The capital of the kingdom of Jirgs, Marado.
This city, with close to two hundred thousand residents, is known to not only the surrounding countries, but also through the whole continent. It is big city full of lively people crowding it.
However, the usual liveliness has, as expected, a shadow cast over them for some time now.
“That really did influence them, my impression of him was that he was just some old ordinary man, if he didn’t wear a crown on his head.”
The one, who was looking at the street from a window, was the complaining Seran.
Ten days have passed since the award ceremony, in other words, since King Remnas passed away. Kail and his party were staying at a famous inn within Marado.
Two days after the king died, a great state funeral was held, and the whole capital was mourning.
People didn’t believe in him, like the Holy King of the Holy Country of Shura, neither did he have the charisma of the emperor of the Gargan Empire, however, it seems that King Remnas, who was called mediocre, was still adored by his citizens.
Even the theaters, which were focused on plays where people were usually showing off, was different today, there were only bards singing songs painfully about the dead king.
“Because he was a king who didn’t make any big blunders… for the citizens that was enough.”
The one who answered, was Kail, who was looking at a brochure while laying on his bed.
From Kail’s perspective that was more than enough for a king like that, he smiled wryly inside.
Because of the king’s sudden death, great confusion was caused to the kingdom of Jirgs.
Then again, because it was so sudden after the previous incident of the magic beast attack on princess Mirena and prince Kalnas, there were various rumors that it was a conspiracy, planned by the ones who oppose royalty, and it began to flow in a weird direction, when they started saying things like that the Demon race was pulling all the strings.
But it never escalated beyond being just rumors, but the silence was only for now, for Marado, the Kingdom of Jirgs itself was turning towards a time of strain.
“However, it’s that… I hate to say it this way, but he could’ve thought a little bit about our situation. Of all the things, he just had to go and die the night after our award ceremony, because of that, our shadow became thin.”
Seran said complainingly.
Kail and his party saved the princess’s life and as a reward for that achievement, they received a medal of honor.
Normally the citizens would love such a topic and it would’ve became a hot topic among them, but now, in front of the king’s death, the topic immediately died down.
Kail’s objective is to become a hero, so Seran began to lament on how this was bad luck, just when he just started to raise his popularity.
“……. Think about it this way, if he died before our award ceremony, it would probably get postponed, it may have even gotten cancelled. He waited, if you think about it like that, we should be grateful.”
Kail said, while not embarrassing himself.
“Oh, I see, if you say it like that it really is so.”
“And it will still be properly recorded, after a while, let’s just hire a minstrel.”
A minstrel goes around, telling his own stories or singing his own songs, but if you hire a minstrel, he will compose a song on command and spread it around.
It was just straight up advertisement, but it wasn’t all that rare, since they would spread songs about a certain noble’s gladiator, or the story about some adventurer’s successful adventure.
Of course, it gets dramatized a lot in order to attract public.
“I see…… Then why don’t we just go all out by hiring a troupe, and have them perform a flashy show?”
Seran said it as a joke, but Kail began to think with a serious expression, while picking up a brochure.
“That is also possible……. be that as it may, we still lack episodes. I can just think of it as something for in the future.”
“You’re really thinking about a lot of things…….. Ah, give me the cool looking role.”
“Let’s consider it positively.”
No matter how you think about it, you’re just a comedy act, is what I couldn’t say straight to his face.
“And, what are we going to do from now on?”
“That’s right, I’m thinking it’s best if we leave the Jirgs country.”
“Hmm, then to which country are we going to go to?”
“……… That’s the problem.”
Kail glances at the closed book, and sighs.
Inside of that book is written what will happen in the future.
That means that it had already been decided to which country they would travel to from the Jirgs kingdom.
The ‘great advance’ of the demon race, which will cause the human race to be driven to the brink of destruction, is going to happen in about three years from now.
Kail’s objective is to counter the ‘Great Advance’ by assembling those with great influence and strength, thus creating a powerful force in order to stop it.
It can be said that they already have a foothold in Jirgs, he had made connections with this country’s core, so it’s alright for now.
It is also possible to just stay in Jirgs and continue to gain further achievements here, but that would mean that he could become only Jirgs hero, so he had to go to a different place.
But the problem was the destination.
Having memories from the future, Kail knows to a certain extent what will happen in the future, but there’s no way that an event as useful as princess Mirena’s would happen.
If possible, he wants to create a connection with people who have authority or influence, but for Kail and his party, there are no events like that, which would help them gain fame for a while.
Since there isn’t another choice, we’ll just have to go to a big country and eliminate some bandits or magic beasts, when he was thinking something like that, a cheerful voice accompanied the opening door.
“I’m back~.”
Liza, Urza and Sildonia, who went shopping, came back.
“Welcome back, how was the situation outside?”
“Yeah, as expected, they are really down…… the state funeral just happened, so things are beginning to get lively again, is kind of how it is I guess?”
Lize, who was ordening the groceries, answered like that.
Homemade preserved food is tastier than bought preserved food, is what seems to be the case.
“There aren’t many stalls, so it is boring. If only there were some more different kinds we could’ve gotten.”
Boiled potatoes and skewered meat and a bite sized bread, Sildonia said, while holding many items from all kinds of stalls.
