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The scorching sunlight did not stop Mio from muttering her happy song after her soft kiss left my lips.

What Mio had done earlier received a harsh response from Earl Timoti because his two pet mice received quite severe bruises from Mio.

"I apologize about this," said Earl Timoti while holding his hands and raising his voice as if to attract the attention of his soldiers.

"I didn't expect these two fools to try to attack people from the center military force. As their superior, I am ready to receive punishment from the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom directly by following the guidelines of military discipline sanction," said Earl Timoti who seemed to be building a new stage to keep my identity from being known by his pet mice.

Ah, so this is what Earl Timoti meant earlier.

I keep mice to deceive the enemy by giving false information that follows the deception tactics often used by my father.

Now I understand why Earl Timoti likes to keep mice like this.

I just nodded and accepted the stage given by Earl Timoti.

"I will note this down later, military sanctions will await you," I said in a cold tone and my hand immediately pulled the cursed Odachi sheath that I had used as a pole supporting my body.

Along with my movements that looked cold and threatening like this, Earl Timoti looked trembling and showed his acting talent that was suitable for playing a role play.

"I hope the supply refill has been completed and we can continue our journey," I continued my words seeing some small codes given by several of Earl Timoti's female soldiers who had finished refilling their supplies.

With this bait that I gave, Earl Timoti immediately caught it.

"Yes, we have finished refilling the supplies. Do we need to continue your journey to review the preparations for the upcoming event and make Earl Timoti's family a sponsor of the royal family?" Earl Timoti's words that sounded cunning seemed to provide another stage about the event that would happen in the future.

Whatever the event, I need to pretend to do something about it.

"If it meets the expectations of the royal family," I replied with a cold answer like a neutral royal family envoy.

"Ah, so that's it, it's a shame I can't get a guarantee about the sponsor this time," Earl Timoti sounded like a disappointed ruler after his cooperation proposal was rejected by the King and Queen's envoy who couldn't be bribed with gold coins.

I guess...

The role play given by Earl Timoti was too serious to give me a heavy role like this.

Tapp...

Tapp...

Along with my footsteps that started walking towards my horse, I found several packages of Earl Timoti's new military uniform and several robes that matched the color of Earl Timoti's military uniform, which was navy blue with white ornaments.

From the packaging alone, I could see that it was a military uniform size that suited my body. Not too big and not too small for me to wear.

Mio also got the same military uniform as me.

The ornaments of her military uniform were far different from mine who had a rank above Earl Timoti as an envoy sent directly from the Capital of the Aurora Kingdom.

Seeing the contents of the military uniform ornaments given by Earl Timoti, I understood why I had to play a role as an envoy of the Capital of the Aurora Kingdom who was reviewing the location of an event that would be held by the royal family.

Whatever the event was, I would know when the time came. After all, my family had become neutral and did not care about the royal family event that would soon be held in Earl Timoti's territory.

That made me wonder a little about what would happen after Princess Anastasia was busy with the threat of the seventy-two cursed swords that were currently active.

I hope that doesn't make this event chaotic after the heretical sect is actively moving.

I glanced at Earl Timoti who was not far from my horse. He seemed to still be giving his horse a drink to make it look fresh for the long journey.

The preparations made by Earl Timoti's troops were quite fast.

If previously their troops used fast walking steps, now they all had mounted the saddles of their horses. This made me realize that this distance would be even further from my main goal of closing the river flow that circled the territory of the opposition nobles.

As time went on, I felt that this would be a journey involving a big trick after getting Earl Timoti's interference.

I don't know what Earl Timoti was thinking, I had to follow the big trick that Earl Timoti had prepared for the rats that had spread across his border territory.

Earl Timoti immediately gave a hand signal to continue the journey to his Main Mansion.

I then looked at the small map that Sebastian had given me.

Based on the direction of the map that my father had written, the route that would not arouse much suspicion was the route that circled Earl Timoti's family's Main Mansion and moved according to the path that nature had given me.

Observing the small map, it seemed that my father intended for me to stay for a few days in Earl Timoti's Main Mansion and accept the hospitality that he had given me.

Should I accept this sudden hospitality?

