"I have to ask this first. Why has Your Imperial Highness the Princess charged all the way to our ship?"
"It would take too long if I talked about it in detail, so I'll keep it short. Basically, Marquis Holz's daughter received word from her subordinates while I was having a meeting with her, and upon hearing about the matter, I thought it was going to be quite interesti– Ahem. I believed that the matter required my mediation, so I rushed over as quickly as I could."
"You were just about to say you thought things would be interesting, weren't you?"
Her Imperial Highness Princess Luciada simply displayed her royal smile as I gave her a reproachful glare. This girl... She really was the granddaughter of that f**king emperor!
"Hiro-dono, are you not acting too disrespectful toward Her Imperial Highness?"
Isolde, a female knight belonging to the Imperial Guard who I previously beat black and blue during sparring a while back, stepped in and protested, but I just brushed her off.
"This is MY ship. I don't care if it's Her Imperial Highness or His Imperial Majesty. If you don't like it, then just get out. Anyway, there's something else that caught my attention... Serena, don't tell me you had your subordinates monitor my ship?"
"T-That's... I heard that you got contacted by that thieving black cat over there, so I had them do it just in case, okay?"
"Oh my. You've only had relations with him recently, but you're already acting quite possessive and controlling, aren't you? And you even had your subordinates monitor him. I believe this can be considered an abuse of authority, correct?"
Serena hesitantly tried to explain herself, but Chris suddenly went on the attack. How scary.
"It was a personal request of mine to a subordinate who just happened to be off-duty, so it's not an abuse of authority. It's an emergency measure to protect Hiro from some unscrupulous nobody who has nothing to do with him."
Serena responded to Chris's provocation, and sparks went off when they locked gazes. Both of them shouldn't have any psionic powers, but the tension, or rather, pressure overflowing from them was overwhelming. It was very scary.
And Her Imperial Highness Princess Luciada was simply watching the scene while looking quite amused. Her eyes were practically sparkling with glee. Hey, weren't you supposed to arbitrate between the two? If you're not gonna do anything, then ain't it better if you just left already?
Perhaps my emotions were conveyed to her through eye contact, and Princess Luciada snapped out of her reverie. She then cleared her throat. There's no point in glossing things over, y'know? I've already seen through you, okay?
"Alright, let's leave it there for now. Both of you care deeply for the same person, so you shouldn't fight like this."
You were just watching the situation with sparkling eyes earlier, so what the heck are you spouting now? I'm sure I wasn't the only one who had these thoughts. But no one would probably voice them out though.
"In the first place, I believe it's pointless for the two of you to fight. After all, it's not like either of you want to completely monopolize Captain Hiro, right?"
"Well, that's..."
"I suppose..."
Serena and Chris reluctantly acknowledged Princess Luciada's words. Trying to monopolize me was basically not recognizing my relationship with Mimi and the rest. That was something I wouldn't overlook. If they insisted, then I would have to rethink going into a serious relationship with them.
"In that case, there's no need to fight since the hierarchy is already decided, correct? If you continue fighting, it would only result in troubling Captain Hiro and driving him away."
She was displaying a truly regal smile that was seemingly accompanied with a shining halo, but unfortunately, I was already used to seeing Princess Luciada's dignified face due to her resemblance to Mimi. So, it didn't have much of an effect on me. Rather, I was more concerned about Mimi who was puffing her cheeks enviously after seeing Princess Luciada's royal smile. You don't really have to force yourself to imitate her, y'know?
"Well, it's not like we will become estranged just by messing about a bit like this. Anyway, what did you mean by their hierarchy already being decided? What hierarchy?"
"Oh, come now, Captain Hiro. I was referring to the hierarchy between your wives. In other words, it's about who among the wives you've taken would be your legal wife and who would be your concubines. On that note, from the perspective of imperial nobility and royalty, the person most suited for the position of your official wife would be Christina Dareinwald, the upcoming countess of House Dareinwald, and the first concubine would be Serena Holz, Marquis Holz's daughter. Then, the second concubine would be Elma Willrose, daughter of Viscount Willrose. Basically, between a marquis and an earl, a marquis has the higher status. This also applies to their children. However, unlike Serena who has no specific noble title despite being a military officer, Christina will be inheriting her grandfather's title as well as her family's territory. That's why I said the hierarchy between your wives has already been decided."
While listening to Princess Luciada's words, I digested the contents in my head.
It wasn't a particularly complicated topic. Chris, who would become a countess in the future, would be at the top. Then the rest would be ranked according to their respective lineages. Mimi, Tina, Wiska, and the others who technically had nothing to do with nobility, would be ranked at the bottom.
"I'm grateful for your attempt at making a clear ruling in order to settle potential disputes, Princess Luciada. But I personally don't think it's a good idea to implement such a hierarchy..."
"As expected of the man who surrounds himself with eight, no, nine women, including an upcoming countess and the daughter of a marquis. Your thoughts about such matters sure are different."
