11. Liver, Gallbladder—I'll Give It All
Lily Claudia was the real power behind the Claudia Archduchy. Even though her father, the Claudia Archduke, was still alive and well—not to mention her younger half-brother, two years her junior, who outranked her in the line of succession.
Did she snag the family's favoritism with some irresistible charm like the heroine of a romance novel, rising to become the de facto number one in the household? Hell no.
The reason she became the archduchy's true ruler was simple: sheer military might.
To put it bluntly, she'd gone and declared, "I'm taking the real power through force, Father."
"Liiiily! You bitch, do you think you'll get away with tormenting your own father?!"
In truth, even for Lily, rising up with the sword, winning over most of the knights who protected the family, and imprisoning her father at the top of the tower to claim real authority wasn't exactly her cup of tea. After all, being the head of the household was a massive pain in the ass.
Lily hated hassle more than almost anything in the world.
But she had no choice. And the reason for that was...
"Father... no, Daddy. I told you already. Engagement? Marriage? I hate that stuff. I've said forever that I like girls."
"You selfish bitch! You don't care if the archducal house crumbles? Getting married off to some rich geezer thirty years older than you, moaning on the bed while he mounts you, popping out an heir to seize power, and just sending money back to your old man—that's the true happiness of a noblewoman!!!"
"Sigh... Drag him off and lock him in the top of the tower."
"Yes, my liege!!"
"Gaaahhh!! Just you wait, Lily!!!!!"
Her father, the Claudia Archduke, had tried to force on her the one thing she hated most in the world.
Selling her off like merchandise to some count with nothing but money and thirty extra years on him, just to bear his child. Even setting aside her preference for women, it was downright insulting for any woman with normal tastes.
Treating his own daughter like stolen goods to pawn off on a monster.
And "You don't care if the archducal house falls?" Give me a break. He'd burned through the family fortune and piled on debts himself.
If there was one more reason besides brute force why Lily could become the archduchy's real boss... it was that her father was an incompetent, greed-obsessed pig.
If he'd had even a shred of prestige as archduke, the retainers and knights wouldn't have all flocked to Lily's side.
Anyway...
Lily had to bear the "responsibility" for staging the coup and ousting her father.
Yeah, responsibility.
Look at those sparkling eyes from the knights, brimming with expectations for their new lord. The villages inside the castle walls, the ones outside—same story. Everyone was pinning their hopes on Lily.
And so, she shouldered the weight of all those expectations, steering the archduchy toward prosperity. She even fended off pressure from the imperial court—"Who gave you permission to swallow up the archduchy's power on your own whim?"—and dealt with assassins sent by her imprisoned father from who-knows-where. Two whole years of that.
Lily Claudia, age twenty. After crushing even the Sword Saint grandpa the empire sent to "straighten her out," she ended up with the insane moniker of God of War!
…….
….
"I'm done. This is too much hassle~."
"No, my lady! Please reconsider!"
Everyone's expectations? Responsibility? Lily was sick of it all.
Honestly, after two years of handling the empire's inspections, border skirmishes from nosy nobles, and turning the archduchy's massive deficits into black ink... shouldn't they cut her some slack? Even if reinstating her father as archduke was off the table.
Archduke title or real power—couldn't her half-brother Kyle just take over?
Plus, Lily herself was twenty now, in the flower of youth, itching to flirt and cuddle with cute girls.
But her retainers shot it down flat.
"Who cleared the archducal house's mountain of debt over the past two years?"
"Lily Claudia, Archduchess!"
"Who thrashed the idiots who picked fights in territorial wars, squeezed hefty reparations out of them, and funneled it all into the archduchy's growth?"
"Lily Claudia, Archduchess!"
"Enough with the chanting—and drop the 'Archduchess' bit. Call me miss; I haven't officially inherited the title, after all."
"It's about time you did inherit it properly. After beating even the Sword Saint, the empire won't complain now."
"……."
One retainer A's words made Lily's face sour instantly.
Truth be told, imperial approval mattered for succession, but the current titleholder's will was just as crucial. And her father, locked away at the tower's peak—the Claudia Archduke—had zero intention of passing it to her.
Of course, she could inherit it by sending Daddy dearest to the afterlife.
It'd make things a bit noisy around her, sure.
But Lily didn't want to go that route.
No matter how much of a pathetic father he was, constantly sending assassins her way... he was still blood.
And Lily personally hated the idea of killing with her own hands.
She'd killed as a swordswoman before, but always showed mercy when possible.
