The Princess's Named Request
The princess's named request was a rather absurd affair.
I already knew my reputation was spreading. Still, I never imagined it would reach a princess living in the royal capital.
I'd figured I was only famous among the hunters around Antico, but apparently I was a hotter topic than I'd given myself credit for.
"Alice-nim, a princess! This is so exciting!"
"…Is it?"
It was a strange thing. Even NPCs who had nothing to do with me somehow ended up tangled in my path.
That was probably because my actions had been fitting enough for the role of protagonist — enough, even, to land a named request from a princess.
The princess's name was Adelaide.
Principessa Adelaide Giovanna de Brillante Cartadia… she had a name that long.
It would have been easy to dismiss it as some otaku nonsense, except every part of it actually meant something.
It meant Adelaide Giovanna, Princess of the Brilliant Kingdom of Cartadia. But it was far too long, so everyone just called her Adelaide.
Did every royal have a name that unhinged?
People shortened it even further to Adel, on the grounds that five syllables was still too much.
At any rate, Adelaide took a far greater interest in hunters than the rest of the royal family.
Most of the court treated hunters like butchers.
The king was no different.
From the throne's perspective, hunters were dangerous people.
That was separate from the fact that hunters slew monsters and made life prosperous.
The Hunter Association may have been situated within the Kingdom of Cartadia, but it was not a subordinate body of the crown — it was an independent organization.
Hunters walked around carrying dangerous weapons modified from the byproducts of their kills, scattered across every corner of the nation, hard to control, and armed with the combat power to fight monsters. To the kingdom, they were a faction that needed to be kept in check.
The one saving grace was that the Hunter Association and the kingdom maintained a reasonably friendly business relationship.
The kingdom was not so foolish as to slaughter the goose that laid the golden eggs.
By regularly delivering monster materials to the crown, the Association earned a measure of trust. On occasion, it even received royal support.
In turn, the kingdom recognized the hunters' right to bear arms and looked the other way when the Association handed down its own judgments on matters like poaching. Hunters also took care of monsters that threatened the common people in the army's place. Mutual benefit, all around.
And the princess, unlike the others, held that value of hunters in high regard.
"I-I've never been to the capital before!"
"Neither have I."
"They say there are street theater troupes in the capital. The atmosphere is completely different from the frontier… Going somewhere I've only ever heard about is a little scary. We won't look like total country bumpkins, will we?"
"Don't get your hopes up too high. People live pretty much the same wherever you go."
"But still — we get to see the princess!"
Pina was completely caught up in her fantasies about this request.
The capital, and a princess. To her, those two things seemed especially captivating.
I accepted the named request.
Refusing a commission from a princess was out of the question. As the attendant had said, accepting was the only real option.
The contents of the request itself were nothing special. Come to the capital — that was the whole of it.
They wouldn't tell us what it was about until we met face to face, then.
I sat at the table, sipping the coffee Fiore had left behind at the lodging, and thought it over.
We were set to leave the next day. The Antico Association branch would provide a carriage to the capital.
Even for the Association, a request from a princess was no ordinary matter. We weren't the only ones paying attention to this.
What kind of wind this would stir up, no one could say.
Before leaving the lodging, we packed up everything we owned.
With no idea how many days we'd be staying in the capital, the Association recommended we clear out the room so someone else could use it.
The thought of leaving a place I'd grown attached to left me a little wistful. So many memories were held within these walls.
That went for me, Noah, Fiore, and Pina — and for others as well, no doubt. Thinking of it that way made leaving the lodging feel ordinary again.
"It's a shame. I barely got to use it. What a waste of money."
"We're just changing locations, though."
"That's true. And the capital is more exciting! I wonder how wonderful it'll be…"
Pina seemed genuinely disappointed about the lodging she hadn't gotten to enjoy for long. There was nothing to be done about it.
At least the reason was a trip to the capital. Pina and I shared one last cup of coffee, then stepped out the door.
It was a bright morning, and the people of Antico were beginning their day.
