"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Ambassador."
It turned out to be a young woman who boarded our ship to greet us. She was pale, looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, and had neatly trimmed, shoulder-length brown hair that fluttered gently in the breeze. Her green eyes returned my gaze with deep interest.
I had not anticipated someone younger than myself, and it came as a bit of a surprise.
The girl seemed to intuit this and quickly bowed her head.
"Forgive my rudeness. I am Evangelina Di Albatro, Princess of Albatro. My name is long, so you may call me Eva."
"W-wait for meee!"
"And this dweeb is Julio Di Albatro, my younger brother."
Julio was the spitting image of his older sister. It wasn't that Eva was masculine looking, but rather that Julio's features were more feminine. Someone looking at the two of them side by side might even mistake them for two sisters.
Eva was a beautiful girl with strong determination showing in her eyes. In contrast, Julio seemed frail and nervous. As rude as that sounds, in terms of stereotypical qualities, Julio was the more feminine of the siblings.
It never crossed my mind that the princess and prince of Albatro might be twins. And what exactly were they playing at, coming aboard our ship?
Feeling glad I hadn't forced Leo to participate while he was ill, I gave them an elegant, Leo-like bow.
"My name is Leonard Lakes Aadler. I am the Eighth Imperial Prince of Adrasia. I am currently on my way to the Grand Duchy of Rondine, having been appointed ambassador extraordinary to Rondine on behalf of our empire. It is a great honor to make the acquaintance of the princess and prince of Albatro, as well as to lay eyes upon this fleet of ships belonging to such a renowned nation of seafarers."
Before we departed, Albatro had already been informed that Leo was being sent to Rondine as ambassador extraordinary, so Eva and Julio should have been aware of that fact as well.
Therefore, their goal wasn't to obstruct our passage. If they'd wanted to prevent us from reaching Rondine, they could've simply forbidden us from traversing Albatro territory. Granting permission to travel through their seas and then revoking it once we'd entered would result in Albatro losing the trust of all other nations.
Eva and Julio must have come aboard our ship with a different goal in mind.
"I have heard much about you as well, including how you mobilized thousands of knights to launch an attack during the tsunami that occurred in eastern Adrasia. Your empire is lucky to have a prince who is so brave and well versed in military strategy."
"That is much too generous an assessment. It was all the knights' valiant efforts. And in terms of strategic talent, I believe I could say the same for you two. Surely you haven't traveled all this way on warships just to say hello?"
Eva's gaze sharpened, and Julio looked taken aback by this sudden shift in the conversation.
So they did have another objective, after all.
I suspected they were out sailing these waters on another mission entirely and had only decided to board us when we happened to pass by. The question was, what sort of objective would require the princess and prince's presence? Judging by their demeanor, neither of them had much experience in battle. I saw maybe a hint of it in Eva, but Julio had none whatsoever. He'd probably be even more incompetent than me with a sword in his hand. What was someone like that doing here?
Just as I was about to probe them and find out, Eva revealed the answer.
"Why can you never keep a straight face?! You're such an idiot! Good grief."
"I-I'm sorry, Eva."
She sighed deeply, then continued.
"Prince Leonard, allow me to be frank. We'd like you to change course. We will not stop you from going to Rondine. We only ask that you make a detour."
"May I ask the reason why?"
"...I'd rather not say, if at all possible. We cannot trust you and your empire."
"I see."
Eva clearly possessed courage if she could openly admit that. Albatro was much smaller and weaker compared to Adrasia. The danger of making enemies out of the many countries they traded with was enough to prevent hostilities, otherwise, Adrasia had the power to easily crush Albatro underfoot.
Surely Albatro knew that as well. So Eva's statement made it pretty clear that the reason for their request absolutely had to remain a secret.
I glanced around and then gave my command.
"We're changing course. We will make a detour before entering Rondine."
"Y-Your Highness?! That could take several days longer than planned!"
"I don't care. We have plenty of food and water, and I'm sure Rondine will be willing to overlook a slight delay."
"But—!"
"I've already made up my mind. ...Does this satisfy you, Princess Eva?"
It secretly amused me to see Eva's stunned expression.
Wow, so this is the kind of reactions Leo gets.
And I wondered if he acted so decisive in part because it was fun to see people looking so shocked.
That's how amusing Eva's reaction was.
"...You truly do have the generosity of a potential future emperor. I greatly appreciate your wise decision, Prince Leonard."
"Th-thank you, Prince Leonard."
"Now then, if you'll excuse us, we will return to our duties."
"P-pardon us, Prince Leonard."
Having accomplished the objective of their meeting, Eva and Julio excused themselves and headed back to their ship.
At the same time, we began preparing to set sail. I wanted to stop acting as Leo as soon as possible, but since Eva and Julio seemed skeptical that we truly would change our course, I couldn't afford to do anything suspicious. In the end, I remained in character.
It wasn't that big of a problem, anyway. It wouldn't be obvious while I was in my room, and to be honest, neither Leo nor I had any work to do until we reached land. The bigger issue was what Albatro was trying to accomplish.
"What do you think that was all about?"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
The knight's question had me stumped as well.
I honestly had no idea. They'd specifically sent out three warships, but with the princess and prince aboard. If they were going to fight, they'd have no need for the two of them, and if they weren't going to fight, then three warships was overkill.
Based on all that, one possibility was reconnaissance of their influence. If Eva and Julio had reconnaissance-related skills, then I guessed it made sense. But then the question was, where and what were they reconnoitering? We were in Albatro's own maritime zone, and I hadn't heard word of any large pirate fleets about.