Chapter 2

Instant Regret: Suppose You Hung Out at Work on Your Day Off and Got Roped into Working for Free

“Now the final straightaway! Coming up on the outside! Looks like a lock for four, three, seven! The first race of the day and already a huge upset!”

“—Seriously?”

The first day of the holiday weekend, and Riho was standing by the racetrack on the outskirts of Azami, clutching her ticket.

“—Seriously?!”

She looked the ticket over again.

“Four, three, seven… Yep, that’s it. I hit the trifecta!”

The first race of the day, hardly a major event.

Riho had happened to remember the numbers Lloyd had given her and placed a bet just for the hell of it. The win had unexpectedly proven to be huge, paying out over a hundred times what it had cost.

“Argh, Lloyd’s done it again! He’s really got it! Well, I guess I’m the one who’s actually got it! Thank you, horsies, I love you!”

She closed her eyes, kissed the ticket, and ran off to cash it in.

Her back pocket stuffed with bills, grinning ear to ear, she began pondering how best to spend this windfall.

“Blowing it all on more races would be dumb. Gotta think of something better. I already paid the orphanage dues for the month—maybe I should treat myself for a change.”

Maintenance on her mechanical arm? Nah. A good meal? Just as her excitement reached a fever pitch, her eyes landed on an ad on the wall.

“Hmm…it would be nice to do something out of the ordinary… Oooh.”

The colored poster featured a drawing of a woman relaxing. Riho stepped closer, reading the fine print. It seemed to be an ad for a hotel or resort.

“They’ve got a hot spring? And it’s not that far from here. I could get there this afternoon. That settles it!”

Nothing like a hot spring to ease one’s weary bones. What better use for her money? With that in mind, Riho jumped aboard a carriage and told the coachman her destination.

“’Sup. Take me to this Reiyoukaku Hotel!”

The horses started moving, and Riho leaned back in her seat, kicking her feet up.

“I’ve spent too much time around m’lady! It’s making me all tense. About time I pampered myself.”

Blissfully unaware that this treat would lead to tragedy, Riho began humming to herself.

“Can’t wait to hit that hot spring…and have a nice, relaxing vacation.”

……Poor girl.

Meanwhile, in a room at Reiyoukaku, a big man was fidgeting in his seat.

His mind was elsewhere. His gaze kept drifting away. He looked rattled, like a culprit who knows the detective’s on to him. His name was…

“Allan! Sit still.”

Yeah, that Allan. Even after his father, Threonine, scolded him, all he managed was a quick, tight nod.

After a long silence, he managed to croak, “D-Dad, I mean…this is a potential marriage…”

Pretty pathetic. What happened to all his confidence?

“Have some water, sir,” the secretary said.

“Th-thanks. Gulp, gulp… Cough! Hack!”

Allan tried chugging it down like a sports drink at a hydration station in the middle of a marathon before coughing violently.

Frustrated by all of this, Threonine brushed down his mustache like a veteran soldier chastising a recruit.

“Some tension is understandable, but don’t worry. This was their idea. Be confident.”

“Easy to say…”

Allan had gotten used to having no luck with the ladies, which meant he was ill-equipped to deal with the unexpected concept of a girl actually being interested. In these situations, he entered a downward spiral, afraid he’d turn the girl off and lose his one chance of avoiding a lifetime alone.

Ultimately, his solution was…

“I’m gonna go take a bath.”

A baffling choice.

“Mm? Well, we’ve still got time, but why?” Threonine demanded, asking the obvious question.

“Sitting here fretting is killing me. I’m better off working up a sweat in the sauna!”

Before Threonine could call him an idiot, Allan made a beeline for the suite’s private bath.

“That’s no reason to— Hey! Come back here, Allan!”

Watching his son flee the scene, Threonine sighed deeply.

“Geez. Whatever his reputation is in Azami, that boy’s as pathetic as ever… I figured the army just picked a big guy who’d look good on a poster.”

Allan’s accomplishments had certainly been embellished a bit, but he had done his best to help people, and the results of those actions were real. Just to be clear.

Unaware of this, Threonine sighed again and gave the ceiling a baleful glare.

“I was right not to mention what’s been happening here to him…but so much for military training in Azami. Once this mess is dealt with, I’d better arrange for him to come back home.”

Then he muttered, “That idiot,” under his breath and settled back in his chair.

Allan taking the unprecedented step of entering a sauna right before meeting a potential bride…would significantly alter Lloyd’s fate.

When she reached the hotel, Riho yelled, “Keep the change!” at the driver and left the carriage. She’d paid the exact fare, however, so naturally there was no change.

Before her were beautiful mountains, the sunlight glittering off a man-made lake, and a row of souvenir shops down the hill clearly packed, even from this distance.

“Nice. Really feels like a getaway! Right. First, an inn…no, a hotel!”

As an ex-mercenary, Riho’s idea of lodgings was the bare minimum: a communal bathroom and a shared kitchen to make your own grub. She’d never stayed in a fancy hotel.

When she entered Reiyoukaku Hotel, its sheer elegance made her gape like a middle-aged tourist.

“Wowzers! This looks more like a theater… Will there be an opera later?”

She looked around the opulently carpeted lobby, astounded.

“I’d be fine sleeping on these couches…maybe even this floor.”

