Chapter 104

The sun had set and the curtains of night had completely fallen .

Normally it would be the time to close up the bar late at night, to stop business for the night .

At such a time, at the front gates of the city of Toga, a 3 horse parlow suddenly appeared .

「Open the gate!! I am an inspector-dono from the royal capital and I have arrived!! Immediately open the gates!!」

A man straddling a red haired parlow in the front exclaimed loudly .

Around the line of people that had come from behind the dark highway, a few will o’the wisp like fires shook . Depending on these fires for their light, they continued running along the night highway .

The swaying fires – most likely fire made by magic – was noticed by the guards guarding Toga’s gate .

In order to stay vigilant against the slowly approaching party, a few soldiers gathered around the gate . Those soldiers, hearing the man’s voice, were greatly astonished .

Of course, it was possible for an inspector to suddenly appear from the royal capital . However, there was never once a case of one appearing at such a slow hour .

「Could this be a thief disguising as an inspector?」

One of the soldiers voices his doubts so to the soldier who seemed to be in charge .

「Well . If he was a disguised thief, that’s a pretty bold approach, correct?」

The soldier in charge of guarding the gate, having ordered his soldiers to stand in front of the 3 horse parlow, answering them in a grand manner .

「I apologize for the rudeness, but for an inspector to come from the royal family at this hour is unbelievable . Do you have some kind of identification that proves you are who you say you are?」

「I have a letter from His Majesty . Please examine it well . 」

The soldier who had accepted the note from the middle-aged man on one of the three horses, seeing the seal stamped on it in wax, his eyes opened widely .

「……Th, This stamp is no doubt from the royal family… . . I apologize for the impoliteness! We will open the gate immediately!」

「No, don’t let it bother you . Since you were just carrying out your duties . 」

「Ve, I’m very grateful!!」

Having passed through the gate of Toga, the three horse parlow passed by the soldier lowering his head politely .

The party, having been led to the mansion where the governor lives, immediately meet the governor, Laikam Granbia .

At that time, at Laikam’s side was Deagan, his legitimate son .

Laikam Granbia had seemed to be in the middle of his forties .

Both of them having the same lightly brown colored eyes and hair, the 40 year old man didn’t give off the same impression of toughness .

His clothes, although hidden, was that of a soldier or knight . Even now he showed all signs of having trained with no breaks .

And Deagan, who was tall and had a nice symmetrical figure .

He was around the same age as Calsedonia and Garudo . In other words, he was a few years older or younger than 20 .

Having the same hair and eye color as his father, the young man gave off a refreshing impression .

However, within those eyes lived a strong will, and he possessed not just that refreshing feeling but also a sturdy heart .

「You must be Yerimao-dono . To visit us at such an hour, what happened?」

Even though it was a late hour in this world to visit someone, Laikam didn’t bear any bad intentions asking Yerimao .

「Yes, I apologize profusely, Granbia-kyou . A bit of a situation came up, so I had to arrive at this kind of hour . 」(TL: -kyou ending on someone’s name is equivalent to the title of Lord or Sir)

「This situation is… . ?」

Slightly tilting his head, Laikam again confirmed with the party .

Yerimao in the front, he also knows well . For someone as him who is a close associate of the crown prince, with nobody in the country’s nobles not knowing him well .

Behind that Yerimao was a young man who looked like a trainee public service official, and a man with red hair who looked like a guard, wearing armor made out of the materials from a magical beast .

Laikam, looking at the young public service trainee and smiling, his eyebrow twitches slightly .

At the same time, his son Deagan looks at the young man, and his surprise while slight is exposed .

「That apprentice-looking young man . Is he also Yerimao-dono’s situation as he says?」

「Yes, your excellency . If possible–」

The young man’s line of sight shifts to look at Deagan, who is next to Laikam .

