Chapter 9 – Ririi reaches the capital

It’s been a few days since we left Zenith.

We traveled by wagons and magic vehicles, and we’re very close to the capital. Once we go over this hill, we’ll probably be able to see it.

Ririi is in front of me, skipping as she walks. She’s full of energy because we haven’t moved a lot today.

“…”

I didn’t tell her we were moving until the last moment, so I thought for sure she’d grumble and resist the idea, but she actually took it pretty well. All she really did when it was time to leave was say she wanted to say goodbye to Horo.

Being a former slave probably plays a part in how unconcerned she is about that sort of thing. It looked like she liked some other people too, like Loretto, but she’s completely focused on her new life in the capital.

“Ririi, can you do as I said?”

“Y-yes. Ririh’s gonna try hard.”

She says while clenching her fists, with a nervous expression.

Ririi’s probably been a slave in Zenith since birth, so I doubt she’s ever seen a large city. She could very well start saying weird things once she’s faced with the intensity of the streets of the capital.

And so, I told her to say she’s an orphan. It goes without saying that buying a slave is punishable by death in the capital.

“All right, let’s keep going.”

I put a hat with a wide brim on Ririi’s head, and after checking to see if it covers her beautiful pale blue hair to a certain extent, we go over the hill and into the main street heading to the capital. I put her long hair in buns, so the hat makes it so it isn’t immediately obvious that she’s a blue-haired elf.

Unlike Zenith, a handful of people here know the characteristics of high elves. I doubt many among them would make the connection, but it’s still important to be prepared.

“O-ou…!”

Ririi is overwhelmed by the big walls surrounding the capital. She stops and opens her mouth wide, looking up at the tall, pure white walls.

“Are you surprised?”

“The walls are so big…”

Ririi is taken aback by the walls for a moment, but she soon has her fill, so she looks away and grabs my thumb.

“Do you want me to carry you?”

“No. Ririh will walk by herself!”

“Understood.”

…Ririi is usually eager to be held like that, but apparently she’s just too excited. I guess she’s in too much of a good mood not to walk.

We walk towards the walls together, and the impact of their presence grows with every step.

Eventually, the soldiers guarding the gate turn their attention to us.

The capital has gates to the east, west, north, and south, and those are supposed to be its only entrances. The sky above the city looks empty at a first glance, but there’s actually defensive magic in place, and it’s more than capable of shooting down an average sorcerer.

I’m experienced enough to say that no sorcerer below A rank is getting through that.

“We’d like to go in.”

I say to the gatekeeper, who looks at us with a suspicious look on his face.

It makes sense. The pairing of an adult human and a little elf girl does look suspicious.

“Your names?”

“Weiss Frenberg. And this is my daughter…”

“Ririh!”

“…Ririi Frenberg.”

It’s Ririi’s first time seeing a ‘real soldier’, so she’s going around him looking at him with a fascinated look on her face.

I have to rush in and pull her back. Please just stay still.

“Weiss Frenberg…? Where have I heard that…”

Says the soldier with his hand on his chin. I guess he’s heard of me.

I mentally prepare myself to get through the first barrier.

The inspection to enter the capital is said to be the toughest in the world.

I was born here, so if it was just me, I’d just have to show identification. But it’s a different story with Ririi.

No one’s going to believe that a pure elf is my real daughter, so it’s only natural for them to ask to see her identification.

But if that happens, it’s over. I can’t say I bought a slave, no matter what. I’d have to insist she’s an orphan, but I’d need documents issued by an orphanage. And of course, I don’t have any of that.

Someone like Ririi who has no identification can’t enter the capital. That’s how strict their screening is.

There are people in Zenith that make a living falsifying documents, but if they were discovered to be fake, that would affect my parents’ standing here in the capital too. I don’t want to drag them into my problems, so I need to get Ririi through the gate in a legal way.

It might look like I’m stumped, but I actually have a chance.

“Isn’t there a notice from the ministry of magic? They’re looking for me.”

I’ve heard rumors that the ministry of magic is still searching for me.

If this unprecedented prodigy they’ve been desperately looking for returns after ten years, I doubt they’ll care if he has someone with him. That’s my idea. And if it reaches the ears of a certain someone that I heard is now the assistant of the chief of the ministry of magic, that will be perfect.

“Contact Sigelinde, the assistant of the chief of the ministry of magic for me. Just say Weiss is back.”

“Miss Sigelinde!? Y-yes, let me check. Just wait here!”

I press the young looking soldier with a brazen attitude, and he runs back to the other soldiers guarding the gate.

…I’m sure such a brazen attitude from someone that looks suspicious is throwing them for a loop. They’re probably wondering if they should detain this person that suddenly showed up and told them to let him talk to a government official, or if they should check with their higher-ups just in case.

Normally, they’d just ask someone like me to leave, but what if they end up being held responsible for something? The fact that this inexperienced soldier recognized the name I gave him from somewhere is no doubt adding to his confusion.

“Sigelinde?”

Asks a bored Ririi.

“She’s a friend of mine, and a very nice lady that will get us through the gate.

“Like Miss Horo?”

“Yes, I guess.”

That’s what I tell Ririi, but it’s probably the opposite. Unlike Horo, who thinks Ririi is adorable, Sigelinde only cares about her studies, and will probably see Ririi as just an important thing to be studied. But that characteristic of hers will be useful this time.

After waiting for a bit, the soldier from earlier returns. I guess they’ve made their decision.

I wait for him to say what he has to say, while being careful not to let him see that I’m nervous.

“Miss Sigelinde is on her way here.”

“I see. Thank you.”

I say to the bewildered looking soldier. I’m sure the young guy in front of me doesn’t think I look like the kind of guy Sigelinde would come to see directly. That said, the way he’s talking about ‘Miss’ Sigelinde with reverence feels really off to me.

But in any case, it looks like we’re going to be able to enter the capital. I try not to let them see the tension leaving my shoulders, and hold Ririi as she rubs her sleepy looking eyes.

“We’re almost there.”

“Daddy, Ririh’s sleepy.”

“You can take a nap. Sweet dreams.”

I guess Ririi was at her limit, because she immediately falls asleep in my arms.

I look up and see the soldier that was talking to me has returned to his position by the gate. Maybe he doesn’t want to risk provoking me because I know Sigelinde.

“…Squishy cheeks…”

“Munyu munyu…”

As I poke Ririi’s adorable sleeping face, I feel a familiar magic energy approaching. It’s that magic energy that competed against me when I was in school.

A woman wearing a dark green coat that’s symbolic of an official of the ministry of magic comes out from the other side of the gate.

The soldiers all hurry to straighten their backs, and salute.

The woman that feels to me just like she did when we were in school pays no attention to the soldiers saluting, and walks in front of me while her evenly cut red hair sways back and forth.

That hairstyle reeks of hick, but behind the glasses on her pretty nice face, are very sharp eyes looking directly at me.

“…Weiss. After all this time, you come back holding a child. Are you showing off to me?”

“…You’re still the same boorish person you were before… How many times did I tell you to stop wearing those huge, drab glasses?”

She used to be in the same year as me in school, and now she’s the assistant of the chief of the ministry of magic.

And thus, I meet Sigelinde Floyd again for the first time in ten years. The same Sigelinde who was a perennial number two in school grades.