CH 38

The morning of the day of instructing the prince.

In front of the inn, there was no carriage from the Chamber of Commerce. Instead, there was a carriage from the royal palace, with a brightly carved white base.

On the door was the emblem of the royal family, the gryphon.

The innkeepers and passersby stopped and glued themselves to this strange sight.

A carriage with the royal coat of arms was picking up a ten-year-old boy.

Tauro, the boy himself, was more surprised than anything.

He had thought that the carriage from the company of commerce would pick him up and drop him in front of the royal castle.

He wanted to be left alone until he reached the castle.

“Mr. Tauro Satou, we’ve come for you.”

The man bowed reverently to him.

Tauro wanted to get away from the atmosphere as soon as possible, so he hurried Mina and got into the carriage as quickly as possible. 

“Let’s go right away!” 

The carriage proceeded through the royal castle.

Normally, horse-drawn carriages are not allowed inside the castle, but the royal carriage was the only one allowed to do so.

The person who came to pick them up, Sebas-san, explained this to them.

Let me walk there with everyone else!

This was the cry of Tauro’s heart, who didn’t want to be singled out any more.

“We’ve arrived.”

When they arrived, they were led by Sebas into the back of the castle.

As they walked, they were occasionally bowed to by knights and maids.

I’m a commoner from a peasant family!

In spite of the cries of Tauro’s heart, the calm Mina could not ignore the bowing of the knights, and returned the bow.

Did she have a longing to be a knight as an adventurer?

Tauro thought that Mina was a bit cute.

“Squires are not allowed in the back from here.”

Sebas instructed the man standing at the entrance to lead Mina to the waiting room.

“See you later, Mina-san.”

“Okay.”

She nodded and followed the other man into the waiting room.

“This way, Satou-san.”

Sebas urged him to the back.

He stood in front of the massive door.

He knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

He heard a short child’s voice.

“Excuse me.”

The door opened and there stood the Fifth Prince Fleue, with the light from the window as a backdrop.

From the silhouette, Tauro could immediately see that Prince Fleue had elven blood in his veins.

His ears were pointy.

The only difference was that he was chubby, unlike the image of a normal elf.

“You really are a child. How old are you?”

As soon as he entered the room, the prince asked him with an arrogant attitude.

“I’m ten.”

Tauro replied, thinking that this might not be his type of person to instruct.

“You’re three years younger than me.”

In this situation, Tauro was relentlessly unforgiving.

He put up with all the things the prince had to say and when it was time to teach him how to play Reversi, Tauro beat him to a pulp.

It was childish, but he was a child, so he should be forgiven.

Tauro’s inner thoughts aside, the prince couldn’t win no matter how many times he tried, which made him look like he was about to cry.

Tauro guessed his subjects usually lose.

“You’re too strong, I’ve hardly ever lost! What kind of tricks did you use?”

He wanted to say that it was cheating.

He couldn’t make the prince cry, so he told him he had a trick.

“That’s how you defeated the Prime Minister, Barriera?”

He overheard the other day’s match.

“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that the Prime Minister, who had defeated me, had lost, but I guess there is such a technique!”

It seems that the Prime Minister was the one who gave the prince one of his few losses.

Tauro understood that he was a man who had no mercy for children, just like what happened the other day.

“Okay, Satou. I want to win Barriera, teach me how!”

The prince, who had been arrogant at first, was now in a better mood, though his language remained the same.

Apparently, it was good that he didn’t adjust it.

“All right, let’s win against the Prime Minister!”

An adult who is merciless to a child is an enemy and the two of them hit it off.