“I have come per your summons, Your Majesty.”
“Good to see you, Lex. Thank you for coming as well, Holy Priestess Mizuha.”
Lex brought me to the king’s private office. When I asked him to explain what’s going on, he told me I needed to hear it directly from the king. Cia and Nady are in attendance with us too.
The office is full of simple yet luxurious furniture. It lacks the bombastic flourishes of the royal audience chamber. Thanks to that, my nerves aren’t acting up on me. Another big reason I’m no longer nervous is because I have met with His Majesty many times within the castle since rescuing him and his wife.
In the three months since then, he has completely recovered and his skin has regained a healthy glow. He’s a silver fox with rugged good looks—I can easily imagine him becoming an actor who always scores the king role in period dramas if he lived on Earth. I understand why he has fanatic fangirls, but Jela took her obsession too far by starting the zombie apocalypse just to have him.
“Are you sure you don’t mind telling me?” I ask, curtsying like Cia taught me.
“It’s fine. You aren’t uninvolved in this matter.”
Lex said the same thing earlier. Is that their roundabout way of saying it has something to do with me?
The king’s hard expression instantly softens when he sees Cia curtsying beside me. “I see you are with the Holy Priestess again, Cia.”
“Yes, Father. I was about to have tea with the girls,” Cia replies, looking from me to Nady.
“Interesting. I didn’t expect the day would come when I would see Lucors in the capital.” He seems surprised by Nady.
“Hey, Cia?” I whisper. “Are Lucors that rare?”
“They are. Lucors typically live in the forests and rarely show themselves in places with lots of people like the capital.”
Fidgeting uncomfortably, Nady mutters, “I can leave if I am a nuisance.” Her ears and tail droop in unison.
“Stay. May I inquire of your name?” His Majesty asks.
“I-I am Nady Ol Theos La Quim Rom Lucor.”
“Oh? Then you are Theos’s daughter?” A delighted smile breaks out on the king’s handsome face. Not only was he unsurprised by her long name, but he even determined her father’s name from it. That’s a king for you.
“You know my father?”
“Of course I know him. He is the Lucor Chieftain after all.”
It sounds like the king and Nady’s father are acquaintances. So if Nady’s dad is the Lucor Chieftain, then…
“Wait, you’re the chief’s daughter, Nady?!” I cry out a little louder than I meant to.
“Y-Yeah,” she falters.
I had no idea, even though we’re friends. I mean, sure, we only just became friends, so obviously I couldn’t have known, but still. I can’t help being a little shocked by it.
My friends are a princess and a chieftain’s daughter. I’m just a normal high school girl surrounded by the daughters of country and tribal leaders. I have my title as priestess, but it was something I acquired, not that I was born into. I’m not going to start acting differently with them at this point in the game, but it’s another reminder of the kind of amazing people I hang out with.
“Can you tell us what happened now, Father?”
“Very well. Someone from Torstana was among the people Priestess Mizuha saved during the last expedition.”
If memory serves me right, Torstana is neighbors with Grantz Kingdom. I remember hearing they were at war with a country called Ladan.
“Are you speaking of Mr. Kodbyen?” Nady asks.
“I am,” His Majesty acknowledges.
“Know him, Nady?”
“Yeah. He’s a merchant who often travels between my village and Cladorca.”
“He’s a traveling merchant, then? What’s Cladorca?”
“It’s Torstana’s biggest trade city near Grantz. Though it’s more like a fortress with a mountain range surrounding it.”
It sounds about right for a border city to double as a fortress. In any event, I’m not seeing the big deal with this merchant being from Torstana.
“Why is this Torstana merchant a problem?” I ask, urging the king to continue.
“He pleaded with me to make the Holy Priestess purify his homeland.”
“Aah. Now I get it.”
It definitely has something to do with me then. Or more like, this is a conversation that can’t continue without my input.
“I turned him down.”
“Why…?”
“As you know, Torstana has warred with Ladan for years, creating chaos in the world. Goddess Sadia made it clear that their war brought the Dark Djinn on us. We mustn’t purify such vile countries,” His Majesty declares.
I understand the logic behind not wanting to aid them. If we purify Torstana, we will eventually have to do the same for Ladan. Once both kingdoms are back, they will likely resume their war.
Worse yet, Torstana might even prevent us from purifying Ladan. Or, if they take it a step further, they could very well attack Grantz with Ladan out of the picture. There’s no end to the potential risks. But we are talking about fellow humans first and foremost.
“Do you intend to leave them as zombies forever?” I ask outright.
“That depends…” His Majesty says evasively. He is bound by various obligations as the king of one nation.
“Lady Mizuha,” Lex cautions, trying to stop me from pressing the matter.
I, however, am not one to hide what I think. “To be honest with you, when I first saw the tall, fortress walls surrounding this city, I was against purifying it because I wanted nothing to do with a kingdom at war. My initial impression was wrong. We can’t leave an entire kingdom crawling with zombies be.”
Zombies rot the land they stand on and everything they come in contact with. In other words, as long as zombies exist, the threat of decay will never leave the world.
“I promised Goddess Sadia that I will assist in purifying the entire world, not just one kingdom,” I stress.
“I also believe it should be done someday. However…I ask you to wait for the time being,” the king requests, his face hard.
At first, I saw promise in his words, until I realized that “someday” is a word parents often use to appease children for things they never intend to do.