The office in the Royal Castle of Hydra Kingdom was now enveloped in a heavy, indescribable silence. The reason for this was simple and clear: the sudden appearance of Founder Olivia.
This is a matter of course, but the Royal Castle is equipped with an extremely powerful Teleportation Inhibition Barrier, so the fact that she appeared by directly teleporting is one of the reasons for their surprise. However, even more than that was their surprise for the fact that for the first time in the history of the Human Realm, the Founder had visited the Royal Castle of a specific country, and if they were to be honest, they weren’t quite sure what to make of the situation.
In such a situation, Olivia calmly looked around and upon spotting Laguna, she nodded lightly.
[I apologize for the abrupt visit. It’s been a long time since the Festival of Heroes, hasn’t it, Laguna Dia Hydra?]
[Y- Yes, it’s been a while. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you teleport here?]
[I was kindly sent off by Shallow Vernal-sama. Being that today is your celebration for your Founding Festival, she inferred I should quickly finish with my greetings……]
[I- I see, Shallow Vernal-sama’s huh…… In that case, it makes sense that you can disregard the Teleportation Inhibition Barrier.]
Olivia’s position in the world is very complicated, making Laguna quite tense, speaking while carefully choosing her words.
However, she was inwardly quite surprised. This is because she hadn’t expected Olivia to come to greet her……
[My apologies for the unexpected visit this time.]
[Ahh, no……]
[………………]
[Errr……]
[Now that I have finished my greetings to Laguna Dia Hydra, I will continue on and give my greetings to Lilia Albert.]
[Heaah!?]
The one who was truly astonished when she heard Olivia’s words, which were delivered in an indifferent manner, was Lilia. As Lilia looked as if the words “Why me!?” were clearly written on her face, Olivia came closer and spoke.
[It’s the first time we’ve met since the White God Festival, hasn’t it? I couldn’t greet you directly at that time, but I wanted to greet you, who had a deep connection with the God Realm and is so highly regarded that you had received a special gift from Shallow Vernal-sama.]
[Ah, y- yes. Errr…… With all due respect, what is this special gift from Shallow Vernal-sama?]
[Shallow Vernal-sama has given you a castle floating in the skies, hasn’t she? You must have felt extremely honored and at the same time, deeply grateful to Shallow Vernal-sama for her kindness.]
[……………………Yes.]
Lilia just swallowed a lot of words and thoughts down her throat. That castle had indeed been bestowed to her by Shallow Vernal, but in reality, it was just used as a venue for Kaito’s birthday, and it was handed over to Lilia by chance because Kaito said he didn’t need it…… It’s not like Shallow Vernal gave it to Lilia as a reward or anything like that.
However, there’s no way she could say such a thing. The person in front of her isn’t only the leader of Friendship City, but is also the Head of the sole and absolute religion in the world, which worships Shallow Vernal. In the presence of such a person, she can’t speak carelessly.
In addition, it can be said that this is the first time Lilia has exchanged words with Olivia, and at this point, she doesn’t know her temperament. What she does know is that she holds strong faith towards Shallow Vernal, and she judged that she should avoid making statements that could displease her.
As Lilia pressed on her stomach, stinging from pain, she spoke, hoping that this conversation of theirs would end quickly…… and having seen Olivia’s exchange with Laguna earlier, it was clear to Lilia that Olivia had a reserved personality and didn’t engage in unnecessary conversation. Therefore, this conversation of theirs would probably end soon…… Of course, there’s no way such a wish of Lilia’s will come true.
[I have also heard about you from Miyama Kaito-sama. Like how you’re also Miyama Kaito-sama’s lover……]
[Ah, yes. That’s right.]
[That’s wonderful…… Fumu……]
Observing Olivia’s expression as she uttered a few words and seemed to be contemplating something, Lilia became even more nervous. From her recent statement, she understood that the conversation had shifted towards Kaito. If that were the case, she couldn’t predict what would happen next.
In contrast, Olivia was still pondering. This is because a little while ago, Shallow Vernal told her to ask Kaito out on a date. At that time, Olivia received a strict command from Shallow Vernal to come up with a dating plan as well, and thus, Olivia intended to gather knowledge from books, consult with her acquaintance Kaori, and put together a plan.
And now, she found herself talking with Kaito’s lover, Lilia…… and thought that there could be no better person to consult regarding dating Kaito than her.
(……Did Shallow Vernal-sama perhaps anticipate all this…… As expected of the Great God of the world. Her eyes indeed gaze far into the future.)
Olivia concluded that even the chance encounter and introduction to Lilia this time were part of Shallow Vernal’s intentions…… Of course, it was all just a coincidence, and Shallow Vernal actually hadn’t thought that far ahead.
[……Lilia Albert. I would like to personally talk with you about a number of things. Would you be willing to make some time for me after this Founding Festival?]
[Haehh? Ah, y- y- yes! O- Of course!!!]
[My gratitude……]
Of course, Lilia had no way of knowing Olivia’s inner thoughts, so in response to Olivia’s active attempt to interact with her, she was inwardly shouting “Why meeee!?” in her heart.
The stomachache didn’t seem like it would subside anytime soon.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [She really is like a Stomachache Black Hole that you can only wonder if she’s cursed…… It feels like a stomachache flag for Kaori had just been nonchalantly raised, but even so, the Strongest Stomachache Warrior really is just on a different caliber.]
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