Chapter 4 — Preparations Both Practical and Emotional

Chapter 4 — Preparations Both Practical and Emotional

Several days had passed since the informal meeting that had been held under the pretext of the goats’ acceptance.

“Phew...” Aura sighed. She was sitting at her desk as she always did at this hour, stretching in her chair to shake off her fatigue. “Agh, guh!”

It was before noon, and it was exceedingly rare for her to be so tired while the sun was still so high in the sky.

“It has been a while since I have seen you so exhausted,” Fabio said questioningly from her side, underlining just how rare it was.

Aura took good care of her body. Sleep was the cornerstone of health alongside nutrition, so while it wasn’t the case during the war, she very rarely lacked sleep in peacetime. Fabio’s memory was superb, and he could not think of anything on her schedule over the past few days that would cause such disruption.

“Is there something interfering with your rest?” he asked.

“Hm, well, yes,” the queen answered with a rueful smile and half-closed eyes.

“A mental problem?”

“No, a physical one.”

“Have you been going to bed later, perhaps?”

“If anything, I have spent more time in bed than usual. The number of hours I have slept, however, has decreased.”

“Ah, I see,” he answered after a pause. “Well, it is a suitable time for your second.”

There was only one reason a couple with a good relationship would be sleeping less despite spending more time in the bedroom. It was good that despite the current upheaval around his relationships, Zenjirou was still on good terms with Aura in that way. As Fabio said, it was an appropriate time for their second child.

Aura’s rest appeared to have driven off her fatigue, and she let out a large sigh before starting to speak. “Regardless, the final decision has been made. Zenjirou will be accompanied to General Pujol’s wedding by Princess Freya. I have managed to come to an agreement with our domestic nobles who were aiming for the same role over the past few days. We have perhaps found the silver lining that the most overbearing and difficult person to deal with was unable to get involved this time.”

The person in question was none other than the groom of the wedding himself, General Pujol. He would have doubtless pushed his sister Fatima Guillén as a partner for Zenjirou. However, his circumstances were different on this occasion. He had to deal with the preparations for his wedding and could not make such moves himself, and his sister would need to be there as the groom’s family either way. Therefore, regardless of his usual tendency to avoid passing up any chance to amass influence and a foundation, he was forced into the position of bystander here.

“Princess Freya will be his partner? Then can I assume she will also be Sir Zenjirou’s concubine in the future?”

Aura nodded at the monotone question with lidded eyes. “Indeed. The only certainty is that she will be his partner for the wedding, but you can make further preparations on that assumption. Of course, we are prioritizing intercontinental trade with Uppasala, so depending on those developments, it could easily be overturned.”

The benefits to accepting Freya as a concubine were the riches that intercontinental trade with her country would bring along with the advanced smithing and shipbuilding techniques the princess had promised. Simply increasing the number of enchanters could be done with a more appropriate concubine than an awkward-to-deal-with foreign royal.

Uppasala might have been advanced technologically, but it lagged behind magically, so Freya didn’t have a particularly large mana pool by Capuan reckoning. A significant number of nobles would be against this unprecedented coupling with a foreign royal. If they couldn’t secure the benefit of intercontinental trade, then Aura was happy to scrap it all.

The narrow-faced secretary understood the circumstances and answered after a period of thought. “Understood. In which case I shall make preparations accordingly. However, the only preparations I can make at present are physical and documents. I must leave the mental preparations to you. Will there be any problems?”

The question about mental preparations was essentially questioning whether Zenjirou would accept the situation. Aura looked up at the ceiling with a strained smile at the difficult question.

“As always, he fully accepts it logically. Even if Princess Freya were to wed him immediately, he would accept it and cause no public problems. The issues would be emotional, and I am doing my best to ameliorate them, although it has led to my lack of sleep over the past few days.”

“I see. That is an indispensable service that only you can provide.”

While the queen spoke fairly directly about her nighttime activities, the secretary maintained an expressionless facade and simply answered in understanding. Although the resumption of such activities was primarily with the purpose of having their second child, it also served the role of calming Zenjirou down.

A large part of the reason Zenjirou had chosen his fate of being summoned to another world was that he had fallen for Aura at first sight. Their life together had deepened such emotions even further, and he had never once been disillusioned. Sex was the main string to her bow when it came to soothing emotionally. However, he had spent over half a year abstaining, so his lust was greater than Aura had expected, and it had ended up being a fair burden.

“He seems to have sufficient stamina in that respect, so concubines will not be an issue. The problem is whether he will see other women in that way.”

Her concern was stated with a furrowed brow and bitter expression, but there was still an irrepressible sense of triumph in her reddish-brown eyes. Zenjirou’s single-mindedness was an issue in terms of a member of the royal family prioritizing benefits to their country. But as a woman, as his wife, she couldn’t help but be happy that he wouldn’t steal glances or feel love for any other woman.

“I believe you are the only one who can persuade him, so I shall leave it to you, Your Majesty. Regardless, I wholeheartedly approve of you having a second child at this point. Taking a concubine while Prince Carlos is the only legitimate heir is somewhat risky.”

With a single heir, an inheritor of lineal magic through a concubine could also become a temporary successor if something were to happen to the original heir. There was no method to mitigate that risk other than to have more legitimate children. If the people involved were king and queen consort rather than queen and prince consort, then as soon as the queen consort had recovered from childbirth, they would be making preparations for a second child.

“I know. However, protecting both the throne and the next generation of royalty simultaneously is more difficult than I thought.”

“A concubine exists to take on some of that burden,” the secretary replied flatly, not giving an emotional response to her complaint.

“True. From the perspective of national interest, it is absolutely imperative that my husband take a concubine.”

The secretary continued his warnings after the queen’s nod of agreement. “However, having a child at this point may also cause issues of its own. If you conceive as quickly as last time, the pregnancy should be confirmed within two or three months. The trade agreement may not yet be finalized by then, and the preparations for Princess Freya to become a concubine may also not be in order. That could possibly lead to domestic nobles pushing forward other concubines in order to ‘take up the slack.’”

