Third Person View
"...What? The dark forces are making a racket?"
The head of a certain count's household asked this question in response to a report from his retainer. The dark force was the department in charge of illegal and dirty work that could not be made public. Although they were involved in criminal activities, they were not an evil organization. In order to protect the territory, such people were necessary. …It’s what they called a necessary evil. Even in developed countries on Earth, such department called intelligence department existed.
"Yes. It seems that a rumor has spread in that industry that spies sent to a certain noble family have been captured, and that although the head of the family who sent them has apologized and requested that they be returned, the family would have ignored them and left them there. ...Umm, well, ...and, it seems that members of our household are among those who have been captured..."
One day, a fellow went off on a mission and never returned. And there was no explanation from his master. If such rumors were to spread, what would the dark forces think?
It was a job they had accepted knowing the danger, and a mission they had undertaken with full resolve. Death was inevitable. ...But they were still alive. If you apologized, you could get them back. Their comrades were abandoned...
Moreover, no relief measures had been provided for his families left behind. Not only had there been no pensions for the bereaved families, but no condolence money, condolence payments, or lump sums. On the contrary, there were even rumors that the lord had tried to make a move on his wife and daughter who were left behind. The family seemed to be managing to get by thanks to donations from an anonymous, mysterious person...
No, there's no way that a nobleman, especially the head of a family, could bow down to another family so easily. This would be an incredibly large debt, and would mean he would no longer be able to look his opponent in the eye, which would be a major disadvantage for a nobleman. This was not something that should be done for a mere commoner, especially a disposable lower class such as a spy.
They knew that. They understood that. ...But even so. No matter how much they understood. When that reality was actually confronted, it was inevitable that people would feel disappointed, and their loyalty would decline. And although the head of the family had not revealed this to anyone else, the members of the dark side knew that the mission of their missing comrades was to be with the Lightning Archpriestess.
They sent spies against the great hero who had saved the country so many times. And not just for intelligence gathering purposes, but with aggressive and criminal motives that could get them arrested...
"I don't know! There is no evidence that our family has sent spies to other noble families! Those who spread strange rumors must be apprehended and severely punished!"
"...Ha, haha!"
And the lord's orders were conveyed to those in the dark force...leading to a rapid decline in loyalty. That's a given. Their employers did not protect them or their families; instead, they tried to harm their wives and daughters. The dark side members gathered information through horizontal connections and investigated the situations of the families of spies from other families who had also been imprisoned.
A family in which the wife received the salary on behalf of the husband. The wife was employed as a maid in a lord's mansion, and the children were employed as apprentice maids and were being taught how to read and write. The family members of those who died in the line of duty were being paid a pension.
Having obtained this information, the others met together and made preparations... Then one day, all the dark force members who served the noble family suddenly disappeared, along with their wives and children...
Those in the dark force had great skills in espionage, subversion, and many other areas. And yet, for some reason, they were of low status and were treated as lowly people. In the past, Japanese ninjas were treated as low-ranking fighters, equivalent to ashigaru (foot soldiers), and were viewed by the samurai as "A little more than peasants." Was this because they did not realize the importance of intelligence, or was it because they feared these people would rise to power and wanted to keep them down in terms of status?
In any case, the noble families who looked down on those in the dark force lost them, greatly reducing their ability to gather information. Furthermore, the true identity of those who provide anonymous assistance to those in need who had lost their husbands could be quickly uncovered if handled by a professional.
And for some reason, various information was gathered at the Viscount Yamano household, and information that was convenient for the Yamano household was leaked. ……why…….
Mitsuha's Perspective
"...Well then, that's all for now. Let's move on, Mitsuha."
"No……" (Mitsuha)
Bulk buying...no, it's what they called buying a spree. We bought clothes in bulk from fairly expensive stores rather than mass-produced discount stores. ...In addition to ready-made items, I also ordered made-to-order items based on measurements. I'd have to come and pick this up later. I couldn't have it delivered to my house. The two of us somehow manage to grab the ready-made items and left them in my home in Japan via successive transfers in an out-of-sight location.
We'd already bought a lot of things in Japan. Since then, we had been teleporting around the world. Our current location was France. Since I was with her, there's no need to hire an interpreter.
...That's right. To compensate Beatrice-chan, we were currently taking her on a two-day shopping trip. She also bought some women's underwear from Earth, which she was frozen when first saw it. Yet when she saw my underwear, which was much more modest, she called me a slut...
And it's not just clothes, she also bought accessories, small items, and other things. Of course, Beatrice-chan paid for it herself. There's no way I could bear to have to pay this much!!
...But when I exchanged their gold coins for Earthly (this side's) currency, it felt like it's worth about four times the amount because of the exchange rate. Since we kept it a secret from the Marquis and Iris, she either spent all of her saved pocket money, or poured all of the money she earned from the Beatrice Company into it... But it seemed like she also bought some larger sizes...
You're not going to sell it to Lady Iris at an exorbitant price, are you?
With Sabine-chan and Colette-chan joining us, the three-day fun trip had already been completed. In order for everyone to have fun, we needed to go somewhere Sabine-chan and Colette-chan had never been before, so we thought about it a lot. So, rather than carefully choosing where to go, I decided to just go wherever I could.
Because we didn't have to worry about travel time thanks to teleportation, we could visit multiple tourist spots in one day. What amazed everyone was the Skytree's observation deck, observation gallery, and high-definition telescopes. No, even I was surprised, so it's only natural that everyone else was surprised.
We also teleported to Kyoto, Okinawa, Hokkaido, and famous tourist spots overseas, to every place we hadn't taken Sabine-chan and Colette-chan to yet. We only stayed there for a few minutes since there was nothing to see other than the scenery.
No, it was really cold at the top of famous mountains... The hikers were surprised to see us lightly dressed and empty-handed. We were about to be taken into custody, so I quickly transferred, but... I hope there weren't a fuss about a ghost or a witch appearing...
Well, that's why, while nothing was happening and I had some free time, I was slowly clearing out the errands and concerns that had been piling up. If I didn't do it while I have free time, something would inevitably come up and make me busy again...