CH 25

10 days after leaving Carruzan, we arrived at the royal capital. It should have been quite the forced march, but it still took 10 days. If you go slowly with a normal carriage, it will take nearly twice as long. We were changing horses at station houses that the royal family set up at key junctures, so it was quite fast. So 10 days means that Carruzan and the royal capital are quite far away.

By the way, the comfort of the carriage was the worst. I don’t think it’s as good as Japanese cars and trains, but at least it’s a little more manageable. It may still be better to walk the horses slowly, but I don’t think the carriages are made to run at that high speed.

Who invented a system like station houses? In the Kingdom of Ploiss, there are facilities similar to Japanese train station houses along the main highways. These facilities house both horses and soldiers. If there is an urgent message, you can probably guess it’s used to make sure that it gets there as soon as possible, without worrying about getting tired from running, changing horses and people as needed.

And when the royal family goes on a domestic tour, they take measures to further increase their traveling speed by changing horses at each station house.

The reason is simple: the faster you move, the less likely you are to be attacked by monsters. And even if you are attacked, unlike a tired horse, a carriage with fresh horses still has the energy to spare, so the chances of escape will increase. In a world where monsters are rampant, changing horses regularly and moving at high speed is also a means of self-defense.

Of course, we didn’t meet a single monster during our 10 days of travel. No matter how many monsters there are in the world, it seems that you don’t come across powerful ones near human habitations. Of course, it’s not good to let your guard down, but monsters are subjugated regularly so if you’re driving on the main road, you won’t encounter them very often.

That’s how I finally arrived at the royal capital… and I’m sorry to say it, but it’s small. No, it’s big enough compared to the cities I’ve been through so far, but I have to say it’s small from my point of view. For someone like me, who is used to seeing skyscrapers in big cities, the castle walls are low and the castle town is tiny.

It has the atmosphere of an old European-style cobblestone and brick townscape, but the buildings are low and the whole place is tiny.

I wonder if it’s the same as looking at the old streets of Europe and feeling that it’s smaller than you thought if you remove the historical value or some part of it you admire. I didn’t get what I expected and when I finally got there.

Of course, I know that the royal capital is one of the largest cities in this country, even larger than Carruzan. I know it, but I can’t help but feel that way when I compare it to the big cities of modern Earth.

“How do you find the royal capital? Isn’t it a wonderful city?” Ludwig asked.

He’s riding in the same carriage with me and says it with pride. This is another difficult question to answer.

“Ahh… umm… well… it’s very retro or nostalgic… rather quaint, you know…?” I said.

“Retro…? Nostalgic…?” Ludwig asked.

He tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what I was talking about. I don’t have anything else to say, so please stop talking about this.

While I was casually talking with Ludwig, our carriage arrived at the royal castle. The streets in the town were so narrow that it was worrying to travel through them, but I felt like the gates of the royal castle were also small. Of course, if you think about it realistically, why wouldn’t it be small? But, for someone like me who used to live surrounded by huge buildings, I can’t help but feel it’s all too small.

After passing through the gate, we parted at the entrance to the royal castle. Ludwig welcomes us and walks with us, but we end up waiting in a separate room for a while. And as we did, I asked my father about the future.

It seems that today is not the day for the knighthood ceremony, just simple greeting visits to the relevant authorities. Is that so? It’s not like we were going to do it as soon as I show up. Travel schedules don’t always go as planned. It’s a coincidence that we arrived at the royal capital today, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll arrive here today, as it would have been in modern Japan, so it’s not possible to reserve a schedule for the King and the related court officials.

That’s why today I’m going to visit various places with Father and then return to the Carruthers Residence here in the royal capital. This mansion is my family’s base of operations in this city, and my older brother should also be living here as he’s also going to school here.

While having dinner with Father, I received various instructions about the future, but in the end, my older brother didn’t come back while we were having dinner.

I don’t really want to see him, but I’m going to live with him for a while, so I thought it would be better to say hello, but it can’t be helped if we can’t meet. I decided to say my greetings to my brother next time and went to bed early today. Perhaps because it was my first long trip and I couldn’t get enough rest during it, I fell asleep right away that day.

