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She admitted it so nonchalantly that I was the one who ended up surprised. And Isabella, who had been sitting beside Maria and listening in, seemed to be hearing this for the first time too—her mouth hanging open in shock.
"Well, I suppose you could say it's about half the reason."
"Half?"
Maria's answer clearly had more to come, so I steeled myself and kept listening.
"First, the rule that you can't marry someone without my approval is mainly to deal with the nobility. And while I doubt you'd ever fall for one, it's also meant to keep you from getting entangled with a woman who's nothing but trouble. If a woman only wanted to use you, she wouldn't bother trying to get close enough to attract the attention of my... or rather, the royal family. If she did, she'd either be a truly formidable figure or a complete fool. So if it's a woman you genuinely want to spend your life with, I have no intention of complaining."
"That's my intention, at least."
"I mean it."
She'd said "that's my intention," which meant I should probably expect her to meddle in my affairs. I didn't know how far she'd go, but at least she didn't seem intent on forcing someone on me, so that was something.
"Now, about Celia's letter... Here. Take a look."
Maria rummaged through her bag and produced a letter sealed in an envelope. The envelope had faded considerably, but it was clear she treasured it—there were no stains or tears to be found.
"Let me see it."
I carefully removed the letter from the envelope, making sure not to tear it, and unfolded it to read.
Seeing the handwriting on the letter filled me with a wave of nostalgia. Just to be sure, I used Appraisal, and it confirmed that this was indeed from my mother.
The letter's contents began with a greeting, followed by idle chatter, a description of my daily life, and then a note that she hadn't been feeling well lately. It went on to say that if anything were to happen to her, she wanted someone to serve as my guardian—and the reason given was that with Father and Grandpa, she really couldn't feel at ease. I'm pretty sure that was at least half a joke, but bringing me up with only men around must have worried her. I picked up on that nuance, more or less, from the way it was written.
"That sounds just like Mom... Although, I guess that means Father and Grandpa aren't really trusted, huh?"
"Well, those two are first-rate adventurers, but when it comes to being educators... you know? That's exactly why I think Celia wrote to me—someone who can look at things objectively—to be your guardian. To keep unnecessary pests away from Tenma, too. Though I'm sure even Celia never imagined you'd grow strong enough to fight a nation."
I wanted to object to Maria's last remark, but after giving it some serious thought, I realized I actually did possess combat power that wasn't entirely negligible (me plus Slarin, Shiromaru, and Solomon, plus Namitarou, plus a multitude of Golems, and Grandpa in certain circumstances), so I held my tongue. If Maria and the others hadn't been close friends with my mother, I could have ended up in a very precarious position.
We talked about various things after that, but it seemed my current situation was this: I was the first person the royal family had set their sights on, and furthermore, the Queen had become my guardian (provisional) at my parents' request. If anyone tried to ignore that and forcibly recruit me, it would be the same as picking a fight with the royal family, putting them in a rather awkward position. By asking Maria to be my guardian, Mother had probably intended to use her biggest connection to put insurance on my behalf.
"So don't worry too much about what Aina said. If it still bothers you, just think of it as a contract. We bring Tenma into the Royalist Faction under the guise of guardianship, and Tenma uses us as a backing to wield royal authority however he pleases. A relationship of mutual exploitation — that works, doesn't it? But more importantly, when you actually decide to get married, introduce me to your partner, will you? I could even find someone for you if you'd like. For starters, Luna... is no good in various ways. In that case, how about Primera from Duke Sanga's household? That girl could be engaged right away."
She was saying awfully bold things — perhaps she really did trust me that much. I had no intention of betraying Maria and the others' trust, but I wished she'd think a little more about how she phrased things. If someone else overheard, it was the kind of statement that would damage both our reputations.
On top of that, she was treating such an important matter like it was nothing, transformed into the sort of meddling busybody you'd find in any neighborhood, cheerfully pressing in on me from all sides. I couldn't bring myself to clearly refuse, and I was at a loss. I glanced at Isabella hoping for rescue, but she too was watching with a look of keen interest, enjoying the whole spectacle. It seemed Isabella was on the enemy side.
With no one coming to my aid, I was trying to figure out how to extricate myself when a tremendous boom rang out from one floor below, accompanied by a massive tremor, and the royal castle grew noisy. Thinking it was some kind of accident or attack, knights and servants began to clamor.
However, the three of us immediately understood who was responsible for the commotion, and simultaneously held our heads in our hands. That said, roughly half of my mind was filled with the joy of having an escape from this situation...
"Tenma, shall we go? Sorry, but you'll have to stand in as our bodyguard. I don't think there's any danger, but we need a formal escort to reach the scene."
"I'm counting on you too, Tenma."
"Understood. I do bear a little bit of the responsibility... no, I suppose there's at least a tiiiiiny bit, so I'd be happy to accept the role..."
