Chapter 5: Even if this Love was Prearranged(1)

MISTERLP

Parnam, capital of the Kingdom of Friedonia.

With the antiquated, but still impressive, castle, the orange roofs that

gave the city its color, and the round city walls that encircled them, it was

a city that felt, in some way, nostalgic.

However, beneath all of that were Souma's reforms to public hygiene,

as well as the installation of a sewer system and transportation network,

which had produced a city that was efficient and livable in a way that

belied its old-fashioned appearance. This city was like a symbol of the

Kingdom of Friedonia as it began to amass power.

Now, for all that Parnam was undergoing rapid advances, there were

also occasionally bizarre rumors that spread inside the city. Urban legends,

one might call them.

Last year brought rumors of the moving mannequin, and the kigurumi

adventurer. These naturally subsided when sightings of moving

mannequins came to an end, and when mentions of the kigurumi

adventurer had started to bring responses of, "Oh, you mean Little

Musashibo."

However, of late, a new rumor had begun to take their place.

It was...

"The Dark Shadow That Moves through the Night Sky."

This was how one metal goods seller, Mr. A, related the tale:

"I was hitting the bottle pretty hard that day, so I don't remember so

well, but... I was drunk off my hind end, on my back, staring up into the

sky, when something passed overhead. It was all... blackish, coiled, and

long."

Here was another account from a merchant, Mr. S:

"I was comin' back from my delivery to the castle that day. It was a

clear day, and ya could see the moon and clouds right clear, but for some

reason, the area 'round me went and got real dark all of a sudden. That was

when I realized there was a big ol' shadow passin' overhead. It was

blockin' out the moon's light. I got right scared, and my legs gave out, but

the shadow flew over top of the castle and then, poof, it vanished. Here's

hopin' it ain't an ill omen of things to come..."

There were many sightings such as these, and it caused uncertainty

among the townsfolk who were concerned that a monster might have

come. However, when Chris Tachyon broadcast the truth behind these

sightings from the castle, things began to calm down.

They say the two responsible for these rumors received a harsh

reprimand about it later from their guardians.

◇ ◇ ◇

I was now on Naden's back, flying through the night sky. The

fantastical situation of flying through the sea of clouds beneath a starry sky

on a ryuu's back made my heart dance. It got me so pumped that, without

even meaning to, I started humming the opening theme to an anime I

watched long ago.

Incidentally, on our route back to the kingdom, we passed over the

Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria. In my former world, it may have been

fair to ask if I was infringing on their airspace, but here, while civilizations

may have mastered the skies, there was no concept of airspace rights. In

this world, there was yet to be a system of international law that would

allow other countries to take issue with wyverns and other such flying

creatures being used to pass over their territory at high altitudes.

There was one clear, simple reason for that: They couldn't enforce it.

For instance, if a wyvern entered a country's airspace, there were no

radar systems in this world with which they might detect it. It wouldn't be

possible to monitor all of their airspace, without a system like radar, using

only patrols.

Because of that, such patrols were limited to the areas over major cities.

This was done to prevent a small aerial force from entering their airspace

to drop bombs over a city, or to drop off spies. Also, if a group was flying

in formation close to the surface, they would be quickly spotted by those

on the ground, and it would be possible to catch them.

So, turning that around, as long as we didn't fly near the ground, in a

formation, or over cities, it would be possible to pass over another country.

I sent Poncho to other countries to gather cooking ingredients in the

past. On those occasions, we sent messengers to those countries to secure

proper permission for him to land there. However, when passing over

another country at high altitude like we were doing now, there was no need

to tell them about it.

That said, if anything did happen, the country in question couldn't be

held accountable for it. This was a situation where we couldn't complain

even if they shot us down; but Naden was flying higher than the average

wyvern could, so I wasn't worried about that. That was why, when

traveling from the Star Dragon Mountain Range to the Kingdom of

Friedonia, we cut across the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria.

Naden flew the route that our relaxed trip had taken nearly a week to

cover in a mere two to three hours.

"Hey, Kazuma... is this really okay?" Naden asked. The closer we got

to the capital, Parnam, the more worried her questions sounded. "Parnam

is the capital of Friedonia, right? Flying inside their territory is one thing,

but if I fly over the cities, won't it become a diplomatic issue and cause

them to attack us?"

I patted Naden on the back to reassure her. "It'll be fine. I've already

notified them."

"You say you've notified them, but... we've been in the air all this

time!"

"It's a bit too much effort to explain, but, well, just think of it as my

magic."

I had used a mannequin with the Factory Arm #1 that I'd left part of

my consciousness in with Living Poltergeists so that it could do paperwork

while I was away to write a message. The message said, "Be back soon.

Will be riding in on a long, coiled creature. Don't be surprised." So they

knew we were coming. The Factory Arm #1 was incredibly creepy to look

at, but it could be used to relay messages like this, so it was still handy.

"I'm more curious how you were able to explain the situation to an

entire kingdom, though..." Naden said.

I couldn't read her expression when she was in ryuu form, but Naden's

voice sounded dubious.

"Well, let's just say... I'm in a position to do that," I said.

"You say you have four fiancées, too, so you're no ordinary guy, are

you, Kazuma? Maybe you're really important in the kingdom? Like a

major noble?"

"I'm an ordinary guy," I said. "One who's been forced into an

extraordinary position, that's all."

When I gave her an answer she could infer as much as she wished

from, the city of Parnam with its lightmoss streetlamps and the moonlit

Parnam Castle came into view.

