One month later.

　　In the living room of the inner palace, Zenjirou faced his computer and typed down the contents of the secret contract that his wife Aura was reading to him.

　　The season had now changed into what would be fall in j.a.pan.

　　On the South Continent this period was commonly called the “rainy season”. Just as the name implied, it wasn’t all that unusual that rain clouds covered the sky for more than half the month and it rained for more than ten days in a row.

　　Downpours on the level of small typhoons went on endlessly, which made the rainy season of j.a.pan with its drizzling rain look adorable instead.

　　Of course this weather brought along the problem of many floods, but the rain of this season nurtured the vegetation of the Carpa Kingdom and left the soil with a rich blessing of water, so it wasn’t all loathsome.

　　And today, too, the rain poured down heavily since the morning, true to this season.

　　The shutters of the windows were closed tightly as the wind was unfavourable while the downpour continued.

　　Due to that, the interior of the room was so dark that he would have trouble seeing the keyboard at his hands without any lamps, even though it was still noon. Needless to say, the six floor lamps were turned on right now, spending sufficient light, but it facilitated the illusion that it was already night.

　　“…, the Twin Kingdom will have to pay the Carpa Kingdom three thousand gold coins as a penalty. That is the end. Did you get all of it? If you want, I can read it out one more time.”

　　Sitting on the couch dressed in red maternity clothes, Aura called out to her husband with that after she had read from the dragonskin parchment in her hands.

　　Zenjirou typed clattering on the keyboard with his back still to his wife and replied a moment later.

　　“…No, it’s okay. I got all of it, I think. Just in case, I’ll read it out loud again, so can you check if anything’s wrong?”

　　“Okay.”

　　Hearing his wife’s response from behind, Zenjirou corrected his posture on his chair and read the text he had typed just now, from the computer display.

　　“Good, here I go.

　　1) Zenjioru Carpa [henceforth Z] will not make a child with anyone except Aura Carpa [henceforth A] from now on.

　　2) The Twin Kingdom will never meddle with the direct offspring of [A].

　　3) When the Carpa Kingdom breaks term 1), namely [Z] makes a child with someone else than [A], the Twin Kingdom has the right to examine the child [henceforth C] about its bloodline apt.i.tude.

　　4) When the ‘Bestowal Magic’ element is confirmed in [C], [C] will study abroad in the Twin Kingdom for three years, starting with its fifteen year of age.

　　5) When the Twin Kingdom forces [C] to emigrate during the study stay, the Carpa Kingdom can send [C] home to their country ahead of schedule.

　　6) When [C] wishes to emigrate to the Twin Kingdom out of its own will after the three years abroad, the Carpa Kingdom has no right to prevent that.

　　7) [C] has the right to spread the knowledge it learned in the Twin Kingdom only amongst the Carpa Royal Family after returning home.

　　8) When the Twin Kingdom breaks term 2), namely tries to meddle with the offspring of [A], …”

　　Zenjirou smoothly read out aloud the j.a.panese text shown on the display.

　　Simply put, this treaty dealt with the added conditions from the respective countries in regards to the “restriction on Zenjirou’s reproduction” and the “restriction on the Twin Kingdom’s meddling with the Carpa Kingdom”.

　　From what he could tell on a glance, Aura seemed to have worked very hard to force through these details.

　　It was clearly specified that Zenjirou was not allowed to make a child with someone beside Aura, but considering that a breach of that term was minutely written out, it seemed that the Twin Kingdom also regarded it unlikely that this condition would be kept in reality.

　　In fact, most of the conditions concerned the treatment of “a child, born between Zenjirou and a woman besides Aura, that could use ‘Bestowal Magic’”.

　　At this point, he had no intentions to make a child with another woman and there were no restrictions for a child with Aura, so there was nothing to complain about as far as he was concerned.

　　However, that didn’t mean he had no doubts. Zenjirou was used to the detailed contracts of the modern age, so this secret contract with only a good dozen of terms seemed rather sketchy to him.

　　With that in mind, he turned around on the chair to look behind him.

　　“Mh? What is the matter, Zenjirou? Did anything bother you?”

　　Lifting her body a bit from the backrest of the couch, his wife looked at him with a smile, whereupon he was convinced for no reason.

