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Chapter 330 – To the Western Part of the Kingdom of Merinard
“So that’s what happened.”
“Melty-neesan was so scary.”
In the air board driven by Bella, I heard about the raid on the spy’s secret base that took place after the assassination attempt and the subsequent interrogation while I was moving to the planned construction site of the pioneer village.
“Melty, seriously scary.”
“Haha
 that girl is just like that
”
It is rare to see Shumel, who is always so calm and composed, smile bitterly. The picture was so bad that even Shumel had to react in this way. Incidentally, Grande is also accompanying us, but as usual, she is sleeping buried in the cushions in the back seat. Dragons sleep well.
“Danna-san didn’t seem too scared of them, huh?”
“I understand the scary side of Melty and Lime and the others, but I also understand the more loving side. When that scary side turns on me, it’s probably the result of something I did, and I have no choice but to accept it, or rather, there’s no way to resist it, so there’s no point in being scared.”
“Hmm? You can resist, can’t you?”
“There’s probably a way to do it, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it until then.”
If it comes to that Melty and Lime and the others, either one of them will defeat the other unilaterally because they both know what each other is capable of. In any case, if I were to try to deal with these girls, I would have to do something about it with a surface control system that is impossible to evade or counterattack, so the damage to the surrounding area would be too great.
“Well, it’s love, isn’t it?”
“Love, I wonder?”
Tozume is tilting her head. Let’s just call it love. A situation where I could make Melty, Lime, and the others that angry and be subjected to that without question would not occur unless I conspired to kill the Merinard royal family, including Sylphy, in my case, though. I can assure you that I would never be in a situation where I would have to do such a thing, so there is no reason for me to be afraid of them.
Even if the situation were to arise that I would die if I didn’t kill Sylphy and the others, I would choose to die in defiance of that something that put me in a situation where I had to do so. If I have to kill Sylphy, or the world will be destroyed, I will destroy the world and go to hell together with Sylphy. My love is super heavyweight.
“We’re almost there.”
“Yay!”
The development of the new village is to be done mainly in the rural areas, not in the vicinity of Merinesburg. The area around Merinesburg is the vicinity of the royal capital, and there are a good number of satellite cities, and several villages have already been developed in the vicinity of these satellite cities. Some of the farmland abandoned by the Holy Kingdom’s retreat from the region has been put on the back burner, as the redevelopment of the land will provide a certain amount of employment.
Also, south of Erichburg, during the period when we were based in Erichburg, I ran around to establish large-scale food production sites―in other words, large-scale farmland―and employment measures are already underway, so it has been postponed.
And, as for the area east of Merinesburg, the border with the Holy Kingdom is close, so there is some concern that I can only take a small number of guards with me at this stage, and there is not that much manpower to secure employment because there are many recruiting slots in the Royal Army of Merinard. In fact, because of its proximity to the Holy Kingdom, there were many devout Adol believers, and many residents moved to the Holy Kingdom or rather took refuge there. Hence, there is a shortage of labor there. Therefore, the east side was also put on the back burner.
Therefore, I will be working in the western and northern parts of the Merinard Kingdom this time.
Since I had been living in the north from the end of last year to the spring of this year, I thought about starting with the north, but I decided to start with the west, which I have had little to do with until now. I hadn’t seen Ms. Zamir for a while, so I wanted to see what she had to offer.
“Wow, it’s a pretty impressive city, isn’t it?”
“Yes, indeed. Is it about the same size as Erichburg?”
The name of the city that came into view in the distance was Meuseberg. The city is the center of the western part of the Merinard Kingdom and is a key point of trade with the small states union and the Dragonis mountain kingdom.
☆★☆
The area around the gates of Meuseberg was not very lively for a place that is considered to be the center of trade. Perhaps it was because we were out of the busiest time of the day, but it didn’t seem to have a good atmosphere.
“The atmosphere is kind of bad, isn’t it?”
“And we’re getting a lot of stares.”
“Maybe they’re staring at us because air boards are so rare.”
“I don’t think that’s the only reason.”
While we were talking like that, it was our turn for the introductory screening.
