Chapter 245 – Marquisate of Fobrestar

Our journey continued with the group divided into beginners and experienced players, enjoying card games along the way.

With so many people – including Princess Stephania, Tephra, and the members of the Zilbolt household who had never played cards before – we had prepared multiple sets so everyone could play separately.

Since I needed to explain the rules, I decided to join the beginners’ group and play while teaching.

“Father, I’m sorry. I’m going out with this.”

“Hmm. It seems Romina has bested me this time.”

Marquis Zilbolt, who had drawn the joker from Romina’s hand and lost by a narrow margin, nonetheless narrowed his eyes happily.

“There are so many ways to play this. Perhaps I should buy some when we return to Termwills…”

“Human games are quite complex, but fascinating.”

“No, Theodore-dono’s game is quite innovative – there’s nothing else like it.”

It seemed everyone had taken a liking to it, which was a relief.

Just then, Lavigne let out a small bark.

“My, how clever, Marlene.”

The experienced group seemed to be having fun too. Rosemary smiled.

They appeared to be playing Page One. Marlene had raised her hand when she had only one card left, and Lavigne, who was waiting behind Ashley, had barked softly and declared Page One on Marlene’s behalf.

“Thank you, Lavigne.”

When Ashley narrowed her eyes and stroked her fur, Lavigne quietly closed her eyes and relaxed into the touch. Seeing this, Marlene also smiled back, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Princess Stephania looked slightly surprised at the scene before smiling herself. Perhaps she was happy to see how Marlene and Rosemary’s relationship had changed from before.

“Ah, I can see it now.”

Ophelia leaned her face out the window and spoke in a delighted voice.

“Is that Ophelia-sama’s family home?”

“Yes. Everyone, welcome to the Marquisate of Fobrester.”

Ophelia made a joking bow. The port town surrounded by outer walls, with its uniformly brick-roofed buildings, had a certain charm and atmosphere.

The town center was built on a small hill, where a stately castle stood. The townscape spread out from the base of the hill.

Since across the sea was already foreign territory, it was quite an impressive castle. Though compared to Theoreme Castle, the royal castle of Termwills, it was still within the bounds of conventional architecture.

“Should we head directly to the castle?”

“Yes. I’ve spoken with Father. Preparations for our reception should be ready, so could you have the dragon palanquin land in the castle’s courtyard?”

“Lindwurm. Head for the castle.”

Lindwurm turned his head and let out a cry in response to my voice. The dragon palanquin moved at a leisurely pace toward the castle of Marquis Fobrester.

Ophelia waved to the soldiers on the watchtower of the castle walls. The soldiers, having noticed Ophelia, straightened their posture and returned a crisp salute.

We passed over the castle walls and descended into the visible courtyard, landing gently.

Being wyverns from the royal castle, they were well-trained – but Lindwurm seemed to be acting as leader and coordinating the wyverns well, making them quite easy to handle.

“Good work, Lindwurm.”

After getting out of the palanquin and lightly stroking Lindwurm’s nose, he responded with a rumble in his throat.

They must have been preparing for our arrival in advance. Marquis Fobrester appeared with his servants almost immediately, without making us wait.

“Welcome to the Marquisate of Fobrester. As lord of this land, I extend my heartfelt welcome. You must be tired from your long journey. First, let me show you to your rooms. If you have any luggage, please feel free to ask the servants.”

Marquis Fobrester bowed and delivered his welcome speech.

“It’s been a while, Marquis Fobrester.”

“It has been too long, Your Highness Stephania. Ambassador, welcome.”

“Thank you, Marquis Fobrester.”

He then turned to Marquis Zilbolt.

“How many years has it been since we last met, Marquis Zilbolt?”

“It has been quite some time, Marquis Fobrester.”

While they exchanged greetings, the servants respectfully accepted our luggage. Though it wasn’t much, since we planned to load the entire dragon palanquin onto the ship. We moved toward the guest rooms under Marquis Fobrester’s personal guidance.

