Chapter 22: Volume 2 - CH 5

Lined up in front of Callan’s main gate was a long line of horse carriages most likely belonging to traders from other countries. While observing them with a sideways glance, Kyle and his group passed through the gate.

“I guess our position as emissaries immediately came in useful, huh.”

Judging from that mass of people in front of the gate, the simple procedure of entering the city would have taken hours, but until this current incident was over, Kyle and his group were regarded as representatives of Zilgus, thus allowing them inside much faster. Here in Callan, Zilgus was regarded as the governing country. It reached the point where the guards at the front gate immediately flew off to report on Kyle and his group’s arrival, simply because they were emissaries.

Callan possessed a characteristic city atmosphere. All the buildings were made out of stone, looking awfully rustic and brusque. It was a step back from the looks and atmosphere of Malad, instead seeming unaffected and sincere. Seran and Shildonia observed the streets and cityscape with a dubious gaze. However, Urza seemed oddly displeased, covering her special long ears with her hood.

“What’s wrong?”

“………”

Hearing Lieze’s question, Urza merely quietly turned towards the people walking down the street. There, one could see several dwarves.

“Ahhh…” There, Lieze seemed to have understood.

Dwarves were the race part of humanfolk that had the second highest numbers next to humans, having an independent country, and great influence. Both male and female dwarves had a generally small stature, but meaty physiques. In terms of their stature, they were the exact opposite of elves. If elves were inhabitants of the forests, then dwarves lived on the earth. This resulted in them building a lot of underground towns and cities, which explained why they would be present in a city like Callan, but at the same time, you wouldn’t find any elves around. At the same time, those two races weren’t exactly on the bestest of terms.

“Rest assured, I don’t have any problem with this. I don’t discriminate against others like some of the dwarves tend to do…Mostly, they are just far too thick-headed. And, they love alcohol a bit too much. They are absolutely helpless and unable to show any consideration for others.”

“What a perfect summary of prejudices to have…” Lieze commented with a sigh.

“It’s fine, I understand my position. I won’t cause any needless ruckus.” Urza reassured Lieze, and yet still sounded displeased.

Although it was mostly unofficial, as Kyle and others were emissaries of Zilgus, they couldn’t afford to cause any trouble. Kyle saw Urza’s attitude, and let out a sigh. Even during past battles, he couldn’t help but show a wry smile at the bad terms his comrade elves and dwarves were on.

They fought together as the world was in danger, but outside the bare minimum of conversation, they didn’t even try to look at each other. When Kyle asked for the reason, both sides gave a blunt ‘They hate me after all’, so nothing could have been done.

“You must be the emissaries sent by Princess Milena, I assume.”

A voice called out to them from behind, and when they turned around, they were greeted by a single woman. Seeing her, Kyle froze up for a moment.

“Nice to meet you. I am an ambassador of Zilgus, working here in Callan. My name is Miranda.” The woman smiled.

She wore glasses made from dwarven technique, and possessed a knowledgeable as well as calm atmosphere. Behind her stood about ten armed soldiers, most likely acting as the guards.

“Ah, um…My name is Kyle Leonard. It’s a pleasure.”

I see, she’s working as an ambassador right now…

Kyle had to take a moment to regain his composure, but managed to respond.

“Yes, I am all too familiar with all of you. Since talking here while standing won’t do us any good, could I ask you to come to the embassy? It is quite close to here, so I’d ask you to follow me.” Miranda said, and started walking.

“…What was that reaction about?” Lieze gave Kyle a sideways glance. “You were probably flustered because of how beautiful she is, right?”

In reality however, Kyle simply was surprised by the unexpected—at least for him—reunion.

“Hm? N-No no no. She’s basically the same age as Mom, so I wouldn’t be interested anyway.”

“Same as Seraia? She sure didn’t look that way though.” Lieze looked at Miranda again, who possessed an outer appearance that made her seem to be in the middle of her twenties at most.

“No, it’s as Kyle said. From the way she moves her hips, and the condition of her skin…she should be around 33, maybe 34.” Seran explained with a serious expression while inspecting Miranda from behind.

“You’re one hell of a guy…” Kyle knew her age, but couldn’t help feeling intimidated by Seran who guessed it correctly with just a glance. “However, it’s not a natural appearance like Seraia-san has, but she’s more likely keeping it up with a lot of effort.”

“If you know that, then don’t say it out loud. What if she hears you?” Kyle let out a sigh, while being aware that his mother was quite the exception.

“Ahhh…So Kyle, are you bad with older women?” Urza asked, sounding disinterested but somewhat worried at the same time.

“As long as it’s not that big of a difference, I don’t mind.” Kyle guessed what she was asking that for, and answered accordingly.

