“Go on big brother, explain yourself.”

“I–”

“Please lower your head Xuan De.” *w.a.n.g*!

“Yes.”

“Un, good, go ahead now my lord.”

“I really don’t know anything~~”

“Lies.” Everyone said in one voice.

… Hai, looks like I’m done for this time.

Meng De’s vanguard could be arriving anytime soon but yet here I was in the courtyard, being interrogated by everyone.

“Umm, can the 2 of you lend me a hand? Please tell them I didn’t do anything… But I really didn’t right?”

“Un?” Mi Zhen bent her head to the side… Can you stop acting cute and say it! “I was asleep so I don’t know anything as well.”

“I was talking about before you fell asleep!”

d.a.m.n it…

“Un?”

It’s over, she completely doesn’t get what I’m saying.

I looked over to Gan Qing who was sitting on the side in the hopes of her saying something helpful. She saw me look at her and nodded rea.s.suringly.

“Actually, Lord Liu Bei really didn’t do anything.” Gan Qing said… But why do you have to blush while saying this! Who will believe you now!~~

“Hai~~~ So what exactly happened?” Yun Chang said helplessly. “I heard a commotion from big brother’s room so I ran on over only to find Gan Qing there. And besides her, another one popped out of nowhere.”

“…” “What do you mean our of nowhere? She’s my little sister!” “…”

We only called for Mi Zhu but yet why did the other 2 came along?

“Little sister,” Mi Zhu smiled as she went up to Mi Zhen, “Please tell me what happened or Lord Liu Bei will be finished.”

I nodded vigorously.

“Maa, yesterday I happened to see someone enter the city when the city gates were closing so I went up to have a look out of curiosity and that is how I got to know big sister Gan.” Mi Zhen said as she rubbed her head before beaming a smile at Gan Qing.

“So you followed us here?!” Zhang Liao exclaimed as she looked at Gan Qing helplessly.

“Un, because I want to observe Lord Liu Bei more.”

… Un, now I understand the meaning behind those words she said when we parted. She probably planned on following us from the very beginning.

“And then? Why did you all come to my bed after that?” I quickly followed up on the main point.

“Big sister Gan asked if I knew Liu Bei and when I heard about this person from her I realised that he was the one who was speaking with Grandpa Tao just now. And since I knew where you were, I brought her along.”

(TL: They aren’t actually relatives, it’s how they call old men they are close to affectionately. Like how they call Sun Jian “Uncle”.)

How can someone be so casual…

“And then?”

“And then we came in.”

“I am asking you why did you all fall asleep on my bed. By the way, by ‘sleep’, I mean sleeping and only sleeping.”

“Isn’t it obvious!” Mi Zhen exclaimed with an expression that seemed like I was the ignorant one, “It was already so late how could I have made lodging arrangements for her huh? Since we were in your room already, why not sleep there?”

“But you could have told me~~~”

“No, I didn’t let her.” Gan Qing said shyly. “I, I was afraid of interrupting Lord Liu Bei’s precious sleep.”

If you don’t clarify things soon, I will enter an eternal sleep.

“Nothing else happened?” Yun Chang followed up with a frown and her face reddened as she asked this question.

“Un un, nothing.” Mi Zhen shook her head vigorously while Gan Qing seemed to understand Yun Chang’s implied meaning was and shook her head with a red face.

“… Hai~~~ On account of everyone’s words,” Yun Chang said and looked at everyone else for affirmation before continuing, “Big brother, you are hereby p.r.o.nounced not guilty. That’s good.”

“Un, yes… Though Yun Chang’s tone still scares me quite a bit.” No matter what, I am truly relieved at this outcome.

“But little sister,” Mi Zhu said to Mi Zhen, “Why did you sleep there as well? The guards were searching for you all night.”

“Actually, on the way to Liu Bei’s room last night, I heard some stories about him.” What did Gan Qing say about me? “After I heard about him, I suddenly felt like this Liu Bei person was the one I’ve been looking for.”

“Person you are looking for? What for?”

“My lifelong partner!”

(TL: She means marriage partner.)

“Eh?!~~~~~~”

And as she said so, Mi Zhen gave an utterly enthralled look…

I’m not your prince charming yo~~~ Mi Zhu please talk some sense into your little sister.

“… Lord Liu Bei, since my little sister has said as much… Why not–”

“Eh?!~~~~~”

Mi Zhu actually seemed happy after hearing the nonsense her little sister just said.

As expected of people in the same family…

… Wu, it’s that suffocating pressure again, I feel like I can’t breathe… No, I must dispel their notions of marriage with me.

“Eh~~~ Umm, you’re Mi Zhen right… I, umm, have no plans to get married as yet and more over I’m not very old. As for you… Ah, and you.” I pointed at Gan Qing. “You all don’t actually know me very well so I think you all should seriously reconsider this.”

“… Wu.”

Mi Zhen seemed a little defeated while Gan Qing was unperturbed.