“I can already see my husband growing more and more unhappy,” Aura answered bitterly after a moment, all too aware that his concerns were valid.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

While his wife was setting about her queenly duties at her desk, Zenjirou was still in the inner palace, wearing his pajamas, playing a video game in the living room.

They had spent the night making love, and he had gone back to bed after seeing his wife off to work. After waking, he had remained in his PJs, playing games. It was a slovenly way to behave, practically the embodiment of self-indulgence.

“Here. We. Go!”

Holding the controller, he imitated a pitching stance and swung his arm down. In response, the character on the screen pitched his baseball. The speed indicator displayed 151 km/h. The strong fastball arced towards the batter standing in the right box, but he lightly swung his bat and heartlessly sent the ball into the left stands. A home run.

“Argh, damn it.”

Zenjirou lost all his motivation after that and lifted his foot from the floor, using his toe to switch the console off while balancing on his other foot. The controller was tossed down onto the carpet. With that done, he plonked down onto the black leather sofa and let out a massive sigh.

“Yeah, this isn’t working. I can’t concentrate.”

Aura had been worried that Zenjirou would be slightly off emotionally now that it had been decided he would be taking Freya as his partner to the wedding. She had therefore arranged to give him a day off, but he, unfortunately, found himself restless.

“Urgh, it’s a bit outside the rules, but maybe I’d be more distracted if I played a multiplayer game with the maids?”

His eyes fell back on the console sitting on the carpet. Despite his mutterings, he would never actually ask such a thing. While he lent out his handheld to some of the maids on occasion, he had never directly involved himself with them. Video games or not, socializing with the maids in that way could be interpreted as him having a special view of them.

Personally, he wanted a good relationship between the maids and himself, but he’d never considered a romantic or sexual one. He neither wanted to accidentally lead them on nor make things awkward by being too wary of it.

“Man, I’ve got the day off and I just don’t know what to do with myself,” he muttered, finally stripping out of his blue-striped pajamas and changing into a T-shirt and lounge pants.

Since Zenjirou didn’t leave the inner palace outside of work, a holiday naturally equated to a day spent at home. Back when he was a student, he’d often killed time by calling some friends over to hang out or wander around town. After starting work, he hadn’t had free time to kill anymore, and he wasn’t great at entertaining himself indoors.

When he had first arrived in Capua, Zenjirou’s eyes had sparkled at the view of the DVDs he’d recorded and the unopened games waiting to be played, but he hadn’t been so attached to them of late. He still had several games he’d not finished and countless DVDs he’d not watched, but he just didn’t have the passion for them anymore. Even if he tried to enjoy them, the problem lurking in front of him, unfortunately, made him incapable of focusing and doing so.

“I feel bad about Aura making the effort to give me the day off, but it’ll be healthier to just tackle it head-on.”

Having quickly finished changing, he took some paper from the desk with his computer along with a three-colored pen and sat back down on the sofa.

“Right,” he said. “First, General Pujol’s wedding will be held in the Gaziel march. I’m going to be attending in Aura’s stead, and part of the expectations of polite society are going as a couple. If both members of that couple are unwed then it’s usually seen as a declaration of mutual interest. My partner in this case will be Freya.”

As he wrote down that he would be attending the wedding with Freya, he let out a deep sigh. Strictly speaking, Zenjirou was not unwed; he’d married Aura. Male royals normally had multiple brides, though. On top of that, with him and Aura being the only adult royals in Capua, the country wanted him to take a second wife. Therefore, attending the wedding with a young, unwed woman would result in her being seen as a highly likely candidate for concubinage.

The troublesome thing about it was that the person in question, Freya, was more proactive about becoming his concubine than anyone else had been thus far.

“After that, if Capua and Princess Freya’s homeland enter into intercontinental trade, she’ll officially become my second wife.”

The sigh this time was even deeper than the last.

“I suppose I was told this’d happen from the start, so it was just a matter of time. Still, I wish that time had never come.”

Zenjirou stared distantly out across the gardens through the wide-open shutters. He was an exceptionally average, perhaps even conservative person. He didn’t have the adventurous spirit needed to celebrate taking another woman while already living happily with his wife and child.

“I’m glad we had that frank discussion. If we didn’t, I’d start to wonder if she even loved me.”

When they had discussed their dissatisfactions and hopes, Aura had told him that as a woman, she wanted to keep him to herself, which meant that actively setting things up for a concubine was related to her sense of duty as queen, even though it went against her personal feelings. Zenjirou was determined not to forget that.

“Polygamy might be accepted here, but Aura’s got to be in the worst position. Assuming she l-loves me.”

Zenjirou had to take a second wife despite already having one who loved him, so he was uneasy and annoyed by it. However, looking at it from Aura’s position, her beloved husband was taking another woman for marriage. Jealousy preventing a rational decision would hardly be strange.

“If I were in Aura’s position...” Zenjirou began, considering the situation in reverse.

So, if Aura took another man... If she said, “We already have a child between the two of us. Therefore, to spread space-time magic further, it would be better for me to have children with General Pujol and Lord Rafaello. Rest assured, though, I only have feelings for you; this is solely to produce more children.”

In that case... Zenjirou’s imagination was too vivid for his own good. It would never come to pass in a patriarchal society like Capua, but from the perspective of the longevity of space-time magic, it was far from improbable. Aura could be with another man.

“Just imagining it’s making me crazy,” he muttered in a flat voice.

Were those the feelings Aura was contending with right now? Was she smothering those emotions to fulfill her duties as queen, assigning her husband a concubine? Once more, Zenjirou was aware of his own inadequacy and his wife’s greatness.