“That’s an unfamiliar vehicle, isn’t it?”
The human guards looked at us suspiciously. Since we were certainly a strange group of people riding in a suspicious-looking vehicle, it was inevitable that we would be treated in this way.
“Hello, Guardsman-san. I’m Kosuke. I’m the leader of this group.”
“I see. What is your purpose for entering the city?”
“To meet with General Zamir, who is the Western Protector by order of the Queen. Here is the letter of appointment and the identity card.”
With these words, I took out from my inventory a letter of appointment, documents proving my identity, and a dagger. All of them have the coat of arms of the Merinard royal family. The reaction of the guard who suddenly took these items out of my inventory was.
“He-Her Majesty the Queen’s! Certainly, this is the royal family’s coat of arms
 and, Hi-His Highness Prince Consort
?”
“Yes, I am the prince’s consort. Therefore, I am not a suspicious person. By the way, I am a good friend of General Zamir.”
“I-I beg your pardon!”
The guard, who at first looked at us suspiciously, bowed down on his knees. Yes, the guards did nothing wrong. It was our fault for flying from Merinesburg to Meuseberg in less than half a day with only a few escorts without warning. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.
“No, it’s our fault for coming here without notice, so don’t worry about it. We’ll go to Ms. Zamir on our own as long as you tell us the location.”
“Ah, no, we will send a guide and an escort. Please wait.”
“I don’t need an escort, just a guide, and I’d appreciate it if you’d lead the way.”
“Y-yes!”
At the direction of the guard, who was so flustered that I felt sorry for him, four guards on horseback moved to the front and back of the air board we were riding on. They were going to lead the way.
“Thank you. Keep up the serious and honest work.”
“Understood! Even at the cost of our lives!”
I wave my hand down to the guard, who replies in a loud voice with firm caution and begin to move along the main street of Meuseberg, following the horseman’s lead. Today, we left Merinesburg first thing in the morning and arrived in Meuseberg before noon, speeding along the side of the street at high speed. It was just about lunchtime, and there seemed to be a lot of people coming and going in Meuseberg.
“It’s quite lively inside compared to outside.”
“Maybe it was just the time of day that it was so quiet outside the gates.”
“Maybe. Bella, don’t hit anything.”
“I know.”
Bella’s air board driving skills have improved dramatically since her first ride. She would not do anything like bump into people or buildings now. Moreover, with three guards on horseback in front of us and one behind us, the residents would avoid us even if we did nothing, so the risk of coming into contact with anything is even lower.
“We will be arriving at the headquarters of the Western Command of the Kingdom of Merinard shortly!”
“Copy that. Bella, with that being said, be careful.”
“Roger that.”
It’s not easy to keep an air board completely still. Please be careful because it would be a pity to dig up the ass of an innocent horse. In fact, it would be the middle of the hind legs, not the ass, but it would be more dangerous because of the risk of broken bones.
Despite my concerns, Bella made a perfect stop, and we arrived at the headquarters of the Western Command of the Kingdom of Merinard. One of the mounted guards leading us jumped off his horse and ran toward the building in front of the headquarters. It was an all-out dash.
“Grande, we’ve arrived!”
“Nnh
?”
With a sideways glance, I found Grande buried in the cushion, and I smoothed her cheeks and woke her up. Grande is a dragon, so she is lazy. Basically, unless I need her to protect me, all she does is eat or sleep. It can’t be helped; she’s a dragon. Basically, dragons are neet-natured.
The tail makes her a little heavier than she looks, but still not so much that I can’t carry her, so I carry Grande, who is still sleepy, down the air board. Grande is used to it, and she puts her hands around my neck, rests her chin on my right shoulder, and wraps her tail around my torso.
As I do so, I get off the air board just as Ms. Zamir emerges from the command building. It seems that she is not carrying the meteor of the mithril cross spear on her shoulder today.
“It’s been a while. I’ve come to take care of a few things.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time. I have been waiting for you.”
Ms. Zamir bared her jagged teeth at that. Yes, I’m glad to see that Ms. Zamir’s slightly scary smile seems to be the same as ever.