Chapter 177, Information in the Form of Rumors_1

Translator: Nonon

Proofreader: Silavin

 

The day after I fought off those tempting thoughts about clothes did not seem to be as bad since I got a kiss from Lady Violet in the end.

As I was getting ready to go out as the Territory Lord, a guest came to my mansion.

 

“Frohes neues Jahr. I look forward to working with you this year too, Clo.”

“Yes, I also look forward to working with you this year too, Ms. Schwarz.”

 

With her beautiful black hair fluttering, Ms. Schwarz came to my house to offer her New Year’s greetings.

Apparently she had been in Shiki since the end of the year, but because she had gone to the highest point in the area to bask in the first rays of sunlight on the New Year (the first sunrise), and doused herself with alcohol after soaking in that light with her whole body (naked), her greetings came late.

For now, I could only answer her with ‘Oh, I see’ and let the matter go. I felt like I should not dig further.

 

“My beauty will surely continue to be polished this year too…!”

“Yes, you are as beautiful as ever.”

“Heh, thank you.”

 

… Although she’s a narcissist, it’s hard to deny that Ms. Schwarz is beautiful. The overall balance of her body is great, and I think she would be perfect as a model too.

 

“By the way, what happened to Violet and Gray? I would love to see their beautiful figures.”

“Lady Violet is showing her school friend from when she was at the academy around Shiki again. Gray is accompanying them.”

“I see, that’s unfortunate. Well, I’m sure we will meet eventually.”

 

To start with, Gray still considers Ms. Schwarz as more of an enemy than he does Ms. Mary, and I don’t really want her to meet Lady Violet because their personalities just do not match.

 

“Oh, by the way, Clo. Today I came here to give you my greeting for the New Year and sell you information and new items, but I’ve also come to give you a celebratory gift.”

 

A celebratory gift?

Maybe it’s a so-called New Year’s gift. I’ve heard that in the Empire, where Ms. Schwarz is from, they celebrate the end of the year and don’t celebrate New Year much. They simply use it as a rest day… Oh, maybe it’s champagne or beer? I heard that they often drink or open both at parties in the Empire. In that case, I have to give her something in return too.

Do I have something that Ms. Schwarz would like?

 

“Yes, it’s aphrodisiac.”

“What? What would I need that for?”

 

But what she gave me was aphrodisiac… or rather, chocolate that was perceived as one.

For me, it’s my favorite confectionery, so I’d be happy to receive it. Very happy.

However, it’s being treated as an aphrodisiac at the moment. If she’s giving this to me, it means that, well… she means for me to use it in its intended way?

 

“Hehe, you’re making me say it? You’re a bit mischievous, I see.”

“I don’t know what kind of fetish you’ve misunderstood this to be, but I honestly don’t understand why you’re giving this to me.”

“Hmm?… You really don’t need it?”

“Yes. Well, I do want it as a snack.”

 

Ms. Schwarz looked doubtful at my response.

Although our meeting with Ms. Schwarz and the cave incident were terrible, she does have some common sense. In other words, she felt that it was necessary and decided to give it to me out of kindness…

Not sure what kind of kindness involves giving out an aphrodisiac though.

 

“I’ve heard rumors that you finally crossed the line as a married couple, but maybe I just heard it wrong?”

“Wait. What do you mean?”

 

Where did that rumor come from?… Maybe Gray saw our kiss, misunderstood that we ‘crossed the line’ and accidentally mentioned it somewhere?

No, I asked Gray not to tell anyone about it and once he promises to keep the secret, he’ll never reveal it.

Ms. Mary wouldn’t go out of her way to talk about it either… then who was it?

 

“When I heard that you two hadn’t kissed yet, even though I gave you an aphrodisiac before, I thought you were hiding your love affair, but it turned out to be true.”

 

I would like to question the source of that rumor too, but I’ll leave it aside for now.

 

“And this time, or rather yesterday, I was actually planning to give you New Year’s greetings, and from inside this mansion…”

 

‘They finally took one step forward…!’

‘You’re right, Gray. I know you’re happy, but please calm down a bit.’

‘Lady Mary, I know about this. When a married couple’s improves in the New Year, it is called himehajime!’

‘Where did you learn that word?!’

 

“— That’s the conversation I heard. I assumed you did it before dark and were seen by your Son. So I left to not disturb you.”

