6
As the ceasefire agreement signing ceremony approached, the personnel Toko brought became increasingly busy.
One day, two Amazonesses arrived.
The twin commanders-in-chief that I had met before in the great forest of the Ogres.
These two came as the first guests invited to the signing ceremony.
Their names were Kanon and Shion, though I do not know which was which.
As I, Yuzuriha, and Toko went to greet them, the two Amazonesses immediately bowed deeply upon seeing me.
“Lord brother, we offer our sincere congratulations on your appointment as margrave.”
“However, the position of margrave is surely lacking for one as great as you, Lord brother.”
“Thus, we have a proposal.”
“If you would permit it, Lord brother, we could immediately challenge Queen Toko to a duel, slay her, and boldly usurp the Kingdom of Drosselmeyer. We would then gladly establish an eternal Amazoness kingdom with you as our absolute king – would this not be the royal road, the road of conquest?”
“What say you?”
“No no no, not ‘what say you’?!”
It had been a while since we’d met, but their jokes had leveled up drastically.
Talking about dueling the current queen or usurping a nation, even as a joke, is completely out of the question. If I went along with it, I’d be branded a rebel.
Though Toko is smiling wryly, so it’s probably fine.
“My apologies, Queen Toko. I truly don’t know what to say…”
“No, it’s okay! Having Suzuha nii be so close with the pinnacle of the Amazoness tribe is a great advantage for foreign relations!”
“We were not joking, however…?”
“M-More importantly, your pure white bikini armor today is amazing! It really suits you both!”
Before they could say anything more unnecessary, I quickly complimented their bikini armor to change the subject. The bikini armor is, after all, the symbol of the Amazonesses.
The last time we met in the great forest of the Ogres, they were both wearing red bikini armor, so this white set was new to me.
The two Amazonesses blushed and said,
“Ehehe…does it suit us…? We had these new white bikini armors made specially for Lord brother’s investiture ceremony as margrave.”
“No no! It’s not an investiture ceremony for me, it’s just the ceasefire agreement signing ceremony!”
“But Lord brother, celebrating your appointment is far more important than some ceasefire agreement with barbaric nations, is it not?”
“The ceasefire agreement is more important!”
“In any case, leave that to us. If some foolish nation dares to break their agreement with you, Lord brother…”
“…Then the full might of the Amazonesses will pursue them to the ends of the earth and make them regret their betrayal in the depths of hell!”
“Your wording is way too intense!”
These were the Amazonesses who had joined forces with me in the great forest of the Ogres to slaughter the mutant ogres. Despite their reputation as the “man-hating Amazoness tribe”, they could make such intense jokes while deadpan to me.
The world really is full of surprises.
“Ahaha…The Amazonesses are really much more friendly than the rumors say, aren’t they Yuzuriha?”
“I think the real surprise is how you’ve tamed these unruly Amazonesses to be so obedient. Don’t you agree, Toko?”
“Completely. Any other man acting so casual with them would have been pummeled on the spot. An ordinary person struck by an Amazoness would be killed instantly, you know.”
“Eh? Eh?”
It seems their behavior differs from how the world perceives them. I don’t really get it.
*
As we were chatting over tea in the parlor with Toko and the Amazonesses, one of the Amazonesses broached a subject.
“By the way, would it be possible to have a sparring match with you again, Lord brother?”
“Ever since we re-witnessed your greatness in the great forest of the Ogres that day, we Amazonesses have been training ever more intensely, in hopes of being of some small use to you.”
“We would like to show you the results of our training.”
I had no objection to sparring with them.
“Sure, we can do that right now -“
“Ah, stop! Hold on a second!”
Just as I was about to get up, Toko stopped me.
The two Amazonesses glared clearly at Toko.
“What is it. Are you foolish enough to interfere with our sparring with Lord brother?”
“Should we offer you up in a blood sacrifice?”
“Quiet, you. – Why don’t you save that sparring match for the day of the signing ceremony?”
“Why is that?”
“Well, obviously it’s to raise Suzuha nii stock, silly.”
“Elaborate.”
Toko then explained that she wanted to have my sparring match with the Amazonesses as entertainment after the official signing ceremony party.
The Amazoness tribe’s name resounds across the entire continent as a group of formidable warriors.
If the attendees could witness a sparring match between me and their twin commanders at the peak, it would greatly spread word of my strength, apparently.
“No, no, I’m not much of anything really.”
“Suzuha nii, please stay quiet for a bit—what do you say? If we’re going to have a match anyway, why don’t we do it in front of the foreign dignitaries? I could even offer a prize.”
“…That might not be a bad idea. We Amazoness don’t care what the world thinks of us, but if our reputation could be useful to you, Lord Brother, nothing would please us more.”
