King of the Nation with Dreams

It’s a studio apartment, Hikaru thought. Cheers greeted them once they arrived in the nation—capital? town?—of Dream Maker. People overjoyed by the return of the navy crowded the harbor. Their roars grew even louder as Grucel, covered in dirt, raised his hand in response.

First, the Healer that Luke Landon escorted was immediately led to the king. In the meantime, Hikaru’s party was given some time to rest, with watchers of course. Hikaru was shown to a building in the shape of a matchbox with precise layout and furnished only by the bare necessities.

「Deena. There’s no need to get us one room each. In fact, separating us will only be an inconvenience. Please give us a room good for three.」

Next they were shown to a pad with three bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. It even had a balcony.

「It’s like an apartment for a whole family.」

Even though it was located on the fourth floor, it was fully installed with a water supply. Apparently there was a water tank above where the water flowed from.

「We finally made it. This layout was definitely introduced by Eiichi.」

The place was fully furnished. Hikaru took a breath as he sat down on a chair.

「Hikaru, Hikaru!」

Lavia, who was out on the balcony, beckoned Hikaru.

「What is it?」

「I haven’t seen this kind of townscape before. You don’t find this in our continent.」

They could see Dream Maker’s main road from the balcony. People were out on the streets. Donkey-like creatures with six feet pulled on carts. Houses stood close to each other with only little gaps between structures. It was overall a well-organized city.

「You don’t look that surprised.」Lavia said.

「Yeah. The place looks similar to where I came from.」

It looked familiar, indeed, but it was still quite different from modern Japan. Although, Ponsonia and Vireocean’s European style cityscapes were way more different. Just the sheer number of neat apartment complexes here reminded Hikaru of Japan.

「You want to talk to the king, right?」

「Hmm, I’m not sure. The current king isn’t the man from Japan anyway. I would be interested if he left some sort of notes behind, though.」

「Will he recover?」

「No idea. If even Paula’s healing magic doesn’t work, that means he’s beyond saving.」

Lavia chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.「You really trust Paula, huh?」

「Somewhat. I did tell her my secret, after all.」

Lavia leaned closer to Hikaru and held his arm.

「I think we’ll get along well just fine and it makes me happy.」

「Us three?」

「Drake included.」

「Oh, pet included, huh.」

「Meanie.」Lavia giggled.

Paula was inside, happily tidying up their luggage, making tea, giving Drake feeds—no, a meal.

The white drakon had done nothing but complain nonstop about the continent’s awful stench, frowning most of the time. Whenever he did, his gums would show, making for an extremely fiendish appearance.

「Well, well. I thought we’d have some time to rest, but that’s not the case I guess.」

Five soldiers were running down the road below that led all the way to the king’s residence. Luke’s Healer couldn’t do the job, so they wanted Silver Face to come.

Only the palace greatly differed from the rest of the buildings. First of all, a wall surrounded the place, the nation’s history carved into its surface. Second, there was a garden inside. The town didn’t have roadside trees or lawns, but the palace did.

As they walked through the guarded gate, Hikaru saw a wooden house covered with black scale-shaped bricks which were meant to be roof tiles, except the shape was quite different. It could be that Eiichi’s memory was a bit off, or perhaps time had caused it to change.

It was a single-story residence, but a tall one at that. The huge double doors even resembled a temple gate. Inside, the floors were covered in carpet, and one could enter with footwear on. Lamps burned in the dimly-lit palace.

「This way.」

Grucel, who awaited Hikaru’s party’s arrival, guided them. On the way, Hikaru saw a room with its door open. Inside was a dejected Healer and the knights escorting him led by Luke.

The knight spotted Silver Face and tried to approach him, but the soldiers stopped him. Hikaru merely raised his hand at Luke, wordlessly telling him to wait. Luke nodded quietly.

「How’s your arm?」Grucel asked out of the blue.

「Arm?」

「Yes, your arm. You shot the Yamamaneki, didn’t you? I heard you got injured.」

「Oh, that. I’m perfectly fine. My Healer’s great.」Hikaru said.

Paula, who was walking behind giggled. Focus, please! Hikaru thought.

「You saved us. Thank you.」

「Where’d that come from?」

「Deena said she asked you help.」

Just when Hikaru thought the man was getting better with the language, he still struggled a bit.

「I would’ve fired a shot anyway even if she didn’t ask. We would’ve been in danger too. Besides, I just happened to find its weak spot. You guys exposed it.」

「Either way, we owe you.」

I sank one of your ships, though. I guess he doesn’t mind, Hikaru thought. They deserved that, of course, after kidnapping Paula.

「Do Yamamaneki’s appear around here often? Actually, you don’t have blast cannons in the city? It felt like you ran out of resources there. It would’ve been a disaster if we arrived a day late.」

「I have a lot more to say about that, but for now King Doriachi is waiting.」

Grucel stopped in front of an iron double door guarded by two soldiers.

『I, Grucel, have arrived.』he said in their language.『I brought with me Silver Face, the Healer, and one more person.』

The door opened. Too bright, Hikaru thought. On the ceiling was a depiction of people fighting, gilded in gold. Light reflected off of it, making the place bright. A large carpet was spread out inside, and furniture lined the walls. At the center was a bed surrounded by eight people.

Including Grucel, that’s nine leaders of each clan.

As expected, Duinkler was also present, nodding lightly at Hikaru. There was no trace of friendliness from him like when they were on the ship. The man was overflowing with dignity.

「Oh… I apologize… for calling… you… all the way…」

The man coughed, unable to finish his sentence.

『Your Majesty! You should not talk!』

『Please just relax!』

That must be the current king lying on the bed. Doriachi had the same black hair as Hikaru.