Naturally, he had been brought up in a place where a single husband and wife was the norm, while Aura was raised in an environment where polygamy was the norm. Therefore, the mental burden of the situation on the two of them wouldn’t be comparable. Logically thought through, the pressure of taking a concubine would be stronger on the wife than the husband.

“If we can’t avoid it, we’ll just need to get the best result we can...”

Zenjirou managed to refresh himself somewhat and decided to use the rest of his day productively, sending his thoughts in another direction.

“I’m actually kind of glad Princess Freya’s here. The cuisine’s got a wider range now.”

As he spoke, he stood up and moved towards the five-door fridge in the corner. The metal vessel he pulled out contained goat’s milk, fresh from that morning. The goat had been milked according to the instructions offered by the young man—Nicolai—who Freya had lent them.

Once heated to near-boiling and cooled to room temperature, it was put in the fridge each day. The leftover milk was then disposed of the next morning. It was somewhat wasteful, but the only ones with a taste for the drink in Capua were the goat kids and Zenjirou. If it wasn’t disposed of, the fridge would soon be full of nothing but milk.

After pouring it into a glass, Zenjirou took a mouthful of the white liquid and swallowed it with a grimace.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty strong taste.”

As far as “milk” was concerned, he was only familiar with pasteurized milk from cows, so couldn’t avoid noticing the stronger taste from the goat’s milk. It was hard to describe, almost like a mix of animal musk and unrefined scent. As a result, he couldn’t recommend it to anyone else yet. He was pretty sure that the first sip anyone from the Southern Continent took would also be their last.

“According to Nicolai, it gets better and better with the goats’ environment and food, so I’ll have to wait until then.”

Nicolai had also said that due to their environment having just changed, they needed to prioritize the goats’ health and would therefore need to wait to improve the milk. Fortunately, he wasn’t just capable of rearing goats; he could also make butter, cream, and even cheese from their milk.

When it came to the goats, Nicolai seemed eminently reliable. The pen and pasture set up within the gardens were where he spent most of his nights according to reports, almost like the goats were his lovers, he was so dedicated to them.

Dairy products would widen Zenjirou’s culinary horizons far more than the plain milk itself. Due to the lack of dairy in Capua, there were many snacks he had simply had to give up on reproducing. Over time, he had grown more accomplished with the local written language and had been translating as many of his recipes as possible, wanting to hand them off to Vanessa, the head of cooking in the inner palace.

Her skill was indisputable. Even if the recipe itself wasn’t enough to reproduce the product, she would adjust the ingredients and create something wonderful regardless. She had recently grasped Zenjirou’s preferences and was indispensable to the inner palace.

“Hmm, I feel bad for Nicolai, but I’ll stick to just sampling it for now.”

As he spoke, Zenjirou emptied the glass into the bucket next to the fridge and took out another, filling it with a mix of fruit juice and chilled water. He returned the bucket and two glasses to the shelf next to the fridge, still dirty. It was something he still wasn’t used to, but for a male royal to wash the dishes was preposterous, so he had to leave it for the maids.

“Actually, that reminds me, we’re pretty low on shampoo. I’ve got a prototype ready, so I guess I’ll have to get them to test it out.”

Zenjirou’s feet took him from the fridge to another corner of the room, to a collection of products. The items there were mostly things he had created through trial and error to make his life better, including an electromagnet he’d made using a coil of wire and rechargeable battery along with a permanent, albeit weak, magnet.

From among them, he picked up a box with metal bottles inside, each around the size of the palm of his hand. The bottles contained shampoo and conditioner that he had made. The base of the shampoo was a watered-down soap he’d created. He’d then used information from the internet and added honey, citrus juices, perfumed oils, and so on, aiming for something that wouldn’t damage the hair and scalp but would still wash them.

“If it works well enough, I’ll use this and leave most of the shampoo we’ve got left for Aura.”

Zenjirou had short hair, so leaving it a little greasy wasn’t too much of an issue. His wife had long, luscious locks of straight red hair that he wouldn’t forgive himself for ruining.

“Actually, Aura’s hair was gorgeous when I first got here. The other women’s hair doesn’t look bad either, so if it doesn’t work then she can just go back to the traditional methods, I guess,” he realized suddenly.

He preferred to keep that as a final resort, though. Capua obviously didn’t have the same customs as modern Japan when it came to bathing. They would never bathe each day. People who preferred to remain clean washed their hair once every three days, and the norm was once every seven. Therefore, they used perfumed oils to maintain their hair’s sheen and keep the odors under control. Zenjirou preferred to avoid sharing a bed with a woman who did that without washing her hair.

“We already use liquid soap mixed with oils to wash our bodies, so if we can get the shampoo and conditioner working too, all that we’ll need is facewash. I could just use watered-down soap, though.”

He had never suffered with his skin through washing or sunburns, as it was fairly hardy. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry too much about it.

“Once I’ve got a method finalized, I wonder if I can leave it to the palace merchants? We did that with the soap just fine, so it should be all right, but I’d rather get Aura’s permission.”

Once he’d finished making the mixed soap and oil, he’d instructed the merchant who came to the palace on the process and simply bought the finished product. Of course, a wily merchant would not be satisfied with supplying such a rare and profitable product to only the inner palace and so had sought Aura’s permission to sell it elsewhere.

Bathing was already seen as something of a luxury for nobles, so while it wasn’t flying off the proverbial shelves, the appellation of “purveyor of the inner palace” and word of mouth from people using it were enough to lead it to gradually spread amongst the noble women of the country. Adding shampoo and conditioner would maybe even see daily baths becoming the norm for nobles.

“Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen,” he told himself, shooting his delusions down.

His life in the inner palace had made him forget, but bathing in this world was an expensive luxury in terms of both equipment and labor. In Capua, even the coolest season was more than warm enough that a simple cold rinse was no issue. Therefore, it was only a minority, even among the rich, who spent the money to furnish their bathrooms.

