CH 16

Something Scarier Than Bandits

My father still doesn’t want me to leave.

“Give it up.”

Probably finding his behavior troublesome by now, Mother was physically silencing my father with an iron claw grip. When she does that right in front of me, I get scared and start shaking, too.

“Miss? I’m going to push you down if you hold me so strongly.”

As I thought, Aletheia is a weirdo… no, I’m sure she means that she will lose balance and topple down with me.

“I’m off then. And don’t be reckless, Father.”

“Be sure to come back for long vacations, okay? I will send the royal guards to pick you up otherwise, okay!! And send me letters regularly, or I will be too lonely!!”

“Uh-huh.”

It was troublesome, so when I responded appropriately, Father’s eyes turned white and he fell down. Isn’t he mentally too weak? I’m tempted to write “tofu mentality” on his face in Japanese, but I haven’t told them about my reincarnation, so I will hold back.

“I think you will be all right with Aletheia accompanying you, but come back at least once a year, okay? I will miss you too. Let’s talk a lot about various topics, such as the friends you have made there, when you return.”

“… Okay.”

“Miss definitely considers this too troublesome. My Queen, leave her in my care, I will certainly bring her back home.”

“I leave her in your care, so look after her over there, Aletheia. This girl likes to get in trouble and trouble likes to follow her everywhere she goes, so you have to stop and help her.”

How rude! You are making it sound as if I was a troublemaker. I certainly encounter lots of trouble, but not everything is my fault… I think.

“Well then, Young Lady, the carriage is ready so let’s get on our way to the academy. We will be crossing the border on the way, so it will be about two weeks before we arrive.”

In this world, there are only two ways to get around: on foot or by carriage. There are some baskets that get attached to wyverns too, but those are only used by royalty, and I’m entering the school as the daughter of Count Fleur, so I can’t do anything conspicuous like that. In addition, the carriage is shaky and the road is usually bumpy, so just getting around is tiring. During the Stampede, we rode a wyvern, but it was just me and Mother.

“How troublesome… I like wyverns better.”

“Alright, let me prepare a wyvern for you!!”

“Please don’t. Her position will be immediately doubted. We can’t go by wyvern because His Highness, who is the rightful successor, is already enrolled in the academy.”

My brother is certainly already enrolled in the academy, and since he took a carriage to get there, it would be conspicuous if I was the only one using a wyvern, since the academy is not located in our country.

I’m sure my brother already told stories about me in the academy. The eldest son of the Count’s family takes a carriage and the eldest daughter arrives by a wyvern… yeah, let’s not.

“… I will use the carriage.”

“Don’t give me such a disgruntled look, Young Lady. Let’s be expressive a bit more. There are only a few people who can read your emotions with just their eyes.”

Indeed. There are not many people who can read my emotions just from my facial expressions. I don’t think I’m unfriendly, but my emotions don’t show on my face that much. I don’t really care, though.

Well, I’m off on a two-week trip.

“Gyahahaha, leave the women and money and I will spare your lives.”

“Yeah, yeah, my bro will kill you otherwise! Well, the women will be sold to the brothel when we get bored of them, though.”

It’s been a week since we started our journey. A week into the trip, security deteriorated quickly after we crossed the border.

In our country, defeating bandits is considered training for the knights, so there aren’t many of them, but the neutral country of Ostland, where Huell Academy is located, isn’t as safe as our country (although there are areas of our country that aren’t safe either), so it seems that many commoners never leave the town where they were born for a whole lifetime.

Of course, it’s dangerous even on the roads, so merchants have guards, and the basic way to travel is to pay to accompany those merchant or merchant groups.

I’m also being escorted by our country’s royal guards, but they are not dressed as knights to hide their identity. They are all real cavalrymen, though.

“You mustn’t look, Young Lady. That is a pest not worthy to be in your sight.”

As she said this, Aletheia blocked my eyes from looking outside. Am I afraid? Not really, because the guards are obviously better trained than the bandits. Although they are wearing leather armor or light armor, their bodies are clearly macho and not skinny or fat like the bandits. It’s not scary at all.

“Oi!! You beauty over there!! Wait for me, I’m going to make you squeal!! Gyahahaha.”

“Ah, what do I do? I want to cover Young Lady’s ears as well, but I don’t have enough hands. Everyone! Any more than this will be bad for Young Lady’s education, so quickly apprehend these bandits!”

“Roger that. All units!! Answer my question!! What is our purpose?”

“”””To protect our Princess’ smile.””””

“Can you allow these people to exist in our Princess’ vicinity?”

““”””Can’t allow!”””””

