kscans

Chapter 32 - Chapter 8: Part 2 – A Position to Protect

"Let's wait here for a while."

I spoke to Alfina in the library, a place I hadn't visited in some time. Realizing I was still gripping her hand tightly, I hastily let go.

"My, my apologies."

"It's quite alright. I feel safe when you're the one leading me by the hand, Ricardo-kun."

The girl, illuminated by the light from the clerestory window, reminded me of when we met here half a year ago. The warmth lingering in my palm stirred memories of our dance. I had shared many experiences with her, yet her breathtaking beauty still managed to surprise me.

"...I wonder if Clau and the others are all right."

Alfina's worried murmur reminded me of Claudia's words before we left the tent. It must be a serious situation for that knight to entrust her precious princess to me. Honestly, I couldn't imagine what it could be.

"May I ask what happened?"

Alfina told me about the royal palace's welcoming party for the imperial envoy. Apparently, the prince had approached Alfina as she was trying to leave early on the king's orders and had forcefully tried to take her hand for a dance. Claudia had stopped him then, too.

Immediately after that, a report came that a premonition had appeared in the crystal, and Alfina returned to the sanctuary.

"That's not just unforgivable, that's incredibly aggressive."

The story was extremely unpleasant. ...No, I need to think calmly. It's certainly aggressive, unpleasant, and infuriating. But Claudia and Luitza's reactions earlier seemed excessive. The dance aside, in a situation like today's, it would be more natural to let them talk a little and smooth things over.

After all, we were dealing with a potential international incident.

"It's related to what happened twenty years ago. ...One of the causes of that rebellion was the Empire instigating my grandfather."

Alfina's face clouded over. So the rebellion from twenty years ago was involved again. Given the Fellbach duchy's location, imperial interference was certainly plausible. I see, so they were two people the king would rather not see together. That at least explained the actions of Claudia and her team.

Any contact with the imperial royalty, regardless of its content, would invite unnecessary suspicion toward Alfina within the kingdom.

"However, the prince seemed more interested in the prophetic crystal than in me."

This princess is so unaware of her own beauty that I can't possibly take her at her word. Still, the prince did mention the monster flood. Could it be more than just a pretext? Damn, I have far too little information. I wonder if Jacob and the others will manage their investigation well.

Once I have the information, he'll be my top priority for surveillance. My intelligence team is already stretched thin, so I'll need to start by increasing its numbers. I'll need information on the Empire for the future anyway.

"I understand. The only question now is how long we should stay here... Claudia-dono might have an idea we're in this location."

It was the memorable place where she'd held a sword to my throat, after all. In a way, it was the moment my self preservation was in the greatest danger. But I'd let it slide in light of her bravery today.

Alfina was fidgeting, clasping the hand I had been holding.

"I, is it true that you prefer women like Clau, Ricardo-kun?"

"...Pardon?"

"We've grown closer now. But in the beginning, whenever I approached you, you looked so troubled... Conversely, when Clau appeared, you seemed relieved..."

Ah, I know exactly what she's talking about. This is awkward, it's hard to deny.

"My aunt asked for your opinion as well, Ricardo-kun, on whether to have Clau return as my attendant. I heard that you were actually in favor of it. I am grateful for that. But Clau's attitude toward you was so terribly rude. It's just been bothering me a little."

"I, it is true that Her Grace the Grand Duchess asked me about that, but it was in writing. I simply thought it best if you had someone you trusted by your side. Besides, she was magnificent just now, standing her ground against the imperial prince without flinching..."

I waved my hands dismissively. Thinking about it, our roles were reversed. It should have been me saying, "Don't worry about me. Take Alfina-sama and run." Not that I could, of course.

As I fell silent, belatedly questioning my own position, Alfina's face clouded over.

"I'm sorry. I've said something strange at a time like this. I just wanted to ask once. Not just about Clau, but because my being near you causes you nothing but trouble, Ricardo-kun. It really is a burden for you, isn't it..."

