(I believe even the Earth Queen would relax her stance should we have a meeting consisting of only you and the Spirit Royalty of the empire.)
The imperial family immediately lifted their heads and gazed at me hopefully.
Huh? Won’t this be crazy bad if I mess up? Won’t it be even crazier if I succeed? Would that not make me the girl that prevented the ruin of the capital?
I’d already said I didn’t want to stand out. Could they please all just leave me alone?
(Should you attend this gathering, the four of us will become your guardians.)
“Um... What do you mean by that exactly?”
(We will eliminate anyone who dares do anything that goes against your wishes. Should the empire do anything that you do not wish it to, the spirits will all leave without delay.)
Huh? Excuse me?
“Deirdre, I think you should very gratefully accept,” Chris urged. I looked at him in surprise, and he nodded with a serious look on his face. “There may come a day when you need the protection of the Spirit King. You’re already garnering far too much attention.”
“Oh... You think so too?”
(What say you, Deirdre?)
“Then I’ll go to your meeting—happily. But, uh, I don’t really have the confidence to speak to Her Majesty, the Earth Queen.”
(Ha ha ha. Don’t worry so much. Let us end this discussion here.)
Huh?! Even though the imperial family had come all this way?! We were finishing with that?!
“HUH?!”
(I will come to collect you when the Royal Spirits have gathered.)
“Wait, you’re just going to completely ignore whether the time suits me or not?!”
The Spirit King looked positively pleased with himself, laughing away as he disappeared, leaving us all standing there in horror.
I was feeling very ready to lob stones into that lake right about now.
“Chris,” I muttered. “This has become a really troublesome affair.”
“I wouldn’t say that. It will probably mean a lot for you to simply put in an appearance at that meeting. You’re really interesting just the way you are, so don’t worry. What’s important is that you’ve managed to get the four Royal Spirits as your backers.”
But wasn’t that crazy? How much more were they going to increase the weight of my words?
“I’m sorry for placing such a massive burden on such a young child, but we must ask you to go through with it,” the empress told me.
My father frantically stepped forward when the empress began to bow to me. “Oh, please don’t, Your Imperial Majesty. We are also citizens of the empire—we cannot simply overlook the destruction of the capital. If my daughter can be of use to you, nothing would make us happier.”
“Margrave Belisario, do let us know if there is anything you desire. Had you not been here, our country may have turned out like the Republic of Pendelus.”
Pendelus had originally been one unified country, but the desertification had made travel perilous, which had resulted in various regions of the land becoming independent. They’d converted to a republic in order to maintain an appearance of order.
“I do not believe there is anything in particular that I desire...” Father paused, then said, “Oh, that’s right. I would appreciate it if Your Majesty could call a meeting among the lords of each of the lands in which a Royal Spirit resides. Only those of our march and a few of the people from the imperial palace are aware of the current situation. We need to inform the other domains of the Royal Spirits’ existence before they unwittingly invite their wrath.”
“Are you asking for us to host this gathering?” the empress confirmed.
“Yes, that is what I am asking for.” If the imperial capital didn’t take the lead in these discussions, all achievements would be attributed to my father, after all. Plus, it would be dangerous if the domains with access to the Royal Spirits joined hands behind the imperial family’s back, and there was still the matter of relaying the information about the spirits and giving lectures on how to raise them in the other domains.
“I see. I understand. We will prepare a location for such a meeting as soon as possible.”
“Thank you very much,” father said. “I also have a request concerning Deirdre.”
I have once more become the center of attention. They weren’t looking at me with either contempt or delight anymore and instead were now just looking at me as though they were wondering what on earth I was. I could almost hear them wondering why the spirits seemed to like me so much.
That’s what I want to know! What the hell is going on here?!
“If you wish to inform another domain about the spirits, please have your court mages do so. This is also why I hope for them to acquire their own spirit beasts before they return to the palace. Deirdre is still only four years old. I would much rather the knowledge of her relationship with the Spirit King not be spread around the empire.”
Thank you so much, father!
I really didn’t need any more attention than this.
After gracefully accepting my father’s requests, the imperial family returned home. It wouldn’t have been strange for us to make more demands, so the fact that all my father wanted was for them to not tell others about me made it easy to accept.
As you’d expect from a group of otaku, the court mages had high levels of mana in their bodies, and they’d had a lot of fun talking to their spirits. So much so that it was almost difficult to watch.
It turned out they had a magic tool that could be used to measure one’s mana, and when they’d tried it on me, they’d discovered I had more than they did, which had definitely shocked them.
“For more than three years since her birth, Deir has been playing with magic tools and her spirits, and using up all her mana until she passes out over and over again. Of course she would have higher levels of mana than anyone else,” Chris explained.
Geniuses really were scary—how had he known what I’d been up to?
Thanks to him, the court mages started calling me “wise one.”