Chapter 16

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First of all, as expected, the village chief fainted.

When we arrived at Enel Village and went straight to the villa, we were greeted by the village chief and his wife. The moment they realized that the prince was among us, they fainted, foaming at the mouth. They are now being tended to in the villa's guest room.

(Well, that was expected... but there were also some unexpected things.)

"You've arrived, Miss."

Sir Klaus, who is also my teacher, showed a stern smile and was there at the villa with several knights. I had Tütte guide the others while I greeted the stern knight.

"Good day, Sir Klaus. Why are you here... Oh, that's a silly question."

"Hahaha, as you might have guessed, I heard from my son that the prince would be coming incognito, so I came to the villa as a guard ahead of time. Of course, I have Ferdinand's permission."

"By the way, when did you find out about this?"

"Last night."

"I'm truly sorry!"

I bowed deeply, imagining how much trouble it must have caused.

"That's not something you should apologize for, Miss. On the contrary, your arrival here today was a stroke of luck."

"Huh?"

"It's not confirmed yet, but apparently, there have been reports of monsters being seen in the evening primrose forest. The village chief came here just now to discuss this matter."

"Monsters...?"

Creatures from my previous life that only existed in fantasy. But they are not all pleasant. Most of them are harmful to our kind.

"Do these monsters often appear in the forest?"

"No, according to the village chief, there has never been a case of monsters approaching the evening primrose forest. So, he was at a loss about what to do when he heard that we had arrived and came to consult us."

Sir Klaus laughed, and I wondered if this might be a divine intervention.

"So, the evening primrose festival is canceled?"

"No, the village chief wants to keep it low-key. If we confirm the presence of monsters, he wants us to deal with them quickly, and the festival will proceed as planned. He was quite confident about it, until just now."

Sir Klaus looked at the room where the village chief had been carried off to, with a sympathetic expression.

(Well, I lost the bet.)

I felt dizzy and looked up at the sky.

(My first outing, and I end up escorting royalty, and now there's a monster scare... Ha! It's a full house of events.)

"Leave the monster situation to us. For now, please avoid getting too close to the forest."

"Understood."

Sir Klaus was called by one of the knights, so he gave me a light bow and left. I watched him go, wondering what to do next.

(There's no need to think about it, I won't go near the forest! That's the only option!)

I thought about informing the other three, but I was exhausted from the long journey and the strange tension, so I decided to do it later and walked back to where Tütte had finished guiding everyone.

――――――――――

"You look tired, Miss... The others are resting in their rooms. Why don't you take a rest as well?"

As soon as I entered the assigned room and flopped onto the bed, Tütte, who looked genuinely worried, spoke to me. I considered just sleeping and stared blankly at the wall, when my eyes caught a painting hanging there.

"That? I've seen it somewhere before."

I sat up to look at the painting, and Tütte also turned to look at it.

"Oh, that's the 'Silver Knight.'"

As Tütte said, the painting depicted a fully armored knight in white standing in a field of white flowers.

Hearing 'Silver Knight,' I remembered that this was a common name for the protagonist in the fairy tales and legends I had read at Magilka's mansion.

"Is the Silver Knight a fictional character?"

"I don't know... I've never met him, but he seems to have existed in the past, after all, he is a hero knight of the Aldia Kingdom."

"You know a lot, Tütte."

"Not really... Most of what I know is from what Magilka taught me."

(Oh my, that girl is unexpectedly a fan, but knowing Magilka, she probably only sees it as a subject of study...)

"Anyway, I know about the Silver Knight, but what about this flower field?"

"It's evening primrose. When evening primrose blooms, it is said to glow white and shine. I've never seen it, though."

"Wow... I'd really like to see it."

I decided to ask Magilka about the subject of this painting later and remembered the matter at hand. I got up, feeling heavy, and took Tütte with me to Magilka's room first. I knocked lightly on the door, and a response came from inside, and the door opened.

"Magilka, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yes, of course. Is there a problem?"

"I'm glad you're so perceptive."

I told my intelligent and reliable friend about my conversation with Sir Klaus.

"I see... Monsters, huh. Even though it's not confirmed yet, we should keep the prince away from the forest just to be safe."

"I agree... I'll inform the other two, so you can take your time."

"Ah, I'll come with you."

She stood up and came to stand beside me.

"Well, you see... It's kind of... an apology for not telling you... and... I don't want to burden you..."

Magilka, blushing and avoiding eye contact, looked oddly cute, and I couldn't help but hug her.

"Friend!"

"Hey, hey! Let go! Haha, it's embarrassing!"

(Oh, this tsundere girl! She's so cute.)

I chuckled and, after letting go, we headed to Zaha's room together. I knocked lightly on the door as before.

"?"

There was no response. Thinking she might not have heard, I knocked a bit harder, but there was still no sign of movement inside.

"What's going on? Zaha, I'm coming in."

I turned the doorknob and looked inside, then froze. The room was empty.

"Where did that idiot go!"

Magilka, peering over my shoulder, understood the situation and, looking around, saw one of Zaha's attendants running towards us from the entrance.

(No, no, no, I don't want to know, I don't want to know... I don't want to know what happens next.)

As I slowly shook my head, the attendant came up to us and said:

"Miss Zaha went into the forest alone."

The gong of chaos rang loudly in my head.

Thank you for reading this far.