「It seems he has something to say to your highness’s son, Deagan-sama… . Do you happen to care?」

「It’s fine . Prepare a room . Deagan, please listen to what that young man has to say . 」

「Yes, father . Then, that Mr… . . no, the young trainee . Please come along . 」

While watching Deagan’s back and taking his leave, the young trainee bows to Yerimao .

「Then, Sensei . I will be going to have a small talk with Deagan-sama . Even though I should be helping you right now . 」

「Yeah, take it easy, Joruto-kun . The situation is how it is so there’s no choice . 」

Joruto, seeing off Yerimao with a smiling face, he smiles and follows along Deagan .

Deagan, leading Joruto to another room by his own decision, he cleared the people out of the room, facing Joruto and kneeling .

「It’s been a long time, Your Highness Jortlion . 」

「Ah, don’t be so apprehensive, Deagan . Since right now I’m just a public servant trainee . 」

Saying so to Deagan in a light tone, Joruto briskly walks into the room and takes one stool down, laying his lower back on it, he recommends the still kneeling Deagan to sit down .

Even though Joruto’s attitude was almost saying it’s his house, Deagan doesn’t particularly care .

This is the governor’s mansion, but to be more precise it was a building owned by the royal family . Which means that Joruto himself could be called the lord of this mansion .

Deagan, following Joruto’s words, quickly takes out a stool and sits in it .

「I have heard from my father the customs of the royal family, so I will be corresponding to those customs . So, I heard that you had something to talk to me about?」

「Yeah, since the time is the time I’ll be straight to the point, but do you know Garudo from Lagine Village?」

「Garudo from Lagine Village? Of course I know of him… but why do you know of him?」

If you think about it in normal terms, even if he’s the son of a village chief somewhere in the kingdom, it’s hard to think that Joruto would know of Garudo .

In terms of the royal family and a mere village chief son, their two social statuses are too different .

「That Garudo, from how you look at it what do you think of him, Deagan?」

Deagan, understanding Joruto’s intention less and less, he makes a strange face and answers the question .

「It would be okay to say he’s my childhood friend . From a long time ago, we’ve got along well, and to me he’s a friend that surpasses the social statuses of nobles or commoners . He’s a man who would stand up for me, and a good person . 」

While cheerfully smiling, Deagan talks about Garudo .

Joruto watched this silently, seeing that Deagan was not making up a story .

While he wasn’t an adult yet, Joruto was still a noble . He has been taught how to discern whether someone’s conversation has an underside to it so to say .

「Fuun, okay . Then, have you received anything from Garudo? Or, has he had some trouble and asked for your help?」

「Exactly as I’ve been saying, I consider myself Garudo’s friend . If a friend consults me with a problem, I think it’s normal to help them out as much as one can?」

Of course until now, in Deagan’s past Garudo has come to him with various problems .

The issues were varied, but Garudo was someone who when faced with some kind of trouble wanted to resolve the issue .

The troubles he went through varied, whether quarrelling with the residents of the neighboring village, or quarrelling with travellers that visited Lagine Village, when Garudo had caused a problem, he came to Deagan seeking help .

Deagan, unable to just ignore his friend’s troubles, he had resolved issues here and there, bowing to many .

Luckily, up until now there weren’t any quite big problems . If he just hung his head and apologized, up until now the problems were all resolved at that .

But this time, Deagan seemed to have the wrong idea .

If in the whole area of the Kingdom of Toga, that land’s governor’s son gave his earnest apology, there was nobody who would aggravate the situation further .

And this time, Deagan didn’t think that it was any different .

「……After solving a problem in this way, Garudo would sometimes give me a drink, food, or even handicrafts, which were rare around here, as a token of his appreciation . 」

「……I got it . So, it would require both parties’ recognition . 」

While listening to Deagan’s story, Joruto was mumbling and thinking about how it all was put together .

「Hey, Deagan . Have you ever lectured Garudo?」

「Of course, I’ve warned him as a friend . ‘Even if it’s me helping him, there’s a limit to how much I can protect him’ I told him . And every time, it did look as if he was reflecting…… 」

Even so, every time Garudo caused problems, in the past he rushed to him .

