Evening, 8 o’clock.

  Jin, Elsa, Stearina, and Dominique gathered in Reinhardt’s room.

  The maids serving Reinhardt, Rianna and Mary, and the maid Kate serving Elsa were there too. Jin’s maid Laila wasn’t there.

  Neither Stearina nor Dominique had maids with them. As the room would get too packed.

  “I want to hear more about Reinhardt’s Schwarz Ritter, please.”


  Dominique said with tear-choked eyes. Her blue eyes were facing towrads Reinhardt.

  “Even if you want to hear more, I don’t really know what I could talk about…”


  “Oh? I’ve heard rumors though? Were you not the champion in the combat golem sham battles held in Celuroa Kingdom’s capital last year?”


  That had been Schwarz Ritter’s debut.

  On that occasion Schwarz Ritter had pushed aside one veteran golem after another, and in the finals he utterly defeated ‘Adamas Warrior’ who was said to be the number one in Celuroa Kingdom, and won the championship.

  “Alas, I wanted to see it too. If only I wasn’t away from the capital on official business…!”


  While saying so, little by little Dominique inched closer to Reinhardt.

  “…That lady, is she all over Rai-nii?”


  A small distance away from them Elsa said sullenly. Next to her Jin was slurping fruit juice,

  “As I thought, she’s interested in Reinhardt, don’t you think?”,

  He said.

  “But it’s strange. Usually Rai-nii doesn’t get that close to women.”


  When as a reply Elsa said something a little troubling, Jin couldn’t surpress a bitter smile.

  Yet another person also approached Reinhardt, Stearina.

  “But he’s a noble and moreover an excellent Magi Craftsmanm, so isn’t it natural for them to be interested in him?”


  Jin asked Elsa, who replied,

  “But as a Magi Craftsman, Jin-kun is better.”


  She completely shot down his reasoning.

  “Haha, it’s an honor hearing that from Elsa, but I’m just an ordinary person, so.”


  “Lies. If Jin-kun is an ordinary person I’ll lose my faith in this world.”


  Elsa said something that could be either speaking well or speaking ill of him.

  Jin was at a loss for how to reply so he changed the subject,

  “Come to think of it, Beana didn’t come here. I wonder if something happened to her?”


  He said, and Elsa began to reminisce about what that occurred in the bathroom not long ago.

  ＊ ＊ ＊


  After dinner, it was time to bathe to get rid of the dust that smeared everyone’s bodies.

  Beana and Elsa went to enter the bath at precisely the same time.

  At this time, because even the Royal Secret Maids had been recruited to help with the cleanup, they judged it to be a peaceful time to enter the bath.

  “Oh, Beana.”


  “Elsa-sama…san.”


  As expected, Beana couldn’t stop her polite language.

  “I said Elsa is fine.”


  “Yes, but…Elsa.”


  “Mm, that’s good.”


  Elsa was one step ahead and was already submerged in the bath, and after washing her body Beana also entered.

  “Um, do you… have a moment?”


  “Mm, what is it?”


  Beana looked around the bathroom to again confirm that it was just the two of them, then,

  “Elsa-sa…Elsa, what kind of a relationship… do you have with Jin?”


  She asked. Elsa tilted her head,

  “We’re friends.”,

  And replied. But that answer didn’t seem to be the one Beana was after,

  “T-then, Elsa… How do you think about Jin?”


  “Hm? How is that different from the previous question?”


  Elsa answered the question with a question. Beana nervously asked Elsa a second time.

  “Do you…like Jin?”


  “Mm. I do.”


  Elsa replied instantly, while Beana hid her face from her, and,

  “I also like…him.”,

  She opened up her heart. When Elsa heard it,

  “As I thought. You like Jin-kun just like me. We’re together.”,

  She said and smiled. Seeing Elsa act like that, Beana asked,

  “…Does liking mean… Not minding getting married?”


  ＊ ＊ ＊


  (Getting married…With Jin-kun?)

  Elsa looked hard at the Jin next to her.

  (Marriage…Living like father and mother do? And then giving birth to, and raising children?…)

  While thinking so, she again stared at Jin,

  (No, that’s not it.)

  Her intuition told her so. Being together with Jin was fun. He knew mysterious things and was reliable. But, she couldn’t imagine raising her children with Jin.

  That’s why in the bathroom she didn’t respond to Beana’s question.

  “Elsa?”


  A voice brought Elsa back to her senses. Her suddenly becoming silent puzzled Jin and turned his attention to her.

  “Did something happen between you and Beana? When I mentioned her, you suddenly went silent.”


  Jin asked.

  “No, it’s nothing. Just, apparently Earl Kuzuma officially proposed to Beana.”


  Without hesitation she made an outrageous revelation.

  “I-is that so. It was eventual.”


  Jin was flustered.

  “Jin-kun, what do you think about it?”,

  Elsa asked him, but some people interrupted them.

  The one who spoke was Stearina. Dominique was with her too. As for Reinhardt, he had been set free and could be seen appeasing his thirst with fruit juice.

  “Excuse me, Miss. We also have something we’d like to talk to Jin-kun about.”


  “Is Jin-kun the one who made that lovely Automata girl?”


  She was talking about Reiko. Seems that as she went around fighting to such an extent, whether Jin liked it or not she caught notice.

  “Yeah, I am.”


  “I thought so! It was amazing, to defeat the golems so easily with a build like hers, I wonder just how was she constructed?

  When she shot the question, for a moment a it seemed like there was a glint in Stearina’s eyes.

  “That’s a secret, as a Magi Craftsman I can’t reveal my secret techniques just like that.”


  As you’d expect, Jin gently refused to answer. Next Dominique who was behind him said,

  “I wonder if that girl too was protected from the [Subordination Rewriting Magic] like Schwarz Ritter was?”


  Jin guessed that Reinhardt had told her that.

  “Yeah, of course.”


  He replied. To which Dominique said,

  “Aha, I knew it!”


  She raised her voice,

  “Hey, could I meet that girl, please?”


  She brought down her body, looked at Jin with upturned eyes from below, and took his hand as she pleaded.

  156

  “S-sure. I’ll go call her here, so please wait.”


  He said, shaked and untangled from her hand and left the room for a moment, and after a brief while returned.

  When he came back, Reiko was following him.

  “This is my Reiko. Reiko, this is Stearina-san, and this is Dominique-san. Introduce yourself.”


  Jin said and Reiko pinched the hem of her skirt a little,

  “Nice to meet you, I am Reiko.”,

  She introduced herself.

  Seeing that, it was as if Dominique couldn’t stop herself and she clung to Reiko and hugged her tight.

  “Squee! So cute! I want this girl!”


  She said and rubbed her cheek on Reiko’s. Reiko stayed as she was. However, you could see disgust in her expression.

  As you’d expect, Stearing couldn’t just sit back and watch,

  “Dominique, what are you doing with other people’s children. Stop it, shape up.”


  She said, but Dominique said with a voice much lower than until now,

  “That’s right. If I want her, I should just make her my own.”


  While saying so, she took a glittering green gemstone from her pocket.

  “!? C-could it be, that’s, Elradrite?”


  Stearina yelled, and at the same time Dominique cast her Craft Magic.

  “[Erase], [Write-in]!”


  It was amplified [Subordination Rewriting Magic] from zero distance.

  Immediately after that, Reiko’s facial expression disappeared.