mess with it.”

“Guess I really can’t help out this time. If only I could turn it off...”

I’d be more scared of what would happen in the rebound of you turning it off.

And that was when yet another stir came at the entrance to the party.

“THE SECOND PRINCE, PRINCE JEDHA DAIDE, HAS ARRIIIIIVED!”

It seemed the second prince had arrived. There were quite a lot of people talking. Apparently the second prince had brought something unusual.

“Oh, looks like he’s coming this way,” Wataru observed.

“I say, it feels as if he is looking at me,” Mephy said. Though that wasn’t just a feeling; he was blatantly staring at her. No doubt it was the same look the first prince gave Summer.

The unusual thing behind the prince became more clear as he approached. It seemed to be an egg, and a pretty big one, too; it had a blue pallor to it, and was about as tall as a child. It was resting on a box filled with straw, which a maid was pulling on a cart.

“Princess Emmymephy. Good evening.”

“My, my, if it isn’t Prince Jedha. Good evening. What might that large egg be, may I ask?”

“Certainly. It is...” The second prince paused to kneel, take Emmymephy’s hand, and look up at her. “The egg of a dragon. I have defeated a dragon, and this egg is proof. Aaah... I am told that defeating a dragon was a requirement for proposing to you. Princess Emmymephy, please, accept my feelings.”

A Dragon’s egg. The party fell silent as the second prince asked for Emmymephy’s hand in marriage with it. All eyes fell on the two of them. The audience swallowed as they waited to hear Emmymephy’s response.

“A-A Dragon egg... I say, do you speak true?”

“Yes. I challenged a Dragon, and won this egg as proof. Though, of course, I did have companions with me. We defeated the Dragon, and upon exploring its nest further, discovered this egg.”

Emmymephy glanced our way. “I say, at times like this, I have experts on Dragons determine whether the proof is real or not!”

“That is... Wataru the Hero. I have no reason to refuse a Hero who infamously defeated a Dragon himself.”

“And so, give it a look, Rokuko!” Emmymephy exclaimed.

“Wait, me?” Rokuko blinked. But on second thought, she often had tea parties with her Dragon friends. Although that was a secret, Emmymephy had heard Rokuko rave about her love of Dragons quite often on our trip together. We had... quite a lot of time to kill, after all.

“Hold on a moment, Princess Emmymephy. Why do you not choose Wataru?” the second prince asked.

“He can look, too. I say, whatever works.”

“Wait, me too? Er, I’m not really too confident here... Keima, you have a look. Aren’t you friends with a dragon expert?”

“The hell? Do you think I could smith a sword just because I’m friends with a blacksmith? Rokuko knows way more than me.”

“Still, you’re better than a random nobody. You made that whole game of life earlier.”

I mean, sure, I know more about Dragons than a random guy on the street, but I can’t compare to Rokuko. After all, she’s even seen her neighbor’s unfertilized eggs before. I hadn’t been allowed to see them, since, quote, “I AIN’T ABOUT TO SHOW MY UNFERTILIZED EGGS TO A MAN WHO AIN’T EVEN MY HUSBAND!” Bizarre. She would have shown me fertilized eggs, then...?

“So, Rokuko. What can you tell?” I asked.

“Let’s see here. There aren’t any patterns on it, so at best it’s the egg of a half-Dragon... Maybe it’s the egg of a Wyvern or something?” Rokuko suggested. The unfertilized eggs of Redra (a Red Dragon) and Igni (a Flame Dragon) had apparently been covered with elaborate patterns.

“Is Rokuko the Dragon expert?” Wataru asked.

“Nah, she just has an obsession with them. Does she look like Igni’s mother to you?”

“Oh, good point. I forgot Igni’s mom was the Dragon expert.”

Funny to think that Igni fed Wataru one of her eggs as an omelet. Not that he knows about it. She said something about it being a replacement for her tail. Whew lad.

“Err, but yeah, I think it’s a Wyvern egg, too. The faint power radiating from it feels like one,” Wataru said, being the most trusted out of anyone here when it came to judging the egg.

“Hrm... I say, Wyverns are technically half-Dragons, so it does fill the condition, but only the bare minimum. You will be, at best, at the very bottom of the list of marriage candidates,” Emmymephy said.

“That’s fine with me. One day, I will defeat a real Dragon. All for you,” the second prince said, kissing the back of Emmymephy’s hand. A cheer arose through the crowd.

