Chapter 21 - Island of Messenger (part three)

My father and I received a warm welcome from the King of the Union Kingdom, the King of Ignitia.   The structure of the castle looked like an open sanctuary peculiar to the South. Passing through the waiting room for nobles of the countries that came to audience with the king for the Advent Festival, we were led to the slightly private space of the Ignitia’s royal family.   “Oh, it’s been a while, Ernst. Welcome to Ignitia.” “I haven’t heard from you for a long time, Your Majesty.” “You’re too stiff. You haven’t changed. Erica-ojousan too, please feel relaxed and make yourself at home.” “Y-yes, His Majesty the King. You’re too gracious.”   To the King of Ignitia who looked very relaxed, Otou-sama—Duke Ernst, Duke of Aurelia, faced him with a stiff greeting.   The current King of Ignitia, Henry was in his fourties. He was an energetic type of king that was filled with self-confidence and energy with a smile on his face.   Long pale golden hair and purplish eyes which were the distinctive features of the Southern people. The King’s sunburnt tan-skin told me that he was still active as a dragon knight. Whether because he laughed often, or because of the strength of the sun, his wrinkles were deep.   The King was accompanied by a silver dragon about the size of a large dog at his feet. The nobilities and royalty of Ignitia seemed to have a small dragon they grew up together with like siblings instead of attendants.   The Queen Consort had exceedingly pale blonde hair that was almost platinum and amethyst eyes as transparent as water. She was a beautiful, awe-inspiring person that almost looked like a doll. However, there was no doll-like atmosphere, she was full of vigour and dignity.   Was she really in her late thirties? How amazing…… Her waist was so thin that I couldn’t believe she had borne three children. And she also had a blue dragon in her arms.   While being as quiet as a figurine, I listened to the conversation between the frank King and my business-like father.   Although they were not present, the King and Queen seemed to have 3-years-old twins – the Second Prince Jules and the First Princess Agnes. Also, the First Prince Auguste was not in this place. Even though the story of the twin prince and princess rose to the topic, the story of Auguste didn’t come out.   I didn’t feel like touching the topic. It made me feel a little uneasy. At the very least, I wanted to confirm just his face at the present moment.   “Dear, if we monopolize the lovely lady, we will buy antipathy from the people.” “Umu. You’re right. People uprising is scary. Then, Ernst, Erica-ojousan, please enjoy the festival slowly.”   In one sentence that accompanied by Ignitia’s joking style, the audience ended. By the way, Ignitia was a country born from a slave uprising. Although I was a bit nervous, I felt relieved that the audience was over with a harmless and inoffensive impression.   As we left the castle, I was given a free time from my father. Since it was the long-awaited visit to Ignitia, he said that I should enjoy the exotic atmosphere. By the way, Otou-sama had a meeting with the minister and other aristocrats about the Advent Festival. Let’s cheers for good work.   (Yeah~~……, I can finally loosen up a little bit……!)   I felt a bit regretful that I couldn’t meet Auguste. However, it couldn’t be helped.   I decided to use my precious free time to extend my wings with all my might.   ☆   In the cathedral near the royal castle, Ignitia’s guide-like booklets for children were sold, so I bought it as a test.   The booklet was manuscripted by automatic grafting golems, and the content was a simple map of the Island of Messenger where the positions of religion-related historical sites were filled in along with a rough explanation about each site. The commentary was tailor-made for the picture book, and it was briefly summarized so that it was easy for children and foreigners to understand. The price was one gold coin and it was set for aristocrats and wealthy people. However, considering the technology and the price of this world, it was quite reasonable. Since what they sell was a sanctuary, it might be some kind of volunteer activity.   I had prepared some preparations for Ignitia beforehand. However, there were many things that I didn’t know among the local legends written in the booklet.   For example, there seemed to be some kind of a legend about the Island of Messenger.   Once upon a time, the Island of Messenger was called as the Island of Dead People. The island was dominated by a terrible man-eating giant. The name of the humanoid giant was Cain. According to the legend, an angel of God beat Cain alone and freed the island, that was why it came to be called as the Island of Messenger.   By the way, the name of the King of Cascadia who fought with the Founder King of Ignitia was also Cain. Cascadia became the Country of Vampires in the generation of King Cain, and he became known as the Lunatic King.   Perhaps there was a mixed up between the story of the Founder King who killed the vampires and the Giant War that had lasted for a long time since then. ‘Island of Dead People’, it felt like it would be overflowing with zombies rather than vampires. Horrifying.   But, that name ‘Cain’, I remembered seeing it in my previous life. It was a conversation in the bulletin board of the original game’s capture targets’ information.   According to the character introduction on the homepage, there were seven people to capture in 『Liber Monstrorum』.   The black haired, gloomy, and extremely sadist Duke’s son, Klaus who had dead eyes. Blonde haired, with smiling poker face and human distrust, the flirty type character at first glance, the First Prince Auguste. The red haired son of a former Earl with an impression of an outlaw, Harold. Black haired professor with eyeglasses, a super strict teacher, the young Earl Brad. My older brother, the blonde hair Duke’s son who was equipped with a monocle, Edward who had a dark smile. Elegant hidden noble with glasses and silver hair, the gentle and clumsy teacher, Elric. Blonde haired Duke’s son with an eyepatch, the wild-type mysterious person, Claude.   It was supposed to be only these seven. At this point, I remembered the looks of all of the character images, the color of clothes, and their rough profiles.   By the way, the current Edward-oniisama hadn’t use a monocle yet. It seemed that he would use it in six years.   However, the people who had completed the strategy guide on the bulletin board of the website were excited with ‘Prince Cain of Merry Bad’ or ‘Cain-sama the Final Savage Yandere.’ Merry Bad was a Merry Bad Ending1

