"...Huh? What did you just say?" (Mitsuha)
"So, Theresa-sama and Lastena-sama have been acting suspiciously..." (Adelaide)
The Viscount Reiner had come to discuss the next regular tea party for the Sorority. As soon as the maid left the room after leaving tea and sweets, Adelaide-chan uttered this disturbing story.
"Could this be a rebellion or something?" (Adelaide)
"That's not true. They both have done a great job for Sorority. In particular, they stand between the higher-ranking nobles and the lower-ranking nobles and have built a good relationship with them. And speaking of suspicious behavior..." (Mitsuha)
According to Adelaide-chan, the two young ladies seemed to be a little anxious.
They'd done things to Adelaide-chan and us before.
The matter was somehow resolved amicably thanks to the quick thinking of Katrina-chan, the seventh daughter of a poor baronial family, and Beatrice-chan.
...But it seemed they felt guilty about it and was hoping that by somehow contributing that amount to Sorority, so they could make up for her sins and repay everyone who helped them back then.
There's no need to worry about that...
In the first place, Sorority was nothing more than a social club created for my own personal purposes, and as long as it continued to exist without any problems and mass-produced attractive young ladies to stand out, that would be enough for me.
So, just knowing that they were making such a big contribution to that right now meant that they were very helpful.
But, as the daughter of a high-ranking noble, maybe it couldn't be helped that they felt the need to repay the kindness that's been shown to them...
"If that's your motivation, you wouldn't do anything that would be detrimental to Sorority, right? That means, naturally, they won't cause us any trouble or do anything bad. If you are thinking of something good that will help everyone, then there is nothing wrong with that, right?" (Mitsuha)
Yeah, Adelaide-chan, I wonder what you're worried about...
"That's true, but..." (Adelaide)
Oh, Adelaide-chan, your words are starting to break down.
Her noble lady mode had ended, and she switched to friendly conversation mode. ...That meant, speaking honestly.
"I'm worried that if they both are together, things might get out of hand, or that it might put too much strain on you...or that you might do something reckless or dangerous..." (Adelaide)
Ah... Nobles, especially young ladies of the upper classes, are knowledgeable, but that knowledge is limited to the upper class, noble world. ...That is not the kind of knowledge or common sense that commoners or ordinary folk would have. When it comes to danger, the type and severity of the danger faced by nobles and commoners are completely different. Especially if it's a beautiful girl wearing expensive clothes and accessories... Yeah, that's dangerous.
"...Let's just wait and see what happens..." (Mitsuha)
For now, I had asked the members of Sorority for help.
If those two tried to push themselves too hard or do anything dangerous, to report it to Adelaide-chan or me immediately...
Everyone seemed to have vaguely noticed how worried and anxious the two of them were, and when I honestly explained the situation to them while Theresa-chan and Lastena-chan were not around, they promised to help me.
It seemed that she knew that the two of them were not bad kids, but good guys who were working hard for everyone, and she considered them to be her friends.
…So, there's no need to rush for those two…
Besides, in that incident, everyone just got the short end of the stick, so it's not solely their fault.
I also asked the free orphans who were not under the care of an orphanage and the local thugs in my area to help out if my friends were in trouble. ...Well, there were some thugs who are unusually kind to me...
Well, I was supposed to be the "Great hero who saved the country" who protected it, and a friend of the Great Saint and the Princess, so if anyone laid a hand on me, not only the guards, but also the Royal Guards and the national army, would be dispatched to annihilate all the thugs in the royal capital, and even if I fled the royal capital, all the citizens would probably turn on the thugs in the country.
Then I thought maybe I should just stay away from them, but these thugs were awfully friendly... I wondered if it's because I provided various support to orphanages and orphans who were living on their own. Apparently a certain percentage of the thugs were orphans...
Well, that's why I felt relatively safe walking alone through the back streets, but that's not the case for Theresa-chan and Lastena-chan.
So, I told the orphans and the thugs that Sorority was my organization, that its members were good people, and that they should protect them if anything happened, and that I would reward them accordingly for their efforts.
As a bonus, it was difficult to calculate the amount, and it costed a fair amount of money. There might be people who would think of doing bad things or push themselves too hard for the sake of money. That's why I chose goods instead of money. This would be cheaper and would prevent dissatisfaction with the compensation given to others.
The items were of course from Earth and were not for sale at General Store Mitsuha. Including a certificate to prove that it's a reward from me, so if they sold it to a noble or a merchant, it should fetch a pretty good price.
The reason why I had laying the groundwork with orphans and street thugs was because... the only thing a noblewoman can do to gain fame in times of peace, when there's no war or major incident, is to do charity work. And when it comes to charity, there are the "Three major charities"—donations and volunteer work to religious organizations, donations and relief measures for orphans, ...and soup kitchen[1] for the poor.
However, donations and volunteering to religious organizations do not have much impact and are not well received among the general public.
And what about activities for the orphans and the poor?
Usually, when doing something like that, there would be a lot of maids who would actually be active... it's not like a noble lady would cook the food herself. The maids would do the actual work, and the lady would just watch over them with a gentle smile... and she would take along a lot of people from the temple, soldiers as guards, and things like that.
Otherwise, someone would inevitably think that they could be saved with something much quicker and more appreciated than the food served at a soup kitchen, ...in other word, the jewelry the young lady was wearing, a ransom, the money paid from selling her to a human trafficker, or something like that...
Yep, I'm probably the only noble lady who can just casually show up to the orphans without any proper guards and get away with it.
...Ah, I wonder if Sabine-chan and Beatrice-chan are okay too.
If anyone lay hands on Sabine-chan, who was loved by all the people, they would make everyone their enemy and be beaten up, and there is surely no brave man who would want to lay hands on the beloved child of the Goddess, and turn not only the entire nation but even the Goddess against him. No matter how heinous the criminal may be...
...Of course, the Marquis and his wife would never allow Beatrice-chan to do something so dangerous, and Sabine-chan was always accompanied by hidden guards.
So, that's why I'd set up a system to watch over Theresa-chan and Lastena-chan from both inside and outside Sorority.
Hmm, now their safety is assured. I guess it's okay even if they get a little out of control...
There was a time when I thought that way too...
Translation Note
[1] 炊きだし = soup kitchen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soup_kitchen)