I slowly rose from my seat, pushing away the haziness as I spoke.
"It was just a nightmare."
"Is that so? That's a relief then... You were making such agonized groans that I worried you might have fallen ill."
Irene heaved a deep sigh, then soon displayed a faint smile.
Though I still wasn't used to her manner of speech, she seemed to be quite a caring person.
"More importantly, hasn't something more significant happened on your end, Lady Irene?"
"What do you mean?"
I asked while looking at her as she tilted her head questioningly.
"Or do you normally wear only underwear at home?"
"...Ah."
Only then did she seem to grasp the meaning of my words. Her face rapidly turned red—
Then she quickly stepped back three paces, covering her chest and hip areas with her hands as she spoke.
Of course, her attempts at covering herself weren't entirely effective.
"Th-this... well, you see... I was changing into my training clothes when I heard your pained voice, Swen... I just...!"
"I understand, so please get dressed quickly. This is awkward for me too."
"...S-s-sorry... If you found it offensive, please forgive me. It wasn't intentional...!"
"It's fine."
I wasn't particularly offended.
To be honest, her body had many appealing aspects.
Her large breasts were so impressive that it would be painful not to mention them, yet they were so magnificently enormous that I couldn't help but note them.
Her waist clearly displayed the firm, lean muscles developed through her training as a female knight.
Her thighs were thick and solid, giving the impression that they properly supported her body as she constantly crossed swords with enemies.
Black lace underwear and a garter belt adorned her beautiful feminine form.
In conclusion, it was a sight sufficient to instantly push away my drowsy thoughts and wake me from sleep.
After all that commotion had passed.
"...Ahem, ahem. I've shown you something unseemly. I apologize once more."
She appeared before me wearing her training clothes.
...The problem was what those "training clothes" actually were.
They differed from her underwear only in coverage ratio—a tank top-like upper garment with shorts.
Something similar to stockings with a garter belt tightly wrapped around her thighs, accentuating them nicely.
"How is this different from underwear?"
"Huh? Of course it's different. This is training attire. Earlier was... u-underwear..."
She blushed as if embarrassed.
So once she's wearing something classified as clothing, she's not embarrassed?
Well, in fantasy games, female knights often wear armor that exposes their midriffs despite being called armor.
"So what are your plans for today? Will you be attending to your duties?"
"Duties..."
She smiled bitterly as she spoke.
"If I had been assigned any duties, I would be doing them... but my Lord hasn't given me any specific tasks."
'Well, well.'
Irene was an S-rank general with high strength.
She would clearly be extremely efficient at training, recruitment, or wall repairs—tasks influenced by strength.
Of course, I could now understand why Lynn wasn't utilizing her.
'She's really being intensely disliked.'
Starting with sending me, a man, to stay at her house, a woman.
Despite the ruler openly showing such contempt and tormenting her, her loyalty remained unwavering.
It was impossible not to feel sympathy for her situation.
What was merely a "compatibility value" set at -100 in the game had become vividly cruel when manifested in reality.
"Then?"
"You ask such questions. Why do you think I'm wearing these clothes?"
Irene said that and slowly picked up a sword placed in the corner of the room.
"When I have spare time, I simply train. If I waste time just because I have assigned duties, I'll be the one who grows rusty. It's only natural that I must do this to be ready when my Lord eventually calls upon me."
"That's impressive determination."
"How about it? Would you like to join me? I have wooden swords that are good for beginners."
She seemed to have immediately recognized that I was a beginner—or more precisely, that my strength wasn't particularly high.
I was momentarily tempted but ultimately declined.
"That's alright. I have other things I need to do."
"Is that so? Well, if you have things to do."
"Before that, there's something I'd like to ask."
I pointed to the paper and quill pen in ink on the desk as I spoke.
"May I use those items?"
"The paper? Yes, feel free to use it."
"Then excuse me."
"Mm."
After answering like that, she approached the straw dummy with her sword.
Then, after taking a short deep breath and exhaling—
"...Hyah!"
She began swinging her sword at the dummy with a shout.
Though a simple motion, repeating it frequently would surely have some effect.
Is this how an S-rank general's abilities are built—steadily from the ground up?
Anyway, having received permission, I approached the desk and spread out the paper.
The most important task I needed to do now:
Drawing a map.
In this game, while the continent itself looked the same, the positions of each country weren't fixed when starting a new game.
Having played the game for 10,000 hours, I knew which countries existed, but I couldn't precisely draw which castles or territories they occupied.
Still, I needed to at least sketch the area around Brands Kingdom.
My ability was only to know "what conclusion" would come.
I couldn't know why that conclusion occurred.
As such, drawing a map to organize the information in my head would surely provide good clues about why certain conclusions were reached.
With that thought, I picked up the pen.
"Hah!"
Though it would be a tedious task requiring some time, Irene's shouts served as pleasant white noise.
