The Power of the Saint is All Around (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 3

Act 3:

The Itinerary

TWO DAYS AFTER I accidentally let Albert figure out that I wanted to go to Zaidera, an official ­arrived from the palace to tell me that I had been given the okay.

He really didn’t waste any time! Motivated men are like a different species! I was so excited that I couldn’t stop singing his praises even in my own head.

I started packing right away, and before I knew it, I was on board a ship. It was my first ever voyage, and it was way more comfortable than I expected. The ship was the kind used long ago in my old world. I had assumed it would rock a whole bunch, but, to my surprise, it hardly rolled at all.

Perhaps it was because the seas were calm, but it might also have been thanks to some sort of magic, which my old home obviously hadn’t been able to take advantage of. The mages did seem like they were busy all the time.

And of course, Albert was with me, just as we had discussed. He was as good as his word and had come as my guard. It turned out that his company was one of the conditions of my leave to travel, though. I had one other guard as well, as stipulated by that agreement—someone we knew quite well.

“I suppose we won’t be seeing any monsters on this trip,” the grand magus grumbled into the wind, sending an accusatory glance my way.

Yuri wasn’t just my guard, he was my cover. The final condition for my trip to Zaidera was that I would have to keep my identity a secret. For that reason, I had been assigned a position that was neither Saint nor researcher from the Research Institute of Medicinal Flora: I was here as the grand magus’s attendant. Since that lowered my rank, Albert was here under the guise of being Yuri’s guard instead.

I thought it might be suspicious for the grand magus to even have a guard, but this measure ensured that the three of us would stick together, so we were letting it slide.

I had been given this specific position because if I wound up being the one treating the patient, we could say that Yuri had done the healing. As such, all focus would be on the grand magus while we were in Zaidera, and I could remain inconspicuous.

We would of course tell the king and prime minister what really happened, and I would be properly rewarded for whatever part I played. The king told me he just wanted me to be safe.

“Yeah…” I had a feeling I knew why the grand magus was looking at me like that, but it wasn’t like I was doing it on purpose!

I can’t exactly toggle the “keeping all the monsters at bay” skill! It’s a passive that’s always activated, I thought, pretending not to notice how he was eyeing me.

But I wound up having to look away from him, so I had a feeling that it didn’t entirely work.

“And here I was, looking forward to learning what manner of monsters there might be at sea,” Yuri grumbled.

“You never know, something might show up,” Albert said, in the hopes of pacifying him.

Normally, that would have been the job of Lord Smarty Glasses, but unfortunately, he wasn’t here. So, as his attendant, that job should have fallen to me, but Albert usually managed to take the lead first.

Perhaps Lord Smarty Glasses had entrusted the job to him? Between being my guard and Yuri’s babysitter, he had to be getting stretched pretty thin.

My assignment as Yuri’s attendant might have only been a temporary one bestowed upon me when I selfishly asked to go to Zaidera, but I still felt bad that I was falling down on the job while on the clock.

“Typically, yes,” said Yuri. “But getting out to sea is such a rare opportunity for me. I was looking forward to this chance.”

“Like I said, that chance isn’t necessarily gone. Why look, there’s one now.”

Yuri had been pouting miserably, but he stepped away from the rail of the ship at Albert’s words.

Just then, there was a large shadow.

Yuri must have noticed its approach as well, because he instantly cast a spell—though his expression didn’t change, nor did he seem especially enthusiastic. “Ice Lance.”

A massive spear of ice shot out of his raised hand, but the shadow absorbed it into its body. The lance had knocked it off course, though, and it missed its target. There was a loud noise as it fell to the deck of the ship. The monster looked like a four-meter-long fish with an upper jaw shaped like a harpoon.

It looked awfully similar to a swordfish from my old world. You know, like it would be tasty if we sliced it up raw and ate it as a topping on sushi rice. Unfortunately, this was a monster, so with its dying breath, it vanished from the deck of the ship.

“Striking as always.” It was hard to tell if Oscar’s remark was impressed or annoyed. 

Oscar was one of my company’s employees. But why, you ask, was an ordinary person—albeit an employee of the Saint’s company—also traveling with an official Salutanian delegation? He had a reason, of course: The palace had specifically requested that someone from the company join us.

