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Prologue: The Journey of the Prince and Princess

The Carpa Kingdom was a large country reigning supreme over the western part of the South Continent, also known as the Landlion Continent.

Of course that was nothing but a rough partition and the western part had plenty of land routes as well. Likewise, the eastern part transported goods by sea, namely across rivers, too.

Amongst the various countries on the southern continent, the Carpa Kingdom enjoyed a good reputation for their well-maintained routes in its eastern region. And an impressive convey with a large dragon carriage, drawn by eight dragons, at its centre, was slowly proceeding on such a route.

The two young royalties from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell, Prince Francesco and Princess Bona, were guarded by three hundred soldiers from the royal army of the Twin Kingdom. Right now they were temporarily resting on the grassland beside the road.

Although it was a bit of a detour, they had to move from watering place to watering place. Otherwise they wouldn’t have enough drinking water for the travellers and dragons. For that reason, roads remote from villages were deliberately zigzagged, so that they were bordering upon water sources on the way.

In the meantime, the knights were standing sentinel over their surroundings. The river could house the freshwater Water Dragons, crocodiles or carnivorous fishes. And just as likely was it that wild carnivorous dragons hunted in this area.

It was a relaxed atmosphere, albeit with a reasonable caution.

“Fuh… Good job, everyone. Oh man, my shoulders are so stiff.”

“Please forgive the inconveniences, Prince Francesco. We will pause here for a moment to let the dragons drink, so please unwind yourself outside in the meantime.”

The young man with blonde hair, green eyes and oldest son of the crown prince of the Sharrow Family, Francesco, replied with a refreshing smile to the middle aged knight that acted as the commander of the guards.

His handsome, slender face always showed an amiable smile, so he appeared younger that he actually was.

Under to protection of numerous knights, Prince Francesco casually walked around with an extremely laid-back expression and eased his body that had become all stiff from the long ride in the carriage.

Suddenly the voice of a woman came from behind the prince.

“Hey, Bona. I see you left the carriage, too. Good call. The western area of the continent is so much hotter, and accordingly sultrier, than the central area, but near the water it’s definitely refreshing. Here, feel the nice breeze.”

The young woman, nodding a bit surprised in response to Prince Francesco’s words, was Princess Bona.

Nevertheless it would stretch a point to group Prince Francesco, a legitimate grandson of the current king, and Princess Bona, a lower rank noblewoman that was only put into the royal family because she atavistically awakened to the ‘Bestowal Magic’, together as the same “royalty”.

Their difference in authority was represented in all kind of things. For example, the dragon carriage of Prince Francesco was large and drawn by eight dragons, whereas the dragon carriage of Priness Bona was one size smaller and drawn by six dragons.

Therefore it was none other than her role to point out “that” right now.

Her question implied a meaning obvious to any hearer, but Prince Francesco didn’t seem to notice it at all and answered cheerfully.

The prince declared it so proudly that you practically could hear the nuance: “Quite considerate of me, isn’t it? Go on and praise me.”

Princess Bona cleared her throat determined with an affected cough and then

she stated the fact as straightforward as possible.

The surprised Prince Francesco looked at his own feet and saw exactly what Princess Bona had pointed out: He was wearing different socks on each foot, a red sock on the right and a blue sock on the left.

The prince thanked the young princess with a smile for pointing out his mistake.

While replying like that, Princess Bona internally heaved a sigh of relief.

Some people would feel offended and perceive it as “compromising” when you gave them a correct advise for their own sake. Fortunately for everyone involved, Prince Francesco was not that narrow-minded. However, there was a different problematic issue with the prince.

(The problem is… he somewhat lacks the “brains to understand” my words.)

She remembered the words that Prince Francesco’s father, the crown prince, and his grandfather, the current king, entrusted her with at the royal palace.

Their journey was an official visit abroad, the first one for the Sharrow Family after a couple of dozen decades. Moreover, their destination was the Carpa Kingdom, the leader in the west with whom the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell wanted to avoid a direct confrontation.

(His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince are both sagacious personalities. There has to be some kind of reason for sending Prince Francesco…)

If she had known beforehand that it would turn out like that, she would have never competed for this delegation…

As she never lied to herself, she came to such a conclusion.

The three embedded diamonds were perfectly uniform in size and shape, and the fine and precise lines engraved in the socket were simply captivating.

