The carriage, which had plenty of space since the Saintess was riding alone, quickly filled up as six people piled in at once.
Before boarding, the Knight accompanying us showed a hint of discomfort, but I brushed it off lightly.
“Let’s open the windows… we need some fresh air.”
“I agree.”
River and I, the last to board, opened all the tightly shut windows of the carriage.
I could feel the heavy scent of the Saintess dissipating gradually from inside.
Was her riding alone in the carriage and everyone else either outside or in another carriage due to this unique trait?
It was behavior that others couldn’t understand since they thought her scent was simply a pleasant fragrance.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.”
As soon as I sat down, River swayed and leaned into me.
“Seems like the carriage isn’t very comfortable for you. Would you like me to take a look?”
“I guess the incense from the Church Country doesn’t suit me. Sorry for the trouble.”
He wasn’t pretending; his face was pale enough that the Saintess was starting to worry.
As I stroked River’s forehead while he leaned against me, the carriage started moving again.
“I didn’t think we’d be reuniting so soon.”
“True that.”
The unexpected encounter seemed to fill the Saintess with a bright smile that peeked out from beneath her veil.
I certainly hadn’t imagined this would be how we’d meet again after reporting yesterday.
“Are you going to the party too, Saintess?”
“Yes, the Golden Ball sends out an invitation every year to the Church Country. The Bishops and Saints take turns attending.”
It was a tremendous coincidence that both the Saintess and I were attending the same year.
When you consider the Bishops and Saints in the Church Country, there were over twenty of them, and yet somehow the rotation had aligned this time.
If we had known we were both attending, we might have traveled together from the Church Country.
Was everyone beneath the Pope eligible? The mention of Saints reminded me of something.
“Saint? So has McKinto attended before?”
“He hasn’t yet. He doesn’t seem to care much about it.”
I found it funny to think of McKinto, who was a Red Dragon, joining the ranks of Saints at the party.
He wasn’t too fond of polymorphing into a human, preferring to curl up beneath the expansive sanctuary. If he were to attend, would he show up as a human or remain in his dragon form?
“Speaking of which, I don’t believe I’ve met the person beside you.”
The Saintess pointed to Gemma.
While she might have spoken with Lord before, it seemed Gemma was a new face to her.
“This is Lord’s daughter, the one I mentioned yesterday.”
“Wow! I’ve heard a lot about you. I owe a great debt to Lord. Can I call you Aurum?”
“Call me Gemma rather than Aurum!”
“Yes, Lady Gemma.”
I could feel Gemma puffing up with pride.
“Hmm… seems like a good person.”
“She is a good person.”
After I let her ride on an airplane for a moment, she quickly got a bit smug; it’s amusing how easy it is to handle her.
Given her personality, it’s surprising she hasn’t gotten into big trouble running away until now.
“Saintess, we’ve arrived.”
Before I knew it, we had passed the checkpoint while talking.
“Well, it seems best to get off here.”
As the coachman spoke on the sparsely populated road of the principality, the carriage door opened.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“No, given how Atlas always devotes himself to humanity, I could do even more for you.”
Once the carriage stopped, everyone disembarked one by one with exhausted expressions.
They were all so excited to enter the Principality, but after a lengthy journey, reality hit hard.
When the Church’s carriage—or rather, the Saintess’s carriage—entered the Principality, chaos erupted.
River and I, watching through the open windows, saw the figure of the Saintess veiled, and the church’s believers knelt down, offering prayers and weeping as if it were a scene from a play.
Moving forward through the crowds felt like a monumental task.
“This is why we kept the windows closed.”
Looking at the pandemonium in the street, the Saintess grimaced.
It’s said that when someone close to God appears, it causes a ruckus, but with the windows open, her power was spilling out, making things uncontrollable.
We ended up taking an hour just to navigate through the throngs of people.
“By the way… have you decided where to stay?”
“Well, I suppose it’s time to figure that out. There must be at least one spot to stay in this vast place, right?”
“During party season, there are many visitors from outside, so finding something now might be too late.”
Seeing the long lines outside made me think finding accommodation would be wishful thinking.
