1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Prologue
5. [CHAPTER ONE]   Appointed
6. [CHAPTER TWO]   Dressed Up Again
7. [CHAPTER THREE]   Crossed Paths
8. [CHAPTER FOUR]   Misunderstood
9. [CHAPTER FIVE]   Informed
10. [CHAPTER SIX]   Appeared
11. [CHAPTER SEVEN]   Startled
12. [CHAPTER EIGHT]   Suggestion
13. [CHAPTER NINE]   Decision
14. Epilogue
15. [backstage]   Norbert’s Reports 3
16. Aresh’s Homecoming
17. Afterword
18. Yen Newsletter

About once every one hundred years, miasma would appear in the Romany Kingdom, and a Holy Maiden would show up to reverse the damage. The current Holy Maiden was Yua Shiraishi, Seiichirou’s fellow Japanese. With training, she was able to purify the Demon Forest of its miasma. It was Seiichirou’s idea to seal off the forest altogether.

Although many attempts had been made over the years to fell the trees, the ones that produced miasma were invulnerable to physical attacks. Striking them simply made them spew more poison.

Given that only the Holy Maiden’s purification proved effective against the miasma, Seiichirou’s suggested alternative was to seal off the entire area and monitor it, but it was an ambitious plan that required both facilities and manpower. Specifically, it required people who could create magical barriers while also being highly resistant to magicules. On top of this, Seiichirou was also involved in a plan to develop summon reversal magic, along with educating the children in the relief house and other impoverished children. The latter was partly about fulfilling Yua’s wishes, although Seiichirou also saw it as a way of headhunting for his other projects. This meant an ever-increasing workload, which his overprotective knight commander wasn’t too happy about, but Seiichirou believed that it was all necessary to achieve his goals.

“Wow, Sei. Your workload is still insane,” said Norbert, who had recently taken up teaching arithmetic to the children at the relief house school.

Norbert Blanc was Seiichirou’s frivolous young subordinate, complete with a magnificent crop of golden hair. It was an open secret that he was the king’s bastard child, though neither he nor the company he kept seemed to care. He lived comfortably with Count Blanc, his adoptive father, and seemed relatively content with his circumstances.

“I handed off the private school work to you, and we’ve got more staff now covering other areas,” Seiichirou pointed out.

“But there’s still the stuff that only you can do, which is like three times more than what a regular person does.”

“Three times” was an exaggeration in Seiichirou’s opinion, but judging by all the fervent nodding from other Accounting Department members, that seemed to be their standard.

Seiichirou did not pay this any mind. Although he had been covertly bringing some of his work home, he was at least taking his regularly scheduled days off.

“It might be ‘overwork’ to moonlight in other departments or go on expeditions, but what I’m doing now is manageable enough.”

“Yeah, back in the old days you used to come waltzing into work on your days off… But you’ve still got bags under your eyes.”

That was because he was getting old—although even Seiichirou had enough dignity not to say this aloud.

In any case, Seiichirou found satisfaction in ticking straightforward tasks off a list. He was in good health, and his work proceeded at a comfortable pace.

“Sorry for summoning you while you’re at work.”

An antique table and a perfectly firm sofa. An indigo-blue curtain with golden embroidery. And a fine-looking man with pink-blond hair. It was Camile Karvada, prime minister of the nation.

I’m getting major déjà vu here…

It was not Seiichirou’s first time in Camile’s office. In fact, they saw each other quite frequently. Camile was essential for Seiichirou—a humble civil servant—to get things done.

But such meetings were scheduled in advance as part of Seiichirou’s regular workflow. It had been quite a while since the last impromptu summoning… The last was when he’d been sent to investigate the church.

Seiichirou was about to stifle the alarm bells ringing in his head and give a polite greeting when he noticed the smile in Camile’s eyes. The other man appreciated Seiichirou’s good instincts.

Camile’s blue-gray eyes twinkled in amusement. “I’ll get to the point. A foreign delegation will be coming to the palace.”

“A foreign delegation…?”

Needless to say, the Romany Kingdom wasn’t the only country in this world. Seiichirou had studied the global geographical layout before, though it was easy enough to be convinced that Romany was the center of the world. Its land was vast, and it was blessed with a good climate aside from the miasma. It was an economic and agricultural powerhouse, notable for the divine blessings it received from God and the Holy Maiden.

“Have you heard of Egorova?” asked Camile.

“I believe it’s a cold country to the north? It has many mines, allowing for the robust production of magic stones. The study of magic and magic tools is quite advanced there…”

“You’ve certainly done your homework.”

Being a southern country, Romany’s climate was mild. It hardly snowed outside the mountainous areas, even in winter, nor were the summers humid like they were in Japan—instead, they were dry and crisp.

By contrast, Egorova was very snowy. Seiichirou had read in a book that snow covered the ground there for half the year. There were plenty of mountains to extract magic stones from, and apparently quite a lot of research went into developing tools to counteract the cold. It sounded like their people enjoyed a high quality of life, but Seiichirou was personally glad that he had not been summoned there. He had never liked the cold.

“Egorova, you see, has asked to do a cultural exchange with our country,” Camile said.

Egorova was a magic-driven nation, and conducted its research separately from other countries. Much of its “culture” in that regard was highly confidential. In other words, Egorova wasn’t inclined to share its technology.

So if it was proposing a cultural exchange, then…

“They’re interested in our movement spell research,” Seiichirou said.

The corners of Camile’s lips turned up—a silent yes.

Movement spells were Seiichirou’s ticket home, hence why he devised a plan to invest in further developing its techniques. More to the point, it would invalidate the need for a Holy Maiden to seal the Demon Forest. This meant that Romany would sacrifice its unique reputation as a country blessed by the Holy Maiden to pursue the path of magical technology.

The fact that Romany was advancing its magic, from movement spells to barriers, must have leaked to other countries.

“And you spearheaded the project,” Camile said.

When he put it that way, then…yes. But Seiichirou was just acting out of self-interest. Besides, he didn’t possess a lick of magical knowledge. In fact, the stuff was poison to his body. One could easily say that he was the least magical person in the entire world. Moreover, Norbert’s adoptive father—Count Blanc—was the one who had officially taken credit for coming up with the idea, which would technically make Camile the ringleader.

“Count Blanc would of course have participated in the exchange, but he is currently occupied in the hinterlands and can’t make it,” said Camile.

Seiichirou mulled this over. “So the Egorovan delegation will be here within the next few days.”

“Yes. They’ll arrive in five days.”

“Five days?!”

Seiichirou’s eyes went wide in a rare display of emotion. He expected it would be soon, but not that soon. If the envoys were coming in five days, it meant they’d already departed from Egorova, and it was impossible to delay. In other words, Seiichirou’s fate was set in stone.

“I would have appreciated it…if you had told me sooner,” Seiichirou said curtly, his mind whirling. How was he supposed to juggle these envoys with his regular work?

“Sorry,” said Camile, not sounding very sorry at all. “This was the only day I could tell you without your black guard dog around.”

“Oh…”

Seiichirou pictured the beautiful face of the man he’d bickered with that morning.

He’d be mad. Definitely.

He was already saying that Seiichirou’s normal workload was too much. And given the dangerous pickle Seiichirou had ended up in last time when he was dispatched to the church, Aresh was especially keen not to let Seiichirou out of his sight. Although that wasn’t supposed to be the case, seeing as Seiichirou was a grown, working adult and all, he couldn’t exactly ignore Aresh after he had saved him on many previous occasions. More to the point, he didn’t want to ignore his partner.

So, he had to figure out how he was going to spin this to Aresh.

Camile gazed at Seiichirou’s meditative expression in amusement. Soon enough, though, his eyes flickered to the door.

“Rest assured that you won’t be tackling this alone,” he said, turning back to Seiichirou. “I’ve assigned a specialist to accompany you.”

Seiichirou looked up at the same time a knock sounded at the door.

“My apologies. There is a visitor,” an attendant reported.

“Good. Let him through.” Camile nodded leisurely.

The specialist was…another co-conspirator in the project. Realizing this, Seiichirou promptly stood from his spot in the middle of the sofa and shuffled over to the edge to make room.

The attendant opened the door, and the visitor strode in. His brown hair was parted directly down the middle of his head, and he sported an impressive beard. His clothing choices indicated his status as a nobleman, from the frills in his shirt cuffs to his upright collar. He had the girthy waistline of a man past his prime.

And finally…there was a long purple cloak running down his back.

Every department in the Romany royal palace had its own color. Royalty wore white. Prime Minister Camile and the other members of the Legal Department wore blue. Aresh and the Third Royal Order wore black, while the first and second orders wore red and green respectively. The Accounting Department, which Seiichirou belonged to, wore a nondescript brown.

The cloaks also indicated who was in charge. The department manager would wear a long cloak covering both their shoulders, while an assistant manager would wear a shorter cut over one shoulder.

Which meant that this portly, unassuming-looking man with the long purple cloak across both his shoulders was Zoltan Barre, head of the Royal Sorcery Department.

This was not Seiichirou’s first time meeting Zoltan. They’d met at the dinner party held before the Holy Maiden went on her expedition to dispel the miasma. They also saw each other quite often at official meetings, although Seiichirou discussed most matters concerning the project with the assistant director, Ist. As a result, Seiichirou did not have much contact with Zoltan.

For his part, Zoltan probably wasn’t a fan of how Seiichirou, a wet-behind-the-ears otherworlder, had landed a civil servant job—and a management role at that—not to mention how he kept bypassing Zoltan to talk to Ist. Right at this very minute, he was frowning up a thunderstorm after greeting Camile and noticing Seiichirou in the room. His expression all but said, “What are you doing here?”

Seiichirou did a polite bow and pretended not to notice the hostility.

“Thank you for coming, Director Zoltan. Why don’t you take a seat?” Camile suggested.

“Yes, Your Excellency!” Zoltan didn’t look too happy, but he responded crisply nonetheless and sat a short distance away from Seiichirou. The sofa was of high enough quality that it didn’t sink at all under his weight.

“As I explained earlier, I would like you to escort the Egorovan delegation around. You’ll be working with Kondo, the assistant director of the Accounting Department.”

So Zoltan got a heads-up? Seiichirou’s eyes flickered in Zoltan’s direction—the man looked very displeased.

“That is a great honor indeed, although I was not aware that I would be accompanied by another person. And, well…”

He trailed off there, likely because he did not want to outright call Seiichirou’s loyalties into question. Seiichirou kept his mouth shut; he knew perfectly well that he was an otherworlder who had never sworn his fealty to the country he now lived in.

Camile didn’t say anything about it, either. “They’re interested in our magic techniques,” he said, changing the subject, “but they’re also keen to see how our nation implements them. Director Zoltan, I can’t think of anyone more reliable than you on the technical side.”

“Yes, of course!” Zoltan replied promptly.

This exchange reaffirmed to Seiichirou why he had been called here, along with the immense scale of the task.

Basically, the envoys weren’t just coming to observe the movement and barrier magic. They were also going to see the facilities around the barrier, the movement spell research, and so on. These visits required budgets and publicizing, which meant collating paperwork not just from the Accounting Department, but also the construction and PR-related departments.

There were five days to do this, including today.

Even if Seiichirou did the bulk of the work, he would have to leave the specialized sections to their respective managers. Although Seiichirou could handle the financial side of the equation, like hiring people for the barrier or calculating their salaries, he certainly couldn’t explain the unique structures of the buildings. Likewise, he could estimate the economic effects of the movement spells, but he had very little understanding of what the research entailed.

“So which individuals from that nation will be coming to our doorstep?”

Zoltan’s words snapped Seiichirou out of his reverie. Apparently, not even Zoltan knew much about the envoys. Camile was certainly not the forgetful type, so either he deliberately didn’t mention it, or Zoltan failed to ask. Judging by the smile on the kingdom’s wiliest man, Seiichirou strongly suspected the former.

“Ah, yes. The group will be led by Egorova’s third prince.”

“Ugh, why do I have to work with an otherworlder?” Zoltan huffed once he was out of the Prime Minister’s office.

Seiichirou said nothing in reply. He merely announced his schedule and left.

Mentally, he went over what he knew about Zoltan: director of the Royal Sorcery Department, portly, had a beard, a suck-up to his superiors. Although his magic techniques weren’t anything special, he got the director’s seat thanks to his family name. His attitude toward Seiichirou was unsurprising, though Seiichirou didn’t take it personally. If anything, he would say that he respected Zoltan—because he was Ist’s boss.

Everyone in the palace would agree that Assistant Director Ist—the man with frizzy pink and orange hair and eternally drowsy-looking peridot eyes—was the most knowledgeable person about magic in the entire Romany Kingdom. His zeal for magic research was unmatched, and he was the kingdom’s foremost sorcerer in terms of controlling magical energy.

On the flip side, he was totally uninterested in anything unrelated to magic. His social skills were terrible. He didn’t abide by rules—they probably didn’t even register in his brain. Although he would talk animatedly about magic, barely even pausing to take breaths, asking him about anything else would only ever result in vague, noncommittal answers. His grasp on polite language was debatable.

But he was an exceptional mage and researcher. In just three days, he created a tool that could accurately measure magical energy. His talent could not be overlooked, and so he was given an official position, but naturally, that didn’t change his ways. It was inevitably up to his boss, Zoltan, to clean up his messes.

Zoltan had probably never imagined that this would be the reality of his job, but he had no choice but to cover for Ist, given his incontrovertible successes. The fact that he never lost his dignity throughout all of this was, in itself, worthy of respect.

Between his mountain of tasks, Seiichirou somehow managed to make his requests to the other departments and report to the Accounting Department. Norbert offered to prepare the documentation, so Seiichirou let him. This meant that he could swiftly pick out which documents to take home and look through.

Five days… He finished all the tasks he needed to do before he met up with Zoltan in three days. First, he compiled the labor costs of those involved in casting the barrier around the Demon Forest, the construction fees for the facilities, and the maintenance costs. This was easy to accomplish. Although Zoltan’s work was centered around the movement spells, the paperwork was originally created with the idea of persuading the country to act. The other departments covered the finer details, so Seiichirou just needed to collect their documents.

Yes, some things were higher priority than others, but the trick to multitasking was focusing on the easier goals first. At the very least, this lessened the overall number of tasks. Seiichirou found it easy to deal with straightforward numbers, and it was good to feel like he was accomplishing something. Adding the movement spells to the equation meant that he would have to deal with a lot of finicky paperwork related to the Holy Maiden.

And so, even though he left work on time, there was still a veritable mountain of things to do at home…but none were the most important task.

The carriage dropped Seiichirou off right at the mansion’s door, which meant that he got home before dark. It had been chilly, but now the days were getting longer and warmer. If the seasons were anything like Japan’s, then it was probably spring at the moment, which suited Seiichirou just fine. Romany’s climate was milder than Japan’s and the temperatures didn’t fluctuate much throughout the year, but he still preferred warm over cold. As he passed through the garden, which was diligently maintained by a gardener who commuted from outside the mansion, Seiichirou also noted the increased presence of bright and colorful flowers.

Finally, he reached the mansion door, which someone had left open for him.

“Welcome home, Mr. Kondo.” Somehow or other, Valtom the butler must have known exactly when Seiichirou would return, because he bowed elegantly as Seiichirou walked in.

Seiichirou was still not used to this sight, though he mustered a bow in return. “Thank you for the warm welcome.”

Although Valtom and the other servants in the house treated Seiichirou and Aresh equally as their masters, Seiichirou felt too indebted to them to drop his polite speech. Having been a commoner for most of his life, he struggled to adjust to other people waiting on him hand and foot.

“Where is Aresh?” he asked.

“I have informed him of your return. He is presently in his study.”

Aresh got grumpy whenever Seiichirou returned late. Apparently, Aresh’s servants were in the habit of reporting to him whenever Seiichirou approached the house.

“All right,” said Seiichirou. “Thank you.”

He made a beeline for the study. Although he figured it was best for them to have a nice and calm chat after dinner or something, he wanted to use that time to get deep into work if he could. Besides, they’d had a bit of an argument that morning. He didn’t want any lingering awkwardness.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in,” a deep, hushed voice responded.

Seiichirou turned the bronze doorknob and went in. On the other side of a stately table sat a handsome, black-haired man—looking exactly as he had that morning.

“I’m home.” Seiichirou gave his usual greeting. Although they were romantic partners, he figured that Aresh deserved to be informed as the owner of the house.

Aresh’s brow twitched in surprise. Although Seiichirou was rarely inclined to speak his mind, he did address the little things once they’d been verbalized, but there was nothing in his tone that betrayed concern about their morning spat. Still, he had made good on his promise to Aresh to leave work at a reasonable time.

Aresh reached out for him and asked, “Are you over what happened this morning?” as he took Seiichirou’s hand, pulling the other man a little closer.

Seiichirou did not resist. He took a step forward and rested his other hand on Aresh’s shoulder. Aresh was taller by about ten centimeters, but since he was still seated, Seiichirou was looking down on him for once. There was something amusing about that. When Seiichirou idly ran his fingers through the younger man’s hair, Aresh decided to put a stop to it by wrapping his powerful arms around his lover’s waist and pulling him close. Before long, Seiichirou ended up sitting on Aresh’s lap.

“Gosh, Aresh…”

“You’re fine as long as your head isn’t on my arm, yes?”

“What?”

Aresh must have been stewing on this the whole time Seiichirou had been at work. Although Seiichirou had said he had nothing against sleeping together, Aresh—the same man people called the Ice Nobleman—had been restless and fidgety for over half a day.

Seiichirou felt a pang in his heart. Affectionately, he pressed his lips against Aresh’s temple. Purple, almond-shaped eyes met his. Then Seiichirou found his lips being pulled toward Aresh’s.

“Mmf…Aresh?!”

Kissing on Aresh’s lap was a precarious balancing act to begin with, but Aresh took the opportunity to slip his hand between them and undo Seiichirou’s belt. Being more familiar with this world’s clothing than Seiichirou, Aresh’s hand removed the intricate, bulky belt with ease. Then he started peeling off Seiichirou’s knee-length jacket.

“What? We’re doing it here? I just got back from work…”

Seiichirou tried to pull away. He hadn’t taken a bath, and he had no idea when Valtom or Milan the maid would call them for dinner, but Aresh’s large hand yanked him right back in. There was enough force in the gesture that Seiichirou’s feet no longer touched the floor, and he collapsed on Aresh’s lap.

This was the most awkward position for him. Seiichirou hurriedly tried to regain his footing, only for one of Aresh’s hands to stubbornly keep him in place. The other hand latched onto Seiichirou’s shoulder, preventing him from moving his upper body around. In terms of physical brawn, there was a world of difference between them.

Finally, it bore mentioning that Aresh’s lips hovered at Seiichirou’s ear.

The royal palace had multiple conference rooms. The room they were currently in was on the small and simple end of the spectrum, though one could still lay twenty tatami mats across it. Four chairs surrounded the table.

“My goodness, what a surprise that you were selected for this task, Vice Commander Rhoda! It’s an honor, I must say! We don’t get many opportunities to meet.”

“Yes, the Third Royal Order is often away on duty.”

“Though I suppose we could meet at parties…?”

Zoltan, ever the brown-noser, was in high spirits. He seemed unaware that Seiichirou was in charge and that Orjef was actually just a cover. It would have been a hassle to correct him, and the misunderstanding meant less friction with his elitist attitude anyway, so Seiichirou just kept quiet and turned to the other person in the room.

It was a Sorcery Department civil official who served as Zoltan’s aide. A calm-looking man in his mid-thirties, his name was Qusta. Judging by his demeanor and the fact that Zoltan had chosen him for the task, he was of noble standing.

“It is nice to see you again,” Seiichirou said.

“Yes, it has been a while, Mr. Kondo.”

Seiichirou often saw the man when his work took him to the Sorcery Department.

“By the way,” said Seiichirou, “may I ask about him…?”

“He’s doing fine. He’s been absorbed in researching that magic stone he received not long ago. The other day, he said he’d found a new application for it, and he’s been holing himself up in the lab ever since.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

Orjef eyed Qusta and Seiichirou as they nodded to each other. “Who are you referring to?” he cut in.

At this point, Zoltan noticed the change in topic.

“Oh…that would be the assistant director,” he replied, scowling.

“The assistant director, hm? Now that you mention it, I realize that the assistant director is not your aide.”

Zoltan was the director of the Sorcery Department. Orjef was the vice commander of the Third Royal Order. Seiichirou was the assistant director of the Accounting Department. It stood to reason that Zoltan’s aide would be the assistant director, but…

“Absolutely not! He’s not fit to be out in public!”

“Indeed. His talents lie elsewhere, I am afraid.”

The two representatives of the Sorcery Department promptly shook their heads. Having only ever seen the man in question from afar at public junctions, Orjef turned to Seiichirou. “Is that talented sorcerer really such a character?” his gaze asked.

“In the worst-case scenario, he could cause a diplomatic incident,” Seiichirou responded with uncharacteristic graveness.

Orjef decided not to pursue the matter any further.

“I decided to feed him some bait so that he won’t come out of his hole for a while,” Seiichirou added.

“You’re a big help as always, Mr. Kondo,” said Qusta.

Orjef pretended not to hear that, either.

Seiichirou led the entire conference…which perhaps only made sense given the sheer number and variety of documents that needed explanation. Although Qusta presented documents of his own from the Sorcery Department about spells and research methods, the jargon was too specialized for Seiichirou to understand.

From Orjef’s perspective, the explanations were a little too dumbed down, but this made sense—they didn’t need to show their entire hand to a country they didn’t have formal relations with. Camile and the other members of the Legal Department planned to trickle out more information if this tour went well.

It was also reaffirmed at the meeting that while Zoltan and Orjef would serve as the figureheads, Qusta and Seiichirou would provide more detailed explanations as their aides. At the Egorovans’ request, the tour itself would take place in the tower where the Holy Maiden had been summoned, which was also where the Sorcery Department was located. He would have to stay thoroughly contained until it was over.

“The first thing to worry about is the dinner party to welcome them,” Orjef remarked.

“Yes. If they’re bringing a prince, then our royalty will have to meet them,” said Zoltan. “I believe Prince Yurius has it under control.”

Seiichirou was reassembling the stack of documents when he processed that statement.

“………Excuse me?” he interjected dumbly.

“What’s got you so shocked? Prince Yurius is going to be our next king. Of course he’ll entertain foreign guests,” Zoltan said, as if it were obvious.

But that wasn’t the point.

“A visit from foreign royalty means there’s going to be a party, right?” Orjef guessed.

For Seiichirou, these words dredged up flashbacks of presentations with other companies back in Japan. Despair flooded his entire being.

“Do I…really have to participate?” he asked.

“Well, obviously.”

“What a pickle…” Seiichirou muttered to himself.

After the conference, he had finished his regular work and gone home. He’d exchanged some cursory words with Milan the maid, then went into his room and sat on his bed.

Who knew there would be a party on the first day?

It made sense that foreign royalty wouldn’t immediately get to work after a long journey, but it hadn’t occurred to Seiichirou that there would be a dinner party. The word “party” didn’t exist in a modern Japanese salaryman’s dictionary.

He had to redo his presentation documents…but no, the bigger problem was that he had to attend the party. What was the dress code? The etiquette?

It had been ten months since he’d arrived in this country. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been to any parties. Maybe he could use the same outfit from that one time… Would Norbert still be up for helping? Or maybe it was better to wear his work clothes since he was a civil official and all? No, that didn’t sound right…

Seiichirou was still wallowing when the owner of the house returned.

“Are you home, Seiichirou?” Aresh emerged from the adjoining bedroom, already changed into more comfortable indoor clothes.

Upon noticing this, Seiichirou lifted his head. “Oh… I bid you welcome, Mr. Aresh.”

“Get out of work mode.”

“Oh, sorry, Aresh.”

Aresh hated it when Seiichirou addressed him formally, but a mere civil official from another world couldn’t speak to a nobleman and a knight commander like an equal, so Seiichirou was only barred from such language while at home. Aresh was always saying that Seiichirou could stand to speak even more casually, but that would take time.

“Having a problem?” Aresh asked, surmising that work was causing Seiichirou’s unusual attitude.

“Not a problem, per se,” Seiichirou answered with a rueful smile, “but there is a dinner party…”

“Oh, yes. I’ve already got an outfit ready for you,” Aresh said casually.

“You do?” Seiichirou’s eyes widened.

It was rare to see that look on his face; there was something guileless about it. Aresh’s lips curled into a smile.

“Your formal clothes and accessories. They’re already prepared. I figured you’d be working right up until the day, so I got someone in the palace to arrange it for you.”

Aresh had read him like a book.

“That…is a big help. Thank you…but how did you know that there would be a dinner party?”

“It’s a diplomatic visit with royalty involved. Of course there’ll be a dinner party.”

Seiichirou couldn’t even muster a groan at this no-nonsense demonstration of nobleman logic.

“More importantly…” Aresh sat next to him on the bed, causing the high-quality mattress to sink slightly under his weight.

A large hand cupped Seiichirou’s cheek, followed seamlessly by a kiss.

“Mm… Aresh?”

Aresh tilted his head and dove in for a second kiss. Feeling the warmth of Aresh’s lips and the arms wrapped around his back, Seiichirou’s eyes flickered open.

“The envoys will be here tomorrow, yes? I need to cast a barrier on you.”

Barrier spells worked as a safeguard against the magic that permeated the world. Although they defended Seiichirou from the poisonous magicules outside his body, it did nothing about the things he ingested. But still, the spell was a great boon for someone like him, whose tolerance for magic was far too meager for a world in which magic was ubiquitous.

But since barrier spells were themselves a form of magic—and a powerful one at that—magic-sickness was assured.

“It’s in two days, actually…” Seiichirou retorted. He’d been thinking of meekly asking for a barrier the day before the arrival, but he didn’t expect Aresh to offer it to him today.

Aresh kept his expression cool; only his purple eyes were clouded with desire. “This one will be extra thick as a precaution. Would you prefer me to wear you down in one night, or would you rather take it slower over two days?” he asked.

Seiichirou mentally weighed his work, the remaining time, and the limits of his stamina.

“The latter, please,” he said with a grimace, after much deliberation.

Aresh grinned.

It took quite a bit of courage to tread on the magnificent carpets, with their red and gold embroidery set against a white background. Why on earth did they pick white, the easiest of colors to stain? Maybe it was a flex of wealth to keep the white pristine.

Though Seiichirou knew very little about art or interior design, just treading through the opulent waiting room was giving him the jitters.

He was at the welcome party for the Egorovan delegation.

The last party Seiichirou had attended was meant to show off the Holy Maiden before she went on her purifying expedition, and it was an opportunity for the distant nobles to make connections. In that sense, it was a relatively simple affair. Not that a former middle manager salaryman like Seiichirou was in a position to make accurate comparisons, but at that party, at least, he’d been able to move around freely and help himself to the buffet. It also felt like an extension of work because he’d worn his work cloak over his formal clothes.

