Survival in Another World with My Mistress!, Volume 7, page 17
“Well, Queen Sylphyel—”
“I am not yet officially the queen,” Sylphy interrupted.
“My apologies,” the elf man said. There was a cramped smile on his face as he continued, “In any case, I have heard what happened from Princess Sylphyel, and well… As much as I would like to simply hand him over to you and end this with a smile and a shaking of hands, I cannot do that.”
I carefully observed the man—he was a man, right? As far as I could tell, he was a male elf clad in the sort of attire you’d expect to see a nobleman wear. He appeared to be a young man, but since he was an elf, it was more than likely that he was older than me. The elves of the Black Forest typically had light-colored hair, but this man’s hair was dark brown, and his complexion had a yellow undertone. He may have been an elf just like Sylphy, but it felt to me like he was from a different clan than those in the Black Forest.
“Excuse my rudeness,” he said. “My name is Kirillovich, and I am here as a diplomat of the Varyag Empire…” He glanced at Cuvi, then for a moment at Sylphy, who still looked deeply irritated. “As you can see, the situation here is, well… Hah hah hah…”
“You’ve got a lot of guts laughing right now,” I said.
“We did our own recon on our way here. I am more than aware that there is nothing we could possibly do against you after hearing that you were able to massacre the Holy Kingdom’s subjugation army of 60,000 men. All I can do at this point is laugh.” Kirillovich reached for the teacup on the table and took a sip. He didn’t look remotely nervous.
“Personally, I would like to find a compromise that works for both parties,” he went on, “but there was no way we could proceed without you here, Sir Kousuke, as you are at the center of this conflict. That is why I asked Her Majesty to summon you. I truly apologize for having you come, but given the circumstances, it would have been difficult to approach you myself.”
“I don’t particularly mind that you asked for me, but compromising is going to be tough,” I told him. “Personally, I’d be fine with blowing that piece of shit’s head off right here and now.”
“Hah hah hah… As I said, I cannot just let you do that.”
“And how do you really feel?”
“My job is to forge friendly relations with the Kingdom of Merinard, a nation that shares a common foe with us. Personally, I’d like to strangle this man for getting in the way of that, and strangle Count Isard for forcing him on me. Hah hah hah…” He was laughing, but his eyes were deadly serious. He really didn’t know about what Cuvi did to us, specifically me, until arriving here.
“What if you reported that he went missing during the trip?” I suggested. “One night after arriving in Merinesburg, he went drinking and never came back or something.”
“Hrm… I’d rather avoid a story like that, as I would be held accountable for losing him.”
At our earnest discussion of how to get rid of him, the fox bastard nervously smiled and lifted his hands into the air. “Look, I get it! I surrender. I really don’t wanna die. I’ll tell you everything I know, so just spare me my life.”
“You’ve got a lot of goddamn nerve.”
“The death penalty.”
“Capital punishment.”
“Death penalty.”
“I am so sorry.” Cuvi was lying on his back now, showing us his belly. Was this how beastmen prostrated themselves?
“What should we do?”
“I’m fine with sentencing him to death.”
“He doesn’t seem sincere.”
“Cuvi is the type of man who would gladly throw away his pride if it meant surviving,” Melty agreed. “I doubt he’s all that panicked right now considering he still has the clothes on his back.”
“Being forced to look at his nude body would only scar our eyes,” Sylphy added. “There would be nothing to gain from it.”
“Er, the fact that he is surrendering like this in front of the most powerful people in your country and me, a diplomat, has to count for something, right?” said Kirillovich. “Even in an unofficial capacity.”
Kirillovich was genuinely put off by our reactions, but Melty was right that Cuvi would throw away any ounce of pride he had in order to survive, even if it meant prostrating himself like this. And anyway, how could we possibly trust anything he said when he was the one who betrayed our trust in the first place? Him showing his stomach to us was meaningless.
