0683 The Letter of Investiture
“There are a lot of islanders gathered at the harbor.”
“Yeah, there are quite a few.”
“They all look happy.”
“The ones who aren’t happy wouldn’t co out, would they?”
“There you go again, Abel, acting all cynical! Can’t you be a little more straightforward? To the people of this island, the Suje Kingdom is hope!”
For so reason, Ryo was speaking with great passion.
“If this place gets incorporated into the Suje Kingdom, my books will spread to this island too.”
“Co to think of it, there was a book like that...”
Ryo looked delighted. Abel had completely forgotten.
Ryo’s bag, filled with all kinds of books, had been frozen into an opaque block of ice together with their cash and left beside Andalusia and the others.
It was extrely heavy, and with Andalusia and the others there, no one was likely to steal it.
The Suje Kingdom ship that had been slowly drawing closer from beyond the horizon was finally about to enter the harbor.
“That’s a sha, Abel.”
“What is?”
“You were thinking that if it had co just a little earlier, you could’ve made this place an exclave of the Knightley Kingdom and used it as a foothold for world conquest, weren’t you?”
“As if I’d think that.”
His Majesty the King flatly rejected the Premier Duke’s words.
A policy of expanding rule over the territories of other peoples and other nations, or exercising power over them, is called imperialism...
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
Ryo tilted his head and let out a puzzled sound, and Abel caught it at once.
“Well, that Suje Kingdom ship... isn’t that the Rhohn Dark?”
“You think so? There were plenty of ships like that, weren’t there?”
At Ryo’s words, Abel tilted his head.
Of course, Ryo was not certain either, so he did not say anything more.
The ship entered the harbor, and one man stepped down from it.
His cloak flaring behind him, he cut a truly imposing figure.
About one hundred eighty centiters tall.
In his mid-thirties, with hair closer to brown than black, brown skin, and pale blue eyes that stood out strikingly against that complexion.
His features were handso, but there was a faint sword scar on his right cheek.
“That is...”
“No matter how you look at it, that’s Lord Protector Kabui Somal.”
Neither Ryo nor Abel could have mistaken him.
“Well, he is bringing the letter of investiture that formally incorporates the island into the state. There’s no one more suited for it than Kabui Somal.”
Abel nodded.
“He used to co to places like Darwei too, right? After that, Her Majesty ca to the autonomous city of Kubebasa herself. The Suje Kingdom’s governnt is quick on its feet.”
“Quick on its feet? I don’t really know what you an, but in diplomacy, going to the other country yourself is the foundation, isn’t it? That’s how you show the other side, ‘We trust you.’”
“Well, yes, that’s true, but... it’s still scary, isn’t it? What if you get attacked while you’re traveling?”
“He’s probably protected by a sufficient escort.”
Ryo’s concern was valid, and Abel’s reasoning was also valid.
They both understood that.
And both of them rembered what kind of man Kabui Somal was.
“He personally sailed into the Comakyuta Princely Kingdom to et Princess Ilyaja.”
“That’s right. On a single ship.”
Both Ryo and Abel knew that Kabui Somal was a bold man.
“Bold people look cool and get popular, but don’t overdo it, Abel.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Because you look like you’d go past bold and straight into headlong recklessness.”
“..ing from you, that’s hard to accept.”
“My motto is safety and peace of mind. I’m a rear-line spellcaster. I’d rather not be lumped together with a swordsman who prioritizes charging in.”
“I think the definition of spellcaster needs to be reconsidered. Soone who not only uses magic, but also swings a sword around and charges forward, is a different kind of being altogether.”
Ryo puffed out his chest as he made his claim, and Abel argued back.
As the two of them stood by the window talking like that, their eyes t Kabui Somal’s.
Without thinking, Ryo waved.
That was probably why Kabui Somal’s eyes widened.
There was no doubt he had recognized them as Ryo and Abel.
“He looked surprised to find us in a place like this.”
