Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 234: Arc 4, Act II, - 79: My Part as Princess
’Why’d she pull me away from training?’ Jotou nodded to the Royal Guard and pushed open the door. Papers were strewn across the small meeting room, three people were left standing looking over the details.
’Did a meeting just finish?’
"Oh there you are," Daiyu looked up.
"How was training?" Hotaru’s ears pricked, staring at the dissipating sweat on the blonde’s skin, wearing flexible attire.
"I was doing fine, wish I had my adventuring gear back," Jotou shut the door and walked in, "What did you all call me for?"
Feyan shifted the documents, "The princess has been creating, changing and overseeing some changes within laws. Most requiring council approval."
"And I was called cause?"
"I want your opinion dumbass."
"You made new laws?"
"Not exactly," Daiyu slanted her head from side to side.
"They’re being put into motion. Some changes and stuff from old documents," Hotaru explained.
"Basically, I’m doing some legal spring-cleaning. I mean, look at these," Daiyu held up old codices and signed decrees that had browned. "These are still in use!"
"Definitely worth using what precious time we have there Daiyu..."
"Just using a couple of days," Daiyu waved her hand. "Giving the council something to do and deliberate while we’re out there. Okay, this one’s to make some changes to the Ministry of Affinities and Magic."
"What’s wrong with them?"
"Nothing; that’s exactly the problem. They’re pretty much useless when we have the Maleficos Ordinate so I decided to disband it."
"And then I said that was a bad idea," Hotaru raised a finger. "The Maleficos Ordinate’s still an external body, not operating under any government; they’re just under contract that can be renewed.
It’s better to keep some sort of ministry that keeps a check on magic and not rely completely on an Ordinate. So in case anything happens, you’ve got something else to depend on. Remember what happened in Kria?"
"Enlighten me," Daiyu turned to Jotou.
"They were infiltrated; and they controlled a lot of information about magic. In fact, they’re the whole reason the Velatos Case could even be pulled off with minimal suspicion."
"Yup, totally remember," Daiyu shrugged. "Anyway, Feyan said that the ministry’s lacking in members as it is and they don’t even have anyone with an affinity to begin with."
"The Ordinate tends to be where most people with magical curiosity or magical abilities go towards," Feyan pouted.
"That and the Adventurers Guild. So the ministry’s basically a lower goal to achieve; a cheaper target to aim for," Hotaru replied.
"So—I as princess—decided that we needed to bolster the ministry. The only way to do that is to get more people interested in working under it; and the only way for that, is incentives. Pretty clever huh?"
Jotou tilted her head, "You’re gonna have to give a lot... People’re always gonna flock to private sectors instead of government ones.
The word ’private’ makes it somehow gain quality in people’s heads. And in most cases, they’re not wrong."
"Yup! I have those. The main thing the ministry deals with is making sure all magic in Cravolta’s kept in check. Right now, even affinity-locks have to be registered with the Ordinate.
We have to bring it to the government side. Man," Daiyu scrunched her face, "Never thought I’d say that... Anyway, I’m talking scholarships for people who’ll eventually work under it, proper benefits and more funding.
Get more people with affinities in there or with more magical knowledge. D’you know we have like, no one managing magi-technology in the council? It’s just the Ordinate, we’re completely dependent."
"Well, that all sounds great. Back to training," Jotou turned.
"Hold on loser, I didn’t just bring you in here for boring politics. There’s a little surprise in the gardens."
_
Out the hallway the four of them went, into a gentle sunlight beaming from above. The lush green grass out the eastern side of the palace stretched as far as the eye could see. The paths were flanked by flowering shrubs and topiaries.
In a little clearing, sat a large dome structure made of glass; somewhat resembling a green house the size of a palace room. Hexagonal panes from top to bottom, white beams in between; some of the panes open, like windows.
Some Royal Guard kept an eye on the structure. "A little time in the Sun for them," Daiyu hummed walking towards it.
Jotou squinted, "Them?" Much lower than where she was looking were ’them’. Their barks caught her ears before she got a glimpse of the multiple furballs rushing towards the glass on all fours.
Hues ranging from snow-like whites to onyx-like blacks, fur from blondes to browns and mixed with various patterns across their bodies and paws.
The dozens and dozens of puppies fogged up the secondary door within the glass playpen. Their paws pressed and pounced against the glass, but not even a scratch was made against it.
"Arf!" "Ruff!" Little squeaks of barks were muffled behind the glass as the blonde’s pupils expanded... They stood outside the airlock doors.
"What in the world have you done? Did you adopt all these puppies?" Jotou knitted her brows.
Daiyu smirked. Who was Jotou trying to fool by trying to act so cool? "Technically... But no, this is for a new project I’m working on. Royal Dogs!
Basically, all these cute puppies’ll be trained by the Royal Guard; not as guard dogs just some like, normal training. Feyan even said it’ll help the Royal Guard to be more responsible in their work.
Then, once they’re properly trained, they’ll be sent to nice families to adopt them. Or if a Royal Guard wants to keep them, that’s fine too. By basically calling them ’royal’ they’ll be more likely find a happy home."
Jotou stared at the princess... "While I do think it’s a nice idea, you realize all the problems it has, right? Think about it, people will breed and sell these ’royal dogs’ illegally. You’re gonna create a puppy trafficking ring."
Daiyu frowned. "That’s exactly what she said," she pointed to the redhead.
"It’s possible so," Hotaru shrugged. "But I made a few rules that can be workshopped."
"Made this one myself, each family can only have two at maximum," Daiyu told.
"After registering them," Hotaru tagged on.