“Sir Kirillovich, this man committed the worst possible betrayal toward us,” Melty said. “If things had turned out differently, we would have lost Kousuke. He may be the Fabled Visitor, but, perhaps more importantly, he is Princess Sylphyel’s partner, and they were already in that relationship when Cuvi betrayed us. In other words, this man kidnapped the prince consort of our nation, then sold him to our enemies. He is a traitor. Do you not agree that acquitting him for such crimes would be absurd?”
She flashed a smile at Kirillovich, but right now her rage was fusing with her magic powers to create a violent aura that leaked into the air around her. I was fine because that energy wasn’t being directed at me, but Kirillovich probably felt like he was about to be murdered.
“H-hah, hah hah…” The elf laughed as best as he could as the sweat started rolling down his face.
Melty, chill. He’s gonna pass out.
“Anyway, first we must hear why he did what he did,” Kirillovich said. “From beginning to end. Even if we are to execute him, we have to at least hear him out.”
“Is he going to talk if we don’t guarantee his life?”
“If not, then we simply kill him here and now,” said Sylphy. “The longer he talks, the longer he lives. Depending on what he says, we might even spare his life. But the moment we catch him lying, he dies on the spot. If he runs, we will follow him to the ends of this planet in order to end his life.”
Sylphy was completely serious, and Ira was nodding next to her with the same look in her eyes. I noticed that Ira was fiddling with a collar in her hands, the exact one I’d had put on me when I first arrived in this world and met Sylphy.
“How do you feel about all of this, Kousuke?” she asked me.
“Me? Well… Hm.”
If the question was whether I resented Cuvi enough to want to murder him, I wasn’t really sure. At the time, when he kidnapped me and stuffed me away like luggage, sure, I’d wanted to kill him. But when I got put into jail, I managed to break out and it resulted in my fateful encounter with the slime girls, and that eventually led me to Elen as well. If he hadn’t kidnapped me, I would never have met her, and there was no telling whether my relationship with Melty would be what it was now. I wouldn’t have Grande in my life either.
Anger and resentment could fade over time, but… It was also true that the second I saw his face, I wanted to kill him. I’d definitely calmed down, though.
I’d found his whole plot strange since the beginning, quite frankly. If Cuvi had wanted me dead, he could have killed me the moment I emptied my inventory. Instead, he intentionally went out of his way to hand me over to the white pig bishop in charge of Merinard, then let me slip away right under his nose. What had he actually wanted to accomplish? I’d found myself asking myself that question over and over again since the whole thing went down.
“Now that I’ve had a chance to think clearly, I don’t think I resent him enough to want to kill him,” I decided.
“Hrm?”
“But I do still want to shear him naked,” I said, pulling out a pair of clippers I’d prepared for this very occasion. They were spring powered and could be operated with one hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Cuvi, still on his back and trembling in fear.
“Hrm… Then shall we shear his hair off before we hear him out?” said Sylphy.
“Let’s start with somewhere on his torso that won’t stand out,” I suggested. “Depending on his explanation, we can shear his head, tail, arms, and legs.”
“Good plan.”
“Agreed.”
“Hah hah hah!” I chuckled. “I’ve got enough clippers to go around.”
“And don’t even think about resisting,” said Sylphy. “The second you do, you’re a dead man. I am not nearly as forgiving as Kousuke.”
And so began our super happy fun shearing time. Kirillovich looked taken aback, but we did what had to be done.
***
“Instead of leaving him smooth, do you think we should make it look like he’s been eaten by caterpillars?”
“I certainly would hate that, but I think I would hate being completely sheared even more.”
“Then we shall go with that, Leonard.”
Now that we’d decided on our plan, I took Cuvi’s top and put it into my inventory.
“Wha?!” Kirillovich couldn’t help but yelp in surprise at the sight. I could put anything I could see into my inventory, even if a person was wearing it. My range wasn’t particularly long, but it was a useful skill during close combat against other people—not that I expected to be in that kind of situation very often.
“First, it is time to show you how serious we are.”
“Mm.” Ira nodded in response, maliciously snipping the scissors in the air.
