Return (3)
Return (3)
Though dozens of people had gathered at the ruins, the only sound was the occasional neighing of a horse.
The senior knight was about to shout again, but before he could, one of the students stepped forward.
"Young Lord Joachim is not here."
It was the Grand Archduchess.
The senior knight did not seem to expect the Grand Archduchess to step forward herself.
He gaped for a moment before finally managing to speak.
"I repeat: hand over the hidden criminal, Joachim. If you continue to obstruct us, you will have to face the swords of the Royal Knights!"
It was a tyrannical demand, made without explanation or the slightest consideration for the other party.
These were not words one should ever speak to a princess and a grand archduchess.
The senior knight knew this all too well, which was why cold sweat poured down his neck.
He wasn't sweating because of the Princess and the Grand Archduchess, of course.
He was sweating because of the Giant watching from behind.
But he had already passed the point of no return.
Fortunately, the Giant was only watching from behind. He had to escalate the situation now.
The senior knight signaled to the knights he had made prior arrangements with.
But unlike when they had made their agreement, the knights hesitated.
'What the hell are you doing?! Step up and make a scene!'
The senior knight fumed inwardly.
As the awkward silence stretched on, the Grand Archduchess spoke again.
"I am Frida de Carlos of the Julian Duchy. I pledge the words I have just spoken upon the honor of that name. May I ask the name of the one speaking to us?"
She was declaring that she had spoken on her honor as a grand archduchess—in effect, asking who on earth he was to pick a fight with her.
Once the Grand Archduchess officially stated her title, the knights began to murmur.
"The Julian Duchy... Wait, is she the Grand Archduchess?"
"Wait, isn't that the Princess next to her?"
"It is the Princess, right?"
"No way. Did he just act like that in front of the Princess?"
"Is he fucking insane?!"
The knights had only been ordered to capture the perpetrator of the terror attack; they had no idea who they were actually looking for.
Originally, the knights belonging to the senior knight's faction were supposed to step in, win over the other knights, and persuade them.
But because of that Giant who had intervened along the way, they hadn't been able to say a single word on the way here.
That was why the senior knight had resorted to forcing the issue.
He had intended to push things through before the other knights could recognize the two princesses.
But because the knights hesitated, everything had ended up in a complete mess.
"E-Even if you are the P-Princess, you must obey the k-king's command. Hand over Joachim!"
To make matters worse, a clueless knight stepped forward late.
The senior knight sighed at the knight's words, which sounded as if he were reading straight from a textbook.
There was no way things would go according to plan like this.
Seeing the crowd stare at the knight in dumbfounded silence, the senior knight had no choice but to abandon his plan.
Still, he couldn't just end things here.
Even though the situation had become incredibly tangled, he still had to bring back some kind of result.
Thanks to the sudden appearance of the Knight Commander, who had been in seclusion, the senior knight now had a fire lit under him.
Under normal circumstances, he would have abandoned his plans and kept a low profile, but he had already committed too deeply to the faction.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
Even if he backed down here, there was no way the Knight Commander would take it well.
He was also highly likely to fall further out of favor with the Crown Prince. It wasn't easy for him, a member of the First Prince Faction, to defect to the Second Prince Faction, so in the end, he had to do something.
Instead of carrying out his plan to assassinate the two princesses, he decided to tarnish their honor.
He signaled to the knights following him and spoke again.
"I am Senior Royal Knight Eduardo. Please forgive me for failing to recognize the two princesses. But as you have just heard, even royalty cannot defy a royal decree. Please tell us where Joachim is hiding."
Though he asked for forgiveness, he still spoke as if the princesses before him were harboring a criminal.
At first, it had been troublesome that the criminal was nowhere to be seen, but now that the plan had changed, his absence was actually an advantage.
Even if he was never caught—or was caught much later—they could continue stirring up scandals this way.
Compared to killing the two of them, it was a minor matter, but a royal losing their honor and being swept up in scandal was no small thing, either.
Fortunately, the Princess remained silent, leaving the talking to the Grand Archduchess.
She seemed to be looking at the knights in the back, but the senior knight was too busy dealing with the Grand Archduchess to pay much attention to her.
"We are not hiding him. A mercenary came earlier and took him away, saying there was an urgent matter. We have heard nothing else. Everyone here is a witness."
"It is hard to believe he left just a moment ago. We saw no one on our way here. Until this is verified, please accompany us for a moment."
The senior knight was practically demanding that the two princesses accompany them voluntarily—or, rather, placing them under arrest.
At his insolent words, not only the Grand Archduchess but also the Princess and Balea hardened their expressions.
"We will escort you safely to the capital. Once the culprit is found, we will immediately offer our apologies and send you home."
It was no different from saying he would parade the arrested princesses all the way to the capital for everyone to see.
This time, it was too much to bear.
"How dare you!"
The Grand Archduchess spat the words out in a voice full of rage.
Even to the other knights, those words were an insolence that crossed the line.
But because the Knight Commander was watching from behind, everyone was instead rendered speechless.
The two princesses were furious but powerless to act, and the knights were unable to do anything because the Knight Commander simply watched.
For the senior knight, it was the tightest tightrope walk of his life. Even the Knight Commander watching from behind seemed impressed.
Still, it seemed his plans today were destined to be ruined to the very end.
From afar, the sound of a galloping horse began to echo.
