Normally a human with a position like Renya's is a person with considerable social status in certain countries. Due to this, in the case they visit a foreign nation, a lot of troublesome formalities have to be observed.

Also, because all countries have one or two things they can't expose or information they don't want leaked to a human with a high social status in a foreign country, it becomes necessary to hide or make sure that the guest is not allowed to get close to those things and that information.

Additionally, there are also various agreements and procedures when it comes to a foreign national military force, with a magnitude above a certain level, crossing the border.

If they were to cross the border arbitrarily, without having made any kind of previous arrangement, it would lead to a case of border infringement, provoking a situation that could very well lead to war.

Pertaining to this point, it was customary on the human continent to not be given permission unless it was a big emergency.

Cross-national military joint operations were never carried out to begin with. If there was some kind of threat that crossed the borders, it was normal to leave the matter to the national army of the country which had its border infringed.

Not to mention that there's never been a precedent of any kind of military force crossing the borders between continents.

The sole exception to this rule is the heroes' mobilization. As the heroes themselves own combat power that's equivalent to a whole army, there are never any restrictions imposed on the heroes and their comrades.

As for the heroes' comrades' sphere of action, there's of course the preface that they have to keep it in a sensible range.

Say, why is the examination so strict just for me? You have passed on the documents related to a noble's border transgression, right? (Renya)

Renya asks Shion, who's next to him, as only he receives a tenacious body check and documents inspection in the room with Klinge's transfer gate.

Starting with Kurz, all the heroes very quickly passed through the gate, which resulted in them going ahead.

As to whether the one transferring is a hero or not seems to be verified by the exclusive hero equipment. Kurz showed the holy sword, Lepard presented those boorish tekkou and boots. Those pieces of equipment served as proof of them being heroes.

There's an inscription saying Holy Sword Tillwing on Kurz's holy sword, and Lepard's equipment had the name Fang King attached to it as well.

It appears to have that name engraved in the set of tekkou and boots, but since Renya suffered a bashing from the beastmen priestesses after he laughed at the name for being too unsuitable, he carved it into his brain to not ridicule it ever again.

Although you might call the bashing an attack, it wasn't at the level which Lepard suffers every day. Those among the priestesses, who belong to the childish category, hit Renya with their tiny fists which seemed to fit the sound effect poka poka 1 perfectly, but even if their fists didn't carry any real power, Renya simply endured them as they seemed to be really angry going by their expressions.

Predicting that this kind of attack is likely more effective against Renya than direct force, Kaede applied such a tactic, but this matter caused Renya to change his perception of Kaede from her being a muscle-brain's wife to a wily and scheming woman.

In the middle of this matter, Renya happened to see Grn's hero equipment for the first time.

Two blades that are a bit too large to be called knives.

If Renya were to judge, their make was something similar to what can be called Western-styled, but the sword blade was unmistakably close to that of a kodachi. 2 Their inscriptions seem to say Wings Abreast.

It seems to mean that a single swing won't accomplish anything, and that only two swings will achieve a level of significance for the first time. It's apparently an inscription added by a Lost who came to the elven continent in the past. (Grn)

Grn gave Renya an explanation, who was gazing at the two blades full of keen interest.

Due to those two katana, one could say that Grn's main combat method appears to be close combat or surprise attacks from the target's blind spot.

The fighting style of unleashing a single strike from the target's blind spot after freely using concealment skills so that he will be out of sight, even if only for a short period of time, in addition to a dual blade style that emphasizes speed, is really assassin-like, Renya judges.

Given that there were to many people for everyone to pass through the gate at the same time as the heroes', a part of the priestesses carefully selected by Kaede and Renya's comrades such as Frau and Rona passed through the gate while sticking together. Only Renya was stopped before passing through, which leads us to the present situation.

The reason why Shion remained beside him was that she noticed Renya being detained right before passing through the gate. The other members of Renya's party went through the gate before he was stopped.

