Translator: Haruto.

Thanks to Kamia’s help, we’ve reached the capital of the country of Archaia. Unlike the walls of the fortified city of Arcana, the ramparts here are quite grandiose.

“The capital of Archaia… I haven’t been here in forever.”

The last time I came to this town was when I was still living as a traveler before I picked up Lulune and the other girls.

After asking Kamia to wait for us in a forest nearby, we decide to step into the city.

“Excuse me, may I please see your papers?” the soldier at the entrance asks, and Lulune and I take out our adventurer cards.

By the way, Lulune’s adventurer card is way fancier than those of regular adventurers. It’s even made of Adamant to prevent counterfeits.

“T-This adventurer card…! Are you really Lulune-sama?! One of the great heroes?!” When the soldier inspects Lulune’s card, his eyes shoot open and his lips tremble.

“Well… While I don’t like to refer to myself by that title, people do call me a hero.”

“P-Please wait here a moment! I’ll go fetch my superior!!” the soldier exclaims and runs off somewhere.

He seemed to be in quite a hurry, so I doubt he’ll take long…

Unfortunately, I was wrong. We were left waiting there for no less than thirty minutes.

“He sure is taking his time. What do you think he’s doing?”

“They must be getting everything ready to welcome us into the city. It happens all the time.”  

It happens all the time, huh? Well, it can’t be helped then.

Another half an hour later—in other words, a whole hour after the soldier left—a carriage, lavishly decorated, appears at last and parks right in front of us.

“Ohh… That’s quite a carriage!” I say in surprise.

A second later, the doors of the carriage open, and a beautiful girl in a magnificent dress steps out.

“I’m terribly sorry for making you wait so long. My name is Haruka Archaia. I’m the second princess of this country.”

Huh, the princess herself came to pick us up. She’s incredibly refined and courteous, too.

“It’s been a while, Haruka-san. I’d like to introduce you to Alize-san,” Lulune says and Haruka-san’s expression lights up instantly.

“Aah! To think you’d remember me, Lulune-sama! I’m so happy!”

“There’s no way I’d ever forget the girl that attacked Akane with a sword four years ago.”

She raised her sword at Akane…? That’s honestly kind of amazing. You really can’t judge a book by its cover, huh.  

“Hehe, I was still pretty immature back then.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe how much you’ve grown. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Haruka-san then turns to me and asks, “So you’re the great Alize-sama who trained the heroes?”

Before I get to answer, however, Lulune responds excitedly, “That’s right! He’s our savior and the person we hold dearest! The one and only Alize-san!”

Seeing Lulune puff her chest out with pride puts a rather awkward smile on my face. People will surely mistake me for someone amazing if they hear that kind of thing from a hero.

“But well, we can’t stay here chatting forever. How about we head to the castle?”

At Lulune’s suggestion, the coachman folds the top of the carriage back, exposing the inside.

“Huh…? We’ll ride to the castle like this?” I ask, perplexed, and Haruka-san answers me with a smile, “Yes, the townsfolk are eager to see Lulune-sama in all her glory.”

I see… I doubt they want to see an old guy like me sandwiched in between two beauties, though.

We then board the carriage and set off to the castle. On our way there, a huge crowd forms in the street. People even try coming as near as possible to the carriage to get a better look at the two girls.

“Ohh!! That’s Lulune-sama, right?! It’s my first time seeing her!”

“Lulune-sama and Haruka-sama are both gorgeous!”

“Kyaa! Lulune-sama just looked at me!”

And in contrast to all those positive and passionate comments…

“What’s up with that old fart, though?”

“Shh! What if he’s Lord Alize?!”

“That geezer? Nah, no way.”

…a few comments of disapproval also reach my ears.

But more importantly, who are you calling an old fart?! I might be pushing forty but I’m still not insanely old, okay?!

…With that being said, I must look particularly old right now sitting in between these two young and beautiful girls… Haa…

Feeling kind of dejected, I continued on my way to the castle.

***

Afterward, we had an audience with the king and attended a banquet. As the ordinary guy that I am, I constantly felt out of place, but I still enjoyed myself so much that I just decided to stop caring about it. However, when I retired to the luxurious room that was assigned to me so that I could have some rest—

“Excuse me, Alize-sama…” Haruka-san says before entering my room.

“Huh, is something wrong? It’s pretty late, you know?”

I can’t help but feel wary seeing her wearing nothing more than a nightgown. I’m afraid she’s going to ask me to let her sleep here tonight or something like that.

There’s a chance the royal family ordered her to make a move on me in order to chain me down to this country since they seem to think I’m actually someone special.

She’s staring at me with clear resolve in her eyes. I gulp and keep my eyes on her as she begins to open her lips little by little.

“Please teach me swordsmanship!!”

Her request ended up being so innocent that it made me feel ashamed of my own foolish thoughts.

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