Even the Expo Was Just Decorations - 4
Meeting a friend from home in a foreign land is always a joy.
"Welcome, Sister Alexandriana. I hope the journey wasn't too hard on you?"
"Thanks to your concern, it was perfectly comfortable. Have you been well all this time, Brother Tanian?"
"Of course. After two years here, it almost feels like home."
Even if that friend happened to be a cardinal who had come on official business.
Sister Alexandriana, huh.
I had already guessed that a cardinal would visit during the Club Expo. Advisor Brother and his wife, Sister, had received the honor of beatification while still living, so by custom someone had to deliver the garments and cross bestowed upon the Blessed. And when the person to be met was a current imperial minister who also happened to be a living Blessed, only a cardinal-level figure would do. Anyone of lower rank might even be called rude.
As far as personnel go, a sister could not be better.
In that sense, Sister Alexandriana—Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints—visiting the Empire was the highest courtesy the Church could show. His Holiness the Pope could hardly come in person, and my master the senior cardinal was in no position to leave his post either.
Besides, I was glad to see Sister Alexandriana myself. The other cardinals were all quite elderly and a little hard to approach, but she had looked after me like a little brother ever since I was a child. If I had to meet someone, better a person I was fond of, someone closer in age.
"Hehe."
"Sister?"
While I was thinking that, Sister's soft laugh reached me and I tilted my head.
"Ah, forgive me. Seeing Brother in an academy uniform feels rather novel."
At the quiet chuckles she let slip, I found myself smiling too.
The Holy Kingdom has its own institutions for training priests, but they wear apprentice clerical robes rather than school uniforms. Coming from there, Sister might never have seen an academy uniform before. Even I had felt awkward at first putting on clothes that weren't clerical robes. If the person wearing them felt that way, I could certainly understand how she felt.
"New experiences broaden one's horizons. Would you like to try one on yourself, Sister?"
At my suggestion the smile froze on her face.
"...What?"
Only after a long pause did she manage that single word; I could gauge just how flustered she was. Her reaction puzzled me. My proposal had been sudden, yes, but was it really that startling? At most she would only need to drape my coat over her shoulders.
"I-I'm nearly thirty next year. A school uniform? People would think it strange."
Ah.
Sister's kind explanation finally settled my confusion. She had locked herself inside the cage of age. Nearly thirty, therefore unworthy of a uniform, therefore only making a spectacle of herself if she wore one.
But the worry was excessive. Priests who follow the Lord's teaching can draw, however faintly, upon His power; like nobles who handle mana, they keep a youthful appearance for a long time. Unless she announced her age herself, no one would ever know it.
"Then show it only to me. That way no one will find it strange."
Forcing someone out of a cage is cruel, so I offered a reasonable compromise. Besides, all I meant to put on her was the coat I was wearing; I had no intention of dressing her in a full uniform. I certainly didn't have a girls' uniform lying around.
"J-just to Brother..."
Sister's eyes darted this way and that before she gave the tiniest of nods.
"All right. The Lord Himself said that wisdom comes not from knowledge but from experience."
"Quite right."
Watching her push the fluster aside so quickly brought a smile to my face.
O Lord who dwells in the heavens. I know that You are merciful and gentle, and that You love every living thing in this world.
I know that You look with special favor upon us who truly believe and follow You, who spread Your beautiful and noble teachings across the continent.
Yes, I know. Of course I know.
That is why You have granted me this blessing.
Tanian's uniform...
I barely managed to cling to a mind that was growing hazy. Extreme happiness and joy, I realized, can make a person faint.
I was so, so happy. Just seeing Tanian in his uniform, Tanian wearing an apron, would have been enough to warrant three days and nights of continuous prayer—and now I had received the very coat he had been wearing.
And he had asked me to show it only to him.
A side of me that only Tanian knows...
I desperately suppressed the corners of my mouth that wanted to curl into a grin. Fortunately no visitors had come to the booth, so Tanian and I could stroll somewhere quiet; thanks to that, we were making a memory together.
"It's a little big on you after all, Sister."
At those words I instinctively crossed my arms. That way he wouldn't be able to take the coat back.
"I-is it? I think it's fine."
I forced myself to sound casual, and Tanian simply nodded, unfazed.
Thank goodness. He had only been offering an observation; he hadn't been planning to reclaim it.
Should I just run away like this?
For a moment the temptation wrapped around my thoughts. If I fled all the way back to the Holy Kingdom, wouldn't this coat become mine? The clothes Tanian had worn for more than two years, ending up in my hands?