We finished our preparations and vacated the lodging, leaving the brightening sky at our backs. A world where a single breath of wind sent leaves tumbling down. When we returned, perhaps bare branches and a cold winter would be waiting to greet us.
The first place we stopped before leaving was the workshop district.
Our blacksmith, Matillo, was startled to hear I was heading for the capital.
"Brat, you got an invitation from the princess?"
"Technically, I'm going on a request."
"Hmph. That so. The princess I know was always friendly toward hunters. Maybe she just wants to hear your war stories. Means I won't be seeing you for a while. Don't go getting comfortable and sticking yourself to the capital, you hear?"
"I'll come back to Antico for sure. There's still plenty I haven't hunted."
"Good. A hunter never forgets the thrill of the hunt. Even if you're there, you'll get restless and come back to the field eventually. When that time comes, I'll forge you another weapon."
Matillo spoke matter-of-factly.
Still, compared to his usual gruffness, the farewell he offered was warm.
I held out my hand to him.
"What, you need something else?"
"A handshake."
"…Hmph!"
Matillo snorted at my words, then pulled off his glove and reached out.
Two rough hands met and clasped. Matillo's were coarse from long years as both a hunter and a craftsman. Mine were no different.
"Well then, off you go. And while you're at it, kill a few monsters for me."
"……?"
Why are you the one saying that?
The carriage the Association provided was drawn by a Mudridon.
A herbivorous monster with a single horn on its crown. The most docile of all monsters, Mudridons could manage work like this. Their tails were especially soft, too.
"Are you ready?"
The tamer hunter asked, adjusting the Mudridon's reins.
We loaded our bags into the rear of the carriage. Between Pina and me, all we'd packed were daily necessities.
The tamer hunter opened the carriage door.
Pina and I climbed in and took our seats. We were the only passengers. The door shut, and the tamer settled behind the Mudridon and shook the reins. Soon the carriage lurched into motion.
And just like that, we left Antico behind.
I thought of the master of the forest I had yet to hunt — the Forest-Bearing Beast, Alberoelva. I was leaving Antico for the capital, but I would return without a doubt. When that time came, I wanted to challenge the Forest-Bearing Beast.
The farther we drew from Antico, the more the scenery changed. The towering trees gradually shrank, until at last they gave way to a paved road cutting across open plains.
Only then did it truly sink in that we had left Antico.
Pina and I pressed our faces nearly against the windows.
To two people who had lived only in Antico, this road was breathtakingly beautiful.
"This is the road to the capital."
"Yeah."
Monsters grazing across the plains.
Not a single aggressive one among them — all non-hostile herbivores. Watching them gather with their own kind and blend so naturally into the landscape felt like seeing every reason this world was beautiful gathered into one place.
Mooo…
A sight you never saw in the game.
Long-necked monsters chewed lazily on leaves while smaller ones scampered about beneath them. Unlike the violent beasts of the forest, this was a peaceful world.
The atmosphere of the capital and the frontier could not have been more different.
The carriage rolled on. Before long my backside started to ache. At this rate it was going to go flat.
Pina seemed to feel the same; she kept shifting and straightening her posture with a dissatisfied look.
"Uncomfortable?"
"Well… a little. Every time the carriage jolts, it digs right in."
"Same here."
Even so, we were enjoying the moment. The tingling in our rears didn't sour it in the slightest. A journey dressed up as a request had us both excited.
The carriage pressed endlessly onward.
Along the way, Pina spun out her fantasies about the capital more than a few times — and poured every last one of them onto me. We should go see a theater performance. She'd heard there were festivals in the capital and wanted to experience one. Bookshops, clothing stores…
Pina's imagination knew no bounds, and I got by with the occasional vague nod.
And at last, the carriage came to a stop at the capital's gates.
A towering wall, built so grandly that even most monsters couldn't get through.
Looking at that wall, I felt something faintly strange.
This impregnable fortress of a wall would, in the future, crumble without resistance.
