I'm finally home.
You're lucky it's not snowing in earnest.

　We, who had returned to the royal capital for the first time in several months, had just gone straight to the guild to inform them of the completion of our request and returned to the mansion. The ones who returned to the mansion were the members of 'Oration' and Leni-san, and we parted ways with Chris and Albert and the others at the guild. Each of them had some work to do, such as confirming while they were on their trip, so even though they had just returned, they would have a lot of things to do.

''Hm?　I think someone's coming.
Well, I'm sure it'll be one of Alex and the others who comes in the carriage while I'm away.

　As we talked about this, I arrived at Raiden's front door and the door was opened at just the right time. I thought it might be Aina, but it was Kryfe who opened the door.

'Welcome home, Temma-sama, Merlin-sama. I have some business to attend to today.''

　I thought it was an errand for Mr. Cliffe, so I wondered if the king was also here, but he told me differently. When I entered the mansion, I wondered what on earth the business was about.

Welcome home.
Welcome home.

　Aina and the others who were waiting near the front door (...) greeted me... I was surprised to see that there was something unusual about them, but Aina's eyes seemed to be pleading with me not to say anything, so I didn't poke her and just walked past them.

'Just...............................Hee!
Hey, Aura... oh, my God!
...............................
'My name is Leni Tintin. Thank you for your brief time.

　The women reacted in a four-way fashion, but the first three hurriedly followed me as Aina glared at them. However, only Leni-san stayed where she was, politely greeting Aina and Kryfe-san. And as for my grandfather, who was right behind me, he just said, "Mm," but didn't show any unusual reaction, and hurriedly overtook me and headed toward the diner. And as soon as we entered the diner, she started laughing loudly.

'Just putting up with it... well, I don't know how I feel about it.
Mm. I don't know, but.....

　Compared to Amour, who was erupting in front of the cafeteria, Grandpa was probably more patient. And as for Jeanne and Aura, who have been quiet since a while ago, they seemed to have not lost the fear of being stared at when they almost screamed in too much surprise earlier, and were slowly advancing with a blue face.

'For now, we have to sort out the souvenirs so that the uncles can come any time... but first we have to go check on Jouvees and the others.

　So I was just about to step out into the hallway when

MEEEEEEEEEE!

　The moment I opened the door, a black blob (Merry) jumped in with a lot of momentum.

'Ho ho!'
'Huh?　Geez!

　I heard Merry's footsteps, and I was able to easily dodge Merry's body hit, which seemed to be aimed at the moment she opened the door, but Aura, who was completely unaware of it, took Merry's body hit with her back and rolled with Merry for several meters.

'Meh~'
Mo.
I'm home, Allie. I'm home, Tama-chan.

　A short time after Merry jumped in, this time Allie came in. Tama came to the nearest window from the cafeteria and squealed, too.

'I've got something for you this time, Allie and the others.

　When Ally heard those words, she nodded her head, as if she didn't understand the meaning of it for the life of her. So I took out some of the hay I had purchased at Shellhide's and held it in front of him from the magic bag and he started eating it happily.

'Does it taste good?'　Then let's go eat at Jouvees' place. Merry, come on or you'll miss out on eating.
'Meh!　Mme, mme, mme!
'Amur, it's time to let Mary go.
"Hm.

　Merry struggled to get caught in the opposite direction, trying to hit Amur as well after he hit Aura with his body, but he was caught in the opposite direction. Merry, who was freed from Amur, hit me as she ran up to me, but her power was much lower than usual, as if she thought she wouldn't get any hay if she made it too hard.

'Here, I'll leave it here for you. It's the finest stuff from Shellhide.

　It's not true to say that they are high-class products, but since horses are the speciality of the Shellhide area, the food is of good quality as well, so I asked the frontier count to introduce me to a distributor and I bought a lot of them.

It's time for me to go and ask Clife-san why.

　As I was heading to the dining room to listen to the story, Aina was waiting for me on the way there, and she led me towards the parlor. I waited there for a while.

I'd like to buy some tea.
Tea, tea, tea.
Ooh!

　Lyle-sama (...) who placed the sweets in front of me with an awkward smile, was screaming as Luna (..) showered her with tea.

