Here’s the chapter. Enjoy~
ED: LonelyMatter
Chapter 68 – Royal Capital Group and Investigation Results
By the time Ain and Chris made their way to the Monster Arena, the royal train had finally returned to the royal capital. By the way, it was publicly announced that the purpose of the royal train this time was to allow Katima to visit the Magic City of Ist.
“Let’s go!”
Varra and Mei were assigned a room next to Katima. Most of the time, except when they slept, they gathered in the large living room between the rooms, which was far more luxurious and well-equipped than the inn in Ist, where they had stayed until the night before. The royal train with all these facilities was even more amazing to Varra.
“Ka-Katima-sama? Have we arrived in the royal capital?”
“Yes-nya. It’s a long journey-nya. Huh? By the way, leaving Ist is…”
“Y-yes! Actually, it was the first time that we’ve left the slums, let alone Ist… and even going to the inn was a series of surprises.”
Dill, who was standing nearby, had an indescribable look on his face as he looked at Katima, who was laughing all the time. Katima’s demeanor did not change even as she interacted with Varra and Mei.
“Hey, hey, Katima-san! Is the royal capital big? What kind of place is it?”
“It was a hundred times bigger than the inn we were in yesterday-nya. Look, look, Mei, have you prepared for our departure-nya?”
“I’m fine! I don’t have any luggage! I’m empty-handed!”
“That’s for sure-nya!”
Katima and Mei laughed together in the car.
Perhaps Katima and Mei were kindred spirits, for they often laughed together during the trip. From Dill’s perspective, it was refreshing to see Katima taking care of such a young child.
“I used to take care of Olivia like that, too. So don’t make such a funny face-nya!”
“P-pardon me!”
Katima, who has good intuition, could see what Dill was thinking. The fact that she could easily see through him made him feel embarrassed.
“Good grief… Well, it’s okay-nya. Are you done getting ready, Dill?”
“Of course, I’m done. As soon as Katima-sama says so, I will be ready to depart.”
“Umu, umu. That’s fine-nya! Then let’s go-nya!”
“Yes!”
“Y-yes!”
Mei’s loud answer was followed by her sister Varra. After that, they left the train, went to the carriage stand, and continued to the castle. In contrast to Mei’s joyful attitude, Varra was nervous and uncomfortable.
＊＊＊
“It’s so big, Onee-chan!”
“I don’t know what’s going on anymore…”
“Fufufu~”
Mei enjoyed the view from the window. Next to her, Varra started to lose her understanding of the situation. In front of them, Katima was humming, and Dill was sitting silently.
Mei enjoyed the sight of the slowly approaching castle of Ishtalika… the White King. Was it really such a large building? It was simply amazing and even gave her the feeling of having traveled to another world.
Varra, who was standing next to Mei, was nudged by Mei to take a look at the scene, but she was not as enthusiastic as Mei. She was not sure how much of this otherworldly sight she was being shown was reality… and how much of it was still a dream. She couldn’t shake off this feeling.
“Katima-sama. We are going through the gate.”
“I know-nya. Now, both of you, I’m going to let you both meet some people-nya. Then, I want Varra to show you the power you are using at that time-nya. I hope you feel good-nya.”
Warren and the castle higher-ups. Depending on the circumstances, the matter may even be brought to the attention of someone as high as Sylvird, the king of Ishtalika. The matter was that serious. The value of a precious healing magic user was not easy to measure.
“I actually feel better than ever. I’ve been given so many delicious meals that I… have no complaints.”
“Mei, too!”
“That’s great news-nya. Mei is a good girl-nya! I’ll give you more sweets later-nya.”
“Really?”
It may come as a surprise, but Katima was actually very sweet to small children. In fact, Katima was much sweeter to small children than the candy she was about to give out. And there was a part of her that saw Mei, who was attached to her, as nothing more than a cute little child.
“That’s what I said when we arrived-nya. Now… then, Dill. Take care-nya.”
“Yes!”
