King Bertrand and Lord Davier had been part of opposing factions from the beginning. King Bertrand had been trying to solidify his position as the king, and Lord Davier had stood against him as the head of a ducal family that allied itself with the former queen. King Bertrand’s faction had ultimately emerged victorious from their power struggle, and as a result, Lord Davier had been exiled to Peppel Island. And now, King Bertrand was asking Lord Davier to lend him a hand because he was shorthanded; it would only be natural if Lord Davier turned down such a self-serving request.
“Please give me your reply and I will deliver it to King Bertrand,” I said. “However, it’s true that the royal palace is understaffed and incredibly busy. Furthermore...”
“Yes?”
“Our relationship with Myzahn is poor. Conflict between them and Polpystan broke out the other day.”
“Something like that happened in the outside world while I was peacefully living on this island?”
Peppel Island certainly felt like a tropical island and was the very definition of peaceful. I’d been on guard before departing the capital, but now that I was here, my impression of it had changed. Even now, the locals were innocently gathered around our mountbeasts. When I looked over at them, Lord Davier started explaining things.
“Oh, they aren’t criminals but people born on the island. That’s why they’re very interested in things from the outside world... When the regular ship comes, they always gather like that. This is probably the first time they’ve seen a mountbeast.”
“So that’s how it is.”
People born on this island would have basically no opportunities to leave it.
I feel so sorry for them. They aren’t allowed to take a step outside the island even though they’ve done nothing wrong. Can’t anything be done for them? But since Peppel Island had to fulfill its role, people couldn’t simply be allowed to come and go from it unless a more organized system was put into place.
“Lady Agnes, I have a reply to the letter.”
“Oh, yes. Please go ahead!”
“I’m thinking of accepting, but I have conditions.”
“Conditions?!”
“Yes, and though I understand it’s presumptuous of a criminal like me to say this, I’d like the island’s sanitation to be improved and for the children born on the island to be given the opportunity to work outside of here.”
“So you’re asking for better sanitation and permission for the island’s children to travel outside it?”
“At the moment, treating serious injuries or illnesses is difficult with only Peppel Island’s current medical facilities. And even though the children born here aren’t criminals, they’re stuck on the island for life. I’d like some way for them to leave here.”
I also agreed with Lord Davier on that.
“Very well. I will be sure to pass the message on. Sutrena would welcome the children born here, but...this isn’t something I can decide on my own, so I’ll discuss it with everyone else first.”
“Thank you very much, Lady Agnes. If my requests are met, I will go to His Majesty. I’d like to avoid any danger coming to Peppel Island, after all.”
“Understood. Do you have a request for your means of transportation to the capital?”
“If I use my magic, things will somehow work out. But, well...given your circumstances, a ship or something will do fine.” Although Lord Davier didn’t mention the method, it seemed that he could escape the island with his own strength, just like everyone had suspected.
“Then we’ll decide on the transportation.” I nodded firmly.
“Incidentally, is that person...a Myzahni?” Lord Davier asked while looking at Defi.
“Well, yes. But he has nothing to do with Myzahn’s recent actions. We have no intention of involving him in the conflict between countries.”
“I understand; so you’re protecting him. I don’t know the details, but that decision is typical of you all.” Lord Davier smiled gently.
I explained the situation to the ship’s nearby crew members. One of them apparently possessed communication magic, so they directly conveyed our conversation to another person with communication magic who was on standby at the palace.
Communication was a rare, special magic, and as the name implied, it allowed its user to communicate over long distances. However, they could only send messages to someone who also possessed this magic, though they somehow knew who else had communication magic. Depending on how much mana someone had, the range in which they could find people to send messages to varied, but this crew member could reach all the way to the palace, so they likely had quite a bit of mana. A number of people with communication magic were permanently stationed at the palace. They received messages from other users of communication magic in various places and constantly gathered information.
The crew member quickly received a magical reply from the palace. According to what I was told, it seemed that King Bertrand had accepted Lord Davier’s conditions.
“Lord Davier, I’m told that His Majesty has accepted your conditions. Would you please come to the capital with us?” I asked.
Lord Davier nodded quietly.
“If I’m going, I think I’d better leave right away. If I dawdle too long, certain people might start making a fuss.”
I more or less understood what Lord Davier meant.
He must be talking about the former queen and Princess Mia... There was quite a gathering at the beach, but I hadn’t spotted those two yet.
When Lord Davier noticed that I was looking around, he smiled with a slightly troubled expression.
“Those two should be in the middle of a nap. It seems that they’ve fully adapted to life on the island... Our departure will get delayed if they find us.”
“I-Is that so? They’re napping...” I hesitated over how I should respond, but it sounded like the two of them were living fine on this island, which I believed was a good thing. “Then let us depart, Lord Davier. I will lend you Charite, so please get on.”
“Are you sure? I could simply run away using a mountbeast.”
“If you really wanted to run away, you would have done so long ago, wouldn’t you? Besides, Charite would hate to leave Geni’s side.”
“That’s certainly true. Very well, thank you for your consideration.” Lord Davier walked toward Charite, who happily flapped her wings.
I got on Geni with Defi.
“Agh, I can’t believe I’ll be riding with Lady Agnes. Lord Nazelbart will surely have some cutting remarks for me.”
“Don’t worry; Lord Nazel is kind. He’ll understand once I explain the reason.”
“He’s only kind in front of you, Lady Agnes.”
And so, I escorted Lord Davier back to the palace without incident.