CH 301

T/N: It’s never said explicitly but Flora is speaking the Demon Country language here. Notice the sudden reappearance of Japanese honorifics and words, to better capture the feel of this.

After dropping Mikoto down, I looked around again. I can see that we are in a Japanese-style wooden building. And there are people with Japanese-style features around. Everyone was looking at me with a surprised face. Mikoto is a princess, so normally it would be more like this… wouldn’t she be welcomed and escorted in?

“Otou-sama, Okaa-sama, I’m sorry it’s been a while. I, Sumeragi Mikoto, have now returned,” Mikoto said.

“Uu… umu…” Emperor Sumeragi went. “Welcome back.”

Huh!? You mean to say that Ogifu-sama and Ogibo-sama are here!? Wait, what, what do you mean by having the emperor and empress right in front of the transfer gate’s exit? If an assassin were to be sent in, wouldn’t he suddenly jump out and strike them down? Why are they in such a dangerous place?

“By the way… what are Otou-sama and Okaa-sama doing here in the descent room?” Mikoto asked.

Ah~… I knew it… it was strange after all. From Mikoto’s words, this wasn’t supposed to be normal. I figured as much… you wouldn’t let the emperor stand in a place where you don’t know when someone unknown might pop out… no matter how much you have to do, don’t get assassinated! Even if you were confident, you would have managed that much of a crisis waiting to happen.

“Today… there was a prediction that disaster would erupt from this place…” Emperor Sumeragi said. “I never thought it would be you coming out, Mikoto… it can’t be helped. Arrest those two.”

Eh… is this how it’s going to be? I had a bad feeling, but…

“Mikoto… what should I do?” I asked.

“It’s easy,” Mikoto replied.

Ah, I have a bad feeling about this… It would be better if I didn’t ask…

“I’ll blow everyone away! There’s no reason to get arrested!”

“Haah~……Is there no choice but to do that?” I asked, holding my head and shaking it.

… It really does seem we have no choice. I thought we could have done something more peaceful…

“Floto, be careful when you use magic. Don’t break the surroundings,” Mikoto said.

“Haa~… understood. I’ll respond with my sword…” I said.

If you don’t mind killing everyone here, then use magic, bah-bah-bah! It’s quicker to do it, but it won’t work here. If it’s a sword, you have to slash with it… Ah! My sword was a Western sword, so it was double-edged. Let’s strike with the flat of the blade. And it doesn’t make sense if take the easy way out and make mincemeat of them.

“Are you going to defy me!?” Emperor Sumeragi roared.

“It’s the Emperor’s order! Capture them!” a soldier said.

“I won’t allow you to hurt my daughter,” Emperor Sumeragi said. “I don’t mind if you kill the other one.”

“”””Ha!”””””

Woah~… Well, of course, it’s natural, but… it’s become troublesome… I envy Mikoto because she seems to be taking it easy. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold them back from Mikoto by taking it easy…

“Uoooh!”

“Invader! Prepare yourself!”

“Haa… It can’t be helped…”

Soldiers attack me with spears. Maybe the guardian dogs at the shrine were anticipating this as well. They thought I would be caught or killed anyway, even if I did pass… Even so, I think that normal gatekeepers would have had to put their lives on the line to stop intruders…

The soldiers here are demons, but they’re just Japanese people with black eyes and black hair. I feel like the equipment is closer to Japanese lacquer armor than Western plate armor.

“You’re too slow…” I said.

I’m waiting for my opponent to stab me, but it’s too delayed and I yawn. I dodge the spear that finally came within striking distance. At times like this, if you dodge a lot, you’ll have a gap to exploit, so it’s best to dodge with the least amount of movement possible. However, if the skill of the opponent is high, there is a possibility that they will predict your movement and strike there, instead. It’s not like you should avoid everything at the last minute.

Well, you don’t have to think too hard here. Dodge and hit with the flat of the sword. Dodge and hit with the flat of the sword. Of course, don’t forget to take it easy on them. Even if I just hit one of them lightly on the shoulder, I could see them crouching down from the impact, and if I hit them seriously, it would probably do a lot of damage. Strike carefully so as not to kill them.

