1095: Esmeralda

It seems Count Bailleys was also in charge of investigating whether or not Satia was plotting anything.

Satia and Fran waited in the reception room for about half an hour after he left, then Satia was led into a different room by herself.

Fran simply stayed behind. Since Satia was having an audience with King Kranzel, she was not allowed to bring any escorts.

Everyone knows the royal family of Phyllius uses demonic powers, so they wanted to minimize her forces in case she was trying to assassinate the king or something. They probably had no clue how Fran would react to such an event either.

The other purpose was probably so they could get the upper hand. Even though Kranzel wanted to form an alliance with Phyllius, they also wanted to maintain a position of superiority in their alliance.

Thus by forcing Satia to be alone in a crowd of Kranzel’s knights, they wanted to imply who stood at the top of the Kranzel-Phyllius alliance.

I guess international diplomacy can’t be completely friendly. They always have these kinds of political games.

Still, it’s not like they were treating Fran poorly. In fact, she was treated to an endless stream of snacks while waiting. Her plates were replaced almost as fast as they were emptied.

She’s already devoured enough super expensive snacks to feed like ten people. The few maids serving her watched all of this without a single change in expression. If I was them, I’m sure my face would be twitching right now. I can say without a doubt that these maids are true professionals.

Unexpectedly, Fran was actually the one whose face twitched first. She had sensed the slightest trace of a suspicious presence right outside the castle grounds.

The presence was far away and only lasted an instant, so there was no way to chase it down. However, they were clearly using some kind of skill or magic to conceal themselves.

（An enemy?）

『Hmm, can’t say for sure. We can’t sense any hostility or malice at this distance.』

Maybe it was an enemy spy, or maybe just one of Kranzel’s secret agents. We don’t want to make a fuss if it’s the latter.

And we were not the only ones reacting to the presence. Or rather, it seemed more like they were reacting to Fran’s reaction. It came from one of the maids standing at the corner of the room.

We knew this maid was way stronger than the others, so she was probably assigned to monitor us or something. She walked toward us with her left hand covering her ear.

「Did you notice?」

「The person outside the castle?」

「As I thought… you are very impressive.」

The maid showed her surprise at Fran’s ability to sense the distant presence. However, she quickly returned to a straight face and told Fran to ignore it.

「We are already on the case. Please do not move at this time.」

「…Okay.」

The earring on her left ear must be a magical communication device. She must have used it to check on the situation outside.

「What’s going on?」

「We don’t know the details yet, but there is a strong possibility that someone has concealed themselves with magic and infiltrated the capital.」

A Raydoss spy? Kranzel has sent many of its forces north, weakening the security around the capital. It wouldn’t surprise me if Raydoss sent spies in to take advantage of the opening.

Fran started to look a bit impatient and bored, but she isn’t allowed to do whatever she wants.

We’re still waiting for Satia, and any suspicious movements within the castle will make her a criminal.

Another hour passed. The black hole in Fran’s stomach was starting to get full, when Satia finally came back. The expression on her face indicated her meeting with the king bore fruit.

「Fran-san, I will be staying here at the castle. Your escort request is now complete.」

「Nn. Okay.」

「I am truly, truly grateful.」

Satia bowed her head deeply. Remaining in the castle means, in a sense, that she is a hostage. She will never truly be able to relax.

Even so, Satia was smiling. She was determined to fulfill her mission.

「I will do my best to bridge together the two countries.」

Fran encouraged Satia with a faint smile, hugging her.

「Nn. Do your best. But don’t overdo it.」

「Right.」

「I’ll come back to see you soon.」

「Thank you…!」

They hugged each other for a while longer.

After parting ways with Satia, our next stop was the Adventurers Guild. Or so I thought, but apparently we still had some business here. The maid told us to wait a bit longer.

In the very same room Fran had waved goodbye to Satia a few minutes ago, someone else entered. A short, elderly woman sitting on top of a weird object. Is that a sofa made out of sand?

The elderly woman was covered in wrinkles and looked weak in both appearance and from the aura she gave off. However, there’s no way anyone capable of controlling such potent dust magic can be weak. She must be incredibly good at hiding her strength.

Her white hair had a slight greenish tinge, and she wore a beautiful robe embroidered with grass and tree motifs. Her hair ornament and accessories were also stylish, giving her the appearance of a refined old lady.

However, this impression faded the moment she opened her mouth.

「Sorry for barging in unannounced. You’re the Black Lightning Princess, I take it?」

She had an incredibly hoarse voice and tone.

「Nn. Who are you?」

「Hyah-hyah-hyah. The name’s Esmeralda, just a pitiful old hag whose comfortable retirement got taken away by my incompetent former subordinates.」

「?」

Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was retired given her age. But what is a retired old lady doing here? As we went silent in confusion, the maid explained.

「This woman was originally the head of the Kranzel’s intelligence department.」

「Over 20 years ago, yeah. Then they pulled me back in because they were short on staff after the Ashtner incident.」

「I am incredibly sorry. However, we require Esmeralda-sama of the “Dusty Throne” to make up for our losses.」

「Hmph. Your failure was letting the revolt happen in the first place. I even told you to keep your eyes on Ashtner when I retired. Fine, guess I’ll have to empty the treasury for my services again. More importantly, I have a request for you, Black Lightning Princess.」

「Request?」

「Yeah. I’d love to hire you too, but you’re not interested in a government job, are you?」

「Nn. I’m an adventurer.」

「Yeah, I know. I like a girl who knows what they want. Serving your country is way too much trouble. Wanna guess how many times I’ve wished to go back to adventuring?」

「You were an adventurer?」

「Up until 40 years ago. I was formerly Rank A, you know.」

The same rank as Gamudo and his party, but she’s probably from an even earlier generation. At any rate, this old woman was clearly not someone we want to make enemies with.

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