When morning ca, we were imdiately invited to breakfast by our hosts. We were to dine with the ruling family themselves. I had no reason to refuse, so I accepted the request. This was sothing I expected though, it was only a natural sequence of events that we’d be eating with them, as we were so kind of special guests.
The dining room was in a big chamber, with glass windows in the roof that allowed the sunlight inside. The pillars had detailed and intricate carvings on their surfaces. Servants stood at the corners. At the center of the room was a long table, and I an, quite long, fit for several people. I didn’t think this would be the sa table that they would have used to eat with the family, so they must have switched them up for us.
Upon our arrival in the dining room, Miyako and her family were already present. And among them was a little boy, who was clinging close to Miyako. She did ntion she had a little brother, and he had the sa hair and eyes as his father. He seed shy in eting us, as he hid behind Miyako, avoiding eye contact.
“Princess Estelia, I’m glad you all could join us,” Kiyoshi said, greeting us.
“Of course we wouldn’t miss it.”
“I hope the food we prepared for you last night was to your liking.”
I smiled. “Oh, they were excellent. And to be honest, it was a great relief to finally eat sothing absolutely delicious.”
He chuckled. “Well, I understand that it is difficult to make actual delicious delicacies out here. And I’m sure it is not up to par with what you have up there on the continent.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t mind. What we ate last night was significantly better than what we had been eating out there on our journey.”
“We’ll try our best to satisfy you during your stay.”
I glanced at Haru, who was acting more casually than before. It would seem she had processed much of what had happened. But I noticed, she didn’t talk much, huh? I turned to Miyako.
“Miyako, are you doing fine?”
She smiled slightly. “I should be asking you that. You’re the one that has an issue with her health, after all.”
“... I’m doing quite fine. But I will need more rest. It should be enough when it’s ti for our departure.” I glanced down at the kid, who was staring at Nira, who was standing behind . They do look around the sa age, so the two kids were quite interested in eting other kids.
But after what happened to Nira last ti she made friends, I wouldn’t know if she wanted to play around with kids her age again — and when I say that, I didn’t an literal age, just her fellow kids. Nira was, after all, still a child by the Cursed Children's standards. Slow aging, or immortal, type of stuff.
“Oh, this one here is my little brother,” Miyako gently pushed the boy to the side. “His na is Mayu. Say hi, Mayu.”
“Uh, um, hi.”
I was not really one to act all warm towards kids. Let’s just say I had an innate and slight annoyance towards children. They were not exactly easy to deal with. Too complicated. Sotis they were just nasty little shits.
This just made recall the recent ti that Nira and I killed a bunch of kids…
So instead of interacting directly with the kid, I pulled Nira forward.
“Eh?” She was caught off guard.
I patted Nira’s shoulders. “Hey there, Mayu. Nice to et you. This is Nira. I hope you two can get along.”
The two children stared at each other.
“Nira, say hi,” I whispered.
“Eh, um, hi.” She adorably waved her hand.
“... Hi.”
Miyako awkwardly laughed. “Please be gentle with Mayu, okay, Nira?”
And she ant that quite literally. Nira was not exactly human after all. Sothing bad might happen accidentally, and Nira could quite literally squish Mayu too easily. Well, nothing bad should happen as long as Nira was adequately fed.
Wait, when was the last ti she fed again?
Uh oh. Looks like soone was gonna get eaten!
Kidding!
“U-Um, yes…?” Nira didn’t seem to get it.
A servant entered the room, and the island lord clapped his hands once. “Oh, looks like the food is ready. Just in ti! Co, let us all sit down.”
And we all sat down, with Nira sitting beside , and unexpectedly, Miyako on my other side. As the food was being placed on the table, Nira tugged on my sleeve and whispered to .
“Do I really have to make friends?”
I slightly raised an eyebrow. “You can if you want,” I whispered back. “Do you not want to?”
“I…” She lowered her eyes, clearly hesitant.
“Take what happened in the past as a lesson. And this ti, you can be more careful.”
“But…”
“Nira, it’s not bad to make friends.”
“But I’m a…”
“... Don’t let it hold you back from experiencing sothing nice. Try living.” I patted her head. This girl still had plenty of issues to deal with. And it was sothing we had to fix so she could have a decent childhood. This world already has a lot of crazies, and I don't want Nira to beco one too.
All the food was finally placed. And the sll coming from them just made hungrier. I wanted to just dive right in, but I didn’t want to look funny. So once we began dining, I gracefully scooped so food onto my plate.
As I ate, I found the food delicious. Gotta love this, we should ask the chefs how they made food from this land actually good. What sort of stuff they put in them. Would be pretty helpful to us.
“So, Princess Estelia, despite being on an expedition, you rely have a handful of guards with you. They must be quite excellent,” Kiyoshi said.
“Hm? I’m not on an official expedition. And my allies here, we only t by shared circumstances.”
“Oh? How?”
“I was kidnapped and taken on a slave ship heading to Shinoroa. We t there on that ship as we took control of it.”
Both Kiyoshi and Haru had expressions of surprise.
“Soone kidnapped you…?” Haru muttered.
“You took over the slave ship, and you didn’t return?”
“Uh-huh. I discovered that there’s sothing I need here before I can return ho.”
“... I see… Although I still wonder what sort of thing would help you out here. Miyako ntioned your health, but I don’t see how there could be dicine here that can restore you.”
