Maydare Volume 3 Chapter 1 - The Assembling Kings (Part 1)

 Guess who's back! It's time for Book 3, a.k.a. the Frey book, a.k.a. the calm before the storm. We're getting more answers about who the blond man is and what this whole reincarnation thing is about! Look forward to it!

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The whistle of the huge battleship, which was like a dark cloud, was sounding——

It seemed that ship carrying foreign dignitaries had just arrived at Miladriede’s port in the Kingdom of Ruschia.

I, Makia O’Drielle, also got off the back of the ice dragon Griminde, and made my way through the crowds at the port.

As I hurried, my hand was grabbed from behind by the knight, Thor Bigreitz.

“Milady, what is the matter? What are you in such a hurry for?”

“Thor…it’s because…”

Thor was shocked by my expression.

My face was probably pale white and tense.

Looking down from the skies of the deck of Frezier Empire’s battleship, I saw the face of a man I could never forget standing there.

The blond man who killed me in my past life.

Thor didn’t know that. He didn’t remember.

That was why even if he noticed the change in my expression, he couldn’t understand why, and his brow furrowed.

A fanfare sounded. A red carpet was laid out on the path made by the guards of the Kingdom of Ruschia, and people seemed to be disembarking from the ship.

“Ah…”

There were several foreign military officials dressed in military uniforms.

The girl with wisteria-colored hair and the blond man following behind her caught my attention in particular.

The citizens of Miladriede welcomed the sudden guests from the Frezier Empire with cheers and applause.

“That girl…”

The girl who was standing one step ahead of everyone else, with long, characteristic wisteria-colored hair, and alluring amber eyes.

Although she still had the face of a teenage girl, there was a mature smile on her face.

I’ve met that girl in the military uniform before.

She was a lady who had attended the evening party at the palace. At the time, she wasn’t dressed in a military uniform but in a dress, and her beauty and presence overwhelmed those around her and made her stand out. She helped my classmate Beatrice and me by letting us borrow her room.

The girl in Frezier’s military uniform walked proudly on the red carpet, accompanied by that blond man.

The blond man’s eyes were hidden by his military cap, so I couldn’t see his expression. 

Who exactly were these two people?

“That person is Lady Shatoma Mireya Frezier.”

Someone said behind me. I turned around while feeling a strange chill.

Standing there was a man who, in spite of his immaculate bishop’s vestments, had a devilishly evil face and heterochromatic eyes.

“Who are you!”

As soon as Thor saw the man, he became on guard and put his hand on the hilt of his sword to protect me. 

“Ah, no, Thor! He’s a bishop from the Vabel State!”

“...The Vabel State?”

Thor still looked skeptical, but after taking a closer look at the bishop’s outfit, he reluctantly relaxed his offensive stance.

“Hah. Exactly, Guardian boy. It seems that another bishop has been judging you, so it’s not surprising you don’t know me.”

Watch how you talk to me, the bishop snickered.

Thor was still looking at the bishop suspiciously.

“More importantly, get a good look. That person is Her Majesty, Queen Shatoma of Frezier.”

“Huh…Her Majesty the Queen!?”

I turned my gaze to the girl in the military uniform once again.

N-No way…

To think that the person I met at that soiree was the queen of the Frezier Empire…

It wasn’t just me. This also seemed to be the first time Thor was hearing of this, and his eyes were simply widened in shock.

“Hey, Thor. That person we met at the soiree back then…”

“Yes. This is the lady who attended the soiree as the ambassador from Frezier. However, she should still be at the palace. How did the same person disembark from Frezier’s battleship just now?”

Thor had the same question I did and was confused.

But behind us, Bishop Eska was laughing, sounding like he was biting down on his lips.

“Because that’s the Wisteria Princess’s ‘magic.’”

He told us in a whisper.

“Magic? The queen of Frezier can use magic?”

Thor quickly asked the bishop behind him a question.

“It ain’t a matter of being able to use magic. She’s one of the great magicians who represents Frezier. She’s a spirit magician who’s as good as that shitty prince Ulysses of this country.”

