Chapter 16: I Will Strike in My Crusch Form (Patreon)

"Ferris!"

The royal capital. The Karsten estate, situated in the noble district.

Generally speaking, mansions in the noble district tended to keep their distance from the commoners' quarters. Perhaps four hundred years ago, when the kingdom was first founded, many noble houses had upright family codes and shared joy with the common people. But four hundred years of bloodlines and inherited titles had long since soured that spirit, curdling it into something else entirely — nobles who thought themselves too exalted for commoners to even approach.

Crusch, however, was clearly not one of them.

It was one of her guiding creeds in life: a noble could only be called noble because they bore the duty of protecting the nation, and the responsibility of ensuring the people under their rule lived in prosperity.

With such a fervent belief burning in her, the Karsten estate — despite belonging to a duke's household — remained at the very outer edge of the noble district in the capital. Just one street over lay the bustling main road of the commoners' quarter, thronged every day with people of every description.

So as long as she picked the right angle from the rooftop, Crusch could stand at a high vantage point in the estate and look out over the daily lives of the residents not far away. From there she could gauge the true living conditions of the capital's people — all the better to know how to govern the kingdom.

But she had begun to notice something odd.

"Hey~ Lady Crusch, what's wrong, nya? Are you worried about the shortfall in dragon-carriage purchases lately, nya?"

Cat ears, a feline air, a face like a woman's, dressed even in women's clothes, with a voice just as girlish — the cat-girl Ferris, ever ready when called, came sidling up close to Crusch.

"That's one issue, yes... but I've felt something was off since five days ago. It wasn't much at the time, so I didn't pay it much mind. But looking now, it's even stranger. In broad daylight, why are there so few people on the streets? It's practically empty."

Crusch beckoned Ferris over to look with her, a faint trace of worry gathering between her fine, handsome brows.

"Ah, that... Actually, Lady Crusch, Ferris-chan just got back to report on exactly that, nya. The mystery is the same as the drop in dragon-carriage sales, nya."

Ferris giggled, delighted that the news gathered outside happened to answer Lady Crusch's puzzlement and worry, and said cheerfully, "I heard there's some amazing outlander who did something incredible, nya."

"Something incredible?" Crusch blinked — that was no small praise. "Don't tell me he relieved all the poor in the slums and got them to promise not to harass the ordinary people anymore?"

"Ohh, exactly, nya! Ferris-chan thought the same, that this alone would already be incredible, nya. But that guy is honestly even more amazing than Ferris-chan could've imagined. Ferris-chan can't even guess how he pulled it off..."

Ferris's tail swished, and as if worried about letting something slip, she glanced left and right before leaning in to whisper the secret carefully.

"I heard that outlander fellow, the one called Subaru Natsuki, used all sorts of magic tricks and business techniques that even merchants who've traveled through other countries — not just Lugunica — had never seen and were left speechless by. In one stroke he turned the whole slum into a tourist paradise, nya."

"From what Ferris-chan's found out, in just five days it's already become some kind of sacred site. Every kid is begging their parents to take them there to play, and couples and newlyweds all feel like a trip there is the truly meaningful thing to do... It sounds more outrageous the more I say it, nya, but Ferris-chan can promise it's all true, nya!"

"And apparently someone even saw that Subaru fellow handing out piles of money to everyone in the slum, every day after closing up shop, nya!"

Of course, Crusch wouldn't suspect Ferris of exaggerating to her, nor would she suspect Ferris of being deceived by someone else.

Precisely because of that, in an instant, a genuine and profound interest in this Lord Subaru welled up inside her.

He had ability, yet chose to aid the slums — which meant he had a good heart, and was willing to see the Kingdom of Lugunica become a better place. At the very least, he was unlikely to be a spy sent by the Vollachia Empire.

For someone like that, even if she didn't recruit him to her side, she ought to go meet him at least once.

The thought no sooner crossed her mind than Crusch decided at once. "Ferris, change into something else. We're going to meet this Lord Subaru."

"As you command, nya~" Ferris said with a grin, and withdrew, knowing full well that Lady Crusch would also need to change.

If they went out in military uniform, it would draw far too much attention. If someone recognized Lady Crusch, the people in the slum would grow nervous and the whole atmosphere of the place would be thrown into disarray — it would end up looking like she'd come to make trouble, and that would sour relations. That wouldn't do at all.

Inside her room, curtains drawn, Crusch shed her clothes without hesitation and changed into plain clothes she had rarely ever worn, her heart already racing ahead of her.

...

...

"Whew, what a hassle, so busy, so busy! Seriously, you idiot, you never told me it'd be this crazy! I could just die from the aggravation!"

"Hey, that's not really my fault. I figured it'd probably go well, sure, but I never expected that throwing out every trick at once for novelty's sake would be this popular. If I'd known, I'd have held some back to keep people wanting more — ow, hey, what was that for, jerk!"

"When I'm complaining, you're supposed to just comfort me quietly. Why are you over there rambling on with excuses? I don't want to hear any of that, you idiot!"

"Ugh, what a handful this kid is — hey, don't hit me, don't hit me! I get it, I get it, that's exactly why I'm taking the day off to relax with you, otherwise there's still plenty left to do."

"If you get it, then shut your mouth. Don't say things you shouldn't. I don't want my mood ruined, you stupid Subaru Natsuki!"

"You flipped my given name and surname around?!"

"So what, got a problem with that?"

...He did, actually. But looking at how sulky and grumpy this little shrimp Felt was acting, he didn't quite dare say so.

The slum — no, it could hardly be called a slum anymore. Now it was a place raking in money hand over fist, famous across the entire capital, so well-known that even a handful of nobles had started sneaking in disguised just to visit — a genuine tourist paradise.

Its fame had even begun spreading beyond the capital's borders.

Precisely because of that, with customers pouring in eager and endless, everyone had been running nonstop since day one. Over these past four-odd days, Subaru Natsuki and Felt, as leader and second-in-command respectively, had each been buried under so much to manage that they barely exchanged ten words in a whole day.

At night, they both collapsed straight into sleep.

Otherwise, why else would she be so dissatisfied, why else would she be picking fights like this?