5 days have already passed since we arrived in the capital. I am busy every day and the time goes by quickly. I’m busy with preparations and practice for the knighting ceremony. In order to prepare my clothes, I also visit a tailor shop in the castle town many times.

It’s impossible for women to go shopping for ready-made clothes at the town’s clothing stores, even though it’s a “medieval European style” worldview that’s common in light novels. Because it is written with the sensibilities of modern Japan, it all becomes meaningless.

Ready-made clothes are almost non-existent in this era. Depending on the country or region, it may be possible to say that they did not exist at all, but even if there were, there would be a few, and the mainstream would be free-size ones. It’s impossible to see various forms and sizes being sold on hangers like you’d find in every store all over in the modern day.

Such ready-made clothes started appearing in the 19th century after mechanization and industrialization had progressed, but if they were really at the level of “medieval Europe”, such things wouldn’t exist.

Even in this country, second-hand clothes are the mainstream for ordinary people. You adjust the fit yourselves. That’s why needlework used to be one of the women’s key jobs. Women who are good at needlework used it as an appealing point for their marriageability.

That’s why I have no choice but to ask a tailor to make a custom-made dress for my ceremony. But it’s funny… I feel like my dress has pants. Since my right arm is still in a sling, I thought I wouldn’t be able to wear something that was too flashy or that would put a strain on my arm, but somehow it looked like a man’s outfit.

“Father… this looks like a man’s costume?” I asked.

Today, my father and I came to try on some of the finished clothes. I’m sure it was measured and custom-made for me, so the size doesn’t matter. But something is wrong. As a woman, will I show up at the ceremony in pants instead of a skirt?

“Of course it is?” Father said. “It’s a knighting ceremony. A knight has a knight’s dress.”

Apparently, in this country, the dress code is determined to some extent by your title. It doesn’t seem like there are any extreme differences or detailed arrangements between ranks, but it’s similar to how military ranks are represented by medals and decorations on modern Earth, for example. It seems that there are various rules for a knighthood to be a knighthood, and for a margrave to be a margrave.

That’s why it’s not finished yet, but as I found out today’s fitting, my outfit on that day will be like a boy’s. I have long hair and I clearly have a woman’s face, so if you look at me closely, you’ll know I’m a woman, but… no matter how you look at my name, Flora Charlotte von Carruthers must be a woman.

It’s not just the tailor shop. 5 more days passed while I was still making greetings here and there and preparing for the ceremony.

Today is finally the day of the knighting ceremony. It took a considerable amount of time before the King and whoever else had a convenient time. It took a lot of trouble for King to spare the time so the inconvenience was foisted on us. I think it’s due to the schedules of the King and related parties, but it’s been quite a while since I was informed that I would be knighted, so it’s kind of slow, or rather…

For me, who has the sensibility of a modern Japanese person, I would say that this is generous timing at best, and irresponsibility at worst. It’s not by very much, but I can’t possibly live with this flow of time. If you’re going to have a ceremony, I want you to say that you’ll prepare quickly and finish it.

It’s not that I don’t understand that there are various circumstances. I can see that the King, the ministers, and the bureaucrats all seem to be quite busy. There is no doubt that if I had made a quick decision and started preparing immediately, I would have been able to do it sooner. It’s just that the decision-making is slow, and so much time was spent lazing around. The actual preparation time was not that long.

I can’t help but say all this… and the preparations are complete and the ceremony is about to begin. There’s no point in complaining about it now.

More than that, I have to be careful not to make a mistake in the procedures and manners that I have learned for the ceremony today… I’ve learned a lot from Olivia, but for this ceremony, I learned from someone else. Because Olivia is a teacher of etiquette for women, she is not a teacher for knighting ceremonies. It is rare for a woman to be knighted, and it seems that Olivia never taught learned it herself let alone taught it to her students.

That’s why it’s time to show the results of the practice I’ve been doing since I came to the royal capital. ……or so I say, but I’m so nervous~! Today I have to go through a large audience by myself. Today is my knighting, so my father is just one of the participants. I’m the only one who goes before the King.

