Chapter 323: We Depart

Now. Events you cannot wait for are set to arrive at once. Visiting the Eisleben tribe, in my understanding, was like going on a school trip. I wanted to know what the scenery of the Mainz Kingdom was like on the way to the Eisleben tribe, and seeing what towns and people there were, and what they ate, was a pleasure too.

For me, leaving the royal capital itself was a major event, but I did not need to prepare anything (Lily did all the packing), and it was an easy trip of only riding in a carriage. And I was being taken, so all the cost came from the Mainz Kingdom side, and the embassy’s purse did not hurt. Well. Among Her Majesty’s many maids and guards and porters, Lily and I would not be a great cost, so I had no need to care.

That morning, when I went to the palace the carriages were already arranged and it was only a matter of loading luggage. My luggage, I could have put it all in the mana bag and gone empty-handed, but I was not to do things different from other people, so clothes and such were packed in an ordinary trunk and brought. Lily wanted to do that kind of thing too.

If it were the King’s progress it would become a great procession, I hear, but with Her Majesty it does not become that much of a line. About ten carriages. Perhaps it was an unofficial visit. If a thing the Prime Minister said on a whim had been made concrete, it could not become an official visit. At each town we passed and each town we lodged, welcome ceremonies and official events would become a huge affair. The receiving side at each destination would fall into a terrible fuss, but there is no way such preparation can be done in ten days or so, so I think the form is that she is going out in secret to play. Anyway, getting me away from the royal capital is the main aim, I think.

At departure there was no event such as a departure ceremony, and the carriages left. Her Majesty and I were of course in different carriages. In my carriage it was only Lily and me. In light novels the master and maid do this and that during the carriage ride, but my carriage is not a magic-mirror car and is not equipped with noise canceling, so we only rode, thoroughly well-behaved. The carriage had no suspension, and once we left the royal capital the road was almost dirt, so the ride was the worst. But this is the standard of this world, so I endured and sat still. I would get used to it by the time we came back, I thought.

When we left the royal capital I had thought Lady Agnes Eisleben would appear somewhere for sure. Because that always happens in a light novel. But she did not appear in the royal capital, or when we left the royal capital. Why betray the royal road of a light novel? Because I had asked so hard that she not come? I was grateful, and my heart was a little lonely.

On the road there were rest times here and there, and then too Her Majesty and I were kept apart to rest. I had been told I was a conversation partner, but I was not fulfilling that role. Was that all right? There seemed to be a person in charge who believed that if I drew near Her Majesty some event on the bad side would happen. I had been told that if Her Majesty took a room on the third floor of the inn, Lily and I would stay on the second, a completely isolated life, and I thought the sense of distance when we were in the royal capital had been far closer.

Once we were outside the royal capital, at a rest, I finally understood the scale of the procession. About thirty women including the maids, all fairly young. And about thirty knight guards, and about thirty more on foot. Knight means they are mounted, so they are members of the nobility. I do not know if they are heirs, but many are young. And the one bundling them was Dee. He would want as little to do with me as possible, but this is how people’s crossings go. I hope this trip does not put a hole in his stomach. Or that his hair does not go.

When we passed a village along the road, the village’s important person was always waiting and greeted Her Majesty. They offered something, and in return Her Majesty handed down wine. Every time we passed it was this, so the line did not advance. But each time she received a greeting she returned the greeting, spoke to the villagers with a smile, and spoke words of thanks. She took villagers’ hands and talked looking at their faces.

Some villagers wore clothes that looked as if they had been shut in the back of a chest and held themselves stiff, and some were so excited their faces were bright red. Greasy ones, ones that looked filthy, ones who spat when they talked. Whatever kind came out, Her Majesty met them with an equal smile.

I could only be impressed and cowed by Her Majesty carrying that out so pleasantly. I am a member of royalty too, but if I were told to do that, I think it would be absolutely impossible. Her Majesty’s stress must be a terrible thing, and she met it with no unpleasant face at all. How does Her Majesty clear the stress that piles up? If she throws part of that stress at Dee, I had started to want to allow it.

Seeing Her Majesty I remembered when the company president came to our sales office. The president coming to a sales office was rarer than a typhoon, and I thought I would never see the president’s honored face up close in my life. The whole office gave a passionate welcome and full reception, and I remember the president and the secretary and the surrounding officers showed not a single smile and went home with sour faces. If that president then had even one percent of this Queen’s smile, the will and loyalty of the people below would have been different.

While it was still light we arrived at the town planned for the first night’s stay. Because Her Majesty would stay, it was a very good inn. For an inn, Her Majesty staying would be a great honor. Would they put up a sign later, "The inn where Her Majesty stayed"? Inside the inn aside, outside the residents had gathered and it was a huge fuss. When Her Majesty put her face out the inn window and waved, a great cheer rose.

Room assignments were of course decided beforehand. I was on the second floor, Her Majesty on the third. Her Majesty had a dinner with the local notables, and I, gratefully, was on standby at the inn. Do I not need to guard her? I thought, but is it all right to leave the guard to a foreigner? That seemed to sit at the root of the attendants’ hearts, and my being on the trip was like bringing a foreign body. So basically I would stay set aside the whole time. I was being told, without words, to be grateful that I even had a room in the inn where Her Majesty stayed.

But that night, an incident happened.