書類仕事を始めてから一週間が経過した。毎日頑張ったお陰で最近では目を通す書類も少なくなり、俺は仕事の傍らにローラから色々な政務を教わっていた。
領地経営の仕方であったり、王侯貴族の序列。他にも他人に命令を下す時の態度など。
どこで使う必要があるのか疑問だったが、唐突に授業が始まってしまったので聞くタイミングを逃してしまった。
ローラは年下とは思えないほど知識があり、授業もわかりやすい。
そのせいで俺もついつい興味を持ち質問をしてしまい、ここ数日でローラとの会話が増えた。
冷たい態度は相変わらずなのだが、それは本人の性格によるものと諦めた。
今日も書類を片付けつつローラから何かを教わろうと執務室に足を運ぶのだが......。
「本日の予定はドゲウ王子が主催する狩猟祭への参加になります」
扉を開けると定位置にローラが立っており書類をめくっていた。
そして俺を一瞥すると初めて聞く予定を話した。
「いや、どういうことだ?」
「以前よりあなたと『会わせろ』『パーティーを開くから参加してほしい』などの声が多数ありました。今までは書類の確認を優先するということで私が断ってきましたが、そろそろ断りきるのが難しかったので......」
アリスからはパーティーの誘いとか増えると聞いてた。そういえば誘いがまったくないなと書類を読みながら考えてはいたのだが、どうやらローラがシャットアウトしてくれていたらしい。
いい加減書類仕事にも飽きていたので構わないのだが、前日に教えてほしかった。
「......それにしたって狩猟祭って」
町に住んでいた時にもなかったわけではない。町の狩人たちが森に入ってきて動物を仕留めて戻ってくる。その時に狩った獲物の重量で勝負するのが習わしなのだが、
「他の催しじゃだめなのか?」
俺は一般人だったので、狩りをしたことがないのだ。
「私の方で一番無難な物を選んだつもりですが、嫌だというのなら王女・公女限定のお茶会に変更しますよ?」
自分が女だらけのお茶会に参加してティーカップを持っている姿を想像する。
「では、こちらに参加者のプロフィールをまとめておきましたので、参加時間までに一読しておいてください」
ローラから受け取った紙束をパラパラと捲ってみる。相当分厚いのだが、その一枚一枚に参加人物の出身国やら交友関係、趣味や特技などが記載されている。
綺麗な文字で書かれている。毎日見ている文字なので、書いたのはローラで間違いないだろう。
俺が恥をかかないためにこうして参加者のプロフィールを用意をするとは、随分と手間がかかったに違いない。
「ありがとうな」
ひとまず感謝の気持ちを伝えてみるのだが、
「仕事ですから。気にしないでください」
相変わらずの無愛想っぷりだった。
「これはこれは英雄エルト殿。この度は数多くある催しの中から僕の狩猟祭の招待を受けてくださりありがとう。今日は歳の近い人間を集めたので楽しんでもらえると嬉しいよ」
大げさな様子で俺に挨拶をしてくる。俺は目の前の男のプロフィールを思い出す。
ガラセイヤ王国の第二王子で名前をドゲウという。
国家としてはそこそこの規模だが、強引な外交に民をないがしろにする政策。女癖が悪いらしく黒い噂が絶えない男だ。
丁寧な挨拶をしてはいるが、どこか見下すような視線を俺に向けており、ドゲウの後ろにいる数人もニヤニヤと笑っていた。
俺がその様子を見ているとローラに背中を突かれた。どうやら彼女も狩りに同行するようで、普段とは違い髪を後ろでまとめてポニーテールを作って動きやすい格好をしている。
「この度は狩猟祭への招待感謝します」
表情のはしはしに見える笑みを無視しながら、俺はローラに習った通り胸に手をあて上半身を少し前に倒し貴族流の挨拶をする。
俺が丁寧な挨拶をすると、ドゲウは、
「噂に名高い英雄殿の力量を見られるかと思うと昨晩は寝付けませんでしたよ」
基本的に王族は他人に頭を下げない。身分でいうなら聖人の称号を得るはずの俺の方が上になると説明をされていたが、現時点でまだ受けていないからかドゲウは挨拶を返さなかった。
後ろでローラがむっとしている。どうやら礼儀を守らないドゲウに苛立ったようだ。
「ところでその弓はもしかすると市販品では?」
「ええ、そうですけど何か?」
狩猟祭のことを知らされたのが先程なのだ。この弓だって急遽エリバン王国から貸してもらっただけ。
「流石は英雄殿ですね。狩りをするのに市販の武器を持ってくるとは」
「いやいや、きっとまだ武器職人に伝手がないんですって」
「邪神を討伐したぐらいだから武器は選ばないのでしょう」
小馬鹿にした様子に後ろの取り巻き立ちが一斉に笑う。
ここにきてはっきりとわかる。どうやら彼らは俺を貶めて恥をかかせたいらしい。
こういった人間は何処にでもいる。特に俺は邪神討伐の功績で目立っているので絡みたくなったのだろう。
「前日の夜にいきなり予定を告げてきて失礼じゃないですか!」
ローラから怒りの声が聞こえる。どうやら前日に俺に言わなかったのは参加を半ば強制させられたからのようだ。
「それにしたって、そんな一般兵士が使うような弓とはね。見てみろ」
ドゲウはそう言うと自分の弓を見せる。
「これは名工に作らせた弓で名を『シルフィード』という。矢を放つと風の精霊が補助して獲物へと突き刺さる。私にふさわしい武器だと思いませんか?」
見ると確かに武器の周りを風の精霊が飛び交っている。弓に散りばめられた宝石に
「所詮は武器頼りということではないですか。武器がいくら優れていても狩りの腕がたいしたことなければ獲物を仕留められませんよ?」
「な、なんだとっ?」
ローラは憤慨すると言い捨てた。ドゲウは怒りをあらわにすると、
「ふんっ! 市販の弓で僕たちよりも獲物を狩れると? それなら賭けをしようじゃないか」
「賭けですか?」
できることなら受けたくはない。俺は眉根をひそめる。
「英雄殿が負けた場合は......。そうだなぁ、イルクーツの王女に一晩お付き合いいただくというのはどうだろうか?」
この場合の『一晩お付き合い』というのは貴族の隠語になる。ドゲウは鼻の下を伸ばすしてローラを見る。
流石にこんな勝負を受けるわけにはいかない。俺はきっぱりと断ろうと口を開くのだが、
「それで構いません」
