Chapter 1 - II -
For someone like the Marquise of Monfort, I couldn’t believe that a person like her could be entrusted with this kind of work. I mean, ever since I came here, the only impression I had with her was that she’s an idiot.
Or you just can’t take her seriously, something along those lines.
“…”
However, watching how she did things put my views in the wrong perspective. The way she handled her soldiers, and how they respected her, already told a lot. But witnessing how she resolved some fights breaking out, with relative ease, proved to me that the Marquise was a person fit for her job. My respect for her just went up a notch.
We went around inspecting the entire eastern section of the ramparts, the walls facing the direction of the town of Arles. From what I saw, I think the ladies of the Paladin Corps were assigned on the perimeter surrounding the Saint’s Chambers and the Library, which was near the spot we checked. She made sure that her soldiers stood on-guard in their proper places, to prevent trespassers from coming into the ‘off-limits’ areas of the palatial gardens.
I remembered the Marquise of Monfort also asked the Arles militia for help, so I inquired about their whereabouts. She told me she assigned them at the grounds where the dignitaries and visitors were coming in, working together with some other royal guard corps from the nearby human kingdoms in keeping the order, as well as beefing up the security. It’s one pretty tiring work, seriously.
Anyway, after confirming that every gear’s in proper working condition, the Marquise then turned to me, “So, ready to attend your first seasonal mass, Mister Kuro?”
Honestly, I’m halfway spent; but I guess I couldn’t turn her down, since the Marquise seemed excited to have me come along. So, not wishing to disappoint her, I nodded, “Yeah, sure, just take me with you there!”
“Nice! Then let’s go on with it!” she pulled me like a child as we dove into the sea of humans.
Even though she’s the captain of the Saint’s Paladin Corps, the Marquise of Monfort and I weren’t spared from the pushing and shoving of the people who came to see and be blessed by Her Holiness. The lines were getting messed up the nearer we get to the colossal Saint’s Cathedral.
“Hey! Watch it!”
“Oof, don’t you have a pair of eyes, you dolt!?”
“Make way, you damned bastards!”
“My apologies, good sirs!” the Marquise would say that line from time to time, especially if she hit someone with her cumbersome armor.
Well, for these people who were here for holy service, those words were surely ironic. Not that they could help it, but maybe they should tone down their words since this was supposedly a holy place.
Chersea and Earth have a lot of things in common, I guess…even in hypocrites.
“Man, I didn’t expect that going to the mass would be this difficult!” I remarked; ostensibly to lighten the mood.
“Haha! Do you also have things like this in your land, Mister Kuro?”
“Yep, but not this chaotic. There are days where the church-goers’ attendance is low, you know.” I answered, half-shouting. The noise of the crowd was drowning our voices, so I had to keep up.
“Hah! Now that’s what I’d like to see!” she cheerfully replied, “Your place must have a lot of bad people, huh?”
I sure heard that, but I just kept my silence. I wanted to explain to her about the existence of ‘atheists’, and the ‘not-so-religious folks’ back on Earth, but I guess it would take a long time before she’s able to make sense out of it. This world hadn’t got out from the connotation of ‘irreligious people = bad people’ just yet.
Seeing events like this is proof of the strong faith of the people of this land for their god.
Anyway, we continued pushing forward. The Marquise was leading in front of me, so I couldn’t fully see the people ahead. The forest of bodies and hands kept on hitting us, but we carried on. I forced my way every time I felt that the armor of my paladin escort was getting too far from me; I dreaded I would get lost the moment we separated.
“Oof!”
“Sorry!”
“Hey!”
“!!!”
I stopped the moment I hit the armor of the Marquise; apparently, she also stopped walking.
“What happened, Lady Monfort? Why did we stop?” I asked, but she didn’t answer. Instead, the paladin was focused on the person in front of her, a middle-aged, balding man wearing a nice, dignified-looking dress. He had a stern look on his face, and his expression was rather scary.
Anyone can tell that he’s angry.
“What are you doing, lady? You’ve been pushing and shoving me!”
“My apologies, Your Excellency!” the Marquise bowed, “It wasn’t on purpose, I assure you!”
“Hmph!” the man glared at us, “Every change of season is getting worse than the previous one! Is this how the Paladin Corps conducts itself now? You are pathetic as a leader, Lady Monfort!”
“!!!”
My fists tightened; I could not hold my mouth any further, “Hey, look here, you—” but the Marquise of Monfort quickly stopped me from lashing out by pulling me aside. Well, you know I’m not quick to fights. But I’m tired and stressed out by this mob, so my guard was down. And when you hear someone talked down to your friend like that, especially when you just saw her efforts a few moments ago, I guess anyone would get pissed.
“And who’s this insolent young man?” the man turned to me with curious eyes, “Is he a commoner? This is the first time I met a commoner who doesn’t know of his proper place! Why did you bring someone like him here?”
“What, you got a problem with me, old guy?” I snapped back; I’m utterly pissed-off right now. The Marquise was trying to push me back, away from him. However, I persisted, “Can’t you see everyone’s pushing and shoving around? The Paladin Corps are exerting their very best to keep the situation under control, and here you are expecting preferential treatment! Are you some kind of entitled yet senile senior citizen?”
“Wha—” his mouth was wide open the moment he heard that. The old man was silent at first, but then he ultimately got mad, thrashing wildly. Honestly, he looked like he’s over-reacting to me, “Why, this is preposterous! I’ve never seen such a display of utterly rude behavior!”
