The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

“Sofia Holy Kingdom.”

The kingdom, named after the first saint, Sofia, is more often referred to simply as ‘the Holy Kingdom’ rather than by its full title.

In this world, besides the Black Tentacle religion, there aren’t any major religious groups, so the Holy Kingdom can be seen as the only religious state on the continent. Despite being the only one, it holds significant influence throughout the continent and is considered one of the strongest nations.

However, surprisingly, the territory of the Holy Kingdom is relatively small for a powerful nation.

It’s bigger than a city-state, but still small for a great power, really.

This means that stepping into the Holy Kingdom suggests that we’re very close to our destination.

“Wow! Kurt! We’re finally in the city!”

As we arrived in the city, Mari cheered as if she had finally been freed and dashed toward the inn.

Before entering, I worried that Aila might not be allowed in due to being a wanted person, but thankfully, we made it inside safely.

“Good thing there wasn’t any problem getting into the city.”

“Most ordinary citizens are unaware of special missions involving the special saint. According to my calculations, Daria’s trial hasn’t started yet, so it would be extra difficult to publicly issue a bounty. Of course, we still can’t act too overtly… but I think we can make it to the Vatican without getting caught.”

I had thought there might be issues entering the Holy Kingdom because of Aila, the runaway knight.

According to Aila, matters related to the special saint aren’t disclosed to ordinary people, so while they might send a covert tracking team, they wouldn’t openly put out a bounty—unless it were a seriously egregious situation. But she added that her and Daria’s cases weren’t that severe, so there was no need for worry.

That’s a relief, but…

I turned my attention away, ignoring Mari cheering like a little kid next to me and slowly took in the scenery of the Holy Kingdom.

Thinking back, I had mostly been active in Astram and aside from that, I had only visited places within the Kingdom of Eustia or towns of other species at most.

In that light, this journey can be seen as my first encounter with a nation outside of the Kingdom of Eustia.

It wasn’t a particularly large city, but true to its nature, the first noticeable thing was the church adorned with the Black Tentacle.

Normally, such a Black Tentacle temple would be found mainly in larger cities, yet the Holy Kingdom had churches everywhere even in its smaller towns.

Moreover, upon closer inspection, most of the people walking around wore clothes or accessories with patterns related to the Black Tentacle.

The atmosphere in the city didn’t feel particularly solemn or reverent, as one might expect from a holy kingdom.

While symbols of the Black Tentacle were scattered here and there, that was the extent of it.

Even compared to Eustia’s small towns, the vibe wasn’t too different.

It’s understandable since the Black Tentacle Church, contrary to its symbolic image, promotes a rather lenient humanitarian doctrine.

“The vibe is much more ordinary than I thought. Just because it’s a holy kingdom, doesn’t mean it has a religious or solemn atmosphere. There’s none of that bleak feeling with loads of special saints around.”

“Indeed, many people have extravagant fantasies about the Holy Kingdom… but in reality, it’s just like any other country where regular folks live. Though they do engage in many behind-the-scenes activities to maintain the equilibrium of the world, that’s a secret not known to most ordinary citizens.”

I shared my impressions of the Holy Kingdom with Aila, who responded with a wry smile as she explained about it.

“I see. I didn’t really know much about the Holy Kingdom even though I set out on this journey.”

In that case, I’ll need to learn about the political system and current affairs of the Holy Kingdom before Daria’s trial begins.

Once we reach the inn, we’ll start gathering information.

I chatted with Aila, enjoying the city’s atmosphere, and followed after Mari, who had dashed ahead into the heart of the city.

“Hoo. Finally, I can take a break.”

“We’ve been rushing around without any proper rest.”

Upon reaching the inn, Karina and Serena sighed in relief, echoing Mari’s sentiment of finally being able to relax.

It wasn’t unusual for Mari to be this excited, but it was rare to see Karina and Serena showing signs of weakness, though it was entirely understandable considering our journey.

Part of it could be that as we neared the end of our journey, the stress had eased off a bit…

“…Well, it’s true that our schedule was really tight because of ‘someone’…”

“Ack… I’m really sorry. I guess someone like me…”

As she stepped into the inn, Azani muttered while glancing at Joyra, causing Joyra’s expression to darken.

In truth, it was quite significant that Joyra’s situation contributed to our group expressing relief upon seeing the city while enduring a grueling schedule due to Daria’s trial.

When Joyra from the Eldriksir family fell into a coma, his condition was such that he could have died at any moment.

If we had made no efforts, that’s certainly how it would have turned out.

However, no matter how much he had sinned, watching a person die before one’s eyes isn’t something anyone would welcome. We first tried to stabilize Joyra’s condition so he wouldn’t die, which took quite a bit of time.

Joyra collapsed because his body couldn’t handle the mana circuit overload.

To put it in martial arts terms, Joyra’s body was too overworked and that caused side effects.

With that insight, I had held onto Joyra, continually channeling mana to stabilize his vital energy, and after a solid three days, I managed to stabilize his body.

Unfortunately, while I could temporarily stabilize Joyra’s vital energy like this, it wasn’t a fundamental cure. Unless I was around to continually assist him with mana, it was nothing more than emergency first aid.

Thanks to that, we saved Joyra’s life, but it caused a delay that turned out longer than expected, which meant we had no choice but to rush through our journey to make up for lost time.

By the way, Azani and Nisa, the sisters of the Holy Kingdom who joined us from the Eldriksir Mansion, originally had the task of bringing Aila back to the Holy Kingdom.

So they thought it was fortunate to now team up with us to escort both Joyra and Aila back.

In truth, it was more fitting to say they joined our party than that they were escorting us.

“Honestly… I should’ve just died at that time… Ugh…!”

“Don’t worry about it. This is the path we chose.”

I patted Joyra’s shoulder, who was self-deprecating, and walked over to the innkeeper.

Now that we were getting deeper into the Holy Kingdom’s territory, it was time to collect information about Daria’s trial.

“Hey there, innkeeper! I’ve got a few questions for you…”

“I-is that so… Please, ask away.”

As I approached, the innkeeper seemed quite cautious, possibly because we were a group of more than ten, or maybe it was because every single one of us was a powerful adventurer.

It might even be both reasons.

“This is our first time in the Holy Kingdom, and I’d like to ask a few things… Oh, and I also want to know if we can borrow the kitchen tonight.”

“Y-yes! Feel free to speak!”

Yet, even so, he seemed overly tense in my presence.

Wait a sec.

“…!”

Just as I felt an unease, I sharpened my senses and scanned the area.

But even with heightened awareness, nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

At that moment, I caught a very subtle presence nearby.

“Wow, I can finally sleep in a nice, soft bed!”

“I just want to have a warm bath.”

“Finally, I can have freshly grilled meat instead of jerky and enjoy a cold beer!!”

“Everyone, wait…!”

Clunk

Crackle

“Everyone, freeze! We are here from the Holy Kingdom’s Inquisition! Surrender peacefully and don’t resist!!”

Before I could warn my party, soldiers who had been hiding and masking their presence with an artifact revealed themselves.

And just like that, we found ourselves locked in the Holy Kingdom’s prison.

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