“This place is cleaned up!”

“Good work,” Mikoto said, defeating the last person and turning around.

Mikoto is pretty strong after all. She was a princess, to begin with, so I guess she was taking it easy at first, but from the middle, I think she got serious. Even so, they were all defeated by the overwhelming difference in ability.

“What the?” Mikoto said. “I thought I’d help you, but you’ve already beaten them all?”

“Yeah, well…” I said.

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To be honest, I didn’t have a hard time even if I took it easy. In this case, it’s still scary to deal with my mother alone, who is also holding back. I heard that demons are strong, but I guess there are individual differences. Those here weren’t that strong.

“I never thought you’d defeat them all…” Emperor Sumeragi muttered, upset.

Come to think of it, Mikoto was originally a dropout with no expectations of her… I wonder if there will be surprises if Mikoto becomes stronger.

“What do you mean by this…would you like to explain things? Otou-sama?” Mikoto said.

“… It can’t be helped,” Emperor Sumeragi said.

He seems to have given up. All of them lost their will to resist and collapsed on the spot. I could hear the groans of the soldiers who were beaten by me and Mikoto.

For the time being, we moved from that shrine to a place like an audience room. This is that… It’s a room like when a daimyo meets someone. I don’t know how to put it. If it’s a Western-style audience room, I know how to call it in the Kingdom of Ploiss, but there might be some special way of calling it in this Japanese-style building.

In terms of the image of Japan, it would be something like an upper room. It feels very similar to that. I don’t know what it’s called here.

“Then can we speak now, Otou-sama?” Mikoto asked.

“Umu…” Emperor Sumeragi said reluctantly.

The content was, how should I put it… It was an unbelievable story from my point of view.

It seems that there are fortune tellers or sorcerers in the Demon Country. It seems that they are not suspicious con men, but someone who is in an important position that influences the decision-making of the nation. It seems that they were waiting with armed soldiers today because a cursed person bringing disaster would appear from the teleportation gate, the Heavenly Fall room.

From my point of view, I’m thinking, “What is this unscientific belief?” In the first place, the emperor and the court didn’t honestly believe it at its face, but it seems that they were just wary of such information. And when we actually came out…

It’s not like the Emperor believed it, but in fact, we came out through the teleportation gate that hadn’t had people coming out for days, no, years, just like the omen said, and they can’t respond. Just because we were cursed to bring about disaster, they tried to arrest us for the time being.

However, the result was a spectacular turnaround, and even though we are sitting in the lower seat now, the difference in our positions of power is clear.

“Did you use that stupid curse as a justification to get rid of us?” Mikoto asked.

“Uuu…”

Mikoto’s merciless words make the Emperor grow smaller and smaller. It’s not like I have his side, but there was originally a fortune-teller who had great authority over the opinion of the nation, and he predicted that a disaster would come through the teleportation gate today, and it’s actually happened for the first time in years. It’s not uncommon to panic if someone comes out through the teleportation gate.

Even if I don’t believe in such a curse, I would be surprised and panicked if someone showed up if I was lying in wait for them. I don’t think it can be helped that much.

Well… that’s why I don’t care if they arrest me without question, and as a result, I defeated them… I can’t say anything about it…

“Are we going to bring disaster to this country?” Mikoto asked. “Hah! That’s ridiculous! We’re not even interested in this country! We don’t intend to ascend to the throne, so don’t worry! I just wanted to introduce my wife and show off my hometown, that’s it! Just leave us alone!”

After all, she’s talking about me as her bride… even the Emperor and his court are looking at me with a strange faces… I’m not your bride! Mikoto is my wife!

But if I say anything unnecessary, it will only make things more complicated, so let’s keep quiet. Mikoto is the type to say what she wants to say without hesitation, so you can leave it to her at times like this. If it looks like it’s going to derail in a strange direction, it’s time to correct the trajectory.

“So you mean to say this woman is my yome?” Emperor Sumeragi said.