“Ah! Please forgive us, Your Excellency!” the Marquise said, panicking. She kept on bowing to appease the old guy.
“Lady Monfort, pray that you tell me who is this rude fellow.” the man insisted; his face was red, and his hands were shaking.
Rude? As if bad-mouthing the hard work of the Paladin Corps isn’t rud—
“Ah, he’s a good friend to Her Holiness, Your Excellency, and an ambassador from another place. That explains his simple clothes, for it is their custom there!” the Marquise of Monfort answered for me, covering my mouth for a while, “This is also his first time attending a seasonal mass, so I’m showing him around.”
“And where is such a place?”
“S-Somewhere in the land of the elves, Your Grace.”
“Hmph!” the man stared at me for a few moments, that it became awkward. I thought he’d get even angrier. But in the end, he only dismissively waved his hand to shoo us away, saying, “For someone who’s a diplomat from the land of the elvish barbarians, your uncivilized friend there doesn’t know to keep his tongue in check. Anyway, be thankful that we’re in no condition to make war. Take him away from me, lest I got infected with such barbarity.”
This guy is getting on my nerves…
“Thank you, Your Excellency.” Marquise bowed once more and forced me to bow along as well, much to my surprise. I never enjoyed bowing my head to an arrogant person, such as this guy; but well, I guess she didn’t want trouble while a holy service was going on…
“Hahaha!” the Marquise laughed and sighed with relief the moment we reached a wide place to relax, just inside the cathedral. She used her connections with the nuns-templar inside, so we could get the best place. This spot was so good that a nun-templar was also serving us tea and snacks.
“That’s a close one, don’t you think, Mister Kuro?”
“What did just happen?” I’m quite confused by what she said.
“Look here, you almost got your head lopped off, you know?” the Marquise of Monfort was serious as she explained, “If that person learns that you’re a foul-mouthed commoner mingling with the nobility, then you’re dead.”
“Huh? Mingling with the nobility? Aren’t those people around him commoners too? I mean, all those pushing and shoving couldn’t be the work of a dignified aristocrat.”
The Marquise stared at me like I’m some weird being, “What are you saying? Those are all nobles!”
“Ha? That crowd back there?”
The Marquise nodded, “And that guy we just met is one of the bigshots in all Chersea, you know? That’s the Duke of Rubinforth, the chief counselor of the king of Nerfes.”
“Oh?” I replied with disinterest.
“He’s a person who doesn’t like the idea of aristocrats being treated as equals of the commoners; he’s taken steps to make sure that the common folk would fear and respect him.”
I fell silent when I heard those words. Yep, that sounds like an arrogant bigshot right over there. To think that I almost crossed fists with him…
“And also, he’s the father of Her Holiness.”
I choked on the tea I was drinking. What the fuck—
“Ah anyway, Mister Kuro, though you’re quite an asshole back there, I’d like to thank you for standing up for me and my girls.” the Marquise suddenly had a change of tone.
Honestly, that put a bit of a surprise on me.
“Heh, looks like I wasn’t wrong about my observations of you.” the paladin commented as she patted my back, “I’ll know that Eris will be in excellent hands if she married a man like you.”
I spat another round of tea I was sipping, “No one’s talking about marriage here, milady.”
“Don’t mind my ramblings.” she smiled mischievously, “You may take me as your wife if it pleases you. I can lop heads off cleanly with my sword, so your security is assured with me around.”
The fuck is this paladin is saying? Well, her random statements aside, I always get annoyed when someone insults the work of others. They underestimate the result even though that person did their best to produce outstanding work. Ugh, even back in my workplace, it’s virtually the same! You’d even answer office memos on some obscure or fake issues being thrown at you.
If only I have the power of the gods, I’ll obliterate such people. They’re pissing me off.
“…”
Hey, it’s not like I can help it. It also happened to me.
“Uhh, Mister Kuro?”
“Hm?”
“For a moment, I thought you look terrible.”
“It’s my face, deal with it.”
“No, I mean, just now you had a scary expression on your face.”
Maybe my irritation leaked out unintentionally, and the Marquise saw it. Ah, anyway…I’ll just hope I don’t meet that old geezer again.
“Come on, since you are an ‘ambassador’ for now, I guess you should sit back, relax and enjoy the church service for a while.” the Marquise then brought a bedsheet and a blanket out of nowhere.
“Hey, you’re the one who made me an ‘ambassador’.” I countered, “And uh, aren’t you enjoying this privilege too much? Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep in the entire service?”
“Oh, you’re right!” she laid down the bedsheets on the floor, “Well, this is the Dignitaries’ Box—meant for Chersea’s famous people, so it’s quite spacious for this. Who wants to listen to sermons and watch rituals, anyway? They’re boring.”
If I remembered earlier, she just asked me if there were a lot of bad people in my world because they didn’t regularly attend church services. And now this stupid paladin will sleep in the middle of a mass? Aren’t you the same, Lady Monfort?
“This, and that is different.” the Marquise defended her actions, “Technically, I’m still attending the church, though my mind is off to somewhere.”
What’s the difference?
“Don’t ask too much, alright? Just wake me up when the mass ends; let’s grab a snack after this.” the Marquise closed her eyes and dozed off to dreamland.
This is just unbelievable.
