Chapter 14

Through the stained glass windows, the early summer sunshine pours down into the cathedral.

Even in the daytime, within the dimly lit space that seemed to invite people into a world of meditation, there were two people, a man, and a woman.

“Hey. Please tell me that you’re happy.”

One was a fearless young man with a slender frame, rich black hair, and deep indigo eyes.

He was clad in a simple shirt, pants, and a dark blue vest with the Knight Order’s coat of arms embroidered on his chest.

He bent his tall figure and peered at the figure he had driven to the wall.

“With all due respect, Your Highness. Please consider your personal space at hand.”

To which the other person answers without inflection.

She wore a black dress and a white apron on her petite body, with a brim on her head; this was a maid’s uniform with thick glasses as an added bonus. She responded to the young man from earlier in the day in a nonchalant manner.

Of course, the young man’s identity was Lucas, the second prince of the Kingdom of Luden, and the maid was Elma.

“Don’t try to play that kind of word games with me. I’m serious. I need you.”

“Don’t use those kinds of words against me, sir. I do not wish to go down that road.”

At first glance, the way the man places his face close to the woman’s and whispers to her and the whispering content makes it seem like an affair between a man and a woman.

The reality, however, is that:

“Why? What’s wrong with being a member of the Knights Order?”

“I am telling you that it is unheard of, and therefore unusual, for a woman, even a common one, to join the Order.”

It was a headhunt for the Order by Lucas.

Since the other day, after Elma’s excellent skills at the cooking showdown, renamed as The Tenkaichi Budokai(DBZ), Lucas has been encouraging her to join the Order from time to time.

His current status in the Order was that of a Company Commander.

It’s a pretty good position for his age. Still, it was not something he was given as the second prince. Still, it was something he had earned through his superior swordsmanship and the popularity he had built up over time.

Although he preferred some colors, Lucas’s loyalty to the Order was strong, and he sincerely hoped to develop it.

And when I thought about that “development,” Elma was the human resource he really wanted.

“It’s not unheard of. If you join, you will set a precedent. Then, if you dare to do so, more and more women of valor and underprivileged people will join. If that happens, you’ll be an extraordinary woman.”

“Will you please stop developing ridiculous theories that aren’t even inspiring?”

Elma has no island to cling to.

Perhaps guess she thought that her true nature had been exposed to some extent as she made contact with him. She no longer even pretended to be the “innocent girl who showed embarrassment towards men” as she did in the beginning.

Lucas had a few thoughts regarding the lack of cuteness, but more than that, he scowled at Elma’s stubbornness.

“What’s with your weird obsession about being ‘normal’? What’s more, what are your standards?”

When I took her there just for a tour, she even treated all the members of the group by herself. She seemed rather enthusiastic about it at the time.

“It was my mistake to misinterpret the textbook, sir. I beg you to let it go.”

Elma looked a little embarrassed, with her glasses hiding her real face.

According to the “common sense”, she was currently absorbing, it was supposed to be “normal” to “feverishly watch the training of knights” and “to take care of the injured men.”

However, she inadvertently saw through the vice-captain’s muscle injury during the visit as an extension of this. She completed the treatment alone, intending to take care of him, which Elma regretted much.

“Textbook?”

“I was lent a large number of what might be called romance novels with the idea that if I wanted to be a normal girl, I should read those.”

Lucas almost looked up to the heavens.

“It may have been a kind gesture, but who lent you those books, Irene? Give me a break; that’s just awful to have to conform to that behavior.”

“With all due respect, sir, it was Headmaid Gerda who lent me the books.”

“By the way, Irene prefers the so-called “thin book” strain.”

“A thin book?”

Elma answered Lucas, who gave her a dubious look. She paused to choose her next words.

“By the way, what do you think the antonym for ‘offensive’ is, Your Highness?”

“Isn’t it ‘defensive’?”

“–I see. It seems that this is a genre that His Highness has not been associated with in his lifetime. Please forget about our current exchange.”

And to top it all off, he was deceived easily.

Curious, Lucas asked relentlessly, but he kept getting sidetracked. When he was disgusted, Lucas said, “Hey,” and took Elma’s arm.

And Elma, who had been staring at the arm that had been grabbed, suddenly looked up and stared at Lucas.

“…. I remember that out of a total of thirty-five books, thirty-three of them were about a knight who treats the protagonist badly but in fact has a fierce love for her”

“Wait, don’t confuse 2D with 3D. That’s not even fiction. That’s fantasy.”

Lucas quickly let go of her hand when the uncouth, bespectacled maid gave him a stunned look.

I wonder what these glasses are for.

