The Capital of the Novarens Empire
The Imperial Capital—Novaresia.
The most splendid city in the empire, filled with golden ornaments symbolizing the emperor’s authority, did not extinguish its lights today either.
And in the heart of it all, within the imperial palace, lay the most secretive forbidden zone for men: the Imperial Princess’s Palace.
Inside the Imperial Princess’s Palace, within a great bathtub gleaming with gold, she was there.
Her black hair shone brighter than obsidian, and her brown skin was as calm and warm as dawn light over the desert. Bathing alone in the enormous tub, she listened to the news delivered by her maid and laughed merrily.
“Hadem really ran away!?”
“Yes, Lady Selenia. Rumors have spread across the entire continent that Lord Hadem of the Lion family retreated out of fear of Sharen, the mage of the Cron family.”
“Hahahaha! To think that proud axe would show such an ugly sight. My brother must be furious.”
“Yes, exactly as you say, Lady Selenia.”
When her maid bowed her head, everyone present agreed with her words.
Her name was Selenia Lily Novarens.
As the Second Imperial Princess of the Novarens Empire, she was one of the noblest people in the empire, possessing the highest right of succession to the throne alongside the imperial prince.
From her perspective, as she played an enormous game of chess against her brother with the empire as the board, the events unfolding in the south were far too amusing.
At first, when an unheard-of family called Cron appeared, even she had been flustered.
After all, the various reforms that began in Cron had caused damage even to the territories she supported.
So at first, she had worried that her brother, the imperial prince, had extended his hand all the way to Cron, but this incident had washed those worries away.
If they had sided with her brother, there was no way they would have humiliated the Lion family like that.
“What did you say the name of the lord of the Cron family was?”
“He is called Kalix Cron. People in the world are said to call him the ‘Silver Dragon of Cron.’”
“The Silver Dragon of Cron… That was the title of the great general who made great contributions to making our ancestor emperor, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that is correct, Lady Selenia.”
Selenia recalled the history lessons of her childhood.
When the First Emperor, Belserion Ark Novarens, became emperor, the general who rendered the greatest service was the Silver Dragon of Cron, Draygen Cron.
At this time, with the war for the throne drawing ever closer, the appearance of the Silver Dragon of Cron felt to her like fate.
“I like him! Let’s bring him over to our side too!”
“Yes. The lord of Cron will surely be delighted by your proposal, Lady Selenia.”
Splash—!
Selenia rose from the golden bathtub.
As her naked body, beautiful as a jewel, emerged from the water, the maids on either side immediately began drying her with large towels.
“Then I suppose we should send him a gift first… Lumiel, who do you think would be good to send?”
At Selenia’s words, Lumiel, the maid standing beside her with light green hair and large horn-rimmed glasses—and also the imperial princess’s right hand—answered with a gentle smile.
“I believe that ‘child’ who recently came in would be best. Since she graduated from the academy with the highest marks, the lord of Cron will surely be pleased.”
“Ah! That child!… Mm… Yes! That sounds good. Then I’ll leave it to you, Lumiel.”
“I shall carry out your command, Your Highness Princess Selenia.”
With those words, Selenia walked into her room.
Watching the two maids struggle to wipe away the still-wet trail of water without obstructing the steps of their noble mistress, Lumiel let out a small sigh that no one could see.
* * *
After the Deep Rock incident, the Cron territory was peaceful for the first time in a while.
And Sharen’s power had, as expected, played a very large role in that peace.
She truly displayed such overwhelming abilities that the expressions “human rights character” and “one of the Three Sacred Treasures” suited her perfectly.
Because of her nickname, the Red Mage, people misunderstood her as using only flame magic, but she was a Sage candidate.
The first condition for becoming a Sage was to master every existing system of magic.
Naturally, not only flame magic, but healing magic and earth magic as well were things she could use beyond the level of ordinary mages, and that became a tremendous strength to Cron, where mages were practically nonexistent.
She treated people, restored their health, and quickly removed the salt from reclaimed land so crops could be planted.
By simple comparison, the operating efficiency of the territory seemed to have doubled compared to before she arrived.
“This month’s territorial revenue increased by 114% compared to last month, my lord!”
“All of this is thanks to your wisdom in recruiting Lady Sharen, my lord.”
Noa and Hart, who had been suffering headaches because of the money spent on large-scale battles and immigrant support, reported to me with refreshing smiles for the first time in a while.
That news put me in a good mood as well.
“Good! That’s excellent. Haha!!… Hah?”
Wait a second!
This isn’t something to be happy about!!
Looking at the gold before my eyes, I realized my mistake.
