「Eh……ah……?」

After being woken up by the light streaming in through the window, Rei looked around, momentarily unaware of where he was.

After realising he was in a luxurious bed, the finest he had ever slept in, even including Earth, he finally remembered where he was.

「That’s right, I ended up staying the night in the castle.」

Muttering to himself, he turned to look at his left index finger, where a midnight coloured ring could be seen.

「The New Moon Ring, huh. It’s still here.」

There were ordinary magic items which were capable of hiding magic power as well.

But, when Rei wore such magic items, they would be unable to fully absorb his magic power, rendering them ineffective……or even destroying them.

As he lacked the ability to see magic power himself, Rei couldn’t quite tell the difference, but he had been given another magic item with similar effects to the New Moon Ring to test and it had crumbled to dust, unable to withstand his magic power.

「Regardless, if wearing this ring means I can hide my magic power from people who can sense it, then I’m quite lucky. Turning down the tournament reward wasn’t such a bad thing after all. And, if I had received anything more after the metal card, it would probably have caused some trouble.」

Rei muttered out loud as he savoured the feeling of the bed, which was soft, but had enough bounce to support his entire weight.

Last night, Tragist had asked Rei what he wanted to do with the runner up prize from the fighting tournament, but he had turned in down in light of the metal card.

He looked at the New Moon Ring again as he enjoyed the bed.

The last time he had stayed at the castle to guard Frizione, he had been in a detached hut of sorts which only had an ordinary bed.

……Of course, it was only ordinary by the castle’s standards.

That place was somewhere Frizione would stay at from time to time, but it was unlikely for her to ever stay the night there, so the bed hadn’t been of particularly high quality.

In comparison, the room Rei had just woken up in was a room reserved for honoured guests……highly honoured guests at that.

Naturally, the room was fitted out with the finest furniture and it was Rei’s first time sleeping in a bed like this.

「I wonder if I could ask for the bed as a reward?」

Just as he was thinking about that, he heard a knock on the door.

「Come in.」

A maid who could only be described as beautiful entered the room after Rei’s response.

She was slightly older than Rei.

The maid was someone that Tragist had assigned to Rei.

She had told Rei that she would be available to entertain him at night if he wanted, but Rei couldn’t say yes, let alone in front of Vihera, so she was just working as a regular maid.

「Pardon me, Rei-sama. Regarding breakfast, Vihera-sama asked if you would like to join her……」

Rei nodded, strangely happy to hear Vihera not being referred to as Her Highness.

「I understand. Is breakfast now?」

「No, it’s in 30 minutes from now.」

「……Knowing Vihera, I would have thought she would want to eat immediately.」

Rei scratched his head as he spoke and the maid gave a slight smile.

「Vihera-sama is dining with a man, so surely she must have to prepare some things?」

「You say she needs to prepare. Dinner might be one thing, but this is only breakfast right? I don’t think she would need to prepare that much for it.」

「That’s no good, Rei-sama. You don’t understand a woman’s heart. Women want men……especially the men they love……to see them as beautifully as possible.」

Vihera’s feelings for Rei were already well known, not to mention her attitude towards him.

Given Vihera’s popularity, it was no exaggeration to say that the matter had spread through the whole castle already.

Frizione being one of the prime people spreading the information.

「Anyway, I get what you’re saying. Then, I should get ready too. Also, have you heard anything about Set?」

Last night, when Rei decided to stay at the castle, one issue that arose was naturally Set.

Very few people in the castle had ever come in contact with a Griffon after all.

The only exception were the people who had served in Mercurio’s army that Rei had asked to take care of Set before.

However, Set was also far smarter than the people around him.

When Rei said that he would be staying at the castle for the night, Set had made his way to the stables on his own before lying down, not causing any trouble at all.

Fortunately……or unfortunately, the number of horses present in the castle stables had been reduced due to the civil war, so Set wasn’t pressed for space.

At Rei’s query about Set, the maid smiled before saying that there was no problem.

「I heard that he ate the equivalent of 20 people’s worth of food for breakfast.」

「……He really is taking advantage of this to eat as much as he wants.」

While Set did eat a lot, he would usually control himself……eating until he was 80% full.

However, perhaps realising that he didn’t need to restrain himself here, Set was currently eating as much as he wanted.

He wasn’t eating ordinary animal food either, but food prepared by the castle chefs.

The chefs seemed unhappy at first when they were told to prepare food for a tamed monster rather than people, but after seeing Set eat so happily the night before, they started to cook more willingly.

「Many people originally thought of Griffons as terrifying monsters, but seeing him be so friendly……and eating so happily.」

From the maid’s words, Rei realised that she was one of the ones taking care of Set and got ready to head out while hearing her excited chatter about Set.

 

 

「Did I keep you waiting?」

「No, I just got here.」

When Rei entered the room the maid had guided him to, Vihera was already sitting in a chair, sipping on some tea.

As a former member of royalty, her manner of drinking tea was elegant. However……

(Such an outfit inside the castle, particularly in the morning……it’s not just out of place, it’s very provocative.)

As Rei sat down at the table where breakfast was being served, he admired Vihera, who was dressed in her usual seductive outfit.

「Good morning, Rei.」

「Oh, good morning. So, why did you invite me to breakfast?」

「……Look, Rei, you’ll be leaving the Imperial Capital in a few days, right? And I’ll be heading to Exil. So, is it really strange for me to want to spend a little more time with the person I love?」

The eyes of the maids waiting in the corners of the room lit up at Vihera’s plain declaration of love.

