Chapter 288 - Third Story: The Royal Capital of Regnentes
To get to the Royal Capital of Regnentes, we [Teleport]ed to the basement of the Lord's manor and departed from there. The Lord was with us, and since it was a carriage with a crest, the checkpoints opened easily just by the coachman calling out.
Three days after leaving the basin, we arrived in the southern suburbs of the Royal Capital, which was Harold-sama's territory, and the scout unit met us at the checkpoints and post stations.
Being a great noble, his territory was vast, and it took another full day to reach Harold-sama's mansion where we would stay the night before.
It's far from the Royal Palace, but that means there are fields and forests with a stream nearby, and many ducks were floating leisurely on a large pond. It's a favorite place of the King, and he apparently often hunts there.
The mansion is built on a slightly elevated spot, with a moat running around it. As expected of the Military Minister's mansion, it's a stone building like a fortress. There's a town at the foot of the hill, and the town is also surrounded by stone walls and a moat. Apparently, the high ground where the mansion is located blocks the north wind, because once we entered the town, the wind that had been turning cold became calm.
The town had a relaxed atmosphere, and unlike other nobles' territories, there were no children with mud-covered faces. From what I heard, they've built free public baths so that even the children of the poor can wash their bodies. Unfortunately, the bathrooms are decided by social status, but it's still a blessing to be able to keep oneself clean.
When we arrived at the mansion, the scout captain and the rest of the scout unit came out to meet us. They were all people who had been based at the jerky processing plant.
"It's been a while. On guard duty?"
"Well, something like that. You could say we're the home guard."
"Home?"
To my surprise, the scout captain was Harold-sama's eldest son.
"My father is strict. Once we step out of the mansion, we're superior and subordinate. I have to call him Harold-sama. He dislikes over-familiarity."
"So, father and son were protecting the basin together?"
"Well, yes. To be precise, my father, as the Military Minister, was to ensure no enemies left the basin, and I was ordered to base the scout unit at the jerky processing plant and protect the village."
Beatrix was dazed. She probably never imagined the scout captain's role was to protect the village.
"The strategy you two proposed and thought out with us worked perfectly. Thanks to that, we were able to buy enough time for our allies to attack and catch the enemy's opening. In a battle against such a powerful enemy, there were miraculously almost no human casualties. Both my father and I were praised by His Majesty. Of course, it was thanks to the help of the Volunteer Army led by Henry-sama, but Henry-sama said it himself: if you risk your life to protect those who should be protected, you will surely win. It was exactly as he said."
In this case, those who should be protected were the people of the basin.
Beatrix said that many of the people from the basin had evacuated to the jerky processing plant, and because the scout unit always treated them kindly, everyone was able to spend their time cheerfully. Even after the war ended, some people apparently said lightheartedly that they should stay there until spring. Since food was regularly brought from Nakanohara by floating ships, there was no anxiety.
Not just Harrison-san, the Bishop, and Beatrix, but occasionally the scouts would act as teachers, so the children were all able to spend their time energetically.
"Thank you. Everyone is doing well thanks to you. No one was afraid because the scouts were always protecting them. Everyone is grateful. Since we got seven bags of wheat from a single field, the whole basin has decided to do the agriculture we're doing in the village. We won, and everyone is looking forward to next year's harvest for the whole basin..."
Beatrix started giving a rambling thank-you. She must have been incredibly happy. The captain... I mean, Harold-sama's eldest son, listened to her long thank-you with a gentle nod.
The next day, we met up with Henry-sama and the others at the Royal Palace, but since Lyudmila doesn't have a [Knight's Staff] and Mary's apprentice couldn't enter the Royal Palace in the first place, we only did the audience and declined the dinner party. Still, it took from early morning until around noon, so during that time, the two of them apparently went sightseeing in the Royal Capital under the guidance of the scout captain. With the scout unit as guards, both of them were in high spirits.
The following day, Harold-sama hosted a dinner party at his mansion, inviting the King. Everyone participated in formal wear prepared by Eleanor-sama. Of course, I was in my vestments.
"Th-That's too much. I couldn't possibly wear this."
The apprentice, who was conscious of her status, was terrified, but Mary pressed her, saying, "You're my apprentice, aren't you!" and forced her to wear it.
"Those coming today are all military men except for His Majesty, and they're the leaders of the scouts and magic soldiers who are like my own children. You've met the scout leaders. Don't worry so much."
Harold-sama also said this, and she finally calmed down. Will, who participated in the guise of Eleanor-sama's guard, was dressed as a knight. Being beautiful, she looked exceptionally cool, and Mary's apprentice was staring at her. She'll surely draw a picture of her when she gets back to the village.