Thor and I looked at each other. 

But soon the cheers in front of us grew louder, and we turned our attention back to the red carpet.

Right then, the queen of the Frezier Empire was passing right in front of us.

The blond soldier was still walking right behind the queen. From beneath the brim of his military cap, those garnet eyes pierced me with a sideways glance——

“...”

I was supposed to be mixed into the crowd, but he didn’t miss me at all.

I surreptitiously squeezed my hands together.

“U-Um, Your Grace…”

“What is it, Makia O’Drielle?”

“Who…is that blond man walking behind the queen…?”

My voice was on the verge of trembling, but I managed to withstand it and form the question.

Bishop Eska seemed to know the situation well, so I thought he might know.

“Oh, that’s General Kanon Pachelbel.”

“...Kanon…Pachelbel?”

“He’s Queen Shatoma’s most trusted aide and the cornerstone of Frezier’s defense. Some call him the ‘Reaper’ because he’s so merciless.”

For the first time, I knew that man’s name.

At the same time, I felt a stirring in my heart at that familiar-sounding last name.

“Milady? Milady, are you alright?”

“Huh? Ah…”

Next to me, Thor had been calling my name for a while now and peering into my face.

I must have had a very pitiful expression.

“I’m fine, Thor. I think I felt a little…sick from the crowd.”

“...”

The queen and the blond general left in a black iron carriage. At last, the tension I had been holding in my body and the fear that was engraved in my soul faded away.

The excitement of the crowd had yet to cool down.

I just had a premonition.

I felt a stirring in my heart, as if something was about to truly begin——

“You’re both here, Miss Makia, Mr. Thor.”

“Professor Ulysses?”

Before I knew it, Professor Ulysses was right beside me. “Geh,” Bishop Eska made a face, but the professor was as gallant and refreshing as ever.

“You are both to come to the palace right now. Bishop Eska, you have also been ordered to come to the meeting.”

“Shut up. I don’t need you to tell me what to do! I was going to go to Lady Wisteria Princess right now. Right now!”

Saying the important thing twice, and then with a crude, un-bishoply gesture, he ran off somewhere.

Really, that bishop was like a tornado that appeared out of nowhere. An incomprehensible person.

“Your Highness. If it is me and Miss Makia, does that mean the Guardians have been summoned?”

Thor asked Professor Ulysses.

“No. The Savior and Guardians will be introduced together tomorrow at the alliance meeting. But before that, I have a matter that I need the two of you to help me with.”

“...Help?”

I didn’t really understand what he was getting at.

But Professor Ulysses, with a meaningful smile on his face, gently put his index finger to his mouth. It was as though this was a secret.

Thor and I nodded at each other and decided to obediently follow the professor.

On the main street, there was also a black iron carriage waiting for us.

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At the royal palace, I was made to change clothes, and even my hair and makeup were done.

Along with Thor, who was also cleaned up, we were taken to a waiting room next to the main conference room. We were staying there quietly for a while, until,

“Master Thor Bigreitz. Miss Makia O’Drielle. Please enter the main conference room.”

We were ushered into the main conference room quickly by an official.

It was a large, circular conference room. There was a row of magnificent chairs on steps that formed an arch, and a wide depressed space in the middle. We were standing in that very depression, overlooked by many chairs.

It was like some sort of courtroom.

However, out of so many seats, only three had people in them.

“Here is Her Majesty, the queen of the Frezier Empire, Shatoma Mireya Frezier.”

Professor Ulysses gave the name of the young queen of our allied country, who was sitting in the seat directly overlooking us, looking imposing in her military uniform.

Both Thor and I knelt down and bowed deeply. 

“That is enough. Lift up your heads. Show your faces to me.”

We did as we were told and looked up. That was when I made eye contact with the queen.

When I met her before, I might have behaved rudely to her, not expecting that she would be a foreign queen, but her amber eyes were still as graceful and narrowed as ever.

I told you that we would meet again——

The eyes that seemed to say so. A devilish, provocative look. 

“Likewise, this is His Excellency, General Kanon Pachelbel of the Frezier Empire.”

