Royal Mob Takes It All - Chapter 75

—In Princess Leia’s room. The princess makes tea by hand, and there are no cups for the number of people… so for the time being, Nina and I decline, and the tea is handed to the other four.

“Wow, delicious! Ehehehe…”

Hibiki was nodding something next to him. The tea itself, however, was still excellent. I’ve been served tea made by Princess Leia a few times before, and it really is delicious, isn’t it?

… Well, anyway, it seems that now the discussion is ready.

“Let’s see, so is it correct that this is the place to receive information about the Empire from Her Imperial Highness Princess Dantha, Princess?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Princess cleared her throat.

“As you said, Gustav-Sama, we would like Your Imperial Highness to provide us with a variety of information. Information on the Imperial Army, internal affairs, weaknesses and all that…”

“Yes, of course. I will tell you… just, Your Highness the Princess, and everyone else. Please don’t call me ‘Your Imperial Highness’. I am now being hunted by the Empire. I have no identity at all. Please feel free to call me ‘Dantha’.”

Princess Leia also smiles back at Dantha, who laughs in embarrassment.

“Yes, Lady Dantha. Then please feel free to address me as ‘Leia’ as well.”

“Thank you, Lady Leia.”

– – And so began Dantha’s information.

Apparently, Dantha had gathered a lot of information inside the Empire when she started the revolution a year ago. She told us everything from the control of the army to the level of skill, as well as the internal political and financial situation and the aims of the Emperor Sieg’ faction.

“…Thank you very much, Lady Dantha.”

Several minutes had passed since we began talking. It was a very good thing for us to know quite a few details about the Empire, which was a very positive factor for us, and a welcome one at a time when we didn’t know when the war was going to open up…

“…The aim of the Empire is ‘the unification of the continent by a chosen few Imperial citizens’?”

Princess Leia opened her mouth heavily. Unusually for a princess, her eyebrows are furrowed in great displeasure.

…Well, of course it’s unpleasant. A world in which all others give up their human rights for the sake of a few imperial citizens. What kind of dystopia is that?

It’s not just Princess Leia. Nina and Spera were also listening to the story in a foul mood… only Hibiki dropped out in the middle of the story and is now sitting on the floor, clinging to Nina’s buttocks as she squirms and falls asleep.

“…I can never forgive Sieg for such complacency. That’s why we must defeat him at all costs.”

The princess nodded deeply at Dantha’s determined and resolve-filled words.

“We cannot be invaded by the Sieg Emperor either. We will fight with all our might… and so, Lady Dantha, there is one more piece of information I would like to have.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I would like to know about the Seven Warriors currently in the Empire.”

“Yes, the Seven Warriors…”

Dantha crosses her arms and looks troubled.

“Actually, the only one I’ve met in person is Hibiki, and I’ve only known her for about two weeks. As for information about the other Seven Warriors, Hibiki is probably more knowledgeable.”

“I see, thank you. Now then, about that…”

Princess Leia turns slightly towards Hibiki, who sighs in her sleep, “Kuh… kuh…”

“…Let’s ask Hibiki-san again at a later date.”

“…I’m sorry, I’ll wake her up now…”

“No, it can really be done at a later date. I also have to summarise the information I have just obtained and share it with my father and the others.”

“I see, I’m sorry about our Hibiki. She’s a really fast-paced girl… she’s silly, but she’s not a bad girl.”

“No, thanks to her, the mood is not too heavy.”

Princess Leia replied with a smile, and Dantha also shrugged.

…Incidentally, this was told to us as an aside as to how Hibiki came to know Dancer.

“Hibiki came one day out of the blue to the imprisonment cell where I am locked up. She came to my cage through the guards and talked to me in a friendly manner… I asked her what she wanted, but she said something like ‘I’m just taking a walk’ and ‘… I’m of the group that fills the map from one end to the other’.”

Dantha laughed, recalling.

“Then she came to me every day, and that’s when I finally understood Hibiki’s true intentions. That this girl doesn’t think, she just acts the way she wants to act.”

