Vol 2 Chapter 14 (1/2)

It was already past ht in her office

There was no way she could sleep if the situation continued to deteriorate like this

She had not yet decided how to deal with her failures or foolishness, so she could not relax Frustration and worry tore at her heart as she agonized over what she should do next

The room that Piña used for her office was once the previous Count For items like a heavy, polished desk, a corance of parchment and ink

Were these all relics of the previous Count? Things like monocles made from insect chitin, quill pens, a bell to summon the maids, all of these were proudly displayed on the desk There was a thick stack of tax collection reports on one side of the table, as well as records for land ement and tax records, and yes, coood e the For of resolving

She waggled the quill pen, scrawling several bright ideas on the parch ain

Underlined on the parch the treaty?”

However, all of Itami’s men had escaped

If they did not get completely wiped out between here and Arnus, they would definitely return to base and make a report There was no reason for them not to

If she wanted to stop the their report, she would have to catch them or kill them

Question: if she sent pursuers after them, could she capture them?

Answer: No

With her current battle strength, could she stop these people, who drove off a Flaon?

When she sa they had abandoned their own leader and run off, they seemed like honorless cowards But in truth, they clearly had the power to annihilate Piña’s knights in seconds, so she had no idea why they would act so weak What worried Piña was the suspicion that there was so herwhat other scheht have in mind for her

She had drawn Bozes’ and Panache’s faces on the parchment, with “stupid”, “ripped the parchht and tried to think

She no that there was no way to avoid the treaty violation becoe Tiht about it, the more hopeless it seemed

Yet the Princess grabbed her head and ive up”

Piña considered so else She would not stress herself over an impossible question like this Instead she would consider how to make up for her previous mistakes and reduce the impact on her side

War was siame of cards If one wanted to clash with an opponent with strong cards, there were three strategies Avoid having one’s opponent play his strong cards, induce hi cards of one’s own

However, these strategies were useless if one did not understand one’s opponent, since one could not counter what one knew nothing about All she could do was keep her opponent fro cards

We have two strikes against us First, we guaranteed the free movement of the Jayesdeef, but we attacked them Second, we captured Itami, and we did not treat him hyu-main-ly

For the first, like Aldo said, a good idea would be to apologize as quickly as possible No, that ht actually be the best move we could make in that case

For the second, the Jayesdeef preaches hyu-ht even be considered the “good guys”, for a given value of “good” If we honestly explain that it was a coht treat us kindly In the best case, weat all

However, apologies and atone to exploit For exaht ask for cos was the source of Piña’s worries and unease There would be no way they could refuse any de power and destructive ability

Piña illing to negotiate with the JSDF because she had seen their poith her own eyes

However, Piña’s authority li an intermediary Could the Empire’s diplomats understand the terror of these opponents? Would the Emperor and his advisors understand?

Piña was beginning to discover that right now, she alone in the whole Eainst

In the past, Piña believed that the Eotiation policy, paired with the threat of theirdiplomats would skilfully debate their counterparts and produce a long list of demands the enemy could not refuse, and in the end they would force the enemy to bend the knee These scenes had filled her heart with joy

But if they tried these tactics on the Jayesdeef

“My stoain…”

Piña took out a new sheet of parchan a report to her father, Emperor Molt She wrote that the ene ability, and described everything that she had seen and heard about the, and in the end she ended up scratching rando her quill’s nib in the process

“Who would take this fairytale seriously? Not even an idiot would believe it!”

After all, even she could hardly believe what she riting

She would worry about the report later For now, she just wanted to discuss their plans for the future with Hamilton

“To begin with, we need to decide how to deal with Itami”

Currently, Ita within this manor

If he’s willing to play dumb and keep quiet, we can cut our losses No, if it works, wean ace in the hole instead

The question then was how to persuade Itami to shut up What could they bribe him with? Or perhaps they could use the fact that he was a man to seduce him? Or perhaps, both at once?

But then, there was another question — ould she charge with that task?

Of course, she had considered handling that part herself However, Itami was merely a minor commander of about ten men Even if he led a special forces unit, in the Empire he would be a centurion at best A lowly coift of an Iher-ranked person

Then, who should go?

