CH 340.2

The location has shifted to Tauro’s home on the northern outskirts of downtown in the royal capital.

「Are they all ready to eat at the same time?」

The one who said that was the expressionless beauty in a squatting posture, munching on a peach. Cool-san is our monster, the Unicorn, so she is also mobilized.

The reason for her bent-kneed posture is that the peach tree is about one meter high. However, although the tree was low, its branches grew wide to the sides, and the fruit hung so far down that it obscured the leaves.

『It’s a failure.』

The fifth instar larva of the swallowtail butterfly on my head turns and sent a wave of thought towards my side. Cool-san tilted her head slightly, probably because she didn’t know what he was saying.

The caterpillar’s voice is relayed by the dung beetle general above her head, so the caterpillar’s voice can reach her.

「It seems he forgot about it.」

Normally, the forest sage would make adjustments to allow for gradual maturation from the edges. This time, however, he seemed to have been distracted by the growth of the neighboring Pomelos.

By the time he realized it last night, it was already too late. So first thing in the morning, I contacted her through the merchant guild and asked her to come and help.

(Well, actually, it’s mostly because they want to share it.)

Well, harvesting peaches with the whole group is nice too once in a while.

Now that she has graduated from pilot school and resigned as coach of the women’s flower arrangement club at her alma mater, I had heard that she is not busy.

(But still…)

She was good at this.

When I offered her a pair of gardening shears, she waved her hand to the side, saying she didn’t need them. I wondered what she would do with just her bare hands, but she twisted the peaches off one after another.

(It’s definitely faster than me using scissors, and it won’t damage the fruit.)

When asked if she had a knack for it, she replied, 『It’s what I do』.

She must have noticed the question mark floating above my head. So she explained while demonstrating.

「Imagine this is a man’s sack. Then…」

Saying so, the lady-like Cool-san reaches out with one hand and grabs it gently but firmly from the underside. With a sharp twist of the wrist, it was easily removed from the branch.

At that moment, I felt a phantom pain, probably because the peach was at the height of my crotch.

「I won’t argue if you see it like that. Besides, I can’t touch it if I think it’s a man’s sack.」

Shrugging my shoulders, I placed the peach in my hand by the pond.

「That’s it, I guess. Since we’re all here, why don’t we taste it now?」

The harvest basket woven from rattan vines is full, so I stand up and stretch out my waist.

Cool-san reaches out her hand at me, and I hand her my fruit knife with the handle on the other side. Apparently, she will peel them for me.

I rinse the peaches in my hand with water in the pond and make the water ripple, but Zaratan doesn’t mind, I guess.

(Eh?)

I am just amazed by her today. After making shallow and long cuts in several places, she put down the knife and divided it into several pieces to peel off the skin.

Then she handed me a peach that had lost its thin skin.

(It’s more like taking it off than stripping it.)

The surface color is closer to the red of the skin than the white of the flesh. The beauty of unaltered curves is so beautiful that it is hard to resist eating them.

「As expected from virgin eater Unicorn. It lives up to its name with its magnificent peeling.」

The careful yet bold way of peeling without hesitation. I wonder how many peels she has done so far.

If you just leave it to her, she will surely solve your troubles.

『Shedding?』

『She shed, isn’t she?』

The vice commander and the general started to move around on top of our heads. They seem to be quite impressed and are whispering to each other about being 『masters of shedding skin』 and the like.

So they said, but I would say that they are 『shedding masters』 instead of 『masters of shedding skin』.

I suddenly realized something, so I warned Imosuke and Dangorou.

「Unicorns don’t shed their skin, alright?」

From the surprised look on their faces, it seems that they had misunderstood after all.

「You there, stop messing around with your seniors.」

The reason I reprimand the monster was because she responded with suggestive answers like, 『Now then, I wonder about that?』.

Imosuke and the others are rather easy to trust what they were told, and if left alone, they might say something like, 『Where’s the skin that you took off?』

『I want to see it!』

『I want to see it too!』

Once the two animals have settled down, I turn my focus back to my peach and bite into it head-on.

(….Delish!)

The beauty of its appearance by removing the skin, the flavor and sweetness just below the surface, and most importantly, the fact that they were peeled by a beautiful woman.

Honestly, it was 50% better than last year.

「How did it taste?」

Cool-san starts peeling the second one and breaks it into small pieces with a knife, and offers it to the bosses sitting on top of her head.

But Imoske and the others said they just wanted the aroma. She began to eat it herself, and behind her, Zaratan bit into the whole peel and squinted at it.

「Let’s go to the living room, shall we?」

At my word, the Doom Squad began to move, leaving the turtle in the pond. From the harvest basket, I divide it into small baskets that are also woven of ivy.

「….If only she hadn’t pried too much, she could have had the pleasure of being served with these peaches.」

With a sigh, Cool-san says while staring at the basket of peaches she was given to share.

Explosive Onee-san is off duty today, so she is taking the peaches to Jayanne.

「She graduated from the Magic Academy and went into the potions workshop and got busy, wasn’t she?」

So now I was told that she was off-duty more often than she was on duty.

