◇

After teleporting back to the mansion"s bas.e.m.e.nt, I climb the narrow stair to the entrance hall.
For some reason, the little girl maids have gotten excited while pointing outside the windows.

One little girl maid who heard the familiar sound of the closing bas.e.m.e.nt door noticed me and then she came running.

"Master!　It"s an 『Airs.h.i.+p』!　『Airs.h.i.+p』! It"s flying!"
"Cause it"s an airs.h.i.+p."
"That"s true isn"t it! It"s amazing isn"t it!"

I think it won"t be an airs.h.i.+p if it"s not flying.
I"m pulled by the little girl maid toward the window. A large airs.h.i.+p is floating above the labyrinth army"s garrison.

It"s the s.h.i.+p that I"ve delivered as Nanas.h.i.+ to the kingdom.

The flag of s.h.i.+ga Kingdom is drawn on the airs.h.i.+p"s armored side, a small crest flag that signifies the pa.s.sengers is raised on the bridge above the bow. I understood that that crest is of [Duke Bishtal] since I had been drilled about heraldry by the civil official Yurina when I got my peerage in Muno city.
If I"m not mistaken that duke is the nephew of General Eltal who commands the labyrinth army here.

We and every members of [Lion"s Roar] who has captured the middle layer floormaster is going to board that airs.h.i.+p to the Royal Capital.
It"d be nice if Duke Bishtal who"s in bad term with Duke Oyugock won"t pick a quarrel with me during the travel...
Well, a high-ranking n.o.ble like a duke probably won"t be eccentric enough to pick a fight with a honorary n.o.ble of the lowest rank.

"You girls, the morning work isn"t over yet. Get back to work quick!"

Ms. Miteruna who has appeared in the entrance hall out of nowhere roars, the little girl maids go back to their works like a scattered cloud.

"Good morning, master."
"Yeah, morning."
"There were three people last night. I have contacted the guard station."
"Is that so, thank you for your hard work."

The three people whom Ms. Miteruna mentioned are thieves who had trespa.s.sed the mansion in the middle of the night. There have been eight people in total with them now huh. It"s a bit many.
I"ve installed Scarecrow No.11 on the mansion"s roof to detect thieves.

I"ve left Ms. Miteruna to take care of the thieves caught today.
Even though the explorers who are guarding the mansion are only paid with one big copper coin a night, there are a lot of applicants. The midnight snacks that the little girl maids prepare seems to be famous. I wonder if there are a lot of lolicon among the explorers?

Most of the equipments are in my storage, Arisa"s item box, and inside the magic bags though, so the things in the new underground storehouse which the thieves are aiming are all dummy magic tools.
The majority of those magic tools are the ones I"ve bought from my merchant acquaintances in the labyrinth city, and the items I"ve bought from the craftsmen in the tenement houses to support them in the early days.
Of course I"ve also mixed some decoration items that look like the genuine ones.

All those items worth more than 100 gold coins though, so it"s probably still attractive even for dummies.
Even just the other day, there was a thief who used earth magic to make a small pa.s.sage underground in order to invade the mansion.
Since I had just returned at that time, I arrested him after discovering him on the radar and handed him over to the authorities.
Now he"s working hard improving the soil on the experimental farm outside the city as a crime slave.

The actual desirable magic item isn"t located in the underground storehouse, but in my bas.e.m.e.nt laboratory.
I have put a great sword with blade taken from a [Soldier Mantis]"s sickle remodeled with mithril and hihiirogane there. It"s something that an average Red Iron explorer would die for.
This great sword is too big to get taken out of the bas.e.m.e.nt normally, only people who have Item Box or a magic bag can get it out.

In other word, people who can steal this are limited.
If a thief who has Item Box is caught in the trap, there would be many things I can use them for.

The fact that I have magic bags is already well-known in the labyrinth city, so there"s probably no one who thinks strange of it.

Well, let"s leave that matter.
Rather, I wonder if Arisa and the others are ready?

"Has everyone woken up?"
"Yes, everyone has already finished dressing."

I don"t think she"s waiting for Ms. Miteruna to finish talking, but Arisa shows up while leading everyone from the door that can be seen opening from here.

Everyone is in their top form today.

"Ja ja~n, what do you think, it"s lovely right?"

Arisa spins on the spot.

"Lovely, you"re a lady."
"Mou! Why was it in monotone!"

Arisa is wearing an orthodox party dress, but she ends up looking like [a child who tries too hard]. The person herself seems to intend to look like lady, so I"m not going to throw some needless retort.
The elegant silver tiara on her head is s.h.i.+ning.

The tiara is not the same genuine one that Princess Noja and the pink-haired Princess Meana were wearing, but it"s a small light tiara that brides usually wear together with their wedding dress in the modern j.a.pan.

Arisa"s tiara is of a normal arabesque design, but the design on Pochi"s tiara is of a puppy playing, and Tama"s tiara has the figure of a stretching cat and a cat that"s sharpening its claw. Every other member also has the tiara design that matches them each, but making them unexpectedly took some time.
It wasn"t the time to work on it, but the time for everyone to decide on the design.

I only need to melt several silver coins for a tiara though, so it"s not that expensive.
Apparently, the price of handmade things changes as more people see it, right now one tiara is worth several gold coins even though it was only one gold coin originally.
I"m slightly worried at just how much it will become as daughters of the n.o.bles who will be seeing us off today see the tiara.