This time, with a foreign member of royalty as the guest of honor, everything felt completely different. For one thing, the attendees waited in a fancy room. After enough time had passed, they would move to a hall where the function would begin. It was a classic dinner party in the sense that everyone had designated seats.

As a side note, neither the hosts—the Romany royalty—nor the Egorovan guests of honor were present in the waiting room. The main characters had a separate waiting area and were scheduled to appear later, but even Seiichirou’s current waiting room was filled with people in flashier clothes than at the last party. Although there weren’t many people in total, most of them were strangers.

“Hi there, Seiichirou.”

Seiichirou turned around in response to the husky, melodic voice. He would never admit that he felt slightly relieved to see a familiar face.

Camile was wearing a somewhat gaudier outfit than his usual neat and prim uniform. Although the blue cloak that identified him as the director of the Legal Department was made of noticeably high-quality fabric, the sleeves on this outfit had finely embroidered green parts and tasteful accessories hung from his arms. What really stood out was his rose-gold blond hair—normally, he kept it slicked back, but today some of it hung onto his forehead. It was impressive how much a change in hairstyle could affect a person’s entire appearance.

“What’s with that look? It’s rich coming from you.” Camile sighed as his gaze swept over Seiichirou.

Although Seiichirou wasn’t ugly, fatigue typically exuded from his features. He looked “wiped,” to use common parlance. Even his neat civil official uniform did nothing to dispel that impression.

For the previous party, Norbert got expert beauticians to cover up the bags under Seiichirou’s eyes, but this time Milan the maid went the extra mile to bathe and massage him, so his skin glowed more than usual. Moreover, Aresh had spent two days diligently applying barrier and healing spells. The lovemaking had rendered Seiichirou mentally exhausted but physically pristine. He was amazed that, at the ripe old age of thirty, he could inspire such passion from a romantic partner.

Finally, the outfit Aresh had arranged for him was more of a simple suit than an extravagant display, but the feel of the fabric was on a different level. Though the cuffs weren’t large, they were studded with quality gems. The flap of his collar featured a silver flower lapel pin with a purple gem casually embedded in the middle.

Camile’s eyes took all this in. For a moment, a grimace came over his face.

“Geez,” he sighed.

“Is something the matter?” Seiichirou asked, not understanding the meaning behind the sigh. He knew very little about the formal dress code in Japan, let alone this world, so he figured he’d better check before the dinner party began.

Camile shook his head, smiling sheepishly. “If I didn’t give him this much leeway, he would have demanded he show up to the party, too.”

In other words, there was some trace of Aresh in Seiichirou’s appearance. The collar was completely done up, hiding the marks on his neck, so maybe it was something about the outfit? He knew he shouldn’t have left everything to others out of his own ignorance.

Just as Seiichirou was contemplating going home to check, Norbert showed up and snorted in laughter. Understanding soon dawned on Seiichirou, accompanied by horrible embarrassment.

“In Romany, wearing an accessory on your chest means you’ve got a partner,” Norbert explained. “And that there’s a mias flower, which symbolizes eternity. You use it to signify that you’re married or betrothed. Oh, and the silver ones are super expensive, and the gem in the middle usually represents your partner.”

Norbert’s gaze drifted to Seiichirou’s cuffs.

“And the cuffs are purple, too,” he said with a carefree smile. “He sure was thorough!”

Basically, Seiichirou’s outfit screamed: “I have a rich and possessive spouse/betrothed whose signature color is purple.”

……Damn it! It’s my fault for leaving the whole thing to Aresh!!

As he trembled with a flood of different emotions, embarrassment chief among them, Seiichirou vowed to confront his partner as soon as he got home.

After a poor night’s sleep—which should have been better given that he was alone and had a pillow—Seiichirou woke up the next morning, washed his face, got changed, and exited into the hallway. He looked at the neighboring room, but heard nothing beyond the closed door. He went down to the dining room, but didn’t find Aresh there, either.

“Good morning, Mr. Seiichirou,” said Milan, the plump and hearty maid.

He could only muster a half-hearted greeting in response.

“Um… Where is Aresh…?”

“He went to work early today.”

“I see…”

It seemed Aresh was genuinely upset.

Seiichirou sat down and took a bite of his breakfast, courtesy of Pavel’s cooking. Not even the fluffy soufflé omelets or Seiichirou’s favorite soup tasted like much of anything today.

Seiichirou and Aresh literally came from different worlds. It was why Aresh took steps to stave off their eventual parting.

Come to think of it, they should have discussed this issue when Seiichirou first decided to accept Aresh’s feelings, but it was hard for Seiichirou to imagine himself turning his back entirely on the friends and family he’d made over his first twenty-nine years of life. Not to mention that the idea of rushing straight into marriage after just a month of being in a relationship was ludicrous to him.

Crunch. He stabbed his fork into his salad with more force than necessary.

Oh yeah, he didn’t even apologize to me for the deception, did he?! He had plenty of time to tell me. It wasn’t right of him to keep me in the dark!

Seiichirou owed the world to Aresh. And there were romantic feelings on his end, too.

But that was beside the point here. No, trust was more important than anything in a relationship, in Seiichirou’s opinion.

That’s all I wanted to say. And how does he react? He locks me out of his room and doesn’t even show his face at breakfast… What is he, a child?!

This was starting to tick Seiichirou off. He decided not to say anything until Aresh broke the silence first.

Besides, he had to guide the Egorovan envoys around today. This was an important job with international ramifications—there was no room for error, and it certainly wasn’t the time or place to get mopey about his love life.

Seiichirou forced the last of his soup down his throat.

I told him I had nothing…

“You see, I was thinking of giving Yua a gift, so I’d like to pick your brain,” said a handsome silver-haired young man in a tremulous voice, “as someone who came from the same world…”

Seiichirou could only look at him with a gaze that expressed that he felt dead on the inside. A knight from the Second Royal Order had accosted him the moment he arrived at the palace, and now here he was, languishing in a reception room.

It went without saying that the silver-haired man was Prince Yurius, first in line for the throne.

“Kondo, you ought to adjust your expression a little…” Commander Radim of the Second Royal Order warned in a whisper.

“I stopped trying for the impossible,” Seiichirou answered flatly. His range of expressions lacked the capacity to respond to the prince’s pining for the Holy Maiden. “I would like to mention that I came to the palace today to serve as a guide for the Egorovan diplomats.”

“How dare the prince of the nation get in the way of an important job,” is what Seiichirou was trying to say.

Yurius appeared to have heard his grumbling, because he lifted his head.

“Ah, worry not. The tour has been rescheduled to the Water Hour (2 PM) today. Some of the diplomats were up late at the dinner party last night, and they are also, of course, fatigued from their journey.”

It was still only Wood Hour (9 AM). The Light Hour (11 AM) was already a late start, but now the tour had been postponed further.

“Is that so? In that case, I have some things to do at the Accounting Department,” Seiichirou said as he tried to stand.

Naturally, Radim stopped him and forced him back onto the sofa. The sickly Seiichirou could never have hoped to overpower a distinguished military commander. It was the same song and dance as the day before.

The memory of it ticked Seiichirou off all over again.

Alas, he was in the presence of a prince. He couldn’t worm his way out of this one.

“I called on you because I thought your perspective would be useful. You and Yua are compatriots and have been in a similar position romantically,” said Yurius.

“………” Seiichirou said nothing.

By “similar position romantically,” was he talking about being proposed to by a member of this kingdom?

Wait. There was a more fundamental issue here.

Yua Shiraishi, who had been summoned alongside Seiichirou to this world (well, technically, she was summoned as the Holy Maiden and Seiichirou just happened to get caught up in it) did indeed get along with Yurius. But as far as Seiichirou was aware…that was about the extent of their relationship.

“Have you and Shiraishi started courting yet, Your Highness?”

“—!”

“—!”

Both Yurius and Radim froze.

No way…

“You do not have a romantic relationship, and yet you are planning on proposing to her…?”

The incredulousness must have shown on his face. Radim shook his head, his face deathly pale.

“He has not…confirmed Yua’s feelings exactly, but she surely feels the same way!” he insisted as his eyes flashed in warning. “And so the gift is to propose both marriage and courtship at the same time…”

“Yikes, that’s a big ask,” Seiichirou blurted out.

“—?!” Yurius’s eyes went wide.

“Kondo! Watch your tongue!” Radim barked.

“Oh, my apologies. I couldn’t help but say what I was thinking…”

“That’s not an apology, Kondo!” yelled Radim. “That’s not an apology at all!”

“I-is it my imagination, or have you been rather passive-aggressive toward me lately…?” said Yurius.

They could complain all they liked, but of course Seiichirou was going to be passive-aggressive when he’d been abducted to give dating advice right before an important job.

But still, between Yurius, who was trying to propose to a woman he wasn’t even dating, and Aresh, who declared that he and his partner were engaged without asking how his partner felt about it, who was being more ridiculous?

Maybe the prince was more put-together…for at least asking the other person’s consent.

“Firstly, I should mention that in our home country, sixteen is considered very early for a woman to get married.”

Yurius blinked. “…Truly?!”

Although it was legal to get married at that age, most sixteen-year-olds in Japan were high school students.

“In Japan, the majority attend school until they are eighteen. Furthermore, many affluent or passionate students choose to further their education until they are twenty or even twenty-two.” From what Seiichirou could tell, Yua came from a privileged household, so she would probably go on to college. “Many people only get married after they have joined the workforce and settled into their careers.”

He decided not to mention how women these days were putting off marriage for later due to advancements in women’s rights.

“Is…that so?” Yurius said shakily.

Seiichirou abruptly remembered that the prince was twenty years old. Given the similarities between the Romany Kingdom and medieval Europe, Seiichirou expected that the nobility would get engaged at a young age. His assumption seemed to be correct.

Sadly for Yurius, Yua was very much a modern Japanese girl.

“Honestly,” said Seiichirou, “I do not think she will take well to an abrupt marriage proposal…”

“But a member of royalty cannot frivolously initiate relations with a Holy Maiden,” Radim pointed out.

Seiichirou nodded, understanding the logic. It was a big deal for a prince to court a Holy Maiden—and not to mention that the two of them were of marriageable age in this country. Casual dating wouldn’t fly here.

“Well, just try to keep Shiraishi’s perspective in mind, I suppose.”

The rest was their problem to deal with. Seiichirou did not want to be dragged into it right before work.

“Did you accept Aresh’s proposal because of your age?”

Oof.

This time, it was Seiichirou’s turn to freeze.

There was silence after that, a very long silence indeed.

“……………I have no recollection of accepting a proposal,” Seiichirou answered finally.

Radim seemed to have figured something out, while Yurius cocked his head in puzzlement.

“What are you saying? Were you not wearing a sign of your engagement at the dinner party? I thought it was a deliberate signal to the foreign guests.”

Seiichirou was silent for a while again before saying, “……………I did wear that, but I did not accept a proposal.”

“What? Then how…?” Yurius frowned in puzzlement. “Oh, don’t tell me.”

Being the crown prince, he was by no means a dim fellow. As it dawned on him, his expression became one of comprehension. He shot a look over his shoulder at Radim, who nodded.

Yurius turned back to Seiichirou with a sympathetic gaze.

“So you didn’t know.”

“………” Seiichirou’s silence was answer enough.

Although he was a grown man, he had been in this world for less than a year. Yurius did not seem inclined to ridicule him for his ignorance.

But…

“Well…somehow, I can understand Aresh’s feelings.”

“…On what basis?” Seiichirou asked, glowering.

“Don’t give me that look. I’m the crown prince.” Yurius waved a hand to ward off Seiichirou’s baleful expression. “You and Yua are from another world. I suspect he fears that you will slip beyond his grasp if he does not latch onto you quickly.”

Seiichirou’s mouth drew into a tight line.

“Yua has declared publicly that she wishes to return to her world, and you are the very man who kickstarted research into movement spells for returning people to their worlds… You must wish to go back one day, yes?”

Yes. Yua and Seiichirou had both been dragged forcibly into this world. If they could return, they would. It was what they were working toward.

“………I do not have it in me to cast my homeland aside so easily,” Seiichirou said after a pause.

“Understandable. I owe you an apology for putting you in this situation.” Seiichirou’s eyes widened. It was expressed as an afterthought, but it was the first time one of the kingdom’s top brass had ever apologized to him. “What are you surprised about? I always… Well, not always. But I do recognize that I have done you and Yua wrong.”

But he did not regret it, because he had done it to save his kingdom. For all his youth, he was very much a future king in that sense.

“Although it was our wrongdoing that brought you and Yua to this country, you have formed bonds here. Aresh and I are afraid of losing those bonds.” And so they wanted to secure the one they loved before it was too late, even if it meant using force. “You might think it unreasonable, but that’s how desperate Aresh must be. And I, too. I hope you can see that.”

Seiichirou could not find the words to answer the prince, a young man in love. He could only respond with silence.

“You had all this extra time before the meeting and you’re still late! What in the blazes were you doing?” Zoltan barked at him.

After that conversation with Yurius, the prince kept pressing Seiichirou for advice about proposing to Yua all the way until lunch. By the time Seiichirou met up with Orjef and the other tour guides, everyone else was already there waiting for him. Since he couldn’t very well say that His Highness had accosted him for dating advice, he simply apologized. He said sorry to Qusta as well, who was trying to placate Zoltan.

Zoltan’s breath was ragged; he was probably on edge right before an important job. He was the one in charge, after all.

When Seiichirou turned his head to apologize to Orjef, he noticed the man looked worn out before the job had even started. He must have stayed late at last night’s dinner party.

“Are you all right?” Seiichirou asked.

“Yeah, but no thanks to a certain somebody.”

Orjef glared at him. Strange. Seiichirou had no idea what he did wrong, but if it had something to do with him, then Aresh was their point of commonality.

“Let’s have a chat later,” Orjef said.

“……Okay.” Seiichirou nodded after a pause. He knew this was throwing his work schedule increasingly out of whack, but it was best to own up to whatever his mistake was. Plus, he was curious about how Aresh was doing.

“Oh dear, have you been waiting long?” A scant few minutes after the tour guides had assembled in the room, the Egorovan envoys made their appearance.

Lars led the group, dressed in a plain black outfit that could not have been more different from the formal clothes he wore the day before. Simple though it was, the quality of the fabric was plain to see. It suited the stylish and regal Lars very well.

The other members of the group, save for the bodyguard knights, wore matching cloaks—likely a uniform of sorts.

“Oh no, you have nothing to worry about. Now then, make yourselves at home.” As Zoltan ushered the group to their seats, everyone on the Romany side stood up. They only sat back down again after the Egorovans were seated.

“Thank you for preparing such magnificent seats for us yesterday,” Lars said.

“By all means! I am glad that you feel welcome in our country.”

As Lars and Zoltan were talking, the other members of the Egorovan delegation looked around without much interest. They all seemed to be scholarly types.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Lars Eric Egorova, and I am participating in this tour as a representative of Egorova. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

The Egorovans had already said their hellos the day before, but the other three members reluctantly reintroduced themselves with Lars’s urging. Zoltan and Orjef responded politely in turn.

Zoltan introduced Qusta and Seiichirou next.

“This is Qusta Rein, my subordinate and a highly skilled sorcerer. I hope that his insights will be useful to you all.” Then he glanced at Seiichirou before turning back to the Egorovans. “This is Kondo from the Accounting Department. He will be assisting in miscellaneous matters, so feel free to ask him anything.”

So that was how he chose to spin it.

Seiichirou did not meet the eyes of the worried-looking Qusta or Orjef, who was glancing at him for his reaction. He merely kept his gaze ahead, unruffled.

Zoltan must really not have liked that Camile reached out to Seiichirou directly. Even though Seiichirou had created eighty percent of the paperwork for this job, he was relegated to “miscellaneous matters.”

“Has he no family name?” the nervous-looking sorcerer—Donato, if Seiichirou recalled correctly—asked the obvious question.

It had been a deliberate move not to introduce Seiichirou by his full name. Although Kondo—well, Kondou, to be specific—was his family name, anyone who was introduced by first name alone was practically guaranteed to be seen as a commoner.

But Seiichirou was fine with that.

“My name is Kondou. I hope that I can be of some assistance to you on this tour. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The name “Seiichirou” had an unfamiliar ring to the people of this world. Although the neighboring countries were aware that Romany had summoned its Holy Maiden from another world, it was a secret that another person was summoned along with her. It would be a bad look if it came to light that a random person got involved through no volition of his own—hence why the kingdom’s initial plan was to keep Seiichirou confined as a pet of sorts. It was only because he had asked for a job and achieved stellar results that Prime Minister Camile increasingly trusted him with more work.

But Camile was still worried about how other countries would perceive it. It was his job to worry about that—especially when Seiichirou’s existence was hardly known in other countries. If Seiichirou introduced himself as an otherworlder to these foreigners when they had come to observe the kingdom’s movement spells, it would inevitably cause a major hassle. Zoltan’s idea to downplay him was for the best.

Donato’s eyes flickered with disdain, although Lars and Luciano looked at Seiichirou with interest.

“Can commoners rise to an administrative position in Romany?” asked Lars.

“Um, not really… I mean, well, yes, I suppose so.” Zoltan was about to deny it until he remembered that his own department’s assistant director was himself a commoner. With painfully gritted teeth, he answered in the affirmative.

“Ah, please don’t take my question as an expression of offense. I was simply impressed.”

True to Lars’s words, nobody besides Donato looked displeased. Although perhaps it was more accurate to say that Georgi, the magic tool expert, was disinterested in the conversation altogether.

So the members of the royal family and their inner circle aren’t elitists? No, maybe it’s just those two.

Although Seiichirou knew nothing about Egorova’s political circumstances, he felt the need to understand what the other side was thinking, if only for the sake of making this tour run smoothly. Hopefully, it would improve diplomatic relations, which would make it easier to import magic stones.

With the introductions out of the way, the meeting began in earnest.

Because this was the diplomats’ first day of being shown around, the idea was to answer their questions in the reception room. Seiichirou had prepared a whole stack of documents for this purpose, and Qusta had done the same.

However, before they had gotten through even half the pile, Georgi began to tap his thick fingers against the table impatiently.

“How long do you plan to dawdle? I’d rather take a look around than waste time on endless papers.”

The delegation would be staying for just seven days. Given that they had arrived yesterday, that left six days—today included.

So yes, Georgi was right in saying that their time was limited, although Seiichirou thought that he was rather quick to jump the gun given that the entire itinerary of the trip was currently being explained to him. But the other members seemed to share Geogi’s opinion.

“Yeah!” Luciano chimed in agreement. “We came here to learn about movement spells!”

“Quite so,” said Donato. “We don’t need this much detail about numbers and logistics.”

This was apparently a boring topic for magic scholars.

“My apologies, everyone,” Lars said politely before turning to his own people. “Would you cut it out, you lot? They put in a lot of work to plan this visit.”

Only Lars pushed back against the rising tide of impatience, although the others were not inclined to listen.

“But, Your Highness! Was it not the opportunity to study magic techniques that made us go to such pains to come here?! We learn nothing from being in a room without a single magic tool!”

“I agree. Magic is not something you learn from abstract textbook theories. You learn by seeing and doing.”

“The Sorcery Department! I demand to see the Royal Sorcery Department!”

Uh-oh.

The same word bounded through Seiichirou, Zoltan, and Qusta’s minds. The three of them exchanged looks. There was no spell or magic tool for communicating telepathically, but in that moment, their thoughts were indeed aligned.

Zoltan coughed. “W-well then, shall I show you around the Royal Sorcery Department?”

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Lars asked worriedly.

“Oh, yes! Perfectly! You all made such a long trek to be here, and His Highness the Crown Prince has asked that we accommodate your needs as much as possible.” Zoltan was sweating, but he did a good job of hiding it as he gave a dignified response. One had to hand it to the nobility on occasion.

“Excellent. Then I shall go on ahead and prepare the venue for your arriva—”

Qusta tried to stand up, only for Luciano to stop him. “Oh, I have a question about one of those papers you showed earlier. Can I ask about it while I walk with you?”

Uh-oh.

Sadly, they couldn’t refuse the boy. He was a relative to royalty and a formal member of the delegation.

Seiichirou stood up after Qusta threw a look in his direction. “Please accompany the group, Qusta. I will handle the communication.”

“What’s the hurry?” asked Donato. “You can ask an attendant to pass on the message.”

Seiichirou, Zoltan, and Qusta froze for several fractions of a second.

The Royal Sorcery Department performed the kingdom’s most cutting-edge magic research. There were plenty of things they were reluctant to show to people of other nations. The Egorovans understood that well, and they weren’t trying to force their way through. It was natural for them to wonder why a guide had to take it upon himself to pass on a simple message.

But the Romany Kingdom had its own problems to deal with.

“Well, you see… I just happened to remember that there were some documents I forgot to hand over to you all.” The lie came easily to Seiichirou’s lips.

The Egorovans looked at the bundle of documents in Seiichirou’s arms. Okay, so he’s a bit dim-witted, they thought, and left it at that.

“I’ll come with you. You’ve got a lot to carry.” Orjef, secretly Seiichirou’s bodyguard, stood up as well.

Thank goodness he managed to play along. Seiichirou was deeply grateful.

If worst came to worst, they would need to stash him away by force.

Owing to its numerous previous offenses—er, distinguishing results, the Sorcery Department was sequestered away at the very corner of the palace. Seiichirou was slightly out of breath by the time he arrived.

“Please excuse me! It’s Kondou from the Accounting Department! Is Ist here?!”

The court mages were bewildered when Seiichirou flung open the door moments after knocking, but they calmed when they saw it was a familiar face.

“Is something the matter, Kondo?” asked one sorcerer.

“Huh? Weren’t you and Qusta supposed to be guiding the Egorovans around today?” said another.

Seiichirou swept his gaze around the lackadaisical crowd, but did not find Ist among them. He would have cheered if Ist had gone out, but there was still the possibility that the man was buried somewhere in the mess of reference books and magic tools in the room. “Where is Ist, may I ask?”

“He’s in the back research room,” said a familiar high-pitched voice.

Seiichirou’s eyes turned to the boy with dark brown hair. “Oh, Sigma, are you here to observe?”

“Yes. I don’t have school at the church today.”

Sigma was a proper child—he had just turned twelve the other day. He was born in the lower district and once ran a stall selling toys and other trinkets he’d carved himself. His craftsman father had passed away when he was young, and the boy apprenticed as a woodworker to help make ends meet. Seiichirou had reached out to the youth when he spotted something resembling an abacus among his wares. One thing led to another, and now he was attending a private school sponsored by the prince and the Holy Maiden at the church.

Sometime in the near future, the royal family planned to announce him as the first commoner scholarship student, but he already had special permission to enter the Sorcery Department because he was good at communicating with Ist. Plus, he’d always had an interest in magic tools. Although Seiichirou wanted such a smart and efficient boy like Sigma to join the Accounting Department, Ist had gotten to him first.

“So Ist is in the back?” Seiichirou asked, pointing at the very farthest room.

Sigma nodded.

The Royal Sorcery Department was divided into several smaller rooms that could be reached from the main area. Alongside storage spaces for restricted documents and materials, there were rooms for private research. The back room had all kinds of uses: separating oneself from the other sorcerers, containing spell effects to prevent other objects from being altered, or simply focusing deeply on research.

“Okay, I’m blocking it off,” Seiichirou said.

No sooner did the words leave his mouth than he started pushing a large worktable.

“Huh?” Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

“What are you doing? There’s no time! Orjef, hurry up and bring over that table! Two’s better than one!”

“R-right.” The only other person in the room who understood what was going on obeyed Seiichirou without question.

“What’s going on, Mister? Ist won’t be able to come out if you block the way, right?!” cried Sigma.

“That’s exactly why I’m doing it.”

Ist could easily blow the door away with magic if he so wished, but the idea probably wouldn’t even occur to him if he didn’t know why he was blocked in. Hopefully, his thought process would be “The door’s locked? Well, whatever.”

And so it would be as long as nothing outside piqued his interest. Seiichirou decided that now was the best time to seal it, while Ist was still unaware. The Egorovans would only be in the Sorcery Department for a short time. The barrier just needed to hold until they were gone.

“The Egorovan group will be here in a matter of minutes! Hide anything you don’t want them seeing! Oh, and try to move whatever you can and make this place presentable!”

Seiichirou’s words finally snapped the sorcerers out of their confusion. They jumped in unison.

“The Egorovan diplomats?! Weren’t they supposed to be coming here tomorrow?!”

“Hey, isn’t a member of their royal family part of the group?! Oh crap! He’s gonna see me in this?!”

“What’s with the sudden change of plan?!”

Everyone had cries of surprise on their lips, though they swiftly started packing their written notes and materials. There was a lot to do, given that the whole place looked dreadful.

“Who cares how you look?! The classified information comes first! You don’t want other countries seeing it! And don’t assume they won’t understand what they see. They have a magic tool expert in their party!” Seiichirou shouted, hurrying the sorcerers along.

Even as Orjef watched on in exasperation, he didn’t fail to add to the barricade pile.

“Oh, so you can yell at the top of your lungs…”

By the time Zoltan escorted the Egorovans to the Sorcery Department, the sorcerers had somehow managed to clear up enough space to walk through, tidied the jam-packed desks, ventilated the area, and—most importantly—barricaded the farthest research room. They even used magic to keep the objects in front of the door in place. The reason they didn’t use magic to seal off the entire doorway was because Ist would sense the energy, which could very well pique his interest and prompt him to break the barrier.

As the Egorovans peered around in interest, Qusta stood behind them, appearing visibly relieved. When his eyes met Seiichirou’s, the two of them silently nodded to each other.

“So this is Romany’s Sorcery Department, eh?”

“It’s quite small.”

Although there were more people around these days, the Royal Sorcery Department had been short-staffed prior to Seiichirou’s intervention. Given that he planned to expand the department even further, it probably was a good idea to look into physically expanding the space. Seiichirou added “ask the higher-ups about this” to his mental list of things to do.

“We have a number of smaller rooms, which our sorcerers use for research,” Qusta explained, since Zoltan hardly ever used those.

Even Seiichirou, a frequent visitor, knew nothing about magic or how the rooms were arranged. He decided to step back; this wasn’t where he was needed.

“What is this?” someone asked.

“Oh, that’s the nap room Kondo made for us. Right, Kondo?”

“……Um, yes.”

Seiichirou’s sentiments were wasted when someone called for him straight away.

“The nap room! I’m a big fan,” gushed one of the researchers.

“Yes, because some of us forget to go home when we’re absorbed in work!” said another.

“It’s good for waiting out magic stagnation.”

They were all babbling excitedly.

“Aren’t you from the Accounting Department? Why were you involved in the Sorcery Department’s facilities?” Lars asked the obvious question.