After Sylphy threatened to kill him if he resisted, Cuvi let us shear his torso without moving a muscle.
“Huh. So male beastmen do have nipples.”
“Obviously…”
Cuvi was the kind of beastman who looked a lot more like an animal than some of the others, and he had two nipples. Female beastmen who physically looked more animal than man were that way too, so that made sense. They were still humanoid despite leaning more toward animalistic traits. How fascinating.
“Now then, I think that is enough for the time being,” Sylphy declared. “Speak.”
“Okay…”
Cuvi’s energy level was at an all-time low after having his torso fur decimated. His ears were lying flat against his head, and his tail was drooping… Actually, he had it wrapped around his crotch. The biggest tell was that his eyes were totally dead.
As for Kirillovich, he’d gone silent a while ago and was looking down at the floor. Apparently, his way of showing consideration toward Cuvi was to simply look away. I was glad that his way of justice wasn’t that kind that would lead him to step in when seeing a citizen of his nation being treated this way. If he had, there was no telling what Sylphy and the others would have done, myself and Sir Leonard notwithstanding. Well, considering he was a diplomatic envoy, I would have stopped them before anything bad went down.
“First, I’ve always been a spy for the Varyag Empire,” Cuvi confessed. “About ten years ago, when the Kingdom of Merinard was a vassal state of the Holy Kingdom, I was sent there with orders to collect intel and cause disturbance.”
“Is that why you aided our rebellion?”
“Yeah. But three years ago, just after your rebellion began, I got new orders from the empire—top priority orders that had to do with Kousuke.”
I tilted my head. I hadn’t arrived in this world three years ago. Did that mean someone predicted me coming here…? Well, people with those kinds of powers did exist in this world…
“Some kind of oracle or prediction?”
“The saint of the Holy Kingdom and the elves of the Black Forest aren’t the only ones who receive the words of God and the spirits. We have saints and shrine maidens in the Varyag Empire as well.”
That made sense.
“I wasn’t given the details of what the oracle said,” he went on, “but my orders were extremely simple and clear: I was to take the Fabled Visitor who appeared before the elves of the Black Forest and stuff him into a jail in Merinesburg. The single condition was that I had to weaken his powers as much as possible first. I expected that last bit to cause me a lot of trouble, but…”
“So that’s why you had Kousuke empty his inventory?”
“Yeah. But I didn’t think it’d be so easy. The whole thing really caught me off guard.”
“Kousuke, he’s firing shots.”
“Oh, hush.”
The only reason I went along with his request was because I wanted to see what it would look like to lay out all of my stuff that wasn’t food. I didn’t expect to get attacked right afterward, tied up, and then kidnapped. Cuvi had been a friend at the time…
Urgh, I can feel myself getting angry. Now I want to beat the hell out of this guy, not just shear him.
“If you were an imperial spy from the start, that would explain the teleportation tool you had when you escaped… On the other hand, you clearly had connections to the Holy Kingdom. Your escape route was unnatural. Why would a beastman and spy of the empire flee toward the Holy Kingdom…? Wait, now I get it.” Things were finally coming together.
“Obviously you have spies and allies within the Holy Kingdom, but we grilled Archbishop Deckard and High Priestess Katalina, and neither of them knew you,” Ira said.
“They’re leaders of the Nostalgia-sect, right?” said Cuvi. “I was relying on a bigwig in the main sect.”
“So even they’re not a monolith, then?”
“Exactly.”
“But due to their actions, the Holy Kingdom is surrounded by enemies; the empire to the east and us to the west. Why would your contact want such a thing?”
“That’s a good point. Who knows what the main sect is truly after.”
It made sense if the Nostalgia-sect was working with Cuvi, but the main sect was anti-demi-human at its core. There was no way they’d want Merinard to return to its former glory.
“Look, there are all sorts in the main sect,” Cuvi said. “I don’t know the det—”
Shink, shink, shink.
Ira silently snipped her scissors. “What’s next? Your head or your tail?”
