I rode out of the palace in a swaying carriage, and even passed through the gates of the imperial capital.
Riding with me were my father and Her Highness the Consort, while Terry and the twins rode in another carriage.
My little sister was four now, and apparently she was in yet another carriage with her nursemaid.
“Wow, it’s so wide. I’ve seen it before, but when you look at it from a different angle, it feels completely different.”
“You’ve seen it before? When was that, Asha?”
Oops.
You couldn’t see the lake from the position we’d taken during the troop deployment, and the unusual sight of the road curving around the edge of the lake had made my tongue slip.
“Um, in a painting. The angle was different, you see. From here, it looked even wider.”
Since it was one of the famous sights of the imperial capital, my father, who had asked me about it, quickly accepted my answer.
That was close. Sneaking out is supposed to be a secret, so I need to be careful.
Today is our first family trip, and I don’t want to do anything that’ll get me scolded.
“I called it a family trip and made a great fuss over it, yet the destination is only the opposite shore of the lake. It is rather pathetic.”
“I’m still happy. And I didn’t know the emperor had a villa on the far shore.”
The place my father had chosen for our family trip was somewhere nearby: the opposite shore of the lake beyond the imperial capital.
The far shore was a slope, a little mountain of sorts, and villas stood here and there along it.
“The far shore of the lake is where the nobles’ mansions stood back when the imperial capital was not yet as large as it is now.”
Her Highness the Consort explained that, depending on the era, there had even been emperors who preferred spending their time in villas rather than in the palace.
For that reason, the villa had been carefully renovated, and while it fell short of a detached palace in scale, it possessed more than enough dignity.
The distance was short, but being able to take me out in the formal capacity of a member of the imperial family was the result of considerable effort.
And thanks to having gained a faction, it seemed my father now had people he could entrust matters to if he left the palace for a short period.
Between the troop deployment and our triumphal return, my father’s position had once been precarious, but he had rebuilt his power base, making it difficult for the dukes to interfere.
When I think that all my hard work led to this, nothing could make me happier.
“Wow. I’ve never seen a detached palace, but this is quite splendid.”
When we arrived at the villa, I was overwhelmed by the appearance of the entrance alone.
There was a circular building at the center, surrounded by four towers.
A further curved wall stood solidly around the whole place, giving it the air of a small fortress.
“If you climb up, the rooftop forms a corridor, and I hear the view is excellent. The surrounding annexes also serve as defensive walls, while the circular building at the center is the residence.”
Her Highness the Consort took it upon herself to explain the villa.
Once we entered, we passed through the annexes and came upon an open courtyard encircling the circular residence.
“This villa was built in the Tryan style. Asha, what do you know about the Kingdom of Tryan?”
Oh. I thought this was an explanation, but it turned into a lesson.
Still, it was one of the more famous countries, so I knew about it.
“It was once a major nation located in the northwestern region of the central continent. The river flowing from the central continent ran through steep mountains and was a difficult route, but they carved it open and transformed it into a canal leading to the sea, if I recall correctly.”
“Yes, that is right. For that reason, the distinctive feature of the Kingdom of Tryan’s style is those towers that look down from on high. Every major castle in the Kingdom of Tryan has a tower overlooking the canal.”
That probably meant enemies came from that direction.
Rather than marching while cutting a path along difficult slopes, it was easier to put ships on the canal and send troops all at once.
But if every major castle had a tower, that meant the country’s situation was such that, whenever they built a castle, they always had to be wary of foreign enemies.
“If I remember correctly, Tryan was once part of the empire before becoming independent. Its national strength declined at that time, but around fifty years ago, it began showing signs of revival.”
“You have studied well, Asha. Even now, the region around the canal is apparently busy with independence and annexation. The Kingdom of Tryan’s king two generations ago was a wise ruler, but I hear the next one was not quite as commendable.”
“Your Majesty, please be prudent.”
When my father spoke casually, Her Highness the Consort reprimanded him.
What would have been permissible as the words of the third son of a count’s family could be taken as criticism of another country once he was emperor.
The Kingdom of Tryan, too, had a foolish ruler after a wise one, and the current king had taken the throne after a succession dispute, making his position somewhat complicated.
Because of that, even though the Kingdom of Tryan had once been praised for its revival during the wise king’s reign, it now seemed to be starting again from the recovery of its national strength.
(Is this what they mean by “the mighty must fall”? Internal strife really is better avoided.)
(Requesting details on what “the mighty must fall” means.)
My attendants were far enough away that they couldn’t interject, but Sephira, it seemed, was by my side as if it were only natural.
So, while we entered the villa and received a tour of the facilities, I explained The Tale of the Heike to her.
Of course, I couldn’t recite it as it was, so I had to simplify only the opening part, including the bits derived from Buddhism.
The sound of the bells of Gion Shoja echoes the impermanence of all things. The color of the flowers of the sala trees reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline, and so on.
It was surprising how much I remembered.
