Chapter 90 – Solid country

Side : Lowell second princess of Galtz.

Just now the castle entered a state of unease.
Because Shera who has only just been sent to Roch.e.l.le as a bride, is returning.
But, the amount of time that she should have had in Roch.e.l.le doesn’t even reach a month.
This information was delivered by fast messenger….

(Lowell)「Long time no see. Onii-sama, onee-sama, okaa-sama1) and otou-sama2). I’m doing fine. Currently, there is something we’d like to consult with you. So we planned a visit together with my husband. Please, I hope that you won’t be rude to my husband. 」

Only this letter.
Somewhat short all kinds of information.
I heard that Shera married the person who unraveled the Demon King’s plot in Roch.e.l.le.
But that’s all I know about that person, what about his circ.u.mstances, his status, or even where his territory is?
Such a large number of things are unknown. I feel blind.

(King Galtz)「What do you make of this?」

At the conference hall, my father the King of Galtz, asks his sons, daughters and the ministers.

(Higil)「….. Normally, it’d be reasonable to think that she’s being returned to us. 」

The one who just answered is the fourth prince and staff officer, Higil. 3)
actually, the person who had issued the plan to send Shera was this man, Higil.
It was for a mult.i.tude of reasons, but Shera was chosen to be sent to Roch.e.l.le.
Although he tends to be misunderstood as a blockhead, this Higil is well-known in the family for properly taking care of his own blood’s safety.
He pays special attention to Shera, sends her gifts paid with his own wages every month.
Despite such tendencies, he usually looks cold, in a way he’s sort of a clumsy little brother.

(Lowell)「Normally… Then what do you think Higil?」

(Higil)「Yes. First of all, the possibility that this isn’t something planned by Roch.e.l.le is reasonably high. 」

(Lowell)「Why?」

I ask in return to his strange declaration.
Because Shera… It’s beyond rude to return a Princess of another country, but such an event is happening right now.
If they return her without going through Roch.e.l.le, I don’t know whether he is a courageous hero, or a true idiot, but far from losing his honor there’s even the possibility of being executed.

(Higil)「… Nee-san think for a moment. No, actually I will explain this clearly. If the country Roch.e.l.le was to send her back, it would mean that they have a secret to hide. Can you understand why?」

(Lowell)「Yes」

(Higil)「That’s why it’s weird. What bothers me is that they’d have such a ridiculous secret. This would cause the alliance to crack, it really wouldn’t be a funny result. 」

Indeed, I can see that happening.

(Higil)「It’s too poor of an answer from Roch.e.l.le. If you think about the circ.u.mstances from their point of view, why on earth would you pay such an amount of money and lower your head as reparations, only to destroy that fragile relationship a month or two later.」

(Lowell)「Fumu. It is as Higil said. 」

(Higil)「And then Shera who was sent couldn’t have been married and then rejected by her husband due to bad relations, it simply hasn’t been long enough for that. There’s also the fact that It’s very bad for their reputation towards other countries. Also, Shera wrote herself that she wants her husband to come here as well. Moreover, she didn’t mention returning to her home country. 」

Fumu, it mights be best to bet on those circ.u.mstances.

(Lowell)「Ah, perhaps it’s normal for them to have the husband visit the bride’s parents?」

As I state my doubts, Higil and the King are surprise

d.

(King Galtz)「We-well, that possibility should never happen…. 」

(Higil)「…… Father, explain it cleanly. 」

(King Galtz「…… What are you saying, she is your older sister, the one who should explain this is you. 」

(Higil)「… Please don’t dump this on me. It concerns nee-san’s education so… 」

Somehow, they are both being sneaky.
Did I say something funny?

