Today is the eve of the festival, so the real thing shouldn't start until tomorrow, but all kinds of food stalls targeting the eager early birds had popped up everywhere, scattering more than enough sparks of excitement.
Amid all that,
we
were supposed to be heading to the venue for the "Victory Prayer Imperial Martial Arts Festival"... better known as the "Martial Arts Tournament"... which starts tomorrow, combining a bit of rest with some advance scouting.
"Tenma, let's go over there!"
"Tenma, I want to eat that!"
"Tenma, I'm thirsty!"
Right now, I'm being dragged along by the three cat sisters I haven't seen in ages.
And trailing behind us were Primera with a wry smile, Jeanne and Aura looking thoroughly displeased, and further back, Aina and Chris watching the whole spectacle with obvious amusement.
"How did it even come to this..."
It all started this morning, when I was getting ready to go check out the venue by myself.
"Tenma, you've got a visitor."
Just as I was nearly finished getting dressed, Grandpa came strolling into my room with those words.
"A visitor for me? Who is it?"
In this Royal Capital, the list of people who might come looking for me is pretty short. And most of them... especially anyone connected to the royal family... have a habit of just waltzing into the mansion whenever they feel like it, so I'd reluctantly programmed the Golems guarding the place to let them through on sight.
That left only people I didn't know... mainly pushy nobles trying to recruit me, as far as I could think.
Even so, no one had ever come all the way inside the mansion to pitch their sales... or rather, Grandpa would never have allowed it.
"Just come on down. I've got them waiting in the guest room."
I followed after Grandpa, who was wearing a faintly knowing grin, and opened the door to the guest room.
The ones who were there were…
"""It’s Tenma! Yay! Tenma~~!"""
Lily, Nelly, and Millie—the three sisters—leaped towards me.
"It’s been a while, Tenma."
And Primera, clad in her armor, was there too.
"It’s been a while for all four of you… but what are you doing here?"
In response to my question, Primera answered with a wry smile.
"To tell you the truth, it’s to participate in the tournament… although, my captain did tell me to do some studying in the Royal Capital while I was at it, and sent the entire Fourth Knight Order here…"
After listening to the details, it seemed the cause was a request from the Royal Capital that had reached Duke Sanga. Briefly put, it was, "We’re short-handed, so lend us some people."
Hearing it was a request from the Royal Capital, it sounded like an unquestionable order, but in reality, other influential nobles—mainly the Royalist Faction—had also been approached. The dispatched knights wouldn’t receive a large reward, but they were given some money and vacation days. In a way, it was like an invitation for a temporary part-time job.
"And so, my unit, which has many nobles, was chosen…"
"I get that part… but why are Lily and the others here?"
I peeled the sisters swarming around me off, sat down in a chair, and asked them my next question.
"Primera happened to run into us in front of Manpukutei a few days before she left the city, and told us then that you’d gone to the Royal Capital, Tenma, so we came along!"
Lily answered on behalf of the three. It seemed Primera had learned of my whereabouts through the Duke and had told the sisters.
"Also, we thought we’d enter the team tournament while we were at it, so we came to invite you too, Tenma."
According to Lily, they had arrived in the Royal Capital late last night and had just barely managed to register for the tournament.
For the team tournament, to avoid revealing your cards to the opponents, you didn’t need to write down all your team members’ names upon registration. You only had to list a representative’s name, and you could register the rest of the team before the first match.
Incidentally, when I asked Lily about the members, she said "Mountain Cat Princess" and…
I
"...with Shiromaru or Slarin, and"
"Primera"
"—they were planning to form a team."
"\"Wait! Why is Primera"
"being counted"
"as a member?!\""
"According to Primera's earlier explanation,"
"the Fourth Knight Order"
"had come at the request of the Royal Capital,"
"—or so she had said."
"Then shouldn't they be unable to enter the tournament? When I confirmed this with Primera, she averted her gaze and mumbled."
"\"...The Minister of Military Affairs gave me permission...\""
"I wondered why the Minister of Military Affairs had suddenly come into play, but at the same time, I understood from that one line that he must have gotten carried away."
"\"Well, there was this arrogant-looking man who came to welcome the Fourth Knight Order, so when I asked him, 'Can Primera join the team battle?', he said, 'Sure! Go ahead!'\""
"\"Since he came to do the welcoming, I figured he'd be about the same rank as Primera, so I was really surprised when I found out later he was royalty~\""
"\"He didn't really seem like that, though~\""
"The Minister sure is easygoing... Normally, Lily and the others would be facing penalties for that..."
"While I was thinking about all this, Primera added some more."
