13-3 Part 1
Country Girl, Unexpectedly Invited to
a Royal Dinner - Nice to Meet You, I'm a Country Bumpkin -
Translator : PolterGlast
I thought about
various strategies on how to convey this to Kachua so I could bring her
into the palace without trouble. Prince Georg, Princess Atomina.
I probably shouldn't bring up these two words. With one being a warrior and the
other a beautiful princess, the two have already become the very authority of
the Empire. Even if I tell her that Georg wants to meet her, Kachua
will probably just become intimidated.
So, I decided to
invite her by asking if she wanted to come to my room. Kachua and I are
already companions who have shared the same jobs and the same tavern meals. It
should be like inviting a friend to your house.
「What's
wrong. Do you have a fever?」
「B-Because...
If you say something like that, I (Ore)...」
She followed me so
obediently it was hard to believe it was Kachua, but perhaps I chose the
wrong words again. Strolling along side-by-side with the unusually quiet Kachua,
we ended up back at the main gate of the palace.
「Sh-Shinza...
Is it really okay for someone like me (Ore) to enter a place like
this...」
「Of
course it is. We're taking a little detour.」
「Wh-Where
to...?」
Pushing Kachua's
back, I passed through the gate and proceeded into the palace. If I bring her
this far in, Kachua probably won't think of running away now.
「It's
the White Dragon Palace. Actually, there are some people who insist they want
to have dinner together. Sorry, but keep me company for about an hour.」
「Eh............」
Her steps became
heavy as if resisting, but having come this far, I won't allow her to go back.
I pushed Kachua's back even more forcefully and brought the young girl
toward the White Dragon Palace.
「W-Wait
a minute, wait, wait, Shinza... People who want to meet someone like me
(Ore), exactly who is that...?」
「You'll
know when you meet them.」
「Tell
me. I-I won't have time to mentally prepare myself...!」
「—It's Georg-aniue.
He seems to be interested in you.」
When I told her
that, Kachua's steps slowed down even further. The sight of forcibly
dragging a young girl who hasn't even come of age seems to have drawn the cold
stares of the passing maids.
「Shinzaaa...
Mental preparation, for something like that, meeting Prince Georg-sama,
there's no way I can be ready for that?!」
「Even
so, I'm having you meet them. Partially because they said they wanted to meet
you—but since my true identity is known like this, I also want to introduce my
older brother and sister to you, Kachua.」
「Older,
sister...?」
「Yeah, Atomina-aneue.」
「Eh............
Eh, eh... E-Eeeeeh...?!」
No matter how many
cold stares the people of the court directed at me, I ignored them, picked up
the struggling Kachua, and carried her all the way to the White Dragon
Palace.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
When we entered the
White Dragon Palace, I was told a maid would guide us to the garden, so I put Kachua
down there. That was a little while ago, and as soon as we arrived at the
venue, the dinner began.
「Sorry,
our Ashley is causing you trouble, isn't he?」
「Ashley-sama
is a total airhead deshu. Durin understands your hardships very
well deshu yo. He's kind, but an eccentric person deshu...」
The time was still
early evening with the sky bright; Kachua seemed to have already caught
the fancy of Atomina-aneue and Durin.
「Eh...
N-No, n-not at all... With Shinza, I mean, Ashley, I, I am
getting along well as f-friends...」
「I'm
the one who told him to invite you, though... Well, I had a feeling it would
turn out like this.」
「Yeah,
telling me to invite her and then welcoming her with a sour face is typical of
you, Aniue.」
The Aniue of
the past would have welcomed Kachua gently and elegantly; I wonder why
he became such a stiff person. Kachua in question has had her expression frozen since a while ago,
neither laughing nor crying.
「Oh my,
truly just friends? To monopolize our Ashley for a whole month, I can't
think of you as just friends.」
「U-Um...!
Well...! Because, I (Ore)—I (Atashi), didn't know the whole
time... I-I'm sorry...!」
「Atomina-sama,
being mean like that is bad deshu yo...?」
Saying so, Durin
is also laughing happily. Georg silently stuffed food into his stomach,
and Puis didn't even touch his knife or fork, just continuing to direct
a passionate gaze at the maidens.
「An 'Ore'-girl
who hasn't quite become a woman yet. Fufufu, this is also exquisite...」
Our Administrative
Official-dono whispered that in my ear; I wondered what it was, but it was
something trivial. I'll follow Aniue's example and fill my stomach until
things settle down.
「Sh-Shinzaaa...
H-Help...」
「Help
or whatever, just answer them proudly. Neither Aniue nor Aneue
are the type of humans to put on silly vanity like calling things disrespectful
or whatever. Speak normally.」
「D-Don't
ask the impossible?! Surrounded b-b-by Princess Atomina-sama and the
military's strongest, Georg-sama, I (Ore), why am I in a place
like this?!」
「Because
you were invited to dinner.」
While carrying a mouthful
of lean steak to my mouth, I picked at a large serving of mashed potatoes.
Then, saying I'm a growing boy, Aneue shared three slices of meat with
me. Looking at Aniue's plate, he had already polished everything off.
「My
younger brother is causing you trouble. I'm saying the same thing as Atomina,
but please continue to be his friend from now on.」
「Because
Ashley-sama has few friends, you see...」
「Jii, were you here?」
「I was
here, you know?! Right here the whole time!」
In short, it turned
into a lively dinner. Gradually, Kachua also got used to the situation,
and upon grasping Aniue and Aneue's personalities, she seemed to
calm down a little.
「Here, Kachua-chan
is also a growing girl, right. Say 'ahh'♪」
「Eh,
um, a... ahh...」
Aneue cut a
fatty part of the steak meat and brought it to Kachua's mouth. Unable to
refuse the Princess-sama's 'ahh', Kachua obediently opened her mouth and
began a greasy chewing.
「Is it
delicious?」
「I-I'm
so nervous I can't taste it...」
「Durin's
is also a little too much, so I want Kachua-chan to eat it deshu.
Say 'ahh', deshu.」
「A,
ahh...」
It's great that they
seem to be getting along. It also looks like the indoor-type girls are pushing
their fatty meat onto Kachua, but well, that's probably overthinking it.
「Nice,
truly nice...」
「Puis,
hurry up and eat.」
Our Administrative
Official-dono hadn't even touched his tableware yet. Seeing that, my meddlesome
heart, not inferior to Georg's Aneue, was seemingly stimulated; I
scooped up his mashed potatoes with a fork and shoved them into Puis's
mouth. ...Even so, Puis never took his eyes off the innocent Kachua.
「That's
right. Could you show me your bow?」
「Ah...
M-Mine...?」
「That's
right. If possible, could you shoot and show me? Ashley over there says
that Kachua is a dead-shot master.」
「Th-That
is fine, but... I've just had a string of lucky hits recently; it's really
nothing special, you know...?」
I was glared at by Kachua,
her eyes saying, "It's turned into a huge mess because of you, Shinza,
hasn't it?" That's true. In terms of cause and effect, you could say we
ended up being called out like this because I said Kachua's bow is a
dead-shot.
「I want
to see too!」
「Durin
too deshu!」
「Then
let me bring Kachua-sama's bow. That ability acknowledged by Ashley-sama,
I shall bear witness to it thoroughly.」
「Jii, don't put pressure
on the Archer.」
「She is
a woman who monopolized Ashley-sama for a whole month. I have my own
thoughts on the matter, so please do not interject.」
I was glared at by Kachua again. Her eyes seemed to say, "In the end, isn't this all your fault, Shinza...?"
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