“Now read my facial expressions. Is this the face of a man who is in love with a woman?”

“If anything, you seem rather nervous and curious in the face of an unknown life form.”

“That’s a great explanation.”

Lucas was confident in the size of his strike zone, but strangely enough, this girl didn’t inspire even a glimmer of lust at the moment.

‘My curiosity is greatly intrigued, and I think she’s an interesting girl, but I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because of her lackluster appearance, or maybe it’s because she doesn’t have a single bit of interest in me as the opposite sex.’

‘Come to think of it,’ it occurred to Lucas now that this might be the first time that someone had been completely uninterested in his status as the second prince, this face, or the body and demeanor he had trained as a knight.

It was great to have someone of the opposite sex to talk to who was not lusting over him.

“Hey, girl. So, are you going to join the Order after all?”

“I don’t see how that’s possible.”

Lucas invited her more seriously than ever, but Elma tugged on her chin, then ducked the approach with a smooth motion and picked up the cleaning tools she had left on the floor.

The prince had found her when she was ordered to clean the cathedral.

“If that’s all you’ve got to say, I’m afraid I’ll have to get to work on cleaning the cathedral.”

“Are you going to sweep the whole of this great cathedral by yourself?”

Elma’s answer to the question in a dubious voice was nonchalant.

“It’ll only take a second.”

“I knew it.”

“Your Highness, you are required to return to the training of the Order. Your Highness, I don’t believe that a man who is supposed to be the commander of a company should be absent from his duties. At the same time, you are busy preparing for the First Prince’s coronation day.”

“I can bounce off of him when he tries to bite down.”

Lucas chuckled in response.

“We’re only prepping for the parade today anyway. You never know who’s going to be there when you’re in your armor, so I’ve substituted a foolish newcomer who tried to ride my horse as punishment. I’m sure he wants to be punished too. Therefore, today I’m a free man, fair and square.”

“That is a lazy, slack-jawed operation.”

That’s not a fair statement, and Elma was about to give a plausible tweak, but something else happened.

“Master Lucas–!”

The doors of the sanctuary opened hurriedly, and a boy rushed in.

With beads of sweat on his freckled face, he seemed to be a peasant of the Order. He wore a vest with the Order’s coat of arms. It was a shade of blue than Lucas’s vest.

“Marc? What’s going on? How do you know about this place?”

“How dare you, sir! I’ve looked everywhere for you! If you’re going to meet someone, make it seem like that, already!”

The boy called Marc stared at him with eyes that were indeed innocent, then tightened his expression and his fists clenched.

“There’s trouble. The horse that was supposed to be ridden by Master Lucas suddenly went out of control during parade exercises and tossed the man Theo, who was substituting for you. The bone in his leg has shattered. To say the least, it’s a terrible injury.

“What did you–?”

Lucas raises an eyebrow.

“I’m rushing to get the Holy Medical Guru now, but first of all, Master Lucas should come too. I’m sorry for the other person – I mean, oh! Miss Elma!”

Marc, who was reporting with a grim look on his face, noticed Elma hiding behind Lucas’ back and called out.

He didn’t even question Lucas and Elma’s love affair with each other; even though Lucas had said something about a meeting, nobody believed him as that was too unlikely an arrangement, so when the boy saw Elma, his face lit up.

” Elma, if you’d like to come with us! There are various factions of Holy Medical Gurus. Today, it seems that only an unscrupulous newcomer on His Highness Felix’s side has been stationed there. If Elma-san can treat Theo before he arrives, his condition will be a little better—“

” Don’t be a fool. That’s the domain of the Holy Medical Guru.”

Lukas interrupts Marc, who is trying to argue.

He turned quickly on his heel and was already beginning to turn his feet towards the scene of the crime.

“But, Master Lucas. Elma, unlike those women, you know wouldn’t have a stroke at the sight of blood—“

“I’m not going to argue about whether she’s a man or a woman, for the record. But if he’s so badly hurt, what’s the point of treating him?”

“All you need is a recovery spell.”

“It is only in novels that a knight recovers from due to the nursing of a princess, but what is required now, in reality, is the Holy Power that can reliably heal the wounds.”

Lucas was about to calmly leave, but a nonchalant voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Please wait.”

It was Elma, light reflecting from her glasses.

“You must not confuse 2D with 3G. I was taught by my brother [Greed], that things like magic healing injuries are not fiction, but fantasy.”

“What did you say?”

She scooped her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her index finger and said that in a tone that seemed to announce common sense.

“Normally, when you’re badly injured, you need more than prayers—you need an operation.”

“An operation?”

At the unfamiliar words, Lucas and Marc looked at each other.