Chapter 287

“You intend to go to the Empire!?”

Cornelius Merhes had said that.

“Lady Serena! It is not a good choice. Even if you cannot return to Merion immediately, you could wait in the Hanchamus Islands for now….”

“No. I have to go.”

“I understand how you feel, but….”

Cornelius let out a deep sigh.

Determination was evident on Serena’s face.

“You mean to say you will go to Kosavagarobira?”

“Yes. I have something to tell Shion.”

“…Phew….”

The war ended, and Shion was escorted to the Empire.

It was said he was imprisoned in the continent’s worst prison, Kosavagarobira.

It seemed that news had eventually reached Serena’s ears as well. Cornelius stroked his mustache and sighed.

“If you go, you must go alone.”

Cornelius could not hide his worry.

“Not only myself or my master, but even Shadi Shandor is from the high-ranking class of the Empire. If we accompany you, our tails will be stepped on in no time.”

“I am prepared.”

“…I will have no face to see Mr. Shion later….”

The mustache mage clicked his tongue anxiously, tsk, tsk.

Serena de Verchello is strong-willed and bold, but ultimately, she is just one woman.

It was inevitable to feel uneasy about sending her to the Empire alone.

“Then let us do this.”

Cornelius had received a lot of money from Shion.

So naturally, he felt a sense of duty to do work worth what he received.

“I will mobilize all my connections to prepare a guide. Someone with enough status to guide you all the way to Kosavagarobira.”

“As expected, you are reliable, Dean Cornelius.”

“…It has been a long time since I retired as Dean, though.”

Looking at Serena smiling broadly, Cornelius scratched his head awkwardly.

It was a short time, but staying together in the Hanchamus Islands had built quite a friendship.

“However, you will have to enter the country alone. Since it is post-war, even this will not be easy….”

“We might be able to help with that.”

Gold-toothed Kifkos cut in. He was formerly a Centurion of the Cordis 11th Legion.

“Enter through Mekeros. Since it is the garrison of the 11th Legion, it will be easy to break through.”

Kifkos gave a brooch and a ring to Serena.

“This is my wife’s brooch, and Glossios’s Decurion ring.”

“How should I use these?”

“Say you received the brooch from your mother. If you say you are from Trite, a fishing village that has now disappeared, it will be easy to buy the soldiers’ favor. Actually, my wife Ofenia received it from her mother who was from Trite.”

“Where is Trite for them to react?”

“It is near Sillemol, the hometown of Legion Commander Niko.”

“Ah…!”

Serena nodded in understanding.

“Then what about the ring?”

“It is truly apologetic to say this to the Young Lady, but…….”

Kifkos said.

“…Please pretend to be Glossios’s wife.”

“My wife? Yay! A beauty!”

Glossios quickly cut in.

He still had bushy sideburns and was flighty.

“For Lady Serena to pretend to be my wife! What an honor!”

“And say that Glossios is dead.”

“…Huh? You’re killing me?”

“It’s just a figure of speech!”

Kifkos eventually burst into anger.

“Why do you interrupt like this when adults are talking about important matters!”

“I am an adult too! I am thirty-eight!”

“Then act like a thirty-eight-year-old!”

Ugh. Glossios, who was hit on the shoulder, bowed his head.

As he was once the boss of a gang, Kifkos’s fist was still heavy. He continued speaking while blowing angry air from his nose.

“Anyway, then entry will be easy. If you say he served a bit in the 11th Legion, everyone knows Sideburns Glossios. Since this guy loves alcohol so much and has wide connections. Since he usually chases after beauties, they will suspect less.”

“That makes sense.”

Serena turned her head and spoke politely.

“May I impersonate your wife while I enter the country, Glossios?”

“I would love that!”

“If you like it too much, it is slightly unpleasant.”

“Huh!?”

Glossios blinked his eyes as if he felt wronged.

The large eyes that used to charm quite a few village maidens in his youth were just ridiculous now.

Cornelius ended up giggling without realizing it.

Serena cherished the ring and brooch received from Kifkos in her bosom.

“Still, there is always a ‘what if’.”

Cornelius said.

“The biggest problem is the accent.”

“Is it awkward?”

“Yes.”

“…I thought my Imperial language skills were quite excellent.”

“They are excellent. Very excellent.”

The mustache mage chose his words.

