The Princess in Hiding
The situation had reached the point where they were debating whether to search for Princess Reciel at all. Predicting where she might have gone after leaving the imperial palace was impossible. There were, of course, a few likely locations. But someone as clever as the princess would never choose a place easy to find.
With Princess Canaby already missing, if we fail to locate Princess Reciel as well, His Majesty will not contain his rage.
What form would that rage take? The knights who failed to find her would feel it first. It might even threaten his own position.
“If you don’t want a dishonorable discharge, move now!”
“Gasp!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Watching the knight order scatter in frantic haste, he could only sigh. Outsiders claimed the imperial knights were magnificent and terrifying, yet from inside their ranks it was clear how many of them had screws loose. It made one seriously doubt how they could possibly protect the imperial family. That was exactly why he couldn’t help worrying whether these men could actually find the princess.
Just why had Princess Reciel fled the palace? And for what purpose?
“We’ll need to stay here for the time being and keep our heads down.”
“Yeah.”
“And it looks like we’ll have to skip the next territory entirely.”
“Why?”
“I overheard talk outside. Orders have been sent to every lord’s manor to search for the princess.”
“Haa… Why won’t they simply let me go…?”
Couldn’t they just live wrapped up in their beloved Prince Loras? She couldn’t understand why someone who had so readily discarded their affection for her sister was now so frantic to find her.
“Can we slip away?”
Even moving as quickly as possible, keeping ahead of trained knights proved difficult. In the blink of an eye they had blocked every route we could take, inspecting every passerby. I had underestimated them, thinking they had let me out carelessly, but now that they were moving in earnest I realized their skill could not be dismissed.
One wrong glance and I would be caught instantly and dragged back to the palace. How could a mere mercenary withstand the scrutiny of the imperial knight order?
“If we’re caught, it can’t be helped. To think they’d unleash so many knights.”
The mercenary’s face had gone pale, weighed down by her mission to deliver me safely to Priest Arthur. She was desperately trying to devise some plan, and that very effort reminded me why Arthur kept her close.
She doesn’t give up even in a situation like this, so she must be trustworthy, but…
A single mercenary successfully extracting me from a place crawling with knights? I had never expected such an impossible feat in the first place.
“No. I will definitely take you to Priest Arthur!”
The mercenary asked for time, saying she would find a way.
“Don’t strain yourself. If I’m discovered and taken, at least you must escape and report the situation to Priest Arthur. I also prepared this letter in advance.”
I had thought it best to prepare for the possibility that we might not meet. So last night I had written the letter.
“You’re telling me to escape alone?!”
“Do those knights look like they’re coming to kill me? They only mean to take me back to the palace. I won’t be harmed. But you, mercenary, are different. You could easily be trampled by them.”
“…!!”
“So the moment you sense we’ve been spotted, run with everything you have. I’ll do what I can to hinder any pursuit.”
“That won’t happen.”
“What?”
“I said that won’t happen. I will get us out of here.”
“Ha.”
It wasn’t a bad sight, watching her stubbornly insist on the impossible even though she knew it was impossible. If it had been for her own safety she should have thanked me and agreed at once; there was no reason to be so obstinate.
Passionate. And loyal.
Why would someone like this remain a mercenary? Once my prejudice against the profession fell away, I found myself wanting her. She seemed to live by taking guild requests, but surely serving as my own agent would be far better.
“What is your name?”
The female mercenary startled at the question.
“Pardon? My name?”
“We’ve come this far together. It seems wrong not to even know your name.”
It was also regrettable that we had traveled together so long without exchanging names. She had called me “Princess,” while I had simply called her “mercenary.”
“Um… My name is Marichel.”
“Marichel. If we meet again later, I will make you an offer.”
“An offer?”
“Whether you accept is entirely your choice.”
