Chapter 79: To the Tenshuhaku
(Tenshuhaku – Castle keep)
“Gyau! Gyau!” munch munch
“Here now, there’s no need to rush like that. If it gets stuck in your throat, we’ll have a real problem.”
“Unlike in the wild, human food doesn’t run away. Take your time. Sit still and eat properly.”
“Gyau……”
(My sincerest apologies… it is a habit I have yet to shed. But surely the fault also lies in how unbearably delicious human cuisine is. Long live the life of a contracted beast.)
Today, the Fire Dragon officially became their companion.
Seeing how ravenous she was, they first returned to the inn and laid out the dishes they had purchased earlier in the day. The small table in their room was soon crowded with carefully wrapped parcels, the aroma of warm oil and rice filling the air.
While taking a brief rest, the two of them simply watched as the Fire Dragon devoured her meal with desperate enthusiasm, cheeks bulging, tail swishing in unconcealed delight.
Sushi. Tempura. Okonomiyaki. Tonkatsu.
One after another, the traditional dishes of Hinomaru vanished into her tiny maw.
“Ordinarily, when a body shrinks, its appetite should decrease in proportion…” Esther murmured, resting her chin on her hand as she observed the spectacle.
“Maybe she’s always been a glutton,” Ryu replied dryly. “That would explain how she wiped out an entire fleet of duchy ships.”
For such a small body to consume this much food—there was no need to strain one’s imagination to picture the monstrous quantities she must have required in her original colossal form. The reason she had attacked so many ships of the duchy… now, at last, it made perfect sense.
A starving dragon was a calamity incarnate.
“The duchy must be in absolute chaos right about now…”
“As an imperial ambassador, I can only say this pleases me greatly. Well done, ‘Homura.’”
“Gyau!”
(Yes! It was most exquisite! I am deeply satisfied!)
Homura—that was the name just bestowed upon the Fire Dragon.
A word that called flames to mind: beautiful, fierce, and brimming with strength.
There could be no more fitting name for a dragon of fire.
Needless to say, the one who had given her that name was Esther.
There was no universe in which Ryu could have come up with something so elegant.
“When we return to the Empire, we shall register her as a contracted beast immediately.”
“But once word spreads that an S-rank contracted beast has appeared, we’ll be dragged into even more trouble than before,” Ryu said with a sigh. “At this rate, wouldn’t it be safer for you to move into the second Ardren estate?”
For an alchemist capable of brewing elixirs—while commanding an S-rank monster—to continue living alone in a ramshackle mansion with virtually no security was, frankly, reckless. Ryu’s concern was only natural.
“Mm, is that so? I won’t hold back, you know?”
“There’s no need to. You can move in directly, or build a full-scale laboratory right in that absurdly huge garden. Or both. I don’t mind. The only condition is that you eat three proper, healthy meals a day at our place.”
“I accept!!!”
And thus, Esther—and Homura along with her—would be lodging with the Ardrens.
“However, before that, we must accomplish our objectives. In a few days, we will visit the Tokugawa clan. Everything depends on what happens there.”
“Do your best,” Esther said solemnly.
“You’re coming with me, of course.”
“Nuooh…”
The trade agreement. The memory-retention medicine.
In essence, their goals amounted to just those two things.
Yet the path toward them would undoubtedly be steep and treacherous.
What sort of trial would the nation of Hinomaru place before them? It was almost something to look forward to.
The next day, they sent a formal letter to the Tokugawa and waited for a reply.
Several days later, their party stood before the great gates of Tokugawa.
The samurai who served the shogunal house were of a different breed. It was not merely their combat prowess—though that was considerable—but their intelligence, bearing, and cultivated presence. Even at a glance, the gatekeeper before them exuded an aura befitting his station.
“Are you the delegation of the Imperial Ambassador?”
“Yes. I am Ryu, and this is Esther.”
Ryu withdrew the imperial ambassador’s crest from within his cloak and presented it.
“It appears authentic. And the warhorse and baby dragon beside you…?”
“My contracted beasts. Both are recognized and registered as safe by the Adventurers’ Guild of the continent. You may rest easy.”
“I see. My apologies for the inquiry. Please, pass through the gate.”
The massive doors creaked open, and Ryu and the others stepped inside the grounds.
Led by an attendant, they made their way toward the tenshukaku, where the shogun awaited.
“Homura hasn’t actually been registered yet, has she?” Esther whispered.