Riho reached down and touched the carpeting. “That’s expensive,” she muttered. She eyed the vases and paintings. “They’ll never notice if I take one of those home with me.”

Only in video games can the hero do whatever they want to people’s vases. Riho, of course, was not that hero, but a shifty-eyed bad girl with an intimidating mechanical arm. She was immediately attracting the wrong kind of attention.

When she noticed this, she quickly made her way to the front desk to book a room.

The clerk cast a horrified look at her arm but quickly covered with a professional smile.

“Welcome! At the moment, all our regular rooms are reserved. Oh…we did just have a cancellation for one of our luxury suites. Would that be acceptable?”

“Hmm, maybe it would? I mean, I know I look like the sort you’d put in a regular room, but I’m definitely in the mood to splurge. Maybe I should… Do I have enough?”

Riho pretended to stretch, giving him a glance of the wad of bills in her pocket.

“…I beg your pardon,” the clerk said, swiftly recovering once again and waving for a bellboy.

“This way,” the bellboy instructed. “Do watch your step.”

Letting out a series of impressed noises, Riho followed the bellboy to a very ornate door.

“This will be your room, Miss Riho.”

“……”

“The suites in our hotel are named after the legendary heroes who once saved the world. The suite at the back is the Sou Suite, and the annex houses the Lena Suite—”

“……”

“And your room is named the Alka Suite, after the priestess of salvation.”

“……”

“Miss Riho?”

“Er, uh, yeah! Show me to my room!”

This was all looking far fancier than she’d anticipated, and the bellboy’s words had gone in one ear and out the other. She hastily grabbed the handle to enter.

Clink.

“Seems like it’s locked.”

“Miss Riho, that’s merely decoration, not a doorknob.”

Riho turned a bit red. She gave the ornament she’d grabbed a good rub to cover.

“Well, it’s a nice one! Really brings the vibe together!”

After a brief attempt at sounding like she’d simply been appraising it, she went inside.

Sweating slightly from embarrassment and stress, Riho looked around the room.

“Mm? This isn’t a room…or not just…one room…”

The entrance had a little basket of roses filling the air with their fragrance.

“One room for dining and one for sleeping? So this is the bedroom…”

She put her back to the room like an operative invading. If she’d been wearing camo, this would totally have been a stealth mission.

Having safely cleared the bedroom, she wiped the sweat from her brow and plopped down on a nearby couch, but it was so ridiculously soft, she let out a gentle yelp.

“…I thought I was sinking into it…”

She’d come here to recuperate, but so far, this place was fraying her last nerve.

“Man, you can’t take the poverty out of a girl…,” she chuckled.

The art on the walls and the canopy over the bed were actively unsettling, and she was beginning to regret choosing this place.

Then she spied something on the dressing table.

“What’s that?”

A trapezoidal object with some sort of crossbar resting on top—arched, like a scale, but at each end were two round things with holes in them. The piece was connected to the wall by a cord of some kind, like a fuse.

Some sort of avant-garde sculpture? Riho stared at it for a long moment before remembering.

“Wait…is it a telephone?”

The mysterious device was indeed a phone. The design of it might have blended with the décor of the suite, but it was definitely a phone.

“Wow…I thought only top military brass had access to these.”

The cutting edge of civilization, right before her eyes… Curiosity got the better of her.

“Can I use it? Am I allowed?”

Relying purely on rumors she’d heard about the operation of these telephones, she gingerly picked up the receiver.

“Um…then I use the dial? What else do you do?”

She looked the stand over, but there was nothing to spin or push.

“Hunh? There’s nothing—”

“Hello, front desk.”

Her search was interrupted by a muffled voice. Apparently, this was a direct line to the reception desk.

Finding herself abruptly in the middle of a conversation left Riho somewhat flustered.

“Uh, um…”

“How may I help you?”

“Er, well… That isn’t…”

She couldn’t very well say she’d just been curious about how phones work, like some mischievous child. She had to talk her way out of this.

“Hello? Did you mean to call, or…?”

“Y-yes, I meant to! I, uh…um…want to request a massage!”

“A massage?”

“Right, right! Um, if you don’t offer that, that’s cool! Really! So, uh…bye?”

“Oh, wai—”

Breathing heavily, Riho slammed the receiver back in its cradle, sweat streaming down her face.

“I-I’m so tired…”

Without even wiping the sweat, she collapsed on the bed.

“The lady in the suite wants a massage,” the man on the other end of the phone said, at a loss.

“…Probably just the usual: never seen a phone before, accidentally called us, and couldn’t just admit it. Happens all the time,” Coba said, looking annoyed. His eyes never left his notebook.

“But, well…she’s sort of dangerous looking. Narrow eyes, weird mechanical arm…not the type we want complaining.”

“Partying on ill-gotten gains? Yeah, that type can be a problem. No, wait…”

Coba began thinking furiously.

“Owner?”

“She might be an inspector for the hotel guide.”

The receptionist’s eyes went wide. “Ah!” he yelped. “A sudden cancellation, and then a girl who looks like a mercenary? It does seem like the sort of trick they’d pull.”

“A rough-looking customer flashing cash, making demands…definitely a good test for a hotel. But a massage…” Coba scratched his head with the fountain pen. “Hmm, what to do,” he muttered to himself.

