Chapter 160

On the same day that Yuri received the information from <Nadeshiko>, she visited the Kingdom of Rapier.

Although accuracy is the most important aspect of information, freshness is the second most important. She thought that the sooner he provided the information, the more the Raven King would appreciate it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to force you to go out with me.”

“No, I didn’t. I thought I’d like to go home once in a while if I could get around easily.”

“That’s very kind of you to say.”

For this visit using Transfer Magic, I had Yubel accompany me.

If Yuri were to visit alone, it would be nothing more than a ‘visit by the head of state to the head of state’, so the Yuri Empire would have to send a herald beforehand, and the other party would be forced to take care of the hospitality.

If she accompanied Yubel, Yuri could claim that she was accompanying her on her return trip as a user of transfer magic. It may be a bit of a strong argument, but this way, he would not be blamed for visiting her without prior notice.

After transferring to the [Transfer Point] created in front of the Royal Castle during their previous visit to the Kingdom of Rapier, the two of them immediately visited the Royal Castle.

Since there is no [Broadcast] in this country, Yuri’s face is hardly known to anyone. Thanks to Yubel’s company, we were not blamed by the guards when we entered the royal castle.

“At this hour, father is probably in his office.”

“Can you show me around?”

“Of course.”

Yubel leads through the spacious royal castle without getting lost.

Well, it’s natural for her not to get lost, it’s her parents’ home.

Not a few of the soldiers, knights, and noblemen I encountered in the royal castle showed a look of surprise when they saw Yubel and Yuri.

Most of them were probably surprised to see that the sickly Yubel had regained her health and was walking around in good spirits. Of course, some knew Yuri’s face and were surprised to see the empress of another country walking around the royal castle normally.

The meeting with King Raven was immediately granted.

When the king saw Yuri’s sudden visit, he was surprised to see her. When Yuri quietly said, “I have something urgent to tell you,” the king immediately responded.

However, King Raven said, “We can’t have the empress of another country standing around talking,” so we had to move to the reception room.

“Yuri-dono, thank you very much for your help with the other day.”

“Don’t worry about it. In fact, I should be the one to thank you for granting my wish to have Yubel as my ‘fifth concubine’.”

When Yuri bowed her head, King Raven smiled at her for some reason.

“If you refuse what Yuri-sama says, I will never marry anyone for the rest of my life. ―――If my daughter threatens me with a letter like that, there’s no way I can say anything.”

“…… Yubel, did you tell that to King Raven?”

“Ah, ahahaha…”

Yubel averts her gaze with an expression that seems to be ill-defined.

“… Well, I can’t say this enough. Normally, it is part of the role of a royal girl to marry into the royal family of another country or a nobleman who wants to be respected in the country, but Yubel was too weak to marry someone else.

If Yubel is welcomed by Yuri-dono as her concubine, it will be an opportunity to form a friendship with the Yuri Empire. That would be enough for her to fulfill her role as a princess, and I think that would be desirable as well.”

“I’m glad you said that. If you want, you can form an alliance with the Yuri Empire.”

“That’s a very nice offer… But are you sure you want to do this with such a small country?”

“We would love to have you. ―――Soon, the Rapier Kingdom will probably be invaded by other countries, so it would be better for us to form an alliance beforehand so that we can support them as soon as possible.”

“…? Our country is invaded by other countries?”

“Yes, that’s almost certainly what’s going to happen.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to hear. I’d like to know more about it.”

“Of course, we’ve been planning on it from the start.”

King Raven raised one hand to signal something, and two maidservants who had been waiting in the corner of the room immediately left the reception room.

Apparently, he’s trying to clear the room.

“First of all, I have to tell you something. I have my people in the Kingdom of Rapier, and I have a few secret agents hiding there.”

“That’s not uncommon. And?”

“Oh, I thought you’d be angry?”

“It’s not unusual to send in secret agents. The Yuri Empire is a little too far away to be targeted, but we also conduct intelligence activities in neighboring countries. For a small nation like ours, ‘information’ can be a great weapon.”

“I see.”

There are few things that a small nation can use as a weapon to compete with other nations. And even more so when it’s a country like the Kingdom of Rapier, a country with little fruitful land.

I could vaguely guess that they were having a hard time managing their nation in many ways when they had to place so much emphasis on information warfare as a nation.

Yuri took out some documents from her <Inventory> and handed some of them to King Raven and Yubel. This is the same report that I received from <Nadeshiko> this morning.

“Do you think you could take a look at this for me?”

“Yes.”

The documents made by the attendant of <Nadeshiko> were concise and easy to understand.

So―――not long after he started reading, King Raven’s expression turned grim.