Chapter 168

Two days have passed since the war with the Hydra Kingdom, “Autumn Moon 16th”. Since the morning of that day, Yuri had taken Sofia to visit Wankya, the capital of the Rapier Kingdom.

When they traveled there using transfer magic, Yuri was more than a little surprised to see that the【Transfer Gate】used during the invasion of the Hydra Kingdom was still in place in front of the royal castle.

I’m sure I told King Raven that the transfer gate will disappear when the magic circle is turned off, and that he can turn it off as he pleases when he’s done.

… Probably because it is currently more convenient to travel to and from the Hydra Kingdom in an instant, they dared to leave it as it is.

“―――Welcome, Your Majesty Yuri.”

“Fufu, you’ve made a name for yourself, haven’t you?”

Recognizing Yuri’s appearance, some of the guards who had been standing guard in front of the royal castle gathered around.

We haven’t had a [Broadcast] in the Rapier Kingdom yet, though. Because I’ve been visiting here a lot lately, the guards seem to have completely memorized my face.

“Can I see King Raven?”

“Yes. He’s probably in his office, so if you could wait for him in the reception room.”

“All right. I know where the reception room is, so you don’t need to show me.”

“Understood.”

The Royal Castle of the Kingdom of Rapier is not that big and I’ve been to the castle so many times that I’ve learned where the reception room is.

But for Sofia, it was the first time she had ever set foot in a royal castle, so she was probably feeling a bit confused. Yuri took Sofia’s hand and walked with her down the corridor.

“The【Transfer Gate】in front of the royal castle was set up by the master, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah… I should have thought a little better about where to set it up.”

I thought it would only be used during the invasion of the Kingdom of Hydra, so I set it up without thinking of a particular location. Looking at the way it still looks now, it’s nothing but a hindrance to traffic to put the transfer gate right outside the royal castle.

I think it would be better to suggest to King Raven that we re-install it somewhere else later.

I walked through the castle and arrived at the reception room. Two maids were already waiting in the room, ready to welcome us with tea.

We waited for a while, and within ten minutes, King Raven appeared in the reception room with Prince Lexmar.

“Yuri-dono. Thank you very much for the other day.”

“Thanks to you, it was very helpful. Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome. How are things going with the rule of the Kingdom of Hydra?”

Yuri softly responded to the father and son of the royal family of Rapier, who bowed to him together.

For some reason, Sofia, who was sitting next to her, smiled a little happier when she saw this.

“So far, everything’s going well without any problems. The nobles who rule the cities of the Hydra Kingdom have all shown their willingness to obey the Rapier Kingdom. The people of Derak, the capital of the Kingdom of Hydra, seem to welcome us with open arms.”

“King Zasar imposed heavy taxes on his people. They must have felt uneasy about being ruled by another country so they are hoping for a tax cut.”

If they try to organize a large army, the bill for the military expenses will naturally be passed on to the people.

For the Kingdom of Hydra, organizing an army of less than 20,000 was probably the result of a lot of pressure. In the capital city, in particular, it had been revealed in the preliminary survey by <Nadesiko> that the common people had been taxed nearly 70%.

Of course, the Kingdom of Hydra also demanded that cities other than the capital pay huge military fees, and this was becoming a huge burden for the nobles who ruled each city.

The reason why the nobles immediately showed their reverence for the Rapier Kingdom, which had only occupied the capital at the moment, was probably because they did not like King Zasar in the first place.

“The Raven King, of course, is not the kind of person who would impose such corruption on his people, is he?”

“Of course not. A country is only as good as its people.”

As for Derak, the capital of the Kingdom of Hydra, they plan to reduce the tax to 40% for the rest of this year and 50% for next year and beyond.

A city that has just been occupied costs a lot of money. Considering this, the tax rate is reasonable enough.

“… By the way, isn’t that Miss Sofia over there?”

“It’s been a while, King Raven and Crown Prince Lexmar.”

Sofia nodded her head and responded to King Raven’s question.

“Oh… so you know each other?”

“Yes. Whenever there is an event in the Nimun Holy Land, invitations are sent to both the Rapier Kingdom and the Principality of Selsia. We often met at the banquets and talked to each other.”

“Since then, Sofia-sama has been very famous as a talented princess of the Duchy of Selsia. In fact, I had more than a little ulterior motive at the time to have a conversation with Miss Sofia, get to know her, and welcome her to our country as Lexmar’s wife.”

“… Hey, Dad! What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

At the words of King Raven, Prince Lexmar raised his voice in panic.

The other day, when he used the【Transfer Gate】to enter the Kingdom of Hydra, I thought he was a young man with a very fearless face. The current Prince Lexmar, who was shouting in protest at his father, did not have that kind of good image.

“Fufufu, at the time, I might have taken it as a sign of gratitude. But now I have the love of my life, Her Majesty Yuri.”

“Well, I can’t give up Sofia, can I?”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Lexmar. You’d better give up and find another good woman.”

“No, why are you acting like I’m the one who got dumped?”

Prince Lekmar protested with a resentful face and a pathetic voice.

The prince’s face turned red like a boiled octopus after being teased by his father. Yuri and Sofia were trying their best to hold back their laugh.