Chapter 171

“Stop harboring useless thoughts and just focus heavily on serving him well. And don’t forget to subtly make a pass at him from time to time. From now on, we are holding onto his coattails with a death grip. Sword God is invincible, and Little Boy is an absolute god.”

An elf maid raised her hand and asked.

“But what exactly is that ‘Little Boy’ anyway?”

“Who knows. I heard it’s the name of a weapon from the world Sword God came from? Apparently, alongside a weapon named Fat Man, it once threw the entire world into the flames of war—a legendary weapon that ended the war. I imagine it’s probably some kind of holy sword.”

“Ah, it must be a holy sword like the ‘Sanctus Legion’ from the Great War of old. If you look at its descriptions, they say things like it burned the heavens. Isn’t that exactly it?”

Hest scoffed and wagged her index finger.

“Do you know what the most shocking part is? Mighty nations possess dozens or even hundreds of those weapons. There’s even a country that supposedly has a weapon three thousand times more powerful than that. What did he call it… ‘Tsar Bomba’?”¹

“He said if they wanted to, they could manufacture a weapon dozens of times more powerful than that Tsar whatever, but they don’t bother making it because there’s no need.”

“Wow… that is a staggering level of magical engineering.”

“Right? I was completely shocked when I heard it too.”

“…Could there happen to be a lot of people like Sword God over there?”

“Ah, apparently not. He said Sword God was uniquely peerless even in that world.”

“Ah, as expected…”

The maids’ mouths began to grow increasingly busy. Although they had initially gathered under the guise of the Maid Order’s regular meeting, all twenty-plus members were red-blooded young ladies in the prime of their youth, so it was naturally transforming into a massive gossip session.

“Sword God is truly the total package. He’s an imperial prince of an empire (a rumor had long since settled among the maids as absolute fact that he was a prince of the ‘Go’ imperial family), his skills are at a completely seamless boundary… and now he’s even secured Bordeaux Island. Strictly speaking, doesn’t that make him the wealthiest man on the continent by economic power?”

“The ultimate man on the continent…”

“Maybe even the ultimate man in the world…”

“I heard that in his original world, no one dared to even approach him. That Gogureo? Kogureo? Anyway, even the emperor of that grand empire trembled before Sword God, apparently. Even though he was his own child.”

“Well, if my child were an absolute monster who browbeats Demon Kings to extort money from the Demon Territory, I would honestly slam my head on the ground first.”

A burst of giggles erupted.

Hest, who had been listening to their conversation with a similar smile, spoke up with an expression full of half awe and half pity.

“But he wasn’t entirely happy, from what I hear. Because he was too outstanding, everyone merely looked up at him in awe, and no one ever got close to him on a human level.”

“Ah…”

“In that world, they apparently refer to someone who lives that kind of solitary wolf existence without a single friend or lover using the highly reverent title of ‘Loner’.”

“Oh, I heard Miss Shia call Sword God that before. So that’s what it meant. Then what is a ‘Forever Alone’? That title gets used a lot too.”

“Hmm… probably a similar meaning.”

Right before their increasingly loud voices could spill out past the meeting room, Hest clapped her hands together twice to refresh the atmosphere.

“Alright, let’s wrap it up here for today. In any case, don’t forget my words. Let me emphasize it again: we are boarding this ship now.”

“Does that mean… if things go south between Miss Sodin and Sword God, we should take Sword God’s side?”

“No way, there’s no way Miss Sodin would ever split from Sword God. You all know how much she suffered after leaving the Arsus Kingdom because she didn’t want to be a guardian, right? After suffering that much, she threw that hard-earned professor position straight into the trash for the sole sake of Sword God. What do you mean things going south?”

“True… lately, her eyes look practically heart-shaped whenever she looks at him. Then… you mean if we ever have to weigh our options between Sword God and the guardian family, we stick with Sword God.”

“Exactly. Unlike Elf Chamberlain Oma, our White Rose Mercenaries aren’t retainers of the Cross family. It’s just a contractual relationship. When there’s a better employer available, isn’t it only natural to go that way?”

“If we do that, we’ll get slapped with an astronomical penalty fee for breach of contract.”

“Sword God will probably pay it for us. He seems to quite like us, so wouldn’t he manage at least that much?”

“Don’t we happen to know quite a lot about the family secrets? What if the family sends people to silence us?”

Hest let out a loose scoff at those words.

“Where do we live?”

“Well… we live in the mansion.”

“Whose mansion?”

“Sword God’s mansion.”

“So you’re saying you’re worried about the Cross family scaling the walls of Sword God’s mansion just to kill us?”

“Uh…”

“What is a mere World Tree gardener family compared to an entity that casually extorts the South Demon King and treats the North Demon King like a body pillow?”

“…Pardon? The North Demon King? Where did the North Demon King suddenly come from?”

“Ah… my mistake. Just ignore that part. In any case, the important thing is that we don’t need to worry about that kind of thing even a single bit.”

“Certainly, that is true.”

“Right. And in the first place, that kind of scenario would never even happen. Given the massive distance between here and the Arsus Kingdom, how could they possibly get tangled up with Sword God?”

“So we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

“Yeah. Though of course, we need to shift our priorities in our heads.”

“Priorities, huh. Then we should change how we address him too.”

“Right. Since he’s officially become our employer now. From now on, he isn’t Sword God, he’s Master.”

“Master. Master…”

“…Uh, unlike before, that word slides right off the tongue. It feels a bit spine-tingling too.”

“You crazy girl.”

“Total psycho.”

“Don’t go recklessly crossing lines and getting us all kicked out.”

