The King's attendants in the room gave me a displeased look for my opposition to the King's proposal, however, the silent aura from King kept them from butting as he asked me.
"It's the reunion of a father and his daughter. So being able to live together should be a supreme happiness for us. And, I can give Selene anything she needs."
He said, implying how much authority and finance he had in his grasp but I just looked at him with an indifferent expression.
"Selene might not feel good from the difference in the values and manners of a commoner and an aristocrat. Besides, I have taught Selene enough that she can live an independent life without any suffering and she possesses the ability to buy anything she wants just by relying on herself."
And that's not even saying that even I could get her anything she wanted, I quipped mentally though I didn't say it out loud.
"...... let's see, Adventurer Chise-dono is it? Speaking of which, I forgot to confer you a reward for raising Selene. How much will it take for you to approve of me and Selene living together? Or is it peerage that which you want?"
"Money or peerage is something I don't need at all. I just want to choose something that will make Selene happier."
The King smiled bitterly when I clearly cut down his proposal.
"Really... You're just as cool-minded and uninterested in power as the reports had told."
With a bitter smile on his face, the King turned to look at his attendants who were standing behind him.
They no longer had the displeased looks they had earlier on for opposing their king and were looking at the situation with a calm expression.
It seemed the King had wanted to meet with Selene as soon as we had arrived at the royal capital.
However, he had to hold himself back to look into Selene's lifestyle, her ideology, and about us who have formed her character.
"From the information my subordinates have collected, Selene is kind, energetic, and strong-willed. But I also know such traits are not in line with the custom of royalty. After all, those customs had also caused Elise trouble."
Selene's mother, Elise, might have the title of the Church's Saint but she was a commoner by origin.
Just becoming a concubine wasn't enough, she also had to learn manners befitting for her position.
"Best for Selene, huh? If Selene wishes to keep the mother and child bond with Chise-dono, there's also the option for you to become my concubine."
"I reject! Who's going to get married?!"
I reflexively replied so against a man in his mid-30s with good looks, position, and financial ability.
Selene looked somewhat disappointed while Tet hugged me as if to protect me.
"What a pity. And here I thought I might get an excellent magician to join us."
"Your Majesty, your playfulness has gone a bit too far."
The King was scolded by the man clad in civil official attire, the Premier of this kingdom.
King sighed in a joking manner at my rejection and noticed the maids, who were working as waiters, pulling back from him slightly.
"What's the matter? Why such a cold attitude?"
"Nothing, we just think our King has finally decided to go after a young girl to have as his concubine."
"There are three people including the legal queen so far in His Majesty's harem. If Elise-sama had been alive, that would have made it 4. There were rumors that the range of our King's age preference was quite wide when the youngest concubine who was wed to the royal palace five years ago was at that time 18 years old, and now those hands are finally reaching out to even younger-looking girls......"
"Otou-san......"
"Why am I being looked down on by my maids and my daughter!? And you're forgetting Chise-dono is 23 years old. She's the same age as her!"
Selene had, more or less, learned about society in the beastkin nation and knew about the polygamous culture of the beast tribes.
This trend was especially prominent among adventurers as Selene's female friends have two mothers who also got along well with each other.
But even she knew that proposing to a legal loli was already falling into the territory of special preferences.
"I may be Selene's mother but I don't have any intention of marrying anyone. I just want to consider various things for Selene's happiness."
"Man, why is it that I'm the one getting dumped...... Oh, well. Then how about you two become Selene's guards and stay by her side as maids? I will pass Selene the royal villa that Elise had once used. I am hoping Selene can get used to the life of royalty there slowly."
That might not be a bad idea, was what I thought of the King's proposal. I didn't want to be his concubine but I could accept being Selene's maid.
"I understand. Then, I will become Selene's maid as her mother and watch over her until she gets married someday."
I could feel Selene's fear that her everyday life with us in the «Empty Wilderness» would come to an end and smiled at her to reassure her.
"Hmmm, Selene will someday get married as you said. If I count the time, there are only 6 or 7 years left? Ahhh, can't I have more time to be with Selene!?"
I felt a little funny to see the King distressed over the word marriage, so Teto and I lightly joked with him.
"Girls mature very fast, just so you know. You may not even have 6 or 7 years."
"This reminds me, there's that one boy Selene is particularly close to in the Gard Beastkin Nation."
"There's no way in hell I will accept thaaaaaaaattttt!!!"
We received quite an interesting reaction from him when Teto and I teased him, though it also caused Selene to give us a blank look.
"Okaa-san, Teto onee-chan. You can't tease Otou-san like that. And that boy is just 2 years old and the brother of a girl I'm friends with."
Teto and I of course knew that already so we just slightly chuckled.
The 2-year-old beastkin boy was an adorable toddler with a fluffy coat of hair and clear eyes whose growth we watch over alongside Selene's female friends.
"And I don't want to treat Okaa-san and onee-chan as servants."
