Ch.367[Episode 367] Tailing

“Would you like to go… drinking?”

Lady Alice mustered her courage to make a proposal to Sir Dominic.

This was the best courage Lady Alice could summon.

“I cannot.”

And as anyone could tell, Sir Dominic rejected Lady Alice’s proposal.

“Why not?”

Lady Alice asked Sir Dominic for his reason.

“Well… a knight must stay away from alcohol, you know.”

“Ah.”

Lady Alice made a dumbfounded sound at Sir Dominic’s words.

Alice thought Sir Dominic’s thinking was old-fashioned.

That was understandable, considering hundreds of years had passed since Sir Dominic died in Feralant.

The chivalry Sir Dominic revered was already a relic of the past, now an antiquated artifact with no one left to uphold it.

However, Alice did understand Sir Dominic’s words and actions.

Sir Dominic had always been someone who valued principles.

Perhaps it was because he was such a person that Alice had always trusted Sir Dominic.

“Wouldn’t just one sip be okay?”

But understanding was one thing, and disappointment was another.

Lady Alice, despite already being rejected, proposed drinking together several more times out of regret.

She even linked arms with Sir Dominic and acted cute, but…

“No.”

Sir Dominic was a man with tank characteristics.

He was truly like an iron wall.

…

“I came just in case, and look what I found.”

Someone was hiding in the shadows at the corner of the street where Sir Dominic and Alice were walking.

That someone was biting their lips nervously.

“This is too clear to be a misunderstanding…”

The evidence is obvious.

Unryu Hime glared at Alice, who had her arm linked with Sir Dominic’s.

This was beyond misunderstanding—it was catching them red-handed.

“…I should follow them for now.”

But Unryu Hime remained calm and cautious.

There had been similar misunderstanding-worthy situations before, but they all turned out to be actual misunderstandings, hadn’t they?

Rather than jumping to conclusions, she needed to be more calm and careful.

Calming herself this way, Unryu Hime closed her eyes and took a long breath as if meditating.

In an instant, her mind cleared, and her thoughts became lucid.

What followed was a very clear conclusion.

“I’ll tail Sir Dominic.”

Unryu Hime uttered these criminal words with a face as serene as Buddha’s.

“If it’s a misunderstanding, I’ll apologize to Sir Dominic and maybe ask him on a date, but if not…”

Unryu Hime looked at Sir Dominic and Alice with half-closed eyes like someone who had attained enlightenment.

With a gentle, holy smile on her lips.

“…I will kill them. As many times as necessary.”

Goodness, Buddha! How could someone with Buddha’s face say such things!

Unryu Hime reached this extreme conclusion with a very clear and lucid mind.

“Hmm.”

While Unryu Hime was making this resolution, Sir Dominic and Alice began walking again.

Unryu Hime, still wearing a benevolent face like Buddha’s, followed Sir Dominic and Alice.

Maintaining precisely 10 meters of distance.

…

And Unryu Hime wasn’t the only one following Sir Dominic and Alice.

“A new woman beside my brother?”

Sir Dominic’s younger sister, Doremi, was also tailing Sir Dominic and Alice.

Doremi had come to town to buy cotton candy and other sweet things to replenish the sugar she had lost due to excessive experimentation.

And then she happened to see a new woman beside Sir Dominic.

With her excellent memory, Doremi remembered all the women who had been with Sir Dominic.

And she realized that the woman before her eyes was someone she had never met before.

“Linking arms… when they’ve just met?”

Doremi quickly finished her cotton candy and followed Sir Dominic.

She was curious about who this woman was who was so close to Sir Dominic.

If someone were to observe this situation, they might certainly say:

If Doremi is so smart, why doesn’t she recognize Alice?

Especially since Alice was a noble from her own land?

This was a matter of class difference.

Lady Alice was of noble birth.

And Doremi was still a serf at the time of her death.

How could Doremi, a mere serf, have properly seen Alice, a noble?

Moreover, Lady Alice had been wielding a sword and wearing armor to fight demons since she was of debutante age.

She had seen more corpses in villages devastated by demons than she had exchanged words with serfs.

So it was inevitable they wouldn’t know each other.

