13-4 Eri The Most Fearsome Summoner

Next, we came to the knights’ training grounds.

Knights are a little different from the soldiers of the regular national army.

The military basically serves in ordinary national defense duties.

When a major disaster occurs, there are times when all soldiers are mobilized.

There is the Kingdom’s Knight Order that serves the kingdom, and there are also private knight orders that serve as retainers to noble families.

When war breaks out and the like, knight orders like those of the nobles also join as the core of the feudal lords’ armies.

And then there are also volunteers and mercenaries.

The Kingdom’s Knight Order protects important national facilities such as the royal palace, serves as guards for His Majesty the King and the members of the royal family, and also carries out city security during important events.

The Kingdom’s Knight Order in particular is such an elite force that they say the entire atmosphere changes completely just from their presence.

They are such elite troops that it is said that having even a single royal knight present makes the other security personnel straighten right up.

When distinguished guests from foreign countries visit, they are apparently mobilized in full for security duty.

In matters that threaten the kingdom, they also possess police authority that allows them to act with special investigative powers.

They say that when the Duke of Bighton’s son caused trouble in the past, these men boldly stormed in as well.

Apparently, with the military people, because of the relationships among the nobles of each faction, things are not so easy.

“Well, the final stage of cleaning up after that little mischief is today’s wedding,” Lady Velvet said with a laugh.

Knowing nothing at all, I simply listened with a “Wohhh…” sort of feeling.

And then an important person from the knight order came to greet us.

He had an enormous beard, an extremely large build, and gave off a rather rugged impression.

No, seeing him up close, “rather” doesn’t even begin to cover it!

I suppose a person like this is what one would call a stalwart man.

He was most likely the Knight Commander.

The princesses greeted him with “Good day.”

“Good day, Princesses. By the way, who might that young lady there be?”

Ah, he meant me.

Umm…

As I hesitated over what to say, Lady Sylvester answered in a mischievous tone.

“She is Lord Granburst’s precious friend, and today as well she has come to the royal palace at his request to fulfill a very important role. If anything were to happen to this child, he would come flying over at tremendous speed.”

Then the Knight Commander also laughed and said this.

“Hah hah hah, that would be quite serious indeed. But I am grateful to him. That Orston incident was a humiliation for us as well. We even managed to arrest Kirmis through a desperate investigation, and yet the moment he left our hands, everything was smoothed over into nothing. And so we ended up letting those people run rampant until today. Those people do not have even a shred of remorse. I hear the father caused trouble again today as well. Still, the Orston family affair has at last been settled with this.”

Saying simply, “Then excuse me,” the Knight Commander gave a brief farewell and went back with crisp, disciplined strides.

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but even his back looked very cheerful.

“You lot! Her Highnesses are watching too. Put your spirit into it, your spirit!”

I do not usually get to see people like this, but I was deeply moved thinking that people like him are what support this country.

Today really let me observe all sorts of things about society.

And there was someone here as well who was grateful to Al-oniichan.

After we were allowed to watch the Kingdom’s Knight Order training for a while, we had tea in the salon.

Then a person who looked like the son of some noble family came over and greeted the princesses.

“My, my, what lovely Princesses. Good day.”

Even to me, who understood nothing, it was obvious that the princesses’ moods took a steep dive the moment they appeared.

On the surface they kept up appearances, but compared to earlier they were clearly speaking less, and their expressions had stiffened, or rather, I could tell the rise and fall of their emotions was disappearing.

Their manner of speech had also become extremely formal.

The faces of the hangers-on also made it obvious at a glance that they were insufferable.

They must spend their everyday lives shamelessly throwing their parents’ authority around.

At tedious length and with excessive familiarity, they went on and on about gossip among the nobles, how superior their own faction was, and other such boring matters.

Apparently, this dimwit was the son of some marquis, and he wanted to marry one of the princesses.

On top of that, apparently he did not care which one.

And he was nearly thirty.

There was just no way that would do.

His hangers-on looked about the same age too.

Even if I were not a princess, I would be sick of this.

Sigh, it could not be helped.

I took out my smartphone and sent an emergency call.

The very next moment, Al-oniichan was summoned behind them.

“Eri, what is it!”

While saying that, he had already grabbed the marquis’s son by the face with one hand and was steadily lifting him higher.

For some reason, Onii-chan was already in full combat gear.

The moment the hangers-on saw the ultra-famous emblem drawn on his back, they began to tremble.

And the princesses, of all people, were wearing very wicked smiles.

“Marquis Granburst. For some time now, those people have been toward little Eri…”

Then a very unpleasant sound echoed through the peaceful salon, something like creaking, or rather closer to something lightly breaking.

