Chapter 435: Nokia's Princess, and Speculations.
Chestnut-colored hair cut shortly, almond shaped eyes, and a mouth formed into a smile overflowing with confidence. It's more accurate to describe her features as beautiful instead of cute.
The girl, who named herself Nokia Kingdom's Second Princess, Pafia Rada Nokia, stared straight at me without any signs of hesitation. It's the kind of gaze that feels evaluating. She's by no means looking down on me so it doesn't make me feel repulsed, but it's still not a good feeling to be looked at this way.
"We've heard what you have to say, Your Highness Princess Pafia. However, this matter is not one which can be decided by His Majesty the Sovereign alone. He will have to obtain the agreement of us nine fiancées first."
Leen, who was standing by to my side, opened her mouth with a smile. Her choice of words is a bit different from usual; I wonder if this is her diplomatic mode.
"Excuse my ignorance, but you are? Judging by your words, I presume you are one of His Majesty's fiancées?"
"Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself. I am the former chief of the fairy tribe, leader of Brunhild's court magicians, as well as His Majesty the Sovereign's fiancée; my name is Leen."
Leen pinched her skirt in an elegant motion and greeted the princess with a curtsy. Leader of our court magicians, eh, I mean, she's the only court magician we have so, she's not incorrect.
"Leen-sama. As I've asked earlier, could you please consider adding myself to the lowest seat of the fiancées? It will definitely not be a loss for your country."
"Well… Even if you say it won't be a loss for us, His Majesty the Sovereign is not marrying us with the goal of obtaining profit for his country, so… I'm not sure how to respond."
"Then on what standard does he decide on his partners? Literary arts, martial skills, beauty, peerage, I'm confident I won't fall behind in any of these categories."
"That is, well. You definitely sound very confident. However, I've heard that Nokia Kingdom does not communicate with other countries very much. The world is bigger than Your Highness may believe, you know?"
Eh, what is this conversation. I can see sparks flying around between Leen and Princess Pafia since a while ago, is that just me?
"… As it's a sudden request, we cannot give our answer immediately as well. We'd like some time to deliberate… Is that fine with you, Ambassador Yanches?"
Kousaka-san called out to the ambassador, whose watery eyes were darting back and forth between Leen and Princess Pafia all the while. Seeing the line thrown at him, Ambassador Yanches immediately began nodding his head at a furious pace.
"O, o, of course! Please take your time and think about it! We'll be waiting for a positive response!"
"Head maid, please guide the ambassador and the princess' group to a guest room."
"Yes. Please, this way."
Our head maid, Lapis-san—who was standing by at the side—walked up to the three of them and urged them away.
When they turned and walked away as directed by Lapis-san, Princess Pafia turned and looked this way for a split second; I sensed a form of determination from her gaze.
When the three of them left, I heaved a large sigh. Ahh, this is tiring.
"What do you know, it turned out to be a request for a political marriage…"
"I suppose it is quite surprising, yes."
While stroking his beard, Kousaka-san muttered. Well yeah. The countries that we've had relations with thus far would never ask for something like that.
"Instead of Brunhild, this looks more like it's something aimed at me personally…"
"Well, think about it. A gold-ranked adventurer and the hero who saved the world. Commanding several hundreds of giant soldiers, and mediating between various different countries… No normal person would refuse the chance to obtain that strength for themselves."
Just like what Kousaka-san said, it's pretty normal to think that this is a marriage aimed at making use of my powers. Something like if we become tied by family bonds, then they can make me lend them my strength, I guess.
"That's why it's weird, if you think about it like that. Isn't Nokia Kingdom basically completely isolated as a country? They only have the bare minimum amount of interaction with Demon Kingdom Xenoas, and they've not shown up to the World Conference several times already even though we invited them to. Why's a country like that, which stayed completely quiet even during the fight against the variants, suddenly coming out and wishing for a political marriage with another country like this? And with us, Brunhild, at that."
Leen spoke in a monologuing fashion as she folder her arms. Huh, she's more calm than I expected.
"Do they think we did not foresee something like this happening? We've always thought that a honey trap like this might come our way one day."
