“Besides, things like carriages or dresses made by magic will disappear when the magic effect ends. But carriages and dresses bought with money will remain even after the event is over. Even if things fail, you can at least sell them, so isn’t that obviously more beneficial?”

Dorothea’s words were extremely rational and logical.

But the cinder-covered girl couldn’t help feeling somewhat uneasy.

Somehow, it doesn’t seem any different from just getting a rich sponsor…

Of course, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There was no need to explain what a great fortune it was to have a rich daddy long legs—or in this case, mommy long legs—looking after you in a tough life.

It was just that she felt that if someone was a mage or a witch, there should be something more mystical and fantastic.

The cinder-covered girl, having finished several tasks including getting measurements taken, cautiously asked, “Um… can I go now?”

“What are you talking about? You need to learn how to dance.”

“Pardon?”

Towards the dumbfounded cinder-covered girl, Dorothea spoke as if it were obvious, “Have you ever been to a ball?”

“No.”

“Then do you know how to dance at a ball?”

“I don’t…”

“You say you’re going to capture the prince’s heart at the ball. Even if you manage to get the prince to ask you for a dance, if you end up stepping all over the prince’s feet or tripping over your own steps, wouldn’t that instantly extinguish any spark of love that was about to bloom? Hmm?”

The cinder-covered girl closed her mouth and imagined that scene in her head.

There were quite a few people in the world who preferred partners with some flaws rather than perfect ones, but even that had its limits.

Above all, since the cinder-covered girl’s family situation and background were already far from perfect, she needed to show perfection in terms of ability and conduct.

Towards the girl whose complexion had worsened, Dorothea added, “The same goes for etiquette. Even if the other person is crazy about appearances, you need to know at least the minimum level of noble-specific etiquette and conversation skills.”

“B-but there’s less than a week left until the ball starts. It’s impossible to learn all that in such a short time.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll make it possible.”

“What?”

“There’s a place where you can spend dozens of hours in your perception while only an hour passes in reality. The detailed principles wouldn’t be of any use for you to know, so I’ll skip over that.”

Saying this, Dorothea waved her hand in the air, and five semi-transparent human shadows appeared beside her.

This startled the cinder-covered girl, causing her to unconsciously take a step back, but instead of rushing at the girl, the unidentified ghosts elegantly or gentlemanly bowed their heads and greeted her.

“Former noble young ladies, dance instructor, etiquette instructor. Learn from them. These two are the nanny who took care of the prince you’re trying to seduce when he was young and one of his distant ancestors, so learn various things about the prince and family history from them.”

“You want me to learn from g-ghosts as teachers!?”

“You make a contract with a witch but can’t learn from ghosts? What’s the problem?”

Is that the same thing?

The cinder-covered girl, whose thoughts were in confusion, suddenly spoke as if a paused video had started playing again, “W-wait a moment. No, I’m grateful for the opportunity. But I have housework to do! I can’t spend too much time…”

“Weren’t you going to take revenge after the operation succeeds, anyway? Is there any need to be considerate? You could just eat and sleep here until the day of the ball.”

“I honestly don’t care about my stepmother and sisters, but I need to maintain my position as my father’s daughter. A daughter of a once-noble family, even if fallen, is different from someone without parents or connections.”

“Hmm.”

Dorothea fell into thought with her arms folded.

The cinder-covered girl thought it was a pose that strangely emphasized certain parts. It was enough to reflexively draw her gaze there.

“There should be plenty of souls with household chore skills, so if I make them into undead and have them do the work instead… that won’t work. They might be fine for a short while, but if they stay in the house for long, they’ll all be absorbed by that tree.”

At that moment, the golden-haired, violet-eyed girl, Adelaide, who had been silently watching the conversation between the two, raised one hand.

“Um, I’ll go and help.”

“You? You can’t do household chores.”

“I can do simple tasks! Like mopping!”

Seeing Adelaide’s strangely enthusiastic appearance, Dorothea shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, the tin can would just end up breaking things if he went, and Sophia is like a sloth when it comes to this kind of thing, so she wouldn’t be of help. I guess you’re the best option among us.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests Dorothea’s assessment, saying he could do delicate carving on various parts of the building!]

“Objective self-assessment is important. I fully agree.”

“What are you going to use carving for, you tin can? And Sophia, you should deny it a bit.”

It seems like various things are being decided regardless of my opinion.

The cinder-covered girl thought inwardly, but didn’t voice it out.

Well, not that I think about it, it’s much more comfortable to have that energetic-looking golden-haired girl help rather than having that witch in her unique dress… wait, is it a dress? Well, disregarding that, it’s better for her to do the mopping than the oddly dressed witch.

To be honest, while the others have some kind of noble aura or dignity that made it difficult to approach them casually, this one feels friendly, perhaps because of her bright, sun-like atmosphere.

Leaving behind the witch’s words to finish as quickly as possible and return, the cinder-covered girl led the golden-haired lion back to her house.

“Um, are you an adventurer, Miss Adelaide?”

“You don’t need to use ‘Miss’, and I’m not an adventurer. I’m just traveling away from home for a while.”

“Is that sword on your back okay? It looks huge and heavy.”

“Oh, this? Look closely at this part.”

“Oh, it’s floating without touching your back?”

“Yes, it’s that kind of scabbard. So it doesn’t really matter how strong I am.”

“I see.”

As expected of the witch’s companion, they have many mysterious items.

The cinder-covered girl understood it that way.

After all, it was much more plausible that it was a magic scabbard rather than the idea that a girl who looked similar to or even smaller than herself in build could carry such a great sword by strength alone.

But even if that’s how she carries it around, how does she fight with it…? Is it decorative? Or does the sword fly around on its own?’

