“But Kanade, isn’t it hard to clean when it’s this big?”
“It’s okay. Kanade is strong, so any cleaning is a one-punch solution.”
“…Well if you say so, thanks.”
“Leave it to me.”
What has been troubling the reliable maid Kanade recently is apparently a cat.
“……Sniff sniff.”
“What’s wrong, Kanade?”
“I don’t know where it is, but I smell it.”
“A smell?”
“Yes. And my excellent maid senses are telling me…this is undoubtedly the scent of a thieving cat…!”
“A thieving cat, huh. But I don’t remember any ingredients going missing?”
“Meow. It’s definitely not something trivial like that…That thing is stealing something serious, I can feel it tingling…!”
Saying that while unable to see the unseen cat, Kanade had a childishly innocent look befitting her age.
It was almost as if Suzuha had gained another little sister, giving me a warm feeling.
*
When I have free time, I can look around and think about things.
And I came to a conclusion.
“Hey Ayano, where do you think something is off?”
Stopping her hand at my question, Ayano immediately understood and asked back,
“Pardon me, but where did you get that impression?”
“Not anywhere in particular. With this income in the documents, don’t you think this castle is far too magnificent to maintain?”
What is the main source of income in this frontier teritory?
I’ve been processing these documents while wondering that, but there was nothing of the sort.
Needless to say, the maintenance costs for a magnificent building are likewise magnificently expensive. And the incoming income cannot possibly maintain it.
Even with an excellent maid like Kanade.
Yet this Lohengrin Castle shows no signs of neglected maintenance.
So the answer is only one.
“–In other words, I think someone is lying in these reports.”
After hearing me out, Ayano agreed.
“By the way, do you currently suspect anywhere in particular, my lord?”
“Probably the mines? The mithril mine seems suspicious in particular.”
“And what is the reason for that?”
“Because I think the balance between the mining output and maintenance costs is strange. It’s like the maintenance costs remained the same but the mining output was reduced by one digit.”
“I see. I had also heard rumors about the frontier teritory’s situation that were completely different, so I was perplexed.”
“Is that so……”
“I apologize deeply for not reporting this to you.”
“Not at all. I’m always grateful to you, Ayano.”
If I observe carefully, I realized there was a bias in the documents Ayano brought me.
That’s why I was able to target the mines as suspicious after all.
And for Ayano, who just started this job, it would be difficult position-wise to voice suspicions of wrongdoing, no matter what.
If the lord was stubborn, she could even be suspected of trying to cause an internal split as a spy.
“So, I’ll be going to inspect the mithril mine with Suzuha and Yuzuriha. Sorry, but take care of the documents for me.”
“…Pardon?”
“Yeah, I know what you want to say. Your bonus will be generous.”
“That’s not the issue here. If I may be so bold, my lord, I am but a newcomer of uncertain origins. Do you not think there may be problems leaving me in the castle?”
“No, I don’t. I like to think I have somewhat of an eye for people, at least.”
It’s unfortunate for Ayano, but if I leave the mithril mine situation alone, nothing good will come of it.
So I have no choice but to go for an inspection right away.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not trying to find an excuse to slack off on documents by going for an inspection because I’ve grown tired of office work.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
4 (Toko’s Perspective)
The secret talks held at the Sakuragi Duchy household are,
in most cases, occupied by highly political topics like domestic affairs, foreign relations, finance, conspiracy theories, and world situations.
But that night, the topic was none of those.
“…What? You’re having trouble deciding which sushi chef to send to the Lohengrin frontier teritory?”
“Yeah. And what ingredients to use too, I’m wondering about that.”
To Toko’s serious inquiry, the current head of the Sakuragi Dukedom answered in a single line.
“Are you an idiot?”
“I’m not an idiot! Well, from an outside perspective it probably looks really idiotic, I’m self-aware of that. But I’m being totally serious here!”
“How did it come to this?”
“Well, you see! If we send in a really skilled sushi chef and he hits it off with Suzuha-nii, that means we’ll have Suzuha-nii’s stomach in the palm of our hand, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“And then, I suddenly realized.”
“What did you realize?”
“–That it could be the shortest path to world conquest!”
“What…?”