While I was observing the small map, Mio gave my arm a light touch that was glued to the small map that Sebastian had given me.

"Lily-sama, it's time to continue the journey on horseback," Mio whispered with her mouth tightly covered by her hand so that her mouth movements could not be read by the rats roaming around this military barracks.

I gave a small nod, then mounted my horse's saddle and prepared to receive departure instructions.

Earl Timoti was still giving punishment instructions to the two military men who almost attacked me earlier. They were still unconscious after receiving a hard blow from Mio's hand.

I felt that this was a fair action after they tried to measure the limits of my abilities.

At least, the movement of my head that could casually avoid the arrow attack had made them realize that my ability standards were above theirs.

Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, at least I made the enemies of the Marquess Rommel family think twice before sending an official war letter.

Kllaappp...

Kllaaappp...

The sound of horse hooves began to leaving the military barracks located in the border city of Earl Timoti's territory.

The fast-moving horse hooves managed to pass through the city's border gate that had been prepared for Earl Timoti's troops who were currently riding horses.

When the horse's hooves passed the city wall and the city exit gate, Earl Timoti asked me a small question.

"Do you like a city filled with spies like that, Lily-sama?" asked Earl Timoti while glancing at me.

"I don't like a city that can easily cast identification magic on my body at any time, it's like someone is trying to peek at me naked," I replied with an answer that made Earl Timoti feel guilty.

"Cough! I'm sorry... I didn't think Lily-sama would think like that. It seems like I have to reduce my naughty pet rats," said Earl Timoti who looked awkward after listening to my answer that sounded vulgar like that.

The footsteps of our horses that had moved away from the city began to change into fast-running steps.

This speed made the herd of stealth slimes on duty adjust their speed to stay around me.

The area around me returned to being a shady forest. The road we were on was wide enough to let the horses run freely on the side of the road.

This horse ride made me feel a little bored after passing through a supply stopover point filled with dozens of shameless spies to peek at information about me.

If only I could do something freely to them, I think there would be a mouse hunt between me and Mio that might make Earl Timoti's military barracks filled with corpses.

Let's just say they were lucky after becoming Earl Timoti's pets.

In between my horse running, I received a short message from Sirius through the Soul Tame communication channel.

[ Supreme Commander, we have received some mysterious movements that are chasing you from a distance and they are using several binoculars to observe you from a distance. ]

[ Do we need to do something about this? ]

Hearing the report given by Sirius, I felt that the movement of these rats was quite disturbing and too meddling in my business of wanting to sabotage their river flow.

With a long sigh filled with fatigue, I glanced at Earl Timoti who was focused on riding his horse.

"Earl Timoti," with a slightly loud voice so that Earl Timoti could hear, I planned to ask permission to do something about this pet mouse of his.

My call was heard by Earl Timoti and he started to turn his head towards me.

"Is there a problem, Lily-sama?" with his eyes fixed on me, Earl Timoti seemed to have a little difficulty with his attitude as he started to pull the reins of his horse tightly.

"There are some mice following us from a distance, can I do something about this?" I asked in a loud tone that was able to penetrate the noise of the horses running around me.

The voice I conveyed was heard well and made Earl Timoti think something about this as if he knew that this would make his enemies aware of the spy that Earl Timoti had discovered.

A difficult choice in difficult conditions.

I could feel the pressure given by my words.

Deciding to continue raising mice or trying to get rid of the mice that were starting to move too boldly in stealing sacks of rice. By any measure, this should have been a fairly casual spy battle.

However, I was already tired of having rats go so far as to make me sick of them.

"I leave this decision entirely to Lily-sama," Earl Timoti replied with a smile.

With the permission I had managed to obtain, I informed Sirius of the green light for the execution of these annoying rats.

"Sirius... you may take precautions now," I said through the Soul Tame communication channel.

[ Yes, Supreme Commander! ]

[ We will make sure these people get bad karma for following you around like savage stalkers! ]

"Uh, well, good luck with your hunt," I replied, seemingly hearing words that Sirius shouldn't have said.

Whether she was panicking or working hard to get some free time for me to listen to her apology, I felt like this was too much for Sirius.

"Haaahhh..." I started to let out a long breath after knowing that several spies were coming after me from a distance.