Chapter 13: A Maid Outfit Has to Be Like This, After All.

“Damn it aaaaall! Take these shackles off me!”

“Don’t screw with us! This is how you treat us—the ones who protected this town from monsters?! You ungrateful NPC trash—are you really repaying kindness with betrayal?!”

The four lawless men, tightly restrained by the knight order, were handed over to the officials governing the city’s self-rule.

Because the incident had occurred within this independent autonomous district, it was decided that their punishment would be left to the town’s residents themselves.

“What do you mean, ‘protected’?! Do you have any idea how many people were hurt because of you?! You’re the real monsters!”

A woman who had been attacked by Claudia the Madwoman—one of the four—shouted her condemnation and hurled a stone. Others followed her lead, and soon stones were flying from all sides.

Given how deeply they were resented—not just by her, but by many of the townsfolk—it didn’t look like the four could expect any kind of mercy.

“Are you okay, nya? I did tell them the things they should probably be careful about, at least, nya.”

“Yes… If people like that managed to escape or resurrect themselves at a temple or something, who knows where they’d go or what they’d do next.”

Their entire bodies were locked down with steel restraints, and on top of that, they had been given a drug distilled from a poisonous herb that muddled the mind and prevented spellcasting. Even so, they continued screaming as they were hauled away to some part of the city. I, Ririka, Natsumi, and Erika—now in physical form—watched them go.

“Do not worry. I have registered the biological patterns of those four. From now on, if they make any suspicious movements, an immediate response will be possible.”

If Erika said so, then it was probably fine.

I had no idea how she’d been made, but Erika’s physical body looked almost human at first glance. Up close, however, her joints and the surrounding areas were divided into countless fine parts that moved in perfect coordination. Each time she moved, a faint blue light leaked from the tiny gaps. The ends of her arms and legs—where gloves or boots might have been—were covered in smooth white hard armor.

“Still, that really surprised me, nya. I never imagined Erika-nyan would become real and drop in like that, nya. Does something like that happen if you progress far enough in the Wo-Phy game, nya?”

“No… That was my first time seeing it too. I’ve never seen anything like that written on any strategy wiki. That shouldn’t happen in the game.”

“Cat-eared indigenous life-form, I am a Fleet Operations Support AI of the Galactic Federation Space Force. This is not a game.”

“Maybe Erika changed too because reality itself changed.”

“Even you, Master… If you continue to match the behavior of that indigenous life-form, there is a risk your intelligence will degrade. Please refrain.”

“I told you, Ririka’s not an indigenous life-form, nya! That’s rude, nya!”

“Hey, don’t fight. Your names sound similar—try to get along.”

I tried to calm them down, but both of them shot me a glare. Those two really didn’t get along.

“Still, that armor is amazing. It’s so cool! When Clarice-san came out of that tube wearing it, it was like—an iron man! A-◯an◯an!”

“I’m not a man right now, though.”

Natsumi’s eyes sparkled as she stared at my ground-combat armor.

“It’s a shame it’s green. Let’s make it metallic red and gold!”

“……No way. That’d be way too flashy. I’d be embarrassed.”

In fact, I did have that color scheme saved somewhere in the color editor—but who knew where in the fleet’s data it existed now.

“Anyway, I’m exhausted, and I haven’t even eaten yet. We can leave the rest to the townspeople and the knight order. Erika, I’m taking the armor off—open the container.”

“Understood. Personally, I would prefer you to remain equipped the entire time you are on the planet.”

At Erika’s words, the hatch of the cylindrical armor container opened, and I stepped inside. Within the container, the armor detached piece by piece from my body. When it was finished, the hatch opened again.

In my bare skin, I breathed in the hot-spring town’s air, faintly tinged with sulfur.

“C-Clarice-nyan! You’re naked, nya! Completely naked, nya! You can’t come out like that, nya!”

“A-ahh! There are still townspeople and knights around, you know?!”

It was only after Ririka and Natsumi shouted at me that I realized Clarice’s blonde-beauty body was entirely naked. After briefly wondering what exactly I should cover, I crouched down and, for the moment, said:

“…N-nooo… how embarrassing…”

As a flustered Ririka hurriedly draped a pastel-green poncho—probably pulled from her item box—over me, Erika tilted her head and murmured:

“Within the fleet, Master was always completely nude, so I recognized that as the normal state. Was that… incorrect?”

I felt a sudden urge to lightly punch my past self—the version of me who used to sit in front of a PC, playing games while staring at the backside of a constantly nude blonde girl.

