After a lengthy negotiation, Allen convinced Tynome to let them stay in Prostia's capital, so they could check the magic device before presenting it to the emperor.
The rest of the tribute was left on the port, where it would be counted to be listed in reports.
Meanwhile a house in the garden near the palace was given to Allen's group to stay in.
(Oh, the garden is pretty big. And the walls are pretty tall too.)
The magic device was too large to fit inside the house, so it was placed in the middle of the garden.
It was placed there very securely.
Clunky mythril chains were fastening it to the ground.
The walls around the garden were tall enough to stop anyone from looking inside too.
Since the magic device's value rivaled that of Prostia's national budget, Tynome also said that many knights from the palace would come to patrol the area tomorrow.
All to protect the magic device.
There were knights outside the precincts as well, but only people from Allen's Party and Clebeur were in the house and garden.
Princess Carmin and Allen, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, were there, so the knights were keeping some distance.
"Allen, that was kinda fun!!"
Allen was checking out the house's construction, and the state of the magic device in the garden, while Luck's enthusiastic voice rang in there as he recalled what happened in the port.
"The fun part is only starting. Also, don't forget to call me Alec here, Luty."
"Ohh, you're right! Alec!!"
Being disguised as a merman was tickling Luck's playful side a lot, his voice sounding excited as he clenched his fists.
"You were quite a good actor too, Luty. I'll be counting on you to play the rest of your part too."
"Yeah, leave it to me!!"
Luck exclaimed confidently, and then ran off to the magic device, which he was supposedly checking.
(At least it's a fact that he acted better than Formar.)
Formar had been quite stiff, so Luck had done a lot better.
It was part of his talent to be able to speak without getting nervous.
Formar pouted a little, feeling Allen's gaze and knowing what it meant.
He really wanted to complain, saying he was not accompanying Sophie to be put to such tasks.
Things were more lax inside the ship, but they were in Patlanta now.
This house was located close to the palace too, the mighty building in clear sight.
Allen looked at everyone, urging them to get used to using their fake names.
"So Alec, mind telling us what you were thinking telling all those lies? We're looking for Bek, remember?"
Cecile had been watching from the sidelines, seeing Allen pile up lies on top of lies, sprinkling a little bit of truth on top, and lying even more to weasel his way into staying in the palace.
"You're right, Seraphy. But it doesn't seem like they'll let us into the palace anytime soon."
He also was mindful to call Cecile by her fake name.
"He did sound really stubborn. Is it really that bad to let us in the palace?"
Everyone in Allen's group felt like their insistence in keeping them away from the palace was odd.
(They also refused to give us passes to come here before.)
Finding a way to enter Prostia from Clebeur had taken a lot of effort.
Tynome had rejected any request for entrance passes, every time they sent the requests.
Once there, Allen tried asking whether he could stay in Patlanta, and he instantly told him to go back to Clebeur.
The magic device finally forced him to let the group stay, but even then it was not in the palace, but a nearby house.
First they were not allowed in Prostia, then they were not allowed to stay in Patlanta, and even now they could not enter the palace.
It took a lot of careful manipulation to finally be allowed to stay so close to the palace.
Allen, and the others in his group, all felt like something strange was happening in the palace.
"I guess Tynome will be reporting to the palace soon enough. We have to find out why they're treating us like that, maybe it's just because we're from a vassal country. Harami, come here."
'Yes.'
Allen brought his Fish D summon.
At first it was incapable of speaking, but Strenghtening raised its intelligence to 5000, enabling it to talk.
Meanwhile the Stone A summons could not talk at all, so it seemed like speech was an ability tied to Intelligence and summon rank somehow.
-Insect summons could not talk
-Beast summons could talk from B rank onwards
-Bird summons could not talk (*Bird E and F have Skills that let them have a voice)
-Grass summons could not talk
-Stone summons could not talk
-Fish summons could talk from B rank onwards
-Wraith summons could talk
-Dragon summons could talk
-Angel summons could talk.
Higher rank summons being able to talk seemed to be a trend.
The Fish D summon was around 2 meters long, and it began swimming in circles around the garden.
Usually it would burrow in the ground and swim around undetected, but here it could swim freely.
(Hmm, there's a lot of fish near the palace too. It won't look out of place.)
Allen looked up and saw a multitude of fishes of all colors swimming above the city,
There were even gigantic sea turtles and stingrays.
In a way, they were like birds flying in the air.
"Go check out the palace for a bit."
'As you command, sir.'
Allen gave orders to the summon, then entered the house and gathered everyone to discuss their next movements.
(Hmm, so the palace is in the very center of the crystal flower.)
Allen was also looking at the layout of the city, through the eyes of the Fish D summon.
He also realized that the summon's size was actually working to his advantage, since smaller ones could easily get eaten by bigger fish.
The crystal flower was around a hundred kilometers long, with Patlanta covering its surface, radiating out of the palace in the center.
He had seen Baukis and Giamut's capitals before, but he felt like Patlanta was far bigger.