“I understand that logic, which is why I’m here.” Gan Qing said as she patted her chest which was neither big nor small, “I’m here to ascertain Lord Liu Bei’s person.”

“Wu…” This counterattack was rather effective and left me speechless.

“Oh~~ Though I don’t know what is happening but it seems like if I follow big sister Gan, I can be with Liu Bei.”

“Were those words I told you before useless!”

But really, will I be forced to marry here? 2 of the Ladies are already here… But why do I feel like if I do so, I’ll lose something important?

(TL: The concubines of Liu Bei are typically referred to as Lady [last name].)

(TL: It’s your galgame self giving you advice! Advance down a single route too fast and you miss out on the harem route! Though the main is already a sort of harem anyway…)

“In, in any case,” Just then Yun Chang walked over with an expression that seemed to be br.i.m.m.i.n.g with anger and yet seemed terribly troubled at the same time, “We don’t mean anything by this, it’s just that as fellow girls, we should… That is…”

What’s the matter? Yun Chang rarely stammers like that.

“You mean to have a fair compet.i.tion?” Gan Qing seemed to get it though, and something I did not understand.

“Un, though I didn’t mean that, but let’s do it like that then.” Yun Chang nodded as she flinched about while the rest nodded with troubled expressions as well.

(TL: In case you’re wondering, there are other young male characters as well though admittedly few, and not every girl joins the harem.)

“I understand.” Gan Qing nodded as well. “Well then, I won’t press the matter of marriage, and will wait for Lord Liu Bei to come around with a reply.”

“Ah? … Oh.” I was stunned momentarily as I was still trying to make sense of what was going on.

Eh? The problem is resolved after some mysterious words between the women?

“Hai~~~” Yun Chang sighed, “Maa, because it’s big brother, this can’t be helped.”

After Yun Chang said so, everyone there gave helpless smiles in reply.

What is it about me that cannot be helped?!

The drama with Gan Qing and Mi Zhen went on throughout the morning and only concluded when the Cao Army had advanced close enough that their flags could be seen from to the city.

When we heard that Cao Cao’s flags were sighted we rushed to the city gates and found that Sun Qian and Jian Yong had already a.s.sembled the troops… No wonder I didn’t see them halfway through just now.

“Are we ready?” I turned and asked the girls as I mounted my horse, though I already knew the answer.

“Everyone is armed and ready.” Yun Chang replied.

“Un, we can begin.” Feng Xian said as she looked at the troops behind.

Nothing more to say then, let’s go.

“Alright, march out!”

As I gave the orders, a soldier at the side gestured to the guards at the top of the city gates. After a moment, the gates began to open.

As the gate gradually opened, my jaw dropped in tandem with my expanding field of vision.

— As far as the eye could see, Cao Army troops everywhere.

“Hou~~~ This formation.” The first to speak was Zhang Liao who gave a sigh of admiration.

“… Our troops are about 10,000 strong while the Cao Army is said to have 10x our numbers.” “Just by extrapolating from the size of the vanguard, along with previous information, it appears that Cao Cao really has sent out 100,000 troops.” “That’s how is, we can’t win in a straight up fight so we must be careful in how we proceed.”

Un, it’s exactly as the 3 girls said.

I rode out with my troops slowly as we went into our formation.

After we were all in place, it’s time to begin communications..

“Where is Cao Cao?!~~~~” I bade my horse to take one set forward as I yelled out at the top of my voice. “If she is in the main body, please wait for her arrival. I, Liu Xuan De, have words for her!~~~~”

After I yelled out, the other side didn’t reply. Only after a long while did a general run out with a broadsword in hand up the middle of the distance between the 2 armies and yelled out to our side–

“My lord is rus.h.i.+ng here in the main body, but if you want to meet her, you must last till then. Send someone out to duel me now!”

… Must we fight first anyway!?

Looking from here, this general was clearly a young girl, bu, but this figure is…

“d.a.m.n it!! Why does someone who is about the same height as me have such big ones!” Yi De spat out angrily as she gestured in front of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to compare their sizes.

This really is my first time seeing one… So that’s how an oppai loli looks like…

Ah, now is not the time to think about this, I better explain things clearly.

“No, we came out for the sake of speaking with your lord…”

“My name is Xu Chu Xu Zhong Kang!! Send your finest generals out for a duel at once!!”

“Not listening at all huh…”

But to think she is actually Xu Chu, this feels really weird.

But what do we do now? If we keep at it, the other side might just decide to charge at us…

“Xuan De, no need for further talk, it’s time we tried something else.”

“Un? Feng Xian?”

Just as I was being troubled by this, Feng Xian had rode up out of the formation.

“Xuan De is always singing praises of my fighting skills yet I don’t seem to recall ever having shown them to you.” Feng Xian dismounted and extracted Red Hare from inside her armour and placed it on the ground as she said so… But why are you bringing it around even at this time. “We happened to commence our fa, fair compet.i.tion today so Xuan De, please watch me.”

