kscans

Chapter 89 - The Beginning of the End, Four

"We’re moving the schedule up! Can you get ready to move?"

After being carried to the royal palace by Merda, the Little One mounted Canon and called out to the knights before heading back to Count George’s residence.

Too impatient to wait for the door to be opened, she burst inside, changed into her usual salopette trousers, and flew back to the palace with Chihaya. Pochiko-san, who just a short while ago had been jealously intimidating the other fluffy creatures, was now completely friendly, and a small chick sat atop the Little One's head. With Mi-chan on her left biceps, a palm-sized squirrel on her right shoulder, and a chick on her head, the twins burst into Romel’s office through the skylight, a sight that made the palace staff do a double take.

"Chihiro!"

"I heard the gist of it. Is there anything else?"

Romel scooped up the girl as she rummaged through the documents on his desk and carried her out of the office. Chihaya followed Romel out of the room.

"Sorry, there’s someone I need you to meet first."

"Someone you want me to meet?"

Romel carried the bewildered Little One to the reception room located on the border between the royal palace and the rear palace. The knights standing before the door bowed respectfully, relayed a message to an attendant, and the door to the reception room was opened. Relaxing inside the elegant, spacious room was a single boy. At first glance, he looked like an adventurer, but his refined features and demeanor spoke of his noble birth.

The boy stood up, placed a hand on his chest, and bowed his head.

"My name is Augfel. I have discarded my family name for certain reasons. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Hmm? I feel like I’ve heard a similar line somewhere before.

As the Little One tilted her head in thought, she heard Romel’s weary-sounding voice.

"He says he’s Lady Hyrulia’s cousin."

"Hyrulia’s?!"

"You know Hyrulia?!"

Three different voices, saying three different things, flew across the room.

"I have been searching for her for so long."

As he spoke, Augfel explained the general circumstances to Romel. He had immediately pursued Hyrulia after she was exiled. He had traveled through the towns near the wilderness on the Castrato border, using the Roullelia borderlands as a base for his search.

"I never dreamed she was being sheltered by a count’s family in the royal capital."

While searching, Augfel had been making a living as an adventurer and was one of the witnesses to the recent strange phenomenon. He said the fissure that appeared in the western forest’s canyon had split the earth wide open, extending beyond the defensive walls surrounding the forest.

"A fissure just went gagaga right where a carriage was running, and in the blink of an eye, it divided the east from the west."

Augfel and a few other adventurers, who had taken on the job of guarding that carriage, had witnessed the fissure form. It was in the process of reporting this that Augfel heard the name he had been searching for.

"The Lord of the Forest might make a move. The last time was about two years ago, wasn’t it? I wonder how the Count’s daughter and Lady Hyrulia are doing."

At the Border Count’s murmur, as if lost in distant thought, Augfel’s eyes widened, and he pressed for the details. Then, when word came that the royal palace wanted to hear the details from an adventurer, he had become unable to sit still and had come all the way to the royal capital.

"Huh. Strange connections can be made. Hyrulia’s doing well."

"Thank goodness... May I see her?"

"If Hyrulia says it’s okay. I’ll ask her."

Thanking the Little One for her small nod, Augfel faintly furrowed his brow, his eyes clouding over.

I have to stop my father the king’s scheme. I must inform Hyrulia that she is being targeted, and if possible, we must flee far away together.

Augfel recalled a letter from his brother, the Crown Prince. It said their father was desperately searching for Hyrulia to make her the Crown Prince’s consort. He wouldn't even mind if she was found dead. If Hyrulia's death could not be confirmed, the Duke's family fortune could not be seized. That was the only reason.

He wanted to go to a remote region beyond their father’s reach and live quietly together. He was confident he could make a living as a bodyguard or whatever it took to provide for them. If possible, he wanted to marry her, have children, and live a peaceful life. His thinking was worldly for a former prince. The commoner skills Augfel had cultivated over the past two years were on full display.

Just as he was about to achieve his goal, the person he had longed for appeared before him.

"My goodness! It truly is Augfel-sama! It has been so long!!"

Two years had passed. Hyrulia, who had been fourteen, was now sixteen, and had blossomed into a maiden of breathtaking beauty. She was the talk of the royal palace, and since she was a lady-in-waiting to a countess, many nobles, assuming she must be from a respectable family, had proposed to her one after another. But Hyrulia dismissed them all with a laugh, thinking it was a lot of trouble for a girl of unknown details, and refused every one.

"Ahhh, Hyrulia!! It really has been a long time! I’m so glad to see you’re well."

