Plan – 1

I pondered for a moment what answer I should give to Aurora’s question.

There were many things to do. No, not just many, they were overflowing. There were so many that I was at the point where I had to decide the order first before I could even start.

First, in Dark Lord mode, I still had two more runes to obtain to complete the melee character’s final build, and for the same reason, I also needed to acquire one black magic spell.

Even just considering the major tasks, I had to visit two rune dungeons, and if I added all sorts of miscellaneous tasks like strengthening weapons or leveling up, I was certainly going to be very busy for the time being.

‘I can proceed with the main story later. As for the ring, if it really doesn’t work out, I can just ask Aurora to send only that.’

Since things have come to this, I was planning to put aside story progression for the time being and focus on leveling up first. Going back to the imperial palace right now probably wouldn’t be a very good choice either.

“Yes. There are.”

I checked on Aurora, who was waiting for an answer, and cut off my thoughts at an appropriate point. Not just in words, but as if truly disappointed, a faint sense of disappointment settled on Aurora’s face.

“Is that so? That’s a shame.”

“What were you trying to ask for that you’re making such an expression?”

“Hmm… 24-hour close protection?”

“Why is that a question?”

“I just thought of it. I hadn’t specifically decided what to order. I just asked if it was possible or not first.”

“That’s an incredibly shameless answer, Lady-nim.”

Even at my words, Aurora casually leaned back against the chair’s backrest.

“It’s fine to be shameless. You’re a knight who even repelled a dragon, aren’t you? It’s only natural that I’d want to keep you by my side, no matter what.”

“I didn’t kill the dragon, nor did I repel it. That’s all a false rumor.”

“Even though His Majesty the Emperor personally acknowledged that you were the one who repelled it?”

“……”

My nape felt stiff. Since Kaikilia had affirmed the rumor, it was practically an unblockable attack.

Furthermore, it was even more of a problem because it seemed plausible on the surface. Rather, if I had truly repelled that guy and that’s how I got such a nickname, I would at least understand, but it wasn’t even that, was it?

Even after that, I was barely released after nearly an hour of one-sided conversation with Aurora. I never did find out the real reason why she told me to come find her, even if it was late at night.

Surely she wasn’t really just trying to have a conversation, was she?

“Did he leave?”

“Yes, Owner-nim. He just left through the main gate.”

Hearing that Delta had left through the main gate, Aurora slumped in her chair. Right beside her, Lana, who had been standing demurely with her hands clasped, asked in a blunt voice:

“Did you fail?”

“Surely you didn’t come all the way to my room and ask that without knowing, did you?”

“Of course I know, but I was merely helping Owner-nim realize your own patheticness. How is it? Do you now feel a bit how pathetic Owner-nim’s actions just were?”

“……”

Aurora, who had nothing left to say, blankly gazed up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Since Lana wasn’t the type to speak to her owner first without reason, silence instantly fell.

Actually, if one were to call it pathetic behavior, one should start by finding fault with her liking a man who is already taken, but Aurora was betting everything on a single possibility.

It was a possibility she had begun to believe ever since the Emperor himself affirmed the rumor that he had repelled a dragon.

He himself is jumping up and down denying it, but considering he attributed all the credit to Minerva-nim after finding the Crystal Scroll, this time is probably a similar case.

The reason he denies it is probably because excessive attention is burdensome to him. Delta’s personality is far from one that boasts about his own achievements.

“…But, it’s strange.”

The silence didn’t last long. Unexpectedly, Lana was the first to speak. Surprised by that fact, Aurora turned her head.

“Me too. That was really strange just now.”

“What are you saying, Owner-nim?”

“You, Lana, speaking to me first.”

“You can take it to mean that Owner-nim’s actions were so frustrating that I had to act like this.”

A maid insulting her owner was a level of rudeness that could cost her head depending on the owner’s disposition, but Aurora merely looked at Lana with a slightly sullen expression.

Lana was her most trustworthy ally. There was absolutely no reason to get angry just because she called her owner frustrating.

Moreover, Aurora herself was aware of it, so that was even more the case. Looking back at her actions so far, it was rather Lana who was closer to being in a position to get angry.

“So, what’s so strange?”

“Owner-nim is clearly not a shy person, so why is it that only when you stand before that person, you can’t convey your feelings honestly and instead beat around the bush or joke around? Just now, if you had spoken like usual, that person would certainly have entered here instead of me. And I would have given an order to all the maids in the mansion not to approach this vicinity until a separate command was issued.”

