“What are you being so shy for?!” Emilia shouted forcefully. “Stand tall! As tall as can be!” She marched right up to Sita, grabbed her arms, and forced the poor girl to raise them high in the air.
“Eep!” Sita shrieked. She was naked from the waist up due to being in the middle of changing, and she froze in place, her mind screeching to a halt.
“Oh? We thought a bookworm like you would be unhealthily frail, but you’re quite toned,” Emilia observed, carefully inspecting her body.
“Quite right,” Orthoaguina replied. “Rachel and I have been keeping close watch over Sita so that she maintains a healthy body.”
“Huh... I see...” I said before I stopped myself. All too late, I realized that this talking book mingling with us young girls was none other than Orthoaguina, Sita’s father. It took a few seconds for this reality to sink in. “You perveeeert!” I shrieked. “No men allowed!”
Sita had placed the book on the table to change, and I snatched it up and hurled it outside the tent.
“I’m a dragon!” Orthoaguina protested. “The naked human body means nothing to meeee!”
He had a point, but I was having none of it. A maiden’s heart was complex and delicate.
“L-Lady Mary?” Prince Reifus asked.
Only then did I realize what I’d done. While tossing the book outside, I’d leaned out of the tent, only to lock eyes with the shocked prince. He was doing his job well, ensuring that no one would accidentally wander inside—he never would’ve imagined me popping out in such scandalous attire.
“Aaaaaaaaah!” I screamed, retreating back into the tent like a scared rabbit.
“U-Um, how do the outfits fit?” Queen Belletochka asked kindly, probably trying to considerately move us away from talking about what I just did. “Is it too tight anywhere?”
I was in the corner of the room, trembling with embarrassment with my face bright red. When I gazed at everyone, their clothes all closely resembled the sort of idol outfit that I was familiar with from my past life.
Actually, come to think of it, these seem a bit more like mirror me’s magical girl outfits than the idol outfits I remember. I can’t believe she put me in such a bizarre costume... The thought wasn’t sitting right with me, so I decided that didn’t count and that, actually, this was my first time wearing an idol costume.
“Are you guys all ready? ♪” Frederika sang. “All right then! ♪ Let’s head outside and promote our ritual! ♪”
Her voice came from outside the tent, and when I peeked out, I saw her in a massive tub. The crew members had carried her up like she was in a palanquin, and this absurd sight made me forget my embarrassment from earlier.
When we all lined up at the stage of the venue, the audience began to crowd around while keeping their distance from us.
“Why don’t I introduce you to the shrine maidens who’ll sing and dance for our ritual today? ♪” Frederika announced.
We had no idea what was going on and we weren’t sure what she’d say next, so we were just standing around in quiet panic.
“Come on!” Frederika said, pushing an unreasonable request onto us. “Introduce yourselves! Be loud and proud, and make sure to be cute.”
“C-Cute?” Magiluka stammered. “What should we do, Lady Mary?”
“Uh, don’t ask me. Sorry, but I’m useless on that end,” I replied.
“Wh-Wh-What do we... I-I-I...” Safina stuttered.
“Shh, calm down, Safina. It’s okay,” I said. “Inhale... Exhale. Take another deep breath...”
“‘Cute,’ huh?” Sita pondered. “I remember that we held a debate in Kairomea on how to cutely ask for things.”
“Oh? That sounds like a fine plan,” Emilia replied. “And where did you land?”
“I don’t remember. I didn’t bring the book with me, so I can’t ask Lord Orthoaguina.”
“Why didn’t you bring it with you?”
“Wouldn’t it be weird if I’m the only one with a book?”
“Girls?” Frederika said in a menacing tone. “I said, ‘Introduce yourselves.’ Act. Cute.”
“Yes, ma’am,” we all replied as we fell silent and stopped our frantic whispering.
“Okay, who’s first?” I asked.
“Ah, then why don’t we do what we did before?” Emilia suggested. “Rock-paper-scissors.”
“But—” Magiluka started to protest.
“Great idea,” I replied. “Let’s go with that.”
I hastily silenced Magiluka. If memory serves, Emilia sucks at rock-paper-scissors. I think we’ve got this in the bag. I wasn’t sure if Emilia was oblivious to her lack of skill or simply refused to admit it, but I was all for this battle of wits. And so...
“Wh-Why?! How could we lose?!” Emilia gasped, suffering a crushing defeat.
“Uh, why’d you think you could win anyway?” I asked.
“We trained for days with Sufia and some others. We thought we’d improved a fair bit.”
Or maybe they just went easy on you because you sucked so hard. I could easily imagine the troubled looks on Sufia’s and her other servants’ faces as they sought ways to help their princess win.
“Grr... We suppose we’ve got no other choice,” Emilia grumbled. “Burn our valor into your retinas! Here lies the pride of Emilia Relirex, the demon princess of Relirex!”
She exaggerated a bit before she stepped forward onto the stage. “Hellooo there! ♪ We’re Emilia, everyone’s princess! We’re, like, super nervous, but we hope everyone will cheer us on! Mwah! ♪”
She struck the best cutesy pose she could muster. She’s pushing herself... As the rest of us froze, the audience roared and cheered with delight, signaling the beginning of a hellish scenario.
“Who’s next? ♪” Frederika said, satisfied with Emilia’s attempt.
Emilia was still standing there, shocked and petrified, as the crew members quickly carried her off stage. Frederika pressed us for another introduction, and I’d never been more frightened of her.
“Number two is me, Sita! Here I go!” she declared, resigned to her fate, her heart clearly sunk into a pit of despair. She recklessly rushed forward and gave a humiliating— I mean, amazing introduction, her cuteness on full display as Emilia had done. Sita then fled into her tent, mortified. I felt like I’d heard a certain book cheer more loudly than anyone else, but I wondered if my ears were playing tricks on me.
I was the anchor, and I felt more pressure than ever before; I cursed my talent for rock-paper-scissors. Up next was Magiluka, who had a sneaky thought. Under the guise of “wanting to save time,” she tried to step up onto the stage with Safina.
“Safina, we wouldn’t want to use up too much time, would we?” she suggested. “Let’s go up onstage together.”
“O-Okay! Thank you!” Safina replied.
“Hey! No fair!” I wailed.
I turned to Frederika, appealing that those two girls were cheating, but she gave me a happy thumbs-up, more than delighted to go with the flow if it was accepted by the crowd.
And so, I was all alone at the very end. As I steeled myself for the upcoming embarrassment, I heard the crowd murmur.
“Hey, is she...?”
“Yeah, isn’t that the Argent Holy Woman?”
“No doubt about it! That hair color, the divine beast behind her, she’s the real deal! She’s the bona fide Argent Holy Woman!”
Confused, I whirled around and spotted Snow, grinning from ear to ear. You useless snow leopaaard! I wanted to blend in with the crowd, but Snow made me stand out wherever I went. Frederika, on the other hand, was utterly delighted, praising the stupid divine beast for being skilled at getting the crowd going.
It wasn’t helping my situation that the crowd had all united to chant, “Argent Holy Woman!”
I have to do a cutesy introduction for a crowd this excited? Ugh... This is hell. Argh!
All right, get it together, Mary Regalia! Women are nothing if not courageous! Here I gooo! With renewed resolve, I made a peace sign next to my eyes.
“Hiyaaaa! I’m Mary! We’re gonna perform the best ritual ever, so make sure you stay glued to those seats! We’re counting on your support! Tee-hee!”
I gave my all for my introduction, and I was immediately awash in a tidal wave of hollering and cheering. All the while, I wanted to turn to dust and fade away into the ether.