16-016-Kidnapping incident occurred!

128 years in the life of St. King's, 26 days in the blue moon.

After reading the journal, we were discussing what we should do from now on in one of the inn's rooms.

It's a good thing that we're not the only ones who have been in a position to do this. All of the brave party was away from the castle due to my sifu job change and all that.

Then maybe if we set up an ambush around the castle, we might be able to see the dragons coming.

At Elena's words, Satsuki nodded her head happily.

'If Onii-chan would just protect the princess there, everything would be fine!　Plus, I can sell my debt to the princess, so I'm killing two birds with one stone!

"You guy. If it weren't for Sharon's defensive magic, we would have been extinguished for sure~.............................you know what I mean. If you rushed in, instead of saving Princess Priscia, we would all be burned up by the scorching flames and out in one shot.

"Huh.

That said, I know that the dragon's weakness is its neck now, and I feel like I could take it down while I'm stranded in the "shadow bindings" as long as I don't get caught by surprise.

What bothers me more is the fact that I myself left some meaningful words at the end of the record.

--Only the princess was looking at the distant sky with a dark expression the whole time.

''This place, I'm kind of very curious. What happened to the princess...?''

Onii-chan, you have to be sure to check with the princess here.

Don't be ridiculous. Even an audience with a commoner like me is important enough for a commoner like me to get an audience with the king or princess.

It was almost two years ago to begin with, and to be honest, I don't remember every detail.

Naturally, I still don't know why Princess Pricia was depressed, even now.

And while time passed in parallel, Elena noticed something and fearfully pointed to a sentence in my journal.

It was the same crap I said earlier: "If it weren't for Sharon's defensive magic, we would certainly be extinguished to charcoal~".

' "Was there something that bothered you?

''Oh, eh. Sharon-san remained at the magic school, but the brave men.......is this okay?''

I understood what Elena was trying to say.

The dragon's 'Burning Flame' is a tremendous power that can melt even iron, but Sharon, who is a defensive magic user who can withstand it, is still cheerfully enrolled in the magic school.

In other words, after Princess Pricia was kidnapped by the dragon, if the entire party of heroes who didn't know anything about it rushed in....

[Zanren!　[The Hero's Game ends here!

... no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not good!

If we were to be annihilated by a party of heroes in a place like this, the future of the world would be at stake, not to mention our journey.

I'm not sure what to do with it, but I'm sure it's a good idea for you to have a look at it.

It's no use worrying about it, let's go to the castle first!　If we're with the princess, the dragons might not be able to get close enough, so let's just do it anyway!

Although Satsuki had made such a suggestion, I had a vague feeling that it was a bad idea.

The reason for that........I don't need to tell you.

[128 years of the Holy King's career, Blue Moon, 26th of the same day, past noon.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

We went to the castle to protect Princess Pricia, but as you can see, Elena ended up calming Satsuki's sobbing with a troubled look on her face.

In other words, it's an early story, but it's an excuse to get rid of the gate.

You can't enter the castle with a face pass if you're not a brave man.

On the contrary, from a third party's point of view, we are a group of three too unique individuals: a shifu whose identity is unknown, a mysterious woman wearing a deep hood, and an unusually energetic country girl.

If we were to let such suspicious people into the castle, the old man who guarded the gate would be sacked on the same day.

I mean, if you thought there was no way you could get in, tell me!　Why didn't you tell me?!

The life experiences that helped Satsuki become an adult lady?

I was strangled silently.

Anyway, if we make noise near the castle, the guards will get in trouble. Let's get out of here.

Boo!

Dragging Satsuki, who is buzzing with discontent, I turn around to go back to North Street again.

''........! ..... ...!

-- something didn't feel right.

?

"Mr. Kanata, what's wrong?

No, did you hear anything behind the walls?

I didn't understand it at all!

I didn't expect anything from Satsuki from the beginning, but from the way Elena is tilting her head curiously too, it seems I'm the only one who cares about this uncomfortable feeling.

''Hmm, maybe it's just my imagination, but let's go take a look, shall we?

I was walking along the east side of the castle along the moat with the two of them when a man on a horse passed me next to him at a high rate of speed.

A large jute bag is carried on his right arm, which seems to be a rather large piece of luggage.

"Normally it would be hard for a horse to balance itself if it didn't carry that big of a load in its saddlebags,

!

Elena noticed something, and her eyes narrowed sharply as she thrust her hands in front of her.

[Simplified status display]

Level: 11

Name: Pricia.

Occupation: princess

Content: people

Gender : Female

Attributes: holy

Age: 10

"There's Princess Pricia in the bag, sir!

What did you say?

I hasten to grab my dagger and take up a throwing stance!

But it was already too late, and the man on the horse just rode off somewhere far away.

◇ ◇ ◇.

'I mean, that's not what you're talking about!　Wasn't the kidnapping happening tomorrow in the first place!

As soon as I returned to my room at the inn, Satsuki asked me a legitimate question.

''It was only because the information was conveyed to the hero's party on the 28th, so the kidnapping might have been on the previous day, the 27th~.... It was unexpected that two days had passed since the kidnapping, and Princess Priscia was supposed to have been kidnapped by a dragon in the first place, so why was she kidnapped by a human?

''Has history changed since Sharon-san stayed at the magic academy...?''

Although Elena said uneasily, I somehow had "other possibilities" in mind.

-- what if "the dragon wasn't involved in the kidnapping from the beginning"?

For example, what if the kidnapping was artificially caused and the goal from the beginning was to get the heroes to slay the dragons...?

When I mentioned the possibility, they got a huff.

''I just realized too... what was the reason the dragon kidnapped the princess in the first place?　It's not a fairy tale, and it's definitely not right for a dragon to take a princess away for no reason.

'And it seems that it was the minister who testified that the dragon took the princess, but even that is strange when you think about it. If a dragon had come to such a large country, captured the princess and left, there must have been other witnesses, and Kanata-san and the others would have heard about it long before the king called them.

''And if the dragons took the princess away in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness so that the humans wouldn't find her, how could the minister have witnessed the scene of Princess Priscia's abduction at that hour?　I doubt that's even a question.

When I was informed by the heroic party that Princess Priscia had been kidnapped, I didn't pry into it because it was an emergency, but when I looked at the case objectively from a third party perspective, there were so many unnatural things about it.

Anyway, let's go to the cave where the princess is being held. We might be able to find out something if we go there!