Next, I was informed again of the name of that blond man sitting next to Queen Shatoma.

The man stood up, took off his military cap, and bowed low.

When he raised his head, the sharp gaze that pierced me made my body freeze up. His face that was without a smile was frighteningly handsome, but his gaze was like a blade itself to me.

But no one knew that, and I was alone in my fear.

Even in the midst of my cold sweating and the formal greetings.

“And in the back is His Grace, Bishop Eska of the Vabel State. Well, Miss Makia may already know him, though.”

That arrogant grey-haired bishop was also here, and got introduced.

Earlier, he had just made a mad dash from the port to the palace, but now he was sitting on a chair with a relaxed look on his face. I wouldn’t be able to keep my head straight if I started thinking about him, so I decided not to pay too much attention to him right now.

Professor Ulysses took charge of the situation himself and proceeded with the talk.

“Although it is the day before the allied nation conference, we would like to hold a secret meeting between the Frezier Empire, the Vabel State, and the Kingdom of Ruschia. The topic of discussion is the〈Blue Jester〉that recently appeared in the Kingdom of Ruschia.”

“...!?”

I raised my hanging head.

I would never forget that name. The mysterious blue clown who took over Professor Eugene Batiste’s body. A bizarre magician.

Then it finally hit me. The reason why Thor and I were called here.

It was because we were the only ones who were face-to-face with that “blue clown” and confronted him head-on.

“Miss Makia. Just to confirm, the〈Blue Jester〉is a subordinate of the Hermedes Heavenly Empire in the north, yes?”

Asked by Professor Ulysses, although I was confused, I slowly answered.

“Yes. That blue clown…the 〈Blue Jester〉indeed said, ‘Our Heavenly Empire.’”

There was only one country in Maydare that was called the Heavenly Empire.

The great nation in the north, the Hermedes Heavenly Empire.

Over the years, the dictatorship had grown in size while absorbing the small nations around it, but in the last ten years or so, it had become increasingly aggressive for some reason and even provoked the great western nation of Frezier. The Empire and the Heavenly Empire had been clashing frequently.

Why were they attacking Frezier?

They said it was because the “Holy Land” was in Frezier.

The Heavenly Empire must think that acquiring the Holy Land that held the World Tree was the same as conquering the whole of Maydare.

In response, the Frezier Empire had called upon its allies and was looking to strengthen cooperation to defend itself.

“Perhaps the Heavenly Empire wishes to investigate, to the point of using the 〈Blue Jester〉, the capabilities of the ‘Savior from another world’ and her Guardians.”

When Queen Shatoma opened her mouth, the air in the room became tense.

“Indeed,” Professor Ulysses nodded at the queen’s words.

“This is nothing but a blunder on our part, but it is safe to assume that the〈Blue Jester〉have obtained information on the Savior and the Guardians by turning Eugene Batiste, the leading palace magician, into a puppet. Although it had only taken over Eugene Batiste’s body for about two months, there is a very good chance it had been working on something in Ruschia during that time, or that sensitive information had been leaked to the Heavenly Empire.”

Since then, they had been thoroughly searching the palace for any traces of magic that Eugene Batiste might have cast. In fact, there were several places where dangerous spells had been cast.

“Damn you, Ulysses, you bastard.”

Bishop Eska cursed the prince of our country with his chin in his hands.

“You were close with Eugene Batiste, weren’t you? How did you not notice that? That’s why we’re in this mess. If only you had noticed something was wrong with him, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Eh?”

“...”

Bishop Eska was persistently criticizing Professor Ulysses.

There were not many people in this country who could speak out against Professor Ulysses, so this kind of scene was rare. Inwardly, I was anxious.

“Or, don’t tell me, you failed to notice on purpose, did you?”

“...Of course not.”

Professor Ulysses’ expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“If it was so easy to notice the presence of〈Blue〉, then you shouldn’t have had such a hard time either, yes, Bishop Eska?”

“...You…”

The air between the professor and the bishop was crackling with tension. Those two seemed to know each other well, but they don’t seem to be very compatible with each other…

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