We are terribly sorry, Your Excellency. This is also our duty.

One of the soldiers defending the transfer gate apologetically calls out to Renya, who is still being held back.

Since the transfer gates are a transportation system that allow anyone to visit a foreign country instantly, soldiers from territories that belong to other nobles who have established specialized defense units are dispatched as well.

This is a safety net so that the country will also take responsibility in case something happens, but the soldiers that stopped Renya were under the direct control of the Trident Principality.

Renya replied honestly at first, wondering whether this is an inspection carried out each time a noble crosses the border, but as they examined him too strictly, a single complaint escapes his mouth unintentionally,

It can't be helped if it's your duty, butis it because I'm a noble after all? (Renya)

If that's the case, I ended up in a troublesome position, Renya assessed, but the words returned by the soldier were slightly different from Renya's expectations.

No, normally you'd be fine to go.

Renya throws a puzzled look at the soldier who continues with, The authentication of the documents for the normal procedure has finished.

If it's just as he stated, I don't get why I'm the only one they held back.

It would be fine? (Renya)

Correct. Normally there's would be no issues. Even Her Majesty the Archduchess should have it easier to pass through this gate.

Though I guess it would be impossible if she took along a group of guards~, the soldier laughs, but Renya tilts his head to the side in confusion due to those words.

This kind of treatment, is for me alone? Why? (Renya)

It's because you are Margrave Kunugi. Are you still unable to understand with just that?

Shion immediately dons a comprehending expression upon that evasive remark.

Only Renya himself doesn't understand.

What's with that? It's limited to me? (Renya)

I think it's really limited to only you, Renya. (Shion)

It is limited to you, Margrave-sama.

According to the explanation of the defense soldier mixed with a wry smile orders apparently arrived to perform a check just for Renya equal to one that a whole army would have to go through in order to pass through the gate.

This is not a demand from the beastmen, but a direct order from the Archduchess, says the soldier.

Why? (Renya)

It would have been fine if you had been a hero, Margrave-sama, but

In other words, it's regarded as a problem that Renya holds power above a hero despite not being a hero himself.

No matter how much they restrain or supervise such a being, if Renya acts up just a little bit, it's obvious that he will become uncontrollable. This extensive revision at the border seems to express their intention, Because he's a requiring such a strict inspection, don't allow him to cause any trouble over there.

How bothersomeit would have been plenty enough if you had just told me, you know? (Renya)

Since you are no child, there's no way that we can tell you, Please behave yourselves over there, correct? We are telling you, Please get our intentions without us telling you explicitly.

Realizing that he won't be understood unless he uses direct words to indicate what intention stands behind all of this, the soldier gives Renya an explanation.

While somehow feeling unsatisfied, Renya passes through the transfer gate just to run into more trouble on the other side next.

Frau had frozen while standing at attention in a state where her skin is colored ash white.

The cause of death is (Emil)

No, she's not dead. (Renya)

With an angry expression Frau clings to Renya's back, who interrupted Emil who is about to give an explanation with a triumphant look for some reason.

I was in a dangerous spot ~no. (Frau)

Sorry, it was my bad. (Renya)

Frau originally couldn't be too far away from her home or from the house owner, although her being separated from Renya wasn't Renya's fault at all, but the reason he was retained originated from Renya himself.

Although it would have been fine to pass the responsibility to the soldiers who stopped him, Renya apologized to the angry Frau while believing that he should obediently take the blame.

If I had been a little bit slower in entering the self-shutdown mode, I would have disappeared ~no! (Frau)

Wait, are you really a fairy? (Renya)

Renya doesn't think that he's that well-informed on fairies, but he ponders, Fairies don't usually act like Frau, do they?

Frau cut apart Renya's retort with the shot comment, I'm highly efficient ~no.

To begin with, Renya himself didn't notice because Frau was clinging to his back, but Frau's eyes were darting left and right quite a bit.