“The proverb ‘Where Abel goes, trouble follows’ must have sprung into his mind.”
“Don’t make up proverbs.”
Ryo and Abel also turned their eyes to the person walking behind Kabui Somal.
“That’s Captain Goric... right?”
“Then that really is the Rhohn Dark, just like you said.”
“Heh heh heh, I told you so, didn’t I?”
Looking slightly proud, Ryo nodded several tis.
“That ship has quite a history with us too.”
“It helped us out in all sorts of ways.”
The two of them found themselves rembering their travels through the Eastern Countries.
*****
“We hereby recognize Lulu Island as the Northern Autonomous Province of the Suje Kingdom.”
In the island’s central square, Lord Protector Kabui Somal read aloud the letter of investiture and handed it to Representative Aminga, who had been elected by the islanders.
And with that, Lulu ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Island formally beca part of the Suje Kingdom.
At that very mont, voices rose all across the square.
“Woooo!”
“We did it!”
Those were the cries at first, but in the end they all converged into a single shout.
“Long live Her Majesty the Queen!”
Apparently the Suje Kingdom’s new queen was marvelous...
That was what the islanders had been told over and over by people who visited Lulu Island.
The islanders themselves also traveled to the Suje Kingdom for work from ti to ti, and each ti they were astonished by how much the kingdom had developed.
If only the sa could be true for us...
And then the main island of Bol vanished.
The ten thousand people of Lulu Island had been forced to stand at a crossroads.
All at once, they were put in the position of having to decide their own future for themselves.
Of course, there were those on Lulu Island who had moved there from Bol’s main island, and there was also the stationed unit of the Bol Navy.
Many of them had, naturally, mourned the disappearance of Bol Island, but they had moved there because they had co to love Lulu Island, and even the stationed troops had volunteered to be there. So by then, not one of them had raised a call for the restoration of Bol.
After various twists and turns, they had ultimately co to seek incorporation into the Suje Kingdom...
And today, that wish had been fulfilled.
After that, the entire island broke into celebration.
Centered on the main square, food and drink were handed out free of charge.
Ordinary islanders were offering things they had made at ho as well.
“Lord Protector, thank you very much for taking the trouble to co all this way.”
“No, Representative Aminga, the kingdom is happy as well to welco new companions. Her Majesty, too, was especially pleased.”
Representative Aminga of Lulu Island and Kabui Somal exchanged greetings.
After speaking of the increasingly unstable situation in the southern part of the continent, Kabui Somal asked about sothing that had caught his attention.
“That stone building over there—what building is that?”
“That is the headquarters building of the Northern Navy of the Suje Kingdom. Is sothing the matter?”
“No, it’s just that I saw acquaintances of mine watching from the window of the corner room on the third floor of that building...”
“Oh?”
It was by chance that Commander beri arrived just as Kabui Somal and Aminga were speaking.
“Ah, Commander beri, what perfect timing.”
“Yes?”
That Representative Aminga caught Commander beri on the spot was inevitable.
“Lord Protector just ntioned that he had acquaintances in the corner room on the third floor of Northern Navy headquarters. That room is...?”
“The corner room on the third floor is the officers’ room. But at the mont...”
Commander beri looked at Representative Aminga and Kabui Somal and hesitated for just a mont.
But he could not very well say nothing.
“The two n who claim to be adventurers drifting at sea, the ones I reported yesterday, are staying there.”
“Ah... the ones the commander said might be suspicious...”
At Commander beri’s words, Representative Aminga nodded.
The representative rembered as well that he had been told the Northern Navy would hold the two as a precautionary asure.
Hearing their exchange, Kabui Somal gave a wry smile.
“Lord Protector?”
Aminga asked suspiciously.
“No, pardon . I was just thinking that if they are acquaintances of mine, that would make sense. Would it be possible for to et them now?”
And so, Lord Protector Kabui Somal was guided to the Northern Navy officers’ room.
And three days later, Ryo and Abel were standing on the deck of the Rhohn Dark...
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