The antechamber where the baron and king were resting was in a heavily guarded building. Various imperial guards, who normally spent their days arrogantly lounging around the palace, were rushing in and out of it. We headed straight to the gate, but we were immediately stopped.
“Where are you going?” a guard demanded.
“I’m Yahagi,” I said, introducing myself. “I sell Mobile Forces. I have some business with Baron Ethel.”
“And what business would that be?”
“I came here to deliver this special Mobile Force unit to him.” I took out Jhar Zako’s box and showed it to the guards. However, their expressions didn’t change.
“This is no place for commoners like you. Try again at another time and place.”
If I did that, the tournament would be over by then. We wouldn’t be able to make a formal announcement to give this to the grand champion either.
“This is an urgent matter,” I pleaded. “Could you somehow pass along our message to the baron?”
“Back!” the soldier cried. “Back, I say! Go home!”
We had literally been turned away at the gate. It’d be stupid to force things and wind up in prison, so I decided I would just give up. Nothing good was likely to come from involving myself with the authorities.
I turned to face Michelle. “Guess we can’t do anything about it. We’ll have to hand this over to the champion ourselves.”
“That should be fine.”
We were about to take our leave when, to my surprise, I spotted the baron approaching us. It looked like he had been out and was just heading back. His face grew anxious for some reason once he saw us.
“Oh, Sir Yahagi,” he said. “What are you doing in such a place as this?”
“Perfect timing. You see, I got this special model, so I wanted to have you give it to the grand champion as an additional prize.”
“Huh...” For some unknown reason, the baron appeared distracted. He kept glancing inside the building. This guy would normally be jumping for joy at the sight of a rare Mobile Force unit. What is wrong with him?
That was when a group of imperial soldiers came rushing out toward us, and the three of us dodged to the side.
“What’s going on?”
Nobody acknowledged my question, but I soon got my answer. To my astonishment, the king and queen emerged from the building. If it weren’t for Baron Ethel being with us, we would’ve already been removed from the premises.
I glanced over at Michelle. She’s not going to do anything weird, right? I was worried, but she maintained her levelheaded attitude. She really does think nothing of the king.
Just as I was thinking things would be fine so long as nothing happened, the king passed me and suddenly shouted, “Oh! Wh-Why...”
The king was looking at me for some reason. No, to be more precise, he was looking at what I was holding. Ah, is he looking at the Jhar Zako model that I was about to hand over? Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this...
“What’s that you’re holding?” The king briskly stepped closer to us and snatched Jhar Zako from my hand as if it already belonged to him. “This is Zako now, isn’t it? However, it looks a bit different than the one I know.”
“It is a special model, Your Majesty,” Baron Ethel explained in my stead.
“A special model you say. What is different about it?”
The king had asked yet another question of the baron, but their exchange was interrupted by a certain someone.
“Wait just a second! You there...” Queen Chichi was staring directly at Michelle.
Michelle’s cognitive obstructions were perfect. They kept people from finding it unusual that she wore a mask—yet the queen was scowling at her silver mask with a grim expression. The queen seemed to be a famous witch herself, so had she realized Michelle’s true identity? This was bad.
“You there, take off your mask,” she ordered Michelle. “How insolent of you to wear it in the king’s presence.”
“I have a terrible burn. I cannot show you all something so unsightly.”
“Unsightly, is it...?” The queen then sighed loudly with an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. “It’s true that the sight of a lady with such a gloomy face is unsightly, but this is our first reunion in a long time. Show us your true face, won’t you, Michelle?”
So, she had realized it! When I looked over at Michelle to see what she’d do next, she readily took off her mask. She’d probably deduced that there was no chance of fooling them now. How in the world is this going to play out...?
“What made you realize?” asked Michelle.
“I was curious how a supposed man would never once look at me.” Queen Chichi was an alluring and beautiful woman. Your average guy would pay a lot of attention to her. So, it was Michelle completely avoiding her gaze that gave her away...
“Also,” Chichi added, “you’ve always stuck your fingers together like that whenever you’re nervous. Have you never noticed?”
I looked at Michelle and sure enough, all the fingers on her left and right hands were intricately intertwined. I didn’t realize she had that habit...
The imperial soldiers all drew their swords, and the air filled with the heated promise of an explosive situation.
“What are you planning to do with me?” Michelle asked the royal pair, showing not a trace of fear.
“I’ll have you punished for the curse you cast on me!” the king shouted, abruptly losing his temper.