CH 121

Ellis was in trouble. And she was regretful. Why did she have to insist on listening to Plum’s troubles?

Ra-chin was still as a statue over his tea, and Ellis was sitting right beside him looking just as stiff with her arms folded in front of her.

Ellis had thought that Plum was the proprietress of the nearby boutique, but she had made a mistake. Plum was actually the proprietor, of the nearby boutique.

Plum’s troubles were as follows.

Originally united as a minority–the gachihomos, the fashionable gays, and the okamas¹were able to coexist in relative peace. By the way, the gachilezus likes Ellis’s group had the strong presence of Lily Garden and its surrounding area.

However as a result of the maintenance done with Gentleman Street, the power relationship had shifted. While the gachihomos had Revitalizing Home and the fashionable gays had Mercury Bar, there was nowhere where the okamas could gather.

What was especially troubling was that the habits and hobbies for this group was extremely diverse. The gachihomos and fashionable gays could bond over a few key points in their respective groups and grow from there. Meanwhile the okamas included men who simply enjoy dressing as women or womanly activities along with those under a sexual disorder such as ‘a woman who wants to love another woman like a man’ or ‘a man who wants to love another man as a woman’.

With all of this, it can’t be said that everyone would be satisfied with the opening of just one store.²

Upon seeing Ellis’s reaction, Plum shook her head and murmured, “You don’t need to worry about it Ellis.”

………..

Don’t worry?

Oh

Ohhhhhhhhh

“Sorry, I just got lost in thought there for a moment. Just give me a little time to think about it Plum.”

While waiting for Ra-chin’s tea to cool down, Ellis continued to wrestle around with the problem she had been given.

As time went on, Ellis’s expression would twist and become difficult, but soon she was making a dark smile unbefitting an eight-year-old girl, something that made both Plum and Aiful take a step back.

And then in Citadel City Marsfield.

“You bastards! Can’t you even do your jobs as escorts properly!?”

Duke Marsfield was about to pop a blood vessel. And the ones who were causing him all this undue aggravation was the Brave Party.

It all started when the Duke had received a directive from the capitol Skycastle. “Find out the necessary requirements to becoming a Dragon Maiden.” However the aristocratic family sent from Skycastle had been attacked by monsters on their way over.

That family was Sir Chaffee, his wife Bizon, and their only daughter Mebett.

Sir Chaffee was originally a lesser affiliate for a more prominent nobleman, but with the support of his reliable wife, he was able to demonstrate his talents and skills inside the capitol. The couple was able to acquire a higher status through their own efforts, and they swore loyalty to the royal family while promising to take care of all this dragon fuss. While investigating the ‘requirements to becoming a Dragon Maiden’, they would bring along their daughter who met at least one of the requirements that they knew for certain—she was a girl. The husband was confident that he could achieve results by personally making a move. The wife judged it would be advantageous for them to go personally as well, but that was because of the location where the rumors had originated. The last time she had visited her father when he had become the lord of Wheat Grace, he had told her some very interesting things about her younger sister. And for some reason, she was confident that that younger sister was involved with these rumors.

The only miscalculation on Sir Chaffee’s part was that he had never thought that the Brave Party was going to magically fly to Marsfield without them. When he had heard that the Hero would be accompanying them, he had lessened the number of his guards to the bear minimum, but when it came time to depart, the Brave Party had given him a smile and disappeared into thin air. There wasn’t enough time to recruit new escorts that late in the game, and since there was no way they could just cancel the trip, they were forced to head out which was what had led to them being overrun on their way to Marsfield.

“Duke Marsfield, it was my mistake for relying on the Braves when they are so often busy, so please stifle your rage,” Sir Chaffee tried easing the tensions in the room, but that only made the Duke even angrier. His voice exploding outwards, Duke Marsfield cut into the Braves.

“Hero, and your party, I am sorry but you will be useless in Warren. Return to the capitol immediately!”

“That’d be a problem Duke Marsfield; we also need to get information from Warren’s Jewelry Box!”

The Duke’s shouts cut through all of Gray’s grumbling objections.

