Just the Two of Us to the Sea (2)
Inside Jejungjeon, the center of the empire by common consensus and the place where the Emperor held court with his ministers.
It was the sort of place that seemed to have been lifted straight out of the Emperor’s immense authority and set down in physical form. In one of Jejungjeon’s guest rooms, lined with beautiful ornaments and antique furnishings, Macmillan von Elleves, head of the Elleves family, was chatting with his close friend, Viscount Ludwig de Lewis.
“Count, I heard you were unable to attend the ministerial council held yesterday and the day before. For you to miss a gathering, when you never overlook a single matter of the empire, I have to wonder—did something urgent come up?”
“Hmm. My daughter said she wanted to see my face after so long, so I took a little time and went home for a bit.”
“Your daughter? Surely you mean Lady Lia, the one you’re always boasting about?”
“That’s right. She’s seventeen this year.”
“Of course. My own daughter is the same age as Lady Lia, so I do know that much.”
Still, to skip a ministerial council just because he wanted to see his daughter’s face? Back in the day he hadn’t been like this, but as he grew older, he seemed to pour more and more devotion into his daughter. Macmillan really did dote on her to an almost absurd degree.
“By the way, did your daughter depart safely?”
“I saw her off myself yesterday morning when she left the house. She seemed excited to see the seaside near the Lewis viscounty, famed for its beauty, and she wore a very happy smile right up until the moment she left home.”
Imagining his daughter leaving with a bright “Thank you, Father!” in her wake, Macmillan smiled with unmistakable satisfaction.
“Oh? I’m glad to hear it. It’s a little awkward to say so myself, but the beaches in our territory are renowned for their beauty. I doubt your daughter will be disappointed.”
“So it would seem. My wife and I used to visit often in our younger days, so I know it well.”
“Younger days? Don’t say things like that. You’re still quite young now.”
“My wife and I are both in our forties now. Young? Nonsense, Ludwig. Don’t say indecent things where others can hear.”
“Yes, my apologies, sir.”
“Hah. You really won’t let it go, will you?”
Macmillan frowned, and Ludwig gave a snort of laughter. Their easy, familiar exchange was proof enough that the two had long since gone beyond rank and age, and were friends in the truest sense.
Watching Macmillan’s deeply lined face, Ludwig grinned with a sly look, then seemed to remember something and let out an “Ah” before adding, “Count, have you heard the news?”
“News? What news?”
“His Highness the Second Prince, Bern von Edward—hasn’t he been holed up in the imperial palace ever since he refused his betrothal? But in truth, he hadn’t been sequestered at all; he’d secretly been leaving the palace. So far no one noticed because they’ve had a double standing in for him. The nobles who attended the ministerial council have been talking about it nonstop.”
“Ah, that?”
Macmillan tilted his head lazily, answering as if it were nothing.
Ludwig froze for a moment, then glanced around before asking carefully, “You knew?”
“Whether I knew or not, of course I did.”
I’m the one who found a double and put him in place for the Second Prince. Why would I not know?
He kept that thought to himself and simply nodded. Ludwig’s eyes widened in surprise, then he let out a sound of admiration as though that made perfect sense.
“Well, I suppose you’re in no position to not know something I know myself. But why would Prince Bern hate the engagement chosen for him by the imperial family so much?”
“Isn’t it true that men of high standing have their own reasons?”
“Heh, reasons of the high and mighty, is it….”
After a quiet chuckle, the Viscount of Lewis glanced around once more to make sure no one was nearby, then leaned in with another question. “Then, Count, do you also know where Prince Bern went? The imperial family hasn’t made much of a move despite the Second Prince vanishing without a trace, which means he can’t have gone very far—and that he must still be within their watchful eyes. I just can’t make sense of his destination at all.”
“Don’t you think you’re asking for rather a lot with nothing to offer in return, Ludwig?”
It was an unspoken noble rule: give and take. If you wanted an answer, you had to pay a fitting price.
Ludwig thought about it for a moment, then waved a hand as if to say never mind. “Oh, forget it. I’d rather not know than pay for it. Besides, I wasn’t that curious in the first place. Compared to Prince Bern, who is effectively someone else’s problem, my daughter’s debutante is far more important.”
