Many people voiced their shock that day in the Imperial Capital.

Some couldn’t understand what was happening while others looked on in understanding.

「Well, it has to be. The first punitive force was led by the Second Prince, Prince Shurus, the next was led by the First Prince, Prince Kabajid, so I guess the next punitive force will be led by the First Princess, Princess Frizione.」

「But, aren’t their numbers too few? The first punitive force is a different matter, but the previous punitive force had a large number of people. ……From what I can tell, there at definitely less than a 1000 people, maybe even less than 500.」

「Hmm, a small elite force? I mean, look over there. The robed man near Princess Frizione and the White Rose Knights, who are leading the way.」

「The man? He’s quite short, so is he actually old enough to be called a man? ……Huh? Hey, wait a moment. I think I’ve seen that scythe he’s holding somewhere before.」

「I have as well. It was in that tournament that had been happening until recently. I saw plenty of them at the arena.」

「-!? Crimson? But why? I heard that he skipped the awards ceremony and disappeared from the Imperial Capital.」

「Oh? I heard that he was working with the rebels.」

「No way. If he was, why is he in the Imperial Capital so openly, with Princess Frizione as well?」

「……Now that you say it, that’s true. I guess what I heard were lies after all.」

「Don’t you know? The punitive force is so small because of Crimson. The higher ups in the castle are angry that he skipped the awards ceremony, so there’s no parade for them heading out.」

The members of the First Princess’ faction, who were freely being talked about by others, had strange feelings about all this, although he didn’t show it.

Their supply troops had already joined up with them, Frizione was inside her carriage, and the White Rose Knights were all on horseback.

The nobles and knights behind them had also gotten on horseback while the soldiers and adventurers stayed on foot and Rei was no exception.

Regardless, the way they proceeded through the Imperial Capital in an orderly fashion, despite any sort of formal ceremony, gave those watching a sense that it was all staged.

「At this rate, we should be able to leave the Imperial Capital without any trouble.」

Rei muttered as he looked over at Frizione’s carriage and mounted White Rose Knights.

Since he was acting as an escort, Rei wasn’t riding on a horse.

Rei usually rode on Set and wasn’t used to horses. But, the bigger issue was that any horse Rei tried to ride would inevitably become so frightened that they couldn’t move.

Rei had originally assumed it was because of Set’s scent, so he couldn’t help but be a little puzzled.

The horses that Widele and her subordinates had rode on when leaving the rebel camp for the Imperial Capital had been frightened by Set, but they had still been able to move around when they were far away enough from Set.

So, why couldn’t he ride any of the horses when Set wasn’t around?

Horses that had direct contact with Set and horses that had indirect contact with Set. Rei wondered if there was any difference, but he couldn’t tell himself.

The group led by Frizione was small and had as few people as possible.

Since that was the case, the number of horses that could be prepared was also limited, so Rei had decided to walk on foot until they left the Imperial Capital.

(Well, I’ll be able to ride on Set once we leave the Imperial Capital anyway, so I don’t need to worry about it too much.)

The White Rose Knights, riding on horses nearby, looked at Rei with mixed emotions.

Originally, they had been divided into those who were friendly towards him and those who weren’t, but now the friendly ones were becoming more numerous.

The knights who had cone to the rebel camp had talked about Rei’s strength and delicious food. Some of them had gone to the cabin where Rei had been staying and seen his dance like training, which he had been doing with the Death Scythe, spreading their admiration of him after.

The biggest reason though was that the higher ranking members of the White Rose Knights, such as Widele and Angela, were friendly towards Rei. Even their master, Frizione, treated Rei as her brother-in-law.

……Even so, there were still a few that disliked Rei, for his attitude when speaking towards Frizione and the fact that Vihera loved him but that he didn’t reciprocate her feelings.

「Rei-sama, have you noticed?」

Widele asked as he moved her horse over to Rei’s side.

「Yeah. I see them.」

「Hmph. I guess it will happen after we leave the Imperial Capital.」

「Probably.」

It was a short conversation.

The White Rose Knights, who were listening from nearby, tilted their heads in confusion.

They had thought it was only natural for people to be watching them closely.

(It seems they’re still too naive.)

Seeing her subordinates like that, Widele couldn’t help but want to cover her eyes.

The ones watching them weren’t doing so with curious eyes like the local residents, but with some kind of intention.

Specifically, there were those who were harbouring murderous and fighting intent. ……Yes, those from the First and Second Princes’ factions.

Glance at her other subordinates, Widele saw that about 70-80% of them had noticed those gazes.

(Most of them have noticed, huh.)

Looking at the knights who still didn’t understand what was going on, Widele decided that they need more training.

Under the gazes of many people, their group made their way through the Imperial Capital, eventually coming to a place they had to pass through to leave the Imperial Capital……the main gate, the largest of all gates that connected the Imperial Capital to the outside world.

There were far fewer people at the main gate than usual.

Those who had come to watch the fighting tournament had almost all gone home, those who hadn’t had their fill had then left with the outbreak of the civil war. There were also those who had left the Imperial Capital after hearing of the defeats of the punitive forces.

And so, in the end, far fewer people than usual were passing through the main gate on a daily basis.

That said, even with the civil war and defeat of two punitive forces, there were still merchants who came to the Imperial Capital, probably because that was just how merchants were.

There were even those who purchased goods in the Imperial Capital in order to sell at the rebel camp.

