Chapter 2 of 11

Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part2

5 min read1,291 words

Part 5

「– Snow, Welcome back. Thank you for your hard work on your mission… Then, who are these guests?」

After being guided into a large room at the top floor of the castle, we were now face to face with a girl. This blonde-haired girl had a very adult-like aura.

「Yes. We encountered these two during our mission. By their own words, they are foreigners who've crossed the Great Evil Forest, although I can't verify that. At the location I met them, there were many corpses of deadly heggs lying around. At the very least, I believe their skills are for real.」

She gasped while listening to Snow's report…Then, softly murmured to herself while having a surprised expression.

「Both of you lower your heads! This person will be your employer. The princess of this kingdom. Crystseras=Tirris=Grace sama.」

「That's one long name.」

「You insolent fool!」

Snow cut off my honest opinion, while the girl in front me softly laughed.

「You're quite a straightforward person. Indeed, you don't seem like a citizen of this kingdom. Because if you were someone who knew me, you wouldn't have reacted that way.」

While the girl laughed joyfully, she said some meaningful words.

「Will it be better to address you as Grace sama? Or perhaps, will Crystseras sama be better?」

「Please call me Tirris. Also, it's fine to be informal. It's fine to even omit the 'sama". I hope you will treat me as a friend.」

「Ti…Tirris sama.. That's going way too far…」

Tirris ignored whatever Snow wanted to say.

Although even the top generals of our organization gave me this much liberty to talk in this kind of tone, this girl seems to actually be an open-minded person.

Then, Snow started whispering in Tirris's ears. After hearing it, Tirris nodded her head.

「Is it Combatant No. 6 sama, and Alice sama? No. 6 sama, which nation did you lead a unit in?」

「I did lead in the past. With many combatants under me, we fought fiercely against the whole world as our opponent.」

Upon hearing those words, Snow turned to me with a suspicious gaze while Tirris giggled and laughed.

First of all.. It's the truth.

「Currently, because of our kingdom's ongoing fight with the demons, we are lacking capable commanders. No. 6 sama, if you're that strong, can you lend our kingdom some of your strength?」

After she said that, as if begging, she held her hands together, with eyes that looked like they were about to cry…. Then she looked up towards me.

「If it's the princess's request, I can't refuse! It's not like I'm doing this because you're a beautiful girl!?」

「Hey No. 6, stop with the bad theatrics. It's making the conversation more difficult.」

After hearing my reply, Tirris started laughing in a relieved state. —-

「For goodness' sake. Even if you're a foreigner, can you not tell the difference between words that you can and cannot say out loud! It's only because Tirris sama is so kind that she can forgive your rudeness. If you said that to any other n.o.bles, you won't be able to complain even if your head comes off! How will you take responsibility if my evaluation drops!?」

After finishing up our interview with the employer, we were going to the next place.

Though we already received Tirris's permission, it seems like she still wanted me to go through the formal interview process.

It seems like even if it's another planet, public affairs are still rather inflexible.

「Please don't be so angry Snow sama. No. 6 is definitely an idiot lacking proper etiquette. But since he's a pro when it comes to fighting, he'll definitely play an important role going forward. If that happens, won't Snow sama receive credit for that as well since you scouted us?」

「..Wah..!?」

Snow, who was complaining in front of us, was baffled by Alice's point.

「Ah, is that what it was!? That's right, it's a state of war right now. You need all the strong people you can get. You thought you could use us after you saw us take care of those beasts! By saying you'll introduce us to work, you wanted to take all the credit… But over all else, you wanted my strength and s.e.xy body!」

「I don't want it that desperately! And I don't need your body! Honestly, I love merit, money, and famous swords over all else!」

Snow was overdoing it a little by shouting such a vain speech so sincerely.

「Hey No. 6. I feel like you and I are cut from the same cloth. You know normally, we don't employ foreigners? I am a high ranking authority. If there's anybody giving you a hard time because you're a newcomer, I'll crush him by the authority of the Commander of the Royal Guards. So it's not like we disagree on anything right? Down the road, I'll try to make things easier for you…So I'm counting on you!!

While I felt a little terrified of being treated as a comrade by this black-hearted woman, Alice suddenly raised her voice,

「….Hmmm? Snow sama, what exactly is that?」

We were being guided inside the castle and just pa.s.sing through the courtyard.

Just like the tank from before, we saw something that didn't quite fit in here.

From the castle's courtyard, we saw a 3 meter wide cube-shaped machine.

Alice was thoroughly observing it and,

「Unlike the tank from before, this thing is in pretty good condition. The power source utilizes solar power. Just what is this used for?」

Snow exhaled loudly while facing us after we inadvertently stopped walking.

「This is also one of our kingdom's artifacts. This is a legendary relic that can summon rainfall. Whenever there was a season that needed plenty of rainfall, there was a ceremony to plead for rain that involved the kingdom's royal family dedicating words of prayer to the relic. As you can see, now it doesn't work. There's a powerful preservation magic casted on it, but it'll eventually decay as well..」

As if she saw the future of the kingdom tied to this unmoving machine, Snow had a lonely expression…

「If it's in this state, I might be able to fix it. May I open it up?」

「Re-really!? Even if something goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility! Won't you fix it if you can!? 」

As if responding to the cheered-up Snow, Alice took out a tool from who knows where and immediately started to repair it.

「Why are you carrying something like that?」

「Because I do my body's maintenance by myself. Even someone like you takes care of his health.」

Although Alice gave a perfectly logical response to my question.. To be able to fix herself up.. She's kind of convenient to have around.

In the meantime, Snow couldn't stand still while watching Alice repair it from the side.

「How is it? Think you can fix it?」

「Yes, it looks like it'll work out. It's only the wires that deteriorated. It should be fine if you restart it after replacing the wires.」

Upon hearing that, Snow let out a gleeful shriek and with an ecstatic face,

「Great job! Ok, I'll call over some people! Hehe…. Hehehehehehe…, ….. Hey Alice, No. 6. We're sharing this accomplishment 50-50 right? I'm counting on you?!」

As she was talking, she kept weirdly laughing and went somewhere.

「… Splitting it 50-50… She didn't even do anything.」

「That includes you if you say that.. Ok. With this, we can start it up.」

As soon as Alice pressed what looked like the activation switch, a mechanical sound came out.

<reboot>Pa.s.sword?</reboot>

<reboot>This must be what Snow mentioned before about royalty giving some words of prayer.</reboot>

<reboot><reboot>Once again, it narrated this direction.</reboot></reboot>

<reboot><reboot>「d.i.c.k Festival」</reboot></reboot>