"A honey trap, you say… I don't remember ever walking into one."
"It could be later on, you know. When you go to sleep, make sure you lock your door properly to prevent them from trying to pull a night visit, okay. They might use a transfer-type magic or artifact, so prepare some interference barriers too. If you actually laid your hands on the princess, then it would be very tough for us to refuse, after all."
Wait, what kind of development is that!? Why do you sound like it's guaranteed for me to be assaulted and lose!?
"No no no. I won't be laying my hands on her, and if she does come to my room, I can just restrain her, right."
"In this case, the truth can be anything for all we care. All you need is for her to be found in Darling's room in the middle of the night, and the world will immediately start to believe there's a relationship between you two. Of course, that includes that ambassador. That'll be the last straw. Since it's common knowledge that you can use transfer magic, the people will just think you're the one who called the princess to your room no matter what."
"Scary!?"
That's just crazy. Something as stupid as that won't happen… I think, right?
"Well, even if they tried to do us in like that, we can turn it back upon them by framing them as the aggressor instead, though. All you need is a knife in her hands, and she'd turn into a splendid assassin aiming for His Majesty the Sovereign's life."
"Scary!?"
"Because there are risks like that, I don't think the chances of her actually carrying out a night visit are high. I'm just asking you to keep an eye out just in case. The possibility of them using a charm-type artifact and actually trying to assault you isn't zero, after all."
Eh, I'm already technically a divine so things like that won't work on me, but still, that just makes me uneasy…
I guess for the moment, it would be safe for me to put a [Prison] on the inside of my room. You won't be able to enter unless you're wielding a sacred treasure or something like that, so even if they did try something, there would be nothing they can do.
"On a side note, what did Darling think about that girl?"
"Nn… I can't deny that she is a beauty. But honestly, I wasn't really moved. Those eyes of hers weren't really looking at me; a large part of it was directed towards my power or position, things like that. There's no way she came and asked to be married to me out of a sense of affection. I'd definitely not want to sell myself out like a tool."
I don't think that was all that girl was, but in any case, she didn't leave me with a good impression. At least, I definitely did not fall for her.
In the cases of Luu and Hilda, I could feel the affection they had for me. That wasn't a sense of longing they directed towards my position or titles, it was to myself as a person. Different from Pafia.
Also, how should I say this… Before talking about love or affection, I get the feeling she's already burdened with some heavy emotions, like a responsibility or a mission she had to shoulder. I don't think she's a bad person, overall.
"I felt the same. That girl has already failed to fulfill the minimum condition required to join us, 'to feel dearly about Mochizuki Touya'. She's already out at that point. Sorry to say it, but I won't acknowledge her."
Leen said that and took out her smartphone, before beginning to tap on her screen rapidly with her fingers. What's she doing?
"We have our own meeting to do, after all."
By meeting, you mean that? That "Bridal Conference" thing you did during the time Pam came from the Great Sea of Trees?
It's that one which rejected Pam who wanted to have children with me, yeah. Leen wasn't around at that time yet, though.
Leaving Leen, who's still sending out messages, aside, I waved Tsubaki-san closer.
"For now, we need information. Can you investigate Nokia Kingdom for me for a bit?"
"Yes. I'll send a few people there immediately."
After answering thus, she disappeared on the spot.
The knight order's intelligence corps, led by Tsubaki-san, have been lent various artifacts, including transfer-types. With those tools, it probably won't take more than 2 days for agents to go to Nokia and come back.
No matter how impenetrable the geography of that area is, it won't be a challenge to our knights who have been trained by Moroha nee-san and Takeru ojii. They'll definitely come back with useful information.
Well, rather than bringing information back, all they need to do is place a call, though.
It's easy to just refuse the proposal, but there's something bothering me there. I should ask around a bit myself too.
"Sorry, but I don't know too. We really only have little interaction with Nokia ourselves. Even if something like a coup d'état happened there, we won't know about it unless they come and tell us themselves. It's a bit bad-sounding, but we've had no reason to be interested in Nokia all this time, after all."
