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Chapter 278 – I’m Here♪
Three days later, I contacted Sylphy and the others in Merinesburg via the golem communicator to tell them that I had destroyed the border fort of the Duchy of Dihart and the Kingdom of Tigris.
“I’m here…”
“Oh, you’re here…”
As soon as she arrived, she said a mischievous line, but this person was the former queen of the Merinard Kingdom. She has a lovely smile on her face, but she is Sylphy’s mother. In other words, she is my mother-in-law.
But I don’t know what she likes about me; she is rather aggressive in her approach. She has just lost her husband… Or is it because she has just lost her husband? The male-female relationship or chastity in this world is too complicated and bizarre for me to understand.
Well, it’s possible that one of my abilities, the achievement, has raised her liking for me to an unthinkable level… but I’m not sure how to handle it. As expected of Sylphy’s mother, she is just like a beautiful and lovely Onee-san. I mean, yes, she’s like a legitimate elf. No, she has big boobs, so is it hard to say she’s an authentic elf?
“Geez… what are you looking at?”
“No, well, yeah, that… I’m sorry.”
“Men love women’s breasts, don’t they?”
With her right hand on her cheek and her left arm lifting her large breasts, Seraphita-san smiles cheerfully. Kuh, she understands her own charm…!
The other day, Seraphita-san lost her mind when Poizo prescribed her “a medicine that makes you more honest,” and she was very sweet to me for a few days; I guess she may have blown something out after that, but recently she has been approaching me straightforwardly, not hiding her fondness for me at all.
I wonder about that in several ways.
“Because my mother is in a difficult position… well, please take care of her.”
And Sylphy told me to accept her in a roundabout way.
“If Mother is okay with it, then I’m okay with it too, you know?”
Driada-san pressed me with that.
“…..”
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing!”
“That’s hot! Hey, stop it!”
Ifrita was in a bad mood and hit me with little fireballs that looked like sparks.
“Filthy.”
Aquawill-san looked at me as if I were garbage.
In other words, the reaction of the four sisters was two in favor, one against, and one unsure. No, apparently, Ifrita seems to be quite close to agreeing with me because she seems to be trying to stick by me quite a bit even though she looks unhappy… Maybe I’m being self-conscious, but I feel like she is burning up with jealousy.
“…That’s the queen, isn’t it?”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
“…I don’t think it’s a surprise, but it’s still startling for me to witness it.”
The oni girls are whispering to each other when they see the exchange between Seraphita-san and me. Can’t you girls stop talking in an audible voice?
“So, what brought you here…?”
“Well, I’m here to assist Kosuke-san, of course.”
“Assist?”
“Yes. To assist in diplomatic negotiations to settle this war.”
“Eh, I’m going to do it?”
“Yes, Her Majesty Queen Sylphiel said so.”
Seraphita-san smiles as she says so.
Eehh…? How can that be? I think that Sylphy, as the head of the country, should take the lead when it comes to diplomatic relations.
“I’ll ask her later about what’s going on.”
“Yes, please do so. The secret of a happy marriage is to talk well together, after all.”
☆★☆
“Anyway, tell me how all this happened from the ground up.”
“U-umu… that’s it, though.”
Sylphy’s voice, coming from the other end of the golem communicator, was very slurred.
The summary of the words spun in a slurred voice is that the current Merinard kingdom is absolutely short of personnel to go to other countries to conduct diplomacy, or rather, there’s almost no such personnel.
In this world, being a diplomat is a very dangerous position. In some cases, diplomats may be captured or executed, so they usually take a certain amount of force with them in case of such a situation, and they are also required to have a certain amount of self-defense capability.
And basically, the values of this world are male-dominated. There are many women in the upper echelons of the Merinard Kingdom today, and the male-female ratio of soldiers tends to be skewed in favor of women, but usually, high-ranking positions are held by men, and most of those who serve in the military are also men. At least in other countries.
