07-11 Side Story 6: The Melancholy of King Egelia
The king of Egelia Kingdom, Harold Ruan Autocracy=Egelia was melancholic.
The Minister of Financial Affairs, Baloroot, asked while casting his tired eyes on some documents he had in his hands.
Finally the settlement of affairs after the incident of the golem party from some days ago was over.
And on top of that,
“Your Highness, good morning.”
The business with the third prince Ernest. Today too he was accompanied by his favorite maid golem, Lotte.
The third prince of Egelia Kingdom, Ernest, was not the child of King Egelia’s princess consort, but one born of a mistress. Therefore his right of succession to the throne was after the uncle who was the King’s younger brother.
However, the prince in question absolutely did not care about it, and grew up wild and uncontrolled. As a father, seeing that was sweet, but as a king that was honestly speaking a headache.
“Mmh, morning. Ernest, do you have any plans for today?”
“Is that so, keep it up.”
The busy king exchanged few short words with his beloved son, and then went back to his official duties.
The king once again remembered the cause of his headache.
It was the most important necessity that the people who took care of the members of royal family could be trusted. People like that were few, so the other princes, the king, and the queen took precedence.
As a consequence, Prince Ernest turned out to be fond of golems.
The first prince was too soft-hearted and couldn’t be depended on, the second prince was quick to fight, and not suitable for politics. His younger brother would make for a decent king, he thought, but as a parent the current king wanted to have one of his own children who shared his blood to inherit the throne, that was simply human nature.
Currently, because of his lineage and age he could only be bestowed the right of succession, not chosen as the crown prince. When Prince Ernest turned 15, the King was planning to ascertain the talents of all of his children and then name the crown prince.
A king’s foremost responsibility was the preservation of the family line. The thing most to be avoided was internal squabbles over succession. Although Prince Ernest was of the king’s own seed, right now he was worried about the prince’s future.
As the prince was 13 years old, there was no end to guessing how serious he was, but the King had heard Prince Ernest had suddenly proposed to the girl called Beana.
King Egelia who had thought it through that far shook his head and returned his focus back to the official documents in front of him.
“Ahh, I’m tired.”
After his private tutor’s lessons Prince Ernest was relaxing and drinking the Teee Lotte had brewed for him.
“That’s right. Please study diligently.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“What? You can’t?”
The breath of Minister of Magic Kelhidore was taken away after he heard the report of his subordinates.
“Even though the golems in question are right in front of you?”
The golem horses Jin had built and left behind. Their size and shape were exactly that of normal horses. That much was just moderately good. The number one wonder was their movements.
Incidentally, the [Transfer Info] magic that Jin used often was rather popular before the Great Magic War. Using it the information of the movements could be extracted from real horses, but that magic had been long since lost.
“Hmm, I guess we can’t make anything more than a lookalike.”
For the next few days, not only King Egelia but the Minister of Magic Kelhidore too continued being greatly perplexed.
“Which reminds me, wasn’t there a Royal Secret Maid who followed Jin?”
“Yes, you mean Laila Soluz?”
“Yes. Both of the sisters have a great deal of latent Magic Energy. The little sister doesn’t seem to have manifested it yet though.”
“Oh, that’s not what I mean. Would it be possible to have her follow Ernest?”
“Mh-hm, mh-hm, in that case there shouldn’t be any problems. Alright, at once have that, Laila Soluz did you say, appointed as Ernest’s maid. But have her look like a guard to the outside.”
As he turned 13 his guards were added to. With that as the official cause, Laila was decided to become Prince Ernest’s maid.
“Did you hear, Laila! Congratulatios!”
Even her fellow Royal Secret Maids were congratulating her.
Said the Royal Secret Maid who followed Beana, Lisa.
Laila herself was anxious rather than delighted, and bewilderment took precedence over joy.
“It’ll be fine. I’ve heard that the Prince is kind, and in addition, doesn’t this seem like a direct order from the King?”
“Eeehhh…From the King, why me?”
“Eeeeehhhh…”
She knocked, and entered the room. There was Lotte waiting upon Prince Ernest..
“Yo, Laila. It’s been a while. Your complexion doesn’t look so good, are you okay?”
“Y-your Highness, how come you happen to remember lowly me?”
But the Prince didn’t show to mind it in the slightest and,
He said, and Laila finally remembered that someone in her status shouldn’t go without greeting him and,
Laila frantically spoke out, but maybe because she wasn’t used to talking like this, at the very end she bit her tongue.
Looking at her, Prince Ernest laughed merrily.
“Y-yees!”
“Oww…”
“La-laila, are you okay? That was a somewhat terrific sound.”
Laila’s life in her new workplace was just beginning.
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