Chapter 76: Return to the Rocha area
The desert journey comes to an end as soon as we leave the village where there is white sand that looks like limestone. When the war broke out, they entered the guard position they had set up in the Rocha area.
From here, Atenza and Giverde are traveled by horse-drawn carriage. They will be staying at the castle in the central capital of the Roccia region, but since they cannot tell King Cholex about the situation before that, they will be asked to accompany them on their journey to Nonette's home country. There is.
On the other hand, the soldiers from the Rocha region who were taken to the desert are disbanded and put on vacation. The guards will be replaced by the soldiers left in the Rocha area.
I also wanted to come to the central capital and check on the status of the office, but I was stopped by General Durva who brought in a replacement soldier.
"Government operations are being carried out without any hitch. The trends in each region are calm, and I have determined that there is no need for Prince Mirimos to return to the capital. Therefore, in order to ensure the peace of the Ambitos region, I have decided to return to Nonette's home country. Shouldn't we move to get King Cholex's approval?"
Once you say that, you have no choice but to obey.
"I'm going to continue on my way to Nonette. So, how's the magic tool research going?"
"The situation is not good. Prince Milimos is no longer monitoring him, and he seems to be doing research at his leisure."
“…Tell him that when you get back, you’ll go and inspect the results.”
While I was babbling about war and governance, I decided that if they were playing around with no results, I would stop them without even making a sound.
As I was talking about this, I heard the distinctive sound of heavy horse footsteps.
When I turned my head, I saw a huge black horse――Neroteora approaching me, and Familis was holding the reins as she walked. Further behind is Princess Pulvera.
Princess Pulvera looked at my face, looked at her body, and had a relieved expression on her face.
"Mirimos-kun. It looks like you came back safely, so I'm relieved."
"I'm sorry for worrying you, but I thought your family told you that I wasn't hurt?"
"Ever since Familias came to me, he hasn't returned to this camp for several days. I was worried that something bad had happened."
"We simply needed to take various measures to quell the chaos in the Ambitose region."
While we were smiling and talking to each other, Princess Palvera seemed to be looking at something and turned her face away from me. When I followed her line of sight, I found Atenza and Giverde who were transferring to a carriage.
"Mirimos-kun. Who are those two women?"
When I was asked what was being said, I was about to answer honestly, but when I realized the problem, I hesitated.
And Princess Pulvera is a princess of a knightly kingdom who advocates doing the right thing. And Atenza and Giverde are hostages to keep the Ambitos family from betraying me. I felt that there was something awkward about the combination of these two.
However, if I remain silent like this, it will make Princess Palbella distrustful of me, so that's not good at all.
I instantly decided what to do and decided to teach honestly.
"The Ambitose royal family - no, the family - is a hostage. To be more precise, that girl around our age is the hostage, and the other woman is the caretaker."
"Hmm. Are you a hostage...?"
Princess Palvera stares at Atenza and Giberde with an expression that says she is not amused.
Her attitude doesn't mean she's angry at me and averting her gaze. If anything, it seemed like he was judging those two.
I probably should refrain from trying to poke at a bush and make a snake come out, but I can't help but be unaware of Princess Pulvera's intentions.
“I thought for sure that the Knights would criticize me for taking hostages.”
“Mirimos-kun, you probably acquired those two in order to act in a way that’s not normal for humans, right?”
"I'll force those two to be hostages, but I won't do anything inhumane to them."
“I can trust that you won’t do anything that would defile a woman’s body, right?”
"That's too far-fetched. If I were to interfere with Atenza and Giverde, that would give the Ambitos family a reason to return to rule over the Ambitos region. Then they would have to give up the land they acquired through victory. Isn't it the same?"
She gave reasons that were natural to her as a ruler, but Princess Pulvera, who has been with her for a long time, has come to understand that she is just being honest.
"It's not true. But it doesn't seem like he's lying because he likes those two."
She says that women have sharp intuition, but she doesn't need to show it here.
“I don’t want to have much to do with those two before I get involved with them.”
“Why is that again?”
"Atenza - a woman with a stature similar to Sister Solerina was the wife of Spellbeard, who I killed.Giverde was Spellbeard's sister and was taken hostage to protect her family. .That's why it's only natural that they both hate me.''
She tried to convince me by telling me the background of the two of them, but the way Princess Pulvera looked at me seemed even colder.
"You're going to take the wife and her sister of the person you defeated in the war as hostages. You really have no intention of messing with those two, do you?"
“It’s really true.”
“Would you swear by the holy knight royal dagger that is on your waist?”
What Princess Pulvera is trying to say is probably risking her life.
In that case, the answer has been decided.
"I can swear. I have no intention of keeping those two in a cage."
"...I believe you. But Milimos-kun, please be careful."
“What do you mean by caution?”
“Even if Milimos-kun doesn’t intend to intervene, there’s a chance those two will approach you.”
"I guess that's surprising. Because those two must hate me."
"I see. Even though I hate him, I can't see any hostility in his eyes."
Thinking so, I looked at Atenza and Giberde who were getting into the carriage, and their eyes met through the open window.
Atenza smiles and nods, and Giberde looks away from her after a moment of sulking.
“Is Milimos-kun saying you hold a grudge over that?”
"Since you're a hostage, you wouldn't see me openly holding a grudge. Still, Giberde couldn't hide it and seemed to have a dislike for me."
"It's more like disgust..."
Princess Palvera continued to fix her searching eyes on Giberde, but after a few seconds she changed her look to see what she had understood.
"For the time being, I understand that Milimos-kun has no feelings for those two."
"Thank you for understanding."
While I was relieved, Princess Palvera's expression remained stiff.
While she was tilting her head wondering why, Princess Parbella approached the family and started complaining about her.
``Familis left in the middle, so a new pest came along.''
"But, Princess Pulbella. I am Princess Pulbella's bodyguard. I can't leave her side for too long."
When she saw her frantically making excuses, she was thinking that she was in trouble, as if it were someone else's problem, but her family glared at her, as if he had seen through her thoughts.
However, as a result, she turned her face away, which apparently annoyed Princess Pulbella.
"Familis! Where are you turning your head when you're being scolded!"
"Princess Pulvera. Things are different now."
I ran away from the two arguing and decided to have a meeting with the soldier about the journey to Nonette's home country. I expected that my family would hate me later and force me to do some tough training.
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