The Sword Princess Victoria Wallenstein
I shouted, “Status window! Status window!”
It was said that my world line had changed.
In fact, when I first transmigrated, I timidly shouted for the status window, but not even the corner of the status window appeared.
However, since the notification window popped up, I hurriedly returned to my room and shouted even more openly.
“What? Why isn't the status window appearing?”
Damn it, I did another show by myself.
‘Kuh... Then...’
I am a person who is quick to realize in reality.
So, I crossed my arms and sat on the bed.
I coolly gave up on the status window and tried to analyze the content of the notification window that said my world line had changed.
‘Does this mean that my actions have caused the current situation to differ from the original work?’
Rejecting the engagement with Elena and openly declaring in front of her that we are just friends is definitely a huge subversion of the original work.
So, the notification window appeared.
In summary, I had already changed my world line, and the system had confirmed that it had become that way.
My current interpretation seems the most reasonable.
‘In the end, transmigrating into this world was to prevent me from living like the pathetic Kyle in the original work?’
If my actions were wrong, the system wouldn't need to send such a notification window, I think.
‘Because after all, the original work was real hell for Kyle. No matter what I do, it's a better life than that.’
Kyle's worst scenario is, of course, the original work.
By the way, in the original work, Kyle loses almost all his awakening abilities and becomes a broken man.
In other words, no matter how the world line changes due to my subversion, it can't be worse than the original work.
‘Okay, then, with even more confidence, let's proceed with a leisurely life.’
That settles it.
‘Kyle has always been by my side.’
Kyle and Elena had been together since the time when memories existed.
In other words, it was natural that he was by her side and should be by her side.
The surrounding people also thought so, and they themselves thought so.
‘Kyle is nice. Hmm... Of course, he can be troublesome sometimes, but when I'm with Kyle, my heart feels at ease and warm.’
Indeed, Kyle liked Elena more.
But Elena also liked Kyle enough.
Because she liked him that much, she might have accepted the crazy Kyle who clung to her madly.
‘Marriage? Will Kyle and I get married after growing up?’
So, to Elena, the marriage with Kyle came as a natural principle, not a miracle of fate.
When they become adults and at a certain point, after mutual agreement, Elena will naturally marry Kyle.
‘What name should I give the child? I want to grow old together in the original work...’
Also, as time passes, the child is born, and they grow old together raising the child.
That was Elena's unwavering heart.
“Will you make a betrothal promise with Kyle? What do you think, Elena?”
So, to the mother's question asking the daughter Elena before discussing with the father,
“Yes, I will make a betrothal promise with Kyle, Mother.”
Elena de Sel Erden nodded with a smile as if it was natural.
She was happy.
Because she liked Kyle.
However, it wasn't a feeling of jumping with joy.
Because it was a natural principle like breathing.
But the preciousness of that naturally obvious thing,
“We always feel it after losing it.”
‘There is no way. Kyle wouldn't do that?’
Elena couldn't believe it.
They had been together since childhood, and she thought Kyle would continue to be together for life?
Kyle who is like a needle and thread that everyone knows?
‘What reason could he have for saying that? Maybe the words were twisted.’
In fact, her mind was full of the thought that she had to directly confirm by denying even her mother's words.
“It's too revealing in the chest, isn't it?”
Finally meeting Kyle,
Before asking why he rejected the betrothal promise,
Elena sensed the changed atmosphere from the beginning as a childhood friend.
‘Kyle... me?’
Kyle doted on Elena as much as the father.
He was careful with every word.
Especially his gaze always went to Elena's eyes.
Not that he was stealing a glance at her chest.
But today's Kyle, in his eyes, tone, and the way he walked together, felt unrestrained.
‘Yeah, that could be... After wandering countless battlefields for a year... The battlefield is really a rough place...’
The change was too drastic, so Elena's mind activated the defense mechanism rationalization circuit.
‘But he will keep the promise, right? It's Kyle.’
The bottom line? If this is done, the Kyle by her side now is not different from the old Kyle.
Throughout the time she set that point and felt alienation, Elena rationalized.
‘Kyle, hurry! When I come here, you said you would read the book to me like that!’
What is that bottom line.
Kyle had promised several times in the letter.
When Elena comes to the nostalgic place, like when she couldn't sleep as a child, he would read fairy tales from the side.
Elena felt goosebumps from the letter content, but this time she had no choice but to expect it.
If it was Kyle, even if actions or tone changed, he would definitely keep it.
“Eh? Why aren't you coming out, Elena?”
However, Kyle eventually didn't keep the promise to read the fairy tale book.
