Mialanze was baffled.
There was too little work to be done.
No, there was one thing. If she wanted to clean up the vast royal castle by herself, she could probably kill a month or so of her time. However, René said, ‘When necessary, I can clean the whole castle at once with bone-jointed sea battle techniques that mobilize a large number of skeletons, so there is no need to do this on a regular basis.’
Then how about keeping the rooms they normally used clean, there were only a few rooms they used in the first place.
“Excuse me, Princess.”
“What’s the matter?”
Mialanze caught René coming out, apparently having been talking to Everis in the operations command center.
“Um, I thought I’d clean up the bedroom, but I … didn’t see any signs of it being used, so I thought I … had the wrong room.”
“Oh, come to think of it, you don’t use it…”
She thought it was a coincidence, but it turned out to be true.
René was walking all over the city, shuttling back and forth between Everis’s workshop and the operations command center, showing no signs of resting.
What was the point of cleaning the room?
The only other rooms that were used were Everis’s workshop and the operations command center, but both of these rooms had various things placed in them that should not be touched, so it was impossible to bypass them, let alone clean them up.
“I looked in the kitchen to see if I could prepare a meal, but there was no sign of use either…”
“I don’t need to sleep or eat… But Mialanze and the others aren’t so lucky. I forgot. It’s a good idea to have a few extra servings of food on hand to cook. Can you please do that for Everis and Tracy?”
“Yes, of course.”
While replying, Mialanze was feeling a little bitter.
She knew that if she took care of Everis and Tracy, they would be able to focus on their work for René …, but they both would be fine without Mialanze, and she was not able to provide for René, which was the most essential part.
Besides, René generally did most of the work herself.
It was the status of nobles to have their servants take care of everything, but come to think of it, René grew up as a commoner. In fact, she even considered it a hassle to have someone help her change her clothes. She even used «Telekinesis» to fasten the back straps of her clothes, so it was hardcore.
When they first met and Mialanze said, ‘Let me serve you’, René asked, ‘Can you fight?’
She didn’t think from the beginning that she needed a caretaker.
Then… could she help her fight?
＊ ＊ ＊
Mialanze sat down on the cobblestones and breathed roughly.
It was painful, like her lungs were crushed and stuck together.
A cold breeze froze her throat and cooled her burning body.
Mialanze removed her maid’s uniform, wearing a form-fitting adventurer’s style of light armor.
It was equipment that had been left behind in the royal capital.
In this outfit, Mialanze was made to jump, leap, and swing her sword as Udanosuke and Tracy had instructed her earlier.
“What do you think? Does it look like something?”
“Ah, Princess …
“You can rest now.”
Noticing René’s presence, Mialanze tried to straighten up, but René stopped her.
“Your physical ability is not so bad. With practice, you will become a good swordsman. But neither more nor less than that.”
“You can see at night. You have good hearing, because of those big ears. In terms of ability, you are more or less human-like.”
Udanosuke and Tracy gave their honest assessments.
Mialanze listened to their words with the feeling that her already painful chest was tightening even more.
Better than average.
That was the assessment given to Mialanze.
Mialanze had a hunch. She had a feeling that the number of people who would follow René would increase in the future.
Right now, Mialanze was a valuable “non-undead servant” for René. However, that didn’t mean that she would always be valuable. René would surely lead many demons. Like Mialanze, there would also be some humans who would sympathize with René’s path.
What would happen to Mialanze then?
If she could be useful as a single soldier, she would still be good. She may become unnecessary or slow them down…
“Well, okay. Tracy… is already leaving tomorrow, Udanosuke. Try to practice when you’re free.”
“I understand. After that, we need to talk with Alastair and Everis about the ‘Capital Dungeonization Project’.”
“Of course, that comes first.”
Mialanze was so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear.
Udanosuke’s original role was to teach René swordsmanship. And currently, he was the strongest warrior apart from René and Everis.
Tracy was brought in by René as a spy, so he was bound to be busy from now on.
With such precious time between the two of them, how much … can she get out of it?
“From what you said earlier, I think it would be a good idea to train her in Thief skills, but what do you think?”
Tracy twisted his head at René’s suggestion.