(Teak4))「… *Cough*. Lowell this is indeed a possibility. If that’s the case then this discussion is for nought, she arrives, everyone’s happy and it was unneeded to worry about anything. But what would you do if she arrives and there are some sort of complications? With that kind of flow of things, careful countermeasures need to be taken. Careful plans like that need to be planned in advance, which takes time, which in turn means that the plan needs to be thought out by the time she arrives. In other words, you need to think on the premise that there will be a problem. 」

(Sharl5))「Ooh, I understand. That’s right onii-sama. As expected of the crown prince next-in-line to succeed Galtz. 」

(Lowell)「…… Ah, thank you. 」

They appear a bit tired from the circ.u.mstances.
The country is hard to control, us siblings must support our older brother diligently.

(King Galtz)「Yosh, well done. 」

(Higil)「As one would expect of aniue6)」

(Lowell)「… Father, Higil, please complete half of the doc.u.ments later7). 」

(King Galtz & Higil)「「No way!! 」」

From that reaction I don’t know if they dislike helping.
Can’t you see how tired aniue is?

(Sharl)「Well, actually we do not know if there actually will be any problems. It would be best to cla.s.sify each type of problem there could be. 」

(Lowell)「A cla.s.sification?」

It is the third Princess Sharl8) who is going to answer me.
In the country, she is mainly in charge of internal affairs.

(Sharl)「Yes, onee-sama. It enables us to respond immediately. For example, if they want return Shera as we mentioned earlier, we have to send a letter protest of protest towards the Royal Capital of Roch.e.l.le. For this first possibility carefully writing that letter is necessary. So here the preparations are minimal and buying time is easy. Next in case Shera has grabbed some very important information and is quickly coming to report it. In this case, she is only thinking of returning for a short period. Again the according preparations should be made. Shera isn’t stupid, we know that best. 」

(Lowell)「Yes, Shera is a very smart child. 」

(Sharl)「I suppose the last possibility is…… Shera’s husband is stupid, his pattern would make it convenient for a lot of people in many ways. 9)He feels generous towards us for giving him Princess Shera, so thinking that he should do something for us, he asked Shera to bring him to us. In this case I’ll protect Shera on the spot. When you think that Shera might have been treated like an object and forced to lower her head, it isn’t unthinkable for her to have been raped10). 」

(Lowell)「That’s unforgivable. 」

An act of rape against Shera, unthinkable.
I will cut his neck on the spot.

Whilst we were discussing our future plans, the door opens and the guards rush in in panic.

(Teak)「What’s wrong?」

Aniue tries to hear their story, he’s extremely calm.
Splendid! If it was me I think I would scream at them.

(Guard)「Re-reporting. At the entrance of the Royal Capital, there’s two carriages without horses. These carriages are almost entirely made of iron and they are extremely suspicious, so when we started investigating, Shera and Kirue were on board!! 」

(Royal family)「「「Ah!?」」」

Everyone present loudly raised their voices.

(Lowell)「Wa-wait a moment, please. When was Shera’s letter delivered?」

(Higil)「Nee-san, calm down. I’m sure it was yesterday. 」

(Lowell)「…… It was sent with a fast horse right?」

(Higil)「Yes, I confirmed it. The horse wasn’t particularly slow. It was an ordinary horse used for messaging. 」

(Lowell)「What do you mean?」

(Higil)「…… I don’t want to think it, but perhaps the carriage from Roch.e.l.le is comparable to a fast racing horse. 」

(Lowell)「That’s ridiculous!! Previously they’ve always used ordinary carriages!! 」

(Sharl)「Calm down, onee-sama…. You, there’s no doubt saying that they are Kirue and Shera right?」

Sharl who tried to soothe me wants to confirm with the soldier again.
Right I forgot, maybe there was a mistake somewhere.

(Guard)「Yes, I’d love to say that I’m wrong, but not only me, the captain and some of my other colleagues have also seen Shera. 」

(Teak)「… There’s no doubt about it then. What about the carriage and Shera?」

(Guard)「Hah, they were getting in the way of the traffic, so they are now waiting outside of the guard’s station. 」

(Sharl)「Onii-sama, what should we do?」

Sharl asks aniue for instructions, aniue thought for a while and ….