After that, we returned to the inn, ate a late meal, and went to rest.

For the record, Erika retrieved the armor container and withdrew as well. Would she be descending with that superhero-style landing every time something happened from now on?

Also, despite the inn’s interior looking exactly like a Japanese hot-spring ryokan, the meal was nothing more than coarse bread and soup. Apparently, the town’s population had grown, and the food situation wasn’t very good.

The next morning, the princess knight Evangelin visited us.

“This time for certain, I want you to visit the royal castle of the capital, Grand Seale! As thanks for everything so far, I wish to offer you the very best hospitality I can provide!”

Her expression was utterly serious, but the sight itself was deeply unsettling. In a room that looked exactly like a Japanese ryokan, she sat seiza-style on a cushion, wearing nothing more than see-through micro-bikini-armor-like lewd cosplay parts stuck directly onto her body. It looked less like a knight and more like some cheaply made, dubious cosplay video, making it hard to stay calm.

“Even if you say that, the capital’s the starting town, nya. It’s not like we have anywhere else to go, nya, but turning back after coming this far feels kind of pointless too, nya. Ririka was thinking we might just head to the Kingdom of Larentia instead, nya.”

“Please, I beg you! To be honest, if I were aided by a great mage of Lady Ririka’s caliber and then simply let you go, I would have no standing left! And that girl you summoned last night—was she a homunculus!? And that armor Sir Clarice wore! Armor that grants immense power by absorbing human lives—I thought such things existed only in fairy tales, yet to think something like that truly exists!”

And yet, this exhibitionist knight—despite appearances—was probably genuinely earnest at heart, though it seemed she had once again misunderstood things on a grand scale.

She, along with the knights accompanying us from the fort, believed that everything had been accomplished through Ririka’s magic. Ririka herself was already troubled by this misunderstanding, but since she’d initially gone along with it—accepting the praise and letting it go to her head—this was very much a case of reaping what she’d sown. Besides, it was amusing, so I decided to let it be.

“Well, even if we went to Larentia, I can’t say I have any idea what we’d do there. So why not? Going back to the capital once and listening to what the other players have to say might not be a bad idea. Even if it doesn’t lead to a breakthrough, we might at least pick up some useful information or notice something important.”

“That’s true, nya. There should be a fair number of other players there, nya, and it might be good to get on the same page so we don’t end up with more idiots pulling stunts like those four, nya.”

After Natsumi talked her through it, Ririka’s mood seemed to tilt toward returning to the royal capital.

“So what about you, Clarice-nyan? You okay with that, nya?”

“I am Lady Ririka’s property, so I will follow my master’s decision.”

Honestly, I still didn’t understand much about this world, and I knew absolutely nothing about a place called the Kingdom of Larentia. So I tossed the decision entirely to my master—only to get glared at for it.

“Then you will come to the capital, correct?! In that case, I shall have the carriage prepared at once!”

With that, Evangelin bounced out of the room with light, springy steps.

It might not have been her fault, but once that unsettling sight was gone from view, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, after last night’s mess, it’s kind of hard to stay in this town anyway.”

“Yeah, nya… Everyone in town keeps looking at us with scared eyes, nya. I wanted to enjoy the hot springs a bit more, but this doesn’t exactly help you relax, nya.”

“Those four said it too, but being feared every single time really does make things difficult… To be honest, from here on out, I’d like to live a little more quietly and avoid getting involved in violent stuff if I can.”

Coming from a short-tempered elf boy who exploded the moment something unreasonable happened, those words carried absolutely no persuasive power—but I felt the same way. Wanting to live modestly and avoid standing out wasn’t just him; Ririka nodded along as well.

“Then when we need to go to another country’s central city, we can just warp via a temple, nya. For now, let’s head back to the starting city, talk to other players, and decide our future plans from there, nya!”

After that, Ririka indulged in one more long soak in the hot springs. Once she was finally satisfied, we made our preparations and boarded the knight order’s carriage—which we’d kept waiting—and set off once again for the starting city, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Grand Seale.

The trip there had taken a fair amount of time, and even on the return journey—comfortable as the carriage was—it still took two full days. At one point, Ririka threw a tantrum and insisted we should just use an airplane, but we couldn’t exactly leave the princess knight and her escorts behind. So we spent our time idly inside the carriage.

Ririka complained that back when it was a game, distances were much vaguer, and you could just sprint endlessly—meaning the trip took less than an hour, with only a few area transitions and loading screens. Still, if a game took a full hour just to move from place to place, it would firmly qualify as a terrible one.

