My thinking was, if the Saint appeared in order to balance the density of the miasma, maybe once everything was back to normal, the Saint would no longer be needed. Then I could go home.
But in a small, regretful voice, the man in robes simply said, “You cannot.”
With that, my hopes were extinguished.
He explained that this was only the second time the Saint had been summoned from another world and that the previous Saint lived out the rest of her days in the kingdom. As of this moment, no one knew a way to return the Saint to the world she came from.
I could never go home. That realization shocked me to my core. As if scrabbling for a distraction, my mind fixed on the red-haired prince’s utterly tactless behavior. I decided then and there that I knew all I needed to know about this Saint-summoning and miasma-monster business, and that I was going to get the heck out of this kingdom.
First, I’d get out of this room—then the palace, then the capital, and then I’d make my way to whatever country was neighboring this one!
Thinking back on it, I realize this plan was rather boneheaded, but at that moment, I couldn’t stand to be with these people a second longer. I released the robed man and marched out of the room. Everyone—from the robed guys to the knights—came chasing after me in a panic.
“Lady Saint! Where are you going?”
“I’m leaving.”
“You mustn’t! Please, wait!”
For some reason, I thought I’d be able to just see my way out, but I quickly realized I was in a true palace. The hallways seemed endless, and I had absolutely no idea which way to go. I was pretty worked up at this point, so I just kept bulling down the halls, no matter where they led. Eventually, though, a knight caught up to me and blocked my path.
I glared at him, immediately peeved that someone was trying to stop me. The knight grimaced in the same way the robed man had when I menaced him. He said, “Please, wait a moment.”
“I’m pretty sure I already spent plenty of moments in that room, especially if you factor in the moments I wasted talking with one of your robed guys.”
“I realize that, but please. Just one moment more.”
The knight was crouching and using his massive body as a wall, as if trying to keep me in the palace no matter what it cost him. For some reason, his desperation made me calm down a bit. I nodded reluctantly. The knight melted in relief.
“This way, please.” To my chagrin, he led me away, back into the depths of the palace. Then he left me in a room somewhere in that labyrinth, but not before saying, “Someone will be with you shortly.”
Once he was gone, a maid entered, pushing a tea cart complete with a tea set. Despite my misgivings, the warm tea she poured soothed my irritation. For one, it was absolutely delicious, as I supposed you would expect from a place like this. With my newly clear head, I tried once more to process everything I had been through.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite concentrate. After the maid poured my tea, she didn’t really talk to me or anything; she just stood close to the wall, though it seemed she was standing at the ready to attend my needs. Maybe she assumed she was doing me a favor by leaving me to my thoughts. However, with nothing to do but spin my mental wheels, I wound up feeling wildly uncomfortable.
Just like that, an hour went by. Back home in Japan, leaving an angry client stewing on their own for a whole hour would absolutely lead to a severed contract.
Right as I was starting to fume again, someone finally knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I replied.
At my invitation, the official-looking blue-haired man I had seen with the prince entered.
While the tea was still quite good, and I was thankful to have had the time to compose my thoughts, the hour-long wait had pushed me right back to my limits. So, of course, I wound up glaring at him without even thinking.
The guy flinched in surprise and wiped sweat from his brow, but he nevertheless dedicated himself to telling me even more about the kingdom and the circumstances I had found myself in.
According to the blue-haired man, the capital was surrounded by grasslands through which monsters freely roamed. Furthermore, it took no less than a week by coach to reach the neighboring kingdom, and there was a good chance of being assaulted by bandits along the way. For someone like me, who knew nothing about this world, it would be pretty much like trying to beat an impossibly difficult video game.
Given all that, I was suddenly grateful for the knight who stopped me from leaving.
“I have heard that you expressed the desire to depart, but you cannot, realistically, live outside the royal palace.”
After everything this milquetoast official described, I was forced to agree.
While I was pretty sure that I could eke out some kind of living in the royal capital, I doubted I’d ever recover the same sense of security that I had back in modern Japan. At the very least, so long as I was in the kingdom, I needed to maintain the same kind of vigilance I relied on when traveling abroad.
If I’m going to be stuck in this world, I suppose I’ll live in the royal palace for now. I’ll get my bearings here first, and then, when I’m ready, I’ll get out! I thought as I relented. I would follow this official’s advice and live in the palace. For now.