Then again, if it became known that the prince consort preferred his wife and the maids living in the inner palace to bathe daily and keep themselves clean, the practice might well spread explosively throughout noble families with daughters of marriageable age.

“Thinking about it that way, it’s honestly pretty impressive that ancient Rome had public baths. You could just compromise on a sauna for warming yourself up. Huh? Saunas?”

The tail end of his musings made him stop.

“Back on Earth, saunas were a pretty Scandinavian thing. Maybe they exist in Princess Freya’s country?”

If so, maybe getting a sauna in the inner palace would be a good idea, he considered absentmindedly.

Aura’s recent physical “persuasions” must have borne fruit, as he had ended up accepting Freya’s entry into the inner palace as being likely.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

That night, husband and wife began their usual evening routine. Having eaten and bathed, they sat opposite each other and began discussing important plans for the future.

“So I’ll be going to General Pujol’s wedding in a carriage as well?” Zenjirou asked.

“Indeed. The matter with Valentia was urgent, so I used teleportation magic to send you there, but this is a matter of course for the active season, a wedding. It will weigh on you, but I would have you take the slow route in the carriage,” the queen explained in answer.

“Got it. Interacting with the people I’m traveling with will probably be harder than the trip itself. I’ll have to work something out for that,” Zenjirou’s gaze as he answered wasn’t focused on his wife’s face, but on her chest.

Aura’s clothing choice after the bath was a red negligee with some sort of mesh on the inside of its neckline. It had probably been meant as a bit of a treat for her husband as their period of abstinence came to an end. She was wearing more provocative clothing of late with him.

He would have been slightly uncertain about where to look if it were anyone else, but he didn’t have to hold back with his wife. The bright light of the LED lamps exposed her skin, and he happily ogled her.

“I can put something on over this if you would rather? If you cannot concentrate on the matter at hand...”

“Sorry, I’m fine. Carry on,” Zenjirou apologized half-heartedly as his wife scolded him with a reluctant smile. He wanted to keep things as they were.

Of course, Aura also wasn’t really scolding him, and she continued, “You will be using the royal family’s eight-drake-drawn carriage. On board will be you and your partner, Princess Freya. I imagine Lady Skaji will also be joining you as her guard. Finally, Ines will be present as your helper.”

“Oh, Ines again?”

“Hm? Is there some issue with her?” Aura asked upon seeing Zenjirou’s puzzlement.

“Nah, at least not as far as I’m concerned. She made things way easier in Valentia; it just feels a little harsh to her.”

“Hmm, then perhaps someone else? Margarette would... No, that would not work. I would not be entirely comfortable with that. Hard on her though it may be, there is no one better suited than Ines.”

“Hrmgh, got it. I’ll do my best to behave and keep the workload off her.”

If Aura had put it so firmly, it must be important. It was true that not just anyone could care for royals away from the inner palace.

Margarette was a striking young maid with blonde hair— rare for Capua. She was one of the few maids in the inner palace who was not Zenjirou’s attendant but Aura’s, so the two had not interacted much. For her name to come up from Aura as a substitute for Ines, she must have been very skilled.

“Also, as you feared, many of the nobles from the capital will be attending the wedding. Many will be accompanying the groom, but there will likely be plenty who accompany you. I suspect you will need to give your greetings at each rest stop, and I would hope you deal with them appropriately.”

Aura informing him of the cruel future awaiting him left Zenjirou looking up at the ceiling. “Ugh, damn it. But you said I’m traveling separately from General Pujol? I figured he’d be aiming to never leave my side. It was a bit of a worry, actually.”

The queen’s bare shoulders rose in a shrug as she answered. “At a wedding, the groom holds one of the main parts to play. He must maintain that role through the entirety of their travels to greet his new bride. Having a royal such as yourself traveling with them as well would bring into question which of you held the main role, would it not? Therefore it is an unwritten rule that the groom does not travel with someone more highly ranked than himself.”

“I see. Seems like an annoying custom to me, but I’m glad of it this time.” Zenjirou nodded, his wife doing the same.

“The highest-ranked among the nobles traveling with you is likely to be Rafaello Márquez. Did you manage to foster good relations with him while in Valentia?”

Zenjirou thought back to the man who had acted as his secretary in Valentia. He was oddly modest for such a high-ranking noble, which left Zenjirou pleasantly disposed towards him.

“Oh, Rafaello? That should be fine,” he answered.

Even if the man had been a prior candidate for Aura’s hand, Zenjirou didn’t feel as antagonistic towards him as he did towards Pujol Guillén. He was definitely skilled and most certainly a person to watch, but he wasn’t as overbearing as the general, so Zenjirou wasn’t quite as wary of him.

“He is one to keep an eye on in his own right,” Aura warned him. “While he is rather unlikely to do something of his own accord, if Count Márquez were to intimate that he should, he is highly likely to follow through and make it a reality. The family has placed itself firmly on our side, so I doubt they would attempt to ensnare us. Still, you must not let your guard down.”

“Sorry, you’re right. I’ll be careful,” Zenjirou apologized earnestly in the face of his wife’s severe warning, ducking his head slightly. “Ah, right. Lord Rafaello was another candidate for your hand, so he’s still single, isn’t he? Who’s his partner for the wedding? Lady Octavia, maybe?” he asked in sudden realization.

Aura decided this was the perfect opportunity and decided to make a recently finalized change in the inner palace clear to him.

“No, his partner will be Kisha.”

That was a name Zenjirou had not expected to hear, and his shock was clear in his widened eyes. “Uh, Kisha as in my maid Kisha? No way, she’s from a big enough family to be the next head of the Márquez family’s wife?”

The year and a half he’d spent there meant that he could immediately picture the maids who aided him just by hearing their names. If his recollections were correct, she was extremely attractive and could well be described as glamorous. She also had a particularly fine figure among the maids and was older compared to the others. Ignoring any biases, she was probably even better looking than Aura. She was the one who immediately came to mind as far as the beauty of the younger maids was concerned.