"Next one is Pochi nanodesu!"
"Tama too~?"
"You two are cute too."
"Wa~i" "Nanodesu!"

Pochi and Tama are wearing normal cute pink dresses.
The "Shupi" and the "Shutan" pose don"t match their clothing.... It is cute though.

"Satou."

Mia is wearing an elf-like dress with a lot of bright green laces.
She was hesitating between the elf native dress and the miko-like clothes that Aze-san wore, but it looks like she"s picked the dress.

"You also look like a princess Mia."
"Nn."

Mia answered short, but she looks happy with reddened cheeks.

"Master, declaring the getting up greeting."
"Yeah, good morning."

Huh? Nana"s greeting is different than usual.

Nana is wearing a polite yellow dress that unfortunately covers her chest.
Even though the one that I made at first had the cleavage section with enough offensive power to sink a country, it changed to the current one due to Mia"s protest and Arisa"s supervision.
I think Arisa doesn"t understand the fine arts of adults.... No, I guess it"s men"s romance.

"Lying in wait for master"s praise, so I whisper."
"You"re more beautiful than usual today."

It"s hard to read Nana since her expression hardly changes, but that face is for when she"s elated, or rather excited.
She"s probably looking forward to the departure for the Royal Capital.

"Thank you for waiting, Master."
"Master, good morning."

The last two to appear are Liza and Lulu in combat clothes. Lulu is wearing maid-like clothes so she"s still good, but Liza is in a costume that makes her look like a complete knight.
I tried recommending her to wear dress many times over, but she told me that she wanted to go with combat clothes since she"s going as a Mithril explorer. I"ve let Liza do as she pleases since it"s rare for her to insist on something herself.

"Masita, morning."
"Good morning. Masu, no, Masita."
"You don"t have to force yourself, you can call me Masuta okay?"
"No, I am alright. Masita."

s.h.i.+ro and Crow greet me while flying around.

Huh? These children are also wearing formal clothes.
They should be staying in the labyrinth city, I wonder why? Have they dressed up to see us off?

Nana is avoiding my eye contact, but I firmly object them from tagging along.
I won"t be too sweet on this.

◇

Urged by Ms. Miteruna, I go to the dress room in the bedroom to change into the ceremonial n.o.ble clothes.

s.h.i.+ga Kingdom has all kind of customs being an old kingdom it is.
It was loosely upheld in the Duchy Capital and Muno Barondom, but custom is important in the Royal Capital among distinguished n.o.bles who dominate the city.

On top of that, there are different ceremonial clothes depending on your peerage, so I have to be careful not to wear the wrong clothes and get myself in trouble uselessly.
The duke is going on board today, so I"ll be wearing some slightly formal clothes. I"m wearing necktie-like decoration cloth (cravat) on my neck, but it looks smug and unpleasant.

After I"ve finished getting dressed, I check with Arisa while taking light breakfast together with everyone before our departure.

"Arisa, is the preparation for the luggage complete?"
"Of course duh!"

She really is a showa person

The conspicuous luggage are only the two suitcases and the three armor bags.
Any other item beside those are stored in the magic bags, Arisa"s Item Box, and the storage s.p.a.ce created by Arisa"s s.p.a.ce magic [Garage].

We pa.s.s through the door that little girl maids have opene and go outside.
Little girl maids and the orphanage children are surrounding the path toward the two carriages that are in front of the gate to see us off.

One of the two carriage is something I"ve borrowed from Baronet Dyukeli"s family.
Since Baronet Dyukeli was interested with our carriage, I had given him this carriage which had the same look as ours after we had gotten along to a certain extent.

Lady Karina and the others have already gone to the place where the airs.h.i.+p is anch.o.r.ed earlier since not everyone can get on the two carriages.

"""Please take care, Chevalier-sama."""

The children bowed in chorus together all at once.
I reply to them while walking toward the carriage.

"■■■ Breeze"

When we were halfway through the pathway, one of the orphanage children swung the short wand on his hand to use magic.
The wind that he"s produced flips up the skirt of Arisa and the others, and the little girl maids.
I reflexively hug Lulu"s and Nana"s thighs to protect their skirts. I probably look like a s.e.xual hara.s.ser from other people"s viewpoint.
However, the skirts of the girls that I didn"t guard have flipped up.
The fact that most of those skirts are made of light cloth due to the hot temperature of the labyrinth city is probably another reason.

Mia and Arisa whom I didn"t guard grandly raised their protest among the shrill screams.
Pochi and Tama seemed to find the flipped skirt amusing, they were, "Fluttering~", "Nanodesu!", delightedly.

The mischievous boys are pleased with their victory.

Far from scolding them, I was shocked instead.

There wasn"t anyone who had the [Chanting], and [Magic] skills among the orphanage children at least.
Arisa and Mia did teach them words and magic during their break, but to think there are children who have become able to use it.... d.a.m.n you geniuses.

s.h.i.+ro and Crow have also become able to use darkness and light magic, but these two children have the boost from power-leveling.
These orphanage children have reached the point where they can use magic and chanting without such cheat.
Putting aside the usage, I want to express my respect for their great effort and talent.

How enviable....

No, let"s stop envying children.
It"s not like I feel cheered up when I see Arisa scolded the kid and punches his head, dropping him to the ground, not at all.

After such cute happening, the carriage we"re riding head toward the place where the Airs.h.i.+p is anch.o.r.ed.