Chapter 127: (Self Edited) Departure
At the entrance of the city gate, there was a pile of luggage. Beyond that, there were almost no people left.
They were letting go of their luggage one after another, and some of them had already departed from Reform with minimal work tools and valuables.
After the first people who had finished eating the meals, formed a group out of they could walk, and started walking while being escorted by a platoon, they had already disappeared from sight.
Smoke was still rising from the temporary tent.
—
“I’ve brought her.” (??)
It was about 3 PM in the afternoon, and when most of the 1000 people had finally left, the Queen’s Sword… no, the person in a night robe brought Princess Telor.
‘Well… it would be awkward to rebuke her.’
That person was also wearing plain clothes, and Telor wore a thick hooded robe.
‘Well, it’s certainly plain clothes but… For the time being, let’s check the surroundings.’There were no people in the range where the conversation could be heard.
“Well then, I will take care of her.” (Yuri)
“Thank you very much.” (??)
The woman in the night robe bowed her head deeply. Telor stood out without doing anything.
“Eh… ah, please take care of me.” (Telor)
She was a bit late, and then, she bowed down. It looked like she was exhausted.
The moment she turned her head back up, her blonde hair peeped out of the hood.
“I thought she was supposed to dye it black?” (Yuri)
When I said that, Telor involuntarily took a step back as if she was frightened and covered her head with hands.
‘What is this…’
“…” (Yuri)
The woman in the night robe only had a trouble looking face.
‘Well, I don’t mind. If the news about Telor has escaped, the ones who would be in troubles are those in Reform. Or rather, she has left the castle.’
“It doesn’t really matter to me, but… Some refugees may not be happy. If possible, I recommend cutting it short so that it stays within the hood.” (Yuri)
Telor glared at me with a face that said ‘I can’t believe you would say that’.
‘Aah, I was recognized as an enemy. How should I say it… it feels like I’ve stepped on a cat’s tail. It looks like that feeling will stay for a while.’
‘Even so, it feels childish. I even remember the nostalgic feeling of returning to the first year of the school of Knights.’
“Well, you can leave it as it is.” (Yuri)
I stopped considering.
‘It seems that problems will occur if I force her to cut the hair. Even if it feels unpleasant during the trip, I wouldn’t know about that.’
“There should be a refugee named Hinami Welts. The person has experience as a caretaker, so I would like him to take care of her surroundings if possible.” (??)
‘What… Then, why didn’t you let Hinami come along with you from the beginning? Or is it convenient to keep the information secret?’
‘If he follows her from the beginning, she would explain the situation about the girl in advance, so the mere caretaker may slip his mouth and leak information. It is because of that I have to blend in with the refugees when there’s spare time after leaving Reform. Do I have to do the reemployment for the task?’
‘That’s troublesome. It’s a difficult job. On the other hand, the most critical part of dyeing the hair was that she refused and I couldn’t manage to convince her.’
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” (??)
She involuntarily bowed her head.
“No…” (Telor)
“If you can survive, please visit the Hou Household and we will always be happy to assist you.” (Yuri)
“…If that happens, please hire me in regards to Telor-sama.” (??)
‘Aah, as expected. It is to the core of the bone. That’s probably the way of life for these people.’
“Thank you very much. Please take care of Telor-sama.” (??)
“Yes, again, thank you for taking care of us.” (Yuri)
The woman in the night robe turned to Telor. She crouched and squeezed Telor’s hands.
“Telor-sama. Please avoid dangers and live freely. I wish you all the best.” (??)
“Yes… Yania too. Be safe. Don’t die…” (Telor)
“…Yes.” (Yania)
The woman called Yania stood up immediately.
“Well then.” (Yania)
She bowed her head again, turned her heels back and walked. Telor was seeing her off for a while.
“Telor-sama. Will it be fine to bid farewell now?” (Yuri)
After a few minutes, I called her out…
“…Yes.” (Yania)
The voice came back.
“Then, please come here.” (Yuri)
I reached out to her, but Telor didn’t take my hand as if she was frightened by something.
‘Oh well.’
I pulled my hand back.
“Well then, please follow me.” (Yuri)
—
“Dolla.” (Yuri)
‘Haa, this is depressing.’
“Yuri… that’s not it. Commanding Officer.” (Dolla)
Dolla was arranging her luggage with the ten subordinates who were arranged. At the moment, he was throwing the horse feed tied to hay into a large carriage.
“Wait. Come here.” (Yuri)
“Got it.” (Dolla)
When he threw the feed…
“I will talk with the Commanding Officer for a while! You guys, continue with your work!” (Dolla)
He gave instructions loudly and turned around.
“Isn’t he a splendid captain?” (Yuri)
“Well. Uhm, who’s that?” (Telor)
“I’ll talk later… please wait there for a moment.” (Yuri)
When I said it, Telor nodded a bit and showed a readiness to stand beside the carriage.
‘Well, that’s fine.’
She moved a bit away as it was.
“Hey, this is going to be hard to say, but…” (Yuri)
When I tried to say it, Dora covered my mouth with his hand.
“Let me say something first.” (Dolla)
‘What?’
“Yuri. Thank you for coming back with Her Highness.” (Dolla)
‘Uwaah.’
“I… even if I exist, I don’t feel that I exist. This is the first time I had the feeling after I was born.” (Dolla)
‘Uwaahh.’
“Wait, wait a sec. Uhm… I’m wondering if I can tell you this.” (Yuri)
Looking at the situation, the flow of him saying ‘I noticed my true feelings, so I’m going to confess my love to Her Highness’ will go off, and it’s not strange to have that happen.
