Taming a Munchkin

After three minutes of that horrible struggle,

“So, you know…”

Kynemeia finally began speaking.

“I was playing clay with my teacher not long ago when a thought suddenly occurred to me. I want to make slime.”

“Slime?”

“The monster slime?”

The retainers were stumped as to why slime was brought up out of the blue and started to whisper among themselves.

“Oh, it’s not a monster but it’s…”

Kynemeia lifted her hands and made squeezing gestures.

“It looks like pudding and feels squishy and wobbly to the touch. Seems like it’ll be a fun…”

“Ah, so it’s a toy.”

“Yeah, yep. That’s it…”

As she was looking for the words to proceed speaking, Count Dennis started clapping his hands.

“How magnificent!”

Clap clap clap. The applause spread like bushfire among the retainers.

Watching them, Eian once again murmured,

“They look nuts, though?”

“No.”

Kynemeia smiled and raised a hand. The applause ceased.

“At the time, my teacher stated that in order to create a toy of that sort, you’ll require monsters as one of the materials.”

“Hoo.”

The retainers paid close attention as if they were hearing it for the first time. Well, of course it was their first time hearing of this. Because it was something she was currently fabricating.

“Looking at it from a marketing perspective, I imagine it’ll also be a good item. So what I’m saying is that I wish to utilise this chance to make some slime.”

“Pardooon?”

“So just bring them over. Those flapping things. The experts are aware of it already.”

This is the perfect pretext. Kynemeia was all smiles, content at the thought.

‘As they produce slimes generated from the monsters, I can just order them to forge swords too while they’re at it!’

The perfect pretext worked so well that the retainers all rose from their chairs.

“To come up with such an idea… How magnificent! Our Lady is unparalleled in the slime world!”

“Ng…?”

“The best!”

Clap clap clap clap clap! The claps resounded in the conference room once again. Eian shook his head at the sight. As if what he just declared about them being crazy was proven true. Kynemeia, who couldn’t deny it any longer, only hung her head.

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* * *

PEE IS STORED IN THE BALLS

Deciding on a goal, Kynemeia set out to meet Behemoth in person.

“Nanny! Get me prepared to go out, please!”

Nanny Vanessa made Kynemeia wear the most inconspicuous outfit and concealed her face with a bonnet. The same applied to Eian, who would be tagging along as a bodyguard. It couldn’t be helped since both of them had very striking faces. The carriage they would be taking didn’t bear any identification either and was very small and commonplace. It was a carriage for whenever they had to go on secret outings.

“Take me to the bustling junction in Palmer.”

Kynemeia directed the coachman as she rode on the carriage with Eian.

“Gosh, Young Lady. That place is a rural area. There’s a dangerous alley there as well.”

“Yep, I know.”

Because I’m headed to that alley.

“It’s fine so just take me there.”

However, the coachman was still fraught with worry and refused to drive off just yet. He glanced at Eian. Locking eyes with Eian’s pitch-black ones, the coachman nodded imperceptibly. He had also overheard the tale making rounds in the Grand Duke’s castle.

“Is that small child really that amazing?”

The coachman once questioned that and was met with lavish praises such as how Eian could only be caught because he had suddenly collapsed and that the entire garrison of knights in the Grand Duchy wouldn’t even be enough to capture the Rikasha.

‘My, to think that she would keep such a monster around. As expected of our Lady.’

With a proud grin, the coachman spurred the horse. As the carriage moved, Kynemeia leaned back against a soft cushion. Eventually, the carriage that had been travelling for three hours decelerated at one point.

“Is it a special day today? Why are there so many people?”

Kynemeia asked as she alighted from the carriage and noted the streets.

“It’s because a fair is being held today. Didn’t you come here to see the fair?”

“Oh… Yeah, you’re right.”

It would be easier to leave it at that. She beamed brightly as she offered a non-committal reply to the coachman.

“Then, my Lady, I’ll be standing by the carriage and waiting for you so please have a safe trip.”

“Yup, yup.”

Kynemeia waved her hand. The coachman lowered his head deeply to bid goodbye, clutched the reins, and mounted the carriage again.

‘Where should I go now?’

Standing side by side with Eian in the midst of the crowd, she surveyed her surroundings.

‘There are so many people that it might be hard to find it.’

Ugh. With a groan, she set off with Eian close on her heels.

“Where are we going, Young Lady? What are you looking for?”

As they struggled to pass through the crush, Kynemeia spoke up,

“I’m looking for a signboard in the shape of a frog. I’m headed there.”

“Frog?”

“Yep, yep.”

‘Ah, there are so many people.’

The calls of the merchants opening their stalls and trying to solicit people into making purchases caused a great din, and the crowd shuffled at a snail’s pace because they were studying the goods. People on both sides squeezed her, and she kept striving to push herself out of the mob.

‘He’s following me well, right? It’s so easy to lose each other like this.’

“Eian, there’s such a crush here so we shouldn’t lose each other and…”

She said as she turned around only to stop in her tracks.

“Ah?”

In the thick of the throng navigating the narrow streets jammed with stalls, she was standing all alone like a boulder hindering the waterways.

He’s gone. The pitch-black hair and pitch-black eyes that always accompanied on her trail. The Eian who would always stick out no matter the place.

“Eian?”

Quick as a flash, her blood ran cold. No way. Kynemeia turned her head, feeling that he might just be someplace no one could see.

“Eian!”

She raised her voice by a notch. But no matter where she looked, there was only an unfamiliar crowd.

‘Why?’

Kynemeia once again scanned her surroundings.

‘Gone? He’s gone?

‘Was he pushed by the crowd and managed to get separated? Then I should return there.’

At that instant, when Kynemeia resolved to do that and wheel around—

Someone grabbed her hand.

“So you’re here!”

‘What?’

The individual holding a flustered Kynemeia turned out to be an unknown man. The man, possessing a short stature and a stubby nose, smiled.

“C’mon, Mom is calling us so let’s go.”

Kynemeia’s eyes quivered. Usually, she wouldn’t have searched high and low just like a lost kid. She was all at sea due to the unforeseen incident, and felt wretched that she’d opened a window of opportunity for this man to discover that she had no guardian.

“What are you doing?! Let me go!”

Kynemeia shouted at the top of her lungs. Now that it had come to this, she needed to create a hoo-ha to snag the public’s attention before she got taken away by this man. Since she screamed, the people passing by and the merchants in their stalls started to clamour around as she expected.

“Who are you?! Let me go, I said!”

Kynemeia twisted her body with all her might and raised her voice. As the people nearby began shooting him dirty looks, the man clicked his tongue then smiled as he asked for an understanding.

“No, no, don’t misunderstand! This child is my daughter. She kept on running away from home, so I came to bring her back. It seems like this brat is feeling especially hurt today.”

Daughter? Daughteeeer? The squirming Kynemeia felt wrath welling up within her.

“How am I your daughter?! My dad isn’t as ugly as you are!”

Only

As he heard the word ugly, the man’s face contorted. Seeing the man’s ugly face crumple even more horribly, Kynemeia’s anger spiked.

“With a face that looks like you got kicked by a pony in the face, you dare pretend to be my dad?”

“Gosh, why is my daughter like this today of all days…!”

The man stealthily raised his beefy hand to stifle her mouth.

‘This ugly thing is still!’

Kynemeia whipped off her bonnet with her free hand.

“My dad is the most handsome man in the empire! How can a daughter like me come out of a creature like you?! Do you have no conscience?”

Rather than the reality that the man was about to abduct her, Kynemeia took greater offence at the fact that this ugly thing claimed to be her father.