Volume 2 - CH 6

Act 2-6 : Hero’s Visit 2

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Chiyuki and the rest were led by Kaya towards the outskirts of Rox Kingdom. What they came across was a mansion with a small hill protruding out of its side.

「This is?」

The puzzled Chiyuki asked Kaya.

「This is our mansion, Chiyuki-sama. I built this new mansion right next to one of this kingdom’s hot springs for Milady and everyone.」

Kaya explained.

Apparently, Kaya had built a firm during her and Kyouka’s house-sitting days while Chiyuki and the others had gone on their adventure. Right now, the firm was quite large and successful.

Naturally, given her extreme loyalty, the reason she had extended her hand into business and trading was only to gather a large amount of money for Kyouka. Thus, rather than saying that Kaya had become an extremely rich female tycoon, it was safer to say that it was Kyouka who had become so.

Though Chiyuki and the others were extremely surprised by how easily Kaya had become rich in such a short period of time, according to Kaya, the only reason she was able to achieve such a feat was because she had used the Hero’s name to earn money in a way that couldn’t be used in their original world.

It was then that they were all told that Kaya didn’t pay ANY kind of tax for any trade she had made or would make in the future.

In the Holy Republic of Lenaria’s case, the government couldn’t simply ask Hero’s younger sister to pay taxes since they were the ones responsible for summoning them and since they were also in the Hero’s debt. It would be quite boorish of them to disrespect their savior’s family. As for the other countries, they didn’t dare to tax her once she flaunted the Hero’s name. In short, her profit was as much as her income, she didn’t lose anything in the process. It was due to Kaya’s cunning skills that Kyouka had become a female tycoon.

Furthermore, Kaya hadn’t used her cunningness only to earn Kyouka money, rather she had used her skills to acquire other assets to her Lady. By now, many huge mansions were built in every country of this world under Kyouka’s name, the most notable ones being the one in the Holy Republic of Lenaria and the one she had just bought in Rox Kingdom near a hot spring. It was when she had bought this mansion that she had met Rox Kingdom’s Prime Minister.

Honestly speaking, the hot springs in this country were under the royal family’s monopoly. It was a known fact that no one else could own a hot spring other than the royal family. So the fact that Kaya had managed to acquire one showed just how much brute force she used to render this tradition null, all by flaunting the Hero’s name.

Imagining all of this happening, Chiyuki couldn’t help but pity the poor Prime Minister.

（Nevertheless, I guess it’s a good thing since we managed to secure a mansion with our very own hot spring.）

Despite her worries, Chiyuki decided to go with the flow, it was already water under the bridge.

Kaya continued her explanation.

This mansion was originally one of the hot spring establishments of this Kingdom and was remodeled two weeks before she purchased it. The mansion was still in the middle of renovations, but it was extremely spacious and could house everyone, including their escorts.

Chiyuki and the others felt relieved that they could finally be released from such embarrassing clothes.

「We’ve been waiting, Milady.」

When they entered the mansion, three women in maid uniforms came out and greeted Chiyuki and the others.

Chiyuki remembered them. They were Kaya’s subordinates. However, unlike them, they weren’t from another world, rather they were girls she had found and employed in the Holy Republic of Lenaria. Noticing the fact that many women wanted to get closer to Reiji, Kaya leveraged their weakness and announced that she was currently in need to hire a few maids. Of course, an endless stream of applications were submitted, and all Kaya had to do was to pick and choose the best amongst them to become her subordinates. Her standards were for them to have skills and a face that was a cut above the rest.

The girl who was guiding them right now was one of them.

It seemed that the chosen girls, including the maid before them, had all received training by a senior maid and Kaya in things such as manners and etiquette.

After Chiyuki and the others changed their clothes in their own room, they gathered in an especially prepared meeting room.

Though Reiji seemed rather disappointed with this change, Chiyuki chose to ignore him.

「Well then, it’s time to talk about our future plans.」

Neither their escorts or maids were in the room, only Chiyuki and the others, who had come from another world, remained. They were clearing out outsiders since this was an important meeting.

