The sun had set on the Chiyodaku Kingdom.
I went out alone to the balcony of the princess’s room.
The space felt open, with its medieval European–style stone construction. I rested my hands on the metal railing.
Behind me, the party was showing no sign of winding down. I heard Tamamo:
“You’re next, Miss Judge!”
And the princess, who sounded like she was having a blast:
“Do your best! Go, go, governance!”
Tamamo, after going six wins and five losses against me, decided it was time to start switching up opponents. I was happy to let her do as she pleased.
Time to think about what’s next.
I felt my flushed body being cooled by the calm evening wind.
Below, the kingdom had been covered by a blanket of night. While the princess had copy-pasted the buildings from Japan, the scene was still darker than what you would see in modern Japan.
Out there somewhere, someone was in dealings with the Black Scales.
The image of the upside-down, pitch-black scales had been burned into the back of my mind. There was something unmistakably evil about it.
Without ever showing their face, someone had set up a crime like it had been an accident. Even now, they could be planning something evil out there somewhere, using forbidden magic…
While I had been thinking over all this, someone else had appeared on the balcony beside me.
“Shiro…how long have you been standing there?”
“Master, you could be sniped from this position.”
I couldn’t tell if the expressionless maid was joking.
As she sidled up next to me, her maid outfit brushed against my arm and tickled me.
“What were you thinking about just now, Master?”
Her blue eyes, like the color of thin ice, stared back at me in the darkness.
“About who set up this incident…and about the Black Scales,” I answered. “At this rate, even more people will end up being used by them. The Scales of Judgment’s Power of Words is dangerous, and its owner can judge us using the Great Scales. Just simply having it in our possession, we might lose the ability to protect what we want to protect.”
“Yes. I understand.”
“I…”
I gulped. Then I made up my mind to say it.
“I’ll acquire every power in this world.”
Shiro’s beautiful eyes kept staring back at me, like she was waiting for me to continue.
“It’s not that I want the powers for myself. It’s so we don’t get overwhelmed by them. So other people can’t use them in the wrong way. If we’re going to run the Supreme Court in another world, it’s something we can’t avoid.”
I felt nervous saying this aloud for the first time. It was a pretty wild ambition.
But I was trying to find a way to subvert a crisis in this world in a way that someone normal and average like me could.
“…Sorry. What I’m saying must sound crazy.”
“No. It is not crazy at all,” Shiro replied, undaunted. “Thinking you might come up with this very idea, I have been investigating the circumstances in which the Black Scales appeared.”
“Huh?”
“Because at that place, at that time, the person responsible must have been hiding in the gallery.”
I finally understood what she was getting at. She had already been thinking the same thing as me and started working on it.
“I have split the investigative work among the other maids. Once we organize the data, I plan to report back to you, Master. Let us also continue the investigation together.”
“Shiro…I love you.”
I was totally overwhelmed at how great she was.
“Huh? Uh, no, that’s…”
It had been thanks to Shiro that we had been able to infiltrate the church headquarters in the first place.
And she had been so dependable during the trial of the Great Scales, the way she broke through the wall to get to us.
“You were really so cool back there. If you could just stay by my side forever—”
I started to say—but then felt my blood rush to my exhausted head.
My vision started to go black. I tried to steady myself on the railing, but my hands missed.
“Master, be careful!”
Shiro quickly moved to catch me.
This girl, smaller than me, and one year younger than me. I felt her heart beating against my chest.
Still dizzy, I heard the girl with her small dog ears say something in a small voice that I couldn’t quite make out.
“…I like you, too, Master. You were very cool, too.”
“Huh?” I felt my balance coming back to me. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“…It is not something that is appropriate to repeat.”
“Oh…okay. Thanks, Shiro. I’ll be more careful.”
She probably had said something like, watch your step, or hold on tight to the railing.
“Anyway, Shiro…”
“Yes? What is it?”
The maid’s innocent eyes looked up at me.
I felt like I was going to get sucked into their beauty. But I had to say this one thing.
“Your stomach is sticking out.”
The lower part of her stomach was poking out of her clothes like a little potbelly.
I had just noticed it when she caught me from falling.
“…I am a dog, after all. When I eat, I eat as much as I am able.” She wiggled her cute dog ears. “After eating only emergency rations during our undercover investigation…tonight’s food was just too delicious…and I just…”
“Pfft…ha-ha! I never expected that from you, Shiro.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the potbelly sticking out of her delicate frame.
“Is it so strange?”
She stared back at me sulkily.
“It’s not strange… It’s great… Ha-ha-ha, it looks like you’re smuggling a slime in your dress.”
“I sense you are making fun of me.”
Her tail wagged as she blushed.
She’s so cute.
Her cute tail and belly were shining in the moonlight.
On the balcony of the royal palace, she shone more beautifully than anything I had seen.
“I will digest it shortly.”
Her stomach sunk back inward little by little. It was all I could do to stifle a laugh as I watched her belly retreat back into her maid outfit.
“Master. I would like to say…”
The head maid faced me and tidily straightened her posture.
The wounds from the time she tried to “ensnare” me were no longer visible on her neatly closed legs.
“Having the honor of working under you this time, I felt a certain roughness in your use of your maids. As I am a dog, after all…”
The girl with her silver hair looked at me with upturned eyes.
Just one week ago, the way she spoke to me felt expressionless and mechanical.
“To be given orders and work hard for my Master brings me great joy. Up until now, Princess Ecstasia did not give me orders very often, and I felt my body losing its edge.”
But now, I could see that she was smiling happily.
“By my honor as your attendant, it is my greatest hope that you will continue to work me harder and harder.”
Her cuteness, combined with her request to be worked harder, made my heart race for a different reason.
My heartbeat was going off like an alarm bell, but I managed to control it enough to respond to her.
“Thank you, Shiro. With your hard work, we’ll make the courthouse stronger than ever.”
“Yes, Master!”
Under the moonlight, the strongest maid in the kingdom responded happily.
“Please, do not hesitate to order me more and more from now on, God’s Chosen Master. ♪”