It's been a week since I started doing the paperwork. Thanks to the hard work I put in every day, the number of documents I had to look through has been decreasing, and I've been learning a lot of political matters from Laura while I work.
She taught me how to manage my territory, and the hierarchy of royalty and nobility. She also taught me how to give orders to others.
I wondered when I would need to use it, but it ended so abruptly that I missed my chance to ask.
Laura is much more knowledgeable than I would have expected from someone so much younger than me, and her lessons were easy to understand.
This made me curious and asked questions, and I've had more conversations with Laura over the past few days.
Her cold demeanor was still the same, but I resigned myself to the fact that it was due to her personality.
Today, I'm going to visit the office to learn something from her while I'm taking care of some paperwork....
"Our plans for today are to attend a hunting festival organized by Prince Dogeu."
When I opened the door, Laura was standing in place, flipping through some papers.
Then she took one look at me and told me the plan for today, which I had never heard before.
"No, what do you mean?"
"There have been a lot of people who have asked me to 'match' with you, or they throw a party and they want you to attend. I've been turning them down because I've prioritizing the document verification, but it was getting hard to turn them down...'"
Alice had told me that there would be more invitations to parties and such. I had been thinking as I read the documents that I hadn't received any invitations at all, but apparently Laura had shut them out.
I was bored with the paperwork, which was fine, but I wish she had told me a day before.
"...What's a hunting festival anyway?"
It's not that it didn't happen when I lived in town. The hunters from the town would come into the forest and kill animals and come back. It was customary to compete on the weight of the prey they hunted at that time.
"Why not some other kind of event?"
I was a citizen, so I had never hunted before.
"If you don't like it, we can change it to a tea party for princesses and noble ladies."
I imagined myself at a tea party full of women, holding a teacup.
"I've put together the profiles of the participants here, so please take a moment to read through them before you leave."
I flipped through the stack of papers that Laura had given me. It was quite thick, but on each sheet, there was a description of the participant's country of origin, friendships, hobbies and specialties.
It was written in beautiful letters. I'm sure it was Laura who wrote it, since I see her writing every day.
It must have taken a lot of work to prepare the profiles of the participants so that I would not be embarrassed.
