121. The Lord’s Manor
The Lord’s Manor was smack in the middle of town, right where the commercial, residential and noble districts intersected. It was about a five minute trip with Urushi going at top speed.
「Comfortable sensation.」
Fran narrowed her eyes as she enjoyed the cool night breeze. She normally probably would have found it chilly, but her armour was bestowed with cold resistance, so she found it pleasing instead. [1]
『Thank God it’s night time.』
「Woof?」
Having Urushi leap through the sky at full speed during the day was a big no. We’d end up standing out way too much for comfort.
『Alright, it looks like we’re here.』
The gate leading up to the manor’s entrance was naturally tightly shut. In front of it stood a pair of guards. They seemed to be actively surveying their surroundings in order to ensure that nothing was off.
『Hmm, what do you think we should do? We’re going to be wanting to see the lord, so, do you want to try and ask the guard for permission, or kinda just like head on inside?』
「Ask guards.」
『Alright, but what if they say no? Cause I’m pretty sure they’re going to end up asking us to leave.』
Realistically speaking, the chances of us actually getting an audience were pretty miniscule. We came in the middle of the night without any sort of appointment or prior notice. Moreover, we weren’t all that well known either. Fran was just another D ranked adventurer, and a young girl at that. The only two kinds of people that’d welcome her in this sort of situation were the overly nice and lolicons up to know good.
「Ask Flut and Satia.」
『Fair enough.』
I mean, they did really want us to drop by, but they might’ve already gone to bed given the time. That said, contacting the Prince and Princess was pretty much the only real card we had to play. Yeahhh, the situation wasn’t exactly what I’d call favourable by any means.
We figured that we’d probably have a better chance if we were a bit more upfront about the whole thing, so we descended at a location a bit further away and approached the gate in as natural a manner as possible. That said, both guards still found it rather strange for a child to be walking over to them at this time of day.
「A kid?」
「At a time like this?」
「Hi.」
「W-What did you need?」
Sweet, it looks like they’re at least going to hear us out instead of just chasing us away right off the bat.
「Came to see acquaintance.」
「Are you sure you didn’t get the wrong place? This here is the Lord’s manor.」
「I’m sure. Acquaintances staying here temporarily.」
「Hahahah. Only members of the nobility ever stay at the Lord’s manor.」
「Alright, that’s enough joking around from you. Go home, kid. It’s late, and you should be in bed.」
The guards were surprisingly good people. They didn’t shout at Fran to try and drive her away, and they even seemed genuinely worried about her.
「Flut and Satia. Should be here. Friends.」
「Flut, Satia? Who?」
「Wait, I’m fairly certain that Flut and Satia are the names of the Fyrias Kingdom’s prince and princess.」
「Oh, yeah, right. But those guys are royalty. There’s no way they’d be friends.」
「Hold on. I do remember them saying that one of their friends might end up paying them a visit, and that we should let said friend through should she come.」
「Ahhh, yeah. I remember now. H-Hey, what was your na – er, would you mind if I asked for your name?」
「Nn? Fran.」
「See, I knew it!」
「P-Please allow some time in order for us to authenticate any necessary details!」
And so, the guards ran around and exchanged information in a bit of a dumbfounded manner in order to confirm Fran’s identity.
The whole process ended up taking about a total of thirty minutes.
「How nice of you to visit!」
「We’re glad to see you again.」
「Nn. Me too.」
「We’ve heard much of your accomplishments. They say your entry in the King of Cooking is a dish completely unknown even to the judges themselves.」
「Our servants have claimed that they were extremely delicious. We really would like to try them ourselves.」
「Then stop by stall?」
「We can’t. We as royalty can’t possibly voice any dissatisfactions about the food Barbra’s lord is providing us. Besides, there’s all that troublesome food taster stuff too.」
Riiiight. Royalty didn’t have the liberty to just walk around in order to buy and eat whatever they wanted. That applied all the more to both Flut and Satia seeing as how they’d only just recently avoided an assassination. Serid, who just happened to be standing by, ended up giving a bit of a frown in response to the the prince’s words.
「Then can just sneak a few. Here.」
「Awesome! So this is the rumoured curry bread?」
「It’s still warm!」
「Paramount of flavour.」
「I-It’s that delicious?」
「Nn.」
「We’ll gladly accept the offer.」
Flut and Satia happily grabbed the food Fran presented them without even a moment’s hesitation.
Wait, whatever happened to the food taster stuff?
I looked towards Serid, only to find that he actually wasn’t bothering to say or do anything. All he did was keep the same frown on his face. In fact, he, like the prince and princess, also took a serving of the dish when we ended up deciding to offer it to him. He actually just took it without even the slightest bit of suspicion.
It looked like he actually trusted Fran. Though, I guess that did make sense. There was no reason for her to poison anyone present, especially after all they’d been through together.
「It tastes really good!」
The princess was the first to react.
「I think it might be the most delicious thing I’ve ever had!」
「Me too!」
「I do admit that the dish is indeed mortifyingly delicious.」
The fact that all three of them enjoyed it made me feel pretty good about myself. It seemed even royalty was within curry bread’s strike zone.
「Curry is best.」
「That’s a claim I’m more than capable of understanding.」
「Nn.」
Fran looked at all three of Flut, Satia and Serid with a smug expression on her face. She ended up giving a happy nod each and every single time any of the three said the words “tasty” or “delicious.”
『It should be about time for us to get down to business.』
「Nn?」
Apparently, Fran’d been so happy with everyone’s reactions that she’d completely forgotten why we came here in the first place.
