Ch.200199. Recruitment (4)

# 199. Recruitment (4)

“I think that’s probably the case, since these people wouldn’t do something like this on their own.”

Riel spoke in a calm tone.

Unlike her, Riel didn’t seem particularly interested in those matters.

“But it’ll be fine once he wakes up, right? Don’t be so angry about it.”

“Still, this isn’t right… The difference between each rank starting from A-class is so significant…”

“We had no choice, as it was His Majesty’s order…”

Andres bowed his head in apology.

Naturally, she didn’t accept his apology.

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Albert. But… I can’t go in there, right?”

“Yes, this is still a test after all. Besides, looking at you, I think you’ll be fine without going in?”

“That’s a relief…”

Fortunately, Albert had succeeded in taking the head of that small skeleton and was now clearing out the remaining monsters with a sigh of relief.

She too sighed in relief as she watched the scene.

“Now I’m not particularly worried even though he’s bleeding like that. Is it because I’ve seen it so many times?”

“Really…? I’m still worried…”

“Isn’t worrying meaningless now? Though I suppose it always was.”

“That doesn’t mean I can stop worrying…”

She said this with a gloomy tone as she hurried to collect the dungeon rewards and go meet him as he exited the dungeon.

As soon as he emerged from the dungeon, Albert was supported by priests.

He opened his eyes wide when he saw her appearing so suddenly.

***

She seemed to have rushed here as soon as she left the dungeon.

I asked her why she was here.

“How did you get here…?”

“I got some time off. They must have been worried since I haven’t rested much. More importantly…”

“Yes?”

She approached me and carefully examined my wounds.

Then she looked at my face with concerned eyes.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It does hurt?”

“Aren’t you supposed to say it doesn’t hurt at times like this?”

Riel had arrived at some point.

Perhaps because it had been a while since I’d seen her, even her face, which I hadn’t particularly missed, was somewhat welcome.

“I said it hurts because it does hurt.”

“You’ve become quite shameless while I haven’t seen you?”

“I think I was always like this…”

“That’s true. More importantly, you’re now clearing mid-rank A dungeons just like that?”

Mid-rank A.

I had suspected it might not be low-rank.

And it seems it really wasn’t A low-rank.

“So it wasn’t after all. I thought it seemed unusually difficult.”

“I apologize, I have no excuse even with ten mouths…”

Andres suddenly appeared behind Riel to apologize.

Honestly, I wasn’t particularly angry, so I wouldn’t have said anything even if he hadn’t apologized.

“Ah, it’s fine. As long as nothing bad happened.”

“Thank you… for understanding…”

Andres was apparently quite sorry, as he was being extremely humble.

Even to someone who might end up working under him.

How could I be angry when he’s acting like that… Even if I had been angry, I couldn’t have stayed that way.

“He’s definitely a good person.”

When I said this while looking at him, she made an expression of disbelief.

“So Albert says this to me while knowing everything…”

“I don’t know everything, since I haven’t seen much of him.”

“Ah…”

Andres tilted his head as I continued to stare at him.

Only then did I take my eyes off him.

“But… did you come here right after returning?”

“That’s right!”

“Isn’t that why you’re like this?”

“How did you know?”

“There’s no way these people would do this…”

It seemed too unlikely that a simple mistake or someone’s order would happen to affect me out of thousands of people, so it was obviously the latter.

And the only person who could give such an order to a high noble like Andres was…

“Only His Majesty.”

“Really… I need to have a word with him when I see him.”

“Wouldn’t that make him do it more?”

“It’s fine, there’s not much he can do anymore anyway.”

Of course, I didn’t think much of it.

And such experiences can actually be beneficial.

“It’s not really that bad, and…”

“And?”

“Nothing…”

I was originally going to say “I’m fine because I’ve experienced this a lot,” but when I saw her face, I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.

She tilted her head as I awkwardly cut off my sentence.

I asked her:

“So what do we do now?”

“What did you do after the last test?”

“I went home.”

“Shall we do that today too?”

“What…?”

I had no idea what she meant… These confusing words.

I asked her again.

