Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero’s morning is not particularly early.
Every morning, she wakes up at the exact moment the clock tower’s bell rings.
The time is 7:00.
In summer, it is already fully bright.
Even in winter, it is a time when she is already lit by the morning sun.
By the time her wake-up processing finishes, a maid employed by the mansion knocks on the door.
“Good morning, Lady Sera. I’ve come to help you prepare.”
“Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
The maid entered with quiet, measured steps and bowed to Sera, who was sitting on the bed. She briskly arranged the vanity, dusted it, and pulled out the chair.
“Please.”
“Mhm.”
Sera stood up from the bed, toddled over, and plopped down into the chair the maid was holding out.
“Please excuse me while I do your hair.”
With practiced hands, the maid combed through Sera’s silver hair.
Even if she was a doll-machine communicator, if she lay in bed all night, her hair would tangle a little. Having it neatly loosened and then braided while she sat still—that was how her day began.
“What hairstyle shall we do today?”
“Today, Waterfall.”
“Understood.”
To the maid’s question, Sera stated the hairstyle she had randomly selected. Fortunately, it seemed the maid knew how to braid it. If not, she would have had to call another maid.
In front of a large full-length mirror, Sera sat quietly and waited. The maid briskly braided her hair.
An Aide-Envoy’s hair had a gentle wave. Waterfall was a hairstyle that expressed water flowing like a cascade. It matched her hair texture well. Even though it was a random choice, truly bizarre hairstyles were not selected in the first place. Commander Eve and <Ringo> had already supervised that.
While Sera watched the maid’s hands intently, the hairstyle was completely finished.
“Shall we get you changed?”
“Mhm.”
She took off her sleepwear and changed into her uniform. A distinctive uniform was «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» prepared so that, at a glance, anyone could tell she belonged to <Paraiso>.
That said, they only called it a uniform. In truth, it was closer to dressy going-out clothes. Wearing rigid, formal clothing all the time wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Commander Eve’s taste.
Accordingly, with the clothes Eve sent her as gifts, Sera owned a large wardrobe. This was also popular with the hired maids. Right now, the cutting edge of fashion in the royal capital, Moar, was <Paraiso>-made.
What she chose today was a fluffy milky-white blouse that hid her figure’s lines, and brown long-skirt-style gaucho pants. If she paired that with small accessories like a beret, a shoulder bag, and boots when she went out, she would become a soft-and-fluffy silver fox girl.
In her imagination, Big Sis Eve gave a firm thumbs-up.
Of course, Ayame Zero thoroughly recorded Aide-Envoy’s appearance and transmitted it to <Ringo>. It would be used in the report submitted to Big Sis.
“You are as adorable as ever today.”
“Perfect.”
Once changing was done, the next step was food.
“Then let us go to the dining hall.”
“Mhm.”
Following behind the maid’s quiet steps, Sera also trotted along in small steps. All the mansion personnel they passed were smiling.
There wasn’t much variety in breakfast, but Ayame Zero was broadly satisfied.
On the table were a fresh green salad, crisply grilled sausage, boule bread, butter, and tea.
“Yum.”
The Kingdom of Lepuitari was a wealthy country. In the countryside, it depended—but in the urban areas, everyone lived a reasonably affluent life.
With surplus comes cultural flourishing.
Accordingly, even with food, compared to other nations, fairly advanced research was being done.
Strategic AI Ayame Zero liked those food conditions a great deal.
In particular, she went so far as to proactively give advice to the embassy’s chef.
It had become not only the epicenter of cutting-edge fashion, but also the epicenter of delicious food.
After breakfast, if there were no particular plans, it was free time.
Today, there were no plans at all.
Sera decided to take a stroll through the city with an escort.
The escort consisted of two doll-machine communicators made using random genes, and three soldiers from the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
The escort doll-machine communicators were rotated out with different personnel every few days. Today, the individuals had black cat and light-brown rabbit genes. Both wore combat uniforms, hands on their assault rifles, flanking Sera on either side.
One of the guards led them. The remaining two followed a bit behind, keeping some distance.
“As usual, shall we go to the morning market?”
“We will.”
The morning market of the capital, Moar, where many people and goods gathered.
Because it was the capital, public order was generally good. It was perfect as a target for market research.
It was about a thirty-minute walk from the embassy.
They could prepare a carriage—or even an automobile—but because there were usually too many people to move properly, Sera’s group often traveled on foot.
Their appearance stood out tremendously.
Their looks were extremely refined, and their fashion was sophisticated.
And with escorts attached, whenever they moved, it usually became packed with onlookers.
When there were no plans, they usually headed to the morning market, so there were many people who gathered specifically to see them.
That said, the embassy was on the edge of the political core district lined with official residences.
There were many security personnel, and recently, no major disorder occurred. The onlookers also behaved themselves. You could also say they had simply learned their lesson after a major chaos occurred early on, resulting in a flood of injured people and arrests.
“Here.”
“Oh my, if it isn’t Lady Sera.”
They visited a stall they showed up to so often it was fair to call them regulars.
Because it handled unusual ingredients, Ayame Zero liked it very much.
“Anything... new?”
“Yeah. A rare tuber from the continent came in. Want to take a look?”
“Look.”
The landlady who ran the stall, seeing Sera nod with her short words, beamed broadly and pulled out a long wooden box from the cart behind her.
“Heave-ho... there. Here it is.”
After hauling the box out to the front of the stall, she pried the lid off with a crowbar-like tool. Inside, it looked like it was filled with sawdust.
“Hold on a sec.”
The landlady plunged her hand into the sawdust and carefully took out a long tuber.
“...Tuber. Long.”
“Yeah. Sounds like they call it a long tuber—lyunpot—over there. They say it’s buried vertically in the mountains. Ones that are this long and impressive are hard to get, and even if you find one, it can snap while you’re digging it out, so it’s a pain, apparently.”
“Interesting.”
This tuber became fluffy and tasty when cooked, but what was recommended above all was eating it raw. It was sticky, and if you just julienned it and sprinkled salt, it was perfectly edible.
“I want to try it. Is this something you can keep obtaining?”
“Yeah. A merchant caravan that goes back and forth brings it in. It’s hard to haul, but they say they can manage. Lady Sera, it’s thanks to the good carts <Paraiso> made for us. With those, a road that used to take a whole month can be done in two weeks now!”
“I see. That is very good. If the roads are improved, I think it will become even faster.”
“Well, for now they said this is all there is. I told them to stock a little more next time! They should be back in about a month, so how about then?”
Sera gave a thumbs-up and bought the lyunpot in front of her for now.
Part of it would be analyzed in <Paraiso>, and the rest would be handed to the head chef immediately. New ingredients were to be secured proactively. Of course Ayame Zero liked them, but the purpose was also to let Big Sis Eve enjoy them.
They would analyze whether the new ingredient could be cultivated, and if possible, mass-produce it.
As usual, the group called over a porter, loaded the purchased wooden box onto a cart, and had it sent back to the mansion once it filled up.
Having struck a winner on her first try, Sera walked through the market with a light step.
To find and taste new ingredients she had never seen—
And to deliver them to her beloved Big Sis.
