"Ohh, so Clebeur has sent an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary? You seem pretty young for such a position though."
Allen was wearing the ceremonial clothes given by Clebeur's royal family, but the official still looked at him with suspicion, given he had barely turned sixteen years old.
"Yes, Clebeur fears losing the empire's trust, so I was appointed ambassador and sent here. I'm Alec, pleased to meet you."
Allen was using the fake name Alec.
That was because the name Allen had become well-known throughout most of the world.
Allen needed to figure out what Bek was planning, and retrieve the Beast King's Emblem.
Bek had apparently sneaked in many of his helpers into the royal palace beforehand.
He had already assumed he would not be named Beast King.
So he put his allies all over the palace, knowing they would follow any of his orders.
There was a chance that some of the beastmen in Allen's Army also reported to Bek.
Though it was only a chance, since they had all been picked by Shea, and they all swore allegiance to her.
There had been no proof or hints at someone being one of Bek's followers yet.
That was a constant ever since Shea and her beastmen joined Allen's Army.
Only a handful of people knew Allen's group was in Prostia now, the party and a few generals and captains.
If Bek somehow caught wind that Allen was in Prostia looking for him, the plan would crumble.
Allen was using the fake name Alec, and the rest of the party had chosen the following names:
-Cecile was Seraphy
-Sophie was Solanis
-Formar was Fornics
-Peromus was Peroniki
-Shea was Joanna
-Luck was Luty
The beast kingdom's laws only allowed names of two syllables at most, so Shea used this opportunity to use a longer name.
She was still a bit apprehensive at first though, but Allen convinced her, saying that the law probably said nothing about using longer names when under disguise.
Allen also showed the official the letter from Clebeur's king, appointing him as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, granting him the same authority as the king.
The name on it was completely fake, but that did not matter as long as no one found out.
"Oh, I see. I'm Tynome, Prostia's immigrations bureau director."
(Ohh, that's a pretty important position. So he's the one who wouldn't let us enter normally.)
He was the director, essentially the one ordering everyone around in immigrations.
That was important, and there was something Allen needed to talk with him about.
He was a sea bream merman, and the one managing this port which spanned an entire petal of the enormous crystal flower, which was tens of kilometers large.
He was also the one who denied all of Allen's requests for an entry pass for Prostia.
The letter denying his request was signed under his name.
If it was not for him, Allen's entry to Prostia would have been very different.
Allen was mad at him, but he seemed to be even angrier with Allen.
Allen had essentially forced his way into Prostia, without giving any prior notice and throwing the port's schedule out of order.
That was mainly done because Clebeur's king said that the usual response to requesting a visit was "Come in a month."
Once Allen knew that was Tynome, he decided to show him the letter.
It was written by Clebeur's king, vouching for Allen's position, and saying that Princess Carmin wanted to meet with Duke Drescalay.
"Hmph, I see. But ambassador extraordinary or not, you can't stay here randomly. Hurry and unload the cargo and leave! You're blocking the next ship!!"
"B-but-"
"Stop complaining! This is my decision, that's all that matters!"
Allen tried to linger around, but was shouted at instead.
Then Tynome called some knights, sending them towards Allen saying "Or would you prefer this?"
Tynome wanted them to leave as soon as the cargo was offloaded.
He had no interest in the letter, barely even looking at it.
Tynome was well aware of what Clebeur had done.
They had let the Evil Cult fester in the country, a sect that wanted to distance the country from Prostia's authority.
That led to an onrush of some sort of monsters, which claimed numerous victims, leading to decreased tributes and even requests for Prostia's aid.
(I guess Prostia sees Clebeur as a disgrace of a vassal country.)
Allen could guess the state of things there from Tynome's scornful gaze.
Because of Prostia's current disdain for Clebeur, they would not be allowed to stay for long.
That meant Allen would have no time to investigate Bek, or who helped Bek.
And Princess Carmin would not get to meet Duke Drescalay, her future husband.
There was a possibility that Bek's helper was currently there, in the palace built in the center of the giant crystal flower.
Maybe Bek himself was there, though Allen had no means to go check.
(Well, I kinda expected this much)
Allen had somewhat foreseen he would be treated that way.
He had heard Prostia's treatment of Clebeur had worsened after the years the Evil Cult spread.
That went even to royal family members, who would be asked to offload the tributes, communicate anything they needed through letters, and to leave.
They basically had lost any way of reaching the imperial palace themselves.
It was an extremely cold reception, which Allen refused to accept.
He would never get anywhere unless he stayed in Prostia for a while.
So he decided to come up with a trick.
"..."
Allen decided to stand next to Tynome, watching the cargo be offloaded.
"Hm? …I swear…"
Tynome sounded uncomfortable with Allen standing silently next to him like that.
But Allen ignored Tynome entirely, simply looking at the mermen busily carrying the cargo from the ship and placing it on the port.
The title Allen obtained gave him the same authority as the king, even if it was from a small country.
At least Tynome knew better than to tell him to step away.
At the end of the large ship's cargo bay was a large black object, taller than a person, which was slowly picked up by ten mermen.