Before I knew it, not a single one of the people who had been having tea elsewhere in the salon was anywhere to be seen.

Only teacups with half-finished tea in them remained, elegantly giving off steam.

For Al-oniichan’s honor, I should say that by the time those people arrived, their number had already been cut in half.

Well, even so, about half of them were still left.

Ahahaha.

“Oh? I would very much like to hear that story.”

Onii-chan said that with a wonderfully intimidating smile.

How should I put it, for someone seeing him for the first time, it must have been a very frightening smile.

It was not the sort of smile that an ordinary young man could produce, one without the rings of age.

Because Onii-chan is not actually the age he appears to be.

I had already seen scenes like that many times, so I had become used to them.

The marquis’s son’s hangers-on were no longer to be seen, neither shadow nor form.

They probably never imagined that I, whom they had not even considered worth noticing, was in fact a person requiring extreme caution, capable of summoning someone that dangerous.

I might possess the most dangerous summoning magic in the world.

And as for the princesses.

“To little Eri, to little Eri… umm, what was it again, I wonder?”

“Hah?”

Hearing that, Onii-chan made a very strange face.

How should I put it, it was like being told a dragon had appeared, rushing over in a panic, only to find children poking a tiny lizard with a stick.

And though he tilted his head with a somewhat bewildered look, he still presented the marquis’s son with a threat.

“Hey, brat, never lay a hand on my girl again. If I ever come upon a scene like that again… you understand, right. Get lost already.”

With that, Onii-chan threw “it” about ten meters away.

The fellow splatted onto the floor like some squashed frog and lay there twitching, but the instant he sprang back up, he ran away at a magnificent speed.

Onii-chan was muttering things like, “Security is lax even though this is the royal palace,” and, “Incident occurred.”

“Sorry, Onii-chan. Those people had been bothering the princesses so persistently for a while now.”

“Is that so? Well, there is no particular problem. The mess has already been cleaned up.”

The mess…

“Can I ask what happened?”

“Ah, that Duke of Bighton father and son tried to lay their hands on our Fal, and the Great High Priest of the Spirits got absolutely furious. The Albatross Kingdom was on the verge of destruction.”

The princesses also caught their breath at that unexpectedly terrifying turn of events.

“L-Lord Granburst, what happened after that?”

Lady Velvet asked timidly.

“Ah, those people were seized by the knight order and taken before His Majesty the King. There, even after being granted the mercy of confinement in a monastery, it seems they tried to flee and defect to the Empire. Come to think of it, the person who helped with that escape may also have been an agent of the Empire. I even received permission from His Majesty to kill Duke Bighton, but in the end I captured him and hauled him before His Majesty. His Majesty also made a decisive judgment, and in the end they are to be executed tomorrow morning. Rather than falling into the hands of someone like me, that is far better.”

All the princesses had gone “Uwah…” and were making expressions that could never be shown in an official setting.

“So it has finally happened. I always thought it would someday. Long ago, when the son, Kirmis, tried to do something to Sister Mirey as well, Mother, dressed in adventurer’s gear, actually stormed into his room.”

Lady Sylvester said that with her face twisted in disgust.

Uwah, he really had been an outrageous man.

“Well, I have no sympathy. How many people have suffered terrible things because of them up until now? They were famous as the shame of the kingdom.”

Lady Velvet also said that flatly.

So the true shame of the kingdom was not Antonio-san’s family, but those people after all.

“I hate that father and son. They always stare at me all over, like they are licking me with their eyes.”

Even young Lady Hamil said that with heartfelt disgust.

No, that fellow was unbelievably hated even by the princesses.

Well, that was only natural.

Onii-chan also gave a wry smile and said this.

“I was already just about to head back anyway, so I was thinking of calling Eri before long.”

Then Lady Hamil said this to us.

“Since we have the chance, shall we not wait to go home until after enjoying the royal palace bath? I want to play in the bath together with little Eri.”

“I see, a bath does not sound bad. The bath here is the best. I only came today intending to attend the wedding, but I worked up a sweat from an unnecessary chase, so I will take a bath too. Ah, right. Eri, if you are going to the bath, take Fal along too. The other little ones have already gone home.”

Come to think of it, this Onii-chan was the person who had obtained “the right to use the royal palace bath as much as he wants” as a reward for distinguished service to the kingdom.

Apparently, he usually does not come because he is busy bathing the little kids at the kindergarten.

“Now then. Bath, bath.”

Saying that, Onii-chan vanished with teleportation magic to go pick up Fal-chan.