『We paid them a visit because we needed to see the Lord, remember?』
「Right. Accidentally forgot.」
「What’s wrong, Fran?」
「Came to ask a favour.」
「What kind of favour? We’ll try our best to see it through if it’s something we can help you with.」
「Nn. Want to see Barbra’s Lord.」
「You wanted to see Sir Rhodas? What for?」
「Tomorrow. Coup d’etat.」
「Did you state that there would be a coup d’etat!? Explain to us the details immediately!」
Serid interjected the moment he heard about the the coup.
And so, Fran told the three everything she knew. She described the second son’s treachery, and the third son’s involvement therein while also making mention of the assassinations ordered.
Her explanation led Flut to immediately rise to his feet.
「Serid, I command you to arrange us a meeting with Sir Rhodas immediately.」
「By your will, Your Highness!」
「Believing me?」
It looked to us like the prince had taken Fran’s words to heart; his expression betrayed not even the slightest bit of doubt.
「I do. I know that I can trust you, Fran.」
「The images Urushi showed us looked quite realistic as well.」
「Telling a lie of such a calibur can result in execution, and I hardly take you for such a fool.」
And so, with that said, Serid left the room in order to book us an appointment with the Lord. Flut and Satia were royalty. Their words held quite the weight to them, so much weight, in fact, that the Lord himself came to their room before even five minutes had passed.
「I have come to answer your summons, Your Highnesses?」
「I’d like to introduce you to a friend of ours before we begin our discussions.」
「Fran. Adventurer. Nice to meet you.」
Rhodas was a noble with an incredible amount of power, but he ended shaking Fran’s head with a nod of acknowledgement regardless. It looked to me that he was being as careful as possible to ensure that he kept the Prince and Princess in a good mood. Treating her without respect despite the introduction would likely lead to the opposite of his desired result.
「And I am Rhodas Krysten, Barbra’s Lord. Your Highnesses, did you perhaps call for me in order to allow for this introduction?」
「Unfortunately that’s not all. We’d like for you to listen to what she has to say.」
「I see…? Very well then.」
I had to say, Rhodas was truly an exemplary noble. He was probably overloaded with doubts and questions, but he managed to retain a poker face and his answer only indicated the slightest bit of hesitation. He knew that he was dealing with royalty, and that it’d be best for him to go along with their demands.
「Nn. Here to discuss second and third sons.」
「Are you perhaps referring to Bluke and Waint?」
「Nn.」
And so, Fran told Rhodas basically exactly what he’d just told Fyrians. Naturally, not even a noble as accomplished as him could remain calm when told of the fact that his kids were scheming up a coup.
「That’s preposterous! On what sort of ridiculous foundation could you possibly base those claims!?」
He eventually became unable to hold it any longer, and ended up cutting Fran off with a shout.
「The truth.」
「Then you must surely possess evidence!」
He rose from his chair whilst continuing to yell despite the fact that he was still in the presence of royalty.
「Urushi.」
「Woof!」
「A-And what precisely might you be doing now?」
「Don’t worry Sir Rhodas. No harm will come to you. Please relax.」
「Y-Your Highness, I…」
「Woof!」
「Ugh… I…」
Seeing Urushi’s memories caused Rhodas to grimace. It didn’t seem like he was willing to what he’d just witnessed.
「What you’ve presented me fails to suffice as evidence… But I highly doubt that a girl as young as yourself would otherwise have knowledge of Zerais’ features… Moreover, it is indeed a fact that this year’s festival has seen many more arrests than any other in the past. 」
He started muttering under his breath while sorting through the details.
「Well, Sir Rhodas? What are your thoughts on the matter?」
「We have yet to see any solid evidence, and as such, I cannot agree to deploying all the city’s troops.」
「I understand your concerns, but the danger posed by a potential coup d’etat should not simply be overlooked.」
「Before we discuss the matter any further, I must ask something of you, Your Highness. Do you trust the words that the young lady before us has said on this day?」
「I have full faith in her.」
「I see…」
The Lord spent a bit of time contemplating the pros and cons of each of his options.
If I were to guess, I’d say that he probably first considered if his sons were trustworthy. The next factor he thought of was likely whether or not listening to the Fyrians was a good move from a political standpoint. They were royalty, but they also hailed from a completely different country. He didn’t necessarily need to heed their words, but, doing so would allow him to build with them a trusting relationship. Moreover, they’d owe him a favour if we were wrong about the whole thing. The last thing he probably ended up debating was if what he’d been shown through magic was something that’d actually happened.
And so, after a few minutes passed, he finally managed to come to a decision.
「I understand the circumstances and will act accordingly. I cannot arrest either of my sons without evidence. However, I will have the guards that normally work throughout the night restrain them whilst claiming to be functioning as escorts. I will also work to increase the number of guards on patrol in order and have them search for both Zerais and Zerrosreed. I will then mobilize an additional unit in order to collect evidence as to not make waste of time.」
「We will contribute our own guards to your forces as well. The more heads we have, the easier the task will be to achieve.」
Honestly, we’d hoped for him to mobilize all his troops in order for him to quickly capture and arrest Bluke and his companions, but that was unrealistic, and what he was now was still sufficient. Besides, the troops Flut and Satia brought along were going to join in as well, so we still had more than enough manpower.
「Got it.」
「And where, might I inquire, are you headed off to now?」
Rhodas questioned Fran as she rose from her seat. He’d probably assumed that she was just going to sit here and wait until the whole thing was done and over with.
「Finding evidence.」
We figured it’d be a good for us to take either Zerrosreed or Zerais into custody.
『Alright, Urushi. We’re going to be counting on that nose of yours, boy.』
「Woof.」
「Will be back.」
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[1] Think along the lines of how cats like to narrow their eyes when you pet them sometimes.
I’d expected that I’d end up having to take breaks from both Fire Emblem and Nights of Azure because of the translations typically being really bad for my sanity. I was right. You can thank those two games’ localization teams for today’s release.