Ryouta stood up, and Shuri sighed.
"How did she know?" Shuri asked. She hadn't really meant it as a question, but Ryouta considered answering anyways. The person, who was apparently Shuri's mother, had the aura of an oracle, and even if it was weak, she still knew some things. But the process of becoming an oracle was not easy. Although , it could be different in this world.
Eventually, Ryouta decided not to tell her. Whoever it was likely had a reason for keeping it quiet.
Shuri stood up, and walked out of the room. Ryouta followed after her. They walked out of a door that Ryouta had not noticed before. On their way down the stairs, right after they passed underneath the floor level of the private lab, they could see all of the way to the bottom.
It was a large open space. And yet, the presence of one woman appeared to be dominating the entire area. She was tall, with skin a couple of shades darker than Shuri's was. She also wore a highly ornamental dress.
She was a queen. That much was clear. But not just politically. Even if this woman had wrapped herself in rags, she would have still been royal. It was in her bearing, Ryouta thought.
Ryouta bowed deeply. That was how commoners treated royalty in his world. From what he had seen, that was also the case here. However, it seemed that very few places still used a monarchy-based government. In his world, almost everywhere still had a king or queen, though some were elected, and some were barely anything but puppets. Of course, if he had been in his world, the queen would have been blowing to him. His power was almost universally respected by the people where he came from.
The woman seemed a bit shocked that a foreigner would actually respect her authority. She was probably the queen of a rather small country, and its technological advances were most likely a secret from the rest of the world. Ryouta could have searched the GPS system to find out where in the world he was, but that might have alerted someone to the location of this place. Ryouta tried to say "Your Majesty" in greeting,, having forgotten that he could not speak. That was the customary word used here to acknowledge the superiority of a member of the royal family. Where he was from, words like 'Majesty' were much less banded about, but it didn't seem like this world knew true majesty, as can only be found in creatures such as dragons.
"At least he has some respect," He heard Shuri's mother mutter. This seemed to imply that Shuri didn't give her much respect. It seemed that teenagers were almost the same pretty much anywhere, unless they needed to be different to survive.
"Why have you brought this foreigner here?" the queen demanded of Shuri.
"He is a research partner," Shuri said. "He was helping me with... cracking firewalls."
The queen sighed.
"Sometimes I wish that you would be less...," the queen hesitated. She didn't seem to know exactly what she wanted Shuri to be, but it seemed like the answer was not what she was. Then the queen looked over at Ryouta. He was still bowed.
"Stand up," the queen said. "What is your name?"
Ryouta could say nothing.
"His name is Ryouta," Shuri responded for him. Ryouta shot her a thankful glance. He needed to find a portable way to 'talk'. Perhaps he could use vibranium to do so. Maybe some of his luck was still intact as well.
"Why does he not speak?" the queen asked. Ryouta just shook his head apologetically. He had never been able to speak. He used to have a magic scroll that would transcribe what he willed it to, from his thoughts. That would have been useful here.
"I tried to fix his vocal chords, but they were so foreign to me, I could not figure out how," Shuri admits. Ryouta looked over at her. She was telling the truth. She did not like admitting that she didn't know something, but she really had no idea what his vocal chords were supposed to look like. "They do not have a human structure, nor the structure of any creature that I have ever seen."
Ryouta knew why. He had been given a boon once. It was called 'Lungs of the Dragon'. It would have made his voice strong and commanding. If he had had one.
"After all of the resources that we put into your research," the queen sighed.
"I can't research it if it's not there to be researched!" Shuri protested.
Ryouta could sense a storm, though he didn't know who it would come from. He raised his hand and pushed it down, in what he hoped was a calming gesture. The queenand Shuri both looked at him.
Then Shuri marched away. Ryouta could see a bit of regret on her mother's face. She really wanted to love Shuri, and for Shuri to love her back, but she didn't know how.
"What have you seen of our nation?" the queen asked. Ryouta gestured back at the room that they had come from, indicating that he had seen nothing but what she knew.
"Very well," the queen said. "You may continue working."
She seemed to have gained a slight bit more respect for Shuri, believing that Shuri had brought him in from wherever she had found him without showing him their country.
Ryouta didn't leave yet. He gestured at the queen, and then made a motion where he brought a hand down from his mouth. That was the gesture for speaking in his world. He wanted to know her name.
"My name is Ramonda." she said. And then she turned around and walked away.
"Are you coming, foreigner?" Shuri called out to him. Ryouta turned around and followed Shuri into a mess of technology.