The place where we'd fought Miteraos had been the ruins of this very castle, after all.
The tamer hunter exchanged a few words with the soldiers guarding the gate.
We couldn't hear the conversation from inside the carriage, but when the Mudridon started moving again and carried us through into the city, it seemed there had been no trouble.
We had finally arrived at the capital.
The royal capital — Sperita.
The grandeur that hit us from the entrance alone put Antico to shame.
Massive buildings standing in place of trees. Crowds bustling this way and that. And not a hunter in sight among them. Most of the people living here were ordinary folk.
The ones carrying weapons weren't hunters — they were the capital's guards.
A world completely removed from the hunters' domain. This place truly felt like an ordinary medieval fantasy setting.
"We've arrived."
The tamer hunter opened the carriage door.
We climbed down quickly and took in our surroundings.
"Whoa…"
Pina spun around, not knowing where to look first.
Even the clothing was different from Antico's. Where that place had felt closer to nature, this one felt every bit the capital it was.
Thanks to the high walls, the weather wasn't particularly cold either.
I'd been a little worried about dressing lightly, but it turned out fine.
So then — why exactly had the princess told us to come to this city?
She'd said to come to the capital, and nothing more. No word on where to go or what to do. Was I supposed to waltz into the royal palace and start swinging my sword until they brought the princess out? That would certainly ensure the kingdom never forgot me.
I was standing there with my arms crossed, lost in thought, when an unfamiliar set of footsteps clicked up from behind me.
"So you're the hunter from the rumors? And the one beside you… has the look of a knight's attendant."
A low, husky voice, the tone authoritative.
I turned, and there stood a woman who naturally drew the eye.
"A-an attendant?"
"Not an attendant, then. Hmm. Small and rather cute. How about becoming the mascot of our royal palace?"
"A-Alice-nim. This person seems… strange."
I nodded at Pina's words.
Pina, you nailed it.
The princess was, in fact, a strange person.
She was wearing a hood to conceal her identity within the capital.
The fabric looked expensive and rare. And the button fastening the hood across her chest was made of a gemstone.
An obviously costly jewel… no, that wasn't a jewel. A subtle, living light swirled inside the stone.
That was a monster's essence…
Taking a precious essence, polishing it for show, and using it as nothing more than a hood button — the sheer absurdity of it.
The princess's face was partly hidden by the hood, but the slender line of her jaw and the boldly upturned corners of her mouth left a strong impression.
She was the spitting image of the princess I knew from the game.
"Your beauty is excellent as well. Indeed — the white hair I've only heard of in rumors is like the scales of a white serpent. White serpent scales are a precious material used to adorn military uniforms."
The princess stepped right up to me and casually ran her fingers through my hair.
Startled by this complete disregard for personal space, I tried to step back — but she smoothly slipped an arm around my waist, blocking any escape.
"Your eyes remind me of the cherry blossoms I once saw in Primavera. When I was young, I tried planting Primavera cherry trees along the capital's streets, but they never took well here — they only withered, and I cried a great deal. I thought I would never see cherry blossoms in Sperita again… and yet, after all these years, here they are."
The princess smiled brightly.
The way she was subtly stroking my waist was an unpleasant gesture.
I gently brushed her hand away. The princess examined the hand I'd rejected, then nodded.
"Yes — a hunter ought to have that kind of spirit. You can never control one with some trivial force that isn't even a monster's."
"…Who are you?"
"Ah, of course. A little lady like you wouldn't know me — just as I wouldn't know a little lady like you. I neglected to introduce myself."
The princess raised her hands and lifted her hood just enough for only the two of us to see her face.
"Eh — no way…"
Pina's eyes went wide as she finally realized who she was looking at.
The deep crimson eyes unique to the royal bloodline, paired with hair like black silk shot through with streaks of gold.
With a broad, free-spirited smile stretching across her face, she spoke.
"I am Principessa Adelaide Giovanna de Brillante Cartadia. Princess of the Kingdom of Cartadia — and your client."