The Museum in the Royal Capital

It was just after noon on the day I had unexpectedly discovered Ginger

Camus.

Having finished recruiting him and having left his shop, Aisha, Roroa,

and I decided to wander around the castle town of Parnam. Roroa was

calling it a date. I was walking through the streets with a pretty girl on each

arm.

"Though, even though it's a date, we're not really dressed up for the

occasion," Roroa said, sounding dissatisfied.

I was dressed in my usual outfit for when I went out in secret, NineHeaded Dragon Archipelago Union traveler's fashion (Kitakaze Kozou

style), and today the two of them were wearing hooded robes over the top

of their regular outfits. Our faces were all well known to the public, so we

were dressed this way to keep from making a scene.

"It would seem unavoidable," Aisha said. "If we are discovered, we

would not be able to have our date."

Roroa stuck out her tongue. "True that. Considerin' my position, I really

can't show my face. I'm sure some folks here are none too fond of

Amidonia, after all."

Roroa said that jokingly, but I was pretty sure she was right. While our

two countries had been peacefully united in a way that served the interests

of both, the Elfrieden Kingdom and Principality of Amidonia had been

enemies for a long time. That fact wasn't going to go away so easily.

I was overcome by a feeling I couldn't quite describe, but Roroa put on

a bold smile. "Well, I'm a real lovable gal, it's only a matter of time before I

grab the people of the kingdom by the heartstrings. I'm more worried about

you, Darlin'. If you don't learn to be more sociable, the people of the

principality'll hate your guts."

"...I suppose you're right," I murmured. I thought Roroa's ability to blast

away negativity like this was wonderful. "I can't act like you do, Roroa, so

I'll slowly but surely protect the people of the principality's lives and

property, then get them to recognize me as their king."

"Hee hee," Roroa giggled, hugging me. "Also, if you're seen actin' all

lovey-dovey with li'l ol' me, don't ya think that'd put the folks from the

principality at ease, too?"

Aisha pulled her off of me. "W-We are in the middle of a public street.

What you are doing is enviably scandalous!"

"Hmph, what's the matter with it? We're on a date, ain't we?" Roroa

demanded. "How's about you get all lovey-dovey with him too, Big Sister

Ai?"

"I would love nothing more than to do so, but... out of consideration for

the First Primary Queen, Liscia, who allowed us to go on this date, perhaps

we should not get too carried away?" Aisha pointed out.

Aisha was the Second Primary Queen, while Roroa was the Third

Primary Queen. In this country where polygamy was commonly practiced

by the nobility, knightly class, and wealthy merchants (polyandry, while

less common, existed as well), it seemed that respecting this sort of pecking

order among the queens or wives was key to preventing later troubles in the

home.

Roroa seemed dissatisfied. "Y'say that, but Darlin' and Big Sister

Liscia've been betrothed for, like, half a year, ain't they? They may not've

gotten down to baby makin' yet, but they've gotta have kissed, at least,

right?"

Roroa looked in my direction, forcing me to blatantly avert my gaze. If I

were to list the romantic things I had done with Liscia, there was resting my

head in her lap, a kiss on the cheek, sleeping next to each other, and that

was about it.

Having discerned that from my demeanor, Roroa looked at me coldly.

"...Darlin'. You ain't gonna tell me you haven't even done that, are you?"

"No, you see... I've been very busy, and..."

"Don't ya feel bad for Big Sister Cia, doin' that to her?" Roroa snapped.

"So you think that, too, Roroa!" Even Aisha jumped in to agree. "I know

you were hesitant at first, sire, because the betrothal was something decided

on without either your or Lady Liscia's permission. However, now, it's

plain for all to see that you love one another. Given our position, we cannot

receive your love and affection before Lady Liscia has, so, please, flirt with

her more."

There was nothing I could say in response. Aisha had watched my

relationship with Liscia develop from a fairly early stage, after all.

Roroa had her arms crossed and was nodding and grunting in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah. Then ya can give us just as much of your love when you're

done."

"...I understand," I said. "When the time comes, I'll take care of doing

that with you 'properly.'"

"Yep, that's a promise. Ya better," Roroa said condescendingly.

Here I was, being chided for my behavior by a girl three years my

junior... I felt a little pathetic, but Roroa laughed and waved her hand.

