Chapter 218: Entry

After entering the eastern district of Regalia through the east gate, we went into an inn in the same area and rented a room to relieve our fatigue.

Inside our room, Pochi jumped up and down on the bed, with Chappie watching her, his head bobbing up and down as well.

Bah, I can’t tell which one of them is the child anymore.

“Master! What are we gonna do after we wake up, sir?”

“First of all, we’ll go to check out the Douglas’ house. We aren’t being followed yet, so might as well go while we can. And after that, some sightseeing, I guess.”

“Ah, sightseeing! Nice! Good night, sir… ZZzzz…”

Whoa, she’s finally mastered the secret arts of instant sleep!

Even Chappie looks surprised.

I took off my mantle, preparing to change Leon’s diaper.

But then-

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

“Aah-ooh!”

Leon… stood up.

“F-father… Leole is walking!”

“O-oh…! He sure did! Here, over here, Leole!”

“Da-h!”

He took a step forward, both his arms held out in front of him.

“Just like that, Leole! Another step, and another! Ah-“

“He fell.”

“But he’s trying to get up again. AND he’s not even crying…!”

Leon eventually got up on his own, took another step, and another, until he reached me.

It was only a few meters, and fell down twice more, but he achieved it all by himself.

Once he was in front of me, Leon rested his feeble hands on mine.

“W-whoa! Awesome! You’re awesome, Leole!”

“This calls for a celebration!”

Chappie spread his wings and praised Leon, while I held the baby up high and expressed my joy.

I must be smiling even wider than Leon himself is.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Why didn’t you wake me up, sir!? WHY!?”

“C’mon, we were caught in the moment, yeah? So moved that we couldn’t stand it, really… right, Chappie?”

“It sure was! As someone of similar age, it’s such a joy to see him grow!”

I mean, sure, similar age. But not of a similar species! Anyway, moving on…

“It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

“C’mon, he already walked once – surely he’s gonna walk another time when he feels like it, right?”

“That’s not the point, sir! I wanted to see his FIRST steps!”

It’s not that I don’t understand her mindset, though – spur of the moment thing, I guess.

“Yeah, sorry. Whenever Leole does something for the first time, I’ll be sure to wake you up. That’s all I need to do, right?”

“Of course! I’ll consider that a promise, sir!”

Yeah, right, and when I do wake her up, she’s sure to complain about me waking her up…

But a promise, on her part, is a promise. She can’t talk back at me about that point.

After finishing our preparations, we left the inn.

It’s already past noon. We’ve been sleeping for quite a few hours, all tired from the running last night.

The moment I opened the inn’s door, the intense sunlight dazzled us.

“”MY EYES!! AHHHHHH!!””

Every. Single. Time. No need to worry about them.

Once my vision normalized, I was amazed by the sheer liveliness of the city.

“Whoa…”

They’re flowing along like rivers – people, people, people. And we’re still on the outskirts of the city.

Modern Regalia is awesome, too, but this era’s Regalia is… different.

Could it be because the Holy Emperor’s rule is just THAT good?

Oh, right, almost forgot – Polco’s note.

If I remember correctly, he’d told me to open it once I arrived.

While Pochi and Chappie waited for their eyes to adjust, I opened up the roll of paper Polco had given me.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

Head to the lake north of Regalia this evening, when the short hand of the clock reaches the twelfth hour.

Password: Adams and Fulbright

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

…I have a bad feeling about this.

“Master? You look… REALLY disturbed right now.”

“I feel like I got splashed at with a bucket of cold water.”

“Careful, sir – you might catch a cold.”

Seeing Pochi be so unusually calm and collected, I heaved a sigh, took a deep breath, and rearranged my thoughts.

“You know what? Just forget it – C’mon, let’s go.”

“”Yes, sir!””

“Nnn-dah!”

Leon is in a strangely good mood, perhaps because he’s finally back to where he was born.

Now then, if I remember correctly, the Douglas estate is located in the southern district.

First, we get a look at the place. Then we go sightseeing.

“…It’s so small, sir.”

“Small is the right word, yeah.”

“Are we sure this is the right place, father?”

“It SHOULD be…”

So here we are, the Douglas estate in the south district.

By aristocratic households’ standards, this is quite a small estate – hell, it actually looks more like a slightly large house.

