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Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 10

Translation: Kurehashi Aiko
Editing: Team Foxsunes

「The Shrine Maiden protected by the Goddess herself and the boy beloved by all of the spirits of the world. The two of them have met for the first time for the sake of the ancient ritual, as a result of preparing for the ritual they have deepened their bonds, and eventually they have promised to one another to carry the future of this country together on their shoulders, since both of them are the ‘chosen ones’. This is the kind of ‘scenario’ that was conjured up for this public meeting.」

「It’s really rude, you know? This ‘scenario’ seems to be rather bland and no fun at all for those who are involved in it. At the very least you could have made it somewhat exciting.」

「Tell me about it. But do you happen to know what the most ironic part of this whole scenario is? It is the fact that common people seem to love those kind of bland and boring stories.」

 Even in the face of the Princess’s harsh evaluation of their ‘scenario’ of the visit here, the smile visible on Heinrich’s face did not seem to waver at all. It seems that this smile of his was a sort of defense mechanism for Heinrich, one that was supposed to protect him from everything and everyone. It also seemed that he has the utmost confidence in this plan that the public affairs bureau has conjured up. Then again, that is to be expected of someone like him. After all, he is one of the elite of the palace, or even the elite amongst the elite. At the very least I think that is the case, most probably. And I know that I was asked by the Princess to get along with him, but I was now getting a feeling that this might be a little bit harder of a task than I initially expected.

So in short, the purpose of our visit to this place at such time is to reveal the existence of the Medium to the rest of the country, as well as to demonstrate the graces of the Princess to the people of the Azure Desert. It also goes to show how well they are supposed to work together. And if Heinrich’s words are to be believed, both the Princess and the Medium have no other choice but to be bound by that ‘script’ the Public Affairs have come up with. I also sensed that almost everyone in here treated this whole matter as a done deal, but is it not a little bit too early for congratulating yourselves on a job well done? I cannot shake off the feeling that it is like that here.

 Right about now I was really regretting the fact that I did not ask the Princess for further explanation back at the palace at that time. Because since I have not done that, right now I needed to piece the full picture together with only bits and pieces that were scattered all over the place, but even then I could not be sure that the picture I would see would be a correct one. I also get the feeling that unless I won’t hear the full story of our purpose in being here, I would not be able to fully support the Princess in her endeavors.

「Umm, I do understand that everyone involved in the matter at hand knows about the circumstances surrounding it, correct? Also, does the Medium know about all this? And if he indeed does, then won’t there be a protest from the citizens of this land if we were to just take him away from here and take him back with us to the capital city? Especially judging how rare of a talent he seems to possess?」

It goes without saying that the life of the Princess does not belong to her alone and may affect the lives of every single citizen of the country, but should it not be the same for the young medium? I am fairly sure that his life is not his to command anymore and that many of the Azure Desert people depend on him. Hearing my concerns about this whole matter, Heinrich slowly nods his head.

 「That’s right. For the possibility of incorporating the Medium into the country’s royal family, those at power in both communities signed a treaty of cooperation. So to make it possible for the Medium to become a part of the royal family, the crown is going to send an appropriate amount of compensation each month so that the people of the Azure Desert would not suffer because of the Medium’s absence. If it wasn’t for that fact, please believe me, we would not even be allowed to enter the desert’s territory. Even though we are the close neighbors.」

 Heinrich calmly explains the situation. However, I do not want to believe that the talks in between those at power at both sides went as smoothly as he claimed. There was certainly a lot of tension in between the two parties, and the negotiations surely must have been of nerve-wrecking and hard kind. That being said, it looked like Heinrich was not all that willing to go into the details here. But of course he would not do that. After all, he only thinks of me as the Princess’s friend, nothing more and nothing less. I have neither position nor power. Only the friendship of the Princess, which probably is not amounting to much in the eyes of other royalty. And while I could certainly use the Princess’s authority here to ask some more questions, I do not think that this is what the Princess would have wanted right now. But even so, there is still one more thing that I would like to ask. One more thing here that I must know.

「Can I ask about something else?」

「Yes, please, go right ahead.」

「Surely, if the Medium becomes the Princess’s partner, her prestige and renown are going to become even greater than before. However, is there really a reason that her partner has to come from the Azure Desert specifically?」

 There are many people with an affinity for magic and spirits amongst the royalty of the capital city. Some of those people are really gifted and are even active as wizards, although their talents and affinity with the spirits surely pales in comparison to that of the Medium. But just to be clear, the Princess is the most important person in here, no one else. I was having a hard time believing that the capital city’s royalty was not considered a possible spouse for the Princess, even though their talents would not be as grand as those of the Medium.

In response to my doubts, Heinrich laughs loudly. Although I get a feeling that he smiles and laughs a lot, this time around I could not help but to pick up that his smile appeared on his lips somewhat later than usual.

「Filmina-dono, rather than asking ‘Is there a reason?’ it should come as obvious that it’s because ‘That is exactly the reason’.」

「Come again?」

I lean closer towards Heinrich, not really understanding. I could see that his eye was glowing mysteriously.

「The Medium is the best candidate possible here precisely because he is one of the people of the Azure Desert.」

「What do you mean by that?」

「I mean exactly what I meant. Nothing more and nothing less. When it comes to the Princess, some of the higher-ups from the temple are eagerly lobbying towards picking one of our own nobles as the most suitable candidate. However, even if some of them are indeed fine and upstanding gentlemen, choosing them as the Princess’s spouse would surely lead to the temple trying to interfere with the royal family and the way they choose to govern the country.」

Heinrich tried to explain, although he looked as though he considered the process of explaining really tedious, while the Princess snickered under her nose. Heinrich then lets out a deep sigh. This whole situation right about now was really awkward for some reason.

「Recently, it can be observed that the temple grows even more impudent by the day, wanting to have a real influence on the government. I wonder what exactly Uncle is doing there for them to behave like that? I swear to the Goddess, he can be the most useless when the times demand from him to be anything else but that.」

For a while now His Highness Klanven was holding the position of the High Priest at the Great Temple. And even if he was doing his best at doing his job, I completely understood the Princess worries and the way she was feeling about that man right about now. After all, I have seen it all for myself. But hearing those sudden revelations, the only thing I barely manage to squeeze out my mouth is a simple ‘I see’. Hearing our exchange, Heinrich smiled and laughed shortly, taking over from the Princess with the explanation. For some reason his smile was nastier than before.

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