"But, well, here we are, on a date already, so we've gotta have fun."

"Indeed," Aisha said, nodding. "Lady Liscia did say to enjoy ourselves

today, after all."

They had a point.

"Well, it is a rare day off," I said. "Was there anywhere the two of you

wanted to go?"

Aisha said, "In that case, I would..."

"Also, no food until later."

"Shot down before I could even speak?! Wh-Why is that?" Aisha cried

with eyes like a chihuahua that had been forced to wait for a treat.

"When I eat with you, I'm always stuffed full by the time we're done,

and that makes it hard to move around," I said. "I promise we'll stop

somewhere for food later, so let's go somewhere else first."

"Ah, okay. If that's why..."

"That said, it ain't been that long since I first came to the capital," Roroa

said, tilting her head in thought. "I dunno what's here yet. Is there anywhere

you'd recommend as a date spot, Darlin'?"

"A date spot, huh..." I murmured.

In my former world, the theater, the amusement park, the zoo, the

aquarium, karaoke, and the arcade would all have been options, but not in

this world. It was that lack of leisure facilities that had made the

entertainment programs over the Jewel Voice Broadcast such a hit.

Well, if I was looking for a date spot other than a place for

entertainment... Ah.

"That place might be good," I said.

"What, what? Did ya come up with somethin' good?" Roroa asked

eagerly.

"It's a facility we opened just the other day, actually, and I think there

should be plenty of interesting things to see if we go there," I said. "Though

it's more of an educational institution than a leisure facility."

"Learnin', even though we're on a date? What kinda place is that?"

Roroa asked, tilting her head to the side.

"The Royal Parnam Museum," I said. "Not that the name's terribly

inventive."

"So huge?!" Roroa cried out in surprise when we came up to the

entrance of the Royal Parnam Museum and she saw what was on display

there. If we'd been talking about a massive display in front of the National

Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, it would have been the blue whale,

but the Royal Parnam Museum had a massive skeletal specimen measuring

more than 10 meters long out in front of it.

"What're these bones from? Looks like a lizard or somethin'..."

"That's the giant salamander that was lurking in the area beneath the

royal capital," I explained.

"Salamanders get that big? The ones livin' in Amidonia grew to maybe

two meters at most, but... Wait, this thing was under the royal capital?!"

"Yeah. Talk about a surprise, huh?" I said.

This salamander had been discovered when I'd commissioned the

adventurers' guild to exterminate the wild creatures living in the labyrinth

of escape tunnels under the capital so that they could be repurposed as a

sewer system. Or rather, the ones to find it had been Dece, Juno, and their

party. I had even been there to witness it, albeit through my Little

Musashibo doll.

Neither the country nor the guild had anticipated anything so big living

under the capital, so there hadn't been sufficient warning given, and I'd

ended up putting Juno and her group in danger. It was good that they'd

managed to retreat somehow, but when I thought about how things might

have taken a turn for the worst, there was a lot I had to reflect on.

Now, about that salamander: as soon as I'd received the report from

Juno and her party, I'd dispatched a unit from the Forbidden Army to kill it.

Juno and her party had struggled against the salamander because they

hadn't had a mage who could use the ice-elemental water-type magic that it

was weak against. When we'd deployed a group focused heavily around

those who could use that sort of magic, the thing had gone down easily. The

slain salamander had then been dissected, then turned into a skeletal

specimen.

"Well, this is just a replica based on the original bones," I added as I

touched the skeletal specimen all over. We'd have had to worry about

thieves making off with it if we displayed the real thing outside, after all.

There was a sign next to it that read: "This is a 1/1 scale replica, so please

try touching it to experience the size for yourself."

"This sort of thing... How should I say it? It tickles my sense of

adventure," Aisha said, her eyes sparkling. "I think young boys would

enjoy seeing it."

"Hrm..." I said. "I thought it might be a good educational experience

that helped stimulate their creativity, so I tried showing the real bones that

we keep at the castle to Rou" (Tomoe's real little brother) "and the other

children at the daycare, but they bawled their eyes out... I got chewed out

by Liscia pretty badly after that one."

"What were you even doing?" Roroa asked, looking appalled.

Yeah, it'd have been important to consider their age first, huh.

"That said, while we have been preoccupied with the skeletal specimen,

the building itself is also quite large and impressive. Almost like a noble's

manor," Aisha said, looking at the building.

