With the meeting finally over, we left the military facility and set off for the royal capital. At our current pace, we should arrive in about an hour.
“I’ll take over as the coachman from here.”
“I’m riding up front too!”
“Fran wants to sit there as well.”
“Horn too.”
From here on, Sue, who normally lived in the royal capital, took the reins. Shiro and the others seemed to be having a wonderful time sitting beside her in the coachman’s seat. There were considerably more people and carriages on the highway now, so we proceeded carefully.
“Wow, those walls are huge.”
“They were built tall and strong to protect the city.”
As we gradually drew closer to the walls, we joined the line at the checkpoint.
Apparently, there was a separate checkpoint for nobles, but Sue chose to line up with the regular travelers.
Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.
“Whoa! That’s an incredibly fancy carriage coming this way!”
“That carriage bears the royal family’s crest.”
A carriage even more lavish than the one belonging to a Margrave’s family came toward the checkpoint—not the line reserved for nobles, but an even more exclusive checkpoint beside it.
Just as Sue had said, there were probably only a handful of people in the entire kingdom wealthy enough to own a carriage that extravagant.
Screech.
““““Huh?””””
Wait, wait, wait. Why on earth is that ridiculously luxurious carriage stopping right beside ours?
The unexpected turn of events left everyone sitting in the coachman’s seat frozen in place, staring toward the magnificent carriage.
“Oh? That figure… Could it be you, Sue-chan? So you’ve returned to the Royal Capital.”
“H-Her Majesty!”
To our astonishment, the person who poked her head out from the luxurious carriage was none other than the Queen of this kingdom.
Even Sue was utterly taken aback by the appearance of someone so important.
“Perfect timing. You and the others should come to the royal castle with me. I’ll send a messenger to Baron Victory’s residence and let them know that you will be going there after visiting the royal castle. Just follow behind my carriage.”
“Yes, Your Highness…”
With a gentle smile, the Queen proceeded to decide all of our plans for the rest of the day. Our carriage followed directly behind hers, and we passed through the city walls with hardly any inspection at the checkpoint.
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
“Sue, you’ll probably be meeting with the Queen at the royal castle. Wouldn’t it be better to change clothes while we still have the chance?”
“No, I believe it will be fine. There are rooms inside the royal castle where I can change.”
Just to be safe, I checked with Sue about our clothes, but apparently there was nothing to worry about. Our carriage continued down the main street, steadily drawing closer and closer to the royal castle.
“It looks like the royal palace was built right onto the royal castle.”
“That is exactly the case. The royal castle is primarily the residence of the royal family and those closely associated with them, while most of the kingdom’s governmental affairs are handled in the royal palace.”
So they clearly separated the places where they lived from the places where they worked.
That made sense. The kingdom was enormous, after all. There was no way they could manage all the kingdom’s affairs from the royal castle alone.
Hmm? Wait a minute.
“Then, Sue… We’re heading to the royal castle, not the royal palace, right?”
“Yes. That’s correct. The royal castle.”
“Which means we’re going into the royal family’s private quarters?”
“Yes, that would be the case. However, His Majesty’s office is located inside the royal castle, so quite a few nobles visit it.”
Judging from the Queen’s words, there was a good chance we were actually going into the private section of the royal castle.
Oi oi… We literally just arrived in the royal capital, and now I’m already going to meet one of the most important people in the entire kingdom?
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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