We were going to Zaidera to heal a member of the previous delegation who had fallen ill, but it would have been a waste of travel expenses if that was all we did. So, since we were going, they had decided to send an intermediary who could seek out and procure useful things that were not readily available in Salutania. They had selected Oscar because my company did the most business with Zaidera, what with importing rice—the staple of Japan—miso, and other seasonings. 

Although it might have also been out of consideration to me.

“He defeated it so easily, but I’m pretty sure that monster is known to be pretty strong, right?” May whispered to Oscar.

Normally, May worked as a chef’s apprentice at the institute annex, but she was also here at the palace’s request. Zaideran food had a pretty different palate from Salutanian fare, so they sent someone versed in Salutanian cuisine to cook for the members of the delegation who would be uncomfortable with the local spread.

May herself was a very curious person, so she was excited to try Zaideran dishes and wanted to learn how to cook them too.

“It would be of middling rank on land, but any monster you run into on the sea will be of hardier stock than its land-locked brethren,” Oscar told her.

“It certainly didn’t seem any harder to defeat.”

“That’s Lord Drewes for you.”

“True.”

This conversation reminded me of what Yuri had told me on the subject—he’d said that monsters at sea were on average 20 percent harder to kill. But seeing it first-hand hadn’t made it easier to believe.

The problem was that the monsters at sea were bigger than on land, and the ship rocking under their assault made it harder to defeat them. The grand magus’s ability to dispatch a mid-ranked monster at sea so handily was just further proof of his particular oddities. As such, he should not be the basis of comparison for how well the average person could handle the same kind of monster.

“Oh? There was a monster?”

“Oh, Sister.”

I turned towards the quiet voice to see the other annex employee who had joined our delegation, Zara, as she walked toward us. She had also overheard May’s conversation.

May called her “Sister,” but they weren’t related by blood. According to May, they had been as close as family since their childhood, which was how she’d started calling Zara that.

The palace had also asked Zara to join our delegation. She was the annex manager’s secretary, but now she was acting as the grand magus’s secretary instead. Of course, that was only her ostensible job. Apparently, she was actually with us to take personal care of me.

I felt I could take care of myself, as evidenced by my life at the institute. They really didn’t need to assign someone to wait on me. I had declined the offer initially, but the official I’d been talking to had persisted, insisting that they had good reason.

What in the world did I need someone to take care of me for? Did they think I might need someone to help me put on a dress? I highly doubted there would be any opportunity for that, considering the purpose of the journey. In any case, since Zara and May were both here, I figured I might as well use this opportunity to become better friends with them.

“Yes, a pretty big one,” I said. “But Lord Drewes took care of it right away.”

“I would have been surprised by any other outcome,” said Zara.

“I know, right? Anyway, did you need something?”

“Yes, I thought the wind must be starting to take a chill, so I came to invite you for a hot cup of tea.”

“That’s a great idea! I would love some tea!”

I was pleased to receive such a wonderful invitation.

As the sun set, the wind on the deck did begin to grow cold. It hadn’t gone down completely, but Zara was right that I was beginning to feel it. An invitation for a hot cup of tea was just about perfect.

Zara smiled at my enthusiastic acceptance. “Shall we ask the others to join us?”

“Yes, of course.”

The invitation had been for me specifically, but she wanted to know if I wished to include the others too. I hardly ever got to see some of the people who were here on a normal basis, so this was the ideal opportunity to get to know them all better. Besides, we were going to be working together once we arrived in Zaidera. Perhaps Zara was thinking the same thing, or perhaps she had sensed what I was thinking; either way, I cheerfully gave my approval.

And so, we invited everyone to enjoy our lovely tea together.

***

When we received word that we were about to arrive in Zaidera, we all left our cabins and headed up to the deck.

The wind was somewhat refreshing, and the light reflected very prettily off the surface of the water. And, just as the sailor had informed us, the ship was approaching the port.

From a distance, the streets of Zaidera reminded me of ancient China. Perhaps it was because the buildings had decorations that resembled those found in Chinese architecture, from the shape of the windows to the pillars.

However, the roofs were shingled in lustrous black tiles, which reminded me of ancient Japanese houses. Made me a bit homesick.

In one corner, I spied a building with Western architecture, albeit one that differed from the style commonly found in Salutania. Maybe it belonged to merchants from another country? Or perhaps it was even Salutanian.

As I gazed out at the townscape, I noticed someone had come to stand next to me. I turned to find it was Albert.