Seiichirou hesitated for a moment but decided to answer honestly. “Well, you see, I often come here, and I would see the sorcerers sleeping on the floor… I figured that sleeping on a proper bed would rejuvenate the body more quickly and lead to greater efficiency.”

This was something Seiichirou had learned through trial and error from his previous world. Sleeping on the floor or at his desk would always leave him aching somewhere. Even worse, the sleep was never good enough to rid him of fatigue. He tried all sorts of strategies, like curling up in the corner of a room, sleeping on the toilet, and laying out two or even three chairs. He had wished for a nap room on many such occasions—but sadly, the company never heeded his requests.

But now the shoe was on the other foot. When he saw the sorcerers on the floor, a wave of nostalgia had come over him. When he installed work desks for the new employees, he took the opportunity to order simple beds as well. The higher-ups gave him permission, of course—although admittedly, the budgeting mostly came down to Seiichirou. When one of the research rooms became a permanent napping area, he felt fulfilled, as if he had finally ticked something off his bucket list.

“And that’s not all! Kondo’s responsible for a bunch of other conveniences, like a regular food stock and a magic tool that automatically cleans the room. It really makes it easy to focus on our jobs!” the sorcerers enthused.

In contrast to the sparkly-eyed sorcerers, Zoltan and Orjef scowled at Seiichirou. This was the correct response.

“You set up a bunch of things to make them work all day?” Orjef muttered.

Seiichirou pretended not to hear him.

He was helping further the research into movement spells by making the Sorcery Department an easier environment to work in. At the same time, he was using them to fulfill his own dreams: an easy source of food and nutrition, a nap room where they could get a proper sleep, a machine—erm, magical tool—that would automatically keep the rooms clean. Yes, it was every workaholic’s ideal.

Of course, this could only make sense to someone with Seiichirou’s particular brand of obsession. Fortunately, the research nuts at the Sorcery Department were kindred spirits in that sense.

One of the research nuts in question heard Orjef’s muttering.

“Not at all,” he insisted, coming to Seiichirou’s defense. “We’re nothing but grateful to Kondo for increasing our budget! We never had much money before.”

The Egorovan sorcerers, who seemed to be a bunch of research fanatics themselves, cocked their heads at that.

“But isn’t he just an accountant? He doesn’t possess the special powers of a sorcerer. Why praise him for doing the obvious?” asked Donato, and the others in his group nodded emphatically as well.

From this, it was all too clear that Egorova valued its technicians and sorcerers highly. It made sense to those coming from a frigid land, where magic was essential for withstanding the cold.

“Yes, but you need money to do research, don’t you? We’ve only made leaps and bounds in our movement spells because we have the funds for it. So you can say we owe all this progress to Kondo!”

“Not at all. You’re the ones who put in the hard work.” Seiichirou tried to quiet the sorcerers. Even he thought that they were laying it on a bit thick, but that didn’t stop the flood of gratitude.

Since the Egorovan mages didn’t look pleased, Seiichirou failed to notice Lars peering at him with a smile.

Meanwhile, something appeared to catch Luciano’s attention.

“Who’s that kid?” He spoke up. “I’ve been wondering for a while.”

He was pointing at Sigma. With his white shirt and long beige shorts, he was the odd one out among all the Royal Sorcery Department uniforms. Sigma’s shoulders jolted at the sudden attention.

Needless to say, Sigma didn’t have a uniform because he wasn’t a member of the department, but he had to at least be presentable to go in and out of the palace. Seiichirou had given him a set of shirts and such. He took it from the public funds, of course, because it was a necessity. This was more than fair in his opinion, since that harebrained prince was using the country’s dime to pay for the Holy Maiden’s dresses and accessories. In the end, Yua asked to return them, putting most of that money back into the kingdom’s coffers.

Sigma sent Seiichirou an imploring look. Although he generally had a good head on his shoulders, he understandably stiffened up around the nobility.

“This boy is a very skilled craftsman,” Seiichirou said. “He has been given special permission to enter the Sorcery Department to assist with the research on magic tools and to further his own education.”

“Oho! A future magic tool expert! He must be quite skilled indeed to have access to the palace at his age!” Georgi clapped his hands.

Next to him, Donato frowned. “But is he not of common birth? Are peasant children allowed inside royal research facilities?”

What if he leaked information or stole expensive materials and tools? Donato did not put this question into words, but Sigma understood the implication and looked at his feet.

Seiichirou thought they were more of a liability for barging into a highly confidential area without an appointment, but they were guests, so he did not say this aloud.

“Yes, well, he does not normally come and go so freely! He just happened to be here today! To observe!” Zoltan insisted.

The Romany sorcerers grimaced at his weaselly tone. Unlike their flaky boss, the promising young boy who showed up nearly every day had long since become one of their own. The fact that he could have proper conversations with Ist of all people made him invaluable. Sigma gave a little smile when the sorcerers patted him wordlessly on the shoulder, which made Seiichirou breathe a sigh of relief.

“He must have a great affinity for magic tools and manipulating magic to be granted access as a commoner!” Georgi looked very taken with Sigma, and young Luciano’s eyes sparkled, too. Only Donato put much stock in blood, it seemed.

Just when Seiichirou was thinking that this was turning out surprisingly well, Sigma responded, “Oh no, um… I don’t have much magic. I can’t manipulate it at all.”

“What?!” Georgi’s naturally loud voice boomed even more vociferously. “How can you be a magic tool maker when you can’t use magic?! It’s absurd! What is going on in this country?!”

Sigma clammed up again at the reproachful remark. To make matters worse, none of his reliable sorcerer friends spoke up. They were all studious yet weak-willed sorts, and so all they could do was watch on, perturbed. Had Ist been around, he would have argued back, oblivious to the silent strain in the atmosphere.

But he wasn’t, because Seiichirou had locked him away.

And so, with no other form of recourse, Seiichirou came to Sigma’s aid.

“It is quite possible to work on magical tools without everyone involved being proficient in magic.”

“What did you say?! You dare talk like an expert?!”

The man had poured decades of blood and sweat into pursuing his craft. Moreover, he was an important guest. Seiichirou could not afford to anger him.

“My apologies, I am merely an accountant and can only speak about the financial side. However, I can assemble the budget for the Sorcery Department to pursue its research.”

“What of it?”

“I delegate the work to the right people for the job.”

“What do you mean?” The frown was covering Georgi’s entire face.

Seiichirou tried his very best to be patient and complimentary toward the man he was speaking to.

“Compared to your nation, the Romany Kingdom does not possess as many individuals with both exemplary magic control and a robust knowledge of magic tools. As a nation with a wealth of magic tools, Egorova can have the best of both worlds.”

“Hm, I suppose.” Georgi didn’t look too satisfied with that explanation. Neither did Donato or Luciano. Only Lars’s smile remained unchanged.

“So here, the technicians and sorcerers focus on their respective crafts. By having them work together to create magic tools, they make up for what the other lacks.”

“Hmm…”

“It is also difficult to find good people.”

Indeed. Because magic came down almost entirely to innate talent, sorcerers and magic technicians were in terribly short supply. Egorova was unusual in its abundance.

This thought reminded Seiichirou that Egorova apparently had plenty of mines to extract magic stones from. Through human intervention, they could be used as a magic source. Much like how Seiichirou had only gradually developed resistance to magic after coming to Romany, perhaps people who lived in magicule-heavy regions possessed more magical power?

It occurred to Seiichirou that, if this assumption held true, then it was possible to address the labor shortage by artificially increasing people’s magic capacity.

I’d love to ask Ist about this straight away…but that’s not happening right now. Seiichirou calmed himself upon remembering the sorcerer he had locked up. I can always do it after the Egorovans go home… Besides, I can ask Ciro about stuff related to the body.

Ciro was the director of the Medical Bureau. He’d been looking out for Seiichirou ever since that one time he collapsed and Aresh dragged him in for a checkup.

While Seiichirou was expanding his mental list of tasks, Sigma withstood Georgi’s barrage of questions.

“But how much are you able to achieve with your level of magic?”

“Well, um, we made a device that can measure magic power.”

“Oh? This thing? So it changes color depending on the magic flow?”

“It has kelsil in it, you see, and…”

“Oho! It expands?! So that’s how you get it to change color from the pressure! Interesting!” Georgi shouted, instantly grasping the mechanism behind the magic-measuring device Ist and Sigma had created.

This time, his tone was not reproachful, which left Sigma at a loss. “I-indeed,” the boy replied falteringly, although he also seemed happy to talk about magic tools.

“Can I have a look, too?!” Luciano raised his hand.

Behind him, Donato looked interested as well. So they were just research nuts in the end.

“Wow, it’s so simple yet elegant,” said Luciano.

“Yes, I tried to make it so that anyone could use it…”

“Oho, a very pauper-like way of thinking,” remarked Donato.

“It’s important to make things easy to understand,” Georgi commented.

“Yes, we have magic-measuring devices in our country, too, but they’re made entirely differently,” Luciano said as he brought out an object that looked like a finely made pocket watch. Sigma’s creation looked more like a thermometer.

“How does your device work?” asked Sigma.

Georgi coughed. “Well, you see, you inscribe a chant on the magic ore here…”

“Wow! What a high-level technique!”

The other sorcerers started to gather around Sigma.

Great, thought Seiichirou, delighted at the demonstration. Keep it coming.

“Hey, it’s showing on your face,” Orjef whispered a warning.

“Huh? What is?” Seiichirou tilted his head without an ounce of self-awareness.

“That ‘hell yeah’ look you’ve got right now.”

Seiichirou wasn’t doing anything that went against the Romany Kingdom’s interests, so he just put on a bright, fake smile. “How imprudent of me.”

“So you’re not even denying it.” Orjef sighed. “Well, whatever. Looks like this will go on for ages, so let’s just talk about that other thing tomorrow.”

“Yes, I suppose we should.” Seiichirou nodded as he watched the lively discussion play out between the research nuts—er, talented technicians and sorcerers.

Despite the late start and the significant change in schedule, the current situation was ideal. If he waited for this to end and then talked to Orjef, he would probably get home during the Wood Hour (approximately nine in the evening).

“Then shall we talk tomorrow morning?” Seiichirou suggested. He had the feeling that nothing about this task was going to proceed according to schedule.

The same thought must have occurred to Orjef, because after a moment, he nodded.

“So how was it?” Lars asked.

After the tour and discussion at the Sorcery Department, the four Egorovans had a meal alone and chatted about their day in their provided guest room.

“Interesting,” said Georgi. “Their technological prowess wouldn’t make a dent in ours, but they make up for it with their imagination.”

“Although I question the wisdom of involving the peasantry, I suppose the research did have some merit,” said Donato.

They had evidently enjoyed themselves, though their faith in their own country remained unshaken. Lars’s lips curved into a smile before he turned to the youngest member of their entourage, who was seated slightly apart from them.

“And how was it for you, Lufi?”

Luciano’s cheeks were red, and the young sorcerer’s adorable lips were twisted into a slight pout.

“It was enlightening. But…I was surprised that a boy without much magic was allowed into a court sorcerer’s research area.”

“Oh?” said Lars. “But you’re young yourself, and yet here you are—a member of a foreign delegation.”

“But I-I…! Are you saying I don’t have talent?” Luciano looked down, dejected.

Lars and the others exchanged glances.

“Not at all,” said Lars. “You are a talented sorcerer.”

“Yes,” said Donato, “I am sure that you will carry our nation’s future.”

“You won’t get anywhere comparing yourself to others,” said Georgi. “Besides, that kid’s going to be a magic tool technician, not a sorcerer.”

Among the royal siblings, Luciano had always possessed the most magical energy and a studious nature, which helped with learning new spells. Luciano was so talented, in fact, that there were hardly any obstacles to his participation in the tour to Romany. But this was all still relative to age—seeing a boy without connections make actual contributions to another country’s Royal Sorcery Department was a blow to Luciano’s confidence.

“If it bothers you, then take this opportunity to absorb as much as you can and let it fuel your growth,” Lars said quietly.

Luciano nodded silently.

“Was there anything that piqued your interest, Your Highness?” asked Donato.

After giving a brief show of mulling it over, Lars smiled.

“Yes, I’m interested in him. The accountant.”

The other men scowled upon hearing this.

“That peasant?” said Donato.

“He didn’t leave a very strong impression…,” Luciano commented.

“He said that he only had money on his mind,” Georgi remarked.

The researchers had very typical reactions.

“The documents he handed out at the start were very well put together and easy to read,” Lars continued without breaking his smile. “I believe he’s a very capable man.”

“But he can’t use a lick of magic, right?”

“The Director of the Sorcery Department said he was only here because he put those documents together.”

“My goodness… You’re kicking up such a fuss when we haven’t received even half the documentation. You didn’t even read the papers he gave us, did you?”

The three research nuts stiffened.

Lars sighed as he eyed them. These three were bound to fixate on the magic side of the equation and let the other important details slip by. It was why Lars, a man with no magical talent, was the leader of the delegation.

When the subject of this tour came up, Lars thought of it as an unpleasant job, but he had his own objective in coming here. Unlike the other members, the movement spell research was just an afterthought to him.

“Do you know what our spy said the man was doing before today’s gathering?”

Nobody had an answer to Lars’s question. They just looked at each other.

“He was in the crown prince’s personal quarters. They even had lunch together.”

“What?! But isn’t he supposed to be a commoner?!” The three of them were stunned.

Lars’s smile deepened—it was just the reaction he’d expected. “Now, I don’t know what exactly they discussed, but there’s no question that he is on good terms with the prince.”

At that point, Luciano blinked up at Lars. “Elder Brother! I remember! That man was at the dinner party…”

As he responded with a wordless smile, Lars’s mind connected the dots.

Successful research into movement spells.

The Holy Maiden’s purification.

A bastard prince.

A man of common birth, who was on friendly terms with both the crown prince and the bastard.

Not for the first time, Lars was glad that he chose to come to Romany.

As Seiichirou had expected, Aresh stayed in his room that night and never showed his face. Part of that was because Seiichirou came home late, but Aresh was supposed to have the next day off work. Seiichirou had assumed that he would at least show up the next morning, but Milan the maid told him that he left the house in a rush after breakfast.

Seiichirou’s first destination was all too obvious.

“Is Orjef here?!”

The knights of the Third Royal Order gaped at the otherworlder who came barging into their station. Some knights, who saw their captain’s darling as the source of their current problems, glared at him with hostility, but Seiichirou simply waltzed up to Orjef and pulled him into Aresh’s office without a second thought.

“Have you heard anything about Aresh going to his family home?”

Orjef was surprised. Although they had promised to talk this morning, Seiichirou came in much earlier than he had expected—and he’d gone straight to the Knight’s Station instead of their meeting place. But when he heard Seiichirou’s question, Orjef calmed. He understood what this was about.

“No, that’s news to me…but what a surprise. Never thought I’d see you so flustered.”

Seiichirou blinked. It was only after Orjef pointed it out that he realized that he’d let his emotions get ahead of him.

“Sorry. I acted rashly,” he apologized with embarrassment.

This display was so unusual for him that Orjef let out a snort of laughter. Seiichirou looked away uncomfortably, which struck Orjef as even more out of character, but it was also a bit of a relief because it meant that Aresh’s feelings weren’t one-sided.

“Let me just check. You and Aresh are in a romantic relationship, right?”

Seiichirou seemed to have expected this question because he nodded without much fuss. “Yes.”

When Orjef thought about it, their relationship had been fishy from the start.

Even if Seiichirou had been summoned to this land by mistake, Aresh had no reason to be so dedicated to looking after him. It had been someone else’s job to keep an eye on Seiichirou in the first place, and yet Aresh insisted on minding Seiichirou himself. Not to mention that he even bought a house for the otherworlder to live in after he had told Orjef for years that he couldn’t be bothered to leave his family home. Even beyond that, he zealously backed the otherworlder’s policy suggestions and took on a monster-slaying job that nobody asked him to do. He’d changed for the better, and it was all because of Seiichirou.

Seiichirou also matched the traits Aresh had mentioned when he’d once asked Orjef for romantic advice: “Older,” “works at the palace,” and “passionate about their job.” Honestly, why hadn’t Orjef connected the dots sooner? This man was the only person in Aresh’s vicinity who fit the bill.

It came as a shock to Orjef, who had always thought he was savvy about relationships, but, well… Maybe it was because Seiichirou had always given off the impression that he was married to his job. This made Orjef wonder if perhaps Aresh’s feelings were one-sided, but between the lapel pin and Seiichirou’s current emotional display, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Happy for you, Aresh…

Orjef couldn’t help but get misty-eyed, but when he recalled the grueling marches Aresh had put them through between the purifying expeditions and the monster exterminations, he decided that his younger cousin deserved a bit of resentment. At the same time, he remembered that he hadn’t called for Seiichirou just so that he could make fun of Aresh.

Besides, the situation seemed to be changing.

“I didn’t hear about Aresh going back home, but I can more or less imagine why he did,” he said.

“You can?!” Seiichirou’s gaze zipped back to Orjef in surprise.

Orjef poked the other man’s chest. “It’s ’cause of that lapel pin from the dinner party. Anyone would’ve guessed what was up between you two. Not many people in this country have purple in their appearance.”

Who else got along well with the otherworlder and had the money to prepare a silver flower for him? That narrowed it down to just one person.

Not to mention that the party was a gathering of influential nobles. It was inevitable that word would reach Aresh’s family, the marquess house of Indolark.

“……Oh, I…see……”

In other words, Aresh’s family had summoned him because of his relationship with Seiichirou.

The whole business with the lapel pin had been Aresh’s decision. Although Seiichirou had his own problems with that, the idea that he was a burden to Aresh was…well, troubling, to say the least.

Wait, no! I was the one who wanted to take this slow! Aresh got ahead of himself!

This was about their relationship, after all. It was a problem that Aresh had not breathed a word to him about it going public beforehand. Why was he only hearing about it from other people after the fact? Although Aresh might have assumed that intra-nobility politics was outside Seiichirou’s domain, Seiichirou could have at least done his research and come up with ideas if he’d been given the heads-up.

“If you’re asking me about this, then I guess Aresh hasn’t told you?” Orjef said.

Seiichirou didn’t want to just nod to that, so he averted his gaze.

Orjef sighed. “Well, you guys were arguing, right? Geez, leave it to Aresh to make a mess of things…”

“What did you say?”

“Oh…whatever. Let me vent.” That reminded Seiichirou—Orjef had been wanting to talk to him before Aresh left the house. “It was the day after the dinner party. Aresh doesn’t normally give hands-on instructions to the knights, but this time he did, and…boy, was it rough.”

Although Aresh trained regularly, he hardly ever showed his subordinates what to do. When he offered his guidance, the knights who admired him jumped at the opportunity…only to be swiftly disillusioned. The training regimen was on another level entirely—far too strict for the average person.

To top it off, Aresh’s scowl afterward was thirty percent worse than usual. It was as if one could see a dark aura emanating from him. Time and again, Orjef felt the need to say something, but stopped himself before the words left his mouth. On an emotional level, he was drained well before lunch.

Aresh’s moping made it all too obvious that something had happened, and it wasn’t too difficult to figure out what might have been the cause.

“So what happened between you two?” Orjef asked bluntly. No doubt he felt the right to pry given that Seiichirou had caused him trouble, and he’d volunteered information of his own.

So Seiichirou answered frankly. “You see…”

A few minutes later, Orjef collapsed against his captain’s office table. Without the table’s support, Orjef would have been flat on the floor.

“So basically…he did all that without your consent…”

“Yes… That sums it up.”

That guy had lost his mind!

Experiencing love for the first time must have knocked a screw loose!

Aresh’s expressionless face from when they were children circled through Orjef’s mind.

“I’m so sorry about my cousin…” Orjef bowed his head.

Now it was Seiichirou’s turn to feel flustered. He hadn’t expected an apology.

“Er, no, he hasn’t really been any…trou…” He tried to finish the sentence, but then he realized it was too much of a lie.

“Ha… No need to push yourself…”

“No, I mean… Yes, he has caused trouble, but his feelings…are not a burden to me!”

The problem was that Aresh had made a decision without discussing or explaining any of it. Seiichirou wanted to stress that Aresh’s feelings in and of themselves were not the issue.

“I’m kinda relieved to hear that.”

Orjef had only been thinking about Aresh’s actions. Looking back on it rationally, there was always the possibility that he’d forced his feelings onto Seiichirou, but that thankfully wasn’t the case. Orjef was glad that his relative was no criminal.

Meanwhile, Seiichirou was secretly overcome with emotion.

Between what Yurius said the day before and the attitude of Aresh’s servants, Seiichirou had gotten the impression that everyone thought it was obvious that Aresh should propose to him, and that Aresh was the victim here. It was as if Seiichirou was the only one with a different idea of what was “normal,” and it made him remember how lonely it felt when he first came to this world. He’d been expecting Orjef to reproach him, too, and so the apology took him by surprise.

Although Seiichirou had heard that Orjef and Aresh were only distantly related, they were the vice commander and commander of the same Royal Order. Between their blood and work ties, one could certainly say that Orjef was the closest person to Aresh. Seiichirou was relieved to have him on his side, but…

“Phew… People always said Aresh left his emotions in his mother’s womb. Glad he managed to find someone to love him, warts and all.”

“I don’t know how to respond to that.”

Since they had time, Seiichirou waited for Orjef to change into his uniform. They chatted as they walked to their next destination.

“What do you suppose Aresh’s family thinks?”

“Who knows? I’ve never had that much to do with them.”

Orjef and Aresh’s mothers were sisters. Although that made them cousins, their mothers came from very different stations. Aresh’s was born from their grandfather’s first wife, while Orjef’s was born from the second wife, so although the two men were related by blood, they didn’t spend much time together until Aresh joined the Royal Order.

From what Seiichirou understood, House Indolark was stationed in the capital, although their main residence was in a region near the sea. Aresh’s mother, two older brothers, and one older sister lived there.

“Aresh’s older siblings are all married, and there have never been any sleazy rumors around Aresh. I doubt they’ll give him a hard time without hearing him out.”

Orjef seemed to think that they would react much like he did: incredulous that Aresh of all people had developed feelings for someone.

But Seiichirou was perturbed. Even if that was the case, he was the partner in question. A man from another world.

Regardless of this country’s tolerance for same-sex relationships, there was still a mountain of other problems, chief among them the impromptu announcement at a dinner party. Seiichirou would have liked to take the time to introduce himself to Aresh’s parents first…

Wait, why am I assuming that we’re going to get married?!

Seiichirou had jumped to thinking about the most effective, conflict-free method of getting things done, except that marriage wasn’t necessarily his goal in the first place. Aresh was infecting him.

Then again, it wasn’t as if he wanted to break up, either. A part of him certainly wanted Aresh’s parents to acknowledge their relationship, but…

“By the way,” Seiichirou said, after a long pause, “what did you think of the Egorovan envoys?”

“Now, that’s a sudden change of topic!”

Well, it was the very next thing on the agenda. I’m not running away, Seiichirou told himself as he switched his brain into work mode.

“Well, whatever,” said Orjef with a sigh. “The magic tool expert seemed passionate about the research. The sorcerer was a cookie-cutter noble, but his enthusiasm for the craft was genuine.”

Seiichirou shared the same opinion. He nodded, waiting for Orjef to continue.

“Their bodyguards were as skilled as you’d expect. The real wildcards are…those other two.”

“You’re counting Luciano?” asked Seiichirou. He had assumed that only Prince Lars would have caught Orjef’s interest.

“Yeah. Of course, I’ve heard a lot of things about Prince Lars, like how he’s got a faction backing him for the throne even though he’s the son of a concubine.”

“The son of a concubine and he’s the third born?” Seiichirou had done some basic research, but he was only familiar with the surface-level facts.

“Yeah, but it’s not like there’s a problem with the other princes. Prince Lars is just that talented.”

Although he wasn’t blatantly angling for the throne, he nonchalantly demonstrated his competence in many different areas, from philanthropy to regional inspections and reforms. Before long, he ended up gathering clout through important tasks like the magic stone extraction work.

“Now that you mention it, he did seem to get along with the technician and the sorcerer,” said Seiichirou.

The two were respectful toward Lars as a prince, but also strangely familiar with him as well, which implied a prior acquaintance.

“In Egorova, you need spells and magic tools to extract the magic ore. If a lower-ranked prince can get on good terms with either group, he can jump up the line of succession. That is, if he’s got something the others don’t.”

“Interesting…”

From what Seiichirou was hearing, Lars was doing very well for himself. By carefully laying the foundations and seizing connections with the influential technicians, he was setting himself up as a wise and savvy ruler. That had to be one of the reasons he decided to lead the diplomatic delegation.

Looking back, Lars had read Seiichirou’s documents with keen interest. Even when his fellow envoys went off the rails, he only let them do as they pleased after paying careful attention to his surroundings. People like him were natural leaders.

We’ll need Prince Lars for future diplomatic dealings… No, wait. Would relying on him cause friction with the other factions?

Seiichirou gave the matter some thought before shrugging. It wasn’t his job to worry about diplomacy. Camile and the other higher-ups had more knowledge and political savvy up their sleeves to set the stage for future success. Seiichirou’s job was to ensure that the current tour ran smoothly.

Anyway, Seiichirou had a grasp on Lars’s involvement, but Luciano’s presence raised some questions.

As far as Seiichirou could see, the boy had an interest in movement spells and had insisted on joining the delegation as a relative to the royal family… This made him the privileged young master of the group, so to speak. Although his youth was evident not just in his appearance but in the way he spoke and acted, his zeal for magic was genuine. The questions he asked the Romany court sorcerers were just as astute as any expert’s.

“But still, the others were awfully polite to him…too polite, even,” Orjef remarked. “I feel like I’ve seen that kid somewhere before…”

“You have?” Seiichirou cocked his head, wondering if Orjef was talking about Luciano’s relation to the royal family.

But Orjef gave him an exasperated look. “You’re surprisingly useless…”

“This is outside my area of expertise, so I must defer to others,” Seiichirou replied.

Let the most suitable person do the job, he was trying to say.

Only for Orjef to hit him with “I wouldn’t say that about a guy who can be with Aresh.”

He wasn’t going to let Seiichirou live that down.

Perhaps the Egorovans were satisfied after getting their fill of the Sorcery Department, or maybe Lars’s scolding had done the trick, because the group obediently read the documents today. Lars in particular had a lot of questions, which Seiichirou and Qusta took responsibility for answering. Zoltan would always respond to any query about the Sorcery Department with “Qusta will explain in more detail!”, which was a waste of time, but other than that it all went smoothly.

The problem arose after lunch.

The guests had been given their own dining space. It was all well and good for them to use this time to chat with the tour guides, until someone mentioned Sigma. Luciano was the one who brought it up, but it was Lars who pressed the subject.

