Akane and Frau, both sitting nervously in the carriage riding through Symphonia’s royal capital…… were currently on their way to Kaito’s house after receiving Anima’s invitation.
[……Chairman, what happened to your usual strange clothes? Why the sudden suit……]
[Idiot, I know I wear those for shits and giggles…… but I’m scared to wear something like that in a matter like this. I brought some souvenirs and stuff just in case……]
[You have prepared great stuff. How many times my annual income is this?]
[I did try to prepare the most expensive gift I could get my hands on. I mean, with the other party being that kind of person, if there’s any kind of mishap, the entire Mikumo Trading Company can easily be crushed.]From the time they received the invitation until today, if they were to be honest, their minds felt numb. Akane was perfectly groomed and dressed in a suit that was unlike what she usually wore, and the degree of her nervousness was evident in her expression.
[……Even so, they’re living here in the Symphonia Kingdom huh. I guess they really must be a noble?]
[Look, it’s almost only nobles who have their houses in the Central Area…… From the way it looks so far, aren’t they a pretty big noble?]
[I suppose so. It’s just, that raises a few questions to mind…… A noble with at least two subordinates on the level of Count-ranks would normally be considered very famous, but I have never heard of them. No, it’s not that I’m familiar with Symphonia’s nobles either……]
[Indeed, if you ask who the famous nobles living in the Royal Capital were…… What about the Albert Duchy, where Symphonia’s Three Flowers gathered? However, I don’t think it’s Albert Duchy since they have their own trading company…… Hmmm, this really bothers me. A big noble would have a significant number of connections with various trading companies, so there should be no reason for them to come to us, which is just barely in the middle of the pack.]
[That’s right. Even if they did come to us for some reason, why would they go to the trouble of inviting the Chairman to their home? Do they want to strengthen their relationship with us? Someone who has outrageous connections like Phantasmal King-sama wants to do that?]
The two of them had thought a lot about the sender of the invitation…… Anima’s Master until today, but they couldn’t get a satisfactory answer.Although their trading company had their own strengths over others, the Mikumo Trading Company was not a large trading company. They felt a sense of eeriness because they couldn’t understand why someone with at least as much authority as a king would go to the trouble of inviting them to deepen their relationship with them.
Yes, they have never thought that the other party was also from another world, and that they had been invited simply because he wanted to talk with someone from the same world, unrelated to their business transactions.
Just like that, the carriage continued to rock for a while, and at the place where they arrived, Akane and Frau got off the carriage and looked stunned.
[……This is bad.]
[What a magnificent mansion. They really are a very high-ranking noble…… However, the same mansion standing side by side? Moreover, there are two gates……]
[Hmmm, but their gardens are connected, so maybe that’s just how they designed it? I don’t know anything about noble residences…… but the garden is different on both sides…… and the gate over there has a gatekeeper, while this one doesn’t have one.]
[……If I’m not mistaken, she said she wanted us to go down to the place and come to the gate without the gatekeeper.]
Not knowing that the two identical mansions are nominally separate, thinking that the design was a bit unusual, they moved to the gate without a gatekeeper.
When they arrived at the gate, the gate automatically opened, and just as something seemed to light up in front of them for a moment, a being floating in the air with a body about 1 meter tall and hair that seemed like the starry sky at night…… Nebula appeared.
[Welcome, excuse my discourtesy, but may I enquire your names?]
[I’m the Chairman of Mikumo Trading Company, Mikumo Akane.]
[I’m her secretary and escort, Frau.]
[Yes! I have heard about your arrival. Please come this way, I will be your guide.]
When the two nervously introduced themselves, Nebula smiled brightly and invited them in. As they passed through the gate, it automatically closed, and following Nebula, who was floating slowly as she led the way, the two whispered to each other as they walked through the garden.
[……The garden is stunning. It’s perfectly groomed.]
[It’s amazing. I would have been convinced even if someone told me this place was a famous tourist attraction…… but the width of the path…… it isn’t wide enough for horse-drawn carriages.]
[That must be why they instructed us to disembark at the gate…… W- Wait, Chairman, over there……]
[……A Behemoth and a White Dragon…… And one other thing, what is that?]
[Rainbow wings…… It could be a Rainbow Dragon……]
Seeing Bellfreed, who was lying in the garden, and Lindwurm and Selas, who were relaxing on her back, the two of them were astonished to see that all of them were very famous monsters.
[S- Seriously? That Rainbow Dragon whose numbers could be counted by hand…… They personally own one? Moreover, they have a Behemoth and a White Dragon…… Even if you exclude the Rainbow Dragon, it would cost about 500 white gold coins…… Seriously, what is with their assets?]
[It looks like this is something we need to be really prepared for.]
[Yeah, we definitely can’t be careless…… This seriously isn’t a situation I can just joke around in. We’ll be beaten up in an instant……]
The sheer amazingness conveyed just by looking at the garden made the two of them more nervous and their steps became stiffer. Nebula, who was leading in front of them, seemed to have judged their thoughts without looking back and a puzzled expression appeared on her face.
(……Strange. Tension and atrophy are strongly evident. I thought the invitation was in the name of “deepening friendship with someone from the same world”…… I get the impression that they’re having some misunderstanding about Milord…… I suppose I’ll let Anima-san know when she takes over.)
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [And the misunderstandings accumulate even more…… The Absolute known as the Oni of Attentiveness seemed to have noticed something though, so I think it would work out rather well when they meet face to face.]
