Volume 2 Chapter 56 (1/2)

The job search is not doing great so I'll hold a little back on the releases. I'll probably just release once a day, or maybe even less. Even after I do get a job, so long as I still have free time, or until Parallelnovels returns to take over, I'll keep going until maybe by the end of volume 2. Again, I don't have any set release but I'm still having fun doing it so I'll try releasing as often as I can.

PS: I guess Tetra's wand was actually a staff. They use the same kanji so…:P

”To say the least, I just can't imagine seeing that man having the caliber of ”Great King” but….are you absolutely sure you're correct?” (Rosyth)

King Rosyth just said something quite mean. Although, I do agree with him.

Is the ”Divine Protection of the Great King” actually not that rare?

It's not just me who has it? Or should I say, you could actually obtain such thing?

Now, that feels kind of depressing huh.

”Yes. My 'Divine Protection of Perception' is quite accurate after all. It's definitely the same as Almis' ability……..that of raising the physical abilities depending on the number of people who believe in you as a leader. It also raises the physical abilities of people who trust you and have high loyalty to you as a ripple effect. They're the same, yes?” (Julia)

(TLN: Pengu Trans translated 看破の加護 as DP of Perception. While I lean on the side of Clairvoyance, (or more preferably 'the Diving Protection of Seeing Through s.h.i.+t' lol), I'll just use their term.)

”Does that mean that Regal DeBell is actually a big shot without us knowing it?” (Almis)

If that really were the case, then I'll be so disillusioned.

”Hmmm, I wonder. At the very least, the people of the DeBell territory ((do consider, or should I say)) are afraid of him as their leader. Look, didn't he just boast that he killed a bear about three years ago?”

I see, it's enough that they consider you as their leader. It's not related at all to the person's caliber, huh.

Well, the people of a population probably don't know the character of their leader anyway.

It's only natural.

”Nevertheless, why does a person like Regal DeBell have such a divine protection?….” (Almis)

”Beats me. Fairies are whimsical creatures after all.” (Julia)

Fairies?

”Hey, Julia. When you said fairies….did you mean the mischievous fairies?” (Almis)

In the Adernia Peninsula, fairies exist in folklore. They say fairies are mischievous and do things like pulling pranks on people.

If you're having either an unusually lucky or unlucky day, they say it's the work of fairies

If it suddenly rained, it's because of the fairies.

Those kind of things.

”Right, right. I looked up a lot of things about them and there was that kind of theory. The evidence is laughter. Haven't you heard them? Specifically, children's laughter. ((You'll hear them)) by the time you've been given a divine protection…” (Julia)

Children's laughter, huh.

I don't know. That might possibly be true, however……

It's been so many years ago when I noticed I had the Divine Protection. I've probably forgotten about that.

”Is that so? Almis doesn't know, huh. I've heard them many times, you know. I could already hear them a little when we first met, you know. Maybe it depends upon the person whether if they could hear them. Well, anyway, I think the fairies' true form is that of children. When you speak of fairies, you kind of think of a childish impression, after all.” (Julia) (TLN: Julia, are you sure you're not just high?)

In other words, they only call them fairies as a matter of convenience.

Now that you said it, didn't Griffon-sama often spoke of ”those brats”.

Well, it's certain that it's a child-like existence.

”Weren't there a lot of particularly nasty episodes concerning fairies?”

”Certainly……. there were things like that.”

There were as many episodes concerning fairies as the number of stars in the sky. All of them about fairies pulling pranks on people.

These episodes can be cla.s.sified into four types.

Those warm and fluffy stories.

Those moral lesson-like stories where the person gets deceives and loses everything but becomes aware of the importance of their bonds with family.

Also, those stories where people go through terrible hards.h.i.+ps.

And the last one…..stories where people die because of the fairy's mischief.

Let's give one concrete example.

A long time ago, there was a man.

This man hopelessly fell in love with his childhood friend from the village. However, his childhood friend ended up getting married to the village chief's son.

He was devastated.

And then, a fairy appeared in his dream and said:

'Tomorrow, go deep inside the forest at night and shoot the tree growing at the top of the mountain as the soon as the sun rises.'

In the beginning the man ignored this, but the dreams kept coming every day.

One time, the man finally did as the fairy instructed.

The man shoots at the tree at sunrise.

At the same time, a rabbit jumps out and get hits by the arrow.

Since then, the man kept following the fairy's instructions.

Because of this, the man becomes wealthy and gets popular too.

However, the only one in his heart is his childhood friend.

One day, the fairy tells him:

'Your childhood friend was threatened to become the wife of the village chief's son. You should kill the village chief's son. After that, you should just run away. There are gold coins buried under the grape tree at the back of your house. With that money, you could run away.'