“Yes! Floto is the daughter of House Carruthers and Head of House Caan!”

The moment Carruthers was mentioned, there was a buzz around us. After all, the names of Carruthers, or perhaps my parents, are famous here as well. I guess that’s just right. In the Kingdom of Ploiss, the two are praised as heroes who saved the country. Considering their achievements, it wouldn’t be strange if their names were known to the enemy.

“So you’re a Carruthers turncoat?!” one of the court members said.

“They will seize the throne here and now!” another cried.

Woah……. The moment Mikoto said Carruthers, the people around us started to get angry. I wonder if it would be bad if I stayed silent…

“May I have permission to speak?” I asked.

“Nn? Muh… alright,” Emperor Sumeragi said, after some hesitation.

The people around us are silent because the Emperor himself said it was good. I slowly spoke so as not to agitate them too much.

“My name is Flora Charlotte von Carruthers,” I said.

When I called myself that, the surroundings became noisy and anxious. If it continues like this, it will be bad, so I will talk about the continuation immediately.

“And I have also been given the name Floto von Caan,” I said. “Currently, the south side of Hexennacht has been ceded to House Caan, and I am ruling as the Lord of that territory.”

The tone of the surrounding voices dropped slightly. It seems to change quite a bit since I’m not directly related to House Carruthers. Well, if you call yourself “with House Carruthers,” it will probably lead to my arrest. The fact that they didn’t come right away to kill me even though the people around us had killing intent, probably meant they believed harming a daughter of Carruthers was a terrible idea.

“And she’s going to be my Oyome-san!” Mikoto butt-in again. “I’m going to marry Floto! I’ve come back to report that! All that’s left is to show Floto this city. So don’t bother me. I’m not interested in inheriting the throne, and I won’t interfere in whatever you’re doing. Is that okay with you?”

The surrounding area is still noisy. But the winner is already decided. There is no way for the losing side to say anything now.

“I’m not convinced of this marriage, with House Carruthers, or House Caan… but for the time being, I’ll allow you to stay,” Emperor Sumeragi said. “We’ll sit together at the dinner table later. We will speak again then.”

“Fine by me,” Mikoto said, stepping back and acting proud.

“Hai,” I said, bowing my head instead.

If you take an arrogant attitude here, it will be even more troublesome. I don’t know the etiquette in the Demon Country, but I bowed my head a little in a Japanese way and left the Emperor’s presence, and withdrew to a place I was told was Mikoto’s room.

Somehow things started to get tough, but for the time being, I relax in Mikoto’s room. It feels like a pure Japanese-style room with tatami mats. There is no particular decoration in the room, and at first glance, it does not feel like a girl’s room.

“Mataku, Otou-sama was putting us through a whole lot of trouble,” Mikoto said.

“I think I could say the same about you, Mikoto, but…” I said.

It’s true that the Emperor was a bit much, but I think he’ll lose to Mikoto. If this is the case, I would like her to explain things better. Mikoto doesn’t explain things too well. Perhaps because she lives by her senses, she is terrible at explaining things verbally.

“What do you mean?” Mikoto asked.

What do you mean, what do I mean? It’s exactly as I said on its face?

“Well, it’s fine,” Mikoto said. “Let’s go sightseeing instead.”

“Huh? Is it okay to go out without permission?” I asked, surprised.

In this current situation, if we go out on our own, I think it will cause an unnecessary commotion…

“It’s fine, I said,” Mikoto said. “They didn’t tell us not to go out, so what’s wrong with me walking around my country with my wife?”

“Haa…”

Mikoto is kind of carefree, or rather, she doesn’t think about the future… It’s okay, but… I am also interested in this country. If Mikoto says it’s okay, I have a feeling that I want to go sightseeing.

“What? Don’t you want to go?” Mikoto asked.

“No. I want to go,” I said.

“It’s good that you’re being honest!” Mikoto said, puffing out her non-existent chest.

It’s true that many things are troublesome, but I’m really looking forward to sightseeing in this country. What kind of place is it? Suppressing our distractions, we got ready to leave Mikoto’s room and headed out to town.