Courtesy of Sakura and Shinobu, we were now able to tour the castle.
It was said that Kagari-san requested this when she met the king.
Who is Kagari-san really?
Everyone respected Kagari-san and treated her with care.
I thought she was a princess, but I didn't think she was.
Anyway, we came to the castle.
It's completely different from the castles in my country.
Misa was as surprised as I was at the difference in the castle.
While looking up at the castle, Sakura called out, "Uncle."
Sakura's uncle? In other words, the king?
I asked Yuna-san in a low voice.
Then she said that he was the king after all.
I felt nervous.
I thought maybe I would meet him, but I didn't expect to see him so soon.
I was the daughter of a nobleman and the daughter of the lord of the town of Mileela, which was doing trade with the Land of Harmoni.
Be polite and say hello.
However, I didn't know if it's okay to use my family name at this point, so I would just use my name.
Misa also greeted people beautifully, as if she were a daughter of a noble family. She, same as me, only used her name.
The king seemed to sense something in our greeting, but this time he decided to treat us as Yuna-san's friends.
If so, I would do the same.
After the greetings, the king said he had something to say, and we were taken somewhere.
I didn't know where they're taking me, but I was curious about the castle, so I looked around.
It seemed that Misa, Fina, and Shuri were also looking around.
While walking, the king talked to us, but Yuna-san and Sakura answered the questions instead.
Then we were taken to the back room.
He said it's okay to say anything in this room.
"So, how long are you guys going to stay?"
"I don't plan on staying too long." (Yuna)
"Is that so?" (Noa)
I asked back to Yuna-san's answer.
There were still many places I hadn't seen yet.
I just looked around the city a bit yesterday.
"If we keep Noa and Misa in our care for a long time, Cliff and Gran-san will be worried." (Yuna)
I thought my father would have been worried before, but lately, with Yuna-san, I felt like he didn't worry so much anymore.
If I studed properly, I would be allowed to go out.
If I were to go out with only one other escort, probably it would be absolutely unacceptable.
Maybe it showed that my father also trusted Yuna-san.
Well, I didn't know anyone other than Yuna-san who could defeat 10,000 monsters or the Kraken.
"If you have any trouble while you're in this country, please let me know. I'll do everything I can." (King)
"Thank you" (Yuna)
Yuna-san thanked the king, and the king said that he had work to do, so he excused himself, and left the room.
"Then I'll show you around the castle." (Sakura)
Sakura stood up and everyone left the room as well.
However, it was really different from our country.
Clothes worn by people from buildings. The food was also different.
Although the countries I went to regarding fairies were different from ours, I didn't feel the differences were that big.
But this Land of Harmoni was completely different.
We ascended the stairs and arrived at the upper floors of the castle, where we were allowed to access.
You could see far and got a panoramic view of the city.
"Wow, that’s amazing." (Misa)
Misa was looking at the city with shining eyes.
This kind of scene was not something I could see even in my own country.
You would need permission to enter the castle. Moreover, being able to go to the top of the castle was not something you could do.
I couldn't believe I could see it from the top of a castle in another country.
That's how much the king believed in Yuna-san.
It's small from here, but I could see people walking.
The wind blowed and shook my hair. It felt good.
"People look like trash." (Yuna)
Yuna-san said that while I was looking at her comfortably.
"Yuna-san..." (Noa)
Everyone looked at Yuna-san with shocked faces.
"Yuna-onee-chan, you said the same thing before." (Fina)
Fina said. That's right.
What was going on in Yuna-san's head when she could say such things while looking at such a beautiful scenery?
"Yuna-san is the only person who thinks of such things when looking at this view." (Noa)
Everyone nodded at my words.
"Hmm, isn’t that one line you should say at least once in your life, 'People are like trash'?" (Yuna)
Yuna-san said with a surprised face.
"I never wanted to say that line." (Noa)
Everyone nodded at my words.
"Shinobu understands this feeling, right?" (Yuna)
"I don't think so." (Shinobu)
Yuna-san asked Shinobu-san to agree, but was cut off.
