"Heh... so Lady Elena was quite active in Gilm, then."
"Yes. With Gilm undergoing its Expansion Construction, there were various troublesome incidents, but there were also many cases that were resolved thanks to Elena being there."
At Rei's words, Teles nodded as if impressed.
For Teles, the fact that Elena had been active wasn't particularly unusual.
After all, it was precisely because she had achieved great accomplishments on the battlefield countless times that she had come to be known by the alias Princess General.
Even so, the fact that she was showing an impressed demeanor at Rei's words here could partly be flattery toward Rei... but beyond that, she was also largely surprised that Elena was active in a place outside the Noble's Faction.
For Teles... no, for the other Noble Faction Nobles as well, when it came to Elena, they still thought of her in the position of the Princess General, the symbol of the Noble's Faction.
Given that, her accomplishments being unusual was also part of it.
...Of course, the person herself who was being made into a topic of conversation looked slightly bashful.
Elena knew that she was being talked about in various ways, and it wasn't uncommon for such talk to happen right in front of her.
But when it was done in front of Rei, it came with a considerable amount of embarrassment.
And then, just as Elena was about to say something, a knock at the door interrupted her.
When Elena gave permission and the door opened, a Maid was standing there.
"Excuse me. My lady, Lord Ranigus Myuzei and Lord Gaiska Seisole have arrived. What shall we do?"
"Oh, Ranigus and Gaiska together? That's quite an odd pairing."
The one who showed a hint of surprise at the Maid's words was Teles.
For Teles, who lived in Anesis, Ranigus and Gaiska were familiar faces.
Of course, normally it would be expected for Gaiska's name, being from the same Noble's Faction, to come first, but the fact that Ranigus came first was likely a sign of which one Elena favored.
Indeed, since the Maid had spoken the names in that order, it showed how Gaiska was regarded.
"Hmm... let me see. What should we do?"
Elena showed a moment of hesitation.
If it had been Ranigus alone, Elena would have let him into the room without any particular concern.
This was because she knew that Ranigus, while a noble of the King's Faction, was a person who possessed common sense—not the common sense of a noble, but the common sense for interacting with people normally.
However, Gaiska, who had come together with Ranigus, was proud, befitting his origins from a high-ranking marquis household.
And it was not pride based on his own ability, but the kind of pride that made him believe it was only natural for him to be given priority unconditionally.
What would happen if such a person encountered Rei?
That was something Elena, knowing Rei's personality, could naturally understand.
Gaiska was also a member of Marquis Seisole's House, which held considerable influence even among the Noble Faction Nobles, and Elena, given her position, did not want to see such a person clash with Rei.
"Um... they said they would like to greet Lord Rei, and asked that they be shown in."
"...What? Who said that?"
"Lord Ranigus."
At the Maid's words, Elena furrowed her brows slightly.
There were various inconsistencies, she thought. Considering that, she immediately predicted what Ranigus was thinking.
(As the King's Faction, they likely want to avoid Rei getting... no, the Neutral Faction and the Noble's Faction growing any closer. And within the Noble's Faction, there are people like Gaiska. In other words...)
He probably wanted to pit Rei and Gaiska against each other here, making Rei recognize that the Noble's Faction was not someone he'd want to get too friendly with—well, perhaps not to the point of disgust, but at least as not a party he wished to associate with closely.
Even as she predicted this, Elena thought for a few more seconds and then gave a nod.
"Understood. Then show both of them in here."
"Lady Elena!?"
Ara had also been able to understand everything that Elena had reasoned through.
That was exactly why she thought the conversation would flow toward not meeting them this time, or if they did meet, doing so again in a place where Rei was not present.
But what Elena said was to call them here.
That essentially meant that Rei and Gaiska would clearly clash here—no, that Gaiska would find fault with Rei.
Knowing that such a thing would happen, why?
Elena, who received such a look from Ara, nodded as if she understood everything.
(If I were to refuse here, Ranigus would likely try to make contact independently rather than through me. It is better to have them talk in a place where I am present than to have them make contact somewhere I do not know. And Ranigus, judging that I would think this way, came here together with Gaiska.)
In other words, by the time Ranigus and Gaiska had arrived together, the best choice for Elena was to call them here.
While understanding that she had been a step behind, Elena looked forward, at least a little, to seeing what kind of actions Ranigus would take in front of Rei.
"It is fine. Ranigus and Gaiska went out of their way to say they wanted to come here. Given that, there is certainly some reason for it. In that case, I cannot very well refuse them without any reason."
"As for a reason..."
Lord Rei is right here, isn't he?
That was what Ara wanted to say, but judging from Elena's demeanor, she determined that whatever she said here would probably be futile, and fell silent.
Teles wore an expression full of anticipation for what was about to begin, showing no sign of stopping Elena whatsoever.
"Then, may I invite Lord Ranigus and Lord Gaiska in?"
"Yes."
At Elena's words, the Maid bowed and left the room.
U-um... Ara reached out slightly toward the door the Maid had closed, as if she wanted to say something, but... in the end, those words never came out.
Instead, as if to confirm, Ara asked Elena.
"Are you sure? This will definitely become a disturbance, you know?"
Since Ara was also Elena's subordinate, she naturally knew about Ranigus and Gaiska.
That said, given Ara's position as the third daughter of Count Scarley's House, she would be treated as lower in rank than Gaiska, who was from a marquis household.