Peromus and Formar, transformed into mermen, were also amongst those carrying the thing.
"Prostia insists we hurry offloading the cargo, so hurry up!!"
"""Y-yessir!!"""
Knight Commander Iwanam shouted at the carriers to hurry up.
The large magic device was around three meters long, and halfway there Peromus tripped while complaining that it was heavy.
"...Wha- Oww?!"
(Hey, try to act a bit more natural.)
Peromus was wearing a ring that enhanced his Attack by 5000, so it did not really feel heavy.
"Hm? Are you okay?! Peroniki, don't drop it."
"Ah, yes, thanks Fornics."
The magic device tipped at a dangerous angle, so Formar had to put effort to stop it from falling.
They were acting exactly how Allen told them, though their voices sounded monotone.
"H-hey, don't let go there."
"It's so heavy. Let's take a rest."
"Carefully. I heard it's really valuable."
The other eight mermen had not been told about the plan, but they went with the flow, grunting as they slowly lowered the magic device to the ground.
"Hey, hurry and carry…"
Their balance seemed off, making Iwanam get worried and warn them to not drop it.
But his voice was cut off.
"H-how dare you?! Iwanam!! Do you realize just how valuable this is?!!"
Allen shouted as loud as he could.
"Wha-?! What's wrong, Alec?"
Tynome stuttered, startled by Allen's sudden shout.
"I-I'm really sorry, but we were told to hurry so…"
Tynome tried asking Allen what was wrong, but he ignored the question, running to Iwanam and shouting even more at him.
"Y-you dimwit! Take care of it! Do you realize how much this magic device is worth?! This was a personal gift Baukis entrusted me to present the emperor!!"
Allen's face went red as he continued shouting, not letting Iwanam say any excuses.
Iwanam had been in the king's service for a long time, so Tynome knew him very well.
They had even spoken before, and when the king used to be summoned by the emperor, Iwanam was always with the guards.
He was like the direct supervisor of the king's guards, and Allen was yelling at him without restraint.
Allen had also made it clear that the magic device was incredibly valuable, being a gift from Baukis.
Once Allen was done shouting at Iwanam, Tynome was finally able to get a word in.
"H-hey, what's wrong Alec? Are you friends with Baukis?"
Tynome was completely lost, so he wanted Allen to explain things a bit more.
"O-oh, I'm truly sorry. If this Water Purifying Device broke, the king and my heads would not be enough to pay for it! I truly, truly apologize!! I'll make sure it wasn't damaged."
Allen started bowing and apologizing when Tynome tried talking to him.
Allen said that, intent on checking the device right there.
The mermen watched as Allen desperately looked around it, checking for any cracks.
"I-is it really such…"
Tynome looked at the large magic device again, wondering if it really was such a big deal.
Then he realized something.
Allen had said that his and the king's heads would not be enough to pay for it.
In other words, everyone in the port would become responsible.
That was why Allen apologized so profusely.
He started to get worried, wondering just how valuable the device actually was.
"Everything looks okay. No, I should turn it on, just in case…"
Allen could hear Tynome's questions, but he pretended to be too focused on the device, mumbling to himself.
Tynome knew that one of the mermen carrying it had tripped, but he did not believe the device had actually been dropped.
"So…this looks like a pretty large Water Purifying Device? Just how large is its operation radius? Is it really efficient or something?"
Tynome was starting to think of one possibility.
There were magic devices with the same effect, but different properties.
Some purifiers could only process the water of one room, while others could maintain a palace or large buildings without issue.
Seeing how agitated Allen was, he knew it was no regular magic device.
Maybe it was powerful enough to purify the water in an area as large as the entire port.
Though that felt a bit unrealistic, so Tynome tried to stop those thoughts, asking instead.
"From what I was told, it should reach uhh…around ten times the area of all of Patlanta."
Allen gave Tynome the estimate he heard from Larappa, who built the device.
Larappa had said it could support around ten cities the size of Baukis' capital.
Baukis and Prostia were both empires, and their capitals similarly sized.
"...Excuse me? Could you say that again?"
Tynome had heard Allen perfectly fine, but he struggled to process that.
Patlanta was built atop the hundred kilometer large crystal flower, and Allen claimed the magic device could clean ten times that volume of water.
"I heard it should cover ten times the volume of water occupied by Patlanta. And it should run for three hundred years uninterrupted. Really…I'm glad Baukis didn't realize just how valuable this is, to offer it as a gift like this. Before I became ambassador I used to…"
Allen claimed Baukis had offered the magic device as a gift, not knowing its worth.
After that Allen spun a tale about his work before becoming ambassador, saying he mediated deals between Clebeur and Baukis for the Five Continents' Alliance.
"Th-three hundred years…"
Allen lied as easily as he breathed, though Tynome could barely understand anything after Allen mentioned three hundred years.
But he also began to understand why Allen shouted so loudly.
Tynome was starting to understand just how unreal that magic device was.
(Good good, I'm glad to know Prostia really does value these magic devices so much.)
Watching Tynome struggle to find words to say after hearing Allen's story, he rejoiced knowing his plan was going smoothly.