The carriage arrived at the gate… and stopped in front of the great door of the castle, the place where the carriage always stopped. Dill dismounted first and escorted Katima and the others out.
“Now, please, Katima-sama.”
“Umu!”
Dill helped Katima down. No problem going down alone! Katima always said that, but since it’s a form of etiquette, she couldn’t complain too much. Next, Dill helped Varra, and finally, he picked up Mei and carried her down.
“Treat me like a lady!” There were many noble daughters who said that, but Mei was happy to receive it.
“Thank you very much!”
When she said that with a smile, Dill’s face relaxed. However, he was still in the middle of his duties and decided to be as strict as possible so as not to embarrass himself as a Knight of the Royal Guard.
After getting out of the carriage, Mei still held hands with Varra and smiled.
As the three dismounted, those who had been watching them came up to Katima and the others.
“Welcome back, Katima-sama. How was your inspection this time?”
“I have just returned-nya. Thanks to Ain, the inspection was very fruitful-nya. I will tell my father about it later, and I hope Warren will hear about it too-nya.”
“Hahaha. I’m glad to hear that. Now… these two here?”
The person greeting them was Warren and some of his immediate subordinates.
Warren had come all the way down here to greet Katima and entertain the important guests she had brought with her.
“Yes-nya. This man is Warren, and he is the Prime Minister-nya! I would like you to introduce yourselves.”
“Prime Minister? What’s that?” Besides Mei, who had such a look on her face, Varra, who understood the situation very well, had a big nervous breakdown.
The Crown Prince and the First Princess… and that alone was enough to make her faint, but now the Prime Minister? That’s what filled her head.
“I-I am Varra! I used to work as a humble town doctor. His Highness the Crown Prince helped my sister Mei… Um…”
She didn’t know how to use proper honorifics. In fact, she didn’t even know how to speak well. After all, she had never left the slums until recently, and she had never thought that she would be dealing with the leading figures of the country, who should be considered above the clouds, not just the nobility.
“Well, well, thank you for your courtesy. I am Warren Lark. The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Ishtalika. I have heard a little about you, Varra-dono. I am sure you have lived a long and hard life. We are sorry to make you travel all the way to such a distant place.”
Varra’s concern was easily blown away by the clouds. Was it out of concern for herself? Or was it just a social remark? Instead of thinking about such things, the fact that he had just said such kind words to her almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Now, what do you call this young lady here?”
Warren continued, leaning down and bringing his eyes closer to Mei’s. Then he asked Mei to introduce herself.
“Mei is Mei! Nice to meet you!”
It wasn’t a big deal, but Mei had learned not to be rude on this trip.
Say “Nice to meet you” when you meet someone for the first time. It was such a common thing, but it was better than not saying it at all.
“Nice to meet you too, Mei-dono. You must be tired after such a long train ride.”
“No! It wasn’t cold, and the floor wasn’t hard, so I’m fine!”
“Me-Mei! …I’m sorry, Your Excellency the Prime Minister…”
In Mei’s opinion, the fact that there was no draft and the floor was soft was the most remarkable point. That alone made the room incomparable to what it had been before.
In order to prevent children from having experiences like Mei, many measures were taken in Ishtalika. But in the big kingdom of Ishtalika, it was not easy to get things done the way they wanted.
Warren had a tragic look on his face for a moment, but… the next moment, he looked like a good-natured old man again and started talking to Mei.
“That’s good to know. Have you had lunch yet?”
“I haven’t yet…!”
Mei remembered to be polite after Varra got mad at her. She managed to correct herself, but it came across as cute anyway. The fact that she tried to make an effort, however, was clearly conveyed to Warren.
“Then let’s get the food ready first. What about you, Katima-sama?”
“I don’t mind joining you-nya. We can go to the appropriate room and eat there-nya. Dill will come with us-nya.”
“Yes!”
Warren asked her if she would eat with Varra and the others. The answer was Warren and Katima’s own concern.
