I'm free.


　I muttered to myself in the carriage on the way to King's Landing.

　It's not a very wide carriage, my voice would have reached the ears of all my companions. As proof, Lunamaria, who was sitting across from me, opened her mouth as if she was troubled.


''It hasn't been an hour (two hours) since we left Ishqa, right?　It's still a long way to King's Landing.

I know, but once you get used to moving around on the wyvern, you can't help but feel awkward moving around on the ground. Also, this carriage is strangely uncomfortable to sit in...


　The seats were unusually soft, as if they were stuffed with feathers.

　Since the carriage is constantly shaking, it is better to have a soft seat than a hard one. However, the feel of this fluffy ass was unsettling.

　And Seal, who was sitting next to Lunamaria, agreed with me, moving the triangular ears on top of his head restlessly.


'I know. It's very uncomfortable. Is this kind of thing called poverty?　How about you, Sparrow?

I can't get used to this whole carriage thing.


　The girl sitting next to me, a demon tribe girl, was looking around the car with a somewhat uneasy look on her face.

　Her hands were firmly gripping the sleeves of my clothes.

　Lunamaria and Seal told me in secret that while I was in the village of Merte, Suzume was looking very uncomfortable.

　The sparrow was very wary of others, but it was relatively open to me. I suppose that's because I rescued her from the two demons, the Lord of the Flies and the Lord of the Snakes.

　So I had gone to Merte's village without such a sparrow.

　Even though I had asked Lunamaria and Seal to take care of things while I was gone, I can't blame them for their lack of consideration.


　When I was thinking about that, Sparrow asked me with a face that still looked uneasy.


I'm not going to be able to get a good idea of what I'm talking about.

Yeah, it's about three ishkas' worth of space.



Well it's about as different as a thorn and a wyvern, I guess.

Are you sure you have to go there?

Yes, it's better for our future. Now that Master Fyodor has set it all up for us.



　That's right. This trip to King's Landing was a plan by the slaver Fyodor.

　Calling it a plan may sound bad, but it was almost an after-the-fact agreement, so that's all I can say.

　Well, it was an invitation in recognition of my achievements, so it's no reason to complain about it, even if I have to thank him.



　To put it simply, this is an award for those who defeated the Snake King (Basilisk) and prevented the expansion of the Corrupt Sea. Therefore, the other carriage is occupied by the four survivors of the Clan "Scythe of the Grim Reaper".

　As I mentioned sometime ago, the biggest contributor to the defeat of the Basilisk is the leader of the Scythe of the Grim Reaper, Pelly.

　This was the result of making a backroom deal with Fyodor to protect the sparrow, and my role in this award was that of a collaborator.


　However, since I have a track record of various activities related to the rotten sea since then, I'm not a complete supporting actor.

　There's also the matter of Klaus Solus. According to Fyodor, first of all, he will definitely receive an invitation from the king or a senior nobleman to serve him.

　For me, who has no intention of serving anyone, this is just a bother, but.......once I heard the following story, I couldn't just say "I won't go".



　The story is about the sparrow, of all things.

　At present, there is no one in Ishqa who wants to harm the sparrows.

　This was the result of the 'union' spreading the word about the sparrow's achievements - providing the ingredients for the rotten poison special medicine & participating in the defeat of the basilisk.

　The situation was exactly what I wanted, but Fyodor wanted to give the king some honest words to ensure the safety of the sparrows.

　It was Fyodor's opinion that once the king acknowledged the existence of the sparrow, the royal family and nobles would no longer move in search of the demons.



　--To be honest, when I first heard this, I doubted that such a thing was really possible.

　However, Fyodor had already secured the cooperation of the Duke of Dragnaut, the country's most nobleman.

　It would be too clever.

　After all, it seemed to be the result of bringing the fruit of Jiria Oaks to the duke's house and improving the ailing duchess' condition.

　Come to think of it, I think I heard a rumor about that here and there when I was an adventurer. Curing a curse disease that neither a bishop-class (class) miracle nor an elixir (elixir) could cure was nothing to a 10th-class adventurer, so I forgot about it on the spot when I heard it.



　Anyway, Fyodor was able to make this invitation to the King's Capital a reality with his amazing energy.

　To say I'm grateful for this is an understatement, but these days I can't help but feel that my debt to the threadbare slavers is piling up, and I can't relax these days.

　........Well, Fyodor is also Fyodor, and it seems that he is using the antidote using Jiriah Ookus as bait to deepen his ties with the royal family and nobles, so there is no need for us to feel a one-sided debt of gratitude, yes.


　To me, this trip to the royal capital is like that.

　It's a good thing that you're a newcomer to the human world, because you're being led around by someone else's convenience, and you feel like you're riding in a small boat in a storm.

　It was impossible to tell me not to be anxious.

　I tried to reassure the sparrow by smiling faintly.


'Don't worry, I'll be with you all the way in King's Landing,'


　Then he popped his head.　

　The two-horned girl was still anxious, but still looked a little relieved and bowed her head with a smile.


It's nice to meet you, please.

I'll take care of it. What, just the four of us will get in Crow Solus and we'll be on our way. Take it easy, take it easy.