“However, the accent unique to the Bururade Peninsula is so different from the Cordis accent. Right now, to anyone listening, you look like a Western person who studied the Imperial language very hard.”

“……That is a big problem.”

“You must practice. What they will ask, what you will answer. So that you can speak naturally.”

“Will that work?”

“It has to.”

Cornelius nodded.

“Just do not speak too much. If you are careful about that alone, it will be fine.”

***

There are two Imperial soldiers in front of Serena.

One is Moduna, one is Hempes.

They were discussing ways to confirm if Serena was truly an Imperial citizen.

“What should we ask?”

“Anything.”

The thin man, Centurion Hempes, said.

“First, make her talk a lot. It would be better if you ask questions that she cannot prepare for even if she tried.”

“…Hm. I feel sorry for Big Brother Glossios’s wife.”

Decurion Moduna cleared his throat, ahem.

Hempes watched them from behind with sharp eyes.

He rolled his eyeballs, thinking this and that, and opened his mouth.

“Have you eaten?”

“Yes.”

“What did you eat?”

“A few pieces of hard biscuit. Because I ate hurriedly on the boat.”

“Hmm.”

Moduna nodded.

Then he turned his head toward Hempes.

“She says so?”

“It’s not ‘she says so’, you rascal!”

Hempes had no way to hide his frustration.

“Move!”

He eventually gestured to Moduna. It was to talk to Serena instead.

“From now on, I will ask questions. It is a formal procedure, so do not be too nervous.”

“…Still, I do feel nervous.”

Serena spoke with the most natural smile possible.

Outwardly, nothing showed.

She had practiced very thoroughly to enter the Empire, and she had already assumed a situation like this.

“Because I never imagined I would be suspected of not being a Cordis person.”

“Please understand. Since the situation is what it is.”

Hempes nodded lightly.

His attitude was continuously high-handed.

Arrogance that could not be hidden was felt in every part of his demeanor.

“You said you are Glossios’s wife. When did you first meet him?”

“…That is too private a question.”

“I have the authority to ask private questions. Also, the authority to punish non-Imperial citizens attempting illegal entry.”

“…It was in Sillemol.”

Serena began to bring out the prepared words.

She was a very prepared person, and she had already practiced pronouncing the fictional chronicle of her romance with Glossios in a perfect Imperial accent.

“I was drinking a beverage at a shop with a good view of the sea. That was when Glossios abruptly spoke to me.”

“That is just like the Glossios I know. Did you fall in love at first sight?”

“No way! It was the absolute worst first impression. He wouldn’t stop making passes no matter how much I refused.”

“I see. What beverage were you drinking then?”

“…Pardon?”

Serena was slightly surprised.

Because she expected questions like how she came to marry a man who gave the worst first impression, but an unexpected question came in.

However, Centurion Hempes flashed his eyes sharply without backing down.

“Is there any problem?”

“No, since you ask about a beverage I drank years ago, I can’t quite recall….”

“Still, try to remember.”

“…Probably….”

Serena continued her words slowly.

“…It would have been Seram-ade. Because I like that so much. Whenever I go to the seaside, I always drink Seram-ade.”

“Seram-ade?”

Hempes frowned.

“You must not know that Seram is a Western-style expression. We call it Semuram.”

He spoke with a very cold expression.

“Do not lie, Centurion.”

However, Serena took his words without flushing. Instead, she furrowed her brow as if she was dumbfounded.

“I have never heard such a word in my entire life. Are you saying you call it Seram-ade Semuram-ade?”

“Did it show?”

Hempes laughed loudly, hahaha.

“I am sorry. I tested you once.”

“It is not a pleasant feeling.”

Serena asked with a hardened face.

“Have you asked all your questions now?”

“Yes. I do not think more is needed.”

Hempes smiled broadly and turned his head.

“Decurion Moduna?”

“Yes.”

“Seize that woman immediately.”

“…Pardon?”

“I don’t know if she is an Imperial person or not, but she is definitely lying.”

Even though he was smiling, his eyes were unbelievably cold.

“She was suspicious from the start. She looked too cultured to be playing around with the likes of Glossios.”

“…….”

“From a fishing village? If you were going to say that, you should have acted a bit like someone from a fishing village. You have too much of a noble air. Even in the capital Lutilium, a woman with a noble air like yours is rare. Did your thoughts not reach that far because you were busy being careful about the accent?”

Moduna was still hesitating.