After all, they had been brought to such a different world, so it would be better to have someone they knew at their side.
“Please come this way. Let’s eat and rest first… I hope you can recover from your long journey.”
* * *
“I certainly received it.”
He said he could have the material by the end of tomorrow, and true to his word, the material was prepared and delivered immediately.
This was right after a night’s sleep, after Ain had found Warren’s subordinate yesterday. When he woke up in the morning and finished breakfast, while he and Chris discussed what to do today, a person from the inn brought the material to his room.
It was tightly sealed and wrapped like a letter exchanged between nobles.
“You work fast.”
Chris took the document and returned it to Ain’s side.
She was dressed casually today. She wears a simple, white, fine shirt and skinny pants made of a denim-like fabric.
Though simple, it was fashionable enough to show off Chris’ good style.
“Yes. As always, it’s a big job since it takes less than a day to do all the research.”
“Maybe they can even make cotton trash, from all the dust they beat up.”
“Ain-sama. Don’t do such a dirty thing.”
“I know, I am just fooling around. Then let’s look at some of the materials they borrowed for us.”
In response to Ain’s words, Chris opened the seal on the document. The cord was cut by something and came loose.
“Did you use magic?”
“I just let the wind blow around my fingernails.”
“How convenient!”
Chris, feeling a bit better, smiles and hands the material she took out to Ain.
“Fufu… Here you go, Ain-sama.”
“Thank you. Now I’m curious to see what it’s about.”
It was his fault for starting it. It might seem like an act of God, but it was still true that the wyvern stopped moving because of him.
But listening to what was said afterward, there was no doubt that he was a person who stunk in some way. Both in terms of dishonesty and body odor.
It made Ain sick to think about his body odor, but now that he saw Chris in her casual clothing next to him, he felt at ease.
“…..?”
Chris noticed Ain’s eyes and tilted her head to ask, “What’s going on?” Ain shook his head and said, “Nothing.”
“Let’s see…”
I see. Ain read the first line and understood it. Or rather, what is written in the first line was too disturbing.
“A list of victims of forced sexual acts,” well, this was not good. The fact that he gave a lot of money and said it was legal makes it even worse.
Criminals were everywhere. It was the same in Ishtalika, but he still couldn’t stop himself from getting depressed when he saw it.
“Are you all right?”
The face peered out from beside him, worried. Chris didn’t miss the uncomfortable look on Ain’s face as he looked over the material. It worried her, and she asked him about it.
“It was covered in dust. Here, Chris, you can have a look.”
“Yes. Excuse me then.”
——…So that’s it.
He didn’t expect her to close the distance and look in from the side. She must have showered after waking up, and her long hair had the scent of shampoo. Chris was wearing pants, but her thighs were at an almost touching distance, and she looked somehow glamorous. In a word, it was nothing short of stimulating.
“I knew I should have cut him up.”
“Well, the body count didn’t increase yesterday or today, so it’s okay. I’d rather have done it after I checked, so… But this is a definite guilty verdict.”
“It’s not worth bothering to fight him, but what are you going to do?”
Well, to tell the truth, if he had lost his head yesterday, it wouldn’t have been a big problem. But it would have been more effective if he had looked up a lot of things.
“Look here.”
“That’s the Kraken the pig has, isn’t it?”
“W-well, I guess it is. Yeah.”
It’s a thrill to have someone so willing to spit out the word “pig” in such a venomous way. Ain was no masochist, but when a woman like Chris said something like that so quickly, he couldn’t help but look at her face.
“Uh-uh… Is something wrong?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m not even stimulated or anything, okay?”
“Stimulated..?”
There was no way to tell what was stimulated. “So please don’t mention it,” he prayed in his heart.
“Kingpin of the river, they say.”
“Even though it’s a Kraken, it’s the master of the river?”
“It’s kind of uncool, though, like being outside the capital.”
To sum it up, it was almost like a frog in a well. Is it close? In the area where it lived, it seemed to do whatever it wanted.