*
And so the day came to an end.
Irene, without official duties, lived an almost superhuman lifestyle.
She would wake up, quickly wash herself, and begin training.
Then she would eat lunch.
She prepared lunch for me—a simple meal consisting only of ordinary rye bread with butter to spread on it.
She always served tea with it, though I couldn't identify exactly what kind it was.
Just black tea or green tea... or perhaps some other leaf steeped in water.
It wasn't bad. The aroma was quite nice too.
After eating, training would resume.
Then came dinner.
The dinner menu consisted of dried fish, bread, and a salad of mixed vegetables.
Only after dinner did her training end.
She truly embodied the image of an ascetic silently walking the path of the sword.
After finishing dinner and my bath, I asked her as she emerged with water still dripping from her hair.
"Are you resting now?"
"Hm? Yes, I am."
"Do you train like this every day?"
"Basically, when I don't have duties, I always follow this routine."
"That's impressive."
Irene didn't particularly respond to my admiration, but slowly tore off a piece of bread and asked:
"By the way, it seemed you were drawing a map."
"Yes, that's right. I wanted to understand the situation around Brands Kingdom."
"The map looked remarkably detailed. Do you have previous experience in mapmaking?"
Of course it would be detailed.
It was a map I'd seen tens, hundreds, no, thousands of times while playing the game.
How many mouse clicks had I made while looking at this map?
Still, I couldn't tell her that directly.
"Well, a little."
"I see. You have an unexpected background."
Thinking this was a good opportunity, I asked her a question.
"By the way, Lady Irene."
"Yes?"
"While I'm familiar with the continent's geography... I haven't yet figured out which countries surround Brands Kingdom. If you know anything about this, could you help me?"
Hearing my words, she nodded and said:
"Are you asking me to help with the creation?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. I'm not sure how helpful I can be."
"You'll definitely be helpful. Lady Irene is such a versatile person."
My true feelings slipped out without me realizing, but she seemed to think I was flattering her and smiled subtly as she replied:
"Flattery won't get you anything. Though I don't mind the sentiment."
Huh?
She looks quite pleased despite what she's saying.
Is she more starved for recognition than I thought?
Well, it makes sense—no matter how hard she tries, she's being oppressed by her lord, the very person whose recognition she most desires.
"Why wouldn't it? You like it, Lady Irene."
"...Do you talk like this to just anyone?"
"Of course not."
I said with a grin.
Irene looked at me with a faint smile and slowly approached.
Though we'd only met a day ago, I felt we communicated surprisingly well.
She didn't seem to be particularly wary of me either.
"Well, if I can help, I will."
She came close to me.
Inevitably, her enormously large breasts touched my body.
Not an unpleasant sensation at all.
"First, in the west, there are various minor countries... but I see you've already filled this in."
"I gathered that information when I worked for Lunarienne's army."
"Then let's move to the east. There are three forces there, with Aishers Army sharing a border with us. I think Aishers Army is the only country we need to be concerned about. Beyond them, Charam Army and Alrepel Army govern small territories as minor countries."
Charam Army and Alrepel Army.
All familiar names.
Both were rather insignificant minor countries.
Their talent pool was mediocre, and their rulers' abilities were slightly below average.
They were extra countries that would leave no historical footprint unless controlled by a player.
It seemed that in this world I'd been reincarnated into, they had spawned near Aishers Army.
That was certainly better than spawning near Serphina's army... but they probably had little chance of defeating Aishers Army.
However.
'Huh?'
Two minor countries... both still surviving?
Even so, it was somewhat surprising they were still alive.
In such a confrontational setup, the typical flow would be for at least one of them to have already been crushed under Aishers Army's boot.
From Aishers' perspective, wouldn't they have devoured them already if they could?
Just as Serphina's army quickly eliminated surrounding minor countries, Aishers Army would typically use their overwhelming talent pool to gradually consume neighboring forces after surviving the first three months or so.
Perhaps the two minor countries had formed an alliance, establishing a delicate balance with Aishers Army?
If that were true, one question remained.
From Aishers' perspective, they would be facing two fronts, and there was no reason why Brands Army wouldn't have invaded Aishers Army, which would inevitably respond sluggishly with divided fronts.
'...Something's going on.'
I didn't know exactly what it was, nor whether this information was particularly important—
But clearly, something unusual was happening that wouldn't occur in normal circumstances.
Just to be sure, I asked her:
"Lady Irene. Do Charam Army and Alrepel Army still exist on the continent?"
"Yes, they do. Charam Army recently presented gold to our army."
"???"
They gave money?
Of course, there was a diplomatic command to give money to improve relations, but nobody ever used that command.
In this game, no matter how much you improved relations, it meant little unless you formed an alliance.
Moreover, when giving money like that under the pretext of improving relations, it was for something else.
After raising favorability and promising joint attacks...
'When they stab us in the back.'