「First of all, have any of you spotted a suspicious person? 」

Many of the girls nodded as a response to Chiyuki’s question.

「They’re basically as suspicious as usual.」

Rino retorted.

「Those kinds of trivial people aside…. Since we have no way to look through them one by one, what about you, Nao-san? 」

Chiyuki asked Nao.

Nao had the highest perception amongst them.

There were many types of perception abilities: there was object perception, poison detection, magic power perception, and hostility detection. Reiji, Shirone, and Kaya could use object perception, Kyouka and Chiyuki could use magic power perception, and Shirone and Kaya could use hostility detection.

As for Nao, she could use them all.

Chiyuki has the highest magic power perception, but Nao was superior to others when it came to the rest of the perception abilities.

If even Nao couldn’t find a suspicious person amongst them, then no one could find him.

「We were basically surrounded by suspicious men from all sides, but the one Chiyuki’s looking for wasn’t among them.」

Nao explained.

Though she felt all kinds of hostile intent, like the envying gazes of the men or the ones from Reiji’s fangirls, they were not worth mentioning.

「Well then… next is about the Dark Knight.」

Everyone’s expression changed when Chiyuki uttered that name.

That was only natural.

He was the one who single-handedly beat Reiji to a pulp, who was regarded as an undefeated hero by Chiyuki and others, and overpower Shirone in sword fight. He was the most dangerous existence for Chiyuki and her comrades.

Their real goal for coming to Rox Kingdom was to prevent the Dark Knight from achieving his goal, and his goal was to precisely take the Holy Dragon King’s horn.

Though Chiyuki was not clear on what he was trying to do, she still considered his plan to be extremely dangerous. However, even though she was sure that the Dark Knight was up to no good, Chiyuki was still unwilling to cooperate in this mission because she didn’t wish to see her comrades fight such a dangerous person.

「Do you think the Dark Knight has arrived in this kingdom. 」

「Dunno~, Chiyuki-san. I did my best focusing my sense on our surroundings, but I couldn’t find that Dark Knight fella.」

Responded Nao.

Though she tried to look for the whereabouts of the Dark Knight when they had just arrived, her range only spanned for 2 kilometres. Though she had considered the possibility of the Dark Knight concealing his strength and presence, it would still be difficult for someone as powerful as him, so she concluded that Dark Knight had yet to arrive.

「I can detect him if he releases his killing intent, but….」

Said Shirone.

Shirone, Kaya, and Nao could use hostility detection, but it wouldn’t be helpful if the other party concealed his killing intent.

However, Chiyuki had heard that Shirone’s hostility detection didn’t react at all when she fought against the Dark Knight.

（Maybe because Shirone was too weak to even be regarded as the Dark Knight’s enemy. Which reminds me, Reiji is the only one who got hurt by the Dark Knight. Maybe, Reiji is the only one strong enough to be considered as his enemy.）

That was Chiyuki’s conclusion for the reason why hostility detection couldn’t work against the Dark Knight.

「Shall we try looking for him again in this kingdom? 」

Proposed Nao.

「No, I think it’s not a good idea. We shouldn’t awaken a sleeping dragon. Moreover, this bell should give us a warning when the Dark Knight comes to trim the Holy Dragon King’s horn.」

Chiyuki took out the bell Rena had given her as she expressed her unwillingness to cooperate in the Goddess’s request.

「That’s right, it’s been a while since we came to this kingdom with hot springs after all. Let’s just spend our time in leisure.」

Said Reiji with a refreshing smile on his face.

「I agree with you. Let’s enjoy our long awaited hot spring.」

It had been a long time since Chiyuki agreed with Reiji on anything.

They had gone through a series of unpleasant events such as Reiji almost getting himself killed, losing the way to go back to their own world, and many other unpleasant things lately. She wanted a bit of change of pace.

The other girls gleefully laughed when they heard Chiyuki agree with Reiji.

「That’s right, we should enjoy our time and relax in this hot spring kingdom.」

After everyone agreed to Kyouka’s words, they ended the meeting and decided to enjoy the hot spring.

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TN : Please rant as polite as possible in the comment below!