As I gazed out the carriage window at the scenery stretching far into the distance, I was once again struck by the realization that this was no longer a game, but a different reality entirely.

At long last, we arrived.

The royal capital of Granbaria, known among players as the “starting point” or “first town,” and said to be a place whose actual name wasn’t widely known, was noticeably more bustling than when we had first set out on our journey—short though that journey had been.

Evangelin questioned the castle soldiers who came to greet us.

“Thank you for the welcome. The city seems unusually noisy—what has happened?”

“Princess Evangelin! We are deeply relieved by your safe return. We received reports from the troops sent later to Dora Fort that you departed for Glassport alongside the adventurers who helped repel the monsters. When His Majesty learns of your return, he will surely be pleased.”

“I see. But that does not answer my question. Is there construction going on in the city?”

“Apparently, the adventurers petitioned the king through the guild, saying they wished to make the city more livable. His Majesty granted permission, believing it would lead to the development of Granbaria’s castle town. Since then, construction has already begun throughout the city. Being a rough lot, we only hope they don’t tear the place apart…”

“So it seems something truly has changed since that day. Monsters, adventurers, and even the people—everyone has begun acting in ways we’ve never seen before. It is as though the world itself suddenly started to move.”

“I pray it is not an ill omen… In any case, His Majesty is awaiting you. Please proceed to the castle at once.”

“I understand. My benefactors must be properly received as well. Lead us to the castle.”

“Yes, at once!”

We remained seated in the carriage as it passed through the main thoroughfare of the lower town, then through the inner gate beyond the city walls. We entered an area lined with the estates of nobles and the upper class—what one might call the “uptown” district, in terms familiar from Japan’s Edo period. Passing through yet another white stone gate, we finally arrived at the white royal castle that had been visible even from the lower town, and disembarked.

When I had first stumbled into this world, I hadn’t noticed—but the city was far larger than I’d imagined.

“Fuunyaa… The castle looked big from the town, but I didn’t think it was this huge, nya. In the game, the gate guards wouldn’t let us in, nya. I figured they hadn’t even made an inner area, nya.”

“That might actually be true. Maybe it just popped into existence as part of the world filling in once it became real.”

“That’s interesting… It’s starting to feel like the game was only recreating this world in a half-finished way.”

Maybe Natsumi was right, but there was no way to confirm it.

With our mouths hanging slightly open in dumbfounded awe, we stared at the royal castle—far grander and larger in scale than we’d imagined—before being led into what appeared to be a lavish guest room.

We sat for a while on luxurious sofas, nibbling on baked sweets and sipping a drink that tasted like tea made from some kind of leaf. Before long, though, the impatient cat-eared Ririka got bored and started talking.

“So how long are we supposed to just sit around like this, nya? We came to the castle, so shouldn’t we be having an audience with the king or something, nya?”

“At present, Her Highness Princess Evangelin should be in audience with His Majesty. Even if you are the princess’s benefactors, it would be exceedingly unusual for adventurers to be granted a direct audience with the king. I am aware this may sound discourteous, but I ask for your understanding.”

The response came from a maid standing near the door. Unlike the absurdly short skirt and garish-colored maid outfit worn by the cat-eared maids, she wore a proper black maid uniform with a long skirt.

Yes—this is how a maid outfit should be.

Ririka looked like she wanted to say something, but I cut her off.

“Well, it’s not like meeting the king would let us save our progress or anything, so it’s fine. I’m more interested in the town anyway, so once the pri—ahem, Her Highness is satisfied, let’s make a quick exit.”

“I agree. Places like this just make me feel uneasy somehow.”

Just as Natsumi voiced her agreement, the very Princess Evangelin in question entered the room.

She was, as always, dressed in that exhibitionist outfit. I couldn’t help wondering if she’d actually met the king wearing that.

Maybe it was fine because they were parent and child? No, if anything, wouldn’t that make it more concerning for a father to let his daughter wander around nearly naked? Or did no one in this castle find her attire strange at all?

“Apologies, Lady Ririka—and her two retainers. It seems I’ve kept you waiting.”

“Nyaa, well, we didn’t wait that long, nya. The snacks were good, nya. Thank you, nya. Since you treated us, we were thinking it might be time to head back to town, nya.”

“No, that would be a problem. I’ve had a modest party prepared for this evening. I would very much like the great mage Lady Ririka and her two attendants to attend. You are my benefactors—I want you to enjoy yourselves without reservation.”

As the princess knight smiled at us in genuine goodwill, the three of us exchanged troubled looks.