Chapter 416

Invitation 5

Published: 16 April 2024

 

After that, I left the letter in the waiting room and went home.

...to the Japanese residence.

The carriage and Silver were kept at an orphanage through continuous transfer.

After taking a bath, the three of us had a strategy meeting while eating dinner.

 

"It's a little too early to go back to our country like this. Do you want to kill time somewhere?" (Mitsuha)

After Sabine-chan and Colette-chan thought about my suggestion for a while...

"Why don't we take a moment to take a look around that country's capital? It wouldn't be strange if we were there now." (Sabine)

"Ah, I see..." (Mitsuha)

 

I had an Air Force plane fly over this continent, and I was able to see a large part of it from above.

Therefore, it was possible to roughly choose an appropriate location and teleport to this country.

However, if I took a closer look at the royal capital this time, I would be able to accurately teleport anywhere in the royal capital in one shot from now on.

Securing several transfer ports where we could safely depart and arrive unnoticed might come in handy later on.

 

...But when we secretly came here, there was no way anyone would know that we were in this country or the royal capital, and we had to hide the fact that we were staying there.

Transfer ability... I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be revealed that I was simply using "crossing" for something as simple as a sightseeing trip.

So, now that we didn't have to worry about our presence being discovered, it might be a good idea to do a little sightseeing.

 

As expected of Sabine-chan, I noticed some good points...

No, it probably has nothing to do with my transfer ability and she just wants to go sightseeing.

"...Hired!" (Mitsuha)

 

However, the king of that country would have never imagined that the third princess of Kingdom of Zegreius would be accompanying us...

Since they didn't ask, I hadn't told them.

After all, I was the one who accepted the invitation, and Sabine-chan was just my companion.

 

However, no matter how low-ranking the country was, Her Royal Highness the Princess accompanied her because she was worried about the female aristocrat of her own country who had been summoned unilaterally...and a young girl...

Left alone for hours and drove it away without even meeting it.

 

If such a story spread to neighboring countries, the reputation of the king of this country would be bad, and from now on, if someone from my country received a similar invitation, they would say, "No, I'm going on a long journey. Even if I visited them, they wouldn't even let me meet them and I would be turned away... If the invited Archpriestess and her Royal Highness who accompanied her were treated like that, I might be turned away at the border, haha!" and something like that, sarcastically, they could refuse.

 

It's no use making excuses like saying you didn't know that the third princess was accompanying you or that you didn't chase her away.

It was an objective fact that Sabine-chan and I came to this country, went to the royal castle, stayed until evening, and returned without meeting the king.

 

And the testimony of two people of high status, Her Royal Highness the Third Princess, and Lightning Archpriestess, the head of the Viscount family.

Also, when it came to gossip, the more interesting it was, the easier it was to spread.

Our story and the palace's official statement that they did not do anything like that.

As for which one was going to be dramatized in a funny way and spread with tail fins...

 

Furthermore, there were quite a few people in the royal palace, including the gatekeepers and maids, who knew that we have visited, and there was no one who could testify that we had met the king.

...Yeah, well, that's what it is...


Third Person View (Aleidis's side)

"…What? The Lightning Archpriestess from Kingdom of Zegreius has come?

Why is it so fast? It must have been around the time when the invitation had just arrived?

Besides, why are you reporting it?" (King)

 

It was no wonder that the king had doubts about this.

Normally, such matters would not be reported directly to the king by the person in charge of reception.

The report was supposed to go through the minister in charge.

 

"I don't know why they came here so early.

And the reason why I overstepped my authority was because... I found out that my report had not reached the upper management and that the Archpriestess had been left alone in the waiting room for a long time..."

"What! What do you mean? There's no way such a report would stop halfway!" (King)

The king raised his voice at the unexpected report.

 

However, there was no way this person could answer that.

So, the king noticed this and immediately turned his attention to one of the ministers.

After hearing this, the Minister immediately left the room.

Of course, this was to find out who stopped reporting and why.

 

"…So, how long you keep them waiting!" (King)

"…about 3-4 hours…" (Receptionist)

The king seemed a little flustered by the receptionist's reply.

 

"I'll see them soon! The audience room... no, let's go through the reception room!" (King)

The king instructed them to do so...

"No, it seems that the Archpriestess has decided that she cannot meet His Majesty anymore today, and has already returned home..."

"……" (King)

 

It didn't matter if this was someone from the other party who came to visit, but they were invited and left alone.

Moreover, she was a girl who was a noble from another country, and on top of that, she was a Archipriestess who has received the favor of a goddess, even though she called herself a princess.

No matter how much the other person was a lower-ranking noble, they couldn't accuse her of being disrespectful for returning without permission. Obviously, it was their side that was at fault.

 

Besides, since she was invited, it was only natural that she would be allowed to stay in a guest room in the royal palace.

At the very least, they should provide the highest quality room in the best inn in the capital.

However, due to the clumsiness, she had to find accommodation on her own.

This was a huge blunder, but now that they were probably already resting at an inn, forcing her to change her lodging was just another layer of shame on their part, and it would be even more disrespectful.

For today, they had no choice but to leave it as is.

 

"...Tomorrow, I'll meet them as soon as I get to the castle. Even if you have other plans, just it go.

And from tomorrow onwards, give them a guest room in the royal palace." (King)

"Ha!" (Prime minister)

The prime minister expressed his understanding to the king's instructions.

Now there was no need to worry about something like today happening again.


"What's going on!" (King)

The next day.

Even at noon, there was no news of Viscount Yamano's arrival in the castle.

Therefore, the king summoned the prime minister.

"Even if you had other plans, I would have told you to let it go! But why are you trying to intervene!!" (King)

Saying this, the king yelled at the prime minister, but...

 

"Ha. However, Viscount Yamano has not yet entered the castle..." (Prime minister)

"W-what?" (King)

"Since what happened yesterday, I think Your Majesty is probably busy and is planning to arrive at the castle early in the afternoon or early in the evening..." (Prime minister)

"...Um, um, I see. I certainly made you wait a little too long yesterday.

Good. I’m not offended." (King)

 

As expected, the king seemed a little uncomfortable at the Prime Minister's reply, perhaps thinking that he had done something a bit bad yesterday and was remorseful, and his displeased demeanor withdrew.

However, the prime minister couldn't help but feel a bad feeling rising in his response.

...That reliable "premonition" that had saved him many times from predicaments up until this time...


*The spelling of the characters and places may be different from the official or any other translation website. Click here to see the list.