Then Lloyd came in, dressed in a hotel uniform.

“I finished up that job… What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Lloyd? You see…” Coba brought him up to speed.

“I’ll handle that,” Lloyd said happily. “She just needs a massage, right?”

“Er…you can do that?”

Lloyd puffed himself up proudly. “I’m real good at them! The village chief always said so.”

He was referring, of course, to Alka, the super-clingy kid grandma.

Coba and the other staff within earshot all pictured a venerable elder getting a shoulder rub.

People started murmuring among themselves.

“What a good boy.”

“How sweet.”

The incident with Threonine the day before had Lloyd’s reputation skyrocketing.

“Sorry about this, Lloyd. You already did so much yesterday… The chef was thrilled with all the prep in the kitchen, and the baths were still shining even by the time the staff used them.”

“Ah-ha-ha, happy to help! I’ll just go take care of this.”

And thus, Lloyd headed for the suite, blissfully unaware that a friend lay waiting for him…

Coba watched him go with a smile, but another staff member came running up.

“C-Coba!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Th-the delivery today has something in it that I—I don’t know how to handle.”

“What? What is it?”

“Bottle bombs! Several cases of them!”

“Huh?” Coba gaped at him. “As in…booze with a rag stuck in the top?”

“If we store those here, it could lead to a fire…”

“We can’t keep anything that could endanger our guests. But if we destroy them and receive a complaint… Who would even have those with them? Hmm…”

He slapped his head, then made up his mind.

“Right! Pile them in a wagon so we can return them at a moment’s notice, and if you don’t hear anything today, send ’em back.”

The staff nodded and ran out.

“Geez, one problem after another… If Lloyd weren’t here, we’d have been donezo.”

Coba sighed, and the staff nearby nodded. Lloyd’s reputation was so good, it had already reached its peak for the day.

Meanwhile, in Riho’s suite…

Riho was still sprawled on her bed, her face buried in pillows. Every now and then, she’d remember her blunder with the doorknob and let out a little groan.

This was a new black mark in her life, for sure. She was really regretting the attempt to live above her station.

“I feel like I’d get way more relaxing done at a merchant inn…”

Then she remembered her mistake again and thrashed her legs wildly.

At last, her flailing wore her out, and she fell asleep like a little child.

“Hello? Hellooo?”

Sounded like a familiar voice outside her door.

“Um…pardon the intrusion… Wait, Riho?!”

Mm? What, did I fall asleep?

Unsure how long she’d been out, she turned, wondering who was rubbing her back.

“What? Are you here, Riho? Did you fall prey to these coma cases? Wake up!”

Oh…I must be dreaming. Lloyd’s in my dream… I’m as bad as Selen.

Certain she was dreaming, Riho blearily patted Lloyd on the cheek.

“Um, Riho? Wha—hngg!”

“So soft…and your lips, too… Wait, I’m not dreaming?! What the—?”

Her fingers were still mashed into Lloyd’s lips.

“Riho!”

“Oh, s-sorry!”

“Uh… Not as sorry as I am. Why are you here?”

They had both turned bright red and scrambled to fill each other in.

“Uh…so this is the hotel you’re working at? And you thought I was in a coma like these other victims? Man, you sure have a knack for finding trouble.”

“I’m so glad you’re all right! Did a horse really bring you gold in its mouth? That’s amazing luck!”

Lloyd had taken her unusual turn of phrase literally, but Riho ignored that. It was definitely amazing luck either way.

Now that they were both up to speed, Lloyd broached the subject.

“So, you ready?”

“Mm? For what?”

“Your massage.”

To set the scene:

They were seated side by side on a bed in a luxury hotel suite.

One was in a hotel uniform, ready to serve his guest’s every need.

An unusual situation. A suggestive silence.

The only sound was the clock ticking.

“…………………………Yes?”

“All right, got it! I aim to please! Leave this to me!”

“Wh-whoa…!”

Riho was so rattled, she couldn’t speak, but Lloyd just smiled.

“Sorry, I don’t have any oil. Go ahead and lie down!”

“Uh, okay…”

Wondering what the oil was even for, Riho did as she was told.

“Facedown.”

“…Oh, right.”

Riho hastily turned over. Embarrassed, she buried her face in the bed. For the second time that day.

“So you can do massages?” Riho asked. Lloyd seemed uncharacteristically confident.

“Yeah, almost as good as cooking and cleaning!”

“…You’re that good?”

“Yep. Village chief–approved!”

Riho pictured the grandma grinning with her nose bleeding, only one thing on her mind.

An alarming image flashed through her mind’s eye. Obviously, it was a lewd one.

“Wait! Just for reference, what does this massage involve?”

“Um…” Lloyd began running down the specific menu.

He’d finish any moment now…

“Nope! No way in hell! That will get you arrested!”

“For a massage? Uh, how so?”

“That’s not a massage! What the hell is your chief teaching you?!”

Riho looked even more tired now. So much for restoring her spirits.

“Oh…so no massage?”

Lloyd was disappointed. But the specifics he’d described were too much! Riho felt a little sorry for him…and a wicked temptation struck her.

“……Then…”

But before she could tell him to go ahead…

Briiiiiiiiing!

“Aughhhh! I’m sorry!”

