The Water Magician

On the day just a few days before the delegation's departure, Ryo accidentally encountered a group that had just finished an audience.

"Ryo!"

With a familiar voice, Sera launched herself at him at supersonic speed.

In the past, this had resulted in unintentional punches or elbows landing on Ryo's stomach, but recently, Ryo had become accustomed to it.

He caught her without any issue and embraced her.

"Hey, Sera? What brings you to the Royal Castle?"

Ryo voiced his natural curiosity.

"Of course, I came to see Ryo!"

"That's a lie."

"Lady Granny!"

Both Sera and Ryo called out the name of the person who had made that punchline.

Sera did so with the implication of "Why would you say that?"

While Ryo's tone reflected "I knew it..."

"Ryo is going to the Western Nations with the delegation, right? I brought a letter from the Forest of the West to entrust to the delegation."

"Ah, I see."

Ryo nodded at Lady Granny's explanation.

Although he knew nothing about the circumstances of the elves outside the Central Nations, he could somewhat sense that elves existed in the Western Nations as well.

"Well, none of that really matters."

"None of that matters...? But I came for that reason!"

Lady Granny shook her head slightly at Sera's words.

"Ryo, it's been a while since I visited the royal capital. I want to eat some delicious food, so guide me."

Sera asked cheerfully, looking genuinely happy.

Ryo loved Sera's smile.

Of course, he had no objections.

"Sure! Recently, there have been many good places opening up. The hamburger quality was already high, the spaghetti is delicious, and the curry almost rivals Run's!"

"Spaghetti? Not pasta?"

"Yes! That is definitely spaghetti!"

As Sera and Ryo chatted, they walked down the hallway.

Behind them were Lady Granny and the group from the Forest of the West.

And she murmured to herself.

"Could it be that Sera joined this group to deliver the letter on purpose...?"

Within the royal capital, the Elf Autonomous Bureau.

It was currently an unmatched building in its elegance, adorned with various mechanisms created through alchemy.

Though it successfully defended itself until the end during the royal capital turmoil, it ultimately relied on Sera's solo efforts, leading to a strict order from Lady Granny to enhance its defenses... and it continued to be reinforced every day.

As part of this, they purchased the noble mansions adjacent to the autonomous bureau that had been abandoned during the royal capital turmoil, and new training facilities were established, resulting in an even larger area than before.

"Welcome back, Lady Granny. Hmm? Where's Sera?"

"Yes. I met Ryo at the Royal Castle..."

"Ah, I see."

With just that brief explanation from Lady Granny, Commissioner Carson of the Autonomous Bureau understood and smiled wryly.

Probably, it was a date of sorts around the royal capital.

Ryo had been visiting the Forest of the West quite regularly from the Forest of Rondo.

Although it seemed to be quite a distance, he never mentioned how he got there, but Lady Granny knew.

Though she didn't understand the circumstances at all, he arrived riding a griffin.

He had jumped down from the griffin's back.

No elf had ever heard of someone riding on a griffin’s back, but Lady Granny happened to see that scene through her telescope, making it unbelievable yet necessary to believe...

However, Lady Granny had not spoken of this to anyone.

Not even to Sera.

She understood that Ryo didn’t want it to be spread around.

For various reasons, all the elves in the kingdom knew about Ryo.

And after witnessing his sword fights with Sera, they began to show him respect as well.

It was clear that even if all the elves in the kingdom banded together, they would likely not be able to defeat Sera, yet he fought on equal terms with her...

That was distinctly abnormal.

For Commissioner Carson, Ryo also held the position of the first duke of the kingdom.

They would sometimes meet within the Royal Castle, and he also attended meetings with the king and the chancellor.

There was no doubt that he recognized Ryo as one of the important figures within the kingdom.