The Princess's Request

I was summoned by the king of this country and came to the royal capital.

After getting hopelessly lost, I finally reached the castle, only to learn that nobody knew when I would be granted an audience with the king himself.

When I asked the girl who looked like royalty and had come to the castle's rear gate for permission to camp in the courtyard, she readily granted it.

Judging from the guards around her, this girl was apparently the princess of this country.

Then the princess announced that she would spend the night in my house.

――Still, there was no way I could sleep in the same bed as a princess, so I slept outside in a sleeping bag.

――The next day.

When I woke up, Anemone was sleeping beside me under a blanket. Bell was on the other side, with Myaree and Nyamena sleeping around her.

"Hm... What? Everyone ended up sleeping outside after all."

I could leave the princess to Primula. She had dealings with nobles, so she should know how to handle her.

"Yaaawn~"

Everyone was still asleep, but I decided to start preparing breakfast. I took a table and cooking utensils out of my Item Box and began setting up.

After a while, Anemone woke up.

"Good morning, Anemone. Wash your face at that well over there, then come help me prepare breakfast."

"Okay."

When she went to the well, she began drawing water with the bucket. Apparently, she had been forced to draw water and perform all sorts of other chores while imprisoned at Shaga's place, so she had surprisingly good stamina.

Even so, it seemed that merely being able to eat leftovers had been better than life at her parents' house.

The sound of the bucket dropping woke the beastfolk almost immediately.

"Mmm..." "Nyaa~"

The two beastfolk stretched. Perhaps Bell was prompted by them, because she stretched too.

She stretched like a cat, extending her forelegs straight out, raising her rear, and opening her mouth wide.

The beastfolk went straight to the well and began raising the bucket in Anemone's place. Once they had filled the tub beside it, everyone washed their faces.

"Whoa, that's cold!" "That woke me up, nya~"

The river water we normally used wasn't cold, but well water was.

"Anemone, bake some bread for us. And Myaree and Nyamena, prepare the birds."

"Okay." "Sure thing~" "Got it, nya~"

I bought transparent garbage bags from Shangri-La and handed them to the girls along with the birds.

"Here, take these bags and pluck the birds inside them. Put the innards in there too. We can't make a mess of the castle's courtyard."

"Whoa, what's this? It's a thin, floppy bag!" "Nyaa~"

The beastfolk held up the garbage bags curiously, then began plucking the birds.

As I watched them from the corner of my eye, the female knight came over. She was the female knight who had guarded the princess yesterday.

Apparently, she was changing shifts with the knight named Row.

"This is nice. The feathers don't fly everywhere." "Nyaa~"

Once the birds were prepared, I chopped them into chunks, stir-fried them with vegetables, and dumped everything into the soup in the pressure cooker.

After heating it for a while, the soup was ready. I decided to make some hard-boiled eggs while I was at it.

While I was doing that, the bread finished baking too.

As I arranged the dishes on the table, the front door of the house opened.

The person who emerged was the princess, her hair tousled and still wearing a white nightgown. She ran straight over to me.

"Kenichi! I need to use the bathroom!"

"Yes, yes. The outhouse is right here. Would you like to use it?"

I led her to the toilet I had built.

"W-what do I do with this?!"

"Open the lid and sit down like this. When you're finished, wipe yourself with the paper here."

I gave her a demonstration of this civilized custom.

"What? Paper?!"

"Yes. It's a specially made soft kind, so you don't need to worry."

"Oh, I see... All right! I'll do it here!"

The door slammed shut with a bang.

"Would you care to join us for breakfast, Knight-sama?"

"I have already eaten. Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

This female knight seemed more reasonable than that knight named Row—probably.

Her curly brown hair suited the black uniform perfectly. Apparently, they all carried the same golden swords as well.

As I admired the female knight in her uniform, the toilet door flew open.

"Your Highness, there is water in the well."

"Very well!"

I handed her a towel as she crouched down to wash her hands and face.

"A cloth for drying yourself."

"Very well――ahh. Still, it is a novel experience to be able to do this in the castle's courtyard."

"However, your guards seem to be having a difficult time..."

"That is the job of a knight, so it is not your concern. And you may call me Lilith."

"In that case, I will call you Lilith-sama."

There was no way I could address the princess without an honorific.

"Someone!"

At the princess's call, several maids carrying dresses and decorated boxes gathered and entered my house.

Myaree and Nyamena had apparently grown tired of waiting, because they sat down on the ground and began eating breakfast.

