kscans

Chapter 281 - The First Step Towards Being a Nuisance

"Wow, you moved into a pretty nice place."

Satsuki-san said, nodding as she looked down the hallway after stepping into the entrance.

"Well, you know. I’m living with the shorty couple and a maid."

"When I heard you were living with the prince and princess of Frontier, I thought, what is she talking about? Oh, this is a housewarming gift."

Satsuki-san handed me the paper bag she was holding.

"What is it?"

"Expensive towels."

How normal.

"You’re so serious."

"Yeah. Well, it’s late, but it’s a wedding and housewarming gift. I celebrated with Kaede separately, but I hadn’t congratulated you yet. Since you were kind enough to invite me, I brought something. They’re seriously expensive towels."

Today, unusually, or rather, for the first time, I invited Satsuki-san to our new home. It was actually the first time we’d even seen each other since I retired. We never had a chance to meet because if there was any business, I would just ask Kaede-chan to pass on a message or call. When I mentioned this to Kaede-chan, she suggested we invite her over for a party, and apparently, Satsuki-san went out of her way to buy a gift.

"Thank you. You can never have too many towels. Still, you can really tell you’re branch manager material, you’ve got common sense. Your stingy cousin who often comes to my house like she owns the place and my lesbian disciple never bring anything. I suppose this is the difference between a unique skill holder and someone who becomes a branch manager."

"You’re pretty something yourself, inviting someone over and looking like that. What’s up? Did you awaken to something?"

How rude.

"I had something to talk about, so I’m in this form."

"Hmm, Frontier business?"

"Something like that. Well, come on in."

We went to the living room. Kaede-chan was arranging dishes on the table. The shorty couple, meanwhile, was playing games as if it had nothing to do with them.

"Oh, Satsuki-san, welcome."

"Hey, Kaede. You look like a housewife."

"Not ‘like,’ I am a housewife."

Though Mia was the one who prepared the food.

"Satsuki-san, do you know her name?"

"Kaede."

"It’s Okita Kaede."

Completely, utterly wrong.

"You are so incredibly annoying."

"I hear that often from those two scumbags."

She means Yoshino-san and Nanapon.

"That’s because you’re always saying it."

Well, yeah. It’s my greeting.

"Now, now. Please have a seat. Satsuki-san, would you like a beer?"

"Yeah, thanks. But it’s still three in the afternoon. It’s not lunchtime or dinnertime."

"It’s a party, so don’t worry about it. Just grab whatever and drink whatever you like."

As Kaede-chan said that, Mia brought some drinks from the kitchen, and the three of us took our seats.

"You really do have a maid…"

Satsuki-san murmured as she watched Mia’s back disappear into the kitchen.

"It was a lot of trouble to recruit Mia-chan."

"And we got a weird shorty couple along with her."

"I’d rather not be called weird by yo—heey!"

It seems Lydia-chan attacked Arc while he was looking over here.

"Just ignore them."

"Right. Cheers."

""Cheers!""

Satsuki-san opened a can of beer, so we opened our chuhai and raised our cans.

"Still, for a couple of rich people, you’re drinking cheap booze."

"Even if you get rich, you can’t fix a poor palate."

"Well, I get that. I made a killing thanks to you, but my eating habits haven’t changed much. Though I do pull a ton of gacha…"

This woman is still playing social games.

"Do you send Super Chats to VTubers?"

"I don’t do that."

So she’s the same as Yoshino-san on that front. I heard a while ago that Yoshino-san watches a lot of VTubers, but she absolutely refuses to send Super Chats. Well, she is a cheapskate.

"How’s the branch? Still getting inquiries?"

"We are. It’s been over half a year since you disappeared from the public eye, but we still get calls from the media and various companies. Well, I’m busy selling the potions I got from you, and Claire’s company is doing well, so no one thinks you’re really gone."

Well, I’m not dead. I’ve just stopped going out in this world.

"How are Yoshino-san and Nanaka-san? Are they adventuring properly?"

"They seem to be, but they’re mostly just messing around. Nanapon, however, is always going on and on about ‘Eleanor-san, Eleanor-san.’"

It’s the same at home.

"Yoshino-san can’t be that bad, can she?"

"Idiots probably like idiots. Yoshino gets serious when it comes to adventuring. Plus, she has a habit of lecturing people with sound logic while completely ignoring her own faults, which is apparently infuriating."

Ah, I can see that.

"Does that woman have any good points besides her looks?"

"Probably not?"

Even her own cousin has judged her so…

"What a pitiful person…"

"She’s probably having fun, though. What about you?"

"Hmph, you may call me the Supreme Advisor."

I said, brushing my hair back.

"Advisor? What’s with that title that doesn’t suit you at all?"

"Pfft."

Arc laughed for some reason.

"Being in the spotlight is old-fashioned. I’ve now become a presence that pulls the strings from behind the scenes… Yes, a Fixer!"

"Ooh!"

Kaede-chan clapped her hands.

"You really do things people would never imagine…"

"You can’t measure me with a normal person’s ruler. Because I am a Fixer!"

Kaede-chan seemed to have lost interest and didn’t clap anymore.

"You definitely don’t know what ‘fixer’ means… Specifically, what are you going to do as Supreme Advisor?"

"Listen. Soon, the king of the Ocean Kingdom will change to Arc over there. When that happens, the Ocean Kingdom will apparently break out of its isolationist shell. And that’s when this Golden Witch will shine."

A grand plan!

"Shine? You mean cause chaos, don’t you? And what is this Ocean Kingdom? It sounds stupid."

"Satsuki is so sensible."

Arc threw in his usual heckle. Of course, I gave him my usual ignore.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph, in the Ocean Kingdom, I’m already known as the witch of justice who everyone knows. It’s no exaggeration to say the Ocean Kingdom is already mine. Next is the world."

"Is that right?"

Satsuki-san asked Arc, who was playing a game over there.

"The part about everyone knowing her is the only thing that’s correct. She’s a mysterious idiot who shows up at meetings everywhere and wolfs down tea snacks like she owns the place. And she’s the Slaughter Witch who has been massacring the monsters outside the city."

"What on earth have you been doing…?"

Satsuki-san looked completely exasperated.

"No, no, that’s misleading. I’m just accompanying Arc and Lydia-chan as their bodyguard. But I don’t know what they’re talking about, and it’s boring, so eating is the only thing to do. And the monster hunting is just me exterminating them with a heart of justice because the townspeople were being threatened by them."

Completely different.

"How is that being an advisor? You’re a bodyguard."

Huh…

"...Who knows? But, but, I’m contributing a lot, and I’m working. I’m not a NEET."

Besides, just the other day, I gave Lydia-chan game strategy tips in my capacity as an advisor.

"Ah… Yoshino and Nanapon must have said that to you…"

Those morons!

"Just you watch… I’ll show the world that I’m not a NEET."

"Don’t trouble the world’s leaders for such a petty reason."

It’s too late to apologize now! I’ve decided to reign over the world as the Golden Fixer! I’m going to be in the history books!