“The Massana family she hails from is indeed that of a feudal lord, even if only a baron, so she is quite suitable for the Márquez family. Lord Manuel prefers a stable foundation over a rapid expansion of influence, so taking a fairly tractable family in through marriage fits our evaluation of him. I would, however, imagine that the main reason she was selected as his successor’s bride is, as you are assuming, that Kisha is a maid of the inner palace.”

“Yeah, figures.”

Zenjirou was rather concerned by his wife’s comment. Working in the isolated inner palace and caring for the queen and prince consort meant the maids had access to information that ordinary people could never gain. Of course, speaking carelessly of such things could spell the end of not only themselves, but their very line. They would therefore only be able to reveal slight impressions, but that was plenty valuable at present.

Zenjirou had come from another world entirely, so the palace nobles had essentially no information on him. They would pay vast sums of money just to know what food he liked, his favorite color, or even his favorite season. Conversely, they would do similar for his least-favorite things, as both sets of information could be used to curry favor more effectively.

“So the Márquezes are going to start making their moves eventually?” Zenjirou asked, his tone begging for a break.

However, the queen tilted her head before answering. “No, I would say Count Márquez dislikes risks. I sincerely doubt he will do anything you find unpleasant for some time. I imagine he is currently aiming to gather information.”

“He picked his successor’s wife just to gather some info? Or is she strictly meant to be his partner for the wedding but they won’t actually get married?”

“Hardly. Kisha tendered a sudden resignation from the inner palace for this. Even given how much smaller the Massana family is than the Márquez family, it would mean certain death for the marriage not to go ahead after such an event. He will not countenance such foolishness. He has actually placed a request to announce the marriage as soon as permission is granted.”

“Hmm, that’d mean he chose his son’s wife just to get some information about me. That’s not entirely believable.”

Aura admonished him as he looked askance at her. “I did just say that her family is of sufficient standing—albeit barely—to marry into the Márquez line. With the addition of potential information from the inner palace, choosing her is hardly strange. Kisha is a beautiful woman, well-known and liked in courtly society.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s right.” Zenjirou clapped in apparent agreement.

“Oh, well that makes it sound like you have seen her beauty for yourself.” Aura’s eyes had narrowed and all intonation had fled from her tone.

Zenjirou had the briefest of moments to think he’d screwed up, but he knew that trying to fob it off carelessly would cause more harm, so he answered honestly. “Well, yeah. Truthfully, I think she’s the most beautiful of the maids working here, but that’s all.”

He couldn’t help but make the last half into more of an excuse. Even if praising another woman in front of his wife didn’t cause him any concern, it still gave him an odd sense of guilt. However, his reaction this time was born of needless concern.

I see. So he loves me and sees Kisha as the most beautiful of the maids. I can make some assumptions about his preferences with that. I suppose that would make things an uphill battle for Princess Freya? No, he has an awfully positive impression of Princess Bona as well, so she is not necessarily contrary to his preferences.

Aura couldn’t reveal her musings to him. She brought her thoughts back on track and moved the conversation on to what she needed to tell him.

“So, Kisha will soon be leaving the inner palace. That is unfortunately not all. It may have been precipitated by the talk of her marriage, but the parents of several of the older maids have asked that their daughters return home soon.”

“I can see how they’d be in that position, yeah,” Zenjirou agreed.

The maids of the inner palace were, as a rule, all of marriageable age. If the circumstances called for it, they were expected to be available for Zenjirou, so it was only natural. However, spending the entirety of this period of their lives within the inner palace would be an issue for both the parents and the maids themselves. Therefore, bringing them home before they were too old to be married was one of those kindnesses a parent gave their child.

Understanding that, Zenjirou had no real reason to be against it. “Eh, that’s fine, I guess. I think they’ve got the right, but I don’t want to lose everyone at the same time. Will the maids who are left be able to cope without the extra manpower? I think the burden might end up being too heavy.”

“I have the same concern; therefore, I intend to delay any others leaving before we bring in more maids. Thus, when the additional maids are skilled enough to take over, I will accept the other resignations. I would then establish somewhat of a staff buffer to avoid such a thing happening again.”

“Yeah, that works. That definitely works. We should be ready for anything.”

Zenjirou’s face was unusually serious as he nodded. He was well aware of the risks of working with a bare minimum of personnel. A simple cold could put the others over their limits, to say nothing of the fact that something unforeseen could result in next month’s work arriving this month instead, giving everyone a literal taste of hell.

Aura seemed slightly overwhelmed by his uncharacteristic forcefulness and nodded herself. “I-Indeed. If you are so strongly in agreement, then that is what we shall do. Simply recruiting more people will not be terribly difficult.”

There were many girls of a suitable age who wanted to work as a maid in the inner palace. There were even more noble parents who would want their daughters to do so. They would first be filtered for families who were loyal to the royal family, and the rest would be sorted based on their suitability. The previous shortlist had been determined by appearance, and those women were now the ones working around Zenjirou. That appearance selection had been based on those who were the most immediately attractive and the girls closest in looks to Aura, as she hadn’t been aware of Zenjirou’s tastes in women at the time.

Now, though, she knew that such considerations were meaningless. Zenjirou wasn’t someone who would make a move on the maids, so there was no need to select them based on appearance. Of course, they would carry the name and dignity of the position and would need to be attractive enough for that, but there was no need to prioritize the taller girls with large breasts who looked like Aura.

In truth, that was one of the reasons several of the girls would be resigning after only a year and a half. It was natural, as picking girls who looked older and similar to the queen inevitably meant that they would tend to actually be older.

If their looks were less important, the additional girls could be gathered from the younger candidates and therefore stay longer. Nineteen-year-old maids would leave after a year, but fifteen-year-olds would stay for up to five years.

“Losing people from the inner palace is somewhat saddening, though. Oh, I know, would giving the maids who leave something as thanks for their work cause an issue?”