Hest suppressed the rowdy meeting room once more with a sharp glare, before continuing her words.

“And back at the mansion, we had to just suck our thumbs because we were watching out for Miss Sodin, but since she isn’t here, make sure to show your appeal aggressively. Start changing your outfits to something a bit more breathy too.”

“Aggressively? Is that really okay?”

“Yeah. You all must have noticed my maid outfit got significantly shorter over the past few days. Seeing how he hasn’t said a word, he seems to find it cute. You lots should reduce some surface area appropriately too. Just don’t go completely overboard.”

“Hmm… is it really okay to do that? I feel like Miss Shia or Miss Disis… wouldn’t particularly like it…”

“It’s fine. Miss Shia is highly permissive about that kind of thing from the start… and Miss Disis won’t even care.”

“What about the people from the Eastern Continent who joined us recently?”

The corners of Hest’s lips curled upward.

“Why bother caring about them? Who do they think they are? We are Master’s maids, not theirs. In any case, they are stuck lingering at the exact same starting line as us.”

“If it comes to weapons, we’ll get pushed back though.”

“Then just go tattle to Master.”

“A thoroughly brilliant answer!!”

“And just in case, is there anyone who harbors any complaints about Master going around blowing up temples left and right lately?”

The maids tilted their heads at her question.

“Why would that be an issue?”

“Essen, Lendi, I know you two used to be followers of Equos… how do you feel about this?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a pleasant feeling… but it’s not like it’s the specific temple I used to attend anyway.”

“They picked a fight first despite being weak, so they should have naturally braced themselves to get thrashed.”

“Perfect. Alright, let’s all do our best. Especially make sure to be absolute perfection when serving Master and the two young ladies(?), Shia and Disis. As for the rest of the leftovers, we just need to keep them fed.”

“““Yes, ma’am!”””

The fourth day of the terror(?) attacks.

“Master. Here is the list and the locations of the ten places we are blowing up today.”

“Ah, Hest. Thanks. Huh? Wait a second… Master?”

“Yes, Master.”

“The… address seems to have changed a bit.”

“Is there something strange about calling Master ‘Master,’ Master? If there is any part that needs to be corrected, please order me, Master. We are maids who serve Master, so we are ready to obey absolutely anything Master says, Master.”

Feeling an incomprehensible pressure from her softly smiling face, I gave a thoroughly reluctant nod.

“Ah, no. Well… I guess it doesn’t matter. Any other reports besides this?”

“Mmh… the atmosphere around the temples of Equos and Morta is a bit strange.”

“Strange? In what way?”

“According to the reports from the doppelganger spies Miss Disis recently planted, the angels guarding the temples have completely abandoned their posts.”

“The angels?”

“Yes.”

“Where did they go? Did they give up and return to the Celestial Realm?”

“I’m not entirely sure about that part… though personally, I don’t think they would tuck their tails and run at this point.”

I fell into thought for a moment before letting out a soft smirk.

“Hmm… I think I have a rough idea of what they’re trying to pull. Anyway, shall we go fill today’s quota?”

For the record, all the grand temples belonging to the Union of the Scales and Scythe had currently been completely blown away.

Because of that, the targets selected for yesterday and today were the royal palaces of the kingdoms within the union.

Since Black and Red had already handed out the flyers over the course of last night, the palaces and their immediate surroundings were completely empty. Having tasted the Mystery-flavored Little Boy a few times, their evacuation movements had become remarkably swift.

Humming a tune, I used the ‘gate + baldy teleport’ combo to take up a position about three kilometers away from the royal palace.

Since the evacuation hadn’t extended this far out yet, a lot of people were still milling about frantically, while I quietly drew my sword.

“Habanite ring. Number twelve.”

“Right here, Master.”

The title had flipped over the course of a single day. While the surrounding female cast shot sharp, piercing glares at Hest, I quietly thrusted my blade forward.

BOOOOOOMMM!!

The thoroughly calculated explosion cleanly blew away only the royal palace and its immediate vicinity, vomiting forth blinding light, intense heat, and a giant mushroom cloud.

Even if the direct blast radius was narrow, the pillar of fire and light soaring to the very edge of the heavens was more than enough to let anyone guess its horrific destructive power.

“The shockwave is coming.”

Immediately after Hest spoke, the shockwave swept past my cheeks. A scorching hot wind followed right behind it.

Crashhhhh!

While windows shattered left and right and merchant signs tumbled from shopfronts, I tapped Black—the guy in charge of our Mass Teleport—so we could move to the next location.

“Shift to the gate coordinates.”

However… his reaction was rather unsettling.

“T-That…”

“What is it?”

“…The teleportation is blocked. The coordinates are fluctuating… it’s a spatial disruption.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

While the group panicked at his words, I simply let out a loose scoff.

“Ah… of course. So that’s how it is.”

Immediately after, the sun suddenly vanished from the sky, and the heavens dyed themselves ink-black as dozens of hidden angels revealed themselves all at once.

—You have finally walked into our trap, O evil of the world.

—The hour of judgment has arrived.

—Today shall be the final day of your life.

Staring up at the angels who were spreading their halos with one or two pairs of wings unfurled, I flipped them a double middle finger.

“What’s with those smug faces like you guys just pulled off some master-class trap?”

Yeah. In the first place, I had explicitly handed out flyers announcing my arrival beforehand, so it would have been stranger if they hadn’t laid a trap.

“Now then… let’s wrap up this grand finale, angel friends. Hest. Bring out the thing I had you prepare.”

“…Yes, Master.”

With a slightly trembling hand, Hest pulled something out and held it out to me.