“There’s quite a number of unusual buildings,” he murmured. I thought I sensed a hint of relief in his tone. Perhaps, even though the journey had been much more comfortable than I had imagined, he was tired from being on the ship; he wasn’t any more used to it than I was.

“Yes, it really makes you feel like you’ve arrived in a foreign country,” I agreed as I returned my gaze to the sights. “We have some more traveling to do after we ­arrive at the port, right?”

“Indeed. We’ll be traveling by carriage to the imperial capital.”

He was referring to the capital city of Zaidera. The emperor lived there, so it was generally called the imperial capital. The settlement we were looking at now was just a port town, like Morgenhaven in Salutania.

The previous delegation was in the imperial capital, so we would have to travel by coach from here. The city was less than a day’s journey away, so if we left in the morning, we could arrive by sunset.

It was currently just before noon—a bit late to be leaving for the capital—so we would be staying here overnight and leaving come sun-up.

We stepped off the ship and put our feet on dry land. While I was relieved to finally return to solid ground, my body felt like it was swaying even after getting off the ship. I supposed it was because we had been rocking for so long. 

I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

“Whoa, it still feels like I’m moving.” May said exactly what I was feeling.

“Oh my, you’re right.” Zara was also feeling it.

It seemed everyone was. But my hypothesis as to why we felt that way was immediately dismissed.

“You’re feeling landsick. It’ll go away before long,” Oscar explained, seemingly just fine as he came after us off the ship.

“Do you think we’ll feel better by tomorrow?”

“It might take two or three days. I hear there’s a cure, though. I’ll tell you later.”

“My thanks.”

I had always assumed that Oscar spent most of his time at my company in the capital, so I hadn’t imagined he would be used to voyages at sea. Maybe his last job had seen him sailing a lot?

“Are you all right?” Albert asked me with concern. He’d noticed me looking quietly at May and the others. 

The way he peered closely at my face made my heart skip a beat. A heat bloomed in my cheeks and I prayed that my face didn’t get any redder as I replied in a panic, “Oh, yes! I’m fine.”

“Be sure to tell me right away if that changes.”

“Thank you. I just feel a bit like I’m swaying too, but I’m fine.”

“Good. Let’s start making our way over to the inn, then.”

“Okay.”

Albert led us to where several carriages were waiting. They looked different from the ones I knew in Salutania. Just like the town itself, the carriages had an exotic feel. It seemed we were going to ride in them to our lodgings.

Yuri had already made his way toward them, stretching his arms as he did.

The knight commander and grand magus seem fine. Are they really okay, just like Oscar? Maybe there’s some kind of trick to not feeling the swaying thing anymore. I’ll have to ask later, I thought as I got into the carriage.

We were able to relax and enjoy ourselves at the inn we were taken to. I slept so soundly that I was brimming with energy in the morning, but compared to me—and everyone else, honestly—Yuri was full to bursting. He was practically bouncing off the walls out of sheer excitement.

And it was obvious why: We were having Chinese-style rice porridge for breakfast.

Yuri had never met a rice dish he couldn’t go wild for, so it was no wonder he couldn’t contain himself.

“Lady Sei!” He shouted my name as we sat down for breakfast, making me jump.

“Y-yes?” I stammered in response.

“Is this made with rice?”

In the porcelain bowls before us was the expected rice porridge. It was pretty obviously rice, based on how it looked, and the worker at the inn had also told us as much when he served the food. So, you know, the white grains comprising the majority of the dish had to be rice.

“I’m pretty sure it is.”

“I knew it!” Yuri’s eyes sparkled at the confirmation.

I’d heard that the people in this area typically started their day with a bowl of rice porridge. In Japan, some hotels had served rice porridge for breakfast as well—though, they were few and far between—so calling it breakfast seemed quite normal to me. It also made me think of home.

However, the others were seeing this dish for the first time.

“Have you had this stuff before?”

“Yes, we had it back in my homeland.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“Is it? I made it once at the institute.”

“At the institute… Is this the thing that was just rice and water?”

“Yup, that’s the one.”

Yuri’s tone had taken on a reproachful note, but I had indeed made congee for him once—around the time when he first became obsessed with rice. However, the porridge I’d made back then had been Japanese-style, and since we rarely had the chance to eat rice, I’d just made it the one time, because Yuri asked. In my old life, I’d typically only eaten it boiled from a convenience store pouch when I was sick and didn’t have the willpower to cook anything else.

