Yotsuba News Begins
“Now then, everyone here at the venue. The continent is entering a time of upheaval. Because of that, the importance of information is only going to increase, and falling behind could very well be fatal. So, in order to deliver information to all of you as quickly as possible, we of the Yotsuba General Trading Company would like to begin providing news, Yotsuba Reporting.
Yotsuba Reporting will gather information from our branches all across the world, carefully review and compile it, and then deliver it to you in the form of a publication, the Yotsuba Newspaper.
And the person in charge of this… will be Princess Flora.”
“Oh, that’s a blessing.” “This means we can finally…” “A newspaper, you say…?” “Information from all over the world while staying in our own lands…”
Yeah, yeah. Looks like it’s well received. But, you know…
“You all seem pretty excited, but keep in mind, if you engage in corruption, bribery, or any kind of crime, it’ll be exposed to the entire world. Of course, the newspaper will be sold at a price even commoners can afford, so people might start leaving poorly run territories for well-managed ones… So make sure you run things properly. We will dig things up.”
Murmur, murmur, murmur…
The whole venue stirred. Well, no noble is completely clean, big or small.
Not like I’m planning to go after places that are actually run well, though…
“From now on, anyone will be able to cheaply access information from across the world. So please, keep an eye on what happens with the allied forces of the South Territory and the Albul Kingdom.”
Now then, about the countries we just declared war on…
The Tsutora Kingdom is a mid-sized nation on the continent.
The one obsessed with Princess Flora is their second prince, Peron, apparently he wants to make her his thirteenth wife.
… Are you kidding me?
They’ve been repeatedly sending troops against the Albul Kingdom, even after being rejected over and over. Even now.
The Jill City-State Confederation is a collection of various cities.
Among them, Devero, the great merchant and lord of the trade city Sanrald, was trying to get both Princess Flora’s beauty and the profits from the Forest of Monsters.
Devero (52)… short, fat, bald, triple threat of trouble. Ah, make that four.
The West Derobi Kingdom split off from the larger Derobi Empire. Right now, it’s basically a puppet state where Chancellor Dyumol holds real power while acting as regent for a young king.
Princess Flora has also kept rejecting marriage proposals from that Chancellor.
West Derobi’s plan? Capture women from the Albul Kingdom, except Flora, turn them into slaves, and have them bear children to monopolize their unique “Tree Magic.”
… Yeah. Let’s wipe them out.
Also, becoming “the guy whose fiancée got stolen” again? Not funny.
I pulled Flora, Yukimi, and Charlotte close and hugged them.
“I’ll protect you. I’m done with having important people taken from me. I’ll crush all three nations and make them understand whose women they dared lay hands on.”
… Ah. Right. Still at the party venue…
Jealousy and resentment poured off the men. Heh. Too bad. They’re my fiancées.
Yeah, everyone saw that loud and clear. And my fiancées…
“Eep… Julius-sama…”
“Master~…”
“Owner~…”
All three of them, too cute. This is bad, this is bad…
“Ahem… excuse me. You’ll be able to follow what happens next in our newspaper. That concludes my greetings and announcements. Please enjoy the rest of the evening.”
---
After that, all kinds of people came over to greet me.
But even when they were talking to me, their eyes kept drifting to Flora, Yukimi, and Charlotte… especially the men.
Flora attracted everyone, from young guys to old grandpas. As expected of the Jade Princess… seriously, old man, don’t blush. That’s rough.
Yukimi was popular with people who like cute things. When her tail swayed, their gazes swayed with it, right, left… pretty funny.
Beastkin really do have their fans. Me included.
Charlotte had that mature woman vibe, so she drew a lot of older men. There were even some hardcore fans who wanted to be scolded by her. Yeah… I get it. I really do.
Most of the nobles and foreign dignitaries in the hall were probing each other, trying to read intentions.
This dance hall had turned into a den of demons, one careless word could decide everything. Tension, ambition, the urge to drag others down… it was all swirling together.
Ugh. I hate this.
Well, for now… the revenge I, Julius, and the South Territory wanted is basically complete.
At least, the “serves you right” part here at the venue is.
---
Time passed like that, and the next day we were all running back toward the South Territory.
The Hero Party was coming along too for their special training camp, but when they tried to ride in a carriage, we dragged them out and made them run.
On the men’s side, Unit 8 Captain, “Iron Fist” Giri, was kicking the butts of Hero Waltz and Crown Prince Erason whenever they tried to slow down.
“Wahaha! Don’t slack off, Hero boy! I’ll kick you from behind! And you, pretty boy, stop worrying about your hair or I’ll shave it all off!”
Yeah. Leaving it to Giri is fine.
Now then, the girls’ side…
Unit 2 Captain “Castlebreaker” Sammy, and Unit 6 Captain “Whirlwind” Elia. Starting them off with Shiranui’s infamous hell circuit right from the beginning, huh…
“Let me be clear, we hate you guys. We’re only helping because Master asked us to. We’re not holding back.”
Sammy uses “boku”, and yeah, “Master” means me.
She’s a dwarf, so she’s small and baby-faced… except for her chest. That part’s insane. Dwarves, man.
“That’s right. Your disrespect toward our lord deserves death a thousand times over… but since Nemesia’s older sister is here, we’ll go through with it.”
The “hell circuit” goes like this: Sammy runs at the front, pulling the girls along with a rope (a special mithril-woven one). From behind, Elia uses wind spirit magic to blow a tailwind.
Tailwind? Don’t think that makes it easier.
Shiranui’s strongest powerhouse, Sammy, drags them along while Elia’s wind magic forces them to run. If they start collapsing, the wind magic fixes their posture. Even if they pass out, they keep running.
It’s a training method feared even within Shiranui.
They ran all day, until no one had anything left to throw up.
Basic stamina is everything.
And it didn’t end there. At night, we trained mana.
Mana increases when it’s depleted to empty… so we exploit that. They wore Sammy’s special mana-draining bracelets while chugging Elia’s mana recovery potions by the mug.
Mana depletion meant constant headaches and fatigue. Absolute hell.
And so, during the day they ran… and at night they writhed in agony… all the way until we reached the South Territory.
“… Serves them right, honestly,” I thought.
What do you think about this chapter?