The location of the beastmen's transfer gate is a fairly small and narrow room. Except for Renya's party, there was only Grn, Lepard, Kaede and several guards.

The priestesses, who should have arrived first, apparently left the room to inform every quarter of Renya's group's arrival.

Welcome, Margrave Kunugi-dono. We are very delighted with your visit.

One person, with likely the highest standing among the soldiers present in the room, bows their head after noticing Renya.

Because they are wearing armor with a helmet attached, Renya didn't discover what kind of beast ears they had, but going by the long, vertically striped tail that has been dangling behind them, Renya predicted that they are likely some kind of feline animal.

Thank you for your polite reception. There's no need to be so formal, is there? It's not an official visit. (Renya)

Renya says while returning a bow.

It's not like he has been told anything peculiar by the Trident Principality either, so he didn't come here with a specific objective in mind.

Renya said that with the intention to tell him that it's unnecessary to humble himself as it's a very private visit, but judging by the other side reaction, the information was apparently slightly different as the soldier shook their head.

Even if it's unofficial, we are receiving that Margrave Kunugi. We must not show any discourtesy.

Umm, what do you mean by that? (Renya)

Renya felt an extremely ill boding premonition, but, for some reason, the soldier talks to Renya with the tone and the sparkling eyes of a boy, who is just in front of his idol athlete.

The beastmen are a race that value military prowess. I was told that Lepard-dono, who is proud of being the strongest among the beastmen, was casually and single-handedly defeated by you, Margrave-dono.

Uh (Renya)

That's a fact.

It's certainly true, but that definitely shouldn't be a reason for me to be stared at with sparkling eyes full of reverence, Renya believes.

Renya wants to ask why they honor the person who beat up their hero, to begin with, but he settled his doubts with the simple theory that a strong person is always right and extremely cool in their eyes.

Even if it's just once, please show us the strength, which doesn't allow Lepard-dono to get close, during your stay in our country by all means

Wait, wait, just what are you asking of a noble from a foreign country in such a natural manner? In the first place, as for the story of me having repelled the hero-dono; even if I fought seriously, there's no way that hero-dono did the same, right? (Renya)

Eh?

Lepard, who had grown timid in a corner of the room, and Kaede, who comforted him, had question marks pop up above their heads in harmony.

While thinking, At least pretend to not have heard my words, even if you actually did, Renya makes an effort to continue calmly,

No matter how able or fabled the other party might be, your opponent will still be a noble of a foreign country, right? Even for the hero it's impossible to attack someone like that with his full power at full throttle, correct? Me being able to drive Lepard-dono away was only because I was somehow able by chance to handle the situation before Lepard-dono got serious. Or such. Can we pretend that this story never happened, Kaede? (Renya)

He ended up blurting it out with a force that overwhelmed the atmosphere, but this story should have been replaced with a tale about a person impersonating the hero's younger brother having tried to hurt the common people of the Trident Principality to begin with.

It won't be strange if a person of a certain standing learns what really happened, but it's plain weird to inform someone who might as well be called Soldier A about it.

Publicly it's just as you say, butthere's no way that even the report to the king would describe the public version. While saying that it's a secret, that king spread this story all over the place (Kaede)

As for Renya, he intended to follow-up, but Kaede, who consoled Lepard who had curled up while stuffing his big body even further into the corner after having heard Renya's words, says while looking in Renya's direction.

Due to the fact that the king himself spread the rumor of the factual story, which they expressly considered as to never have happened, makes Renya think, Just how much of an idiot is that king?, but once he considers the beastmen's nature, he changes his mind to, It might be something inevitable since the other party is someone whose brain is basically made out of muscles.

Anyway, this time I have come to have something similar to a simple pleasure trip. Please spare me from any hassle. (Renya)

Since the three heroes have become close at last, it should be fine to delegate all combat to them, shouldn't it? Renya estimated casually.

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