Even though I haven’t even made my debut in the social world yet, it’s unreasonable to say that I’m going to suddenly have to go out alone to a place where higher-ranking aristocrats and bureaucrats gather. Rather, I want to ask, “What kind of punishment game is this?”

Knowing my nervousness, the ceremony proceeded without delay. When there was a signal and the door was opened, there were many adults in high-class clothes lined up on both sides of the large hall-like room. As I walk along the straight passageway, in front of me is a person sitting on a throne several steps higher. It seems that this person is the king of this country.

King Wilhelm von Ploiss. He has silver hair and blue eyes, which is very similar to Ludwig’s, but his skin is rather dark, or should I say earthy. Even if I’m an amateur, I think there’s something wrong with this king. He’s thin all over and doesn’t look very healthy.

I’m not a doctor, and if I become a king, I’m sure there will be a dedicated doctor and a healing magician. It’s not something I should say, so I have no choice but to leave it to those people. I have a feeling that the yellowing of his skin was likely a sign of liver disease, but with my vague knowledge, saying unnecessary things will only cause trouble.

The king says various things, but I casually ignore them. There are some keywords that I should respond to. It is important not to miss it, and if you listen too much to the king’s story and make a mistake in your reaction, it will be a big problem. Thanks to my careful attention to the keywords so that I didn’t make a mistake in the timing when I had to reply or the timing with action, everything went smoothly.

“I will grant you the name and House of Floto von Caan along with your knighthood. From now on, in addition to Flora Charlotte von Carruthers, you will also be known as Sir Floto von Caan…” 1

“Huh…?”

King Wilhelm is still saying various things, but they can’t enter my mind. The attendees in the back are also making a fuss. This shouldn’t have been the plan. To begin with, why Floto von Caan? I can’t judge whether the tone is slightly good or bad. Especially the von Caan… I feel something’s off with it… von… Caan… von-Caan… ponkan!? 2

The ceremony ended without any particular problems except that the king suddenly gave me a strange name and title. The attendees are still nervous, but that’s to be expected. Even I’m stuck at “? ? ?”

After the ceremony ended and I left the room, I met my Father in a different room as planned, and he had a disgusted look on his face.

“Goodness, gracious… His Majesty has pulled one up over me…” he muttered.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

I don’t really understand, so I have to ask him. I was given a weird name, but other than that, everything went according to plan. I wonder if something is wrong.

“By giving you a knightly name, you have two identities: Flora Charlotte von Carruthers, the eldest daughter of House Carruthers, and Floto von Caan, a knight. As Flora, you are still the daughter of our family. As such, I can intervene and protect you, but I cannot interfere in any way with the matters concerning Sir Floto von Caan. From now on, you will have to protect your new House alone against the rest of aristocratic society.”

Huh?! What is that?! Rather than a reward, that’s harassment, isn’t it?

“Why would he have…” I mumbled.

“However, the Sir Caan has the backing of the royal family,” Father continued. “I don’t think there are many people who would meddle with you easily. But that also means that you are beholden to the royal family.”

Aah~, I kind of figured it out. In other words, the King has secured my cooperation. If he left me alone, other than my engagement with Ludwig, I will only have contact with him as the daughter of House Carruthers, who are only feudal lords beneath King Wilhelm. However, I became a direct vassal of the royal family by declaring that I was knighted, given a House of my own, and had entered their protection.

If he didn’t give me a House and just knighted me as a daughter of House Carruthers, there would be room for my father to intervene in business involving me. But if I become a different House under Sir Caan, my father won’t be able to intervene in my business under that identity.

I don’t know why I’ve been ensnared like this. Is it because I’m Ludwig’s fiancée? In that case, if they wanted a familial relationship with House Carruthers, it would have been fine if King Wilhelm kept me as their eldest daughter.

Then what is it? Is it because I’m a kid who defeated the mad horned bear? I don’t really know how strong a normal child in this world is, but judging from Louisa’s reaction, I guess the mad horned bear is a dangerous monster that ordinary poor children can’t defeat. Since I’m a child with that much power, did he ensnare me with high hopes for my future capabilities?

I don’t know……. all I do know was that I seemed to be getting into more and more trouble.