Ch.153Victory Ceremony (3)

# Chapter 153: Victory Ceremony (3)

It may be stating the obvious, but the Saint of Eternia had distinct differences from other Forerunners.

First and foremost, she hardly displayed the typical superiority complex that characterized Forerunners.

Second… she seemed to make efforts to help us in various ways?

Just the absence of that superiority complex alone would probably place her in the top 5% of Forerunners in terms of personality.

‘And third… third is…’

Hmm…

“Child, if you don’t hurry and offer praise to me, you must accept whatever consequences may follow.”

“I apologize. Please be merciful.”

What’s the point in trying to resist?

Currently, I was in the middle of a meeting with foreign ministers.

I had received about an hour’s break and came out for some fresh air, but…

Now I found myself giving a piggyback ride to the Saint of the Eternia Holy Empire, who was floating barefoot in the air, while continuously writing praises about her—essentially beginning my life as a mech-slave.

“Remember this: my physical age is neither as ancient nor what you might think it to be.”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely!”

She seemed to still be bothered by my unconscious comment about her age, as she raised her pale, smooth legs in an X-shape right in front of my eyes.

“Look at this supple skin, perfectly fitting my physical age!”

“…”

She was desperately trying to prove her youthfulness by touching and pinching the skin of her legs.

Since I hadn’t actually commented on her physical age in the first place, I could only feel bewildered.

The Saint’s apparent age range was at most… early to mid-teens by my previous life’s Korean age standards, similar to Riel?

Given that her appearance suggested exactly that age range, watching her throw a tantrum while riding on someone else’s shoulders uninvited…

The longer this went on, the more undignified she appeared.

But separately from that, I learned something by observing the Forerunner race up close.

“I always thought the shape of your clothing was fascinating, but are those decorations actually suspended by psionic abilities?”

“That’s right. That’s why I couldn’t help but sigh whenever I saw the state of the attire you people wore to official meetings with us.”

It turned out that Eternia’s unique clothing design only properly took shape if the wearer possessed psionic abilities.

‘So that’s why those damned clothes were so uncomfortable.’

The problem was that since decorations and parts of the fabric were levitated by telekinesis, the exposure level of the Saint currently perched on my shoulders was disturbingly extreme…

“Saint, may I ask you one question?”

“Ask anything you wish, and don’t forget to add ‘kind’ to the hymn of praise you’re writing for me.”

“…When we captured the Leviathan-class before, I noticed this too, but does your culture simply not have the concept of ‘underwear’?”

I was in quite a predicament due to the strange sensation of her clinging to the back of my neck for the piggyback ride.

Hearing my words, Artraia’s eyes widened enormously.

Riel also seemed taken aback, looking dumbfounded at my question…

But the Saint herself crossed her legs around my head from her perch on my shoulders.

With her arms folded, she proudly declared:

“Of course not! Our race’s bodies no longer excrete waste materials!”

“Ugh, grrhubngk. (Ah, I see.)”

Still, I thought it would be nice if she showed a little consideration for inferior races like us.

I slightly lifted the Saint’s legs that were pressing against my head, then turned to Artraia, who had been keeping a strange distance from us.

“So Artraia, why are you here?”

“Hmm… should I not be here?”

When she suddenly responds like that, I’m left speechless.

Seeing my silence after her retort, Artraia shrugged her shoulders and said casually:

“I was just having a conversation with the Saint of Eternia who’s riding on your shoulders, since she called for me.”

“I see.”

As I mentioned earlier, even an Emperor is allowed to get some fresh air.

Especially when the other party is the Saint of the Forerunner Empire, she would have had to come out whether she liked it or not.

So I nodded… or rather, I couldn’t actually nod, so I just made a short sound of agreement with Artraia’s explanation.

But at that moment.

-“My subjects, through your hard work, our Holy Sebelli Empire has once again taken a great step forward…”

“…???”

Artraia was clearly standing right in front of me.

Yet from the forum where the victory ceremony was being held, Artraia’s voice was suddenly echoing out.

If it were some kind of recorded broadcast, I could understand, but there was no reason for Artraia to have a recorded broadcast today.

So, trying my best to suppress my confusion, I carefully gestured toward Artraia and said:

“Artraia.”

“Yes, Arto?”

“If you’re here… then who on earth is at the victory ceremony?”

Could it be that the Forerunners were planning to eliminate Artraia and me, the center of imperial power, to swallow our empire whole?

…No, that’s nonsense.

Worried that the Saint might catch on, I was preparing to power bomb her at any moment while filling my mind with all sorts of random thoughts, when:

“Don’t worry too much, child.”

“…!”

My hand was frozen in mid-air as the Saint revealed the truth to me in a nonchalant tone.

“The one in front of your eyes is indeed the real one.”

“Then what is the Artraia at the victory ceremony?”

“Why, of course, it’s one of my guards cross-dressing and acting the part.”

“…?”

Hearing this, I recalled my meeting with the Saint before the talks began.

I remembered the two muscular giants standing behind the Saint at that time.

Then, tilting my head up toward the Saint, I asked:

“By guards… do you mean those two giant individuals I saw this morning?”

“Who else would my guards be if not them?”

After receiving multiple confirmations, I compared the size of the giant in my memory with the size of Artraia standing before me…

A moment later.

“Is that even possible?”

A muscular giant at least twice the size of Artraia in every dimension except the chest had transformed into the busty, petite Artraia?

As I shook my head in disbelief at this incredible reality, the Saint leaned her face close to mine with a mischievous smile.

“Believe and follow, for sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.”

“…”

I managed to nod at her words, while inwardly feeling sorry for the guard who had been deployed to the victory ceremony.

‘I came to guard the Saint, but in this world, I have to cross-dress and give a victory speech?!’

Wanting to express my sympathy for the guard who had been thrown under the bus, I quietly muttered:

‘Unknown one, may your loyalty be rewarded many times over…’

The problem was that I had developed a habit of inverting my words to prevent the Saint from reading my thoughts, so…

What actually came out of my mouth was:

“…Gay-gay-ya.”

“…”

“…Ah.”

Because of that ridiculous slip-up.

“I told you not to hide the truth, but I never said to be so blunt.”

“I apologize, Saint.”

I voluntarily subjected myself to another round of scolding by the Saint of Eternia.

——————————–

A little while later.

“That should be enough, now get up, child.”

“Yes.”

The Saint, apparently satisfied with scolding me, remained barefoot and floating in the air as she lifted me with her telekinesis and said:

“This happened because you and your race are still young and lacking, so I’ll overlook it this time without holding you responsible.”

“Yes.”

Since she was saying she wouldn’t scold me anymore, I forcibly brought over Riel, who had been eating popcorn in the background.

“Ah, I’m tired, give me some support.”

“You seem more tired in this position, why don’t you just stand properly?”

I leaned on Riel and watched as the Saint flew over to Artraia.

And then…

“But you need to be scolded a bit more, don’t you think?”

“…”

Now it was Artraia’s turn to be scolded, and I immediately snatched Riel’s popcorn and stuffed it into my mouth, watching with excitement.

But what came next made me drop the half-chewed popcorn onto Riel’s head:

“Why aren’t you being honest with your husband, of all people?”

“…”

‘Wait, why am I being brought into this?’

The reason Artraia was being scolded was, surprisingly, because of me.