The Princess Settles In
The princess did not leave the day after returning to Valk. Nor the day after that. By the fifth day, a sign reading "Lady Sera's Reserved Seat" had appeared on a corner table in the Grey Fangs' tavern. No one ever admitted to putting it there.
"Commander, that sign needs to come down."
"Why? She pays her fees on time. Yesterday she tossed a gold coin for drinks and didn't even wait for change."
"You know exactly who she is."
"Don't know, don't care. Our rule is we don't ask about backgrounds."
Vargas spoke lightly, but sweat beaded on the hand gripping his axe. Not asking about origins was one thing; keeping royalty tucked away in a tavern corner was another.
Seraphina created a new request every day. Every single one named Kael. The first day was market escort duty. The second, accompanying her to a used bookstore. The third, guiding her to a famous skewer stall in Valk—essentially sightseeing dressed up as protection. The pay was triple the going rate, and the grounds for refusal were three times thinner.
"Escort. These skewers are good. Have one."
"I'm on duty."
"The request says 'eat with me.'"
"……No such request was ever accepted."
"I just submitted it. Paid in advance."
The princess tossed coins to the stall owner and handed Kael a skewer. He held it, calculating in his head. Refusing a request damaged the company's credibility. Bypassing procedure required the commander's approval. The legal status of a single skewer—
"Eat. Stop calculating."
"……"
"You know your eyebrows tense up when you're thinking? I've already memorized it."
After six days of following him around, he had no grounds to deny it.
On the fourth day she even followed him to Finn's sword lesson.
"Kid, your stance is solid. Who taught you?"
"The mister! Who are you, miss?"
"The mister's client. And spectator."
Seraphina perched on the stone wall of the empty lot and watched for an entire hour. When the lesson ended, she tossed Finn a silver coin.
"Good show. Admission fee."
"……I don't think I should take this. Mister, can I?"
"Don't accept money without reason."
"There is a reason. Entertainment value. Watching the kid fall a hundred times and get up a hundred and one was more fun than court jesters."
"I didn't fall a hundred times! It was more like eighty!"
"You were counting?"
Finn's ears turned red at Kael's words. The princess laughed, clearly amused.
On the way back she remarked offhandedly, "You talk twice as much when you're teaching."
"……Do I?"
"And every time that kid brings roasted chestnuts, your ears twitch. Did you know?"
Kael gave no answer. Ears were something he couldn't see, so again there was nothing to refute.
* * *
The real problem was the other members.
"Squad Leader! Where's Lady Sera going today?"
"Can't we join the First Squad? I heard Lady Sera's escort is First Squad's exclusive job!"
"Lady Sera bought drinks yesterday! Long live Lady Sera!"
In just half a month the princess had become the company's mascot. To members who didn't know her identity, she was a wealthy, talkative eccentric noble lady, and the sight of that eccentric trailing after the Grey Swordsman was the tavern's best side dish.
On the sixth evening Dorte sent someone from the branch office to summon Kael.
"Hey, two silvers. I'm talking about that blonde you've been dragging around lately."
"She's a client."
"Client, my ass. I've dealt with plenty of nobles over twenty years, and people who spend money like that fall into two categories: con artists or children from houses where money means nothing. That woman's eyes are too clear to be a con artist."
Dorte closed his ledger and lowered his voice. "How many houses in the Empire have money that means nothing? Back off. Those people don't make friends—they acquire people. And what happens to the ones they acquire…… you probably know better than anyone. You lived it for ten years."
"……Thank you for the advice."
"It's not advice. It's risk management. If my sword instructor gets dragged off somewhere, it's my loss."
Despite his words, a pouch of dried fruit had somehow found its way into Kael's bag by the time he turned to leave. The guild leader's heart always contradicted his mouth.
"Hey, Kael. I'm asking seriously." Hugo lay on his stomach on the bed and asked. It was night at the lodging house. "That woman—Lady Sera. She's got feelings for you, doesn't she?"
"No."
"How can you be so sure? She comes every day! Every single day! The pay is insane! If that's not interest, what is it?"
"Collection."
"……What?"
"She said so herself. She collects interesting things. I'm this year's import candidate."
Kael wiped his sword, speaking dryly. "I can read her eyes. They're the eyes of someone appraising merchandise. Setting a price, deciding where to display it, then moving on to the next piece when they get bored. That's not affection. It's a hobby."
"……Hey, you're really good at reading that stuff, aren't you? You read that so well, but—"
"What do you mean."
"Nothing. You read merchandise like a ghost, but why are you so bad at reading people? Back at the reservoir, that…… Never mind. I'm going to sleep."
Hugo pulled the blanket over his head. Thirty seconds later he poked his head out again.
"No, I can't. I have to say it. Let's compare. Lady Sera comes every day, spends gold coins, and follows you around. But you don't even twitch an eyebrow. Right?"
"……So?"
"But you've been carrying that letter from the North on your chest for half a month. Can't even write a reply. What does that mean?"
"It's an important document—"
"Legal validity! Sure! But Kael, the request forms Lady Sera gives you are also legally valid documents. So why are those stuffed in the company filing cabinet?"
Kael stopped sharpening. He had no prepared answer. Request forms and letters were the same paper. Same ink. If anything, the requests carried more legal weight. Yet one sat in the filing cabinet while the other stayed in his pocket. No clause in his contract explained that difference.