That was a sharp observation. "No, not 'almost like,'" I said. "We

actually remodeled a noble's manor."

"Is that right?" Aisha asked.

"Yeah. I executed those influential nobles who were colluding with

Amidonia and manipulating the corrupt nobles in the war, remember? This

building used to belong to one of them."

It really was... one massive house.

The main building was as big as the school building of a university with

a lot of history behind it, and then there were two annexes that were also

quite big in and of themselves. There was a well-maintained garden, too,

and I had to be impressed with the wealth this noble had managed to amass

while the kingdom was in financial trouble. According to Hakuya's

investigation, they had been taking a cut of the money that the corrupt

nobles had embezzled.

Regardless, when this mansion had become vacant after the noble who

owned it was executed, it had been remodeled as the Royal Parnam

Museum. Since it was this big and impressive a building, letting any of my

retainers live in it would have provoked needless jealousy, and it would also

have cost a lot of money to dismantle it. This had worked out as a perfect

solution.

"Oh, when ya put it like that, it sounds like it's probably filled with the

grudge of the nobles and I don't like it..." Roroa said with the corner of her

mouth twitching.

"Ah... ah ha ha..." I laughed. "Yeah, well, it looks like there are already

rumors. Like that the armor on display gets up and walks around on its own

at night."

"Of course," said Roroa.

"But, you know, using anyone and anything we can is one of those

things our country does, after all."

"Here's hopin' you don't have to use it as a haunted house someday..."

Uh, yeah, I thought. I'd really rather not.

"Anyway, let's go in. It's pretty amazing on the inside, too," I suggested,

and we went inside.

If I had spoken to the person in charge, they would have just let us in,

but in order to slip in with the regular visitors, we paid admission for three

people at the entrance.

The first thing to greet us inside was a lineup of armor. These were the

suits of armor that had been worn by the past commanders of the Royal

Guard. They were no longer used and were gathering dust, so I'd taken this

opportunity to drag them out of storage and donate them to the museum.

They must have drawn Aisha's interest as a warrior herself, because she

was looking at them in admiration. "They are old, but when you have so

many lined up, it makes for quite the spectacle, doesn't it?"

"Hold on, Darlin', what is a museum anyway?" Roroa asked.

"Huh? Even that part wasn't clear to you?" I asked.

Come to think of it, when I'd first established the Royal Parnam

Museum, Hakuya had said, "I hadn't heard the idea before, but that is an

interesting facility. I'd very much like to go look through it myself," hadn't

he?

In other words, this was the first museum to be built in our kingdom,

and it was only natural that Roroa and the others wouldn't know what one

was. Were there museums in the Empire, maybe?

"To put it in the simplest terms, a museum is a facility that gathers

various things, has academics study them, and allows the general public to

see them in the form of exhibits," I said. "The goal of the institution is to

deepen the understanding of those who come to see their collection, but it's

just fun to see all the novel things on display. People went on dates there in

the world I came from."

"Hmm... It's like puttin' the royal treasury on display for the public,

then?" Roroa asked.

"Yeah," I said. "That's pretty much exactly it. The collection contains

things with literary or artistic value, as well as skeletons and preserved

specimens of animals for their value in the field of natural science."

Then, while I was explaining, I noticed a familiar set of armor in with

the collection.

"Is this not the armor that the Captain of the Royal Guard was wearing?"

Aisha noticed it, too, and asked.

It was true, though its back was turned to us, that silver armor closely

did look like Ludwin's.

But, that's strange, I thought. The only armor that should be on display

here is the armor the state provided to the former captains of the Royal

Guard. If I recall, Ludwin's armor was bought with his own money...

Suddenly, that armor turned to face us.

"Whoa!" I shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Ludwin said. "Wait, huh? Is that you, Your Majesty?"

Huh? It's actually him?! While I was still shocked by the unexpected

appearance of the man himself, Genia poked her head out from behind him.

"What're you doing, Big Brother Luu?" she asked.

"And Genia's with you, too," I said. "Are you two here on a date?"

Ludwin replied "No," with an exhausted look on his face. "Because you

said that the Royal Guard and the guards would handle security here, we're

here for a meeting on the shift rotations."

"Oh, I see," I said. "Sorry for the trouble."