''Luna-sama!　Don't pour the tea over the top!
Yeah, well, first, you'll have to worry about me...

　Aina scolded Luna as she quickly wiped the tea that had been scattered around. The replacement tea was quickly made by Mr. Cliffe, but Lyle-sama was left alone with the tea poured on him.

'So, is it about time you two told me why you're in my house dressed like that?
'Very well ... but first, please wait a moment. Master Lyle, where are you going?　I must now explain to your master. Stand quietly behind me and wait.

　Perhaps to change his clothes, Lyle-sama was about to leave the parlor, but was stopped by Mr. Cliffe.

''Actually, these two men, by order of Maria-sama, have been trained as a butler and a maid. Well, both of you have work and schoolwork to do, so it wasn't every day... and the day that Temma-sama and the others returned was the day of the test, and they were going to make a decision on whether or not to extend the training.

　I don't know what the two of them did, but they must have been bad enough to make Maria's patience run out. Either that, or it must have been the accumulation of their daily actions.

'So, how do you feel about it?'
It's very badly done.

　In response to my question, Mr. Cliffe made his assessment without a pause. The two of them, who had been cut to pieces by Mr. Clife-san, seemed to have a good deal of confidence in themselves, and were quite depressed after getting the exact opposite judgment.

''Well, even if it's not good enough, I have to acknowledge the two of you for your efforts. It's just your efforts, though.''

　But when they heard the rest of Mr. Cliffe's words, they both smiled, but

But I can only tell it like it is, since Mary will have the final say.

　They were dropped, lifted up, and finally dropped again, both of them looking desperate.

'It's a lot of work, isn't it? Well, I understand the two of you. So, now that you're back, I'd like to bring you a souvenir...''
'But first, Lady Temma, don't you have something important to report to Mary?
'It certainly was. I have something very important to tell you.

　I had to tell the royal family a very important story that I had experienced in the request of the frontier count.

'It would be better for you to tell that story to Maria directly from Lady Temma. If you're not too tired, you might as well go and report back now. I'm sure Maria will be waiting for your report.

Okay, I'll just go get ready for a few things.

　With that, I explained to Grandpa and Jeanne and had them change their clothes, and I myself changed out of my dirty clothes and put my souvenirs in my magic bag.
　When I finished getting ready, I called out to Mr. Cliffe and he looked a little surprised that Jeanne was there, but when I explained that Jeanne was one of the people involved, he agreed.

'Temma, I'm coming with you!
'I'll ask for Amour next time. Maybe Maria and the others will listen to Amour, but I think it would be better to start with Jeanne's story first.
Yeah, okay.

　When Amur withdrew, we headed for the carriage, led by Kryfe-san.
　Aina didn't return to the royal castle with us, and since she was going to stay behind for a bit more guidance from Luna and Lyle-sama, I told her that I was going to let Aura rest for today and let her work tomorrow. Aina nodded at my instructions, but she really wanted Aura to work right away, and she looked at Aura sideways a few times as she screamed with joy.
　Near Aina, Luna seemed to want to say something, but perhaps it was because she was in the position of an apprentice maid now, but she only wanted to say it but didn't come near her.

'Luna, you don't have to worry about me telling Maria-sama about the mistake you made earlier,'

　I called out to him, but he didn't seem to be talking about that, and he shook his head.

'It wasn't ... ah!　The souvenir!　We've got the meat from the Wyvern, so the cooks at King's Castle should be cooking it up for you tomorrow or so.

Really!　Yah... not... not!

　Luna was almost pleased, but it wasn't the souvenir she wanted to hear about. As I thought it was a quiz with few hints, I suddenly remembered that I was making Mr. Cliffe wait, so I apologized lightly to Luna and then got into the carriage.

　As it was, I was moving in the carriage controlled by Mr. Clife-san.

'Master Merlin, Master Temma, there's Chris up front.

　So I opened the window, and sure enough, Chris was there. And he was with a man and ... well, he looked like he was arguing with a man.

'Do you want me to ignore him?'

　I could only smell the trouble, so I was going to do as Mr. Cliffe said...but unluckily, Chris turned to me. Then his eyes met mine as he watched from the window.