Alfina looked down. Her silky, silver blue hair cascaded down, stroking her cheek.

The faint sounds of the commotion outside filtered through the walls. I was acutely aware that we were alone in this quiet space.

How should I answer? No, what kind of stance should I take with this girl? I was only now realizing that the answer wasn't simple.

At first, I saw her as nothing more than an inhabitant of a different world. Royalty could decide the fate of a commoner on a whim. Whether it benefited me or harmed me, I judged the sheer scale of that fluctuation to be an unmanageable risk. She was the runaway number one threat to my self preservation.

Needless to say, the situation had changed. Just a moment ago, I didn't hesitate at all to take her hand. The incident in Leylia Village and my relationship with the Grand Duchess didn't even cross my mind.

But in the first place, it was fundamentally impossible for someone like me to be by her side. It wasn't about social status. It was because we were from different worlds. That was something I could never tell her.

My memories of my previous world went up to age twenty three, and I regained them here between the ages of five and six. A decade had passed even since then. I had been desperate to adapt to this new world. My physical age does influence me at times. But when I think about it, my original age would be over thirty, at the youngest.

And she is sixteen. I feel a certain guilt toward her that I don't really feel with others. Is it because she's such a pure and defenseless girl?

She's too close in age to be a daughter, not that I have any real sense of what having a daughter would be like. The age gap is more like that of a niece.

...A niece, huh. That doesn't sound like a bad setup. If I had a niece like her, I'd dote on her endlessly. Even a coward like me would try to protect her if I knew she was in danger. I am a guardian, under the guise of being a relative.

Of course, this would only be my stance within my own heart, but with that, perhaps it wouldn't be so strange for me to be by her side.

If I think of it as escorting my niece for her social debut, then that dance wasn't so strange either.

"Ah..."

This girl is my niece, my cute niece.

Before I knew it, my hand was touching her silky, silver blue hair. I then moved my hand slowly, patting her head.

"Um, that is... Ricardo-kun."

"Eh!? Whoa, my, my sincerest apologies!"

I realized I was doing something far more unthinkable than anything that imperial prince had done. But Alfina, blushing, looked up at me.

"You don't have to apologize. Um, you were telling me that you aren't avoiding me, right? That made me happy."

The girl smiled like a flower. If my heart hadn't been set on this uncle stance, that would have been dangerous.

"I knew you'd be here."

A sharp, dignified voice echoed through the library.

"C, Clau. Are you alright?"

"There is no need for concern. Fortunately, the Third Prince arrived shortly after and took charge of the imperial prince..."

"I see. Prince Craig."

It seemed the trouble had subsided. That was close. If Claudia had appeared just a little sooner, I might have been on the receiving end of a drawn blade this time.

"I was truly impressed, Claudia-dono, standing your ground against the prince."

"I have simply resolved never to abandon my duty again. And do not get too carried away, Ricardo Vinder."

I yielded the spot next to Alfina to Claudia. It's fine, I won't get carried away. She's my cute niece, after all.

◇◇

The second day ended, though not exactly without a hitch. We had come to see the rankings board.

"Hmph, my shop's the best among the Holdings," Plural said boastfully.

The other members had also climbed into good positions. Partly due to the cheap land rent, they were hovering around 10th place out of 22 shops. Considering this was the cumulative total since yesterday, it was an outstanding performance.

Thanks to this, Vinder's rank, which was only receiving dividends, had also risen considerably.

"The gap between Calest and Kenwell has closed quite a bit," I said, looking at the top of the list.

"Serves them right, doesn't it?" said Dalgan, who had been snapping at the prideful Plural before being stopped by Belmini.

"You think they'll make a move?"

"Their main enemy is Kenwell, but it's a possibility."