Because there were a fair number of valuable objects here, I had been

forced to buff up security in a big way. The people managing security

needed to be trustworthy, too, so I'd decided to leave it to the Royal Guard

and the guards whose jobs already included watching and defending.

"And I'm here to set up the security system Big Brother Luu asked me

to install," Genia put in. "There're places where I have spells set to go off if

you get close to them, so don't try to go anywhere you shouldn't."

"Now that's scary..." I said.

The overscientist Genia's security system... The scary part was I

couldn't predict what might happen. I was imagining something like one of

the complex contraptions you'd see on P*thagoraSwitch. One that

ultimately chucked the offenders out the front door.

"By the way, are you on a date here, sire?" Ludwin asked.

"We sure are," Roroa jumped in, wrapping herself around my arm. "It's

the three of us — Darlin', Big Sister Ai, and me."

Ludwin looked confused. "Three of you? But... Ah! I-I see. Well, have

fun."

With that said, Ludwin took Genia and left immediately.

It seemed like he almost said something... Was it just my imagination? I

wondered.

"Anyway, shall we go?" I suggested to the other two and we moved on.

Along the way Aisha stopped and looked back a number of times. Was

something bothering her?

"Aisha?" I asked.

"...No, it's nothing." Aisha rushed over and wrapped herself around my

arm.

It couldn't have been that one of the suits of armor had actually started

to move, and Aisha had noticed and been scared... or anything like that,

right? I got worried and was about to ask, when Roroa tugged on my sleeve.

"Hey, hey, Darlin'. Why're there nothin' but bones on display here?"

When Roroa asked me that in a somewhat bothered tone, I looked in

front of me to see a glass case filled with the reassembled skeletons of

various creatures. From a modern person's perspective, this was a common

sight at museums of natural history, but for the people of this world, it

might seem wrong.

"It's like some bizarre ritual's gonna start up at any moment," she

complained.

"Ha ha ha! That's not it," I said. "This museum collects and exhibits

historical items, books, and the skeletons and preserved specimens of living

creatures, along with other items of interest to the field of natural science.

What we have here are the bones we happened to excavate while trying to

build sedimentation pools. The ones they've finished researching go on

display like this. It's not just animal skeletons; there are monsters, too."

"Monster skeletons... Is that okay? There're monsters that're nothin' but

bones, ya know?" Roroa said.

"Well... from what the researchers tell me, those sort of skeleton

monsters need magic in their bones, and once the magic is all gone, they're

just ordinary bones," I said. "I don't really get it myself, though."

They had been certified as safe by a professional mage, so I figured they

were fine.

...Probably.

"Still, there sure are a lot of bones," Aisha commented. "Is this a giant

deer?" She sighed in admiration at the fossil that looked like an even more

massive version of the Irish elk. "I have never seen such a massive deer

before, not even in the God-protected Forest. It's surprising to hear a

creature like this once lived near the capital."

"Yeah," I said. "The way they stir up the imagination like that is one of

the best parts about museums."

"Yeah, the appeal of that's not totally lost on me," Roroa said, staring at

the fossilized remains of a massive water buffalo-like creature. "I wonder

what the goin' price for a creature like this'd be. You could get a lot of meat

out of it, but it wouldn't have much flavor... Though, at this size, they ain't

gonna be much use for farming, I'm sure. I guess meat really is the best use

for them..."

"That's what you're imagining?! How to sell them off?!"

"Meat, is it?" Aisha asked with an audible slurp.

"Oh, shoot," I muttered. "Now Aisha's totally imagining them roasted

whole."

W-Well, it wasn't like everyone was going to have the same reaction to

seeing the same things, and making a fuss while we looked at the exhibits

like this was fun, too. Even if we had to do it quietly.

"Huh?" I muttered.

When I stood in front of what seemed to be the bones of ancient people,

something stood out to me. With a human skeleton and a beastman skeleton

on display side by side, I could see quite a few differences. The beastman's

skeleton had bones for the tail, as well as long canine teeth.

"What is it, sire?" Aisha asked, so I tried to explain it while not really

understanding what I meant myself.

"No, when I see them side by side... It's a mystery to me, you know."

"A mystery, you say?"

"Yeah. Like, how did they evolve to be like this?"

