Hiro's Point of View.

That day, accompanied by Clementine, I take a long trip beyond the outer walls of Torun.

"Could you slow down a little more?"

"Ah, my apologies. I was going about as usual……"

Clementine reins her horse, gradually aligning with me.

"It’s still daytime. The weather is also nice, let’s take it easy."

She grins, her horse side-by-side with mine.

Mentally, I’m telling myself that it’s the sexy but sadist Clementine, but she has really gotten prettier.

Her boobs have also grown slightly bigger, emphasizing her maturity.

As I walk with those thoughts running in my mind, I finally come across a thin streak of smoke in the clear blue sky.

When I strain my eyes, I see a group of people has set up a campfire at the entrance of a small forest.

There are about 20 people and several wagons piled with gunny sacks parked nearby.

"A caravan? So far from the highway? ……mumumu."

Clementine’s brow furrows and her eyes narrow.

It certainly is strange for a caravan to stray this far from the road.

They don’t look like bandits, maybe they are smuggling illegal goods or slaves.

"Heeey."

I prepare myself for the slim chance it could be what I suspected while waving my hand and calling out to them.

In response, they wave back with a surprised look on their faces.

Upon getting closer, I see dismantled deer and rabbits hanging over the fire.

Is that why they were next to the forest?

"What are you doing out here~? And bringing along such a beauty too……"

Inquiring is a young man, who likely doesn’t recognize me.

His voice doesn’t sound wary or like he’s trying to hide anything, it’s genuinely curious.

Also, he’s staring way too much at Clementine, well, it is expected as she is wearing such revealing outfit.

"We were taking a trip from Torun. I’d like to ask you what you’re doing so awfully far from the road."

That’s when the young man’s face clouds up.

He seems hesitant to speak and is looking at the others for input.

"Mu, he’s acting suspiciously!"

Clementine leaps off her horse, spinning once in midair before landing, and then approaches the wagon.

"Hey now, that’s our precious cargo, please don’t touch it."

"It’d be problematic if the bag breaks, you see~"

My body tenses up slightly when Clementine is stopped, but it doesn’t appear like they are trying to hide anything.

While all that’s going on, a middle-aged man, urged by the other members of the group, comes up to us.

He’s ugly and has a pot belly, but he doesn’t look malicious. He’s probably the leader of the caravan.

"Good grief, we were having a feast――geh!?"

The middle-aged man seems to recognize my face and gasps.

I stop him when he tries to bow, telling him it’s unnecessary.

"Y-you guys, cut it out!"

Giving the group a side-eye as they comply with the middle-aged man’s unusual tone of voice, Clementine hops on the cart and pokes around.

"I’m not saying you did anything wrong. It’s just that for such a large caravan to be in such a dubious location ――with Torun in front of you, it’s unnatural."

Although wagons travel at the same speed as a person walking on foot, they could have reached Torun in half a day.

The normal course of action would have been to stop at Torun and have a party at a bar.

"You’re right. But it’s not like we’re carrying prohibited goods."

"T-this powder……needs to be examined!"

Incidentally, Clementine happens to open a hole in one of the bags.

Spilling out is a white grain-like substance……which makes Clementine’s eyes sparkle.

"We are a salt caravan. We came, not to sell rock salt which you can find anywhere, but to sell first-class powdered salt."

"Kuh……salty. ……ugh, I thought it was sugar."

I see, the salt certainly does look as fine as sugar.

Clementine’s face distorted after she gave it a lick.

"However, a day before we arrived, a large salt shipper came to Torun with 50 wagons."

Now that he reminds me, a line of carts from the Claire company did arrive yesterday.

"Even if the quality is different, it’d be hard to do business on the heels of an influx of such a massive quantity of salt into the market. And so we thought to wait a few days and kill some time out here. We figured stopping next to the road would inconvenience others and start up bad rumors, so we distanced ourselves."

"Peh peh! It’s salty……you could have stored the salt in a warehouse in Torun……"

Clementine returns, not finding anything suspicious.

"Warehousing costs are not cheap for medium-sized merchants like us, and if the wholesaler finds out that we have unsold salt, we will not make our money back, so it is meaningless."

I don’t know much about merchants in this region, but they definitely don’t have it easy.

"Nevertheless, it’s a good thing we noticed. Coming all this way just to have the price low is not very rewarding."

A girl who seems to be in charge of handling miscellaneous tasks for the caravan also brings me a cup of alcohol.

Clementine furrows her brow.

"My man doesn't drink liquor!"

"Forgive me, I will change to tea!"

She quickly returns and replaces the bottle with something like a teapot and two cups.

She passes the cups to both of us and pours water into the cups. 

I drink it. It's a sweet tea. 

We have a lively conversation with them that night. 

***

Luca's Point of View.

Redcliffe Castle.

Luca had spent the past several months as assistant in the Ministry of General Affairs. However, the minister, Countess Jill Gustav and her deputy, Suzy Huber had left the castle to Castall, Lucy was helpless.

There were several men who were from noble families in Redcliffe who handled the jobs in the women's place. The men had chased Luca away.

Without job, she was now idling in the castle.

This morning, Luca woke up early and determined to help the maids. If Jill was around, she wouldn't let Luca do such jobs as Luca thought that a King's woman like Luca shouldn't do such menial tasks. 

