Along their way to meeting with the Prime Minister, Rei suddenly had a thought.

(Those two from earlier……the fact that they had robes and canes means that they were definitely mages, have I met them before?)

Recalling the two female mages from earlier who had stiffened up or crouched on the floor, he had his doubts.

As far as Rei could remember, he had never met the two before.

At the very least, he didn’t think he had encountered them on any of his requests before.

However, where else would Rei, who had only been active in the Mireana Kingdom, encounter mages from the Bestir Empire……

「Oh, of course.」

He suddenly thought of a possibility as he muttered out loud.

Hearing Rei’s mutters, Rhodes, who was next to him, looked over with a curious glance. However, Rei himself didn’t seem to care as he continued down his train of thought.

(For someone like me, who has only done requests in the Mireana Kingdom, to run into mages from the Bestir Empire, they probably saw me in battle on the Selemus Plains. I guess they had participated on the other side.)

If that was the case, that would explain why they were so afraid of him. While thinking of that, another possibility came to his mind. They had met Rei while he was doing requests in the Mireana Kingdom and had come over to the Bestir Empire for some reason.

(Well, that’s highly unlikely though.)

You could freely travel between both countries through the Selemus Plains, but there was bad blood between the two due to long standing conflicts.

Because of that, there weren’t too many people willing to go to and from the Bestir Empire.

……With the exception of Vihera of course.

Rei didn’t end up reaching a conclusion and decided that there was no point thinking any further about it by the time Ombrel, who had been guiding them, finally stopped.

There was a door near Ombrel with two knights guarding it.

「The Prime Minister is waiting for you here. However, before your meeting, I would like you to hand over any weapons you might have.」

「……Well, of course.」

It was Elk who said that.

To meet the prime minister of another country……and one who was from a hostile country……it was only normal to be asked to not bring any weapons.

Even if they hadn’t been from a hostile country, it was still strange to think that you could meet someone of such high standing while holding a weapon.

In that respect, it was probably because Daska was confident in his own skills that he allowed people to have weapons when meeting with him, provided the people he was meeting with weren’t very dangerous.

Of course, there would always be guards in the neighbouring room, so if anything happened, they could always move out immediately.

Daska’s knights and Rhodes handed over their long swords. Elk handed of the Axe of the Thunder God, and Min handed over her cane.

Naturally, Rei was also asked to hand over his weapons, but there was no way he would hand over the Death Scythe, let alone the Misty Ring.

In the end, all he could do was hand over the dagger he had on him as a spare weapon.

Of course, the Prime Minister’s guards were not convinced, but had to reluctantly accept it as it was the only visible weapon Rei had on him.

Rei didn’t know if they didn’t know about the Misty Ring or if they knew about it and intentionally overlooked it, but he was let through without being asked to leave it behind.

That said, even if Rei had been asked to leave the Misty Ring behind, he would have refused. As expected, he didn’t have the courage to entrust the Misty Ring, his lifeline, to a potential enemy.

(Considering that, Elk seems quite fine with handing over his Axe of the Thunder God.)

The Axe of the Thunder God was a very high quality magic weapon as well as Elk’s namesake. Naturally, it’s value was immeasurably high and, if it were taken from Elk, it would potentially cause a significant impact to the Mireana Kingdom’s strength.

But, if the Bestir Empire were to do such a thing, it would definitely lead to various outcries, which would have been too much for the Bestir Empire’s army to currently handle, given their current military reorganisation.

「Pesche Gat-sama. I have brought Margrave Rowlocks’ group.」

「Mm, enter.」

A muffled voice responded from the back of the room in response to Ombrel’s words.

While slightly confused by the voice, Daska’s group entered the door that was opened by Ombrel.

The first thing they saw was someone sitting on a sofa while looking at some documents.

Naturally, that person was Pesche Gat, the prime minister, as addressed by Ombrel. However, his appearance was quite distinctive.

He was sitting down, so it was hard to know his exact height, but it was clear that he was by no means a giant. Even though he was probably around Rei’s height, he weight was definitely at least double that of Rei’s……or maybe even more.

To put it simply, the person was quite fat.

His head was bald, and he had a long beard under his nose.

At first glance, he might seem like a clown, but the way he looked at his documents proved otherwise.

His gaze was sharp, resembling that of a bird of prey.

However, Daska’s group only saw that gaze for a moment.

The next moment, his gaze changed to a soft one as he looked over towards Daska’s group as they came in.

「I apologise. I have a lot of work to do around this time of the year……so I’m sorry to keep you waiting.」

「……No, this is my fault. I have nothing but words of gratitude for accepting my sudden request for a meeting.」

Daska’s polite language was different from his usual self.

His usual casual way of speaking could only be used with those close to him or people who weren’t that important. In a situation like this, he had no choice but to speak in this way.

For Daska, as long as he held his position as Margrave, it was only natural to be able to speak in this way when needed.

「Welcome to the Bestir Empire. I hope we haven’t caused you any inconvenience. Now, please take a seat. Hey, prepare some tea.」

「Yes.」

At Pesche’s words, a maid who had been in the room nodded before leaving.

Seeing the maid leave the room, Daska sat down on the sofa as prompted by Pesche.

Of course, Daska’s escorts, such as Rei and Elk, were not permitted to sit and just stood behind Daska.

