250 - Capital Martial Arts Tournament 2
"Thank you for the invitation, Ethelbert-shama."
"No need for stiff greetings. Take off your shoes and come here. Once you know the ease of taking off your shoes, sitting in a chair all day with a composed face becomes quite tiresome."
"Yesh."
Taking him up on his words, I took off my shoes and stepped up into the tatami-laid zashiki. Yes, zashiki. From the Royal Peerage seats, it had only looked like a spectator box surrounded by misu blinds, but once I entered, Ethelbert's seat turned out to be a room arranged like a tea room. Inside, Ethelbert sat on a cool rattan-woven seated chair. It seemed he wasn't sitting seiza today.
Thanks to the misu blinds, the ventilation was good, and the sun protection had been more carefully arranged, perhaps out of concern for Ethelbert's aged body. In this room, even in my black formal wear, I could spend the time comfortably.
"Ethelbert-shama's seat is hard to see from the outside. It's lovely, deshu ne."
"A retired king has nothing to gain by standing out."
Ethelbert said that while he did come to watch the martial arts tournament considering the security concerns, he normally tried not to be too conspicuous. It had been less than ten years since he abdicated to Christoph, so having the former king wandering around the royal castle wasn't considered a good thing.
...Well, I suppose you can't rely on someone who's retired forever, right?
Apparently he normally stayed in his territory of Gumons, only coming to the royal castle for rites or when Christoph consulted him about something. Still, considering how I'd run into him unexpectedly in Lagarette and Grenore, I had to wonder if I could really believe that. And it was obvious that the reason he was currently staying in the capital was because of me.
"What about that tatami I gave you before? Are you enjoying it?"
"I have it laid out in my room, and I stretch my legs out on it sometimes. But it seems the people of Napaji aren't accustomed to tatami, so Hermine-sensei scolds me, saying it's bad manners..."
It was only a tiny two-tatami mat, but I'd created a no-shoes zone in my room. At first Hermine had looked at it with a curious expression, but then she got angry at me for taking off my shoes and sitting on the tatami. What kind of lady takes off her shoes, she said. I explained that this was what tatami was for, and when I mentioned that slippers were used at Ethelbert's detached palace, we settled on preparing slippers. But honestly, I wanted to step onto the tatami barefoot. Through slippers, it was still a little unsatisfying.
While drinking the barley tea Kyuubee had prepared, I talked about what had happened since arriving in the capital. As we did so, it seemed the preparations for the matches outside were complete. Christoph and Timon, the Commander of the Silver-White Knights, raised their voices across the arena, and after a large metallic sound like a gong rang out, a great roar went up from the spectator seats.
"As I thought, I can't see well with this distance, deshu ne."
A little ill-mannered though it was, I went up to the railing meant to prevent falls and looked down at the competition grounds. The seat was at a high position so the view was good, but the distance was too great and people looked like stick figures. It was supposed to be a premium seat, but it wasn't very exciting.
...Though thanks to that, I wasn't so scared today, so I felt like I could watch the matches.
The Silver-White Knights were said to be the elite of the elite, so their numbers weren't that large. As a result, their tournament format seemed different from Grenore's. In Grenore, Leonardo as Commander only had matches at the beginning and end, but the Silver-White Knights, regardless of rank, all fought under the same conditions and the same number of times. So the possibility that the lowest-ranked knight from yesterday could become the Knight Commander from the next day was higher than in Grenore.
"These are what they call far-seeing glasses from Napaji. Things far away appear... as clearly as if they were right in front of you. They're mysterious glasses."
"Napaji has all sorts of things, deshu ne..."
The far-seeing glasses that the dramatic Kyuubee pulled from his breast pocket were closer in shape to opera glasses than a telescope. They seemed to be foldable and could be stored compactly, with two viewing holes and a handle.
...Should I be surprised that telescopes exist, or that they can fold up small?
Still, since they traded with countries across the sea, telescopes might have existed from the beginning. If not, they could have been knowledge brought by reincarnators without anyone noticing. Making things smaller than necessary was a phenomenon seen all over the world in my previous life too. Being foldable wasn't that surprising either.
...Huh?
I gratefully borrowed the far-seeing glasses from Kyuubee and looked at the center of the arena. Both Silver-White Knights who came out from the entrance gate wore helmets so I couldn't see their faces, but I immediately recognized the one with a short cape as Leonardo.
...Why can I tell it's Leonyaldo-san? Before, I couldn't tell when they were wearing helmets.
I'd seen the martial arts tournament held in Grenore twice, but I'd never been able to distinguish which knight was who when they wore helmets. It was only natural that I didn't know the faces and names of the Silver-White Knights, but among the Black Knights there were several whose faces and names I knew. Even so, I hadn't been able to identify individuals before, but today I could.