"\"It seems he came to check things out because I, the daughter of Duke Sanga, showed up, and also because he heard I was acquainted with Tenma."
"He seemed to already know about Lily and the others too.\""
And she was being mischievous as usual, so... maybe I should report her to Maria this time... seriously.
"So, Tenma."
"Huh, who's that?"
"Is she a maid here?"
When I looked in the direction Lily and the others were pointing, I spotted Jeanne and Aura peeking at us from behind the door's shadow, like some household servants.
"Tenma... you're cheating on us by leaving Jeanne and me behind..."
Aura muttered in a small voice while giving me a flat, unamused stare. Her voice was so quiet that an ordinary person might not have been able to make it out, but everyone present—except Primera—had exceptional hearing, so they were able to pick it up.
"Tenma! What do you mean, cheating?!"
"Who are those two?!"
"What kind of relationship do they have with you?!"
As the three bombarded me with rapid-fire questions, Aura pushed Jeanne forward in front of her.
"That's enough of you! You, you little thief! This Jeanne is Tenma's wife! And I am his concubine! ...Well, that's the plan, anyway..."
Aura added that last part in a quiet murmur.
Lily and the others were too stunned to notice Aura's final remark.
"Tenma, that's a lie, right?!"
"There's no plan for any marriage, right?! Right?!"
"There's no way that woman could be Tenma's concubine!"
The three, snapping back to their senses, shook me violently as they demanded answers.
I tried to respond, but before I could get a word out, Aura burst into hearty laughter.
"Ohohohoho! How pathetic! The space beside Tenma is already designated as ours! If you understand, then step away from him, you little thieves! Hyuu!"
Aura, who had been putting on a villainess act fit for a three-penny melodrama, suddenly went flying forward.
"Hey, don't go doing whatever you want! You useless maid!"
The one who had kicked Aura from behind was Aina, who had apparently arrived early that morning for some reason.
"I am terribly sorry about her. Regrettably, I am this idiot's older sister. My name is Aina."
Aina apologized to Riri and the others as she approached. In her hands she carried a tray loaded with sweets, and at the entrance there was also a Golem pushing a wagon set with a tea service.
"Guehk!"
Aina stepped on Aura, who was sprawled on the floor, before setting the sweets on the table. Even when she went to fetch the tea set, she made sure to stomp on Aura on her way.
"Guheh... You've gotten heavy, sis... Bughyk!"
Having said something unnecessary, Aura had her head stomped on this time, which finally stopped her from moving. Aina, who had just trod on Aura's head, immediately turned her gaze toward me, but I ignored her with an air of someone who hadn't heard a thing.
"...So that means Tenma is single! Then I'll become your bride!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
Now that Aura had quieted down, it was Riri and the others who started making a commotion. But this round of chaos didn't last long either.
"Stop right there! Tenma-sama's marriage partner must be approved by a certain someone!"
Aina suddenly came back and declared that... and when she returned, she had thoroughly stomped on Aura.
"Aina, this is the first I'm hearing of this too... Why would I need permission? For my marriage."
Right now, I didn't have the slightest intention of getting married, but being told out of the blue that the person I married needed to be approved by someone other than me was more than a little irritating.
"That someone probably isn't Grandpa... Could it be the King... I suppose I'll need to have a conversation about this..."
When thinking about the kind of person who would make such a demand, the very first one that came to mind was this country's
King
That's probably not the best way to put it, but if that
person
is anything to go by, it sounds like something they'd say.
So I got up, thinking I'd head to the castle and ask for a clarification... but Aina shook her head.
"Lord Tenma, if this is what His Majesty said, I don't think Lady Maria would have stayed silent about it. This matter comes from Lady Maria. To be precise, it's"
"Lady Maria acting as"
"Celia's representative."
"...What do you mean?"
Hearing my mother's name come from Aina's mouth, I sat back down in my chair for the time being to listen.
Once I had settled into the chair, Aina began to speak... standing atop Aura.
"Simply put, in a letter Lady Celia addressed to Lady Maria, it apparently said, 'Please take care of Tenma.'"
"Huh?"
Seeing my confusion at the overly brief explanation, Aina bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to go into more detail. However, this letter was"
"written just before that incident"
", and Lady Maria"
"appears to regard it as Lady Celia's last wishes,"
"which is why she's so insistent about it."
Aina ended her explanation there, clearly indicating that was all she could say, but between my lack of understanding and Aina's inability to elaborate further, the mood in the room remained awkward.
As the tension lingered, several minutes passed with Aina and me simply staring at each other—until a voice drifted up from below Aina's feet.
"You're heavy~ Big sis, you've gained weight~ You're falling behind the times, snrk!"
