To the Duchy (2)
To the Duchy (2)
I knew full well that a dispatch class accompanying the Princess to the Duchy was an entirely different matter from an ordinary dispatch class.
After all, since we were escorting royalty who ranked third in the line of succession on a visit to the Duchy, I'd assumed that the person leading our group wouldn't be some low-ranking noble or clerk.
But Viscount Daniel?
As the Second Prince's right-hand man and a prominent figure even among the capital's aristocracy, he certainly had the stature to lead this dispatch class.
Even so, I couldn't understand why the Second Prince would send his trusted confidant all the way to the Duchy.
The King wasn't dead yet.
Though his health was extremely poor and he'd even received a diagnosis that he wouldn't last much longer, he was still alive.
As long as the King lived, both the First Prince and the Second Prince had to keep their struggle beneath the surface, without making any explicit moves in the open.
In a situation like this, Viscount Daniel—who served as strategist and handled all the dirty work—was indispensable to the Second Prince.
Sending a man like that to the Duchy meant he'd be away for at least a month. Was that really fine?
It wasn't my place to worry about it, but it was perplexing nonetheless.
My real grievance was simply that I hated having to travel with someone so bothersome.
The Princess's expression didn't change, but she didn't look particularly pleased, either.
"It is an infinite honor to attend to you, Princess. Though I am the leader of this group, I am merely joining under the pretext of this dispatch class to handle administrative matters with the Duchy. Please proceed with the class as Your Highness sees fit."
As expected, his slick, glib tongue hadn't changed a bit.
The Princess thanked him for offering to accommodate her every convenience, but to any onlooker, it was clearly nothing more than formal courtesy.
The Viscount didn't seem to mind in the slightest and promptly finished seeing everyone through the preparations for departure.
He was certainly efficient at getting things done.
But he seemed a little sharper and edgier than when I'd met him before.
When he saw me boarding the carriage, he furrowed his brow, leaned close, and whispered another threat in my ear.
"I believe I told you not to stick your nose out."
I couldn't tell whether he was irritated that I was taking this dispatch class with the Princess, or because being in the same group meant sharing a carriage with her.
Either way, he clearly didn't like having me catch his eye.
The problem was that this time, we weren't in a noisy ballroom.
Though he spoke in a quiet whisper meant for me alone, there was no way the others hadn't noticed him whispering right into my ear.
"My apologies, but I am the Princess's bodyguard."
Instead of whispering back, I replied aloud.
There was no reason to give in to intimidation when I had such a convenient excuse.
If anything, my response would only put the Viscount in an awkward position.
As expected, his face twisted into a scowl as he turned and headed for his own carriage.
"What did the Viscount say to you?"
"It seems he simply finds me disagreeable."
"Honestly, even visiting my cousin normally isn't easy."
The Princess, who had boarded the carriage first, grumbled under her breath.
Whenever she was with Katrin, or when no one else was around, the Princess spoke much more comfortably.
Grumbling softly like this, for instance.
Since Katrin wasn't accompanying us on this trip, the Princess might have been leaning on me even more.
Though it was called a dispatch class, it was practically a semi-official event. Teachers didn't normally accompany these trips, so it would have been difficult for Katrin to join.
No, if I hadn't been coming along, Katrin would have forced her way into joining us. But once I did, she refrained from pushing the matter.
Had I earned more of her trust than before?
Behind me, Balea and the Princess's maid stepped into the carriage.
The two upperclassmen ended up riding in a different carriage alongside the Viscount.
In the end, I was the only male in this carriage.
Don't tell me... was the Baron actually envious of me?
As silly thoughts floated through my head, another set of voices caught my attention.
I overheard them because I'd recently made a habit of using mana to tune in to the sounds around me.
"Why is the Viscount going? It makes things exhausting for everyone."
"I heard it was on the Second Prince's orders."
After all the students and the Viscount had boarded their carriages, the clerks outside were gossiping in hushed voices.
"Did the Prince give him some secret command?"
"Could be, but there's another rumor going around."
"What rumor?"
"Word has it that the Viscount fell out of favor with the Prince this time."
"Huh? He used to cater to his every whim like a tongue in his mouth. And a guy like that fell out of favor?"
"Apparently, there was an item the Prince wanted, but the Viscount couldn't retrieve it. Something went wrong in the process, making the Prince furious. So it seems he sent him out here to snap him back to his senses."
Ah. Don't tell me... was it because of me?
Had he been dispatched here because I took the ring and killed the assassin?
It was probably just a rumor, but if it was true, the Viscount's frayed nerves made perfect sense.
Still, the fact that the Viscount had fallen out of favor with the Prince didn't make me any more comfortable.
Traveling together was still unavoidable, anyway.
And, as the clerks had said, the Prince had likely assigned him a secret task regardless. If he handled it properly, he'd regain his standing.
In that case... if he failed to handle it properly, would that mean he couldn't go back to his place?
Suddenly, my mood brightened.
The memory of how appalled I'd been by that assassin hadn't faded yet.
I'd half-resigned myself to it since he was the Prince's right-hand man, but now that I thought about it, this might be my chance to repay the debt.
One way or another, the journey to and from the Duchy wouldn't be smooth sailing.
That might be because of the Viscount—or it might be because of me.
Once preparations were complete, the carriages set off.
The Princess's carriage, the one carrying the Viscount and the upperclassmen, the one with the clerks, the one with the maids, and the supply carriages carrying goods...
In the end, the dispatch class became a massive procession escorted by knights.
"It feels hard to even call this a dispatch class anymore."