By nature, those of the Sharrow Family, who were on the low-end in the line of succession, often tried their hand at creating jewellery or armaments in order to stand on one’s own feet as a maker of magic tools. And Princess Bona was no exception. She was already recognized as a full-fledged jeweller at her young age.

She had announced her intention to be part of this delegation with that kind of ambition, which was a bit too endearing to be an ulterior motive.

“Prince, there is no need to change both socks. Just switch one of either socks and you will have matching colours on both feet.”

“…You honour me.”
The young princess fought the dull pain in her head while she already started to regret her own decision.

A few days later.

Aura was looking through various documents in her office in the royal palace when a message from the fortress on the eastern border reached her per small flying dragon just as the sun had started to set.
“…I see. They have finally arrived.”

‘Delegation from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell arrived at the eastern border station. The emissaries are Prince Francesco and Princess Bona.
Scheduled to proceed after a few days of rest at the fortress. One thousand knights from the fortress will accompany them as an escort.’

Once she had read the written message briefly, she heaved a sigh.

Even so, she couldn’t just leave it at a sigh as a ruler of a country.

Sitting on her chair and keeping her gaze on the documents on her desk, Aura called out to her secretary, who stood at an angle behind her.

The middle-aged man with the slender face, Secretary Fabio, replied with a flat tone as always.

Aura, raising an eyebrow, turned only her head backwards, whereupon her secretary responded indifferently.

“Hmm…”

“What about their arms? As knights from the Twin Kingdom and moreover, under the direct control of the Sharrow Royal Family, it is more than likely than everyone is equipped with ‘magic tools’ fit for action.”

“I will appoint ‘extraterritorial rights’ to the three buildings given to the delegation and permit all armaments there. And they may only leave with protective magic tools after ascertaining their abilities and getting our permission.”

“Does that mean that average armaments, namely non magic tools, will be allowed in the royal palace without limitations?”

“I can already see our nobles protesting, though.”

Answering him, Aura once again heaved a deep sigh.

In the near future, Zenjirou wanted to go to the royal palace of the Twin Kingdom after learning how to use “Teleport”. If they forcefully disarmed the guards of Prince Francesco and Princess Bona now, the odds were that they would demand the same of Zenjirou’s guards when he went over there.

“Mh…”

“In that case, how about we charge them a fee for every weapon or magic item they bring in? If the matter can be solved with money, I am sure they will not refuse either.”

But the Queen knitted her brows deeper upon his proposal and shook her head,

“Then how about having them arrange some kind of ‘magic tool’ instead? That is a compensation only the royalty of the Twin Kingdom can pay, so it will hardly become an exploitable ‘precedent’.”

“I am sure you know this already, but the resulting aftermath of a Space-Time magic tool is just as tremendous as its benefit.”

“‘Teleport’ is out of the question, but even for other Space-Time magic it would be safer to make them into ‘disposable’ magic tools, if anything…”

“Well, in any case, working out the fine details will have to wait until they arrive here. Enough about quarters and armaments for now. You have enough personnel, I take it?”

“Yes. Per your instructions, we have enlisted especially the young waiting maids from lower noble or wealthy common families, who have adequate looks and skills so as not to embarrass us in front of the foreign royalty.”

The attendants provided by the Carpa Kingdom were just temporary staff. Now, if they were way older or of higher status than the waiting maids from the Twin Kingdom, it would complicate the command structure.

“Rest assured. The royal palace has a certain surplus of staff to begin with and we can always ‘temporarily reinstate’ some retired maids if necessary.”

After hearing his full explanation, Aura nodded briefly.

As the Queen was pleased by his answer, the secretary now asked her a question himself.

Right now, Zenjirou was still learning etiquette in the inner palace.

Aura felt a sting of guilt in her chest when she thought about how she had to throw her husband onto the stage with superficial knowledge, and responded with an odd flat tone.

As expected, the middle-aged secretary twisted the mouth a bit when he heard the vague answer from Aura.

“…Leave it be, Fabio.”

The Sharrow Royal Family had broken a decades-long taciturnity and was visiting a foreign country.

Moreover, the visiting royalty were a prince obviously fraught with problems, since he still hadn’t a claim on the throne after more than twenty years even though he was the legitimate grandson of the current king with a perfect lineage, and a young princess at just the right age for marriage.

 


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