Chapter 212: White Goes to the Capital (2)

White entered the capital, was astonished by the number of people, and had his eyes stolen by the quality of the roads, the number of buildings, and the brilliance of the women walking the streets. Entering the Noble District he further felt the difference from the territorial capital, and his adrenaline rose.

He entered the lodging and took a meal. A small bottle of wine was attached to the meal. Taking a sip he was astonished by its deliciousness. His eyes widened at the difference from the wine he had drunk at the checkpoint and at home. And he was astonished by the dishes that used spices. Seasoning at home was fundamentally only salt. He simply silently munched whatever was set before him without complaint. He had never once offered an opinion. That was only natural. He had continued eating the same things every day. He had never even seen a different menu. If occasionally a scrap of meat was mixed in he would think inwardly, "Today is a feast." Yet at the inns on the way to the capital, dishes containing meat appeared every day. He did not know what meat it was. Yet he was simply moved that he could eat meat.

However, the meal that came out in the lodging inside the capital’s knight order was the highest gourmet of White’s life. If only he possessed a mana bag, he could leave this meal and take it home to let his family eat it, he thought. It was extremely regrettable. A meal that used spices in abundance — the first and last opportunity of his life was the capital’s meal.

Thanks to the wine he was able to sleep soundly that night.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, he was led by a clerk deep into the Royal Palace. He did not even know whether it was all right to ask where he was being taken. He was astonished by the beauty of the maids they passed. If these maids were flowers, his own daughters were muddy potatoes taken from the back field. If asked what was different he would answer "Everything!" When they passed, they bowed to the clerk walking ahead and also bowed to White who followed after. The difference from the unfriendliness of his real daughters was like clouds and mud, and he no longer wanted to return home.

The place he was guided to was a small room deep, deep inside the Royal Palace. Upon entering the room there was a desk at the far front, and a nervous-looking man was seated there — even from White’s perspective one could feel "this person is a sharp one." He was about the same age as White, yet the pressure of his presence was overwhelming. Behind him a folding screen had been set up, and beyond it there seemed to be several people. The pleasant scent in the room — was it coming from there?

"Are you Knight Alan White? Well done for coming. Sending yourself to the capital before we summoned you was good judgment; I will praise that. Sit in that chair."

Without any self-introduction the man in front spoke, so White sat as told. On both sides of the man stood others, and there was also a person seated at the desk. The seated person was poised as if ready to write something. Was that a secretary?

"Then, though it is sudden and rude, will you tell us everything you know? Everything that happened from the time Prince Robin left the margrave’s territorial capital until he arrived at the checkpoint. Speak in as much detail as possible."

He was addressed in a cold tone. Though they were about the same age, it was spoken from an elevated viewpoint. White did not mind. Yes — both at the workplace and at home he was always spoken to from an elevated viewpoint.

The one seated in front of White was of course Richelieu, and his close aides surrounded White. Behind the folding screen were the Queen and her maids. The Queen had been told by Richelieu that a knight from the checkpoint had come to report on the period until Prince Robin passed the checkpoint, and interest had arisen so she had come to listen.

Before White arrived a fast horse had brought word to Richelieu, and Richelieu, thinking the Queen might take interest, had contacted her. As expected she had taken an interest in the talk, so he had summoned her here. Yet he could not have the Queen meet a mere knight, so the folding screen had been set up.

At last White began to speak, but a problem arose at once.

White’s dialect was far too strong; what he was saying could not be understood. White could understand Richelieu’s words, yet when White spoke it could not be grasped. It was not that nothing could be understood at all, but because the content of the report was what it was, they did not want to make a mistaken interpretation. Yet the close aides, of course the Queen, and the maids — no one could understand. Then how about writing? one of the close aides suggested, so they had White write characters, but his handwriting was so bad it could not be read.

"Someone go find a person from the margrave’s territory!"

At Richelieu’s single word a close aide ran.

The officials of the checkpoint in the countryside of the countryside of the Marie Kingdom all had strong dialects. Because it was further on the frontier even within the margrave’s territory, that was only natural. In a world without even the concept of a Marie Kingdom standard language, and even if there were one there would be no means of universalizing it. Even the checkpoint director, when he went to the capital, had been thoroughly embarrassed by that dialect.

What about the conversations between Robby and the people of the checkpoint? Robby had been given the other-world transfer privilege ability of language acquisition cheat, so once conversation began he could acquire it to some degree. Therefore he did not mind the dialect. Robby himself had not noticed, but that level of ability had been granted at the time of transfer. Lily had been inwardly surprised. From Lily’s perspective she regretted that before acquiring the language of the Mainz Kingdom she should have become able to understand the local dialect.