The Princess was the first to recognize it, and a bright smile spread across her face.
"It's Alex!"
When she said that, the other female students also looked toward the back of the knights.
Everyone's expressions brightened, but they soon turned bewildered again.
"That horse is definitely the one we saw earlier..."
Just as Balea said, the horse he was leading was the feeble, sickly one they had seen not long ago.
Though it was hard to see clearly from a distance, a blood-stained bundle was loaded onto the horse's saddle.
In the distance, I could see the knights and my team members facing off.
Since no one was injured and it didn't look like a fight had broken out, it seemed I wasn't too late, thankfully.
Even though I had acted swiftly, the grand flow of events hadn't changed in the end.
I had been startled by minor details changing along the way, but since the overarching flow remained constant, I couldn't let my guard down until the very end.
Still, the things I had worked hard to prepare had been effective.
Among the knights facing them was one who stood a full level above the rest.
It seemed the Knight Commander had indeed come.
The sour-faced knight at the very front was the same person as before, so it seemed there had been no accidents thanks to the Knight Commander.
I would deal with that knight later.
First, I had to hand over the cargo loaded on this horse.
The cargo on the horse was Joachim. He had resisted me fiercely.
He and I had engaged not in a mere spar, but in a duel—a life-and-death struggle.
The gap in our skills was so vast that I could have subdued him without a scratch, but I still fought him with all my heart and soul.
Perhaps, deep down, I had thought that if he ended up dying because of it, then so be it.
That would have been a loss for the two princesses, of course, and it wasn't part of my plan, either.
But it seemed he thought dying would be better than being arrested as a spy by the Royal Knights and suffering.
It appeared I had taken quite a liking to Joachim.
But in the end, Joachim did not die.
Instead, the mercenary named Martin died by my hand once again.
The reason I had been able to stop the two of them was that, in my previous life, the mercenary Martin had led me to the safehouse.
Because I blocked the path to the safehouse, I was able to capture them both, but the mercenary Martin was a member of the Organization.
There was no other way to reward him except with death.
I waved at my team members, who were glad to see me.
They tilted their heads as they looked at the horse I was leading.
Surely, in a moment, their joyful expressions would give way to others.
I only hoped those expressions wouldn't be ones of disappointment.
A moment later, I passed the knights and stopped the horse in front of the group.
My team members' expressions shifted when they saw the bundle loaded onto the horse I had brought.
"Young Lord Joachim is hurt. Here, a potion..."
Mirisa hurriedly tried to pull out a potion, but Balea stopped her.
Mirisa looked at the Princess and the Grand Archduchess in bewilderment, but no one told her to give Joachim a potion.
Instead, the Grand Archduchess asked me:
"His injuries aren't fatal, right?"
"Yes. It seems he didn't want to die."
The Grand Archduchess nodded at my words. My brief explanation seemed to be more than enough for her.
Next, the Princess looked at me and spoke.
"You must explain everything to me later. Starting with why you slipped away."
"Yes."
Unlike the Grand Archduchess, the Princess wanted to hear the whole story.
"I knew you'd get scolded. If you keep pulling stunts on your own without a word, the vengeful spirits of women are sure to cling to you later, saying, 'Nyaong.'"
Beside her, Balea bared her nails like a cat and made a meowing sound.
Fortunately, everyone trusted me.
Except Mirisa.
Perhaps the situation had changed so quickly that the knights didn't stop us from talking.
Thanks to that, we could exchange greetings, and I was able to hand Joachim over to the knight standing in front.
"This is Joachim, the exchange student who fled. He was heavily injured during the capture, but his life is not in danger."
The sour-faced knight's expression grew even darker at my words.
"We will have to verify if he is indeed the culprit..."
"He is indeed the one. I say this, pledging my name as a daughter of the Julian Duchy."
"I, too, swear upon the name of Carlos."
The knight could no longer argue.
To question them after they had pledged their names was no different from declaring a duel.
On top of that, even the Princess had stepped forward.
Looking at the knights flinching in the back, it seemed that if he raised even a single objection, the other knights would step in.
Though it was more likely that the Knight Commander would lose his patience and move first.
And so, the knights had to depart, taking the injured Joachim with them.
The senior knight made one last petty objection, insisting that we visit the knighthood headquarters as witnesses.
But by the time that day came, they would surely be in no state of mind to summon witnesses.
As the knights departed, the Giant, who stood a head taller than the rest, sent me a private signal.
It was a signal for us to meet separately.
I sent a pulse of mana back to show I understood, then turned back to the group.
There, a group of people filled with curiosity remained.
Before explaining what had happened in the meantime, I first spoke about our future plans.
"As an apology, may I recommend our next destination?"
"Eeeek! After leaving us all alone in a place like this?!"
Balea was the first to flare up.
"You aren't trying to slip away on your own again, are you?"
The Grand Archduchess also glared at me, quite unlike her usual self.
But this time, even I was confident.
It was a destination I had already verified in my previous life.
"Let's go to the Pisen Marquisate. As the victor of the duel, I requested permission to view their artifacts for our group project."
At my words, everyone in the group gaped in shock.
A smile rose to my lips when I saw the exact same expressions as before.
And so, the next destination of the Artifact Investigation Squad was decided.
We decided to visit the Marquis's estate with someone else in place of Joachim.