I'm back, I thought.

The way that I felt, even though I'd only been gone for about half a

month, was proof that this castle had already become my place to return

home to.

"Naden, land in that castle's courtyard," I directed.

"The castle?! That's okay?!"

"It's fine."

That was where people were waiting for me to come home.

Naden remained floating in the air, holding me in her mouth until she

could put me down on the ground. Then she immediately took on human

form herself and landed, too.

The castle courtyard was pretty large, but it was still a bit too tight a fit

for Naden to land there in her ryuu form. If she tried to land that way, the

royal gardeners would probably cry. We technically had a heliport-like

space for wyverns to land, too, but the courtyard was closer to the inside of

the castle.

When we landed in the courtyard, the guards went stiff as if they

couldn't believe what they were seeing, but they immediately saluted us

and rushed inside. Not long after, Liscia, Hakuya, Juna, and Roroa came

out.

When Roroa saw me, she immediately raced over and, using all of her

momentum, leapt at me and gave me a flying tackle hug. "Welcome home,

darlin'!"

"Urgh... I-I'm home," I managed to say.

Roroa was light and delicate, so I hadn't been knocked on my rear end

or anything like that, but I had to spin around about one and a half times to

kill her momentum. Roroa's arms were securely fastened around my waist,

and she was snuggling up against me like a cat, pressing her face into my

chest.

"Darlin', I've been so lonely without you."

"Lonely?" I objected. "It's only been about a week."

"If I can't see your face, whether it's a day or a year, it's all the same.

Juna was actin' restless, too, and while Big Sister Cia's been feignin'

calmness, her brow was all wrinkled up."

""Roroa!"" Liscia and Juna shouted.

While they both shouted at her for spilling the details of how they'd

been while I was gone, Roroa laughed and hid behind me.

Ah... It was a bit vague, but it felt like I'd come home.

"Liscia, Juna, I'm home," I said, smiling.

"Oh! Welcome home, Your Majesty." Juna fixed her posture and

bowed.

"Welcome home." Liscia spoke in an exasperated tone. "You came

back so suddenly, I was surprised."

"Suddenly?" I asked. "Didn't you get the message saying I'd be back?"

"It took too long before it came. Do you have any idea how many

messenger kuis Aisha sent, worrying about your safety, Souma?"

...Oh. Now that she mentioned it, I'd left Aisha and the others behind in

that village. I guess we could have picked them up on the way here, huh.

"I heard the Star Dragon Mountain Range were going to be explaining

the situation to them, though," I said.

"It's meaningless unless you're the one to tell them yourself," Liscia

retorted. "In the letter she sent me, Carla said that Aisha nearly took a

swing at the messenger who came from there."

"What? That's scary..."

"Carla and the others desperately stopped her. Honestly, it almost

turned into a diplomatic incident. Though it seems they acknowledged the

fault was largely with them for taking you so suddenly, and then the envoy

began apologizing."

"Aisha... When it comes to me, she can be so indiscriminate," I sighed.

Starting an all-out war with the dragons wouldn't be funny. Show some

self-restraint, please.

"It just shows how much she cares for you, doesn't it?" Liscia retorted.

"Make it up to her the next time the two of you are together."

"Okay..."

Then I addressed Hakuya, who had been sitting out of the conversation.

"Did anything unusual happen while I was away?"

"Nothing that stood out. If you were to press me to come up with

something, we gave Sir Piltory, who was dispatched to the Empire,

permission to return here temporarily."

"Piltory? Did something happen with him?"

Piltory Saracen. He was one of my retainers, and, in order to strengthen

our coordination with the Gran Chaos Empire, I had dispatched him to be

our ambassador stationed in the Empire. If Piltory has returned, did that

mean something happened in the Empire?

But Hakuya shook his head with a calm look on his face. "It seems one

of the wives he took to the Empire with him has gotten pregnant. He only

returned temporarily to leave her with his family, who have more spare

hands to look after her. Once he left his wife in their care, Sir Piltory

immediately returned to the Empire."

"That's... wonderful news," I said. So he'd come home because they

conceived. I was glad to hear it wasn't bad news.

If I recalled, when Piltory had gone to the Empire, he brought only his

two wives and a small number of his retainers. Maybe, rather than have his

wife give birth in an unfamiliar environment, Piltory felt safer leaving her

back home. That seemed fair enough.

However, there was one other thing here that concerned me.

Hakuya's expression.

Even though he was usually so calm and composed, today he looked a

little bit happy.

"...Hakuya, did something good happen?" I asked cautiously.

"Hm? Nothing in particular. Why do you ask?"

"No, you just looked a little giddy."

"...Do you think so?"

With that, Hakuya returned to his usual calm and composed demeanor.

Hmm, had I imagined it? It bothered me slightly, but... Well, it was better

than him scowling.

Once Hakuya was done giving me a more detailed report of the things

that happened while I was away, Roroa, who was still clinging on to me

and seemed sick of waiting, spoke up.

"So, darlin', is this here the dragon girl you were sayin' you want to

form a contract with?"

When she asked me that, I realized I'd been completely neglecting

Naden.

"No, I mean, yes, she's a dragon, but not a dragon, per se... Wait,

Naden?!"

When I looked over, Naden was frozen stiff, staring at me blankly with

her jaw dropped. Like a computer that had frozen up because there was too

much to process. There were probably all sorts of things going on inside

her head, and her expression hadn't changed for a while now, probably

because her emotions couldn't keep up.