Eastend—New City Ket Gwy
At present, we had returned to Ket Gwy from the Neutral Academic City Babel.
Originally, a joint entrance ceremony was supposed to be held one month after the exam, marking the glorious start of our academy life. However, in the aftermath of the vice headmaster faction and Gilbert's misconduct, combined with the fallout of Inea's sudden retirement, the whole of Babel had temporarily ground to a halt. As a result, the city had no room to host an entrance ceremony, and an order was handed down suspending all academies within Babel for half a year.
With nothing left to do, we temporarily returned to Ket Gwy.
We had intended to return by ourselves, but Somni and Tetor insisted on starting their training immediately, having already severed ties with their pasts. Zack, clearly thrilled to have two junior disciples, enthusiastically backed their request.
Since I had no particular reason to refuse, I brought the two of them along to Ket Gwy.
By the way, it seemed Laila and Lumine would not be returning to their hometown in the Fortress City of Lamoor, choosing instead to remain in Babel. Laila had insisted quite forcefully that I come visit her, so I will likely have to show my face every now and then.
It is rare for Laila to press her demands with such a beaming smile. Well, with Asta's spatial teleportation, traveling between Babel and Ket Gwy takes merely an instant, so it hardly matters to me.
For a moment, the two boys stared blankly at the city, which Alice and the Lost Forest had magically transformed, before wide-eyed curiosity took over and they began examining every corner of their surroundings.
Indeed, looking at it again, the scenery is quite striking.
Orderly paved stone tiles, buildings of varied design, a park with a fountain, and even something resembling a public bathhouse. In this quarter alone, the city pales in no way compared to Babel.
Of course, since the population remains overwhelmingly small, its current scale is fairly modest.
"So this is the city governed by Master!"
Somni shouted with wide-eyed excitement, completely missing the mark.
Because Zack had put on airs as their senior and fed Somni and Tetor all sorts of wild embellishments, both of them had taken to calling me Master. Even when I told them to drop the title, they showed no intention of listening, so I had no choice but to strictly order them to call me Kai in public and leave it at that. To me, titles are a trivial matter. As long as I am kept out of trouble, the rest hardly concerns me.
"No, no, what are you misunderstanding? Rose is the ruler here, not me."
Give me a break. How could anyone interpret my explanation to conclude that I rule this city? Zack is the root of all evil here. When I shot a reproachful glare his way,
"I just told them what Master did without twisting the truth, you know?"
Zack replied casually, gulping down fruit wine from a special ceramic bottle provided by Nemea. That brew had apparently been infused with enhancers developed by Nemea and Shuten. To be honest, those two can be strangely obsessive, so it must possess rather extraordinary properties. Still, as long as they recognize Zack as my disciple, there shouldn't be any safety concerns. Zack himself seems pleased with it, so I will let him do as he pleases.
"If thou didst convey it without distortion, I suppose it was bound to end up like this..."
Asta muttered in weary agreement, regarding Somni and Tetor with half-lidded eyes.
"That is truly so."
Rose also shrugged and nodded.
"At any rate, the master of this city is not me, but that pint-sized princess over there."
"And just what do you mean by 'pint-sized princess'?"
Maintaining her smile even as a vein popped on her forehead, Rose let out a menacing, low voice unbecoming of royalty, which I naturally chose to ignore completely.
"The ruler of Eastend is Rose. Not me."
"But a moment ago, there was a stone statue of Master standing in front of a church-like place."
"What did you say?!"
Hearing those ominous words slip from Tetor's mouth, I instinctively looked over toward the city's only church and choked on my breath.
"Wh-What is that?"
Led by Girimehkala, several residents were devoutly offering prayers toward a stone statue of me.
"It is just as the Great One says! The one governing this place is strictly Lady Rose! The Great One is no such mundane thing as a king! He is a god whom we must revere! Yes! Truly the inviolable Great One!"
Listening from the side, Lucas began spouting his passionate lecture with bloodshot eyes.
"Cut the crap, Lucas, you idiot! The boss is our supreme king!"
Suddenly, a group clad in loose crimson robes with sun and crow tattoos etched on their right cheeks appeared. From their midst, a blond, gentle-looking man wearing round glasses—Oboro—shouted out.
"Take that back. That is disrespectful, Oboro."
With a dangerous smile and a threatening crack of his knuckles, Lucas urged him to reconsider.
"Like hell I'll take it back! No matter what anyone says, the boss is our king! I won't accept anything else, and I won't back down!"
Oboro glared back, veins bulging on his forehead.
The other members did not even bother reacting to the two glaring at each other anymore. Anna was holding Faf and Mew by the hand while humming a tune, and Zack let out a long, sleepy yawn.
"Or so they say, you know?"
Rose shrugged, flashing a mischievous, knowing smirk.
"Why, you..."
She was likely trying to get back at me for calling her a pint-sized princess earlier. Petty as always!
Regardless, that stone statue is bound to cause misunderstandings. I will have it removed later.
"In any case, I am merely Rose's Royal Guard. An advisor of sorts, you could say."
I have no idea if this will convince them, but explaining any further will only dig me into a deeper hole, so it is best to drop the matter. Time to steer the conversation toward something less inconvenient.
"So? What is Felice doing right now?"
"The princess must eventually govern this expanding city as well. Therefore, she is currently in the middle of learning various administrative duties."
Judging by the buoyant lilt in Lucas's voice, it is probably nothing decent. Well, the compendium monsters I tasked with educating Felice were full of enthusiasm, and Lucas dotes on Felice as though she were his own daughter. I have no concerns on that front.
"I want to discuss our directives for the coming half year. Gather Felice and the representatives of each department in the lord's manor."
Because of the entrance exam at Babel, our previous assembly had been cut short. We need to establish a clear course of action.
"Understood!"
Bowing respectfully, Lucas vanished from sight.
"Let us get going as well."
Taking Somni and Tetor along, who had been watching the scene unfold in silence, we set off toward the lord's manor.