The phone on the dresser interrupted them. Having never heard one ring before, Riho panicked and threw her arms around Lloyd.

Lloyd was surprised by her surprise.

“R-Riho, don’t worry. It’s just the phone.”

“I-is it the police calling because I was gonna accept your massage? Am I gonna be taken in for questioning? And then held in custody?!”

“My massages are not crimes!” Lloyd protested.

Then he picked up the phone, not wanting to leave the caller waiting.

“Hello, Lloyd speak— What?”

His eyes went wide, and he let out a little squeak.

“S-so it is the cops?!”

“W-we might need to call them. I mean…” Lloyd gulped, trying to calm himself. “They found someone passed out in the penthouse bathtub.”

The penthouse in the annex—the Lena Suite—had a small outdoor bath for families to enjoy. After receiving word, Lloyd and Riho hurried over there.

The private bath had a sauna attached, an older one, with a hearth on one side and heated stones within. To raise the temperature in the room, one needed to splash water on the stones to generate steam.

But there was far too much steam in the room; a vast quantity billowed out of the skylight as if it were the open lid of a bamboo steamer.

By the time Lloyd and Riho arrived, the rescue was in progress. Staff had the sauna open and were carrying a man out.

Bare legs appeared through the steam clouds, followed by an exposed crotch, a burly chest, and finally a face both recognized—their classmate, Allan Toin Lidocaine, his cheeks bright red.

“Hang in there, Son!” Threonine yelled, shaking him. Shaking the unconscious is not actually advisable. But this was just Allan, so it was probably fine.

Coba was standing by, stone-faced, glaring at Threonine and Allan.

“What is this? A warning? They know I’m on to them? Nobody’s stupid enough to stay in a sauna until they pass out right before meeting a potential bride…”

Except this guy.

Having ruled out fainting, Coba felt his thoughts running in all the wrong directions.

“I’ve got the man behind these coma cases right in front of me… I’m not letting him get away,” he muttered.

Then he raised his voice, giving his staff directions in a slightly theatrical tone.

“Oh, dear! Seems your son has passed out! What a shame! We’ll take him to the first-aid room right away.”

Coba hoisted Allan onto his back and tried to haul him away.

“H-hey! Don’t—”

Brushing off Threonine’s protests, Coba left the room. As he did, he shot Threonine a meaningful grin seemingly along the lines of, We’ve got you now! You can’t leave without your son!

But of course Threonine had no intention of leaving, so he read the grin in an entirely different light.

“Damn, he got the drop on me…attacking my son as a warning and then easily taking him hostage… I can’t imagine Allan would stay in the sauna so long that he fainted—not just before meeting a possible bride…”

But it was possible to imagine, Threonine realized. This was all his boy’s fault.

Threonine was left pounding the floor of the bathroom, convinced he was screwed.

“I should never have left Allan alone… Kikyou warned me to be on my guard around Coba, but… No, the biggest problem is this marriage arrangement. He’s concocted the perfect excuse to get this meeting canceled and let them off the hook.”

These nobles were making a fortune off treant wood, and this would prevent them from leaking intel. Threonine was impressed despite himself.

“I can’t let that happen…not when I finally have a lead!”

He put his chin in his hands, muttering to himself, trying to figure out a plan. This made it hard for any of the hotel staff to approach him.

Meanwhile, Riho and Lloyd were at a total loss. After all, they’d just seen someone they knew hauled out of a sauna unconscious, wearing only a towel. In particular, Riho was making a face like she’d picked up a rock and found a wriggly bug under it. Allan in the nude was just that gross.

“So this was where he was meeting this bride candidate? Poor thing, guess that’s canceled now… Serves him right for making me see that nastiness. Let’s go, Lloyd.”

Riho turned to find Lloyd no longer at her side—he was standing in front of Threonine.

“Sir, can I help you with anything?”

“Argh, if we just had the seedling, I could call the cops in now, but… Mm? Oh! Lloyd! Sorry, I’m a little preoccupied…”

But even as Threonine’s craggy brow creased, Lloyd gave him a full-throttle thumbs-up.

“Don’t worry, sir! We are at your service! Anytime you’re in trouble, we’re here for you!”

He was certainly living up to Kikyou’s teachings the night before. His somewhat theatrical pose got everyone’s attention.

There was a moment of silence.

Lloyd looked so confident that Threonine decided to beg for his help. “L-Lloyd! I could use a brilliant idea here!”

Lloyd wasn’t expecting to have to provide brilliance. Perhaps he’d gotten a bit carried away.

With all eyes on him, the best he could come up with was…

“Um, well…right! I’ll take Allan’s place to discuss his marriage!”

The ol’ switcharoo. But Lloyd was only five foot three, while Allan was over six and a half feet, so…that would hardly work. Even the most generous rounding could not possibly make up the dimensional discrepancy. Riho was forced to step in.

“Uh…a switcharoo? Don’t be ridiculous, Lloyd. If you put Allan’s face on a poster, nine out of ten people would think he was a wanted bandit, and the remaining one would assume it was there to ward off evil. Meanwhile you’re just, like, cute. Not gonna work!”

Riho’s merciless evaluation of Allan’s appearance was every bit as blunt as her assessment of the plan’s potential, but the reaction from the crowd?

