As I dug through my memories, Anne provided the answer. “This is a pass—a pass engraved with the crest of the kingdom’s royal family and the emperor’s crest,” she explained.
The emperor’s and the royal family’s?! In other words, both would be vouching for my identity.
“Just to be clear—this crest isn’t the one that His Majesty himself uses, right?” I asked.
“Right. Our king himself cannot give you his personal support, nor can his brothers or his son,” Marius explained. “The crest on this pass represents a separate, smaller branch of the royal family. But rest assured, you’ve received their support, and they are still quite powerful.”
For the umpteenth time today, Marius smiled at Anne.
“And my father—I mean, the emperor provided his crest?” Anne asked.
“Well...” Marius said, looking a touch befuddled. “I did mention that an emblem from the empire as a whole would suffice, but he actually ended up sending his personal insignia.”
Anne let out the biggest sigh yet. I could practically imagine the emperor’s mischievous grin taunting her.
“I’m sure he did it as a joke, but if the empire doesn’t mind, that’s fine,” Anne said.
“The envoy who brought it to us looked rather troubled,” Marius remarked.
“No doubt because the crest the emperor provided was different from what was requested.”
“Indeed. The envoy made a point of telling us that your father placed his personal crest onto this tag.”
“He’s the type to do that.” Anne gave another heavy sigh.
Helen stared between us, seeming rather lost in this exchange, then asked, “Um, so what does this mean?” She was by no means dull, but both Anne and Marius lived in a totally different world.
Anne turned to Helen and launched into an explanation. “If you carry this pass around, then for the most part, someone of the royal family will vouch for Eizo within the kingdom, while the emperor himself will assure Eizo’s status within the empire. Frankly, even in the kingdom, the emperor’s personal crest will be more than enough to guarantee one’s identity and trustworthiness.”
“Huh...” Helen drawled. She seemed to be struggling to wrap her head around just how impressive this pass was.
“In other words, we can freely go in and out of any city or town in the kingdom or empire,” Anne said. “We can even go to the outskirts or the capital’s center as we please, no questions asked.”
Diana, who must’ve understood the implications of the pass, kept quiet. The margrave and Marius were obviously aware of this fact, and they also remained silent.
“In fact, we can even move freely between the kingdom and the empire,” Anne added.
“What?!” Helen was shocked. “That’s super convenient!”
“It really is.”
It was usually fairly difficult to cross the borders of any nation—the kingdom and the empire included. Peddlers, merchants, and pathfinders who plunged into labyrinths for a living found ways to get across, but normal people—like an average blacksmith—couldn’t easily enter foreign countries. Before the Great War six hundred years ago, it had apparently been impossible to cross any borders, and though the rules had relaxed since then, it was still no easy task.
But this pass in front of us allowed us to cross borders, no questions asked. No one had the right to question us or our identities. After all, we had the seal of approval from the royal family and the emperor himself—any sort of questioning would imply that the person was casting doubt on both monarchs (obviously, the authenticity of the pass would be questioned, but that was all). One wrong move and the interrogator’s head might be on the chopping block.
Marius fixed us with a serious look. “I’d like you to be very careful with this.”
“Right. Don’t ever lose it, and don’t put ourselves in a position to have it stolen,” Anne replied with a smile. Her words might have had an extra layer of meaning underneath, but her smile was genuine.
Marius nodded. “So? Will this suffice?”
Anne turned to me. I immediately nodded as well; I’d been hoping for a pass from just House Eimoor, so this was convenient and even more than I’d hoped for. I was more than grateful for the privilege.
“Then I’ll gladly pass this along to you,” Marius said. He paused before adding, “Oh, and just to let you guys know, the meeting will be held tomorrow.”
We all stared at him, stunned, as he flashed a genuine smile.
“That’s...pretty sudden,” I muttered, still shocked.
Marius let out a small sigh. “That’s partly why we wanted you to rush here.”
“Did the empire’s envoy arrive early?”
“You could say that.”
“Shouldn’t they have lodgings somewhere?”
Even if a guest arrived two days early, there was no need to push schedules up by two days. The envoy could tour the city and spend the extra time investigating the capital, though they’d probably be spied upon pretty closely. Plus, an esteemed noble of the kingdom would be present for this event; surely they had to consider that noble’s schedule as well.
“Are the higher-ups okay with this?” I asked.
“I can’t say this too loudly, but their post is a leisurely one—they have a lot of time on their hands,” Marius divulged. “Because their name is closely tied with the royal family, they’re often called out for times like these.”
“Huh...” I feigned disinterest.
Back on Earth, people who had jobs like that often acted lazy and seemed like they did nothing, but they actually gathered a ton of intel behind the scenes. I’m not sure if this is the case for this particular noble, but if it is, I wouldn’t want Marius and Camilo to stress because I guessed this fact and made some careless remark. If I’m right, they might just think that I made a lucky guess and let it slide, but the margrave is a sly old fox with plenty of worldly experience. It’s best if I don’t do anything unnecessary.
“When we told the noble that the meeting was pushed up to tomorrow, I received an alarmingly immediate reply of acceptance,” Marius said.
I gave an awkward chuckle. “My, oh my.”
High-ranking people with leisurely posts have so much time to spare that they will usually just go along with things. And they get so excited to be part of the action...
“So, given all this, the meeting will be held tomorrow,” Marius confirmed.
“I see...”
As a high-ranking foreign representative, Anne would be staying at the Count Eimoor estate. I didn’t want us all to leave and abandon her here alone, though. Maybe I should leave Diana and Helen as her guards. This was Diana’s home, and surely, she could relax at her house on occasion. Marius’s wife was apparently childhood friends with Diana, and no doubt they must’ve wanted to catch up more than they’d been able to at the wedding.
Just as I turned to Anne, Diana, and Helen to tell them to stay, Marius spoke up. “You’re not leaving now, are you? Why don’t you all stay here today?”
“Really?” I asked. “All of us?”
“Of course. I’ve already got the rooms prepared—the fellas and the ladies have separate accommodations, of course.”
I was a bit shocked—then, I noticed Camilo and the margrave grinning from ear to ear. Marius, Camilo, and I have been called the “Three Rowdy Rascals” before, but are we sure that we aren’t talking about those three? I shouldn’t be included, right?
I glanced at Lidy, who noticed my gaze and seemed to understand the unspoken concern I had. She gave a tiny nod. Seems if we’re only staying for one night, Krul, Lucy, and Hayate won’t have to worry about running out of magical energy. Lidy either.
I realized something else—when Catalina had said that Bowman was focusing on “other work,” she’d meant that he was busy preparing rooms for us. She hadn’t been able to tell me at the time, lest she ruin the surprise that we would get to stay in the manor.
“Well, if it won’t be a huge burden on you, we’ll take you up on that offer,” I said.
“Glad to hear it,” Marius said with a smile.
I smiled back. The whole family rarely ever stays the night anywhere except our cabin. This’ll be practice for the future, I hope.