Al, have you been cooped up in the warmth of the house lately?

That's the kind of mother Erna is in the kotatsu quite often, isn't it?

　Mother Erna is right in front of me, having said those words to me.

　It was a firm indication that Mother Erna was also in the kotatsu.

'Don't change the subject. We're talking about Al now.

'No, but I don't find it convincing when people point out that people are in the cottage all the time.

It's safe to say that I'm not as piggybacked on the kotatsu as Al is.

　I don't want to sound like I'm addicted to gambling.

　I mean, I had no idea by what standards it was safe or out.

　More importantly, the kotatsu is warm again today. The magic tool inside the kotatsu seemed to be doing its job well today.

'Alfried-sama, I have a letter from Triera-san.

　As I was having such a trivial conversation with Mother Erna, like a play on words, Sarla brought a letter to me.

'Oh, you must be Tory,'

Wait a minute. It's got the royal crest on it.　Open it carefully.

　As I tried to open it carelessly by hand, Mother Erna waited.

　Checking the back, I saw that there was an exaggerated coat of arms on it, which seemed to be a royal coat of arms.

''Don't you have to be so concerned about your letter envelope?

You wouldn't want him to change the letter if something happened to it. It would be considered impolite if the royal coat of arms were torn off at that time.

　Oh, my God. This world's royalty is really scary.

　Saara brings me a paper knife and I carefully open the seal.

　The crest is in a position where there's no way to hurt it, but my hands shake a little as Mother Erna explains the horror to me.

'Mother Erna will read it?'

'It's addressed to the Toy King, you know. I can't be the first to read it.

Hey, yeah.

　Inside the seal were a letter from Tory and a letter that appeared to be from the king.

　He carefully unfolded them and looked through the letters.

'What are the contents of the letters?'

'Tory has given me permission to make a battle pencil for you, and the king has thanked you for your help.

　Tory's side of the letter stated that he had received permission from the king to make a battle pencil in a hurry, and the letter from the king was written in a rather ostentatious way, thanking him for his help.

''Let me see some of it.''

　Even though I summarized the contents of the letter for her, Erna told her to give it to me.

　I guess she wasn't reassured by my words alone.

　Then you could have read it to me first.

　She took the time to read it over and then gently handed me the letter.

'It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with you.'

You said so.

　For God's sake, does Mother Erna think I can't read?

　It's not Sister Elinora, and I don't misinterpret the meaning of ostentatious words.

''Well you did read the letter, right?''

　As I gingerly lingered on the kotatsu, feeling uncomfortable, Mother Erna said the obvious.

'Yeah, I read it, though?'

I'm offering the King a toy, so get on with it.

'Well, I don't feel like it right now, so I'll start on it tomorrow. They don't know the date and time of the letter's arrival anyway, and it's a day's error--

Al?

Okay. I'll get right on it.

　I've been a son for many years, as expected. I could tell that Mother Erna was going to be really angry.

　Under the pressure of Erna's beautiful smile, I decided to honestly get out of the kotatsu and get to work.



　◆ ◆ ◆



　After being kicked out of the kotatsu by Erna's mother, I decided to get to work on the battle pencils.

　I ordered the wooden sticks in advance, so they're already finished and on hand.

　I'm ready to start work on it right away.

　This time, I'm going to make a battle pencil with a king motif.

　But I've never seen the king before.

　I don't have a portrait of the king in my house, and I don't have a book with his face on it either.

　This meant that I couldn't make a battle pencil with him as a motif.

　I was astonished that I had realized such a fact after all this time.

''No, but wait. Didn't I see those people the last time I looked into the royal castle from the sky above the royal capital?

　When I think back to that scene, I think there was an old man with a pompous chest and an uncle with a crown on his head who moved to sneak away.

　I think the one wearing the crown is the king, but would a king sneak around like that?

　I can't judge, and it happened more than half a year ago already, so his face is vague.

''Let's.......go to King's Landing?''

　Let's take another peek at the misphilitic white from above. If I can see it again from there, and if I can't see it, I can look for the portrait at random.

　Having decided to do so, I went out for the reason that I was going to Hermann's workshop and activated the transfer at a suitable location.

　My entire body was wrapped in magic and my vision twisted languidly, and in an instant I was on the roof of a building in the royal capital.

　It was the building that Eric and I had landed in from above before.

　The event was so thick that the image was naturally burned into my mind.

　This is probably the safest place to be when coming to the King's Capital as a transfer because it is less popular and has a better view.

　The area is quiet because it's a residential area, but you can hear the faintest hustle and bustle coming from the shopping streets and boulevards.

　Having recently spent time in the long and quiet village of Koliat, the slight bustle and dense buildings were refreshing.

　After making sure there was no one around, he let the shield appear like a staircase and climbed up.

　Upward and upward to avoid being seen from the ground at first.

　Once you're up in altitude, even if you're visible from the ground, you'll only be seen as a dot. First of all, they won't be found or bothered.

　As I did so, I moved my shield to a foothold and moved higher, I could see the towering Misfirito Castle clearly.

　Strengthening my eyesight with magic, I could see the incoming and outgoing vendors delivering food in the courtyard, as well as the female knights and maids checking it out.

　As I shifted my gaze to check on the uneventful daily life of the castle, I saw the back of my uncle's head slumped in the hallway.

　If that was all it was, I would just dismiss it as my uncle being riddled with work, but there was a crown on his head.

　Perhaps it was the uncle who had been sneaking around before. I can only see the back of his head, so I can't say for sure, but I have a feeling that is the case.

　The uncle seemed to be looking up at the ceiling with his back to the window frame, as if he were in some kind of trouble.

　Is it okay to be riddled with such high places? I mean, I'm in a very warped position, but won't the crown fall off?

　Just as I was worried about this, the crown on my uncle's head fell out of the window with a polish.

　Perhaps realizing that the object on top of his head had fallen, the uncle hurriedly reached out for it, but it was too late.

　Uncle's crown falls unceremoniously into the courtyard.

　Beyond that, there is a female knight checking the food, and I thought it was going to fall beside her - the female knight struck it off with an unseen sword flash.

　The female knight put her sword back into its sheath with a satisfied look, looked at the thing she had smashed off and peeled her eyes away.

　It's an accident that makes even me, who has nothing to do with it at all, want to cover my eyes.

　Even though it's an unavoidable situation, knocking off the crown or something like that would definitely be a bad idea.

　In the blink of an eye, the courtyard is filled with people as the female knights and maids are making noise.

　The indirect cause, the uncle, looked down at it with a blue face and quietly left the place.

　Sober and disgusting.

　The female knights understand that the crown has fallen from above, so they look up hard.

　The eyes of the knights looking upward all at once to find something became frightening, and I decided to stop observing and descend from above.