Published at 27th of April 2021 9:35 am

Chapter 184

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

A few days after Hiroaki caused a scene, Rio had dinner with Celia, who had just returned from her lecture at the Rodania Mansion, that night. And since they told the maids, Sofia and Angela, that they didn’t need attendants for the meal, it was only the two of them at that dinner.

「Come to think of it, it’s been decided that I’ll come along to the Galwark kingdom. Best regards during that time.」

Celia said, filled with a smile as she looked at Rio.

「What about your lectures in Rodania? 」

Rio asked, slightly surprised. He was about to head back to the Galwark Kingdom tomorrow. This time to meet Satsuki. However, aside from her, he also had to give his greetings to Francois, mainly because of his status as an honorary knight of Galwark.

While he knew that Flora and Christina decided to come along using Restoration’s magic vessel, Rio had expected Celia to stay in Rodania because of her duties as a lecturer.

Christina and Flora both had their reasons for going along with him. Christina’s purpose was to inform King Francois about her inauguration as the new representative of Restoration. While Flora’s purpose was to report her safe return after her disappearance.

「Yeah, but I expect a hell of jam-packed lectures waiting for me once I get back from Galwark. And besides, I was asked to go along as Christina-sama’s and Flora-sama’s attendant.」

Celia spoke, still with a happy smile on her face.

「I see. There’s no way you can refuse their request.」

Rio agreed as he returned her smile with his own.

「Yes… Ah, now that it has come to this… It seems that we’re going to stop by Almond on the way to Galwark.」

「Do we have some business there? 」

「For safety reason, the magic vessel will stop by for a while, but Liselotte-sama told us that she will tag along with us.」

「Liselotte-sama…」

「Yeah. She said that she absolutely must come along with us to prove that Flora-sama had safely returned. And…it seems that she also wanted to spend some time with you when she heard that you would come along.」

Celia said, looking closely at Rio’s expression.

「I see …………Understood」

Rio replied after pondering for a while. Anyway, the matter about meeting up with her again had been decided ever since their adventure to deliver Christina to Rodania, so there was nothing to be done. Meanwhile, he tried to recall his impressions of her during that time――,

“―― This might be a sudden question, but do you believe in previous lives, Lord Amakawa?”

That time, Liselotte suddenly came with such an absurd question. However, she eventually ended it there with a promise to continue their talk the next time they met. She probably chose his visit to the Galwark kingdom at this time as the most appropriate time to make her move. Rio at least predicted that much. And――、

「By the way, after we visit the Galwark kingdom I’m going to make a bath in this house and then I’ll leave on a journey for a while to visit my acquaintance.」

Rio suddenly changed the topic of their conversation.

「Bath? 」

Celia’s eyes opened wide as the topic drew her interest.

「Yes, Aisia told me how much you missed the bath in my rock house while I was away.」

Rio unintentionally let out a smile when he told her that.

「G-Geez. I mean Aisia missed it too.」

Celia’s face flushed red in embarrassment.

「Ahaha, yes, she did say that she missed the bath too.」

Yup, I missed the bath.

Rio laughed again when Aisia’s voice joined in the conversation in his head.

「B-But, is that really alright? Isn’t that rather risky for you? 」

Celia asked as she stared at Rio sitting in front of her.

「No problem. I do need to collect the necessary materials during our stay in Galwark though. I think I might be able to finish the bath in one or two weeks. I mean I want to immerse myself in the bathtub whenever I come to this house too. And though it won’t be as luxurious as the one in the Rock house, please look forward to its completion. 」

Rio said magnanimously. The magic tools installed in the rock house used a large amount of mana to operate and so the high purity spirit stones had to be constantly refilled. Although this came with the advantage of having a constant supply of water no matter the environment the problem was the necessity of a constant supply of mana. Therefore he needed to lower the specs to the standard of where it could be reproduced with the sorcery technology of the Strahl region.

「Uhm….. Thank you! 」

Celia smiled happily as she said so.

◇　◇　◇

The morning of the next day. After Rio boarded the magic vessel owned by Restoration along with Celia, it departed from Rodania along with its escort vessels, heading towards the Galwark kingdom.

