Chapter 535 – Arrived at the Royal Capital!
Author: Eguchi Ren
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou >_<
Eguchi Ren: The Royal Capital Arc has started~
“Ooooh~~ so this is the Royal Capital?”
From Grandpa Gon’s back, I have a great view of a city that was bigger than any other city that I have ever seen in this world.
“”Hooh~~ it’s big!””
“”Big~~””
Dora-chan and Sui were also leaning forward and looking down at the Royal Capital.
“I can feel the presence of many people. Hmm, some are pretty strong,” said Fer. However, he was reclining lazily on his back, so I guess by ‘strong’ he probably meant ‘somewhat decent’ or at least ‘not weak’.
Still.
“Should we be worried?” I asked as scenes of me being forced into all kinds of troublesome situations appeared in my mind.
“Umu, I expect they must be high-ranking Adventurers or guards in the palace,”
“I see…”
“Master, where should I land?”
“Hmm, I guess that open field there should be fine?”
“Yes.”
Grandpa Gon began to slowly descend.
Eh, now that we’re nearing the ground, I get the feeling that the open field was a tad too close to the Royal Capital gates? Ah, but since the Guild Master already informed the Royal Capital that we’re coming, it should be fine, right?
It was only after Grandpa Gon had landed that I realised that I have a problem in my hand.
“Ahem, Guild Master? Willem-san? We have arrived at the Royal Capital!”
He looked a lot older than me, but he was still a bulky former Adventurer. I could hardly shake him.
“Huh? Mmm… aah, aaahhhh!!! Let me off! Let me off!!!”
[1]
Well, since we already landed…
“Okay, you can get off now,” I said cheerfully.
My unexpectedly ‘cheerful’ voice must have thrown him for the loop, because instead of rolling off Grandpa Gon’s back, Willem-san went deathly still. Then, he peeked nervously down.
Seeing the bright green gra.s.sland so near must have comforted him because his entire body went limp with relief.
“I- I- I- ahem, I have shown a shameful side of myself to Mukouda-san,” said Willem-san shame-facedly.
“No, no, you should have heard me scream the first time I travelled on Grandpa Gon, hahaha!”
“Hahaha…”
Fortunately, neither of us was interested in pursuing the topic. When I changed the subject with an ‘Oh look, there’s a long line at the gate, let’s go now.’ Willem-san was very cooperative and quickly answered, ‘Oh, oh, yes, indeed. Ahem, let’s get down now.’
Thus, we slid off Grandpa Gon’s back and landed with a soft thump on the soft, gra.s.sy meadow.
I pretended not to hear Willem-san saying ‘Firm ground is the best’. I must respect his dignity after all. Not to mention, I felt that statement to the core.
While Grandpa Gon shrank to a less shocking size and the rest of us gathered ourselves together, I noticed Fer looking in the direction of the Royal Capital, and I looked as well.
“Hm? Guild Master, there seems to be a lot of people in armour coming towards us. Are they… knights?”
Their metallic armour was certainly better than the standard soldiers’, but less gaudy than the ones worn by the so-called Holy Knights of Rubanov.
“Those armour… I believe they are Imperial Knights.”
[1] [2]
“Eh? Imperial Knights as in… knights for the royal family?”
“They must have sent the Imperial Knights out to welcome you. Especially since I informed them that we will be coming via dragon transport…”
“Ah,” I supposed such an ill.u.s.trious ‘welcome wagon’ was sent out because I brought such dangerous familiars so close to their city? Well, I can’t blame them.
F-for some reason, I felt nervous at the sight of the large men in s.h.i.+ny armour on huge horses riding straight at me. [3] Um, wow, they lined up in such exact lines too. The j.a.panese in me felt very gratified to see such discipline.
“First Imperial Knight Division is here to welcome S Ranker Adventurer Mukouda-dono at the orders of the king!”
“… eh…” [3] ah, the white-collar worker in me is shrinking with terror at this incredible comment. Me? Mukouda? Being invited by royalty? D-do you know what facing the royalty is like for a person like me? It’s like a lowly convenience store worker meeting with the prime minister! The prime minister, you know!?
“So, it has come to this…” I muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Willem-san said.
“Nothing…”
“Well, the king has been wanting to meet you for a while now. So, even if you haven’t arrived on a dragon, he might have sent the Imperial Knights to welcome you anyway. So, cheer up.”
Gununu, Willem-san sounded too happy for my taste.
Haahhh, I want to go home already…
“Fine, whatever. Let’s go,” I raised my head and called my familiars over, “Hey, you guys, time to go into the Capital.”