At my words, she nodded her head blankly, then lightly shook her head from side to side.

「But I guess it’s impossible. Since ancient times, it has been said that the peach destroys evil.」

Even in my previous life, it was something people seek when there was an illness and poor health caused by 『Something Evil』.

Then, to dispel this evil would be medicine. Or just something good for the body.

「There’s no way she, who’s a pharmacist, would not be interested. So I guess you’re right.」

Like Light Cruiser-sensei, I wanted her and her colleagues to enjoy the fruit purely as a fruit, but I guess her karma as a researcher would not allow her to do so.

We shrugged our shoulders and chatted while we stuffed our mouths with peaches until our stomachs were full, and finally rinsed our mouths with iced tea.

「Thank you for your time today. And thank you for the peaches.」

「No, don’t mind it. You helped us today.」

It was already almost noon. I said goodbye to Cool-san as she got up to leave, and saw her off at the entrance.

Then I reached for another basket and decided to head for the merchant guild.

***

The location moved further to Landbarn, the center city of the Margravate in the Empire territory. The sun has set and it is already late at night.

There is no light in the lord’s mansion. However, inside the starlit windows of the maid’s dormitory that leads to the mansion, many people are sweating from working hard.

「I can’t lose.」

A bald middle-aged man wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and mumbles to himself on the top bunk of a double bunk bed.

The old man, the Margrave, is harassing a young maid, who is pretending to be asleep.

「Muu… even the walls are making a loud banging noise.」

The Margrave was in rivalry with the man in the room next door. The maid’s beastly loud voice had risen earlier, and finally, even the wall dividing the room began to make a loud thumping sound.

Perhaps the maid is kicking the wall with her foot. The person who’s doing night crawling in the room next door must be doing it quite violently.

「I am sorry, Your Excellency. I will remind them later not to break anything.」

The apology comes from the bottom bunk of the bunk bed. It was the confidant of the Margrave and the head of the civil official. A skinny, middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache was hunching over a half-dressed maid, as was the Lord.

The reason why he apologizes is that most of those working hard in the dormitory, including those in the next room, are his men.

『Letting his subordinates let loose in the maid’s dormitory.』

It has started recently and is held a few times a month.

However, when referring to subordinates, it is not all of them. It is limited to those who have made a great contribution to the Margrave in recent times.

『It won’t be as big as giving them a medal, but enough to keep their spirits up.』

To achieve this, he decided to give this plan a shot.

As a result, the effect was more than he had expected. Many of the men are motivated and the atmosphere in the workplace is more cheerful.

「I’m glad they like it, but your department is more intense than the others, you know?」

The Margrave replied while enjoying the maid’s ripeness with his whole body.

『Even when they ran out of seeds, they still stood up and continued thrusting, prying, and slamming their hips.』

A more accurate description would be something like this.

The reason was unknown, but it seems that civil servants are more likely to be crazy with desires. As a matter of fact, the morning after a civil servants’ day, the maids’ bodies move slower than usual.

「We often see them in the mansion, but we can only touch their bodies. Maybe that’s why a lot of things accumulate inside our bodies.」

Work colleagues who they can’t touch except at times like this. This may have spiced things up and stimulated the inferiority complex of the civil servants.

「Let’s be careful not to drag each other down.」

The purpose is to encourage them to move forward, but if you put them down to raise yourself, it would’ve defeated the purpose of the whole thing.

At Margrave’s words, Handlebar Mustache in the lower bunk nodded. And actually, there was one more reason besides the one above.

『Promoting employment and getting closer to the locals.』

Under this slogan, the Margrave has been hiring local women to be maids at a rate double that of other areas. During this period, the number of maids finally exceeded 50.

He did not use his own bed at all but enjoyed staying in the maids’ rooms every night. However, as expected, he could not handle this number on his own.

On the other hand, the 『Opening of the dormitory』 was generally well-received by the maids.

『It feels like working in a high-class brothel.』

This is the reason. Certainly, those who are allowed to assault them are those who work as either military officers or civil servants. In terms of customer base, they are probably middle-class brothels or above.

The quality of the maids is somewhere between that of a low-class brothel and a middle-class brothel, so it is said that the maids can experience the atmosphere of their dream job.

「But, you know? The sound alone is also more stimulating than one might think.」

A man and a woman screaming and slumped over in bed. Even if it is not that big of a thing when you see it in front of you, when you hear it as a charming voice and noise from the next room, it tends to stimulate your imagination.

Excitement, envy, and a sense of defeat are greatly stimulated.

「Alright! Now on to the twin maids. Game on!」

「Just as I was hoping for, sir. Let me show you that this beard is not just for decoration.」

After finishing their job here, the middle-aged squire moves naked through the starlit corridor.

Incidentally, the Lily Knights were not allowed to participate in this event because they are mercenaries and not direct subordinates.

The seven-member group of women, ranging from girls to adults, were quite disappointed, despite the fact that their counterparts were of the same sex.