Episode 111


    The empire was involved in this incident.


    It was something that should not be easily confirmed.


    Even in a kingdom, things be sensitive when royal family is involved, but if it is an empire, things be more cautious.


    If you do something wrong, a war could break out between the kingdom and the empire.


    “Is this urate?”


    When the Empire is involved, the matter should not be taken lightly.


    I have to check it again and again to find urate evidence.


    Even though they found it, there were a majority of cases where they just passed on due tock of strength.


    Therefore, one must be careful when mentioning the empire.


    Even if you are certain that the Empire did it.


    “We can do this too. No matter how good the empire’s technology is, our central magic tower is no slouch. but.”


    He pointed to one side of the marble.


    He said as he touched the fingernail-sized magic circle drawn at the bottom of the bead.


    “The thing depicted here is a magic circle used only by the Empire. It can be said to be a magic circle exclusively for the Empire, which is rarely used because it consumes a lot of magic stone powder. And if you look here, there is a symbol representing the empire drawn.”


    True to his words, there was a drawing of a spear piercing two dragons in the center of the magic circle.


    It is a symbol of arrogance and a symbol of empire.


    “So you’re saying the Empire was involved?”


    “There is a high probability that it was so. “In the case of magic spheres like this, the Empire will also strictly manage them.”


    I nodded at those words.


    To make the magic sphere we obtained, an astronomical amount of money is needed.


    If you change the magic stone powder contained in this magic ball into cash, you can build up a movable property with gold coins.


    Because the magic stone itself was expensive and precious, ces that made and used magic spheres like this were rare, other than the empire and the central magic tower.


    If one were to be lost, the damage would be unimaginable.


    “Did you find out anything else when you got this?”


    “Something else…”


    I recalled the memory of that time.


    Other than the masked people, if there is any information that can be obtained from them…


    “Ah. One of them said this: “If it weren’t for me, I would have gotten the princess.”


    “…!”


    His eyes widened.


    With a serious expression on his face, he yed with the beads.


    “I had a vague guess… but I never thought it was really an empire.”


    He let out a sigh.


    It was a reaction as if he knew something.


    “Hmm…”


    He groaned softly, lifted the crystal ball, stood up, and walked to the desk.


    “You can go now. “I’ll take care of it from now on.”


    “…All right.”


    There was no reason for me to turn down the fact that I would take care of all the troublesome things.


    As I got up from the sofa and left the office, I heard his voice in my ears.


    “Raymond.”


    “yes.”


    “You will have to pay more attention to Princess Daria than before.”


    “I’ll keep that in mind.”


    I bowed my head to him and left the office.


    ***


    I immediately went to see Princess Daria.


    It must have been quite difficult during this time, but I was too busy taking care of work to pay attention to her.


    I went to her bedroom because the Count had something to say, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.


    “Do you know where the princess has gone?”


    “Princess Daria? Um… ah. “I saw you going towards the garden over there.”


    I asked the maid and headed to where she was.


    At noon, when the sun was high in the sky, she was sitting in the octagonal pavilion in the center of the garden.


    As I got closer, I saw that she was staring nkly at the flowers embroidered in front of the octagonal pavilion.


    Because she had such a beautiful appearance, it was like a masterpiece.


    “What are you doing?”


    “Ah… Mr. Raymond.”


    When I called her, she looked back at me with a shocked expression.


    She soon turned her gaze straight ahead again.


    “just. “I was looking at flowers.”


    Her voice sounded somewhat sad when she said she was looking at flowers.


    As I sat down next to her, my head, which had always been heavy, became lighter.


    -beautiful!


    A hatchling came down from my head and jumped into the flower bed.


    “uh? “Why are you doing that?”


    The marks the hatchling made as it rolled around in the flower bed put a question mark in her head.


    Since hatchlings are only visible to my eyes, I can’t help but feel embarrassed if the flowers are suddenly crushed.


    “It happens every now and then, so you don’t have to worry about it.”


    But I couldn’t tell her that the hatchling was rolling around in the flower garden.


    She nodded nkly at my appropriate equivocation.


    Although it was a bit of an absurd answer, it wasn’t that important to her right now.


    “You seem very worried.”


    “Yeah, well… it’s a bit like that.”


    She smiled sadly at my words.


    After staring into space for a moment, she opened her mouth.


    “My life has always been like this.”


    “…?”


    “People around me were always harmed by things that happened because of me, and I solved those problems on their behalf.”


    “….”


    I closed my mouth at her self-ming tone.


    “From childhood until now. There hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t received help. So I always had to act passively and try not to stand out to others.”


    “….”


    “I stayed quiet every day and didn’t try to gain influence. “I stayed still even when everyone I came with left.”


    As if reminiscing about that time, she looked up at the sky with faint eyes.


    “When the reason for my life began to fade, the letter of appreciation told me about you.”


    She looked back at me.


