“““““WELCOME TO THE CHIYODAKU KINGDOM, MISS JUDGE!!”””””
About an hour had passed since Tsukasa destroyed a national treasure on the Grand Bench.
Thankfully, things had been cleared up a bit, and my sister and I were given a formal welcome from the people of the kingdom.
We were just outside of the courtroom in a large hall at the center of a structure much like Japan’s Supreme Court building.
Some minister types and a few dozen maids were lined up in an orderly fashion along the sides of this impressive, stone-built chamber. All at once, each of them raised their arms into the shape of a Y in greeting.
The girl in the pink maid outfit from earlier stood at the center of this welcoming party.
“I am Princess Ecstasia Itou, the princess of this kingdom!”
She trotted over to stand in before us, her bouncy movements like some kind of dance.
Evidently, this girl was the head of the kingdom.
Her pink maid outfit was the same shape as a princess’s gown. On top of her two long, curly pigtails, which were the same color as her clothes, she wore a tiara like true royalty.
“This is my first time meeting real Japanese people! And residents of Chiyoda-ku, no less!”
She looked up at me with her extraordinarily sparkly eyes. She seemed to be having a blast, smiling brightly and wide. At around five foot five, she was a head shorter than me, with a petite body and flat chest. I didn’t think she could’ve been older than thirteen or fourteen.
“Everything’s all settled, thanks to your explanation, Mr. Akuto! Is it okay if I call you that?”
I guess she’d learned my name and relationship to Tsukasa from the emergency contact info in my sister’s wallet.
“Sure, that’s fine. Uh, so I should call you…?”
“Please, simply call me Ecstasia! No need to talk all formal.”
Her small hands, wrapped in white silk gloves, took mine and bounced them in a handshake. Then she moved her attention from Tsukasa to me.
“And you, Miss Tsukasa, who brought down the gavel. I will call you Miss Judge!”
“By ‘Miss Judge,’ I think you mean ‘Your Honor’…”
“That’s one way of putting it! My, my, how young you are!”
“I’m still twenty-eight on the inside; my whole body has suddenly become fifteen years old again…except my chest.”
“I see! So you wished to be young again, but you didn’t wish for your breast size to be reduced! You sure are endowed with everything I’m not! I love that!”
She started to grope at Tsukasa’s chest.
“Don’t touch me, Pinky. I’ll convict you.”
My sister slapped the princess’s hand away and glared at her.
“Ooh! Did I just commit sexual harassment? How exciting!”
The princess swooned as she bled from the nose, even though Tsukasa hadn’t touched her face. She looked curiously pleased.
“Akky…this really isn’t a dream, right?”
“Guess not. It’s like they said. We were summoned here.”
Showing them Tsukasa’s courthouse staff ID had really done the trick.
The elf-eared retainer had groveled and given us a lengthy apology.
Afterward, she said she’d explain about this world, the kingdom, the summoning, and the trial a little later.
I accepted, but I had to do something about Tsukasa first. She was still having a hard time telling if this was a dream. I carried her on my back to a restroom, gave her some water, and tried to sober her up.
✦ ✦ ✦
We looked in the mirror together and confirmed that her body really had become fifteen again. All except her chest.
I retraced the story of how we got from the pub to here, making sure she hadn’t lost any of her memories.
“‘Summoning,’ you mean like when you call a witness to a trial?”
I also gave her a crash course on the summoning tropes of the fantasy genre.
“Okay, but what’s with that girl? Someone like that represents a kingdom? And this place…this is the Supreme Court, right?”
Tsukasa’s attitude toward people who weren’t me needed a little work.
I thought back to when I first met her. She’d been bullied in school and had a habit of getting nasty with others quickly. Her attitude gradually made her a loner in class. That got me wondering…
“Is there any chance that your mental age has also regressed?” I asked.
“Hmm… Well, I have been feeling pretty hotheaded since getting this body. It’s like I’ve become a slightly different version of myself.”
“Maybe you’ve got a touch of puberty brain?” I suddenly felt a little uneasy about all this.
“Okay, Mr. Akuto and Miss Judge. It’s time for your grand tour of our world! Please, follow me!”
The princess called from behind us. She bounced off and her attendants hurried after.
Tsukasa and I followed behind, passing through the glass entrance doors of the Supreme Court building to gaze at an incredible vista.
“A-Akky…past that moat, there…is that…?”
Any Japanese person would’ve expected to see the imperial palace. But here, in its place…
“Oh, that? It’s my house!” Ecstasia answered.
…stood a ridiculously huge castle.
Outside, it felt like spring or autumn, and a pleasant breeze blew past. The castle, resembling something from medieval Europe, was illuminated by the light of the sunset, which dyed everything in a beautiful crimson.
“Our world is one of those fantasy ones! This is the Chiyodaku Kingdom, which has prospered greatly by copying from Japan’s own Chiyoda-ku! We’re basically like another Chiyoda-ku!”
““Another Chiyoda-ku…””
Tsukasa and I spoke in chorus, totally dumbfounded.
“Oh! Shirooo! Over here!” the princess called to an approaching car.
“Akky, that’s…a Century.”
“They even have Japanese cars here?”
“Are you sure this is one of those fantasy worlds you like so much?”
“This one is pretty different from the kind I’m used to. I’m honestly a little confused myself.”
The driver stepped out of the car, revealing herself to be the dog-eared ninja maid who’d restrained us earlier.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shiro Katou. I apologize for my earlier insolence.”
She gave us a neat bow, looking cool and collected.
Her eyeline was about the same height as mine, but considering her metal-soled boots, she had to be a bit shorter.
“Shiro is the Royal Cabinet’s best maid. That’s why we made her the head maid!”
Noticing that Ecstasia’s comment earned confused looks from Tsukasa and me, Shiro added, “Our Royal Cabinet is much like Japan’s Cabinet Office.”
“Your hair is so fluffy, and you’re so cute…,” Tsukasa said while gazing at her. “You’re the maid in charge? How old are you?”
“I’m fifteen. However, I have been under Princess Ecstasia’s employ for close to ten years now.”
I looked at the head maid. She really was overwhelmingly cute. Her pale skin, expressionless blue eyes, and servant’s clothing gave her a kind of ethereal vibe.
“Is there something wrong?”
She stared at me.
“Um, no… I was just thinking how you must stand out with such white hair, yet you showed up out of nowhere in the courtroom,” I replied.
“I am versed in skills of self-concealment and spells that allow me to communicate with others without being seen. When a threat to the royal family presented itself, I hid and prepared to eliminate it without being detected.”
She spoke in a monotone voice. Even though she was only a year younger than me, her way of speaking came off as frightening yet dependable. She sounded like a special agent with a license to kill. Then I realized…
Oh yeah, in this world people have “skills” and “spells.”
Now, that was something I could understand.
“I’ve always wanted to have something like that, like in a video game.”
The remark was really nothing more than a passing thought.
“What do you think you’re saying? It is not so simple to acquire skills and spells.”
Shiro was quick to put me in my place, however.
Okay, I guess it’s not easy, then. Still, I want them. Anyone who’s ever read a fantasy story or played a video game would feel the same. I don’t really know what kind I’d want. Honestly, I’d take anything as long as I could use some kind of magic.
That much I knew for certain.
Suddenly, I sensed the words World Transfer Bonus: Acquisition light up somewhere deep inside me.
What the heck was that?
“Please, get in,” Shiro said, ushering us into the car.
I did as requested, along with Tsukasa and the princess.