Chapter 185
The Third Knight Squad of the Imperial Guard. We will be assigned to protect His Highness Arnold and Her Eminence Orihime.
Indeed. Good work!
Units of the Imperial Guard were being assigned to protect the important guests.
Well, that's fine, but...
"Isn't this a bit too much firepower for one place?"
"This is the continent's strongest spear and shield. Even if we make allowances for your frailty, Lord Arnold, this is excessive."
"Don't call me frail. Were these Father's orders?"
"Yes. He said it would be easier for you if the people assigned to this mission were familiar faces."
"But this makes things difficult for me."
"That's not my problem."
After being coldly brushed off, I let out a deep sigh.
If it had to be someone familiar, Leo would have worked too... No, that wouldn't do. Then there would be two wielders of the Four Sacred Treasures.
I can't be imagining it: Father seems to have decided that, if the result is basically the same either way, he might as well dump it on me.
What a troublesome father.
"Captain Elna. You are guarding Her Eminence now, are you not?"
"I'm guarding His Highness and Her Eminence."
"So that means you're guarding me!"
"...I suppose so."
Orihime sat on the sofa with a smug look on her face.
Seeing that, Elna put on an unhappy expression.
I got a bad feeling about this and moved away from Orihime, who was beside me.
"Then, Captain Elna! My shoulders are stiff!"
"Are they?"
"That's not what I meant! You're guarding me now! Massage my shoulders!"
Orihime gave a triumphant little snort, while Elna's temple bulged and her cheek twitched.
It would have been nice if Elna could smoothly say that massaging shoulders was outside her duties, but she wasn't the sort of person to put it that way. It wasn't that she couldn't say it. She simply wouldn't.
She had this inexplicable feeling that doing so would mean she had lost.
As a result, things only became more complicated.
"Very well. Then I shall massage your shoulders."
With a smile that seemed to carry murderous intent, Elna slowly moved behind Orihime.
Meanwhile, Orihime looked delighted that she had made Elna do as she was told.
That was why she failed to notice Elna's smile deepening behind her.
"Is this amount of pressure just r-i-g-h-t?"
"Aaaaaah!! My shoulders are going to be crushed!!"
Elna gripped Orihime's shoulders as if she meant to crush them.
It was no longer anything that could be called a massage.
In response, Orihime thrashed around, but Elna only applied more force.
"It hurts! It hurts! I said it hurts!!"
"A little pain is just right, you know? Didn't you know that?"
"My shoulders are going to disappear! Are you jealous of my chest!? With breasts like yours, there's no way your shoulders could get stiff, waaaaaah!!"
"You seem awfully stiff! It looks like I should apply even more pressure!!"
Orihime's careless words had gotten on Elna's nerves, and Elna tried to crush both of her shoulders with a demon's expression on her face.
Since things had clearly become dangerous, I stopped Elna.
"Elna."
"Hmph!"
Hearing my voice, Elna released Orihime's shoulders, then snorted and looked away.
Finally freed from Elna's vise-like grip, Orihime clung to my waist, nearly in tears.
"Uuugh... It hurts... It really hurts... Arnold..."
"Yes, yes. That's what you get for messing around with Elna."
While exasperated, I patted Orihime's head and comforted her.
Orihime kept muttering about how much it hurt for a while, but once the pain had eased, she pointed at Elna through tearful eyes and shouted.
"What do you mean by injuring the person you're supposed to protect!?"
"I only massaged your shoulders."
"You were trying to crush them!"
"Shall we try again, then?"
"Eek!"
Elna made a crushing motion with her right hand, as if deliberately showing it off. Remembering the pain, Orihime screamed and hid behind me.
"Arnold! Elna's bullying me!"
"You've gone too far, Elna."
"What!? You're taking her side!?"
"Hmph! Arnold is always on my side! After all, he's my host!"
"It has nothing to do with that! Al! Stop spoiling that fox! Nothing good will come of it!"
"It isn't like anything good has happened already."
Even as I said that, Orihime stuck out her tongue and provoked Elna.
Elna took the cheap bait and tried to catch Orihime, but Orihime skillfully used me as a shield and escaped.
"Stop!"
"I shall not!"
"You!"
"Whoa!? Arnold! That woman just tried to punch me!?"
"I was only trying to pat your head!"
"Liar! She had a clenched fist!"
A game of tag began with me at the center.
Elna tried to catch Orihime, while Orihime used me as a shield to escape from Elna.
The two ran around me in circles, chasing each other, but one was a hero and the other a celestial princess.
Orihime put up a barrier as she fled, and Elna instantly destroyed it.
They engaged in a surprisingly sophisticated battle, and the sound of breaking glass continued to ring out around me.
