Volume 5 - CH 3

Act 5-3: Felis’ Complaint

When I entered the mansion of city lord, a man with black suit-clad in blackish red flame on his heel welcomed us,

『Salute to Our Supreme Ruler-sama!』

That voice resounded in the room. Wearing the same attire as Ifrit, the brown-haired youth who stood behind Felis’ Titan was,

『Our Supreme Ruler, Forever!』

Straightened his back and gave a salute with his right hand.

The other city representative safe for Felis- had also stood from their chair, placed their right fist on their left chest as if to express their allegiance toward me.

Amidst such headache induced situation,

（Hey look, no matter how I look at it, those gesture is clearly directed toward Shifu, right?）

（Y-Yes. Just as I expected, Princess Rosemary is just the official ruler of this town, Shifu is the de facto ruler of this town.）

Somni and Tetle whispered such slander behind my back.

Rather, what did they mean by me being de facto ruler? It made me look like the boss of an evil organization who was moving behind the scenes in fairy tales. I guess I had to give the real ruler some roles to play.

「Look, now you know what they mean right. O Supreme Ruler-sama?」

Rose showed a mischievous smile on her face as she placed her hands on her hips, and whispered to me.

「You…」

You seems to enjoy this situation eh, Rose. Her final goal was to rule this kingdom. In the first place she seems to have no intention to rule as a king. The fact that the citizen of this city could do as they pleases as long as they didn’t break any laws, and suffered no discrimination whatsoever due to the difference between races or status means that Rose had at least succeeded to achieve her goal, albeit in smaller scale.

Well, though I usually hate being used by others, I wouldn’t mind as long as it did no harm to me or others. Moreover, this city was in fact part of my slow life plan that I dreamed off. So working on it was only natural.

And yet――

「Felis, you look more haggard than the last time I met you.」

I simply expressed my concern to Felis, a girl who looked like someone in their teens-despite being a middle aged woman inside- with her long, blonde hair tied to the side, glared at me with bloodshot eyes. Though one month hadn’t even passed since the last time we met, her sunken cheeks were enough proof of her exhausted state.

「And who do you think is the reason to made me look like this?」

Hearing Felis ask with voice full of resentment,

「Eh? Did I do something to you?」

「HOW DARE YOU TO “Eh” ME!?」

She stood from her chair as she regained her vigor,

「EVERY SINGLE DAY, YOUR SUBORDINATE LOCKED ME UP IN THAT MYSTERIOUS REALM CREATED BY HIM AND TORTURED ME!」

She was shouting with raised hands, as if she wanted to flip the table. Seeing her crying figure which resembled that of a tragic hero, I could pretty much imagine what she had experienced during my absence.

「What did she mean by “continue to torture me”?」

I looked over my shoulder and asked Lucas, who apparently was one of the ringleaders behind that so-called “Torture”. Though he regarded Felis as his own daughter, what was considered as painful was relative for each person.

「It’s just her exaggeration. We just locked her inside Norn-sama’s realm for thirty years and made her learn the necessary governing skills as the city lord.」

Rose was the ruler of this East End. Though Rose could govern this town as its ruler since there was no other city in her appointed territory, she wouldn’t be able to do so once the number of town in this area increased in the future. Thus, the job fell to Felis, and she had to learn governing skills to the point that no one would question her competency. I indirectly caused her suffering too.

「Thirty years huh. That’s not a big deal.」

I mean, she was just forced to learn for thirty years. I would be troubled if Felis turned out to be such a pu*ssy cat. Thirty years couldn’t even be considered as light in my dictionary.

「Chicken wuss.」

Yeah, she was a chicken wuss. I felt that Asta-the actual owner of the “Chicken Majin” title was the last person who qualified to call Felis with such a name.

「Yeah, thirty years is not a big deal.」

「Indeed.」

Zack and Oboro agreed with me. Look, even these guys had more common sense than her.

And yet――

「T-Thirty years…」

The youth, Tetle, was at a loss for words upon hearing that,

「No way, Shifu, thirty years is a big deal!」

On the other hand, the other youth, Somni retorted.

「Give it up. Those guys’ common sense has already got distorted by Kai’s lack of common senses.」

Rose shrugged and heaved a sigh, she spoke as if she had already given up.

Oi Rose, why do I feel that you’re indirectly just saying that I’m a madman? That remark hurt my heart you know!

「Master, I’m bored-nodesu.」

Faf pulled my sleeve as she spoke with an upturned gaze.

「You’re right. There’s still some time until lunch. Go and play until then.」

I gave Faf, Myu and Fen pat on their head as I gave them the permission to go out to play.

「Ye~s, nodesu!」

「Ye~s.」

「Yeah!」

The two girls and one puppy nodded cheerfully and then ran out of the mansion with cheers.

Yup, it seems Faf could separate herself from me for a longer time now. The longest record was a few hours, after that, her mood worsened. Now, she could see me once a day. Anyhow, at least, her current situation was much better than before. Honestly, as her father-like figure, I couldn’t help but feel proud seeing the growth of my daughter.

「Well then, let’s cut the chit-chat and get straight to the point.」

When I broke the ice,

「I don’t feel better at all!」

Each of us took our seat while Felis lying prone to the desk, sobbing nonstop.