Reincarnated Young Lady Aims to Be an Adventurer - Volume 9 Chapter 147

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

We took off towards the land of Marsh on Gan’s ship! We used the tailwinds as if they were a gift from the Eastern Ocean’s king, and sailed forth rapidly as if propelled by an engine. 

“Sister… Where is Sister Snake?”

Miyu had not revealed herself to Gan, this time around. It was her decision. I didn’t get involved.

“Miyu is always watching over you, Gan-san,” I told him.

Gan nodded with a serious expression. He dropped us off on the north side of the continent, and we waved goodbye to him.

When it came time to travel by foot, I asked Sakaki if he wanted to join me on Lu’s back, but his face went pale and he refused.

“Th-that’s preposterous!” said Sakaki.

“Sera, we Holy Beasts would never let a human ride on our backs without an order from our contracted humans! We are not beasts of burden!” said Lu.

“Oh, really? Why do you let me ride on your back, then, Lu?” I asked.

“…Since a long time ago, you’ve been small and slow and easy to lose sight of,” said Lu.

No way! Well, excuse me!

“But, hey! When I was in the Goddess’ garden, I hopped up on Magan’s back and pet him all over his fluffy head, and he never got mad at me, you know?” I said.

“Guh – wha!”

“Lu-sama!!!”

Lu’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted. He didn’t wake up for nearly an hour… D-did I do something wrong?

Sakaki used his exceptional spy skills to obtain a horse from somewhere. We decided on a town to meet up at, and we took off towards Marsh. 

Of course, Lu and I arrived first, and after we got a room to stay in and took a bath, Sakaki arrived, exhausted. After traveling like this for a week… we finally arrived in Toukun, the capital city of Marsh.

◇◇◇

“Yamada-kun!”

“Fio!”

We met up with Yamada-kun at an inn just outside the city. Sakaki had sent word beforehand that we would be arriving.

“Yamada, just as we discussed earlier, Fio has arrived as Trundle’s leader to sign a declaration of friendship. To be honest, the future empress didn’t need to come all the way to a vassal state of Galle for this, but Fio has granted you with her careful consideration. I would like to make the signing a showy display. I want to get in contact with Prime Minister Tabuchi.”

Tabuchi was currently in the position of being a prime minister of Marsh, a vassal state of the empire. Gilan considered him a suitable person for the role, as I had given him my seal of approval and there was no one else that seemed up to the task.

The newly reformed nation of Marsh was holding a session of parliament with representatives from the various districts that accepted Tabuchi as their prime minister.  As long as they didn’t propose anything too out of the ordinary, Gilan didn’t interfere.

Of course, if they ever passed a resolution that caught his attention, Gilan would surely make a visit.

The nation of Marsh wanted to avoid a development like that at all costs. After all, that would bring dishonor to their name.

This was precisely why Emperor Gilan had decided upon who would hold heavy positions of government.

“Ah… Well, actually, Tabuchi-sama is under house arrest.”

“What… I heard rumors about this at Reagan Island, but, is this because of Princess Tomoe?” asked Tabuchi.

“I don’t know about whether Princess Tomoe is involved, but it is because of a group that is unsatisfied with being under the jurisdiction of Galle.”

“That’s just one small part of all this, though, isn’t it? Tabuchi-san is a popular man. Why don’t you help him?”

“Well, I was told that he would see to the issue himself, and was thus pacified…”

It was suspicious.

“Shall we go take a look?” asked Lu.

“Yes. Yamada-kun, please notify the Marsh guild that we will do a welfare check on Tabuchi-san, who has not reported to his government duties,” I said. “Give them 100 gold as payment for making it an official government action. It’s just a show of power, anyways. Tell rank-A officers and above, only. Tell Yuko that I will do the check, personally.”

If I worked through the guild like this, no one would think that I was doing whatever I wanted on my own. It would also go towards building the track record of the newly revived guild in Marsh.

“100 would be barely giving the guild any money at all. Could I ask for 200?” asked Yamada. When I went to take out my wallet, Sakaki stopped me and we paid 100. Apparently, this would be digging into the expenditures of Galle’s governmental investigations.

It got dark, and we made our way to a bungalow in the business district of Toukun that Yamada told us about. 

Without making a sound, Sasaki put three guards standing around the house to sleep by chopping them on their necks with his hand.

Someone inside must have noticed a change, as the door opened with a click. Tabuchi came out, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Sorry for coming so late in the night,” I said.

“Oh my! Serafiona-sama and guests from the west, and Sakaki too. This is quite unexpected…”

He let us in.

Inside was a single room wide enough to fit just ten tatami mats, and had only a wooden table set and bed out in the open. It wasn’t much different from my dormitory room at the school of knighthood.

As Tabuchi slowly began to prepare some tea as if he was unused to visitors, I quickly moved to help him out. I was sure it would taste better if I took care of it.

“Ah, to think that I am able to have tea with Serafiona-sama, again – a person I thought had ascended to impossibly high heights… I was worried about the tumult in Judor, you know?” said Tabuchi.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

I wondered how much this man knew about it.

“All of that’s been taken care of, now. What’s happening over here with you, though, Tabuchi-san?” I asked.

Tabuchi drank his Marshan green tea and savored it.

“Well, it seems my way of doing things is outdated now, and I’m no longer called upon. I was told that the elderly are meant to live out the rest of their lives like the elderly should – quietly in some tucked away corner of the city. Something like that,” said Tabuchi. 

Tabuchi held his teacup in both hands and silently gazed upon an upright tea stalk in his cup. 

