Chapter 347:
A Nobleman’s Duty?
“Happy to see you again, Ivy.”
“I’m glad to meet you again, too, Lord Foronda. Have you been well?”
We had faxed back and forth a number of times, but I hadn’t heard anything from him since we arrived in Hatahi. Since he had said in his last fax that he was traveling to the capital, I was going to wait a little while before sending another.
“Um, do you know this gentleman?” Chikar the innkeeper asked me, his voice colored with worry.
“Yes, sir, we’re acquaintances.”
“Oh, but aren’t we friends?”
Friends? That’s right, he did say in a fax that he wanted to be friends… So he really meant that! I looked up at Lord Foronda, and he smiled back down at me sweetly…which felt intimidating, somehow.
“Er, yes, of course we are,” I assured him.
The first time I met Lord Foronda, he’d seemed high-strung and hard to get along with, but all traces of that were gone now. I first noticed the change in him when I happened to bump into him in town one day right around the time the criminal organization’s wrongdoings had mostly been righted. When he called out to me with a smile, I didn’t even recognize him at first. I quickly realized who he was and gave him a quick greeting in reply, but I was quite taken aback that day. Lord Foronda had really been on edge before because he never knew where members of that organization were lurking. That was when I realized just how much a person’s general appearance and mood could change when they were no longer in a state of constant vigilance.
“Um, if you’d like to chat, I could open a conference room if that works for you.” After hearing a little of our conversation with a look of surprise on his face, Chikar came out from behind the counter and unlocked a nearby room for us.
“What is this room, sir?”
One look inside revealed that the furnishings were a little on the expensive side.
“Sometimes noblemen come to the festival incognito, so I’ve set this room aside for them to have business meetings or catch up with friends. It doesn’t get much use, though, to be honest.”
The word “much” meant it did get used at least once in a while. Now, what was Lord Foronda doing in Hatahi anyway?
“Thanks, I think I’ll take you up on that offer. Allow me to pay.”
“Oh, no, that’s quite all right, my lord. Any friend of Ivy’s can use this room for free.”
“Oh? Well, thank you very much.”
“Not a problem, my lord—you are a nobleman, I take it? With ‘Lord’ as your title, I just assumed so.”
“Yes, I am Foronda, the Lord of Otolwa. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Th-the pleasure is mutual, my lord. It’s nice to see there are good people among the nobility. Thank you so much for stepping in earlier. I was very nearly quite rude to those customers… Well, I suppose I was quite rude. I’m sorry for the discomfort I caused you, Mr. Druid. Are you all right?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
Chikar looked genuinely guilty about the way those noblemen had harassed Druid.
“And I apologize for my fellow noblemen’s behavior.”
“Oh, no, Lord Foronda, you shouldn’t apologize. You saved us.”
“It’s little shi—er, little-minded scum like them who give the nobility a bad name. They’re all menaces.”
He’d changed what he was saying mid-sentence, and I wondered why that was. Still, Chikar was startled by how pleasant Lord Foronda could look while he was speaking badly of others. I had noted this personality trait in our faxes, so I wasn’t fazed by it. And since Druid had read them with me, his face was twisted in an attempt not to laugh.
“Anyway, yes, let’s use that room. I would love a nice, long chat with you both,” Lord Foronda said.
“Be my guest, my lord.”
Lord Foronda, Druid, and I went into the room and sat on the sofa, which was incredibly soft. It was even a little softer than the one in the guild master’s office. I was tempted to bounce on it, but I nipped that urge in the bud.
“I’ll just leave some tea for you,” Chikar said.
“Thank you very much.”
“Ah, I just realized I never properly introduced myself, Mr. Druid. I am Foronda, Lord of Otolwa. Ivy and I met each other there, and we now are friendly correspondents. I am pleased to meet you.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, too,” Druid said. “I’m Druid, a native of the town of Oll, and Ivy’s travel companion. You may call me Druid if you wish.”
What a peculiar sight this was. I never dreamed I would see Druid and Lord Foronda meeting and talking to each other in Hatahi Village.
“By the way, Lord Foronda, what brings you to Hatahi?”
“Hm? Why, the festival, of course.”
“What?! You mean the one where people throw colored dye at each other?”
“Yes, of course.”
So noblemen really do come here incognito to participate.
“Well, this is all part of a nobleman’s duty, you see,” Lord Foronda continued.
A nobleman’s duty? Throwing cakes of colored dye is a nobleman’s duty?
“Looks like you might not understand,” he said. “Participating in festivals is a nobleman’s duty.”
Now that makes more sense.
“Since I’ve become rather well known for helping take down the crime organization, I’ve been invited to more events lately. Declining invitations from other nobles isn’t much of a problem, but if a town or village invites me to attend their festival, I am obligated to make an appearance. It would be dishonorable of me to turn everyone down, you see. Having said that, I do have to pick and choose which festivals I attend.”
“That sounds like quite the ordeal…” I guess even noblemen have their problems.
“Nobles have parties where we can network with other aristocrats from all over the land, but festivals are a great opportunity for outreach: We’re selling the idea of Otolwa to adventurers.”
Networking and outreach for Otolwa… Lord Foronda really is quite a guy.
“And why did you choose Hatahi’s festival, my lord?” I asked.
“Adventurers from all over the country come to it. And if I’m there, I can spread the name of Otolwa far and wide. We’re currently short on hands there, you see.”
“So does this mean you’re in Hatahi Village as a guest of honor?”
“That’s right. I’ll be giving a little speech during the festival proper.”
He’s giving a speech! Well, I was going to wait until the festival was underway before I joined in, but maybe I should be there a little earlier. Oh, wait, if he’s here as a guest of honor, would he be angry if I hit him with a color cake?
“Lord Foronda, would it be all right if we went to throw color cakes once the festival starts?”
“What…? Ivy, you aren’t going to hit Lord Foronda with a color cake, are you?”
“Of course I am! I mean, it’s supposed to ward off evil, right?” Unless I’m not supposed to do that to guests of honor…
“Sure, I don’t mind. Perhaps I shall procure some color cakes of my own.”
I could tell from our fax correspondence that Lord Foronda was quite affable—completely the opposite of the antisocial vibe he’d given off when I first met him.
“Are you sure that’s okay?” Druid asked skeptically.
I’m sure it is. Lord Foronda said so himself.
“Well, I’d best be on my way,” Lord Foronda said. “I would love to have another chat later, if I may?”
“Yes, of course.”
Lord Foronda rose from the sofa, shook Druid’s hand, and walked out of Kokoron. We sent him off at the front door, then returned to the conference room.
“We’ll need Chikar to lock up this room for us,” Druid said.
“Yeah.”
We put the tea things back on the tray and carried it to the counter to look for Chikar, but he wasn’t there. We headed straight to the dining hall, where we found him cooking.
“Mr. Chikar, thank you for the room and the tea.”
“Oh, you’re done already?”
“Yes, sir. We had a lovely time, thank you.”
When Druid and I gave him a polite little bow, Chikar looked flustered. I wonder why?
“Mr. Druid, Miss Ivy, are you members of the nobility?”
Us? Nobles? I shot a shocked glance at Druid, and his equally shocked eyes stared back into mine. When our eyes met, we laughed. Us? Nobles? Not in a million years.
“No, sir, we’re not,” Druid explained between chuckles.
Chikar exhaled in relief. “Oh, thank goodness.”
Our friendly conversation with Lord Foronda must have caused quite the misunderstanding.
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