“I heard yesterday that the church is running a private school for common-born children.”

Although Seiichirou was the one who spearheaded the project, his job was to praise the nation. He shot Orjef a look to say, “Leave this to me.”

“Yes, Prince Yurius believes that the commoners are in need of education,” he said.

“His Highness himself?” Donato sounded impressed.

“Indeed. He believes that commoners should have the opportunity to learn simple things such as reading, arithmetic, and etiquette to nurture the next generation of working citizens.”

“The commoners, hm? What purpose does that serve?”

“I believe the boy we met yesterday will be a promising technician,” said Georgi.

“Yeah. He might not come from nobility or have much magic, but he’s already achieving things,” Luciano remarked.

The two of them seemed to have quite a favorable impression of Sigma and were happy to chat about him. Only Lars seemed to have a different idea about where to steer the conversation.

As he cut finely into his garegas, a dish wrapped in pie dough and fried, he lifted his gaze.

“I heard that it was the current Holy Maiden who proposed the idea.”

Ah, so that’s his angle, Seiichirou nodded to himself as he stabbed a fork through his salad.

Romany was not yet aware of how Egorova planned to use movement spells. Given those circumstances, the kingdom was unwilling to give them access to the Holy Maiden. If by some terrible happenstance Seiichirou’s identity as an otherworlder was revealed, handing him over was the better option. He guessed that this was one of the reasons he was chosen as a guide. He was just as valuable as Yua in the sense that he was living proof that a movement spell could summon a person from another world.

“You’re well-informed,” said Seiichirou. “Indeed, Her Holiness and His Highness are leading the project.”

“The current holy maiden is quite a go-getter, I see.”

“Yes. Although she was unfamiliar with our magical methods, she is an extremely hardworking and benevolent soul.”

“Ah, but I suppose she is familiar with our magic now.” Lars was not giving up easily.

Zoltan was the one who answered. “Why, yes, but she is still not yet fit to appear before other nations! Much less royalty!” he said, deflecting Lars’s implication with a laugh.

Camile or Yurius must have cautioned him not to let Lars cross paths with Yua. Seiichirou was grateful for the intervention, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.

“Is that so? What a shame. But I am very interested in this private school for uneducated commoners. Would you be able to take us there?”

All eyes on the Romany side turned to Seiichirou.

Seiichirou stood up, trying very hard not to make his confusion evident in his gaze. “We cannot make suitable arrangements for you at short notice, so please allow me to speak with the church first.”

He bowed, left the dining hall, and then broke into a speedy power walk.

He knew the private school’s schedule, but he didn’t know which days Yua and Yurius visited. First, he had to check their schedules, and he had to inform the church…!

It was day three of the diplomatic mission.

Not a single day so far had gone according to plan—what a pain in the neck.

Once Seiichirou managed to hear about Yurius and Yua’s movements through the Second Royal Order, he told them not to approach the church that day. Then he sent a message to the church, and in practically no time at all, both the Egorovan and Romany delegates headed to the same destination in separate carriages.

“What made you want to see the education facility so suddenly, Your Highness?” Donato asked as he made himself comfortable on the sofa. The Egorovan carriage had quite a large and opulent seating area, which was good enough for something the Romany side had prepared on short notice.

Lars had told them the day before to listen carefully to what the Romany side explained today.

“There was something I was a little curious about,” he said.

“Are you talking about the current holy maiden?”

The Holy Maiden appeared once every hundred years in the Romany Kingdom to purify the miasma. Other nations were privy to this legend, and in Egorova there was much talk about how Romany had revived its ancient summoning magic to bring forth its current Holy Maiden from another world.

“I’m interested in their purification and summoning magic, too, but I get the impression they don’t want us to meet this holy maiden,” said Donato.

“Oh, is that why you got the idea to suddenly visit a place she often goes?” Luciano asked.

Lars laughed and shook his head. “I’d never be so underhanded… Oh, why are you all looking away? Anyway, we only have seven days here, so I won’t get hung up about the holy maiden.”

It was too soon for her to appear at diplomatic junctions. If they were going to unveil her, it would be with much fanfare. Lars wasn’t planning on cutting ahead of schedule.

“I’ve also considered the idea of opening an educational facility for commoners, so I’m interested in seeing how theirs works,” he said.

“‘Also,’ you say. So there’s something else?” Luciano asked.

The corner of Lars’s lip turned up. “Apparently, a certain illegitimate son from the Royal Accounting Department is a teacher at the private school.”

“What a coincidence!”

According to their spy, Norbert regularly taught arithmetic while juggling his work at the Accounting Department.

“So even the royal family is directly involved… They’re quite serious about educating the peasants, it seems.” Donato frowned as if he could not grasp their reasoning.

The smile faded from Lars’s lips. “That’s one way of thinking about it. His motives for getting involved might be different from those of the crown prince.”

The Romany guides had mentioned that the Holy Maiden and crown prince sponsored the private school. However, the kingdom was bound to suffer a financial burden were the project to expand.

Then there was the king’s bastard son, who took the lowest seat at the dinner party. Did he get involved in the church’s private school out of his own volition, or was someone else behind it?

“The Royal Accounting Department…that’s where that guide is from,” Luciano said.

“Kondo, yes. I find him very interesting.”

“You had a lot of praise for his paperwork.”

Indeed, upon closer inspection, the documents (which had turned into a bigger stack than the day before) covered a wide breadth while being easy to digest. It would have taken a lot of time and effort for a single person to compile, which lent credence to the idea that the Accounting Department as a whole had prepared them beforehand.

“That’s part of it, but I also got the impression yesterday that he’s the one in charge of the tour group.”

The listless-looking man was the quickest to respond whenever the Egorovan side diverted from the itinerary.

“No way. Isn’t he just doing all the running around because he’s a grunt?”

“Even still, he’s got a sharp intuition and he’s quick at his job. I’d find a worker like him rather handy to have around.” Although he came for the movement spells, Lars smiled at the unexpected discovery.

Knowing very well that the prince always got his hands on what he wanted, Georgi and Donato exchanged glances. They felt sorry for the poor accountant.

But then Luciano said, as if only just struck by the thought, “Oh, you mustn’t, Elder… Your Highness. He has a partner in this country.”

“Oh, really?”

The man had not given off any such impression today or the day before.

Luciano nodded firmly. “Yes, he had a purple gem in his silver flower accessory at the dinner party.”

“A flower… The mias flower signifies ‘eternity’ in Romany, if I recall. I suppose that means he is married or betrothed, then?”

“Yes, and he had spinels on his arm cuffs.”

“Well, well… He must have quite the zealous partner indeed.”

“Spinels are quite rare jewels, aren’t they? They’ve got to be wealthy.”

As the four Egorovans recalled the visage of the man who had been with them until just a short while ago, they got the impression that some things didn’t add up. But they were satisfied with the idea, at least, that Kondo’s partner was a hopeless romantic, had plenty of money to spare, and had purple in their appearance.

“I suppose it would be difficult to poach him if he has a partner,” Lars mused.

“If you’re that insistent upon it, why don’t you poach his partner along with him?”

“No, someone with that kind of money has to be an influential noble. I doubt they’d be willing to part ways with their country.”

But still, Lars wondered just who the man’s partner was.

“Welcome. I hope you have not been waiting long.” Siegvold greeted them at the capital’s church, which wasn’t terribly far from the palace.

Siegvold was the straitlaced and slightly overzealous priest who had assisted Seiichirou back when he was auditing the church. He liked to refer to Seiichirou as a “disciple of Abran.” Although he was the eldest son of the influential Marquess Erwell, he was sent to the church when he was young because of his poor magic control, which spurred his blind faith in the Abran religion. Apparently, when he discovered that praying to a magic stone calmed him down (by absorbing his magic), he and his family decided that he would devote his life to serving God.

“It’s nice to see you again, Priest Siegvold. Apologies for the sudden imposition.”

“No, Disciple—erm, Mr. Seiichirou—I’m always happy to oblige your requests.”

When Seiichirou turned to introduce Siegvold to the Egorovans, the four members of the delegation were staring at the two of them with wide eyes. He found that puzzling.

“Your Highness, um…this is Priest Siegvold, a priest who serves the Romany capital’s church,” said Seiichirou aloud. Mentally, he was asking himself what on earth had them so shocked.

Lars was the first to gather his wits.

“I apologize for the sudden visit,” he said as he smiled and offered a hand. “I am Lars Eric, from Egorova.”

“I am Siegvold, a priest. Please make yourselves at home.”

They shook hands amicably. The sight of the two attractive men of differing heights made for an appealing picture. Yua might have squealed if she’d been around. Although she’d calmed down considerably as of late, she still had a habit of gushing over beautiful people. It was one of the reasons why she wasn’t quite ready to be in public.

“You’ve come to observe the private school in the relief house, yes?” said Siegvold. “The children have been taught the basics of etiquette, but please do inform me if anyone inconveniences you.”

“Oh no, we’re the inconveniences here. I would never take offense.”

Seiichirou was relieved to hear Lars say this. Although the children were studying etiquette, almost all of them came from peasant backgrounds. The relief house children were better, but still too young to know how to conduct themselves in front of foreign royalty. Seiichirou felt like giving Siegvold a thumbs-up for securing Lars’s word.

He couldn’t actually do that, of course, so he settled for whispering his gratitude when Zoltan ushered Lars’s group ahead. “Thank you, Mr. Siegvold.”

“No need to thank me. It’s my responsibility to look after the children. More importantly, how are you doing, Mr. Seiichirou? It must be quite a handful for you to guide foreign visitors around when you’re already so busy.”

Much like the previous visit, Seiichirou stood some distance away from the experts as they geeked out. He was chatting with Orjef and Lars when he heard a sudden shout. The soprano pitch of a boy whose voice had not yet broken told him exactly who it was.

“What happened?” Lars demanded as he rushed over and peeled Luciano away from Sigma.

Seiichirou hurried over to Sigma’s side as well.

“What’s wrong, Luciano? This isn’t like you.” Lars gently grabbed Luciano by the wrist, halting his lunge at Sigma.

“I mean, he…he…!” Luciano was too emotional to be coherent.

“What happened?” Seiichirou asked Sigma quietly. The peasant boy’s face was devoid of color. Although he was diffident around people of higher status, it wasn’t a surprise that he would attract the ire of a pompous young foreigner like Luciano. Seiichirou didn’t suspect that Sigma had made some kind of intractable faux pas. “It’s okay,” Seiichirou assured him.

Sigma opened his mouth timidly. “He asked me about the magic tool from the day before yesterday, so I explained it again.”

By “the magic tool from the day before yesterday,” he had to be talking about the magic-measuring device. Seiichirou nodded, nudging Sigma to continue. The boy cast a glance at Luciano before turning back to Seiichirou.

“Then…he asked me how I came up with the idea,” he continued falteringly. “When I said Ist and I made it together, he got mad all of a sudden…”

“Huh…”

The only new thing Sigma had mentioned was Ist.

Which meant that… No, it can’t be…

“How can a nobody like you work with a master like him?!” yelled Luciano.

“Seriously?” Seiichirou’s reaction was too soft for anyone but Sigma to hear.

After they somehow managed to mollify Luciano and leave the disorderly Sorcery Department behind them, Seiichirou—well, more like everyone on the Romany side—clutched their heads in their hands.

“So…may I ask…is our Ist well-known in your country?” asked Zoltan nervously.

“Well, of course,” Donato replied crisply. “He’s discovered new magic, revived older magic, and simplified existing spells. With so many accomplishments under his belt, who wouldn’t know him?”

Seriously?

It finally sank in for Seiichirou. He knew that Ist was a talented sorcerer, which was how he’d climbed the ranks to assistant director despite his merchant family background. But from Romany’s perspective, Ist’s conduct was so uncontrollable that he was basically left to his own devices to stop him from making a public mess of things. This was partly because Romany was unconcerned about magic research outside the fields of offensive spells (for killing monsters) and barrier spells (for protecting the capital), which led to the Third Royal Order getting the lion’s share of the praise while the Sorcery Department got the short end of the stick. Magical knowledge hadn’t even spread far among the populace in general.

Yet because of the long leash he was given, Ist had managed to achieve a great deal on a shoestring budget. This had all come as a surprise to Seiichirou since magic was outside his area of expertise (sorry, Ist). He would have upped the funds straight away if he’d known.

“But, well, you see… We haven’t exactly been publicizing his results,” was Zoltan’s excuse for being blindsided.

“You don’t need to publicize it. Sorcerers know these things,” Donato pointed out bluntly.

He did have a point. Zoltan barely ever showed up at the Sorcery Department, and whenever Ist achieved something after holing himself up in his lab, he was generally quite pleased with himself and made no effort to hide it.

Wow, Ist can write a thesis? Seiichirou thought, rather rudely.

“Ist has marvelous insight and creativity,” Donato went on. “I assumed that these new movement spells are largely based on his research, so I was hoping that he would give a lecture…”

“Luciano is a particularly big fan. He asked to participate in this tour so that he could meet and talk with—” Lars began.

“Y-you don’t have to spell it all out!” a red-faced Luciano insisted, acting very much his age. “But I’m sure that a fellow of Ist’s standing has no time to meet with us…”

Actually, he’s under lock and key because he’s a liability in public.

“And so it appears that Luciano lost his composure after hearing that the boy collaborated with Ist,” said Lars. “I cannot apologize enough.”

Zoltan and Orjef were both flustered by the frank apology. They couldn’t brush away words that came from a prince’s mouth.

As the two nobles smoothed things over, Seiichirou and Qusta were on the sidelines exchanging glances.

What do we do?

What do we do, indeed?

“I apologize for making a request right after our rudeness, but would there be any way to get Luciano in touch with Ist?” asked Lars.

They couldn’t turn down a direct request from royalty.

“Um… Ist has business outside the capital at the moment…”

This was true. He, with other researchers, was away in a backwater region on an environmental survey. (He had been in a back room the day before yesterday, though.)

“Will he return within the duration of our stay?” Lars asked the obvious question.

The Romany tour guides gulped.

Sadly…Ist would be back the next day.

If they lied and got found out, it would cause a diplomatic issue. But letting them meet Ist would also cause a diplomatic issue.

Which was the lesser of the two evils? Seiichirou decided to give up and let Zoltan do all the thinking. It was up to the boss to take responsibility for their subordinates.

And so Ist ended up being included in the symposium at the Sorcery Department, scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

“I’m wiped…”

Seiichirou was surprised by his own words—it was the first time he’d said them in a while.

The Egorovan delegation was full of eccentrics, and they’d insisted that they would forgive any impoliteness. This was good enough for most people, but Ist wasn’t most people.

It’d be nice to have something over the Egorovan side for a worst-case scenario, Seiichirou thought as he opened the door to the mansion.

“I’m home…,” he muttered as he went inside.

Neither Valtom nor Milan were waiting for him like they usually did. Figuring that their hands were probably tied with something else, Seiichirou weighed the idea of heading straight to his room rather than hunting for them.

Then, he spotted someone on the stairs in the entrance hall—it wasn’t Valtom or Milan.

An unfamiliar woman descended toward him in elegant heels. With her blue-streaked black hair, her luscious pale skin, and her deep indigo-blue eyes, she had the look of a woman with confidence. Long eyelashes bordered her sharp eyes. She was, in other words, a beautiful woman. One could easily tell from the design of her dress that she belonged to the upper echelons of society.

As she stood on the landing and peered down at Seiichirou, the beautiful woman parted her red lips to say…

“You’re late.”

Given that this was Aresh’s mansion, it stood to reason that this woman was his guest, but Aresh himself was nowhere to be seen. Valtom or Milan would have told Seiichirou if Aresh was home. So the woman was probably in a position where she could invite herself in.

Just then, Valtom appeared behind her and soundlessly made his way to Seiichirou.

“This is Erene, Aresh’s older sister,” he whispered into Seiichirou’s ear.

Why…? Why won’t anyone let me do my job…?

“Lufi, how long do you plan to be giddy?” Even Lars couldn’t help but make a glib remark when he slipped into his room and spotted Luciano humming.

Luciano looked back at him curiously, apparently oblivious to the humming.

“You’re grinning a little too much,” said Lars. “It’s obvious how eager you are to meet your idol.”

Luciano instantly turned red. “N-no way! Absolutely not!” The protests sounded feeble.

As the older brother, Lars thought it was rather endearing. Luciano normally had the calm and composed expression of someone years older.

“What about you, Elder Brother? You were talking to that accounting guy that whole time,” Luciano pointed out.

Lars smiled at this attempt to turn the tables. Luciano was quite right in saying that Lars had spoken solely to the man from the Accounting Department. “I enjoy his quick and astute responses to my questions.”

Lars thought that any conversation with a capable person was worthwhile. But… Lars eyed Luciano.

“This isn’t Egorova, so you have to compose yourself when you’re outside the room,” he warned.

Luciano deflated. “I can’t ease up in Egorova, either.”

Lars nodded. Luciano was right. No member of royalty could afford to let their guard down inside the royal palace. That was especially the case for people like Lars and Luciano, who stood out despite their low position in the line of succession. There were any number of people who would attempt to drag them down. Part of the reason Luciano had insisted on following Lars to Romany was for the opportunity to relax.

“But we have important things to do tomorrow, so pull yourself together,” said Lars.

“Fine,” said Luciano, after pouting for some time.

Tomorrow would be the one day on their seven-day excursion when they wouldn’t be accompanied by their guides.

Donato and Georgi said that they were planning on taking a stroll around town even though Lars and Luciano had other plans. In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that this was their real mission—the cultural exchange tour was just a pretext.

Lars personally was interested in other things, too, like the king’s bastard child. But…

“I think it’s very important to meet my sister’s future spouse,” he said.

“I…think so, too, Elder Brother.”

The smile on Luciano’s lips was like that of a meek young girl.

The tinkling sound of knives and forks broke the silence in the room. Seiichirou was sitting at the wide dinner table, directly opposite Aresh’s sister—a perfect stranger until mere moments ago.

After Seiichirou sputtered out a greeting to the sudden newcomer, Valtom and the other servants tactfully suggested a meal, and so there they were.

Seiichirou was honestly grateful to them. One could be forgiven for not saying much while they were eating. He used this time to kick his brain into full gear, figure out what was going on, and plot his next course.

“Your cooking is as delightful as ever,” Erene said amiably to Pavel.

“Thank you very much.”

“You’re still welcome to join my house.”

“I appreciate the offer.”

Oh, of course, thought Seiichirou as he watched this conversation. If she’s Aresh’s sister, then she must have eaten the cooking of Pavel and his mentor.

He found himself a little curious about this woman who had grown up with Aresh.

“You’re quite a light eater,” Erene spoke to him suddenly.

Seiichirou almost dropped his knife, but he caught himself just in time.

“Ah, yes,” he said reticently.

His palate had expanded thanks to Pavel’s hard work, but that didn’t stop him from having a small stomach. He was still eating more now than when he lived in Japan, though his portions were about the same as Erene’s, a noblewoman. She was probably surprised at the gulf between Seiichirou and Aresh, a young knight with a voracious appetite.

Seiichirou’s eyes flitted over her again. Now that he knew that she was Aresh’s sister, he could sort of see the resemblance in the way they carried themselves. Her black-blue hair and indigo eyes weren’t the same color as her brother’s, but then again, Seiichirou had heard that purple eyes were rare.

Her makeup made her look older, but she was probably younger than Seiichirou. Aresh had told him before that he had two older brothers, followed by one older sister. This meant that Erene was the closest of his siblings to his age, which probably put her in her mid-twenties. She was already married, if Seiichirou recalled correctly.

Regardless, Seiichirou had never interacted with a noblewoman—Aresh’s sister or no—and this crippling lack of experience left him at a loss about what to do. Although he could get away with not speaking during a meal, no dinner lasted forever.

Tea was served after dinner, marking the beginning of social pleasantries. Erene wasted no time opening her mouth.

“You are not guiding the delegation tomorrow, I hear.”

Seiichirou wondered why she was choosing to ask about that. But it wasn’t a secret or anything, and it was quite likely that the nobles all knew about things like this, so Seiichirou nodded.

“That’s right. However, I do have plans to meet up with the other guides to discuss the results thus far and our upcoming schedule.”

It probably sounded as if Seiichirou was preemptively brushing off an invitation, though he wasn’t particularly lying. He and Qusta planned to discuss how things went off the rails over the past three days. They also had to talk about D-Day—er, how to get Ist to behave.

After that, Seiichirou had an appointment with Camile, where they would discuss the issue of increasing an individual’s magic capacity. He needed to get his documentation together before the end of the day…

Erene’s eyebrows furrowed at Seiichirou’s words. She was very similar to Aresh in how she expressed her displeasure.

“Well, whatever,” she said after an uncomfortable pause. “I’m sure you’re aware that my parents summoned Aresh the other day?”

“I am, yes.” His absence was very much noticed.

“Do you know why he was summoned?”

“…I have an inkling.” Orjef had mentioned it earlier. It was pretty much guaranteed that it had something to do with Seiichirou’s accessory at the dinner party.

“I just happened to be at the family estate at the time.” Apparently, Erene had been staying with her family because her husband was on a long work trip. “Our parents and I already knew that Aresh was acting as a guardian to the man who was summoned alongside the Holy Maiden.”

Of course they would know, given that he had moved out of their house and bought one of his own.

“I also heard some peculiar rumors…but who would have thought…?” Erene turned her piercing gaze on Seiichirou, which naturally made him sit up straight.

Seiichirou hadn’t been contemplating marriage when the lapel pin incident happened, but he was already thirty. Setting aside the whole “other world” and “getting back home” thing, he was at the perfect age for settling down—and so was Aresh, by this world’s standards. Seiichirou would have had to meet Aresh’s relatives eventually, regardless of the whole marriage thing.

He would have preferred for it to happen after he was done with this high-stakes, diplomacy-impacting job, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“I apologize for failing to give my regards until now. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Seiichirou Kondou, assistant director of the Royal Accounting Department. As you know, I was summoned by accident from another world alongside the Holy Maiden. Aresh has been an enormous help to me, and I owe him a tremendous debt.” Seiichirou performed a deep bow from his seat, to which Erene made no reply. But he had to say it. “He and I are also seeing each other romantically.”

When he lifted his gaze, Erene’s indigo eyes were boring straight into him. Her expression…was unreadable. Aresh was always easy to figure out despite his blank expressions, but Erene was a cipher to Seiichirou.

“I know that under regular circumstances, Aresh and I should have paid our respects at your family home, but my hands are currently tied with the Egorovan delegation. I thought that when this task was done…”

Although Seiichirou knew it was unwise to show up alone at a marquess’s house, he at least wanted to indicate his desire to do so. Just then, however, he thought he saw Erene’s eyes narrow as she sipped her tea.

“You know nothing.”

“Excuse me?”

Erene clanged her cup against the saucer.

“Are you unaware of why the Egorovan delegation came here?”

“Well… I assumed they wanted to inspect our movement spells as a pretext to initiate talks about exchanging magic…”

“Diplomacy does not begin and end at sharing magical techniques. Do you not know the simplest way of establishing international relations?”

Well, of course he didn’t. He dealt with numbers, not diplomacy. From Seiichirou’s cursory knowledge of history, the “simplest way” was probably marriage between royalty and nobility and whatnot…

“…Wait.”

As her eyes drilled holes into Seiichirou’s face, Erene continued: “Do you know what the Egorovan prince plans to do tomorrow?”

“He means to speak with Romany nobility…,” answered Seiichirou. No way.

“Yes, he will be at House Indolark to discuss marriage with the fourth princess.”

And that’s why Aresh won’t be coming home, her high-pitched voice declared without emotion.

“…ndo. Kondo!”

Seiichirou blinked and snapped his head up.

Qusta was peering at him from across the table, his small eyes betraying their concern. Seiichirou remembered that the two of them were currently using a compact room in the palace to talk about the Egorovan delegation.

“S-sorry!” He hurriedly flipped through his papers to see how far they had gotten. They’d finished discussing the tour thus far and were about to look over the schedule for the remaining two days.

“Shall we take a short break?” Qusta suggested.

Figuring that he would need some time to regain his concentration, Seiichirou agreed. Dining was permitted there, so Qusta asked a palace maid to bring over some tea without missing a beat. Although he gave off the air of an amiable middle manager, Qusta had all the refinement and grace of a born noble.

“Is there something worrying you? Besides Ist, I mean,” he added playfully, to which Seiichirou chuckled.

He could feel the knot in his chest loosening somewhat. He couldn’t dump his personal problems on someone from work, but there was something he was curious to ask Qusta about as a noble.

“Are you married, Qusta?” Seiichirou asked, giving in to the temptation.

“Oh? Well, yes. I haven’t been for terribly long, though, despite my advanced age,” Qusta said with lighthearted self-deprecation. He was in his mid-thirties, which was late for a nobleman in this country to marry. He looked like someone who already had two or three children, and he knew it.

“I see. Is your wife a member of the nobility, too?”

“Yes, she is. She is of a higher-ranked family, and I am merely the third son of a count, so our courtship took quite a roundabout route. Well, fortunately, we are married now, so we can look back on those times and laugh.”

“I suppose matches among the nobility can be quite complicated…”

Having come from another world, Seiichirou obviously didn’t possess an ounce of noble lineage. His prospects were already sunk.

Er, not that he necessarily wanted to get married. But still.

“Do nobles get betrothed from a young age?”

“They do if it means securing an heir for a prominent family. I am just a third son, however, and I spent my student days absorbed in research, so I was a rather late bloomer in that regard…” Qusta laughed. He had probably assumed he had missed the window for marriage and would stay a bachelor forever.

Similarly, Aresh had never breathed a word about being engaged despite coming from a marquess family. Surely it would have come up when he and Seiichirou started living together.

At the same time, it was no secret that Aresh had many admirers vying for his hand in marriage. Even as the third son, his striking looks and good pedigree were more than enough. The fact that he was the brilliant commander of the Third Royal Order was icing on the cake. He was a catch—from both a political angle and an aesthetic one.

Given the wealth and standing of a marquess family, Aresh was privileged enough that he could turn down almost any marriage offer that came his way. But Seiichirou could imagine that it would be a very different story if it was foreign royalty who came knocking.

“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for me.”

“Oh no. I was wanting a status report.”

Seiichirou sat across from Camile. He was by now very well accustomed to the indigo-blue curtains and the antique table in the prime minister’s office.

Although Seiichirou had submitted a schedule beforehand, it had gone by the wayside to accommodate the Egorovans’ demands. It had been a good idea to arrange an intermediary meeting.

“Hm… Prince Lars has quite a keen interest in the affairs of our state, from what I can see,” said Camile.

“I got that impression as well. Although the others are here for the spells and magic tool research, Prince Lars has been observing Romany’s statecraft as a whole. I also feel that everyone besides Donato looks favorably on recruiting people based on merit rather than social standing.”