“……Debutante? Has our daughters’ age already come to that?”
Macmillan’s lips parted slightly, then closed again slowly as he felt time’s passage anew.
“Yes, they’ll both be seventeen this year. Still, I’m worried. Once my daughter goes through her debutante, I’ll have to start looking in earnest for a marriage match, but every decent boy from a respectable house already has a betrothed. Honestly, if I’d known, I should’ve arranged an engagement in the womb.”
“…….”
Marriage match.
His daughter’s marriage match.
Macmillan, chewing over those two irritating words, twitched an eyebrow.
But Ludwig, misreading the intent behind that movement, murmured enviously, “Ah, well. Of course your daughter has a good candidate already, so maybe you can’t understand the worries of a man like me.”
“……A good candidate? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“There’s that boy who’s always glued to Lady Lia, isn’t there? The third son of House Reinhardt, I think? My daughter said his swordsmanship is so outstanding that he ranked second among the new students.”
“That boy is Lia’s guard knight, nothing more. Certainly not a fiancé or anything of the sort. Aren’t you mistaken?”
“Huh? No way. According to my daughter, the two of them are hopelessly devoted to each other inside the academy….”
As Ludwig muttered, a warning from his daughter flashed through his mind: “Dad, this is a real secret, so….”
…….
Right. She had said absolutely not to say that.
Only belatedly remembering the promise he had made to his daughter, Ludwig snapped his mouth shut, but by then the damage was already done.
Macmillan, after a long moment of pondering Ludwig’s words, lifted the corners of his mouth in what he probably intended as a friendly smile—though to Ludwig it looked more like the grin of a demon—and set a hand on his shoulder.
“Ludwig. No, my dear friend, Viscount Ludwig de Lewis?”
“……Yes?”
“I’d like to hear that last story in a little more detail.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Ugh, every inch of me aches….”
After sitting in a carriage for half a day, my whole body felt stiff and sore.
I got down and stretched my rigid muscles, then checked the time.
The sun was high overhead, so it must have been around lunchtime. The distance between the Lewis viscounty and Elleves County must have been greater than I thought, because even though we’d set out early in the morning, the day had already gone this far.
“Hnnng, nnngh…!”
Lia climbed down after me and began stretching with far more fanfare than necessary. She’d spent the whole ride dozing on and off against my right shoulder, and unlike me she looked remarkably refreshed.
“Lady Lia, allow me to carry your bag.”
As I unloaded our luggage from the carriage, I said, “Since we’re only staying one night and two days, I packed lightly, but Lady Lia, what exactly did you bring that makes your bag so stuffed?”
She was a girl, so of course I understood that she’d need this and that, but wasn’t this a little much? Just as I was trying to secure the straps properly, Lia hurried over and snatched the bag away.
“N-no, it’s fine. It’s mine, so I’ll carry it.”
“It looks quite heavy. Are you certain you’re all right?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine…… More importantly, when are we going to the beach?”
“I’ve finished my preparations. Shall we go now?”
“Hmm, I do need a hair tie… but whatever. It’s fine without one, right? Let’s just go, Cain.”
“Yes, understood.”
The shoreline where Lia and I were headed—the place where the water dragon was often spotted—wasn’t very far from here.
If we followed the coast for about thirty minutes, we’d come to a stretch of golden sand. That was the beach everyone in the Lewis viscounty talked about as the most beautiful, and also the most dangerous—the dragon’s rest.
As the name suggested, this was a place the water dragon frequented with irritating regularity.
Word had it that the water dragon loved the sand on this beach so much that it could be seen several times a day without anyone finding it strange.
To outsiders who didn’t know the situation, it might seem absurd that such a dangerous beach wasn’t guarded or managed in any way, but there was a fairly simple reason for that.
First, among dragon-type creatures, the water dragon was on the less vicious side. As long as you didn’t approach it, it wouldn’t attack people.
Second, it was an A-Rank danger species. Even an entire knight order couldn’t guarantee a successful subjugation.
In other words, if you simply didn’t go near it, the water dragon wasn’t actually dangerous—so no one wanted to waste precious knightly forces on it. They’d left it half alone, basically.
“Oh? Cain, look at this. There’s some kind of signboard here.”