「Are we leaving through here? I think we might have to wait a while if that’s the case.」

「No. This is Princess Frizione, so we’ll obviously be leaving through the gate for nobles. I’m sure Rei-sama also went through that gate when arriving at the Imperial Capital for the first time.」

「Come to think of it, when we came here together, it was also through the gate for nobles.」

「That was only a few days ago……」

「There really wasn’t much variety living in the cabin, so I lost my sense of time. The commotion at the castle gate feel like it was so long ago.」

「I envy your attitude, even you met Prince Kabajid in person. I was worried about a lot of things. I was wondering when they would find out about Rei-sama……」

Rei understood what Widele wanted to say.

(Well, it seems Kabajid had seen through me after all.)

With the time that had passed since he had met Kabajid in front of the castle, Rei was now certain that Kabajid had guessed who he was.

If that was the case, something would definitely happen this time as well.

(The question is, how big is this ‘something’.)

As they continued on, wondering what would happen, he soon saw the gate for nobles.

The guard immediately approached.

Their face stiffened when they saw the group of over 500 people.

When Frizione appeared from her carriage, the guard looked even more taken aback.

「Your Highness Frizione……what would you like to do?」

As the only the guard present at this time, they did their best to look unfazed, because of their position.

「I’d like to go outside for a bit, is that okay?」

「Outside……you say? Um, the people behind you are……」

「They’re my escort.」

「Huh? ……Your escort?」

「Yes.」

The guard looked confused for a moment.

It was true that that if a member of the royal family were to leave the Imperial Capital, they would need an escort since they had minimal combat skill aside from basic self defense.

But still, this number of people was hard to understand, it wasn’t just ten or twenty, it wasn’t even a hundred or two hundred.

In the first place, if the royal family was leaving the Imperial Capital, they would normally be notified in advance.

But they hadn’t received any such notification and there were far too many soldiers to be called an escort, there was even a supply unit.

More than anything, the guard also recognised who the person near the carriage was.

They hadn’t been at the gate when they had come the first time, before the start of the tournament, but they had heard about it from their colleagues, and more than anything else, they had seen him in the fighting tournament.

(Why is Crimson here……I was sure that I heard he had left the Imperial Capital.)

Frizione tilted her head at the confused guards.

It was as if she was asking if there was anything wrong with her request.

「……」

Faced with Frizione’s expression, the guard seemed unable to reach a decision. Soon, Angela, who was riding on horseback next to Frizione’s carriage, spoke up.

「Enough already. Are you planning to keep Princess Frizione waiting forever?」

It was only after hearing Angela’s voice, filled with anger, that the guard came back to their senses.

They then noticed it wasn’t just Angela, the others in Frizione’s group were also looking at them grimly.

They were a competent guard, shown by the fact they had been assigned to the gate for nobles.

But they weren’t so outstanding as to know what to do in a situation like this.

This was made more unfortunate by the fact that they were the only one on duty at the moment.

There would usually be several others, but with two punitive forces having been annihilated, the number of soldiers had been reduced in many places.

The expectation had been that the number of nobles coming and going at this time wouldn’t be high, so only a single guard had been left for the gate.

「U-Um, uh, please wait a moment. I’ll contact the castle……」

「Stop messing around!」

In terms of their duties, the guard’s response was correct.

However, if the castle were to be notified, it would be troublesome for Frizione and her group.

Of course, information was already flying around the castle. But still, they didn’t want to let the castle……the First and Second Prince’s factions, know more than they had to.

「Are you going to keep Princess Frizione waiting here pointlessly any longer?」

「Angela.」

Frizione called out to Angela, who was glaring at the guard.

The guard gave a sigh of relief at her words, but if you were to ask them if the situation had improved in anyway, the answer would be no.

「I understand that you’re trying to fulfill your duties. However, I cannot afford to waste time like this. Therefore, I will force my way through here. You tried to stop us, but couldn’t. Is that okay?」

「That is……but……」

The guard tried to say something, but Frizione shook her head slightly and spoke again.

「Is that okay? I said we would force our way through. We are not asking you to let us through.」

With those words, the guard realised that no matter what he said, Frizione wasn’t going to wait here.

「……I understand. I will go and report the incident.」

「You, do you know what Princess Frizione is saying!」

One of the White Rose Knights shouted as they reached for the long sword at their waist.

But……

「Cease!」

Just before their long sword could be drawn, a sharp voice echoed out.

The White Rose Knight stopped when she realised it was Angela who spoke.

The knight seemed puzzled as Angela spoke with a sigh.

「He hasn’t done anything wrong. We are the ones to blame for not contacting the guards properly ahead of time. That being said, regardless of our exchange of words, drawing your weapon isn’t something you should do. He is still a citizen of the Bestir Empire that you and Princess Frizione must protect.」

「……Yes, I’m sorry.」

The knight’s cheeks flushed red with shame as she heard Angela’s words, realising how embarrassing her actions had been.

Normally, she wouldn’t be so impulsive.

But now was a different situation.

She had been excited at the thought of following Frizione and ending the civil war. But she was also worried about whether the White Rose Knights themselves should side with the rebels, even if it was to end the civil war.

All those thoughts had combined, leading to her short sighted response.

The guard shook his head towards the knight to say he didn’t mind.

「No, don’t worry about it. I’m going to go to report to the castle now…… Ah, but then there will be no one here. That would be terrible. I hope someone doesn’t pass through the gate while I’m gone.」

「-!?」

The knight seemed to understand what the guard meant and her eyes widened.

「……Thank you.」

After a few seconds of silence, the knight spoke to the guard and the guard nodded back with a smile.

「Well then, pardon me.」

Bowing to Frizione, the guard started walking slowly……yes, very slowly, towards the castle.

Seeing the guard leave, Frizione expressed her gratitude and Angela bowed her head……before the First Princess’ group passed through the gate and out of the Imperial Capital.

 

 

……As a side note, the knight who tried to draw her weapon and the guard at the gate eventually got married to each other some time after the end of the civil war.

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]