Even though he never got indignated or anything, he was also unable to abandon his friend who came to him every time, and Garudo kept running to Deagan wishing for him to resolve the problem .

「……I guess his personality suited for taking care of others became his own enemy… 」

While listening to Deagan’s explanation, Joruto’s line of sight wandered around in space .

Putting his thoughts together, Joruto finally fixes his gaze, facing and looking at Deagan, who was waiting for Joruto to say something .

「Deagan . I’d like to talk to your father tomorrow, but first I’d like for you to hear me out . I don’t know if you would believe what I will say, but Garudo, from the Lagine Village, is—」

At the truth Deagan had heard from Joruto, his eyes opened widely and could not contain his shock .

With a violent impacting sound, Deagan threw both his hands toward the table .

「… … Then… Then, I’m supposed to just use Garudo!!」

His emotions overflowing from inside, Deagan desperately throws his weight .

Up until now, he had thought of friends as someone who used him .

At the thought of an angry and violent confrontation with Garudo, and facing himself with such shame, his shoulders shook slightly .

「Using him, would be just a bit incorrect . It’s probably closer to you two clashing mutual understandings of each other . 」

Deagan thought of Garudo as a friend .

And Deagan, with an upright personality, had thought that for a friend in need, answering with help would be natural .

For Garudo had thought of Deagan as a supporter .

Whe he couldn’t manage something, he thought of Deagan as an existence he could run to for help .

As a reward, Garudo had sent Deagan rare and expensive alcohol and food from the area .

The articles, which Garudo had gotten from Nephro, his father the village chief, but up until now there was a difference in their understandings .

The things Garudo had sent Deagan – with the intention of being a bribe or gift – the goods were certainly from Garudo’s perspective high-priced goods .

However, for a high-ranked noble called a Marquess like Deagan, it was not such a highly-priced good .

For that reason seeing it from Deagan’s perspective, the things Garudo sent were not a bribe to him but rather the things given with「His feeling of Gratitude」 .

That was how his evaluation standard caused him to look at it differently and differed their understandings .

Garudo had been convinced that because he had sent Deagan the bribes, that he helped him out .

Deagan had thought that helping a friend was natural, so he helped to resolve Garudo’s problems .

It certainly could be said that Garudo took advantage of Deagan, but Garudo himself didn’t see it that way .

「And this time, that Garudo has caused a bit of a mess . 」

「And, what would that be… ?」

「Deagan . Do you happen to know the Savaiv Temple’s《Holy Maiden》?」

「Yes . I have not met her personally, but being Savaiv Religious Association’s Highest Priest-sama’s granddaughter, I have heard she is an extremely beautiful woman . 」

And what of it, was the type of face Deagan had made, while Joruto had breathed out a serious sigh .

「That《Holy Maiden》has been travelling with the guard for this inspection this time, and has things to do for the temple, and is now in Lagine Village . 」

「Im, Impossible… 」

「Yeah, it’s that exact impossible . Garudo was rude and messed with, out of aaaall people, with the 《Holy Maiden》 . 《Holy Maiden》herself is also angry about it, and is saying that she will talk to her grandfather, Giuseppe-chan, and send a official complaint to my grandfather about it . About how very bad that would be… . . You would know that, right?」

That is, a fissure would form between the relationship of the royal family and the Savaiv Religious Association .

Supposing that happened, even if Deagan had apologized about the manner… no even if he gave up his own life of his own accord, it would not resolve the issue at all .

At the extremely serious problem the man he believed to be his friend, the color of Deagan’s face suddenly turned for the worse .

Author’s note:

※Thanks to your support, the book has now been published .

Please refer to the activity report on July 25 for details .

Thanks to all of you who have supported us in various ways, we have been able to come this far .

Thank you very much .

I will do my best to continue this project, so please continue supporting me .