I had reinvested so much that I was pressed for money, so I worked the territory hard for a bit—and ended up making money again.
Ha… Where am I supposed to spend this money… Should I build an “Academy” or something?
Thinking of Cron’s poor educational facilities, I recalled the Academy, the special education building from World Archive.
While I was once again wondering how to consume the increased profits, a sound came from outside.
Knock! Knock!
“Enter.”
At my words, the door opened and a messenger soldier came in.
He entered with an extremely tense expression.
“What is it?”
“Yes! A letter has arrived for you from the imperial family, my lord.”
“A letter from the imperial family!?”
Damn it! What was bound to come has finally come!!
In World Archive, when you started as a lord and your fame rose, a letter would arrive from the imperial family like this, triggering various events.
What kind of event is about to start!? Please, anything but the Imperial Capital Invitation Event!!!
Worried, I accepted the letter from the messenger soldier.
The letter was sealed with the imperial family’s crest.
Seeing that it was not the seal of the “emperor,” but of the “imperial family,” the sender had to be either the “imperial prince” or the “imperial princess.”
Which one sent it?
Praying that it was not the imperial prince, I opened the letter, and inside was written something extremely simple.
——————————
Let’s get along from now on.
As a token of friendship, I’ll send you a present!
Second Imperial Princess / Selenia Lily Novarens
——————————
“…………”
What is this? Did I just read that wrong?
At the simple letter, the likes of which would have been hard to see even in internet mail in my previous life, I was at a loss for words.
Even in Kalix’s memories, there had never been a time when he received a letter from the imperial family, so I had no choice but to be flustered.
Was the imperial family allowed to do this?
Or had the imperial princess simply sent it according to her own tastes?
Either way, it was a rather avant-garde letter.
“My lord! What does it say?”
“…The Second Imperial Princess says she’s sending a gift as a token of friendship.”
“The imperial princess is!?”
Noa was surprised by my words.
The story of the imperial princess fighting with the imperial prince over the emperor’s seat was famous even here in the south.
And Noa, who had done business with countless lords, must surely know news about her as well.
“This has become troublesome. If it’s a gift from the imperial princess, we won’t be able to send it back carelessly.”
“That’s true. One wrong move, and it could become an insult to the imperial family.”
Even if it was a gift sent personally by the imperial princess without my consent, it was still sent from the imperial family.
Whether I rejected it without reason or accepted it, it would inevitably affect my future from now on.
“But my lord, did it say what kind of gift the imperial princess is sending?”
“That wasn’t written.”
“…I see.”
Hart’s gaze darkened, as if he knew something.
And Noa, too, seemed to know something, as she spoke with a dark expression.
“According to rumors, the imperial princess likes to raise things. It’s probably that kind of gift.”
“Raise things…”
At Noa’s words, I remembered something I had heard in my previous life.
That if you wanted to play as the imperial princess, the nurturing part was extremely important.
However, since I had never played as the imperial princess, I knew nothing beyond that.
“Let us wait for now. My lord, it will not be too late to respond after receiving the imperial princess’s gift.”
“Let’s do that, my lord.”
“Yes, let’s.”
And so, we decided to respond to the imperial princess’s gift only after the gift’s exact nature was revealed.
And a few days later, the imperial princess’s gift arrived.
A splendid carriage bearing the imperial family’s crest arrived at the modest palace of the Cron family, and its door opened.
And she stepped out.
“Don’t tell me the gift is…”
“It seems so, my lord…”
A single maid got down from the carriage.
With blonde hair that came lightly down to her neck and blue eyes like sapphires,
and with beautiful, cold features that made one’s heart stir, she approached me wearing a perfectly arranged maid uniform and carrying a large bag that seemed to belong to her.
Then she bowed in a perfect and courteous posture, as if painted in a picture, and spoke.
“Greetings, Lord Kalix. I am Lana Ansus, a maid who has come under the command of the Second Imperial Princess, Selenia Lily Novarens, to serve you, my lord.”
She looked straight at me with unwavering eyes and said,
“From today onward, I shall display perfect devotion at your side, my lord. Please command me in anything.”
I knew her well.
Her name was Lana Ansus.
Among servant-type characters, she was one of the few SSR characters I had possessed, known by the nickname “Super Maid” for having top-tier performance even among SSRs.
She was a perfect character, but there was one major problem.
It was because of her “class.”
In the game, she had two classes.
One was, naturally, “Maid.”
And there was one more.
That was…
“Assassin.”
A Trojan horse had been delivered to our territory.
Imperial Princess - Selenia Lily Novarens
Maid - Lana Ansus