Chapter 70
＊ Eva = Slyries ＊
The way Reiji was introduced to Eva was so sudden that, if her father had not said, "He is the boy who saved my life," she probably would never have welcomed him as a guard.
Her father was her only family. She knew that he sometimes wore a frightening expression, but he had never directed it at her.
Because Reiji had saved her father, he was an extremely important person to Eva—from the very beginning.
She had made selfish demands and tested Reiji many times. But Reiji had always met them all.
She had also begun thinking that every citizen should have the equal right to live because Reiji had influenced her. Eva did not know it, of course, but Reiji's Japan-influenced ideas were utterly foreign and stimulating in this world.
—If Reiji were gone.
The fact that Reiji had spent an entire day away from Eva on the day after the banquet was far more significant than he realized.
Significant enough to drastically change the way she thought.
"My lady, where are you headed today?"
At the start of every day, Reiji would come to ask her.
Busy nobles had their schedules set months in advance—just like Eva's father—but Eva was not quite that busy yet.
But she had plans today.
"Today, I'm having a tea party with everyone from the banquet!"
On the day Eva had pressed her father about what had happened at the Job Placement Office, he had acknowledged her as a "full-fledged adult." Apparently, he had arranged the Job Placement Office affair knowing that Eva would ultimately uncover the truth herself.
Because, at the end, her father had said,
—You cannot survive in noble society unless you can walk without relying on your parents. Moreover, this kind of obvious "entertainment" is exactly what vicious nobles enjoy most.
The fact that he had gone out of his way to call the "entertainment" "vicious" felt like a pointed barb aimed at the Holy King, but Eva did not comment on it.
Her father had granted Eva permission to go out freely and socialize.
"Understood."
Reiji continued to treat her exactly as he always had. Nothing in particular had changed.
Eva decided of her own accord to interact with the other members of the banquet table—Louis, Etan, Charlotte, and Mira. As for Kurvshrat, the Holy King would not grant permission for Kurvshrat to go out because it was "dangerous." The other nobles came to learn just how much the Holy King doted on Kurvshrat.
Louis and the others could not leave the Holy Capital until the Talent Gem presentation ceremony was over. Eva exchanged letters with Mira as well as meeting her for tea.
(First, I need to learn about my own situation and the current state of noble society.)
Eva Slyries, twelve years old, continued steadily taking one step at a time toward making her great dream a reality.
＊ Guard: Lelenoa ＊
House Ebeigne was one of the Six Great Ducal Houses, and its residence stood in the Holy Capital's Second Holy District, closest to the gate leading to the First Holy District. Two hundred years ago, when the Holy King of that time fell ill, House Ebeigne had created a specific cure for his illness and contained an epidemic that was spreading throughout the land. For that achievement, it had been permitted to remain a ducal house even after losing the Holy Water Color.
Its territory, however, lay a very long way from the Holy Capital. Duke Ebeigne, the head of the house, was in the Holy Capital for only about a quarter of the year, and the attempted assassination of the Holy Prince had extended his stay this time, leaving the mansion in constant turmoil as they rearranged his official schedule.
Well—... It's been a long time since I've had a vacation, reckon.
Lelenoa was in the Fifth District. The streets were orderly, and the people walking along them dressed with a certain ease. Public safety began to deteriorate from the Sixth District onward, making the back streets impossible to walk through. In the Seventh District, there were no cobblestones except on the main roads. Beyond that lay the area outside the capital.
She normally guarded Etan in perfectly proper formal attire, but Lelenoa thought it was far too stiff. Born and raised in the countryside, she could not relax without loose clothing like what she was wearing now, along with bracelets threaded with ore on both wrists.
When she dressed like this, the people at the mansion would tell her, "It looks too shabby for the Second Holy District, so take a carriage," and send her by carriage as far as the Fourth District. That part always made her feel rather miserable.
(This is how halflings are supposed to dress, reckon. Everyone in the city is acting so high and mighty.)
Lelenoa wandered along, buying pasta from street stalls and eating it as she went. It was not noodle pasta, but triangular pasta shaped like a square sheet of lasagna cut in half. It floated in a wooden bowl of tomato soup packed with spices, and when she ate it with a spoon, its sourness and heat burst across her mouth. The springy texture of the pasta was delightful.
"Old-timer, that sure was tasty, reckon!"
"Yeah, you cleaned it right up, didn't you, halfling gal?"
If she was on guard duty, she could not even buy food and eat it as she walked.
After making her way through several more stalls and letting her stomach settle, Lelenoa finally reached her destination.
"Been ages, reckon!"
It was a three-story stone building with wide-open double doors on the first floor—a characteristic shared by adventurer guilds elsewhere as well.
The interior, however, was somewhat different. Wood was more expensive in the Kurvaan Holy Kingdom than in other countries, so massive stone pillars stood in the center, giving the place an intimidating air.
Adventurer guilds could be found here in the Fifth District and in the Seventh District. The guild in the Fifth District also accepted commissions from noble houses, so it had many high-level adventurers. There was technically a branch in the Third Holy District as well, but ordinary adventurers were not allowed inside; only guild employees were stationed there to deal with the noble houses.
(Wow, there sure are more people with impressive gear than before, reckon.)
There was a man in gleaming red armor that was probably made from monster materials, a swordswoman carrying two apparently masterwork blades across her back, and a mage holding a rod that seemed to contain a great deal of magical power.
None of them were human: there was a dwarf, a fox Beastkin, and a dark elf with silver hair and blue-black skin. Reiji did not know it, but Second-Class Secretary Specula-san was also a dark elf.
Adventurers lived in a merit-based society, so anyone capable could make a name for themselves regardless of Race. On the other hand, the guild staff included many humans who were calculating and possessed fairly good magical aptitude. The Kurvaan Holy Kingdom had no racial prejudice at all—for one thing, the Holy King himself was human, yet possessed the special trait known as the Holy Water Color—so many different races coexisted without anyone finding it strange.
"Lelenoa!"
As Lelenoa gazed absentmindedly at the adventurers, someone called out to her:
"Oh—Mimino! Been ages, reckon!"
It was a female apothecary who, like Lelenoa, was a halfling.