CH 236

“We’ll allow it.”

“………. Huh?”

I was surprised at the other party’s unexpected answer and muttered that in reply. I asked the Caan Barony foremen to give me a day off. And that was the answer that came back just now.

No one was worried about anything, and I got an immediate reply that it was fine. I’m supposed to be very busy right now, but can I take a break just because I want to hang out with my girls? Is that allowed? For me, it’s kind of creepy or scary to get permission so easily.

“Rather, we have asked you to take a day off several times already, Baron Caan, and yet you never took them,” a foreman replied. “We were concerned you’d continue working without ever resting. Please, enjoy your time off and rest well for now.”

“Huh… uh…?” I said.

No, really… I’m just saying this myself, but is it really okay? After a little while, the specialists and craftsmen from the Caan Knighthood will arrive. By then, we will finish the preliminary preparations and at the same time as they arrive, we will do the work that requires skill and knowledge. I wonder if I have to finish the preliminary preparations for the schedule by then.

“I understand what you’re thinking, Baron Caan,” a foreman continued. “With regards to our work… as we have said many times before, for some time now, the construction work has gone much farther than planned, and in such a short time.”

“I had been informed of that… but wasn’t that a lie to get me to take a break?” I asked.

Until now, I have received reports and warnings many times that the progress on the site has progressed too much, so I should relax a little and take a rest. But I thought it was a lie to let me rest because I work every day…

“There is no doubt that at this point, thanks to you, Baron Caan, the plan is progressing ahead of schedule,” a foreman said. “So there is no problem even if you take a rest… on the contrary, if you don’t take a rest, the workers will lose their jobs, instead.”

“Is that so…………?” I said.

At the command post at the construction site, the foremen and the supervisors gathered and pressed me. It’s true that workers can’t be told to leave and take the day off because they don’t have any work to do. They are so-called day laborers, and if they don’t have work, they don’t get paid. You can continue to work because you have a stable supply of jobs every day, but if you don’t have any jobs to do due to the circumstances of the site, you will not be able to make a living.

On the other hand, even though there is no work to do, it is useless for me to pay their salary if all I’m doing is sending them to the site. Paying these people a salary and not letting them do any work for a day is a huge loss.

“Thanks to your leveling of the land, the planned clearing has already been completed,” a foreman said. “The remaining work is focused on excavation for underground utilities and foundation construction. We can’t do full-scale construction until the craftsmen arrive from elsewhere, so if you do too much, we really will be out of jobs.”

“…………Understood,” I said. “Now then, until the support arrives, let’s all take turns taking a short break. If any of the workers at the site want to take a break, please let us know so long as it doesn’t delay the construction work.”

It’s not good to say that you can’t work for some reason, so you should rest at home and you won’t get paid. But if you say you can take a break because the overall work has progressed so far, those who want a salary will come, and those who want to take care of their families will take a break. There is no problem as long as you listen to their wishes and give them a break.

Also, we, the site supervisors, and the people in charge were working hard without a break. It would be better to take a little rest while we have time. It’s bad if there’s no one in charge, but I should be able to do it if we take turns and rest.

Contrary to my expectations, the people in charge decided on vacation assignments, which for some reason was easily accepted.

I gathered my 5 wives just now and were having a discussion. It was a very important matter.

“… So, I’ll be able to take 2 days off this weekend. I’d like to use those 2 days to spend time with everyone, so how would you like to spend them?” I asked. “Shall we all go somewhere?”

Yes, I had 2 days off this weekend. In Japanese terms, Saturday and Sunday are like consecutive holidays. Since the Academy also has Sundays off, it feels like my day off starts after class on Saturday, and the whole of Sunday is free. If I’m going to go somewhere, I have the idea of leaving for it on Saturday night and having fun all day on Sunday.

“I don’t mind going anywhere as long as I can be with you, Flora,” Alexandra said. “I just need to be by your side like this.”

“Alexandra…” I said.

She’s sitting next to me, she gently puts her arm around mine and rests her head on my shoulder. We’re so close. Recently, I feel that everyone’s getting quite close to me. Is this that? Is it okay to get this intimately close?

Alexandra’s aura is that of an orthodox heroine, even though she has the face of a villainess with a bit of a strict personality. This is that… in terms of her appearance, it’s like a villainous daughter who’s normally depraved with a cute side…

“I can train with you on a daily basis, Floto, so anything is fine,” Claudia said.

“That being said, I’m with her every morning, too…” Louisa muttered after, shrinking.

It’s true that we’re together every morning in our daily routine, but I don’t have to worry about that…

“That’s right! Only the two of you are cheating! That’s why I can decide what to do!” Mikoto said.

“Aren’t we always together at school, Mikoto…?” I said. “I think Katharina and you are the ones who have been around me the longest, right?”

Claudia and Louisa’s daily routines aren’t that long. Unlike before, we get to see each other every morning, but it’s only for a short time. In comparison, Mikoto always sits next to me at school. The person I spend the most time with during the day is probably Katharina, who takes care of me, or Mikoto, who is with me all the time in class.

“Do you have anything, Katharina?” I said.

“No, I’ll follow you, Miss Flora.”

Even if I try to talk to Katharina after she doesn’t say much about it, that’s all she answers. For some reason, Katharina has a tendency to take a step back as my maid. You may have to do that when you’re a master and a maid, but I want you to think about it separately from her private life.

“Katarina……I know that you want to act like an excellent maid,” I said. “But this should not be with me as your master and you as my maid. It makes me sad to see you taking a step back even in a situation like this.”

