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"Thank you for the information you provided, Duchess."

"I am truly helped by this," I said while giving a respectful thanks to the Duchess by bowing my head to her.

Sraatt...

The Duchess opened her hand fan wide again and relaxed after chatting with me.

In the case that I am currently experiencing, I have understood the common thread that made several noble families around Marquess Rommel's territory have sided with the opposition faction.

It was their act of survival that was quite right if they followed the hot conflict political phase because the war season between nobles was coming. By joining a faction that supported the opposition, they had a chance to retain their noble title without having to lose territory or have their noble titles lowered after the war season between nobles took place.

This condition made me feel grateful to the Duchess after leaking some information that was only known by the head of the family or people who were interested.

I, who was traveling in creating attack formation that was limited by distance and large-scale precautions, was helped by this.

"Just think of it as a bonus I give to someone who has caught my interest and attention, Lily," the Duchess replied while hiding her smile from behind her hand fan.

Hearing such an answer, Mio showing her uncomfortable expression to the Duchess, who looked annoyed to her. Mio's gaze began to flicker towards me as if she wanted to know what had happened while she was making tea.

With such curiosity, it seemed that Mio had forgotten about her problem, who was sulking at me.

I felt that this was a pretty good thing to make Mio curious and forget about her problem, who was sulking at me.

"Umm, thank you very much, Duchess," I could only say that without being able to think of other words after getting this quite useful information.

"By the way, is what you said earlier true, Lily?"

"Hmm?"

When the Duchess asked about something earlier, it made me think hard about what she meant.

"About the cult or the group that is hunting down that cult?" I asked, giving a guess that contained two options.

"Both of them, do you know the people who are hunting down this cult directly?" the Duchess asked while closing her hand fan and looking at me with a serious expression.

"I chose them after doing some purification of sins that made them a group that was too obedient and loyal to me," I answered by giving a vague answer to the Duchess.

Hearing my answer that sounded vague like this, the Duchess just gave me a surprised look.

"Did they get torture... Ahh... I mean training directly from you, Lily?" the Duchess asked while trying to guess what I had done to the group led by Jean.

"Um, I did not train them directly, but I am fully responsible for the actions they have taken. Especially when hunting down a cult that worships the Goddess of Destruction require who bring out cursed sword. With their movements that seem to have the support of one of the nobles of the Aurora Kingdom, it create some problem to them. I just hope they not create some problem in civilian territory," I replied while taking a cup of tea and sipping it elegantly.

"Forgive me for cooperating with them before, Lily," replied the Duchess, almost making me choke.

I, who was drinking a cup of tea calmly and elegantly, began to waver after hearing the answer given by the Duchess. Luckily, I was able to control myself, who was shocked after hearing the Duchess's answer.

Taakk...

By slowly putting down the cup of tea, I began to look at the Duchess's face, who felt guilty after what happened a long time ago.

The Duchess's words were heard by Mio and several Maids who worked at Earl Timoti's residence. With their professional attitude and being able to keep secrets well, it made me feel calm about this.

"I already knew about that. However, other noble families seem to be following in your footsteps, Duchess," I replied with information about other nobles who were under the surveillance of a herd of stealth slime spies.

"Ah, Lily means the nobles who are famous lately because their children become more useful in improving their economy and military strength?" replied the Duchess, who seemed to know about the nobles I was talking about.

"Are they very famous? I just came back from a family vacation, so I don't know the gossip or rumors that are circulating in the social circles between nobles," I replied, with my main focus on finding information that the Duchess knew.

With a relaxed and comfortable conversation like this, at least I could get one or two pieces of information from the Duchess. Although the stealth slime herd who were on duty as spy agents gave their reports periodically, I still needed information from other parties who understood the conditions of the nobles in the Aurora Kingdom better, like the Duchess in front of me.

"At least they are famous for giving birth to genius twins."

"Alice and Alyssa are also no less geniuses, especially in terms of magic."

"Alice and Alyssa? Oh! The second wife of the retired Mage who once served in the Aurora Kingdom Palace?"

"Ohhh my, it seems this one mother of mine is known to the esteemed Duchess like this too."

"I only know her and have been escorted by her on business trips to neighboring kingdoms a few times. She is good enough to use magic, but a bit crazy when talking about magic or something that interests her."

No matter how I listen to it, it is truly characteristic of my mother's typical behavior.