The man did as the fairy told him. He killed the village chief's son. The village chief and his wife witnessed this, so he killed them too. He then proposed to his childhood friend that they elope.

However, his childhood friend resisted.

The two argued when suddenly the childhood friend gets stabbed by a knife and dies.

He escapes in the confusion and returns to his home to dig up what's under the grape tree.

There he finds a sack.

However, what he found inside were not gold coins….

but cow feces.

The story ends there.

In a word, it's a story with a moral lesson. That in this world, there are a lot of things that are too good to be true so don't get deceived. However…..

Was it really necessary for it to get that horrible?

And what's really scary here is that there's nothing in it for the fairy that appeared in the story.

In other words, fairies, just as a prank, get people to kill other people.

”I really don't get what fairies are thinking. I was somehow well liked by them too.” (Julia)

Which reminds me, this person has a lot of divine protections, huh.

”It's probably fine to not be that cautious of that Regal's divine protection, okay? Almis' divine protection is more than a match for him. You should also just ignore about the fairies for now. In the first place, it's just a hypothesis, right?” (Rosyth)

We stop at King Rosyth's suggestion.

We've gone off topic, huh.

”Then, I'll be going home for now. Let's talk about the strategy next time when we have Bartolo with us.” (Almis)

”Yes. Let's do that. Then come here three days later. Remember to keep this a secret, okay?” (Rosyth)

I salute King Rosyth and leave the room.

However, Julia stops me.

”Wait! Take me with you.” (Julia)

”N? Wouldn't that be a problem?” (Almis)

Even if we tried to hide it, it'll immediately be known if Julia disappears from the palace. It'll cause an uproar, right?

”I know, but…… I want to have a talk with Tetra, so……” (Julia)

Julia looks at King Rosyth.

”Just do as you like. I'll say something like 'Julia is away from the palace for a special ceremony. The location Is a royal family secret so I cannot disclose it.'” (Rosyth)

In other words, I could take her with me.

”Jeez…..Then can I borrow a carriage, King Rosyth?” (Almis)

”Yes. Since it'll probably cause a misunderstanding if the two of you get seen riding on a single horse together. Also…” (Rosyth)

King Rosyth cautions me.

”While it's fine for you to conduct some maneuvering, do not yet fully antagonize Regal DeBell.  At the very least, wait up until the end of our war with King De Morgal. We'll put in order all the preparations for the civil war so don't carelessly fall victim to provocation. Well, come to think of it, we were saved by that time you humbled yourself into settling out of court with them. If the two of you had completely gone to war at that time, then this country wouldn't exist today.” (Rosyth)

”I know. I'll keep my head down, okay? For the mean time, I intend to continue as such.” (Almis)

Civil war would be dreadful. No matter who wins, all that will be left are minuses.

Therefore, we'd have to end this in an instant. Until then, I'll have to trouble myself with keeping Regal on the dark.

”Okay. We've arrived but…… Julia, wear this sack for the mean time. ”

I make Julia wear the sack on her head.

With this, we won't be found out.

I hold Julia's hand and carefully help her get down from the horse.

We didn't have the time to open up the part near the eye so she shouldn't be able to see anything.

”Ah, Almis-san! Where have you been? Tetra's been worried abo…….eh, Julia-san?”

We got found out!? (TLN: NANI!?)

”Well, her hair's sticking out, you know……”

Ah, c.r.a.p. Now that you mentioned it, the only girl with lavender-colored hair here is probably Julia.

That said, we don't have a sack big enough to hide all of Julia's hair so……

”Why is Julia-san here?”

”Let's talk about that later. For the meantime, let's get inside the mansion.” (Almis)

The servants in the palace, for the most part, haven't seen Julia before so they probably won't know it's her just by seeing her hair.

That said, I'm just making sure.

We have to move quickly.

I'll have to get her inside the mansion without getting seen.

”That's how it is so stay still for me, okay?” (Almis)

”Hey, wha! Wait….” (Julia)

I carry Julia and run with all my strength.

”You kinda look like you're kidnapping some right now, you know.”

”Shut up” (Almis)

”Julia. I'm very angry right now.” (Tetra)

Tetra declares to signal the start of the two's meeting.

I've known Tetra for so long now but this girl's expressions are quite hard to understand.

Although she said she's angry, her expression right now is not that much different from her normal one.

That said, if you look closely you can see that her eyebrows are moving a little.

It's a peculiar trait of Tetra when she's angry.

It's about 7/10 on the scale, huh.

However, didn't Tetra say that it's fine for Julia to become my second wife?