“What?” (Dolla)
“It’s about Carol and me… I mean it’s the relationship between a man and a woman.” (Yuri)
“Haa…” (Dolla)
Dolla’s smile froze. No, it was already frozen.
“Sorry.” (Yuri)
I bowed deeply. I thought it was necessary to do so.
“Why are you apologizing? You… could you forcibly…” (Dolla)
“No, that’s not it.” (Yuri)
“Kuh… I… see…” (Dolla)
“You can hit me if you want.” (Yuri)
“No…” (Dolla)
Dolla had a face that looked as if he had lost his soul.
‘I’m sorry.’
“Make Her Highness happy.” (Dolla)
He started to say something like a father would.
Asking me to make Carol happy… It was heavy words.
‘Making Carol happy is directly linked to taking responsibility for the reassurance of Shaalta Kingdom. It might have been an easy job two to three hundred years ago, but it’s a tremendous challenge now.’
‘I’m not god, so I can’t say I’m going to do it responsibly. When the country is about to perish, I can only carry Carol out even if I have to stun her, put her on a ship and run away somewhere. However, it would be meaningless to say it to Dolla here.’
“Yeah…” (Yuri)
And the reply was clearly vague.
“So, is that the end of the story?” (Dolla)
“No, I have a task I want to ask you to do. But you can hit me if you feel difficult.” (Yuri)
“Don’t look down on me… if you order me, I’ll do it.” (Dolla)
‘It seems that he has trouble with his temper. It’s good to have a working adult who won’t mix between job and private business, but that also means making humans work like a machine. As for me, I know how much he was thinking of Carol and he was hurt, and even if there are lingering feelings, he isn’t blaming at all.’
“It’s an important task. If you don’t feel good about it, it’s going to be troubling.” (Yuri)
“It’s alright.” (Dolla)
“If so, I’ll say it. I brought someone.” (Yuri)
I shook my head a bit and pointed at Her Highness Telor behind me.
“She is the Kilghina princess. We need to bring her to Shaalta. What I want to entrust you is the task of protecting the princess and the carriage with the treasure.” (Yuri)
When I said that…
“What…?” (Dolla)
Dolla muttered, wrinkled his eyebrows, and looked angry.
“You!” (Dolla)
As soon as he said that, he suddenly grabbed my collar. The force was so strong that he lifted my body up.
He was in the shape of an ogre.
‘What is this… Why are you looking like this?’
“What are you planning to do? Are you going to pay for your sin!?” (Dolla)
‘Haa…? What is this guy saying? Aah…’
‘When I think about it, she is also having blonde hair. However even though it’s carefully hidden with a hood, she turns out to be blonde.’
‘Is he thinking I’m having fetish of blonde hair? Does he understand because of the blue eyes?’
“How dare you utter a joke? Release your hands. I’m going to kill you if you talk nonsense too much.” (Yuri)
I was grasping the handle of the dagger that was attached to my waist. Since my collar was grabbed, it would be a problem if I was thrown and became injured, but I could respond with a dagger if he did that. The moment he moved, I could slide the dagger under the armpit holding my collar and sliced the vital point.
“Ugh…” (Dolla)
Then, he took his hands off my collar. The floating feet touched the ground.
“This stupid bastard. Do you think I’ll decide who to do an important out of sympathy or something?” (Yuri)
I let go of the dagger, and fixed the disordered clothes.
‘This guy too… it’s easy to get blood on the head. It seems that there are a lot of people with this issue. Well, that’s true for the people who look like brave or heroic Knights.’
“Then, why did you choose me?” (Dolla)
“I’ve decided because I think you’re good at it. Even if you die, you will protect the carriage with the princess in it.” (Yuri)
‘Since this guy is a fool, he should be able to do such a straightforward task. Looking at his appearance, it doesn’t seem like he’s feeling down.’
“If you’re not confident, I’ll find another person.” (Yuri)
“I’ll do it.” (Dolla)
‘Really?’
“I see. So, after talking to Liao, let’s say hello to Princess-sama.” (Yuri)
—
“Liao.” (Yuri)
When I called out from on top of a bird, Liao turned to me.
“Ouh. Yuri-dono. The last group of people is about to leave.” (Liao)
Since I was talking from above, I got off the Galloping Bird.
“I see. By the way, I want to make Dolla’s unit to be the escort for the task we discussed earlier.” (Yuri)
“I see…” (Liao)
“Choose the best carriage, and he will lead it.” (Yuri)
“Yes. Then, that’s fine.” (Liao)
Liao nodded.
‘Letting Dolla take the lead means he would be the first to run away. If there are carriages at the front and rear, he won’t be able to get away immediately.’
“There was a carriage for explosives that I brought. It should be fine with that.” (Yuri)
“Yeah, the one with the unusual device.” (Liao)
‘The unusual device is the suspension. The carriage is suspended by a sturdy wooden board spring. The ride quality would be good. For the time being, that carriage is for the princess.’
“But, that’s already out with other things on it.” (Liao)
“I see. Then, is it alright for Dolla to go ahead with a carriage?” (Yuri)
“Yeah. It’s fine. We’ll be leaving soon.” (Liao)
Dolla was just loading hay on a carriage.
‘If they ride on it, it will be comfortable to sit on.’
—
TLN:
- The title of this chapter is similar to chapter 81.
- This chapter is the last chapter of Volume 9.