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Next day.

A carriage arrived before their inn and Lucella rode it to the royal palace together with Tim.

The strong white horses pulling the carriage were donning ornamented helmets like knights, and the passenger wagon was solid like a fortress and was colored in an overbearing black color.

The seats were so comfortable you sank into them the moment you sat, almost assimilating with them.

“…In short, the royal palace is all uptight with its bothersome customs and etiquette, but they have no idea how to welcome a dragon.”
“Right… so basically they called me first to ask me how to go about it?”

Tim without his armor looked so different you’d mistake him for someone else.

Today, he wore an indigo-blue formal dress that he had borrowed from somewhere. In Setulev, a kingdom closely tied to water and reliant on the Regalia known as the “Wisdom Eye Vortex” to maintain stability, shades of blue held immense significance.

Lucella on the other hand wore the everyday clothes that Viola had specifically commissioned for her.

Her clothes didn’t look shabby at all, and it was also on point with Viola’s insistence that she shouldn’t abandon the “red” color that represented red dragons.

Lucella did feel some dread at the thought of becoming Viola’s dress-up doll once again when she heard her say she would prepare a formal dress for the future, but they were just meeting up in advance today so her current outfit was fine.

After this, Kafal would hold an audience with Setulev’s king. But what form would it take? Everything other than the topic that would be discussed was still up in the air. They had to properly decide on everything.

“To begin with, Mom only just recently learned to take on a human shape, so she has no idea about human conduct.”
“Yeaah. Viola mentioned this, but perhaps it would fit her better if she looked dignified rather than polite. It’s just a secret discussion this time and the ceremony where things would go public is still ahead of us.”
“I get your point, but we have to try to keep the king’s dignity intact, don’t we?”
“Well, yeah. So basically we have to confirm the royal palace’s intentions and think about how to handle that part based on that.”

It was extremely bothersome, but Lucella also understood that it was the necessary cost for the world of big-shots to work.

This was also a battle to protect Mount Kuguse. Fights weren’t only about slashing, hitting, and burning.

“Also, they have to inspect your ring. The king would be wearing it, so they can’t allow him to put on something weird. They would need to inspect whether it’s cursed and all that.”
“They’ll return it properly, right?”
“Maybe. I don’t think the royal palace’s officials are so reckless not to. Probably.”
“That ‘probably’ worries me…”

While they chatted about this and that, the carriage leisurely arrived at the front gate of the royal castle.

It stopped there and let the two off.

“We shall inspect the luggage. Remain where you are.”

Two gate guards parted and one of them inspected Lucella and Tim’s luggage, while the other one looked at the two through some kind of heavily ornamented magnifying glass.

And his eyes opened wide.

“W-What’s going on? Is her entire body a magic item?”
“Oh, that’s a magic power scanner, right? You won’t understand anything if you look at Lucella with that. The magic power in her body is denser than everything else, after all.”

Tim answered with a wry smile.

For the security of important facilities including the royal castle, it was extremely important that no dangerous magic items would be brought in.

The gate guard was apparently confirming whether they had any magic items on their person through an item that allowed one to see magic power, but that item was visibly made with humans in mind, so it reacted to Lucella who was filled with dragon aura.

“…Hmm. No helping it, then. State if you have any magic items on hand.”
“Uhh, just this ring, I suppose… But the people from the palace told me to bring it.”
“Ah yes, I am aware of that.”

After magic items, they gave them a general check over the clothes for any hidden weapons.

That said, when it came to skilled warriors, their very bodies (and magic power) were fearful weapons already, so it could be said that carrying weapons wasn’t that big a deal.

It was more important to manage the people involved instead.

“Alright, you may pass.”

They finished a relatively simple inspection by royal castle standards and the two passed through the gate while listening to the sounds of water flowing down the castle walls.

Setulev’s royal palace had a solid rampart, but this was because it was also a magical defensive mechanism to protect the palace. It was not a fortress meant for battle, but instead, the interior consisted of a magnificent and elegant palace made of wood and mortar and a garden with flowing spring water and seasonal flowers blooming in profusion.

Tim casually barged in without anyone guiding them, and took Lucella to the gazebo in the corner of the garden.

Under its canopy-like roof, there were chairs and a table made with elaborate workmanship. Perhaps tea parties were normally held there.

“Wait here a bit, please. I’ll go call the person in charge.”
“Okay.”

Tim left Lucella there and headed towards the palace.

Lucella gazed at the garden for some time. The man-made stream flowing through the neatly arranged trees sparkled, and a path of hydrangeas was built in front of the gazebo. It seemed like a view one would never grow weary of.

There was a silhouette standing in the garden. He who appeared from behind a hedge saw Lucella and walked towards her.

“Oh, what a coincidence. I didn’t expect I would be able to meet you here.”

He was a gallant youth in his mid-twenties.

He was tall, and gave a military-man expression through his energetic behavior. The jacket with numerous decorative buttons was a blindingly pure white. Lucella remembered that this was the latest fashion among the upper class of Maltgartz.

Setulev should’ve been sultry in this season, but he still wore a scarf around his neck that looked like a cloak.

He slightly bowed.

