Chapter 252: Royal Castle Guest Room

"A Saintess must be modest and graceful, someone who is respected by everyone. I refuse to recognize that girl as a Saintess!"

Ah, that’s right. This was the royal couple who were constantly on the verge of coming to blows over this.

As Qiu Nuoya remembered it, the king believed that as long as his son loved a woman, it did not matter what kind of girl she was. The queen, on the other hand, believed that someone as outrageous as Shangguan Wan’er could never fulfill the role of queen. Their opposing views had apparently caused friction between the royal family and the Church.

"Whatever. I don’t care whether you recognize me as a Saintess or not. It’s such a pain, and I don’t even want to bother with it."

Well, yeah. Of course.

"My goodness! I am telling you that your behavior is completely inappropriate for a Saintess, and you respond with that attitude! I will never accept you as Lucien’s wife!"

"That’s what I’ve been saying! I don’t need you to recognize me as a Saintess, and I already told you I have no intention of marrying Lucien. Are you even listening, lady? I’ve promised my boyfriend that I’ll become his mate and lay eggs for him! I have no use for Lucien. If anything, he’s a nuisance!"

"Lady...? And to call the queen, the most honorable position a Saintess can attain, a nuisance..."

So being queen is considered a position, huh...?

Qiu Nuoya felt a slight urge to ask whether there was any love involved in all this.

Still, this was probably how queens had been chosen throughout the kingdom’s history. As a complete outsider, Qiu Nuoya had no right to criticize such customs.

"Anyway, I brought Xiao Tao here today just like we agreed, and we also brought back the Divine Sword. Isn’t that enough? Come on, hurry up and bring out the Divine Sword."

"Well, I... However..."

The king looked troubled as he glanced back and forth between Warren and the Divine Sword.

Indeed, the Divine Sword Velikorya currently refused to accept anyone other than Warren as its wielder. There was no way for them to simply take it back.

"F, for now, we would like to discuss how we should handle the Divine Sword and Hero Warren, who has now become its recognized owner. First, you must all be exhausted from your long journey. There is still some time before we dispatch our forces to the Demon King’s territory, so Hero Warren and all of his companions, I invite you to stay here in the royal castle and rest until then."

The king delivered those words with a somewhat weary expression, and Qiu Nuoya and the others were promptly ushered out of the audience chamber.

I can’t shake the feeling that this has somehow become even more troublesome.

Even after leaving the audience chamber, Warren remained completely dazed, looking as though his soul had left his body.

"Warren, are you okay?"

"A, am I okay...? Is this really okay? Am I actually supposed to keep holding onto this thing?"

"Um... I’m not sure about that."

The Divine Sword Velikorya remained firmly attached to Warren’s belt, settling into place with a satisfying shing! as though proudly declaring that this was where it belonged.

It reminded Qiu Nuoya of Mochi, who was always puffing out what appeared to be its chest, despite Qiu Nuoya having no idea whether that part of its body could actually be called a chest.

"Um... Warren, I’m really sorry!"

Xiao Tao had no reason to apologize, yet he bowed deeply with considerable force.

Still, if Qiu Nuoya and the others had never met Xiao Tao, none of this would have happened in the first place. In that sense, it could be said that everything had started with Xiao Tao.

However, they could not even rule out the possibility that Xiao Tao himself had simply been caught up in the circumstances surrounding the summoning to this world.

"Well, personally, I’m just relieved that Nuoya didn’t have to end up taking the blame for everything this time."

At Viktor’s words, Warren wore a complicated expression.

"Besides, I’m the weakest member of this entire party..."

"The Divine Sword chose you, so there was nothing you could do about it. Oh, that’s right. Nuoya, you absolutely must not touch that sword again. We have no idea what might happen if you do."

What could happen? Probably nothing, right?

The Divine Sword had already chosen Warren, so there was no reason for a non-swordsman like Qiu Nuoya to be involved in the first place.

Even so, Viktor had firmly warned Qiu Nuoya not to touch the sword under any circumstances. Qiu Nuoya was exasperated by how overprotective Viktor was, but he still replied,

"Okay, I got it."

Seriously, Viktor is way too overprotective.

Because of the Divine Sword Velikorya, Qiu Nuoya and the others were forced to remain at the royal castle and were shown to their guest rooms.

As one would expect from guest rooms in a royal castle, the interior was unnecessarily extravagant.

The luxury hotel room they had stayed in while visiting Cider Orchard had already been quite lavish, but this room was on an entirely different level. Qiu Nuoya, who had always been rather frugal, could not help feeling restless in such an opulent place.

"I really feel like I don’t belong here, haha."

As he stepped onto the soft, fluffy carpet, Qiu Nuoya found himself thinking that he could probably sleep right there on the floor.

I guess I’ve really gotten used to life as an adventurer.

[ Nuoya~ Are the difficult talks over~? ]

Mochi, who had been quietly nestled inside the chest pocket of Qiu Nuoya’s robe, poked its head out.

Then, seeing scenery it had never encountered before, Mochi began flying around the room.

[ Where are we~? ]

"Mochi, you can explore, but only inside the room. You’ll get lost otherwise."

[ Okaaay~ ]

As Mochi cheerfully bounced around the room, the pocket of Xiao Tao’s school uniform began to wriggle in response.