After speaking with the maids, Tsuare had not shown any signs of fear.

Apart from the stitching that ran down the middle of her face, Pestonya had kind eyes and a gentle expression. Additionally, the maids behind her were all human, without any frightening facial features.

Even so, judging by Tsuare's condition, it seemed her fear of others would never truly vanish. Although she looked like she was getting along well with others, she knew exactly what kind of situation she was in, and she was trying to distract herself from it by forcing herself to work hard.

If I don't watch her carefully, she might break.

While Sebas was pondering these questions, the meet and greet session ended, and one of the maids brought her outside. Along the way, Tsuare turned to look at Sebas. Sebas nodded to her, and she nodded by way of reply, before turning away and leaving.

"Sebas-sama, how much training will that human need-wan?"

"Train her until she qualifies to be a maid of Nazarick. However, she is a mere human, so when you train her, please don't push her beyond her limits."

"Understood-wan."

Pestonya's dog-like face tilted, revealing her canines. Although her expression made her look like a beast whose prey had escaped, her eyes were still filled with warmth.

"I think that for her, being a maid is just a first step."

"What do you mean?"

Pestonya answered Sebas, who had not quite grasped her meaning and was wondering what she was talking about.

"...wan. That is to say, I meant she would probably retire after marriage-wan."

"What?!"

As Sebas' face seized up, Pestonya's gentle laughter echoed throughout the ninth floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

♦ ♦ ♦

Month of Descending Fire (9th Month), 7th Day, 16:51

After making sure there were no guests present and that the time was right, Climb opened the doors to Renner’s chambers.

The princess sat in her usual place, her room dyed red by the rays of the setting sun. They illuminated her like a spotlight.

“Welcome, Climb.”

That gentle beauty calmed Climb’s pounding heart, and he felt as though he had been healed. Climb tugged down on his relaxed face, and went over to Renner’s side.

“Come, have a seat, Climb.”

“There is no need, Renner-sama. I have to help with the cleanup of the demon attack in a while.”

Renner’s eyes sparkled. She had originally given that order, so replying this way seemed to be the correct answer.

Climb’s next task was to take over the security detail responsible for protecting the Magician’s Association.

This was because of a certain item.

Although the whole picture of the demon invasion had not been fully revealed yet, a very disturbing magic item had been found in a warehouse. The Magician’s Association was still analyzing and investigating it, but considering the fact that it had been imbued with abnormally powerful magic and the information Jaldabaoth had let slip, it seemed likely that it was the item he had been searching.

As a result, the Magician’s Association had gathered strong veterans. Until they decided how to properly dispose of it, they had to have teams of adventurers protecting them at all times. Naturally, Climb had been one of the people selected for the task.

It’s so annoying, we can’t punish the members of the Eight Fingers who brought this item to the capital…

Even though he stood in front of Renner, Climb could not fully suppress the irritation in his heart.

The magic item which had led to the tragedy in the capital had been found in a warehouse that was positively linked to the smuggling division of the Eight Fingers. That being the case, they should have immediately moved to destroy them. However there was a crucial reason why they could not do so, and only a few people knew about it.

They had started searching for the item because Jaldabaoth had leaked the information about it. That was Renner’s opinion. However, Jaldabaoth might have been counting on the humans to find the object his troops could not, which was why that information had gotten out in the first place.

Since everyone understood the implications of that leak, they had suppressed all information about the artifact, and as such it could no longer be used as a reason to attack the Eight Fingers.

“You should be working with the Warrior-Captain, right? I see, then everything should be fine. How about the people you helped? You should have been busy protecting the palace, but you must have stepped outside for a bit, no?”

Climb's heart lurched as Renner unleashed that bombshell on him.

"Y-yes. Everyone hopes to express their gratitude to Renner-sama."

"How wonderful. Then I must go to meet them."

"You can't!"

As soon as the shout left his mouth, Climb immediately realized that he had screwed up very badly. He lowered his head and began speaking rapidly, as though trying to cover up all his previous words.

"Everyone is still busy and I believe the presence of Renner-sama will distract everyone from their hard work and although it demeans Renner-sama's generosity I hope that you will understand my meaning."

As he raised his head, Climb wondered if his mistress' beautiful face would be creased by unhappiness, or a childish pout that did not suit her age. However, the expression Climb saw was neither of these.

She smiled.

It wasn't a simple turning up of the corners of her mouth, but an actual, full-faced smile.

Climb had seen Renner smile many times. If he cast his mind back to a time when he was happiest, it would be seeing that smile on her face after she had picked him up. However, her smile right now was somewhat different from her smile back then.

Before he could realise the answer, her expression returned to the faint smile she always wore.

"...there's nothing to be done about it, then."

Climb suppressed a sigh of relief as Renner accepted his explanation.

The truth was that he had just fed his mistress a pack of lies. Climb had not heard a single grateful word from the citizens he had met. On the contrary, they had heaped blame and scorn on him. Why did you only save us, and so on.