But I held back. No matter how much one covets an object, earning a person's dislike for the sake of a thing is foolish.
Be content with this one stroke of luck.
Greed too great only loses what has already been gained.
...
Sssssssssss—haaaaa... Ssssssssssssss—haaaaaaa...
I drew the deepest breaths I could. Softly enough, of course, that Tanian would never notice.
With each breath I caught the faint scent of Tanian that clung to the coat. The finest fragrance in the world.
If I keep wearing it, it'll soak into my own clothes, won't it?
Good. I'll hold out as long as I can.
Visitors to the booth steadily dwindled. Anyone energetic enough to come to the Club Expo had already paid their respects last year or the year before, or at the very least had attended the wedding this year as a guest; it was only natural.
So I released the club members instead of keeping them chained to the booth. I sent Ryutis off with Count Nerkap, and I told Tanian to go take a walk with Cardinal Alexandriana. He wouldn't cause trouble walking around with a high-ranking figure from his own country, surely.
Erich, meanwhile, had been snatched away by Zenobia while I was whispering with Count Nerkap. Sera had vanished with them, so I trusted they were enjoying themselves.
Should I send those two off as well?
I seriously considered it while looking at Ainter and Later, who were still hanging around the booth. Four members had already disappeared; wouldn't it be better to let these two go too?
And just as I was plotting to chase Later out, the perfect guest arrived at the perfect moment.
"Your Highness Later."
An elderly man approached Later, who had been tidying crumbs that had fallen in front of the booth.
Neatly arranged blue-black hair shot through with white, a beard grown down to the collarbones.
"Duke Kilanas?"
The last of the great figures scheduled to visit the Academy.
"This old man finally greets Your Highness. I hurried as best I could, yet these days the body no longer obeys the will."
Apparently aware that envoys from Armein and the Holy Kingdom had already come and gone before him, Duke Kilanas bowed his head to Later in apology.
"You are far too kind. Even a prince living abroad knows how tirelessly Your Grace labors for His Majesty and the kingdom. Simply having you come brings me joy."
"Haha, Your Highness's words leave this old man with nowhere to put himself."
Of course Duke Kilanas had never promised a specific arrival time, nor was this a race in which the first nation to arrive won, so Later took the duke's hand himself and offered comfort.
Watching the scene, a faint tension welled up in me. A duke so respected that a prince addressed him with honorifics—and the chairman of the Magic Council, no less—had come all the way to the Academy. It would not have been strange if he had brought some enormous matter, the way Count Nerkap had.
Please.
Instinctively I fingered the cross inside my coat.
Enen, Eternal Blue Sky, Constantina. If any of you are watching me right now, please let Duke Kilanas just be here for fun. My nerves cannot handle back-to-back secret pacts with every major power on the continent.
"Your Highness. If it is not too forward, may I greet Your Highness's friends as well?"
"Ah, of course. A few are not present at the moment... but they will return shortly."
While I was deep in prayer mode, Duke Kilanas, finished with Later, spoke up casually. He said "friends," but both Later and I knew he meant the Empire's key figures—myself and Trixie.
"Marquis of Idrafen, Ainter Libnoman. He has given a great deal of help to someone still unused to life in the Empire."
"I see. As befits one who carries the blood of the Libnomans, he is merciful and kind."
"Haha, you flatter me."
That was why Later introduced Ainter first. Whatever his marquisate title, Ainter was the Emperor's younger brother and therefore, nominally, the highest-ranking person present.
And after Ainter came—
"Your Grace the Magic Lord. It is truly an honor to meet you in person."
Trixie, the duke.
"I too have long heard of your renown. They call you a pillar the Uben kingdom cannot do without."
To Duke Kilanas, who was bowing nearly ninety degrees at the waist, Trixie replied in a gentle tone.
Apparently, considering he was both a duke of a nation and an elder, she had chosen mutual respect. Fair enough; answering a man whom even a prince honored with casual speech would have felt odd.
"Ohhh, is that so? An honor beyond anything this old man deserves in the rest of his life."
The only problem was that Duke Kilanas, the one receiving the respectful speech, was treating himself like a subordinate.
So he really did just come for a visit.
Still, seeing Duke Kilanas bowing the way Foldophon used to set my mind at ease. The way he stuck to Trixie without even glancing my way suggested he had no particular business with me.
Yes... that's enough... Ordinary guests are always welcome.