“Could you be Lucella?”
“Y-Yes… Who may you be?”
“Excuse me for my late introduction. I am Julian Angus.”

Julian smiled gently, but the moment Lucella heard his name it felt like her blood flowed backward.

—So it’s this guy…!!

He was the son of the general that attacked Mount Kuguse under Gemel’s guidance.

Ivar supposed that he came here to apologize, but it would be unreasonable for Lucella not to be wary of him.

She didn’t think he would try to pull something in a place like this, and Lucella herself didn’t intend to do anything either.

“How do you know me?”
“Oh, is it something so strange?”
“Well, yeah…”
“The adventurers that my father hired spoke about you.”

—So it was that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ Gemel…

Lucella remembered the face of a man who was once his comrade with intolerable emotions.

“I have heard that you are the foster daughter of Mount Kuguse’s red dragon, is that true?”
“……It is.”

Given his tone that implied he was just confirming what he already knew, Lucella didn’t feel a need to lie and confirmed it.

When he heard that, Julian sighed with a depressed expression.

“Then I have to apologize to you about my father.”
“H-Huh? Okay?”
“I have no face to show you as his son. Please forgive me for my father’s mistakes.”

With that, he put a hand on his chest and bowed. It was a deep bow with no excuses. That apology was both expected and unexpected for Lucella.

For the royalty and nobles, their honor and reputation were like merchandise for trade. Their apologies weighed heavily. But he didn’t think anything of his actions. He didn’t hesitate at all. It’s like he didn’t care about what he was discarding… or perhaps he had nothing worth discarding.

“I only desire permanent peace. I wish for Setulev and Mount Kuguse to forever be our good neighbors.”
“…I also wish for it to be that way.”

Julian offered a handshake with a smile. Lucella returned it as a conditional reflex. But she felt something off about that handshake.

Julian didn’t wait for Lucella and just shook the hand at his own pace. It was nothing more. It could be called a trivial event. But Lucella didn’t overlook that. She couldn’t feel even the instinctual level of consideration from him towards her who, at least outwardly, was a child.

Perhaps it was his intuition as a manager who was experienced in negotiating with clients. But Lucella was convinced—this man only thought about himself.

His gentle demeanor and sincere apology… if all of it was just appearances, what was this emptiness that this man was full of?

“Well then, I have some business here… so I will excuse myself.”

Lucella gave a quick bow and left Julian behind. He saw her off in a half-daze.

As Julian walked through the garden, he smiled silently to not be noticed.

—“How do you know me?” huh? So she doesn’t know anything, after all. I expected as much. If she did, she would have already reported it to Setulev’s royal palace.

Even if Mount Kuguse’s route was closed, “being on the lookout for Setulev” was still the duty of Marquis Angus’ household.

They had a collaborator among Setulev’s marquises as well as spies slipped in their ranks.

Even if he didn’t see everything, he was still able to learn even the movements of the royal palace to a degree.

Julian had somehow obtained information about Monica’s scheduled outing, which had been arranged a week in advance. And he matched his own travel plans with its date.

Moreover, the defensive precautions in Setulev were relatively relaxed. In a kingdom like Setulev, where internal politics remained stable, individuals of importance, be it noble ladies or those with the bloodline of Regalia users, seldom felt the need to fortify their defenses intentionally. However, in the case of those with the Regalia-user bloodline, they were often subjected to internal and external threats due to the complex circumstances surrounding their abilities.

In fact, if Monica died, the proof of the scandal would disappear and many would feel happy about the outcome.

However, their attempt to abduct Monica using the golem had failed. Initially, the Golden Helmet group, which included Lucella, was supposed to take a direct route from the north to the royal capital.

Yet, Lucella had circled to the northeast side of the capital city all of a sudden and prevented the attack. He wondered whether the information had leaked from somewhere. However, this plan was known by a few even on the Angus household’s side. (He later discovered that she had unbelievably used her own two legs to run alone on the highway.)

Julian immediately started gathering information once the attack failed. What he learned from it was that the Adventurer’s Guild had only just contacted Setulev’s royal palace and they started preparing to receive her.

And not just the royal palace, even Lucella herself seemed oblivious to what happened. If she knew she would have contacted the royal palace, and they would’ve been faster in their response, so this was as Julian expected.

In other words, the prevention of that attack was an unplanned event.

It was quite an unlucky outcome, but as long as Julian’s aim wasn’t discovered his strategy could still continue.

He only needed to change the plans a little.

—Everything is still within my palm. There will be no second unfortunate coincidence like that.

The reason he met Lucella here was that he had obtained the information that she would be arriving today and used it to pretend that it was an unexpected meeting.

Julian believed his eyes were seeing many things and he had everything under control.

…In reality, it wasn’t entirely a coincidence that Lucella happened to be present during the attack.

Ivar had stayed at the inns where Julian did on his way to the capital and gathered information. Then he called Lucella, and they headed to the capital, so it was inevitable that they would take the same route as Julian.

Neither Ivar nor Lucella expected to encounter that attack, however.

Julian was certainly excellent. However, his attitude had several problems. One of them was that he believed he was the smartest person in the world and never considered that there could be someone as smart or smarter than him.