"Is that woman still like that until now, Lily?" the Duchess asked suddenly.

"Yes, I think it is much worse than the one the Duchess knew before," I replied with a small joke that made the Duchess laugh when she heard it.

"Hahaha... I can imagine that. Back to topic, if Lily talking about this spicy information, it seems you have prepared something for these genius twins, Am I right?" The Duchess curiously tried to get an answer from me directly.

"I don't know if this will work or not, at least I have made some precautions if they do something to Marquess Rommel's territory," I answered while hiding what I had done to one of the large rivers that connected to the opposition nobles' territories around Marquess Rommel's territory.

"I'm sure it will work. Even though these twins are geniuses. It seems like they have a competition to prove each other's abilities and bring each other down to prove their genius. Isn't that a good thing to take full advantage of, Lily?" said the Duchess with a smile that showed the Duchess's dirty plan.

"I think it can be done at the right time," I replied with a smile towards the Duchess, and was returned by her smile too.

Tookk...

Toookk...

While I was busy chatting with the Duchess, suddenly someone knocked on my door.

Mio, who was standing beside me, immediately gave her polite respect by bowing before leaving to greet the arrival of someone who had knocked on my door.

Kraakkk...

Opening the door to my room, I saw Aiko, who had returned with several rolls of paper that looked like a large map in her hands.

"Good evening, Supreme Commander."

"Am I interrupting at an important time like this?" Aiko asked as she walked in slowly.

As her footsteps walked into my room, I could see the Duchess staring sharply at Aiko.

"This is very interesting, Lily."

"How many slimes have you trained to grow like this?" the Duchess asked curiously.

"I really can't understand how slimes can grow like this, especially with their movements that can suddenly appear and disappear too. Doesn't this mean that you have a military force that is much more developed than other noble families?" the Duchess continued while watching every step taken by Aiko to hand over the roll of paper she was carrying to me.

"Duchess, training them takes a long time. It almost made me give up on taking them into my magic spell. Unlike livestock that can be trained to be tame or have a specific purpose, I train them for a purpose like this. They have different minds. Isn't that right, Aiko, Sirius?" I replied, calling Aiko and Sirius at the same time.

"Y-Yes, Supreme Commander?" Aiko replied in an awkward tone after handing me a roll of paper.

"Did the Supreme Commander call me?" replied Sirius, who suddenly appeared behind me.

Kraappp...

After Mio closed the entrance to my room, it made the atmosphere in my room awkward after the appearance of two stealth slimes who had their own unique personalities.

Sirius' sudden appearance from the air, forming a lump of her human body, made the Duchess surprised and amazed by Sirius' abilities.

The Duchess's gaze could not be separated from Aiko and Sirius, she looked at them both alternately.

"It seems like you brought something interesting, Aiko," said Sirius until some of my curiosity was triggered by Sirius's question.

"Of course, I copied the report that had been made by Earl Timoti and several representatives of the royal family who seemed a little hostile to Marquess Rommel. Even daring to challenge the Marquess Rommel family to a war between nobles in this year's war season," replied Aiko, which made my head feel heavy after hearing it.

"Haaah... these fools never stop troubling the Marquess Rommel family, who have become neutral nobles, huh?" I replied with a heavy breath and exhaled as if responding to something troublesome.

"People like that exist, Lily," the Duchess replied while trying to hold back her laughter that I could slowly hear.

"I'm sure these people only care about my territory that has been fertile to meet the needs of my people and want to take away my father's hard work, who did all this to separate from the faction supporting the royal family. Who is this fool, Aiko?" I asked Aiko.

"Former Crown Prince of the Aurora Kingdom," Aiko replied in a calm tone that made Mio suddenly touch my shoulder.

"Lily-sama, allow me to kill him right now before he moves." Mio suddenly touched my shoulder with an expression of killing intent on her face.

"Ah, this fool, huh?" I replied while lying down on the back of the chair while feeling the killing aura emitted by Momoka intensely.

"Past grudges?" I asked, throwing the question to Mio.

"Judging from the condition... it seems so, Lily-sama," Mio replied with her body starting to tremble to commit murder.

"Let's just see the situation that is happening, we also need to pay attention to the situation that is happening between me and that old man, Mio."

By giving an answer and forcing Mio to stay calm, I tried to suppress Mio's rash actions that would become big news in the newspaper.