Tonight was likely the most dangerous. However, the Vinder Company had no physical commercial presence. Inside the tent we had set up as a token gesture, there were only a few jars of honey. It was a dummy. Given honey's true value, they might think we were holding back our trump card.

It pained me to use our precious product as a decoy, but if they fell for it, the Holdings would be protected.

Rilka returned from her discussion with Kenwell. Roston was with her.

"I've made the arrangements."

"It just so happens a shop I know had some free hands. I managed to grab some people who wanted to see how we do things here in person."

With this, we could secure double the space for tomorrow. The reliability of my fellow members was off the charts. To be honest, I wanted to punch myself for thinking even one company might betray us.

We could now handle the influx of the early majority. We'd be overwhelmed if the late majority arrived, though.

Those students in their black uniforms hadn't come near us since that incident. It seemed the Third Prince had handled things well.

◇◇

"Young master."

"Please, stop calling me that, Jacob."

"Young Master."

"Alright, I get it, you're mad that I forced you into that outfit. So?"

"It's about what happened this afternoon."

"That damn prince... Did you find out anything about the Empire?"

Jacob's expression instantly turned professional.

"Two things were strange. First, the students surrounding the prince. They're adventurers. To be precise, they're people who have learned to move like adventurers."

"They're the prince's attendants, which means they're the children of imperial bigwigs, right? I'd expect them to be trained as guards, but..."

"Moving like an adventurer means you're used to fighting monsters, not people. It wouldn't be that strange for a regular imperial soldier, but..."

"I heard that in the Empire, people live in the spaces between the magic veins. Does that mean even the top brass and their entourage fight monsters?"

"The Emperor over there is more of a coordinator for the various tribes separated by the magic veins. The imperial capital is surrounded by the territories of each tribe, so it should have the least amount of trouble from monsters."

Did that mean even the safest region was facing a monster offensive of a scale that couldn't be ignored? Combined with the magic vein fluctuation that was supposed to be impossible in the kingdom, could a large scale shift in the flow of magic be occurring?

Please, no. This could be a global crisis. I can't handle self preservation on a planetary level.

"But from what I saw of them, I didn't get any sense of that kind of crisis."

I hadn't detected a shred of such urgency from that prince, or any of the five of them. Were they just being swept along by their leader's arrogant personality?

"What's the other thing?"

"When the lady knight blocked his path, the prince's guards didn't reach for their waists, but for the hems of their jackets. Both of the men guarding his flanks did."

Come to think of it, while the weather here is far more pleasant than in Japan, that uniform must have been hot.

"They weren't about to attack with their bare hands. In that case..."

"If it was a habitual combat motion, it might be related to magic."

"At that range? I thought magic wasn't very useful in interpersonal combat."

The only time I'd seen it in practice was during Fulsy's experiments, but magic wasn't easy to use. It required a magic crystal, and you had to charge magic tools like swords and armor specifically made for it. It was supposedly even more cumbersome than a matchlock rifle. Even with modern firearms, a knife can win at close range.

"That's about all we noticed. We also discreetly monitored what kind of shops they were interested in, but there was nothing unusual."

"Got it. Continue to prioritize the Empire tomorrow."

"Understood, young master."

"They say the imperial delegation is leaving in the morning. Once your work is done, you can go on a date with Remi for all I care."

"Weren't you the one on a date, Young Master? Wasn't that the young lady who came with you to Leylia Village? The princess. This is going to give the older master a stomach ulcer."

"It's fine. She and I aren't like that."

"Oh? If that's true, it'll ease some of Mia's worries. If it's true, that is."

"...More importantly, have you found any promising new personnel?"

"Yeah, but are you sure about this? People who are skilled and can be trusted with at least as much as you pay them don't come cheap."

"It'll probably work out. Once the results from the Holdings are in, negotiations between my old man and the Grand Duchess should pick up steam."

First, we had to get through tomorrow. After that, I would hire more people to support Jacob and the others.

Good grief, the list of things I need information on just keeps growing.