Chapter 203: The Mysterious Girl

Chapter 203: The Mysterious Girl

(Abby’s PoV (New character))

Today, I decided to travel to a nearby city in incognito. My title of princess may be just for show, but I still like to check up on our cities to make sure everything is alright.

It’s something I’ve been doing for quite some time now, so I was pretty used to it… However, this time, there seemed to be a pretty unusual person lined up right behind me on a stall to buy sweets.

She poked my shoulder with her finger, but when I asked her, “Is something the matter?” she just tilted her head in response… Strange. This girl seems to be about my age, and she is definitely no commoner. Her manners are too elegant for that.

Is she a foreign noble then? I suppose that might be it… Well, let’s give her one of the sweets from the stall as a way of starting the conversation, “Here you are.” I told her as I gave her the candy I had just bought.

“T-tank… U?” She replied.

“Eh? You can’t speak our language?” I asked her just in case, but she just tilted her head in response.

Way too strange. A foreign noble who comes here without even being capable of speaking our language?

Also, her clothes don’t really fit her. The sizes are wrong… Too suspicious, I need to investigate more.

“Can you tell me if something is the matter?” I tried asking her in a different language, but she still did not seem to understand.

Also, her escort knight seemed to be getting nervous for some reason…

“Did you come here on a trip?” I decided to ask with the language of the Western portion of the continent.

“Oh! You can speak our language?” She replied in the same language I just used.

So she’s from the place that the migrants descended upon with the blessings of the gods? That one place that has had a wide number of horrible violent occurrences happen one after the other?

This might be a very dangerous lady then… I need to investigate more.

Wait, why is her knight touching his sword’s hilt!? “Wait, I’m not a dangerous person! It’s only natural that one has to learn multiple languages when living in a country with as few cities as ours! Foreign merchants come to this place way too often, so I needed to learn how to talk to them!” I hurriedly explained… Though it was only a half-truth, since I, as a princess, obviously needed to learn multiple languages. It was not because I needed to handle merchants.

“Calm down, Ino… Sensho.” The lady said, which made the knight let go of his sword.

Inosensho looks like a really strange name, but let’s not mind that and focus on trying to understand why this lady is here, “Quite unusual for you to come here at this time though. I mean… The only remarkable thing happening right now is the election of the next Grand Duke.”

“Grand Duke’s Election?” She asked me… Could she be completely oblivious to it? Or is she just playing dumb, while planning to interfere with it…?

Let’s give her a superficial explanation. It’s best to avoid antagonizing her without need, “Well, you know, it’s the person who ends up ruling our kingdom. We elect our ruler who stays in charge for a while, until the next election comes by.

“And well, our king only has one daughter, and as she happens to be of marriable age already, there is a good chance that the next Grand Duke might end up becoming her fiance, making this year’s election a pretty special one.”

“I see, so this is essentially a constitutional monarchy?” She commented.

I wonder… Is this lady the problem person? Or is the silent knight the actual problem? Which one should I be more worried about? Is she just covering for him while he analyses our defenses?

I can’t let her roam around freely… Better keep her close, where I can watch her movements, “Hey, would you like me to show you around the city?” I asked her.

“Would that be alright? How much do you want for it?” She asked me. Oh, right, it would make sense that I’d ask for something to guide her around…

“Well, how about this much? I’ll keep it cheap for you.” I replied.

I may just be a powerless princess, but I do love this country. There’s no way I can do nothing after finding someone that might be plotting something against us, “I’m Abby, by the way, nice to meet you.” I told her.

“Oh, I’m… Reiko.” She replied.

“Reiko? Such an unusual name!” I said.

“Well, it’s a bit old-fashioned…” She replied.

Okay, I got the role of guide. I will have to somehow keep those two in check, but… At times like this I really wish I had power to move some knights around to help me.

I could try asking Dirk for help, but… It’s better if he focuses entirely on the election. I’ll somehow handle this myself.

However… I think it might be a bit too dangerous for me to directly involve myself like this without any plan whatsoever. I need some time to think on what will be the best course of action, “Ah! I just remembered that I need to go home early today! Sorry!

“Do you mind if I show you around tomorrow? We can try meeting up a bit before noon at the city’s square.”

It’s dangerous to leave them alone for a while, but this is probably the safest course of action. Luckily enough, right now they just seem to be scouting, as this lady probably wouldn’t have tried talking to me at the stall in the way she did otherwise, so, hopefully, no damage will be caused during the time we’re apart.

“Understood.” The girl replied… Alright! Mission accomplished!

I’m not going to let you get in Dirk’s way!

******

(Rena’s PoV)

“Seems like we got a nice interpreter and hostage for ourselves.” I commented to Inoue once we parted ways with Abby.

——

Translator’s Note: As a reminder, Reiko is the name of Reina’s mom, who has already passed away.