　　(Okay, Aura and the Twin Kingdom must have purposefully left in some room for “convenient interpretations”)

　　Zenjirou had sensed the shortcomings of the contract from a single glance, so it was hardly thinkable that Aura and the agent of the Twin Kingdom failed to notice this in their negotiations that lasted for more than half a year.

　　He came to such a conclusion of his own accord, but he was actually giving the royalty in the different world a little bit too much credit.

　　It was an undeniable fact that Aura and the middleman of the Twin Kingdom were smart people, way more used to negotiations than Zenjirou, but the culture of this world didn’t had a custom, where contracts were concluded right down to the last detail like in developed nations of the modern age, to begin with.

　　His line of thought, accustomed to considering all future possibilities and apprehending any inconveniences for the own side, was basically unorthodox.

　　(Oh well. Aura or Secretary Fabio will surely intervene in the middle of it when it goes wrong)

　　“Hmm, give me a sec. There’s something I would like to speak about a bit more.”

　　With that in mind, Zenjirou said this sentence in advance, then checked if the printer had enough A4 copy paper and printed out the secret contract he had read out just now.

　　“Oof.”

　　With the j.a.panese version of the contract in hand, he said down next to Aura.

　　As her stomach was growing bigger, Aura was forbidden to lean forward.

　　Zenjirou held up the dragonskin parchment in the local script and the copy paper he printed out just now, in front of Aura in such a way that she didn’t have to change her seating posture, and stated his own opinion.

　　“Look here. That’s the first thing that bothered me. When 2) becomes inconsistent with 3) in the future…”

　　The pregnant wife was a bit surprised about the surprisingly attentive pointer of her husband, but she responded politely.

　　“Mhm. Then 2) will obviously…”

　　However, Zenjirou wasn’t convinced by Aura’s explanation and probed into it.

　　“But since it hasn’t clearly been written there, they could insist…”

　　“You certainly have a point, but…”

　　Then the two of them huddled together and continued to discuss the contents of the secret contract until one of the waiting maids came to announce that the dinner was ready.

　　* * *

　　Early afternoon of the next day.

　　After lunch, Zenjirou was walking down the hallway of the palace next to Aura.

　　He wore cloth shoes with a leather sole from a hulking dragon, yet he was unsteady on his feet for a while now, just as if walking on sponges.

　　Under the pretext of supporting his pregnant wife, Zenjirou was walking hand in hand with Aura, but the sensation of her hand actually helped him to somehow keep his composure instead.

　　Aura must have grasped the mental state of her husband. She encouraged him by periodically returning the tight squeeze on her hand. He was grateful for it, but at the same time, he felt a bit pathetic.

　　(Nonetheless, it would be more absurd to be not nervous here. I haven’t been this nervous since my senior told me to be in charge of a contract all by myself for the first time)

　　Zenjirou unconsciously made such an excuse at heart.

　　The a.s.signed task back then had been rather insignificant, but the whole shebang around it was in an entire different league.

　　He would gladly take a deep breath now to ease his nervousness, if he could.

　　And he would have undoubtedly done so if it were only Aura and himself here. To his sorrow however, they weren’t alone right now.

　　Even if it was inside the palace, the Queen and the Prince Consort were walking around together.

　　They were guarded by a total of eight soldiers as they walked next to each other: Four in front and four in the back.

　　The soldiers’ armament consisted of a white leather armour and a splendid short spear, which seemed to be more fit for a ceremony if anything, but the defence of the armour and the sharpness of the short spear were the real deal.

　　Zenjirou s.h.i.+vered his spine when he happened to see the glint at the tip of the spear.

　　In his head he knew that they were his guards, but he felt uncomfortable to be surrounded by people, who were armed with tools to kill a person.

　　(Well, considering our positions, the escort is actually extremely small)

　　If Zenjirou were to operate “outside” instead of the far interior of the palace like here, then at least ten times as much guards ought to accompany him. In fact, more than five times as much guards had protected him when he attended an official event in the palace in Aura’s stead.

　　While such thoughts crossed his mind, the vanguard stopped in front of a door.

　　The soldiers took position to both sides of the door, standing at attention and holding their spears vertically. Aura and Zenjirou, too, stopped in front of the door.