''Mr. Clife-san, please do your best to take off.
'It's impossible. Chris is already aware of it, and more importantly, it's coming our way.

　If I could speed in a straight line, I would be able to get past Chris, but I couldn't make a small turn in the city and he was coming at me head-on. No matter how you do it, you're going to get in during the turnaround.

'Then stop here, please. At least let them walk up here.

　And then, after thirty seconds of waiting Chris came to the carriage with a walk like a race walk.

''I belong to the Kingsguard, Chris. I'm returning to duty now!
Yes, sir. Now, please report to your escort.

　Chris reported to Mr. Cliffe and tried to get into the carriage, but

'Christina, I'm not done talking to you yet!

　The man who had been chasing him stopped Chris. But.

'Didn't you hear me say you were returning to duty in the Kingsguard?　The people riding in this carriage are guests to the royal family. To interfere with the kinsman's duty of serving as his escort would raise the possibility of disrespect to the royal family, but are you prepared to do so?　And my name is Chris, not Christina. And although you seem to have the rank of quasi-baronet, the Kingsguard has been given the equivalent of a baron by His Majesty. Do you understand what that means?

　Chris looked at the man with the coldest eyes I've ever seen in my life. No, it wasn't cold, but rather, he was afraid that if the man bit down any further, he would instantly cut him down.

''Chris-san, since I have Maria-sama waiting for me, can I head to the royal castle as soon as possible?''
Sorry to keep you waiting. I'll be with you shortly.

　　The man didn't know if he noticed that Chris-san was really angry or if it was because Maria's name was mentioned, but he didn't try to hold him back any further. But I guess he wasn't convinced because he was staring at Mr. Chris, and I guess he wasn't convinced.
　Then Chris-san ignored the man's presence as if he didn't exist and got into the carriage.

'No, it really helped. That guy was so persistent that I wanted to kill him and I really would have killed him if Temma and the others hadn't walked by.

　Chris had returned to his usual mood as soon as the carriage started.

'So, Mr. Chris, who was that person you were talking about earlier?　And what's the name Christina?

　Chris-san looked heartily uncomfortable with my question, but I guess he thought he couldn't stay silent before he saved me.

That's my father. And Christina was the name they gave you back in the day.

　I said that as I turned away. I'd heard before that Chris had broken up with his parents and that the reason for that was because they were trying to use him to suck the good juice out of him, but in reality, it was worse than that.

'When I was twelve years old, that man came to me with a matchmaking proposal. Well, if you're a child of a nobleman, there's a story about having a fiancé at the age of twelve, but it's not a betrothal, it's a marriage!　And the guy is over forty years old!

　Chris seemed to be getting angry as he talked, and he was quite excited.

'I thought it would be impossible, even as a child, to talk about it, but not only that man, but his wife was on board!　I was suspicious, so I snuck into their room and found out that the man had owed a lot of money to an old man who was over forty years old, and was trying to give me to the man who owed him. And his wife thought that she could take over the old man's house because I would live longer than her. By the way, that old man was a viscount.

　Chris, who was twelve years old, decided to run away from home after thinking about how to avoid marrying an old man. And the next day he left for King's Landing. The money for the trip at that time was from his father and mother's navel-gazing at home.
　When Chris arrived at King's Landing, he was the first to run into the soldiers' stuffing room and explained the reason for running away from home himself. From there, the soldiers who had trouble handling Chris reported him to the headquarters of the knights of King's Landing. The knights were also troubled and reported it to the king.
　The king was surprised at the unprecedented situation, but he immediately decided to protect Chris, warned his parents and the old man, and allowed them to disown him as Chris wished. After that, Chris was about to go to an orphanage, but he took an entrance exam at a school where he tried out and got a recommendation for the next year's entrance exam. Incidentally, his living expenses up to that point were reparations from his former family (his attempt to force Chris to marry them was recognized as abuse), and he asked the knight who took care of Chris in the castle to be his guarantor to borrow money from a moneylender in the capital to cover the shortfall. By the way, the knight is said to be Jean-san.