Aura, who had appeared to have come back to her senses, was once again put to sleep (forcibly) for her unnecessary remark.
However, thanks to that, the atmosphere in the room had lightened... A rare fine play from Aura... Truly, genuinely, rare.
"Got it. I'll try asking Lady Maria directly next time. Aina, could you let Lady Maria know that I'd like to meet with her about this matter? I won't be able to see her at the tournament for a while, but..."
"Understood. I'll be sure to pass along the message."
Before the unpleasant atmosphere could creep back, I cut the conversation short and told her I'd ask directly next time, settling my feelings that way.
It was only when my conversation with Aina ended that I noticed Grandpa and Chris were in the room.
"Oh, you two were here?"
"Hwah!"
"How could you!"
Because I'd asked so bluntly, both of them seemed a little hurt.
Leaving those two aside, I decided to go ahead with the original plan and head out to scout the Arena, which would serve as the tournament venue.
Naturally, the Lillies who had come to see me said they were tagging along, and Primera had nothing to do so she'd join us as well. For some reason Jeanne—who was burning with rivalry—and the revived Aura decided to come too, and when Chris said it sounded fun, Aina ended up joining along as (Aura's) keeper. Grandpa seemed to be wavering on what to do, but with this many women in the group plus a Sage mixed in, things would probably get out of hand, so I asked him to watch the place.
We set off on our scouting trip after being seen off by the dejected Grandpa, but the three Lilly sisters got caught up in the excitement of the bustling city and started carrying on—which is how we ended up in the situation at the start.
"All three of you, stop fooling around and let's get to the venue already!"
At this rate, we wouldn't make it to the Arena before sunset, so I forcibly shook the three of them off and pressed on.
However, the Royal Capital was already bustling with a considerable crowd, and it was difficult to move about as I'd have liked.
"Can't be helped. Shall we take a carriage?"
The Royal Capital, given its vast size, had a carriage-based transit system, and the number of carriages had increased for the festival starting the next day.
Within the Royal Capital, there were also dedicated lanes for carriages, making them quite convenient depending on the location.
"If it's up until today, it shouldn't be too crowded yet — let's take a shared carriage."
Two types of carriages operated here. In my previous life, you'd call them buses and taxis, but in this world they were referred to as shared carriages and hackney carriages.
At the carriage stand nearby, we were able to line up at the very front since it looked like a carriage had just departed. However, the capacity of each carriage was roughly twelve people, so we might end up having to split into several groups — if that happened, we agreed to meet up at the venue.
The carriage that arrived about ten minutes later had dropped off quite a few passengers at the stop where we were waiting, so we managed to fit everyone on board without issue.
After about thirty minutes, the carriage arrived at the stop near the venue.
From the stop to the venue was a walk of roughly two to three minutes, and as soon as we got off the carriage, the Arena was clearly visible.
"Looks like there are quite a few participants with the same idea as me..."
Around the venue, people who were obviously tournament participants had come to scout out the area.
Most of them were merely checking the route to the venue or wanting to get a first look at the place, since access inside the Arena was restricted to authorized personnel only. But among them, there were some who were soliciting others for team battles, and even a few who were engaging in intimidation tactics toward other participants.
"Oh! There are already people lining up at the entrance!"
It seemed that this world had its share of people who showed up early to line up and grab the best seat tickets they could.
As I walked around the venue, watching this scene that was so similar to my previous life, I suddenly felt multiple gazes from behind.
When I turned to look, I saw a group of around a dozen men approaching us.
I had abruptly stopped and turned around, and everyone else followed my gaze in the same direction.
"Tch!"
The moment her eyes landed on them, Aina clicked her tongue with an expression of undisguised disgust she rarely showed.
Jeanne and Aura immediately ducked behind my back to hide.
"What a coincidence meeting you here, Aina. And Jeanne, and Aura — I was worried about you."
From the center of the group of men who had drawn near to us, one man stepped forward with an exaggerated, theatrical air.
"Yes, what a coincidence, Viscount Crosslide. We have matters to attend to, so we'll take our leave now. Good day."
From Aina's words, I understood that this man was the so-called Podro il Crosslide, Viscount. He looked every bit the petty figure, and Aina, not even bothering to hide her disgusted expression, finished her retort in a rush, then spun on her heel.
"Are you being rude to the Viscount?!"
One of his retainers, enraged by Aina's attitude, reached for her shoulder—but
"Don't touch me with your filthy hands!"
Aina, instead, swiftly caught the man's hand, pulled him forward, and slammed him to the ground. The man's face hit the pavement hard, and he seemed to lose consciousness. Aina then removed the gloves she'd apparently put on at some point and tossed them onto the back of his head.
