Surviving in Easy Mode in Another World - Impressive First Meeting
I really went to the princess after a long time.
"Coming to see the princess after such a long time? You might forget my face."
The princess greeted me with a light-hearted joke as soon as we met.
I had neglected her for too long because I was busy.
I looked at the princess's eyes for a moment and bowed respectfully.
"I have been very busy. Please forgive me."
"Is that the attitude of someone asking for forgiveness?"
The princess chuckled softly and smiled, inviting me to sit.
"Please sit."
I sat on the sofa the princess offered, and received the tea from Scarlet.
"Lloyd, the Viscount, who only comes when there's business. What brings you here today?"
It was a playful question from the princess.
But since it hit the mark, the words I was about to say got stuck.
"Louis?"
"You hit the nail on the head, so I lost my words for a moment."
I really came because there was urgent business.
"Is it an emergency?"
Even though it was a situation that could make one upset, the princess asked what the emergency was first.
I showed an ambiguous expression to her question.
"It is urgent."
I plan to clean up the mountains around the fief.
It will take about a week to as long as two weeks.
I told the princess that content.
"So, you're going to leave the fief empty?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
The princess frowned slightly and looked towards the direction of the room where Theodore was detained.
"You haven't forgotten that Theo is still in a contract with the Plague Apostle, have you?"
"Of course not, Your Highness."
I nodded as if it was nothing.
Because it was a story I pulled out after confirming the prince was safe.
But from the princess's perspective, she didn't understand my actions.
'It's difficult.'
In this world, Apostles are basically treated as ominous beings.
Among them, the 'Plague' related to human death is how ominous it is.
In a situation where such a being is staying in the fief, the lord leaving the place is not something that makes sense.
The princess's hesitant expression was natural.
"Your Highness and Sir Scarlet are monitoring, so what serious business will Theodore do?"
"That's true... "
The princess sighed and picked up the teacup.
"Your Highness?"
"It's nothing."
'It's an odd situation.'
In about a week, the prince will be escorted to the royal palace.
So, waiting a week and leaving the place is fine.
In this situation, suddenly leaving the place would make people think a lot.
'I have my own reasons.'
But I had my own reasons to do this.
Normally, I could wait until spring like last year and then hunt monsters.
But since I was going to hide in the Empire in spring, I had to finish the monster hunt quickly now.
Considering that the Knight Hunter would make it busy, it was difficult to find time now.
"So, are you going right now?"
"It's not that urgent that I can't even drink the tea."
"Then, why did you come all the way here if it's not urgent enough to not drink the tea?"
I glanced at the princess who was acting playful again.
"Did you miss me that much?"
It was half playful.
But the princess blinked, put down the teacup she was holding, looking flustered.
"So, that's how it is..."
The princess, who was pondering the words she said, soon composed her expression.
The expression that came to her face was a wistful one.
"If that's the case, will you come to visit often, Sir Knight?"
With her appearance that was starting to heat up, saying that, there was something that made me flinch even knowing it was a joke.
"If you wish, I will come more often."
"It was a joke?"
"I was serious."
"Oh my, sorry..."
After drinking tea lightly with the princess, I stood up.
"Then, I'll take my leave."
"Go on, take care."
I received the princess's farewell and tried to leave the Blaze residence.
"Lloyd."
Then, Scarlet called me quietly.
"Sir Scarlet?"
"May I have a word with you?"
I nodded slightly to Scarlet's words and followed her.
The place she took me was a room that was usually not used.
"...Is there another threat coming to Crescent?"
"What do you mean?"
"This is the most dangerous time to hunt monsters. Monsters are desperate to secure food to survive the winter."
As she said.
"Normally, we hunt monsters when they just wake from hibernation. Howard didn't do that either?"
I nodded to her words.
"Normally, if we hunt now, it would be easy to get timber, but there's no need to risk danger in the frontier to get timber. Crescent has enough leeway to get timber."
Even so, hunting at this time.
It was a story that there was some reason.
Scarlet seemed to judge that.
"Those who are preparing transmission magic too. It's reasonable to think they have companions."
I let out a small sigh and nodded.
"I plan to go to the Empire when spring comes."
"The Empire?"
"Yes, so before it gets busy, I plan to handle urgent matters in advance."
Scarlet looked at me with a complicated expression.
It would take a long time to go from Crescent to the capital of Fiona Kingdom.
And going to the Empire, which is even farther, would make thoughts complicated in many ways.
First, is the princess going to follow me?
If she follows, how to prepare escort troops?
If she doesn't follow, what to do with the fief?
It was a situation with many things to think about.
"It's not confirmed yet."
"...I see."
Scarlet nodded with a thoughtful expression and saw me off.
'Not confirmed yet.'
For now, I had to catch Aida or whoever the messenger was and think about it.
***
Aida went to Mars's workshop.
The mana density flowing in Mars's workshop dropped sharply.
This was evidence that he used transmission magic.
