Chapter 12
Haaah!!
Hey, hey... Is anything fair game for her? That girl...
Watching Elna fight a little way ahead, I felt my face twitch.
Elna was fighting a red-and-black, wolf-like monster known as a Bloodhound. There were more than thirty of them. Bloodhounds were pack monsters, and five or more rated as an A-class subjugation target. Thirty or more made them an AAA-class threat—a truly troublesome monster.
Yet Elna was scattering the Bloodhounds as though their numbers meant nothing. Even a high-ranking adventurer would be stunned.
In a matter of minutes, Elna had wiped out the Bloodhound pack and recorded her results with a special crystal-shaped magical artifact.
The results would immediately be relayed to Kiel, the headquarters, and reported to the people. According to the interim report, we were overwhelmingly ahead. Elna had already defeated one AAA-class monster, along with enough Bloodhounds to qualify as another.
Given the nature of the festival, someone could turn the tables simply by defeating one huge monster, but there was no doubt that we were in the lead.
"Al! I see monsters over there! Let's chase them!"
"No, I'm tired today. Why don't we rest in a nearby town?"
"Why are you acting so listless? We're going to win, aren't we?"
"I don't remember declaring that..."
Elna and the knights couldn't simply forge ahead on their own.
The emperor's children who had set out with the knights were wearing bracelet-shaped magical artifacts. The commander of the knight corps wore one too, and they were designed to break if the wearers moved more than a certain distance apart. About a kilometer, I supposed. This made it impossible for the knights to operate independently.
Christa's knights were not subject to that restriction, but whenever they discovered a monster, they had to obtain Christa's permission in Kiel through long-distance magical communication. They were allowed to retaliate if a monster attacked them, but few monsters would attack fully armed knights.
Perhaps because of that disadvantage involving long-distance communication, Christa's knights had yet to achieve any results. The monsters probably escaped before a reply came through.
In the end, advancing together with the knights had been the right answer.
"You may be fine, but everyone else is tired. It's only the first day, so there's no need to push ourselves that hard. The festival lasts three days, so let's take it easy."
"You know..."
"Huh? I'm supposed to be your provisional liege, aren't I? Are you going to disobey my orders?"
"Tch... All right. I'll follow your orders..."
"Good. Then let's head to the nearest town."
With that, we moved to a nearby town.
That town was in a festive mood as well, and the inn the emperor had arranged in advance welcomed us warmly.
That was how the entire eastern region had become involved in the festival. A town would be thrown into an uproar simply because imperial family members or famous knights, whom people normally could not see up close, had arrived. In this town, the excitement was because Elna had come. Well, at least they had a reason to celebrate.
"What a ruckus."
"That's what His Majesty the Emperor is aiming for. Holding a festival eases the eastern region's dissatisfaction."
Elna walked into the room I had been assigned.
Coming in without knocking was rude. Though I was the one who had opened the door.
"At least knock."
"Oh? Is that necessary?"
"Then answer this: if I walked into your room without knocking, what would you do?"
"I'd cut you down."
"That's absurdly unreasonable!?"
I couldn't help but retort.
As a result, some of the wine in my hand spilled. Ahh, what a waste.
"You really don't seem like royalty... Don't look as though the world is ending just because a little of your drink spilled."
"For a knight, you sure don't understand the value of a drink. You're a young lady first and a knight second, after all. You don't understand a thing."
"I don't want to hear that from a young master who's barely ever left the Imperial Capital... Also, are you even allowed to drink alcohol? Don't blame me if you're hungover tomorrow."
Speaking with exasperation, Elna sat in the chair directly across from me.
After removing her armor and changing into casual clothes, Elna was far more unguarded than usual. She wore a white shirt and a short red skirt, with ease of movement clearly her priority. My eyes were drawn to her shapely legs, so boldly on display. However, I noticed something else.
That's right. In one particular area, she didn't seem to have grown at all over the past few years. I was a perfectly normal, if depraved, young man myself. If a beautiful girl was around, I was bound to check her out. And, having done so, I had to say that Elna's chest didn't seem to have grown in the past few years.
"Al~? What are you looking at?"
"Your breasts."
"At least try to hide it! Honestly... After staring at me that long, that's all you have to say!?"
With that, Elna covered her modest chest.
But I continued staring at Elna's breasts without the slightest regard for her feelings. Elna was seventeen, one year younger than me. At that age, having a chest like that was, well, a real shame. "My condolences" might have been the more accurate thing to say.
Fine was definitely better endowed. In fact, her loose clothes merely kept it from showing; she was actually fairly well-endowed. Maybe all that training had diverted nutrients away from her chest.
"Stay strong."
"Don't say it so solemnly! What the hell!? After staring at me all this time, that's what you come up with!?"