Their first destination was Almond as they were going to pick up Liselotte. They arrived in Almond just before noon, Liselotte who had completed her preparations boarded immediately and thus, the vessel departed again towards Galwark’s capital, Galtouct, in the noon.

As soon as she boarded the magic vessel where Rio, Celia, Flora, and Christina were on, they began to have a pleasant chat in the saloon onboard the ship. Inside the saloon, Celia, Christina, Flora, and Liselotte were sitting on the sofa with Vanessa and the other aides waiting at the side of the room.

On the other hand, Rio was preparing tea for the five of them using the special space provided due to Flora’s request who said 「I want to drink the tea brewed by Haruto-sama again.」.

「Sorry for the wait.」

After preparing tea for five, Rio headed to the sofa. He then poured the tea into each cup with trained movement.

「…. Yup, the fragrance of the tea is wonderful.」

Christina smiled softly after inhaling the aroma rising along with the steam.

「Yes, it’s wonderful.」

Flora nodded as a bright smile appeared on her face. After that, Rio presented the cup in accordance with the height of their status starting from Christina, Flora, and Liselotte.

「Here you go.」

「Thank you very much, Lord Amakawa.」

「Thank you very much, Haruto-sama.」

Christina and Flora expressed their gratitude.

「For you too, Liselotte-sama.」

「My deepest gratitude, Haruto-sama.」

Liselotte calmly expressed her gratitude.

「Here you go, Celia.」

「Thank you, Haruto.」

After he gave Celia her portion, she smiled delightfully as she expressed her gratitude. Thus, Rio took the last remaining cup. Their five man tea party began.

First, they enjoyed the pleasant aroma and tasted the tea, and gave each of their impression, then――,

「… By the way, is hero-sama coming along on this journey to Galwark? 」

The topic switched when Liselotte asked that question. She might have felt it strange for Hiroaki not to be present on this occasion. Hearing this, Christina let out a slightly awkward smile.

「While I feel ashamed to do this, I decided that we have to confine hero-sama in Rodania for the time being.」

「Con-…-Fine? 」

Liselotte was surprised by that news.

「Yes. Yes, we imposed such a punishment due to his impolite behaviour towards Lord Amakawa and for almost causing a horrible tragedy due to losing control of his own Divine Raiment.」

Christina said as she nodded to Liselotte. Indeed, the hero, Hiroaki was ordered by Christina to stay in Rodania for the duration of their visit to Galwark. One of the reasons was for disciplining him for causing such an uproar during his match with Rio.

Rio also received a formal apology right from Christina the day after the match, and from that, it was obvious how serious Christina was regarding Hiroaki’s misconduct.

「That’s…. A bit….」

Liselotte who was at a loss could only gaze in puzzlement.

「It’s because hero-sama requested a match which was more like a duel against Lord Amakawa at the party held to celebrate Flora’s safe return. In regards to the outcome of the match, hero-sama lost once to Lord Amakawa. After grumbling that ‘he won’t lose as long as he uses the power of his Divine Raiment’, he lost again, despite using said power. As a result, in his carelessness he lost control and his Divine Raiment almost caused casualties. Lord Amakawa used his demon sword to protect the audience. I had to apologize again and again to Lord Amakawa for imposing such a heavy burden on him.」

Without hiding anything, Christina explained the previous incident. Once again, she heaved a deep sigh, nodding at Rio.

「I am not too bothered about it. It didn’t harm me in any way after all. Besides, your highness has repeatedly apologized to me, so it’s fine already.」

Rio replied with a wry smile.

「How admirable. Nevertheless, I felt fortunate enough to have this chance to teach hero-sama that he can’t just do as he pleases just because of his status as a hero. I want to express my gratitude to Lord Amakawa in that regard.」

Christina replied back to him.

「I will gladly accept.」

Rio bowed to her. On the other hand――,

I had expected him to break sooner or later, but it seems he committed another huge blunder. Well he might recover soon enough and he’ll have more room to grow since it only ended up at that. Though, he must be a huge headache for Christina-sama….