"That's a problem, isn't it? Hmm, let's quietly return to our home after the grave visit and find a nice person for you in the beastkin nation."
"Even though I have finally found my daughter! There's no way I will accept letting her go away again!"
And so we're once again back to where we started with the King still in opposition.
I guess it's about time to bring out our trump card.
"Well then, can we have maids leave the room for a while? There's something important I want to talk about."
"I see, so Chise-dono has something important to say, huh? For the maids, please leave the room for a while."
The King and the Premier nodded at my proposal and ordered the maids to leave the room.
With the maids leaving the room, it was now just me, Selene, and Teto on one side while King, the Premier, and the King's knight on the other side faced us.
Selene began to feel uneasy seeing the calm air in the room suddenly taking a solemn turn.
I then presented a compromise to King and his attendants.
"Our proposal is that Selene will commute between the place she was living and the royal palace and slowly get used to here."
"Where you lived. Hmm, that plan sounds feasible if it's just traveling between here and the cathedral but let me hear your opinion."
"I will be speaking on behalf of my position as head of the knight order, this plan will not only increase the burden on the escorts but will also make it easy for others to launch surprise attacks. If possible, Seleneril-sama and her foster mother can instead stay in the cathedral until we strengthen our order and dispatch guards from our side which would be wise."
The knight 一 or head of the knight order to be precise 一 answered that the royal palace would be a better place to stay, factoring in the guards too. Rather than sending the guards to an unknown place out of the blue, it would be better to just stay in the cathedral and send a royal etiquette teacher there which would put less burden on Selene's mental state as well as on the security guards.
Though, I shook my head quietly.
"No, I meant it literally. That's to connect the royal palace with the place we're staying in."
After saying that, I pulled out the «Transfer Gate» I had made with «Creation Magic» beforehand from the magic bag.
'I guess I will have to apologize to maid-san since the fur carpet might get wet with our next action' I thought as my mind drifted out to another matter.
"This is, what might it be? Is it some kind of gate-shaped magic tool?"
I directly answered the Premier who asked me so.
"«Transfer Gate»一一 it's a teleportation magic tool that links the two spaces with a pair of doors."
"T, «Transfer Gate», you say!?"
The King and his two attendants let out a surprised yell at the true identity of the magic tool.
They might not be magicians by profession but they must have known about the existence of Transfer Gates.
"Is, is this real thing!? You're saying that a magic tool that can let you teleport really exists?!"
Apparently, teleportation magic was a difficult magic to use even for magicians who specialize in space magic. In addition, the teleportation distance changes depending on the mana quantity and it was on a level that you might be hard-pressed to find someone who can use it even among the royal magicians. It was famous for guzzling down the caster's mana depending on distance and it was a magic that I, too, was practicing secretly.
"You can check it by trying it yourself."
After saying that, I set the passage setting of the Transfer Gate to free and pass through it with Selene.
After passing through the Transfer Gate whose surface rippled like water's surface, we found ourselves back to our familiar home.
"Ah, sure enough, the humidity has made its way into the house since we haven't been home for around two months. I have to make sure to ventilate the rooms."
I opened the small door and windows and saw the control-type golems working in the fields.
Although they couldn't do intricate work like removing weeds or harvesting, they gather the ripe crops that had fallen on the ground, throw them into the composite repository, and water them.
Just like that, the fallen crops would then become new soil for the «Empty Wilderness».
As I was checking out the situation, the knight leader arrived to test the «Transfer Gate» then returned to the royal palace at once and came back with the King and the Premier in tow.
"I can't believe it, did we really transfer to an unfamiliar place? And is this the house where Selene was raised.....?"
"Yes, that's right."
After hearing that, he looked around. That being said, it was just an ordinary, tiny house with a kitchen, dining hall, our personal rooms, and a workshop.
And scenery outside the window was filled with a kitchen garden, golems, and the wilderness stretching wide into the distance.
"Where might this be? Selene lived here which means... Is it the beastkin nation?"
"No. We aren't in any country. We're inside the barrier of the «Empty Wilderness»."
The King looked surprised, the Premier nodded as if understood something while the knight leader moved in front of the «Transfer Gate» to secure a route for retreat.
"I did find out about Chise-dono and the beastkin nation Prince Gyunton signing a contract regarding the «Empty Wilderness» but I never thought you could go in and out of the barrier here....."
"It's no wonder we couldn't find Selene. No one would be able to chase after her by escaping into this place. Chise-dono, perchance, is this «Transfer Gate» the so-called magic tool of ancient magic civilization said to be sleeping in the «Empty Wilderness»?"
"Yeah, that's right."
Well, the truth was I made it with «Creation Magic» but either way, it wasn't something that could be made by anyone so the meaning doesn't change much.
"I think a better option is to install this «Transfer Gate» in the royal villa you're giving to Selene and choose the lifestyle where she can come and go between here and there."