The duke was unable to respond by calling it nonsense.
“…Now that you mention it, in theory it may be possible…? But I can’t imagine such a ridiculous thing actually occurring…”
“It would never happen normally, right? But Suzuha-nii has crazy respect for talented chefs, doesn’t he? He would never look down on a chef like a normal noble.”
“Rather, he potentially sees skilled chefs as above nobles, albeit without saying so out loud.”
“Right? And here’s the issue.”
Toko continued with a completely serious expression.
“Considering Suzuha-nii’s personality, don’t you think he would frequently want to repay the chef who makes him delicious sushi just for his own sake? Quite often, in fact.”
“…Is not preparing sushi the job of a sushi chef…?”
“Of course it is for us. But Suzuha-nii is a good person, you know.”
“I see…”
As the duke, he didn’t think Suzuha nii was so simple as to be called just a good person.
But it was certainly plausible that if a chef with excellent skills was hired, over time Suzuha nii would come to treat them like family.
After all, while nobles are accustomed to drawing clear lines based on social status as a given, most commoners do not do so.
And from what the duke could see, Suzuha nii’s personality was thoroughly commonborn, regardless of his astounding capabilities.
“That is certainly…worth considering.”
“Right!? And what if he starts hunting powerful monsters like dragons and rock birds whose meat is super delicious too? The current balance of power between nations would be shattered in no time!”
“Hmm…?”
“Because the balance of power is maintained by things like one country being overwhelmed dealing with certain monsters so they can’t start wars, right? You understand as the duke, don’t you?”
“I understand that much…but dragons and rock birds are not fish, are they?”
“That’s the point! Lately they’ve been calling it meat sushi where sushi places also serve meat, you know?”
“Is that not blasphemy…?!”
Seeing the duke’s serious indignation, Toko realized the current head of the Sakuragi Dukedom was a sushi purist.
It was an incredibly trivial piece of information.
“Anyway, that’s why I’m agonizing over this. If I send an unskilled chef, there’s a serious risk of disrupting the balance of power between nations, if not outright world conquest…but I can’t just go back on my promise to Suzuha-nii either. That would undermine trust in me as queen.”
“What will you do?”
“Seriously agonizing over it. –I even thought about disguising myself as a sushi chef and going, leaving a fake queen in the capital. But that was way too unrealistic so I dropped it!”
At the words “fake queen” that Toko mentioned, a memory stirred in the duke.
“Come to think of it, there was a rumor along those lines being peddled just recently.”
“Huh? What rumor?”
“Allegedly, the current Uentas Archduchess is a fake. And the real Archduchess has gone missing, they say. But the grounds are so vague it’s not even worth discussing.”
“I see…but that’s actually a plausible scenario, isn’t it?”
“You think so?”
“Well, the Archduchess Ayano is a genius, after all. So if she realized firsthand with Suzuha-nii’s arrival that Uentas would eventually lose to us at this rate, she might have set up a fake duchess and gone on a journey to find a way to turn it around, you know?”
“I see. It is possible…”
“Though I don’t actually think it happened.”
Toko forced a wry smile.
“They were also in chaos from the previous succession and infighting, so Archduchess Ayano seems to have forcibly put everything in order with her impressive ability. Yet the war against us was going well until Suzuha-nii flipped everything over, so there’s bound to be an uproar from idiots who can’t understand the current situation. But if she left a fake duchess while going into hiding, that could very well spark a rebellion. Though I’m one to talk after being subject of a coup myself!”
“I see…when you put it that way, it does seem unlikely.”
“Yeah. No matter how capable Ayano is, one misstep could lead to rebellion.”
“Then if she really did leave a fake duchess, how would the real Uentas Archduchess act?”
Toko pondered the duke’s question for a moment.
“Well, the best move would be to defect to Suzuha-nii’s side. Maybe even disguising herself as a sushi chef.”
“There’s no way the Archduchess would know such inside info.”
“I’m just saying. …But if that did happen, we’d be in huge trouble. Our nation’s trump card against an enemy nation, taken just like that!”
“…Hmph. Not even worth a laugh.”
At that moment, the two felt an ominous chill for some reason, but the cause would not become clear until later.
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