“Ah, oh.” I don’t know what she is competing in but at this time I should just cheer her on first, “But please be careful Feng Xian.”

Feng Xian only smiled in reply, and mounted her horse again and charged forth.

When Xu Chu saw Feng Xian charging over, she too met Feng Xian with her own charge.

“Yaa~~~”

“Ha!”

The halberd and broadsword drew sharp lines in the air from their paths and sparks flew from where they clashes.

“That one called Xu Chu has a lot of strength.” After just a few moves, Yun Chang began saying in a serious tone. ” Feng Xian has been suppressed by the difference in power for a while now.”

Is that so? I can’t tell at all~~~ But that doesn’t sound good at all–

“Yaa!!!~~~” Just then Feng Xian gave a loud roar and slashed down with her halberd.

Though I was quite a distance away, this roar was so loud I felt like my eardrums had burst.

“Wu… Kuh!” Though Xu Chu managed to block that blow, her movements seemed to have slowed for some reason.

“As expected of Feng Xian!” Yi De exclaimed excitedly.

“What happened?”

“Did my lord (Xuan De) not see it? The enemy is now fearful!” Zhang Liao nodded as she said so. “As expected, my lord’s (Feng Xian) aura is strong.”

“Aura?”

“When we were fighting the Yellow Turbans I’d mentioned it before.” Yun Chang added. “Most people don’t know martial arts and in times like this, bravery is used to overcome this. I’d already keenly felt Feng Xian’s bravery when we first met. Even if me and little sister were to face her together, we would only draw at best. Before I had said the other side had greater strength, but in terms of bravery, Feng Xian is way ahead.”

This really is…

I looked back at Feng Xian as a newfound admiration towards her budded inside me.

“Yaa!” Another heavy blow.

“Kuh!”

When Xu Chu took this blow, her whole body was blown back.

“The other side has lost their stance! A good chance! … Un? Why is my lord not attacking?”

Feng Xian did not swing down her halberd as she paused and waited for Xu Chu to regain her balance.

If I can avoid killing, I won’t… Is it?

Just then, several shouts could be heard from the enemy side and 5 generals could be seen charging at Feng Xian.

In just the blink of an eye, Feng Xian was surrounded by 6 enemies.

“Don’t they know the rules of duels?!” Yun Chang was enraged and made to charge over as well. “Yi De, let’s go.”

“Lord Yun Chang and Lord Yi De, you all need not worry. My lord can handle it.” Zhang Liao grabbed onto Yun Chang’s shoulder who was about to fly out.

“But 1 on 6 is…” Yun Chang did not finish her sentence because she caught sight of Feng Xian who easily dealt with attacks from all directions with ease,and was even looking for a gap in their attacks to deliver a counterattack.

“Awesome~~~”

Indeed, even as a young girl, Feng Xian is the strongest warrior in the Three Kingdoms era.

But now wasn’t the time to be impressed. I have to think of a way to get them to stop…

“Stop! All of you!” A familiar voice came from the enemy’s side and thereafter, the drummers changed their tune to one of retreat.

(TL: Drums were important in relaying military commands in ancient China. If you ever watched Red Cliff, you will see how drums are relied on to execute even complex formation change commands.)

And so the enemy generals that had came out stopped their attack… And returned obediently.

I looked over to where the voice came from, and indeed it was Meng De as expected.

“Good job, Feng Xian.”

“Oh!” Feng Xian high-fived Zhang Liao. Even after such an intense battle, not a bead of sweat could be seen on her face.

“My lord is impressive as expected.” Zhang Liao saluted Feng Xian.

“No, if we were to fight for another 15 minutes, I would probably start having difficulties.”

(TL: She actually says 一刻鐘 which is an ancient measure of time that equates to about 14.4 minutes in ancient times but was amended to be 15 minutes when China adopted Western conventions of time in the modern era.)

That’s more than impressive enough.

“Xuan De, wh, what do yo-you th-think about it?” Feng Xian said as she walked up to my side. “Maa, perhaps someone like me can no longer can considered a girl huh~~”

“No, I think that you look enchanting in battle. And also quite… Ah, cute I guess.”

Her moves were all smooth, natural and seemingly relaxed. Though there was power behind her blows, they did not seem oppressive.

“Wu! …” Feng Xian suddenly turned into a shy and demure girl and turned her head away. “Cu, cute…”

(TL: Ore no Shogun ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai)

“My lord (Feng Xian)…” Zhang Liao gave a helpless smile as she looked at Feng Xian from the side before turning to me. “Though it seems they have retreated, my lord (Liu Bei), you have yet to speak with Meng De.”

“If Meng De has pulled back her troops, then that means she understands what I want–”

“Report!~~~~” A signaller came running from the other side until he reached me and bowed. “Imperial Chancellor Cao wishes to invite you for a discussion.”

As I thought.

“Un, I got it.” I finally felt like I was making some progress to solving this conundrum when I heard the signaller’s words.

But now was not yet the time for feeling relieved for the discussion later would decide everything.