"……I'm sleeping."
"Oh, he's running away! The Grey Swordsman is running away!"
Kael turned his back and lay down. Instead of finishing the sword maintenance, he measured the weight of the paper against his chest in the darkness.
Eyes that appraised objects and eyes that read people. For ten years, every gaze he'd received had been the former. So he could read the former like a dictionary. The latter—when he tried to read it, it always slipped away. The warm chestnuts had slipped. The sweetness of the cooled chestnuts had slipped. The single sheet of paper in his pocket had slipped.
Things that slipped away were meant to be put aside. He already had a drawer for them. The problem lately was that the drawer wouldn't close properly.
* * *
On the seventh day, Seraphina brought up the main subject again. The location was the docks. She sat at the end of the breakwater, gazing at the sea. It was still under the pretext of an escort request, but there was no sightseeing or skewers today.
"Still no answer."
"……"
"I'm not rushing you. But the situation's changed a bit, so I thought it would be fair to show another card."
The princess pulled a letter from her robes and waved it. The golden wax seal gleamed in the twilight.
"It came from my brother. From His Highness the Crown Prince to his beloved sister—long story short, hands off the toy."
"……"
"He even knows exactly who's on my toy list. Terrifying, isn't it? But what's more terrifying is this: the fact that my brother would send a handwritten warning to his sister means you've become important."
Seraphina tossed the letter into the sea. The paper flipped twice on the waves before sinking.
"Kael. Do you know what kind of person my brother is?"
"I've seen him. At a banquet."
"Then you've seen his smile. That smile—I've watched it my whole life. When my brother wants something, he follows three steps. First, buy it. Second, if he can't buy it, borrow it. Third—"
She held up three fingers, then slowly folded the last one down.
"If he can't borrow it, break it so no one else can have it."
Waves crashed against the breakwater and shattered.
"Right now you're somewhere between the second and third step. My offer is a shield wedged between them. Even the Crown Prince can't break the princess's knight without justification. This isn't kindness. It's protection. Understand?"
"I understand."
"Yet you still look troubled."
The princess rested her chin on her knees and stared at Kael.
"One more question. You've been looking at the northern sky this whole time. The sea is south. Is that a habit?"
"……I saw clouds."
"Clouds. Grey clouds. Come to think of it, you're the Grey Swordsman, and lately the demonic beasts have grey eyes too. Is grey in fashion?"
It was said like a joke, but her eyes weren't joking. This person was dangerous. While the Crown Prince dug through papers, she dug with her eyes. Things that didn't appear on paper.
"Something you left in the North?"
"……"
"That face again. Fine, that's enough. A collector's courtesy—don't reach into the back of the display case."
Kael looked at the sea. The grey clouds hanging in the northern sky were visible even from here. The shield made sense. The calculation made sense. But the moment he became the princess's knight, his sword would be entered into the imperial ledger. A sword in the ledger had its movements recorded, and a recorded sword couldn't move freely across the grey border. The sealing work could only be done outside the ledger.
And there was one more reason. One his head couldn't grasp. It was still inside the drawer.
"Your Highness."
"Sera."
"……Lady Sera. My answer is already decided. I'm simply choosing the words of refusal because they're lacking in courtesy."
Seraphina's eyes widened, then she laughed slowly instead of bursting out loud. It was the first time the merchant's gaze had left the collector's eyes.
"You spent seven days agonizing over how to refuse politely? Ha, really……"
The princess hopped down from the breakwater.
"Fine. I'll hear that refusal from the best seat. Tomorrow I'm treating the entire company to a meal. Refuse me formally in front of all forty-three members. A commoner kicking away the princess's recruitment—that scene is worth putting at the top of my collection list."
"……I don't understand."
"A refusal can also be a collectible. Anything you experience for the first time becomes a collectible."
* * *
That night, in the alley on the way back to the lodging, Kael stopped walking. The space behind the fish stall was empty. The second-floor curtains of the inn were wide open. The empty room's curtains. There were no roof tiles or tools on the roof either. The three gazes that had never missed a single day for half a month had all vanished overnight.
Kael slowly scanned his surroundings in the middle of the dark alley. There was nothing. That was the problem.
He turned and headed for the company headquarters. Vargas was still at the tavern.
"Commander. From tomorrow, for the next half month, please change all solo requests to two-person teams."
"……What's going on."
"The surveillance has been lifted."
"Surveillance gets lifted and you raise security? Isn't that backwards?"
"Surveillance only stays while they haven't found an answer. If it's been lifted, it means they found one. And what comes after finding an answer isn't spectators."
Vargas stared at his reflection on the axe blade, then set down his cup.
"……That face says you don't want to drag the company into your business. But listen carefully, First Squad Leader. The moment forty-three people survived at the reservoir village, your business became the company's business. That's how the ledger works."
"Commander—"
"Two-person teams, fine. But you're banned from solo work too. That's all."
It was the back of someone who wouldn't accept objections. Kael stood facing that back for a moment, then answered that he understood.
Things that belonged nowhere were knocking on the drawer again. Surveillance only continued while there was a harvest. Lifting it meant the harvest was over. It meant the paper-digging was finished, the report was complete, and the next stage had been approved.
Among his master's teachings was this: When the birds stop singing in the forest, run. The day visible surveillance disappeared was the most dangerous day of all.