That would mean we have something in common.
“…Rindo.”
Nadeshiko’s voice brought him back to the present, and he looked at her.
“What should I do? I want to be friends with Lord Liam, but he…”
She was concerned about how to act around such an indifferent boy now that she knew his circumstances.
“Just answer whatever they ask you. You don’t need to go out of your way to talk to him, at least for now.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You’re the esteemed guest here. They’re the hosts. Don’t worry.”
It was the safe option. This dinner was a place of diplomacy, but they had to be careful.
Although Rindo knew it was his selfishness speaking, he didn’t want Nadeshiko and Liam to get too close.
“That’s all you need to do…”
Nadeshiko nodded in response, although she was still frowning, and grabbed his hand.
Nobody could see them under the table.
Rindo squeezed it back encouragingly.
As the food and drinks were being carried to the table, Kikka led the toast, and the dinner began. The meal itself was peaceful.
Liam still didn’t speak, but Jude responded in his place.
Unlike his Agent, the retainer seemed like a sociable man.
“Does Kashu also have a sort of Agency Council?” Ruri asked Kikka once they finished the main course.
Like Kikka, Ruri was proactive. Even though she was monolingual, she led the conversation without timidity.
Kikka was grateful to her for doing her part and responded affably:
“Good question, Lady Ruri. In Kyokoku’s case, they have the Seasons Summit. They dedicate songs, dances, and prayers the way we do, but as it would be hard to gather everyone, they do it region by region.”
“Kyokoku is just too big, huh? So they can’t get everyone together at all?”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it is difficult. The Seasons Tower has state branches, too, and different states treat their gods incarnate differently. The branches have even quarreled over differences of opinion in the past, too. So, with all the trouble it could entail, they rather try to avoid it…”
Now this was an interesting topic. Yamato had four Towns, and they each treated their Agents differently, but they never opposed each other. Not that they necessarily cooperated, either.
“I see… Over here we have an understanding that it would be rude to say anything about how the other seasons do things, so the Towns don’t really fight. Well, maybe they have in the past. Is it because of Kyokoku’s state government system? I heard the states can be really different from each other. Maybe that’s why they get into disagreements.”
“It’s true each state has its own laws and such… But those discrepancies aren’t quite the issue here. How should I put it?”
Kikka hummed, and Jude spoke up, making eye contact with Kikka and Ruri. Kikka quickly translated.
“Lord Jude just gave me a good example. Let’s look at it through the lens of sports.”
“Sports?”
“Yes. Most sports have school or company teams, and they play against each other. People don’t hate each other just because they live in different regions, but they have discussions over their traditions and history by team when it comes to the sports patches… Maybe it’s not respectful to speak of the work of our venerated Agents as sports, but the point is, the opposition is focused around a single subject.”
In popular sports, people often disagreed when it came to a team’s approach, or a coach’s treatment of their players, etc. Those disagreements could get very intense.
However, not many people actually hated the region a given team was from.
Opposition between branches did not equal opposition between states. Antagonism didn’t reach the point of hatred for any particular region.
The logic was particularly easy to understand for Winter. Rosei and Itecho did not think well of Spring for forsaking Hinagiku a decade back.
From Winter’s point of view, Spring was heartless. One could say Rosei and Itecho hated them.
However, that was no reason for them to hate the city of Teishu.
“That was easy to understand, Mr. Jude!” said Ruri.
Jude smiled and started speaking again, and Kikka explained:
“Lord Jude mentioned an example from the past. One state said that Agents couldn’t leave its borders outside of the manifestation period. Offenders would be fined. The system was set in order to protect them, but another branch called it inhumane, and the dispute got so intense that there is bad blood to this day…”
Ruri’s jaw dropped. “Wait, they couldn’t go out?” she said with despair.
“Yes, it would be like not allowing you to leave Iyo. You could visit other regions only during manifestation.”
“You can’t go on trips?! And you can’t meet the other Agents, either!”
Jude seemed to get an idea of what she was saying and laughed. Kikka also smiled at Ruri’s passionate reaction.
“Exactly. People thought it was going too far, just like you, and meddled in the affairs of another branch’s gods.”
“Huh? Uhh, but…I mean, you have to call these problems or they won’t get fixed, right? Is it really bad if someone from another state says it?”
“The state who set that rule was only following their traditions to protect their Agents. And remember the Archers of Oracle.”
Ruri pursed her lips. The dependable God of Night, Kaguya Fugeki, crossed her mind. She also thought about the Goddess of Morning she hadn’t met.
There already were gods who couldn’t move around, and Ruri herself was restricted by tradition in other ways.
Her marriage had been determined by the Town. She had been fortunate to find such a good husband in Raicho, but before she’d gotten to know him, she ran away.
I just got lucky.
Ruri looked at Raicho. He was already looking at her, and he smiled as their gazes met.
Ruri felt a thrill of nervousness. While they were already married, their romance was still young.
Kikka kept explaining. “By the way, this issue is already solved, and the Agents can freely travel all over Kyokoku.”
“Really?! Thank goodness…”
“It’s one example of a system that had to be changed with the passage of time.”
Kikka then asked everyone, one by one, if they had any questions. Nadeshiko and Rosei asked some minor questions, and even though the interpreting slowed down the conversation, it went on smoothly.
Once the conversation reached a stopping point, Kikka asked, “Lord Liam, do you have any questions?”
The others had participated a fair bit, but Liam still had said nothing. Kikka was giving him an opportunity to be considerate. In response, Liam whispered into Jude’s ear.
After a moment, Jude said:
“He says he heard the gods incarnate of Yamato forged an alliance and would like to know how exactly that happened.”
Someone else responded in Centrish before Kikka could translate.