Chapter XXII – Which treats of our hero’s summon to court and the incidents relating to it.

Crap, this is real bad. “Ah, good guard! Please, spare me, I have a wife at home and kids who’ll starve if their papa is thrown into prison!” begged Watanabe, getting on his knees and clasping his hands as if he was praying.

“Prison? No sir, I’m not talking about a court of law.” replied the guard watching the pitiful Watanabe. “His Holiness Grand Preacher Theodore V has heard about your visit. His Holiness has sent His guards, like me, to find you and bring you to His esteemed court.”

“Oh, the court… Right! Right, I apologize for my tardiness. I- I needed to take a little rest before I fulfilled my mission.” replied Watanabe as he quickly got up and changed gears faster than a speeding car with automatic transmission. “It wouldn’t do for me to visit His Holiness in the tired state I was yesterday.”

“Right sir, that is why we’ve only arrived today. His Holiness is a benevolent lord who has waited patiently until today.” said the guard. “But, if you are sufficiently rested sir, I’d advise you to follow me.”

“Then, it’d be only right for me to oblige to His Holiness.” said Watanabe. “Doctor, I’ll be returning here after I’ve finished my visit. See you soon.”

Watanabe and Rabanowicz exchanged a quick farewell before Watanabe was lead out of the inn by the guard. They marched for a while, making their way back into the affluent center that Watanabe had seen yesterday.

Watanabe was, to put it politely, pretty damn stoked. A visit to the ruler of this realm? Surely there can be nothing more befitting the protagonist than that! I wonder if he’ll have some sort of grand quest for me, something that’ll finally drive the plot forward? Surely, the author wouldn’t be sending me here if they weren’t going to advance the plot. It’d be a nice change of pace to have a grand quest I could work towards completing instead of having to pointlessly prance around.

Watanabe and the guard eventually reached the core of the busy streets, where Watanabe encountered a wall and a gate blocking further passage. The gate was the grandest of any gate that Watanabe had ever seen. It was a gate of marble about eight times taller than Watanabe, decorated with many hand-carved figures of men that seemed as if they were guarding the gate. Showier than the marble was the fact that the figures on the gate were, instead of being colored with any standard paint, colored using gold, silver and various gems that looked precious.

Maybe they’re religious figures or something? I wouldn’t imagine them coating something else in such a gaudy fashion, thought Watanabe observing the gate. I can’t even begin to imagine how much this one gate must’ve cost.

“I have brought Sir Watanabe of Nihon, inform His Excellency, the Chancellor!” called the guard out to a comrade standing on top of the wall. After a few minutes Watanabe saw a man escorted by two guards approach the gate. The guards eventually stopped as the man in the front approached Watanabe in person. He wore an outfit, so frilly and ostentatious, that he would have been the definite winner if Brasscirom ever held a fashion contest.

“I welcome thee to our hallow capital. I am the loyal chancellor of His Holiness, known as His Excellency, Chancellor Feofilakt Bogomolov. It is of upmost pleasure to have a chance meeting someone so pious and far away.” said the man as he bowed and scraped. The chancellor was a much older man that was in his sixties, wearing an outfit that, surprisingly for a man of his rank, was simpler and less showy compared to the rest of Brasscirom.

Watanabe responded with a deep bow fit for a Japanese office worker. “And it is my pleasure to meet a loyal man of His Holiness. I am Sir Haruto Watanabe of Nihon, loyal representative of His Majesty Lord Nanashi Inai of Nihon. Here is the document from him showing that I am indeed authorized to represent His Majesty.” said Watanabe before he handed over the 1000-yen banknote to the chancellor.

“Hmm… Excuse me esteemed sir, but I cannot read anything that’s written.” replied the chancellor as he took a look at the banknote. “If it isn’t rude to ask, couldn’t His Majesty have written this in Lahanezite?”

I think he’s a bit suspicious, this is bad, thought Watanabe. He fired his trusty BS-making engines. “You see Your Excellency; His Majesty is a busy man who was most eager to learn about the true faith and establish communications between the two realms. He was so eager that he wanted to send someone as soon as possible, and he didn’t have any time to learn your language. It is tradition and law in our realm that His Majesty should be the one to personally authorize such documents, hence the foreign text.”

“I see… His Holiness will appreciate the piousness of your lord.” replied the chancellor. He quickly whispered something to one of his guards.

“Your weapon, my lord.” said the guard pointing at Watanabe’s sword. “We’ll give it back to you when you’re done meeting His Holiness.”

“Right.” It’d probably be considered rude to meet someone while carrying a weapon, thought Watanabe. He handed his weapon over to the guard.

“Esteemed sir, we shall head to the chambers of His Holiness, Brassicus willing.” said the chancellor leading Watanabe through the gate.

Through the already impressive gate, Watanabe saw sights that were a bit less impressive beyond it. What he saw was a well-maintained garden with a few buildings and a fountain in the middle. This outer courtyard was still full of people walking to-and-fro.

“Esteemed sir, there lies the Royal Mint of His Holiness. That there is the Temple of the Brassican Founding, the first temple that was constructed in Brasscirom by Holy Theodore, blessed be His name, himself.” said the chancellor while they walked along a central path.

