The Snake Path is HeavyThe time is the early morning of early morning, a time that is still too early for human activity. Even though autumn has just started, the capital is a h.e.l.lish land known for its intense cold. At the start of winter, it would already be below freezing point, once it comes to the middle of winter, a ridiculous wave of extreme cold of below ninety would a.s.sault the capital. Of course the autumn of the capital would be cold. And all the more when it is the early morning when there is no sunlight.
global freezing
Under that cold sky.
————with soft steps, Nanaki hid Nanaki’s presence and followed her.
her?
Unusual grey hair that isn’t commonly seen in the capital. The girl with that slightly transient, yet pretty hair tied up behind, is walking calmly under the dark, cold sky. Her steps are dignified and clear confidence can be seen from that alone. That girl, who although young, is allowed to enter the capital, the center of the capital, walks down the street confidently.
mistress?
Because of that, Nanaki likes her enough that Nanaki would like to run up to her and gift her with a good morning nanakismile, but unfortunately, Nanaki is in the middle of a stealth operation. Accordingly, even if Nanaki can run up to her, Nanaki cannot greet her. With Nanaki’s talent, even if Nanaki runs up to her she won’t notice, but if Nanaki calls out to her, she would. In fact, it would be stranger for her not to.
ofc
“————Is someone there?”
Well, it seems not even a speck of such a worry is necessary.
or she wouldnt be hee
Even if Nanaki is not doing it seriously, she felt that something was off this quickly even with Nanaki hiding Nanaki’s presence to some extent, so she is very skilled.
get serious
“Was it……my imagination?”
yesyes
Still, Nanaki is more skilled. Once Nanaki uses the techniques, the experiences cultivated from surviving in nature as well as speed that exceeds human comprehension, then this is the result. The spot where she felt something was off only has the usual scenery. There is no one there and there is nothing there. Even if her talent tells her something is off, nothing exists there.
alr gone?
While still having a suspicious expression, she————Harmy headed towards the palace at a quick pace.
harmy!!
And so.
Stealthy nanakismile. h.e.l.lo, everyone around the world. Nanaki is in the middle of spying.
stalker?
The cold is already quite intense in the capital, but according to the calendar, the season is autumn. All the ladies and gentlemen around the world must be enjoying a wonderful autumn. However, as for everyone living in the outskirts of the capital. You should already know, but the outskirts of the capital is an area of ridiculously heavy snowfall. Have you properly done your preparations to hole up through the winter? Have you prayed to G.o.d? Is your mental preparation to tremble in the corner of a room as you freeze to death done?
calm down
Etc etc, with smart small talk, Nanaki pursues the young imperial servant Harmy.
a bit dark for small tal
There are just about two reasons.
excuses?
The first is, the sudden Alfred summit meeting that was held the other day————correction, the exchange of opinions between master and Meia-sama…….or an argument. Beginning with pointing out the lack of a sense of danger about the current situation, then the vehement opposition against the plan to counteract that, and finally ending right before armed conflict. That was quite a terrifying argument.
ofc
My master, wants to hire a new maid.
new harem member
Of course, Nanaki also opposed that. Currently, it is true that it is an urgent matter to fill the two day gap without Nanaki, but appointing someone who cannot be trusted to fill that gap would defeat the initial purpose. Just as Meia-sama said, science is science. Even if it is something small, to those would fear magic necrosis, it is hope. Those who would do anything to obtain it would show up.
umu
In this situation, there is now way a new maid can be placed at master’s side. It is troublesome to increase the number of people to be wary about and most of all, Nanaki alone is enough for maids serving the Alfred household. And thus, Nanaki instantly made a placard to show Nanaki’s firm opposition and became strikenanaki.
strike!
The words on the placard were ‘NOT newbie, YES Nanaki’. It was quite well done for an instant work, so Nanaki presented it to Meia-sama and proposed that we resist to the bitter end against master. But it was thrown back at Nanaki because the words were ugly. The memory of tearing up when the corner of the placard stabbed Nanaki’s head is still fresh.
handwriting
And so, with things like that, the summit meeting went into an endless loop, but both Nanaki and Meia-sama had forgotton about the one sentence master had said before that. No, it should be said, we objected before we heard it.
listen tot he end
“————Well, I know you’re worried. But, I have a plan.”
all planned
Yes, Master said he had a plan. And that was the truth. After hearing the details, it wasn’t bad. And so naturally Nanaki had to praise it, isn’t this the best move? As expected of Nanaki’s master, Nanaki was impressed. Friend praised me for a brilliant 180 , so as an apology Nanaki showed him another brilliant 180 slap.
