48. Vesteria Kingdom and Elite Guard [11] – part 1

I was invited by Ria, and we decided to go on a date around Vesteria today.

The time is noon 1pm.

We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so we decided to walk around various stalls and try the food there while sightseeing.

「Oh, look, Allen! Butter Potato is on sale! Let’s eat together!」

Ria quickly found what she wanted to eat, and pointed to one of the stalls.

「Fufu. Ah, let’s go」

「Yes!」

When I nodded, she rushed to the stall with a blooming flower-like smile.

「Excuse me, I’d like two butter potato!」

「Aight, coming right up! Oh, if it isn’t Ria-sama!?」

The owner of the stall was a bear-like woman wearing a blue coat.

She was only a size smaller than Paula-san.

In other words, she was very large.

And then the bear-like woman,

「Oh my? The attractive person over there… are you the boyfriend?」

With a grin on her face, she asked.

「U-Umm…」

I couldn’t reply right away.

(How should I answer this…?)

At present, due to His Majesty Gris’ misunderstanding, we are supposed to be in a love relationship.

But this is a story we exchanged between us and His Majesty.

(A love relationship with the princess… I don’t think it is something that should be spread wide…)

And as I was thinking of how to answer it,

「E-Ehehe… yes, that is so…」

Ria responded while blushing.

「Kuh, the small Ria-sama has already grown up so fast… Anyway, this is a joyous day! Yoshi, I’ll add another one as service!」

「Thank you very much!」

After that, we received the butter potato and left the stall.

「I actually said it…」

「Are you alright?」

「U-Un! I’m fine… most definitely!」

Then we went around the various stalls and ate various things.

「Even so… hamu! He selfishly called us here…Nnー! And when his business was over, he selfishly told us to go back…! Father is truly selfish! Mou… this is so delicious, Allen!」

While eating strawberry ice cream, Ria expressed a mixture of dissatisfaction towards His Majesty Gris and her impressions of the ice cream.

「Aa, this is good ice-cream. Umm… And you know, if we stay too long, His Majesty Gris’ mind could change? Depending on how you look at it, it might not be a bad idea to leave tomorrow, right?」

I carefully answered each of her questions.

「That is… quite possible… Un, let’s definitely go home tomorrow!」

Ria seemed convinced and nodded.

In this manner, we fully enjoyed eating together and walked around Vesteria,

「Ah, it finally came into view. That’s one of our tourist attractions – the National Vesteria Museum.」

She pointed to a large building visible in the distance.

「…Oo, it’s so huge.」

National Vesteria Museum.

An architectural style reminiscent of a temple.

It’s about three stories high, but it is very long.

In terms of simple area, it would surpass the Vesteria Castle.

「Now, let’s enter.」

「Aa.」

There seemed to be no entrance fee, so we went in through the front entrance.

There were a lot of tourists in the building, but…

In the first place, the museum itself is very large, so there was not much pressure.

If this is the case, we should be able to view the exhibits calmly.

「A『museum』huh… This is the first time I’m visiting one…」

「Hee, is that so… Yoshi! Then, this Ria-sensei will explain all the exhibits to Allen!」

「Fufu, why thank you.」

Then I went around to see various exhibits with Ria.

The skeleton of a giant that was said to exist long ago.

A stone statue of the Legendary Hero of Vesteria, Gran-Vesteria.

As the name suggests, it’s Ria’s ancestor – the ancestor of House Vesteria. There seems to be a legend that he once defeated an evil dragon that sunk this whole country into fear and dismay.

Historically famous paintings.

If I remember correctly, I’ve seen these ones in the textbooks.

「-Actually, this strange picture is said to have been drawn blindfolded by the artist, Henry. So you see, the picture frame is also dyed with a lot of colours, right?」

「Huh, yeah…」

Ria, who was educated at an early age, has a wealth of artistic knowledge.

It wasn’t too shallow nor too deep – she gave me an appropriate amount of explanation, so I enjoyed it very much. Maybe she’s adjusting the amount of information to pass to me, by looking at my interest.

And while walking through the museum, looking at various exhibits,

「……」

One very interesting mural caught my interest.

A total of seven beasts, such as a dragon and a wolf, were drawn… It was a picture full of mysterious charm.

It was a little strange that no one stopped to look at this work, even though it was displayed in the middle of the hall.

「Hey, Ria. What kind of opus is this mural?」

「Aa, this one… Producer, production year, production location – all unknown. A literal『mysterious mural』」

「M-Mysterious mural…」

「Yes. Even though it does not meet the exhibition standards set here, for some reason it has been displayed for a long time. Some time ago, I asked my father『Why do you display a picture that no one looks at in such a good place?』… but he dodged the question.」

Ria shrugged her shoulders.

「Hee… Is it the favourite picture of His Majesty Gris?」

「Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case either. There were several times when I came here together with him during inspections… At that time, he was always glaring at this picture…」

「I-I see… It truly is a mysterious mural…」

Then we enjoyed a wide variety of exhibits and it was already dusk by the time we left the museum.

「Fuuー…」

「Nnー…」

We were in the room for a long time, so we both stretched at the same time.

「Fuu, thank you, Ria. I had fun thanks to you.」

「Fufu, I’m glad.」

Her smile illuminated by the sunset was very beautiful.

「N-Now… It’s getting dark now, shall we go home?」

「Ah, wait a little. There is one last place I want to go… Is that okay?」

「Oh, where will you take me next?」

「That is, of course -『The Hill of Hope』! 」

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