The King of Regnentes was a man in his late forties, and like the royalty of other countries, he was handsome. We were introduced by Harold-sama, and as I had heard from him, he was a friendly person. He gave words of praise to Beatrix, myself, and Lyudmila in turn.
Mary and her apprentice were waiting behind us, but he walked right up to them.
"So it is you. The one who learned magic in just over a month of training after moving here."
Mary was beside her, and while kneeling on one knee, she pulled her hand. The apprentice hurriedly knelt on one knee as well. Instead of her introducing herself, the Lord said her name.
"I have heard the circumstances of how you learned magic. You will become a symbol of hope for the children of families in this country who cannot use magic. It is thanks to your hard work. Keep at it."
"I-I am unworthy of such words... I-I will do my best... to live up to your expectations."
Hearing Mary's prompting from the side, she replied while trembling violently.
"Don't be so stiff. Inside Harold's mansion, it's always informal."
When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she gave a start, trembled, and then burst into tears.
"What is wrong? Did something happen?"
Suddenly, a child had started crying. The King was flustered, but in this case, the more concern he showed, the worse it would probably get.
"She must be moved by Your Majesty speaking to her. As I explained earlier, this girl is the daughter of a serf and is not used to audiences. Leave this to Mary and attend to Lyudmila."
She was taken toward Henry-sama and the others along with Lyudmila.
"You did well. It's okay now."
When Mary hugged and comforted her, she said she was happy. Wearing an outfit provided by royalty from a neighboring country—which she could even take home—and being invited to a dinner party attended by the King at a great noble's mansion, and being directly praised by His Majesty. Come to think of it, when we first received our decorations at the Royal Palace, we were so overwhelmed that we didn't remember much. She's a child who hasn't reached adulthood. It's only natural.
After that, surrounded by rugged military men, things proceeded smoothly, and we enjoyed a grand meal. The King left halfway through, and along with that, we were taken to a separate room by Henry-sama and the others. For some reason, food and drinks were prepared there.
"It's an after-party. When military men gather, their drinking gets terrible. It's not suitable for young ladies, so let's continue here."
He spoke as if it were his own house.
"It's fine. We always do this among our companions. Harold and Will will be here soon, so you can even call the spirits."
Those were Eleanor-sama's words. In that case, I called Dune and Mel, and we ate and drank, and along with Harold-sama and Will who joined midway, we made a great fuss. For some reason, I got caught by a drunk Harold-sama and had to listen to his grumbling about how Sertorian women are this or that. Apparently, Eleanor-sama did something during the war, but it's a problem if he judges Sertorian women based on a monster like that. He said only Mary is cute, but she's special in her own way.
Will secretly left several bottles of alcohol, so as I listened to his grumbling and encouraged him to drink, he got dead drunk and fell asleep in about two hours. I called someone working at the mansion to have him carried to his bedchamber, and when I looked around again, it was as I expected. Dune, realizing that the opponent would run away from barrel sake, was doing a drinking contest with just cups, and several of the scout veterans were sleeping on the floor. Mary was surrounded by young men as usual, and the requests for dances were endless, but Will, Fiona, and Mel joined in and were dancing one after another. Lyudmila and the apprentice would normally be asleep at this time, but they were being taught steps by Henry-sama.
I wondered where Eleanor-sama was, and then she came over with a cup in hand, along with Beatrix.
"It seems Harold has fallen asleep. Jeanne, thank you for your hard work as his partner."
She seemed to have known. Maybe Eleanor-sama was the one who had Will bring the alcohol.
Eleanor-sama poured wine into my cup, and the three of us toasted.
"I heard from Catherine that you're going to Northern Gram for training."
"I heard it was for exorcising evil spirits..."
"According to Harrison, to the people of Finis, it's an evil spirit, but to others, it's not."
I knew it. I thought so. Anyway, it must be from the barbaric era. They probably invaded that canyon and did something bad.
"Apparently, in the local legend, without knowing it was the tomb of a former Queen, they had a drinking party and committed various indiscretions all over the place."
"What's that? They've been holding a grudge for hundreds of years over that?"
Beatrix interjected. Desecrating a grave is bad, but that might be too persistent.
"After that, they apparently took a liking to it and frequently had banquets there, committing many indiscretions..."
"What were they doing?" Beatrix said, exasperated.
"Finally, they started a contest to see if they could lift the gravestone..."
The Queen was very patient.
"The moment the gravestone was lifted, the Queen finally snapped, and after that, she beat everyone half to death, starting with the one who lifted it..."
Since then, every time the blue-painted ones came, she apparently went wild. The fact that she didn't kill anyone is probably her kindness. While the blue-painted ones were gone, the local people apparently cleaned up. After that, people came from the continent and built Northern Gram, but the local farmers are the same, so it was successfully handed down and she was enshrined. Now, a small temple is apparently built there, properly maintained by priests.