Was what Liselotte secretly thought to herself during the conversation. From her position, it wasn’t a good thing to badmouth Hiroaki, however, since they were only talking about the misfortune that befell Rio, then it couldn’t be regarded as badmouthing him. At most, it could only be regarded as an indirect way for her to gossip about Hiroaki, thus Liselotte had nothing to say in this regard. That might be why――、

「Anyhow, I think that his Majesty Francois will be extremely delighted once he hears about your activity. Assisting Christina-sama to escape from the Bertram kingdom, and bringing back the missing Flora-sama. Those are huge feats. Moreover, I think Satsuki-sama will be delighted to be able to meet you again.」

Liselotte stirred the conversation to a better topic.

「I’d be honored if that were the case. I’m also looking forward to meeting Satsuki-sama again.」

Rio replied with a smile to Liselotte.

「I am also looking forward to my meeting with Satsuki-sama. I’m extremely interested with the summoned hero of the Galwark kingdom.」

Christina hinted her interest towards Satsuki. Satsuki included, she might be curious about the heroes that were summoned in the other countries as well.

「It seems I might be able to have a slow and pleasant conversation too since I almost had no chance to meet her during the evening party.」

Flora added. In her case, seeing that Hiroaki and Satsuki couldn’t see eye to eye and both of them not taking a proactive approach to get to know each other resulted in her having nothing more than the bare minimum of interaction with Satsuki.

「I think she’ll hit it off with you two since she is a friendly, polite and wise person.」

Rio stated as he told them about Satsuki’s personality. In fact, since Satsuki herself never looked down on her conversation partner and always held them in high regard, he guessed that she might hit it off immediately with the two princesses. …. As long as Hiroaki wasn’t around, that is.

「Now even I’m looking forward to my meeting with her since Lord Amakawa is speaking so highly of her.」

Christina replied with a smile on her face.

◇　◇　◇

A few hours later, the magic vessel arrived at the royal capital Galtouct. The notice about Christina and the others’ arrival was sent to the royal palace as soon as the magic vessel anchored to the harbor.

A while later, Christina and the others were guided towards the royal castle without any delay and taken to a parlor in the royal castle.

Currently, Christina, Flora, Celia, Rio, and Liselotte were waiting for King Francois’ arrival in the parlor room. Few minutes later, the door of the parlor room opened.

The ones who entered were the king of the Galwark kingdom, Francois, the first prince, Michael, and the second princess, Charlotte. And lastly, Galwark kingdom’s hero, Satsuki.

Rio and the others stood at once to greet Francois immediately.――、

「Dear me, welcome to our abode, princess Christina, and you too princess Flora.」

Francois started by greeting Flora and Christina.

「We are honored to receive the warm welcome form his majesty himself despite of our sudden intrusion.」

Christina represented the others and returned king Francois’ greeting.

「Well the matter regarding the Demi-Dragon has been affecting the flow of foreign guests for quite a while. So it should be quite a while before I have to do any work regarding diplomatic relations.」

Francois replied heartilly.

「The matter of Demi-Dragon is quite a headache for us indeed. The matter of me giving my greeting as the newly appointed representative of Restoration, and the matter of Flora’s disappearance however are important and needed to be discussed in person.」

Christina said as she sent a glance to Flora beside her.

「Naturally I’ve heard the matter of your inauguration as the new representative of Restoration including the matter about Flora. It was an unfortunate incident and yet fortunate with a miracle-like coincidence. From hearsay, I believe Haruto was involved in the resolution of this incident.」

Francois said as he smiled pleasantly to Rio.

「Yes. Both me and Flora would not have made it back safely if not for Lord Amakawa.」

Cristina bowed towards Rio.

「I’m undeserving of such praise.」

Rio bowed back in return.

「I came running right away as I’m rather intrigued by the tales of your journey. It seems Satsuki also couldn’t wait for another meeting with you too, Haruto.」

Francois cracked a smile as he looked at Satsuki.

「It’s not like I miss him though, it’s been a while, Haruto-kun. I see, aren’t you very active lately.」

Pouting, and slightly embarrassed, Satsuki greeted Rio in a cold tone.

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