09: Dining Room

When it came to the dining room for the royal family, there’s the image of a large hall with a long table and a lot of chairs. In reality, it’s actually a typical dining room that wasn’t so large.

The tables and chairs seemed to be of excellent quality, albeit ordinary, and in the room, there were knights wearing armor that looked a bit more luxurious than the ones guarding the gates. Even so, they’re all standing alert, just the same.

In the first place, there’s only one chair. This seemed to be the king’s private dining room.

There’s also Uros, leaning against the wall while holding a book of some kind. Kuuga, who had the impression that security was tight and gapless, saw something strange in Uros’ appearance. Uros seemed panicked and occasionally sent a sharp glance at the knights, as if he was wary of something.

As soon as Gadillas sat down on the chair, a woman dressed in a maid costume appeared while pushing in a service wagon.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Kuuga saw what humans ate in this world. As he watched the maid line up food on the table, he realized that there’s a strange smell mixed with the appetizing ones.

[…what’s this smell?]

It’s not an irritating odor, but that smell naturally made Kuuga nervous. It made him have a slight headache, and he intuitively thought that it was a warning signal emitted by this body.

[…!]

It came from the meat of the last main dish.

Intuitively, Kuuga hurriedly jumped on the table and shook off the meat dish with his forefoot.

“O-oi.”

“Kyaaaa!”

The plate fell to the floor with a loud noise, and Gadillas tried to say something, but the piercing scream of the maid echoed to block it. The knights who reacted immediately approached the table.

“Your Majesty…!”

Feeling the knights’ murderous intent and even seeing the sword usually hanging on their waists in their hands, Kuuga alertly held his head low.

When the room was filled with tension.

“Stop.”

The low voice of Gadillas echoed in the room, and everyone stopped moving.

Looking at Gadillas, he was looking at the knights with a stern look. With colder eyes than usual, the knights’ faces froze, and they all had deep blue faces.

“What’s in your hands? Do you know to whom you pointed your swords are?”

“B-but Your Majesty… even if it’s the Divine Beast-sama…”

“You should have noticed that the Divine Beast is intelligent. It is intelligent enough to understand human words. You should be aware of the impression that your actions make to others. There should be a meaning to what the Divine Beast did.”

Kuuga slightly raised his eyes. Could Gadillas really make such a rational decision with his habit of not believing in others?

Kuuga nodded to Gadillas and pointed his nose to the meat that had fallen from the table. After all, it had a strange odor, and it smelled dangerous.

Kuuga hit the floor next to the meat several times with his forefoot and shook his head then faced Gadillas. He felt nervous looking at Gadillas, wondering if it would be transmitted and felt relieved when Gadillas stood up.

“Do you mean to say don’t eat it? …no way …poison!”

“Seize that woman.”

Immediately in response to Gadillas’ words, Uros ordered the knights. The dazed knights puzzledly held down the confused maid who had served the food. The maid resisted and kept twisting her body until her face became deep blue. However, she was still forcefully pressed against the floor.

“N-no way… I-I didn’t do it…!”

While that happened and Kuuga was still nervous, Uros moved and picked up the meat that had fallen on the floor and returned it to the plate that had fallen.

“I will send you the investigation report immediately…. oi, put that woman in prison.”

[W-wait a minute! That woman is different!]

When Kuuga realized that the maid, who carried the food in, was suspected, he hurriedly patted Uros’ leg. Uros looked down at him with a surprised expression but then looked confused as the man didn’t know what Kuuga was trying to convey.

Kuuga then turned to Gadillas, but he didn’t understand it either. Kuuga moved to the maid being pressed down. He then hit the floor in front of her with his forefoot twice, regardless of the frightened knights.

Kuuga shook his head as before and repeated the same thing again. Only then the two men realized what Kuuga wanted to say.

“…do you want to say that the woman is not the culprit?”

[That’s right.]

“Eh…?”

Both the knights and the maid looked at Kuuga in confusion. The same went for Gadillas and Uros.

In Kuuga’s eyes, he could clearly see that this maid was innocent. He could tell by looking at her face. She was genuinely surprised when he found that poison was mixed, and her expression when pleading her innocence while pressed by the soldiers. None were acting.

A woman with a slightly tricky personality was not a person who could be said to be worthy of trust. But she could be trusted in this situation.

Gadillas and Uros approached then kneeled down to look at Kuuga.

“Are you sure of that?”

Kuuga nodded twice to that question. Gadillas and Uros looked at each other, then Uros asked this time.

“Is it because the smell of poison didn’t come from this person?”

This time, Kuuga shook his head twice to the two men. Uros put his hand on his chin to ponder something.

“Is there any evidence that she’s not the culprit?”

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. When Kuuga shook his head once, Gadillas and Uros showed troubled faces. Was it useless without evidence?

“…no way …is it like intuition?”

When Kuuga nodded once, they were a bit nervous. The two men, who felt their thoughts were getting closer, looked at each other again.

“There’s no proof, and it’s close to intuition, but it’s not just a hunch. There’s also its self-confidence… is this a power unique to the Divine Beast?”

That might be the closest interpretation. Judging that it’d be difficult to get closer than this, Kuuga nodded twice.

Gadillas and Uros gave up pursuing since it would be difficult to fully understand. The two stood up and talked while whispering, then ordered the maid to be released.

“If it wasn’t the one who carried it, then someone else did. Did you get the poison?”

“Of course. I’ll make the arrangements… to confirm.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes. How would you like to eat?”

“Now is good. Bring it to my bedroom after remaking it.”

“…should I do the poison testing in the room?”

“No need. The Divine Beast could check it. Oi, let’s go back.”

Though Kuuga was hungry, he didn’t think he’d have the appetite immediately after he found out that poison was in it. Then he obediently followed Gadillas out of the dining room.

At any rate, Kuuga sighed when life wasn’t calm on the day he chose Gadillas as the king.

Kuuga looked up to Gadillas. He couldn’t see from the man’s expression that his life had just been targeted, even treating it as something usual. Or rather, Kuuga got the impression that he’s thinking about something else.

Was he used to this? Kings were often described as being often assassinated in novels and the like, but as expected, the royal family really encountered such things often.

There seemed to be a lot among them who weren’t convinced that Kuuga chose Gadillas. Kuuga wondered if they’re involved in this.

Were they angry that Kuuga chose Gadillas and held a grudge? It didn’t look like it, but he’s sure that some people weren’t happy by the complicated looks they showed at the ritual.

When Kuuga thought about it that way, he felt sad. He then looked down as he returned to the bedroom with Gadillas.