“Lloyd…you’d do that for the hotel?”

“Lloyd can pull off anything!”

“I was worried for a moment there, but now I know it’ll be okay!”

The consensus was 100 percent positive.

“Wow, everyone here sure loves Lloyd…,” Riho said, rattled. She looked at Threonine, assuming Allan’s father would realize the folly of the scheme. But he was clearly giving it serious consideration.

“Hmm…that would never have occurred to me. I’m very impressed, Lloyd!”

“Why are you in?! Of course it would never have occurred to you; they look nothing alike!”

How exactly had Lloyd earned the blind faith of the entire staff in a single day? Even for Lloyd, this was like he’d drugged them all. Riho was left with her jaw hanging open in disbelief.

Completely ignoring her, Threonine pounded Lloyd on the shoulder—like he was the son he’d always wanted.

“Right, Lloyd! Let’s get ready to meet this bride! Sorry for causing a scene, everyone!”

This seemed to remind Lloyd of something.

“Um…but someone will have to do my other work for me…”

“Oh, right… I’m sure losing Lloyd will be a major blow, and this meeting could drag on all day…” Threonine stroked his chin, considering. “My secretary… No, too weak. And not good with people…”

“I’m not? S-sorry…” The secretary looked hurt by the latter comment but seemed well aware of his physical limitations. He let his scrawny arms hang limp.

This got the hotel staff talking among themselves.

“We need someone with experience.”

“Someone who can handle anything. A jack-of-all-trades, or a mercenary…”

“Someone who understands the situation.”

“Anyone know a mercenary?”

A moment later, all eyes turned toward Riho.

“Huh?” Her jaw dropped even farther.

“““You!”””

“Huh?!”

Eyes wide, thoroughly flustered, Riho found Lloyd clutching her hand.

“Please, Riho! You’re the only one we can ask!”

His expression was pleading.

The sweat on her brow wasn’t from the sauna’s heat. Lloyd was holding her hand very tightly.

“Uh, well…if it’s you asking…”

And so she found herself donning a hotel uniform.

……Poor thing.

A few hours earlier, Selen was sitting in a carriage from Azami, en route to her destination.

Bored with the view outside the window, she’d nodded off…and before she knew it, the carriage had stopped outside the Reiyoukaku Hotel. It was an impressive building surrounded by pastoral mountains—which left her wondering one thing.

“Why a hotel and not home?”

She stared up at it until her neck started to hurt, and then a familiar face appeared from within: Selen’s father.

He wore a simple, pressed suit, like any office drone—but his cuff links and other accessories were top-notch. Anyone with an eye for those things would instantly know he was doing very well for himself.

Back straight, he strode quickly in her direction, looking her over as if evaluating a commodity.

“Thanks for coming, Selen,” he said in a level tone. “I see the rumors that the belt came off are true.”

“…Nice to see you, too, Father.”

The cursed belt had been why Selen was forced to leave home to attend the military academy, so she found her father’s welcome inherently suspicious and was a raging storm inside.

“Why are we at this hotel?” she asked, keeping her emotions in check for now.

But her father had already diverted his attention from her and was looking down at something in his hand—perhaps a hotel brochure. He’d completed the necessary checks—that was all Selen would get from him. She found herself moving farther away.

“We haven’t seen in each other in a while,” her father responded. “I thought we should at least dine somewhere decent.” Like he’d expected the question and prepared the answer ahead of time.

Selen was getting increasingly alarmed. She stood in silence for a moment, and once her heart was still, she looked up at the hotel again. The stately construction and tasteful decor were obvious even at this distance. It certainly seemed likely that meals would be equally lavish.

“Well, if that’s the case…,” she began.

Then one of the hotel staff spotted her and came over. “Welcome to the Reiyoukaku, Miss Selen. We’ve prepared a room.”

“No need,” her father said, not batting an eye. “She can change in the side room.”

“Understood. I’ll have a bellboy bring the outfit there.”

Before she knew it, Selen found herself inside—but not in a hotel room. This was clearly a waiting room or an antechamber of some kind. There was a number of large mirrors, and a closet offered enough clothes to stock a boutique.

“This is going a bit beyond a strict dress code…,” she muttered.

Who dressed up this fancy to eat out? Selen’s concerns were only growing.

That was when the hairstylist appeared. She smoothly seated Selen, ran a comb through her hair, and applied scented oils.

“All done. You’ve got beautiful hair, so it doesn’t take much work. Lovely!”

“Th-thanks.”

Would anyone do this before a meal? Selen might not have been very worldly—she was dimly aware of this—but was this how they did things in hotels? Her reflection in the mirror looked nervous.

The stylist outfitted Selen in a blue dress and some earrings with a subtle sparkle before nodding approvingly. Then she packed up her things, smiled, and gave Selen a pat on the shoulder.

“Good luck with the whole marriage thing!”

“Huh?”

The stylist left. There was an awkward silence.

A few minutes later, her father came in…wearing a tuxedo.

“Selen, all ready?”

“Hey! Back up! Marriage?! Did she say marriage?!”

Her father was as calm as she was alarmed.

“Yes,” he said. He kept talking but never looked at her, zeroing in on his tie in the mirror. “He’s an up-and-coming military man. Been in the papers several times, so he’s clearly being groomed as the next face of the army. His name—”

“I don’t care who he is! I already have someone! I met him at the Azami Military Academy, and our future is set in stone!”