I didn't even remember that he existed until recently, but when he found out that I won the martial arts tournament and that I hadn't married yet, he ingratiated himself to me with a marriage proposal. You really don't learn, do you? In the first place, as long as His Majesty has personally approved the breakup, I'm now a nobleman with power above that guy, and he doesn't understand that interfering with me in the first place is an act that goes against His Majesty's decision.

　After that, I continued to listen to Chris complain about him in the carriage. Meanwhile, Grandpa and Jeanne were pretending to sleep through it all.


'Chris, it's time to stop your chattering. In the meantime, you're back on duty with the Kingsguard, aren't you?

　Chris, who had been talking for a long time, quieted down at Mr. Cliffe's words.

'The gates of the royal castle...'

　Even if it was to get away from that man, he told Mr. Cliffe in full view of the public that he would return to his mission. Since he declared that, he must have changed his mind before going through the gate.
　The carriage passed through the gate and proceeded directly to the front door, but Chris-san got out of the carriage shortly before reaching the front door. Apparently, except for emergencies, you can't enter the castle without wearing the knight's uniform, so they said they would go ahead and change in their own rooms in the quarters.

''Maria-sama, I've brought Tenma-sama.

　I asked Mr. Clef to show me to the room where Maria-sama was, and inside were Maria and the king, Caesar and Isabella, Zain and Ernest-sama.

'Maria-sama, our request has been successfully completed. I'll take the souvenirs to the kitchen later.

Yes, thank you, Temma. And welcome back.

　I greeted Maria and the others, and when I said I had something to report, they offered me an empty seat, so all three of us sat down. Maria and the others seemed to question the decision to let Jeanne, who usually stood at the back, sit down, but Jeanne nodded when she said it was related to her.

So what's this report about?

　She seemed somewhat happy, so she might have mistakenly thought it was her impression of the trip.

''As you may have reported, a troublesome demon has appeared in the Grand Old Man's Forest.
You...

'Yes, Rich (...). Leon said that he would release more information, but I thought it would be better for me to report what I felt directly from him. The reason I brought Jeanne with me is that out of all the members who went to Kukri village, Jeanne was the only one who did not fall into Rich's trap. So I brought her along because I thought she could explain the situation in more detail than I could...........Was there something funny about that?

　I couldn't help but say that Maria and the others' reaction was a little strange, but they shook their heads, saying it was nothing.
　I then told them what I thought of the outcome of the engagement with Rich, and how I and my grandpa and the others looked from Jeanne's point of view at that time. We talked about how even me and my grandfather, who is good at magic and seems to have a higher resistance than others, had unknowingly fallen into Rich's trap, and how Jeanne was the only one who was able to move freely in her right mind, but we didn't know exactly why, and it just happened to be a shallow trap! That's what I decided to do. However, as a person who can use the appraisal, I think Jeanne's title of 'saint' is involved, but since she keeps the fact that she can use the appraisal a secret, and above all, I don't know how the title of 'saint' affected her, I agreed with the conclusion that it was just a coincidence.

''Well then, I'll just carry the souvenir to the kitchen for a moment.
Temma, I'll let Cliffe do that. Give Cliffe a gift for me.
　When the conversation had settled down, I got up to carry the wyvern's meat to the kitchen, and then Maria called out to me to wait. Well, I guess she decided that it would be strange to make me carry it since I was coming as a guest, so I transferred the meat to the magic bag held by Mr. Cliffe and sat back down in my seat.

'Temma, I wonder if you still have something to report to us?'

　When Mary said that, I thought for a minute.

We have magically built a fort on the borders of the frontier counties.

　I thought it was about cooperating in military matters, but that wasn't the case either.

'Is it about spying on the frontier county?'
It has already been brought to us by the Count of the frontier Houst. And we have left the matter in the hands of the frontier counts.

　Instead of Mary, the king answered. If Mary-sama doesn't open her mouth, then this answer seems to be different too.

'The canon thing..... Could it be about the Gol and Jill thread at the wedding?

　I wondered if he had any inquiries about Serna's wedding dress, but he shook his head. But he was responding to the wedding part of the story, so it seemed to be about that.

'So, the fact that you played matchmaker?'
That's it!