It destroyed the ships of the people in the area, ate the fish caught by the fishermen… and, because of its size, it also ate the small monsters in the area. It has been reported that it did whatever it wanted.
It was a pity that it could do what it wanted because of its owner’s influence. It was also because it had not been taught that it was wrong to do so, and it was causing damage.
“To tell you the truth, I feel sorry for it when it does what it wants for the sake of its owner’s convenience. But when it causes damage to the people of the area, it is a different story.”
“That is also against the law. The person who keeps the monster is obligated to pay for the damage caused by the monster. Probably because that pig didn’t do it.”
“No doubt.”
While talking to Chris, he looked through the documents that had been compiled. Then, an interesting piece of information came to Ain’s attention.
“This is something that was not known until the day of the duel. If I had only found out on the day of the duel, I would have been very surprised, or… damn it!”
Even she, who spewed venom today, follows suit and looks at the material.
“It certainly was… Wouldn’t the crucial line be? I never said the duel was one-on-one! And…”
“I have a feeling that every word is true. Shall we bet on whether he says it or not on the day of the duel?”
“Then I’ll bet that he will say it.”
“I’ll bet on that, too.”
“I don’t think the bet is on.”
The Kraken he owned were two Kraken of the same species. If he took one of the monsters anyway, he planned to make it two against one or something and do whatever he wanted. It was a very petty way of doing things.
How could he think of keeping them in the river when there were no seas in his territory? Maybe they like squid?
“But such things are only exciting if you know about them on the day of the event. You won’t be excited if you find out now…”
With a mysterious feeling of disappointment, Ain looked at the next one.
“Wow, this is amazing. He can do all the embezzlement and padding he wants.”
Hearing Ain’s voice, Chris also looked at the documents from the side. This was not so easy for Ain because her face was always nearby.
“Sometimes there are such things, but this one has deep roots.”
“No matter what you do, you can’t get rid of them. Problems like this.”
Stop the crime. Just as crime will not go away, even if you tell people to stop committing crimes, fraud will not go away either. That’s natural, but it’s another thing to feel sorry for yourself.
“But thanks to this, we don’t have to go to court, so we can execute him on the spot. That’s good for the treasury.”
“Is that more than enough for absolution?”
“Yes. And since his residence and other places will be under surveillance, it will be almost impossible for him to escape.”
“I see. Then, it’s time to think about the date of the duel. But I feel a bit relieved.”
Relieved? Chris wondered, but Ain quickly answered the question.
“I thought about whether I wanted El or Al to fight, but I figured if it was going to be two against one, it might as well be two against two.”
“I think it would be pretty disastrous.”
“Disastrous?
“Yes. Why is the Sea Dragon the strongest in underwater warfare? …I am sure you will see why.”
At first, he thought about letting the twins fight. After all, he did not want the twins to get hurt or put themselves in danger.
But he was relieved to find out that there seemed to be no need to worry about that.
“Actually, I thought the Kraken had a better chance of winning in a one-on-one fight than in a two-on-two fight.”
Was it impossible because the dragons were too young? Not at all. That was why the sea dragon was called the king of the underwater monsters. On the day of the duel, Ain would see the reason.
“By the way, Chris-san. You’ve buttoned your shirt incorrectly.”
“…U-uh… please tell me first…”
Ain thought about such a complaint in his head, “Sometimes I almost caught a glimpse of her underwear, and it was hard for me to say.” The fact that he endured almost seeing her underwear was something to be appreciated.
…What should he do today? Shopping would be nice. Looking at the shy Chris, Ain started to think about today’s plans.
“The weather is nice again today…”
——A few days later, the date for the duel between Viscount Sage and Ain’s monster would be set.
In the meantime, he would enjoy the streets of Ist and continue his investigation… He was energetic enough to visit Professor Oz’s office once more.
The two weeks of his stay in the Magic City was about to end, and the date of the duel was set. The end of his stay and the date of the duel were gradually approaching.