“Hmm…” Camile scrunched his face in thought as he flicked through Seiichirou’s papers.

The biggest issue from Camile’s perspective was who had the reins over Egorova’s politics. Seiichirou knew little about the circumstances in Egorova and merely stated his personal impression of the individuals. He was a finance man, no more, no less.

“So? Is there anything else you wish to tell me?” Camile asked suddenly.

For a moment, Seiichirou was flustered by the abrupt question, but he collected himself and presented the documents he had written the night before.

“Yes. There’s this… I have a theory based on my observations of the Egorovans and the relief house children. Ciro of the Medical Bureau has agreed to help me investigate.”

Camile’s blue-gray eyes widened as he peered at the sheaf of papers. “‘A Proposal to Expand Magical Capacity Through Environmental Magic and Magicules’? I see you’re at it again…”

There was a note of exasperation in Camile’s voice as he sighed and rubbed his temples. Seiichirou felt sheepish. He was a stranger to this world’s conventional logic; maybe his idea was too out there.

But then again, a specialist like Ciro had said there was merit to the idea. Plus, there was still a shortage of qualified magic users, even if they were able to educate the commoners to a degree.

Given that the Romany Kingdom planned to suppress the miasma in the forest without the Holy Maiden henceforth, they needed to work with other countries. In that sense, there were plenty of people with high magical capacity around, but they couldn’t increase the talent pool if magic was seen as a purely genetic talent. It was worth testing to see if a person’s training and living environment made an impact.

“Although my idea may seem a little unconventional, the nobility of certain regions are overrepresented among the children at the relief house and the members of the Sorcery Department. One could interpret a correlation between high magical capacity and said regions…”

“What are you trying to say? That their talents come not from blood but the land itself?” Camile asked in a low voice.

For a moment, Seiichirou’s breath caught in his throat.

Magic was an important measure of status in this world. One’s job prospects would change depending on how much magic they were capable of wielding, and even the academies catering to nobles divided their classes based on this distinction. Because of this, there was apparently an association between high magical capacity and family pedigree. A project which fundamentally rejected that premise was perhaps a bit too ahead of its time.

But there was no other way of speeding up magic research. And so Seiichirou bowed his head, knowing that he was getting ahead of himself in his haste to realize his goals.

“I apologize… I stepped out of line as an outsider…”

“There’s never a dull moment with you.”

“Excuse me?” When Seiichirou lifted his head, he saw a familiar sight: Camile desperately attempting to stifle his laughter.

“You’re a funny one! Imagine the uproar among the nobles if things happened your way!”

“R-right…”

Seiichirou had forgotten that Camile was a maverick—and one who wielded a frightening level of power and authority, at that.

“But I suspect that magicule-dense areas will have poor effects on the body,” Camile went on. “I suggest starting the experiments on prison inmates.”

“That would be unwise, Your Excellency.”

“How so?”

Having anticipated Camile’s suggestion to a degree, Seiichirou took a deep breath and straightened his posture. He argued that it was terribly inefficient for the people in power to experiment on prisoners and the weak as if they were expendable pawns.

“The nobles should be the ones to participate—provided that their safety can be assured to the utmost degree, of course.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Magic is very important to the nobles, yes? In that case, they should be the ones taking the lead. Having them participate only after the fact may risk widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots. By involving themselves in the earliest stage and exposing themselves to the dangers, there will be no unfairness in the process.”

“You have a point…”

If the privileged only jumped in after they could get a practical benefit out of it, they would use their existing authority to monopolize it. This would further entrench the biases in noble society.

“Also, given that magicule-dense regions generally suffer from magical beast attacks, I suggest state funding for the regional lords cooperating in the project.”

They couldn’t just help themselves to the land without asking, and plenty of the local nobles already had a lot of magic. If they could teach magic control to those nobles at the same time, it would mitigate the risk of anyone’s magic going berserk.

“You’re suggesting this as a form of rural support,” said Camile.

“Exactly. I’d also like to try it with different age groups, if possible. It would be useful to know whether adolescents can grow their magic more quickly, and so forth.”

“Hm. I understand what you’re getting at, although I imagine that it would not be so simple for the nobles to relinquish their children…”

“That is where your power comes in, Your Excellency. If you could advocate for the advantages of this project…”

“The nerve of you, Seiichirou…,” said Camile, failing to suppress his smile this time.

Seiichirou answered with an evil grin of his own, forcing a bark of laughter from Camile’s lips.

“Good grief…and here I thought you’d use this opportunity to ask me about the other thing,” he said exasperatedly, after he had finished laughing.

“What thing?” Seiichirou cocked his head as Camile directed a maid to pour them another cup of tea.

“The marriage proposal to House Indolark.”

“So you knew about it,” said Seiichirou.

Camile nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Who do you think I am? Of course I’d know which members of our nobility would receive a visit from foreign royalty.”

He was right.

Which begged the question of why he never said a word of this to Seiichirou.

The answer was, of course, “Because I didn’t need to tell you.”

“I see,” Seiichirou said.

“Is that all you have to say? Isn’t there anything you want to ask me?”

“Nothing in particular.”

It was pointless listening to other people’s commentary.

A brief silence ensued. “I see,” Camile said. “Very well, then. I’ll arrange a meeting with Director Quellbus and Director Zoltan in the coming days to discuss your proposal.”

“Thank you. Please excuse me, then.”

Seiichirou quietly bowed and left the room.

As he made his way home, he wondered if Aresh’s sister was there.

Valtom greeted him at the door. At the same time, Seiichirou spied Erene on the stairs and held back a sigh.

“What’s with that look?” she asked.

“Er…” Seiichirou turned his face away, not feeling like explaining himself. “Is Aresh…?” he began to ask Valtom, only for the butler to shake his head wordlessly.

Today was another disappointment.

“I see.”

At this point, Seiichirou switched gears and headed up the stairs to his room. Erene shot him a look, but he didn’t want to bother with her today. Tomorrow, he would have to present Ist in front of foreign royalty. He didn’t have the spirit or energy to entertain someone else.

“Ah…” Erene made a noise as if she wanted to say something.

Seiichirou stopped. He wasn’t so apathetic as to ignore her entirely. “What is it?”

She took her sweet time to respond. When Seiichirou lost patience and urged her to continue, she made a sour face. “How was work today?”

“I’m afraid I cannot disclose matters concerning foreign royalty,” he replied, as if he was affronted by the very notion of what she was asking, even though she had demonstrated yesterday that she more or less knew the whole deal.

Erene’s brows furrowed. Evidently, she was put out, although she could not outright say so.

“Oh, really! Fine, then. Go make yourself at home.”

Seiichirou did not need her to tell him that. He bowed, and then retreated into his room. As he sank into a chair and sighed, Milan brought him a change of clothes.

“Are you weary, Mr. Seiichirou?”

“No…” At first, he tried to deny it, but then he thought better of it. “Well, yes.”

When he first came to this world, he threw himself into his work, believing that nobody was on his side. Only Aresh showed him careful consideration, he’d thought, but it turned out that Aresh’s servants were deeply kindhearted as well.

Pavel the chef always poured his heart into Seiichirou’s meals, and Milan the maid kept Seiichirou’s autonomy in mind as she unassumingly assisted him in all sorts of mundanities. Valtom the butler could be described as stern, but Seiichirou was second only to his master Aresh in his list of priorities.

Part of it was because this was the place he returned to, but Seiichirou could not help but see all these other people in the house with a familial sort of warmth. So this time, instead of deflecting Milan’s concern, he answered her frankly.

“What did Lady Erene come here for?”

Implicit in Seiichirou’s question was “When will she leave?” Milan put one of her plump hands to her cheek and tilted her head. “She said that she would stay here to entertain herself while her husband is busy at work.”

“So she decided to sojourn at her brother’s house while he’s not around?”

“Her husband works at the royal palace. I suppose she wants to feel a little closer to him…”

Seiichirou sighed.

So her husband worked at the palace? And she forced her way into Aresh’s house because it happened to be nearby? But that didn’t make sense when House Indolark had its own estate within the capital. Aresh was at that house—why did she come to a place where she knew he wouldn’t be?

Seiichirou wondered if it was so that she could deter him by telling him about Aresh’s engagement, but that didn’t seem quite right, either. For one thing, she had no right to tell Seiichirou to leave the house—Valtom and the others would never allow it in Aresh’s absence. Besides, Erene had never actually uttered anything of the sort.

Although Aresh spoke little about his family, Seiichirou knew that Erene was the third-born child and the only daughter. He wondered where the sole girl stood in a noble house full of boys. The next heir was already secured, and there was a spare in reserve. Not to mention that her younger brother was exceedingly talented in his own right.

“Erene is very beautiful and a hard worker, but next to Aresh…” Milan knew Aresh and Erene from their childhoods because she had once served as a maid at the Indolark house. Milan had stepped back from work to have a child of her own, and Aresh reached out to her once the early child-rearing had passed. The rest, as they say, was history.

People had referred to Aresh as a prodigy for as long as he could remember. He excelled at everything he touched: fighting, magic, and academics. Meanwhile, people told Erene that martial prowess was unnecessary for her as a girl. She poured everything into her books so that she would not be outdone by her younger brother. Apparently, she was twenty-six, which made her four years Aresh’s senior.

Unfortunately for her, she lacked the magic to pursue a career in research. Her brother, on the other hand, became the youngest commander ever of the prestigious Third Royal Order.

“Do they…not get along?” Seiichirou asked.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t say that. Erene has always doted on Aresh as her only little brother, ever since they were children. But although she means well, she finds it somewhat difficult to express herself… Aresh is like that, too, of course…”

In his mind’s eye, Seiichirou saw a tiny Aresh sulking as his older sister fussed over him.

Early the next day, Seiichirou departed for work before Erene could catch him. He met up with Orjef, and the two of them made their way over to the Sorcery Department.

“Is that sorcerer you’re so worried about really the same guy the Egorovans say is a genius?” asked Orjef.

“Our side knows Ist’s talents, too. It’s why he’s the assistant director.”

Sadly, his achievements were completely counterbalanced by his actions.

“I’ve heard the rumors, but what specifically should I be looking out for?” Orjef did not know Ist directly. He probably had a hard time imagining what kind of person he was because of all the conflicting impressions.

“Let’s see… Well, first off, he’s not interested in other people. If you try to tell him something, it won’t get through right away. You have to repeat yourself a few times.” This was generally because he had other things on the brain. Either he didn’t hear what you said, or it didn’t register in his mind. “Oh, and he’s very chatty about the things he’s interested in. He’ll forget the right way to address people when he’s excited. That, and…ah, yes, he feels like a five-year-old in a grown man’s body.”

“A five-year-old…”

He basically had no capacity for looking after himself. He was always getting his things dirty and then using them anyway. In that sense, he was very much like one of Seiichirou’s cousins back in Japan.

“And yet he’s a genius sorcerer and the assistant director?” said Orjef.

“Yes. He is a genius sorcerer and the assistant director.”

For all his antics, he was still the assistant director.

“He’s not very brawny, but he also doesn’t have much mental control. He can tap into a surprisingly deep well of strength when he spots something that catches his interest. I ask that you restrain him by force during those times.”

“O…kay…,” said Orjef, sounding thoroughly weirded out, but just when Seiichirou was breathing a sigh of relief about securing the vice commander’s assistance, Orjef squinted at Seiichirou’s face. “Hey, by the way, you’ve got this awful pallor. You all right?”

“This is how I always look,” Seiichirou gave his usual response. He was very used to people telling him that he looked unwell.

But Orjef cocked his head. “Nah, you seem more listless than usual… I mean, you always look unusually bad, but…”

Was he trying to pick a fight?

“Well, anyway, try and lighten up for me, would you? You’re a real help, and I’m scared of how Aresh would react if something were to happen to you.”

“…I will endeavor to try.”

As they were talking, they spotted a well-dressed group approaching from the other end of the hallway—it was Lars and the Egorovan cohort. Zoltan and Qusta were serving as their guides.

“Good morning.” Seiichirou put a hand to his lower chest, the formal greeting in Romany.

“A good morning to you, too, Seichiro.” Lars unexpectedly referred to him by his first name, his usual dazzling smile on his lips.

Luciano, meanwhile, was glowering. It was a far cry from the other day’s jubilation about meeting Ist.

Orjef noticed it, too. “Is something the matter, Lord Luciano? Are you feeling unwell?” he asked.

Luciano lifted his head and shot a slightly uncertain look in Lars’s direction.

“There was something of a small disappointment… Ah, yes. Seichirou, may I ask you for some advice?” Lars said as they walked to the Sorcery Department.

“Me?” Seiichirou looked back over his shoulder.

“Yes. You are engaged to a member of the nobility in this country, yes? I heard about it. Yesterday, we visited a noble to issue a marriage proposal, but we were turned down.”

“Scandalous! Which house would have the nerve to turn down a proposal from Egorovan royalty?!” Zoltan fumed. He had no idea, evidently.

“It was the son of Marquess Indolark,” said Lars.

“What?” Orjef glanced furtively at Seiichirou.

“Excuse me?” Qusta turned his head as well.

Marquess Indolark had just one unmarried son: Aresh.

Seiichirou kept his face blank, even as he inwardly winced at the piercing stares.

“He said something about getting engaged recently, but we are very keen on having a man with his talents… And so, given that I’ve heard that you have won the affection of a member of this country’s nobility, may I ask how you achieved it?”

As everyone turned to look at Seiichirou, each with their own worldly concerns, the man in question chose emptiness.

Today’s job was to prevent the unruly Ist from acting up in front of foreign royalty, which was hard enough to begin with, but Seiichirou was exhausted before it had even started. He warded off Lars’s question with a half-baked “It depends on the person, so I’m afraid I cannot be of much help.”

Then Zoltan fumed: “Prince Lars asked you a question! Answer it seriously!”

Qusta rushed in to mollify the director while Orjef spoke up to minimize the awkwardness. As much as Seiichirou could see they were looking out for him, he frankly found their stares more piercing than Lars’s or Zoltan’s.

“Did you propose the marriage on behalf of another member of the royal family?” Orjef asked Lars in an attempt to change the topic.

“Ah, yes!” Zoltan chimed in, evidently eager to hear the details.

“Yes, for my younger sister, the fourth-born princess. Given that we foresee a long-term relationship with Romany, I believe marriage ties are inevitable.”

“The fourth princess! Now that is indeed an honor! Would you care for me to introduce you to eligible high-ranking members of our nobility?” Zoltan suggested eagerly.

“The fourth princess…?” Seiichirou wondered aloud.

Zoltan’s reaction made sense—by playing matchmaker to a marriage involving foreign royalty, he would be serving a valuable diplomatic role, even if it meant shouldering long-term responsibility as a go-between.

“That is a fine idea, but can you find anyone more suitable than Commander Indolark?” Luciano pointed out, quite rightly. With his sterling reputation, abundance of money, and status as an unmarried man, the commander of the Third Royal Order seemed like almost too perfect a match.

Lars and Luciano were evidently unwilling to give up on Aresh. Seiichirou could feel Orjef and Qusta’s eyes burning holes through his head.

Ugh, can I just go to bed already?

Just as Seiichirou was beginning to get fed up, the group finally arrived at the Sorcery Department.

Unlike the previous impromptu visit, the department was fairly tidy this time, thanks to the heads-up they received beforehand. The sorcerers who came out to greet them had also cleaned themselves up a bit, which made Seiichirou and Zoltan sigh in relief.

“So, um…what about Ist?” Luciano looked around restlessly. His face had been pale before, but now his cheeks were flushed pink.

“Isn’t there something to do first, Luciano?” said Lars.

“Oh…right. Sorry. Would you allow me to apologize to the boy from the other day?”

By “the boy from the other day,” he had to be talking about Sigma. Luciano had done a bit of growing up in his own way after that incident, it seemed.

“Oh, you needn’t go out of your way to apologize…” Zoltan began.

“No, I want to. Please let me,” Luciano answered firmly.

Unfortunately, neither Sigma nor Ist were anywhere to be seen. In Sigma’s case, it was because he was simply an ordinary civilian who was allowed to drop by according to his own schedule. He wasn’t always at the Sorcery Department. In fact, he might have been told to stay away today after the ire he drew last time. Judging by Zoltan’s flustered conversation with a subordinate, Seiichirou suspected that this might indeed have been the case.

But the real issue was that Ist wasn’t there.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this?! You told him to be on time, didn’t you?!”

“Y-yes, of course!”

But there was no one to blame other than the absent sorcerer himself.

Zoltan normally had a deft hand at handling Ist, but he seemed to have been too preoccupied with his guide duties to take on the mantle. If Seiichirou had been in his shoes, he would have tied up Ist ahead of time and thrown him somewhere within easy reach.

Bam!

The door abruptly opened with a crash. The Egorovan guards tensed and readied themselves.

All eyes were on the door as it swung open without any delicacy whatsoever. Then a familiar pair of peridot eyes fell on Seiichirou.

“There you are!” the person shouted cheerfully. “Hey, Kondo! Give me money!!”

With a conversation opener highly reminiscent of his first meeting with Seiichirou, Ist made his debut before the Egorovan delegation.

“No.”

Right there in front of the dumbfounded crowd, Ist’s drowsy eyes blinked multiple times in succession.

“Huh? Really? Why not?”

His expression said that it hadn’t occurred to him that he could get shot down, but this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. There was no way Seiichirou would say “yes” without a second thought. He was surprised that Ist was surprised.

The bigger issue was that this was not one of Seiichirou’s routine visits to the Sorcery Department.

“Waaah! Stop it, Ist! Have you forgotten that we have important guests from a foreign country today?!” cried a familiar brown-haired boy behind Ist.

Zoltan was the first to recover his wits. “I-IIIIIIIst! You…you cur! First, you come late, and now you… Aaaaargh! Forget it! Greet the guests from Egorova!”

He barged right up to Ist, fully prepared to give him a piece of his mind, only to change his tune and shove the sorcerer from behind. This was the smart choice. Ist never listened to lectures.

“Huh? What…? Oh, right. Okay. So, uh, I’m Ist, assistant director of the Royal Sorcery Department.”

As Ist made a bow that would pass absolutely nobody’s muster, Zoltan shook behind him. He was clearly one second away from exploding.

“I am Lars Eric Egorova, from Egorova.” Lars took the lead.

“A-and I’m Luciano Delidov!” Luciano hurried to chime in. Donato and Georgi then introduced themselves in turn.

Although the Egorovans were surprised, they didn’t seem affronted, fortunately. Luciano’s eyes in particular were sparkling. Lars gave the boy a subtle nudge, bringing him back to earth so he spotted the person behind Ist.

It was Sigma, and he seemed more uncomfortable than anyone else in the room.

“Er, um…”

Sigma flinched in response to Luciano’s voice. This seemed to galvanize Luciano further, because he stepped right up to the other boy.

“I-I apologize for my rudeness to you the other day.”

“Huh? Um?” The sudden apology from a noble had Sigma in disbelief.

“I was jealous that you got to work with Ist, and I was cruel to you when you did nothing to deserve it. I am really sorry.”

“Wha—?! Er, um, it’s not a big de—”

“Can you forgive me?”

Meeting the upturned eyes of a pretty young boy oozing with class, Sigma’s face turned bright red. He nodded several times over.

“Well, now that that’s all settled… Kondo, give me money.”

“I said no.”

Meanwhile, the adult who had entered the room made another demand, only to get shot down again.

“Huh? What?” said Ist.

“Don’t go ‘Huh? What?’! You think you can ignore the Egorovans just because you’ve said hello?! They have gone through a lot of trouble to meet you!” Zoltan was normally unafraid to resort to his fists, though he kept his hands at his sides in front of the Egorovan delegation. He was, however, still visibly shaking.

“Oh, but it’s rare for Kondo to show up here. And I need money quick,” Ist argued vehemently.

“Yes, and I’ve told you on many occasions that you need to explain what you plan to use the money on.” Sensing that Ist had a concrete goal in mind this time instead of his usual “I need a bigger budget” sentiment, Seiichirou did a quick bow to the Egorovans and approached the sorcerer.

Whenever Ist got like this, talking to him about anything was pointless. Seiichirou had to address the root of whatever was on his mind, or else the situation would get further out of hand. Seiichirou would have liked him to submit a written proposal, but that was asking a bit much of Ist, so he generally heard the man out verbally.

“I saw this useful-looking magic tool in town, so I bought it,” said Ist.

“When you were on that inspection yesterday? What would it be useful for?”

Ist would have been away in a rural town, ostensibly for an inspection but mainly to keep him away from the Egorovan delegation.

“Movement spells,” said Ist.

It was as if a sudden chill filled the room. Seiichirou did not have to look over his shoulder to know that the Egorovans were staring right at them.

“We can talk about this later, Ist…”

“Aww, but you’re always so busy, Kondo. If I don’t ask you about it now, you’ll never hear me out. So, yeah, you use the tool as a substitute for the medium in dimension-crossing magic. I figure it could send you back to your original world.”

Seiichirou sputtered.

This was his mistake. He should have at least taken Ist to a different room. Then again, would their eager guests have allowed Seiichirou to peel Ist away?

Now what? The wheels turned frantically in Seiichirou’s mind, but before he could figure something out, someone else interjected.

“Seiichirou, are you from a different world?”

Lars’s words resounded throughout the Sorcery Department.

Crap. How am I supposed to answer that? Given that an honest answer would reveal the Romany Kingdom’s mistake, it wasn’t for Seiichirou to decide. A part of him thought, They summoned me without asking. Why should I have to cover for their screw-up? but he suppressed that thought, knowing that he’d have to deal with the fallout.

As this internal war raged in Seiichirou’s head, a certain somebody answered the question without a care in the world.

“Yep. Kondo got summoned here alongside the Holy Maiden. He knows a lot of interesting things. Has plenty of neat ideas, too!”

Even if it was futile, they really, really should have prepped Ist before throwing him into the fray. Seiichirou’s entire group felt this deeply in their souls.

Alas, the scheme was foiled, and they would have to make do.

As much as that sounded like a villain’s line, it perfectly encapsulated Seiichirou’s mindset. As difficult as it was to accept on a personal level, Seiichirou’s summoning was treated simply as “an unforeseen accident.” The kingdom offered its “cordial protection,” and Seiichirou was working entirely of his own volition.

So he remained unmoving in the face of the Egorovans’ barrage of questions.

“I am simply a palace official, and I cannot answer your questions without the state’s permission. Please direct your queries to the higher authorities.”

A public servant couldn’t answer questions on a topic he wasn’t authorized to speak about. Seiichirou could trot out that excuse to salvage the situation.

Indeed. The tour would end the next day. Even if the Egorovans did rush to make a request, they would not get permission immediately. Besides, if they left the Sorcery Department now, they would be cutting short their time with the celebrity sorcerer they were so eager to meet.

“In any case, I believe there was something you wished to ask Ist?” said Seiichirou.

“Oh, r-right!” Luciano was the first to approach Ist, with Donato on his heels.

For his part, Ist was probably satisfied after saying his piece, because he accepted the two sorcerers’ presence. Well, he probably assumed Seiichirou had approved the funds without them actually talking about it. But Seiichirou did not want to correct him on that here, lest Ist’s mind swing back in that direction. Let sleeping dogs lie, he decided.

“Who would have thought you were from another world?” Only Lars approached Seiichirou.

“His situation is not yet public knowledge outside the kingdom,” Orjef interjected, “so I ask that you keep it a secret.”

“Very well. Now I see why you, the esteemed vice commander of the Third Royal Order, was tasked with his protection.” Orjef smiled without affirming or denying the prince’s comment. “…Duly noted. I shall refrain from further inquiry at the moment.”

Lars made a theatrical show of defeat.

Not for the first time, it occurred to Seiichirou how perfect Orjef was for this job in terms of his administrative position and social standing.

“But I must say…” Lars’s jade green eyes, framed by his long silver eyelashes, peered directly at Seiichirou. “I find it remarkable that a man from another world, without any connections or means in this country, has managed to become a civil official and even a guide to foreign guests…”

“I would not say that I lack connections… If anything, I suppose that being from another world has made me stand out.”

A lower-class citizen could pick themselves up by their bootstraps and still find it practically impossible to get their foot in the palace door, while Seiichirou got into the Royal Accounting Department the moment he asked. This was probably because it was easier to keep an eye on him within the confines of the palace than if they had released him into the wild.

On the other hand, Seiichirou had enacted reforms which caught the prime minister’s eye and earned him a swift promotion, but Seiichirou thought of this as just doing his job. Without Camile or Aresh’s backing, his proposals would have gone nowhere, just like in Japan. If not for the magicule and magic poisoning, Seiichirou found it much easier to do his job here compared to back there.

“That alone does not explain the quality of your work. Case in point: I’ve never seen anyone put documents together like you do.” Lars seemed to be quite taken with Seiichirou’s administrative skills. It was a nice thing to hear, quite honestly. The prince’s reputation preceded him, but Seiichirou was genuinely impressed at his knack with people. “Given your talents and charm, I can see how you were wedded within such a short time frame,” Lars went on.

Snap.

Seiichirou was so frozen that one could almost hear the sound of his limbs clicking to the spot.

Orjef hurried to his aid. “He…is not wedded…”

“Oh, really? But you were wearing a lapel pin at the dinner party… Ah, I see. You’re still engaged.”

Did he manage to see the pin all that distance away? Or did someone else inform him of it?

“I was fortunate enough to meet your partner,” Lars continued. “He is an upstanding individual indeed…”

No, “fortune” has nothing to do with it. You just went out and met him. The accusation almost slipped out of Seiichirou’s throat, but he swallowed it just in time. He felt that something was off.

Did Lars make that marriage offer to Aresh while knowing he was Seiichirou’s partner? Or did he only find out after he met Aresh?

Anyway, Seiichirou couldn’t get over how Lars was praising his partner right after indicating he had no intention of giving up on the marriage proposal. Something about this didn’t add up.

“Who exactly are you…?”

“Kondo! I need your help!” Someone cut into the conversation before Seiichirou could finish his sentence. It was Qusta.

“What’s the sudden commotion?” Seiichirou asked, although there was really only one thing Qusta would need help for in this situation.

Turning his gaze to the source of the trouble, Seiichirou saw Ist surrounded by a throng of pale-faced Romany sorcerers. Only Zoltan’s face had color—it was beetroot red, in fact. He was frantically trying to cover Ist’s mouth.

Meanwhile, the Egorovans all watched on with sparkling eyes.

Well, to be precise, they were just as pale-faced as the royal sorcerers. But their eyes were still sparkling.

This could only mean one thing…

“Orjef! Restrain him!” Seiichirou cried.

“Huh? Oh, okay!” Orjef was momentarily flummoxed, but then he remembered the conversation they’d had before they arrived. He promptly got to work holding Ist down and covering his mouth.