I didn't think anyone know.
"Well, then, like an ant?" (Yuna)
"...Yuna-san, it's the same." (Noa)
Yuna-san, who was rejected by everyone, got a little upset, saying things like "If it's Kagari-san," but Fina comforted her.
When I looked at such a beautiful scenery, I didn't think, "People look like garbage" or "People look like ants."
However, it was a really beautiful scenery.
"Where is Sakura-chan's house?" (Misa)
As I was looking at the scenery, Misa asked me.
"Hmm, where is it?" (Noa)
"That's the entrance to the castle, isn't it? Did we come from that way?" (Misa)
Misa pointed at it, but it didn't seem right.
We came by horse-drawn carriage, so I didn't know where Sakura's house was.
If I had to go home alone from here, I wouldn't be able to go home.
I vowed to never leave Yuna-san and the others.
"My house? It's over there." (Sakura)
Sakura pointed her finger, as if she was listening to us.
We looked in the direction Sakura was pointing.
It was the opposite of where Misa was pointing.
"Are we from that direction…?"
"But which one?"
Since I couldn't see the full view of Sakura's house, I didn't know which one was Sakura's house.
"It's the biggest house on that corner." (Sakura)
Maybe, that?
There was a house built on a large lot surrounded by a wall. I would say it's a big house, but it felt like the house was built on a large piece of land.
It's not an expensive house like mine.
However, it was built on a spacious site, so it was not wrong to say that it was large.
"It was that big."
"There are many people living in the house." (Sakura)
"But it didn’t seem like there were too many people…" (Misa)
As Misa said, I didn't see many people.
Meals were prepared by Suzuran-san and Shinobu-san.
"Noa and the others were there, so I instructed them to stay away from that room." (Sakura)
"Because of us?" (Noa)
"To be more precise, I guess it would be better to say Yuna-sama and Yuna-sama’s related people." (Sakura)
"Yuna-sama's and Noa's friends are confidential. Besides, I wanted everyone to rest without worrying." (Sakura)
It's true that if so many people were calling to us, we would have been uncomfortable.
However, I didn't think she was doing that.
Even though Sakura was still young, she was able to be so considerate.
After enjoying the view from the top of the castle, we decided to tour other places as well.
The castle also had a garden, just like Sakura's house.
There was a small pond with beautiful fish swimming around. There were fish with various patterns such as gold, red, and white. This fish was said to be for ornamental purposes.
Yuna-san told me, "Look at it like a flower."
Indeed, I had never seen swimming fish so close.
"I also have a small pond at my house, and I can swim there. After looking at it, it doesn't look as good as it should." (Sakura)
"Sakura-sama, this is the king's castle. It can't be helped if yours looks inferior. It's no exaggeration to say that it's the best in the country. But the pond in Sakura-sama's house is also magnificent." (Shinobu)
Shinobu-san explained with a bit of pride.
I agreed. Even in my country, castle gardens were said to be the most beautiful.
In the first place, it was wrong to compare it with the garden of a castle where the most important person in the country lived.
"But I would like to create this garden at my house as well." (Noa)
"Noa-onee-sama too?" (Misa)
Misa reacted to the words I casually said.
"Misa too?" (Noa)
"Yes. However, I imagined creating a garden at Sakura-chan's house at my house, but I felt it wouldn't fit in with my house." (Misa)
"...That's certainly true." (Noa)
I tried imagining it too, but like Misa said, I didn't think it would fit.
The view from the veranda was nice, but my house didn't have a veranda.
While looking at the garden from the gazebo, Shinobu-san prepared sweets and tea for us.
For sweets, they gave me a manju filled with sugar-sweet bean paste and the rice crackers I tried to eat yesterday.
The manju was sweet and delicious, and the rice crackers were hard, but there were soy sauce-flavored rice crackers, rice crackers wrapped in seaweed, and a variety of other rice crackers that were delicious.
Author's Note
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.