Chapter 90
Ruan’s gaze turned to the knights.
“What, two days? No. With this distance, isn’t one day enough to get there?”
“That’s right! What’s the point of resting on the road! It’s better to go quickly. We need to hurry…”
The humans, who had been moving according to plan until now, suddenly started burning with determination, claiming this wasn’t their maximum speed.
“So that’s how you seduced Annette with your sweet talk?”
“Listening to your story, I can see why your romances always failed… You should step aside for His Grace…”
“What are you saying? I know all about your dark history.”
Suddenly, they started bickering while bringing up their own love stories.
“Ruan. His Grace really loves you a lot. *Sniff* The little boy who used to cry at the sight of orcs has grown up so much…”
Why is this uncle acting like this again?
For some reason, the knights who were perfectly fine until yesterday had all become strange when they met in the morning.
Did they eat something wrong yesterday? That can’t be, since I ate the same thing.
As Ruan was pondering about last night’s dinner, the Grand Duke passed by him, who was standing blankly, and approached the carriage.
Like a cat, he seemed to be ignoring the humans’ eccentric behavior and trying to get into the carriage. His gait looked majestic, suggesting he was in a good mood.
Thinking it was fortunate that at least the cat was normal when everyone else was acting strange, Ruan followed the Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke, who arrived at the carriage first, flung the door open but didn’t know how to elegantly offer his hand to Ruan while holding the door.
“What are you doing? Get in.”
As the Grand Duke looked at Ruan, who was just standing still, with a puzzled expression, Ruan’s eyes began to tremble endlessly.
The cat… is escorting…? No, why suddenly? How?
What on earth had happened…?
The incomprehensible confusion for Ruan continued even after that.
Ruan’s confusion was compounded by the fact that the strangely changed knights seemed to have grown closer to the strangely changed Grand Duke. Usually, the Grand Duke didn’t think much of the knights, and the knights feared the Grand Duke – that was the typical dynamic. But these people, who were once so awkward to even group together, had all become strange at once, and simultaneously, their attitudes towards each other had become oddly friendly.
He didn’t know what it was, but there was clearly something going on. But when Ruan asked why they were acting like this, they would suddenly become triumphant and say things like:
‘It’s okay, Ruan. You don’t need to know! Trust your uncle and leave it to me.’
A knight who, to Ruan’s knowledge, was not blood-related (unless Ruan Daen had some secret about his birth) volunteered to be family, or:
‘Hehehe, ahem. Ahem. No, it’s nothing. Really, it’s nothing, so you don’t need to worry about it.’
They kept saying things that were as good as shouting that it clearly wasn’t nothing, or even:
‘Don’t you have any romantic fantasies?’
They would even ask strange questions in return.
Ruan really couldn’t understand this situation. Being among the strangely changed Grand Duke and knights who were all chummy with each other, he even felt a peculiar sense of isolation.
Of course, he didn’t want to become strange like them, but… Maybe it was because the Grand Duke, who had seemed to need constant care, was getting along well with others on his own and seemed to be in quite a good mood. His feelings were even more unsettled.
While Ruan was experiencing these complex emotions, the knights, exploding with enthusiasm, raced madly with the Grand Duke’s permission. The group ended up reaching the capital two days earlier than expected.
* * *
Due to the characteristics of his territory, and the characteristics of his species (though this wasn’t widely known), the Grand Duke of Reinke rarely left his domain to visit the capital. Among all the Grand Dukes of Reinke in history, none had visited the capital more than a handful of times. The Grand Duke of Reinke’s stay in the capital was truly a rare occurrence.
Since it happened maybe five times in a generation at most, the Reinke ducal family didn’t maintain a separate mansion in the capital. Rather than furnishing and maintaining a mansion they rarely used and employing staff for it, it was far better for Reinke to use those resources to equip themselves against monsters.
Anyway, due to these circumstances, there was no place for the Grand Duke and his entourage to stay in the capital. Before coming to the capital, Ruan had to find a place where the cat, who would be sensitive in an unfamiliar space, and the boisterous knights could stay.
