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“…So, that’s what happened, Your Majesty.”

I was telling King Mephilad what had occurred with King Rama the other day. I mean, I was a citizen of this country, so it was better to discuss it before getting more deeply involved with another nation.

“I see. To think he’d make such a request.”
“Indeed. For that reason, I was thinking of crafting this scepter-like weapon the day after tomorrow, based on the drawing in the book King Rama showed me.”

Back then, I had also recreated the Hero’s Sword based on old literature. Though my Divine Sword was still stronger in any aspect. Well divine grade items were incomparable to anything below.

“I see. Although it is one of Anazumu’s three leading countries, they have been without their signature weapon¹ for a long time, and they expressed that it harmed their country’s dignity.”

The king was unexpectedly nonchalant about it. Well, Mephilad was on friendly terms with Bufura, so he probably felt safe enough. If this was the country of the holy tree, his reaction likely would’ve been very different.

It was the same for me. I wasn’t willing to give that country even one iota of assistance, after their king treated Kanata and the others so poorly.

“Putting that aside, Alim, the part that caught my attention was how you restored those books.”
“…Oh, I can guess where this is going.”
“Exactly… could we ask you for that?”

The Mephilad Kingdom also had many books that were in a poor state. Back when I went through the libraries to copy all the information from the books into the Tozumaho, I excluded the places storing damaged literature… This might be a good opportunity to update the information on the device.

“Understood, I’ll take care of it.”
“Please do… Since we gave you unrestricted access to all libraries in the past, I assume you know where they are?”
“Yes, every last one!”

I spent quite some time there, so I’m familiar enough with them to work there at this point. Only, while I gathered a veritable treasure trove of information, it’s such a pain to read through it all. Even so, there’s work to be done.

“Ah, before you leave, spend some time with Karua, will you?”
“Eh-heh-heh, that was the plan, Your Majesty.”

Our first priority when coming to the castle was always to spend time with the princess.

“No need to rush crafting the weapon, you can do the book restoration whenever want. Just inform me before you get to work.”
“Will do, Your Majesty!”

Thus, we moved to Karua’s room. The number of toys and games she had available had increased in recent times. The other day, we played Kendama, and before that, it was Karuta².

In any case, she already knew that we were from another world, so I could bring her whatever I wanted. The ultimate goal was to introduce her to video games.

“With all that said, what should we play today, Karua?”
“What about Shogi? I finally understand how the rooks and bishops are used!”
“Oh… Shogi? That’s fine for me.”

This world had Chess, but not Shogi. The main difference between the two games was that in the latter, you would gain control of any enemy game-pieces you captured.

“Turning defeated soldiers into allies and fighting with them does sound like something from a story.”
“But in exchange, your original allies may also betray you…”
“Th-That is also true!”

In a resemblance of what I did often, Karua puffed out her cheeks. Almost by reflex, Mika smushed them with her hands. In reaction, the princess pinched my cheeks, likely since that chain of events had reminded her of how wonderful they felt.

“Recently, I never had any opportunity to touch your cheeks, Alim. They feel just as wonderful as they used to.”

At this point, I didn’t even try to resist.

“Now, let us play Shogi already!”

Thus, we got ready for our match. It apparently didn’t matter to Karua that games like Chess and Shogi didn’t depend on chance; she still enjoyed them. We had played the Game of Life several times, but Karua almost always ended up in first place thanks to her extreme luck.

“That reminds me, Alim, has your work situation calmed down?”
“As a matter of fact, it has.”

The biggest advantage of this world lacking good means of transportation was probably that I wasn’t expected to travel to other cities or countries. If it had, I’d likely be jetting around the world right now.

Thinking about it, isn’t King Rama the very first client asking me to come to another country³?

He was the most ardent fan among royals I’d met so far… This man, just how many of my firsts was he going to claim?

“Alim, let us start already!”
“Ah, sorry.”

I got lost in thought.

Karua would go first and I second. Mika just watched. The princess made the first move.

1. The original is 「者」の武器 (“weapon of ‘person'”). I assume it’s meant in the meaning of “weapon the specific person (the guide) unique to the country is using”.
2. Kendama is the Japanese of version of the Cup-and-Ball game. Karuta are Japanese playing cards, originally based on Portuguese ones.
3. No, that was King Mephilad asking him to go fight Surtr. Also, King Rama didn’t ask him to come to Bufura, he would’ve sent the book to Mephilad.

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