“A party might be better,” he suggested. “If you hand them off through someone else, nobles are still expected to show their gratitude face-to-face, so you’ll end up with a meeting anyway. Exchanging them at a party would be more efficient. That said, if you’re only giving them to Rachael’s kids, it’ll look like you’re playing favorites.”
But if I were to hand them to the duke first and let him pass them on, that would at least help avoid any awkward situations.
“And if you issue the party invitations under the duke’s name and include Tida, it would be a good show of solidarity between the royal family and House Sanga. And since Tida’s girlfriend Amy is Lady Eliza’s sister now, saying the invitation came through that connection would be totally natural,” he explained.
I decided I’d pass that advice on to the king and duke soon. They were probably already thinking along the same lines, but since most of my political instincts were brute force or half-baked at best, I figured I should be ready to follow their lead when the time came.
“Well, you were dragged into this mess, Tenma. Just leave the heavy lifting to Father, my brother, or Duke Sanga. Actually, it’d be better to include Mother too. Father and the duke are trustworthy, but my brother might try to use you...”
I didn’t know Prince Caesar as well as the king or the duke, so I couldn’t be sure, but it wouldn’t be surprising if I ended up being used for the royal family’s benefit in one way or another. That probably just meant that Queen Maria would give me a few stern words, but if I let my guard down, I could find myself being adopted by Lord Ernest or something. I needed to be careful.
“I’ll report this to Mother myself,” Prince Lyle said.
I was fine to leave the royals to him. Once the king and the duke agreed to a course of action, I’d have more room to speak up anyway.
“All right, I should head back to the castle. I think Mother will either show up soon or summon you, so I’ll be counting on you when that happens.”
I could’ve rushed things and gone straight back to the castle with Prince Lyle, but I decided to have him wait a bit while I put together a gift. He might not’ve noticed, but it wouldn’t have looked good if it leaked that he was the only one who ate something nice, even if the fact that he’d only come over to deliver Namitaro would’ve been a valid excuse. The people at the castle would definitely give him grief over it.
Besides, while I’d gotten caught up in it unintentionally, I had still caused trouble for Queen Maria. I owed her a...well, “bribe” might be a strong word, so let’s just call it a token of appreciation!
“Here, give this to Queen Maria. Cruyff or Aina should be able to take care of cooking it,” I said.
“Sorry for all the trouble. You’re really saving me this time.”
As soon as Prince Lyle saw what I’d packed, he must’ve realized he could’ve gotten a lecture from the queen if not for my quick thinking. He bowed his head, clearly grateful. I was sending along enough seafood and rice to make a dozen or so seafood bowls, and I included a note that was signed with my name and Namitaro’s. Now, there’d be no way they could get mad at him for hogging the good stuff.
I said goodbye to the prince, and once he was gone, I went back to the dining room.
“C’mon, just a bit more! You can do it!”
“Nngh!”
“You can do it, Lady Amur!”
Everyone had gathered around Namitaro and was making a huge commotion.
“Mmph... I gave it my all, but it’s impossible!”
“Tch, I knew it. Only Merlin and Jeanne have managed it so far,” Namitaro said in disappointment when Amur gave up trying to do...whatever the heck they were doing. He gently tapped on the egg she released from her grip.
“What are you guys up to?” I asked.
“Oh ho ho! The main event’s just getting started! Let’s get to it! Over here, Tenma! Right this way!”
The moment I entered the room, Namitaro beamed like he’d been waiting for this. He waved me over and was putting on a weird Kyoto accent for some reason.
“Right here, right here! Just put your hands on the egg and feed it a bit of mana. Just a bit, now! That’s all I’m askin’!”
“Okay...”
“Wait, Tenma! Not my head! The egg, man, the egg! You gotta touch the egg! Um, Tenma? Can you hear me? Helloooo, Tenma?”
Since Namitaro was clearly messing around, I decided to mess with him right back. I grabbed his face in both hands and started to chant a spell. “Takemi—”
“W-Wait! Waaaait! You can’t say that! Don’t even joke around about that!”
I was just about to cast the most powerful spell I knew, and I didn’t know whether he’d heard about it from someone or what. Either way, he immediately yanked my hands off him and scuttled backward like his life depended on it.
“I’m only kidding, Namitaro. Even I can’t pull off Takemikazuchi without proper prep. You’d just end up feeling all tingly at worst,” I said.
He was all worked up and started ranting. “Even if you whisper it, these Namitaro ears catch everything! You can’t just go around zapping fish! Electro-fishing is banned, remember?!” he yelled. “Zappin’ fish is evil! That’s environmental destruction! Even if the gods forgive ya, the great Namitaro sure won’t!”
I waited a bit for Namitaro to calm down. “Yeah, yeah. So what exactly do you need me to do?” I asked, wondering what this was all about.
“Oh, right. I just need you to share a little mana with the egg,” he replied, like nothing had happened at all.
“That’s it? After all that yelling, you’re just back to normal now?” Kriss said, probably speaking on behalf of everyone.
But honestly, that’s just how it always was with me and Namitaro. I pretended not to hear.
“You infused Solomon’s egg with your mana back when he hatched, right? I want you to do the same thing here.”
That was when I became certain this wasn’t just any old egg, not that it was hard to guess. Identify hadn’t worked on it, so I had figured it wasn’t from an ordinary monster. Still, I had a bad feeling about this.
“You look kinda on edge, but don’t worry! The mom’s the one who asked me to do it. Apparently, the more different types of mana it gets, the stronger the baby ends up!”
That wasn’t what I was worried about exactly, but if the mom had given her permission, then I guessed it was fine. I recalled what I’d done with Solomon and placed my hand on the egg, channeling mana into it.
“Whoa! Just like I thought! Smooth as butter! You’ve got the touch, dude!”
It’d been a while, but I guessed my mana infusion skills were still up to snuff. Maybe they were a little too up to snuff, though, because I actually felt as drained as if I’d just cast Tempest. And then...
“There’s a crack!” Amur exclaimed.
“Is it hatching?” Aura asked.
Both girls leaned in.
“Get back, you two! Now!” Kriss yanked them both back by the collars, and just in time.
“It’s happening, it’s happening... It’s out!”
“Biii... Biii...?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Crack! The egg split open, and something that looked a lot like a turtle’s head poked out. Everyone besides me and Namitaro stared at it, either in fascination or just in plain delight.
Meanwhile, I was breaking out in a cold sweat because Identify finally worked. The result was...