Chapter 55

After finishing his meeting with Crus, Raidoh returned to the guild's reception area, where his companion, who had been waiting, glared at him and protested.

"Big brother, you're late."

"I thought I finished up pretty quickly. Princess, you're quite impatient, aren't you?"

The one waiting in the hall with the reception area was the imperial princess, Seria von Arsline. Seria, wearing a simple red dress with a gray coat over it, had her holy sword hanging from her waist and her arms crossed in front of her chest. At her feet, three men dressed like adventurers lay unconscious, their eyes rolled back.

"These guys?"

"They were bothering me, so I took them down. Isn't that part of the adventurer's code?"

"Ah... I see."

Raidoh somehow understood the situation as Seria tilted her head cutely. Seria was cheerful and quick to act before thinking, but she looked like a proper golden-haired young lady. It was only natural that she would be approached by some unsavory characters in a guild full of strong-armed adventurers.

"Anyway, did you finish your business? You brought me all the way here."

"Yeah, it went well."

"Hmm?"

Raidoh waved a few sheets of paper in his hand. Seria looked at them with interest, like a cat watching a catnip toy, and then snatched the papers from Raidoh's hand with a "Hey!"

"Um... these are guild request forms? You came to pick these up?"

"Not just any request forms. These are requests that have been left untouched for months because no one could complete them."

"Left untouched?"

Raidoh, puffing out his chest, made Seria's eyes widen.

"Why would you take on something like that? What are you going to use them for?"

"Hey, Seria. What would you do if you issued a request to the guild and it never got completed?"

"That... cancel the request?"

Raidoh nodded at Seria's answer.

"Right, but these requests have been left untouched for months without being canceled. Why do you think that is?"

"Um, hmm... Because they're too troublesome to cancel?"

"That could be part of it... but the main reason is that the requesters are still in ongoing trouble."

Just because a guild request is canceled doesn't mean the problem that led to the request disappears. Therefore, they keep hoping that someone will eventually take on the request.

"In other words, you're taking on these requests to help people? Um, you're the king's brother, right?"

"Technically, yes... but I've been an adventurer for longer than I was the king's brother."

"......?"

Seria, not understanding Raidoh's words, put a question mark in her head. She didn't know that Raidoh had been exiled or that he had a strained relationship with his brother, Granard.

"Killer Falcon extermination, Red Ice Snake capture, Rock Mandrake delivery, investigation of the dried-up lake... all difficult requests, but with two holy sword wielders, they should be easy to complete."

"Wait, I have to do this too!? Why!?"

"Since we can't leave this country until the peace treaty with the empire is established, you'll have plenty of free time. Help me out. If you don't want to help the people of an enemy country, that's fine too."

"Mmm... That's not fair! Fine, I'll do it. I'll do it!"

Seria puffed out her cheeks, angry but agreeing to Raidoh's proposal. Raidoh ruffled her hair, which she had turned away from him.

"Hey, don't touch me!"

"Well, let's go sightseeing in the kingdom while we complete these requests. First, let's go see the lake as promised!"

"Ugh... Why do I have to do this..."

Raidoh, pulling Seria's arm despite her discontented and unhappy expression, left the adventurer's guild. The adventurers in the guild watched the backs of the Zain royal family and the Arsline imperial family, plus the two holy sword wielders, with wide eyes.