It was a parade straight out of hell.
The first time I thought "Wait, what?" was about a hundred meters after leaving the Clan House. And by the time that suspicion turned into certainty, the procession with Selen and me at the head had already ballooned to a point of no return.
I had no idea what was going on. Well, honestly, I still don't. I'd only been planning to use Selen as an impromptu bodyguard and take a leisurely stroll through the imperial capital for the first time in ages —.
There wasn't a single attacker in sight. If there were any bandits capable of assaulting the two of us at the head of a procession that massive, I'd honestly love to see them.
The sheer scale it had reached was, if anything, rivaling the knight order parades occasionally held in the imperial capital. Much for the empire's prestige. I tried ducking into a sweets shop, but everyone just waited outside, and it didn't thin the crowd at all. An accident wouldn't have been surprising with that mob.
When I stopped by Marchis's shop — Magic Tail — for the first time in a while, Marchis chewed me out. It was awful. The crowd never thinned, so I ended up walking through the capital way more than planned, and now my feet are killing me.
In the end, I gave up on losing the crowd, made a wide U-turn, and headed back to the Clan House — but the one saving grace was that Selen, who had been the sole focus of all that attention, didn't seem to care one bit about the crowds and remained in high spirits the entire time.
As expected of a princess — she's got guts of steel. And yet, the fact that even this Selen had looked so haggard... maybe the crisis in Yggdra really had been that serious. (Only realizing that now, of course.)
"Human cities are this bustling? And there are so many sweet treats — it seems Yggdra has fallen quite far behind while we were protecting the World Tree."
"...No, it's not usually this crowded."
I never did figure out why they all followed us.
The imperial capital was a major metropolis, and while Spiritfolk were rare, I'd never seen anyone follow someone this brazenly before. Even so, the trailing crowd didn't actually enter the Clan House. I glanced out from the lounge and saw they were still lingering out front, but oh well.
Eva guided us to the conference room on the upper floor of the Clan House.
In the windowless conference room, Gaark and Franz were waiting with expressions like demons.
"True, true, damn right. If you cause this much of a scene, it doesn't matter whether Sultant reports back to HQ or not. True, yeah. Ah, true, Klye, you're exactly right. You're damn right!"
"Thanks for causing such a ruckus, Thousand Transformations. You've saved me a lot of trouble!"
Franz dumped bundles of newspapers from various publishers circulating in the capital onto the table.
I leafed through them one by one. Every front page was filled with coverage of the parade. Some had even gotten hold of information from somewhere — one headline read "Triumphant Return from Yggdra." It had been a while since a story had dominated the papers this completely. On par with the curse incident in scale.
"...Why didn't you suppress this?"
"Wh— With you marching through town that grandly, how the hell was I supposed to suppress it, you moron!!"
His character... Franz's character was falling apart. Even Selen, next to me, had gone wide-eyed.
Still, the photo of Selen in the papers — she was all smiles. (Incidentally, I was luckily cropped out.)
"Klye, something was delivered from Gregg, so... here you go."
Eva set a plush toy on the table.
It was a plush made to look like Selen. The stitching was rough, but it captured her features quite well. Pretty adorable, actually.
But still, why would Gregg go through all that...
Selen blinked and picked up the plush.
"Is this... could it be me!?"
"Apparently he had it made on short notice. It's supposedly a prototype, but — we've received inquiries about whether it's okay to sell."
"Eh... well, I suppose so."
"Like hell it's okay, you idiot!! What am I supposed to report to His Majesty the Emperor!!"
"Commander Franz, ple...please calm down."
Franz was restrained by a subordinate who couldn't bear to watch any longer. The stress was exploding out of him... Nobles had it rough too, in their own way.
It took a while before Franz and Gaark calmed down. In the meantime, Selen was examining the plush Gregg had brought over with great curiosity. She didn't seem bothered at all. A plush of her was made out of nowhere, and she just rolled with it. Her tolerance was unreal.
About fifteen minutes passed before Franz and Gaark's complexions finally recovered somewhat.
Franz cleared his throat as if to reset, then turned to Selen and asked outright.
"Princess Selen, we've discussed it internally. Zebuldia welcomes you. Your sudden arrival was, frankly, a headache — but our Emperor of Zebuldia is very eager to speak with you. By the way, I heard from this Klye Andrich that you intend to increase exchanges between Yggdra and the human races going forward. Is that true?"