“Good!! Exterminate them then!! Follow my lead~~~”

“”””””Ooooooooooooooooooohhh!!!!!”””””

Something Scarier Than Bandits

With a shout, everyone except my personal guards charged at the bandits. I would love to object to the previous statement, but I doubt my voice will be heard in this chaos. I have 50 guards and there are nearly 100 bandits. Normally, we should be running away, but my guards charged at them instead and were seemingly beating the bandits back. Why can’t I confirm the proper numbers? Because Aletheia was covering my eyes from behind and I couldn’t see anything. I don’t like to see people die, but I think it’s inevitable because they are bad people.

“You have no right to have our Princess in your sight!!! Know your place! Moreover, you want to sell our greatest treasure, the princess, to a brothel?? I won’t forgive you!!”

“Oyyy! Cry and beg for forgiveness! Cry and apologize for turning your fangs on the one you are not allowed to touch or even see!”

“These people are crazy, Big Bro! They are charging at us with such a difference in numbers. Impossible, they are quite strong too, we should retreat.”

“Wait! We should at least get that maid, she will sell high~ that white hair, ears, and tail of hers. She’s most likely a fox, and she’s quite the sight to behold. And if we get that brat too, it will be our victory.”

Wah! They are coming here. But the people near me are the kind of people who are wearing full plate armor, how reckless. Also, I can’t allow them to get Aletheia.

“Everyone, do your best~~”

I wave my hand in the direction the guards were fighting with my eyes blocked.

“Guuuuuuh, everyone, all-out charge!! Don’t let those cockroaches approach our Princess~”

“”””I’m going to kill you!””””

It got scary so I hid in the carriage… It’s not because my own allies frighten me. Encountering bandits is a scary experience too, but Aletheia told me it’s dangerous to stay out in the open and urged me into the carriage. This carriage is not the most comfortable, but it has a strong protection spell, so let’s stay obediently inside until the attack is over.

“Young Lady? If it’s an attack like this, there won’t be any deaths on our side, so please remain calm. Even so, I think we chose the wrong guards… I thought we prepared personnel who can protect you, but it seems we have gathered a group of members who are a bit obsessed with you instead.”

This certainly makes me feel awkward. I’m happy that they protect and adore me, but isn’t that a bit excessive? I glanced over and saw that the eyes of all of my guards were bloodshot and the bandits were pale… I guess that’s what happens when you get stared at by powerful knights. Sometimes I feel like crying too.

“They wanted to capture you, Aletheia…”

“In other countries, we are called subhumans, and it is normal to get kidnapped if you walk alone. Even in this country, there are apparently many people who do not follow the prohibition only on the outside. That’s why I wear these gloves. This is a sign that I have an owner… that I am a property of a noble. These gloves can only be removed in regulated situations, and it is a felony to kidnap a slave that has gloves on.”

Aletheia had been wearing gloves throughout this trip, but there was such a reason for that? It’s certainly easy to tell that she’s related to the Fleur family because their family crest is woven into the back of the gloves.

“Please be at ease, I’m not that weak to be captured by people like this. I can protect about five of you, while exterminating the bandits in the process, Young Lady.”

“That is incredible, I cannot do that.”

“You can deal with several times the number of bandits if you get serious, Princess. Wouldn’t you easily be able to apprehend all of them at once?”

I can capture them all with intermediate restraint magic, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do even if I captured them. I mean, escorting them alone would be impossible for me, and besides, they all look scary so I don’t want to approach them.

“Aletheia, we have finished exterminating the enemy. We have no injured, those who surrendered will be thrown in the carriage as planned.”

“N?”

“That reminds me, we haven’t told you about this yet, right? We have several empty carriages this time, so any bandits we catch will be restrained and thrown into them. We will hand them over to the Knights Order as soon as we arrive at the academy. Well, if there are too many of them, we will tie them up to the carriage and have them run behind.”

I feel sorry for the bandits. Their hands and legs were tied and they were piled up in the carriage like objects. I’m sure they now regret what they have done. I wonder if some of them have bounty on their heads.

“Rejoice, everyone! By the time we get to the town, you all will be splendid kindred spirits!! And once you see how great the princess is, you won’t be able to do anything bad like you did before. Do not worry you bastards, we will take c-a-r-e of you until we arrive.”

The knights were trying to brainwash the bandits with their knighthood, weren’t they? I’m afraid my allies are on a level that’s more than a little bit scary. I couldn’t help but cling to Aletheia with such thoughts on my mind.

“Oh my, so you finally realized my feelings for you, Young Lady?”

“The surroundings are too scary.”