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Mira was unsure of how to react, seeing that new item in such an unexpected place. She was sure it would fit her current appearance perfectly, but at the same time she was filled with that indescribable feeling from earlier.

But no matter how she felt, there was nothing she could do to stop Lily and Tabatha from working together on putting the clothes on her.

「Now Lady Mira, please raise your arms as high as you can.」
「Lady Mira, please watch your feet.」

In the end, Mira was once again turned into a dress-up doll while Lily and Tabatha happily put her new clothes on.

Once Mira was fully dressed, Lily and Tabatha held her hand and took her to the maid chambers, as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Halfway there Mira complained that she needed to hurry and report to Solomon, but Lily quickly dashed all of Mira’s hopes of escape. Solomon himself had ordered them to take care of Mira to let her relax, given she had been working away for a long time.

Those were Solomon’s direct orders. The king’s word could not be overturned, so Lily and Tabatha happily dragged Mira away like hawks taking a weak rabbit to their nest.

The best thing to relax with was something sweet, the maids chanted that as they took Mira to a dining hall.

「Aww, she looks even cuter than I imagined!」
「I feel like we’re slowly creating a true angel.」

The dining hall was filled with maids who came to see Mira, making one wonder exactly when they went to work. Then they all called for someone. A group brought a large white board, similar to a reflector panel, and someone with a camera, the shutter of which tirelessly closed and opened. The maids had arranged for all that in secret, many of which were doing everything they could for the photos to come out better.

They had actually borrowed the camera from Luminaria. She had happily agreed when all the maids pleaded simultaneously.

Mira was surrounded as she sat down, and slowly began eating tiramisu, her eyes looking thoroughly defeated.

(They would be such good girls if they only stopped this…)

Even though they were a boisterous bunch, they were kind at heart. If all they did was act on their desires, Mira would have told them off, but they acted that way mainly out of affection. Going overboard too often was still a bad trait, but that was something Mira always overlooked.

Not even Lily and Tabatha, who were the most proactive ones, were really going all grabby, even though they were sitting next to Mira.

All the maids around the dining hall were raising their voices for Mira’s attention, but they did not overstep their boundaries. They merely watched from a distance, adoring Mira.

Lily and Tabatha did touch Mira slightly. They wiped the corner of her lips, kept the neck of her clothes neat, and did everything possible to serve Mira.

Some days later Mira found out that the maids had decided to put restrictions on themselves. They realized Mira would be bothered if they kept swarming Mira like before, so they decided to have only a limited number of maids serving her directly. Through a battle royale.

It had been a crazy event. Lily came out as the victor, while Tabatha got second place. That was why only those two sat at Mira’s right and left side.

「Such tomfoolery…」

Mira was completely baffled when she found out about that.

Solomon was in the same office where he spent every day hard at work. Mira had finally been released by the maids, and now lay on the couch there.

「It’s been a while since I was here, but those maids are still the same as ever.」

Mira slowly propped herself up, took off her coat, and grimaced as she looked at it attentively. Her new get-up was so well-made that even a professional seamstress would admire it. Then there was their attitude, probably anyone else would rejoice being showered in attention like that. Mira recalled everything that happened, then glared at Solomon who was organizing some documents on his desk.

「I know. I’m glad they’re all so capable.」

Solomon said with a slightly distracted chuckle. He was only half serious, his other half just wanted to tease Mira.

But the fact remained that thanks to Lily and the other maids, Mira’s exhaustion had been taken care of. Not to mention that all the sweets they prepared for her were marvelous, and she ate until she could no longer fit anything else in her stomach. It would have been perfect if only they had stopped treating her like a dress-up doll.

「I just wish they acted a bit more normal…」

Mira muttered to herself with a sigh. Solomon replied with 「They are being normal,」 which was met with an even louder sigh.

「That aside, what was the meaning of that parade out there? And the audience right after that. Was there really a need to put on such a show to merely pass a document around?」

There was no way to change the past. Mira reclined her body on the couch, pressing her body against her new cute outfit, and complained about the way she was welcomed to the castle.

「Well, it’s important for the future. Do you know what this document is?」

Solomon waved around the document Ulysses sent him as he asked that. Mira answered that she did not, but that it seemed pretty important. Solomon grinned slightly ominously as he began explaining exactly what he made Mira bring him.

The document was a signed treaty between Arkite and Roseline, establishing a firm alliance, and open trading routes.

Roseline was known as a country of merchants, where items gathered from all over the place, not only from the Earth Continent here, but even from the Ark Continent, all the way to the west. Sentopolly was another commercial hub, and the majority of items there were sent to Roseline.

In a way, Roseline was the main point of commercial trade between the two continents. That also meant there was a strong flow of money in Roseline, and many countries wanted to attempt tapping into it.

The Three Gods’ Countries had formed an alliance with Roseline. Even Atlantis, the biggest country of former players, had lost at the hands of the Three Gods’ Countries, so no one would dare challenge Roseline considering their backing.

That meant the only diplomatic relationship one would consider would be an amicable one, though Roseline was also aware of how influential they could be, making it difficult for them to consider such alliances. They had only allied themselves with one other country in the last three decades, showing just how difficult forming such a connection was.

「So there was such a background behind it all. Doesn’t that mean you just accomplished something incredible?」

Mira had always kept a distance from politics and similar topics, but she was shocked hearing just how influential Roseline was, while also staring at the document Solomon held, realizing how valuable it was.

「Oh, so you finally understand. But that’s exactly right!」

Now that Mira understood why he was so proud of himself, Solomon spoke even more enthusiastically about how the alliance would benefit him.

The continent was large. There were multiple other countries that focused on trading. But there was a reason why everyone always looked at Roseline. They had a long history of uninterrupted trading, and everyone there showed their experience to handle such a reputation. Many merchants would always choose Roseline’s trading routes to deliver their wares.

Roseline’s highways always seemed to carry everything safely to their destination. The Merchants’ Union itself prohibited people from interfering on those roads, making it Roseline’s strongest weapon.

Only Roseline’s ruler had full control over those roads. The current ruler was someone Mira had just met, Ulysses Teles Eabates.

「You see, this sheet of paper you just brought here gives me permission to use all of those roads as well, and not only the ones between our countries.」

That was extremely valuable to Arkite, and Solomon kept grinning happily thinking about it, showing off the document.

「Ohh. That sounds quite impressive I must say.」

Mira decided to summarize it in her head as Roseline giving Arkite special treatment.

「Umm, I think you don’t quite get it yet. What really makes this so important is that usually people need to pay a considerable tax to be allowed on those roads, but now anyone belonging to Arkite will be allowed free of charge.」

Solomon had happily explained everything so far, but then lowered his voice and said 「Now this is just a secret between us」 with a cunning smile. He then told Mira yet another arrangement, a more secretive one, between the two countries.

Roseline would give priority to any orders from Arkite, giving them cheaper prices and delivering everything faster. That was the true reward Solomon asked for in exchange for helping Eabates take down Melville.

「I feel like it was mainly the Fifty Bells that helped take down Melville though.」

Sasori and Hebi had done most of the work to incarcerate Melville. Mira felt like the two deserved more credit for their hard work, but then Solomon grinned and said 「The church and that minister reacted really quickly to their report, didn’t they?」

「Please leave me out of complicated conversations, I don’t get anything.」

Mira had tried to defend Sasori and Hebi, but gave up in the end.