Princess Luciada responded with a big smile on her face. By the way, the female royal guards accompanying her were looking at me as if I were trash or some sort of dirty vermin. It was quite harsh.
Anyway, she glanced toward Mei when she was about to say eight women earlier, so I suppose it's like that huh? The rights of machine intelligence as citizens were supposed to be widely recognized within the Graccan Empire, but I suppose things aren't that simple.
"I do not mind if you decide to settle things between yourselves. I am just pointing things out from an imperial noble's perspective. By the way, I believe it's about time for you to pay the piper, so to speak."
"Pay the piper...?"
"But of course. Aside from House Willrose's daughter who ran away from home and worked as a mercenary while hiding her identity, you cannot escape the matter of having relations with the dear daughter of Marquis Holz."
"Oh, that. It's not like I plan on not taking responsibility. I did promise after all. Also, it seems it won't be possible for me to take the lead when it comes to the matter regarding Chris, so..."
Serena's face lit up when she heard that I planned to take responsibility, and Chris's face lit up when she heard my later words as well. Both of them looked slightly less worried.
"However, there are certain lines I won't compromise on. First of all, I won't accept any proposals that will ruin my current relationships. This may sound presumptuous, but... this mercenary group is made up of various talented women centered around me. In other words, we're already one family. Or rather, a clan. And naturally, if I were to be taken away and incorporated into a noble house, this clan would likely collapse. And that is something I will never allow."
I looked straight at Serena and Chris while saying my piece in order to reiterate my stance.
"In other words, I have no intention of stopping my activities as a mercenary. If you can't accept these two points, then unfortunately, I'd like you to give up on having a relationship with me. And if you insist on making me accept your proposals without considering these two points, I'll resist with all my might and run away no matter what. Of course, I'll make all the concessions I can to prevent things from coming to that."
"Thank you for making things clear. But my grandfather does understand you quite well, Hiro-sama. So, there is no need to worry about things like that."
Chris displayed a complacent smile, but in contrast, Serena looked like she had swallowed a bitter pill.
"I'll do my best to prevent that from happening."
"C'mon. If push comes to shove, we'll just deal with the main culprit who caused this mess. Right, Princess Luciada?"
When I threw the ball at her, Princess Luciada tilted her head to the side and feigned ignorance.
"Me?"
"Isn't there someone who threw me and Serena into such a damned shady post? If necessary, I'll have him do something about the resulting consequences himself. Of course, I'll only choose that option as an absolute last resort. He's already gotten a grasp of everything anyway, right? Or rather, the reason why you're here at Grakkius Secundus at this time is probably due to that person's meddling as well, right, Princess?"
"Oh, come now. It's just a coincidence, I tell you. I just happened to be returning to the capital after conducting a regional inspection."
"Is that so?"
She's lying. Well, the bit about the regional inspection was probably true, but the fact that Princess Luciada who's supposed to be in the imperial castle right now was able to intervene here at this time was no coincidence. I'm sure this was orchestrated by that f**king emperor. The way that bastard and I see things was just too different, so I'm not really sure what he's up to though.
"In any case, we'll just deal with it once we land on the imperial capital. Oh, right. Is the earl staying in this colony right now? If that's the case, then I better give my greetings."
"No, my grandfather is in our territory. Only I came here along with some attendants."
"I see. Did you get some time off?"
"Yes. I whined to my grandfather a bit and managed to get myself a short vacation."
Chris replied as she snuggled up to me. Uh, that's pretty cute. But, uh, your body's in the middle of a growth spurt y'know? That's why, err, something like this is a bit hard to deal with. I might have had no qualms giving you head pats when we first met, but you've already become a fine young lady.
"That's good. As for Serena... You probably don't have any spare time to spend messing about with us like this, right?"
"Well, that's... I'm more or less accompanying Princess Luciada right now, so it's fine."
"And you came charging straight into the Lotus with her in tow. What the heck are you doing...?"
"It's fine since I'm enjoying myse– Ahem, I've already given her my consent."
"You don't have to try and hide it anymore y'know...? But, well, we're already done here, right? So you can go now."
When I stared at her in an admonishing manner, Princess Luciada put the palms of her hands together, leaned her left cheek on them, and gave me a sunny smile. It was such a cliche cutesy begging pose. There's a limit to how pushy one can be y'know?
"I've heard of a certain rumor. It seems that an interesting girl has gotten on board your ship recently. I would very much like to meet her."
"...Oi."
I glared at Serena, or rather, Captain Serena.
"You can't possibly expect me to go against imperial authority, right...?"
"...Haa. Mei, can you ensure their safety?"
"Yes, Master. I've already cut her off from the network completely, so there will be no problems."
"That's what she said. If you don't mind doing so at your own risk, I'm willing to let you meet her, Princess."
"Splendid. I will trouble you to escort me to her then."
The princess responded with a very delighted smile on her face. Fine, just do whatever you want.