Is that really something to celebrate? A second prince, being on the bottom of the candidate list...? Guess that just goes to show how strong the empire is.

“Everyone! I ask for your silence!” came a booming voice. The king had stood up on the second floor, and was now looking down upon everyone. His voice led to instant silence. However, the fervor was still palpable in the air.

“Well done on slaying a Dragon... a half-Dragon, my son, Jedha!”

“Yes, sir! Your praise honors me.”

“To respect your accomplishments, I now proclaim you the crown prince, Jedha. Is there anyone who would object to this?”

The crowd remained silent. However, it felt as if the fervor was swelling in its intensity.

“It seems not. In which case, Prince Jedha is now th—”

“Wait, Father! I object, I have an objection!” the first prince shouted down from the dance area on the first floor. “Am I not the crown prince?!”

“Tell me this, Harkes. Did you accomplish anything of note yourself? You embarked on a journey, even at the cost of abandoning your schoolwork, and yet what do you have to show for it? Nothing. Some Iron Golem corpses at best. The most I can praise you for is returning alive at all.”

“Ngh...!”

The first prince faltered. Hunting Iron Golems was blatantly less impressive than Wyverns. The difficulty levels were in different leagues.

“Jedha relied entirely on his companions for his accomplishment. But I hunted the Golems with my own hand!”

“Having worthy companions is the mark of a true king.”

It seemed that Jedha had some pretty skilled companions with him. They were at least strong enough to hunt a Wyvern.

“But at this rate... I won’t be able to make Summer the queen!”

“Prince Harkes, I do not mind this. I am not fit to be queen.”

“What incredible humility!”

No matter how much Summer tried to back off, the first prince wanted her to be queen no matter what. Despite the fact that nobody would be happy if Summer did end up queen. Or well, I guess the first prince would be happy, and oblivious.

“Ngh, but what about my plan to make Summer queen, and Koreha my concubine...?!”

“Prince Harkes. Have you forgotten that your engagement with Lady Koreha was canceled?”

“But I couldn’t make Summer do all of the queen’s duties herself, could I?!”

“As I said, I am unfit to be... Ah, never mind. Can I go home?” Summer asked, sighing. Almost as if she had given up...

Suddenly, a chill ran over me, and I got goosebumps.

“Hm. Looks like she gave up,” came a familiar voice from the side. A cold sweat ran down my back.

“L-Leona?”

“That’s riiight, Keima.”

I turned, and without any warning or indication she had ever entered the room, I found Leona, the red-eyed, black-haired nun, just standing there. She gave me a small wave... She was close, but it didn’t look like Wataru, Rokuko, or anyone else had seen her.

It was like she and I had been cut off from the rest of time.

“What are you... Wait, no, why are you here?” I asked, freezing over a bit at her sudden attack.

Leona smiled. “Why do you think? I’m not about to miss the climax. I always planned on waiting for today and watching from the outside, you know?”

The climax. In other words, this was a show that Leona had set up.

“Still, it’d be boring for her to just give up here. I want her to flail, to struggle, and to shamelessly claw for victory no matter how pathetic she looks.”

“Now that’s some bad taste.”

“My, my! For you to say that to me, Keima... Well, it’s the highest praise!” Leona exclaimed with a giggle. I absolutely was not praising her, though.

“What’s your objective here?”

“My objective? Hahaha, this is an experiment, all an experiment. I’m not about to say anything more than that. If you’re curious, ask someone else. Dooon’t worry, you have plenty of time,” Leona said, then made a magic circle rise above her palm. It was no simple circle, and was instead one of those three-dimensional spheres made of multiple interlocking circles. It spun so quickly it was impossible to read, and it was surrounded by a barrier.

“It’s already complete this time. Nothing you can do to stop it,” she said.

“Couldn’t you spoil your plan a little? You and I are in this together, aren’t we?”

“Ahaha, nice try. But things aren’t quite over yet... Have a look. The first prince and his retinue are lambasting the villainess,” Leona said, pointing. Suddenly, I could hear voices from outside our time pocket.

“Koreha, did you do this?! What did you say to Summer?!”

“You’re mistaken. I didn’t do anything.”

“Good grief. I’m ashamed to have you as a little sister, Koreha. To think you would pretend to be her friend, all for this...”