As for the Gion Shoja part, I turned it into the sound of church bells, and made it a story about how faith may remain unchanged for a long time, but people change.
I ignored the sala trees entirely and used the changing of flowers instead, saying that even if they bloom in full glory, it is a law of nature that they will eventually wither.
(Is it common to compare humans to plants and trees?)
(Now that you mention it, I did talk about people withering, too. Hmm, maybe it’s because anyone can imagine it easily?)
While Sephira questioned me, I was shown into a parlor in the residence, where we took a short break with just the family.
“Brother, the mountain!”
“Brother, the lake!”
And just as we were about to discuss our plans, the twins energetically clashed in opinion and appealed to me.
Since we had arrived at the villa, we were going to enjoy ourselves, so the question was whether to climb the mountain or go down to the lake.
Warnel and Fel both seemed drawn to both choices, and after agonizing over it, they apparently wanted me to decide.
Neither of them had ever left the palace either, so both must have seemed novel to them.
“Hmm, it’s hard to choose. How about we decide based on what we’ll do? If it’s the lake, we’ll go boating, and preparations will be needed. If we climb the mountain, I suppose we’ll be able to look at the palace across the lake from outside. What about you, Terry?”
“No, I… either is fine.”
When I called out to him, Terry’s eyes lit up, but he immediately added that as if restraining himself.
He seemed interested, but I guess he couldn’t get excited the same way the twins did.
It was our precious family trip, so I wanted him to enjoy it with us.
In the end, at my suggestion, Fel, who had been pushing for the lake, gave in.
It seemed he was too excited to wait through the preparations.
So it was decided that we would have the small boat prepared while we went up the mountain, then take a rest after the climb before playing on the lake.
“I’m tired. Hey, Brother.”
“No, I’m still…”
“Aww, I’m tired. Let’s rest a little?”
Terry tried to put on a brave front against the twins, but he seemed to be struggling with his first mountain climb as well.
Or rather, it seemed there were no shoes made for mountain climbing in the first place, so everyone was climbing in leather shoes.
The path was properly maintained, but the hardness of the soles gradually took its toll.
“Phew. I am tired as well, so let us take a break. Still, Asha, you have strong legs.”
Her Highness the Consort, who had climbed this far in delicate heels, showed consideration for us.
But Terry at the moment didn’t seem to have the composure to notice that.
A year ago, he probably would have shown concern for the twins or taken their hands to look after them, but now he only stood there, looking troubled.
The twins, despite saying they were tired, passed the time by finding unfamiliar wildflowers.
At times like this, I felt that Terry was introverted, or rather, tended to become passive.
I had seen him hesitate and become unable to act on his own during alchemy experiments as well.
That wasn’t a bad thing, and since there were any number of adults around to look after him, it wasn’t a problem.
But from his anxious expression, I could tell that he himself apparently couldn’t accept that side of himself, and that worried me.
“Your Highness, I still have a long way to go myself. I climbed mountains during the troop deployment, but I spent most of it swaying on a donkey’s back. With me there, everyone else’s pace was thrown off, so I was probably no different from baggage.”
Around us, they had only just begun preparing for the break, so it looked like it would take some time yet.
I hadn’t had much time to talk with Terry either, so I decided to tell a story from my memories.
“It was a situation where trying to force myself to do something I couldn’t would only have held everyone back, so I relied on the people around me to climb the mountain. But it was a rocky mountain far steeper than this, and even on a donkey’s back, my strength ran out and I became unable to move.”
In truth, General Wagelis had handled the movement, so it wasn’t a lie.
But I could feel my attendants staring fixedly at me.
Even His Majesty and Her Highness the Consort, who knew that the Imperial Guards’ rebellion and the assassination attempt had happened on the way there, wore expressions as if they wanted to say something.
“For your age, simply accompanying the army was already admirable, Asha.”
Behind my father, who was the most energetic of all of us, guards and attendants were filing around, checking the safety of the surroundings.
Yeah, this was different from my image of a family trip, but this was fine in its own way.
As I was escaping reality like that, Sephira raised an objection.
(That is misleading. Master did not command the soldiers regarding the mountain climb, but when descending the mountain for the return, Master was the factor that determined the course of action. This qualifies as moving troops.)
(It’s fine. If I said here that I pulled something like a staged-accident scammer, it would only throw everything into chaos.)
(…I propose that properly sharing information is the first step in preventing confusion.)
(…This is our long-awaited family trip, so I don’t want to say something that’ll get me scolded. Please take the hint on that.)
(…Understood.)
Somehow, Sephira fell silent, but was it just my imagination that I could still sense an atmosphere of wanting to say something?
“Oh, right. On the mornings after we camped during the march, I would get up early and do things like search for medicinal herbs.”
While blatantly changing the subject, I pretended not to notice the gazes of my attendants, who also seemed to have something to say.
In the end, I only managed to successfully sneak out with Sephira once, so surely it was fine.
Regular update
Next: Family Trip 2