Lovey-Dovey With Lei Squad
“……at last, the time to implement the plan is here”
“Eeh. We should be able to catch him if you leave it to us”
“It-, it may not be much, but I will help out as well!”
“Nii-san, just wait! I’ll give you my first time!”
◇◇◇
“Fuwaa〜, I slept well for the first time in a while〜”
“Kuwaah〜”
The day after the conference which invited the rulers of the respective countries finished. I was stretching my body hard on top of the bed. It’s because I’d recently cut down on my sleeping time preparing for the conference. I managed to sleep well for the first time in a while yesterday.
Beside me, Eclat who had slept together with me is also stretching her body and yawning similarly. Haha, how adorable. As I’m patting Eclat’s head and chilling, there’s a knock on the door. If it’s around this time
“Ex-, excuse me, Lei-sama!”
as I thought, it was Chrona. But her looks sure seem strange somewhere. Is it my imagination?
“Good morning, Lei-sama! It seems you fell asleep right away yesterday; are you alright?”
“Morning, Chrona. Aah, I’m alright. It’s because I couldn’t sleep properly recently. I managed to sleep properly for the first time in a while yesterday”
When I say that, Chrona also smiles and goes, ‘I am glad’, and does the usual morning preparation for me. But, she peeks over at me occasionally and blushes. What is it? I wonder if something’s wrong? But, before I ask
“Now then, Lei-sama. Let’s get prepared and head to the dining hall. Everybody is waiting, you know”
“Aa, aah, I’ll go right away”
Chrona ended up preparing as always and left the room. I missed my chance to ask. Well, I guess I’ll try asking later. I guess I’ll change as well.
I wash my face and change my clothes. I place Eclat in her standard spot and proceed down the corridor. As I proceed down the corridor, the maids I walk past bow to me.
Speaking of which, their contract period is also almost over huh. I had the Nanor Kingdom’s Head Maid let me hire them with the promise that it’ll only be for the period of the conference after all. I have to prepare for that as well.
I also have to return the table and stuff I’d borrowed from the Nanor Kingdom. There are lots of various things to do now that I think about it. Well, the maid’s matter is pretty much the only thing I have to do in a hurry, so I guess I shall take my time.
I’ve got to create additional Teleportation Magic Circles for the sake of the war’s preparation, but even that is currently in the stage of gathering resources.
“Kyu, kyu, kyu, kyu, kyururu, kyuh!”
On top of my head, Eclat is chirruping joyously. She sure is in an even better mood today. I wonder if something nice happened. When I opened the dining hall’s door while patting such Eclat, everybody was already in their seats waiting.
“Morning, Lei. Did you manage to sleep well?”
“Aah, morning, Alexia. Everybody too, morning. I slept like a baby. Looks like I’d been rather exhausted”
I sit on my standard spot, the top seat. Everybody else, besides me, doesn’t have a fixed seat; it’s on a first-come, first-served basis.
Alexia is sitting before me to my right, and Caro is sitting before me to my left……huh? Come to think of it, Mei-chan, Roy, and Filia and company aren’t around. They should, still be at this territory though.
“Well then, shall we eat since that Lei is here”
“Hey, what happened to Mei-chan and the others? They should usually be around”
“Aah, if it’s Mei-chan and the others, they’ve gone to the Runwalker March. Filia-chan invited them”
Priscilla answers. I see. Well, it’ll probably be fine if they’re going over to play. There are no worries if it’s Runwalker March after all.
After that, everybody starts eating breakfast. Excluding me, the ones here are Alexia, Ferris, Caro, Helen, Aerith, Marin-san, Priscilla, Eclat, Kana, Mari-chan, and Chrona.
There are fewer people than usual, but it’s quite a number of people nevertheless. As I was thinking about something like that
“Lei. Do you have any plans for today?”
, Alexia asks me. Everybody who reacts to that looks over at me. Uーn, plans huh. For the time being
“What I have to hurry up and do is, the return of the maids I’ve hired from the Nanor Kingdom. The contract period is soon about to end after all”
“Come to think of it, there that’s huh. But, it’s fine even if you don’t be in that much of a rush, right? If it’s Otou-sama, then he’ll allow it even if we’re slightly late”
“Uーn, that being said, there’s the saying that courtesy is indispensable even between close friends, right? Since the contract period is until the conference is over, I have to send everybody home by the end of today”
When I say that, Alexia is choking on her words going, ‘gu nu nu‘. What’s the matter? Is there something?
“In that case, there is nothing in particular after that is over, right?”
Over there, Helen asks me like she’s helping Alexia out. After that’s over huh. It’s true that returning the maids is the only hurry, but there are also other things I want to do ahead of time as well.
When I conveyed that, Alexia and the others gathered at the corner of the dining hall and started discussing something. The only ones eating breakfast are me, and Eclat.
