Chapter 6: In Which I was Baiting Sea Bream with a Shrimp but Caught a Shark Instead [1] A There was a tiger in the middle of darkness, closing his eyes, while remembering the events of that day.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a familiar ceiling.

[2]While his mind was still hazy, he was staring at the patterns on the ceiling, but when he was fully conscious, he noticed that he was lying on a soft bed.

This was strange.

The last scenery that he saw should have been the prison.

When he remembered this, he turned his neck, and found someone sitting on a chair besides the bed.

That person was a young man who was looking over documents.

After he stared at the young man for a while, the young man seemed to have noticed his condition.

Hm? Yo. Did you finally wake up?

(A Certain Young Man) The young man put the documents down and handed him a hand mirror that had been placed under the chair.

You might have many things to ask, but first, please look at this.

(A Certain Young Man) As what the young man had said, he peeked at the mirror that was given to him.

A tiger-faced beast-kin was reflected in it.

A gold and black striped pattern that unmistakably belonged to a tigrissword tiger[3] (it was bigger than Earths tiger and had long canines as its special trait).

This overwhelmed him and caused him to gape as the young man spoke with a smile.

You are a tiger.

So you will be a tiger.

[4](A Certain Young Man) He didnt understand what the young man means by it, so he didnt say anything, but the young man was scratching his head as if he was embarrassed.

Well, umm, after all dont merely push things on me.

You need to bear it a bit, too.

(A Certain Young Man) Kagetora[5]-sama(?

) Someone was calling for him.

His consciousness returned, and he saw a man wearing a black dog mask kneeling on the floor.

So it is you Beo- Inugami.

[6](Geo- Kagetora)Yes.

It seems that the Mountain has moved.

(Beo- Inugami) The dog masked man who was called Inugami, bowed his head while reporting.

I see. It has been one month since then.

Unexpectedly, it is early.

(Kagetora)That is true.

Even though I thought that it should have taken a bit longer.

(Inugami)Fumu Even if it is early, it is not a bad thing.

After this, whatever happens on this land will be reported to His Majesty without omitting a single detail.

This is our duty, the Black Cats!

(Kagetora) We understand.

We accept the command.

(Black Cats) Receiving Kagetoras order, beginning with Inugami, the Elfrieden Kingdom Kings Guards Special Intelligence Operations Squad, the Black Cat began to move.

King~, lets play~(Girl)King, shoulder ride~(Boy)(Cat-Girl) A lively and cute 3 year old wolf-eared boy and a human girl came to play with me.

The last one was a cat-eared girl as old as the other two, who had occupied my cross-legged lap and had fallen asleep not long ago.

The cat tail that came out from her end was moving flip-floppily.

Ummm, I cant move, so please dont climb on me on your own.

(Souma)Yes!

(Girl)(Boy) The two of them then began to climb on my back and playing happily.

Yep, really cute, right?

Even when they had climbed on my shoulders and then patted my face, this was something that I was used to.

Fufufu, Your Majesty is really popular with the children.

(Tomoko) My lovable step-sister Tomoe-chan and her biological mother, Tomoko-san were smiling at me while folding the childrens laundry.

This place was the day nursery that was established inside the castle not long ago.

It was for taking care of the children of the people who were working in the castle, like the maids and others.

Then the relative of Tomoe-chan, who was semi-forcibly adopted as step-sister, Tomoko-san was working in this place as a live-in nursery worker.

By the way, the wolf-eared boy who was touching my face with hands covered in drool was her eldest son (Tomoe-chans little brother), Rou-kun.

Nii-sama[7], I am happy that you play with Rou-kun and the others, but will this be alright?

Wont nee-sama[8] will be mad at you again?

(Tomoe) She was asking me while cuddling an infant in her arms.

Without any animal negotiation duties, like the one with the Rhinosauruses, outside her lesson hours, Tomoe-chan will help her mother work.

Considering that Tomoe-chan was still a ten-year old, she was a very reliable girl.

Its fine, since I am not crowded with work right now.

In addition, I properly left theLiving Poltergeist working at the Government Affairs Office.

(Souma)Is that so?

Then, you can play a lot.

Thats great, right Rou-kun?

(Tomoe)Yes!

(Rou) Rou-kun raised his hands up.

How cute.

I really like children.

I could keep watching the tiny toddlers step, walking unsteadily all day long.

By the way, its not because I am a Lolicon or Shotacon!

Its because this scene tickled my guardian instinct[9].

When my grandparents were still healthy, I helped at the recital in the neighborhood nursery.

Because of this, I played with the children for a short while.

What an amazing appearance you have, Master.

[10](Carla) When I turned around to the one who was greeting me, there she was, Carla, in the maid uniform.

[11] Really?

It isnt something that the current Carla can say herself, though.

(Souma)That is Youre right.

(Carla) Carla dropped her shoulders dejectedly.

However, looking closely The maid uniform surprisingly doesnt suit you.

(Souma)Please dont mention it I already thought about that myself.

(Carla) In the first place, Carla was a dragonewt, so compared to a normal human, they had a lot of additional parts.

