Seriana continued to explain, and to summarize, it wasn’t just about Marieira—it was a kind of test for everyone.

While the representatives heading to the royal capital gathered in the territory’s capital, my old man subtly hinted at the idea of adopting me as his daughter.
That was all my old man and his group did, but they wanted to see how the representatives would react to it.

In the royal capital, far from their own territories, one must act with independent discretion.
Not only the person themselves but their representatives are expected to demonstrate suitable competence.
Well, they can’t exactly just sit around waiting for instructions for everything…

Anyway, they heard about me, and then the question became, “So, what should we do?”

Although they had gathered with a bit of time to spare for the festival, it usually takes over a week to travel from Zelkis’s territory to here.
If they had to start preparing from scratch, it would take even longer.
By then, the festival would be over, so it’d make more sense for them to stay in Zelkis’s capital and stick to their plans there.

However, Marieira has a Familiar.
And it’s a cat Familiar that excels at night.

The moment she heard about me, she assigned her representative and made a beeline for our place.
Talk about being proactive…

“Wait a second. Does that mean she was chosen from the start?”

It feels like everything was planned around her Familiar… In that case, wasn’t she the only candidate from the beginning?

“There’s the waterway, remember? There’s also a direct route from the village governed by Luban, so if you hurry, it only takes a few days to gather people.”

“Oh… that’s right.”

The town of Oz is about two days from Zelkis’s capital.
Using a boat from there would indeed shorten the travel time considerably.

“Of course, that requires prior knowledge of the route, as well as assembling people capable of fighting in Riana’s lands… Unfortunately, there weren’t enough people who could manage that.”

“Oh, I see…”

While the route technically exists, monsters still appear regularly.
The knights patrol and thin their numbers to some extent, but they can’t handle unexpected noble visitors.
It would require the visitors themselves to provide their own escorts, but there wasn’t enough time to gather such a force.

In that sense, could it be said that she cheated a little?
After all, she had the trump card of a Familiar.
Or perhaps, is that individuality something to be evaluated? …Probably the latter.

Still, perhaps she was somewhat aware of it herself, as she looked a little awkward… but there’s no denying her decisiveness.
In this world of nobles, people seem to value that quality.
In fact, despite the sudden visit, Seriana seemed to find it all somewhat amusing.

“While I can’t formally recommend her, I’ll give her a letter to Father. It’s probably a done deal. You should remember her face.”

“Got it!”

Strictly speaking, it’s her husband who would succeed, likely taking over from the old man…
But still, to think that even the representatives’ abilities are scrutinized… This world really keeps you on your toes.

◇

“Huh?”

On the second night—

While lounging around in Seriana’s bedroom as usual, I suddenly remembered something from earlier in the day.

Marieira had given me some aromatherapy oil, a specialty of the town her husband governs, as a parting gift.
Maybe it was because we were burning it?

“What’s with that absentminded look on your face?”

“…Could you focus on my voice instead of my face for once?”

It’s true, I might look a bit dumb right now… but let’s set that aside.

“So, what’s on your mind?”

“Yeah… I was just wondering, why did they want to meet me in the first place? Sure, it’s because I’m becoming an adopted daughter, but it seems like a lot of effort to come all the way here just for that.”

While they didn’t leave a bad impression, my opinion shouldn’t matter much.
So why go to such lengths for this?
Honestly, as long as they could do the job, I didn’t care who it was…

“Well… even though the waterways are open, the royal capital is still far away. Neither from here nor from Zelkis’s territory is there anyone who can casually make the trip except for you.”

“Yeah… that’s true. Even for me, traveling to the royal capital requires some mental preparation.”

Seriana nodded slightly and continued.

“You will act as the connection between the two ruling families of the eastern territories, the royal capital, and the royal family. …Stop making that annoyed face. As I said yesterday, apart from a few tasks, we’ll handle the rest for you.”

She noticed the sour look on my face and added some reassurance.

“Continuing on… I know the candidates personally, and honestly, there isn’t much difference between their abilities or personalities. For instance, Marieira has a Familiar, another candidate has relatives in the ruling families of other territories, and yet another has connections with the royal capital’s knights. It wouldn’t be a problem regardless of who is chosen.”

“Huh…”

So, there’s no shortage of talented individuals, huh? That’s what I was thinking when she pointed her finger at me.

“You know… maybe Father thinks you’re shy around strangers?”

“Huh?”

“Even though the royal capital will mostly use our family’s estate, you’ll still need to visit Müller’s estate as well.”

“Yeah… that’s expected.”

Even Teresa stayed at Müller’s estate when we were in the royal capital, though she could’ve stayed at her family’s estate.
Unless there’s some serious bad blood between the families, things seem pretty flexible on that front.

“Ever since your time in Zelkis, apart from the servants, you barely interacted with anyone outside of work, didn’t you?”

…Now that she mentioned it, that might be true…

“I was eight or nine at the time, though…?”

A kid from another world, completely out of their depth, interacting with high society… Yeah, no.

Seriana shrugged.

“Well… maybe this arrangement is just a way to accommodate you. Still, make sure to visit their estate when you go to the royal capital.”

“Yeah…”

So this is what they call “consideration,” huh?
Not that I needed Seriana to remind me; I already planned on doing that.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera・【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Clothes of Wind】・【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】・7 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・28 cards
Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・3 cards
Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・7 cards