Like Frizione, Vihera was quite popular with the people.

So it was only natural that they would be interested in Vihera’s love life.

The same was true of the maid who guided Rei here, who exchanged silent glances with her fellow maids.

「……Well, if that’s what you want, that’s fine.」

Rei spoke as he looked at the table.

Brown bread was the staple food of the Bestir Empire, but the basket on the table held freshly baked white bread.

It must have only just been baked. Rei reached for the delicious looking bread.

Seeing that, Vihera glanced over at the maids.

Seeing her glance, the maids left the room to bring in more dishes.

「So, you’re leaving the castle after this?」

Vihera seemed to wait for the moment that only she and Rei were in the room before asking.

Rei nodded back without hesitation.

「Yeah. The people who will be leaving for Gilm with me have already been packing since last night. Fortunately, they’re all from the Imperial Capital or the local area, so it shouldn’t take them that long to be ready.」

「I see. I’m planning on going with you until the border, is that okay?」

Whether they were going to Exil or Gilm, the route to the border was still the same.

Because of that, Vihera’s desire as a maiden in love was to stay with Rei until then.

Rei nodded back immediately, unaware of Vihera’s thoughts, just assuming that she would rather travel in a group than alone……and with people she knew if possible.

「Yes. That’s fine. But the question is how to keep in touch. I can’t keep staying in the castle like this……and the only inn I know in the Imperial Capital is the Eternal Sky Pavilion.」

The Eternal Sky Pavilion was the highest class inn in the Bestir Empire. Not only was it expensive, but you also couldn’t just show up without a reservation.

「Then, what are you going to do? Stay at the castle?」

「No, I’ll probably just find a random inn somewhere in the Imperial Capital. Or I might stay with one of the people who will be coming to Gilm with me in exchange for helping them move things.」

As he replied, the maids returned with more food.

Salads, soups, and various other dishes were laid out on the table.

There were some meat dishes, but they were clearly intended for breakfast. The meat was steamed to remove excess fat before being topped with some sort of fruit sauce.

There were also several fish, vegetable, and egg dishes, each of which were refreshing. ……Of course, the portions were quite large as well.

This was because Vihera had told the chef to make bigger portions in advance, knowing Rei’s appetite.

「Well then, let’s eat first.」

And so breakfast began at Vihera’s words.

As expected of food cooked by the head chef at the castle, each dish went straight into Rei’s mouth.

Vihera was used to the sight of Rei eating, so she didn’t mind as she ate and conversed with Rei. The same couldn’t be said for the maids though.

Rei didn’t have a particularly large build and his face could even be called feminine.

Putting aside his personality and lack of knowledge on etiquette, he had an appearance that others would admire.

That was why it was only natural that they would be surprised seeing such a person stuff two, three, or even four servings of food into his mouth, one after the other.

Amidst all this, Vihera smiled as she watched Rei devoured the food.

「You’re eating quite well, aren’t you?」

「The food here is very delicious.」

「Fufu~, thanks. I’ll convey your thoughts to the chef later.」

The sight of food disappearing in the blink of an eye as they continued their pleasant conversation was quite strange in many ways.

「By the way, I’m going to Exil, but you’re going straight back to Gilm, right?」

「Yes, that’s the plan. ……Or rather, that’s what the people from the guerrilla unit are planning to do.」

「No, I know that, but……if you’re going back to Gilm at this time, does that mean you’ll be staying there until spring?」

「I guess so. Well, it would be a different story if something unplanned were to happen.」

「Something unplanned?」

「Well, like the Bestir Empire attacking the Mireana Kingdom again.」

「That’s unlikely. ……Considering my father’s personality, I can’t say for certain. But at the very least, I don’t think Mercurio will do anything.」

Vihera muttered as she stuffed some salad into her mouth. But Rei shook his head.

「You know how things are, don’t you? It’s true that Mercurio did win the civil war and has assumed the position of next in line to the throne. But, he’s still only the next in line. That means that if the current emperor tries to do something, he can only try to stop it, he can’t say for sure. ……And the current emperor has quite the hardline stance against the Mireana Kingdom.」

That was an undeniable fact.

As planned, Rei had succeeded in creating a pro-Mireana Kingdom faction within the Bestir Empire.

And, that faction was centered around the next in line to the throne.

However, if Emperor Tragist were to launch another war against the Mireana Kingdom, Mercurio would only be able to express his opinion from his position, he couldn’t stop the decision.

If he did, it would only result in a repeat of the previous civil war.

……However, rather than Shurus, his opponent would be Tragist. The Emperor himself.

If you were to ask if Mercurio could beat Tragist, it was nigh impossible.

If a civil war like that did break out, the Imperial Army, which had stayed neutral for the duration of the previous civil war, would turn on him, not to mention the other nobles who had stayed out of the conflict.

In other words……unlike the civil war that has just ended, which could be considered a balanced fight, a civil war against the Emperor would just result in a massacre.

「……I hope that doesn’t happen.」

Rei’s words echoed through the room……and Vihera nodded in response.

(If that were to happen……I guess my job would be to threaten the Bestir Empire’s rear.)

Considering his strength as an one man army that specialised in annihilation magic, the thought crossed Rei’s mind.

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