Augfel embraced Hyrulia with a beaming smile.

"I heard you were searching for me. For what reason?"

Hyrulia was an exile. She couldn’t understand why. Sensing the question marks floating in Hyrulia’s mind, Augfel hesitated, wondering if he should explain. He glanced around quickly before looking back at Hyrulia.

"I want to talk. Could we be alone?"

"I refuse. I am Hero-sama’s lady-in-waiting."

Hyrulia’s sharp refusal made Augfel’s eyes go wide. Letting out a small laugh, Hyrulia straightened her back and answered.

"I have no intention of keeping any secrets from Hero-sama. Even though I was a suspicious girl, Hero-sama hired me as her attendant without asking a single question."

In the end, Romel had seen through her, and her identity was revealed, but even then, the Little One had sheltered her. She had no intention of keeping secrets from such a master. Hyrulia’s eyes said that it would be the same whether they spoke alone or right here and now.

They had known each other since childhood. Augfel, who knew Hyrulia’s stubbornness well, quickly waved the white flag.

"The truth is..."

As Augfel hesitantly recounted his story, not only Hyrulia but Romel as well couldn't help but look to the heavens.

"Well, I’ll be. Being falsely accused is common enough. But to search for Lady Hyrulia, even her corpse, just to keep the ducal house from falling into the hands of a political rival. Your king is quite something."

"It has been two years. Even my father must no longer believe she is alive or that he can obtain her body."

That was why he wanted them to flee far away together, Augfel said.

The Little One sensed a slight lack of frankness in his explanation.

"It doesn’t end there, does it? I can’t imagine your king is the type to give up on the ducal house just because Hyrulia wasn’t found."

He wouldn’t just stand by and watch as one of his two main pillars of support fell into the hands of a political enemy. There had to be some sort of scheme.

At the girl’s sharp words, the boy’s throat tightened. His reaction affirmed the Little One’s words. After a moment of hesitation, as if resigned, Augfel murmured softly.

"...If she is not found, he plans to provide my brother with a girl with silver hair and purple eyes and hold a funeral in Hyrulia’s place."

The room went cold.

In other words, Augfel explained, the plan was to have a woman resembling Hyrulia establish a connection with the Crown Prince, and once that was done, dispose of the woman, pretending she was Hyrulia, and take over the ducal house as if nothing had happened.

"I’m sure this kind of thing happens, but wow. That’s grim."

Castrato. The country-of-the-year you’d want to avoid if at all possible. But she had heard the story now. And having heard it, she couldn’t just look the other way.

After all, a person can’t lie to themselves.

If she stood by and did nothing, she would remember it for the rest of her life, every time something came up.

That there was a woman in that country who was sacrificed for Hyrulia’s sake. That woman’s child would inherit the ducal house. And become the next king. It was not something you could just forget. It would become a thorn that would prick Hyrulia’s and Augfel’s hearts for the rest of their lives. The same went for the Little One. And for Romel.

I was planning on taking a big detour.

Sighing, the Little One looked up at Hyrulia.

"You won’t be able to rest easy until this is cleaned up, right? The false accusation seems to have been cleared up, so for now, shall we do what we can?"

"Are you sure?"

The Little One nodded at Hyrulia’s astonished gaze. Feeling intimidated by the silent understanding that passed between the two, Augfel looked at Romel. Romel, catching his glance, shrugged as if to say it was out of his hands, further fueling Augfel’s anxiety.

Hyrulia had been watching the Little One for a long time. While often bewildered by her out-of-the-ordinary antics, she knew that the Little One was a compassionate creature who would not abandon the weak.

"I, too, was a princess of a ducal house. It would be against my will to overlook such a situation."

Hyrulia had received the education of a feudal lord since she was a child. Though her younger brother was to inherit, she had studied diligently to be able to assist him. Unbeknownst to her, her aunt and uncle had been executed, and their children remained imprisoned. If that was the case, she had to save at least her younger siblings. If possible, she wanted to resolve the matter before any sacrifices were made. For that, the Little One’s cooperation was essential.

"Alright then, let’s go. To Castrato."

"Yes!"

The Little One and Hyrulia grinned at each other.

Augfel, not understanding what had just happened, was in a fluster.

Staring with disbelief at the Frontier party as they began to walk off in perfect sync, Augfel watched them with wide eyes before chasing after them.

And so, a new commotion began, and the Little One and her companions found themselves heading to Castrato, a country with which they had a fateful connection.

What awaited the Little One in that blood-soaked country of swirling intrigue?

Not even the gods could say.