From what I’m seeing, it DOES seem that they have money, but more on the middle-class level.

Not on the level of, say, being able to hire Chiquiata and Mu’myou.

“Might be just their outward appearance, sir. Maybe we should look into it more, sometime later.”

“Right…”

She’s got a point, they have no reason to flaunt their riches. According to Polco, the head of the Douglas household did give off the ‘tough guy’ impression.

“Now that we’re done here, let’s-“

“”FOOD!””

I knew it.

Blocking my ears from the ear-splitting voices from both sides, we walked around the city, with Pochi and Chappie’s senses of smell.

“Chicken meat is the best! The best, I say!”

She hasn’t been able to eat them for quite a while, but now she’s eating them like normal.

“Come on! You can’t hog all the chicken skin and drumsticks to yourself, mother!”

…By the way, wouldn’t Pochi’s meat be considered avian meat now?

Wait, no – I’ve only tampered with her status properties. Shouldn’t change anything physically… right?

…? Huh? Where’d Pochi and Chappie go now?

“Master, Master! Come take a look at these, sir!”

Pochi’s front paw is pointing at something I don’t have much interest in: a clothing store.

Oh? Has Pochi-doggo finally started feeling embarrassed by her exposed fur?

“Here, sir! Over here!”

I looked more closely, and saw a display corner at around the end.

Are these… glasses? But the lenses are… Ooh!?

“It’s called… sunglasses. But it looks nothing like the sun, sir.”

“Oh, I see… So you wear this to not get blinded by sunlight, huh?”

It’s a simple, but solid idea of an accessory.

“Master… I want these sunglasses!”

“And so do I, father!”

“Aah-ooh!”

“Not you too, Leon!”

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

“Aah-ooh…”

“…What the hell?”

Everyone except me is wearing sunglasses and flaunting around.

It’s like they’re trying to saying ‘How do we look? Awesome, right?’ or something…

“This is amazing! The world’s turned all dark, sir!”

“This is quite a transformation, father! What do you think? Does it look good on me!?”

“Dah-aah!”

“It’s not bad… I guess.”

“”OOOHHH!””

Ugh, I never could understand these beasts’ sensibilities.

The one Leon’s wearing doesn’t even match the size of his face… And are we sure this isn’t harmful to children?

Well, it’s something like a toy anyway – they’ll be bored of it soon enough.

Anyway, now that we’ve gone to the northern district then looped back here, the central district, I can totally see the ‘holiness’ of this place.

This place is still called, as I just learned, Holy City Regalia, before it’s later changed to the ‘Royal Capital’ Regalia. And I’m looking up at the center of it – the Holy Regalia Castle. Most people would prefer shortening it to ‘Holy Castle,’ I think?

A solid fortress of a castle, and an effective combination of elegance and grandeur. It sure looks like it won’t falter in the slightest under monsters’ attacks.

And over this way is… the Holy City Colosseum. The venue of the Familiar Chalice that Pochi will be fighting in, half a month from now.

…Huh?

“Ah, you’ve noticed too, Master?”

“Right, I never thought they’d started the registrations already. Since we’re here, we might as well get that out of the way.”

“Yes, sir!”

They’re accepting registrations for the Familiar Chalice in front of the Colosseum.

I just need to submit my entry here, and I’ll have all the time until the event to investigate the Douglas household.

The only requirements for participation are an entry fee of 100,000 Gold, and a Familiar level of over 100. There’s an ‘affiliation’ field in the entry form, too. Considering the day and age, it’s just for showing off, I guess.

While I was writing my form, Pochi and Chappie said they’d go take a look around the place and left. After I was done, I went to find them, walking around the Colosseum in the direction opposite to where they had gone.

Still, it didn’t take that long for me to find Pochi.

…Hmm? She doesn’t look… normal?

She’s just standing there, petrified. I shouted out to her, but she didn’t respond.

It looks like she’s surprised by something. Then, when I got closer, seeing what was beyond the obscuring shadow, I knew why she was like that.

“It’s been long since we last met. You are… Poer, if I remember correctly? I’ve never expected you to be in the Familiar Chalice as well… Oh, seems both of you have raised your levels quite a lot. Now I’m starting to look forward to the event.”

The woman in front of us said all she needed to and left.

…The woman: Holy Warrior Lylia.

And she’s got a gigantic, fiery red ox following her.