Guardians of the Prince

Chapter 18

The venue for the last event was a field on the outskirts of the palace grounds. The place was packed with children from town.

This was the only one of the public events I had experience with, that game beloved by children everywhere, Digging for Sweet Potatoes!

People here ate a kind of non-sweet potato-related tuber all the time, but there had to be a sweet variant too, right? When I’d asked Mr Gaen about it, he’d said, “Oh, so they’re popular not just around here, but in foreign countries too, huh.”

And so I’d asked Mr Fatido in his capacity as president of a trading firm, to obtain some seedlings for me. I’d worked hard, alongside the gardener.

The sweet potato that resulted wasn’t purple like the ones in Satsuma, the skin and the contents were both closer to salmon pink, but the flavor was really similar.

The kids were all cheering and screaming, their voices soaking up into the blue sky.

Mr Fatido and I went around to the various groups, lending a hand to lift the soil a little and make it easier for the kids to dig.

The prince was in that crowd too.

He was covered in mud all the way up to his face, digging up sweet potatoes, and grinning from ear to ear. This was the first event that had brought together a large crowd of kids his age like this, after all.

The other kids were a little shy at first, but somewhere along the way, they started running around comparing potato size with the prince like they’d all been friends from way back.

Kids sure do get to be close quick, huh.

Some of the kids from town did help out with their own gardens at home, but this was the first time they’d seen sweet potatoes this shape and color, and they were all obsessed.

Of course, whatever potatoes they dug up, they could take home, and I’d written down some recipes to hand out (with editing by Mr Gaen). It was stuff like a lemon simmer,1 and candied sweet potatoes.

If the people in town liked these sweet potatoes, maybe they could work together with Shiz Cagna to cultivate them, and think up an original recipe, maybe the town would become famous for it.

“Woah, huge! Look at this!”

“Wow, that’s amazing, sir!”

Mr Fatido was surrounded by children and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Should we have a baked potato contest next year?!

And thus the public events at Shiz Cagna came to a close after a roaring success.

◇ ◇ ◇

That evening, a modest closing party was held in the dining hall.

Most of the leftovers had been handed out to the guests, so it was just a few snacks and some drinks, but after all that hard work, the alcohol was delicious!

It was an extremely tight circle of back-stage helpers at the party, but Mr Lemonina had snuck her way in, and even Mr Fatido had cleaned the cakes of mud off himself in time to attend.

The prince was so incredibly tired, and fell asleep almost instantly. Even at dinner, his eyes were already half closed.

“Thank you so much, Mr Fatido. You must be exhausted.”

Mr Fatido had been sampling the drinks, and was in a good mood.

“I was hunched over so much my hips are kinda sore… Nah, I’m fine though. What about you, Kohme, you have to be tired. Shall we trade messages later on?”

“Kohme. Did you transform before?”

A voice cut through Mr Fatido’s suspicious suggestion.

I turned around, startled, and found Mr Lahzt. Mr Kahzam had shown up at some point too.

That’s right, when I used my magic, Mr Lahzt would have known about it.

“Ah… Yeah, well…”

I had to tell him what had happened.

But let’s just keep Mr Idine’s perverted statements under wraps. For Mr Idine’s honor, if for no other reason.

Mr Kahzam listened to my story and got wrinkles between his eyebrows. “I knew it, that guy is a threat.”

“That hickey-obsessed bastard! Kohme, you’re alright this time, right?” Mr Fatido’s face got real close, and he stared at the area around my neck.

I pulled back, a little embarrassed. “I’m fine. It’s forgiven… I don’t know what to do about it anyway.”

Mr Lahzt put a hand to his chin. “I am headed to the royal palace on business after this. We may well run into each other again, I’d like to put an end to it now, and with one swift blow, if I can.”

That would be nice.

Oh, well…

“I think I have a good idea. The prince came to rescue me, so let’s borrow his help again!”

Ms Lemonina saw me suppressing a smile and her eyes got a bit wider. “Jeez, Kohme, you’ve got a wicked mind.”

Well being constantly stuck in these situations is pretty mortifying, you know!

◇ ◇ ◇

And so, a little while later, one day at the royal palace.

Idine and Endie were having breakfast in the dining hall, when Lady Solamire, Second Queen to King Ishdir, appeared.

Perhaps because Lady Solamire was from a commoner family, she didn’t mind coming to such a frank and open place just as she was.

Gesturing for people who’d stood up to take their seats again, she struck up a conversation with Idine, who bowed respectfully to her.

“You’re Idine, I believe? There was something in my luggage from Shiz Cagna that someone wanted to give you.”

“Uh…?”

“You saw Ouji the other day at the public events? He must have liked you.”

Idine accepted the rolled up paper from Her Highness, although he was deeply suspicious.

“I hope you’ll continue to get along with my son.”

The queen smiled at him and left.

He unrolled the paper, wondering what the hell was going on.

It was a crayon drawing of Idine’s face. It was just a circle with eyes and a mouth, but you could tell it was Idine (or possibly his twin Endie) by the color of his skin and hair. In the corner was an awkward signature, “Ouji.”

Idine was smiling in the picture, but his hand (there was no body, only a limb growing directly out of his face) seemed to be holding an animal.

“Is that a timp?” Endie said, peeking in from the side. “It really hates you, huh?”

“Heh, hehehe…”

Idine let slip a snicker. It was unusual, and Endie tugged on him a bit.

“This is a threatening letter… The prince really got me there.”

Don’t get close to Koume if you don’t want Lady Solamire to know why the prince remembers you, that was the warning hidden in this innocent child’s drawing.

◇ ◇ ◇

After the closing party, I finally got to read the letter from Nanao.

It was a daily report, written like a diary. All about school, and her club activities, and her friends, and even some stuff about Koaya and her husband.

I read it over and over until I practically memorized it.

Still though, Kahzapka was ferrying letters back and forth more often than I’d realized. He may have been messenger to the gods, but he was surprisingly relaxed.

With that in mind, I read the final bit of her letter, where she’d written, “That white bird is a very nice person! Petting him feels so nice, and when I offered him some Kappa Ebisen, he ate them!” 2

She’d tamed the messenger of the gods! What a frightening kid you are, Nanao…!

But was that why Kahzapka went to the other world so much? … Ah-ha. Well, I was glad he was enjoying himself.

When I told them the story, Mr Kahzam, Mr Lahzt, and Mr Fatido all said the same thing at the same time. “She’s definitely Kohme’s daughter.”

The End