It seemed naive to think there would be any decent lodgings left with that kind of crowd.
“Umm… Does this mean we don’t have a place to stay?? I don’t want to camp out!”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be camping.”
I ruffled Gemma’s head, who was looking anxious.
Even if lodging was in short supply, there were always options.
“If it’s okay with you, would you like to go with me? There’s a dormitory prepared by Prigia for the Church Country.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m okay.”
I gently declined the Saintess’s suggestion.
It was not just the Saintess who had come from the Church Country.
While the Academy had sent a small group, this was a place to display the Church Country’s prestige.
I didn’t know how spacious it was, but if we had to share a quarters with the coachmen, guards, and knights who had come in droves, I’d feel awkward enough that I might struggle to breathe.
It would mean cramped quarters for the Knights who were originally meant to stay there, just to give us a decent room.
“Really, it’s fine…”
“I’ll sort things out. Let’s meet at the party.”
I wasn’t boasting, but I had plenty of tricks up my sleeve.
“Isn’t it too late for the party? Let’s meet up often until then. I’ll give you my address, so feel free to stop by.”
“Isn’t it near the Church? I’ll look for you using that spire over there as a landmark.”
“Then I’ll wait for you calmly inside.”
The Saintess smiled gently through her veil and waved her hand.
As the carriage window closed, I waved goodbye, watching the Church Country carriage depart towards the Church.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I mean… you seem really close to the Saintess…”
Lucia gave me a vague expression.
“If you all hunted demons daily, you’d see her often too.”
I didn’t have to say it outright, but Amy also happened to see the Saintess quite frequently.
If they were out hunting demons consistently, anyone could run into the Saintess fairly regularly.
The issue was that such people were incredibly rare.
“So… you turned down the Saintess’s proposal, so what’s the plan now?”
.
.
.
“Ha! Six people need a room? Well, if you needed that kind of thing, you should have come a month in advance. We don’t have any rooms left.”
“Six people? We’re all set. However… it’s going to cost a bit, and you won’t find anything cheaper during this season.”
“We have some empty rooms. They’re in the basement, but there’s enough space for six people. What? You think it’s a storage room? If you can lie down and sleep, that’s your room…”
I’d checked all over, and it was clear that typical accommodations were entirely booked.
“Oh wow… Is that the ‘Midas’s Hand’ where the master artifact makers are?”
“There’s also a food stall over there.”
At least there was some relief in wandering around without the displeasure of being rejected, as I found it more important to see the bustling atmosphere of the Principality during party season.
The city of the Principality was home to many major guild headquarters, and right now it felt like a festival, with plenty to see.
While it was great to have so much to see, that also meant there were too many people, making it difficult to move around.
I had no choice but to make a decision.
“I guess it’s settled. I’ll just need to play my trump card.”
“If you’ve got one, use it from the start.”
.
.
.
As more and more people gathered, the scale of the city grew larger. Within the Principality, there was a city inside a city, and within it stood Castle Prigia.
I decided to use one of my trump cards and made my way to the front of Castle Prigia alone.
The trump card I held was none other than the invitation itself.
“Access isn’t allowed during the preparation period.”
However, as I tried to enter, I was immediately blocked.
It was to be expected. I stayed calm and pulled out the invitation.
“I just came to make my greetings in advance. I received my invitation, so you can’t let me in?”
“If you’ve received the invitation, please visit on the day of the party. Access is not allowed before that.”
The guards’ attitude was incredibly firm.
“Then at least let me send my regards to Shaara.”
“Yes, I will do that, so please turn back.”
The guard nodded but shot me a glare.
It felt as though he would definitely ignore my message.
I had the distinct feeling they planned to report it casually, treating it lightly.
Well then, I’d just have to step back for now.
But my gaze remained fixed on Castle Prigia in the distance.
The Gordian Knot.
Surely it was a tied knot, and I could untie it in reverse. However, an even simpler method would be to cut the knot itself with a sword.
As soon as I reached a place where the guards couldn’t see me, I used a teleportation spell toward the inside of the castle.