Rather, he seemed to have forgotten the promise altogether.
“Th, that's right.”
Clutch...! Clutch...!
Tap...! Tap...!
Unbelievable. It felt like the ground she had stepped on for 23 years had crumbled.
So, Elena caused emotional instability that she had never shown in her life.
The subsequent conversations about the betrothal promise were almost forgotten.
Because she had already heard the answer and it was the same.
“We weren't more than friends.”
Even in the midst of that, Kyle's words flew like a dagger to Elena's heart with a cracked mentality.
“However, thinking about it, wasn't it all just friendship? Very deep friendship? Especially the way you treat me, Elena, I think so?”
Another one flew and stuck.
‘How I treat Kyle...?’
What was the reason this one hurt so much and pierced in.
‘Was it... love...?’
Indeed, Elena didn't treat Kyle as that in the romance novel she liked, the one with the feeling of can't live without each other.
“Of course, our friendship is beautiful. I love that friendship.”
In the midst of Elena's mentality exploding with bomb after bomb, Kyle's unchanging promise of friendship was the only thing that allowed Elena to barely end the conversation.
‘Yeah... I will return to my family and write a letter to Kyle, and Kyle will reply to me. Just like until now. Nothing has changed’
Elena thought while receiving Kyle's farewell.
Nothing had changed. It was just the relationship between Elena and Kyle as before.
Just friends.
The closest childhood friend.
‘But what is this feeling...?’
Grumble...! Grumble...!
However, Elena's mental state had changed.
At the place where two daggers flew and stuck,
A wound hole that made her heart too weak had been deeply pierced.
“Planning to hire mercenaries?”
“Yes, Father. That is the plan.”
I continued to update my specific plans for settling in Salvatore to my father.
My father agreed to almost everything without comment,
But he was greatly puzzled by the mention of hiring mercenaries for security.
“Why not bring a knight order? It's not a situation without support, and there's no need to choose mercenaries unnecessarily?”
I am in charge of a significant portion of the budget for the Elysium Empire's knight order of the Rozen family.
So, we have a structure where we can utilize a certain level of knight order privately as well.
My father judged that for a fief like Salvatore, which isn't that large, it wouldn't be a problem at all.
So, why would I choose mercenaries when everything else is supported abundantly.
‘In the end, the knight order will be tied up with Eugene Caesar like crazy...’
After entering the academy, Eugene Caesar really stirred up voluntary disputes in many places.
He just did what he was doing, but the arrogant guy dared to ignore us?
Are you that arrogant fallen noble Eugene Caesar? Etc.
One of them was the Empire's knight order.
Especially due to the temperament of the Empire's knight order, it would cause a big and noisy incident.
‘He must be provoking. Prince, aren't you just watching the situation? Ugh... Making excuses by creating a pretext is also troublesome.’
It's only a few times that I make excuses. It's better to just cut off the sprout that will get tied up.
“At this point, I think placing a knight order in Salvatore would create a great sense of unease. In operating Salvatore, I am determined to focus on drawing cooperation from the fief's residents above all else. So, even if it means hardship, I will choose to bring mercenaries, Father.”
“Hmm...”
Of course, I couldn't tell my father the real reason,
And I opened my mouth again, the sharp-tongued one who had conquered the [Swordsman Obsessed Over by Young Ladies] gallery.
‘Actually, the success or failure of Salvatore will depend on the chemistry with the residents of that fief. The game developers made it that way.’
Salvatore, the barren land,
What kind of people would those who have survived until now in such a fief be.
Each individual's ability is good. They are sticky and well-knit among themselves. But basically, they have a rebellious spirit installed.
Although the duke had a good reputation, so he didn't feel it,
The idiot Kyle who pooped in the last visit is different.
I have to enter with maximum disarmament.
“Yeah, even if the Empire's knight order is only about a hundred people, it will give a great sense of unease to the Salvatore fief residents. However, Kyle, are you not aware of the problems with mercenaries?”
The Duke of Half-Bastion, who crossed his arms and nodded thoughtfully while agreeing, soon looked puzzled and mentioned the problems with mercenaries.
‘I know. How could I not know. When playing the game, those damn mercenaries are forced to be used in the early stages, so I get cursed.’
I almost couldn't control my expression at that moment.
Because the thought of breaking the monitor because of the mercenaries' bastards came to mind.
Mercenaries, to put it nicely, are mercenaries, and most are just thugs or outlaws.
In other words, they are the kind of guys who cause trouble easily.