"Is that so…"
I tried calling His Majesty the Demon King of Xenoas, but the reply he gave me was about what I expected.
Although they're neighboring Nokia, their borders only touch at a small section, and both of them are countries with few diplomatic relations. It's natural for the both of them to pay no attention to each other.
"A while ago, when we sent the invitation for the Two-World Conference to them, they replied with something along the lines of 'there's a bit of a situation in our country and we're busy dealing with that, so we'll pass this time', but…"
"Could a coup d'état really have happened?"
"That would definitely not be a bit of a situation for them… But, it's true that after Yulong perished, many Yulong citizens moved to the smaller countries bordering it. Nokia's geographical conditions are harsh like us, and the people of Nokia hate Yulong, so there shouldn't have been many who went to Nokia; but it's definitely not zero. It's not unthinkable for those people to cause some troubles there."
Uun… It's sad that I can't really deny that.
Yulong's population has the general trait of exaggerating things. They would count thousands as millions, and argue that the millions are actually billions. There's even a common saying that if a person from Yulong tells you a number, expect it to be 10 times more than the actual one.
If those kinds of people moved into Nokia, whose residents know next to nothing about the outside world, and started spreading baseless rumors, it wouldn't be weird for some degree of panic to break out in the country… I think?
"There have been some who came into Xenoas too, hasn't there?"
"Yeah, we had weird rumors flying about in our territories for a while, but they died down quickly. Most of the time, when they heard that the information came from a Yulong person, us demon races would refuse to believe a word of it."
They've sure got no credibility. Well, I would think the same way, honestly.
The eastern continent's east… Excluding Eashen, literally every issue that had happened in the countries there, Xenoas, Hanock, Ferzen, Horn, Lestia, etc., have had some connections with Yulong. There is no way they would still have any credibility left after that.
However, Nokia had the background of being a country founded by people who escaped from Yulong's tyranny. They should hate Yulong from the bottom of their guts. It's hard to imagine such a country getting swayed by baseless rumors spread by Yulong refugees.
Well, with the information we have right now, it's hard to come to any conclusion.
After our talk about Nokia finished, I casually gave some answers to His Majesty the Demon King, who kept incessantly asking about every little detail regarding his daughter Sakura's life here, before ending the call.
It's not like Sakura is ignoring his calls, but apparently the conversations are completely one- sided and blunt.
"Ahh, Farnese. Are you—"
"Fine."
"And Fiana—"
"Mom is fine."
"Next time, how about—"
"Busy. No way. See you."
And it ends there. Sakura is as merciless to the Demon King as usual… Although the fact that she even bothered to pick up the call can be said to be an improvement.
Sakura is working in a temporary staff-like position at the school in which Fiana-san serves as principal. Putting it simply, she's teaching the kids things like songs and playing instruments. One of our knights, the dark elf Spica, is also with her as an escort.
Right. Normally, around this time, Sakura would be at the school together with Spica-san.
However, today isn't the same. As for why, it's because everyone should be gathered for their "conference" right about now.
"Well, this feels like the time with Pam, so I guess the talk will progress in the direction of refusing…"
That girl (Pafia), without a doubt, holds no romantic feelings towards me. I can say that with conviction.
Why, you ask?
It's because the Love God, who would jump out with a cutesy smile on her face at the first opportunity if that girl actually had something like that, isn't showing herself at all.
Could she have gone to the "Bridal Conference" … Saying she want to be a facilitator or something. It'll make things more complicated so I wish she'd not do that.
As I was thinking about things like that, a call came in from Leen.
"Yes, hello?"
"Ah, Darling? For now, we've decided that tomorrow, we'll meet Princess Pafia with all of us. Since nobody besides myself have directly spoken with her, we don't really have a concrete basis upon which we can make a decision. So we decided we'll meet her first, then proceed from there."
"I feel like you girls are around 90% set already, though."
"Still, we mustn't be rude to her, and should at least meet and talk with her properly once. She's still the princess of a country who came here herself, so."
Well, that's true. As an response, flat out rejecting would indeed be a bit inappropriate. If we're not concerned about that, we would've just told her right there during the audience.
