The Preceding Hero and the Luxurious and Gorgeous Inn

「Sylvia, for now, apologize to me.」
「Wh, what are you saying all of a sudden?」
Sylvia put herself on guard at my words. That slightly frightened facial expression tickled my s.a.d.i.s.tic heart.
Wait, no, no, this isn"t the time to be saying that kind of stuff.
「As I thought, you are mad at me for selfishly advancing the negotiations, aren"t you?」
「That"s not it. Well, there are some troublesome points to it, but it"s your request, Sylvia. I have no reason to refuse it.」
That"s right, that didn"t really matter to me.
「……Well then, what are you angry about?」
Finding it incomprehensible, Sylvia tilted her head.
It sometimes comes out, this gap where this kind of adorable gesture appears from the usually cool-character Sylvia who is called the Iron Girl. Actually, even now, my heart is beating rapidly. It"s gap moe.
Whoops, the thoughts in my brain got derailed. Let"s return to the conversation.
「No, you……It"s fine that you got mad about being locked up for two days but……What part of this is a small building!?」

That"s right, what was spread out before me right now was an elegant estate that, although it wasn"t as big as the Feudal Lord"s mansion, had a vast garden that looked like it could hold a formal tea party and was four stories tall. Even in the vicinity, there were some awfully large inns, but only this building had a personality that let it be called a Royal Hotel. Though I don"t know of an inn could have personality.
「What are you saying, Yuu? It is small, is it not?」
「It"s huge! It"s plenty huge! It"s bigger than my high school gymnasium!」
Incidentally, my high school gymnasium was wide enough to have two basketball courts and the ceiling was high enough that even if a volleyball were to be tossed up, it barely wouldn"t reach the top.
「I don"t know what kind of thing that jimn.a.z.ium that you mentioned is, but I cannot deny that it feels like it would be a bit too compact to invite the leader of a foreign country into. Let"s see, even if it isn"t as big as the Feudal Lord"s mansion, it should be like a castle……」
Dammit, come to think of it, this girl is a bourgeois and the royalty of a major power!
「Hey, in actuality, how is it? Is it small?」
When I asked that to Leonhart, who was standing diagonally behind Sylvia and was smiling, with a small voice, Leo wryly smiled.
「I feel that it is more than wide enough. To begin with, this place is an inn meant for several n.o.bles of foreign countries to stay at but……」
This empress, she used an inn that would shelter several n.o.bles all by herself, and it"s still not enough!?
That"s right, I remember now. Three years ago, there was something that would always irritate Sylvia. That"s right, except for the times that her older sister Olivia was sleeping in an extensively extravagant room, her sharp eyes that were always like a drawn knife would become even sharper.
I can remember even now that other than when we were camping, she would go "Anything other than the highest grade down-filled futon does not suit Aneue!" at cheap hotels that were several hundred Forun for a single night.
「What are you doing, Yuu. Let"s go.」
「Roger that.」
Well, it"s too late even if I said anything now. Whether it"s high cla.s.s or low cla.s.s, as long as I can sleep in it, there isn"t much of a difference to me.
「Leonhart, I leave the rest to you.」
Taking a glance at Leo, Sylvia then looked at the Knights on standby behind Leonhart and gave him that order.
「At your will. ……First to fourth platoons are on mansion defense, fifth to sixteenth platoons are──」
Leonhart, who had a strong impression of being a refreshing young man, erased his smile and started giving out orders.
「How should I say this, impressive, I guess.」
「It"s because although he has a terrible disposition, as a Knight, he has a superiority that can"t be described with the clichéd word of genius.」
If I remember correctly, his age was in the latter half of his twenties. For Leonhart, who was young for a general of the army, working as the commanding officer of the Empress"s Imperial Guard, he had to have a high enough fighting ability and commanding ability that he should be said to have been isolated from everyone else.
In particular, in regards to his fighting ability, it was high enough for him to compete against Mazoku, Duke-cla.s.s at that.
Enough that I could agree with giving him the name of Mankind"s strongest.
「Still, even if it was only for an instant, to unleash the ruler of a country into the town alone without a single escort, I"m amazed that Leo would allow that.」
Leonhart had come to pick up Sylvia, but I only asked about how he probably was on his walk on route to her. His signs of worry were probably at zero.
「It"s because I would not stop even if I was told.」
This ruler, she nonchalantly said that.
「……So you do have some self-awareness of it.」
「Naturally, I do not intend on being that foolish.」
Sylvia puffed her cheeks in discontent.
◇

「Uwah……」
It was the inn that Sylvia said she was staying at, but the moment I got inside, I became dumbfounded.
Chandeliers, armor and helmets meant for admiration, many works of art such as paintings.
And then, the central staircase meant to be climbed up to the second floor, and the stained gla.s.s that was even further above that was beautiful enough to have my breath taken away.
I"m amazed that she could have complaints with something like this.
When we walked on top of the red carpet, two maids appeared from somewhere.
「Some black tea, also, go and call Pamela.」
「Certainly.」
While handing over her coat and hat to the maid-san that rushed over, Sylvia kept walking without stopping.
「This man"s coat is fine. More importantly, there should be a room that isn"t being used. Let him use that.」
「Certainly.」
She stopped the maid-san that tried to take care of my 『Darkness Executioner』 coat and gave her an order.
「I will send a maid later on. Go and rest until then.」
Saying that, Sylvia went up the staircase and left.
Rest, huh. Well, today, a lot of things did happen for one day so I am mentally tired. I guess I"ll take a small rest just like Sylvia said.
「Dear guest.」
「Nn?」
When I looked at the person that called out to me, a maid-san was respectfully lowering her head.
「I am one that serves her Majesty the Empress, known as 『Helena』. I shall be your guide from here on out.」
The moment she finished speaking, Helena-san turned around and started ascending the staircase.
So as to not be left behind, I followed after her.

I"m not sure if I should say "as I thought" or not, just as expected, the room that I was lead to had refined upholstery that made it seem like it wasn"t an inn.