Everyone born human has a noble life, a right to live. Just because I'm strong and they're weak doesn't give me the right to take it.
That was Lily's creed.
And above all, she didn't relish inheriting the archduke's title herself. Leading people was exhausting and a total drag.
...Plus, even if she did take the title, it wouldn't solve everything. There were immediate problems staring her in the face, right?
"In a few months, I've gotta enroll in the Academy."
"……."
"Title or no title, that means I'll be away from the duchy for months at a time, every few months, for the next three years."
"C-Couldn't you just... not go?"
"You telling me to break imperial law and forge a certificate like some bonehead?"
"……."
"Besides, I don't remember turning the archduchy into some fragile place that crumbles without me. I'll lead it until Kyle comes of age. Our dear Archduke won't object to passing it to the boy, I'm sure."
"B-But while you're at the Academy, who...?"
"Hand it to Kyle for now. If something tricky comes up, pass it to the Archduchess. Since I plan to give the archduchy to my little brother... she won't pull any funny business."
To Lily, the Archduchess wasn't her late birth mother but her stepmother, no blood ties. Still, Lily trusted her not to ruin the place. The woman could do math, doted on her own son... and above all, didn't care much for Lily's father, the Archduke.
That guy at the top of the tower had way too much wandering dick.
He'd brought in the current Archduchess right after Lily's birth mother died of postpartum complications.
….
Even if the Archduchess stabbed her in the back and schemed to boot her from the archduchy... Lily didn't sweat it much.
After graduating the Academy, she planned to shout "See ya, everyone!" and hit the road as a wanderer.
Adventure, romance, and... lovey-dovey times with beautiful girls awaited her!
Titles like that were as much a buzzkill to dating as her dad's marriage schemes!
In that sense, the three years at the Academy were something she truly looked forward to.
It was where all the empire's noble girls—and standout commoner girls—gathered, after all.
"Ahh, the Academy's gonna be packed with cuties, huh? Can't wait. Uhuhuhu, uhhet."
"Here we go again...."
The retainers grimaced like they'd seen something gross, but whatever. Lily was in high spirits today, dreaming of her Academy days ahead.
Still, deep down, she didn't expect to meet a girl quite at the level of fully satisfying her standards.
After all, the world's most beautiful girl she'd ever seen... was the one in her mirror.
To fall at first sight, she'd have to be prettier than me. Sigh, probably impossible...
With those thoughts, Lily dismissed her retainers and dove back into the backlog of archduchy paperwork.
This was a few days before she'd fall head over heels for some foxkin beauty and hand over liver, gallbladder, the works.
Hmm, just one mountain range to cross and I'm in the archduchy... what a pain in the ass.
I like playing with toys and spilling blood as much as the next girl, but blocking the road this close to my goal? Kinda hilarious, actually.
Beastkin lands or human lands, bandits are everywhere.
The ones writhing and rolling on the ground at my feet right now? Your classic bandits.
"Gaaaaah! Mercy, spare me...!! We didn't know you were a beastkin—or just so damn strong...!!"
"Ooh, so... if someone's weak, it's okay to trample 'em?"
"N-No, that's not—"
"Then it's fine. I'm the strong one, you're weak. So I can trample you."
"Kieeeek!!!"
"Recite a haiku."
"Gwaaaah, gwaaaah, gwaaaah!!!"
I've said it a million times: "Recite a haiku" means "say your last words before you die." Not "squeal like a stuck pig."
Pfshk!
All done. No more twitching heaps at my feet—just corpses.
Ah! Since I just killed some humans...
Wanna try eating one?
I haven't mentioned it before, but the foxkin tribe I'm possessing in this world, the Inari... actually split off from the "Tail Fox" tribe to our west.
More precisely, from the "Yoho" foxes in the Tail Fox tribe who got hooked on eating humans, ruining their divine power accumulation.
Because of that trait, a select few in the Inari tribe had a rare delicacy: fresh human livers.
I'd never tried it myself, though.
Curious what it'd be like.
I sliced open one fresh corpse's belly and scooped out a handful of the steaming lump. Still warm, steam rising off the bloody mass. Shoved a big bite in my mouth...
"Ugh, tastes like shit... Why the hell would anyone eat this?"
Iron tang and fishy stink in a weird flavor. Plus that slimy, squishy raw texture. Utterly delightful mood-killer.
Delightful, yeah... but not worth a second bite.
I spat out the chunk lingering in my mouth...
And hit the road again.
Whoever it is, if they offer me their liver... I'll have to say no thanks.
Tastes awful.