Anyway, Doremi failed to recognize Alice, and thus concluded she was someone Sir Dominic was meeting for the first time.

Unable to overcome her curiosity, Doremi began to very carefully, stealthily follow Sir Dominic.

With the sole determination to identify this woman.

…

Surprisingly, Unryu Hime and Doremi weren’t the only ones following Sir Dominic.

It might be getting tiresome, but the Mountain Bridge Marsh executive, Konga, was also trailing Sir Dominic.

“I was going to propose a new movie…”

Konga was planning to shoot a new film.

And the protagonist of that film had already been mentally cast as Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic was one of the well-known celebrities in Gachaland.

Of course, there were still people who didn’t know about Sir Dominic, but just as Sir Dominic didn’t know much about other 5-stars, there were people who weren’t particularly interested in Sir Dominic, so let’s skip over this part.

Anyway, Konga, who had changed his method of conquering Gachaland from war and terrorism to cultural victory, wanted to use Sir Dominic’s popularity.

That’s why he had appeared near Sir Dominic this time, to secure a contract for him to be the protagonist.

Konga had intended to approach Sir Dominic directly and present the contract, but suddenly changed his mind.

He was startled by the sight of a beauty he had never seen before.

Konga stepped back in exaggerated surprise.

“Huh? Who on earth is that lovely lady?”

Konga showed a reaction that would only be seen in a B-grade movie.

Konga’s heart began to pound heavily.

Until now, Konga had never lacked anything and thus never had to strive to possess anything, but this time was significantly different from usual.

“This feeling… it’s the first time since I met Sir Dominic…”

For the first time since meeting Sir Dominic, Konga wanted to possess something.

And that object was the white-haired woman beside Sir Dominic.

“If only I could approach and speak to her…”

Konga reached out toward Alice from behind a utility pole.

But since there were dozens of meters between Konga and Alice, his hand could never reach her.

“Should I go directly and say something? No, no. What if I get rejected? What then?”

Konga had always been someone who took what he wanted and destroyed what he couldn’t have.

But this time, a desire to definitely possess her was surging.

A desire that he must have her.

That desire soon turned to worry.

“Ugh… what should I do if I’m rejected…”

Konga clutched his head in psychological pain.

If only he could break things as usual.

Konga was capable of doing so, but he didn’t want to.

Konga looked back and forth between Sir Dominic and Alice, unable to decide.

“…Let’s follow them for now.”

And so he began to follow Sir Dominic and Alice.

Completely forgetting his intention to ask Sir Dominic about appearing in his movie.

…

At this point it might seem absurd, but there was yet another follower.

“!”

“?”

No, there were more followers.

Short, two-head-tall figures.

One had large purple horns as big as their body, and the other wore a crown on their head with a soft foam sword at their waist.

It was Princess Teu Le Vante, Demon Lord of Evil Eyes and Trom the Hero.

“!”

“!”

Usually, they would be accompanied by the Chief of Staff and the administrative officer, but today, for some reason, they were out alone without their guardians.

Why were they here?

To understand this, we need to know about the two people who were following them.

Two figures watching from afar as the Demon Lord and the Hero followed Sir Dominic and Alice.

They were none other than the Chief of Staff and the administrative officer.

“Why are you here?”

“Hmph. What about you? Why aren’t you waiting at the castle?”

They watched their respective lords, the Demon Lord and the Hero, while keeping each other in check.

“Could it be that you’re anxious your lord, the Demon Lord, might fail her errand?”

“W-what?”

The Chief of Staff bristled at the administrative officer’s words.

And unable to lose, he began to counter-provoke.

“I followed out of concern she might get hurt! What about you? Don’t you trust your lord? Being here seems to suggest that!”

“G-guh. That’s not it…!”

The administrative officer seemed at a loss for words at the Chief of Staff’s remarks, wearing an indignant expression.

Indeed.

The Chief of Staff and the administrative officer were watching the Demon Lord and the Hero’s first errand.

In other words, the Demon Lord and the Hero had officially gone out for the first time without help from others.

“?”

“!”

Then why were they interrupting their errand to follow Sir Dominic and Alice?

…

And so began this chain of people following Sir Dominic and Alice.

How would this tail-chasing end?

Someone else who was following these followers was watching this situation with great interest.