“What… what do you mean by that?”

“Don’t think anything strange… I’m just saying let’s go to my house once. They’ve been making a fuss about me not bringing you.”

“Ah…”

“Anyway… is that all you have on your mind?”

She said that but seemed secretly pleased.

She’s the one who would think of such things first after telling me not to think strange thoughts…

She was truly a strange woman.

“Ah… yes.”

“Well, I’m not saying we won’t do it, but thinking only about that is a bit… considering you’re going to be the empress’s husband. Not that we won’t do it…”

She was so shameless, even emphasizing such things.

Thankfully, she spoke quietly enough that only I could hear.

“You really say such things in a crowded place?”

“That’s why I spoke quietly… And didn’t you say you’d use formal speech in public…?”

“You’re right.”

Come to think of it, I had forgotten.

But seeing that she didn’t seem to mind much, I figured I didn’t need to worry about it.

“But if we go, His Majesty won’t challenge me to a fight, right?”

“I don’t think so, probably. And I wouldn’t let that happen anyway.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Wait… are you really coming? Can I just take you like this? Without saying anything?”

Riel asked in surprise.

She showed her phone and explained:

“I already told them, and they said to bring you whenever you have time. It should be fine.”

“Wow… becoming the crown princess has made you quite bold…”

“I was always like this.”

Words that only Riel could say and answers that only she could give.

Seeing this scene unfold before my eyes made it feel like we had returned to the past.

‘Those were good times…’

Those times were really good.

Back then, we had plenty of time, but now we didn’t.

‘At least it’s this year…’

And it was already April.

In as little as 2-3 months, or at most 6-7 months, another major battle would occur.

Moreover, this battle had a preparation period of two whole years.

There had been battles during that time, but they were small, insignificant skirmishes.

“And you should visit once before then, since you might not get another chance.”

“Don’t say things like that, words can become reality.”

“Are you… worried?”

“Of course I am. Even if we have the advantage, battles and wars are always concerning.”

But right now, we didn’t seem to have much of an advantage.

It’s not that we lacked manpower, but the same was true for the enemy.

“I’m worried about what kind of monsters they’ll bring.”

“If it’s monsters, Albert will kill them all, right?”

“Didn’t you just see? You struggled so much against just that one?”

“That’s because I was alone.”

She said with a confident expression.

Come to think of it, there was a subtle difference in the magical energy emanating from her compared to before.

An aura that was detectable despite being minimal.

As expected of her.

“I definitely feel confident now.”

“So does Albert.”

I’m certainly uneasy.

It’s still a situation that even I find hard to believe, and I have no idea what variables await me.

But it was somewhat okay.

Thanks to her, smiling contentedly before my eyes.

And then Riel’s question broke the atmosphere, causing both of us to glare at the tactless Riel.

“By the way, are you the only one taking the test?”

“Yes.”

“What about Reina?”

“Ah…”

“Now that you mention it…”

“She chickened out and ran away.”

That wasn’t entirely wrong.

She recognized her shortcomings and chose a different path.

“More precisely, she said she’d try again later because now isn’t the right time.”

“That’s unexpected.”

“What is?”

“I thought Albert would have stopped her if that happened, tried to convince her not to give up… but you didn’t, right?”

“I didn’t. How could I? It was her decision.”

Besides, Reina seemed too dependent on me.

That’s why going out into society on her own would be a good experience for her.

“So how is everyone living these days?”

“Well… I’m not sure, I haven’t really met them since then and we don’t contact each other often.”

In fact, unless you count occasional meetings, I really hadn’t seen them much.

There were various conversations in our group chat, but I didn’t pay much attention.

I was busy with my own things.

“I should see them sometime, since they haven’t gone back either.”

“You really haven’t met them at all this whole time?”

“It hasn’t even been half a year.”

I entered our party’s group chat after a very long time.

Messages had accumulated, but fortunately, there wasn’t anything significant.

‘Everyone must be busy.’

It seemed like everyone wouldn’t have time.

So I dropped a short, non-burdensome message in the chat.

-What’s everyone been up to these days?-