"What kind of butler leaves his master behind and runs off?"
"I make it a policy not to interfere in women's quarrels."
"That's a first."
"Because I just said it for the first time."
I tried lecturing Sebas, who had conveniently put some distance between us and taken refuge, but he parried my words nicely.
Sebas simply sipped the tea he was holding, pretending nothing was happening.
This butler... He really seemed to have no intention of getting involved.
We couldn't expect any help from outside, and if I told them to stop, I would only get dragged into a new quarrel over whose side I was taking.
In that case, I might as well quietly wait for this needlessly sophisticated game of tag to end.
Just as I was resigning myself to that, Fine entered the room.
"Excuse me, Al-sama."
"Welcome to this noisy room."
"Hehe, it is lively, isn't it?"
With a cheerful smile, Fine began brewing tea with practiced ease.
To Fine, apparently even this situation counted as lively.
"Orihime-sama, would you like some tea?"
"Indeed! I'll have some! Fine's tea is delicious, after all!"
"Then please sit and wait. Elna-sama, would you like some too?"
"I..."
Seeing Orihime, whom she had been chasing, sit obediently on the sofa at Fine's request, Elna let her outstretched hand wander uncertainly.
Fine smiled at Elna.
"I have sweets ready too. Why don't we all have some?"
"...All right. I'll have some."
"Yes. Then please sit down."
And with that, Fine managed to calm the continent's strongest spear and shield.
What efficiency. To think she could calm those two wild beasts.
As expected of Fine.
"Here you are, Al-sama."
"Thanks. You really saved me."
"Not at all. I had something to discuss with you, too. It seems the dignitary from the elves' village still hasn't arrived."
The dignitaries from the Empire, the United Kingdom, and the two southern duchies had already arrived.
The Empire had sent a prince, while the United Kingdom's lord had come in person. Things had been tense when they arrived, but Brother Trau treated them in a friendly manner, so the atmosphere never became too serious.
The two duchies had sent the rulers' children. The Albatross Duchy had sent twin siblings, Eva and Giulio, while the Rondine Duchy had sent its prince.
The only major dignitary remaining was the one from the elves' village. Unfortunately, elves were secretive by nature, so all we knew was that they had left the village.
We had sent people in all four directions to gather information, but the situation was that we had no idea where they were now.
"I see. Well, we'll have to wait patiently. Since elves live much longer than humans, they aren't in much of a hurry."
"Yes. I don't mind waiting, but I'm worried about whether they'll make it here safely..."
"They'll be fine. Elite elves should be escorting them. Unless they're the sort of people who leave their attendants behind, like a certain someone."
With that, I looked at Orihime.
But Orihime was happily eating Fine's sweets, looking as though she couldn't hear me.
"You left your attendant behind?"
"Apparently, the attendant was left at the guild headquarters. The Second Knight Squad handled the escort from there to the Empire, so I suppose the attendant was safe, but... that isn't normal."
"You have no common sense."
"Quiet, both of you. You're making my sweets taste bad. Though they'd still be delicious even then. Besides, I didn't leave the attendant behind. I ordered the attendant to wait."
"That's what it means to leave someone behind."
"I was being considerate of the Empire. The only people who came with me were a bunch of fussy old men. If I'd brought them along, they would have insisted that this was forbidden and that was forbidden. We would have taken days longer to reach the imperial capital."
Orihime was currently free to do as she pleased, but in the Celestial Kingdom she held a symbolic position, something like a shrine maiden.
There were all sorts of troublesome traditions.
She must have found them bothersome.
"Besides, I couldn't play with a minder around."
"So that's the real reason?"
"Indeed!"
Saying that, Orihime kept stuffing sweets into her mouth.
She was eating at a pace that made me wonder if she planned to finish them all by herself.
While Orihime was wolfing down sweets, another guest arrived.
"Big Brother Al! I brought Zeke with me!"
"Chupy!"
"Oh! Enta! Did you get to play?"
"Chupy!"
The visitors were Krista and Rita.
Krista was carrying a limp Zeke, while Rita held Enta.
It seemed Enta had joined Krista and the others at some point.
Well, that's fine, but...
"Why is Zeke all burnt?"
"Linfia said Zeke got close to the Saint's room and was caught by the interception barrier..."
"You can leave him outside."
"D-damn it... Barriers are cheating..."
Zeke muttered weakly.
Fine touched her cheek, looking troubled.
"What should we do? Should we really have him sent outside?"
"He'd be a nuisance out there too, so you'd better lock him up."
"Isn't the way you treat me a little too harsh!?"
Zeke's pained cry echoed through the room, but no one felt sorry for him.
Of course not. It was all his own fault.
And so we spent our time waiting for the day of the ceremony.