When we entered the castle, we were shown to a nondescript room. However, even the interior of the room and the tables and chairs had a high-class feel to them.

By the way, we parted with the Magic Knights in front of the gate separating the inner and outer walls of the Royal Castle. There is also a row of houses for the Knights in the fortifications that separates the castle from the rest of the city, which they will return to after their excursion and rest for a while.

“Then, please wait here for a while. I’ll come and fetch you later when everything is ready.”

“Gau.” [Okay.]

With her familiar, the white dove, perched on her shoulder, Ernesta hastily left the room. After confirming that she has left, I focused my attention on my magic.

(… O drifting wind, I beckon you.)

Letting the gentle wind magic swirl around me, I read the flow of the air and checked for peepholes in the ceiling and the walls. This is because many rooms where foreign emissaries are temporarily kept waiting are equipped with a mechanism for observing them, and sometimes they are equipped with a kill hole for assassination.

“Worufu, ruau.” [What do you think of the castle?]

“Garuuoa woauon… “ (It seems quite secure…)

Like me, Blazer who has also finished checking the room by visual inspection and lightly tapping on the wall also seems to have determined that there is no particular problem. He then positioned himself facing the doorway and leaned on the wall.

I also took off my half-mask which seemed to be made of pure mithril and loosened up a little.

“Kuan, wafa?” (Big brother, what’s this?)

I turned in response to her question and saw my sister grabbing both legs of the chair with her white, furry hands and holding it above her head.

“Guruu, kuaou kuruuguruan.” (Now that you mention it, there are no chairs in the village.)

Normally, armor is designed to maintain the range of movement, so the backside has nothing but a piece of leather cloth freely hanging from it in anticipation of sitting down.

That’s why we can put it on and sit down without minding our tails, but for chairs with backrests like these, the positioning of the tail is a bit of a problem. Having no choice, I sat down with my tail placed on my side so that I would not accidentally sit on it.

“Guu~, gauruou kuuaruonn.” (Hmm, so instead of rocks you’re supposed to sit on this, right?)

My sister, who understood the purpose of the chair, placed it back down and tried sitting on it for a bit. 

“U~, wafa garuu oou.” (Uu, it’s somewhat uncomfortable.)

The position of her fox tail, which is the biggest and fluffiest out of all of ours, looked odd, so she kept wagging it while she remained seated.

“Kuruguan… uuh, gauruau kuuaruou.” (Let me try it… hmm, I think I’m more comfortable sitting on a rock.”

“Guruu kuarugu garuooan?” (I wonder if it’s alright for me to sit on it too?)

Following Dagger, Lancer also sits down on a chair. Meanwhile,  Ax, who has a huge and muscular physique, asked Lancer and sat down with trepidation.

On the other hand, Blazer silently watched them with a sidelong glance, but I’m sure he’s thinking something like, “if I sit down and something happens, then it will just delay my reaction, won’t it?” Out of the four of us, he was the only one who did not show any interest in the chairs or the elaborate candlesticks in the room.

Anyway, as we rested in the room for a while, the silver-haired mage returned and I put on the mithril mask that allowed me to communicate telepathically again.

“Have I kept you waiting?”

“Kuruaon.” [It’s fine.]

“I just confirmed with my foster father, but for some reason, it seems an audience with King Alexius has been set up… but since you’re the only one that needs to come, we’ll have to make the others wait here.”

“Guruo, kuoua worufaon.” [Everyone, please wait here for a while.]

“… Gau, woa garuaon.” (… Sure, leave it to us.)

“Woon, gurua.” (Got it, Boss.)

The long, skinny Kobold and the blue hulking Kobold, whose temperaments are as different as night and day but get along well despite that, sent us off and I followed behind Ernesta.

“…I’ll teach you the proper etiquette of an audience if you need it. This time, the audience was granted due to the Kingdom’s circumstances, so you can’t be accused of being rude though.”

“Guorufu.” [It’s fine, I don’t need it.]

In the first place, what was she trying to do by asking a Kobold about manners?

I don’t know the standard etiquette when having an audience with higher-ups in the Western countries, but in my memories, I once had an audience with the Royal Family together with my commander in the desert country of Athos, where mercenaries were heavily used. At that time, I remembered that the commander taught me not to be rude.

Well, I don’t want them to have a bad impression of the dog people because of me either, so… I’ll just go with the flow for now.

We continued through the main castle to the door of the audience chamber on the top floor, and before I was told, I removed the Mechanical Bow and the Scimitar at my back and offered it to one of the Royal Guards standing on either side of the door.

“… I’ll take those if you will.”

The Royal Guard who received my weapons seemed slightly amused. Perhaps it was because a Kobold, which is classified as a monster rather than a human species, understood the circumstances of which weapons could not be brought inside the audience hall.

“Looks like I really didn’t need to teach you, huh…”

As Ernesta muttered, the two guards pushed open the extravagantly decorated door.

As a side note, most doors at important places mostly open inwardly. Basically, it will take more force to push a door rather than pull it, so holding the door from the inside will prevent the outside enemy from easily entering.

Aside from that, the audience room had a long, vertical layout. On the farthest part of the room was a set of steps that led to the throne.

On both of its lower wings, an elderly Court Wizard and several Royal Guards stood upright. Well, unless an audience with several people in a row was planned, the King would show up after all the figures and preparations were in place.

I followed Ernesta’s lead and her line of sight and stopped just a little behind her, similarly bending one knee on the red carpet and bowing lightly.