"Thank you. Human Left-Wrist."
"—!"
Franz's expression twitched as Selen addressed him with a radiant smile.
But before he could get a word in, Selen continued smoothly.
"Klye Andrich speaks the truth. Yggdra has long restricted the comings and goings of people in order to protect the World Tree. However, during this recent affair, Klye Andrich proved to be of great help. That is why I have decided to gradually ease those restrictions in order to deepen the ties between our races."
"!?" ...You mean — letting humans into Yggdra?"
Franz's expression had gone completely rigid. See? Just like I told you.
Selen nodded firmly. She was far more energetic than back when she'd been dealing with the World Tree's rampage.
"You needn't worry about that. Well, there are a few hurdles to clear —"
"But... do the people of Yggdra accept this?"
Franz's question prompted a puzzled look from Selen.
"?? When I make a decision, they accept it. Human Left-Wrist."
"...I...I see."
Now, I know this isn't the best time to butt in, but every time she called him "Left-Wrist," Franz shot me a glare that could cut steel. It was my own fault, but I was starting to realize I'd made a spectacular mistake. I'd need to talk to her later about using his actual name.
"From our perspective, this is more than we could ask for. However, despite that, this is a grave matter, and there are many decisions to be made. ...Incidentally, forgive me for being blunt — that man over there introduced you as Yggdra's leader. But we were told you're a princess. We still don't fully understand Yggdra's governance structure —"
Now that he mentioned it, he had a point. A princess was the daughter of an emperor. I'd completely missed that.
Selen straightened her back and gave a faint smile.
"That's simply a matter of phrasing. Klye Andrich never asked — and it may be hard for humans to understand. I am Yggdra's guardian, its queen, and the daughter born of the World Tree, the sovereign of the world. Yggdra has been ruled by queens for generations. I am Yggdra's guide, and its subjects are also those under my protection. The subjects have the right to petition me, but not the right to oppose me."
So Yggdra was a dictatorial state... But Selen was surprisingly beloved by her subjects, so maybe it worked out.
That was when Gaark fixed me with a glare and spoke up.
"...By the way, Klye told us that you said you'd transfer full authority over Yggdra to him. He claimed he must have been temporarily out of his mind, but — is that true?"
It sounded rude, but Gaark probably figured it was fine since Selen was present.
Selen's cheek twitched at Gaark's words, and she shrank back slightly in embarrassment.
"Th-that was... ...I may have been a little out of my mind at the time. It was so comfortable, you see..."
"See? I told you so! Honestly, it's a pain when people doubt me like that! It might not have been believable! Might not have been!"
Director Gaark glared at me, his expression like he was about to bite his own tongue.
"...Truth is stranger than fiction, huh."
"Director Gaark, none of this is your fault. It's all this Thousand Transformations's doing. You have no fault in this. Neither does Sultant."
Franz said consolingly. Why did nobody have my back? It was beyond me.
§ § § The talks about exchanges with Yggdra were moving forward at a speed beyond even Gaark's imagination — at a terrifying pace unheard of before.
And with good reason. Yggdra was a small nation and a complete dictatorship. And in Gaark's assessment, it also had the characteristics of a theocratic state.
Selen, as the child of the World Tree, was both princess and emperor. If she gave her nod, everything in Yggdra was permitted. And Selen Yggdra Frestel, remarkably enough, tended to nod quite easily.
She had probably rarely encountered anything resembling malice. She was too pure and innocent, a living embodiment of charisma. It made perfect sense that the citizens of the capital had followed her as if drawn by an invisible force.
The downside was that she had no resistance to malice, so Zebuldia and the Explorer's Guild would have to provide support — but still. There were plenty of preparations to make, but the proposal to establish an Explorer's Guild branch in Yggdra could be wrapped up immediately if they wanted. With Yggdra's permission already secured, the rest was a matter for Explorer's Guild headquarters.
But the most astonishing thing of all was probably how terrifyingly high Selen's opinion of Klye was.
Late at night, in the director's office of the Explorer's Guild's Zebuldia branch, Gaark finished compiling the notes from his meeting with Selen and finally slammed his fist on the desk.
