The second day of the commemoration festival… though, nothing much has changed from yesterday.
The festival lasts for three days, and in the royal capital, they hold ceremonial events each day. However, Riana’s territory isn’t yet at the level of hosting such grand occasions.

Incidentally, the royal capital conducts executions on the first day.
In the past, Seriana carried out executions using 【Scarlet Bee Needle】, but fortunately, we don’t have any criminals warranting execution.
There seem to be minor crimes occasionally, but perhaps this land isn’t yet fertile ground for outsiders to commit anything outrageous.

Anyway, this morning, Seriana held a meeting with someone she had chosen and conducted 【Mira’s Blessing】 as a side event.

As with yesterday, the main visitors are those from faraway places.
For those living nearby, they can easily come if they wish, can’t they?
Maybe there’s more to it, but there’s no point in me overthinking it.

◇

After completing today’s round of treatment, I returned to Seriana’s room.
While everyone else was having lunch with the guests, I wasn’t required to join and stayed alone in the room.
Since I had no plans to meet more guests, I changed into the usual summer attire, a jinbei, and settled into relaxation mode.

As I lounged around reading a book gifted from somewhere, I heard a knock at the door.

“Yes? Oh, my. What’s up?”

When I opened the door, a maid who primarily worked in the main building of the mansion was standing there holding clothes.

“Seria-chan, Madam is calling for you. You’ll need to get changed first… Just as Madam said.”

She stepped in, smiling wryly at my attire.
It seemed she had a reason to see me, but what could Seriana have mentioned?

“What did Lady Seriana say?”

As I took off the jinbei and changed into the clothes handed to me, I asked what Seriana had said.

…By the way, these clothes.
A light green dress—it’s my first time seeing it.
Its design is similar to what I’ve been wearing these past two days, but is this a new one?
The size fits perfectly; it might’ve been tailored together. Still, this mansion has too many things I don’t know about, even though it’s for me.

“I wasn’t told much, but there’s a guest here. Hmm… What about your hair?”

She buttoned up the back of the dress and then pondered what to do with my hair.
At the moment, I had it untied, with a hairband keeping the bangs out of the way.

“Could you just tie it in the back?”

A simple ponytail.
I don’t know who the guest is, but unless there’s a specific request, this should be fine.

She quickly tied my hair, completing the preparations.
Still, what could this be about?

◇

“Awwwwww…”

There exists a being called a contracted beast.
It’s not a species name but refers to magical creatures tamed and bound by a contract with a human.
I’ve contracted three Submerged Serpents—Akame, Shirojita, and Mitsume. They’re reliable companions, whether in battle or during peace.

Though I haven’t tested it myself, one can use magic to forcefully control their contracted beasts. Both the beasts and their masters must register with their nation or territory.

…On a related note, both Zelkis and my territory have very low crime rates along the highways.
This is partly due to the patrols of the knight order, but mainly because of the high appearance rate of magical creatures.
After all, no criminal would deliberately operate in such areas.

Similarly, individual travel is also rare; most people travel in caravans with guards.

Now, the unexpected guest turned out to be the wife of someone from the Müller family’s branch—Marieira Barren. She serves as a magistrate in some town in Zelkis’s domain.
She’s in her 30s, not particularly tall but with a poised, active demeanor. She arrived here alone this morning—or rather, not entirely alone.

Usually, noblewomen are discouraged from venturing beyond city walls, but her case is different.
Her contracted beast—her powerful companion—changes the rules.

“Eep…”

This world has cats.
Though different from the pets in my previous life, they’re often kept in villages for pest control.
Naturally, there are magical cat creatures too.

“Call, stop it!”

Marieira’s contracted beast, called Call, is one such magical cat.
Its appearance is closer to a wildcat, with larger paws than any ordinary cat I know.
But its size is a different story.

A cat as big as a human… At that size, isn’t it practically a tiger?

“Help me…”

For some reason, Call has taken a liking to me and has been licking my face with its rough tongue.
Marieira is frantically trying to stop it, but without success.
Meanwhile, Seriana is laughing nonstop, finding the situation hilarious.

Elena and Teresa aren’t here due to other matters… Should I just use 【Wind Garb】 to blow it away?

“Call!”

But before I could act, Marieira called its name with more force. Call immediately stopped.
Was that an order just now?

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera ・ 【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind Garment】・【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lungs】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】 ・ 7 cards

Seriana ・ 【Area Identification】 ・ 【】 ・ 28 cards

Elena ・ 【】 ・ 【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】 ・ 3 cards

Alec ・ 【Power Strike】 ・ 【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・ 7 cards