CH 35.2

After Rosa and I made it to Charante, we were brought to the castle. I wonder if I’d also get a castle like this if I got a territory. This is nice, I’m jealous. I didn’t really need any thanks, but the people from the guild seemed pretty grateful, so I couldn’t turn them down. Or more like I got surrounded and swept along with no opportunity to refuse. Well, it was a pretty touching reunion. Everyone in the guild sure is nice, wanting to thank me on those two’s behalf.

It seems like they wanted to talk in private for a while, so in the meantime I’m waiting in a guest room-looking room that they were nice enough to bring me to. But even dirtying a big, nice room like this makes me feel ill-mannered, so I’ve been on the edge of my seat, fidgeting the whole time. What do I do? I can’t just leave without saying anything. That would be rude. And there’s no telling when they’re coming back, so I can’t log out either.

After waiting in the room for a while, Rosa’s uncle and a pretty long-haired girl wearing a long dress enter the room followed by a crowd of people. Something snags at my memory. I feel like I’ve seen this girl before.

“My apologies for the wait. It’s been a long time since Lady Roseline and I last met. I wanted to have a proper conversation with her. We got a bit caught up in reminiscing. I am Raoul du Chartelle. You’ve done well, bringing Lady Roseline to Charante. Chaos, if not for you, Lady Roseline would not have made it all this way. You have my thanks,” Raoul says, expressing his gratitude with a friendly grin. I nod in response. The girl smiles at me when I meet her gaze, but seriously, who is she?

I must have looked confused as I stared in bafflement, because the girl raises her eyebrows and says, “You really haven’t realized? We were together until just recently. Honestly, you’re so cold-hearted.”

That voice is familiar. Man, I’m such an idiot. With the way the conversation was going, it should have been obvious that she was Rosa. And sure enough, when I look more closely, her hair and eye color and her physique haven’t really changed. But Rosa always wore an outdoorsy outfit, so I couldn’t make the connection when she was wearing a dress like this.

“You’re Rosa?”

“That’s right. You honestly didn’t realize? You really are awful. Do I look that strange in this outfit?”

“You look really pretty,” I say, the words coming out on their own.

“Chaos, you…!”

Rosa turns around, hugging her body in embarrassment. I’m also embarrassed since I didn’t mean to say it. But Rosa really does give off a different impression. They say makeup can transform a woman, but people can really change just by changing their clothes and hairstyle. Like they say, clothes make the man. No, that’s not right, she was pretty from the start. If anything, it’s only enhancing her existing beauty. Like a whip to a galloping horse, so is a dress to a princess.

“You’re like a princess.”

Yeah, she really does look like a princess. Normally, her appeal is her cheerfulness. But when she’s wearing a dress, it really brings out the ladylike side of her, and she looks aristocratic in a different way from Alexia. It feels like it brought out her hidden charm.

Huh, why did everyone get all stiff?

“I see. I understand. I never told you, after all.”

Rosa approaches intently in an unsettling manner and yanks on my ear. It doesn’t hurt, but I should do what Roseline wants me to. If this weren’t a game, wouldn’t it get torn off?

“But what do you mean, like a princess?! ‘Like’?! Are you saying that until now, I looked like an uncivilized woman without an ounce of femininity?! Answer me!”

This is no longer a majestic princess in a dress, but a sadistic princess’s domination. I didn’t intend it that way, but it’s true that it could sound like that. But it’s hard to even respond right now, much less make excuses.

As this comedy sketch-like scenario plays out, I hear a low-pitched laughter.

“Oh, my sides! You tell such amusing jokes!”

“Uncle!”

Rosa’s uncle holds his stomach as he laughs. The reactions of the other people in the room are mixed. There are some who are stifling their laughter and others who have an expression that says ‘Man, you’ve really done it now.’

As if she’s calmed down, Rosa, with her face bright red, lets go of my ear and sighs.

“It’s my fault for deceiving you, so I’ll tell you properly,” Rosa says. Then, with a dignified posture, she declares, “I am the princess of the Allied Commune, Roseline du Commune. Chaos, you were a great help in my journey to Charante. You have my gratitude… Hey, why do you look so stunned? Is it really that strange that I’m a princess?”

I already knew she wasn’t actually Rosa, and I did sort of guess from her name, but it really was like that, huh. First a high-class young lady, now a princess…? These sorts of character backstories seem really popular. Maybe I should come up with some sort of backstory too.

***

‘Now that we’ve met, the boy seems doubtful.’

A careless and dim-witted boy. This was Raoul’s assessment of Chaos after their first meeting.

