It was almost time for the meeting, so Sue, Shiro, and I had to leave with the Crown Prince and Gandof-sama. But then I started wondering what we should do about Fran and Horn, when an unexpected solution was offered.
“Fran-chan, Horn-chan, why don’t you read some picture books with Jeff?”
“““Okay!”””
Ana-sama offered to look after all three children together. Since they were all five years old, it didn’t take long for them to hit it off. They were already holding hands like old friends.
“Fran, Horn, make sure you behave while I’m gone.”
““We will!””
After waving to Fran and Horn as they cheerfully answered, we left the reception room.
“So you and Sue have been looking after them this whole time, Shun?”
“Yes. It was certainly difficult at times, but I’m just glad to see them healthy and energetic again. Fran and Horn had been abused, and they were even about to be used as sacrifices for a demon summoning.”
“I’ve heard about that as well. It was one of the most heinous incidents caused by the Human Supremacy Cult over the past year. I’m relieved to see that they’ve recovered.”
The whole demon-summoning incident in the Eastern Frontier Territory had been an enormous affair. It had been serious enough for the Holy Knights to come all the way from the royal capital. I’ll have to make some time to go and pay my respects at the church, too.
We chatted casually about things like that as we made our way to the Grand Council Chamber.
“Um, Your Royal Highness… this meeting room is unbelievably huge…”
“Of course it is. In addition to the military leadership, all the cabinet ministers except the Minister of the Internal Affairs, along with vice-minister-level officials, are attending today. Matters concerning the Dark Organization, Red Scorpion, and the Human Supremacy Cult are that important.”
Wait a second…
I was already overwhelmed by the idea of a military meeting, and somehow this had turned into something on the scale of a full cabinet meeting. Even Gandof-sama hadn’t expected things to escalate like this, and he couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
“And is it just my imagination, or are almost all the participants staring at me…?”
“Shun-san, please stop trying to escape reality. Look, the ministers are coming over to introduce themselves.”
And so, I found myself being bombarded with greetings from a whole bunch of incredibly important people.
Oh, man… There’s no way I’m going to remember all of them…
I’ll have to ask Sue to explain everything to me later.
For now, I’d at least managed to figure out that the white-haired man with the long beard was the Chancellor, while the bald man whose muscles were practically bursting out of his knight’s uniform was the Minister of Military Affairs.
As for everyone else…
Yeah, no. Impossible. My brain simply couldn’t process any more information.
At this point, Tory-sama, who gave us a brief glance from across the room, was my one and only oasis of sanity.
“Oh, everyone’s here. Shall we get started?”
For some reason, I felt a huge sense of relief when His Majesty—the most important person in the entire room—finally entered.
I mean, there’s supposed to be an order to these things, right?
“Oh, that reminds me, Commander of the Knights. How were those two doing this morning?”
“Right in front of me, Sue casually fixed Shun’s collar without paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone watching. And Shun accepted it as though it were the most natural thing in the world. It actually reminded me of how my late wife used to fuss over me.”
“Oh? Well, well. That certainly sounds like something. So Sue is already taking care of Shun’s appearance as naturally as if it were part of her daily routine.”
“““Hehehe…”””
Um, Gandof-sama?
Why are you telling His Majesty about what happened this morning with that completely deadpan expression?
Having this conversation in front of all these important people is already embarrassing enough for me.
“Uuuuh…”
“Sue-oneechan, are you okay?”
It seemed Sue was only now realizing what everyone had been talking about. Her face—and even the back of her neck—turned bright red as she lowered her head in embarrassment.
Shiro, have a little mercy. Please just leave Sue alone for a while.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
