The Plot
Rain sighed heavily as she unknowingly walked towards me down the hall.
"Rain-san," I said, calling out to her just before she was to run into me.
"Ah! Claire-sama. Goodness, you gave me such a fright. Forgive me."
"Is everything alright?"
"Ah… well…" Rain went silent, a look of inquiry upon her face. "Actually, Claire-sama, there's something I'd like to ask you; it concerns Iris-sama."
"Iris-sama? What's wrong? Is she in danger?"
"Ah—no! No. No, no, um… It's just there've been some odd requests…questions…by her."
"Odd questions? It isn't about those topics, is it? I thought we found a suitable explanation for it last time. Ugh…how troublesome."
"It-It isn't that, Claire-sama. More so, I'm worried about the combination of the two."
"Strange questions and odd requests? Like what? Does it have to do with Kazuma-dono? I thought I told you burning those letters was fine."
"No, it isn't that, Claire-sama," Rain retorted, waving it off somewhat frantically. "The manner of questions she's been asking me during her lessons have been quite specific."
"Specific? What about?"
"Well, Iris-sama has been inquiring about magic—which would be completely fine if the topic of the questions weren't so concerning."
"Ok, go on."
"Well, lately she's taken to asking me about the ability to create artificial life."
"Artificial life? So, like a golem?"
"Well…not exactly. At first, I had the same idea you had, but after she presented me with a few more questions it became clear to me that whatever Iris-sama is curious about isn't a simple golem."
"Hmmm. I can see why you're somewhat distressed. But actually, Rain, there have been a few things Iris-sama has been asking of me that seem a little out of the ordinary."
"Really?"
"Yes. For one, she's asked me to divert some of the kingdom's ore shipments for her personal use."
"Actually, Claire-sama, in the same vein, Iris-sama has asked me about acquiring materials that can effectively nullify magic."
"That so? She's asked me about methods or materials that could absorb mana quickly."
The both of us looked at each other with increasing concern.
"You don't think…" Rain began before trailing off.
"Nonsense!" I retorted. "Nonsense," I said again, in a mildly self-reassuring away.
"Y-You're right," Claire stuttered, "there's no way Iris-sama would be trying to engineer something heinous."
"Rain! To think that you'd even frame Iris-sama as someone so!"
"F-Forgive me, Claire-sama! I-I don't know what came over me."
I cleared my throat and then sighed. "There's certainly something going on with Iris-sama that we aren't privy to."
"So then…what do we do? Do we just allow it?"
I rubbed my chin as I silently thought. After a few seconds, I spoke. "Rain-san, both of us are Iris-sama's guardians. We must make sure that no harm befalls her. Even if it's something that we aren't supposed to know about I suggest we try and figure out what Iris-sama is hiding—for her safety. If it turns out whatever she's doing is harmless, we can just go on like we never knew anything."
"Are you sure? Isn't that a breach of Hime-sama's privacy? No. No, you're right. Even if it is, it's just as you say, Claire-sama, we must see to Iris-sama's wellbeing. That being said, where do we begin?"
"Hmmm…"
The both of us fell quiet for a few moments as we contemplated the topic, then I spoke.
"Maybe we should try and gather more information during her studies; while you're teaching her, I'll go out and gather that information, and when I go to do lessons with her, you'll go out and gather more information."
"Hmm, it sounds like a good plan, Claire-sama. Let's do that."
"Very well. Let's gather at my office when we have more information."
-Several days later…
*Knock* *Knock* "Claire-sama, it's me, Rain."
"Rain-san, come in." As she entered and closed the door behind her, I continued. "So, what did you gather?"
"Quite a bit."
"Alright, let's share what we know."
-A few minutes later…
"Judging by the information we've gathered, it seems like Iris-sama is looking to build something that would use mana and also be incredibly durable against any magical attacks," I said, condensing all the evidence down to a few findings.
"Not only that," Rain added, "it also seems like whatever she's planning to build will use mana quite aggressively. In fact, I don't believe there's anything that could really supply the amount of mana we're talking about here; even high-grade manatite seems inadequate."
"That can't be right. If it was, something like that would be doomed to failure."
"My thoughts exactly, Claire-sama. There must be something else that would supplement the required mana draw. In magic, one of the ways it can be done is by using multiple sources; however, the obvious downside to this is that it would drastically increase the size of the build."
"Seems like it would also limit the amount of mobility."
Silence took the room as we pondered on the problems.
"Claire-sama," Rain said, ending the pause, "while we're here trying to figure out what Iris-sama is trying to build, wouldn't it be more prudent to figure out what the true reason is for wanting to build such a thing in the first place?"
"Hmm, you have a point, Rain-san, but trying to figure that out without consulting Iris-sama herself would be very difficult."
"Then…shouldn't we just ask her?"
"..."
"..."
"Iris-sama, we need to talk," I said as Rain and I stood outside her door.
The door opened revealing a semi-worried-looking princess. "Claire? Rain-san? What are you two doing here? I thought lessons were done for the day."
Rain and I exchanged brief stares before I went on. "May we come in, Iris-sama? There's something we need to discuss with you."
"Of course," she replied, making way for us. "I'm not in trouble, am I?" she said as she closed the door behind us.
"Iris-sama," I said, "we—Rain-san and I, wanted to ask you something." I cleared my throat. "Go ahead, Rain-san, please tell Iris-sama what it is we wanted to ask her."
"Me?! Claire-sama?!" After frowning a bit, Rain went on to explain our current visit. "Iris-sama, what are you…trying to construct? And why?"
A surprised look appeared upon Iris-sama's face. "So…you two found out. Oh dear. How unfortunate. I wished to keep it a secret…but now that you know…" She sighed. "What am I to do?"
Suddenly, I felt a sense of dread I only felt around that one man. Looking to my side, I saw that Rain was showing remarkably similar sentiments.
"N-Now, Iris-sama, no need to be rash," I said frantically.
"Yes, Iris-sama, please be rational!" Rain pleaded.
"Yes, after all, this was all Rain-san's idea!"
"My idea?! Claire-sama?! Really?! Iris-sama, please don't listen to Claire-sama's rambling, I was merely following along with her whims."
"Rain-san?!" I said incredulously before turning my attention back to Iris-sama. "Iris-sama, please be merciful. We only did this to make sure of your safety. If we knew you wanted to keep this a secret we would've never delved into the matter!"
"What are you two talking about?" Iris-sama said calmly. "I only wanted to keep it a secret because of how much it means to me. Honestly, I was more afraid that if I told either of you you'd be inclined to put a stop to it."
With Iris-sama explaining, Rain and I calmed down.
"But what exactly is it you're doing, Iris-sama?" Rain tentatively went on to ask.
"Can I trust you two not to tell anyone—not even father?"
Rain and I, once again, traded glances.
"Will it cause you or the kingdom harm?" I asked in reply.
"Harm? No, of course not. There's only one purpose it'd serve."
"And that is?" Rain queried.
Iris-sama smiled. "It's a secret."
"Iris-sama."
"Alright. All I'll say is that it has to do with fulfilling something for a specific person. Once the project is complete I'm sure even she will willingly submit to me."
Once again, Rain and I glanced at each other, a sense of foreboding coming over us.
"So then," Iris-sama said, sporting a brilliant smile, "do you two agree?"