I opened some cat food for Bell as well and gave her some bird meat.

After a while, the front door opened again.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

The princess emerged wearing a white dress with a tiara on her head.

The maids and Primula stood in a line behind her.

"Your Highness――Lilith-sama, are you certain you are willing to eat the same breakfast as us?"

"Yes. If it is of the same standard as the food I ate yesterday, I have no objection. It should not be out of place on the royal table, either."

I had prepared the ordinary dishes we used every day as well. I couldn't afford to buy expensive ones every time.

"That is most gracious of you to say."

The princess gave me a suspicious look at my standard formal response.

"You――you were not perhaps a noble in the past, were you?"

"No. My family has been pure commoners for generations."

"Even so, you do not seem much like a merchant――I heard about it last night, but your wife is a merchant too, is she not?"

"That is correct."

Once the princess took her seat, I spoke to Primula, who sat beside me.

"Sorry, Primula. I made you entertain the princess."

"Not at all――she told me about many fascinating things. It was a valuable experience that money could never buy."

"Well, it's not as if one gets many chances to speak with royalty, no matter how much money one offers."

"Indeed. Even my father has never met a member of the royal family."

"Oh! Then Primula has gotten one step ahead of your father as a merchant, hasn't she?"

"I wonder if I would go that far. Hee-hee."

The princess ate the bird-and-vegetable soup and the bread Anemone had baked, and she seemed quite satisfied.

"Did Anemone bake this bread?"

"Yes, I did."

Anemone smiled proudly at the princess's question.

"Oh, my... How impressive. It is soft, wonderfully fragrant, and delicious."

I offered the princess a hard-boiled egg as she ate her bread.

"You may eat the hard-boiled egg with your hands, even if it is bad manners."

A maid reached for one of the piles of hard-boiled eggs, peeled it, and handed it to the princess.

"Salt is fine, but this is delicious too."

I offered her the yellow, squiggly substance piled on a white plate.

"Oh, this is mayo, is it not?"

"Yes. Apparently, it has become extremely popular in the Empire."

"It came to the Kingdom from Sobana as well. We have begun using it in the castle. It goes with anything... Munch, munch――it is a universal sauce."

It would take too long to transport mayonnaise itself, so they probably meant that the recipe had reached them. Probably.

Still, both the eggs and oil used to make it were expensive. It would probably only catch on among the wealthy.

While I was thinking about that, the princess had eaten four hard-boiled eggs. She was quite a big eater for someone with such a slender body――though perhaps "big eater" wasn't the right term for a girl.

"Whew――I cannot believe I can feel as though I am traveling while staying in the castle... No one would believe me if I told them about this."

"There is a well here too, so you can even take a bath."

"What?! There is a bath as well?!"

"Yes. It is in my Item Box."

"Hmm... In that case, perhaps I shall stay here again tonight..."

But a woman who appeared to be the head maid, wearing glasses, cut in.

"Princess, you should not be so selfish."

"Surely I am allowed to do so once in a while. Besides, I have lessons and official duties during the day, so staying here from evening onward should not cause any trouble."

"That is true, but..."

The head maid looked a little worried and kept glancing at me.

"There is no need to worry when it comes to these people. They are entirely free of malicious intent."

"I have no such intention whatsoever. I merely want to finish my audience quickly and return home."

"Good grief. Some people will never be granted an audience, no matter how much they wish for one..."

The princess sounded exasperated, but honestly, I had no interest in it at all. Primula and the Marrow Trading Company would probably gain an audience through their own ability if they expanded into the royal capital.

To serve tea after breakfast, I bought a tea set from Shangri-La. It was made by Ma○sen and cost 630,000 yen.

It was a magnificent set with beautiful blue designs painted over white porcelain. The Earl Grey tea leaves cost 38,000 yen for 500 grams.

I had never drunk tea this expensive before. I had Anemone boil water in a kettle with magic, then brewed the tea.

But this world did not have black tea. The tea here was more like Japanese herbal tea.

"Oh! What exquisite tea ware."

I brewed the tea and served it to everyone.

"I don't know the first thing about tea, but even I can tell this is delicious!" "Indeed, nya~ It smells great, nya~"

"This is the first time I have tasted such delicious tea. And that fragrant aroma..."

The beastfolk seemed able to appreciate how delicious black tea was too. Primula obviously understood. But black tea did not seem to suit Anemone's palate.

I suppose black tea was a little too much for a child.

I added sugar and milk to hers.

"It tastes better now!"