At the same time, he looked at the elf who was more than a hundred years older than him with a ‘You’re an entirely different parameter’ gaze.

“And when it comes to me, you’d reach a measurement error.”

“You don’t even count.”

When talking about the magical entity of Shildonia who had lived a thousand years and more, talking about an age gap was wasted breath.

“I don’t care about age, I simply judge with appearance!”

“Nobody asked you!”

As the emissaries were arguing and discussing vividly, Miranda simply watched them with a faint smile.

Kyle and his group were taken to the most prominent and renowned building in Callan, the place where the mayor, basically the king of Callan had lived at. However, according to Miranda, this place had been used as the residence of Zilgus’ ambassador for the past two years, now changing into the embassy instead. Here, the current power relationship between Callan and Zilgus was discussed on a regular basis.

“I see, so you came here in order to meet the Mayor.”

At the reception room, Miranda looked at the documents delivered by Princess Milena, and confirmed the goal of Kyle and his group.

“Even though His Highness had passed and the country found itself in chaos, she sent over such irregular emissaries…That is very much like Milena-sama.”

Prioritizing profit and speed over custom was one of Princess Milena’s strengths. At the same time, Kyle felt like there was a sense of familiarity in Miranda’s voice you wouldn’t expect from a servant.

“Um…Are you acquainted with Milena-sama by any chance?”

“Yes, around three years ago, I was one of the teachers of Milena-sama, mainly being responsible for diplomatic relationships. I know it might sound weird coming from me…but I thank you very much for helping Milena-sama while she was in danger.” Miranda deeply lowered her head. “Milena-sama has informed me of your great help, so ask me anything.”

“Then for starters, we’d like to meet the mayor of this city.” Kyle said, to which Miranda’s expression grew a bit cloudy.

“I believe that won’t be as easy. The mayor is currently suffering from a sickness, and won’t be able to accept visitors.”

“Is it so severe that we can’t meet him even once?”

“I have asked for a meeting several times already, but the doctor has advised against meeting him to prevent a possible epidemic. At the same time, the management of Callan in itself is going smoothly, so there was no need to press an appointment.” She sounded regrettable while explaining.

“Is that so…I was really hoping to meet him at least once.”

“Indeed, now that you are official embassaries sent by Milena-sama, he will have the duty of coming to meet you, and I personally was thinking of meeting him anyway, even if it had to be by force.” Miranda stood up. “Let me take you there.”

As the group was waiting in front of the embassy for Miranda to finish all necessary documents and procedures, Seran called out to Kyle.

“Hey, Kyle, there’s no meaning to me being at the place of negotiation, right. I’ll move separately for the time being.”

“I don’t mind, but what are you…well, guess I don’t have to ask.” Kyle judged that Seran would go hunting for women again.

“Won’t deny, that’s a big part of it, but I also have something to take care of…Well, I’ll be back before it gets dark.” He waved his hand at the group, and disappeared in the streets.

After a bit more time passed, Miranda returned.

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“Apologies for the wait. Where is Seran-san?”

“He’s going to check out Callan on his own, but…was that bad?”

Hearing the news, Miranda’s expression stiffened a bit.

“No, it is probably just my needless fear. Ah, there is something else I must warn you about. Here in Callan, there is no person who doesn’t cooperate with us. Though they are most certainly forced to, whether or not they like it.”

“Quite honest of a statement, huh.”

“But, it’s the truth. That just shows how much Callan has changed.”

Lieze and Shildonia whispered to each other.

“However, there is an exception.” Miranda said, and pointed at a building in front of the embassy.

It was a lot smaller than the embassy of Zilgus, but was built with fashionable stone, set up like those two buildings were looking at each other.

“That is the embassy of the Galgan Empire.”

At the same time, from inside the tall walls, a place that resembled a garden, you could hear the loud screams of beasts.

“Even we have no power when it comes to that place. After all, it is neither Callan nor Zilgus grounds, but merely under Galgan jurisdiction.”

In other words, meddling there could lead to damages in their diplomatic relationship.

“I hope you are careful about that,” said Miranda. “Normally, it wouldn’t be too hard to bring down a single embassy like that, but…the Empire has positive relationships with Callan and Zilgus, so…It sadly can’t be helped.” Miranda let out a sigh.

“She can be quite extreme despite looking so docile.”

“You need to be like this if you want to make it as a female ambassador.”

Lieze and Shildonia were once again whispering between each other, but Kyle made them stop with a faint glare.

“Anyway…the wyverns we had seen on our way here are residing there?”