“But……” Katharina muttered.

Apparently, Katharina has her own conflicts. But Katharina’s attitude sometimes feels distant. As a maid, she’s probably thinking about keeping herself in moderation… but I would be sad if she treated herself like my maid instead of being a friend or lover in private.

“We’re supposed to be master and maid on formal occasions, so it may not be good to break it completely,” I said. “However, if you keep treating me with this kind of attitude even when we’re not at formal occasions when we’re not acting as master and maid, I feel a distance from you. It may be important not to forget the rules of being a maid, but as a friend, as a lover, and as a couple, I think there are ways to treat each other depending on the time and situation. Am I incorrect?”

“… No, thank you very much…” Katharina said.

Katharina’s eyes are moist. The two of us stared at each other…

“Wait a minute!” Mikoto yelled, approaching and putting her face in front of me as if to block Katharina’s gaze. “Why are you and Katharina lovers?! What about me? I’m the first wife, aren’t I?!”

“No…, uhm…, just now was a kind of metaphor…, I’m not saying that Katharina and I are like that right now, but…” I said.

Close, too close! If you get any closer, I feel like I’m going to kiss her.

“We’re getting off-topic,” Claudia said. “If we’re going somewhere, we’ll need to prepare, so wouldn’t it be better to decide what we’re doing first, right?”

“It’s exactly what Claudia says…” I said. “First, let’s think about how to use our next holiday.”

Even if it’s playing around, you have to decide what you’re doing first.

“If no one has an opinion, let’s go hunting, in the woods!” Mikoto said. “We don’t even hunt around here, so we should do it once in a while.”

Hunting, huh….? Even though Mikoto is the second princess of the Demon Country, she’s rather hot-tempered, or should I say… she is like that because she’s the princess of the Demon Country?

“But Alexandra and Katharina won’t enjoy hunting, would they?” I asked.

Claudia is a knight and has been trained in the Royal Guard Division, so hunting should be her forte. She’ll probably go into the woods with Louisa, and she’s got magic, so she shouldn’t have a problem meeting some monsters. As Mikoto herself said, she’s been alone in the forests since she was a child, so she’ll be fine.

However, Alexandra, who was raised as a young lady, has probably never hunted, and even if we accompany her, she doesn’t have the skills to hunt. Katharina probably has some self-defense skills, but she’s not suited for hunting.

“We went to the forest last time before we left for here…” I said, “isn’t it okay to do something different this time?”

Come to think of it, the last event before returning to the capital was forest camping… survival, rather? I wondered if Mikoto wanted to go to a place with memories, but it seems that Mikoto is more of an outdoor person and just likes playing in forests and rivers. Come to think of it, I think she was having the most fun when we went swimming in the Aster River.

“I… I think it would be nice to spend time together leisurely at home like this,” Alexandra said as she continued to cling to me.

“Alexandra,” I said.

She looked up at me with a smile and blushing cheeks. How should I put it…? She’s strangely sexy. I unconsciously swallowed my spit.

“You just don’t want to go outside, Alexandra!” Mikoto yelled.

Aah… Mikoto… that’s the end of the discussion…

Clearly, Mikoto is an outdoor person and Alexandra is an indoor person. Normally, Mikoto is of a higher rank, so it wouldn’t be strange for Mikoto to be naive and prefer the indoors, but I don’t know if only this princess is a little special, or if all demons are like this, but she’s quite different from most princesses.

“How about shopping in the royal capital?” Louisa asked.

“Hmm…”

Louisa’s proposal is safe. And it also means that it will be the same as usual. When it comes to shopping, we almost only go to Caanza Trading Firm or the Crepe Cafe. I look around at other stores, but I can’t find any good products, so I end up buying almost nothing.

There is no store that can compete with Caanza’s line-up, and even if you look into it with the intention of having fun, there is almost nothing you can buy at other stores. In the first place, since other stores don’t sell it, I make what I want and sell it at Caanza.

“How about cooking with Floto?” Claudia said. “We could all learn to cook from here, yeah?”

“Uuh…”

Please don’t do that. Almost all of them are lethally unable to cook. Louisa seems to be cooking for her family even at home, so if it’s a commoner’s dish, she can cook it normally. She’s not bad at it. No, it would be better than me who just makes it a hobby once in a while. Katharina is a maid, so she’s getting used to it. But she’s not perfect yet.

Claudia makes something that looks like cooking, but it’s a bit too wild. It’s more like field food than a proper meal. And there’s no way the remaining two can cook. Even if you say it’s all of us cooking, it’s mostly just me making it and everyone eating it… huh?

“Claudia? Isn’t that just because you want to eat my food?” I asked.

“Ehehe, did you find me out?” Claudia asked.

She’s trying to deceive me by laughing cutely, but I won’t be fooled. How many times have I been put on like that and made to cook? I can’t say no when asked, so I always end up cooking everything. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it on my day off

““Umm…””

We’re all desperately working our heads on how to spend our free time, but we can’t come up with a good idea. We don’t have time to play every day, so I thought that if I could take a break, I would play around with everyone, but now that I have vacation days and could do something, so I can’t think of anything. Even though it’s a 2-day holiday, it’s really a day and a half because there’s school, so it’s too short to go on a day trip. When I was wondering what to do…

“Then how about going down the river?” Katharina asked.

“Taking a boat on the river?” I asked.

And with that, Katharina decided what we were going to do.