There were windows near the palace's roof, large enough for a large fish to enter without issue.
Though Fish summons could burrow into the ground, so even if the windows were smaller the summon could go through the walls.
It would have been strange to find a fish swimming inside a building with no windows, but Allen could see other fishes entering and exiting through the palace's windows, so he figured there would be no problem.
(So this is the kitchen. I guess mermen cook too. Now, I wonder if Tynome went to report to the emperor after all.)
There were a lot of mermen working inside the palace.
The kitchen was crowded as well, it was probably going to be dinner time soon, so they had to hurry.
Allen also realized the crystal flower's glow was starting to get rather dim.
The crystal flowers illuminating the seabed would only glow during the day, and remained dark at night.
If the light was getting dim, it meant that it was going to be night in Patlanta soon.
The rooms of the building were rather tall, so the Fish D summon seemed imperceptible to everyone.
It was getting quite deep inside the palace.
"So, mind telling me what happened, Tynome?"
(Ohh! There he is!! Is that the emperor?)
After wandering around aimlessly for a while, the summon finally found the audience hall.
The place really made one think of an underwater palace.
It reminded Allen of the Palace of the Dragon King he saw in his past life, and there was someone sitting on the throne.
A rather important-looking merman was sitting on the throne.
He wore elaborate armor and a cape fluttered behind him.
In front of him were minister-looking mermen, and older advisor-looking mermen.
Allen watched how the merman in the throne rested his cheek on his palm, listening to Tynome's lengthy report.
One of the minister-looking mermen in front of the throne was questioning Tynome.
"Sire! Clebeur's royal family has delivered us a magic device! And it…"
Tynome began explaining the magic device Allen had brought.
Mentioning how it could clean the water in an area ten times larger than the city.
And that it could run for 300 years, sent to them as a gift from Baukis.
As Tynome continued talking, the merman on the throne began to frown.
He seemed doubtful of it all.
"Prime Minister Agiley, could such a device truly exist? It sounds rather far-fetched to me."
"I share the sentiment. Yet the fact remains that all Water Quality Control Devices in the city malfunctioned at the same time, Emperor Ignomas."
(Hm? Ignomas? Was that always the emperor's name? Though I have to say, Ignomas sounds like a rather powerful name.)
Prime Minister Agiley repeated the report they had gotten earlier that day.
It also mentioned that the devices rated the water quality as 0, which lined up with Tynome's story.
There was something the prime minister said that caught Allen's attention.
He would swear the emperor was not called Ignomas.
The emperor had many children too, but none of them were called Ignomas either.
Yet Agiley called Ignomas emperor, so there was no doubt that he was ruling over Prostia.
"I see, so the magic device might be real then. Interesting…"
"What do you mean?"
Agiley wanted to know what the emperor was thinking about.
"You said that magic device was offered as a friendly gift, right? Then we shall accept it as such. Will it take long to verify it wasn't damaged?"
"It's hard to say. They only said it might take upwards of a month."
Tynome repeated what Allen had said, the investigation would take around one month.
"A month, huh. Do you think it might be delayed further?"
"I-I wouldn't know. One month is all they said."
Ignomas was very curious about the time.
(Hm? Is there something weird about it taking a month?)
"Please tell them to conclude the investigation within a month."
"Yessir!"
Tynome bowed respectfully as he answered.
"Interesting. It seems fate is finally turning in my favor!"
Somehow the magic device seemed to be a very convenient item for the emperor.
"It would appear so, Emperor Ignomas."
Agiley also grinned.
"Also, Princess Carmin from Clebeur came as well. She wants to meet with Duke Drescalay."
Tynome also informed them Princess Carmin was there as well.
"Hm? With Duke Drescalay?"
"Yes. Apparently they were engaged."
"I see. Professor Sinorom, is he still alive?"
(Hm? Professor? Sounds like a scientist or something.)
Sinorom was an elderly and weakened merman. He was wearing a white coat, and had been standing silently next to Agiley.
"If you mean the son, then yes. He's still alive in his cell."
Duke Drescalay had been killed, and only his son was still alive.
(So they got Duke Drescalay already.)
"Hmm, I see."
Hearing that, Ignomas began to ponder something.
"What should we do?"
"Well, Clebeur's princess should be kept in the dark about the insurrection for a bit longer."
Ignomas began grinning menacingly.
"That would be ideal, yes. I'm sure her face will be a sight to behold once she finally finds out."
Sinorom's grin turned into a chuckle as he said that.
"But I see, so such a magic device made its way into my hands. Everything is falling together for my dynasty."
They had no further interest in Princess Carmin.
Ignomas seemed far more interested in the magic device, already formulating plans with it.
From everything Allen had heard so far, it was clearly not something peaceful.
(Got it. So this Ignomas rebelled against the empire, and somehow took over.)
The dukes were in jail or dead, and Ignomas had usurped Prostia's throne by force.
Allen did not know all the details, and how many ministers were involved in the uprising, but he knew things were quite dangerous there.