Anemone was delighted, but was it really appropriate to turn such expensive Earl Grey into milk tea?

"..."

The princess, however, silently inhaled the aroma of the tea and seemed to be savoring it carefully.

"Lilith-sama, is it not to your taste?"

"The opposite. This is tea? How much does it cost?"

"Um... About two gold coins for a small jar..."

"What?!"

The princess let out a stunned cry.

"Whoa!" "Nyaa!" "What?!"

My family cried out in surprise as well.

"If this tea can astonish the nobles and royalty, then two gold coins is cheap indeed. The instant it touches their tongues, they will be amazed, and then a fierce, burning jealousy will strike them."

Apparently, royalty and nobles staked their lives on that sort of competition in appearances.

This was not limited to a world like this one. In Japan's Sengoku period, all sorts of dramas unfolded over tea utensils.

I asked the princess, who was quietly enjoying her black tea, a question.

"Lilith-sama, do you ever leave the castle to travel?"

"Hardly ever. If I asked Father, he would probably grant me permission, but knights of the guard and maids would swarm around me. It would be unbearably annoying."

"That cannot be helped. It would be a serious matter if anything happened to you."

Well, of course it would, from the king's perspective. She was his precious daughter.

"I envy you and Anemone so much. You can go anywhere you like, can you not?"

"Of course, that's true, but the moment you leave the city, you face vicious bandits and highwaymen. Enter the forest, and there are goblins, Fang Bears, and Black Wolves. Danger is everywhere. That is why Your Highness needs powerful guards, is it not?"

"That is true, but there are times when I would like to wander around the city alone."

"Are there any secret passages somewhere in the castle leading out into the city?"

A secret passage in a castle was a standard feature, wasn't it? It was used to escape the castle when enemies attacked.

"Naturally, there is one, but it is full of rats, insects, and spiderwebs. I would never want to go through there except in an emergency."

"So you did at least consider trying it once?"

"..."

The princess said nothing, but that seemed to confirm it. Probably only members of the royal family knew where it was.

If she actually used it, the knights would lose track of her. When I looked at the female knight involved, she wore a somewhat sour expression.

It would certainly be a problem if the princess used it.

"Besides, Princess, if it is underground, it is probably full of rats by now, so it would be dangerous."

"I know that!"

The princess raised her voice at the head maid, but judging from her tone, perhaps she had actually been chased by rats.

"Hmm... I know! Kenichi, would you do me a favor?"

"What might that be?"

"As I mentioned, the castle is overrun with rats. They are everywhere."

"Could they be coming up from underground?"

"...I expect that is probably the case..."

Rat extermination, huh? I wondered who handled this sort of job. I had heard before that the Adventurers' Guild in the royal capital had little work besides exterminating rats.

"Has the Adventurers' Guild received a rat-extermination request?"

"Of course. I have posted one, but no one will accept it. They say such work is not a job for adventurers, but surely monsters cannot appear in the royal capital."

"Adventurers in the royal capital are pretty spoiled, aren't they? I used to crawl through sewers and exterminate rats as a matter of course."

I heard Nyamena's jealous voice.

"However, we cannot exactly make the knights' order exterminate rats, either."

When I looked at the female knight, she was grimacing at my words. Well, naturally she didn't like the idea.

But I understood the situation now.

"Ah, I see. You want me to exterminate the rats."

"That is correct."

Hmm, it seemed that my audience would take a while to arrange anyway. I had nothing else to do――perhaps I could work part-time.

Besides, Shangri-La sold rat traps and rat poison, so I should be able to manage somehow.

"Very well. I will accept the job."

"Oh! You will do it?"

The princess said she had posted the job with the Guild at two copper coins (2,000 yen) per rat.

Two thousand yen per rat seemed like a decent way to make some pocket money... Why wouldn't the Guild take the job?

"In that case, one hundred rats would earn me one gold coin."

"That is correct, but are there really that many?"

"All right! Boss, I'm coming too!"

Nyamena, who had been listening to my conversation with the princess, stood up and raised a fist.

"Me too, nya!"

"Me too!"

"Hey, don't blame me if your fur starts to stink. Besides, Anemone――you can't use magic underground, can you? At most, you'll be able to use the Light spell."

"I'm still going!"

Once Anemone made up her mind, there was no talking her out of it. Besides, the magical light she carried was useful.

In game dungeons, you could see the corridors for some reason, but in reality it would be pitch-black――you truly wouldn't be able to see a thing.

"Ha-ha-ha! You don't know how patient I became from cleaning sewers and exterminating rats."