I'd been studying the humanities, so I was no expert on biology, but I

knew about the theory of evolution at least. Humans had evolved from apelike ancestors, and those ape-like ancestors had evolved from rat-like

creatures, or something like that.

So what had the many diverse beastmen, elves, and other races evolved

from? Actually, did the theory of evolution even apply to this world?

Though this was partly because there hadn't been much of a search for

them, we hadn't found fossils from a hundred million years ago like the

dinosaurs on Earth, so it was possible things had a different origin here...

"Darlin'. Darlin'." Roroa's voice brought me back to reality from the sea

of thoughts I had fallen into.

"Huh? Ah! What is it, Roroa?"

"Geez," she said. "We're supposed to be on a date here, so you can't be

ignorin' the girls you're with and starin' off with a difficult expression on

your face."

"Ahh... Sorry, sorry."

True, this was no time for me to be getting lost in thought and neglecting

Aisha and Roroa. There was too little evidence for me to come to any

conclusions anyway.

"Well, shall we get movin' on to the next thing?" she asked.

With Roroa pulling me along me by the arm, Aisha and I followed after

her with wry smiles on our faces.

When we left the floor with the creature exhibit and went up the stairs,

next were the various implements of civilization. Tools that people from

long ago had used were lined up on display here. Ancient weapons, armor,

farming implements, and even yellowed paper that looked every bit as old

as it was.

"What's this floor all about?" Roroa asked.

"A while back, in order to find the money for war subsidies to the

Empire and to fund my reforms, I reorganized the castle's treasury," I said.

"At the time, treasures were sorted into three categories: Category A (items

with historical or cultural value), Category B (items without historical or

cultural value but with monetary value), and Category C (items related to

magic, or which otherwise required caution in how they were used). We

only sold off the stuff in Category B, and most of the stuff on display here

was sorted under Category A. Basically, this is the 'History Floor.'"

Roroa furrowed her brow. "Historical or cultural value... Does this

yellowed paper have it, too?"

"Naturally," I said. "That's a letter sent by a former king to one of his

retainers. Letters are an intimate part of a people's lives. They're a valuable

resource for information on the time in which the writers lived."

"I get that it's valuable, but I wouldn't go out of my way just to come

see it," she said.

"Well, how about this one over here?" I asked. "This one's a syrupy love

letter written by a certain noble from long ago to the object of his

affections, along with the reply gently letting him down that the lady sent

back."

"Sure, that's interestin', but... don't you think that noble's cryin' in his

grave?" she objected.

"...You could be right."

While it was academically valuable, we were still putting something that

the man himself probably wanted to forget on display.

Roroa crossed her arms and groaned to herself. "But, letters and tools,

it's all a bit plain. Don't ya have a chief attraction of some sort that could

draw a crowd?"

"I have just the thing to show you." I led Roroa and Aisha in front of a

certain display. When they saw it...

""Fwah?!"" they both burst out despite themselves.

It was a cool yet beautiful suit of armor that was made of silver and

ornamented with gold. It had been lit up using lightmoss, like was used in

the streetlamps, making it shine almost blindingly. The bracers, the boots,

and even the sword and shield were all of the same design, and the

breastplate and shield bore the crest of the royal house of Elfrieden in a way

that couldn't possibly have emphasized it more.

"This is the chief attraction of this museum," I said, pointing to it like a

tour guide might. "'The Full Equipment of the First Hero King.'"

It was the equipment of the first hero who was said to have been

summoned from another world, just like I had been, and who had built the

Elfrieden Kingdom. It was on display right in front of us. Incidentally, this

was the genuine artifact. If we'd tried to make replicas, they'd look cheap,

and it would be expensive, too.

Both Aisha and Roroa's eyes went wide at the majestic sight of it.

"What beautiful equipment..." Aisha murmured.

"You said it... Wait, this is a real national treasure, ain't it?!" Roroa burst

out.

"Well, I guess you could call it that, yes."

"Is it really okay for you to be puttin' it on display in a place like this?"

Roroa demanded, holding her temples as she did, but I laughed it off.

"I looked into it, and the only enchantment on this equipment is one that

boosts the wearer's magic resistance ridiculously high. Something like the

armor the Empire's Magic Armor Corps wears. Since it's the armor of the

Hero King, it'd be problematic to let anyone but me use it, and there're

probably not going to be many chances for me to use it, either. If it was just

going to be sitting and gathering dust in the royal treasury, I figured having

it on display here was a more effective use for it."