"I was thinking you hadn't grown. So you really haven't grown..."
"I have grown! I'm just slower to develop than other people! I'm not small!!"
"...I see."
It was a strained argument, but I decided to go along with it for Elna's sake.
As I was thinking this, Elna's shoulders began to tremble with anger. Oh, this was bad.
"I-I think it's fine! Even that flat chest of yours will find someone who appreciates it someday!"
"Don't call me flat-chested! I'm just a little slower to develop than other people! In a few more years, they'll be magnificent!"
"That might be a little unrealistic... Even if you work at it, you'll probably only reach average."
"Al... I feel like getting a little exercise after dinner..."
"They will, they will! I'm sure they'll become magnificent, so calm down!"
Saying that, I backed a good distance away from dangerous Elna, who had begun taking deep breaths just as she did in battle.
Seeing me trembling in the corner of the room, Elna seemed to lose the will to fight and sat back down in her chair.
"Honestly... You're the same as ever, Al."
"People don't change in just a few years. What kind of fantasy did you have about me?"
"A normal prince. An ordinary one. At the very least, I didn't want you to be mocked by anyone..."
"It's not your concern, is it? I've been mocked for years. A prince without talent who never worked hard and did nothing but play. A washed-up prince who had everything taken from him by Leo. I think that's a pretty apt description."
"I was sad and frustrated..."
"Well, thanks for that."
When I offered my casual thanks, she shot me a sharp glare.
I shrugged, and Elna let out another sigh. She had plenty on her mind. She wasn't so free that she should be wasting time on me.
"Do you understand? You get mocked by nobles, too, because you never say or do anything. There are nobles who openly ridicule you. I understand why the people complain about you. You aren't fulfilling your duties as a member of the imperial family, after all. But nobles are your subjects. They have a duty to show you courtesy, even if only as a formality."
"Nobles have the right to mock me, too. It's normal—and even a good thing—for people to call someone who's no good no good."
"There you go again! They're not offering criticism, you know? They're enjoying humiliating you! This isn't the same as childish bullying when you were little!"
Elna had become unusually heated as she said that.
Had Gido made some ill-advised remark in front of Elna? Or perhaps a minister had. Either way, whoever it was had clearly rubbed her the wrong way.
Was that why Elna had forced her way over to me?
"So what? Are you going to win this festival with my help and wipe away the bad rumors? What do you want me to become?"
"As long as Leo is aiming for the throne, you should give it your all too, Al. I believe in you. You just never give anything your all. You're always like this, casually dodging everything. The worse your reputation becomes, the better Leo's reputation becomes. That's why you never seriously committed yourself to anything."
She knew me surprisingly well.
As expected of my childhood friend.
But if she understood me so well, she should have known what my answer would be.
"I'm fine as I've always been. Once this festival is over, stay out of my affairs."
"I—!"
"I was nearly assassinated."
"...What?"
Elna froze for a moment at my sudden words.
Looking out the window, I could see the townspeople making a commotion.
As I watched them, I explained what had happened as though it had nothing to do with me.
"I was attacked while walking through the castle last night. I don't know what would have happened if Sebas hadn't been there. You can figure out why without my saying it, can't you?"
"...Because of me...?"
"This festival is important to the succession struggle. The position of plenipotentiary ambassador is at stake, after all. With you here, we're automatically favorites to win. Naturally, my older brothers and sisters won't like that and will target us for elimination. They won't even spare me."
"No..."
"You may not know this because you've been traveling all over the region on missions, but my older siblings have been ruthless lately. They're determined to do whatever it takes to obtain the throne. They know death awaits them if they lose. No one is holding back, and no one is showing mercy. I'll probably be killed too if Leo doesn't become emperor. But when someone without the ability to back it up suddenly overreaches, this is what happens. So stay out of this. Your power is too great."
Saying that, I pushed Elna away.
This was for Elna's sake as well. It was not good for the prodigy of the Amsberg family to throw her support behind an individual.
From now on, my older siblings would surely try to eliminate Elna—not through force, but in the political arena.
There had been members of House Amsberg who were eliminated that way in the past. That was why House Amsberg generally avoided getting involved in politics.
I couldn't drag Elna into the greatest political struggle of all: the succession struggle.
Above all, she would undoubtedly be a powerful ally, but I would create an equally powerful enemy. For both emotional and practical reasons, the best thing for Elna was to keep her distance from me.
...I'm sorry.
"Don't worry about it. I'll do my best at this festival. Don't worry."
"...Yeah."
With that, Elna left the room looking utterly dejected.
Her retreating figure looked terribly lonely, but I didn't call after her.
From then on, our performance began to decline rapidly.