Chapter 38

“You owe me from last time.”

When I heard Chris’s words, I realized that the bad premonition I had was right.

I now owe Chris – and by extension, the Defense Intelligence Agency.

I owe them for finding out the information about Elysia. As for the assassination of Robert, the bureau also had the objective of obtaining the secret book, so there was no debt.

Just one debt.

Chris is now telling me to pay up as soon as possible.

Perhaps there is an extraordinary circumstance.

“School’s lunch break ends in thirty minutes. Can you explain it by then?”

“Yes. I think that will be enough.” Chris said.

“Tweight…, no, Twenty-Eight… The Monarchy’s Defense Intelligence Agency has given you an official mission.”

They are calling me 28, which means it’s a mission that the old me can accomplish.

I braced myself.

This mission could be even more difficult than Robert’s assassination.

“The job is to secretly escort the second princess of the Holy Arcadia Kingdom, who is currently hiding in Bildarz Academy.”

When I heard what she said, it took me nearly ten seconds to understand…

“…I have a lot of questions, so I’ll ask them in order.”

In a small voice, Chris said “Yes”.

She seems to be aware that there would be many questions about this mission.

“The princess is in the mix? A princess from another country is in a …school in the capital?”

“Yes. She uses a false identity and attends the school as a regular student.”

She’s faking her identity.

This means that the teachers at school don’t know about it either.

If they knew, it would become an international problem and they would be responsible. I would like to think that no teacher would allow that to happen.

“Why did she do that??”

“…ran away from home, apparently.”

“What…?”

A princess ran away from… her home?

It was a ridiculous idea. The idea itself is absurd, but even if she tried to make it happen, the nobles and knights around her won’t be able to keep quiet.

“I’m sorry, but we’ve only heard about this as a runaway.”

Apparently Chris didn’t know the details either.

First of all, I forced myself to accept it. It seems that the second princess of the Holy Arcadia Kingdom tried to run away from home, and succeeded. And until now, she has been attending Bildarz Academy, a school in another country, without anyone knowing about it.

My head started to hurt.

“Next question… I’m sure the Kingdom of Holy Arcadia has an organization that protects the royal family. Why don’t they come here?”

For the Kingdom of Terraria, it’s the Knights of the King’s Guard.

The Kingdom of Arcadia must have an order of knights with a similar role.

“It’s the client’s idea. They don’t want to take this matter too seriously. That’s why the request came to us through the Kingdom of Terraria.”

“So, it’s… a secret…. escort. Well, if it’s true that she ran away from home, they certainly don’t want to make a big deal out of it…”

“I’d like to believe it’s just a pretext.”

The desire not to make a big deal out of it, is something you hear a lot if you work in the dark side of the country.

The work is weird, as usual. It seems that the Monarchy’s Defense Intelligence Agency is operating normally.

Currently, relations between the Holy Arcadia Kingdom and the Kingdom of Terraria are good.

The client must have decided that it would be more reliable to send the request to the Kingdom of Terraria than to hire their own guards and send them to Terraria. In that case, they would owe a debt to the Kingdom of Terraria, but considering the safety of the second princess, they could not simply ignore it.

“Can I ask you something about the client?”

“That information is not necessary for the mission, but I’m sure you can guess.”

“Well, yeah.”

Not many people have the capacity to ask for favors from other countries.

The client must be a nobleman at the very least. I’m not sure, it could be a Duke or royalty.

Normally, it would be royalty. Someone who was concerned about the second princess’s safety must have sent out this request.

“A secret escort, but what exactly do we have to worry about?”

“Everything. The fact that you are escorting them must not be known to enemies or the person you are escorting.”

“I’m not really good at guarding people. It’s not like I was trained for guarding people in the first place.”

“I believe you can do it.”

I don’t know what you’re basing that on.

Chris’s clear face came to mind. I was tempted to slap her.

To be honest, guarding is not my forte. I’m sure the bureau knows that, but the reason why the bureau asked me to do it, is because I’m a student at the school.

Normally, this kind of request starts with sending an agent to the school, but in this case, they didn’t have to because I’m already a student there. This would be a great advantage for secret operations. If they were to send an agent to the academy after the request was made, there would be a risk that the outside world would become aware of their movements.

“Who’s after Her Highness?

“A group of criminals looking for ransom…. Well, it’s a common pattern. It’s a good idea to be aware of what you’re getting into.”

“Oh.”

There was no way that a criminal from nowhere would suddenly target the daughter of a royal family.

The enemy should be considered a reasonably large and highly skilled group.

Although somewhat questionable, the mission is simple.

Escorting without anyone knowing. That is… easier said than done.

But while the information is unclear, it’s not lacking.

The bureau must have decided that this mission was feasible, so they took it on.

“Last question.”

Finally, the main question.

I reconfirmed that there was no one around, just in case, and then asked.

“What is Her Highness’ name?”

Chris answered in a cautious voice: “Her Royal Highness’ name is Michelliase Arcadia. At school, she goes by the name Mize Howence.”