How We Came (2)
Led by the King, I walked inside the Royal Palace. It seems that Tigris is under house arrest in a room within the Royal Palace. He’s able to live normally, but he’s in a state where neither can he use any weapon, which is a given, nor can he use any Magic.
As we’re walking inside the Royal Palace, we occasionally pass by soldiers and maids; they greet the King, which is a given, and they greet me as well.
Well, I suppose it’s also partly because I’m Alexia’s fiance, but apart from that, how do I say this, the soldiers are looking at me reverently, and the maids are looking at me passionately. As I’m being baffled by that
“Lei, you are dull when it comes to yourself huh. With this time’s rebellion, how people look at you changed. Because all the soldiers have seen you fighting Grutas’ soldiers, Tigris, and the Zombie Hydra. And the maids know about what happened at the Royal Palace as well”
, the King told me while laughing. How they look at me changed, is it. Well, it’s fine since it isn’t anything malicious, but it’s somewhat awkward.
As we walked in the Royal Palace while talking about such things
“Tigris is in this room”
, it looks like we arrived at the room. There are two brawny soldiers standing in front of the room; they notice that the King came and give their greetings. The King lightly raises his hand and greets them.
“I want to go inside. Open it up for me”
“Understood”
The soldiers open the door at the King’s words. The King went ahead, so I followed and entered after him. It’s spacious inside, as one would expect from the Royal Palace, but simpler than I thought. There’s only a bed, a table, and a chair, with nothing else placed inside.
And Tigris was sitting down on the bed. A collar is being worn on his neck. It’s probably a Restriction Collar. Tigris, who noticed that we came in, stands up from the bed
“Your Highness, my apologies. Having you take the trouble of coming”
and bows. Come to think of it, I wonder why they decided to talk here and not in the Throne Room. The King went out of the way to come here.
“No problem. I wanted to talk without worrying about the surroundings after all. It’s better here. Carlos will be here soon as well”
Who’s Carlos? I thought
“Thank you for saving Chichiue. Thank you very much”
and Tigris bowed even further than before. Aah, Carlos is referring to Duke Lambert huh. I didn’t know at all.
After that, we listened to Tigris’ story. Like when he started taking orders from Grutas, how many people were involved, and so forth.
Tigris too, it seems he didn’t have any intention of betrayal if there weren’t the hostages. On top of that, he was acting with killing Grutas in mind in the end.
Uーn, it’s a tricky situation. Tigris is also one of the people who had hostages taken and was entrapped, but I do also think that things would be slightly different if he had talked to the King about it at an earlier stage. But, I guess the hostages become a problem when it comes down to that huh. Uーn. I wonder what the King will do?
“After that, it’s the reason that I had Leivelt come here”
Ah, come to think of it, that’s right. I ended up just listening to Tigris’ story.
“Some details might have changed as well since I also only heard about it, but there’s a man called Eins by Grutas’ side, right?”
I nod at Tigris’ words. It’s the man who brought along Bernjarl, the Seven Demon Generals. Judging from his vibe, that fellow is probably a Demon Race as well. Well, his vibe was different from the unique Seven Demon Generals, so he’s probably an ordinary Demon Race though.
“That fellow is the middle man between the Regalia Empire and Grutas. Amongst their conversations, there’s also a talk about the war on the Runwalker Territory”
“Is it about the coordination of the time?”
“There’s that as well, but apart from that, there was a talk about conducting a surprise attack on the Runwalker Territory’s town”
Tigris carries on to say that he doesn’t know whether it’ll be put it into action though. ‘Conducting a surprise attack on the town’, you say. Rightfully, they should be warring at the fortress by the Regalia Empire and Nanor Kingdom border.
It’s about 10 kilometres from there to the town. I don’t know how Sieg deployed the soldiers, but since they’re going to conduct a surprise attack, they’re of course going to be competent people.