“I’m quite tired, anyways,” he said, “I’m fed up with being hated.”

It was true that he had worked hard for a long time, but I couldn’t just accept that he was suddenly neglecting his governmental duties. This was Tabuchi-san, after all. This was the man who had kept Marsh afloat in troubled times with only his willpower despite being on the brink of being overworked to death…

I glanced over at Lu and got his go-ahead signal.

“Lu says to speak your mind. What’s the real reason why you’ve stepped back?” I asked.

Lu was staring at Tabuchi intently with his light blue eyes.

Tabuchi, who was able to see holy beasts, would never deny Lu’s answers. I felt bad for using an underhanded tactic.

Tabuchi trembled. After blinking many times, he looked away from Lu, shook his head left and right, and covered his face with both hands. He sighed lightly.

“…I have a daughter and grandson, and when the reforms started, I secretly sent them away to other countries so that they wouldn’t be used in a political war. Those kids of mine are now, for lack of a better word, hostages,” said Tabuchi.

…I had completely forgotten about that. Tabuchi’s daughter was, in fact… a close consort of the last king. She had given birth to the fourth son in line, and was trying to raise him up to the throne… That was Princess Tomoe’s situation, at that time.

“When she was a consort to the king, that was a kind of hostage situation, too. I ended up making my daughter suffer. I gave up my personal disagreements for the good of the country and even sacrificed my daughter for it. But, now…”

Tabuchi’s shoulders were trembling.

Tabuchi’s will had given out. It was actually a wonder that he had held out this long. 

Even grown men had a limit to how much responsibility they could uphold. It was terrible to think that not only was his daughter a prisoner, he wasn’t even being repaid for offering up his life for so long, too…

“Where are Kirika-sama and Prince Kanai, now?” asked Sakaki, softly.

“They went to Denbule undercover but were found out, and now they live under house arrest,” said Tabuchi.

Sakaki’s frog hopped in and out.

“Sakaki! Stop him! I can’t stand to think that he may do something rash, and something may happen to those children!” Tabuchi pleaded.

“The emperor will not do anything rash,” said Sakaki.

“When people are in dilemmas, they are wont to do foolish things!!! Not only that, I’ve been told that if I talked about my daughter to people, she would be killed…” said Tabuchi.

What should we do?

I decided to mimic my grandmother, put on my “adult face”, and carefully spoke in a low voice.

“Prime minister Tabuchi, you must use the power vested in you to sign into an alliance with Trundle, immediately.”

“W-wait!”

“I will not wait. Tabuchi-san – I am ordering you to do this as a person contracted with a holy beast,” I said, decisively and forcefully. Tabuchi’s eyes widened.

In the outskirts of Toukun, the treaty was signed quietly.

“Now. I am the leader of Trundle – an ally of Marsh that boasts three times its military might,” I said, “You’re in no position to ignore my commands, Tabuchi-san.”

“…Yes, I understand,” he said.

“And since you are allied with Trundle, and in no position to defy us, you were forced to give me information about the current situation,” I said.

“…Yes,” he said.

“Not only that, I forced you to tell me the location of your family,” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“And you realized that it would be impossible for Marsh, a country whose power is currently weakened, to stop Trundle and its enraged leader. That’s all! Do you understand?” I asked.

“I… understand,” he said.

A light twinkled outside of the window. Sakaki stirred.

“What was that?” I asked.

“It’s a ‘little beetle’,” said Sakaki.

“Liguido’s transmission magic is in the form of a beetle, I see… He’s taking the offensive,” said Lu.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ve been assured that Kirika-sama and Prince Kanai are safe in Denbule,” said Sakaki.

This was an extremely quick line of work!

As we finished the matter of signing the treaty, we all rose to our feet, and Tabuchi’s knees buckled out from underneath him.

“Ha… haha…” laughed Tabuchi, weakly.

“Ah… They’re east of Toukun, in the Iwama territory,” said Sakaki.

“Serafiona-sama, please!!!” cried Tabuchi.

“Tabuchi-san, you need to rest for a moment. That’s an order, too,” I said.

“…As you… wish,” said Tabuchi, trembling and squeezing out the words.

As I moved to leave, Sakaki stopped me.

“Fio, I’m sorry. I want to change into some inconspicuous clothing. Will you wait for me outside?” he asked.

Sakaki’s clothes were, in fact, a bit too bright.

“Got it,” I said.

I went outside with Lu and checked on the route we would be taking to Iwama.

◇◇◇

Sakaki picked Tabuchi up and had him sit on the bed.

“Prime minister, why? Why did you push yourself this far?”

“…My distress… Anyone’s… problems… are nothing… compared to… the continuation of… this country…” said Tabuchi.

“…Our Emperor was in a similar situation three years ago. He failed to help Princess Serafiona when she was in distress, and he deeply regrets his selfish actions from that time,” said Sasaki.

“…?”

“Serafiona is deeply grateful to you for holding up the livelihood of this forlorn nation of Marsh,” said Sasaki.

“…”

“Princess Serafiona is… everything to Emperor Gilan. The emperor would never choose to overlook the distress of someone the princess is grateful to. He will surely help you,” said Sasaki.

“…”

“You are not alone, my lord!” said Sasaki, “Even now, there are two people working in secret to help you, lord! Serafiona acts to help you directly because she, too, considers you important. You still have much to do, my lord! Don’t take this burden on by yourself! Together… We will build a brighter Marsh, together. What say you?”

“Sasaki… uuughhh, ugh, ack…”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]