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Chapter 181

After telling Amria and the others about the identities of myself and of His Highness, as well as talking about Amria herself, we met back up with the Imperial Guard that had been dispatched from the royal capital, and then set out straight for the royal capital.

I’ve been away from the Galois Magic Academy for longer than His Highness had told me before we left, so I would sometimes get extremely worried that as a result, Lenia has been sulking and going on a rampage.

Christina is there to act as a restraint for her, and I can sense if there’s any real danger going on, so for now, I think we’re good. Irina’s stomach must be hurting right about now.

And when we saw a group of Imperial Guard knights waiting in full gear and filling the deserted road, Yachiyo and Fuuko, who had been told of His Highness’s true identity but hadn’t yet fully realized it, were greatly surprised, while Amria was only a little surprised.

Yachiyo was born as a samurai, which is equivalent to the noble class in Arkrest Kingdom, but according to her, she is only a low-ranking samurai, and the crown prince of a kingdom is a figure above the clouds compared to her.

When they saw the knights of the Imperial Guard, their entire bodies decorated in high quality and sturdy equipment, and showed a serious demeanor without a single strand of hair out of place, it showed just how rigorous their daily training was, which was what made them finally understand who His Highness really was.

When we all disembarked from Dramina’s carriage in front of the Imperial Guard knights, His Highness walked out first, and called out to each of the knights who greeted him, telling each of them, “Thanks for waiting, good work.”

Shald, walking beside him, bit his lip in relief that he had escorted His Highness safely, as he exchanged a few words or just a few glances with his colleagues.

From among the knights of the Imperial Guard, a knight in the prime of his life wearing equipment of particularly exceptional quality stepped forward, kneeled and bowed his head reverently before His Highness, and gave a welcome back speech.

The commander of the Imperial Guard would likely remain by His Highness’s side, so I suppose he must be the captain of one of the knight squads?

Selina, Yachiyo, and I watched the scene unfold from a distance. In this situation, there was no need for me to say anything, and I can leave the rest to His Highness to handle.

After a while, His Highness seemed to finish telling the captain of the knights about the details of what had happened so far, and then His Highness, Shald, and the captain all took a glance together at us and Amria.

No one in the kingdom had expected him to visit a neighboring country just to offer condolences for their emperor, only to come back with a ridiculous bomb regarding the issue of succession.

I saw the captain’s face twitch slightly as he was told about the situation. Fumu, even a high ranking captain of the knights couldn’t help but be surprised.

Amria had traveled this far and had gotten used to us, but she completely shrunk away under the heavy atmosphere surrounding the knights, and when not only the captain, but many other knights all looked at her, she bowed under the pressure and tried to hide behind Yachiyo’s back.

The courage she had when she questioned me and His Highness about her birth and our identities seemed to have gone out the window, and she returned to the shy person she was when we first met.

After a while, the meeting between the captain and His Highness ended, and it was decided that His Highness and Shald would be transferred to another carriage that had been prepared for them, and we would head directly back to the royal capital.

Safely bringing His Highness back home to the kingdom was one thing, but with Amria, a person who no one had expected to be there, the higher ups in the kingdom would have a lot to worry about.

As we got moving in our carriage in the last row, I sat in the coachman’s seat with Diadora and Lynette sitting on either side of me, and we followed after the Imperial Guard, while I talked to Amria inside of the carriage about what would happen to her in the future.

The first one to speak was Diadora, who spoke with a hint of sorrow in her voice.

The Black Rose Spirit usually isn’t that concerned in the matters of other people, but once she gets involved with someone, she tends to have feelings for them, whether shallow or deep.

「The prince promised not to misuse Amria in the future, but how seriously do you think he’ll keep that promise, and how far do you think he will go to protect her? The prince is not such an actor that he can conceal his true feelings, so I think he was serious then, and even now as well」

Sharing Diadora’s opinion, Lynette also suddenly turned her head, and expressed her own opinion while looking at the expression on my face.

Since Lynette had gained a sense that she had been useful to me while she was rampaging around with her secret weapon, the Gandoga, she looked somehow radiant.

「Based on my observations of his pulse, body temperature, and breathing, he was not speaking any lies when he said that. Whether or not he can actually accomplish what he said he would do though, is a different story, but I believe Prince Sperion was speaking his mind back then」

「I also agree, I think His Highness wasn’t lying, and he intends on keeping his promise. I can only hope that His Majesty and his vassals and dignitaries won’t force His Highness to use Amria」

Even if His Highness himself was sincere, if His Majesty, the king with the highest authority in the kingdom, along with all his vassals, were to talk about it and urge him to change his mind, and if he doesn’t do what they say, they may resort to using forceful measures.

How far is His Highness capable of protecting Amria? Unexpectedly, in this condolence call mission, His Highness was blessed with the opportunity to prove his worth as a lord.

「Well, it was a declaration that was made in my presence, a representative of the Ente Forest, so they can’t take it back so easily. If we find someone to blame, we can take it up with Olivier」

Oh, my, ever since Diadora came to the Magic Academy, somehow she’s become much tougher now.

Indeed, Diadora is not a citizen of the Arkrest Kingdom, and her position in Ente Forest is not even in the same ranks as the vassals, but although it’s vague, her position is not one that they can just ignore.

I don’t know if His Highness was aware of it or not, but any statement made in front of Diadora, even if unofficial, cannot be made so lightly that it can be easily retracted early.

「Master Dran, could it be that by making that statement in front of Diadora, he was trying to create a situation in which the kingdom has to take Amria under their protection?」

「His Highness is in some ways just as calculating as any royalty, so I can’t deny the possibility that he was aiming to do exactly as you said, Lynette.

As for me, if that is the case, I don’t feel any ill intent from him and I can sense that he is determined to defend his promise, through whatever means necessary」

I turned to look behind me, and peeked through the window to see what was going on inside the carriage, and I saw Amria having a pleasant chat with Yachiyo and the others.

For Amria, Yachiyo and Fuuko must be the greatest comfort.

「But I wonder, what will happen to Yachiyo and Fuuko? We promised to take them out of Elkeney, but now that we’ve brought them into the kingdom like this, and even got them caught up in this deep-rooted story, what will happen to them?」

After Yachiyo and Fuuko ran away from their hometown, got shipwrecked, and then drifted ashore in the Romal Empire, the importance of their individual identities was lower compared to Amria.

Would it be reasonable to think that they would be given a large sum of money to keep them quiet, and then they would be released?

However, His Highness has witnessed the relationship between Amria, Yachiyo and Fuuko for himself, so I don’t think he would let them get separated so easily, but…

We’ll just have to see how far His Highness will show his sincerity and his resolution. It looks like I’ll have to keep an eye on what’s going on in the capital after I return to Galois.

When we returned to the capital while surrounded by a swarm of knights from the Imperial Guard, we couldn’t quite get a good opportunity to talk with His Highness, and we were ordered to wait on standby in the room in the royal castle that had been prepared for us.

It was fortunate that Amria, Yachiyo, and Fuuko were together with us. During our stay at the royal castle, we were occasionally summoned to give reports on what had happened in the empire, but we were never summoned before His Majesty and his chief vassals.