“I am saying I did nothing. Do you have no working ears, dear brother?”

“But look at what Summer’s turned into... It has to be your work, Lady Koreha!”

“Have you simpletons even a brain shared between you?! I am saying I did nothing!” Koreha said, but even as the mob showered her with accusations, Summer made no move to protect her. Rather, she had plopped down onto the floor, and was spacing out with a look of defeat. I couldn’t imagine an expression that conveyed greater surrender to fate.

“Aaah, geez, why is this happening? Is this what mob mentality refers to?! Summer, say something! At this rate, I’ll be executed!”

“Meeeh, whatever. It’s already over, so, well, have fun?”

“What are you saying, Summer?!”

“Gah! Don’t think I have feelings for you just because we used to be engaged!” the first prince declared! “I’ll never marry you now!”

“How many times do I have to say it?! The engagement was canceled an eternity ago! And if you ask me, Prince Jedha is much more to my tastes as a cute shota!”

The two of them raged in a heated argument while Summer continued to refuse to engage whatsoever. Seeing that, Leona sighed.

“I fiddled with things to make this a more likely outcome, but still, it does feel a bit unnatural. What do you think, Keima?”

“You planned this? Then why are you complaining? If things go as planned, just be happy your plans worked,” I said. Leona nodded.

“You have a point. I suppose I’m getting a bit greedy out of boredom. This will have to do. And so, with the game over, I’ll be taking my leave,” Leona said. The barrier around the magic sphere disappeared, and said sphere began to shine with a black light.

“Next time, don’t waste your time investigating nothing, and actually involve yourself more. Okay? Okay. Until we meet again... {Release}.”

And then—the world went dark.

.........

...............

“—ma, Keima? What’s wrong?”

I was sitting on a comfortable sofa. Wataru woke me up, and suddenly my consciousness snapped back to reality.

“Uh, Wataru? What happened to the night party...?”

“Night party? What are you talking about?” Wataru asked, tilting his head. It was bright outside the windows, and seemed to be about noon. It seemed I had passed out for half a day. Rokuko, Soto, Ichika, and Niku were here, too. Plus Emmymephy. Seemed like everyone was safe.

“Alright, bring me up to speed. How long was I unconscious? Where are we?”

“Huh? What do you mean, how long? You just kind of dozed off for a second. As for where we are... Well, I guess I should say, welcome to Daide!”

Huh?

On second thought, this place did seem familiar. I only remembered after Wataru said, ‘Welcome to Daide,’ but this was the waiting room by the gate we were taken to after arriving at Daide.

“Why are we here...?”

“I mean, we got a letter from Haku telling us to pick you up here. And Rokuko, Kuro, and Ichika came with you. But, uh... Who’s the black-haired girl?” Wataru asked, looking at Soto curiously.

“What’re you talking about, Wataru? It’s Soto. I told you she was my daughter.”

“Oh, your daughter... Wait, your daughter?! Wh-What?! When did this happen?!” Wataru exclaimed, as if this was news to him. What? Why act so surprised after so long?

“Uh... Keima? Wh-Who’s the mother? Just asking to be safe.”

“Me, duh?” Rokuko answered.

“When did...? She’s so big...”

“Also, she’s my little sister,” Niku said, sliding forward. I felt a sense of déjà vu... or rather, it felt like my memories were being replayed word for word.

“Kuro’s little sister... Wait, what?! Does that make you Keima’s daughter, too...? But you’re a beastkin...”

“They have different mothers. Happens all the time, doesn’t it?” I asked, playing along myself.

“I-I guess, maybe...? Wait, doesn’t that mean you’re keeping your daughter as a slave...?”

“She also has a different father.”

“That means you’re not related at all!”

Yeah, it was the same as before. The only difference was how Soto and I were reacting.

“Hey, watch your mouth. Me and big sis are connected by the soul. We’re soul sisters,” Soto said cautiously, as if probing for more information just as I was.

“Correct. Soto and I are soul sisters.”

“S-Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You’re still family, even if not by blood.”

Having come this far, Soto timidly looked my way and asked the big question.

“Um, papa. This is a loop, isn’t it?”

“...Ahhh.”

A loop. With that deadly concept in mind, I looked at Wataru.

“Wataru, what day is it?”

“Hm? Let’s see...”

Wataru answered: it was May 1st. The day we had first come to Daide.