Of course, since they were going to the capital at the Emperor’s summons, it was possible to be assigned quarters within the imperial palace.
‘In fact, Volker would prefer the Grand Duke to stay there.’
The guest quarters in the imperial palace were a place where Volker’s eyes and ears were in the walls.
And for precisely that reason, Ruan had no intention of using the quarters in the imperial palace. How could he make such a stupid choice as to have the cat, who was already likely to be very stressed, stay in a place where they would have to be wary of Volker’s attention and machinations every moment? If they stayed in such a place, the Grand Duke, who was more comfortable in his cat form than his human form, wouldn’t even be able to rest comfortably as a cat.
Moreover, if they stayed in the palace with its high foot traffic, Volker wouldn’t be the only one they’d have to worry about. The Grand Duke of Reinke was the center of attention and an extremely rare character in the capital. There would be plenty of people lingering around the Grand Duke to satisfy their curiosity, for their own benefit, or to see the famous Grand Duke again. It was obvious that they wouldn’t be able to relax for a moment if they stayed there.
They couldn’t stay in the imperial palace, if only to protect the Grand Duke from the nobles’ attention.
Therefore, Ruan had to find separate temporary lodgings that were beyond Volker’s influence, where the Grand Duke could stay comfortably and quietly, while still being of a standard befitting the Grand Duke’s status.
Ardenheim was the main setting of the “Tales of the Sirah Empire,” so he did know quite a bit of important information about this place… but that ‘important information’ didn’t include reviews of good accommodations.
Without special information, finding lodgings that satisfied all these complex conditions from the perspective of a ‘Reinke native who had never been to Ardenheim’ was a very difficult task. Moreover, such accommodations could usually only be obtained through connections, which made it even more challenging.
Fortunately, Ruan had an acquaintance living in the capital who was very well-connected and capable, could easily find such lodgings, and was even trustworthy.
“I sincerely welcome you to Ardenheim.”
With the strange ability to utter polite greetings verbally and show perfectly formal movements physically, while his pitch-black eyes shouted, ‘I’m really happy to see you. I missed you so much. I really, really missed you. I want to be petted. I want to be vigorously rubbed. What should I do? I’m so happy. I’m really, really, really happy to see you…’
Behind Ralph, the dog beastman who looked happy enough to easily spin in place thirty times right now, Ruan could almost see a long tail spinning like a propeller. If he had his tail out, it would surely be wagging so vigorously that it might get a cramp. Truly happy to see that transparent yet vivid illusion, Ruan smiled brightly and greeted:
“Thank you for your warm welcome, Guild Master.”
At Ruan’s greeting, which was dripping with joy at seeing him, a gentle smile spread across Ralph’s kind face.
“Guild Master! It’s been a long time!”
“It really has been a long time since we last met before winter.”
“Have you been well?”
The knights, who had become friendly with Ralph due to his crazy sociability during his stay in Reinke, also greeted him happily, glad to see him again.
“Ah, Sir Benno. It’s really been a long time.”
“I heard from afar that you weathered this winter well too. Really… you’ve worked so hard.”
“I’ve been well! Sir Kata, have you also been well without any injuries?”
He was already in a good mood, and now he was even receiving greetings from the knights he hadn’t seen in a long time. Ralph’s joy brightened step by step, and by the time he had exchanged greetings with everyone, it seemed like waves of joy were rippling around him.
Seeing this, Ruan unknowingly let out a smile. When he first saw that overwhelming emotional expression, he was quite taken aback. But after Ralph returned to the capital, the absence of that boisterous emotional expression felt awkward and empty, and he had suffered from aftereffects for so long.
As Ruan smiled slightly, Ralph’s gaze, which had been looking at Ruan intermittently while greeting the knights, fixed on him. In Ralph’s restless appearance, as if he wanted to rush over right away, Ruan could almost see a puppy pawing the ground rapidly. When Ruan greeted him again with his eyes, an even brighter emotion appeared on Ralph’s face.
Barely enduring the surging joy and maintaining a ‘wait’ state with difficulty, Ralph opened his mouth.
“I will guide you to the mansion where you will be staying during your time in the capital.”
