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It was the day of Shuu’s visit to the castle. Kanata and Sakura had woken up earlier than usual and got ready.

“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yeah.”

With their preparations complete, the two kids linked hands and teleported to the castle, where they were let in after the guards recognized their faces. They had decided to come there earlier than Shuu, and had notified Dace the day before, that they would pay them a visit.

After letting the seeress know they had arrived, they first used Detection to look for Kyrian and Kruzel, for the sake of checking whether the foolish king had done anything horrible to them. They were apparently at the training areas of their respective units.

“Sakura, could you use Clairvoyance?”
“Okay.”

Sakura peered at the training grounds from inside the castle, searching for them. There, she found both Kyrian and Kruzel normally overseeing the training of their soldiers.

“It looks like there was no need for us to worry.”
“Alright.”

This gave the kids, who had feared that, based on his personality, Loukis might have passed down some excessive punishment on the knight commanders, some peace of mind, so they notified Dace via message and went to the throne room. Only, Loukis had originally planned to do exactly what the kids had imagined, and it was only due to the kingdom’s minster and chancellors’ objections, that he didn’t go through with it.

Once they arrived at the throne room, they were greeted by the king.

“I-Is something wrong, Sages? I heard from Dace about your visit, but… w-what are you here for? Do you want to live in the castle again?” Loukis asked in a somewhat fearful voice.

From his perspective, the two kids had grown way too strong, which had left a slight trauma on him.

“No, that’s not why we’re here.”
“I-I see. Then what are you here for? There is an official event today about an hour from now, which will require my attention. If you have any business, state so quickly.”
“We are here because of that event.”

For just an instant, Loukis looked as if he didn’t understand. He immediately straightened his face and posed another question.

“In what way? The ones who will come here today are… let me think… I’m sure it was… Hey, you there!”

He shot a glare at a maid who was standing on the side. Said maid merely reacted with a quick wordless bow.

In reality, she had sent him information via message. Loukis went back to acting as if he had known that information all along.

“Indeed, someone called Shuu and a beastfolk slave from the rather poorly named party Red Ears are coming here to… let me see… right, to attend the ceremony to be deemed SS-Rank.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant. We are here because of the adventurer called Shuu. There is something you should know about him.”
“Oh-ho, what might that be?”

Kanata took a step forward and continued.

“Erm, Mr. Loukis. No, this concerns everyone here. Back when I met you for the very first time, do you remember me telling you that ‘there was another boy with us’?”
“Did you say that?”

The very person, who’d been closest to hear it back then, looked as if he didn’t remember anything at all. Seeing no other way, Dace elaborated on the boy’s question.

“Oh-ho, Lord Loukis, back then, didn’t you tell me that something to that account bothered you?”
“O-Oh, did I? R-Right, of course I did! So, you mean… I see, how unexpected!” Loukis got up from his throne and proudly gave words to what everyone seemed to guess. “So, this Shuu is that ‘other boy’!”
“Yes, he is!” Kanata replied calmly.
“I see, I see, that was what you meant. Still, give me a moment. Oi, Dace!”

Instead of sitting down again, Loukis shot a glare at Dace¹ who was standing next to the throne, and grabbed her by the collar.

“You… you told me there were only two sages, didn’t you?”
“…My deepest apologies.”
“Indeed, I will punish you for that later. Still, I see… that prophecy you told me the other day might be true, then… Hmph.”
“…gh.”

With the hand he didn’t use to hold her collar, Loukis struck Dace’s pale face with all his strength. She silently took the blow and was flung onto the wall. Loukis then sat back on the throne.

Sakura immediately cast healing magic on Dace from where she stood. She was about to complain to Loukis, but Kanata stopped her².

“Tell me, Kanata, does this mean that Shuu is also a sage?” Loukis continued, as if nothing had happened at all.
“Kh… Yes, he is.”
“I see, in that case, we should offer him some better hospitality than we had originally planned, shouldn’t we?”

Loukis turned to the maids and servants, shooting them a meaningful glance. Guessing at what the king was expecting of them, they hurriedly left the room. The only people left were Kanata and Sakura, a number of soldiers, Dace who was lying limply next to the wall, and finally Loukis.

“You have my thanks for bringing me this important information. Therefore, you may also attend the SS-Rank attestation ceremony… though it won’t be a serious affair. The room where you’ve been staying in is still as it was, so you can go there and canoodle. Leave us.”
“Understood…”

As they had been told, Kanata and Sakura left for the room they had been supplied with, all while worrying about Dace.

TL notes:
More of Loukis being Loukis.

In my opinion, the author made a huge blunder by exposing Dace’s true nature to the reader this early. Without this knowledge, we’d likely see her as the voice of reason next to Loukis’ cruelty, and a motherly figure for Kanata and Sakura to rely on, which would make the point when her true nature is revealed much more impactful.

From what we learned in the last chapter, it’s almost impossible that she didn’t know about Shuu. Consequently, she knew what Loukis would do to her once he learned the truth and was planning for it to happen (likely to garner more sympathy from Kanata and Sakura).

1. It says “at Loukis” here in the original. Likely an error.
2. The original here is カナタはそれを呈した (“Kanata presented/assumed that”). This doesn’t make sense in context, so I assume it’s an error. Maybe the author intended for Kanata to complain but then decided against it without changing the verb.

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