Outaishihi ni Nante Naritakunai!! Chapter 341

"Uooooo… I'm so busy I think I'll die."
"Are you alright, Lord Alexei?"
"If this looks alright to you, you need glasses… Wait, you do wear glasses."
"… I do not understand what you are saying in the slightest. I am only saying that you appear tired. Please take a short break."
"… Thanks."

When I stopped moving my hands and tossed the quill, Sion said, "Thank you," and collected the finished documents.

These past few days I've been swamped with work.
It's because my little sister came up with the new stores showdown.
Unlike before she at least discussed it in advance, but I'm certain my workload doubled.
That said, since my little sister's idea is a great benefit to the country, it's hard to tell her, "You can't."
After calculating the economic effect in my head, I decided it can proceed. I do feel like we're dancing to my little sister's tune, but Freed and I gave it a go-ahead. I had no choice but to give up and act.
Once we decided, first thing Freed told me to do was to get permission to hold the event from the King and Father.
The King was amused after hearing the situation, but Father's first reaction was to hold his stomach.
I understand his feelings.

"… Lidi."
"Old Man… It's a waste of breath. As expected, the scale of things she does has immediately increased."
"Hum… It's not on the level of the curry store."

I indifferently told Father as he showed a stiff smile.

"But I'm expecting the economic effect to be considerable, since Lidi's curry and hamburg steaks are very popular. The whole town is already immensely curious about the new original recipes Lidi will unveil in her new store."
"What about her opponent's, former Baron Wire's store? … It's a bad way of putting it, but can it compete with Lidi's store? … Since my daughter's culinary talent is really outstanding…"

As Father sighed, I hurriedly gave him the compiled report.

"I've heard he brought a popular chef from Irvine. If I'm not mistaken, he's quite skilled, so if she wasn't Lidi, I'd be worried."

"Hum. But… She's Lidi."
"Right. She's Lidi alright."

I laughed together with Father.
It's my little sister.
That's the reason, amusingly enough.
Father got himself back together and said.

"Lidi will certainly win. I'm not worried about that. But I remember the matter of the former Baron Wire. If I recall correctly, that man has rotten character. He's more or less a genuine irredeemable scum. I thought he'd quiet down after losing the rank of a baron and his property, but scum will rise any number of times, huh. Just in time to be made suffer by Lidi. His Highness will cooperate too."
"Rather, he was so angry he wanted to dish out punishment with his own hands. Of course he'd snap hearing about Lidi being a mistress."

I remember Freed at that time. His tone was casual, but he absolutely snapped.
When it comes to my little sister, Freed is extremely narrow-minded. Being told about his wife being a mistress, there's no way he wouldn't get angry.

"That Wire returned to the Royal Capital just recently, so he didn't even know Lidi became the Crown Princess. He didn't realize his remarks were picking a fight with the Crown Prince. It's really scary."
"That's natural. Hearing about my daughter being a mistress of someone like Wire, there's no way I'd accept it either."
"I bet."

It was a statement unique to Father who celebrated my little sister's marriage in tears. After she married, he meets my little sister at his place of work, the Royal Castle, almost every day. In this situation where they might actually meet more often than back in the mansion, it's natural that Father's attitude is the same as before she married.
Father more-or-less checked the report and nodded.

"I won't stay silent when my daughter is made light of. Very well. As you say, it'll have a considerable economic impact. You have permission to hold the event. ―― Your Majesty. Is that acceptable?"

The King, who was listening to us with an amused look, nodded

"Hum. Lucas, your daughter is now my daughter too. Besides, it's a pleasant plan everybody will enjoy. I have no reason to refuse."
"Yes. Then let's proceed in that direction. ―― Alex. Naturally you'll take responsibility for the event, right?"
"Eh…"

I shrank back under Father's sharp gaze … I thought I'd have to do the cleanup and some necessary preparations, but I didn't think I'd have to take responsibility for it.

"Rather than senselessly running around later, don't you think it'll be easier in the future if you take responsibility for the event from the start?"
"… Yeah. You're right."

I was about to say that I didn't want to, but Father's words were so reasonable I had no choice but to nod.
Certainly, if I have to clean up anyway, it'll be easier to manage everything myself from the beginning.
Like this, to execute my little sister's sudden idea, I ended up frantically working without rest.

"Sure, I accepted, but why did this happen?"
"Lord Alexei, you are unexpectedly the type of person to willingly undertake hardships."
"… I want to deny, but sadly I can hardly say that you're wrong."

I moved to the sofa to have a little break. Despite drinking tea, I was holding documents in one hand.
While I was checking the predicted income and expenditure, Sion laughed as he watched me.
Once I got to know Sion, who had been officially recognized by Freed as his subordinate, I learned that he was a person so capable as a civil assistant that I came to desperately want him.
A person appeared who's allowed to know quite many things and can draw up documents for me.
Right, that type had never been around me until now.
I desperately asked Freed to make him my assistant.

"He's the person I've been looking for!"
"I-I see…"

Freed drew back seeing my unusual enthusiasm, but he granted my wish.
Sion is now a tactician-cum-my assistant. He mainly works in my workroom that was prepared separately from Freed's office.
Today he came to the office, but of course he got Freed's permission. Speaking of Freed, he was called by the King, so he's not here.
I know well how busy he is too.

"Really, I'm glad you're here…"

When I said my true feelings together with a sigh, Sion laughed troubledly.

"I'm happy to hear that… Lord Alexei. Is Princess Consort always like this?"

I strongly nodded to the remark that could only be said by Sion, who doesn't know much about my troublemaker little sister.

