After a while since then, there're letters arrived.
...Two letters.
One of them was from the King of that country, the Kingdom of Aleidis.
And the other letter was from a count's family, also in that country, that I didn't know.
The letter from the King apologized for the rudeness of the other day and informed me that the Marquis had been caught up in a number of misdeeds and that he had been dealt with accordingly.
…No, really, it seemed he had done a lot of things wrong.
Of course, the letter didn't say anything specific.
No king would go out of his way to tell the nobles of another country about his country's shames and weaknesses, right?
It seemed that the country the Marquis was connected to was not a member of the treaty.
Of course, no matter how much you wanted to recruit allies, if they were too far away, had unstable political situations, were ambitious and aggressive, or were hostile to other treaty signatories, they wouldn't be asked. You'd have to provide them with the latest weapons and such...
Perhaps that was why they thought it would be a bad idea for me, the Lightning Archpriestess, to become on friendly terms with the King of that country? For the sake of the non-aligned countries that were connected to the Marquis.
So maybe that's why they tried to get rid of me before I arrived, or disrupt the audience.
Well, if she was an ordinary daughter of a lower-ranking noble, he could probably manage that.
…It was unlucky that it was me…
Furthermore, the reason why they had called me was also written there.
Apparently, there was no deeper meaning to it, he just wanted to see the young girl being carried around and called things like "Lightning Archpriestess," "The great hero who saved the country," and "Angel," and it might be a good idea to expose her true colors and used her as drinking material, and just as I thought that they had no ill intentions...
No, that sounds bad enough!
I wondered if they were thinking about how to exploit our country's weaknesses to improve their position among their allies.
Well, even if that were the case, there's no way they'd write the truth...
Anyway, that's how it seemed that after witnessing the miracle right before their own eyes, realized their own foolishness, and reflected on it.
Since a king could not bow his head to a lower-ranking noble from another country, there were no specifics and many things were vague, but even within those constraints, the text conveyed a considerable sense of apology.
...I guess I can say that he showed sincerity within the limits of his position.
The reason they didn't stop the four soldiers immediately was that they were unable to react quickly to the unexpected situation.
That was the only part where they clearly expressed regret.
Well, I guessed it's okay to apologize for that.
After all, the soldiers of their own country had attacked a noble from another country, a girl who was (supposedly) a minor.
Of course, there was no mention of the existence of Princess Sabine-chan.
Was that mentioned in the letter to the King? Was it blurred out or not mentioned at all?
No, that's far too powerful a card to be played between nations...
I didn't want to hand that card over to another country.
Of course, Sabine-chan had told the king the truth, but she never went out of her way to say it herself or write anything in a letter that serves as evidence.
And the other letter, from an unknown count's family, contained a polite expression of gratitude.
The details were also blurred in this letter, but apparently, I was the one who saved his daughter's life...
Well, maybe eating vegetables and fruits helped improve her symptoms?
Apparently, there was no need to go and check on her condition.
And in both letters, it said, "I sent a gift of thanks."
Apparently, that method involves transportation by carriage, so it will be much slower than sending a letter.
Well, as long as it's not something perishable like fresh food, it didn't really matter if it's late.
If they're willing to give it to me, I'd be happy to take it, anything.
If I didn't use it yourself, I could give it to someone.
...However, if it was food, I'd never eat it and would throw it away!
I was not brave enough to be able to casually eat food that was given to me by someone I couldn't trust or that was handed to me by a stranger...
Of course, I wouldn't give it to anyone.
If someone died in my place, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, yeah.
Plus, you didn't know what other toxins might be mixed in, let alone fast-acting or slow-acting poisons.
There's no way I could eat something like that.
Even if this were to happen in a civilized country on Earth...
"Your Majesty, has a letter arrived?" (Mitsuha)
"Hmm. …it's just you’re being reckless…" (King)
"Ehehe..." (Mitsuha)
After that, I came to the royal palace.
Of course, I was curious about the contents of the letter that had arrived at the King's house.
It's not a problem for me because I could enter the royal palace without an appointment by just showing my face.
And the King's words just now were not based on reading a letter.
There's no way something like that could be written in official correspondence between nations.
So, what I was saying now was in response to the truth that Sabine-chan and I reported a few days ago.
I was scolded a lot at that time.
...Mainly for putting Sabine-chan in danger.
Then there's the personal risks, the diplomatic risks, and so on...
Well, the King seemed to feel some responsibility as well, since he had persuaded me to visit despite my reluctance, and since we were attacked by their men during the trip.
So, it wasn't like he was yelling at me in a fit of anger, but more like he was scolding me.
Just like Marquis Bozes.
That's a blessing.
You had to cherish the people who scold you...
And the contents of the letter addressed to the King that I was shown were generally as I had expected.
The facts were vague and not written very clearly.
Although there was no direct apology and no mention of Sabine-chan at all, the message conveys the nuance that they felt bad about what they did.
For a letter written from one country's king to another, it appeared to be a fairly sincere piece of writing.
The King seemed to think the same, as he didn't look angry, but rather seemed to understand.
...It seemed likely that we would be able to extract concessions from them in future meetings with allied nations.
And so, officially it was said that "Nothing happened" and that simply one marquis' family and several noble families associated with it in a certain country were abolished.
...On the surface.
Of course, with such a lavish event taking place within the royal palace, there was no way that information wouldn't leak.
If the marquis family and the noble families connected to it were to suddenly be abolished, it would naturally lead to investigations from other countries.
Well, some information would leak out.
But that's not a bad thing.
There would be fewer alliance member nations that were willing to openly pick fights with this country or the Lightning Archpriestess, and non-member nations would be less likely to meddle.
...The Kingdom of Aleidis would surely take appropriate action against the country that the Marquis mentioned.
Of course, even if we protested formally, they would surely deny it, saying, "I don't know anything about that" or "It's just an unfounded accusation."
But even if they didn't agree, we could just do the same thing.
Of course, if there was a protest, we would pretend not to know. Just like them.
This information would be shared among all alliance member states and they would be treated as a common "enemy."
Any attack on an alliance member would be regarded as an attack on all member states, unless they were at fault.
There's no problem if they were simply enemies, but having an insider was a no-no.
…And above all, the moment they tried to kill me, an important figure for the alliance and the key player in the development of new weapons, it would either be a triple play or the game would be forfeited and the game would be over.
It might not be the match that would be confiscated, but the territory or even the country itself.
Well, I guess that's the end of this matter.
...And as long as they didn't cause any unnecessary trouble...