Chapter Four: The King’s Evening Party
Have you ever been to a high-end fashion brand boutique? I have. Through connections with a drinking circle that called itself a “young executives’ association.”
Those kinds of shops have the image of having nothing but extremely pointed designs aimed at fashion-obsessed people, but surprisingly, they also have modest pieces you can wear as everyday clothes. But you can’t let your guard down. You think, “Oh, they have normal shirts too,” and pick one up, only to find the fabric’s stripes are all made up of microscopic brand logos.
For men’s, they do have suits and coats available. I guess there are people who want to dress their entire body in a specific high brand. Even at work. So, being a working adult, I had them show me suits.
No good!
You know that folded-back part of the jacket collar? It’s called a “lapel,” and the width was, well, either extremely thin or extremely thick—totally freestyle. The shape is certainly a suit, but it’s a suit and yet not a suit. By the way, they casually cost like 800,000 yen. With 800,000 yen, you could get a full custom-made suit with luxury fabric!
Anyway, those kinds of things are lined up. The purpose is a mystery.
I honestly asked the shop clerk.
“These suits (or suit-like somethings)—what kind of occasions are they meant for?”
The intensely slim-styled clerk—not in a host club way but more like an overseas idol you’d find in Omotesando—answered me.
“Let’s see. Something like casual parties, I suppose.”
Casual parties.
Where are those held?
Ah, after inheriting the family business, I did attend politicians’ parties due to my position. But those weren’t “casual” parties. They were the epitome of old-style. Industry networking events? The landscaping business is basically construction. The epitome of old-style. What about before I inherited? I didn’t have time to go to parties. Every day was spent chasing quotas, doing telemarketing.
Despite having no experience with such things, I’m happily attending one of those casual parties today.
The capital of this country is called Shtrois, and it’s largely divided into the Old Town and New Town, separated by the Rois River. At the center of the Old Town stands a stone building like an impregnable fortress—the main castle of our Lerois family, ‘Shturl-en-Lerois.’ In other words, Shtrois is a contracted form of this castle’s name. Shturl translates to ‘castle’ in Japanese. In other words, Lerois Castle. It’s literally just that.
As time went on, this Shturl Castle became cramped, and the king at the time built a new palace in the new town, which happened to be developing.
“Palais-Lumière.” This means Palace of Light. Palais is palace and Lumière is light. It’s my current residence. You’ll understand why the king who built this named it that way once you actually go to Lerois Castle. After all, it’s been around for over a thousand years. Just stones piled up roughly. Windows? They have them. Like slits used by guards in solitary confinement cells to check on prisoners. In other words, it’s basically a cave. Even if monsters spawned, there’d be no sense of incongruity.
So the resident king of the time must have desperately wanted light in his new residence. Since glass manufacturing technology had just started developing during construction, they used it everywhere liberally. The interior also has tons of light sources like chandeliers and candelabras crammed in, so it’s surprisingly bright even at night.
If the story ended there, it would be simple, but actually there are several other palaces. The palaces aren’t “castles” like in the old days, just large mansions. Basically, villas. Santeneri has been one of the continent’s great powers since ancient times, so building one or two palaces is no big deal. Oh, we can’t do that now though. We don’t have the money.
One of them was given as part of a dowry about a hundred years ago when a princess from Lerois married into the Gaillou ducal family, and since then it’s become where the Grand Duke Gaillou stays when visiting Shtrois. The size is… how should I describe it? About the size of a medium-sized shopping mall, I guess.
So tonight, there’s a little party being hosted by the Gaillou family there.
There are about five hundred participants, but it’s still a “little party.” This isn’t a joke. If it were a full-scale evening ball, I’m the king so I’d have to be all proper. I’d wear my crown and become a fixture on the throne. Standing around making small talk would be impossible. The line of people coming to greet me would continue endlessly. Honestly, it’s torture.
So just being able to wander freely around the venue like today makes this completely a “little party.” Even though there’s a live orchestra performance and the ladies are all dressed up in incredibly gorgeous dresses, it’s still “little.”
Young people relatively close to my age gather around me. But well, we generally don’t click. That makes sense—they’re friends of the sharp-edged Grois-kun from two months ago, so they’re all energetic and highly motivated. Their voices are loud too. That’s why I was thinking I’d like to be alone for a bit, when along comes a nice middle-aged gentleman.
“Your Majesty, I am truly honored that you have graced our humble banquet with your presence this evening.”
“Ah, Gaillou-dono. Thank you for the invitation. It’s a wonderful gathering. Everyone is enjoying themselves.”
On the surface, anyway.
“I am honored. By the way, Your Majesty, have you spoken with those ladies over there?”
“No, unfortunately. As you can see, I’m stuck with all men.”
“What a waste. To gather only with men in a field where Santeneri’s noblest flowers bloom in profusion—”
Oh Gaillou-san, you use expressions like that too, huh.
“Indeed. I’ve grown a bit tired of male company. I must greet the ladies as well.”
“Yes, let us go.”
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Led by Gaillou-san, I head toward an area that, honestly, I’d rather avoid if possible. Slightly off from the center of the great hall, a dozen or so young ladies dressed in colorful gowns. Ah—it’s kind of like the bride’s friends at a wedding reception. You know, when the friends are all excited gathered around the bride in her wedding dress. That.
The difference is that there are three people being surrounded, not just one.
One is already familiar—Chief Steward/seneschalFroisbourg Marquis’s daughter, Braune-san (resembles Misawa-san from the secretarial department).
Another is the daughter of this very nice middle-aged gentleman—Duke Gaillou’s daughter, Zofie-san (resembles Kobayashi-san from the general affairs department during her middle school years).