…And earlier today, Hibiki apparently broke the lock on Dantha’s prison and forced her out. ‘I’m going to the kingdom now, so why don’t you come along, Dantha-chan? It’s just a matter of a pretty girl being locked up in a place like this.

Hibiki then applied her own ‘Unique Skill’ (albeit reluctantly) and flew to the Kingdom with Dantha.

The meeting in Princess Leia’s room was about to break up with such chit-chat, but then Dantha remembered, “By the way, I don’t know if this is a useful story,” she said.

“There is a story my father told me about the Seven Warriors…”

She prefaced that with.

“He said that the Seven Warriors were summoned a hundred years ago too.”

“A hundred years ago?”

Dantha nodded at Princess Leia’s confirmation.

“At that time, the Empire thought that the Seven Warriors were golems or something without a will, and they held a summoning ceremony for the purpose of developing the territory. However, the ones who were actually summoned were otherworldly, just like Hibiki and the others.”

“…And what happened to them?”

“I heard that there was a dispute within the court at the time about their treatment. It was such a delicate balance that, I don’t know how it started, but there was a civil war among the Seven Warriors.”

Dantha spins her words little by little, as if tracing her memory.

“They killed each other, and the Empire suffered great damage. And from then on, the [Ritual of the Summoning of the Seven Warriors] came to be treated as a forbidden art, and all the books on the method were burnt.”

“…Burnt, you say? Then the people who are being summoned this time…”

“The books that were supposed to have been burnt must have remained. I have an idea.”

Dantha said, biting her back teeth.

“Agranis – the one they call the [court witch] – could have it.”

“Why on earth is that?”

“She is a [disciple], the last of the Seven Warriors to survive the civil war 100 years ago, and was responsible for burying the book on the rituals of the summoning of the Seven Warriors… the [Wand Warrior].”

**

After a brief talk, it was decided to disband for the day. Nina wakes Hibiki, who had completely fallen asleep, with a sharp chop, and leaves the room, leaving Princess Leia and Spera behind. The two of them are going to report to the king after summarizing the current story.

“Now, I will show Lady Dantha and the others to their rooms.”

“I look forward to working with you, Gustav-Dono.”

“I understand it’s a little cramped, since you asked us to use the servants’ room to hide your presence.”

“No problem. During the Revolution, it was not unusual for me to stay in the countryside.”

… whoa, that’s tough. If you say so, then there’s not much to worry about.

Nina and I offered to show Dantha and the others to their rooms, so the four of us proceeded down the corridor.

“Huh~… ugh, my head hurts…”

Hibiki yawns and rubs her tumescent head.

“Speaking of which, when did the conversation end? It was pretty soon, wasn’t it?”

“That’s because you were asleep five minutes into it…”

Nina said with a sigh. …But it was a really beautiful fall asleep, wasn’t it? Her hips fell to the floor with a stomp, and Hibiki at first clung to me, who was next to her. The air in the room froze again that time, and it was hard… but Nina offered to change places with a very bitter expression on her face.

“Did I? I don’t remember.”

“…Maybe if you get a good beating this time, you’ll remember, right?”

“I don’t want that! Don-Don’t do that!”

Hibiki made a battle with her hand and held it up in front of her like a barrier.

“I’m an idiot who knows she’ s an idiot, so I know it’s useless to try to remember the complicated stories.”

“Oh yeah.”

Hibiki said with her chest puffed out, and Nina shrugged her shoulders in dismay.

“So, Nina-chan.”

“Nina, ‘chan’?”

“How old are you, Niña-chan?”

“…I’m about thirteen.”

“Whaaaat! I knew it! You’re little, aren’t you?”

“Don’t call me little!”

“You’re so cuteeeeeee!”

“Don’t rub on my cheek~~~!”

Nina is thrusting her arms to escape from Hibiki, who is rubbing up against her.

…How lively. Well, it’s just right to dispel the serious air from earlier.

We proceeded down the corridor, looking warmly at the exchange between the two of them.