It really wasn’t.

But Selen’s fury fell on deaf ears. Her father gave her a single glance, as if consulting a notebook.

“The question is whether you will remain in the military yourself. The original purpose of enlisting was to enable you to remove the belt. With that accomplished, staying there is pointless.”

Her father’s gaze swiftly wandered to the room’s decor. Selen fell silent as he spoke, never looking at her.

“If military work gets you scarred, no nobleman will ever take you. And there’s no guarantee that belt won’t suddenly get stuck to you again… Best to settle the matter quickly.”

Selen felt like she’d seen this look in his eyes before—the same day he’d sent her and the belt away.

He hadn’t changed a bit.

He had the eyes of a sleazy merchant trying to pass off defective merchandise.

Selen gritted her teeth.

I knew better but still hoped…he would be like he once was.

“You can just sit there if you like. If this falls through, it won’t be our only chance. Consider it practice.”

He took out his watch. “It’s time,” he announced, like a guard telling a prisoner their interview is over, and began heading toward the exit.

When Selen failed to move, he paused in the doorway, not even turning around.

“Come on,” he urged, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

Treating me like this… I can’t really blame him.

She knew how they’d ended up this way. All that time spent holed up in her room, treated like a ghost story—the Cursed Belt Princess.

She remembered how desperate he’d once been to free her.

“…I’m not obeying the man you are now. I’m doing this to repay the man who once fought tooth and nail to help me.”

“Fine,” he said, like it really didn’t matter to him.

Selen let out a long sigh. Resigned, she headed to the main room, her beautiful dress trailing after her.

If anything happened, she could always run for it. At her waist was the former cursed belt, now an artifact she could control with her mind, whether for attack or defense. She had it curled around her dress like a matching ribbon. But first, she had to meet this suitor.

Regardless of her true nature, in that blue dress, with those earrings, her hair done up, and a little lipstick, Selen was a stunner. Regardless of her true nature.

I wish Lloyd could see me like this…

Telling herself she was just here to eat dinner, she stepped into the main hall. By the door was a fancy placard, clearly written by an expert calligrapher. It read…

For the Families of Hemein and Lidocaine.

“—I’m meeting a potential bride over the holiday. Mwa-ha-ha.”

Selen pictured Allan boasting about it back in class.

“I’m done here. Good-bye.”

Selen made a U-turn, dress flaring, and headed for the hotel doors.

Her father instantly barred her path. She was left frozen, like the space around her had been blocked, cutting off her only route to escape.

“Wait, Selen.”

“F-Father…h-how did you move so fast?” she stammered, genuinely shocked by this display of physical ability.

“None of your concern,” he replied, glancing downward, like this was just a job to him. “But why did you run?”

“There’s a big problem here! A physiological impossibility!”

“All you have to do is sit.”

Moments later, she was in her seat. Even a chair this nice felt uncomfortable now.

Reluctantly, she looked across the table, but the prospective partner had yet to arrive. Allan’s father, Threonine, was sitting next to an empty chair, looking extremely nervous.

Argh, I have to get away from here… Me and Allan, discussing a marriage? That would ruin my entire life! And people might use this as a pretext to force me and Lloyd apart. Oh, I forgot I ordered all those bottle bombs! I could go get… No, that’s not happening. And after I had them rushed here… What now?!

How had she convinced anyone to take that rush delivery?

Selen racked her brain, but all she could come up with was…

I’ll just have to make sure Allan dies here. To demonstrate my pure love for Lloyd…

…exactly the kind of plan she shouldn’t have entertained. How did this happen?

She noted the precise positions of her knife and fork, estimating the distance between herself and the door through which she assumed Allan would enter.

Approximately six yards… If I used the belt to swing myself from that chandelier, I can easily clear that in a single bound and jam this fork in his throat…

Her mind in the zone of a perfect assassin, Selen kept her gaze fixed on the door.

Soon she could hear someone rushing up outside.

“O-oh, looks like my son is finally here!” Threonine said stiffly.

Selen waited for her moment to pounce.

God will forgive me. This is all for Lloyd for Lloyd for Lloyd…

Offering up a self-serving prayer, she saw a figure appear…

“Sorry I’m late!”

Standing in the doorway was a gentle-looking boy in a nice suit—Lloyd, posing as Allan.

Selen shot to her feet and leaped onto the table. Her eyes turned to hearts, and she started slobbering.

“Thank you, God!”

“Er? Huh? Selen—augh!”

The fathers exchanged flummoxed glances. They had no clue what was happening.

“Hmm…well, he seems to have done the trick, I suppose? I can see why the staff were sure this would work,” Threonine muttered.

But Selen’s father could not conceal his shock. A moment before, his daughter had barely allowed herself to be seated, and now she was throwing herself into the man’s arms. As a result, there was no trace of his earlier composure.

“…Look at her fly…”

It certainly confused him seeing this earnest-looking boy instead of the hunkier man from the photos, but he was much more concerned with his daughter’s sudden propensity for uncanny movement.

“Em…your meal?” a waiter asked, unsure when to start serving.

It seemed like something entirely different was on the menu here.

“Who cares about food?! Leave the young people to it!”