Roseline had already told him about how she met Chaos as well as his personality and actions, but now his impression of Chaos has changed drastically. Her impression of him was “a boy who is usually unreliable but can be relied upon in an emergency.” But after meeting him in person, he agrees with the former, but his impression of him doesn’t match the latter in the least. Perhaps it’s just that his true nature doesn’t show itself in times of peace.

At the same time, he can’t imagine that the boy is only a commoner. If a normal commoner had been suddenly guided into a castle and met the high-ranking noble who rules over the region, there may be any number or ways he might react, such as becoming tense or turning pale, but  he should show some sort of reaction, whether large or small. However, he appeared to have no reaction, and even when he learned that Roseline was the princess of Commune, he didn’t change the way he spoke to her or even pay her any respect, something that would be unthinkable for a commoner. Rather than boldness, Raoul would say that it appears to come from ignorance if anything.

Even though this was an informal meeting, his discourtesy towards the country’s princess would normally be disrespectful enough to warrant punishment. Since he is ostensibly Roseline’s savior, Raoul laughed it off (although Raoul himself truly did feel a genuine urge to laugh at Chaos’s actions), so it was overlooked and went unpunished. However, if there was a more nitpicky noble present, it would have turned into quite the commotion. If he was punished in such a way, Roseline would surely be opposed to it. Raoul thought it would probably be better to give him an indirect warning so that it wouldn’t become a problem in the future.

However, he’s considering keeping Chaos away from Roseline for that reason. After all, if Roseline’s story is true, then Chaos is someone to be wary of.

‘Clermont soldiers are rampaging outside the walls of Charante.’ This was the report Raoul received when Roseline and Chaos were being attacked by vampires. According to Roseline herself, although she realized that the people in the palace in Clermont had changed and began acting like different people, even she couldn’t determine that they were replaced by vampires. In other words, nobody realized that they were monsters.

This would mean that there was a contradiction in one of Chaos’s actions. When Chaos encountered their first pursuer, how did he immediately determine that it was a vampire? And since they were being chased in a carriage, it would be difficult to see the person in those conditions.

When the corpses of a soldier that attacked Roseline and Chaos was inspected, it had sharp fangs which aren’t found on humans and it was determined that it was indeed not human. But Chaos did not inspect the vampire’s corpse. It should have been impossible to determine whether or not it was a monster, let alone a vampire. The most he could have figured out just by looking at it from a distance was that it was a knight riding a monster. He couldn’t have gained any more information than that.

Even so, he identified it. There’s no way to tell whether that pursuer was actually a vampire. However, since the soldiers who came to Charante were vampires, there’s a high chance that that soldier was a vampire as well.

That’s not the only part that’s suspicious. Raoul heard that Roseline and Chaos met when Chaos lost control of his carriage. Why would a commoner she met by coincidence like that happen to know about vampires? He can’t write it off as a coincidence, it’s too convenient. He feels a sense of discomfort, as if someone is guiding his thoughts in a certain direction.

Unable to see the vampires’ goal, he is raising an army to strike at them. Is this, too, a part of their machinations? Perhaps they deliberately let Roseline escape to Charante. If anything, Raoul suspects that there is a high chance that this is the case.

In short, his concern is that Roseline is bait for Charante to raise an army and that this is a plot to eliminate all the rebelling nobles in one fell swoop. In which case, this makes him suspect that Chaos may be connected to them. Perhaps he is a spy sent to monitor their every action.

‘However, I doubt this is the case.’

As he watched Chaos turn incoherent when he was reproached by Roseline, Raoul’s suspicions toward him wavered. If it were him, he would never employ a spy who would commit such a discourtesy towards the princess. But if even this was Chaos’s calculated action, then he’s a buffoon to be feared. Roseline feels little caution towards him– no, probably hardly any. There are many points of suspicion, but he can’t identify any particular grounds for suspicion in spite of approaching him under the pretense of gratitude in an attempt to catch him in the act.

If Roseline’s assessment of him being “reliable in an emergency” reveals even a glimpse of his hidden abilities, he may bare his fangs as the most troublesome snake in their midst.

‘Since we don’t understand the enemy’s goal, there is a risk, but for now, I’ll leave him be.’

Even if the chances are low, they don’t know who is an enemy right now. He can’t overlook even the slightest bit of danger. As he saw Roseline lose her temper again, Raoul decided to monitor Chaos. If the buffoon ever bares his fangs, Raoul will immediately cut him down so that his niece never notices.

Two days later, Roseline du Commune joined Duke Chartelle in raising an army to retake Clermont. Among those soldiers, there was a mage with black hair.