“When I attended the mercenary competition with my father, I heard quite a bit.”
The duke did careful successor training for his son.
No matter how great a great noble, you can't always leave the fief to the knight order.
Because knights are frequently called up as troops depending on the empire's situation.
The knights here are noble retainers or private knight orders.
In other words, nobles have to know how to use mercenaries,
So, the Half-Bastion Duke attended the mercenary competition to train that for the idiot Kyle.
“Yeah? At that time, you didn't seem very interested...”
“I honestly didn't like the mercenaries as friends. But that was rather an opportunity to get to know them more deeply.”
“Oh, is that so.”
“If you don't like them, what do you have to know about them?”
“That's right.”
Liar. As the duke said, originally Kyle was a mercenary hater.
Fundamentally, Kyle looks down on everyone except nobles.
A so-called elitist.
So, he doesn't even look at mercenaries.
And such discriminatory attitudes lead to the result of having no allies as time passes.
In other words, the current knowledge is not Kyle's knowledge but purely my gamer's knowledge.
‘Of course, it's not that I don't understand why I dislike them.’
Kyle's strong elitist consciousness is true, but he is not an extreme personality breakdown at villain level.
At least, he tries to maintain manners in front of others?
However, in the mercenary competition, he couldn't do that severely.
As I said earlier, I almost broke the monitor because of those shitty mercenaries.
In fact, the foundation for Kyle's hatred of mercenaries is that those guys are the same as gangsters who insult swords.
“Even nobles who often use mercenaries don't assign long-term missions when they have no main force.”
“That's right. They have a strong tendency of strong-weak-strong. If they use mercenaries alone, there will be a high chance of harming the residents they rule.”
“That's correct, Father.”
Anyway, short quests have high demand, and mercenaries are more useful than knight orders.
Like, catch monsters, exterminate bandits, escort caravans, etc.,
If you pay money properly, they show surprisingly high efficiency.
After all, for knight orders, each time they move, it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time.
“Especially for places like Salvatore. Because it's a border area, rumors don't spread well. You don't know what will happen while the lord is away.”
But for big quests and long quests, it's different.
The more important those quests are, the control of troops and patience,
And mercenaries are the weakest in that part.
Because of that, when performing big quests, you have to be careful and use mercenaries as a card.
In the midst of that, my management of the Salvatore fief is a long-term quest among long-term quests.
“However, I have learned that not all mercenaries are like that, Father.”
Nevertheless, the reason I, the turned over a new leaf Kyle Rozen, brought mercenaries instead of a knight order,
There are exceptional mercenaries, and as the master of [Swordsman Obsessed Over by Young Ladies], I know them.
“Are all mercenaries not like that?”
“Yes. Very few, but there are those who hold honor as much as knights while having the status of mercenaries.”
“Oh... I can't help but not trust you since you say such things.”
The duke couldn't hide his surprise.
Surprised that his son mentions the existence of exceptional mercenaries,
And in the words that they value honor as much as knights, whether this is what his son is saying.
“So. Do you know such a mercenary group?”
The duke's question with a very interesting expression,
“Yes, I know.”
I answered immediately.
‘Hehehe... These are the friends Eugene Caesar guaranteed...’
The said mercenary group would have entered Luciena, the capital of the Elysium Empire, by now.
Not a time to be famous yet,
But at the level of 'these friends are pretty good among mercenaries'?
Then, as their fame spreads, they connect with Eugene Caesar and become the protagonist's companions.
‘I will take away your future companions, Eugene. Kkuk!’
In other words, I will steal his companions even though I am the sub male lead who steals everything from him.
“Hmm, this friend?”
The academy withdrawal letter submitted a week ago was processed.
I eventually became an academy dropout.
However, because of that, someone who occupies a significant position in this world view, not just the simple [Swordsman Obsessed Over by Young Ladies] story, requested to meet me directly while expressing displeasure.
‘Wow, Luciena, the capital of the Elysium Empire, is really big. Population of about 6 million, right?’
Fortunately, since the friend lives in the same capital, I went to find him without taking any means of transport, walking.
‘Huge! It's enormous! The real thing of the Holy Knight Headquarters is not inferior to the game description at all!’
The place I found was the headquarters of the Holy Knight Order.
Originally, it was a place with very stringent procedures to enter,
But since I had made an appointment with the person I was meeting, I could enter immediately.
The person I met after that.
“Long time no see, Kyle.”
A woman in pure white clothes fluttering her black hair, approaching me,
The current continent's top young female swordsman, Victoria Wallenstein, known as the so-called 'Sword Princess'.