Side Story 121: Shandal's Little Adventure (1)

A certain room in the Rudek Royal Palace.

Only three people were in that room: King Zeuracia, Prince Zerand, and Shandal, the prince of Golbel who was currently in Rudek as a hostage.

"Then, I would like to go to North Rudek!"

Shandal's response to King Zeuracia's question seemed to catch the two royals somewhat off guard; they stared at him wide-eyed, frozen in place.

The wedding of Roa=Stein and Lapilia=Stein had taken place the other day, along with a joint declaration of peace by the four nations of Rudek, Greedle, Golbel, and Tzanadefor.

King Zeuracia saw this declaration as an opportunity and told Shandal, who had been a hostage, that he was granting him "permission to visit other countries."

In other words, if Shandal wished and permission was granted, he could even travel to his homeland of Golbel. Until then, it had been tacitly understood that he would remain within Rudek, but the king had now implicitly given him permission to return home.

Naturally, the king assumed that Shandal would want to return to Golbel and told him as much. However, Shandal's unexpected response was that he wanted to go to North Rudek.

Prince Zerand, who was seated beside the king, asked Shandal once more, looking perplexed.

"Shandal, it is true that we kept you from entering North Rudek until the situation there settled down, but shouldn't you be hoping to go to Golbel instead?"...