(Teak)「Let’s see, the only thing that I can think of right now is that they delayed the letter somehow. The thing is by thinking we are effectively waiting, which is being rude. However, there’s also the safety of the unknown carriages. Lowell, Higil, lead the soldiers and go to pick them up. In the unlikely event of danger, give priority to yourselves. Do you understand?」

(Higil & Lowell)「「Yes」」

(Teak)「Father, is this alright?」

(King Galtz)「Umu, you’ll be a wonderful King one day. Can you take over now?」

(Teak)「No, I’m still young and inexperienced. Both of you should be wary. 」

Me and Higil act upon his words immediately and jump out of the meeting room.

(Lowell)「Higil, what do you think about the formation?」

(Higil)「Hmm… We don’t have a lot of time. We’ll be lucky if we can bring as many as 40 guards from the castle. Regarding the weapons, 5 magicians, 5 bows, 10 shields, and 10 gap closers should be the limit. 」

(Lowell)「So we don’t know about the opponents weapons then?」

(Higil)「We must hurry now even if it’s only a little faster. If they are elite guards, they can fight with any weapons so let’s not dawdle guesstimating about their weapons and which to bring ourselves. 」

(Lowell)「Is that really better? …… 」

After that, we proceeded to pick up Shera.

Side: Yuki

(Yuki)「Haa～, indeed. It was mild saying that it’s robust. 」

I stare at the thick walls that tower above me.

(Shera)「How is it. Isn’t it amazing? It’s designed to withstand an attack from even a Dragon. 」

Shera is happy to explain.

Three days after our departure, we safely reached the Royal Capital of Galtz as scheduled.
This time I have to give the explanation regarding the convenience of the Dungeon very carefully, so we moved as quickly as necessary without stopping the Marauder.

(Lutz)「But, isn’t it bad to enter the Royal Capital with the Marauder?」

(Yuki)「What, about that? If we want to show the significance of our wish, one way to do that is to astonish them. This contributes to that so it’s unavoidable. I just hope they don’t think we have an army of these and get frightened…. 」

Lutz asks that, as she stares at the marauder.
The soldiers are strictly surrounding the Marauder and keeping us at quite a distance, it is not an atmosphere where we could approach them in any way.

(Seraria)「Well, if an ordinary iron carriage arrives without a horse, the reaction would be the same everywhere.」

(Lulu)「That’s true. In truth, this car is dangerous. 」

Seraria and Lulu made their comments.
I want to say to Lulu that’s it’s pretty troll to run over people and take human lives in such a demeaning way.
Yes, bad troll.

(Kirue)「I’m truly sorry!! I will explain the situation to the soldiers now. Please wait for just a moment!! 」

Kirue lowers her head from the bottom of her heart.

(Shera)「Kirue, you don’t have to apologize. The soldiers are extremely on edge, just one slip of the tongue could makes things turn pear-shaped. Anything we say right now will be viewed in a negative light. Let’s just wait for them to be ready to talk.」 11)

(Yuki)「I agree. We don’t mind them particularly and we have enough time to wait for their patience to come around so it’s okay. 」

Naturally, no matter how much your opponent cooperates, you’d become anxious knowing how many big shots are among the other party. Not to mention the strange atmosphere….

(Shera)「Yuki-sama, would you like to join me for a leisurely stroll after the negotiations are over?」

(Yuki)「Hmm, is there a place you want to go?」

(Shera)「Yes, there are beautiful places in the castle that only my sister and I know about. Without fail you must come and see them. 」

(Yuki)「I see, I’m looking forward to it. 」

(Shera)「Ahh…」

Just like that, I start stroking Shera’s head.
Shera closes her eyes in happiness, she’s docile to caresses.

Then, I heard an earth-shattering sound….

(Lowell)「UOoooOOOoOOO！! Shera it’s alright!! This man here, prepare youRSEEEEELF!! 」

(Higil)「Shera!! Your onii-chan is coming!! Magic soldiers, archers!! Aim at that man and shoot12)!! To raise your hand against Shera is outrageousness itself!!! 」

Hoy hoy…

Afterword of the author
The side of Galtz is troubled in various ways.
And Shera is loved. Lol.

References