That wasn’t something the young people were supposed to say themselves.

Not wanting the son switcharoo discovered, Threonine steered the conversation onward with a tense smile.

“Well, let us discuss…things…,” he started.

He put his hands on the table like a cop in an interrogation, fixed Selen’s father with a piercing gaze, and leaned toward him. He had to catch the tail of the treant cultivator, and this was his one shot.

Selen’s father picked up on the intensity and adjusted his collar.

“Yes, I, too, have matters to discuss.”

An ominous vibe resonated between them.

Meanwhile, Selen was behaving downright absurdly, and before Lloyd could come to terms with the situation, she’d dragged him into the side room.

Inside a hotel linen closet, surrounded by white sheets and the scent of fabric softener, the wild thing was panting loudly, Lloyd in her clutches. Selen’s despair a moment earlier had been utterly forgotten.

“God has answered my prayers! I never thought they were arranging a meeting to discuss marriage between us!”

It hadn’t been much of a meeting. Just a quick grapple and then a drag-this-way. More of a marriage abduction.

“But I’m not about to waste this gift from God! Time for dinner, Sir Lloyd!”

Lloyd was still totally at a loss as to what Selen was doing here, but he managed to extract himself from her clutches and ask, “Why are you here, Selen?”

To which her reply was obvious: “For love!”

…Apparently, she was in no state for a real conversation.

“Well, we’re in a hotel! Let’s do what people do in hotels!”

Selen was acting on pure desire without any thought for why Lloyd had turned up. She hastily removed the belt from her waist and started raising the hem of her dress.

An instant later, Riho’s mithril arm grabbed a handful of Selen’s face. Riho was wearing a white blouse, like a member of the cleaning staff.

“What the hell are you doing? This isn’t that kind of hotel! This is a family establishment!”

Selen’s skull creaked, but to her detriment, she’d removed her belt.

“Owww…wh-where’d you come from, Riho? What are you doing here?”

“The horses brought me, dammit!”

“What does that even mean? Why are you dressed like a maid?”

“That’s what I want to know! Why am I being forced to work for this hotel?!”

Lloyd tried to step in. “Um, can we assess the situation? I’m so lost.”

Explanations commenced. Please hold.

“I see… So Allan’s fallen victim to these incidents? Poor Allan.”

Said the girl who’d been ready to kill him a minute ago.

“I’d like to stop whatever’s causing this,” Lloyd said. “Both for Allan, and to prevent any more customers from falling victim.”

“Then I’ve got an excellent idea.”

“You do?”

Selen grinned. But there was no light in her eyes.

“Sir Lloyd and I are currently in middle of a matrimonial meeting. Let’s extend that into a date and investigate the local tourist attractions, searching for the culprit.”

“Your ‘ideas’ always seem to be ways to twist the situation to your benefit…”

Riho had hit the nail on the head, but Selen pretended not to notice.

“If an incident just happened, the culprit can’t have gone far… We need to search the area. Riho, you pose as a member of the hotel staff and check the interior of the building. We’ll handle the outside. That way, no stone’s left unturned.”

“You even found an excuse to get me out of your hair!” Riho’s cry echoed through the linen closet.

But Lloyd clearly thought it was an excellent idea. “I think that could work—a couple can move around without attracting attention.”

“Really?!”

At this point, Coba poked his head in the door to see what all the yelling was about.

“Now what?” he asked. “More trouble? Hmm? Lloyd…in a tuxedo? And the guests from the suite room? What’s going on?”

The three of them made an odd group if you weren’t aware that they were in the same class. Coba looked suitably puzzled.

“Oh, the thing is…” Lloyd began introducing them and explained the proxy proposal situation.

Once briefed, Coba slapped his bald head. “Good Lord!” he cried. “So the guest from the suite, the boy who collapsed, and the prospective marriage partner are all friends of yours?”

His surprise soon faded, though, and he frowned.

“Hmm…but…a stand-in for a meeting to discuss an engagement?”

Coba had assumed Threonine would skip town; he had no clue why the lord would be so desperate to attend the meeting that he’d bring in a ringer. Of course, this was in large part because Coba entirely misunderstood Threonine’s motivations.

Riho took this as her opportunity to gripe.

“Makes no sense, right? Why have hotel staff pose as your son? Wait…I’m supposed to be staying here, so having me work for you makes even less sense.”

“Let’s just put that aside for now. Threonine…why on earth…?”

“And this guy’s the one in charge.”

Apparently, Riho’s issues paled in comparison to the Threonine enigma. She still wasn’t pleased about being forced to work here but clearly wasn’t getting anywhere arguing the point.

“So Riho will pose as hotel staff, and we’ll pose as a couple on a date, investigating… The culprit may still be close by! As a member of the staff, I won’t stand for any more damage to the hotel’s reputation, and as a soldier of Azami, this entire situation is completely unacceptable.”

“Yes, we’re going on a date… Wait, no, as a soldier myself, I must take action.”

Selen seemed every bit as motivated as Lloyd, for entirely different reasons.

“Lloyd,” the old veteran said, his eyes filling with tears. “The three of you are the future of our army. As former member of the royal guard, I am so proud to see you all taking a stand for what’s right.”

“Yeah, me and the ditzy stalker aren’t really doing that…,” Riho protested.