Aura thought over her husband’s idea for a moment. “No, it should not. Normal noble estates do similar things. However, any difference in what you give to different girls could lead to an impression that you were involved with them, so they need to be small gifts, given to all of them equally.”

“I see. A small gift given to all of them. Got it, I’ll think of something,” he nodded.

All the maids had been greatly helpful over the last year and a half. Caring for a man who had no idea of the norms of this world and had completely abnormal preferences in comparison must have been difficult for them. He wanted to show his gratitude in some way.

The conversation had now petered out between them and silence reigned for a while. Such silences between people who didn’t know each other could be unpleasant, but between those who knew each other well, they could be quite relaxing.

The two of them poured water into their glasses to wet their slightly dry throats from the conversation thus far. Eventually, Aura’s red-cut glass was empty, and she returned it to the table before continuing their conversation.

“This is a slightly different matter, but I should let you know. The souvenirs you brought from Valentia... Their sand and shells were used in our glass manufacturing and had an extreme effect. The glass we’ve produced has been almost black until now, but this was far more transparent. The viscosity has also improved, and it is far easier to blow. Our glass production has progressed dramatically.”

Aura’s eyes were alight, and Zenjirou felt himself drawn in as his own smile deepened. “That’s great news. The sand must be the biggest issue. We’ll need to try using sand from more places, maybe.”

“I intend to. We will be using their impressions to find the best-suited sand we can. The glassmaking budget is currently limited, so it will not be particularly large-scale as yet. What of the other possibility? I believe you mentioned something called a magnet to remove the iron components that cause the color from the sand?”

Zenjirou looked somewhat conflicted as she questioned him further. He scratched his head as he gave his answer. “Yeah, I managed to make an electromagnet with the coil I had Prince Francesco make. It only uses a few rechargeable double-As, but it’s fairly strong. Using it to make permanent magnets is difficult, though. It’s true that exposing iron to the magnetic field from it makes that iron magnetic, but the magnets you make that way are really weak. I don’t think they’ll be suitable to remove the iron, but I remember hearing that iron with lots of stuff alloyed into it holds a magnetic field better. I’m trying out a fair bit, but nothing’s usable yet.” He explained his progress almost apologetically, his gaze naturally being drawn to the corner of the room where his planned electromagnet and weak magnets were.

“So they are not yet usable?”

“Yeah, things don’t look good, to be honest. If we want to test it out, it’d probably be better to take the actual electromagnet out and use it there. They report directly to you, so I don’t think it would be too difficult to keep it secret.”

“Hm, that is an option as well,” Aura mused, folding her arms over her full chest.

“The permanent magnets do have the absolute minimum magnetic field. Putting the magnetized needles through oil on paper and floating them in water makes them all point in pretty much the same direction. I guess compasses would be possible in this world as well.”

“Com-passes? What are they?” Aura asked, puzzled by the untranslated word.

“Well, if you leave a magnet alone, its north pole will always point north. The world itself is a big magnet. Wait...actually, is this world even a spherical planet? Whatever, that doesn’t matter for now. If you take a long, thin piece of metal with a magnetic field and float it on water and leave it for a while, it naturally turns to point in a set direction. It’s a tool that lets you know your orientation, and it’s called a compass.”

“Oh, now that would be useful. You could maintain your bearings even in unfamiliar forests.”

The admiration in her voice was doubtlessly due to the painful experience of losing track of her location in such circumstances during the war. As a rule, the army kept people who could navigate by the stars and sun in each division, but there were many occasions where the sky was invisible due to thick vegetation. Conversely, its lack of use on ships was likely due to the relative immaturity of their naval development.

“The issue,” she mused, “is that you need to make it float on water and wait. If it could be made more portable, then I would mass-produce it and equip the army with it.”

“Right, the water method is just the simplest; practical compasses are more portable. How can I explain it? You put the magnet like a teeter-totter or a set of scales. Either way, you hold the needle right in its center and let it spin freely. It’s easy to make, so I’ll draw up a plan that you can give the craftsmen. The actual shape should be easy.”

A compass was a massive advance, but Aura was still thinking about glass manufacturing so she wasn’t too interested.

“I shall leave that to you. Do as you wish. Back on topic, you mean to say that our only option with the electromagnet is to lend it directly to the craftsmen?”

“Yeah, I think that’s the best way right now. You can remove the gathered metal by just switching it off. Honestly, though, I think we’d be better off not relying on this sort of thing and just finding better sand for glass.”

“Indeed. I hope we can find the best within the crownlands. If not, we may need to contact regional nobles, although I know one place where we can find vast quantities of sand without even looking.”

Her joking tone meant that he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a solution, but still he asked just in case. “Where?”

“The Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle. Half of their country is desert. I do not know what kind of sand it is, but they certainly are not lacking,” she told him, laughing.

Pretty much as he had expected... It was no solution.

“Well, that might be a problem in the future. In the long term, no matter how carefully we guard the process, it will be revealed eventually. I don’t know how good desert sand is for glass, though.” He shrugged.

Zenjirou’s concerns were not too far off the mark. Desert sand was the result of decades of weathering. That weathering left behind only the most resilient parts of the sand, quartz, otherwise known as the main ingredient of glass. Mature deserts could be over ninety percent quartz. In fact, there were companies on Earth that imported such sand from mature deserts to use for cheap glass.

“My mention of the Twin Kingdoms was, of course, a joke. First, we should try to improve our process using the sand from Valentia and gather more from that area. Fortunately, Valentia and the Balearis Islands resort are crownlands. I hope we will be able to find better sand in that area.”

“Yeah, good luck. I’ll work on making the electromagnet usable.”

The queen gave him a nod. “I shall leave that to you. Now, this is a slightly different topic, but you are still practicing your magic in the evenings, correct? I believe you said you first successfully used your second incantation a month ago. How have things progressed since?”