And then, perhaps Alexia and the others finished their discussion, they return to their own seats……not, but they stand in a way that they surround me. Wha-, what is it?
“Lei, apologies, but we’re going to have you let us catch you”
“Hah? Uoh!”
As Alexia said a single disturbing sentence, she cast her Magic at me. It’s a Binding-type Magic. I jumped from that spot right away and dodged it, but why exactly!?
“Kuu, you managed to dodge it huh. But, we won’t let you escape!”
Everybody slowly closes in on me. Why? Did I do something? I don’t know the reason, but I wonder if I should run away here, or, should I talk about it with them?
“Ev-, everybody, calm down. Why, are you doing something like this! Did I do something?”
“Eeh, you did! A grave sin that you mustn’t commit!”
While saying that, Aerith leaps over at me. Wha-, what should I do. Should I dodge, or should I catch her.
I decided to catch Aerith. I don’t know what I did, but I probably did something that made everybody so angry. I ought to obediently apologise here. I’ve got to apologise, including for the things I don’t remember as well.
“Heh?”
Because Aerith leapt over at me, I caught her in a way that I’m hugging her. Perhaps Aerith didn’t expect it either, she lets out a silly voice. And then
“”Aaah!!!””
, my fiancees’ cries can be heard.
“Sorry, Aerith. I don’t know why is it that you’re so angry. My apologies, but won’t you tell me?”
“I-, I got it, so squeeze me more tightly!”
O, ou? An answer that I didn’t expect came back to me. Do I just have to, squeeze her tightly? When I squeezed her as I was told, Aerith’s face, went droopy like never before. What’s this, so adorable.
I was tightly hugging Aerith who went droopy, but immediately after, Aerith ended up being captured by Alexia and the others.
And then, Aerith was surrounded and scolded by everybody. What can be heard are all kinds of things like how it’s unfair, how they want it done to them as well, how she wants more than that done to her. ……what’s, ‘more than that’.
After that, I pacify everybody and make them sit in their original seats. I’ve got to carefully hear what’s going on from everybody. Why is it that they’re so angry. I start talking after confirming that Chrona placed drinks in front of everybody.
“So, about what happened just now, I’d like everybody to tell me the reason I made you angry. It’s to the extent that everybody is that angry. I don’t remember it, but I suppose I did something rather horrible. I’m sorry!”
I lower my head to everybody. I don’t think I’ll be forgiven with something like that, but I have to show my sincerity at least. Immediately after
“Aah, please lift your head, Lei-kun! We are not angry or anything!”
, Helen says to me. When I timidly raised my head, the sight of everybody making a very troubled-looking expression was over there.
“We’re not angry or anything, Lei. It’s just that, Lei had recently been busy with the conference’s matter and the Demon Tribe’s matter, right? That’s why, we were thinking about having you take a rest, even if it’s a little”
“However, Nii-san goes on and on about work no matter how much we ask. As the result of discussing with everybody, we decided that, even if it’s by force, we’ll catch you and make you rest……as a premise”
“Premise?”
“We actually wanted to be lovey-dovey with Lei! Especially us people who were in the stay-behind group!”
Caro, Kana, and Ferris talked about the reason for their actions just now to me in sequence……that’s what it is huh. I’ve indeed been working restlessly recently, and I didn’t even rest.
Furthermore, I managed to spend time together with Alexia and Chrona even during the period I went to Regalia Empire, but I didn’t manage to do so with everybody else after all. It’s true that it can’t be helped even if they get angry at me. It’s my fault after all.
“……I got it. I shall spend today’s evening onwards with everybody relaxingly. I said it just now as well, but I’m thinking of settling just the maid’s matter. Everybody, sorry. I didn’t take everybody into consideration”
“Please don’t apologise. We also understand that we are being selfish after all”
Priscilla says that, but as I thought, I’ve got to take the initiative with such things. It’s my fault no matter how you think about it.
After that, having finished my meal, I gather the maids who have been dispatched from Nanor, verify their contract, and pay their wages along with their termination.
Amongst them, there were also maids who say that they want to carry on working here, but as one would expect, there’s no way I can give the permission, so I decided to have them go back to Nanor for once, and have them contact me upon talking with Nanor’s Head Maid. I’ll feel bad if I poach them all willy-nilly after all.
I had them dispatch a total of about 30 maids, and after verifying them one by one, it ended up becoming noontime before I knew it.
There’s other work as well, but I made a promise to everybody. I’m done for today with this. However, although I said I’d spend time with them relaxingly, I wonder what I should do. I haven’t seen everybody since we finished breakfast after all.
When I head to the dining hall for the time being, there was nobody over there; just a single lone piece of letter was placed on top of the table. Over there
“”We’ll wait in the bathroom!””
, had been written in crimson red colour for some reason. Why red? It’s a little scary though. But, well, it’s no use to think about it here. I guess I’ll head to the bathroom.
