Published: July 4, 2025
Two days until the papal inauguration.
The entire Holy Capital began to buzz with excitement.
The inauguration itself would take place at the Holy See and nearby church facilities.
However, as a custom, the Pope rides through the main streets of the Holy Capital in a carriage before the ceremony, blessing the faithful.
Because of this, the whole city becomes lively like a festival.
"It feels nice, doesn’t it, like before a festival?"
"It reminds me of the port festival in Whitnash."
"In Whitnash, we faced a troublesome opponent in the end. I wonder how it will go this time."
"When Ryo says it like that, it really feels like it might happen..."
Eto delighted in the atmosphere of the city, Amon reminisced about past festivals in the port town, Ryo recalled the confrontation with ‘that Fire Attribute Mage,’ and Nils sighed.
The four from Room 10 were sitting at a terrace table at Café Roma, adjacent to the kingdom delegation’s lodgings, enjoying a set of cake and coffee.
To be honest, there wasn't much work to do, so they were just passing the time like this.
However, Ryo had only one thing on his mind.
That was the whereabouts of the alchemist Neil Anderson.
As far as Ryo knew, he wasn’t in the Holy See.
He had asked Graham to help look for him, but they had no leads at all.
Recently, he even thought that perhaps he had already left not just the Holy Capital but also France.
He had mentioned crossing over to the dark continent after all.
While Ryo was slightly concerned, it wasn’t something he was taking too seriously...
What was more serious was the situation at hand.
The four of them had been prohibited from acting alone by their leader, Hugh McGrath.
They had retrieved the Holy Sword and freed the mages who were captured in the underground government office, including four mages from the Hero Party.
Naturally, they were likely being watched by many influential figures.
That’s why, fundamentally, they could only stay within the delegation lodgings.
If they went outside, it had to be all four of them together, only to the adjacent "Café Roma."
That was the rule.
"We haven't been hunting monsters lately."
"Out of the blue, Ryo."
Ryo muttered this suddenly, catching Nils's attention.
"There were quite a number of monsters on our way to the Western Nations... but ever since entering France, we haven't encountered any."
"That's true. Unlike the Central Nations, humans are densely packed in a relatively small area here."
"Still, it seems there are monsters lurking deep in some of the larger forests, and the knight order sometimes goes out to subjugate them."
"Monsters are being dealt with by the knights, not adventurers, huh."
Ryo said this with a hint of loneliness, Nils responded, Eto explained the situation, and Amon pointed out the differences compared to their kingdom.
While they were having such aimless discussions, Ryo noticed something intriguing.
"Don't you think there are quite a few people here who give off an exotic vibe?"
"Oh, I get what Ryo is trying to say."
Amon replied in a small voice to Ryo’s quiet observation.
Café Roma, located in the Holy Capital Marromar, could be said to be the center of the Western Nations.
Moreover, it was known as a high-end café right next to the Holy See, the most sophisticated place in the Holy Capital.
Thus, most of the customers were dressed elegantly.
Of course, there were exceptions.
"We're clearly the ones sticking out..."
Nils muttered with a small shake of his head.
Indeed, the adventurers from the Central Nations delegation fell under that exception...
That said, all four of them noticed what Ryo pointed out.
It wasn’t that they were obviously wearing some ethnic costume!
It was general attire among the Western Nations but still...
"Oh! Their hair colors are different!"
Amon pointed out.
Yes, whether they dyed their hair or not was unsure, but there were those with green, pink, and even light blue hair...
The person with light blue hair, with their refined features, looked quite lovely.
"I think they're probably guests from the dark continent."