"In any case, don't contact that girl until tomorrow, okay, Darling? Since it might lead to a lot of problems. It would be best for someone to be with you tonight… Fufu, want to come to one of our rooms?"
"No that is well."
While having my heart skip a beat because of Leen's sudden teasing voice, I somehow managed to reply.
It's true that if I stay in the room of one of the fiancées tonight, whatever honey trap tactics they may try would end up meaningless, though.
"Well, it's not like I have no ways of dealing with that on my own, though."
I ended my call with Leen, and selected a new number from my address book.
"Oops, that's pon."
I picked up the iiman His Majesty the Regulus Emperor threw. Alright, just a bit more until I get chinroutou.
"Still, of all the things, to think you would invite us out for Mahjong… Well, I was free so it helped me, to be honest."
His Majesty the Mismede Beast King picked up a tile from the central pile, and threw it. The people surrounding the desk is myself, the Regulus emperor, the Mismede Beast King, and the Refreese emperor. His Majesty the King of Belfast declined because he still has to take care of Prince Yamato. I wonder if he still cries in the night.
"Hey, accompanying me once in a while isn't bad, right. I actually can't go back home for tonight, so."
"What? Did you get Lushia and the others angry or something?"
"That won't do, you know. In marriage, the beginning is the most important. If you don't come out strongly in the beginning, you'll be forced to always live while cautiously gauging the other's feelings."
I'm not married yet, sir. That reminds me, I'm pretty sure I heard before that the Refreese emperor can't raise his head to Queen Zelda in their private lives. Aah, so that was from personal experience.
Since I can't make His Majesty the Regulus Emperor, who is also Luu's father, worry about it, I explained the events that transpired concisely.
"To think Nokia would do something like that. Quite unexpected."
"Just coming suddenly like that when they normally don't even associate with others that much; there's definitely something else going on here."
"Hey, it's not that weird a thing for countries to strengthen their ties with each other through a marriage between their royalties, you know…"
Ah, that reminds me, Refreese's Prince Ridis and Mismede's Princess Tia recently got engaged, right? So I guess the emperor and the Beast King are going to be relatives too.
The fact that beastmen were discriminated against is already fast becoming a thing of the past. It's especially significant in the Refreese Imperium, and apparently cases of discrimination would happen only very rarely in the country these days. I wonder if it's because that place is full of cheery people.
"Does Touya-dono have no intentions of accepting her? At this point, what's the difference between 9 people and 10 people?"
"Please no. That aside, I don't have any such intentions at the moment. Something like a forced marriage would only bring misfortune to both sides."
"That might not always be the case, you know? Getting to know your partner after you married each other can also be good."
Is it like that? I can't really picture what the Mismede Beast King told me, but I guess things like this varies for each person.
"First, I'll need to figure out what the other side is thinking… Oh, and that's pon."
I picked up the iipin the Refreese emperor threw.
"Mu, a chinroutou?"
I guess it's exposed now. I'll have no choice but to take from the central pile now. I threw away a sanpin that I didn't need from my hand.
"Otto, always pay attention to what you're throwing… Ron. Suuankou tanki." (Note: the first half of this is a saying in Mahjong, apparently. I couldn't understand what it means, and I couldn't understand what the explanation of it says it means either, so this is the best thing I could come up with.)
"Geh!?"
"Uoh, His Majesty the Emperor is absolutely merciless!"
"Whew, that was dangerous. I had a sanpin too. That saved me."
Kuh… As expected, it's hard to read someone when they're trying to wait for a tanki. Whatever, it's fine; the night's still young.
I feel sorry for the escort knights standing behind their respective monarchs, but I'll have you guys accompany me all the way until morning. I've already casted a [Prison] on my own room, and with this many witnesses here for my alibi, there's no way anything would happen.
After paying my scoring sticks to His Majesty the Emperor, I switched my feelings around for the next game.
Tomorrow, the fiancée group would meet with Princess Pafia. Everything else would come afterwards.
While sorting out the tiles that were distributed to us, I took a deep breath.