To make it look like I was providing proper protection, I summoned Slarin and Shiromaru and had them take up positions behind Maria and the others. Solomon was on standby inside my bag, since the corridors were a bit too narrow for flying.
So, in the order of myself, Maria, Slarin, Isabella, and Shiromaru, we made our way to the audience chamber — the source of the noise and vibrations — only to find the knights frozen in place before the door. It seemed the door wouldn't open.
Several knights were pushing with all their might, but the door showed no sign of budging, and the murmuring among the crowd around them grew steadily louder.
"Everyone, stand back!"
At Maria's words, the knights before the door simultaneously jumped backward and saluted.
"What was that sound?!"
Following us, the King and his entourage also appeared, causing a brief moment of chaos in front of the door.
The King surveyed the area, spotted me, confirmed who was absent, and seemed to grasp the cause of the incident, letting out a sigh.
"All knights and servants except the Royal Guard and Tenma, return to your posts. The Minister of Military Affairs was likely conducting some experiment or another. My apologies for the disturbance."
The King's apology sent the knights and servants into a flurry of bows as they hurried away from the door.
Having confirmed their departure, the King ordered the Royal Guard members besides the usual ones to secure the surrounding area, then turned to face me.
"So if Tenma is with Maria, does that mean Lyle used a Golem in there?"
It seemed the King already knew why I was here, and he was asking to confirm.
I nodded and explained everything that had happened so far. However, since it seemed Lady Isabella didn't know about what Lady Maria had told me, and there was a possibility that even Caesar-sama and the others didn't know about the guardian business, I was deliberately vague on that part.
"How could they? They were supposed to be my ace in the hole, and they go and do something so conspicuous... My own son and grandson — who on earth did they take after..."
The King was lamenting the two of them, but everyone else present was surely of one mind on the matter. "That'd be you," they all thought...
"Your Majesty, are you saying those two take after me...? My sincerest apologies."
Just as everyone was fighting the urge to call him out, Lady Maria apologized in a cold tone and bowed her head.
The King realized his slip of the tongue at that point. His face went pale and he tried to say something, but Lady Maria ignored him and turned to face me.
"Tenma,
those two who are like me
are acting like idiots and it's such a mess — can't anything be done about it?"
As Lady Maria made her request of me, she simultaneously took a jab at the King while asking if there was any solution.
The door was still sealed shut. Jean and the others were combining their strength to push against it, but the Golem was apparently holding it firm from the inside, and it wasn't budging any more than before. Moreover, they couldn't just recklessly break the door to the audience hall, so Jean and the others seemed to have no other options.
"I think I can probably do it. But could I get your permission to restrain Lyle and Luna? I won't do anything to injure them, of course."
At my words, Lady Maria answered before the King could even open his mouth.
"That's fine with me. As long as they aren't seriously hurt, I'll turn a blind eye to minor injuries. I'll take full responsibility — after all, I'm the root cause of all this."
Lady Maria kept needling the King at every turn. That earlier remark must have really gotten under her skin. And honestly, if the two of them didn't take after the King personality-wise, then saying they took after her was pretty much the same as saying that to everyone present. The King was going to have to apologize properly at some point, or this would keep coming back to haunt him.
"Well then, now that I have your permission... Slarin, I'm counting on you. Help me capture those two."
I called Slarin over, gave a brief explanation, and then waited together in front of the door.
"Slarin, it'll only be an instant, so don't miss the timing... Golem! Open the door!"
I shouted my command at the Golem through the door, and for just an instant, the force holding the door loosened slightly. Pressing against it at the same moment, I managed to create a small gap. However, the Golem quickly executed what appeared to be a command from Caesar-sama, and the gap began to close again. Still, that brief instant was more than enough for Slarin, who slipped smoothly into the audience chamber without a hitch.
The gap had most likely formed because the Golem hesitated over which command to prioritize: mine, registered first as a provisional registration, or Caesar-sama's, which came second but was a full registration. In the end, the Golem prioritized Caesar-sama's full registration. If that hadn't worked, I would have had to ask Slarin to take a longer detour.
That said, those Golems do have a basic learning ability, so I probably won't be able to use this method again. I'd really prefer to only have to pull a stunt like this once, and I intend to succeed this one time, so there's no problem.
After waiting in front of the door for a short while, things grew noisy inside, then quickly fell silent.
I reissued my command for the Golem to open the door, and the door that had been sealed shut began to slowly swing open.
"It's open. Please, go ahead."
Once the door was fully open, it shifted to the side, and Maria was the first to stride briskly into the audience chamber.
"Lyle! Luna!... Wait, oh? They're not here..."
Maria burst in while shouting, but when she couldn't spot the culprits anywhere in the audience chamber, she stood frozen in disbelief, as though punched in the gut.
