Saijo-kun was an apprentice under Wifey's command.
Specifically, he was a knight apprentice within the Imperial Guard Knight Order, which served directly under the Emperor. He was the elite of the ultra-elites.
And yet…
“Your Majesty Leo, I will now begin the handover.”
“Ah, right. Yeah.”
Today, he was sporting a Taisho Roman-style maid outfit.
The guy was incredibly talented. He was one of the top performers in our class, having skipped multiple grades to get there. He was a true samurai, personally scouted by Piggett and granted a scroll of mastery by Katori-sensei.
As one of the strongest disciples of the Katori school, his skills were on par with Melissa of the Ancient Tachibana Style. After graduating from the military academy, he had joined the Imperial Guard. To be honest, his rise through the ranks was unprecedented. He was a brilliant talent destined to carry the future of the Galactic Empire Army on his shoulders… but he was a cross-dresser.
The worst part was how well it actually suited him.
“As usual, you really pull off the girl's clothes.”
I said it without a hint of sarcasm, and he knew it. We had that level of mutual trust.
“I do put a great deal of effort into it,” he replied, puffing out his chest with an air of pride.
Yeah, the level of perfection was staggering. And believe it or not, this guy actually had a fiancée. His partner was Yuri-chan from the Bureau of Accounts.
The Bureau of Accounts were essentially the Fairy’s underlings. They didn't just handle bookkeeping; they performed deep financial analyses of foreign powers. I’d actually had them analyze Lepsitol’s accounts for me, and we had conquered the planet based on their findings. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we’d dismantled Lepsitol almost entirely without bloodshed.
If I was a Support-class Meat-Shield Offenser, then the Bureau of Accounts was a Map Weapon. They were a Higher Existence on a level that could fundamentally intervene in the narrative scenario. In fact, the Bureau had been awarded a Distinguished Service Award for this operation.
And even within that gathering of monsters, Yuri-chan was the one known as the "Ogre."
She’d earned that nickname by acting as my accomplice in various conspiracies, responding to my most unreasonable demands. From exposing the true population and economic scale of Chronos to helping destroy Lepsitol… they were likely the most feared department in existence. To give you an idea of the terror they inspired, even Piggett used polite language when speaking to a member of the Bureau.
Among us sailors, there was an ironclad rule: never defy the catering staff or the members of the Bureau of Accounts. If you earned their grudge, they could genuinely end your life. Because it would be dangerous for any one person to hold that much power, the role of catering staff was a rotating duty back at the academy. I only cooked as a hobby, so I was an outlier.
Anyway, Saijo was one half of a power couple with that Yuri-chan. Apparently, she was quite understanding of his cross-dressing—or rather, she was the one who had started him on that path in the first place. I truly hoped they would live happily ever after.
Despite being part of such a power couple, Saijo-kun was serving as my guard for the time being. Since the victory of the Lepsitol Anti-Government Army was all but guaranteed, I had returned to Chronos. After a week of hospitalization for various checkups, I finally made it back to the Chronos Palace.
Once there, I gave my regular Imperial Guard Knights some well-deserved time off. In their absence, Melissa and Saijo-kun were taking turns as my personal security. Melissa tended to go on rampages if left to her own devices, but since I didn't want to cause trouble for Saijo-kun, I stayed on my best behavior.
…Which meant I had absolutely no work to do.
“Saijo-kun, let’s play a ga—”
“I am currently on duty.”
“But just for a bit…”
“I am currently on duty ♪”
He shut me down with a perfectly beautiful smile.
I wondered if Tatiana, One-oh-one, or Shiyun might be free and checked the shift schedule. To my dismay, all three of them were tied up with Taikyoku Nation business.
Due to the "Rip-off Galaxy Tripartition Plan," the Taikyoku Nation had stepped into the role of Sun Quan, taking charge of one-third of Lepsitol’s conglomerates. That said, aside from the territory held by Latarnia, our control this time was purely a matter of finance. There was no real malice involved. The situation was simply that the conglomerates were bankrupt, and since it affected their own trade, they’d agreed to help rebuild.
Well, because those companies had been running factories while completely ignoring human rights, Lepsitol-made parts had ended up in places people would never expect… Furthermore, standard industrial pollution was far worse than anticipated, so the Galactic Empire—which had a long-standing reputation for making messes—was handling the cleanup.
It was a massive project. The fact that our trading companies and manufacturers had set up Chronos subsidiaries was really paying off here.
“Hey, Saijo-kun. Pass this along to Yuri-chan.”
I handed him a document I’d whipped up on the spot. It was the Joint Business Plan with the Taikyoku Nation. The land blueprints and construction schedules were already finished, so it just needed to be compiled. After that, I’d have the Fairy and Yuri-chan look it over, and once they gave the green light, I’d have the Chronos civil officials finalize the details. Unless we cleaned the place up, the land was useless anyway, so I doubted they’d object.
“Why are you trying to use me as a middleman? You could just send it to her directly.”
“Don't be like that. Here, take this.”
I handed him a pre-open ticket for a high-end restaurant in Chronos that was opening soon. It was the kind of place used for entertaining Galactic Empire VIPs and high-ranking executives. It was a special ticket that even included a serving of Sake-sama.
“Go try it out and let me know what you think! I’d never even stepped foot in a place that fancy until I married Wifey, so I don’t really know how to judge them.”
“Thank you ver— Wait, Your Majesty Leo… you’re from a Marquis House, aren’t you?”
“My hometown barely had any restaurants at all, let alone high-end ones.”
“W-wait? What?”
Saijo-kun blinked his eyes, his long lashes fluttering. Usually, even planets owned by mere Counts had luxury establishments. Ours didn't.
Now then, I might as well start on the plan for Latarnia’s share—our Cao Cao. …Hmm.
“Hahaha, maybe a disaster like the Battle of Red Cliffs will happen.”
“Could you please stop? When you say things like that, Your Majesty, they stop being jokes.”
“It’ll be fine. Parcion is still alive and kicking, after all.”
Hahaha.
Right at that moment, Ren walked in.
“Husband, I have brought your te— INFIDELITY!”
Right on cue.
“Saijo-kun is a guy and Piggett’s subordinate! Besides, you two were classmates!”
“But you’re both dressed as maids! The character archetypes are overlapping!”
“No, one of them is just cross-dressing! Besides, Ren, you’re my wife!”
“That may be true, but I cannot forgive a character overlap! Especially not with a Taisho Roman-style maid!”
“Senior Ren. You should fix this part of your outfit like this.”
Saijo-kun held up his terminal to show Ren a design.
“What?! You can do that?!”
“If you aren’t good at tailoring, you can just send your size data and they’ll adjust it for you. Since it's you, Senior Ren, make sure you select the Beast Race option…”
“W-What! Saijo-kun… No, Master Saijo!”
Just like that, Ren had completely surrendered to Saijo-kun’s camp.
Saijo-kun… what a frightening child.
“I shall polish my womanhood under Master Saijo’s tutelage!”
Her eyes were practically sparkling. I’d never seen Ren this genuinely excited before.
But I couldn't let myself be fooled. That person was a man! He was a combatant on the same level as Eddy, Isono, and Nakajima—one of the strongest individuals in our entire circle!
“As for cosmetics… you should use this and this.”
“Unbelievable!”
Well, whatever. I decided to stop thinking about it.