“Fufufu…and we could spread word across the continent of the intimate bond between us Amazoness and Lord Brother…”
“We could demonstrate that only we Amazoness are truly worthy to stand by the mighty Lord Brother’s side…Very well, let us proceed that way.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your quick understanding.”
And so,
before I knew it, a match between the two Amazoness and myself was scheduled for the after-party following the signing ceremony.
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7
Partway through the conversation, I remembered something and asked the maid Kanade, who was standing by, for a favor.
“Kanade, could you bring me some orichalcum? I’d like to give it as a souvenir.”
“Buh–!!”
“Ah. I figured you might actually do it, but I didn’t think you really would. You’re certainly…open-minded, I’ll give you that…”
“Just like Suzuha nii!”
For some reason, the two Amazoness spit out their tea, while Yuzuriha and Toko looked half dumbfounded, half admiring.
Amid all this, Kanade started rummaging around in the chest area of her maid outfit.
“I had prepared for just such an occasion. Here you go.”
“You’re well-prepared—wait, where were you keeping those?!”
“In the Valley.”
I decided it was better not to ask which valley she meant.
Kanade wiped the two fist-sized chunks of orichalcum ore with her sleeve cuff, then nonchalantly handed one to each of the Amazoness. The two gazed at the orichalcum with sparkling eyes, holding it up to the light and rubbing it.
Eventually, the Amazoness, realizing they were acting like children who had been given a treasure, cleared their throats.
“We cannot accept such a precious gift.”
“No, no, please take them. I have plenty more where those came from. Right, Yuzuriha?”
“Yes…it is almost unbelievable, but in the frontier territory of Margrave Lohengrin, there exist orichalcum veins…Normally, any orichalcum veins would be considered a national treasure…”
While Yuzuriha gave an overly dramatic explanation, Toko nodded in agreement.
“Basically, I’m sure Suzuha nii was planning to give each guest one of those as a souvenir from the start, right?”
“That’s right. There aren’t really any good souvenirs or delicious foods unique to this territory, but we have plenty of those orichalcum veins which are apparently quite rare, so I figured they would make a nice souvenir.”
“So you two shouldn’t feel bad about accepting them.”
Upon hearing that, the two Amazoness expressed immense gratitude,
saying that even fragments of the legendary, mythical orichalcum metal would be treasured gifts.
If that’s the case, then they would make perfect souvenirs to take back from this frontier territory, I confirmed.
After Toko said “If you’re okay with it,”
“This will surely make those foolish nations who missed their chance gnash their teeth in regret…Kukuku…”
she added with an evil grin,
*
That night, before bed, I called for the maid Kanade, but she was dressed in a negligee instead of her maid outfit.
Come to think of it, this may have been the first time I’d seen her in anything other than her uniform.
“Sorry for calling you over before bedtime.”
“It’s fine. A Night job?”
“No, not that.”
“Tch.”
I wondered what Kanade had been expecting, but putting that aside for now.
“As you know, Kanade, the ceasefire agreement signing ceremony is taking place here.”
“Yes.”
“There’s a chance that someone might try to sneak in as a spy or assassin from one of the other nations by disguising themselves as an invited guest.”
“Yes.”
“Since you’re such a capable maid, I was hoping you could point out any areas of the castle where intruders might try to sneak in, good hiding spots, or anything else we should watch out for.”
After all, Kanade had previously gathered intelligence from the ceiling spaces of city command centers during the operation to retake the Frontier Territory of Lohengrin.
In other words, she had outstanding credentials when it came to ceiling-based espionage.
Plus, as the maid of this castle, she cleans every nook and cranny daily.
So I had a flash of insight that if Kanade gave me a briefing, our counter-intruder measures would be impregnable.
When I explained the situation to her, Kanade’s face lit up.
“Master, does this mean you’re relying on me?”
“Of course. I always rely on you a lot, but especially for this, since it’s right in your area of expertise. So…”
“Leave it to me.”
“Eh?”
“Cleaning the castle is my job. I’ll show you the pride of being your maid by doing a perfect job of it. So please, Master, leave it entirely to me.”
“Well, yes, that would be great, but in addition to cleaning, I was hoping you could share information on things like the ceiling spaces and—”
“Leave it to me.”
“…Understood.”
Kanade pounded on her ample chest and gestured with her thumb pointing at herself, insisting I leave it to her.
Is it simply impossible for a maid to not react to words like “ceiling” or “cleaning”?
All I wanted was for her to share any insights on blind spots, potential hiding places, or the like that could help with security. But Kanade seemed utterly determined.
“Does that mean you’ll seal off any areas that look vulnerable to intruders?”
“I’ll do that. And more. A capable maid is a busy one.”
“I see, thank you. But if it gets to be too much, or if it seems too difficult, please let me know right away, okay?”
“Leave it to me.”
I didn’t fully understand, but Kanade had become incredibly fired up, so I didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm.
I’ll have to consider giving her a special bonus after the ceremony is over.
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