Of course, if I met Priest Arthur I intended to ask about her. But as much as possible I wanted to base any proposal on the Marichel I had seen with my own eyes rather than on hearsay. Becoming my hands and feet would surely help her future far more than a harsh, grueling life as a mercenary. That was why I had asked her name. If she became my subordinate, remembering it was only natural.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you shouldn’t speak as if we’ve already been caught when it hasn’t even ended yet.”
She protested weakly, apparently upset that I spoke of something yet to happen as if it already had. Did she truly believe she could break through all those knights and return safely to the Labyrinth?
No matter how outstanding her abilities, that was impossible.
“I’ll find a way out somehow. I can do it!”
“You’re underestimating the knight order.”
Even though we had moved with the utmost caution, we could not avoid every pair of eyes. The knights would be using those eyes to follow us closely. They must have learned I had a helper. They might even have already discovered the lodging we had secured.
That was why, instead of staying in the room we had barely obtained, we had fled outside and spent the night in this shabby warehouse.
“Of course they are formidable. They may indeed be tracking us closely. But no matter who they are, they won’t think to look here.”
“True. They probably can’t imagine we’d sleep in such a filthy warehouse.”
“…Forgive me for bringing Your Highness to such a humble place.”
“No. Use any means, any method. I will permit anything that keeps us from being caught.”
It seemed meaningful to discover just how far she could go when freed from constraints of means or method. Especially if I intended to keep her at my side from now on.
“Mobilize every resource you can.”
“…Understood. If Your Highness says so, I can’t possibly hold back. I’ll do it properly!”
Watching Marichel square her shoulders with renewed determination, I smiled with satisfaction. This incident had shown me how badly I needed trustworthy people of my own. I would gather them one by one. And if they were people Priest Arthur trusted and used, they would be all the more reliable.
Chirp chirp!!
“Ah, that startled me.”
The sudden loud cry of a bird in the early morning left me flustered. Birds sang every day, yet for some reason today the sound seemed especially piercing.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning to you, Priest.”
I arrived at work and exchanged light greetings with the other priests.
“Did the birds seem unusually loud this morning?”
“Birds?”
“Yes. That cry really startled me. Their voices were no joke.”
“Really? You didn’t even blink at wounds gushing blood, yet a bird’s cry startled you? That’s almost funny.”
“But it really was shockingly loud. Haha!”
Come to think of it, it was true. To be so startled by mere birdsong that my heart sank? Even though I regularly witnessed far worse things without reaction.
I had dismissed it as a momentary oddity, but…
“Priest Arthur!!”
It was when the day had grown dark and everyone was finishing up. Lately the days passed in such a blur that I wondered if another patient had arrived. I turned toward the voice calling my name.
“Huh?”
To my surprise, a familiar face stood there.
“How did you…?”
She who hated even approaching the temple had now entered it and was calling for me.
“Wait, before that—what happened to you?!”
I had given her a considerable sum for operating expenses. Yet the person before me looked so ragged one could easily mistake her for a beggar.
“Shh, shh! Don’t ask questions, just follow me quietly.”
“Follow you?”
Her urgent, hushed voice didn’t seem ordinary, so I hurried after her. Had the loud birdsong earlier been because the person I’d been waiting for had finally returned? Without asking for details, I followed in silence.
She seemed intent on leading me to the least populated area possible.
What is going on?
It was surprising enough that she had already completed the request to meet Princess Reciel and returned.
“What on earth is happening? Why are you acting like this?”
“There’s someone I need to show you. This way, quickly. Just a little farther.”
Anyone watching would think she was trying to kidnap me.
She said someone to show me, didn’t she? Surely not…?
No, impossible. I refused to believe she had brought someone who should be in the Deltrack Empire all the way here. Such a thing couldn’t possibly be feasible.
But those thoughts were instantly rendered meaningless by the person who appeared before me.
“No way…?”
“Priest Arthur.”
Someone wearing a deep hood stepped out from the shadows with a soft rustle. Even beneath the robe, the small frame was all too familiar.