“There is. Just for .”
He still seed to be curious, but in the end decided to stop poking into it. “... How big is this war happening on the continent? I worry we will feel its waves.”
I paused and lowered my spoon. “An empire is attempting to invade my nation. They hold the ambition of domination. This empire had conquered many states. They are very good at their job.”
“You complint your adversary?”
“Why not? Know your enemy, disregarding their qualities will be our undoing.”
“Is their sight limited to the continent?”
“... I do not know the extent of their ambition. But with the current state of your archipelago and resources, they might get tempted to take you over.”
“Our state?”
“You are all divided. And it is not hard to dismantle you.”
Kiyoshi fell silent for a mont. “Is that how you see it?”
“Of course. They almost succeeded in breaking my nation from within. Yours will not be too difficult. You’re already broken.”
“How frank of you.”
“I’m sorry if I offended you.”
“None taken. I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. It’s interesting to hear what people from another land think of us.”
“Worry not, though. They will hesitate to invade you directly. Your average warriors are stronger than ours on the continent. You will win in a direct confrontation. But if they’re eager, they’ll find a way. Even demons won’t be much of a problem.”
“Even the demons?”
“The continent is capable of dealing with demons, they are prepared in case they co to attack.” The empire also had so sort of holy order among them. Although they were not used during wars. At least, that was what I knew. At any rate, the continent had always been ready for a demon attack. And using that on an offensive shouldn’t be too difficult.
“But you don’t have to be so worried about it,” I continued. “It should take decades before they co after you. Well, if I don’t destroy them first, which I will.”
“Destroy them? You intend to destroy this empire you speak highly of?”
“... Yes.”
Kiyoshi chuckled. “I like your tenacity. When the ti cos, I hope we can do business when you’re done.”
I leaned back. “Business… There is one thing I’m interested in.”
“Oh? What is it?”
I pulled out a dagger and pointed at the shiny dust on the blade. “Nulecerite.”
“You don’t have that, do you?”
“It is sothing unique to this archipelago. And I will be quite interested if such minerals are traded to our nation.”
“We don’t typically trade our special materials with outsiders.”
“I noticed.”
“Hm, perhaps in future negotiations, we’ll figure sothing out.”
“I will tell ho about our prospect of business.”
“... I hope for your success, as my daughter’s savior. But can you really win against your enemy?”
“I have to win, and I will win. I’ll do everything I have to. My people are dying, we lost loved ones. Those behind it will pay.”
“It’s going to beco more challenging for you then, more dangerous. Should a princess really go about doing such a thing?”
“If I can, I will. If I were to make everything better back ho, I must do what is necessary.”
“Make everything better, huh…?” He glanced at Miyako. “You girls truly are resolute. I can see where my daughter has gotten the determination to do sothing outrageous.”
Miyako furrowed her brow. “But it’s not impossible.”
Huh, like what I learned from Haru, they were not in agreent. But in the end, Kiyoshi will have to agree. Or Miyako will do sothing that he might find quite disappointing.
“Perhaps… But it will incur a heavy cost for us all.”
***
My crew and I were in their main courtyard, and we hung around one of the benches at the corner. Except for Nira, she was with Miyako’s little brother. With was Miyako, handing a big pouch of coins.
“Here’s the paynt for your good work.”
I received the pouch and weighed it. Afterward, I threw it to Hartwin. “You know what to do.”
He caught the pouch. “Should we go right now?”
“Hm, I think you should do a survey for today.”
“Survey?”
“Their food here is delicious, consider asking their chefs how they do it. If that’s alright with Miyako.”
Miyako nodded. “I don’t mind.”
“Alright then, I’ll go and get so info. Taneva, you coming with?”
Taneva shrugged. “Yeah, been wanting to look around anyway.”
With that, they left.
“By the way, where’s Satomi?” I asked. It was a bit strange not to see her up to this point.
Miyako awkwardly chuckled. “She’s getting beaten into shape, I think.”
“What?” I was confused.
“Her teacher called her in.”
“Ah… I thought she would be pretty high up there already.” What’s she getting beaten for, anyway? That didn’t seem fair. “But why, though?”
“It’s just their usual spar. Her teacher wants to see how much she has grown after so ti. He hates the thought of stagnation.”
“Huh, I see.”
“... By the way, Estelia… I’m sure you have guessed how it ended up with my family.”
“They didn’t take it well, huh?”
“Yes. I told them what happened, and what I intend to do. But Father is adamantly against it.”
“... Not that surprising.”
“Yeah… I don’t know what to do, how to convince him.”
“... Hm. Perhaps it’s because you unloaded a lot of things all at once. Keep going, but this ti, take one step at a ti.”
“You an?”
“Take small endeavors and gradually escalate. Just like your plan, clean up the palace, then next the outside. Don’t act on Hokunoa just yet, you should still have ti. Show results to your father.”
“... What if we suddenly don’t have ti?”
I stared at her for a mont. “That’s up to you.”
“... I don’t want to do that. That’s the last resort.”
“Yes. But it is an option.”
Miyako let out a long sigh. “I’ll take small steps for now. I’ll start working on gathering the people here at the palace for our test. Please don’t miss it.”
“I won’t be going anywhere. But are you ready?”
“... I believe I am. Besides, Satomi will be with .”
I nodded. “Good luck.”
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