But Coba still wasn’t listening.

“Hmm, as long as his intentions are shrouded in mystery, best to keep the ruse going. Lloyd, play your part well and be careful!”

“Intentions? Whose intentions? The intentions of a hotel owner forcing his guests to work for him while the actual employee gets to go on a date?!”

Coba breezed right past Riho’s final desperate cry, while Selen fixed her with a smug grin.

“Oh, it’s almost like you’re opposed to this date and budding engagement, Riho! What—are you jealous?”

Riho’s reaction could not have been more transparent.

“D-don’t be ridiculous! I’m not…not jealous. I’m…”

Coba was busy nodding to himself, oblivious to their conversation.

“I have utter faith in Lloyd! Whatever actions he takes will be integral to solving this whole thing. You have my permission to act as you see fit! Go, enjoy your date! And report everything that happens after!”

“You heard the man. The hotel owner has made a wise decision,” said Selen.

“Hngg…”

If the owner approved, his new employee Riho could hardly argue, whether she’d meant to work here or not.

“So sorry, but…Riho, was it? There’s something I could use your help with. Can you come to the stables?”

“The stables?”

“Yes, for…reasons, the person in charge isn’t available…so no one’s swept the place out.”

The only thing you sweep out of a stable is horse poop. Riho looked suitably horrified. Selen clapped her hands over her mouth, grinning victoriously.

“Snerk! The horses led you here…and now you’ve got to investigate them! Make sure you’re thorough.”

“You make sure you’re ‘investigating,’ too! Got it? You’re investigating!”

Hammering that point home one last time, Riho stalked off toward the stables.

……Poor, poor thing.

The hotel stables. A number of delivery wagons were lined up, and the horses had their noses deep in feed bags. The stables had been clean when she’d seen them earlier, but now there were droppings scattered everywhere.

“The stable hand’s not around…so the place needs a proper going-over.”

“…Yeah, I can see that.”

“Not a fan of horses?”

“I loved them this morning.”

Coba didn’t get what she meant but thanked her and went back inside.

Riho sighed and picked up a broom. As she cleaned, she tried to wrap her head around her current predicament.

“I won at the races, came to stay in a luxury hotel suite, and now I’m sweeping horse manure. How?! Argh!”

After venting her rage on the trash containers, a lump of dung ricocheted back toward her, and she barely managed to dodge it.

This killed what little enthusiasm she had left. She hung her head.

“This is karma… I should never have considered letting Lloyd massage me. That was so not me…”

Regretting her moment of temptation, Riho threw herself into cleaning, as if it was the punishment she deserved. She’d done a lot of things in her time as a mercenary, and looking after horses was naturally one of those. She applied herself to the task in front of her.

Once the manure was gone, she changed the horses’ feed bags and gave them all fresh water. They had initially been a little wary of her mithril arm, but seeing her work seemed to calm them down.

“You’re all relaxed now, huh? Lots of clever ones here. And such beautiful forms… If you were racehorses, I’d definitely bet on you.”

She was talking to the fawn-colored horse she was grooming. It seemed to be enjoying the experience and closed its eyes.

“Don’t go to sleep on me here… Oops, no, don’t do that, ha-ha-ha!”

The horse had turned its head, rubbing its cheek against her. Then its ears twitched, and it looked the other way.

“Mm? What?” Riho followed its gaze and heard voices.

“Yes, that guest is always…”

“Ew, how awful.”

Looked like a couple of the hotel cleaning staff griping around back. A familiar sight.

Same thing happens at any job… Girls can be scary.

But she was a girl, too! The pitch of their complaints was only getting worse.

“And that new girl, Kikyou, is always slacking.”

“Right, the redhead? Always snooping around. Very suspicious.”

Is it her fault I’m looking after the horses? I’ll remember that.

Girls could be so scary!

Filing away yet another grudge, Riho kept an ear on the maids’ conversation.

“Did you hear why that man canceled his suite reservation?”

“No, why?”

“Apparently, he just didn’t like the suite’s name.”

“What? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Oh, so that’s why they had a suite open on a holiday weekend.

Riho remembered the bellboy telling her the suite’s name, but she’d been too out of it to listen.

“But that’s suspicious, right? Demanding we change his room like that?”

“He looked like some sort of merchant, I think. Maybe a deliveryman?”

“They ended up moving him to 102. He’s definitely not here for the sights. Why is he here?”

Room 102, huh? Got it.

They weren’t done yet, though.

“I don’t know if they’re tourists or not, but the pair in 201 are weird, too. They’ve done nothing but order room service.”

“And when I brought it up, there were a ton of empty plates stacked in their room. Are they feeding something?”

“Please.”

Room 201, too…

Thoroughly satisfied with this round of gossip, the maids went back inside.

Riho watched them go, then muttered to herself, brushing the horse.

“Two promising leads, at least. A guest with a trumped-up reason for canceling his suite reservation, and a pair that might be feeding something they’re not supposed to have.”

The horse whinnied like it agreed with her.

“Right, better get this job wrapped up, find the culprit, and force Selen to end her delightful date, pronto.”

That stalker had a screw loose. Left her to her own devices, there was no telling where she’d wind up dragging Lloyd. Riho turned her attention to cleaning the rest of the stables as quickly as possible.