Maybe the one who lifted the gravestone is someone I know. When I actually go, I'll take them along and make them apologize properly.
"I want Jeanne to go to Northern Gram after doing the Mountain investigation twice."
"The Headmistress said I should go with Harrison-san or Harris-sama."
"It won't be for your benefit if hero-class people go. You'll go with Harris. We'll go too, but just as spectators."
"Mary and I are going too."
"Against a ghost?"
Setting aside Mary, who is one of those who created the opportunity, Beatrix is a surprise. Attribute magic doesn't work on ghosts and the like. The Headmistress said something like that too.
"Beatrix and Mary will be moving around the Royal Palace for trade relations, so they won't go to the canyon."
Ah, yes, yes, I see.
"Instead, let's take Bonnie."
"Bonnie?"
"It seems getting to the destination is quite difficult, so a scout is necessary."
"Um, isn't it a training ground for priests?"
"It is, but there are two routes, front and back, and we'll go through the back."
"Is it incognito?"
"It's official, but we'll go with the makeup of the northern people from the Finis side."
Uh, won't the opponent go into evil spirit mode? Isn't that quite dangerous...
"Harrison says she won't take your life. And he said it might be difficult for your rank to increase unless you challenge her from the front. Since you're going, aim for the high rank. Subdue the opponent when she's serious."
"Um, no priest has been able to defeat her, right? In that case, whether the rank goes up or not..."
"She was defeated once in the past. By a priest from Finis. He challenged her at the ultra-high rank and won brilliantly, then defeated the Demon Lord and became a hero."
"The levels are too different!"
According to legend, there should have been only one hero from Finis. They were the legendary heroes who rushed in as the main favorites and broke through on the first try, and the colors and patterns of the plaid popular in Finis are derived from those heroes. They're people of legend, not record.
"What are you saying? The hero of the past challenged her all alone. Jeanne, you have Will, Bonnie, and companions who use silver weapons, plus Harris who can use high-level holy magic. You have three companions, don't you?"
"Um, what about Wilson-san..."
"Ghosts and Revenants who lose to an evil spirit will be absorbed, so Wilson cannot participate. Fiona is also out. Against an evil spirit, the power to fight a war of attrition is more necessary than anything. Please do your best as young people."
Endurance is the biggest challenge, though.
I was told that since it's training, I shouldn't even call the spirits until the battle is over. Harris-sama should have experience in exorcising evil spirits, so I'll have him do his best.
"Mary and I both said we'd participate, too. But we were told that attribute mages would only be a hindrance."
Beatrix was glancing at Eleanor-sama.
"The opponent is too powerful. If you're not careful, you'll be possessed. Especially Mary's priestess blood will be targeted. If that happens, it'll be infighting, so mages can't even cheer from a distance unless they're ultra-high rank."
That's not good. It would be terrible if two high-level mages turned into enemies. We wouldn't be able to attack them.
"Harris is there, so it should be fine. Beatrix, make sure you can create the magic circle for the mold-preventing water by the time we go."
Even though it was during the war, she gained practical experience. Beatrix got a recommendation from Harrison-san and I got one from the Headmistress, so we can officially use magic circles to sell it. As long as we have the magic circle, we can make it, but anyone would be anxious making it for the first time, so we should just install the product somewhere and have them copy it. We weren't expecting much in sales anyway.
Somehow, she's looking at Eleanor-sama, but she's being ignored.
"Anyway, once Jeanne goes, it'll end in a banquet, so we can all barge in then, right?"
"Wasn't it the banquet that made the opponent angry?"
"It's fine as long as we don't commit any indiscretions. If things go well, let's have the Finis royalty apologize."
As expected. She intends to make not just the ghost, but the royalty apologize.
"That sounds good. But we can't afford to mess up. If we fail, the Church of Northern Gram might be furious. Please make sure to succeed."
"Then why don't we go from the front?"
"No. The opponent won't get serious unless we go from the back."
This is getting tedious...
Wait? Hold on a second.
"Um, by any chance, are you planning to go to Northern Gram without telling them?"
She's looking away!
"Just kidding. If we were to trespass without permission, it would not only be a diplomatic issue, but the Northern Gram royalty might complain to the Church and we could be branded as apostates, so we've properly communicated with them."
That's good.
"But you must not destroy the opponent's spirit. You must absolutely win, but no purification or ascension types."
"Eh?"
"Can we even win like that?"
"Henry and I can't do anything. Please do your best."
Ghosts disappear... With [Holy], which I don't know if it'll hit, and silver weapons, it really will be a war of attrition... If we're possessed, it's over. How are we supposed to defeat something like that?