“……”

At the long explanation that poured out as if she had been waiting, Aurora, speechless, stealthily turned her eyes elsewhere. It was because she could no longer endure Lana’s gaze staring intently at her.

Her expression itself was similar to usual, but since she had something to feel guilty about, it somehow felt even fiercer.

“Isn’t it strange? If it were according to Owner-nim’s usual personality, instead of making such pathetic attempts at seduction, it wouldn’t be strange at all if you pushed him against the wall and said, ‘Let’s have a round right now-‘”

“I understand. I made a mistake, so can’t you please stop?”

Lana, who succeeded in eliciting her owner’s reaction, quickly shut her mouth. She was a maid who grew more shameless by the day, but Aurora didn’t particularly dislike it.

The very fact that Lana acted so comfortably meant that she had found peace of mind. Rather, there was even a very slight desire for her to play more jokes.

It was very slight, really, but anyway.

Moreover, Aurora was the one who taught Lana strange jokes, so it was all her own karma. What could she do about an action she herself committed? She had to accept it.

“Yes, I know. I know such stupid actions don’t suit me, but what can I do?”

A blush settled on her snow-white cheeks. Her skin was dyed peach-colored. Aurora twisted her body slightly.

“Well, because it’s embarrassing to say ‘I like you’ right in front of him.”

Lana, who saw Aurora’s expression, went blank for a moment, then continued in a pathetic voice.

“It’s a fact I just realized, but I don’t think you need to worry, Owner-nim. If you show that person the expression you just made, even if you don’t explicitly say ‘I like you’ in front of him, that person will first Owner-nim-“

“Lana!”

“It’s a joke. Why is it that you can’t even handle such a light level of teasing when it’s related to that person? Yet, when Owner-nim does it, you do it quite well. Is there any special reason for that?”

“…I don’t know either.”

Aurora haughtily turned her body. Lana had a face that clicked her tongue, tut-tut. It was exactly the look of a mother watching her immature daughter.

In fact, it wouldn’t have been particularly strange to call the two of them a mother-daughter relationship.

“Owner-nim.”

Lana, who had been pondering something for a while, took a step closer to Aurora.

“Why?”

“If so, how about trying this method?”

“……”

I looked at the uniform drawing that Rakshia had brought, saying she had finally confirmed it, and sat in my chair, speechless.

The attire of the regular members was almost the same. It was based on a highly exposed bunny girl outfit, with variations in the length and type of stockings to distinguish the formations.

At most, it was merely a difference in the level of detail being a bit more refined and the exposure slightly increased. Even though I was momentarily dumbfounded by the fact that the exposure had increased even further from there.

The problem was the reverse bunny uniform of the vice-captain knights. In the first drawing, there was no variation, so I thought they were trying to unify the design into one since it was difficult to wear stockings, but that wasn’t it.

Right next to the reverse bunny drawing, very kindly, stickers for covering nipples and genitals were displayed by type.

Under each sticker, the names of the vice-captain knights who would wear them were written, you see. They brought it, claiming that they would distinguish the formations with that.

The types of stickers were: circle. star. heart. three-leaf clover. alphabet X. A total of 5 types.

‘No, can you even distinguish with something like this?’

It was absurd, but since the people wearing them said so, it was ambiguous for me to say anything. Ultimately, I let out a deep sigh and folded the paper into four.

“Captain-nim, do you have a moment?”

It was then. Someone knocked on the door. Startled, I hurriedly tucked the paper into my arms. It was exactly the action of someone caught looking at a lewd book.

It was because I somehow felt like I had to do that.

Tucking the paper with the Pitch-Black Holy Night Knights’ uniform drawn on it into my arms, I sat in my seat, maintaining my composure with effort, and opened my mouth.

“Come in.”

The door burst open, and Rakshia entered. She was wearing a sports bra and leggings, which was the uniform from her days in the former Golden Twilight Knights.

Perhaps because of her past experience of sparring with me and getting beaten to a pulp, it seemed to be the established atmosphere that Rakshia would report to me whenever possible. Since she didn’t seem to particularly dislike it either, I left it at that.

“What’s the matter?”

I decided to just give up on a dignified tone. I tried to use it, but I only gained the conviction that I was not the kind of person suited for such a tone.

“A guest has arrived.”

“A guest? Who is it?”

“Well, that is…”

Rakshia hesitated. Her face seemed to say, ‘Is it really okay to say this?’ It looked as if she was experiencing a very serious internal conflict.

What is it that’s making her act like that?