“I’m home, Father.”

“Ah. Welcome back, Ophelia.”

Marquis Fobrester smiled in response to Ophelia’s words during our movement. The guest rooms were nearby quickly – rooms lined the corridor facing the courtyard. The courtyard had a fountain, and the sound of flowing water was pleasant. Quite a nice place.

“We have prepared a modest banquet. When dinner is ready, we will call for you, so please wait a little while. If there’s anything you don’t understand, please ask the servants.”

With that, we were shown to the VIP suite.

The room was quite spacious. There was a large living area and several private bedrooms, giving it the appearance of a small mansion. Apparently, this entire area counted as one VIP suite.

Since they sometimes host foreign nobles, it’s designed so that escort units can stay in the same room as the VIPs.

The bedrooms contained canopied beds and intricately decorated dressing tables, with rather lavish interior decoration.

Now then. We certainly couldn’t all sleep in one bed. Rooms would be assigned according to the layout and beds…

We needed to discuss how to divide everyone up.

“How about placing the escorts at intervals, with Your Highness Stephania and Marquis Zilbolt and his family on either side?”

“That works for me.”

“We have no objections either.”

Well, there probably wasn’t need for that much caution in Marquis Fobrester’s castle, but we did have escort duties.

Princess Stephania would be in the innermost room. Next to her would be Sheila, Irmhild, Seraphina, Tephra, and Viola. The Zilbolt household. Next to them, me and my fiancées. Then Alfred next to that. This way, we could respond if anything unusual happened in adjacent rooms.

For sleeping, we’d place Lavigne and Ambrum in the living room. With Caduceus outside the window – that should be perfect.

“Well then, Theo-kun. I’ll be working for a while longer.”

“Mm. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Well, if I finish my work early, the rest will be like a vacation.”

Alfred laughed like that and, along with Viola, set up at the edge of the room to continue his armor-making work until dinner. Ophelia also seemed concerned about Alfred’s work progress and went near him. Once the work was done, he could spend time relaxing with Ophelia.

The three members of the Zilbolt household headed for the bedrooms. They said they wanted to rest a bit as a family.

“Then, Ambassador, until later.”

Elmer and the others also separated and headed to other VIP suites.

“Phew.”

Now that assignments were decided – could I relax until dinner? I settled onto the sofa. Even though it was a large dragon palanquin, with so many people… It was a relief to be able to stretch my limbs. As I sat relaxing on the sofa, the servant assigned to our room made tea for us.

“Still, Rosemary. You’ve changed quite a bit, haven’t you? You seem to be getting along well with Marlene too.”

Perhaps because Marquis Zilbolt had left, Princess Stephania said this to Rosemary while tilting her teacup.

“Is that so?”

Rosemary shrugged her shoulders and opened her feather fan. Since Marlene was smiling happily, Rosemary seemed rather uncomfortable.

“Yes. You used to be much more tense, but perhaps it’s thanks to the Ambassador?”

“…It’s because the environment changed. If there’s no need, I don’t have to be hostile. If you want to call that thanks to Theodore, then I suppose so.”

“Hmm.”

Princess Stephania smiled somewhat mischievously. As Rosemary hid her expression with her feather fan and turned away, Grace smiled wryly and asked a question as if to change the direction of the conversation.

“Speaking of which, what are the plans starting tomorrow?”

“We’ll probably work on preparing the ship. Well, we also promised to meet with the knight order members of the marquisate and train… but our stay is short too.”

I wondered how much training we could accomplish in that time. But Marquis Fobrester and Ophelia said it would be fine.

“I believe Theodore-sama’s usual approach will be more than sufficient to stimulate them. Just letting them glimpse a higher level once should make them more dedicated to their subsequent training,” said Ophelia.

I see. So my role is something like boosting their morale. Judging by the soldiers’ movements before we entered the castle, they already seemed quite skilled, so that should be fine.