This Is No Time for That
“So anyway, I ended up improving those magic scrolls by several times their original power, right? His mouth was practically hanging off his ears, he was so happy. Later on he kept coming back to ask me for all sorts of favors.”
“I see.”
“One time he told me to come by, so I tried to get into the carriage. But the carriage was so pretty and fancy! I got so excited that I went ‘Waaah!’ and jumped in, but I completely missed the step and fell backwards.”
“…You did that in front of the knights sent by the royal palace?”
“Yes! So I blacked out for a few seconds? Then I got right back up, but it was so embarrassing, you know? I tried to run back into the carriage and slammed my head straight into the doorframe with a loud bang!”
“….”
“I thought I might be bleeding, but thankfully there wasn’t any blood! Instead, the knights all turned their heads away and started crying buckets. I guess I must have looked really pitiful!”
“I’m not sure it was pity. Pretty sure they were just laughing so hard they teared up.”
“Oh, is that it?! That must be it, right?!”
Listening to Daisy’s story, I became certain of one thing. This girl was lucky if she only had her head on straight during battle. In everyday life, protective gear was an absolute necessity. Maybe the reason the royal palace offered her a place to stay was part of that very consideration. She caused accidents everywhere she moved, so they probably just wanted her to stay put and behave.
“How have you been, Master?”
“Same as always. I sent you down here, taught the kids, and looked after your Grandmaster.”
“Now that I think about it, I came down without seeing you teach the youngest. How is she?”
“I thought she was just average, but she’s improved a lot lately.”
“Really? That’s wonderful! She seemed a lot brighter than Ester. That’s how it should be! The youngest has to be cute and lovable! She needs that adorable charm!”
“Ester isn’t bad either.”
“She’s not bad, but she lacks that friendly, clingy vibe. She doesn’t come up and rub against you. I was really disappointed about that. She’s the one and only youngest, after all!”
“I’m going to tell Ester everything you just said.”
“Eek! No! Please don’t! I’m sorry! I take it back! Ubuubuu! This mouth of mine is always causing trouble! Okay, okay, it never happened!”
If I said one thing, this girl would say at least three times as much. Daisy was so bad about it that Lily had once asked me if maybe Senior Daisy had feelings for me. She’d heard that people talked twice as much in front of someone they liked. From what she could see, that was exactly how Senior Daisy acted.
At first, I wondered if it might be true. After all, I had good examples in Garam and Jenia who treated me as a man. So initially I worried, thinking, This girl can’t be like that too.
But after some time passed, I realized that wasn’t the case. Daisy was simply a talkative character by nature. Her clumsy personality just spilled over into her speech as well.
“Let’s get moving. We’ve already rested for thirty minutes.”
“Ah, yes! Then I’ll take care of the bill… Eek!”
There wasn’t a single thing to rush for, yet she panicked again and dropped the money she was holding.
“Aaaah! The money! The money! I’ll pick it up! I’ll… Ack!”
Bang!
It wasn’t even on the roadside; it had just fallen under the table. There wasn’t anyone nearby trying to snatch it. So why on earth was she scrambling on all fours in such a hurry that she slammed her head into the table?
“Owww!!”
“…Here, Daisy.”
And even after all that, she still hadn’t picked up all the coins. I let out several internal sighs wondering what I was supposed to do with this girl. I held out the coins to Daisy, who was clutching her head and whimpering. She immediately stopped crying, thanked me with a bright “Hehe!” and smiled again. That was the kind of character she was—frustrating enough to make your chest feel tight, yet impossible to hate.
“Daisy. By the way, I have something to ask.”
“Yes, Master! Ask me anything!”
“This isn’t some fancy restaurant. It’s just a street food stall.”
“Right!”
“And instead of copper or silver coins, you were about to hand over a gold coin. Wouldn’t that cause quite a bit of trouble?”
At my question, Daisy let out a startled “Eh?” and quickly checked the money in her hand. Then she began to groan, “Ughhh…”
I could already predict exactly what she was going to say next.
“You grabbed the wrong one, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“You were so excited you didn’t even check and just grabbed whatever, right?”
“…I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine. I figured this would happen, so I prepared money in advance.”
After paying in her place, we left the restaurant. One of us was a Hero, the other the Hero’s master. Some might think that was enough to get a free meal or at least decent treatment without paying a single penny. But that was utter nonsense. Even if my grandfather showed up instead of me, it still wouldn’t work. It wasn’t like I was desperate for money, and the amount wasn’t even worth freeloading over. I had no desire to tarnish the word Hero that my disciples had built up just to save a few coins.
“….”
It wasn’t here. It wasn’t there either. No matter where I went, I couldn’t feel a single thing. Everywhere I looked, the only things that entered my eyes and ears were the everyday lives of the people living in the royal capital. I couldn’t find anything related to the Demon God Worshippers. Nothing was hidden, nothing smelled suspicious. It was to the point where I couldn’t even tell if something was actually happening inside the royal palace.
“Master. Now that I think about it, have you heard the news? This time in the Great Forest…”
“Last time, Senior Garam and Senior Jenia got into another huge fight, right? And then…”
“Does Gerard still only eat dog food? And Iris only eats grass?”
“I saw that Grandmaster was wearing a ring the other day. What is it?”