It was a sudden question but a topic he wanted to discuss as well, so he answered cheerfully. “Oh, I thought I mentioned that. I’ve managed to get it to a seventy percent success rate.”

His wife responded to his proud answer with genuine surprise. “That is rather impressive. You are progressing quickly indeed. Would you be willing to show me?”

Zenjirou cheered at his wife’s question and immediately got ready to do so. “Whoo, let’s go! Transfer that which lies within my eye line into my hand. As compensation, I present eighty-one offerings of mana to the spirits of space-time...”

Silence.

Despite his confident incantation, it unfortunately had no effect. The incantation itself had been properly translated via the soul of language so he had at least pronounced it properly. The issue, therefore, lay within either his visualization or his control of his mana.

Of course, he knew that he didn’t have a hundred percent success rate, so all he did was smile ruefully and try once again.

“Oh, guess that was a nonstarter. One more time. Transfer that which lies within my eye line into my hand. As compensation, I present eighty-one offerings of mana to the spirits of space-time...”

Once more, nothing.

“H-Huh? Well, that’s kinda unfortunate. One more time. Transfer that which lies within my eye line into my hand. As compensation, I present eighty-one offerings of mana to the spirits of space-time...”

After three consecutive failures, a hint of dismay started to show in his voice.

“Honestly, I’ve been doing pretty well recently. I wonder what’s going on.”

Aura softly held his hand as he raised it for a frantic fourth attempt and smiled calmingly. “Do not worry, Zenjirou. This is normal. Even the visualization of memorized spells can be hindered by the slightest tension. This is only the second thing you can cast, and the first used while adjusting your mana flow. Succeeding in a mere three or four attempts is a rarity.”

Her statement wasn’t just meant to console him; it was the cold hard truth. He usually practiced while sitting alone at his computer, so however successful he was there, someone else watching him would inevitably lower his success rate. That was how sensitive magic was.

Of course, magic wasn’t the only thing that grew much less successful with mental stressors. Even back in Japan, the Rubik’s Cube champion could usually solve all six faces within five seconds, but when he had to demonstrate it on TV, he spent over a minute without being able to do so.

Her explanation made him feel much better, and he smiled back at her while scratching his head, embarrassed. “Ah, right. I’m not all that mentally resilient, so give me a bit until I can manage it.”

“I will give you as long as you need. I mind little.”

Zenjirou attempted the “attract” spell several times as she watched him. Finally, on his eleventh attempt...

“One more time. Transfer that which lies within my eye line into my hand. As compensation, I present eighty-one offerings of mana to the spirits of space-time! Got it!”

The moment he finished the incantation, the wooden coaster on the table disappeared and reappeared in his hand.

“Attract” was a type of exceedingly limited teleportation magic. It was only applicable to items that could be held in one hand, and it required a direct line of sight. It therefore had very limited applications, but it was one of the spells of space-time magic that required the least mana, so it was used for training purposes.

“Magnificent. The magic was successful.” Aura ignored the repeated failures and applauded, praising her husband’s success.

“Ah, thank you, thank you,” he answered, somewhat embarrassed as he raised his right hand, holding the coaster and bowed slightly.

Aura’s expression drew tight as she spoke to him again. “So, allow me to get right to the point. Would you leave your mastery of attract as it is and begin practicing teleportation as your third spell?”

Zenjirou couldn’t contain his surprise at the unexpected suggestion. “What? I can’t even really say that I can use this one. Why would I leave it?”

“Well, it is not the best way of learning, but it would allow you to learn the more frequently used types of magic first. Since you can at least somewhat use the spell, you can envision the effect of a spell while controlling your mana flow. The only three requirements for a successful casting are the correct pronunciation, the correct visualization, and the correct control of your mana. If a beginner is in the same position as you, where they can maintain the visualization while controlling their mana output, they may learn any kind of magic with the same requirements. Therefore, while it will be a great effort, you already have the foundation to use teleportation.”

“I’ll be able to use teleportation?” Zenjirou asked dazedly, the statement sounding utterly surreal to him. So far, the only spells he had succeeded at were the barrier and attraction spells. Both of them fell under the category of space-time magic and were therefore unusable for the majority of people.

Unfortunately, being able to use them didn’t mean they were useful. Both were spells that researchers of the Capuan family had developed to probe into the possibilities of space-time magic, and they held practically no utility.

Teleportation, in comparison, was practically the poster child of space-time magic. About eighty percent of the reason for space-time magic being considered so useful even among the multiple lineal magics on the continent was due to that spell. It could only send a person at a time along with what they were carrying, but it enabled instantaneous travel regardless of distance. Thinking of being able to use it himself, Zenjirou’s heart was racing almost like a child.

“Sure, got it. I’ll learn it. Why bring it up so suddenly, though?”

Despite his excitement, he was still confused about why Aura would change the normal learning schedule and have him learn teleportation first.

A crease appeared between Aura’s eyebrows as she replied with a slight amount of annoyance. “Because of a problem that may well soon occur. You and I are...with each other every night, no?”

While she didn’t explicitly say what they were doing, the reddening of her cheeks at the phrase “every night” left only one conclusion.

“Right, we are. Tonight too, yeah?” His own cheeks reddened as well, but he tried to play off his embarrassment.

“Y-You need not say it! Well, back on topic. If we continue as we are, it is only a matter of time before we have our second child. It will be a slight inconvenience, though. While this is only a personal estimate, however quickly we move, Princess Freya will become your concubine after a year at minimum. The success of intercontinental trade is indispensable, and we cannot accept her without that. Therefore, she will need to return to Uppasala at least once and gain permission to marry into our family from her own king along with securing official recognition of the trade treaty.”

Aura paused for a moment before continuing.

“However, the Glasir’s Leaf took 120 days to make its way to Capua from Uppasala. A more certain route in the future will decrease that somewhat, but we should assume a one-way trip will take at least a hundred days. Therefore a round trip will be two hundred days. Adding the necessary negotiations into that, assuming it will be accomplished within a year is overly optimistic.”