“Do you think those smart girls will give out any important information to a bunch of bumbling incompetents like you!? Go explore the remote areas to the South!”

And just like that the Brave Party was specifically banned from Warren. Although to be honest, this was actually a turn of good fortune for Gray and Gise. This meant they had an excuse to not bring Peach, Dams, and Cliff to Warren from now on.

“Ugh, it can’t be helped. We will obey your command Duke Marsfield.”

Gray had to bite his tongue to prevent the joy in his heart from bursting forth, and he did his best to look sullen as he knelt before the Duke. It was a show, put on mostly for the sake of the three fools behind him.

After the Hero had vacated the castle, Duke Marsfield confirmed the story of the monster incident with Sir Chaffee.

As the monsters hounded them, Sir Chaffee was with the rest of the cavalrymen trying to defend the carriage while Bizon and Mebett hid inside. When it looked like all of their struggling was going to be useless, an ultramarine creature suddenly appeared in the sky. The lightning the creature shot out of its mouth was deafening, blowing away a score of the creatures, and immediately after, a blue swordsman appeared on the carriage.

The swordsman slayed the leftover monsters clinging to the carriage in an instant before ordering the lord and his men to go finish off the surviving monsters. Sir Chaffee and the other escorts did what they were told, shoving their blades into the paralyzed monsters, and when they turned back around, the swordsman and creature were already rising back up into the air.

“I was really surprised,” Sir Chaffee finished his explanation with a relieved sigh.

Duke Marsfield made a sigh of his own, thankful for their miraculous luck.

“That was probably Warren’s second Guardian Dragon, the Storm Dragon, and his swordswoman Dragon Maiden, Lady Bluegreen.”

Sir Chaffee’s wife impatiently broke in when the identity of the swordswoman came up.

“Is the name of that swordswoman Reeve?”

Duke Marsfield was left completely dumbfounded when the woman brought out a familiar name, but seeing his reaction, the wife pressed forward.

“My maiden name is Lorenburg, and I’m the eldest daughter of the current lord of Wheat Grace. If that swordswoman was Reeve, then that was my sister!”

The Duke was certainly surprised.

“So, you are also from the Lorenburg family. Then you’re right. That was Reeve, the daughter to Lord Leopold and granddaughter to Ferdinand. She is one of the members of Warren’s Jewelry Box, and she was a revered and honored person inside Warren even before she became the Dragon Maiden contracted with the Storm Dragon!”

The most surprised about this news was actually Sir Chaffee. He had fallen in love at first sight with this Wheat Grace countryside girl, and he immediately proposed without listening to his surroundings. At the time her intentions were considered secondly, and her father had offered her to him. However after they were married, she had steadfastly supported him in everything he did. Sir Chaffee was able to rise up the ranks in Skycastle in no small part to his wife Bizon’s help. And now not too long ago Bizon’s father had gone up in status and become the new lord of Wheat Grace, elevating him to a senior aristocracy position in the king’s army. Sir Chaffee was already very aware that his success in life was because of the woman he had so fortunately married, and now it is being discovered that her youngest sister is a member of Warren’s Jewelry Box. Life had a weird way of working itself out.

Sir Chaffee chose to take a step back and cool his head off for a moment.

On the other hand was an intelligent six-year-old girl who was getting herself worked up after having heard everything. “That knight was my aunt!” and a little girl’s joy rose up to the heavens. Unable to hold herself back any longer, the little girl began excitedly talking.

“Mr. Marsfield, Father, Mother, I want to go meet my aunt. I have to thank her for saving me the other day!”

Duke Marsfield’s eyes narrowed his eyes and smiled at the lively little girl in front of him.

“Yosh, then let’s get going by all means. I’ll send an explanation to the capitol myself in the meanwhile.”

With that, Duke Marsfield and Sir Chaffee’s family left the Citadel City as early as next morning with an escort strong enough to ensure that nothing would happen.

1. Drag queens.

2. All Ellis wanted was a bathhouse where no men would be allowed, and now she’s being tasked with solving every LGBT problem in the greater city area.