　That Clow Solas should be flying lazily over the carriage.

　Incidentally, why didn't they head to the capital with a four-man ride, because they thought it would be bad for Klaus Solus to ride four people without an emergency.

　If I wanted to ride, I could, but basically it's a one-seater.

　Also, the ride will be terrible, so three people other than me won't be able to stand it.

　I'm sure you're not going to be able to get to the capital without the officials from the palace who came to pick you up.



　I should not be complaining about the lack of a chair, or acting like a child.

　This is the time. This is a good time to make friends with the sparrows.


Speaking of which, did you get involved in anything in my absence?


　When I turned the water on so, Lunamaria and Seal looked at each other.

　Apparently, something was wrong. I thought it wouldn't be that important from their expressions, but what's going on, they both seemed strangely uncomfortable talking about it.

　I'm sure it wasn't anything to do with the demon man, seeing as how the sparrow was looking so glum, but hah.


　The reason for the two men's attitude was revealed that night.

　The two tents set up outside the carriage. After the sparrow went to sleep, Lunamaria came to the men's tent and told me about it.

　It was about the effects of the mind outfit that I myself had never imagined.



◆◆◆



　Simply put, a woman in my arms becomes stronger when I hold her.


...Really?

I think he's serious because we're both in the exact same boat, me and Seal.


　According to Lunamaria, it seems that it was around the time I decided to join Fyodor's Demon Hunt that I realized that was the case.

　She said that she was able to realize that her abilities had obviously increased. Not only was Lunamaria, but Seal was in the same state, and he said that Lunamaria, who had been practicing, had shown an amazing improvement.

　And this time, he was convinced by the fact that while I was away from Ishka, his physical magic power had dropped to his previous level.

　........I see, I can't say this in front of a sparrow.

　I'm convinced of that.

　I also figured out why Lunamaria had kept her mouth shut until today.



　This is obviously a matter of my secrets.

　Before, Lunamaria had said that she felt a dragon inside me. My same source (anima) that I was aware of only because I was an elf and a spirit user, Lunamaria.

　But after that, Lunamaria never asked me about the dragon. It's probably because she thought I was trying to hide the power of the dragon.



　In fact, I've been hiding the dragon - the mind-dressing.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time with the company.

　I don't care if they know I'm strong. It's because there's no way you can claim "I'm weak" after you've eliminated Gryphon and Scylla.

　But how strong are you, how did you become strong, and how do you fight? I was careful not to let people know about those things as much as possible.



　Illusionary single sword style. Mind-dressing. Jing Jing. It's not that these things are out of the gate information.

　To an adventurer, borders are like no borders at all. It's not hard to imagine that many of you have come into contact with the information of the Illusionary Itto-ryu in the Empire.

　It's possible that some of them might notice the relationship between me and Onigashima by looking at my mind gear and power techniques.

　If that happens, they will formulate countermeasures. For example, since the power of Jing Jing is derived from the magical power inside the body, if someone prepared a magical power blocking item or boundary, they would be at a significant disadvantage.

　In order to minimize such risks and disadvantages, I have kept the information about the mind outfit under wraps. I'm sure Lunamaria has noticed and is reluctant to discuss the subject of secrets.

　I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I'm sure there's a good reason for that.



''Since ancient times, the way to bring in talented people has been fixed as the opposite s*x.

'You mean that if you casually hold a woman who is offered to you, you might let my secrets slip out of there.

'Yes, sir. If it is me or the seal, we will not interfere, and even if we try, the Master can keep our mouths shut. With this collar.


　With that said, Lunamaria touches the collar covering her thin throat.

　The slave ring prepared by the union contains the magic of "Location" and "Paralysis", as well as "Choke".

　It goes without saying that each of them is for escape, rebellion and sanctions.

　Incidentally, this collar was made with the Union's own technology and was impossible to imitate or duplicate. In fact, if we tried to do so, the Union would seriously try to kill us. Even if it was the state. That's why the slave ring is such an important item for the "union".

　Aside from that, I understand what Lunamaria is trying to say. You can get rid of your own slaves in any way you want, even if their secrets are known. But you can't do that to a woman of nobility.

　That's why he's advising me not to take advantage of his advances so easily.



　That advice is gratefully accepted. I don't know if there are any women out there who would really make a move on me, and even if there were, I wouldn't be willing to deal with a thickly made-up noblewoman, even if she asked me to.

　To tell the truth, I've been to many banquets as a heir apparent of a swordsman.

　When the host's family was of low rank, I was sometimes ordered to participate in the banquet as the head of the house.

　And, well, I have never met a woman of the upper class that I was able to make a good impression on at that time. Naturally, I have no expectations in that direction, even with this invitation.

　That is the Empire, this is the Kingdom. The country may be different, but the roots of royalty and aristocracy are much the same in all places.


　To tell the truth, I wanted to finish my business as soon as possible and go to Merte village again.

　Or maybe I could venture out with Lunamaria and Seal. Until now, I had deliberately made them separate because of the mind-dressing thing, but listening to what Lunamaria was saying right now, it seemed that that precaution was no longer necessary.

　With that thought in mind, I forcefully hugged the Lunamaria in front of me.