　　The envoy from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell was waiting beyond this door.

　　“…..”

　　Zenjirou naturally faced Aura, standing next to him. The moment their eyes met, his wife nodded curt, to which Zenjirou nodded curt in turn as well and shortly ordered the soldiers left and right to him, suppressing his reflex to open the door himself.

　　“Open it.”

　　“As you command!”

　　Upon his order, one soldier slowly opened the door.

　　Zenjirou took a short, deep breath, so that no one around noticed it, and pa.s.sed through the door with deliberate slow steps.

　　“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Zenjirou-sama. My name is Moreno Militello, a diplomat from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell. I am terrible honoured to be granted the chance to meet you in person.”

　　The middle-aged man lowered his head respectfully on the other side of the table, whereat Zenjirou nodded collected on his chair and replied shortly.

　　“I’m Zenjirou, the husband of Her Highness Aura, the Queen of the Carpa Kingdom.”

　　When he introduced himself internationally, he always said this. A declaration of his intention that he was present as the Prince Consort of Queen Aura, not as a member of the royal family.

　　Whether the diplomat sitting across him understood his aim or not, he lowered his head once more with a respectful expression, saying “very well”.

　　“Now that my husband has introduced himself, let us get to the issues at hand. We have not much time after all.”

　　The one to broach the topic was Aura, sitting next to Zenjirou.

　　She sat somewhat slovenly on the chair, resting against the backrest so that her grown stomach wouldn’t be a hindrance, but even in that posture, her words were overflowing with the characteristic strong pressure of a person that was used to give out orders arbitrary.

　　“Yes, very well.”

　　The diplomat lowered his head yet again with polite words, whereupon Aura put her hand against her chin, whose recent roundness worried her a bit, and

　　“Mhm, okay then, which matter do you want to start with, the official one or the real one?”

　　asked.

　　“Yes, please allow me to settle the simple, official matter first. The ‘rings’ you have requested, have arrived.”

　　The middle-aged diplomat responded to the Queen’s words with that and put two rings wrapped in a thick purple cloth onto the table.

　　It were pair rings with three brilliant diamonds embedded in a golden socket.

　　There was no doubt that these were the two wedding rings Zenjirou had bought on Earth.

　　To the “normal eye”, they looked completely unchanged, but Zenjirou had awakened his ability to detect magical power through the continuous lessons with Lady Octavia in the past one year or so, thus he now saw the radiance of magical power emitting from the rings.

　　Compared to the magical power coming from his or Aura’s body, it was rather faint, but it was his first time seeing a simple, inorganic object with magical power.

　　The delivery of their wedding rings, which they had requested to be turned into magic tools. That was the “official” matter for which the diplomat of the Twin Kingdom was granted an audience with both Aura and Zenjirou. Zenjirou usually only left the inner palace to “subst.i.tute for Aura”, so an official reason like this was necessary for him to accompany Aura here without raising suspicion.

　　As Zenjirou viewed the rings curiously, the diplomat eloquently explained the magic effects of the rings.

　　“The ring of Her Highness Aura has the magic ‘Ignition’ and the ring of Zenjirou-sama has the magic ‘Spring of Water’ worked into it. The Ignition is the beautiful handicraft of ‘Prince Francesco’ while the Spring of Water is the delicate handwork of ‘Princess Margarita’.”

　　The one, who reacted to these names, was Aura.

　　“Oho, it is quite an honour to have Prince Francesco and Princess Margarita deal with it. I will prepare a letter of grat.i.tude later on, so please pa.s.s it on to them.”

　　Prince Francesco and Princess Margarita. Both were direct descendants of the Sharrow Family and famous pract.i.tioner of the “Bestowal Magic”. Apparently they weren’t so stupid to skimp on a request for magical tools, even if they were disputing with the business partner on a secret matter.

　　“Yes, I will make sure to deliver them.”

　　With these words of the diplomat, the official matter, namely the delivery of the rings, was concluded.

　　Now the real issue at hand followed.

　　“Well then, I would like to address the real matter, seeing as we are pressed for time. This is the official doc.u.ment for the ‘treaty’ this time. Please read through it once now and sign it here when you consent with it.”

　　Saying so, the diplomat spread a light green dragonskin parchment on the table.