“I see. And?” So far, all Zenjirou understood was that Aura was concerned, but not why.

“Do you recall the commotion while Carlos was growing inside me? I assume the nobles went on the offensive to get you a concubine. That will happen once again for our second child. If Princess Freya was already within the inner palace at that point, we could use the fact that you already have a concubine as an argument, but as I explained, she will likely be nothing more than a candidate at that point.”

Zenjirou understood what she was getting at then, and his face suddenly paled. “B-But we managed to get around it last time, right? So we can jus—”

“Last time, we used the emotional excuse that you had no interest in anyone else. However, that will no longer hold water. After all, Princess Freya is already a candidate for such a position.”

“Ugh, that’s right,” he realized, truly at his wit’s end. “She’s already more than I want, and having to take another? Before her as well? I can’t do that.”

“That is precisely why,” Aura began consolingly, “I wish for you to learn teleportation. You boldly proclaimed that you would learn the spell before I had our second child and get yourself into a position where you could summon a healer from the Twin Kingdoms, did you not?”

“Ah, right, I did,” he admitted, somewhat awkwardly settling himself into his seat again.

Despite his high-handed claims of learning teleportation before she had her second child in order to get help, he hadn’t even started to learn the spell. On top of that, he had also started to try for another child with her, so he knew it seemed like he was just all talk.

However, whether she was aware of his internal distress or not, Aura’s expression didn’t change as she continued. “If you can learn how to use teleportation, you will have a legitimate reason to travel to the Twin Kingdoms of Sharou-Gilbelle. That will in turn allow you to avoid calls from domestic nobles to take a concubine. After all, taking a concubine or not is, at least officially, something done by the person themselves. If you are not here, I can simply say that we cannot proceed without you, which will be accepted even given my position as queen.”

The matter with Freya was, officially speaking, Zenjirou accepting her as his partner to the wedding. However, his expression didn’t brighten. If anything, it grew even cloudier.

“That’d get me away from domestic nobles chasing me with concubines, yes. But wouldn’t the nobles in the Twin Kingdoms—hell, the Sharous in particular—try to push a concubine on me? I might end up with not just two, but three.”

“But if you comport yourself properly, you can restrict it to just Princess Freya. If it comes up in the Twin Kingdoms, all you need to tell them is, ‘Traditionally, I would take a domestic noble as a concubine, yet I already have a foreign royal as a potential concubine. If I were to involve yet another country’s royalty then the local nobles would refuse to be silenced.’”

“Whoa, what duplicity.” Even Zenjirou could only look shocked at his wife’s cunning.

Her statement was truthfully absurd. Zenjirou’s absence would prevent the local nobles from offering him concubines, while the Twin Kingdoms would be refused, using the local nobles as an excuse.

“Wouldn’t that leave me stuck if the locals and the Sharous worked together? I’d have nowhere to run and a second and third would be pushed on me.”

Aura could tell from Zenjirou’s half-lidded gaze that he wasn’t really feeling it, and she tilted her head, somewhat at a loss. “That is true, but what would you suggest? Calling it off? If my pregnancy occurs before Princess Freya weds you, then things will be as I stated.”

“Well, it’s a bit of a shame, but maybe we should put a stop to trying for our second for a while?”

“That may not work. We’ve already been doing so for more than ten days, so it may be too late. It is also a fact that a second child before you take a concubine would make the royal family more stable, so I would rather continue as we are.”

“Hmm, I get it,” Zenjirou murmured, reclining on the sofa and thinking. His brain wasn’t working particularly well to begin with, but all this information being stuffed in at once meant that he couldn’t sort through it.

As he tried to consider the best result, all he could think of were things that wouldn’t work. He’d need to have a priority, get the most important things done, and if the lesser things were not possible, he would just give up on them.

With that in mind, he considered the problem anew. What’s the most important thing to me? Well, that goes without saying; it’s Aura. We’ll definitely be having another kid too. In which case, I need to learn teleportation magic and go to the Twin Kingdoms.

At that point, he had to make his first concession. With the second child’s delivery in mind, he would have to visit the Twin Kingdoms, which in turn meant the issue of concubines there would be unavoidable.

With that precondition, Aura’s suggestion was not so bad. If he was going to go anyway, he might as well learn teleportation quickly and avoid the local concubines.

“All right, I’ll learn teleportation as quickly as possible and head for the Twin Kingdoms when you’re pregnant. I’m fine with that as far as it goes.”

“Oh, I see,” Aura smiled happily, earning a tired smile from Zenjirou in response.

“Yeah, when I think about keeping you healthy, I know I’ll need to be able to move between the two countries quickly anyway, that much is unavoidable. And if it’s going to cause problems, then those are unavoidable too. If it means I can call a healer if you need one, then I can ignore a lot of the other stuff.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Aura’s chest warmed at his ardent declaration. He was saying he would undertake nearly any hardship if it kept her and their children healthy. It was a blessing beyond any she could ask as a woman, even if the hardship in question was the risk of more women being pushed onto him as concubines.

Their chat seemed to have strengthened his resolve, and Zenjirou looked at his beloved wife calmly before he spoke again. “Yeah, if I try to think things through too far in advance, I’ll end up paralyzed, so I’ll just keep it simple for now. I’ll learn teleportation. I’ll go to the Twin Kingdoms. But I won’t have any more concubines. If it’s a political issue that makes it absolutely necessary like with Princess Freya, that’s one thing, but I won’t take any more if I can avoid it.”

His wording made it sound like he’d already accepted that Freya would be his concubine, but Aura knew it would only sadden her gentle husband if she pointed it out, so such a comment would serve no purpose.

“Very well. I will be counting on you. Thank you, Zenjirou,” was therefore all she said, thanking him with a smile for his devotion.