"Katelina, can you be funny?"
In a meeting room at the City Lord's Mansion, Annan put the question to the "Swan Neck," who had come from afar, with an entirely straight face.
"F-funny?" Katelina stared at him across the round table.
"That's right. Funny."
Annan gestured. "Faru Barros, show her."
Faru Barros, whom Annan had brought along for this purpose, stood up and began the routine he often performed for princes and ministers in the Northern Frontier, drawing laughs with comical movements, exaggerated expressions, and a muddled accent.
Faru Barros used only half his skill, doing little more than pulling faces, but it was enough to astonish Katelina.
"I didn't expect Free City to have such a talented actor..."
"Actually, like me, he's also a King of the North," Annan said, introducing Faru Barros as he sat back down.
"Er... You have a wide range of interests," Katelina said, with some embarrassment.
Annan neither confirmed nor denied it. He returned to the matter at hand. "So, can you do it?"
Katelina recalled what she had just seen: a tongue poked up toward a nostril, eyes bulging as if about to pop out, a chin thrust forward while the eyes crossed until every feature seemed scrunched together... She shook her head.
"Then I'm afraid this role isn't right for you."
"...I can try."
Katelina refused to give up the opportunity. As a stage actor, she had no qualms about making herself look ridiculous. She imitated Faru Barros's expressions and tried to meet their eyes.
But instead of looking funny, she looked rather cute.
If Annan had been a little more unscrupulous, he could have recorded the moment with a Magic Stone. That issue of the Voice of Freedom would have sold thousands more copies in the Flower Capital.
"How was that?"