“Seriously, I don’t know what I don’t—”
“Let’s do his tail.” Melty smiled, brandishing her own scissors. “Beastmen are particularly proud of their tails.”
It was honestly hard to believe that he didn’t know anything at this point.
“Wait, wait!” he protested. “Even if I did know something, sometimes ignorance is bliss! I can state that for certain! Nothing good will come from knowing this information!”
“So you’re saying you do know.”
“I don’t! And if I did, I’d talk! At best, all I could give you is conjecture, and that’d be irresponsible!”
“Let us hear it. We will decide whether to believe you or not.”
“Mm. Speak.”
“Again, this is just conjecture on my part! Don’t blame me if it all turns out to be wrong!” Cuvi finally started talking, all the while holding his tail. “My inside contact is Cardinal Krone, the thirty-four-year-old monster sitting at the top of the church’s food chain. He’s a passionate advocate of the sacred texts.”
“What does that mean?” asked Ira.
“He deeply respects the sacred texts of Adolism.”
“Are you telling me he noticed that at some point the texts were modified?”
“Sometimes, the power of religious faith exceeds reason, but…”
Sir Leonard and I exchanged puzzled glances as we listened to Cuvi and Ira’s back and forth. Even if all of this were true, I couldn’t get a read on what Cardinal Krone was after. If he really did place that much value on the holy texts, why not just jump ship and join the Nostalgia-sect? Was there some value to operating in secret within the main sect? I just didn’t get it.
“That’s why I said this is all just conjecture. It’s only going to cause more confusion…” Cuvi whispered, still clutching his tail. Was he really that afraid of having it sheared?
“While we have more questions, for now we will spare your tail,” said Sylphy.
“…!” The faint light of hope flickered in Cuvi’s eyes.
“Like I said…‘we’ will spare your tail.”
“…Huh?”
The door to the room creaked open like something out of a horror film.
Er, when we came in earlier, the door was completely silent. What the heck?
“But will they be so forgiving, I wonder?”
“Caw!” “Caw!” “Caw!”
The harpies appeared beyond the doorway, massive smiles on each and every one of their faces. It was actually terrifying how similar they all looked.
“Eeek…”
“It is time for you to truly grasp the consequences of your actions.”
“Gaaah?!”
The harpies surged into the room and rushed Cuvi.
About an hour later, a completely sheared beastman was hung on display at the castle gate. Around his neck was a wooden sign that read, “I betrayed my friends.” Let me also make it clear: Thanks to my and Kirillovich’s pleas, the beastman was hung from his body and not his neck.
***
“Now then, I believe you have visited us from afar in the hopes of forging a friendship with the Kingdom of Merinard, yes?”
“That is correct.”
After the harpies dragged Cuvi out of the room, we continued our discussion with Kirillovich. Was it just me, or was he looking a bit pale? It was probably just my imagination.
“While you operated within our borders without permission, we will consider it water under the bridge now that Cuvi has been dealt with,” Sylphy told him. “Neither party will reference said event moving forward. Does that work for you?”
“Hah hah hah… I would like him back at some point; he was loaned to me, after all.”
“I understand that. We will refrain from taking his life, and I promise that he will be returned to you when the time comes.”
“I’d be in trouble if he was rendered completely useless, so please take that into consideration.”
“Understood. Now, on to discussing business. Your objective is forging a friendly relationship with us, but what exactly does that mean? The Holy Kingdom’s vast territory and the Amagala Great Plains lie between our countries. Traveling from our nation to yours, and vice versa, would necessitate avoiding such areas. A one-way trip alone would take half a year.”
Sylphy’s point made a lot of sense. There were no vehicles capable of traveling across the ground in this world, never mind large passenger planes that could haul massive amounts of people and cargo over long distances in a single day. All trade in this world was conducted either via carriage or boat. The problem was that Merinard had no coast, which meant we were limited to carriages and walking. Doing any kind of direct trade with the empire would be very difficult. Hell, even exchanging intel would take half a year. How exactly were we going to forge a useful friendship?