"I am sorry. It is because of me."
"Oh, no! Your Highness has no need to apologize. I am only delighted. When else would I ever travel to the Duchy with an escort like this? It is all thanks to Your Highness."
"Thank you so much for looking at it that way."
"If you keep being like this, I really won't know what to do with myself."
Two entirely different kinds of masks were clashing.
The sight of a child acting like an adult and a psychopath acting cute brought goosebumps to my arms.
To anyone else, however, it must have looked utterly charming.
The maid beside the Princess watched the two of them converse with a pleased smile.
"You two seem to be very close. I'm so glad Her Highness has made a friend."
I shuddered at the maid's words.
Granted, Balea did have many friends. On the surface, she and the Princess really did look close.
Come to think of it, was Balea the female student who talked with the Princess the most back at the academy?
Watching Balea, who had somehow become the Princess's best friend, I clicked my tongue softly.
Leaving the capital behind, the carriages rolled steadily along a well-maintained stone road.
Unlike the routes to other regions, the road leading to the Duchy was paved with stone and gravel.
The reason for this paved highway was the Duchy's capital, which also served as a border city with the Empire.
Ever since the founding of the Empire and the Kingdom, the place where the two realms traded across the border had grown into a city, eventually becoming the grandest commercial hub in the Kingdom.
Before it broke away as a duchy, it was such an astonishing city that rumors claimed it collected even more taxes than the capital.
Even now, having separated into an autonomous duchy, it continued to amass astronomical wealth through trade with the Kingdom, the Empire, and other foreign nations.
It was such a magnificent region that people said the current King had granted it as a domain when he ascended the throne specifically to appease his brilliant younger brother and head off a rebellion. I'd also heard stories that the Kingdom suffered economic hardship for quite some time after the region gained independence as a duchy.
Since the road led to such a duchy, it was only natural that it would be so well paved and maintained.
As we traveled toward the Duchy, I saw numerous carriages passing to and fro.
Since our carriage bore the royal family's crest, other carriages pulled to a halt and paid their respects to our procession.
I could see nobles who wanted to step out of their carriages to offer formal greetings, but with the long distance to the Duchy, our carriages kept pressing forward without stopping.
On the way to the Duchy, I spent most of my time riding outside, up front beside the driver.
The Princess preferred that I remain inside the carriage, but with the watchful eyes of those around us, staying inside all the time wasn't easy.
Instead, I tried to at least get acquainted with the knights and clerks, but during the journey to the Duchy, it was difficult to exchange even a few words with them.
Whether it was because I was an illegitimate son, because they were focused on official duties, or because the Viscount had interfered, my attempt to make new friends on the way to the Duchy ended in failure.
The road leading to the Duchy was lined with well-appointed post stations and villages, in addition to its fine roads.
Thanks to that, we didn't have to camp in the open and could change horses along the way, allowing us to keep riding without stopping.
Although I failed to get close to the knights or the clerks, there was still someone I did become friendly with.
I ended up talking frequently with Senior Havier, a third-year student who was just as bored as I was.
As I'd noticed before, he was a fairly open-minded person.
He paid little mind to my status as an illegitimate son. Rather, he actively tried to get close to me because he admired the skills I'd displayed during the 'Practical Combat Class'.
Though we talked about various topics, conversations with a hot-blooded knight like him inevitably drifted toward military matters.
"If roads were as well constructed as this one, they'd be enormously advantageous for supply lines as well as the knighthood's advance. We ought to pave roads like this across the entire Kingdom."
Even I thought it wasn't a bad idea, and it boded well for national development, but every good plan had its drawbacks.
"If a war were to break out with the Duchy, this road would become a problem."
Making things easier for ourselves also meant making things easier for an attacking enemy.
But Senior Havier showed no sign of concern at my remark.
"Well, not that such a thing would ever happen, but if it did, wouldn't that just make it easier for us to invade the Duchy?"
Setting aside the fact that the Duchy was a vassal state under the Kingdom, he seemed to think the disparity in national strength was far too great.
Certainly, the Duchy's territory wasn't particularly large, even compared to that of the Gracia Grand Duchy.
A duchy as small as that seemed unlikely to invade the Kingdom.
However...
'If the Empire attacks through the Duchy, can we block them?'
Defending against an invasion would be difficult even if they came by another route, but an invasion along the Duchy's paved roads would be an entirely different matter.
Still, I didn't voice my final thought to Senior Havier.
For now, it was a needless worry, and for someone like me, who had no intention of joining the Kingdom's army or the Royal Knights, it was useless chatter anyway.
While exchanging such leisurely talk, our group crossed the border into the Duchy.
Before crossing the border, I stared into empty air with bated breath.
The same thing had happened twice before. Surely, it was going to happen again this time as well.
Moments later, the instant we crossed the border:
<You have arrived in the Julian Duchy. A new 'Save Point' has been set.>
Just as I'd expected, a new Save Point had been created.
After we crossed the border, an extremely urgent decision was made inside a mansion in the imperial capital.
"Starting a few months ago, the entire Carlos Kingdom became invisible, and just a moment ago, the Julian Duchy vanished from sight as well."
This was prompted by a hurried report from the Prophet.
Upon hearing the Prophet's words, a man in a room filled with books immediately gave an order.
"Conclude all plans currently underway in the Duchy as quickly as possible. I don't care if it causes an uproar or if countless people die. We must wrap everything up before the unseen world falls upon us!"
At the very moment I was pondering as I gazed at the Save Point, several carrier pigeons flew swiftly toward the Duchy.