"Thank you."
I tried to express my gratitude.
"It's my job. Don't worry about it."
But she was still as unsociable as ever.
"This is the Hero, Elt. Thank you for accepting my invitation to the Hunting Festival among the many other events. I hope you enjoy it, since I've gathered a group of people close to your age today."
He greeted me in an exaggerated manner. I remembered the profile of the man in front of me.
He is the second prince of the Galaseya Kingdom and his name is Dogeu.
The kingdom is of moderate size, but it has a strong diplomatic policy of neglecting its people. He seems to have a bad habit with women, and there are always rumors about him.
I greeted him politely, but he looked at me with a somewhat condescending gaze, and the people behind him smirked at me.
As I watched, Laura poked me in the back. Apparently, she was also going along on the hunt, and unlike usual, she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, making it look way easier to move around in.
"Thank you for inviting me to this hunting festival."
Ignoring the smile on her face, I put my hand on my face and leaned my upper body forward a little as I learned from Laura, and gave a noble greeting.
When I gave a polite greeting, Dogeu said,
"I couldn't sleep last night, thinking that I would be able to see the prowess of the famous Hero."
Basically, royalty does not bow down to others. In terms of status, it was explained to me that I would be higher than him, as I was supposed to receive the title of the Saint, but Dogeu did not return my greeting, perhaps because he had not received it yet
.In the background, Laura was annoyed. It seems that she was annoyed by Dogeu's lack of courtesy.
"The bow, by the way, may be a commercial product?"
"Yes, it is, but what is it?"
It was only a few minutes ago that I was informed about the hunting festival. Even this bow was hastily lent to me by the Erivan Kingdom.
"You are a hero, aren't you? And you're bringing a commercial weapon to hunt with?
"No, no, I just got the message and I didn't have the time to choose a weapon."
"You've already defeated the Evil God, so I'm sure you don't have to choose one."
The cronies behind him laughed in unison at his mockery.
I can see it clearly now. It seems they want to humiliate me and embarrass me.
There are people like this everywhere. I guess they wanted to get involved with me, especially since I stood out for my achievements in defeating the evil gods.
"Isn't it rude of you to suddenly announce your plans a night before!"
I heard an angry voice from Laura. It seems that the reason why she didn't tell me the day before was because we were forced to participate.
"Then again, it's the kind of bow a common soldier would use. Look at mine."
Dogeu said, showing his bow.
"This is a bow made by a master craftsman and is called the Sylphid. When I release the arrow the wind spirits assist me in thrusting it into the target. It's a weapon worthy of me, don't you think?"
I looked at it and sure enough, wind spirits were flying around the weapon. They seem to be reacting to the jewels scattered on the bow.
"It's not all about the weapon. No matter how good your weapon is, if you're not a good hunter, you won't be able to kill your prey, right?"
"Wh, what did you say!?"
Laura was indignant and threw it away. Dogeu was furious.
"Hmph! You think you can hunt better than me with a store-bought bow? Then let's make a bet."
"A bet is it?"
I don't want to take it if I could. I frowned.
"If hero-dono loses.... How about having the Ilkut Princess stay with us for the night?"
In this case 'a night's company' would be a nobleman's secret phrase. Dogeu stretches his nose and looks at Laura.
I'm not going to accept this kind of match.
"That's fine."
I, the Sacrifice, Somehow Killed the Evil God (WN)
【書籍化】生贄になった俺が、なぜか邪神を滅ぼしてしまった件【コミカライズ】
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/i-the-sacrifice-somehow-killed-the-evil-god/
Action Adventure Fantasy Harem Romance Shounen
Adapted to Manga Charming Protagonist Childhood Friends Dense Protagonist Depictions of Cruelty Different Social Status Dragons Elves Evil Gods Eye Powers Fantasy Creatures Fantasy World Fast Learner Game Elements Gods Hard-Working Protagonist Hated Protagonist Healers Kind Love Interests Lack of Common Sense Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Lucky Protagonist Magic Magic Formations Male Protagonist Monsters Multiple POV Nobles Overpowered Protagonist Polygamy Popular Love Interests R-15 Royalty Spirit Users Spirits Strong Love Interests Strong to Stronger Sudden Strength Gain Sword And Magic Sword Wielder Underestimated Protagonist Unique Weapon User Unique Weapons Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7677gq/
まるせい