A drop of sweat traced along Emilia's cheek as she watched Yuri in silence.

She knew... although her maids couldn't understand why their princess acted as if in the presence of a demon, but... she knew very well...

"Gulp..."

Emilia swallowed the saliva accumulating in her mouth.

Yuri was displeased. Very displeased at that.

When Emilia entered the guest room Yuri was staying in, she was determined to make the proposal she came up with in the meeting, but before she could open her mouth...

A pageboy thoughtlessly reported about the surrender of the royal chefs... the chefs have given up on the recipe. It honestly couldn't be helped as Yuri's recipe was too vague even for the chefs. Instead, they have sent a few samples of what they thought might have been bacon, but...

Emilia wiped the drop of the sweat as she looked at Yuri who was violently fighting against a big slab of meat with her white teeth.

Although Emilia didn't know what bacon was, she was sure that the pieces of different meats on the plate prepared by the chefs wasn't it. She just hoped that some of it would suit Yuri's tastes.

"... Bacon."

Yuri put the slab of meat back on the plate in disappointment. She felt as if her dreams were shattering with each piece of meat she put back on the plate.

She reached her hand towards the last piece of meat on the plate with nearly zero expectations.

Emilia looked at the meat and started numerous prayers in her mind.

Isn't that just a dried meat! Which idiot put it there! Oh god... please, be merciful...

However, the moment Yuri touched the piece of meat, her hand paused.

This texture... it was quite familiar.

Yuri quickly brought the piece of meat to her mouth.

And she bit... and bit... and chomped... and swallowed it in satisfaction.

"... Is good."

Yuri exclaimed as she licked her little fingers.

"Eh... dried meat is...?"

Emilia couldn't believe her ears. Something like a dried meat is good? She once again assessed Yuri as a weirdo in her mind.

"... Jerky."

"Excuse me?"

"... Jerky."

"???"

Emilia couldn't understand Yuri.

But, it didn't matter for her in the end. She has achieved what needed to be done.

"So, I had something I wanted to talk about with Miss Yuri..."

"... More."

"More?"

"... More of that."

"Ah, you'd like more. Yes, yes. The pageboy over there, go to the kitchen and bring more of... whatever that was."

"Understood, Princess!"

The pageboy quickly departed from the room.

"Umm... well, I was wondering if Miss Yuri has any experience in leading an army... perhaps... maybe?"

However, before Yuri was able to answer,

"{Yes.}"

Yurin suddenly took over the body and answered in her stead.

...?"

(Oh~ hello, Big Sis! You haven't been here in a while~)

Although the girls didn't have anything that could be called bodies while not in control, they instead felt extremely close, so Yuriko was very pleased to feel Yuri so close to her after a long while.

{Let me handle this matter, Big Sis.}

... Kay.

Emilia noticed the change in Yuri's voice and her usually expressionless face.

Her voice didn't feel sluggish anymore and her expressionless face turned into a serious one.

Is Miss Yuri unexpectedly a musclehead...? Is what came to Emilia's mind.

However, she saw it as a great opportunity. Thus, she quickly continued talking.

"Are you aware of our country's current situation?"

"{I am.}"

Yurin answered shortly.

"Well, our military, religious, and government leaders came to a conclusion that things won't change, on the other hand, they would become even more serious and our defenses would crumble if we don't do anything about it."

"{I agree.}"

"You do? That's good! Actually, because of Knight Commander Godfrey's injury, we judged that he couldn't serve as the commander of the offensive forces this time, but we also couldn't find anyone that was as suitable as him... but, then I thought of you, Miss Yuri!"

"{Me?}"

"Yes! With your strength, you would be surely to lead our forces to victory!"

"{Not interested.}"

Yurin said plainly. She, of course, didn't mean what she said. She just wanted to see what Emilia would try to bribe her with.

Just at that time, the pageboy returned with a big bowl full of jerky. As he was placing it on the table in front of Yuri,

"As long as you help us, eating this... whatever it is, every single day wouldn't have to be just a dream!"

... I'm in.

{Pfft!}

(Hahahaha...)

Yurin concealed the smile with her hand and accepted Emilia's proposal once she calmed down.

"That's great! I knew our country could depend on you! I will immediately convey this great news to my subjects!"

Emilia and her maids stormed out of the room.

"Master, why did you accept so readily? This surely won't be an easy task..."

Suiren said concernedly.

Indeed, leading an army against a lizard brutes might not be the easiest of the tasks, so Suiren's concerns were more than legit.

Furthermore, in Suiren's mind, there was no doubt that Yuri didn't have any experience in leading an army. To Suiren, she was after all, just a little girl back in her previous world.

"{You worry too much.}"

"Ah, so it was you, Yurin-sama... but, are you sure about this...?"

"{Why worry about requests to get a little bit of change when we can just raze towns in the name of justice and take whatever we want?}"

"Well, that's true, but... eh? You want to raze towns?"

"{Foolish maid. Haven't you seen Emilia's expression when she was talking about winning the war? That was an expression of pure hate. I expect a lot of lizard blood flowing in the upcoming days, fufu... I'm looking forward to it.}

"E, ehh... is that so...?"

Feeling uncomfortable, Suiren shrunk back and averted her gaze.