The generals of the Holy Kingdom and their vassal states, the Duchy of Dihart and the Kingdom of Tigris, were all men, and nearly 80% of the members of the diplomatic mission from the Varyag Empire were men. The emissaries from the Dragonis mountain kingdom were also male. In a world with such values, it would be a bit unreasonable for a woman to serve as a diplomatic envoy.
“There are other nobles of the Merinard Kingdom, like Sir Leonard and Danan, aren’t there?”
“Leonard and Danan cannot be moved from the east and south. Worg is not good enough. Kosuke is the only man who is of good status, who can defend himself, and who can move freely and be trusted.”
Sylphy’s voice comes over the golem communicator as if she is chewing on a bitter bug.
“I was thinking of sending Mother and Anee-sama as diplomatic envoys, but the Holy Kingdom still wants the elven woman who possesses mighty magical powers. If we send Mother or Anee-sama as a diplomatic envoy, they may be captured immediately.”
“If you put it that way, even I, a holy man of the Adol nostalgic faction and a prince consort and the one who holds the logistics of the Royal Army of Merinard, am at high risk of being captured or assassinated, you know? No, I don’t mind going to other countries as a diplomatic envoy. But isn’t that risky?”
“That’s true, but…”
Sylphy stammered.
“Well, if it’s me, unless I die instantly from a surprise attack, I’m sure I’ll be able to survive and probably well suited for the job.”
“…..”
The silence of Sylphy means affirmation.
“E-even for me, I don’t want Kosuke to go to a dangerous place.”
“Okay, okay, don’t cry.”
I can hear her sniffling over the golem communicator.
“But we need to train diplomats urgently. It’s a bit odd to put it this way, but it’s a pretty bad situation when the only qualified personnel you have are those who could be fatal if captured and killed.”
“Melty has already begun to select and train personnel. But right now, it’s…”
“That’s right. The personnel who need that kind of advanced training can not be taken from the field.”
A diplomat is a position that requires a high level of knowledge and experience. In this world, a certain level of status is also required of the individual. I am an amateur diplomat, but I have a position as Sylphy’s spouse, and I have the power to protect the delegation, including myself. Seraphita-san has the know-how and knowledge to negotiate with people from other countries, and she is a former queen, so she has status, but she is a woman and not strong enough to protect herself.
But with the two of us together, we can fulfill our role as diplomatic envoys. The three oni girls, Grande, fifty elite riflemen, and a few harpies would be enough to escort us, and if we had a staff to take care of Seraphita-san’s personal needs and a civil servant, it would probably be enough for a hastily created diplomatic mission.
“I understand the situation. But I thought that if we were going to negotiate, Melty would come.”
“At first, I was planning to send Melty, but then… Mother came forward and said that Melty would have a lot of work to do in Merinesburg, that she would have time on her hands, that she would be able to fulfill the role, and that if she were to be assassinated, it would not have a major impact on the mission.”
“No, it would be a big deal if she was assassinated.”
“Of course, it would be a big deal, but it’s true that it wouldn’t shake the very foundation of the Merinard kingdom. Melty is certainly busy, and there is no doubt that it would be better for her to stay in Merinesburg. If Melty were to be assassinated or captured, the Merinard kingdom could collapse from within.”
“I can’t see any vision of Melty being assassinated or captured.”
“I don’t either.”
I think Melty would tear them to shreds even if they put iron fetters on him. If it’s Melty, even if she’s bound with iron shackles, she’s going to tear them off. Because she tore through a thick blast-proof door with her bare hands before… I get shivers down my spine when I think back to that time.
Anyway, I guess that means I’ll stick around until the end on this one. Understood. So, what’s the direction you’re going with the policy? Reparations? We don’t want any territory, right?
“Yeah, we don’t need the territory. We should focus more on the inside than the outside now, and there are plenty of places in the country that need to be cultivated. But if we are going to talk about it, it would be better if we included Mother in the discussion, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ll go get her.”
“Yes.”
I went to call Seraphita-san, and the three of us had a long talk about the diplomatic policy with the two northern countries.