Author: SS Samurai	Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: rm31439	English Source: Re:Library

I opened a message.

[…It’s over, Your Majesty! In cooperation with Kana-… with the sages, we succeeded in destroying the Black God Surtr!]　
[Oh, oooooh!!!]　

I could feel the king’s wonder from his reply.

Heh-heh, if he’s that happy, it was worth it… Well, the fact Kanata, Sakura, and Shuu were involved pretty much decided that we’d face off with the Black God.

Currently, Mika, Kanata, Sakura, Shuu, Rir, and I were in Yggdrasil’s castle. Unsurprisingly, everyone here was incredibly busy.

Although several things had happened, the main reason was Loukis, the king of this country, having been killed by Surtr. Well, on top of pretty much being a figurehead¹, he was apparently the kind of ruler who abused the privileges of his lineage, so until now, the people around him were the ones running the country. Consequently, it didn’t look like there’d be many governmental issues.

Rather, him being gone should better things… From what the gentleman spy of the Mephilad Kingdom told us, slavery and wars might be reduced, and there’d likely be many other improvements.

In the middle of all this, Mika and I were staying as guests in a luxurious room, and during that free time, I had this back and forth with the king via messages.

Shuu and the others were planning to announce what they would do from now on to the higher officials of this country. In all likelihood, they wanted to come with Mika and me, so they were probably bargaining or arguing with them so they would be allowed to leave the country.

Since Kanata was with them, I was convinced he’d manage to get out of this country with some unilaterally advantageous conditions for our side. While he was weak to sudden developments and had the tendency to act like a chuunibyou, as his older brother² I was proud to say that making plans and dealing with the aftermath were his specialties.

[I was just contacted by our covert agent there, too. He confirms your success in eliminating the evil god! You did truly, truly well! Thanks to you, there won’t be a war between us and Yggdrasil.]　

The king’s relief was palpable. He then added some grumbles.

[…If I’m being honest, if something happened to that king, or rather, if the whole bloodline either were to disappear or be reformed, the tensions between our countries might well disappear.]　
[The king of this country was killed by the Black God…]　
[I heard so, too. As for the reason for the antagonism between our countries; to be frank, I don’t know much about it, either. I can only guess that there was a feud between the Mephilad and Zeggray houses in ancient times. Although it was mainly one-sided dislike towards us.]　

So, it was like that. To put it in simple terms, the people of the Mephilad lineage were on bad terms with the people of the Zeggray lineage… Moreover, it sounded like the Zeggrays harbored some hatred.

[There were never any big wars until now, were there?]　
[Indeed, gods know why. There is nothing in our archives… I tried asking the former hero and Lady Elle for their account, but… according to them, the relationship had already soured during their age. One-sidedly. Still, they also said that no large wars ever took place.]　

Huh… I wonder why.

Well, either way, that man called Loukis had apparently been the last of the Zeggray lineage, so the probability for future quarrels seemed low. Since we came to bail them out and managed to seal (destroy) Surtr, if they showed their gratitude to the Mephilad Kingdom, there should be no more antagonism from now on.

That sounds like a plan from a political novice.

[…Nevertheless, this takes care of two issues plaguing our country at once, but… we ended up owing you a great deal once more, Alim… Isn’t there something we can do for you? You likely no longer need wealth, fame, or land, so I can’t think of a satisfactory way to show our gratitude. Do you have any wishes? As long as they are within my capabilities, I shall fulfill them.]　

This time’s reward, huh? Something… is there anything…? That’s it, for the time being, I need to ask him whether it’s fine for Kanata, Sakura, Shuu, and Rir to come to the Mephilad Kingdom.

[Uhm… in that case, I have one request.]　
[Why, don’t just keep it to one. You can make two or even three requests.]　
[T-Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I ask you to allow me to delay those others until I can think of something… Erm, my request concerns the sages…]　
[Hrm. Your demeanor clearly changes when you mention them.]　

…If I keep talking about them, my true identity might get out… well, it probably won’t cause any issues if they know who I truly am.

[Erm, would you allow the sages and their wolfkin companion live close to us… in the Mephilad Kingdom?]　
[Why? I assume you have a reason for that wish.]　
[…I have. The whole story would take too long, so I will tell you in detail… after we’ve returned, Your Majesty. Two people among the sages are our relatives. The last one… is a close friend.]　

When I relayed that, there was a short break until I received a reply.

[What about your memory, Alim?]　
[My memory… To be honest, it was never gone. My apologies. Even if we had told you our personal history, you likely wouldn’t have believed us, and we didn’t see any issues arising from hiding it, so we never mentioned it, but… that is no longer the case.]　
[I see… If you want to take the sages with you, you will need to negotiate with Yggdrasil. Understood, I shall grant your request, seeing you’re our benefactor.]　
[…Thank you ever so much, Your Majesty!]　

I ended up bowing my head, even though I wasn’t face to face with the king.
That moment, the door to this room opened and the old spy peeked inside.

“Lady Alim, lady Mika, you have been summoned.”

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Footnotes:

Not sure about that part. The original is ほとんど形だけだった (“was almost only shape/form/figure”). I assume that’s the meaning the author is going for here, but it might be something else.
The original here is “big sister”. This is either the author mixing things up or the constant gender switching driving Alim insane.