"Damn it, what the hell did he do to earn that much trust?!"
"Because he never told us what happened..."
Kaina said with a wry smile. Going back and verifying every detail, Selen hadn't denied a single thing Klye had said. It seemed she'd been asked not to talk, because she wouldn't tell them what Klye had actually done — but even just carrying the cursed spirit stone shouldn't have earned that level of trust.
At the very least, all Gaark could determine was that Klye Andrich had exceeded his demands. Yggdra was eager to establish diplomatic relations with Zebuldia. Gaark and the others' workload would undoubtedly increase.
"At this rate, we've got a solid shot at this year's Level 9 review. After what happened in the capital, Sultant's investigation report will look like nothing."
In that sense, Klye Andrich parading Selen through the capital as if showing her off had been supremely effective. Sultant would surely rewrite his report after seeing that. Even if he'd already submitted his investigation report, he'd rush to file a correction. Otherwise, Sultant would be branded incompetent.
It was a brute-force approach, but that commotion was enough to sway public opinion. Klye had never been particularly motivated about leveling up before, but maybe even he was willing to make moves for Level 9? I would've preferred a more subtle approach, though...
"What do you think our chances are?"
"Sixty, maybe seventy percent. If Selen could give us votes, that'd be a different story — but that's not happening this year."
For now, only Zebuldia was positioned to open diplomatic ties with Yggdra. Yggdra seemed to be a small country, so it would take some time for the benefits to spread to other human nations.
The Level 9 certification review involved all sorts of competing interests. If Klye's latest accomplishments fit the right narrative, the review would probably pass — but even Gaark couldn't predict exactly how the meeting would play out.
But even if it didn't happen this year — at this rate, Klye's Level 9 certification was only a matter of time. The world wouldn't leave him alone.
He really was a terrifying man. To think he'd be gunning for Level 9 at barely twenty years old.
"We'll need to think about leveling up the other members too."
"Luke and the others have name recognition, but they've also got a bad reputation."
"They're way too violent."
If they were model students like Lucia or Anthem, it'd be one thing, but when you had people like Luke and Rize running around causing havoc left and right, leveling up was inevitably harder. Well, either way, their levels were rising far faster than average, so it wasn't an immediate problem — but having too wide a gap between them and the leader wasn't ideal.
Just then, a voice called from outside the room.
"Director Gaark, you have a visitor. Sultant says he'd like to see you."
He must have come seeking answers after today's commotion. Gaark had figured he'd show up eventually, but coming this late at night — HQ people really did move fast.
Work had just reached a stopping point, so he gave the order to let him in.
"Pardon the intrusion. Director Gaark."
Gaark's eyes widened at the sight of Sultant entering the room. Sultant was, for some reason, a battered mess. Bandages wrapped his head, arms, and legs, and tape adorned his face.
"...Those injuries — what happened?"
"Hmph. Due to certain circumstances, I... accidentally fell from the second floor."
Sultant's expression was deeply bitter. Come to think of it, the inn where this man was staying had faced the main avenue where Klye had paraded today — .
Gaark decided not to press further and got straight to business.
"Rough deal. The Yggdra situation too — all of us got completely played by Thousand Transformations. It's one of that man's few flaws."
Franz had said none of this was Sultant's fault, and Gaark agreed. Klye's explanation — and his way of delivering it — lacked any trace of seriousness. Anyone would have thought he was lying after hearing that.
But the achievement of reviving exchanges with Yggdra was undeniably real. An investigator must not let personal feelings sway their evaluation.
Sultant's response to Gaark's words was — a deep sigh.
When Gaark furrowed his brow at the unexpected reaction, Sultant spoke.
"Aaah, today was terrible. But I didn't come here to talk about that. I came to warn you, Director Gaark. I'm a headquarters liaison, and I'd rather not be seen as someone who silently exacts petty revenge on that man."
"...What?"
His eyes widened involuntarily. Despite his pitiful appearance, Sultant's expression was deadly serious.
"I've submitted my report. In my assessment — the review will probably pass. But you'd be better off pulling out of this Level 9 certification exam. I'd been wondering why HQ was in an uproar lately, but I've received intelligence from a certain source. This Level 9 certification exam — it's the one the Explorer's Guild once failed. The one with a dark history."