'So the madman ran away...'
Aida frowned, recalling Mars, called the madman.
Although he was the owner of vulgar language worse than slum thugs, Mars was a being who could be forgiven for such language with his skill alone.
A dangerous mage using transmission magic to escape.
It could be said that the matter was serious.
Aida searched the workshop with full preparation.
"This is..."
There were plenty of battle traces in Mars's workshop.
Traces of soot from fire.
Traces of swords with lightning magic, which Mars mainly uses, embedded.
Traces of soil elemental magic used.
Traces of sharp swords cutting.
Even traces of using unique magic.
Mars fought in this workshop.
But seeing this much of a mess, the opponent must have been quite formidable.
Aida, who thought she couldn't lose in such a workshop.
'If this fight continues...'
It must be at least a combined attack of a master from the Blaze Duchy and a fairly capable mage.
'Dominic Blaze?'
Aida, lost in thought, searched the workshop.
'The Apostle's flesh is gone.'
The Vessel of Soul in human form is safe.
But the Vessel of Soul containing the Apostle's flesh is gone.
'Impossible?'
Was he trapped in the Apostle's flesh after losing in battle?
'That's not possible.'
It was an impossible story.
There is no one who can use soul-handling magic in the Fiona Kingdom, the magic desert.
Aida decided to investigate the situation more.
She left the village where she was quietly staying without sound, and started gathering information towards the capital of Fiona Kingdom.
"I saw a carriage with the kingdom flag passing through the pass."
"Thank you."
"Ahigo, thank you. I hope your eyes get better soon!"
Aida touched the eyepatch on her right eye and frowned.
'He left through the pass?'
The only one who can move with the kingdom flag from the royal palace now is Third Prince Theodore.
Meaning he was taken out from the safest royal palace and processed as is?
Aida sighed and shook her head.
'First, information gathering.'
Aida decided to meet the priests who serve the Plague Apostle hiding in the capital and gather information.
But for some reason, the priests hiding in the capital were all dead or missing.
'...Where did they leak out?'
These people hiding in the capital weren't very skilled in combat.
It was natural that information leaking would lead to being dealt with.
But they had prepared connection threads as thin as possible in preparation for such situations.
Still, Merbis, who had combat power, was managing him, but even Merbis seemed to have no news.
"Is there something special? Speaking of which, the Blaze Duchy residence seems noisy lately."
"The Blaze Duchy residence?"
"That land is a street where only nobles' residences are built, but lately it's said to be quite noisy. The hair and eyes with fire are the symbols of Blaze, right?"
"Thank you."
"Ahigo, what...'"
'Dominic Blaze.'
It was possible if the knight of Fiona Kingdom, Blaze, was chasing the tail.
But an organization that had been returning without any problems for 10 years, in just half a year, was uprooted.
Aida couldn't understand this situation at all.
'First, I need to confirm.'
Aida hurriedly packed and headed east.
The target was Crescent Viscounty, which was gaining fame as a frontier.
'Crescent Viscounty.'
In the east, regions connected with Princess Anastasia are only Spencer County and Howard Barony.
Spencer County is a region treated as a large city, so if the plague spreads, it would cause significant damage.
If this was a well-made trap, the only place was the frontier near Howard Barony, called Crescent Viscounty.
Aida calmly rode her horse towards Crescent Viscounty.
"Haa..."
Aida sighed from fatigue.
She was dying because she couldn't rest properly and riding the horse was hard, and there were too many thugs targeting a lone female traveler.
In this state, it was dangerous to charge into Crescent right away.
Judging that, she decided to observe Crescent from a considerable distance first.
Swoosh.
The eyepatch comes off.
The normally unproblematic right eye began to turn yellow.
It was a special eye imbued with the power of an Apostle that sees through anything.
She intended to use that eye to observe Crescent.
"Eh?"
I can't see.
The right eye that should have shown everything normally was showing nothing.
Aida, in surprise, pressed her right eye hard, but the right eye still showed nothing, as if covered in clouds.
Aida, who had never experienced this, could only frown.
'What on earth...'
This time, she covered her left eye and started looking around with the right eye.
"Eh...?"
It wasn't that nothing was visible.
It was just that an enormously huge darkness was spread out in front of her eyes.
The huge darkness opened, and a huge eyeball appeared inside.
Eyes met.
"Uw, uweeeek!!!"
Aida felt like her stomach was turning upside down and immediately lowered her head and started vomiting.
After vomiting for a long time, Aida barely closed her right eye.
Then, the pressure that was suppressing her whole body slowly began to dissipate.
'What on earth...'
"I didn't think of vomiting from the beginning..."
A voice came from somewhere, sounding inexplicably.
Aida covered her right eye with her palm and barely lifted her head.
There stood a man with gray hair wearing a sword with a crescent moon engraved at his waist.
The lord of Crescent Viscounty.
Lloyd, the Viscount of Crescent.