...Ah, I get it. It's Leonyaldo-san's posture.
I couldn't see his face, but I could tell it was Leonardo by his stance and the way he drew his sword. I found it strange myself, but I didn't think for a moment it was someone else.
"Grandfather!"
"Hyaa!?"
Suddenly a child's high-pitched voice and the sound of a door bursting open rang out, and I startled, my shoulders shaking. I turned around to see what was happening, and a black-haired boy of about six years old was staring at me with wide eyes.
...Um, who is he? He called Ethelbert-shama 'Grandfather', so is he Alfred-sama's younger brother?
As I was inferring who the boy was from the information I'd picked up, the boy seemed to recover from his surprise faster than me. Still small, but with a gentlemanly look on his face, he offered a bow to a lady.
"I'm sorry for startling you."
"No, it is I who should be... polite, deshu..."
The boy apologized fluently with polite language, and I was the one at a loss. The boy had the air of a child from a good family, smiling gently, and his conduct as a gentleman was perfect so far. As for me, caught off guard, my speech as a lady was vague, and I'd taken off my shoes and was in full relaxation mode. I was clearly the older one, but in terms of behavior, I was more childish than the boy.
...Hermine-sensei! I now understand painfully what you meant when you taught me that a lady must never let her guard down, at any time, in any situation!!
Whether he knew of the storm of regret raging in my heart or not, Ethelbert beckoned the boy over and introduced him to me.
"This child is Selum. For now, he's the youngest child of my son Christoph."
...Why are you telling me the nickname!? If I hadn't known, I might have carelessly believed it and called him by his nickname!
Ethelbert had introduced him as 'Selum', but I knew better since Hermine had taught me the family tree around the current king beforehand. The boy's name was not 'Selum', but correctly 'Anselm the Fourth Prince'. He was the only male child among the five children born to Joslynne.
"'For now'?"
There were already fifteen children including princes and princesses. Would they still increase? I'd heard there was a queen who gave birth to more than ten children, but in my sense of things, one to three children was a normal household. For three wives to have given birth to fifteen children meant, even dividing by three, each had five. I thought that was already too many, but did they plan to increase further?
"There was a princess who enraged my son not long ago. I reckon that will increase the count by another three."
"Three, deshuka?"
I could tell that the princess who angered Christoph was the Eighth Princess, but I couldn't understand how that would result in three more children. Children were blessings. Even if they increased, nobody could know whether it'd be one or two.
"My son took multiple wives on the condition that he treat all of them equally. Therefore, if one of the wives conceives a child, the other two also conceive."
"That's... how should I put it, amazing, deshu ne."
I couldn't find the words to comment and hedged. I didn't know where to start with my surprise. Whether it was Christoph still being active despite having grandchildren, or the age of Joslynne who was clearly getting older, or the fact that after fifteen children they still intended to have more. There were too many things to call out.
"...That's why you, young lady, should ignore my son's words and go ahead and have as many children as you like."
"Eh?"
I thought about why we'd suddenly come to talk about my having children, and then I realized. This wasn't about me having children specifically. It was about my personal future. Alfred had told me that if possible, he didn't want me to have children.
"As the kingdom, I truly wish for you to keep reading Japanese for a long time. But children are a nation's treasure. They are also life's joy and suffering."
If you find someone you want to marry, if you want to bear that man's child, then go and marry without being loyal to the kingdom. Have as many children as you like, Ethelbert said. He was glad that I was using Japanese for the people, but I was also one of the people. He would not approve of crushing one person's individual happiness, he said.
Between serious conversations and playing Reversi with Anselm, the martial arts tournament ended. This year, because of the distance, I was able to watch all of Leonardo's matches, and amazingly, Leonardo won every single one. Even against Timon, who served as Knight Commander.
"...I heard there was someone stronger than Leonyaldo Big Brother in the capital."
"How many years ago is that story? The Silver-White Knights may be the elite of the elite, but the Black Knights are always on the front lines. There's no way that Leonardo, who gets more training on the front lines, would stay the same as he was back then."
When he told me that there were apparently several matches this year that Leonardo couldn't afford to lose, I understood what had spurred him on. It was probably the bug repellent I'd asked for and my promise to kiss his cheek as a celebration if he defeated all the suitors.
...Leonyaldo-san, with his siscon power, accidentally became the kingdom's strongest knight.
This really meant I couldn't marry anyone other than Leonardo. I thought so, but well, that was fine, and after the tournament ended, I kissed the cheek of Leonardo, who had come to pick me up, as promised.
[Author's Note]
Regarding having or not having children, the king actually has no right to say anything. Because he himself has so many children.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date. I may not be able to update tomorrow. My Windows 7 HDD is full, it's warning me in red, so I plan to look up solutions and get stressed out (unpleasant plans).
Found and fixed typos and errors.