    A spark lit up in his empty eyes.


    “You are the worst kind of idiot. But now he has changed and is a swordsman genius.”


    I felt heating from her.


    “I became interested in you when you said that even the kingdom’s chief prosecutor could not see the depth of his talent. And the more I asked the chief prosecutor and learned about you, the more curious I became.”


    “….”


    “At some point, I became jealous of you. “I thought it was cool that you lived as you pleased, to the point where I thought you didn’t care about your family.”


    Isn’t this an insult?


    It definitely seems like apliment, but I feel bad for no reason.


    I began to wonder if I was just saying that I was alive.


    “So I went to see you at graduation. I wonder if what I heard from the auditor was really true….”


    “How was it?”


    “There was nothing wrong. You were the first person to treat me like that, let alone reject my offer. No matter how powerless I am, I am royalty. “It was a bit of a shock when I said I wanted to get married and was rejected outright.”


    “I’m sorry about that.”


    “no. In fact, I liked it better that way. “I could tell that he was a person who did not think his status was important and did not try to treat him well because he was a member of the royal family.”


    She smiled faintly.


    “I thought it would be okay if you saw me as I am. And Count Millennium is there… But I guess I was mistaken.”


    The smile disappeared and she looked sad.


    “When I came, it became difficult for the residents of the territory. “Everyone suffered damage and suffered because of me.”


    What are you trying to say?


    She hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth and spoke.


    “I don’t want to cause any more harm. So I’m going back to the royal family. “If I’m not here, it’ll be worse…”


    “Puh.”


    “…?”


    I couldn’t hold back myughter.


    When I wondered why I was worrying so seriously, I realized that it was just that.


    If I had been worried about that in the first ce, I wouldn’t have epted her.


    No, even if he had epted it, he would have sent her back to the royal family at the time the incident urred.


    She was worrying about something she didn’t have to worry about.


    “You don’t need to worry about that.”


    “But too many people suffered because of me.”


    “it’s okay. It’s not something the princess should worry about. “Now, it’s not just the princess’s problem.”


    “yes?”


    “Just because the princess is here doesn’t mean there’s an intruder. Rather, the problem is that there are intruders just because the princess is there.”


    “What is that…?”


    She asked me if that was it.


    no. It’s clearly different.


    It was true that there were intruders because of the princess, but if it was Millennium, it was a different matter.


    This is clearly disrespectful to the millennium.


    It was as if he indirectly showed that it didn’t matter if Millennium, who was under the Archmage’s protection, stepped forward.


    Regardless of the princess, it is impossible for Millennium to be ignored.


    “And don’t say you’re going back. “It would be more dangerous to return to the royal family.”


    “If that happens, the damage will be greater.”


    “It doesn’t matter. We are not so heartless as to throw away anyone whoes to us. And it would rather dishonor us for him to pass away at a time like this. “They sent me back because I couldn’t protect the princess.”


    “….”


    “You don’t n on bringing me that kind of dishonor, do you?”


    “…yes.”


    She nodded weakly.


    He smiled at her.


    “The princess will rest here safely from now on, when the threat is gone. You can do whatever you want, whether youe back then or not. Until then, receive our protection. “Okay?”


    “yes. Okay.”


    She looked at me and smiled.


    ***


    As time passed, the dissatisfaction with the princess faded away.


    Now that the remnants were captured and there was peace, no one was free enough to curse the princess.


    I lived a busy life trying to make a living.


    “Oh really. “Howe there are no days off?”


    I was also busy.


    I was just about to settle down and take a break, but something else came up.


    The banquet of the magic and swordsmanship masters, held once a year, was approaching.


    “They say they’re opening it bigger thanst year… Why not just do it?”


    Why bother holding such an event?


    As the banquet approaches, I have more things to do.


    A typical example is making and delivering invitations.


    There is no need to go and tell them, but go directly to Warrug or Sk.


    The number of nobles who will attend the banquet this time reaches 70.


    So many people attended that it was surprising how many nobles there were in the kingdom.


    I didn’t know it before because I didn’t do it myself, but now that I’ve done it myself, I can feel it.


    “Aren’t you going to give an invitation to the crown prince?”


    “yes. “I have no intention of giving it to you, and even if I did, I don’t think he wille because he is really busy.”


    “Hmm…”


    I had a strong wish that the royal family would note.


    It’s already bothersome to deal with nobles, but I think I’ll be annoyed if royalse too.


    ‘It’s going to be a lot noisy when hees.’


    He is the crown prince.


    It was obvious that a lot of annoying things would happen the moment he participated in a ce like this.


    It was clear that the nobles would do their best to impress him and that he would show off his closeness to me and make me feel ufortable.


    There was no need to go through the trouble of buying it.


    That’s why I didn’t contact him and told him not to tell the princess.


    -Of course you have my invitation too, right?


    How on earth did you know and contact me?


    I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.