“If all she does is explore dungeons and infiltration, I guess it’s okay… But I wouldn’t recommend her to be a spy. If she wanted to, I could disguise her as any ordinary girl, but Mialanze’s hurdle is a bit high. First of all, she has to hide her ears, and her kitty eyes are too distinctive that they stand out. It’s hard to hide them, isn’t it? Not only does it interfere with gathering information from other people, but it’s also very important to be able to dazzle your pursuers with your disguise when you’re running somewhere undercover and are discovered.”
Tracy’s words made Mialanze react quickly and she picked up the sword she had thrown aside.
“Then cut off these ears and half the problem goes …!”
“Stop it! I don’t know if I should say this, but it’s gross! You look like a cat, but your character is more like a doggie!?”
“Don’t do that! Those ears are cute!”
René and Tracy stopped her in a hurry.
She didn’t care about Tracy’s assessment of how cute they were, but if René stopped her, she certainly couldn’t force herself to go through with it.
“… If I needed to … but I don’t feel the need to make you go that far at the moment.”
“Look! The Princess says so too!”
“I understand…”
Only an irresolute feeling remained in Mialanze.
＊ ＊ ＊
The night was quiet in the capital, lit coldly by the silver moon.
Mialanze ran through the dead city, where people had fled, like a thief in a bard’s tale.
From roof to roof.
Grabbing a pipe on the outside of a building, she slid down, kicking a wall in the process, and jumped into the second floor of the building across the street.
Through the empty apartment building, she darted out the opposite window.
Then Mialanze’s hand slipped as she tried to grab the axis of a sign that jutted out toward the street.
“Ahhh…!”
A body thrown out according to inertia.
A sense of levitation.
And then.
“Ouch! … Owww …”
In a position that could barely be called passive, Mialanze fell into an unoccupied street.
She hit her shoulder, which hurt badly.
As she tried to get up, Mialanze’s ears caught the sound of something flying through the wind.
“What is it, voluntary training?”
“Princess!”
“You’re in too much of a rush. What are you doing?”
René, who had apparently flown in from somewhere, landed softly in front of Mialanze.
René looked a little taken aback.
“I thought I should gain strength as quickly as possible and be of some help…”
“You know, … you don’t have to force yourself to be a force to be reckoned with, okay? I’m just letting you try it out for now. If it doesn’t suit you, I’ll just put you back to being a full-time maid.”
“I’m sorry, but! Am I, as a maid, needed by the Princess!?”
Mialanze screamed as if her lungs were being twisted out of her body.
She had half forced herself to follow René in the hope that there was something she could do for her, but now it was doubtful that she could do the work of a single undead.
If she didn’t need to be taken care of, she wondered if she could be a soldier instead. It was that simple.
“Ah,… that’s what you mean…”
René looked like she was struggling for words, but eventually she opened her mouth.
“Umm, … servant, you are a luxury item. But right now, a knife would be more useful to me than you. There will be a time when I need someone like you. I just don’t now.”
–A city with no people to call its own. Undead soldiers, though thousands, only created by her own magical power. And living subjects that could be numbered with the fingers of one hand… She is not a vessel that can be accommodated in such a small way.
Yes, in time, René would amass the greatest power and wealth in this world.
Under her, Mialanze thought, there would be hundreds… perhaps even thousands of servants.
But that was not now.
“Then shall I wait for the time when I am needed?
“That’s right, but…”
Suddenly, René seemed to notice something and frowned a little.
“Hey, are you sure you want to follow me?”
Mialanze felt as if she had been stabbed with a sword of ice.
Being kicked out by René as unwanted was Mialanze’s greatest fear.
If that happened, there would be nothing left for her to do in this world.
“Shouldn’t I be here after all!?”
“I’m not saying you’re fired. But I’m not fighting a war that I can afford to keep at a cost to myself. If you stay with me, you might die before you are needed. Are you okay with that?”
She didn’t sound ‘worried’ or ‘concerned’, just straightforward.
For a moment, Mialanze didn’t know what René was talking about.
“If, for example, I were attacked by a strong adventurer while I was walking with you, I would use my magic without even bothering to drag you along, and I might even leave you behind and run away.”
“I’m prepared for that.”
“Let’s say the enemy chases us and we have to flee, and me, Tracy, Everis, and you have to flee across the desert. I’m undead, so I’m okay, but the three of you are alive… Everis is a bit suspicious, but anyway, you’re all alive and you need to keep replenishing your energy. When the food supply runs out, I will dispose of you and feed them your flesh and make them drink your blood. I still have use for the two of them, but you are mediocre and I don’t require you right then.”