 

So that was it… !

She heard Gray misuse a word he learned from Khaki yesterday.

I decided to keep the kiss a secret for now, and only told her that Gray misunderstood us getting along in the New Year, to which Ms. Schwarz only replied with ‘Is that so?’ and easily backed off.

 

“Well, it looks like you don’t need this.”

“No, I will take it. In fact, I’m even fine with buying it so please give me that chocolate.”

“… It’s very rare for you to say something like that for things other than cloth and threads. I was already planning to give it to you anyway, so it’s fine though.”

 

Alright, the chocolate is mine!

Now I can look forward to snack time. Although to Ms. Schwarz, it might be a strange sight to see an aphrodisiac used as a snack.

 

“Well, I was worried about you two too. I was wondering if you looked like you got along, but things were actually strained. So I was happy to see you make progress…”

“I am sorry for making you worry, however, we are in a happy relationship, so we are fine.

“… Yeah, that’s good then. Well, I don’t think you really need me to worry about you two anyway.”

 

Looking at how happy I was after receiving chocolate, Ms. Schwarz asked with a worried expression.

… I can’t forgive her for what she did, and although she’s usually very questionable, she’s genuinely worried about things like these.  She can communicate with Monsters, so she can most likely read emotions somehow, and she’s not the type of a person to take joy in other people’s misfortune.

 

“No, perhaps you saw my masterpiece (naked body) and were so overwhelmed by my beauty, you couldn’t go any further…?!”

“You’re wrong.”

 

What kind of logic is that?

Certainly, when we first met, I saw Ms. Schwarz in her birthday suit, but, well… My impression of her as a pervert was so strong that, except for her cool ‘there’s nothing shameful about my body’, I couldn’t really sense her beauty or sexiness. I did think that form would be good for making clothes though.

 

“Oh, by the way, I have two interesting pieces of information.”

 

Ms. Schwarz, who had been pointlessly striking a pose, suddenly spoke as if she remembered something while maintaining her pose.

Looks like she’s keeping the promise to let me know about any interesting information she comes across.

 

“First is the information that some sort of large-scale investigation is taking place in the capital.”

“Investigation, you say? Do you not know any specifics?”

“Well, it seems like it’s under the pretext of the ecological survey of large Monsters that they conduct once every few years, but it seems fishy to me. That being said, it’s partly just my intuition, so take it with a grain of salt.”

“I understand.”

 

 

Under the pretext of an ecological survey… then maybe it’s like the survey of sealed Monsters they did in Ring of Fire. If I remember right, depending on the game route, Monsters in various places would become active and the capture targets, students and military would have to work together to defeat them.

I should ask Ms. Mary about it later.

 

“I think somebody might come to Shiki to investigate soon.”

“Thank you, I will keep it in mind.”

 

Even if somebody might actually come to investigate, this place itself is a remote area, and has its own unique features, so unlike the time when the students came to investigate because Fenrir appeared, it’s more likely that somebody will be forced to come here to investigate.

There’s no way a named mage would go out of their way to come here. If that were to happen, it would make me doubt their intentions. Unless they took an interest in me like that muscle maniac— there’s nothing else interesting enough here to make them come here.

… Huh, I’m getting a bad feeling… or rather, I feel like this has already happened?

 

“And as for the second piece of information…”

 

Anyway, I’ll try not to worry about this bad feeling for now.

If anything, I’m more curious about the information that Ms. Schwarz seems reluctant to disclose.

 

“To be honest, I don’t really understand this information.”

“So, to you, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with its credibility.”

“Yeah, honestly, there’s a possibility that I misunderstood something. I asked everyone in Shiki, and they said they hadn’t heard anything of the sort.”

 

Hmm, what does that mean? I wonder if that information is about Shiki.

 

“But I think it would be quicker to confirm this with you.  This information concerns your Family, after all.”

 

I’m getting more and more confused. Something that concerns my Family?

Is it connected… to that guy? But in that case, it’s strange that she can not understand what’s going on.

After thinking for a bit, Ms. Schwarz turned to me and told me the second piece of information.

 

“The information is that Gray may be skipping grades and entering the academy early.”

“What are you talking about?”

 

—-

TL/N:

姫始め or Himehajime means first intercourse of the New Year (in slang)