So, I had basically done my best to make it for him based on a vague recollection of what the recipe might be. However, Yuri had said the food didn’t have the effects he was hoping for, which was probably why he had forgotten it until now.

“So the one we’re having now was cooked differently?” Albert asked, curious after listening to my conversation with the grand magus.

“I’m sure. I made it in the style we use in my homeland, and it didn’t have all these ingredients in it.”

“So, the recipe varies between places?”

“I’d say the way they make it here is pretty close to the cuisine of a neighboring country.”

I’d cooked it with only rice and water. By contrast, the rice porridge we were eating now reminded me more of the Chinese variety, just as other Zaideran food often did.

In addition to the rice, it had chicken, spring onions, and other ingredients too. I assumed that the brown lumps were century eggs. There was also something that looked like a dark green egg yolk in there. I had seen something like it in a magazine once but had never tried it myself.

I wonder what it tastes like? My heart raced in ­anticipation of trying something new as I scooped up the century egg with a spoon and popped it in my mouth. The texture was soft, and the taste was reminiscent of a boiled egg yolk.

“It seems that this dish increases the amount of HP and MP that we naturally recover. And in large quantities at that! How delightful!” Yuri, on the other hand, had ignored actually eating the food to cast an Appraisal spell instead.

Rice dishes in particular had all kinds of magical effects, so Yuri had turned them into an independent study. This rice porridge was no exception.

Yuri grinned from ear to ear as he began regaling us with his research findings. He wondered if the effects of the rice porridge changed based on what you added, and I had a feeling he would be grilling me about it in no time. My hunch was right, because he begged me to tell him more about how rice porridge was made back in my old world later.

Albert’s smile was powerful, but Yuri’s was just as potent. I had a feeling he was going to do his damnedest to squeeze every single little detail out of me.

***

After that rollicking breakfast, we decided it was time to leave for the imperial capital. We spent the next several hours being jostled in the carriage, though we did take some breaks. Just as I’d been told, we arrived at our destination come evening.

The carriage came to a final stop before the gates that led to the manor where the delegation was staying. The carriage door opened, and the grand magus stepped out first, followed by the knight commander. I followed after, allowing Albert to assist me in stepping down. Zara, May, and Oscar stepped out of a separate carriage and joined us.

The front door was just beyond the gate. Zaideran manors differed from those found in Salutania in that the front door was close enough to the gate to reach on foot.

Oh, I see. So that’s why the carriage stopped there. I had become used to carriages delivering me directly to the front door, so I’d found it strange that we disembarked where we had. It made sense, given the short distance.

I was busily taking in the unusual sights when the manor door opened and a person emerged. Someone must have informed him that we were coming. His familiar red hair immediately caught my eye. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him; it must have been ages ago.

“Thank you for coming all this way.” Prince Kyle, crown prince and leader of the delegation, came out to greet us. He wore a smile on his face, but there was a tension in him.

Is he nervous? No, he of all people has no idea what it means to feel nervous, I thought. 

But at that moment, I realized he wasn’t the only one acting strangely.

Everyone with me had a weird look—like they were completely flabbergasted or something. Even Yuri inclined his head in slight puzzlement.

I wasn’t sure what Prince Kyle made of their behavior, but he seemed to grasp that something was off.

Yuri recovered himself and spoke first, acting as our representative. “Thank you kindly for receiving us in person.” 

“Why don’t you all come inside so we can discuss your business?”

Prince Kyle led us right in. I didn’t have much time to take in the interior before Albert, Yuri, and I were led to a room that appeared to be a parlor. Everyone else went to take care of the luggage and were led to their rooms.

Prince Kyle swiftly cleared the room after we went inside, so it was just the four of us alone.

The prince decided to get the ball rolling the second we’d sat down. “I was surprised to receive word of your arrival. Has something happened?”

I supposed that out of the three of us who had come from Salutania, I had the highest rank, so Prince Kyle spoke directly to me. He had never addressed me so politely, so I felt pretty uncomfortable.

Perhaps because he noticed my bewilderment, Albert stepped in to answer the prince. “We received an urgent message that a member of the delegation had taken ill.”

I had heard as much from the palace, but Prince Kyle looked at us with confusion. “Ill, you say?”

“Yes. Do you know anything about it?”

“No, not at all.” It seemed the prince had no knowledge of any such message being sent to Salutania, judging from the contemplative way he put a hand on his chin. “And you’re sure the message came from us?”