My hands clenched instinctively. Because the level of my Space Magic’s is low, I cannot leap as far as the Demon Race guy. It’ll probably take a week even if I gallop on a horse. What should I do…….
At that moment
“Your Highness, I brought Duke Lambert”
“Aah, let him in”
It looks like Duke Lambert, who was summoned, arrived. The door opens, and Duke Lambert is the first to enter, behind him is the Duchess, and Alexia and Ferris, who are supporting her. Both Caro and Aerith follow behind them. Eclat was there inside Aerith’s arms. Was everybody summoned as well?
“Chichiue. And Hahaue as well! Is your body alright!?”
“Ufufu. I’m already alright. Because Leivelt-kun, who’s sitting over there, treated me”
In response to the Duchess’ words, Tigris looks at me with a surprised expression. Alexia and the others are making triumphant looks for some reason. As for Ferris, her tail is swinging so much that it feels like it’s going to produce wind.
“Leivelt. Thank you very much. Not just Chichiue, you even helped Hahaue”
Tigris says and bows deeply at me. I shan’t say that I did it because I coincidentally could. I didn’t know I could until I was told by Light either after all.
After that, Duke Lambert, his wife, and Tigris sit down on the bed, and everybody else sits on the chairs that the soldiers brought over.
I was thanked by Duke Lambert and his wife once again over there. It sure is somewhat embarrassing being thanked in front of everybody huh.
After that, I had him talk about the surprise attack on Runwalker Territory here as well. Somebody might come up with a good idea after all.
“A method that can go to the Runwalker Territory immediately huh”
“If only there’s somebody who can use Space Magic”
Alexia and Caro say. Aerith is making a difficult face like me. Aerith is probably worried as well. Just as I thought of that and was about to call out to her
“Kyururu!”
Eclat raised her right paw and chirruped. Everybody wonders what’s the matter and looks in Eclat’s direction.
“……aah!”
It looks like everybody thought of the same thing.
◇◇◇
January Fifth
Runwalker March
Mansion
“And, you asked for Hilde-san’s help and came all the way here?”
“No, I asked Eclat’s father, Levine-san, before that, but he told me that he wouldn’t lend his hand in the dispute between fellow humans”
“The Eclat-chan at that time was a sight to behold. Eclat-chan was furious at Levine-san”
Ferris says while laughing, but it was horrible, you know. She fired the same technique she used when she saved Mei-chan and the others previously at Levine-san after all.
“I sent Lei-kun and the others in his place, you know. I said it’s our son-in-law’s parental home’s crisis, but Levine, he said ‘I don’t care!’, so it sure is troubling”
……Hilde-san is laughing ‘ufufu‘, but it was pretty much this person who took Levine-san down. Levine-san’s screams linger in my ears even now.
“That is a great hel……son-in-law?”
“……Lei, you”
Both Sieg and Elise look at me with surprised expressions. I see, Alene-sensei didn’t talk about Eclat and the others, so I guess they don’t know that I’m also engaged to Eclat huh. Just as I was about to talk about that
“Kyuru!”
Eclat, who was on top of my head, jumps onto the table. She then looked in Sieg and Elise’s direction
“Kyururu. Kyurururu. Kyururu Kyuru!”
chirruped, and bowed snappingly. I don’t know what she’s saying, but judging from her vibe
“She’s saying,『Father-in-law. Mother-in-law. Nice to meet you』”
In response to those words, Sieg and Elise
“A, aah, nice to meet you”
“Nic, nice to meet you. Eclat-chan?”
greets back despite being bewildered by Eclat. Perhaps she’s happy about that
“Kyuru!”
Eclat flies at Elise and rubs Elise’s cheek. Elise, who was rubbed by Eclat,
“A, adorable! You’re already our daughter!”
said, hugged her tightly, and on top of that, acknowledged her as my fiancee. To think that she end up captivating her in just an instant. I’m glad about that, but Eclat is to be feared.
