From Another World (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 35: Tea time.

We were walking towards the royal palace since we were invited to have tea with Reine. Each of us has an envelope containing the invitation. Despite going to have tea with a royalty, we all wore our everyday clothes.

Well, in my case, my everyday clothes were my knight uniform. It was kind of weird to parade around in my uniform when I was not on duty. But it couldn't be helped since I supposedly never shopped for clothes.

"So... Did anything happen last night, peko?" Pekora asked.

"Nope. Nothing happened. We just talked", Amelia answered.

"That's boring, peko. Mikage, did you do anything to her while she was sleeping?"

"Nope. Nothing happened at all", I said despite remembering that Amelia hugged me while sleeping. I'll bring that secret to the grave.

We arrived in front of the Peafowl Royal Palace's gates. When we showed the invitation to the guards, they led us to the royal garden.

A round table filled with sweets such as chocolate and cake was set up in the middle of the garden. Blue and white flowers were surrounding it and a fountain with a peacock statue was beside it.

"Good afternoon. Welcome to my tea party", Reine greeted us.

"Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting us", Amelia bowed and I copied her gesture.

A maid poured tea as we sat down around the table.

"So? Why did you invite us, peko?" Pekora asked.

"I'm curious about the person who stopped Spade Echo. Also, I was wondering what you were up to, Pekora", she answered.

"You two know each other?" I asked.

"Despite how she acts, Pekora is still a princess", Moona answered and then bit a cookie.

"What do you mean by "despite how she acts?" I'm a legit princess, peko."

Reine giggled.

"We're both princesses of neighboring countries so we met on several occasions. It's nice to see that you haven't changed", she said and then sipped on her tea.

"Same for you, Reine... Or at least you got a bit taller, peko."

They shared a light giggle together.

"You are a great detective. How come we never heard of you until now?" Reine asked Amelia.

"I'm curious about that too", Moona said.

"Well... I used to be just a detective's assistant in Miyako", she answered.

"So you're from Yamato? Who was that detective, peko?" Pekora asked.

"His name was Ranpo Doyle."

Everyone's eyes widened when they heard his name.

"I heard about him. He was a legendary detective who solved baffling cases. I heard he died last year though. It makes sense how you're that skilled since you trained under him", Reine said.

"Yeah... He was a great man", Amelia said.

Her voice sounded sad and I could feel a hint of regret mixed in it.

"Can you tell me about the cases you solved?" Reine asked.

Amelia started talking about the cases she got involved in. From her stories where she helped Ranpo Doyle solve murder cases to her cracking down an illegal drug deal, her stories were entertaining.

There was a time when she and Ranpo Doyle stopped a serial bomber in Miyako and figured out all locations of the criminal's bombs 3 hours before they would explode.