"After registering them," Daiyu nodded. "If they have any puppies it’ll be required to register them too. There’ll be random inspections of the abode the royal dogs live in, so nobody can hide anything shady in time.
No schedules, no monthly inspections, no dates, so no information can leak in time. The inspection will be told on the day of the inspection.
Enough to at least get this project started Joey Toes?" with a brow raised and a grin adorned, she asked.
"Fine, figure it out. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just problems that can come out of it."
"These are just the first batch of young students. We’ll move onto to adult dogs soon enough!" Daiyu proclaimed.
"Out of all the things, this was your choice," Jotou crossed her arms, but smiled.
"Eh, one thing at a time and all that. This is just the first of the things I want to change as princess."
"What is wrong with this endeavour?" Feyan queried.
"Nothing, I think it’s fine," Jotou replied.
"Yeah in our world, like, animals had rights before children, it was crazy. Cravolta’s luckily fine in that department; not the best, but as I said, one thing at a time," Daiyu raised a shoulder in a shrug.
"That sounds awful," Hotaru’s ears folded.
"Not as awful as the history of pugs," Jotou looked to the glass, multiple puppies pleading and begging to be played with; her leg shook a little.
"Oh! They don’t exist here! So, I’m gonna try my best to keep it that way," Daiyu took a breath.
"Pugs?" Hotaru narrowed her eyes.
"Apparently some sort of dog breed that was prone to illness," Feyan relayed.
"Let’s not get into it. Hey Jotou?"
The blonde glanced to Daiyu, "Yeah?"
"Wanna play with them?" her brows jerked up.
"If you’re offering."
"My lady, we do have other business to tend to."
"Well, I’ve had my fun with them; some other time then," Daiyu opened the first door. "Go on, it’s not locked."
Jotou stepped in, "Hotaru?"
"Uh, I’ll be back in a minute."
Daiyu closed the door. Jotou opened the inner door and stepped- She barely stepped foot in, before her ankles were flooded by the mass of puppies.
’...SO CUTEEEEEE!!!!!!!’ Her heart nearly melted and she almost fell to her knees. "Well, go to your business then, I’ll play with them for a bit," with glazed over eyes she said out to them.
"Have fun," Daiyu bade, the other two following behind...
...
...
Slowly a smile crept up on her lips, "Come on, let’s go inside," her voice went as high as a whistle. She stepped completely in as all the puppies followed and she shut the door.
"You’re all so cute!" Jotou looked to her feet as all types of puppies pounced and barked. Some had longer snouts, some shorter; some fluffy from head to toe and some with short hair.
Floppy ears, some sticking up. All their tails wagged, only a few seemed to be resting around the edges and did not come to greet Jotou. They kicked their legs in their sleep.
The scent of shampoos permeated the air, none of them looked even remotely dirty. Squeaky toys squeaked every second.
Jotou took off her shoes and threw them to an empty side. Some tried to leap up her legs, pawing into her feet. ’Wait.’ The blonde stopped smiling and looked around...
One or two Royal Guard... Just simply patrolling the area... None of them seemed to look in this direction... It’s probably been a while since this dome was here.
With another look around herself through the glass. "Wanna play? Come on let’s play!" Jotou kneeled down onto the ground and she was swarmed by the legion of puppies.
She held the cheeks of a dark brown puppy, petting its sides and under its floppy ears. The jealous ones pushed it out of the way, wanting their turn to be petted.
The blonde giggled impishly, petting each that would pounce into her grasp. She could feel the paws leaping and pressing against her back, the ones jumping into her lap; none of it hurt much to her in utter joy.
They bit and tugged onto her garments, shaking their heads as they tried to pull playfully. "Bad, can’t do that, got it?" She picked up one and put it aside, then the others.
The puppies all sniffed around her, from her hands, to her clothes and to her golden hair. One of the puppies—a furry black one with a white chest and snout—brought a long piece of rope over with knotted ends.
"GRrr," Jotou gritted her teeth and scrunched her nose, taking the other end of the rope in her hand before she pulled on it lightly. The puppy growled back to her, trying to wrestle it away with its teeth.
They were soon interrupted by all the other puppies now trying to tug onto the rope as well, biting into Jotou’s fingers as well, "Hey! Bad doggies, don’t be naughty," she scolded with a finger.
Some seemed to whine and bow their heads while most others seemed to not care. Eventually, the sleeping puppies woke up to all the commotion and saw the human amidst them.
With their tongues hanging out, they dashed to join in the fray. She glanced around again before leering at a puppy, "Ruff!" Jotou gave a small bark.
The puppies barked back at her to which she giggled. She gently held two floppy ears of a puppy and covered its eyes, "Boo!" The puppy panted with its tongue out, its teeth in somewhat of a smile.
The blonde played for a few minutes, giggling and laughing making the puppies more energetic around her. Out of the hallway of the palace, another two walked out.
Asobi gasped from afar, her jade-green eyes turning into stars. Hotaru put a finger to her mouth, "Shhh, look," she whispered. Asobi looked again to notice Jotou sitting on her knees, laughing and growling softly to the puppies she petted.
"Jotou’s having so much fun!" she hushed back. "She looks so cute!" Asobi giddied with both hands on her wand.
"She does, doesn’t she?" Hotaru’s head tilted to one side, taking a minute to stare with a smirk. Her golden knight so joyous and loving.
Oh what all she would do to keep that smile on the blonde. Hotaru’s smile faltered slightly... How long could she protect that smile was another question... She sighed and grinned right after. Can’t control every little detail; best to just enjoy it in the present...