If more people came to the museum to see it, it would help cover the

cost of running the museum. The problem was keeping it guarded, but that

was what I had an elite unit from the Forbidden Army on security detail

here for.

After watching me confidently explain all this, Roroa sighed. "Good

grief... Wouldn't Big Sister Cia pitch a fit if she heard about it?"

Oh...! Yeah, that was for sure. These items could have been said to be

the face of the country.

"W-Well, it's not like I'm selling them off or anything," I said. "I'm

putting them to good use here, so I don't think there's any need to go out of

my way to tell Liscia about it..."

"Um... I think it's probably too late for that," Aisha said apologetically,

at which point I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Sooouuuma?"

When I turned around, Liscia was standing there with a smile on her

face. Behind her was Juna, with her hands held together as if to say she was

sorry.

"Wh-What are the two of you doing here?" I stuttered.

"I said I'd let Roroa have this one, but I never said I wouldn't secretly be

following you," Liscia said, taking a tone that made it sound like she had

done nothing wrong and had the right to be upset with me.

"I'm sorry," Juna added apologetically. "We were supposed to just watch

over you from the shadows..."

They'd been following us all this time?!

Aisha nodded knowingly. "So the presence that I felt really was the two

of you."

"Aisha?! If you noticed, you could have told me..."

"Souma!" Liscia barked.

"Y-Yes?!"

From the next little while, it was time for Liscia to lecture me. We would

be causing trouble for the other visitors if we did it in front of the exhibit, so

we relocated to a corner of the garden and she made me kneel in front of

her on the lawn while she lectured me.

What did I think I was doing with national treasures? How dare I, as one

who was summoned as a hero, put the hero's equipment on display like

some curiosity? I needed to have more awareness of my role as king! It

went on, and on, and on. Liscia was too serious for her own good, so she

couldn't stand it when I didn't do these things properly.

"Um... Lady Liscia, it's not as if His Majesty meant any harm," Aisha

said.

"He did it for the benefit of this country, so cut him some slack," Roroa

added.

"This is Lady Roroa's day to go on a date, so I think you've lectured

him enough..." Juna murmured.

Aisha, Roroa, and Juna stepped in, so the lecture was comparatively

short. Yes, her lectures were usually longer.

"Honestly, I'll let it slide this time, in deference to you three, but...

Listen, Souma," Liscia snapped. "Some of the nobles that care about

authority hate things like this. That's why you need to consult with me

properly before just doing this sort of thing. If I, as someone from the Royal

House of Elfrieden, give permission, you won't needlessly upset the

nobles."

"...Yes, ma'am," I said humbly. "I'm very sorry."

She was so right that there was nothing I could say in response. The

reason Liscia would lecture me for so long was that she truly cared for my

well-being. I knew that, so I gladly accepted it.

Once the lecture was over and done with, Roroa clapped her hands

twice. "Now then, let's get back to that date, shall we?"

"Ah! Sorry, Roroa," Liscia said guiltily. "Sorry for coming along after

saying I'd let you have it to yourselves."

"Hmm, well, it's not like I don't understand how you two feel. Ain't

much I can do about it now that you're here, anyway, so let's go around

together." Roroa wrapped herself around Liscia's arm fawningly. "We've

got quite a crowd here, so how's about some shopping?"

"That sounds good," Liscia nodded. "Why don't we have Souma carry

everyone's bags as a punishment?"

"I-I'm starting to get hungry, you know," Aisha complained.

"Hee hee! Then why don't we go to Cafe Lorelei first?" Juna giggled.

"""Sounds good."""

Before I knew it, our plans for the afternoon had been decided without

my being able to get a word in edgewise.

When faced with these powerful girls, even if I was the king or the hero,

I was no match for them.

"Come on, Souma, let's hurry along," Liscia announced, taking my

hand.

"There's more fun to be had yet, Darlin'," Roroa added, grabbing the

other one.

Somehow, as they pulled me along by the arms, I felt like I was being

shown exactly what the future balance of power between us was going to

look like.

By the way, we discussed the matter of the hero's equipment later, and

settled on displaying it just once a year for a limited time only. It meant less

security was needed, and the event would feel like something special, so

that was good.