"So that's why you asked to clear away the people......"
The King, who said so, showed a face of a King this time, instead of a fatherly face.
"Chise-dono, I wonder if you could sell this «Transfer Gate» to our country?"
"Unfortunately, it's impossible."
I cleanly denied him and pointed out the reason one by one.
"First is, you can use this to dispatch soldiers to anywhere instantly and I don't want to sell something that can be used for war."
They could send troops to any place instantly by installing one part in their garrison while letting a spy carry the other part in their magic bag.
That would be horribly dangerous. Besidesー一
"It would be useless even if you send the knight order to the «Transfer Gate» placed in Selene's royal villa to occupy the «Empty Wilderness». Only those who had registered their mana beforehand can pass through it."
And that's now saying that even if they somehow passed through, I could just simply destroy the «Transfer Gate» which would isolate the dispatched people.
Another thing, I have a barrier erected around our house that keeps mana from leaking outside so they would be exposed to the low mana environment if they took even a step out of the barrier.
Those unaccustomed would be assailed by mental numbness from the rapid discharge of their mana from their body and besides this area, there's no hope for them to procure any resources too.
Meaningless, worthless, such was this place.
"...... A pity. It seems that I have to give up on this «Transfer Gate». Anyway, what does Selene want to do?"
The King gave up on acquiring the «Transfer Gate» after hearing my explanation and asked Selene, going back to his fatherly face once again.
"I, I want to be able to stay in this house where I have spent time with Chise Okaa-san if possible. But I also want to get closer to Otou-san and know more about Elise Okaa-san."
Am I being too selfish? Selene looked at me and King with upturned eyes as if asking such.
"There's no problem. I approve of installing the «Transfer Gate» in the royal villa. You can come and go to this place at will."
"That's right. It's fine to escape to this place if you feel suffocated in the royal palace. It's not a bad thing to escape."
The King and agreed on the compromise plan 一 the installation of the «Transfer Gate» 一 since we both wanted to stay beside Selene.
My plan was to keep the function of the «Transfer Gate» active until Selene either marries or distances herself from me and makes up her mind to completely live as royalty.
"Your Majesty...... I can't approve of installing a tool that can be used to directly transfer inside the royal palace from outside, taking into account the security of the royal palace. And the fact that Chise-dono can pass through the barrier of the «Empty Wilderness» and even bring Teto-dono and Seleneril-sama along with her means she can also bring people from outside of the barrier inside."
"I also agreed with this point. While there's a mechanism where only the users who registered their mana can pass through the «Transfer Gate», it's to be noted that Chise-dono is the one who set this up. We have a debt of gratitude towards Chise-dono for protecting and raising Seleneril-sama but there's always the possibility, even if minuscule, of something going wrong."
"Majou-sama will not do such a thing."
Teto muttered in annoyance against the objection of the knight leader and the Premier.
His Majesty the King showed a thoughtful expression listening to the opinion of the two who held their respective authorities and passed the baton of the discussion to our side.
"Or so they say, Chise-dono but what do you suggest?"
"Let's see. I think we can tie a contract with maids who will be made aware of the «Transfer Gate» to stop them from ratting it out and also with me and Teto that we will not send anyone else inside the royal palace using the «Transfer Gate»."
Magic Contract一一 a magic contract similar to the one tied with Prince Gyunton was a powerful element that will continue to remain in effect until either the written contract document was destroyed or the contract condition is achieved.
One would have to comply with the content written on the contract which has an effect closer to a curse of sorts no matter how one looks.
"There's no problem in that case. So the content will be about the «Transfer Gate» installation and keeping it a secret. But what should we do about the compensation regarding this?"
However, an equally powerful magic contract demands an equally demanding compensation.
"Compensation...... That's a fix. Will you accept my ownership of the part of the «Empty Wilderness» facing Iska Kingdom?"
"A magic contract like the beastkin nation? Maybe....."
The Premier nodded helplessly when the King turned to him.
"This settles it. However, that will have to wait until Selene's debut to publicize that she has returned. We will proceed with the magic contract with Chise-dono after that."
At present, the other countries have no choice but to accept this arrangement since none of them could interfere with the «Empty Wilderness».
"That works for me, thanks. Now let's return to the royal palace again, bind the contract and install the «Transfer Gate» in Selene's royal villa, shall we?"
We then returned to the royal palace through the «Transfer Gate» and concluded the contract.
After that, we were quickly guided to the royal villa that Selene's mother, Elise, had used where we installed the «Transfer Gate» in the room adjoining the one for Selene's use.
Although I installed it such that only registered users could use it, it would be bad if it was found out by others, so I put magic like «Recognition Inhibition» in the room to put it into the blind spot of other people's perception.
Once everything was over, Teto, Selene, and I returned to the «Empty Wilderness» using the «Transfer Gate» under the reluctant gaze of the King and renewed our slow life.