. It was similar to the story that got the ending where the prince and the princess kissed on top of many dead bodies2.   I wondered who that was. Or maybe it was a hidden character? Because it was impossible to be a giant, I believed he was a vampire. If possible, to the heroine of this world, I didn’t want you to do that kind of route selection.   Now, to the real issue at hand: the tourism.   My real intention was to look at this Island of Messenger once again from the opposite beach. However, since my father had told me that my range of action right now was only within the island, I would save it for when we returned home from this island. Even inside the island, I could enjoy the exotic atmosphere.   In the city, wherever I went I could see people who brought monsters. On the contrary, there were only few simple golems such as those seen in Aurelia. I had disguised Tirnanog as an iron golem, but maybe it only made him more prominent. Perhaps because golem was unusual, people of Ignitia kept giving us a glancing look as they passed by. Outside of Aurelia, it was rare to see a fine golem like this.   I spoke with Tirnanog with a low voice so that we wouldn’t be suspected by the people of Ignitia.   “This is a bit similar to an adventure with all the fun and the festive atmosphere, Til.” 『Me too, everything I see ever since I got resurrected is all unusual and fun.』   My companion seemed to be enjoying this as well above all.   According to the booklet and my preparations in advance, the Island of Messenger seemed to have a church-related building as the main tourist attraction. It was a chapel in the cathedral, with such things like an underground crypt and a monastery inside the tower. Because it was the home of this religion, as expected the full set would be completed if we went there.   “First off, that’s right. Let’s go to the cathedral.” 『Umu!』   Anyway, let’s start from the biggest and most famous place. I took Tirnanog along as we decided to head to the cathedral.

1 Merry Bad is an abbreviation from Merry Bad Ending. Ending in which the interpretation of whether it is a happy ending or bad ending is up to the viewpoint of the readers/players. So in this case, I’m guessing that if you get Cain’s ending, that means that you get the bad end (since he’s the villain). But since he’s (maybe) a handsome character some players are intentionally trying to get that ending, and when they get it, it’s a ‘happy ending’ for them. 2 I don’t know what is this referencing at, but what I get from the google search is the real story of Snow White, where the prince was actually a necrophilia and that’s why he was so excited in kissing the dead body of Snow White.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om