Lost in imagination, the girl didn’t realize.

The little lion had said, “So it doesn’t matter how strong I am,” not once did she say, “I can’t lift it with my own strength.”

Of course, it wasn’t such a great misunderstanding.

Compared to the fact that she was using a future power holder who would soon grasp power no less than the kingdom’s monarch as a mere odd-job worker, this much was trivial.

***

Around the same time, in the eastern part of the continent. Albert, the City of Pleasure.

“Now, sign here.”

The old man’s eyes trembled as he looked at the document presented by a beautiful golden-haired woman with a cold impression.

At first glance, it looked like a young person bullying an innocent old man, but those who knew the old man’s identity knew that this was just an illusion.

The old man was the lord who ruled this City of Pleasure.

The old man, who had gained enormous wealth and power by willingly treating criminals who had to be careful in other places as guests and helping the “back dealings” of wealthy friends with shady hobbies from various nations around the world, was essentially a tyrant of this area.

Even criminals who committed all sorts of crimes such as murder, arson, rape, and plunder trembled and didn’t dare to make eye contact in front of the old man.

Because he was such an old man, when a letter with a lion seal first came to him, he was able to laugh it off.

Well, he had to.

Although the letter was full of all sorts of flowery words typical of nobles, its essence was as follows:

[Do you want to surrender to us willingly, or after getting beaten?]

To be honest, the old man thought the other party was being too arrogant.

It was true that the prestige of the Lion Duke’s bloodline was enough to shake the continent, but that was just an old story.

As they were framed as the main culprits in a rebellion incident involving the imperial family, the reputation of the “World’s Greatest Martial Family” was declining much faster than before, and many had directly lost their lives due to being involved in the rebellion incident.

Laughing at these mere remnants trying to play boss in a kingdom that seemed relatively easier to take than the empire was not just the old man’s sentiment, but the common impression of the surrounding powers.

Therefore, the old man rejected their proposal.

And not long after, they came to the City of Pleasure.

Only 30 people.

Yes, a mere 30 people.

The elite soldiers trained by the old lord to suppress the numerous criminals coveting this city numbered in the thousands.

To the old lord, who could easily command several times that number of troops by using money and vested interests to draw in outside forces, it was just a handful of people.

But that handful of people mercilessly shattered the basis for the old lord’s confidence one by one.

The high walls surrounding the entire city were breached by their athletic ability to climb the walls with bare hands.

The elite soldiers equipped with high-quality equipment after investing a lot of money were cut down along with their armor in front of the sword energy they wielded.

He hurriedly offered bounties to draw in the criminals in the city, but seeing the Lion Duke’s bloodline members scattering blood and death like beasts among sheep, the criminals fled, overwhelmed by fear.

Recalling that brutal scene, the old lord shuddered again.

He carefully read the contract presented before him.

The basic content wasn’t much different from what he had received in the letter before. Only the detailed conditions had become more harsh than before.

If the previous contract was about “respecting” a stronger lord as a lord, this one was almost openly close to a relationship between a king and a subject.

“…Are you thinking of creating a new nation?”

“Yawn.”

A lazy yawn burst out.

It wasn’t the cold-looking beauty facing the old lord who made the sound.

It was one of the other Lion Duke’s bloodline members behind her. Among them, a particularly young-looking girl was the culprit.

“Do you think you have the right to ask us various questions now? It’s annoying, so why don’t you just sign quickly?”

It was shocking words beyond outrageous to say to a lord of a territory.

But the old lord just trembled his eyes and didn’t dare to voice any protest.

While the strength of the Lion Duke’s bloodline members was worthy of the expression that each of them was worth a hundred men, this girl’s strength was on a different level, even among them.

The image of her slaughtering the old lord’s soldiers while laughing out loud in a light dress without any armor was engraved in the old man’s mind like a nightmare.

At that moment, the cold-looking beauty spoke, “Don’t interrupt and keep quiet, Hilda.”

“Why, Sister Maris? Honestly, it’s not like things ended nicely through words, and isn’t it funnier for him to be picky about things after being crushed in battle once?”

“Whatever happened in the past, he’s a member of our alliance from now on. Don’t provoke unnecessarily.”

“His reputation was trash anyway, why not just replace him?”

“It’s not for us to judge that, but for our lord. If you keep acting up, I’ll tell our lord when she returns?”

“A-as if I’d be scared by that… right?”

The fact that her confident words were just bravado was evident from her increasingly shrinking voice.

Seeing the clear fear in the eyes of the girl called Hilda, the old lord inwardly felt wonder and doubt.

For such a strong monster, who seemed to have no enemies in the human world, to be scared to this extent.

He couldn’t help but be curious about what kind of person their so-called “lord” was.

The Lennart family hasn’t weakened. Rather, those who had become dull to protect the power and authority they held have become sharper and more ferocious after being released into the wild.

A violent group that no longer cared about face or self-preservation, and simply wielded superhuman force without restraint.

And the existence of a “lord” who succeeded in intimidating and commanding such people with just her presence alone.

The old lord thought that this person must be an incredibly strong and weighty hero of the age.

Even at this moment, she must be devising tremendous schemes to realize that ambition.

***

“Hey, Zoluschka! I’ve finished mopping here!”

“Wow, already? Just a moment, woah, it’s true. It’s incredibly clean. I didn’t have much faith seeing how you held the mop at first, thinking you were a complete beginner.”

“I’m confident I can learn physical tasks quite quickly!”

“Then, would you like to try sewing this too? It’s good to make embroidery or something as a gift if you find someone you like later!”

“Ooh, ooh. Please teach me!”

***

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