“Oh no! What are you doing to Ist?!” Luciano’s voice rang out in reproach—although it was Seiichirou who had more right to complain. Ist was undoubtedly a menace.

“Director Zoltan…what exactly happened?” Seiichirou asked.

Zoltan groaned. “Ist was about to tell the guests about the new techniques and how the movement spells work…”

Called it.

There was slight reluctance in Zoltan’s tone, but he seemed aware that Seiichirou was the one most capable of getting this situation under control.

That said, Ist wasn’t the type to blithely leak confidential information. Putting aside the question of whether he recognized the information as “confidential,” it wasn’t in his character to tell just anyone about the spells he was researching.

“Did you offer your opinions on the spells?” Seiichirou directed that question to the Egorovans.

But it was Ist, still being restrained by Orjef, who started wriggling in response. Naturally, he couldn’t overpower the vice commander of Romany’s strongest knights. Seiichirou gave the signal to Orjef to at least uncover his mouth.

“Yeah! You hit the nail on the head, Kondo! These people are amazing! I was really racking my brain over how to protect living creatures against non-physical impediments. The basic movement spells just don’t account for it, you see. The ancient summoning spell used a special medium to fulfill that role, but there’s only one of those in existence. That’s why I was looking for a substitute. Anyway, talking with these fellows made me realize that you can use a barrier spell to fortify your spirit.”

“Orjef.”

“Mfff!”

Ist’s mouth was sealed once more, cutting off the sorcerer’s breathless rant.

“Listen, Ist. The ancient magic and the spells for moving humans are Romany state secrets. You can’t tell people from other countries about them just yet. Is that clear?” Seiichirou’s eyes swept over Ist. “I suspect not, so I will say it again. Listen carefully. Do not tell anyone about the ancient magic and the movement spells. Do you understand?”

Ist’s head bobbed up and down.

Seiichirou sighed and looked back over his shoulder. The research-obsessed Egorovans looked very unhappy.

“Progress should not be confined by country!”

“Yeah, we could have helped Ist with his dilemma!”

“This research will make its mark in magic textbooks for years to come!”

Seiichirou did not reply to that.

“Prince Lars.” He turned his gaze to the back of the group.

Lars’s handsome face was scrunched in consternation even as his lips formed a smile.

“From the Egorovan perspective, this visit is merely an opportunity to get a taste of Romany’s magic culture. Any serious inquiry will come later.”

Three days passed after Aresh left with the Egorovan delegation. Given that it took about six days to reach Egorova via carriage, they were probably only about halfway there. In the meantime, Seiichirou worked like he always did. No, if anything, he worked harder than usual—he had been away from the Accounting Department for a while.

“Are you…okay, Sei?” Norbert asked worriedly.

“What are you talking about?” Seiichirou responded flatly, not even bothering to stop his hand.

“Well, you know…” Norbert and the other Accounting Department members watched Seiichirou uneasily as he threw himself into his work.

Pretty much everyone close to Seiichirou knew about his relationship with Aresh, especially after that lapel pin incident. And then, out of nowhere, Aresh went off to guard the Egorovans.

In most scenarios, the idea would have been for him to part ways at the border, but Aresh was hand-picked for this job to establish diplomatic ties. There was no better candidate, after all, than the capable commander of the Romany Kingdom’s Third Royal Order, who could slay monsters and make long treks abroad with ease. Some were also aware that, as an individual with political influence, Aresh had received a marriage offer from the Egorovan royalty…

The servants at the mansion, Valtom first and foremost among them, spoke up on Aresh’s behalf and tried to comfort Seiichirou. Even Erene, who had gone back to her own mansion after her husband’s job concluded, came all the way to the house to tell Seiichirou: “That boy has never been good with words.”

But Seiichirou pretended not to notice how they were looking at him. He simply nodded and got back to work.

“It’s time for a break, Sei! Lunch! Let’s go to the dining hall!” When Seiichirou continued his toils even after the lunch bell sounded, Norbert forcefully dragged him away into the dining hall.

Norbert must have thought it his duty to look after Seiichirou in Aresh’s absence. Surely the man would neglect his meals if left to his own devices. Yet before he could shovel any food onto Seiichirou’s plate, the workaholic in question wordlessly ate. He had not picked just anything without thought—they were all dishes that were low on magicules, just as the doctor (Aresh) ordered.

“Sei…” Norbert gasped.

Seiichirou did not normally bother with anything not work-related and simply took things in stride, and yet here he was, properly internalizing Aresh’s devotion.

“Hey, are you guys going to eat?” said a familiar voice.

Seiichirou turned around and saw a man with a black cloak over his left shoulder. “Oh, Orjef.”

“Vice Commander Rhoda!” Norbert squeaked.

Orjef chuckled at these two very different reactions before taking a tray himself. Seiichirou wondered in dismay if the vice commander was planning to eat with them, though he soon resigned himself to it. Although Orjef had finished playing his part as Seiichirou’s bodyguard, Seiichirou knew that Orjef was looking out for him in Aresh’s absence.

Besides, Orjef was a good-natured guy. Easy to talk to. Best of all, his sensibilities matched Seiichirou’s, as demonstrated when he apologized for Aresh’s handling of the lapel pin incident.

Norbert was tense, but the three of them ended up eating together.

“Ugh, Aresh is such a pain in the neck! You won’t believe how busy we got after he pulled that vanishing act.” Orjef complained lightheartedly about Aresh, which was probably his way of easing the weight on Seiichirou’s shoulders. He and Aresh genuinely had no time to talk before the latter departed on his guard duties, though Orjef would probably get by. He’d done the bulk of the administrative work before Aresh met Seiichirou.

“I suppose that was inevitable, given that the Egorovans left in haste.” Seiichirou, for his part, kept his face blank. He even sounded like he was sticking up for Aresh.

Orjef exchanged glances with Norbert, who was, to him, only a casual acquaintance at best. They’d both assumed that Seiichirou would be depressed or angry, yet he seemed to be neither. Orjef had thought he was a weird guy when he showed no emotion after that incident with the Third Royal Order members, but when they talked during that recent tour, he got the impression that Seiichirou actually was as expressive as a normal person. Now he swung right back to his initial persona.

The conversation went on. Seiichirou gave proper, full-sentence responses. Although it didn’t reach the level of “friendly chatter,” it was still a pleasant enough conversation over a meal. They were interrupted, however, by a wave of murmuring around the entrance of the dining hall. When Seiichirou looked over his shoulder to see what was going on, a girl who looked very out of place in the hall in her white and golden skirt was sprinting toward him.

“Good! I found you, Kondou!” cried Yua Shiraishi, the kingdom’s Holy Maiden and the only person who could pronounce Seiichirou’s name correctly. Her finger was pointed right in his direction.

Seiichirou finished chewing on his vegetables, and then said, “Shiraishi, were you not taught how rude it is to point at people?”

“Oh, sorry!” Yua apologized as she hurriedly lowered her arm.

But then she seemed to remember something.

“I heard the news, Kondou!” she declared as she slammed her hands against the table. “Aresh is going to marry an Egorovan princess!”

All eyes were on the Holy Maiden after her sudden appearance, and they went wide at this outburst.

Aresh Indolark, commander of the Third Royal Order? True, he was neither married nor betrothed. A prince had been part of the recent Egorovan delegation. And now Aresh was accompanying them, supposedly as a guard.

Seiichirou heard the whispers, but he kept a stone-cold face.

“You are incorrect,” he refuted Yua bluntly.

“B-but he went with the Egorovan prince after he received a marriage offer, right?”

“Who told you that?”

“Oh, Prince Yurius did.”

That infernal prince…! He was reasonably competent in general—except when it came to Yua.

Seiichirou gripped his fork so tightly that a stronger man would have bent it. Mercifully, it remained intact in his grasp, but the fact that he was shaking in anger got across nonetheless.

Orjef rushed to interject. “Your Holiness, please calm yourself! You do not have all the facts.”

“Y-yeah!” Norbert chimed in. “Commander Indolark would never entertain marriage talks…”

Yet despite their arguments, Yua’s brow remained furrowed.

“But it is true that he was scouted for marriage, and that he’s gone to accompany them, right?” she retorted.

““Urk.”” The two of them flinched.

Behind them, Seiichirou nodded as he put away his tray. “That seems to be the case, yes.”

“Is that all you have to say, Kondou?!” Yua was getting ever more worked up in her affront. Pushing the other two men aside, she brought her lovely face within inches of Seiichirou’s. Leave it to a high school girl to have perfect skin—you could practically see the sheen from close up. “You’re not just gonna roll over and take it, are you? Aren’t you two supposed to be an item?!”

Another wave of murmurs filled the dining hall, albeit not quite on the level as the previous round. The regulars were used to seeing Aresh’s nanny-ish behavior around Seiichirou at mealtimes, so the prevailing mood in the room was “Oh? So it wasn’t my imagination?”

Seiichirou gazed back at Yua, not affirming or denying her words.

“Let’s get him back,” Romany’s Holy Maiden declared with an uncharacteristically composed expression.

““Huh?”” Orjef and Norbert were dumbfounded.

But Yua went on, not paying them any heed. “Let’s go to Egorova and take Aresh back!”

“Wh-what are you saying, Your Holiness?” Norbert spluttered. “How do you plan to—?”

“There’s no way a foreign country would turn down a visit from the Holy Maiden, right? Kondou can just come with me!” Having kept her Holy Maiden work confined within Romany’s borders, Yua had yet to even show her face to other countries. A country that was planning on establishing diplomatic ties with Romany would indeed accept a visit from the Holy Maiden. “What are you waiting for?! Let’s go today!”

“What? That’s so out of the blue,” said Orjef. “You can’t just…”

Norbert chimed in. “Not to mention that Sei would never…”

Seiichirou was always coolheaded, logical, and obsessed with efficiency. He would never drop his work to crash his partner’s marriage interview in a foreign country, like the protagonist of some teen novel. Norbert was convinced of this.

He looked over his shoulder to find that Seiichirou was standing up, having already put away his cutlery.

“It is a little sooner than I expected, but yes. Let’s go.”

“What?” said Orjef and Norbert.

“Yippee!” squealed Yua.

“I managed to get ahead on my work over these past three days,” said Seiichirou. “I should be able to leave right away if I delegate what remains. Let’s go to Egorova.”

As a smile bloomed on Yua’s face, Orjef’s and Norbert’s shouts resounded throughout the dining hall.

““What the hellllll?!””

Seiichirou was quick to move.

He had always been the kind of man who covered all his bases. Right from the start, he had made meticulous preparations so that he could pass on his work.

Likewise, the Holy Maiden Yua showed an extraordinary capacity to get things done. After securing an immediate appointment with the prince, she and Seiichirou were ushered into a meeting room. Prime Minister Camile was there as well—and so were Orjef and Norbert, befuddled by their confusion. They’d somehow gotten swept up in the momentum from the dining hall.

“The Holy Maiden making a courtesy visit to Egorova…you say…” Yurius looked as if he was gritting his teeth, while Camile seemed somehow amused.

“Yep!” Yua chirped. “If that’s how we spin it, the other side won’t turn it down.”

“But… Nggggh…”

As Yurius groaned and rubbed his temples, Seiichirou went in for the kill.

“Given that both sides have agreed to diplomatic relations, Egorova will inevitably be the first country to make contact with the Holy Maiden.”

“Well, yes, but at this stage…”

“What’s the problem? It’s just a pretext!”

“Yua… You don’t need to say the quiet part aloud…” Even Yurius, who normally indulged in Yua’s eccentricities, found himself pushing back against her this time.

But Yua was firm and unmoving. “What are you going to do if Aresh marries that Egorovan princess and never comes back?!”

“Urk.” For Yurius, it would be a shame indeed to lose a man of Aresh’s magical and military talents to another country. But… “Why are you going so far out of your way for Seiichirou?”

He would have understood if Yua was opposed to Aresh moving to another country because she fancied him. He wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have made sense. But he could see from Yua’s demeanor that she knew about Aresh and Seiichirou’s relationship and was trying to get the two of them together.

“In my country, people who get in the way of romance get kicked by a horse and die!” was Yua’s response.

“Yua…” Yurius was lost for words.

Judging by that reaction, Seiichirou wondered if something had happened between them. Camile whispered into his ear: “Other nobles have been saying things to His Highness.”

“Oh, I see.”

So Yurius had proposed to Yua. And because of that, the nobles around him blasted him with criticism.

Judging by what Yua said, she seemed to have feelings for Yurius after all.

“Prince Yurius… I have a lot to think about,” she said. “Would you mind waiting until I return for my answer?”

“Yua… Of course.”

Predictably, Yurius’s resistance shattered quickly.

All that was left was getting permission from Camile, the man who held the political reins.

“Your Excellency, I believe that if you were to send us to Egorova, I can secure Romany’s position as the leader of the movement spell research.” Seiichirou tried appealing to Camile’s political instincts.

But Camile did not react how Seiichirou expected. Instead of stepping out of whispering distance, he simply turned his head in Seiichirou’s direction. Seiichirou took a step back in surprise.

Camile raised his hand as he watched Seiichirou in amusement. “I thought my chance had come, but it seems not,” he said in a low, velvety tone as the back of his pointer finger trailed down Seiichirou’s cheek.

“That—” Seiichirou began.

“Oh! Oh! There’s something I want to ask His Excellency!” Orjef cut in before Seiichirou could get the words out.

“I gotta ask you about work, Sei!” Norbert jumped in as well.

They were obviously trying to peel Camile away from Seiichirou, before Seiichirou’s eyes could even widen. Camile let out a chuckle.

“What’s this? When did you get so many knights in shining armor?”

“That’s not quite it. They’re simply on Aresh’s side,” Seiichirou answered with narrowed eyes. Norbert pouted, but Seiichirou ignored it. He hadn’t forgotten how Aresh had ordered Norbert to take Seiichirou to the dining hall or how he had sent him sniffing around for Seiichirou in the nap room.

“Is that so? Then would that make me your ally?” Camile said with a flirtatious glance. At some point, Yua, who should have been indulging in her own love scene with the prince, had begun gazing at them with hearts in her eyes. “Is there something I can do for you, Seiichirou?” asked Camile with a sultry tone.

Seiichirou responded:

“If you could sign this document, that would be great, thanks.”

In the end, they didn’t get going on the same day as Yua had hoped. There were still preparations to make. But the next morning, a hastily assembled “Holy Maiden’s Procession” gathered in front of the palace gates.

There were two carriages and five knights to protect them. Four knights were from the Second Royal Order, who specialized in protecting the kingdom’s key figures.

The other person was…

“I knew this would happen. I knew it. But how the hell is this going to work?!”

…Orjef, Vice Commander of the Third Royal Order, bemoaning the circumstances.

Although this meant that both the commander and vice commander would be absent, this apparently wasn’t a problem, given that the Third Royal Order took frequent expeditions away from the capital. Admittedly, the severe lack of prep time did cause its own issues, though they were not insurmountable.

“They’ve got a lot of magic stones over there. They might even have some texts I’ve never seen before!”

Next to Orjef was Ist, assistant director of the Sorcery Department, as jubilant as a child on an excursion. He must have heard about the trip from somewhere because he strode right up to Seiichirou and demanded to come along.

“But why me…?” A pale-faced Sigma clutched his bag, trembling. He’d been there when Ist had made his demand, and here he was again today, getting dragged into the fray.

“It’s a good opportunity to broaden your horizons, don’t you think?” Seiichirou said nonchalantly. Inwardly, he was grateful to Sigma for being Ist’s guardian. Although there was something silly about a thirty-year-old needing a twelve-year-old’s guidance, this was Ist they were talking about.

“Nah, I’m the one who should be wondering what I’m doing here…”

Norbert, who had been glued to Seiichirou’s side the whole time, had joined the group under Yurius’s orders. The fact that he was technically royalty probably had something to do with it. This didn’t have much to do with Seiichirou, so he just shrugged and let it happen.

“Aren’t you a bit too callous with me, Sei?” Norbert whined.

“It’s my way of showing affection.”

“Uh…well, in that case…” Seiichirou’s frivolous young subordinate blushed.

Today, his hair was done up properly. The Accounting Department would be going without two of its members, but this was fine since Seiichirou had written down instructions for their colleagues.

“Anyway, Sei, what’s that?” Norbert pointed at Seiichirou’s face, which was covered below his eyes.

Indeed, Seiichirou was wearing a thin, dark cloth as a mask.

“I’m told this cloth is made from a plant called rafket. It’s not one hundred percent effective, but it can stop magicules from getting into my lungs.”

The plant was apparently cultivated in Plasas, a kingdom to the south where magicules were sparse. It could be used to purify magicules to some small degree.

“Cool,” said Norbert. “But wait, that reminds me…are you gonna be okay?! I heard magicules are way denser in Egorova compared to Romany!”

“I’ve accounted for that.”

Namely, the purifying mask…plus the medicine for diluting magic and reducing the symptoms of magic poisoning. He got it from the Medical Bureau director Ciro, who made it on Aresh’s request. Ciro had been reluctant to hand it over, saying that it was still in the trial phase and didn’t have a strong impact, but Seiichirou convinced him that it was better than nothing. Ciro also gave him the mask as another means of protecting himself.

“Most of Egorova’s magicule-dense areas are in the mines, so I doubt I’ll keel over straight away in the capital,” Seiichirou said.

“Well, sure, but don’t push yourself, okay? Tell me as soon as you feel unwell.”

Norbert kept bugging him about this, so Seiichirou told him, “Yeah, yeah. I get it.”

As all of this was going on, the star of the show arrived with a knight and lady-in-waiting in tow. It was Yua—clad in a refined, light blue one-piece dress—and one other person: a beautiful lady oozing with elegance in her purple dress and her tied-up black-blue hair.

The sharp-eyed lady—Erene—must have heard about this trip on the grapevine, because on the night Yua made her proposal, she came to Aresh’s mansion and said, “You ought to bring a noble along with you.”

And thus she pushed her way—er, cordially invited herself—into the group.

“So you’re Aresh’s older sister!” said Yua. “I can see the resemblance. You’re gorgeous!”

“Why, thank you, Your Holiness.”

“Oh, you can just call me Yua, not Your Holiness.”

“Well, then, Lady Yua, let’s pray for our safe travels.”

The refined ladies in the group hit it off marvelously. Without further ado, Yua, Erene, Orjef, and the lady-in-waiting went into one carriage while Seiichirou, Norbert, Ist, and Sigma took the other.

It took six days to reach Egorova’s capital by carriage. This only applied, however, to carriages outfitted with special magic tools for royalty. With all of Romany’s wisdom and know-how, the journey would still take ten days. To make matters worse, Egorova’s mountainous landscape meant that any carriage unfit for steep climbs would have to take detours.

Having come from a world of cars, bullet trains, and airplanes, Seiichirou was still not terribly used to carriages. He hadn’t traveled any long distance since the Demon Forest. Even if horses were faster than humans, the weight of luggage and the frequent rest stops slowed progress considerably. They had changed horses at towns along the way to the Demon Forest, but they lacked the preparations to pull that off this time.

Seiichirou had expected that the trip would take over ten days—once upon a time.

“Let’s take the shortest route! We can make it in three days!” declared Romany’s Holy Maiden.

Everyone else gaped at her as if she was off her rocker, save for one person with sparkling eyes. Needless to say, it was Ist.

“I’d love to get there quick, too. How do you plan on doing it? What’s the method?”

“I’ll cast healing magic on the horses! Then they can keep going without breaks!”

What is she, a drill sergeant? Seiichirou winced at Yua’s suggestion, but the others looked surprisingly receptive. Apparently, since healers were a precious resource, nobody had thought to use them for these purposes.

“Oh, I can use healing magic, too,” Ist enthused.

It bore mentioning that their group included the Holy Maiden and the kingdom’s foremost sorcerer.

“Help out, too, Orjef. You can use a bit of magic,” Erene demanded huffily. This reminded Seiichirou that if Orjef was Aresh’s cousin, then he was Erene’s cousin as well.

“Don’t ask for the impossible!” Orjef retorted. “I’m no healing magic expert!”

“Useless. What are you even doing here?”

“You know I’m a guard, right?!”

As he watched the bickering cousins and the buoyant Yua and Ist, Seiichirou decided to revise his opinion. He wanted to reach their destination as fast as possible, too.

“If there are multiple types of magic you can use, are you able to cast something that slows fatigue instead of just healing?” Seiichirou asked.

“What do you mean, ‘slows fatigue’?” Yua asked curiously.

“Ohhh, what’s this?!” said Ist. “Are you up to something, Kondo?! Let me in on it!”

“Calm down, Ist. We haven’t even left yet, and you’re too worked up.” The twelve-year-old restrained the thirty-year-old baby.

Feeling grateful for Sigma’s service, Seiichirou pulled a large scroll out of his luggage.

“This piqued my interest when I was researching Egorova. The shortest route is between these mountains.”

Seeing where Seiichirou was pointing, Orjef’s eyes boggled. His regular monster-slaying excursions and trips to remote areas and frontier lands gave him a robust grasp of geography.

“Hey! How do you know about that?! It’s not common knowledge in the kingdom!”

“Huh? What is it?” Yua cocked her head.

“There is a tunnel here connecting Romany and Egorova,” Seiichirou explained flatly.

“Whoa! That’s convenient! Why aren’t we using it already?”

“Because it caved in over a hundred years ago, making it impossible to get through.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” said Norbert. “I heard about that. It was built a long time ago as a trade route between Egorova and Romany for importing food and whatnot, but when Egorova decided it could make do on its own with its magic tools, the tunnel was left in disrepair and now it’s unusable.”

Leave it to a member of the royal family to know history. Orjef, who had actually seen the tunnel for himself, nodded along to Norbert’s explanation.

“But that doesn’t mean there’s no way through at all, does it?” Seiichirou said.

After all, they had the kingdom’s best and brightest with them.

Seeing the smile on Seiichirou’s lips, the entire group realized that he was completely and utterly serious. They were stunned into silence.

And so, through the combined efforts of Yua’s healing and purification magic, Ist’s weight-lightening and strengthening magic, and Orjef’s earth magic, they were able to keep the horses strong and healthy while clearing the path ahead of them. Orjef and Ist also teamed up on gravity spells to clear enough space for the carriages to get through. With that, they actually did manage to reach Egorova in three days.

“You think things are gonna be okay with us making such a sudden entrance?” Norbert asked.

“We’re fine,” said Seiichirou. “We sent a notice via magic ahead of time.”

However, given that they only sent a message before they left and another one the day before they arrived, it was certainly possible that the Egorovan side would refuse to trust it.

When they announced to the palace gatekeeper that the Holy Maiden had arrived, he looked like he’d been bowled over for a second before he hurriedly scampered off. The group entrusted their carriages to palace staff and were escorted to a small room that looked like a lobby.

Normally, VIPs would have been given their own rooms in the palace immediately upon arrival, but the wires had gotten crossed, it seemed. Seeing an obviously noble lady sitting in a room meant for merchants to make deals with the palace made for quite an amusing picture.

“Oh, right, Mist—er, I mean, Sir,” said Sigma, breaking the awkward silence in the room. “I forgot to give you that thing you asked for. Here it is.”

The boy who looked most comfortable in their current surroundings seemed to have relaxed a little because he pulled a small box out of his bag and handed it to Seiichirou.

“Ah, so it’s done. Great timing.”

“Yeah, I told you it was simple. I was gonna give it to you straight away, but I forgot after all the stuff that happened. Sorry.”

True, he did get pulled along into the Holy Maiden’s impromptu courtesy call to a foreign nation in a magic-enhanced carriage that practically zipped them to their destination. Little wonder he was confused.

“What’s that?” Seemingly unruffled about being in a foreign palace, Norbert peered over Seiichirou’s shoulder at the box on his palm.

It was purple, square, and sturdy-looking.

“A secret,” Seiichirou said.

“What?! C’mon, tell meeeee!”

As this kerfuffle was going on, there was a loud metal clanking sound, accompanied by the hasty entrance of several armored knights. Behind them was a familiar slender man who seemed out of breath.

“Phew… Th-that’s them, all right! The Romany court magician, the knight, and the civil official…” The wheezing man was Donato, the sorcerer from the Egorovan delegation. Apparently, the palace had gotten someone who had actually been to Romany to identify them.

“So that’s the actual Holy Maiden…?”

“B-but how’d she get here so fast?!”

Even after receiving confirmation, the Egorovans were still flabbergasted. They could not hide their confusion over how Seiichirou’s group had shown up a mere day after them.

Just when Seiichirou was thinking that they were wasting their time sitting around, Erene elegantly stood up from the stone chair that had looked so out of place against her class.

“I am Erene Rein, member of Count Rein’s house and daughter of Marquess Indolark of the Romany Kingdom. I understand your need to confirm our identities, though I was wondering how long you were planning on keeping us cooped up here. The Holy Maiden is weary from her journey. I pray you welcome her in haste.”

Her voice rang out with authority.

Silence came over the room, so heavy that one could hear a pin drop, and then the Egorovans practically fell over themselves to show their guests through the palace.

Oh, so that’s what she meant by ‘we need a noble’, thought Seiichirou as he gazed at Norbert, supposedly also a member of a count’s family.

They were ushered into a lavish reception room that could not have been more different from their previous accommodations. The ceiling was decorated in golden patterns, and the furniture was awash in yellow and red. The chandeliers were also beautiful in their intricacy. Judging by how the light beamed at unnatural angles, they might have been magic tools.

Although the Egorovan palace was made of stone, giving it a more rustic look than Romany’s, the interior was sparkling. Seiichirou had gotten the impression from the fine detail in the Egorovans’ clothing that their magic tools and technology allowed for impressive advancements in their handicrafts and manual work. Perhaps that only made sense for a cold, mountain-locked country.

Several sofas and chairs surrounded a table. Yua and Erene took the front sofa while Seiichirou, Orjef, and Norbert sat on the chairs. Sigma insisted on standing with the attendants at first, but when Seiichirou asked him to catch Ist who was scurrying about the room, they both sat down on the back sofa.

After a round of tea, a manservant opened the door and Lars strode in, clad in an even more resplendent outfit than what he wore in Romany. He had a feeling that this clothing probably featured a traditional design native to Egorova.

A girl in a black shirt and dress came in after him. The shirt had red and gold embroidery, while the skirt was laced with red and green. Her luscious, neatly trimmed black hair fell past her shoulders. And she had the same jade green eyes as Lars.

“Wait? What? Whaaat?!”

Unsurprisingly, Sigma’s eyes went wide as saucers.

Because that face belonged to Luciano, the boy who came to Romany as an Egorovan envoy. There were no two ways about it.

Lars smiled awkwardly at the gaping visitors.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting. It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Holiness. And you as well, Lady Rein. I am Lars Eric Egorova, third prince of Egorova. And this is…”

Gently, he nudged Luciano’s back. The boy…er, girl, took a step forward, clutched the ends of her skirt, and curtsied elegantly.