“You really eat a lot like always.”
“It’s because myself hasn’t eaten in a thousand years, no matter how much Myself eats, it still wouldn’t be enough.”
She, who is a magic being, would be able to continue without eating anything for another one or two thousand years, but Kail didn’t dare to retort on that point.
“Also, there was a message from the front, the preparations will be finished by tomorrow, and it seems to be possible to stock up.”
Urza reported.
It doesn’t seem like she had bought anything special.
Since staying in Marado on the tenth, they had already bought everything they needed to buy, it can be said that they were lucky to have an acquaintance.
“I see, they were faster than I thought…. guess we’ll move out after receiving it.”
The reason why Kail and the others had stayed at Marado for so long, was mainly because they needed to get their equipment repaired, and Seran’s wounds needed to be healed, furthermore, Kail’s dragon leather armor is special, so it took even more time because of that.
They also had to replenish consumables such as magic stones and magic potions, especially since Kail and his party used the highest grade only, their stay in Marado ended up taking some time.
Of course, Kail wasn’t just playing around in that time, he was training in the sword and magic, or gathering information about other countries with woman.
It was pretty convenient that Marado was such a big city, since that made it easier to collect information.
“It’s alright that we’re going to move out, but where do you intend to go?”
“I still haven’t decided, I would’ve liked if there was an event somewhere…….”
When he was about to ask Urza, who was used to travelling, the door was knocked upon, and opened without waiting for an answer.
“I’m coming in.”
The one who came in together with that answer, was a woman donning a silver white plate armor that had a dragon’s crest on it, which meant that she was an Imperial knight. it was princess Mirena’s close aid, and the leader of the second Imperial platoon of the Imperial knights, Kiruren.
“It seems like everyone is gathered, how convenient. Mirena-sama wants to see all of you, so please accompany me to the palace.
With a detached feeling Kiruren had started talking to Kail and his party.
“Eh? Well that is…… are you not busy at the moment?”
Kail was the one who didn’t really want to go along.
Kail and the others didn’t want to meet with the princess because of emotional reasons, of course, there is no way they can talk about that with anyone.
Certainly, it is as you say, but as informal as this may sound, I would like it if you thought of this as an Imperial decree. Furthermore, I find that you should think that you’re being highly evaluated, because I’m the one who was sent over to greet you all.”
Polite, but it was said in a way that wouldn’t allow refusal.
I said that it was convenient, because she probably had someone watching us- she exactly when we were all together.
“Ehm, just what kind of thing may it be? We were all thinking of leaving Marado tomorrow.
“I have not heard what kind of thing it may be. It won’t that that long….. is what I think, probably. I have a carriage waiting at the front, so after the preparations are done, please head towards the palace.
With a force that didn’t even let them say anything in return, Kail, who thought that it would’ve been good if they had left a day earlier, agreed while thinking that.
The current citizens from Jirgs were in a steep mood, because of the sudden death of their king, but they were also expectant of the upcoming of their new ruler.
The next queen would be the one called ‘the treasure of Jirgs’, hence Princess Mirena had obtained overwhelming support of the citizens.
Just, it seems that princess Mirena stayed a princess with political affairs as the reason, there are rumors that the next ruler would become a queen soon.
Because of that, the throne became vacant for now.
In a country with a monarchy, it would be a problem if the throne became vacant for too long, but because they know who the next queen is, and that she will take the position as queen soon, there wasn’t big confusion.
Princess Mirena would probably want a better prepared coronation than a sudden one like this.
That Princess Mirena, had called Kail and the others over.
After arriving at the palace they separated from Kiruren, and arrived at the royal drawing room in the area where the royal family lives.
Kail and his party, who looked like normal citizens, now received hospitality at the level where it can be called rude.
However, even after waiting for a while, they still didn’t see a sign of princess Mirena. The chamberlain, who was in charge of receiving guests, kept repeating sorrily ‘please wait just a little longer’.
A little while after that, princess Mirena had finally appeared, with Kiruren at her side.
“Everyone, I deeply apologize for letting you wait, even after I was the one who called you all over.”
The upcoming queen said that, while lowering her head.
It had already been the tenth time that Kail and the others had met princess Mirena, but her beauty has never changed.
The light that attracts others, she was a female who had been born with something that was very important for a ruler.
But Kail thought that only a cloud hiding that light could be seen.
“Mirena-sama, please do not lower your head to people such as ourselves.”
Kail said, lowering his head, while looking like he was panicking.
— while trying not to make eye contact.
“No, I think of all of you as good friends, so think of it as an apology for making such good friends wait…… if possible, I would’ve liked to take our time talking with each other, I apologize, but I will immediately tell you why I have called you over.”
Mirena gestured for Kail and the others to seat themselves, it seemed like she really didn’t call them over for something simple.
」
“I will tell this up front, but this is a request for you all, which can be seen as a mission. Please decide after listening to everything, it will be alright even if you were to refuse afterwards, so do not worry.”
“Yes……. I understand.”
No, but it’ll be hard to refuse after hearing it, Kail thought about the words he didn’t voice.
“…… This is something concerning my marriage.”
That is how princess Mirena began to tell her story.