"Indeed. The scale got huge, but at least this time she notified us in advance. Before she married, she made lots of messes…"

The various things my little sister did until now went around my head like a revolving lantern. As I smiled stiffly, Sion, said, "I see," with a serious face.

"If it's a problem, wouldn't it be better to not let her outside the castle? Rightfully speaking, princess consort is not a position where one can leave outside the castle without reason…"
"It's as you say, normally it would be like that, but… she's Lidi. She'd likely wither if locked up, but the biggest reason Lidi is not locked up is Freed, her husband. He likes the free Lidi. She seems to have a proper escort too, so I can't say anything."

Besides, both me and Father are grateful for Freed's policy. Thanks to it, Lidi can smile the same as before even after getting married. She looks happy to be loved by Freed.
I'm sure it wouldn't be like this if she married anybody other than Freed. I don't think just anyone could accept my little sister, and she too would be stifled.
Looking at my little sister now, I understand how correct Father was to assert that her spouse had to be Freed.
Sion nodded like he was convinced.

"Princess Consort looks happy. I feel warm just by watching them."
"It's a mistake since they flirt so much it's irritating."

When I corrected him, Sion smiled wryly.
I guess he found it quite hard to deny.
Just as our conversation reached a pause, I put down the teacup and documents. I checked the time and stood up.

"… Alright, let's go."
"Oh, are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah, for a while. I'll be back by evening, so please take care of things here."
"I understand."

I confirmed Sion nodded and left the room.
There's a mountain of things to do. If I don't deal with them one by one, I'll only have more work in the future.

"Aah, I wanna skip out."

I spat that out together with a sigh and headed for the town.

My destination in town was the southern town association. Permission of the country isn't enough for holding the event, I also need to obtain one from the association to which stores belong.
Under usual circumstances it involves many difficult exchanges, so it's the biggest hurdle in a sense. But this time I wasn't worried that much.
The current representative of the southern town union is my little sister's acquaintance and many members think fondly of her.
Sure enough, when I talked with the association, I immediately got acknowledgement. Moreover, I received very reliable words like, "I'll be able to see Lidi magnificently take care of that damn bastard. It'll feel refreshing, so I'm looking forward to it," or, "Tell me if I there's any way I can help Lidi." In the past Wire had a right to speak in the association, and there are many people who have unpleasant memories of that time.
They seriously asked that he be driven out if possible.
Interacting with the association often involves probing each other's intentions, so it's something I don't want to do, but whenever I bring up my little sister, the conversation proceeds.
I tremble at the size of my little sister's influence.
But my little sister is probably completely unaware of that. There are many stubborn old men in the association. Some of them don't even want to listen to royalty. Even such old men say, "If Lidi wants it, I'll cooperate," when I bring up her name.
My little sister, who is an original recipe holder yet doesn't monopolize them but uses them to develop the town, is like a granddaughter to them.
If something happened to Lidi, not only the cooks in the castle, but also the town would bare its teeth. I could only sigh that she became a frightening crown princess.
And after finishing arrangements in various places, I returned to the castle and headed to the Magician Division headquarters next.
I had business with its commander, Will.

"Yo, Will! I'm coming in!"
"You should at least knock then!"

When I entered Will's room, Will, who was working at his desk, raised his face and complained.
I responded with a smile and moved closer to him. Will sighed, put away the documents, and looked at my face.

"And? What do you need from me?"
"Oh, you understand I have a request for you?"
"Even I know you're currently busy. Not even you would waste time visiting if you didn't need anything."
"That's right…"

It seems even Will knows my situation. Looking worried, Will told me.

"You're awfully tired, aren't you? The dark circles under your eyes are terrible."
"… I've always been led around the nose by Lidi's ideas, so I'm used to it. However, the scale is huge, so I feel the difficulty has increased just as much. When it's all over, I'm thinking of using up all my time off, so don't worry."
"I see… And? The request. Can I be helpful to Lidi?"
"You really never change."

This childhood friend of mine has always hopelessly loved my little sister. It hasn't changed even after she married Freed. His eyes were shining with expectation to help her in some way.

"I'm quite busy myself, but for Lidi I'll spare no effort. I'll do anything."
"Ah, yup. I thought you'd say that…"

When I said that while thinking that he'd look unwilling if it was any other request, Will frowned in displeasure.

"What? Do you have any problem?"
"No, I don't have any. Absolutely none."

I said that and entrusted Will with creation of the coin with fraud prevention magical art.
As a person who knows of this man's heartrending feelings, I decided to leave some things unsaid.
No matter how much time passes, Will can't get over my little sister and find a new love. He always watches my little sister, who spends her days happily after getting married, with a face that makes my chest hurt every time.
It's easy to tell how miserable he is not being able to do anything. In fact, knowing his circumstances some people might look at him with sympathy. But I don't want to.
Will's love. Until Will is satisfied, he just needs to hold onto it. Will's loyalty to Freed is certain, and I know he won't mix public and private matters.
While I was watching Will, he nodded like he hit upon something.

"Got it. I'll create it right away. It needs to be ready by that showdown, right?"
"Yeah. Sorry, but there's not much time."
"It's for Lidi. I swear I'll manage."
"… Yeah, please do."

I wish everybody accepted requests with that much enthusiasm.
There are many other things I'll need to ask for.
For example, temporary guards.

―― I really have no time.

I told Will that I'm leaving and hurried towards the next location.

Another translator took over I Favor the Villainess, so I'm back to daily Outaishihi releases~

Chapter end