While Maria was scanning the room, Slarin—who had entered earlier—approached her, spread its body wide as if opening its mouth, and spat out the two culprits.
"Oof!"
"Blgh!"
"Gah! Slarin, you startled me!"
The two were spat out with a plop, slamming their behinds and faces into the floor and tumbling pathetically at Maria's feet. Maria let out a cute yelp of surprise at the sudden appearance of the two, and then, as if trying to cover it up, turned her irritation on Slarin. Slarin bounced its body once in an apologetic gesture before returning to my side.
"Good work, Slarin. Though come to think of it, it seems the Golem's commands reset when the contract holder is moved out of range."
What I'd asked Slarin to do was capture Lyle and Luna inside the space within Slarin's body. Because of that, once Caesar-sama was moved outside the Golem's detection range, the Golem bumped my command up to first priority. If the command had been something like "hold the door shut indefinitely," it's possible it would have ignored my order entirely—but Caesar-sama had only given a simple command like "hold the door," so it worked.
While I was mulling these things over, Lyle and Luna found themselves surrounded by the royal family members. It looked like the lecture was about to begin.
"Lady Maria, it doesn't seem like today will be suitable for configuring the Golems, so I'll take my leave here. As for those Golems, I'd like to take them back first to check for any damage, then bring them again."
The lecture was shaping up to be a long one, so I decided to remove myself from the scene. In that state, there was no way anyone could calmly discuss Golem configuration, and if I waited until the lecture was over, I wouldn't get home until well into the night.
Whether she understood what I was thinking or not, Maria wore a guilty expression on her face.
"I'm sorry about this, Tenma. Those idiots made this twice the work. Tida, see Tenma off. After that, if your work is done, you're free to go."
"And Isabella, take Luna to my room. I'm leaving Luna in your care."
"Yes, Mother. Luna, let's go."
"Yes..."
Lady Isabella took Luna by the hand and left the room. Luna kept her head down the entire time, and Tida and I simply watched them being dismissed in silence.
"Tenma, let's head out too."
"Yeah. Well then, everyone, I'll take my leave."
I bowed to the Kings surrounding Lyle. They all glanced my way and gave a brief wave, then immediately turned their attention back to Lyle.
I couldn't see past the Kings, but the situation was probably something like watching a brat get ganged up on and scolded by adults. The scolders were the country's top-tier power players, and the one getting scolded was equally powerful—though in Lyle's case, he was the kind of power player almost nobody in the country could afford to defy, which only made this whole mess worse. And as a bonus, it all came from playing around with something close to classified material.
"Someday, Tida, you'll be scolding Luna just like that. And with no other siblings or cousins to share the burden, you'll have your hands full alone."
"Ha ha ha ha ha... Hah... Please don't make me think about that. Just the thought of it gives me a headache already... When the time comes to actually scold her, should I call you too, Tenma?"
"I'll pass."
They were already talking as if it was a foregone conclusion that Luna would cause some kind of trouble. Looking back at her usual behavior, and seeing someone who bore a striking resemblance to Luna getting chewed out, I could hardly blame them for jumping to that conclusion. But what was Tida thinking, trying to drag me into this? I was still a commoner, for crying out loud... Well, I supposed the fact that I was already on casual terms with a future king—and both the current and next king at that—proved I wasn't exactly an ordinary commoner, but I really wished he wouldn't rope me into anything that troublesome.
Chattering about this and that, we left the royal castle, where a horse-drawn carriage was already waiting. It was apparently there to take us home. When I asked Tida to confirm, she said Lady Maria had arranged it.
Well, being escorted home was the least they could do, but I was curious about when Lady Maria had found the time to arrange it. She'd barely left my side the whole time we were in the castle, so maybe she'd had it prepared from the start.
I asked Tida to pass along my thanks to Lady Maria, and as I climbed into the carriage, I suddenly remembered something.
"Oh! I almost forgot, but I'm planning to leave the Royal Capital soon, so let the Kings know for me. See ya!"
"Wha—oh, yes, understood... Wait, Tenma!"
I shouted it back just as the carriage started moving, so Tida initially didn't catch what I'd said. But by the time she called my name, the carriage was already picking up speed, so all she could do was stand there in stunned silence. If it had been Luna or Lyle, they would have shouted at the top of their lungs, stopped the carriage, and come running after me.
But well, tomorrow there would probably be either a summons to the castle or a surprise raid on my house, so we could have the full conversation then.
Even if the Kings were fine with it, the real problem was Grandpa. He probably wouldn't oppose it, but he'd almost certainly insist on coming along... I'd never been on an adventure with Grandpa before, so it sounded like it could be fun, but honestly the idea of adventuring with a guardian tagging along left me feeling a bit lukewarm about it.
Either way, tonight was going to involve a long discussion.
As I was rocked by the carriage, I began working through several plans so that no matter how the conversation went, I'd be prepared.