Luca stood in front of the mirror in her room, admiring the curves of the female body that could be seen through the white negligee she was wearing.

She leaned in towards the mirror.

She now realized that she was prettier than most girls. Same as her fellow former prostitutes like Nina, Pepe and Lucy. However, her mistress, Jill Gustav and Suzy Huber were above them. Ivanna Reskina and Isolde Guerrin were even prettier. 

Next, she tried holding her breasts.

They’re a nice size and beautifully shaped. And her skin is spotless.

"Alright, now the most important part……"

She rolled up her negligee and stick out her ass.

It’s big. That’s the first word that came to mind.

It wasn’t big because she was fat, rather it’s naturally large.

The overwhelming presence jiggled in the mirror.

The underwear she was wearing was black and didn’t cover up much.

In particular, the back is as thin as a string and dug into her ass crack.

"Lady Luca. it’s almost time for the morning gathering――w-what are you doing?"

A maid entered the room following a polite knock.

"It’s nothing."

Luca remembered that she had told the maids last night that she was going to help. 

"Do not mind me. I will be there soon."

"Eh……u-understood."

Thus began my day as a maid.

First was the cleaning of the castle.

It went without saying that the floor and windows were cleaned, and she carefully wiped the dust and soot off the candle stands and chandeliers in the corridor, and she also brushed in between the gaps of an ornament.

"I don’t think about it, but the reason the mansion is always sparkling is due to the maids’ efforts, huh."

"Lady Luca, Please help with this~"

A pathetic plea brought her back to her senses.

She noticed that a maid was trying to move a large ornament.

"Right, leave it to me."

"Eh?"

She waved off the maid with a hand and placed her delicate hands on the object.

"Guwah!"

However, she experienced a heavy force unlike what she'd ever felt, which caused the ornament to squish her onto the floor.

"! Everyone, Lady Luca’s in trouble! Hurry, help her!"

"For lady Luca to let out a voice that sounds like a frog, this is a serious matter!"

All the maids crowd around and desperately tried to lift the vase.

"Fuu……it’s not broken. Thank goodness."

"Lady Luca can’t use a mop either."

Luca kept making mistakes that day.

At late evening, Luca went to the Redcliffe village as she had weekend appointment with her friends who were former refugees back in Saint Albion.

"Over here~"
"Sorry for calling you in the middle of work. I wanted to see you no matter what."
"Long time no see."

When she entered the shop written on the schedule, she was greeted by familiar faces.

"It’s been a while."

She smiled back and tried not to act unnatural as she took her seat.

"Pfft, Luca, you’ve changed. You’re able to say a joke like that now."

"And your clothes and impression……it’s amazing that you’re the assistant for important minister in the castle."

The three spoke in a friendly manner.

Eventually the topic switched to how they were currently doing.

"It’s not like we can match Luca, who has secured her spot as the King’s lover."
"But we’re also living a decent life."
"Mufufu."
The four of them drank and chatted energetically.

"My husband’s a commander in Red army! It’s not the highest ranking position, but the pay is good……and most importantly, he’s handsome! Since being freed, I’ve been with a few men, but none were as great as my current husband."

As the somewhat attractive but malicious-looking woman boasted, the other two chimed in.

"In the end, it’s all about looks and money for you, huh. Impure, oh so impure!"
"You really went way too overboard! For some time, you changed your lover every month!"

"My relationship with my husband is pure~ He’s the second son of the  of a baronet though~ I wasn’t thinking of marriage at the time and he kept proposing to me……and I finally gave in~"

When the gentle-looking woman spoke fondly of her husband, the other two waved their empty plates dismissively.

"Ah, yes yes. How many times have you told us? Your husband loves you too much."
"Recently, wasn’t he so worried about you that he came to Redcliffe pretending to start a vegetable stand?"

She looked pleased about that.

"You’re the most wicked!!"

The moment the tall voluptuous girl opened her mouth, the other two stroke her head.

"Tell us how old your boyfriend is!"
"Explain the details of how he became your lover~"

"Err, he is 14 right now……12 years younger than me. He’s the heir of a baron family……and suddenly paid me a visit at night"

"You lie. You dressed provocatively everyday and he finally exploded! Didn’t you tell us previously?"

"Even though he was the one who snuck into your bed, somehow you got on top and milked him until morning, didn’t you!? You were so proud of it."

The woman in question chugged the remainder of her alcohol after covering her face briefly, then raised her voice.

"That’s right! I love cute boys before they become adults! I lifted my short skirt everytime I greeted him, leaned forward to show him my cleavage and seduced him! The trumpet was blaring in my head when he pounced on me. I told him not to make a sound……it’s this sexy lady’s fault! I mean, I couldn’t help it, squee!"

Everyone was slightly drunk and the atmosphere is at its peak.
Although each had different circumstances, they all seemed happy.

After laughing for a while, the clamor died down.

"It’s about time to go."
"Yeah."
"Okay~"

The four of them walked out of the bar. 

"Alright. Let’s go drinking again!"

"Let’s go drinking tomorrow. This time, we’ll take our time starting from morning……no, why don’t you stay for three days straight so we can party?"

"Eh? But we already decided where to stay……what about the inn fees?"

Luca grinned broadly.

"I will――I mean, Countess Jill Gustav will take care of it. If I ask him, she’ll handle it."

The women gasped in astonishment.

"All right, let's do it!"