As if nothing had happened, Aina put on a fresh pair of gloves, glanced at Podro as if looking at something repulsive, and walked over to me.
"Now then, Lord Tenma, let's be on our way. Starting tomorrow, things will get busy. There's no need to waste precious rest time dealing with a fly."
Podro, having understood the meaning of Aina's words, was the complete opposite of his grand entrance moments ago—his face was bright red.
"Don't get cocky! You little wench! Do you know who I am? I'm a noble! A Viscount!"
Podro, his head buzzing with fury, screamed without a care for who might be watching.
However, Aina didn't show the slightest bit of concern.
"Oh my, I'm not calling you an idiot at all. I merely said I have no time to deal with a scoundrel who suddenly tried to grab a woman's shoulder... Surely the Viscount wouldn't do something similar to that?"
From the people who had been watching nearby, laughter could be heard at Aina's words.
Podro, his face still beet red, glared at those laughing around him, silencing them.
The surrounding people did quiet down, having been glared at by the noble Podro, which seemed to improve his mood somewhat. He then pointed at me.
"Well, fine... More importantly, that boy over there!"
"...What is it?"
To be honest, I wanted to ignore this guy, but since Podro was pointing at me, I had no choice but to engage... not that I expected him to say anything that made sense.
"I am related to Jeanne! So hand her over to me!"
"I decline."
Since it was exactly what I had expected, I decided to refuse him outright.
Podro hadn't anticipated being refused so immediately and stood there frozen.
"Well then, shall we all go?"
The moment our backs turned, Podro finally snapped out of it and started shouting at the top of his lungs.
"You brat! I am a noble! You have no right to refuse me, do you?!"
I let out a sigh and decided to deal with him after all.
"The moment you abandoned Jeanne's family first and foremost, you ceased to be her relative or anything of the sort. Moreover, there are even rumors that you actively tried to destroy Jeanne's household... And as for Jeanne's ownership, I am the one recognized by the royal family. Therefore, no matter how much of a noble you may be, there is no reason for me to hand over my own slave."
My words, laced with irritation, caused Podro to break into a cold sweat.
"To... to say such things about the royals..."
"If you think I'm lying, please ask the Grand Duke, Prince Tida, or Princess Luna."
Earlier, in the carriage, the Grand Duke himself had told me:
*Give Jeanne to me.*
That meant he had acknowledged that I was the one who held the ownership rights over Jeanne. Furthermore, neither the King nor any of the other royals had said anything about me keeping a former noble as a slave.
In this world, it isn't particularly common for a noble to fall to the status of a slave, but neither is it a rare story. However, when the person in question is royalty or a duke, that changes things. But Jeanne was merely the daughter of a viscount; it would be endless if they tried to extend a helping hand to every single noble of that level. Moreover, a former noble as a slave often possesses various useful skills, so it's not uncommon for their price as a slave to be quite high.
Therefore, those who purchase such slaves rarely let them go easily, and when they do sell them, they often set a price higher than what they paid, which also makes it difficult to offer financial assistance.
"If you understand, then I'll be leaving now."
This time, I truly meant to turn my back on Podro and walk away, but he didn't seem to have given up yet.
"Don't mistake me for just a sub-viscount! I am the emissary of the Minister of Internal Affairs, 'Duke Daram'!"
Podro tried to impress by throwing around the Duke's name, but to me, it just felt like "So what?" or "Okay, and?" If anything, I almost wanted to thank him for telling me who was behind this.
Podro probably misinterpreted my stunned silence as fear, because unlike before, he now puffed out his chest and put on a smug look.
But just as Aina was about to retort at Podro, someone standing nearby interjected.
"Oh my, so the Minister of Internal Affairs means to threaten citizens out of their property?"
"What did you say?!"
Startled by the sudden remark, Podro nonetheless roared toward the direction the voice had come from.
"Didn't you hear? I asked — does the Minister of Internal Affairs intend to threaten a law-abiding citizen into surrendering slaves recognized as national property...? That's what I heard."
That person deliberately raised their voice so that the crowd watching us could clearly hear, addressing Podro. They placed particular emphasis on "Minister of Internal Affairs" and "threaten into surrendering," making it sound less like a remark aimed at Podro and more like a question posed to everyone watching.
At first, Podro's face turned beet red as he bristled with rage — but once he realized who this person was, and as the murmurs of condemnation toward both him and the Minister of Internal Affairs grew louder from the surrounding crowd, his face went completely pale.
Podro seemed to understand that this person hadn't merely shattered his confidence — they had dealt a blow that could very well shatter his entire standing.
In contrast, the person wore a thoroughly satisfied expression, clearly pleased at having arrived at the perfect moment.