“If it will help the Princess, I have no objection.”
–Yes. I am not afraid to die.
Somehow, she felt that way.
When she spun those feelings into words and said them out loud, she felt more comfortable than she had expected. She did not feel that she had said too much.
“Princess, please believe in my loyalty to you. I am ready to devote everything to you. The only hope I have is to fight for Princess-sama, and I am willing to give up anything in order to be of help to you. Even if I die, all I care about is whether my bones and soul will be useful to Princess-sama. The only thing I fear is that I will not be of help to Princess-sama.”
Kneeling down, Mialanze hung her head low.
The simmering anger still burned inside Mialanze.
But it will never reach the world. For Mialanze was but a helpless little girl.
To entrust it to René. To assist René.
That was the only battle Mialanze was permitted to fight.
René was staring at Mialanze.
Then she said, as if it was nothing.
“I will say no more. I won’t kick you out or get rid of you, so live as you like near me until the day I need you.”
“Yes!”
Mialanze responded with delight.
*
Mialanze returned to her room, and René then walked leisurely around the area as if she were taking a stroll.
For the defense battle, she had to get the geography of the royal capital into her head. For this reason, René tried to look around the royal capital as much as possible during the spare time she had.
Then, there was one joyful emotion. He approached as if flying.
“I’ve been watching.”
Tracy, who was much more cat-like than Mialanze, came down while spinning around and landed next to René.
Tracy was apparently watching Mialanze’s voluntary training from the shadows. René had detected Tracy’s emotional response nearby earlier as well.
“You’re very kind in this way, you know. Princess. Don’t you just use up all the bad guys when you don’t need them anymore?”
Tracy was half impressed and half stunned.
If she threatened them like that, they might run away for their own good, or they might be less willing to work for her.
It was a bad move if she wanted to use up her subordinates efficiently. It would be better to let them work until it became necessary to abandon them, and then let them die in silence.
But René had no intention of doing that.
“I don’t want to deceive my subordinates. But that is not kindness. No one wants to serve an unjust master, right? The risks and rewards of lying and deceit are out of proportion.”
This was a thought that came mainly from the experience of her previous life. She was not sure if she would go as far as the military or the national level, but at least in the corporate world, it was true.
If you had a good boss, everyone would perform well; otherwise, if you had a … bad boss, the employees would all run away, and the bad publicity would spread and no one would respond to your job offers.
And moreover, René was leading an army of doom with the goal of world conquest. It took a lot of time and effort to gather human resources (or monster materials in the case of monsters and the demon tribe?) It was much more difficult to gather and retain human resources than it would be for a commercial enterprise.
So, René thought that she should at least be an “ideal boss”.
“I’ll tell you that the root of that calculation is good child thinking. It’s starting. It’s going to start…the good girl world recovery is going to start…”
Tracy shook his head, holding his honey-blonde twin-tail hair.
René watched Tracy’s distress, not knowing whether it was a compliment or not, with a discouraged look on her face.
René understood well that her conscience and kindness had been destroyed. If she had deceived Mialanze, it would not have hurt her conscience. Acting fairly toward her was only an act of calculation.
But even if René thought she was acting completely out of calculation, Tracy seemed to see the good in it.
“… Well, that’s fine. It’s not my purpose to pretend to be evil.”
To tell the truth, Tracy’s words were not entirely out of line, as she also felt that she did not want to behave brutally toward her subordinates. It pained her to admit it, though.
She felt that if she tricked and coaxed a subordinate who adored her into dying and then betrayed them, a breaker would trip.
She was not acting out of kindness, but out of fear. It would be foolish to earn atrocity points for an ally.
“Complicated. You killed Iris-chan without a care.”
Tracy was stingingly reproachful.
He may have been an adventurer with an outlaw’s temperament, but he also had a human heart.
He might have looked like a hothead, but he was forced by René to follow her, so he might have been tempted to complain.
“I’m just working for revenge. It may seem kind, it may seem cruel, but to me it’s just that.”
“I see…”
René was only looking for the most efficient way to do this to the best of her ability.
A mixture of discouragement and pity, divided by three, swirled through Tracy.
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