(T/N: 手のひら返し, literally turning of hand/palm, idiom for (sudden) change in att.i.tude and 手のひら返死 just し replaced with 死(death) read the exact same way……)
Well, to sum it up.
Master said in order to fill the gap in the two days Nanaki is gone with someone trustworthy and with martial prowess, he will exploit the emperor.
woah there
With the promise of returning Nanaki to the role of Lightning Empress, science was once again released to the world by Zean Alfred. Even so, the science granted to master is not something large enough to change the world. Because if such a thing was released into the world, people would stop using magic. That would be fatal to Empire which aims to overcome magic necrosis. There is no way the emperor would allow that.
use genetic engineering?
But something even more fatal to the emperor, would be to have the source of the revived science be known.
yep, that would be bad
So in the end————
blackmail!
‘Let’s headhunt an imperial servant under the pretext of surveillance.’
survey what
Was the plan.
simple
My master really is amazing. Indeed, if just by dispatching one imperial servant, master can be safely observed, that might be the great opportunity that the emperor was wishing for. After all, Nanaki has been intimidating and chasing away anything that seemed to be observing us. Even if we are collaborating, it does not feel good to be peeked on. Master didn’t stop Nanaki either.
blind
For the emperor, she can safely observe master, and for master, he can hire a skilled servant with martial prowess. On the point of trust, since we are cooperating, there should be no problem, is what we would like to think, but there is always a chance.
never fully trust
And so, Nanaki has been entrusted with personnel selection.
….not sure if that will go well
And the first one Nanaki thought of is as expected, her, Harmy. Nanaki really likes her, while young, dignified and confident figure, and her fighting ability has already been confirmed. Taking into account the urgent situation, there is nothing to criticise about her. She can be said to be the most suitable candidate.
but must check
But this is an important mission concerning master’s life. So Nanaki is once again observing Harmy without giving a cheap answer. As expected of Nanaki, an excellent maid. So far Harmy hasn’t seemed to have notice, so Nanaki just needs to continue carefully————
boo
“What’re you doing?”
FOUND
Hmmm, as expected Envy-level would notice. Even if Nanaki wasn’t completely hiding Nanaki’s presence to test at what level Harmy would notice, but for Nanaki’s position to be identified so easily. As expected once of the Five Emperor-level, they would be sensitive to mana. With Nanaki’s mana becoming so large recently, Nanaki might not be able to hide from them anymore.
sad
Anyway, first let’s say the morning greetings. Since Nanaki got to meet Nanaki’s beloved sister so early in the morning, Nanaki would like to begin a wonderful day. And for that, morning greetings is important.
manners
“Good morning. Envy.”
“N, morning Nanaki.”
“Then, Nanaki will be off.”
“Wait, what’re you doing?’
“I am secretly following Harmy.”
“Harmy? Why?”
stalking
Now then, how should I answer? Wouldn’t it be good to use this to show how cool and intelligent Nanaki is? Recently, Envy keeps making Nanaki study. So Nanaki thinks it would be good to appeal Nanaki’s intelligence here.
definitely going to backfire
“Because we are both maids. Since they say the snake path is heavy, I thought it was troublesome for Harmy with her small body.”
(T/N: correct phrase is 蛇の道は蛇 (‘snake path is for the snake’ or smth), some idiom along the lines of people of the same type can understand each other more easily, 蛇(hebi)=snake, ヘヴィ(hebii)=heavy))
“Hmmm, there’s a lot I want to say, but for now let’s go study.”
“Then, Nanaki will be off.”
(T/N: The first time Nanaki says this it’s じゃ、ナナキはこれで, this time it’s 蛇、ナナキはこれで. 蛇(hebi)=snake, but can also be read as ja(じゃ))
I refuse to have such a heavy morning.
end
Been so long since I translated an L.E.M. chapter, the writing style really is very different. And the puns are painful (as the one translating them). Author-sama have mercy on me.
Also just to mention it, I’m not using Empress to refer to the Emperor even though she is female because the author specifically uses the emperor(皇帝) instead of empress(女帝). On the other hand, it is not as specific for Nanaki, Salia and Envy’s t.i.tles (雷帝, 空帝, 炎帝) so I can use Empress there~