“Indeed, I hadn’t been informed about this myself. I was expecting them to inform me about this…”

Right as Miranda said that, the door of the Galgan Empire’s embassy swung open, and several people stepped outside.

“If it isn’t Miranda-sama, I was just thinking of coming to meet you.”

An employee of the embassy greeted Miranda. Seems like they had met before.

“I’m glad to hear that. Then let me directly ask you about the wyverns just now.”

“Let me explain that.”

The person who stepped to the front was a slender and tall man, who seemed to be in the later half of his 30s. He wore an ashen-white robe, carrying a staff that reached up to his shoulders at his back. He looked like what you would expect from a mage.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Aluzard, and ranking as the 2nd mage of the Galgan Empire’s imperial court.”

Court mages are the ones responsible for any magic related to the country. They have a say in political discussions, teaching the noble children magic, generally giving great influence to the country. The Empire has several court mages at its disposal, but if he was the number two, then he must be a crucial presence. Naturally, Miranda was quite surprised at this appearance.

“Apologies for the abrupt visit, I had some urgent business.” Or so he said, but his expression seemed like he was enjoying himself. “As it stands, in our Imperial Capital Luos, the father of an employee working here has ended up in a critical condition, and he wishes to meet his child in his last moments. This person had been at His Highness The Emperor’s side for quite a long time, so His Highness felt urged to allow this wish and called for the employee.” Aluzard turned around, and gazed at the cages with the wyverns. “However, we couldn’t allow ourselves to waste time in reaching this place, so I had one of the Flying Dragon Knight squads sent here, and I happened to be coincidentally travelling with them as part of my own goal…As these matters overlapped, I found it impossible to inform you beforehand, and I will apologize for that.”

He emphasized that he simply happened to be here by pure confidence.

“I see, I have grasped the circumstances. Then, you will have to return to Luos as quickly as possible, I will take it.” Miranda may have sounded polite, but on the backside of her words, he was urging the man to leave once his business had been dealt with.

“Problematically enough, leaving aside one of them, all other wyverns had suddenly fallen ill. We will need to let them rest for a moment, so it appears that we won’t be able to leave anytime soon. As they are, like us, living beings, these things happen, see. Quite the predicament.” Aluzard argued, as he shook his head.

The term ‘acting brazenly’ probably described this the best. He was speaking out of his own convenience, yet made it sound like something inevitable.

“Either way, since one of the wyverns had been in a good condition, we managed to safely send off the employee in question, so I figured I might use this lucky chance to visit the mayor.”

“…Perfect timing, we were just about to visit the mayor, so feel free to join us.” Miranda said, clearly emphasizing that she wouldn’t let him act independently.

“Yes, I will gladly take you up on that offer.”

“Are you certain about this?”

“I am quite aware of the long history Zilgus and Callan share, but would there be any problem?” He spoke with a tone like he meant to emphasize his clean slate, as Aluzard laughed with all his might.

After that, he turned his attention towards Kyle’s group, standing behind Miranda.

“May I ask who these people are?”

“These are the emissaries sent by Princess Milena.”

“My name is Kyle Lenard.”

The moment Kyle introduced himself, Aluzard’s eyebrow twitched.

“Ohhh, so you are the new hero of Zilgus who saved Princess Milena in her time of need?”

“I’m surprised you knew.”

Even inside Zilgus itself, not many should know of Kyle and his group.

“I am quite fond of Zilgus, see, so I often look into the local affairs.” Aluzard spoke thus far, dropped his forced smile to reveal what might have been his earnest expression, and took a close look at Kyle’s face.

“Hm, your face seems awfully familiar…and your family name Lenard…Are you quite possibly Seraia’s son?”

“You know of my mother?” Kyle was surprised to hear his mother’s name here.

“I had figured. But to think she had a grown son like you. Time sure flies. I guess I have aged myself.” Aluzard showed a wry smile. “Seraia and I had been fellow students, see. We had our desks next to each other, studying magic. Though, that is a story from almost 20 years ago.” Aluzard smiled. “That reminds me, I had made an acquaintance of Roel-kun. Is he doing well?”

Hearing that name, Kyle tilted his head.

“Um…Roe?”

The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t attach it to a face.

“Uncle.” Lieze jabbed her elbow into Kyle’s side, telling him the answer.

“…Ahh! Yes, he’s doing well…I think…maybe?”

Even despite that, Kyle failed to remember his father’s face, so he gave up.

“It took you quite some time for that answer, but…I guess this just shows how weak of an impression he makes.” Aluzard showed a somewhat bothered expression. “Still, to think I would meet the son of an old acquaintance here…It appears as if this job will be a lot more enjoyable than expected.” Aluzard showed a different kind of impeccable smile compared to before, and muttered these words.

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