Please, please stop. Please shut up, you idiot!
“Daisy. Let’s stay quiet for just five minutes.”
“Eh? Why all of a sudden? Why do we have to be quiet?”
“Sometimes you need to stop talking and stay silent, you know?”
“But that doesn’t seem relevant to our current situation at all?”
“Daisy. Is there anything I’ve said that you don’t understand?”
“Um… Probably, if Master tells me to do something, I should just do it! Isn’t that it?”
You know exactly what I mean, so why aren’t you doing it? Please, just stay quiet for five minutes. Just that much time. With her constantly chattering beside me, even when I tried to think, everything got completely jumbled.
“Then five minutes! I’ll stay quiet for five minutes. Starting now, right? Hup!”
Yes, let’s try to last five minutes like that. I let out a sigh of relief as if I had put a gag in Daisy’s mouth. Now I felt like I could finally organize my thoughts about the current situation.
First of all, no matter how much I wandered around inside the royal capital, I didn’t feel anything in particular. The disgusting stench I had clearly sensed in the previous city was nowhere to be found. I hadn’t seen anyone wearing a mask with completely different speech and atmosphere either. I knew the result, but there was no cause leading to that result.
Maybe, just as the king had said, they had all run away at the appearance of the Heroes. It was already difficult for the resident magic Hero to handle. On top of that, the Guardian Hero and the Fighter Hero had entered the royal capital. With three Heroes present, unless it was a Fragment of the Demon God, a fight couldn’t even be established. It was entirely possible that the Demon God Worshippers had fled with that in mind.
Should I be happy about this, or not? It was quite the dilemma. On one hand, I could consider it enough that I had prevented the most important incident in the royal capital. On the other, I also thought it might be better to let them start something and wipe them out cleanly. But then again, if I had prevented the summoning of a Fragment of the Demon God itself, maybe this was sufficient after all. Such thoughts kept creeping into my head.
“Master. By the way. Have you heard that news?”
“…Daisy. Only one minute has passed.”
“Eh? Hasn’t it been five minutes? I definitely thought five minutes had passed, so I spoke?!”
“Exactly eighty-three seconds have passed. And five minutes is three hundred seconds.”
“Ah.”
Ah? What the hell do you mean, ah, you damn disciple? There’s no way a mage would mistake seconds, yet here we are. You’re truly amazing!
“…Then, should I keep my mouth shut for the remaining two hundred and seventeen seconds?”
Part of me wanted to say yes. But Daisy kept looking at me with those pitiful eyes, and my heart weakened. In the end, I shook my head. Damn it. I really need to stop falling for this. Why do I keep showing weakness to my disciples?
“Just say it.”
“Oh, really? Then I’ll just say it? I won’t hold back for the remaining time?!”
“What. Why. What are you trying to say now.”
“I think it was really fortunate that you arrived yesterday, Master.”
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Well, since I’ve been staying in the royal capital. To be precise, because I’ve been in frequent contact with the royal palace, I unintentionally receive a lot of news from that side.”
“And?”
“Today happens to be the day the Second Prince, who went out for a monster and demonic beast subjugation, returns.”
“…Ah. So the Second Prince coming back to the royal capital and me coming here almost overlapped? Daisy nodded vigorously at my words.
“That’s right! If the timings had overlapped, it might have been extremely awkward for you and the juniors. You would have received attention far beyond what the word ‘excessive’ could describe! You really came at the perfect time.”
“…It is fortunate, but it’s not exactly an important story, is it?”
“Eh? It’s not important? Both you and the juniors really hate receiving attention.”
I wanted to say something, but since it was true, my words got stuck in my throat. For starters, neither Gerard nor Iris enjoyed being the center of attention. To be more specific, Iris would swing her fists while telling people not to stare, and Gerard would run off somewhere claiming it was too burdensome. My master didn’t seem to mind such gazes much. I wasn’t sure if it was because she had received so many of them in the past. Still, I had tried to keep people from staring too much, worried that it might make her uncomfortable or that her anger might spill over onto those around her.
As for Iris (Regression), at first I worried that because she was young and still immature, she might actually want some attention. But now that I knew she was a regressor, there was no longer any need for such concern. She would handle it well on her own in the end. And as for me, I hated noisy situations.
“I’m right, aren’t I? It would have been really exhausting if you had arrived together.”
“…Yeah. I won’t deny it. I still don’t know what it has to do with the current situation, but anyway…”
It was right at that moment, as I was muttering.
Something flashed through my mind like a spark. In an instant, all the pieces I had been missing clicked into place. The blurry path began to take clear shape.
“…Daisy.”
“Yes, Master!”
“What did you say earlier? Who’s returning to the royal capital?”
“Huh? Yes! The Second Prince! The Second Prince is coming back. People think the royal family doesn’t do anything, but that prince in particular goes out and hunts monsters and subjugates demonic beasts. Thanks to that, the royal family’s popularity seems to be maintained to some degree.”
“….”
If I wasn’t mistaken, there was definitely a possibility. No, it wasn’t just a possibility. It was highly likely.
“Daisy. It looks like we can’t just sit around like this.”
“Yes? Then what should we do?”
“We need to go see the king again right away.”
It seemed I would have to start digging into the Second Prince’s background.