“I am Lufina Cujeltika Egorova, third princess of Egorova.”

“Wha—?!”

Seiichirou could tell that Sigma had turned to stone behind him, though he wasn’t particularly shaken himself. The other adults were surprised, though a look of understanding came over their faces. Yua, who was seeing the girl for the first time, simply nodded.

They’d been told initially that Luciano was a boy with blood ties to the royal family. It wasn’t a huge leap for her to be bona fide royalty. Given that she was at an androgynous-looking age, concealing her gender was the easiest way to go incognito.

“I knew I’d seen her somewhere before…,” Orjef muttered.

“Did you not realize when you met her?” Erene needled him. Apparently, it was typical for members of a marquess family to study the portraits and family trees of foreign royalty.

Norbert, who was technically royalty himself, quickly looked away when Seiichirou glanced at him. He hadn’t clocked it, either, it seemed.

“But I must say, I never imagined that Romany’s Holy Maiden would visit our kingdom on such short notice.”

Lars was questioning why the Holy Maiden would suddenly choose to make her first foreign visit, as well as her uncanny travel speed.

“Well, our nations will be collaborating on magic technology,” Yua said. “I would love to lend my assistance.”

“Consider it a testament to the great trust Egorova has earned within Romany,” said Erene.

“High praise, indeed.” Lars’s gaze swept over the guests from Romany once more, briefly stopping at Norbert, but when he spotted the masked Seiichirou further along, his eyes widened ever so slightly. “In any case, I am sure you are weary from your travels. Please, do take your time to rest. Romany’s Holy Maiden will always be welcome in Egorova. His Majesty and many others would love to extend their greetings, so I hope that you stay the night.”

He was all but saying that things were in a rush at the moment and they needed time to prepare. Seiichirou felt bad for him, but he was in a hurry, too.

Aresh was in conversation with Egorova’s fourth princess, whom the kingdom was offering up as a marriage partner.

Nobody in the room failed to understand the significance of this, but Erene still held her ground.

“Oh, then please allow us to sit in. I would love to meet the princess who might become my brother’s spouse.”

At the “brother’s spouse” part, Norbert and Orjef cast anxious looks in Seiichirou’s direction. But what point was there in getting worked up about it now?

“Yes, but…” Lars sounded reluctant.

“I’d like to meet her, too, please.” Yua added her weight to the ring.

Judging that it would be unwise to keep refusing Romany’s guest of honor and Aresh’s older sister, Lars capitulated easily.

“Oh, but my sister is sickly, so you might be subjected to an unpleasant sight…,” Lufina said worriedly.

“Don’t worry, that would be our fault for barging in on her anyway,” answered Yua, who could have stood to be a bit more concerned.

The women took the lead, while Lars and the men hung back behind them. Ist trailed last, gawking at everything in his path. Sigma valiantly dragged him along to keep up with the group. Seiichirou made a mental note to himself to give Sigma a bonus allowance when they got back.

“I’m honored that you would make such a long trip to visit us. Thank you, Mr. Rhoda,” said Lars.

“Oh no, we ought to apologize for the sudden visit. I heard after the fact that our commander was chosen to be a guard…”

Orjef apologized; he was no good at mind games and probing people. Lars and his group had probably already figured out why the Holy Maiden’s courtesy visit was happening so abruptly without any of the usual red tape.

Lars’s immaculate eyebrows creased into a frown. “No, we’re the ones who imposed first. Although I should mention that it was Commander Indolark himself who suggested coming to Egorova.”

“What, really?!” Norbert yelled in surprise.

To be fair, it was hard for anyone to drag Aresh of all people anywhere, let alone out of his country. Seiichirou had more or less imagined that he had chosen to do so of his own volition.

“But we are also guilty of not discarding our hopes regarding the proposal.” Lars paused there and looked at Seiichirou. “I’m surprised you came as well. I can see that your talents extend to negotiation.”

Seiichirou could see that the ladies had stopped in front of a door, which told him that Aresh and the fourth princess were probably inside. Lars, Orjef, and the others came to a halt, too.

An Egorovan maid knocked on the door. Lufina announced their presence, and the path opened for them. The ladies entered the room first, and Seiichirou took a step after them.

At the same time, he opened his mouth to speak.

“No, I’m just here to take back my man.”

“What?”

The room was simpler than the reception lounge. That said, it was still a palace room, which meant that it was furnished with luxury items.

Seiichirou’s target was sitting at the far end of the room, his black-clad back facing the door. The princess was sitting across from him at a table, and she stood up when she spotted the newcomers. The man directly in front of her turned around a beat later.

“Lufina,” the princess called out her sister’s name with a bell-like voice.

The man in front of her swung his large frame around at that moment.

And then…

“What are you doing here?!”

He rushed straight over to Seiichirou, completely ignoring Lufina, Erene, and even Lars.

“Don’t you know what kind of place this is?! Why the hell would you come here when your barrier is fading? Do you have a death wish?!” Aresh barked at him, his large hands planted on Seiichirou’s shoulders.

Any normal person—no, even a Romany knight—would have shrunk in the face of such a formidable man, but Seiichirou was unmoving.

“I came to talk to a certain someone who doesn’t bother communicating,” he retorted. “I did take precautions, you know.”

“Precautions?”

“The prototype from Ciro.”

For one, Seiichirou wasn’t supposed to talk without wearing the special mask. Aresh’s frown deepened when Seiichirou produced the medicine. Yet, before Aresh could resume his lecture, someone else touched him on the shoulder from behind.

“You’ve got some nerve ignoring me, Aresh.”

Upon being subjected to a sharp gaze not dissimilar to his own, Aresh’s frown transformed from “worried” to “annoyed.”

“What are you doing here, Erene?”

“What a way to speak to your older sister. Who do you think is responsible for getting you two in the same room without a hitch?”

Instead of focusing on the familiar squabble between the two intimidatingly beautiful siblings, Orjef seemed more preoccupied with the fourth princess.

Not that his reaction was surprising.

If the third princess, Lufina, was around twelve, then the fourth princess had to be even younger. It wasn’t so unusual for royal and noble marriages to be decided from an early age to preserve bloodlines and family names. Age gaps were common enough. Seiichirou knew this.

But still…

“Um… May I ask how old the fourth princess is?” Seiichirou heard Norbert ask Lars hesitantly. This was what everyone was dying to know.

Lars parted his perfectly shaped lips. “She will be four this year.”

“Bwah! Ngh! Urk! Ahem!” Orjef’s mouth produced a series of strangled noises. He hurriedly shut his mouth and pretended it was all a cough.

But no, Seiichirou understood.

He knew about age gaps and arranged marriages.

But it was still extremely funny to see the tall and imposing Aresh next to a three-year-old girl.

“Orjef…I have some words for you later.” Aresh, who should have been preoccupied in his verbal sparring with Erene, turned to glare at his cousin. The smile instantly vanished from Orjef’s lips.

“Er, don’t you have something to say to me first?” Seiichirou spoke up.

Aresh fell silent.

Lufina gazed in surprise at the suddenly cowed Aresh, but then she seemed to remember something and ran over to the fourth princess’s sofa. “Sofia!”

Lars was also quick to rush over to his sisters.

The fourth princess, named Sofia, had the same silver hair as Lars. It hung in a braid past her shoulders. Coupled with her spotless skin, she was quite a pretty young girl, but her wide, bluish-purple eyes were downcast, her face had a terrible pallor, and her breathing was ragged.

“What…?”

“Apologies, but my sister is sickly. She might have gotten anxious from seeing new faces. Call a healer over right away,” Lars told an attendant as he clutched Sofia’s tiny body.

“I can use healing magic.” Yua raised her hand.

“Wait.” Seiichirou took a step forward, stopping Yua in her tracks.

“What are you—?”

Seiichirou approached the young princess and peered at her tentatively so as not to appear rude.

The pallor, the sweat, the labored breathing. It all looked familiar…no, it was familiar. He’d experienced it with his own body. Seiichirou looked back at Aresh. A look of understanding came over him when their eyes met.

“This…is magic poisoning!” they declared.

“Magic poisoning…?” the others in the room muttered, not looking quite convinced of this out-of-the-blue diagnosis.

Seiichirou ignored them and pulled out the medicine Ciro had given him, but then he thought better of it and handed Lars one of his extra masks instead. “This mask will absorb magicules. This is a spare, so I haven’t used it yet. Please give it to Her Highness.”

“What?” Lars blinked, and then said hesitantly, “All right.”

Seiichirou turned to Yua next. “Shiraishi, please cast purification before you use your healing magic. You can limit it to this room.”

“Huh? Oh, sure. Okay.”

If Sofia was as weak to magicules as Seiichirou was, then the first order of business was ridding the room of magicules.

Yua clapped her hands together as if she was in prayer and chanted a song-like spell. In that instant, a wind blew in the room. People who weren’t normally conscious of magicules wouldn’t be able to tell, but Seiichirou could see at once that the air was now clear.

Sofia’s breathing stabilized at that same moment.

“What is…going on…?” Lars gaped at the girl in his arms. Lufina looked similarly shocked.

In lieu of a response, Seiichirou’s knees buckled, for the aftereffects of the purification magic left him slightly reeling. Aresh caught Seiichirou in his arms.

“Ah, my apologies,” Seiichirou said. “Your Highness Prince Lars, allow me to inform you that Her Highness the Fourth Princess most likely has a weakness to magicules.”

Sofia’s condition had settled, but given her tender age, the servants still took care in handling her. She was soon carried off to her bedroom to rest.

Seiichirou and the others returned to the reception room, where they chatted once more with Lars and Lufina. Erene, Yua, Aresh, and Seiichirou took the front seats. Seiichirou tried to stand back, but Aresh forced him to sit next to him.

“Sofia has never possessed much magic, and her frailty often confines her to bed,” Lars explained.

One could see the Egorovan’s strong bias toward magic and technical prowess in his words. It made sense for a nation founded on its magic research and tools. Here in this frigid, mountainous land, one could genuinely say that technological progress meant everything.

Given that one needed magical power to research magic tools, Egorova’s nobility regarded a person’s magical capacity as a mark of status.

“Sofia…was born from a foreign mistress,” Lufina said hesitantly, prompting Norbert to lift his head.

A bastard child born from an immigrant woman with no connection to nobility or royalty. Even if she was regarded as a member of the royal family, the girl’s low birth and meager magic coupled with her sickly body meant that she occupied an extremely precarious position.

“Given her frail constitution…there were some who suggested marrying her off into a prominent rural clan or a wealthy merchant family before she got much older.”

She was considered that useless to the royal family. Lars would resent the nobles who said as much for the rest of his life.

Then came the talks about a cultural exchange with the Romany Kingdom. Although Lars wasn’t terribly proficient at magic himself, his political acumen was the strongest among his brothers, and so it was suggested that he lead the diplomatic delegation. Part of it, of course, was so that he could score some personal achievements and for Lufina to learn from the Romanian sorcerer she so deeply admired, but the two of them were worried for Sofia at the same time.

Neither the third prince nor the third princess had much family pedigree to lean on. Lars’s mother did not come from a particularly highborn house, and Lufina was the daughter of a noblewoman whose family owned an abundance of magic stone mines. The two siblings had always gotten along well because of that, and they extended the same sympathies toward Sofia.

When they heard that Romany had a milder climate than Egorova and that it possessed a magically talented knight force with a young, unmarried, and talented commander from a prominent noble family, they sounded him out as a match for Sofia.

“If she got shuffled off into the hinterlands as a political pawn, who knows if she would even be allowed to live?” said Lars. “We thought that surely a high-ranking knight in Romany would not treat her so poorly in the interest of future diplomatic relations.”

“I apologize for pushing our decision onto you,” Lufina said.

Apparently, the two of them had been dogmatic about the engagement.

“I really am sorry. Our intelligence informed us that you were not betrothed…,” Lars said as he glanced at Aresh and Seiichirou sitting intimately close to each other. “I assumed that Seiichirou’s partner was that priest…”

Aresh’s purple eyes flashed angrily. “The priest? You mean Siegvold? I don’t understand. What were you doing for them to come to that conclusion?”

“Nothing,” said Seiichirou. “The Egorovans asked to see the private school, and I just spoke a little with Priest Siegvold as I was guiding them around.”

“How would that make them draw assumptions?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask them? They’re right there.”

“Your lovers’ quarrel isn’t getting us anywhere. Save it for when you’re alone,” Erene said flatly, prompting Aresh to frown and fall silent. Seiichirou shut his mouth, too, not wanting others to see his petulant side.

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” said Lufina. “Kondo was wearing an amethyst lapel pin at the dinner party, so we just assumed that his partner had purple in their appearance. Then we met the priest and got the wrong idea.”

“Now whose fault is that, Mr. Aresh?” said Seiichirou.

“Well, it did make them understand that you were taken,” Aresh said sullenly.

“Oh, don’t give me that…”

“I told you to save it for later.” Erene snapped her fan shut.

The two bickering lovers fell quiet once again.

“Anyway, we caused you a great deal of trouble with our plan,” Lars said. “I won’t be offended if you just forget about the whole marriage offer.”

“We are ever so sorry,” said Lufina.

“No, I’m just glad we sorted out the misunderstanding. Please lift your heads,” Erene insisted.

“There’s also, well…the matter of how you healed Sofia,” the two Egorovan royals said after they had slowly lifted their heads.

They were curious about how Sofia’s pallor had instantly cleared when every previous attempt at healing magic only served to contain her immediate symptoms.

“You asked for a purification spell, yes?” Lars went on. “Does this mean that the Holy Maiden’s power can cure Sofia’s illness?”

“What? Purification removes the magicules. It’s not a cure to illness, I think?” Yua, who had only done what Seiichirou told her to do, cocked her head.

With the conversation evidently going nowhere, Aresh chimed in. “Princess Sofia most likely suffers from magic poisoning. It can happen to people with low magic resistance when their stamina is low or if they go somewhere with a high density of magicules.”

“Magic…poisoning?” Lars and Lufina looked confused.

Seiichirou didn’t blame them. This was a world where magicules were as natural as air, and Egorova was particularly dense with the stuff. It was like telling an earthling that someone had an allergy to oxygen or nitrogen.

To muddle matters further, healing spells did work on sickly bodies to an extent. A peasant might not have the luxury, but the royals could solve most problems instantly with healing.

“Magicules are part of the air. They are not poison,” Aresh explained. “Most people, even those with weak bodies, will not suffer unless they venture to the depths of the magic stone mines or some such place. But there are rare cases where people have low resistance.”

And such cases would probably be regarded as inexplicable.

“How do you know all of this?” Lars asked.

Aresh turned his gaze to Seiichirou, who nodded and took up the explanation. “As you know, I was summoned from another world. Because of that, I have hardly any magicule resistance to speak of.”

Even then, he’d managed to get by in the Romany Kingdom, which wasn’t too dense with magicules, by sticking to small portions of magicule-light foods. But when he got his hands on magicule-heavy indulgences, he rapidly fell ill, and Aresh came to the rescue.

Seiichirou did not go so far as to mention all of that, but he did say, “Princess Sofia’s body is still developing. I believe that is why she cannot withstand the magicules in Egorova.”

“Oh dear… So you’re saying that as long as Sofia is in Egorova…”

“Which is why I have a proposal.”

“Hm?” Those who didn’t know Seiichirou very well were confused at his sudden assertiveness.

“Oh.”

“Ohhhh.”

Meanwhile, those who did know him well reacted as if they’d seen this all before. Either that or exasperation.

At times like these, Seiichirou got as carried away as Ist.

“Romany is currently launching research into the relationship between magicules and magical energy in the hopes of increasing magical capacity and magicule resistance.”

“Increasing magicule resistance?” said Lars. “Really?”

“Indeed. Having almost no resistance myself, I’ve made do with tools such as these. I would almost certainly have suffered a bout of illness had I come to Egorova without them.”

It would have been nigh impossible for a freshly summoned Seiichirou. It was only through Aresh and Pavel’s blood, sweat, and tears that his tolerance had managed to increase in a tangible way.

“And I believe that I was able to raise my resistances with minimal periods of illness because I was in Romany, where the magicules are not so dense.”

“Wait a second. Are you saying you managed to increase your magical power?” The question came from an unexpected angle.

Seiichirou was a little surprised, though he nodded without his expression so much as flickering.

“Yes. Although magical power is said to be hereditary because it presently has a strong correlation with bloodlines, I believe that it can be raised after the fact.”

Which was why he was suggesting that Romany take custody of Princess Sofia as part of their countries’ joint efforts at magical research.

“That…would be the best possible outcome,” said Lars.

Indeed. By having her participate in research efforts, she would convalesce in a magicule-light land and build her tolerance. This would also spare her from being married off into the hinterlands, and if her magical power did manage to increase, her standing as a royal would improve.

This would also mean Lars’s side would owe them a debt and provide a good pretext for Romany taking the lead with the research. To put it cynically, the Egorovan princess would essentially be a hostage. Although she wasn’t terribly important from the Egorovan perspective, she was still a princess nonetheless. Lars’s side certainly wouldn’t abandon her.

Of course, only so many people were worthy of taking custody of a princess, which was why a certain somebody took this opportunity to stand.

“My house can take responsibility for Princess Sofia.”

All eyes turned to Erene.

“Seiichirou,” she said. “Let me join the experiments, too.”

“Huh? Well, I don’t see why not…” Seiichirou did not see what a married noblewoman like Erene stood to gain from participating, but there were probably a lot of people who wanted to throw their hat into the ring given that it was a state-sponsored plan.

“Oh, but I’m not sure about sending Sofia alone to Romany…” Lufina sounded ill at ease.

“Not to worry,” Norbert answered with his usual lackadaisical tone. “Long as she’s got a family who loves her, she’ll be just fine!”

He was a king’s bastard child, adopted by a retainer. Having sworn to support the royal family, the young man smiled without a care in the world.

Lars thanked them once more and stood up. “I’ve prepared private rooms for all of you. Please make yourselves at home until dinner.”

He was trying to set the scene for a banquet to give himself time to report to the higher authorities.

Aresh chose this moment to speak up. “I hope you’ll forgive us for not attending.”

Us, not me, he said. All eyes turned to Seiichirou.

“As I explained earlier,” Aresh said, “this man’s body is weak to magicules. He must rest before he returns to Romany.”

Aresh’s barrier had weakened by then. Although Seiichirou had been fine on the journey to Egorova, the aftereffects of Yua’s purification magic left him slightly feverish. As Aresh said, he needed treatment before he went home.

Aresh’s attitude was so matter-of-fact that nobody could bring themselves to ask who would be doing this “treatment.”

Perceiving this, Lars smiled and said, “Very well. I ask that you take care,” before leaving the room.

After that, Ist insisted on seeing the Sorcery Department, so Lufina showed him the way. Sigma went with them, of course. It wasn’t terribly dignified, but nobody on the Romany side spoke up strongly against it after what they’d experienced.

“Let us get ready for the dinner party, Lady Yua,” said Erene.

“Oh, but I don’t have a dress.”

“I packed enough for you as well. So shall we be off? Orjef, be our bodyguard.”

“What? Why me?”

“You really don’t have a shred of wit, do you? They don’t need a guard, do they? Isn’t a knight supposed to protect the dainty ladies?”

Seemingly used to Erene’s barbs, Orjef merely glanced at Seiichirou and the others before reluctantly leaving his seat.

“Nor—”

“Oh, I’ll just be chilling in my room. Don’t mind me!” Norbert avoided looking at Aresh, who was hovering behind Seiichirou.

Evidently, he didn’t want to get kicked by a horse and die.

The room assigned to Aresh had distinctive Egorovan patterns on its walls and carpets, although the actual colors were simple.

Seiichirou gasped—the moment he was inside, the door shut tight and a strong pair of arms enveloped him.

“I’m so glad you’re okay…,” Aresh murmured in a low voice.

His scent, so distinct from the Egorovan fragrance in the room, threatened to make Seiichirou weak in the knees, but he pushed back against Aresh’s burly chest. There was still some unfinished business between them.

Although Seiichirou did not put much force into his arms, Aresh sensed his resistance and relaxed his grip.

“We…still haven’t talked it over,” Seiichirou said.

Aresh was silent for a very long moment before he said, “Let me heal you first. I’m sure you’re fatigued, and not to mention you got hit by the Holy Maiden’s magic.”

“No. Let’s talk.”

Although he thought it ridiculous to use his own health as a bludgeon to threaten Aresh with, Seiichirou just knew that he wouldn’t be in a state for conversation if Aresh used his magic on him. Besides, he only had a slight fever, which had never deterred him from working in the past. He could put up with this level of discomfort.

Acknowledging the strength of Seiichirou’s will, Aresh made him sit down before taking the neighboring seat. It was hard for them to talk while facing one another directly.

“If this is about the marriage offer, I turned it down immediately.”

According to Aresh, his family had summoned him to ask about Seiichirou, at which point he announced in no uncertain terms that they were indeed romantic partners. Then his parents told him that a member of the Egorovan royalty would be coming to visit. He couldn’t exactly scamper home after that, so he ended up going through with the meeting.

He had not expected Lars to pop the question of marriage. In his mind, his family calling him over and the marriage offer were two entirely separate things.

“My family is my problem, and…I certainly wasn’t planning on getting engaged. That’s why I didn’t feel the need to tell you about it.” Aresh looked at Seiichirou’s face, his expression screwed up in discomfort. “Sorry,” he muttered quietly. Some part of him evidently understood that he had incurred Seiichirou’s wrath.

Next, he addressed why he independently decided to go to Egorova.

“I was…looking for a way to send you back to your country…,” he admitted.

“Huh?”

Seiichirou’s eyes widened at those unexpected words.

Hadn’t Aresh been rushing to tie Seiichirou down to this world so that he wouldn’t return to Earth? What changed his mind?

“Did you…decide that you were better off without me?” Seiichirou asked, not realizing how much his voice was trembling.

“Absolutely not!” Aresh snapped back. “I don’t want you to go. But that…that is my selfishness speaking. You were brought to this world suddenly against your will. You cannot see your family, and even the air makes you ill.”

By now, Seiichirou had developed some level of magicule resistance, all thanks to Aresh. And because they were now romantic partners, receiving treatment through intimate relations was a non-issue.

But if Aresh had not been there, if they had never formed this connection, then Seiichirou might very well have lost his life.

“I’m sure that those who figured out a way to revive the ancient summoning spell would eventually find a way to send you back to your original world,” said Aresh.

“I suppose…”

If the magically gifted commander of the Third Royal Order was saying so, then it had to be true.

Aresh had resigned himself to their eventual parting.

Seiichirou wanted to return to his original world. He wanted to see his parents. He wanted to experience the comfort and safety of the land of his birth.

But…

“That’s why I came to Egorova, so that I could find a way for you to travel between worlds,” Aresh said.

“What?”

For a moment, Seiichirou could not understand what Aresh was saying. He stared at the man before him, his eyes wider than ever before.

Black hair, purple eyes, and a form that exuded masculine beauty. That was Seiichirou’s man.

“I believe that our sorcerers will eventually find a way to reverse-engineer the ancient magic and complete a spell that will return you to your original world. You’re not the Holy Maiden, and so it would be difficult to pinpoint you and summon you back. Romany’s literature deals primarily with the Holy Maiden and her purification, and our magic focuses on offensive spells for dealing with monsters. There is only so much we can achieve. A good thing, then, that our country is opening diplomatic relations with a nation that specializes in magic and technology, but I know that it is easier said than done. It’s why I thought of seeing for myself if there were any leads, and then telling you,” Aresh said quickly, without pausing for breath.

Seiichirou did not interrupt him. His brain was entirely focused on piecing together what he had just learned.

Wait? So that means…?

The reason Aresh went off to a different country without telling Seiichirou anything was because he knew that Seiichirou would eventually return to his original world and he wanted to find a way to travel between the worlds? So that they wouldn’t have to part ways forever?

“Did…the Egorovans know about this?”

“No? Given my position, I don’t generally have any opportunities to travel to Egorova. I simply used their desire for me to meet the fourth princess as an excuse to go.”

Aresh was saying that if they just wanted a meeting, he would do the meeting. Then he would be given free rein, and if it took too long to find what he wanted, he would make up some excuse to go back to Romany. Since their nations would be establishing diplomatic ties, he could do what he pleased. The man was utterly single-minded.

“Why didn’t you say a word about this to me?”

“Because it depended on whether I found a method.” Aresh averted his gaze uncomfortably. In his mind, he couldn’t speak about it if it wasn’t definite. He might give Seiichirou false hope or make him homesick.

Seiichirou’s lips clenched into a tight line as he pulled out a small box from his breast pocket.

When he presented the box to Aresh, it was the other man’s turn to blink in utter non-comprehension.

“Open this, please,” Seiichirou said curtly.

Aresh took the box.

He opened the inexpensive-looking lid to find two unadorned silver rings.

“What’s this?” He looked up at Seiichirou’s still glowering face.

“In Romany, you wear accessories on your chest to indicate that you have a partner, yes?” Seiichirou answered sullenly. “In my country, you give your engagement partner rings engraved with each other’s names on the inside and wear them on the finger next to your little finger.”

Aresh’s long fingers held up the simple rings. He and Seiichirou’s first names were engraved inside.

“Everyone underestimates me.”

When Aresh looked at Seiichirou again in disbelief, the man was much closer to him than he expected. Seiichirou leaned against him, his expression still a picture of fury.

Aresh collapsed on the chaise under Seiichirou’s weight. As Seiichirou glared down at his partner, he continued, “You think I just got pulled into this relationship, don’t you? Don’t you underestimate me.”

When Seiichirou’s lips descended on his, Aresh accepted them in a dumbfounded haze.

The Egorovan royal palace must have been outfitted with proper soundproofing, because no sound emanated from outside the room. Here, in this dead silent space, one could hear a pin drop.

“Mm…hah…”

As Seiichirou leaned against Aresh, he pushed his tongue inside the other man’s mouth and ran his hands over his body through his shirt.

The sun looked ever so yellow.

This was not because Seiichirou was not on planet Earth. In other words, it meant the other thing—the sun looking brighter after a long bout of nightly activities.

They’d been up all night. No, even until the morning. As Seiichirou lay numb, the view outside the window looked dull and colorless. Well, given that most of Egorova was gray, maybe this was just normal?

While Seiichirou was occupied with his hazy thoughts, Aresh returned to bed with a glass of water in hand.

“What are you zoning out for?” The knight commander looked confused, a testament to the vast physical difference between him and a sickly white-collar worker. For all the healing spells and efforts to get Seiichirou’s body accustomed to magic, he was still no macho man at his core.

The magically gifted knight commander had used a spell to make the soiled sheets spotless. While he was at it, he’d cleaned up Seiichirou’s body. Understandably, it would have been awkward for them to take an intimate bath together while in a foreign country, which was what they would have done had they been at Aresh’s mansion.