Hempes spat out a curse, frustrated anyway, and grabbed Serena’s wrist.

Serena did not let out a single groan, but she could not help the fear surging up.

“What is in this pouch… Oh!”

The pouch Serena was holding was full of Imperial gold coins.

Hempes’s two eyes glistened with greed.

“I will have to slowly ask about the source of these enormous gold coins too.”

“……”

“Escort her to my room. What on earth she is up to, I will try exchanging… questions again slowly there….”

Hempes’s eyes went beyond glistening with greed and turned sticky.

Moduna’s face hardened stiffly as he noticed his superior’s bad habit coming out.

But there was no way to do anything about it.

“…Let go of my wrist first.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Serena tried to shake off Hempes’s hand.

However, the opponent was a Cordis Centurion.

It was not a strength she could shake off no matter how hard she tried.

Serena’s face turned pale.

Hempes licked his lips.

“I told you. I have the authority to ask private questions….”

“Hey.”

It was a voice that sounded young yet sharp.

“Hands off.”

***

Hempes looked around while still holding Serena’s wrist.

“Who spoke just now?”

“I spoke.”

It was a girl.

Sixteen, seventeen years old?

Over her small frame, she was wearing an old military blanket she must have picked up somewhere.

Still, her appearance was quite beautiful, but perhaps because of this war, half of her face was completely burned.

“You are absurd, little kid.”

Hempes lowered his gaze.

“Why do you want to be investigated slowly too….”

“If I said it twice, it would be enough.”

Crunch, a sound rang out.

It was the sound of the small girl stomping on Centurion Hempes’s knee from the side.

One of Hempes’s legs became reverse-jointed.

Aaaagh-, a terrible scream burst out.

Hempes rolled on the floor holding his leg that had bent the wrong way.

Seeing the Centurion who acted like a king collapse, the people standing in line were all terrified.

“How, how, how dare…!”

Decurion Moduna put his hand on his sword belatedly.

Whether he liked Hempes as a superior or not, he had no choice because he was a superior.

“…How dare you do such a thing to His Majesty the Emperor’s soldier!”

“Do not draw that sword, His Majesty’s Decurion.”

The girl spoke calmly.

“If you draw the sword, I will punish you by military law as well.”

“……Surely……!”

Moduna realized only then.

A girl with a small frame, half her face covered in burns, a demeanor more soldier-like than anyone…. As if answering Moduna’s question, the girl removed the blanket she had wrapped around herself.

Inside, there was a sea-colored coat.

It was attire permitted only to the highest-ranking members of the Cordis military.

The girl wore a leather armband.

There, the number ‘9’ was embroidered with gold thread.

It is proof that she has been reinstated.

“…S-S-Surely…!”

“……General Nine Streams, why are you here……!”

It was that girl.

That girl bearing the name of the Nine Streams General was the high-ranking person the soldiers were making a fuss about welcoming.

Even Hempes, who had collapsed, recognized who the girl was only then, and ended up realizing just how shameless the words he had spat out were.

To say things like ‘little kid’ or asking if she wanted to be investigated slowly to one of the Ten Great Generals of the Empire, the Nine Streams General…. Hempes’s face turned pale from fear greater than the pain.

“Why am I here?”

The Nine Streams General snorted.

“Is it strange for me to be in my grandfather’s Hobel Bay?”

“N-N-No, General!”

“Then get lost, you stupid bastard! Go to the medic immediately!”

At the girl’s thunderous shout, Hempes jumped up.

One leg was bent backward and it hurt like crazy, but the fear was far greater.

Hempes moved his steps limping, and Moduna tried to support him.

“His Majesty’s Decurion!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“If you go too, won’t these people have to keep waiting in line! You must do your job! Let him go to the medic alone!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Moduna froze stiff and withdrew the hand that was about to support Hempes.

It was questionable whether he could work in that state, but it was not a problem for the Nine Streams General to care about.

“Hmph. To think things like that are His Majesty’s soldiers….”

The girl turned her eyes slowly.

Then she looked at Serena.

“You, your eyes are the color of raspberries.”

“…That’s right.”

“Serena de Verchello?”

“…Yes.”

“I found the right person.”

The girl held out her hand.

“I am your guide. I received Cornelius’s request.”

“…Um, may I ask your name…?”

“Nana.”

The girl giggled.

“Nana Nereyades.”

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