Finally, this one is also a big deal.
Count Barois’s daughter, Mary-san.
It’ll take a while to talk about her.
First, as a basic premise, our country has two armies. One is the Kingdom of Santeneri’s army. And the other is the Royal Guard. Doesn’t make sense, right? Don’t worry. I don’t really understand it either.
The Kingdom of Santeneri’s army is the nation’s military, and the Royal Guard is apparently the Lerois royal family’s military. The Royal Guard isn’t a unit within the national army that protects the king. It’s a genuinely separate military.
The Kingdom of Santeneri originated as a confederation of independent lords. From among them, the Lerois family rose to prominence, brought their many rivals under their control, and unified the nation. The armies that the lords independently possessed were also gradually unified as they became “court nobles”—that is, state bureaucrats—and currently they’ve been separated from the nobles as the Kingdom of Santeneri’s army. The only remnant is that each regiment retains the names of the former lords. Their salaries are also paid from the national treasury.
In the midst of all that, the only one that continued to maintain its own army was our Lerois family. Or maybe the cause and effect is reversed. Because basically, the Lerois family’s army subjugated those of the independent lords.
Of course, in this day and age, most of the Lerois army has been absorbed into the Kingdom of Santeneri’s army. Or rather, the Kingdom of Santeneri’s army was formed with the Lerois army at its center. But the Lerois family continued to keep some units at hand. That’s the Royal Guard. Though I say “some,” the troop count exceeds ten thousand. They have barracks near Shtrois and are equipped with the latest rifles and cannons. Oh, this world has guns. Cannons too. Because in Earth terms, it’s the early modern period. And the supreme commander is the Lerois family head—in other words, me.
I’m technically the head of the Kingdom of Santeneri’s army too. But in reality, there’s the Minister of War, the Chief Steward/seneschal, the lords, and it’s nearly impossible to move it based on my personal opinion. But the Royal Guard is different. They only follow my orders. In other words, they’re the coup suppression force, the popular uprising suppression force, and the noble suppression force. The Barois family has led the Royal Guard as a hereditary position for generations, and their daughter is this young lady here.
Oh, the Barois family and Lerois family get confusing, right? I get it.
This is basically a matter of location. Originally, the Lerois family gained control of the middle reaches of the Rois River flowing through the northwestern part of the central continent, which got them listed among the lords. Around present-day Shtrois. And there’s a place called Barois a bit downstream from Shtrois. It’s Ba-rois. Ba is a prefix in Santeneri meaning “lower” or “low.” So Barois means “the lower part of the Rois River.” The first head of the Barois family was appointed there as a military count—basically a local government head—about eight hundred years ago. It seems that from around that time, the Barois family had been serving the role of commanding the guard units. They’re hardcore.
Now, about Mary-san herself, we didn’t have this type at our company!
Career woman type.
Our company started as a landscaping business my grandfather began that just happened to grow large, so inside it’s still like a family-run small business. We don’t have career woman types. But I’ve seen similar types before. For example, when we took on landscaping and management contracts for shopping malls or condominiums developed by zaibatsu-affiliated developers, they’d be the client-side contact person.
Sharp-minded, efficient, has decent courage. High pride. Looks good in pantsuits. By the way, Mary-san is wearing a dress because of this occasion, but normally she wears the Royal Guard’s military uniform.
Santeneri is quite high in machismo. Men work, women stay home, that kind of thing. Having been conditioned by modern Japanese workplace compliance standards, I was pretty nervous at first.
Even when the current me first met Braune-san, I was super scared. The conversation wouldn’t continue. I almost asked things like “What are your hobbies?” That was close. A boss prying into a subordinate’s private life is power harassment. So out of nowhere I asked this weird question like “What’s something interesting that happened recently?” and in the flow of conversation I handed her my pocket watch, but actually that was also cold-sweat-inducing. If our hands had touched, that would be sexual harassment. Labor Standards would come.
So I was nervous like that, but apparently Santeneri is pretty lax about that sort of thing. Conversely speaking, Mary-san is the one who’s socially unusual. Because a woman is serving as a military officer. She apparently assists her father, the Royal Commander, but still.
Her appearance is, well, beautiful. More accurately, cool. She’s about two fists taller than the average-height Braune-san. Actually, about the same height as me. Depending on heel height, she might be taller.
Her figure is overall slender, but well, you know, she’s also clearly feminine. Can’t be helped. It’s male nature. Being conscious of it.
Blonde hair cut to not quite reach her shoulders, parted in the middle. I guess you’d call it a short bob cut. And deep green eyes. Her gaze is sharp. Her nose bridge is also nicely defined, giving off a “yeah, she can get work done” feeling. She’s not at all the casual, easygoing type. She has an atmosphere that won’t tolerate crude things. Or rather, dirty jokes with Mary-san are absolutely impossible. I can’t say them.
Now, that finishes everyone’s introduction. Good balance, right?
The Froisbourg family is the head of the hereditary vassals (pillar of national government). The Gaillou family is the top of the outside lords (super rich). And the Barois family, though their peerage is low, controls the direct violence apparatus (strongest in the country).
The young ladies are also nicely distributed. Braune-san is the reliable older sister type. Zofie-san is the top of the school caste female middle schooler. Mary-san is the career woman OL.
Wonderful.
However, I (as a new graduate) once skipped over Braune-san’s father. Zofie-san’s father has intense pressure. Also, she’s slightly in violation of ordinances. Mary-san, well, you know. I get this strong feeling of being evaluated. Like “Can this kid be useful? If not, termination.” Foreign-capital-company-ish.
Oh, also, the young ladies all seem to have constructed very delicate relationships with each other.
Well then, here I go.
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