Impressive, quite impressive, thought Watanabe trying to enjoy the impromptu tour. After a few minutes passed the pair came across the middle gate that was somehow much more impressive than the already impressive outer gate. Along with artistically carved figures on the marble, the gate was also covered with hand-crafted porcelain tiles painted with various colorful geometric patterns.

The guards saluted the chancellor and his guest as the two passed from this gate to the middle courtyard.

How showy do you need to get, thought Watanabe passing through the gate. I get it, you’re rich and powerful. I already got that when I saw the first gate.

The chancellor continued talking about the various buildings in this courtyard, such as the kitchen, the stables, the royal treasury and the royal council building. After another few minutes he came across another gate that was unsurprisingly much more impressive than the previous gate.

That’s enough gates for three castles, thought Watanabe who observed this new, sublime gate. This gate was ten times larger than him, boasted even higher quality and quantity of art, precious metals and gems. I’d like to see the bill just for these gates.

The guards near the gate again saluted the chancellor and Watanabe as they passed through to the inner courtyard where the heart of the palace lay. The inner courtyard was lusher than the outer ones, full of exotic flowers and other plants that Watanabe could not name. Servants were aplenty, running around the grounds fulfilling whatever errands that they had to attend to.

“This chamber here contains the most hallowed and important of relics, esteemed sir. The crown of Holy Theodore, his mace, and even bits of his beard are stored here. Next to it is the Grand Brasscirom Palace Library, constructed by the father of His Holiness, Grand Preacher Frederick the Third.” continued the chancellor, though Watanabe had stopped listening to him by the time they passed the second gate.

I get that you want to impress a foreign dignitary, but I was already most impressed when I saw that first gate. Anything over that is overkill, thought Watanabe.

Finally, after ten minutes of walking, Watanabe and the chancellor reached a grand building that stood in the middle of the inner courtyard. “This, esteemed sir, is the audience chamber where His Holiness will receive you once he is available.”

“‘Once he is available’? Is His Holiness not available?” asked Watanabe.

“Unfortunately not, esteemed sir. His Holiness is busy today with holding council along with other issues related to the realm. His Holiness won’t be able to meet with you today, so we’d be most grateful if you could stay in the palace until he is available. When he is available, we’ll make a reception that is more suitable to a man of your rank.”

“No problem, I can understand how busy a man as great as His Holiness can be.” replied Watanabe.

“Then the guards will escort you to your room, esteemed sir.” said the chancellor. His guards stepped forward. “Brassicus Prima bless thee.”

Watanabe was then escorted to a building for guests in the corner of the middle courtyard. There the guards left him in one of the rooms.

This room is much better than the inn, or the temple, thought Watanabe in the temporary residence. It was a well-ventilated room, with a bed that was luxurious compared to everything he had come across. The room also had a table, and a chair in the corner.

Before Watanabe could sit down, a maid visited the room and left a plate with food and drink. You know, I was getting hungry, how convenient. I love pretending to be a diplomat! He quickly finished his meal of cooked chicken and cabbage and then finished his drink of fine wine.

It’s a bit early and it’s not been long since I woke up, but I feel really tired, thought Watanabe as he finished his meal. Saving the world must have tired me greatly. I don’t have anything else to do, so good night!

Watanabe laid down on his new bed as the irresistible call of sleep overwhelmed him…

Chancellor Feofilakt was busy in his private quarters, preparing some miscellaneous documents that were requested. His work was suddenly interrupted by a robed figure entering the room.

“Your Excellency, the foreigner has been successfully put to sleep.” said the man entering the room.

“Good work, did the servants find anything in his room?” asked the chancellor in response.

“No, Your Excellency, we didn’t find anything, to be exact, we didn’t find enough of anything. The man doesn’t carry any money, and the only identification we could find of him was a document for entering this city along with the weird paper that he has already presented you.”

He’s too poor for the supposed representative of some lord. He didn’t have any retainers or servants with him, and now I know that he doesn’t have any money, thought the chancellor. They must be getting really stingy with their operations. “Have you found any information on anyone he’s made contact with?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. Thanks to the man’s unique countenance we were able to easily find people who contacted him just by asking around. The official in the southern gate told us that the man was accompanied with a heathen woman named Rabanowicz. Also, we confirmed the same official’s statement that the document was signed by a captain of the Royal Lahanezite Army. The document that was in the man’s pocket turned out to be signed by a Captain Hans of Pallenberg.”

A captain of the army?! This conspiracy seems to be deeper than I initially thought if this document isn’t forgery. “Have you been able to make contact with this Captain Hans?”

“Yes, it turned out that his company was currently encamped near Brasscirom and we were able to easily make contact with him. He told us that the document was legitimate and that the foreigner had followed his company for a few days.”

“Make sure to extend you watch Hans closely. Now, were you able to make find that heathen woman?”

“Yes, we managed to track her to an inn in the outer neighborhoods. We are currently keeping her under watch until further orders.”

“Continue with that, do not contact her yet. Make sure she doesn’t notice anything; we need to make them think they’ve successfully planted their spy in the palace.”

“Understood, Your Excellency. Does Your Excellency have any further orders?”

“Yes, make sure that the foreigner doesn’t leave his room without supervision. Don’t let him leave the city either. You are dismissed.”

I’ve got you trapped in a golden cage, you perfidious spy!