[12] She had a tail, she had dragon wing, and she also had small horns growing on her.

To wear a maid uniform on top of these Perhaps it could be said as an unbalanced idiosyncrasy.

Moreover, isnt the skirts length awfully short?

(Souma)P-please dont look.

(Carla) While saying this, Carla grasped the front end of her skirt.

Every castle maid wore a classic long skirted maid uniform, but what Carla was wearing right now was something that wouldnt be out a place at a maid caf: a knee-length puffed-wide dress.

[13] It was evident that the style selection itself was excellent.

Uuu The head maid said to wear this(Carla)Ah, so this is Serina-sans tease huh?

(Souma) Not a prank but a tease[14].

It was not bore out of malice, rather, perhaps, it can be said as a form of emotional affectiontease.

The core of it was to instigate the targets shyness.

As a maid, the head maid Serina was capable, but it seems that she had a sadism habit, limited to cute girls.

Furthermore, if the target had a determined spirit, then they would be teased, so someone like Liscia and Carla was right in her strike zone.

Liscia had told me about this before with a thousand yard stare on her face.

I offered my prayers.

[15] Nevertheless It has been about one month, huh?

Isnt your maid training already over?

(Souma)T-trainingwh-whoaa(Carla) The moment I mentioned training, Carla was squatting and holding her head.

Oh my, something did happen.

To enter the maid corps, someone will receive training for the necessary skills, right?

Wh-whip(Carla)Whip!?

(Souma)Hitting with a whip(Carla)Is the training that hard!?

(Souma)Furthermore, that whip is custom made, so even when it strikes the body, it wont leave any wounds but somehow it leaves me half in pain and half in pleasure.

(Carla) What the heck is that whip!?

Rather than for training, that was for animal taming, right?

[16] The head maid-dono said, Since the pain will obstruct you from feeling pleasure, when you are enduring pain, then you will also feel pleasure as well.

[17] Since I didnt want to feel useless even though I had ended up as a slave, I planned to study and work hard as a maid But that whip is too scary.

Soon I might be able to easily fall into the pleasure.

(Carla)The maids corps are the Masters dogs.

There is no place for a sowfemale pig(Serina)Hiiii!?

(Carla) When I turned around, Serina-san was standing there with a refined smile.

Or rather, Carla who could plunge into the battlefield without fear, was yelling in such a frightened state Just how intense was her fear?

Is something wrong, Your Majesty?

(Serina) Nope, nothing.

(Souma) I felt bad for this, but I decided to play dumb so that the spearhead wouldnt be pointed at me.

Its alright, Carla.

You wont die Though, I dont know what will happen to your mental state.

Now then, Carla-san.

Shouldnt you make the bed in the Government Affairs Office where His Majesty resides?

(Serina)No, its just to enter a male acquaintances room, as expected, it is embarrassing(Carla)What are you talking about?

If you become a maid, then in the future you will have to make the bed where His Majesty and Princess Liscia zealously Self-Censored, Self-Censored into Self-Censoredand Self-Censored, with a composed face.

(Serina)T-then, as expected, I wish to be excused from it(Carla) Carla was shouting with a deeply red face But, huh?

But didnt Serina-san just indirectly insult Liscia and I?

Right now, I felt really uneasy, though.

By the way, Your Majesty.

Will Your Majestys sides be alright?

(Serina)Eh?

(Souma)Well, behind Your Majesty, I caught sight of someone running towards this place.

(Souma) I turned my head to look at what made Serina smile when she said that [1] The title is a pun of Japanese idiom: : Throw in a shrimp and pull out a sea bream (English equivalent will be: Use a sprat to catch a mackerel).

The meaning which: to get something much more valuable or huge profit with a small investment, effort or price as bait.

In this case, the profit is not just at sea bream level but SHARK level!

[2] A clichd expression from Neon Genesis Evangelion that has been used to exhaustion in Japanese WNs[3]: Written as Tora, which means tiger.

Read as Sword Tiger.

Tigris is Latin word for tiger.

[4] Here we go again.

This line is from the opening song of a classic wrestling Anime Tiger Mask.

The first lyric was: .

(Because/I say) you are to be (become) a tiger.

[5] Kagetora means: Shadow Tiger.

Although Shadow Tiger sounds awesome as codename, too.

[6] Inugami means: Dog God.

Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inugami for more information.

[7] Older Brother in a formal way of referring.

[8] Older Sister in a formal way of referring.

[9] desire to protect[10] Goshujin but without sama (you know that stereotype Maid Caf greeting: Okaerinasai Goshujin-sama : Welcome back, Master).

I understand that Carla was trying not to be too polite (not adding honorifics), but Goshujin withoutsama is also a way to politely refer to someones husband Perhaps since Souma is Liscias (Carlas BF) husband-to-be?

[11] Too bad, no illustration yet!

Perhaps LN Vol.

3 will have it (Until then, just imagine Tohru from Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon)[12] Originally: Options.

If you buy Gunpla you would know this word by heart.

[13] This one?