“Warning: Beyond this point is the dragon’s rest. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from approaching….”
I read the warning on the signboard aloud and lifted my head.
Far in the distance, the beach came into view.
“Looks like we’re almost there.”
“……Mm.”
Taking Lia’s hand as she seemed tense, I drew closer to the shoreline.
One step, two steps, three steps.
With every footfall, the scent grew stronger. That strange smell, like salt and fishy brine mixed together, was probably some kind of pheromone left behind by the water dragon, which supposedly came and went here as if it were its own home.
Crossing the golden sand, we chose a spot a little away from the bright blue water, which was so clear you could see the bottom.
I glanced around. The sea was rippling with gentle waves, and seashells were scattered everywhere along the beach.
Just by appearance alone, it was the sort of seaside scenery you might see in a foreign film—picture-perfect, like a painting—but this was, in fact, the territory of an A-Rank danger species.
If I stood around dazed by the beauty and got ambushed, my own body would be one thing, but Lia could end up in danger too. The thought made the muscles at the back of my neck tighten on their own.
“Lady Lia, we never know when or where the water dragon might appear, so you mustn’t let your guard down. No matter what happens around here, stay by my side…….”
“Cain. Can I go pick some flowers for a moment?”
“……Ah, yes. Of course.”
I let go of the hand I’d been holding so tightly and nodded awkwardly.
“But don’t go too far. As you know, this is the water dragon’s territory—”
“Yes, yes, I know. I know. I’ll stay within fifty meters, so could you stop nagging and turn around for a sec? I need to take out my changing clothes.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“……And don’t look this way until I say I’m ready. Even if you hear footsteps, absolutely, absolutely do not look over here. Got it?”
“Understood.”
After Lia’s repeated, emphatic instructions, her footsteps faded into the distance.
I tilted my head slightly and watched until Lia, something clutched in both hands, disappeared behind a gap in the rocks. Then I slowly got to my feet.
Lia was a girl, so it would take her a bit of time. I might as well use the chance to do what I had to do.
“Let’s see, my bag….”
Muttering to myself, I opened it and took out my swimsuit and the magical tool that served as a parasol.
This world was one of those romance fantasy settings with wildly inconsistent worldbuilding, so almost all of the tools women needed were prepared in the form of “magical tools.”
“Something like this?”
I pressed the button at the tip of the long handle. With a loud pop, a parasol canopy half white and half red sprang out.
I planted the parasol firmly into the sand, used it as a screen, and changed out of my clothes into my swimsuit with complete abandon.
“……Hah, done.”
A parasol and a swimsuit. At a glance it might seem like I was trying hard to capture the feeling of a seaside outing, but that wasn’t it.
This area was the beach, where reflected sunlight from all directions was no joke. The water dragon could appear at any time, so if I sat here waiting under the blazing sun, I’d end up getting roasted, wouldn’t I?
I was a man, so I didn’t care, but Lia wasn’t. The parasol was for her, and the swimsuit was my own little precaution for underwater combat against the water dragon.
Since this was the beach, wearing academy uniforms or ordinary clothes that soaked up water easily was basically the same as fighting with a penalty attached.
If that was the case, it was far better to just wear these comfortable square-cut swim trunks.
“Hup.”
Just to test whether the sun was really being blocked, I lay down in place for a moment. My face, neck, upper body, waist, and thighs were covered, but below the calves still jutted out.
“Hmm….”
For complete UV protection, did I need sunscreen after all?
As I idly wondered whether I’d brought a magical tool that worked like sunscreen, it happened then.
──Rustle.
Some kind of presence stirred above my head, hidden by the parasol.
“……Ahem! Um, Cain?”
That sound, that voice—its owner was obviously Lia.
At once I sprang up from my place, trying to raise my upper body, but Lia moved faster than I did and hurried over to cover my eyes with both hands.
Because of that, I was left standing there awkwardly, unable to see her properly at all.
“Lady Lia?”
“J-just a second. Stay like that for a moment. I need to prepare myself…….”
Prepare herself for what, all of a sudden?
I was terribly curious, but with my eyes covered, I had no idea what was going on. So I just stood there blankly, dazed, until Lia cleared her throat and slowly removed her hands.
“……Phew. N-now you can look.”