...Both a third daughter and a fourth son were highly unlikely to inherit their houses, so the difference in their positions was not as great as Gaiska believed.
No, rather, given that Ara held the position of commander of the Escort Knight Order as Elena's subordinate, more people would recognize Ara as being in the higher position outwardly.
That said, to Gaiska, the bloodline flowing through him was still what mattered most and was everything.
Because he was such a person, it could hardly be said that he was compatible with Rei.
No, it would be more accurate to call it the worst possible match.
(If it comes down to it... I'll need to stop him.)
In terms of combat ability, Ara was no match for Rei or Elena, but that was only because the comparison was unfair.
If the opponent was Gaiska, who had not trained in particular, she had enough Herculean Strength to pin him down with ease.
Not wanting blood spilled in front of Elena, Ara steeled her resolve.
...The fact that this resolve was not about preventing Gaiska from getting injured clearly showed what Ara thought of him.
"Fufu, it seems like things are about to get interesting."
Teles murmured happily, and before Ara could say anything in response, the sound of a knock echoed through the room.
Then, when Elena gave permission to enter, the door opened and the same Maid from before appeared.
The difference from before was that the Maid had guided two men.
"Hey, it's been a while, Elena. As beautiful as ever, whenever I see you."
"Ranigus is right. Elena, you are beautiful whenever one sees you. No, have you become even more beautiful in the time I haven't seen you? It seems even in a barbaric land like Gilm, your beauty has not faded."
The two were in their late teens to early twenties.
And while both had well-featured faces, compared to the man who spoke first—Ranigus—the man who spoke after—Gaiska—had a certain nastiness of character showing on his face.
It was certainly attractive enough to be called handsome, which made it all the more puzzling.
Gaiska's words in particular were enough to evoke unpleasant feelings not only for Rei, who was based in Gilm, but also for Elena and Ara, who had been living in Gilm for a while.
Whether Gaiska was doing it intentionally or if that was simply his nature.
Rei could not tell, but at the very least, it was impossible to feel any goodwill toward him.
For some reason... no, it was probably because Rei was here. As Gaiska continued to disparage Gilm with evident delight, Rei was about to say something... but someone moved before he could.
"Lord Gaiska, is your behavior not discourteous? To say such things in the presence of someone from Gilm. Besides, I was also with Lady Elena in Gilm, and it was a lively and wonderful place."
Before Rei or Elena could open their mouths, Ara had spoken up.
However, Gaiska, upon hearing Ara's words, directed a displeased glare at her, as if his behavior of gleefully disparaging Gilm had been interrupted.
"For a mere third daughter of Count Scarley's House to voice her opinion to me... I'll overlook it because we're in front of Elena, but do not get carried..."
"Calm down, Gaiska. Do you intend to cause an unnecessary scene in front of Elena? Besides, Gilm is the town where Elena was staying until just recently. If it's spoken ill of, naturally Elena wouldn't feel good about it either, would she?"
Ranigus cut off Gaiska's words mid-sentence.
Gaiska's behavior was exactly what Ranigus had expected.
...No, it would be more accurate to say it was considerably more extreme than he had anticipated.
The particular miscalculation was his tone toward Ara.
Ara was known as Elena's confidante and close friend.
Naturally, criticizing such a person would not make Elena feel anything pleasant.
Or rather, there would have been no problem if Ara were clearly in the wrong and he was criticizing her, but this time it was clearly nothing but a baseless accusation.
Looking at this situation objectively, the one who would be criticized was Gaiska.
Ranigus had come together with Gaiska like this in order to improve Rei's impression of himself... but if there was a miscalculation, it was that Ranigus had underestimated the hostility Gaiska directed toward Rei.
Since entering this room, Gaiska had directed his gaze at Elena, Ara, Teles, and the others, but he had not directed a single glance at Rei.
It was an attitude as if he wanted to say he didn't even acknowledge Rei's existence there.
Of course, he didn't truly fail to recognize Rei's existence; it was behavior born from the belief that Rei was not someone worth conversing with.
Normally, Rei would not have found such treatment amusing either... but since Gaiska was exactly the kind of noble that Rei associated with the word in the worst sense, Rei had been ignoring him because he thought that if he said something here, it might cause trouble for Elena...
"Gaiska, may I take that as an insult toward Ara?"
To Elena, Ara was a childhood friend.
And at the same time, her most trusted subordinate.
There was no way Elena could stay silent after Ara had been belittled.
Gaiska, subjected to a gaze filled with anger, hastily shook his head.
"No, no, not at all. I was merely minding my station..."
The fact that his first-person pronoun had changed from "ore" to "watashi" was likely due to the difference in standing between himself and Elena.
"In that case, what about a mere fourth son of a marquis household making the eldest daughter of a ducal house feel unpleasant?"
At those words that suddenly flew in, Gaiska's movements stopped completely.
That was because what Gaiska had been saying had been turned right back on him.
Gaiska had tried to silence his opponent with the height of his title, but in terms of standing, Elena was actually overwhelmingly above him.
What exactly are you, spewing remarks that displease that very Elena?
The one who had effortlessly dealt a fatal blow to Gaiska with a single thrust was Teles.
Gaiska was about to shout at such a Teles to shut up, she was just a count's daughter... but before that, someone else opened his mouth.
"Now then, is this pitiful farce over for the one who has nothing to boast of but something as meaningless as bloodline rather than his own ability?"
Rei, who had been ignoring Gaiska until now, muttered those words.