“It’s fine,” Ryu muttered back. “There’s no way for Hinomaru to verify guild records. We won’t get caught.”
“You are quite the villain, are you not…”
“Gyau.”
(As expected of my master. His heart is delightfully black.)
Hinomaru had no Adventurers’ Guild, but that did not mean monsters were absent from its lands. Each domain handled monster subjugation independently, dispatching samurai into the forests on a regular basis. As long as their blades did not dull, there would be no reason for Tokugawa to invite the Guild into their territory.
Within the shogunal gardens, cherry blossoms bloomed in breathtaking profusion. Pine and bamboo stood in careful harmony, meticulously tended greenery framing ponds where freshwater fish swam in lazy circles. The entire scene was steeped in the refined elegance of the East.
Beyond it rose the tenshukaku—grand and imposing, rivaling the Imperial Castle in scale—towering so high that its peak vanished into the clouds, as though gazing down upon the world below.
“Hooh… It’s so tall I can’t even see the top.”
“With air that thin up there, you’d probably get sick,” Ryu muttered.
“They must have erected some sort of barrier. Otherwise, with this humidity and the fierce winds, it would have eroded and collapsed long ago.”
“I see. As expected of a descendant of heroes.”
Ryu turned to the female attendant.
“Does someone reside up there?”
“I cannot disclose that. My apologies.”
“Of course. That was tactless of me.”
“Think nothing of it.”
If that uppermost section housed the shogun or other high-ranking nobles, no retainer could possibly reveal such information. Indeed, it was Ryu’s question that bordered on impropriety.
This was the most sacred place in all of Hinomaru.
He would need to tread carefully.
The samurai they passed within the grounds were, without exception, formidable.
(Each of them would rank around C to B in Guild terms. If even this powerhouse of a clan is considered politically vulnerable… that alone speaks volumes about how dangerous Hinomaru truly is.)
It would be like encountering warriors on the level of Stingray at every turn.
And yet, there were domains that sought to challenge Tokugawa’s authority.
Unbelievable.
Moreover, perhaps due to the tense state of domestic affairs, every samurai they encountered seemed taut as a drawn bowstring.
They arrived at the entrance to the tenshukaku.
“From here, a retainer of the Tokugawa will escort you.”
“Understood. Axel, Homura—this is as far as you go. Rest nearby, and do not cause trouble.”
“Brrr.” “Gyau.”
No matter how well-trained they were, monsters were not permitted inside the castle.
The gate to the tenshukaku was even thicker than the outer one, and it took considerable effort to open.
Gogogogogo…
With a heavy rumble, the doors parted.
From within emerged a female samurai radiating an unusual presence.
“I am Sakai Tadami, retainer of the Tokugawa. I shall escort you to the Princess’s chamber.”
“…We are in your care.”
The moment they laid eyes on her, they understood.
This—this was a true warrior.
A prodigy unseen since Togo Heihachiro.
The flow of her mana. The placement of her center of gravity. Exquisite.
She wore no unnecessary killing intent, which only made her more unsettling.
Her gaze was sharp and resolute, yet revealed nothing of her thoughts.
Compared to her, the samurai they had seen earlier were mere ornaments.
Such was her presence.
Equal to Charlotte, commander of the Grace Knights—hailed as the strongest on the frontier… perhaps even beyond her.
(What in the world is this country?)
(Terrifying… I do not like this at all…)
They followed Sakai through the corridors of the castle—right, left, occasionally upward—advancing steadily through intentionally complex passageways designed to bewilder intruders.
“I would ask one question,” Ryu said.
“…What is it?”
“Why is it not the ‘Shogun’ who receives us, but the ‘Princess’?”
“That… I cannot say.”
“If we are given no explanation, the Empire will take it as an insult and depart at once. Between the matter of Goroemon and now this… It is regrettable. This is a fine country.”
“…………”
Everything hinged on her next reply.
A bead of cold sweat traced down Sakai’s temple.
“…I believe the Princess herself will provide an explanation.”
“I will hold you to that. We shall look forward to it.”
Ryu scored the first point.
As Imperial Ambassador, it was better to press forward boldly.
Let none forget—
In a war of words, Ryu was a monster capable of standing toe-to-toe with the Empress herself.
At last, they arrived at the Princess’s chamber.
“Imperial Ambassador. You have traveled far. We welcome you.”