Haht be suitable for the task She had experience with men, and should be skilled with them However, she was an important consultant for Piña, and if the needed ti, it would be too late to regret her choice So Hamilton was out

As she thought further, the names of Bozes and Panache appeared in her mind

Since they had created thisthat they take care of it

More to the point, the two of them were very suited to this sort of work As for why that was the case, it was obviously because of their looks Bozes’ hair looked like it had been spun frohter of Marquis Palesti

Panache was the daughter of Baron Kalgi, and though she was not of higher social rank than Bozes, she had fearsome eyes, and the combination of her presence and looks was unbeatable If she used the two of them as a honeytrap, no man on earth should be able to resist them

Although it was a waste to use them on a small fry like Itami, when she considered the severity of the situation, a lineup like this was necessary

Piña decided not to worry about the final question — whether the two of them had the necessary personality for such a task She had already decided it was a perfect plan and was deterive the necessary orders made her feel a little safer

And so, Piña rang the bell on the desk

To calrant tea In that moment, the candles flickered in a small breeze

A maid suddenly appeared fro her skirt with both hands in order to curtsy with a slight flexing of her knees Piña accepted the gesture of respect with a regal nod

“Your Excellency, what do you wish of this one?”

“M Bozes and Panache over”

“But they are sleeping, milady”

“Never mind Wake them up

“Then I will go now”

The maid left the study with those words, and Piña rose from her seat While she waited for them to show up, she tidied up the desk In particular, she tore up the piece of parch remarks about Panache and Bozes

Springtime had finally arrived for Kurata

A high elf girl, a quiet, expressionless irl, and a mature dark priestess onee-san in a Loli’s body… why is it all the girls we’ve ion are Itaru in his heart until noere dispersed in a single moment

After all, the kind of girl he liked had finally showed up Notrouble co the exciterin plastered all over his face However, he was afraid that giving in to his desires and pushi+ng people down ht lead to terrible consequences, so he forced himself to keep quiet

In particular, it was Persia, the cat-eared glasses-wearing maid, who captured his attention

She was not a cute little Loli catgirl, but more like an onee-san type panther or lioness

She wore pince-nez glasses, but even they and her two feline eyes could not hide the cool i about her mature, sensual proportions which looked like they could barely fit into her maid uniform

And unlike in the Akihabara maid cafes or pachinko parlors, she was different from the usual exhibitionist cosplay attendants She did not wear one of those heretical maid outfits which lewdly displayed her body, but a proper set of work clothes These tightly-fitted orthodox maid clothes dripped with the true essence of maidness

As he watched his ideal catgirl rumble, “Ahhhh, I’m so damn jealous, you lucky bastard, hurry up and introduce me to her or I’ll put a cap in your ass! (It should be noted that shooting one’s allies in their buttocks is not recommended)”

Itarinned as he heard Kurata, and decided to throw hi lady here is Persia-san Persia-san, this is ”

That introduction was a starter’s pistol for Kurata, and he immediately ran his mouth off

“M-my name is Kurata Takeo! Pleased to meet you!” followed by his nervous salute However, his antics earned a curious “Nya?” from her, followed by a smile

This was the first ti such pure admiration for her

As a female Cat-person, Persia was proud of her looks She was not an adorable kitty cat, but more like a mature leopardess, and she embraced her feminine nature as a source of appeal In the past, there had been many men who looked at her with lewd eyes filled with desire, and just as many men who sensed her bestial nature and backed away in fear

However, Kurata was different from them

A female author once wrote, “Cats and woood intentions about the a feline and a female at the same time, perfectly illustrated this point, and naturally, she could sense Kurata’s true feelings

Granted, his intentions were not entirely pure, but this was the first tis like his which burned like a bonfire, and it moved her And so, the two of the between them

Much like Kurata and Persia were doing, the otherith the JSDF troopers

Though this was in the ht, Formal Manor was still a noble home Visitors to a noble hoht out tea and light snacks for their uninvited guests While the JSDF troopers were technically intruders, it hardly see with the maids