Nyamena really had suffered a lot, both where she had lived and in the work she had done.

"Nyamena, you've had it rough. As long as you're with me, I'll make you happy."

"B-Boss... You can't say things like that in a place like this..."

"Why didn't you say that to me, nya?!"

"Of course I mean you too, Myaree."

"Nyafoo!"

Myaree folded her arms and puffed out her cheeks.

The princess returned to the castle and apparently intended to issue notices throughout it about our rat-extermination work. Otherwise, we might be arrested as suspicious people.

Before returning, she bought the Ma○sen tea set. The price was thirty gold coins (6 million yen), while two kilograms of Earl Grey cost six gold coins (1.2 million yen).

I charged ten gold coins to Shangri-La, and it came back as one hundred gold coins. It was true alchemy.

But if I kept doing this, I really would drain this country of its gold coins.

"Bell, stay here with Primula. And don't wander around everywhere, all right? We don't want the castle's people getting startled."

"Yaaawn..."

Bell bared her white fangs in a huge, unmotivated yawn. She seemed bored too, with nothing to do.

The princess apparently had lessons and studies to attend from then on.

"Well, can't be helped. I suppose we should wait here quietly..."

We decided to wait until noon.

------◇◇◇------

――Then noon came. The princess arrived while we were eating a light lunch.

She said she would guide us to the entrance of the sewers.

That place was near the castle wall directly opposite the rear garden where we were staying――there was a small shed there.

The door was locked, and the knight named Row unlocked it while glaring at me.

When I opened the door and peered inside, I saw a stone staircase descending underground. Naturally, it was pitch-black inside, and I couldn't see a thing.

A foul, fishy stench rose from below.

"This is the entrance?"

"That is correct."

"Here it is... Yeah, it stinks." "Sure does, nya." "It reeks!"

Anemone pinched her nose.

"Anemone, you can still back out, you know?"

"There's no point saying that."

I spoke quietly with the princess beside me.

"Um, that knight Row seems to hold a grudge against me. He isn't going to ambush me, is he?"

"A royal guard should be a sacred shield who protects their liege in times of need. We have no use for such a rotten person. Do as you please."

There, I had her word on it. Not that I intended to do anything unless he made a move against me.

Still, he seemed to possess a knight's pride, so I wanted to believe he wasn't that kind of person.

The princess seemed to tease the knights in various ways, but it looked as though she used such behavior to stress them and observe their reactions.

People's true natures emerged at times like that. She seemed to judge their character and decide whether to keep them at her side.

Being a person of such exalted status must be difficult...

The princess then gave me one large key.

Once she left the site to us, her guards filed after her.

So they really stuck to her like remoras every minute of every day.

More importantly...

We had to clear this place.

I began browsing Shangri-La for anti-rat equipment.

Since everything would be filthy and stained, disposable protective suits seemed like a good idea. I wondered if gas masks would keep out the smell too.

There was a possibility of methane gas, so lamps were out――LED lamps would do.

Then I needed rat poison and rat traps.

But I wouldn't know how much to prepare until I had seen the site.

I suppose I had no choice but to go down and take a look...

I bought white disposable protective suits from Shangri-La and put one on, as did Anemone.

There were no children's protective suits, so I used duct tape to shorten an adult-sized one.

But the two beastfolk said they didn't need protective suits.

"We can't move in something like that."

"That's right, nya."

"Besides, that thing looks hard to breathe in."

Apparently, to the beastfolk, being unable to move was a bigger problem than getting their bodies dirty.

But rats were highly likely to carry diseases. The most famous was the plague.

Besides, there could be unknown diseases in this world that I had never heard of.

The beastfolk wore fur, so they had more protection than ordinary people, but I had no idea how many rats we would encounter.

We should take at least some precautions.

"No, rats can make you sick if they bite you. Then you'll have to spend even more money. You don't want to lose all the money you've worked so hard to earn, do you?"

"Come to think of it, I got a fever once after cleaning a sewer... I spent all my savings on healing magic..."

"Nyamena, there's a saying: better safe than sorry. We don't know how many rats are down there. Wear this white suit for now."

"...All right. I'll listen to you, Boss." "I'll wear one too, nya."

I also bought rubber boots to protect our feet. For the beastfolk, I tried buying ones that were quite a bit larger.

We would need thick rubber gloves as well.

"These will keep your feet dry too."

"Huh..." "These are pretty convenient, nya."

Wrapped in white protective suits, we decided to descend the stairs.