“Yes. Lord Goltz confirmed it himself, though he didn’t take the time to ascertain its veracity, since it was so urgent.”

Lord Goltz was the name of the prime minister. As you would expect of someone employed in such a power­ful position, it was said that his investigative abilities were topnotch.

“The prime minister himself confirmed it?” Prince Kyle sank into silence for a moment, his expression turning grim. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take some time to investigate this message myself.”

“But of course, Your Highness.”

Did that mean someone had sent the palace a letter pretending to be him or something? That sounded like a huge problem.

“You said that the message claimed someone had fallen ill?”

“Indeed. We were the treatment team the palace dispatched.”

“I see that they spared no talent in that regard.” Prince Kyle looked over each of us, a crooked smile upon his face.

He’s not wrong. We are the most powerful healers in Salutania, I thought.

Albert said, “Our experts would likely more than suffice in terms of any treatment needs, but just in case, we brought the panacea as well.”

“The panacea? Ah, that panacea.”

We mustn’t forget about the panacea.

It had always been highly unlikely that we would need to use it, since I had come along, but the king had told us to bring it just in case.

It appeared that Prince Kyle had been aware of its existence. His tone suggested he knew its origins were being kept secret. “I heard it was able to heal any illness.”

“Indeed. I have already confirmed as much with Appraisal magic,” Yuri informed the prince.

“Then why has Lady Sei come along as well?” the prince asked, a confused look on his face.

His hesitant tone was hurtful, as if it had cut my heart.

It was true that with the panacea, neither Yuri nor I had needed to come all this way. One could argue that Yuri was here as the panacea’s guard, but in that regard, my presence was wholly unnecessary.

Yet here I was, solely because I had wanted to go be a tourist. In other words, I had been selfish. I was fully aware of this fact, which was why Prince Kyle’s question made me feel so guilty. My shame made me hesitate; I couldn’t come up with a good explanation at first, and I felt awkward about telling the truth.

“Well, I…have an interest in Zaideran culture,” I mumbled, completely unable to conceal my motives.

“Ah, I understand now. You came in search of herbs and other such ingredients, then.” Prince Kyle’s response peeled the last layer off my defenses, like he was ripping off the remains of a hole-studded, paper-thin wafer.

Wow, His Highness knows his stuff about yours truly. It was tragically kind of inevitable that I tried to escape from the truth behind his quip.

Though Prince Kyle looked apologetic, he didn’t beat around the bush as he advised us, “I’m sorry to ask this now that you’ve come all this way, but please, you must return home at once,” 

“Because of the letter?” I asked.

“Yes. Even if it was sent by one of our delegation, it is concerning that someone would summon you here without my knowing. They surely had some ulterior motive for bringing you here.”

Normally, if someone caught a cold, or sent a regular letter to Salutania, they wouldn’t have to inform the prince. However, it was pretty darn strange to leave Prince Kyle out of the loop of any matter that warranted summoning the grand magus of the Royal Magi Assembly, let alone the Saint. Prince Kyle had to be right that they had a different goal.

“Then, what they must want is…” I trailed off. I didn’t say it outright, but if I had to guess, they wanted us…and the panacea.

Prince Kyle nodded.

If some kind of danger lay in wait here for us, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to take my time seeing the sights. That was a shame, after we’d come all this way.

“Then I think we should return to Salutania right away.”

“I am so sorry about all of this,” the prince said. “I will send a report to His Majesty as soon as I learn anything about the letter.”

“Very well. We shall inform the king upon our return.”

“Thank you. Oh, one last thing.”

I had thought that would be that, but Prince Kyle looked like he had just remembered something—and it wound up being the silver lining of a very dark cloud.

Even if we started the process to return to Salutania right this instant, it would take a few days to ready a ship. So, in the meantime, he offered to have Zaideran plants and books on local cuisine delivered to the manor.

It was a shame that we wouldn’t be permitted to leave the premises, but I was grateful for the opportunity to glean firsthand information about Zaidera anyway, even if only a bit. And books would make for a good way to kill time while we were cooped up in the manor and on the ship.

I thanked Prince Kyle with a smile, accepting his generosity, at which he looked relieved.

And so our plans were brought to a halt, as Prince Kyle set about securing our swift passage home.

But as it turned out, leaving Zaidera wouldn’t be so simple…