“Want some?” As Aresh extended the glass of water to Seiichirou, Seiichirou noticed the gleaming silver ring on Aresh’s left ring finger.

He accepted the glass bashfully, wondering why he was getting embarrassed now after everything that had happened.

“The size…doesn’t quite fit you. We’ll have to get it adjusted when we get back.”

He hadn’t measured Aresh’s finger, and so the ring looked a little loose on him. Although this was better than it not fitting at all, it was still something of a letdown.

“You can do that?”

“There’s a craftsman Sigma knows. Let’s go see him together next time. Oh, but I suppose that wearing a ring will hinder your work as a knight,” said Seiichirou, musing that a ring would get in the way of swinging a sword.

Aresh frowned sullenly. “Are you telling me to take it off?”

“If it’s a hindrance, yes? How about wearing it around your neck when you’re in training or battle?” Seiichirou said. He’d gotten a simple silver ring thinking that it wouldn’t get in the way, but then again, any accessory could be a hindrance.

Aresh wasn’t having it, though. “No. I won’t take it off.”

“Well, do what you like.” Then Seiichirou muttered what he really thought: “Just please don’t lose it.”

“I would never!” Aresh was quick to respond.

This was all getting very cheesy, but when Aresh brought his face close, Seiichirou didn’t complain. He turned his head in Aresh’s direction and closed his eyes…

Bang bang bang bang!

“Is Kondo here?!”

A furious knocking sound rang out—it sounded almost as if someone was trying to batter the door in. Seiichirou almost dropped his glass of water.

“What?” Aresh was very disgruntled.

“That sounds like Ist!” Seiichirou knew that he had to stop the noise.

“Oh! Kondo! Hey, hey, I found this cool thing! Let me show you!”

“Hold it! Just wait for a moment!”

Ist was yanking at the locked door. Seiichirou mollified the pouting Aresh as he hurriedly dragged his overtaxed body out of the bed and got dressed.

“Uh… Sorry for making you wait.”

A few minutes later, Seiichirou opened the door to find Ist with a bundle of papers in his arms. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before, which were now slightly disheveled. Behind him stood Lufina and Sigma, as well as Lufina’s knight and maid.

“Yep, you sure did!” This was quite a thing to say to someone after ambushing their room early in the morning. Seiichirou could see the knight and maid grimace, but this was just par for the course with Ist.

The sorcerer strode right into the room and spread out his papers without even pausing to ask for permission. Seiichirou looked highly displeased, but his expression changed somewhat when he saw the magic circles drawn on the pages.

“I was looking around the Egorovan Sorcery Department yesterday,” said Ist, “and it turns out that they’ve got a slightly different way of writing compared to Romany. In Romany, you list out the external effects of a spell, but here they take the spell’s entire composition into account. Look!”

Which was all well and good of him to say, but since Seiichirou couldn’t read the words, he couldn’t make head or tail of what he was looking at.

“Incredible, right?!” Ist grinned.

“Is it?” was all Seiichirou could say.

“Yeah! I mean, check out this magic circle! This line represents ‘fire resistance,’ and this one indicates ‘wind’ and ‘flow’! And the positioning says that there’s a half-second time lag after activation.”

“Sorry, I don’t understand the jargon. Could you explain the significance of this, please?”

Seiichirou was always telling Ist to get to the point. He needed a proper breakdown of the results and expected costs before he could organize a budget. Unfortunately, getting Ist to submit lists and reports was too much to ask, so Seiichirou heard him out verbally. Because of this, Ist had developed a habit of telling Seiichirou every little thing.

“Okay, so if we combine the ancient magic formula with that magic tool I mentioned to you earlier, we can send you back to your original world!”

First thing in the morning, Ist dropped a live grenade with a carefree smile.

“I can…go back to my old world?” It was what Seiichirou had been searching for ever since he was kidnapped…er, summoned to this world.

He’d gotten distracted by other things along the way, but it was still the reason why he had worked to make the Holy Maiden obsolete, pushed for magic research, and set up an education system for recruiting potential workers. The collaboration agreement with Egorova would expedite the process even further by securing a reliable supply of magic stones as a power source.

It was everything that he’d worked for, yet Seiichirou still froze when he heard Ist’s incredible announcement.

But this was Ist he was speaking to. As far as the sorcerer was concerned, Seiichirou’s reaction was irrelevant.

“We’d managed to decipher the magic circles of ancient magic in Romany literature,” Ist went on as he unfurled more papers, “but when I realized that Egorova has a different way of drawing magic circles, it made me look back at that ancient spell. You see, I always thought it had a line for tracking someone with the Holy Maiden’s power, but if you combine it with this composition here and take the spatial coordinates into account, then instead of tracking—”

“Wait.” Aresh physically stopped Ist’s rapid-fire lecture. By covering his mouth.

This was the same thing Orjef had done, which made Seiichirou reflect vaguely that knights sure were handy to have around. Between the bombshell reveal, the jargon, and all the activity from the night before, his head still wasn’t quite working the way it should.

“You didn’t show Egorova the ancient magic circles, did you?” Aresh demanded.

The spell to summon a Holy Maiden from another world was still a state secret. Although Romany had agreed to work with Egorova, they weren’t meant to disclose the spell yet.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s fine! Ist has the entire circle memorized, so he didn’t show anyone the texts! He’s not even carrying them with him!” Sigma rushed to Ist’s aid.

Relieved, Aresh relaxed. Not missing his chance, Ist slipped out of Aresh’s grasp and grabbed the papers.

“Commander Indolark, you must have memorized it, too, yes? See, look, if you put this part with this part and this part, it’s exactly the same as the top-right bit in the middle of that magic circle. Right?”

“He’s not going to know the whole composition just from one look…” Sigma tried to stop Ist, since Seiichirou was a bit slow to react.

Only for Aresh to give a matter-of-fact nod. “It does look similar, yes.”

Oh, right. This man was a genius.

“Is it normal for people in Romany to accurately recall a magic circle they’ve only seen once?” Lufina asked shakily, to which Sigma frantically shook his head.

Seiichirou elaborated, “Of course not. Those two are special cases. I only have a memory for numbers.”

He can memorize numbers at a glance… The boy and girl felt terribly humbled by the existence of yet another outlier, but the girl was still a sorcery prodigy who would one day become the pride of her nation, and the boy was a rising star technician whose talents had earned him state sponsorship despite his humble birth.

Having finally regained his wits, Seiichirou asked the young prodigies, “Have you been with Ist this whole time?”

“Oh no, we haven’t.”

Apparently, Ist had initially behaved himself when he visited Egorova’s Sorcery Department, but he got so engrossed in the documents he was allowed to read that he stopped responding to the Egorovan researchers. He muttered and occasionally made strange noises to himself as he sat in the lab for the entire night. As a princess, Lufina had to make an appearance at the dinner party, so she asked Donato and Georgi from the diplomatic delegation to keep an eye on Ist. This also allowed Sigma to focus entirely surveilling Ist in case he acted out of line.

When Lufina returned to the lab in the morning, Ist shouted, “I did it!” and ran off in search of Seiichirou. Lufina chased after him, bringing the story back to the present.

“I see…,” said Seiichirou. “I’m terribly sorry about all the trouble. I must offer you a formal apology later.”

“Oh no, our sorcerers were honored to get a close-up view of Ist at work. So, um…is the movement spell complete, then?” Lufina asked.

“In theory, yes,” a voice that did not belong to Ist answered. It was Aresh.

“What do you mean?”

“Originally, we could only use the spell to transport inanimate objects. The spell has a different formula depending on the starting point and the destination. The problem was that the target’s physical makeup would change because of the coordinates and the influence of the magic.”

A living creature needed three layers of protection to preserve their body, soul, and mind, but this would make the corresponding magic circle so dense that it was impossible to render visually.

“But I think we can make it work by combining Egorova’s formulas with ours!” Ist chimed in. “We can!”

“The fastest way of doing it was to reverse-engineer the ancient magic circle.” Aresh had apparently been convinced that the movement spell would work if they worked backward from the original spell’s construction.

“That’s the route I wanted to take as well, but I had to rule it out. If there’s anything even slightly off about your understanding, you could end up turning a body to mush or destroying someone’s soul. But I was able to grasp the picture from the Egorovan circles, so hurrah!”

Seiichirou was deeply relieved to see that Ist was no mad scientist with zero regard for sacrifices. Perhaps he got that from Zoltan. Seiichirou made a mental note to thank the director when he got back to Romany.

“But a movement spell and a returning spell are different, aren’t they?” Lufina asked.

Ist had said “Send you back to your original world.” Ordinary movement did not account for interdimensional travel.

“Yes, but the fundamentals are the same. With the ancient magic, we used the previous Holy Maiden’s blood and a purifying magic stone to pinpoint the coordinates. We have a general understanding of the formula for crossing dimensions, so as long as we get the movement spell to work, it wouldn’t take too much extra legwork in my opinion,” Ist said.

“Hang on,” said Aresh. “The magic stone you used as a medium back then crumbled into dust.”

This reminded Seiichirou that the two of them had been present at the scene of the Holy Maiden’s summoning. Judging by what Aresh was saying, they’d safeguarded the previous Holy Maiden’s blood and purifying magic and used them as mediums to summon the current Holy Maiden, but the magic stone had apparently shattered to pieces after the ceremony.

The prevailing theory was that they could open a path to Yua’s original world by drawing on her blood and purifying power, but the magic stone was a problem. Given the unique qualities of the Holy Maiden’s purification, no ordinary magic stone could contain it. The previous stone was said to be a gift from the gods, and no one knew exactly where it came from.

“That’s why I was telling you about the thing I bought as a replacement,” Ist said to Seiichirou.

“Oh, right.”

“I saw this useful-looking magic tool in town, so I bought it.”

“So, yeah, you use the tool as a substitute for the medium in dimension-crossing magic. I figure it could send you back to your original world.”

He’d said that. He’d most definitely said that.

Seiichirou had forgotten all about it in the ensuing chaos, but back when the Egorovans were visiting, Ist had ignored them in favor of hounding Seiichirou for money.

“What kind of magic tool was it?”

“It’s a communication device, but it’s made out of a strange ore. I doubt the makers had it in mind, but it occurred to me that its power can extend across dimensions if combined with the magic formula I came up with and the Holy Maiden’s magic.”

According to Ist, the town he visited had a unique culture, and the ore was difficult to find in other lands.

“Which town did you go to, again?” Seiichirou asked.

“Agiral, I think it was called.”

“What?!” A voice suddenly rang out from a different direction.

One of the doors flung open to reveal Norbert standing there with his mouth agape. Orjef was visible behind him.

“Do you know the place, Norbert?” Seiichirou asked.

“Well, yeah. It’s the place my father went to inspect.”

Now that he mentioned it, Seiichirou recalled that Norbert’s foster father, Count Blanc, had been away until very recently to inspect and engage talks in a land where the royal family’s influence was weak. This was one of the reasons Norbert had attended the Egorova welcoming party.

“House Blanc ended up assuming control of the Agiral region, if I recall?”

“Less ‘control’ and more like ‘a system of mutual cooperation.’ Agiral’s not planning on opposing the kingdom, so they kind of just got along. We promised to help them out if they’re ever in trouble.”

Leave it to Count Blanc, a man willing to raise the king’s son as his own, to make a good impression on people. He seemed to be particularly good at forging diplomatic relations.

“So can I use the ore and magic tool? Can I? Can I?” asked Ist.

“Let’s draw up an official contract for their purchase. I don’t expect they’ll hold it against the royal family if we can work out a regular system for procuring their local goods.”

In the best-case scenario, the kingdom would have a steady supply of research materials and a deepening friendship with Agiral.

“You’ll use anything and everything, won’t you?” Orjef said exasperatedly.

To this, Seiichirou smirked as if Orjef had said the obvious.

“I am a greedy man, you know.”

Although the Egorovans invited them to stay a little longer, Seiichirou’s party returned to Romany that day. They now had a laundry list of urgent matters to report. Seiichirou deemed it necessary to tell Camile and Yurius the news before Yua.

“I regret that I was unable to spend much time with you, but I am sure that there will be opportunities in the future as our countries deepen their friendship,” Lars said when he saw them off.

Inwardly, Seiichirou was puzzled. Erene, the Sorcery Department, and other diplomatic officials would be handling the matter of the fourth princess. As for the joint research, the bulk of it would take place at the Sorcery Department. Seiichirou didn’t see much opportunity for an accountant like him to meet up with an emissary like the prince.

Lars apparently thought differently. When Seiichirou tried to give a forced smile and a diplomatic response, he took Seiichirou’s hand.

“I was never able to understand romantic feelings. But I was struck by how you, a logical-thinking man like me, dove without hesitation into a place where your very life was at risk.”

His handsome, doll-like face was ever so slightly flushed, and his jade-green eyes brimmed with emotion.

“I’d love to meet someone who inspires the same passion in me,” he said, drawing close. “Someone like you…if possible…”

“Huh?”

As Seiichirou stood there, dumbfounded by the sudden words and actions of this very important negotiator, a black wall appeared before him.

Aresh slapped down Lars’s hand without any thought toward etiquette whatsoever.

“Hey! Aresh!” Seiichirou panicked.

Likewise, Lufina rushed to pull Lars away. “Elder Brother, you mustn’t! That man already has a partner to whom he has dedicated his body and soul!”

Glancing at Lufina, Seiichirou saw that the twelve-year-old princess’s face was bright red.

Could it be that…just like the Sorcery Department people, she…?

Indeed, he did cross paths with her immediately after Aresh had cast his barrier and acclimatized Seiichirou to the magic through some very thorough loving…

At this point, Seiichirou went numb. He swore a vow to watch himself before he ever met up with any perceptive sorcerers henceforth.

Three days later, Seiichirou’s party was back in Romany—even quicker than the outbound journey. This was because Aresh pooled his formidable magic talents with those of the kingdom’s foremost sorcerer. Diana, his reliable mount, also chipped in by pulling their carriage along.

Incidentally, Seiichirou spent the whole trip glued to Aresh’s side. After all the exertion of the previous night, he snoozed the entire first day. Norbert, who was in the same carriage as them, apparently spent the whole time trying to look at anything but them.

As soon as they were back, Aresh and Orjef requested a meeting with Camile and Yurius, where they made their report.

The next day, Seiichirou was called into a meeting with Yurius, Camile, Aresh, and Zoltan in attendance. Yua was invited, too, and she stood there looking puzzled. The last time she went to an official meeting was after the purification expedition, where Seiichirou had proposed the barrier plan. That meeting had taken place in the audience chamber, right there in front of the king and a crowd of nobles.

But this time was different. There were only four people to face: Yurius, the crown prince and her sweetheart, Prime Minister Camile, Zoltan from the Royal Sorcery Department, and Aresh, Seiichirou’s partner and the commander of the Third Royal Order. This was not a public space, and both Yua and Seiichirou would have their individual opinions respected here.

“I can return to my world…?”

Unlike Seiichirou, who appreciated the Romany Kingdom’s discretion, Yua reacted to the news with pure astonishment.

“Not immediately,” said Aresh.

Zoltan elaborated: “We have merely established the means. There is still much research to do and many experiments to repeat before it comes to fruition. In the meantime, I ask you to consider your plans.”

Zoltan was the Sorcery Department’s representative instead of Ist because everyone figured that Yua probably wouldn’t ask about the technical details.

“How long…are we talking?” she asked.

“I would say it will take about a year,” said Camile.

Yua gasped upon hearing a concrete number.

A year—that was not an absurd amount of time. A year could go by in a flash. Considering that it had already been almost a year since they had come to this world, time truly did fly.

“To return or not to return…the decision is up to you.”

Yua’s head jerked up at Yurius’s words. There was something bittersweet about his gaze.

“Speaking purely for myself, I don’t want you to go back…but we dragged the two of you to this land without your permission. After all the help you have given us, we have no right to tie you down any further.”

In fact, Yurius was saying he should be applying his entire efforts into getting them back home. Knowing this, Yua’s eyes brimmed with tears of happiness…and sadness at the same time. She did not say a word.

“Hey, Kondou,” Yua called out to him the moment they were out of the conference room. Having anticipated this, Seiichirou sent a silent signal to Aresh with his eyes, and then followed Yua to a terrace overlooking Romany’s capital.

He took a seat facing Yua, and a maid brought them tea.

“Kondou… What do you plan to do?” Yua asked him. “About Aresh…”

“I’ve already made my decision. You need to make your own,” Seiichirou said bluntly.

For a moment, Yua looked as if she was about to choke up, but then she clenched her fists and simply hung her head.

“Right… I have to make my own choice…”

“You do. But…as was mentioned before, it may be possible to come back to this world after returning to Earth, even if it isn’t one hundred percent guaranteed.”

Traveling back and forth between worlds carried great risks, and there was no guarantee yet that it was even possible.

And beyond everything, it would cost money.

They needed people to draw up the magic circle and a vast amount of magical energy to activate it. The ore Ist had mentioned was scarce in quantity, and the price made Seiichirou’s head spin. To make the crossing work, the sorcerers would also need training to up their success rate. The whole venture was comparable to space travel.

Although the Romany Kingdom was willing to wrangle the funds for a one-way ticket, a round trip wasn’t so simple. Honestly, just returning Seiichirou and Yua to Earth would cost almost ten percent of the country’s yearly tax. Seiichirou had heard that a space trip cost about two billion yen, which made the returning spell almost three times more expensive relative to the national budget. Seiichirou wanted to chip away at the costs as much as he could in the year that remained.

“I’ll have a talk with Yurius.”

Indeed, Yua’s decision was a matter between her and Yurius.

Seiichirou intended to go straight back to the mansion after that chat. Just as he was leaving the palace, he crossed paths with an unusual figure.

“Why, if it isn’t Seiichirou.”

Seiichirou hadn’t seen Aresh’s older sister since they got back from Egorova.

“What are you doing here, Erene?” Seiichirou asked, wondering if something had happened with Egorova. Although she was the daughter of a marquess and the current wife of a count, Erene did not work at the palace.

“I got permission to enter the Sorcery Department since I’m participating in that research experiment,” Erene answered breezily.

Apparently, she was serious about taking part in that whole thing. But still, Seiichirou had to wonder how she already had permission to enter the Sorcery Department when the project was still in its planning phase…but then he saw how Erene acted when she spotted the man arriving from behind Seiichirou.

“Hi there, honey!” she squealed, and he could practically see hearts in her eyes.

“Oh, Erene. You’re already here?” the man responded in his usual tranquil tone.

“Qusta…,” began Seiichirou.

“Hi there, Kondo. I hope my wife didn’t give you much trouble the other day,” Qusta said apologetically.

The garden variety middle manager in his thirties had a stunning beauty hanging off his arm.

Which reminded Seiichirou… Qusta had mentioned that he had a younger wife and that he was newly married. Not to mention that Erene had introduced herself as a lady of House Rein. That was Qusta’s last name, wasn’t it?

“Oh no… She’s been an enormous help,” said Seiichirou.

“But of course! Don’t you have more to say, Seiichirou? Tell my darling husband how well I did.”

Erene had in fact used her clout as a noble to their advantage, so Seiichirou thanked her again.

“And now I can help my darling with his work anytime.” Erene swooned.

“Oh, right, Kondo, I should tell you,” said Qusta. “Erene has more than enough knowledge to help out. She only lacks magical capacity.”

Okay, now it all made sense. Milan had mentioned that Erene worked hard at her magic studies. Honestly, Seiichirou had been thinking that, much like Sigma, Erene would fit right in at the Sorcery Department even without magical power, so he welcomed her addition to the team. Her connections as a noblewoman were also bound to come in handy for securing more staff.

“I never imagined for a second that my dream would come true because of you.” Erene took a deep breath. “I ought to apologize to you for my bullying.”

“Your…bullying?” Seiichirou cocked his head, not quite grasping what she was saying.

According to her, she had said some disquieting things when she came to Aresh’s mansion in his absence.

“There were objections when I first got together with my darling. It took a terribly long time for us to be wed. But when Aresh told our parents about you, they were willing to welcome you with open arms. I was so frustrated, I just…”

But even then, she hadn’t done anything particularly mean. All she did was tell Seiichirou things he would have heard later down the line. Seiichirou wondered if maybe she just had an intimidating face and she was actually a very nice person at heart.

I had no idea that their parents were so accepting of me…

That was news to him. Suppressing the blush that threatened to creep onto his face, Seiichirou said his goodbyes and left the scene.

Just as he came to the palace entrance, he spotted another familiar figure in black. He must have been waiting for Seiichirou.

“You don’t have any work to do after this?” Seiichirou asked.

“I only had the meeting today, just like you,” Aresh replied as they entered a carriage together.

“Are you still worried?”

They’d talked everything through last night, but Aresh was still unwilling to let Seiichirou out of his sight.

“Are you really sure…?”

“I told you everything last night, didn’t I? Actually, no… I’m willing to talk with you anytime.”

Facing each other directly, Seiichirou put his left hand over Aresh’s left hand. Their silver rings clinked against each other.

“We were born in different lands. We grew up in entirely different worlds. Our core values and worldviews are too different for us to understand each other, but I’m sure we can meet in the middle as long as we talk it out.”

And so they would face each other, talk to each other, and put their heads together.

That was what Seiichirou was thinking with a smile on his lips.

Aresh squinted as if he was looking at something blindly bright, and drew his arms around the man he loved.

“All right, I’m counting on you, Shiraishi.”

“Sure thing, Kondou! I’ll make sure to deliver it to your parents in person!”

“No, you can just put a stamp on it and send it by post.”

Dressed in the same high school uniform she was wearing when she first arrived, Yua took Seiichirou’s letter during the ceremony.

In the end, she chose to return to her original world.

But she was not turning her back on this one.

“Yua…” Clad in a formal white outfit, Yurius called out Yua’s name in a strangled whisper.

“Yurius.”

Yua’s expression, however, was bright and jubilant.

Right there in the middle of the Holy Maiden’s returning ceremony, she ran up to Yurius and grasped his hands tightly.

“It’s going to be okay. I swear I’ll come back. When I grow up, I’ll send a signal to this world. Wait for me until then, okay?”

Indeed. Yua’s ultimate decision was to return, and then say her goodbyes to those around her once she had reached adulthood.

It was very much a “have your cake and eat it, too” kind of choice, but Seiichirou thought that she deserved it after being kidnapped as a minor. By “when I grow up,” she was talking about turning twenty, the age of majority in Japan. This was now two years away. Being a high schooler when she left, she had a lot of catching up to do when it came to living in adult society, and she knew it. That was part of what she meant when she talked about “growing up” first.

Bringing her back to this world would cost the same as a fresh summoning. It would be a long while before Seiichirou could realize his plan of traveling back and forth, but he was an adult. He could put up with it.

Meanwhile, Yurius was twenty-two years old, which meant that he would be twenty-four in two more years. That was quite late to get married in this world. Two years was a precarious amount of time for a future king to stay unmarried, but that was his and Yua’s problem to deal with. Seiichirou wished them well. He figured that Yurius would deal with the nobles’ aggressive “advice” to get married with the help of the Second Royal Order’s commander.

Since the Holy Maiden’s returning ceremony required vast magical energy, the Sorcery Department, the Third Royal Order, and even members of the church were present. They’d managed to shave a fraction of the cost with the large store of magic stones they’d received from Egorova over the past year—which also explained why a small group of trustworthy Egorovan sorcerers had joined the ceremony to study it for future reference. The group included Lufina, who was an exchange student at Sigma’s school.

“Stand back, Seiichirou,” Aresh told him, to which he obliged. Although he had a barrier around him, getting hit with a vast amount of magic would render it moot.

Even as Seiichirou moved, Aresh kept a hand on his shoulder. He was pouting, too.

“Does it still bother you?” Seiichirou asked. Over the past year, they’d had many discussions, arguments, and reconciliations.

“I swear… I’ll send you back one day.”

“I know you will. I know it will be a long while yet, but…won’t you come with me, when that day comes? To see my hometown.”

The man in black, known among the gentry as “the Ice Nobleman,” had distinctive purple eyes that went wide at Seiichirou’s comment.

Seiichirou could not help but snort at such an unguarded show of astonishment. “What’s so surprising? I’ve been to your hometown and said hello to your parents, so why can’t you do the same?”

“It’s not so simple…”

“Heh. If you’re talking about the budget, don’t sweat it. I might not look it, but I’m quite good with money.” Seiichirou was quite proud of how he had managed to trim the budget of the returning spell.

Seeing his partner looking so happy with himself, a broad smile came over Aresh’s face.

“I figured that one out a long time ago.”

They were talking about something still far in the future, and which might not even come to fruition at all. But when Seiichirou imagined what it would be like to show Aresh the sky, trees, and land of the world he had grown up in, he smiled.

The other world’s books—and the original world’s books—depended on the bean counter…

Thank you so much for picking up a copy of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter. I’m also grateful to anyone who came here after reading the web novel or manga adaptation.

I overthink the afterword every time. I keep trying to write something funny or witty, but it all comes out sloppy and rambly instead (looking back, the first volume’s afterword was really dire). I’ve decided to do it properly this time.

This volume marks the end of the Bean Counter series.

Admittedly, there are still some loose ends. A part of me wanted to write side stories showing a glimpse of Sigma and the Holy Maiden’s perspectives (the biggest go-getters in the story), but this tale is ultimately about Seiichirou and Aresh.

I started writing this story on a whim, and I certainly would not have made it this far without all my wonderful readers. It is entirely thanks to you that I was able to write three volumes about a frail white-collar worker with no powers to speak of and the knight who helps him.

Given the initial lack of romantic development between the two characters (although they do get physical, I suppose), you wouldn’t think they had it in them to involve a whole bunch of people in a lovers’ quarrel, eventually culminating in XXX (censored in case anyone reads the afterword before the story).

As I mentioned before, this story was supported by its readers. I would not have been able to come this far alone. I am really, truly grateful for all you have given me.

My health has not been the best lately, so I caused a lot of trouble for others when working on this volume, my editor particularly.

I must thank Kikka Ohashi, who made time in their busy schedule to draw the insert illustrations. I loved their take on Luciano’s pretty boy appearance. And the cover…phew. I invite you all to remove the wraparound jacket after you finish reading the story. I am so grateful that even my tiniest wishes have been granted.

I’m stoked about the manga’s positive reception as well. Kazuki Irodori brings such beautiful art and keen attention to detail to every chapter. I’m in awe. The manga is ongoing, so I really encourage you to pick it up. It even got an ad the other day, so now Seiichirou and Aresh have voices! The video is super well done—I hope you check it out.

Finally, I extend my deepest thanks to everyone involved in the publishing of this novel. Their hard work is the reason why this book is on shelves.

I hope we can meet again someday.

Respectfully yours, Yatsuki Wakatsu