When my familiars gathered close to me, the Imperial Knights suddenly broke rank and… surrounded us?!
“Um, this…” I whispered to Willem-san.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s just a little precaution,” Willem-san said with that too-wide smile.
Kind of like that time we were in Ronkainen? I sent a quick telepathic message out to my familiars ‘Don’t do anything crazy! We’re going to the palace now!’.
“”The palace? Not to the Leviathan dismantling place?””
“”Because it’s only polite to meet the king first! There are orders to these things, you know?”” I was just running my mouth now, but still, it makes sense to greet the hostess or landlord first when you arrive in a new place. So… yes, let’s just think of the king as the ultimate landlord here. I, Mukouda, am meeting with the landlord. I even brought some souvenirs for him.
“”Umu, it’s been a long time since I have met with a King of Men. The last king was an idiot who tried to have me killed. I wonder what this one would do? Kukukuk.””
My face twitched at Fer’s [4] chuunibyou remark.
“”Just… don’t start anything okay? Promise me!””
“”Hmph, fine.””
“”Fine what?!””
“”Fine, I won’t start anything.””
Before I could sigh with relief, Grandpa Gon said, “”The last King of Men I met wanted parts of my body as ingredients for something. I decimated him with my Dragon Breath.””
I could feel myself going white from that casually horrendous remark.
“”Grandpa Gon, you promise too!!””
“”… I promise not to start anything…””
““Good,””
“”…however, I shall finish whatever they started.””
“”What?!””
[2]
In short, it was a very stressful walk. I have no idea what kind of faces I was making. The only silver lining was that neither Dora-chan nor Sui appeared interested in fighting or ‘starting’ anything. They were busy looking at things and going ‘wow, that stall looks delicious’ or ‘so many people~~’.
Hhhaaaahhhh…
Will we be alright, I wonder?
We are… in front of the door to the audience chamber.
I stared at the ma.s.sive doors with trepidation while my familiars were… doing whatever it is that they always do. Willem-san was next to me, looking nervous too. Oddly enough, his nervousness calmed my nerves down a little.
“Oi, I forgot to look through your tribute, is it alright?”
That’s right, in the whole rush to come here, I have forgotten to ask Willem-san to check my souven- I mean, my royal tribute to the king. However, it was too late to worry about that now, because the treasure chest had already been taken away by the Imperial Knights to be checked for curses, poisons and other ‘bad juju’. You know, standard security things in this world.
Haha.
“I guess it should be fine? I put in a bit more than usual since I came here in person…”
Willem-san looked at me with dubious eyes.
Hey, do I look like an untrustworthy person to you!?
“Haahhh… I guess there’s nothing we could do about it now,” he muttered.
However, I was too preoccupied to worry about Willem-san’s random comments. The things that occupy my mind now are imperial manners and etiquette. Every time I met with Willem-san, it was all about greetings, walking, manner of dress and other important please-don’t-take-off-my-head stuff. I don’t have a spare minute to worry about the souvenirs. If there’s anything lacking I can just supplement it later. After all, I have the Leviathan, right? I wonder how much Leviathan liver goes for. Do Leviathan even have a liver? Or maybe the heart?
No, no, I should be thinking about other things!
Uh, let’s see. Walk in steadily, keep my eyes ahead, don’t look at the king directly, don’t look around like someone from the boonies… and kneeling! Kneel on one knee and, ahhh!! I’ll just do whatever the Guild Master does!!
Then, the door opened and that was just what I did.
Before I knew it, I had walked down the wide carpeted floor and was on one knee with my left hand over my chest. My eyes stare at the incredibly clean carpet. Wow, do they clean it with magic or something?
“Raise your head.”
So, we raised our heads.
And then, well, nothing much. Because all the talking was done by Willem-san. I kept quiet on the side and did my best not to look behind me as my familiars made comments via telepathy about the room, the king and the situation in general.
Whatever, it’s all fine so long as you guys don’t do anything drastic!!
Then, the heavy doors of the audience room, which had closed behind us just now, swung open again.
[Gumihou: Aaahhh!! I feel stressed just translating this!!]
[1] Adjusted the scene so that it’s more dynamic.
[2] Adjusted the dialogue so that it is less stilted and unnatural
[3] Added some ‘the j.a.panese in me’ comments because Eguchi-san is too j.a.panese to know that he is showing his j.a.panese-ness, but Gumi could see it~~
[4] Eh, might as well throw this in too. Chuunibyou literally translates as Eighth Grader Sickness, it means someone who suffers from delusions of greatness/uniqueness