The same went for Pesche’s bodyguards, the three of whom stood behind Pesche.

(……Strong.)

Rei thought to himself.

He could tell at first sight. All three of Pesche’s guards had considerable strength.

Rei didn’t think he would lose in a fight, but even so, he wouldn’t be able to wipe them out like the small fry he had fought countless times before.

Daska’s two knights seemed to understand their opponents’ strength as well as they both tightened their guards.

Pesche’s three guards also had the same response.

No, if anything, Pesche’s bodyguards were even more surprised.

Of course, they had confidence in their own skills, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have been assigned the important role of guarding the Prime Minister.

However, it would be difficult, even for them, if they were to confront Margrave Rowlocks’ escort.

The most they could do would be to buy time for Pesche to escape.

One of the guards in particular had the ability to see magic power, so he looked at Rei with disbelief……as if he were looking at a monster.

Even if they didn’t exchange words, the two groups of guards could gauge each other’s competence just from their expressions and gestures. In a sense, it was just another form of communication.

「Even though we send out invitations every year, it’s taken a while for the man himself to come here instead of a representative.」

「I have long wanted to attend the Bestir Empire’s renowned fighting tournament, but I’m a frontier lord after all. Especially with all the commotion that has been going on recently, I hadn’t been able to make the time.」

「Oh? Commotion?」

「Yes. Especially since last autumn to winter, I’ve been running around different place in a hurry.」

「Hahaha-. What, Margrave Rowlocks is the famed frontier lord of the Mireana Kingdom. That level of commotion is nothing to worry about, right?」

They were talking to each other with smiles on their faces and there was even a peaceful atmosphere.

However, of course, a discussion between the Prime Minster of the Bestir Empire and the leader of the Mireana Kingdom’s Neutral Faction could not be spoken explicitly. Even in their brief conversation, the didn’t forget to keep each other in check.

(Last year’s disturbance was one the Bestir Empire set up, right? Daska implicitly blamed them for it and the other side just passed it off as if it were nothing big. ……Something like that?)

Rei, who was listening in to their conversation, was a little confused in his mind. Before long, there was a knock on the door of the room and the maid returned with tea and biscuits.

The maid then poured two cups of tea, which she offered to Daska and Pesche.

Seeing that, Pesche smiled at Daska as he spoke.

「Pick whichever you like.」

「Hmm, I’ll have this one.」

Daska took the cup to his right and Pesche took the remaining cup before bringing a biscuit to his mouth and washing it down with the tea.

He let Daska chose a cup first before eating a biscuit and drinking the tea before Daska.

It was an act to show that there was no poison in either of them, but even so, Rei wasn’t the only one who felt that it was somewhat deliberate.

It was clearly done to show them that he cared about them.

If it wasn’t for that act, Daska wouldn’t have reached for either the tea or biscuits.

After all, they were still in enemy territory.

In that way, Daska and Pesche exchanged various words with underlying meanings in both speech and action.

First, perhaps as a preamble, they talked about the various monsters that appeared within Gilm’s vicinity followed by the magic items that were made in the Empire, but eventually, the topic turned to the tournament. Daska brought up the main subject after exhausting all small talk.

「Speaking of the fighting tournament. Actually, I have something I would like to ask regarding that.」

「Hmm? If it’s a request from Margrave Rowlocks, who came all the way from the Mireana Kingdom, I can’t ignore it. I might not be able to fulfill it, but let’s hear what it is first.」

「That would be a great help. So, among the people I hired as escorts, a couple have said they want to participate in the fighting tournament.」

「……I see.」

At Daska’s words, Pesche’s eyes, which had been calm until now, were directed sharply towards the escorts standing behind Daska.

「I assume you don’t mean all of them……correct? May I ask who exactly is hoping to compete?」

「Yes, that’s not a problem. First of all is Rei. No, it would probably be easier for the Prime Minister to understand if I called him Crimson.」

Rei, hearing his name called, took a step forward and bowed slightly towards Pesche.

「I’m Rei, an adventurer from Gilm.」

At the word ‘Crimson’, Pesche’s sharp gaze turned to Rei.

Of course, as the prime minister of the Bestir Empire, Pesche knew who Crimson was.

He also knew from various interviews with survivors who had participated in the Spring War that his appearance and physique were completely different from what the rumours said.

But……still, when he actually saw Rei in person, it was hard to see him as the one to do so much damage to the Bestir Empire’s army during the war.

He was short and, while not a child, he couldn’t be called an adult either.

Rei’s face didn’t give off the impression of a skilled adventurer either, let alone a titled adventurer.

Of course, Pesche knew from the information he had collected that this was definitely Cirmson, but even so, he couldn’t help but be a bit surprised by Rei’s direct introduction.

The fact that Elk, Axe of the Thunder God, was standing next to Rei probably only added to Pesche’s thoughts.

「So you’re Crimson, huh? I’ve heard various rumours about you as well as reports from those who participated in the war, but……seeing you directly, it’s hard to believe it.」

Hearing Pesche’s words, Rei couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.

He had already half given up on his appearance, but even so, it seemed like he had to do something about it after being told that so directly.

Pesche wondered what Rei was thinking when he saw his reaction before giving a small nod before speaking.

「That’s fine, I’ll do my best to let Crimson participate in the fighting tournament.」

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