episode_0036

I never imagined why the character Elsie del Kissy had such a personality in the original work.

In a way, it’s natural. Usually, it was a kind of cliché that characters with the ‘Northern’ setting were blunt but had a pure side.

I thought Elsie was just one of those cases.

Since they said they were barbarians in the novel, I thought they were just barbarians, and because they said they were stopping them, I thought it was just a fight between people.

But it was different from what I thought.

Who are the outsiders that northerners most often meet? Of course, it would be merchants. Those who visit here regularly.

And there are probably people from the Archduke’s family.

However, unless you go outside, you rarely meet other people.

And those who visit here regularly do not come here out of joy because they want to come. They just visit these remote places out of a sense of obligation because it is something they have to do.

There are only a few people who truly communicate with the people here.

If it was like that even among people of similar age, what would it have been like for Elsie, a young child?

… … El Sidel Chisi, who grew up seeing many terrible scenes from a young age, would be able to show a calm expression and not be surprised by most things.

And at the same time, it was not strange to say that he had extremely unstable emotions. That is, if he had been fighting against such terrible things since childhood.

“… … .”

A clicking sound was heard.

Thanks to the hot water prepared by the city of Delki, the blood on my body was easily washed off. In fact, I wasn’t going to make a big fuss about washing it off. When I think of Elsina, who almost turned over the blood, or the prince who stuck a sword into the savage’s neck, I felt like It could be said that what is buried is not even buried.

“grunt.”

I remembered that scene again and made that sound without realizing it.

Actually, the sound of pain wasn’t mine to make.

I am… … Because it didn’t help.

I just sat there crouching, staring blankly at the scene. I even hugged my oblivious maid, Amy Donna.

I know that even if I rushed in there, it wouldn’t have helped. If anything, it would have been a hindrance.

But, then.

Wouldn’t it have been helpful if I didn’t stay here? Shouldn’t I have just greeted the prince like my father said, been satisfied with the prince’s embarrassed look at me, and gone home before the long night came?

In the original work, it is only said that the crown prince had already experienced combat at a young age. It is not detailed where and how he experienced combat.

… … In fact, the ‘where and how’ probably wasn’t even set. The development of part 2 wasn’t even scheduled at the time of part 1.

Does the fact that Prince Evan experienced that battle in Delki City mean that anything can happen if it is not described in the novel?

I recalled the description of Delkisi in the original work.

In Part 1, the crown prince does not connect with the heroine. The crown prince gives up on the heroine, and at the end of part 1, the person closest to the heroine’s lover was the owner of the Roman Tower.

As you can see from the ambiguous expression ‘near location’, it was not completely connected. In fact, it was a rather shameful development. It was a development that clearly seemed to anyone to make more money by forcibly expanding the content.

And the head of the Tower claimed that ‘if you investigate the abnormal phenomenon in the polar region, you will be able to learn something very important’, so the place they headed to was Delki City. It is the northernmost territory of the Alwen Kingdom in the north.

However, the point of part 1 begins 10 years from now, and the point of part 2 was 2 years after the start of part 1.

12 years from now.

Perhaps because the author wanted to focus on romance, it is mentioned that by that time most of the North had already been cleared and was almost at peace.

In the meantime, the fact that the rest were able to be eliminated, leaving only a very small number of barbarians with the appearance of at least enough to be regarded as ‘humans’, meant that the people of Delkisi wielded their swords diligently during those 12 years. .

Of course, if you think about Part 2, the barbarian was just affected by the fundamental phenomenon—

That wasn’t a problem for me to solve. It was a problem for the Magic Tower owner to solve.

… … If we learn about the Baroma Tower from now on, will we be able to solve the problem quickly? … ?

… … .

“Phew… … .”

I wiped my face. Maybe it was because I had been sitting in the warm bathtub for too long, but my head didn’t turn around. Seeing that I was feeling a little dizzy, it was time to get up.

I slowly got up, being careful not to fall.

*

I wiped my body thoroughly, got dressed, and came out.

We couldn’t go into Elsie’s room where we stayed.

“I’m sorry, Grand Duchess. There’s blood here and there… … Well, there are too many of those things to show you. I’m sorry, but I’ll show you to a room without those things until you get better. ”

In fact, judging from the fact that some blood stains were visible in the hallway, it seemed like the battle took place here and there in the building.

However, that does not mean that this tower was completely filled with barbarians, knights, and warriors. In places with fewer people, there were naturally fewer battles.

“Not all of the tower has been secured yet. Considering how they got in, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were hiding in an empty room somewhere.”

So, it seems that the room prepared for me to wash was not actually a bathroom. It was just a temporary room.

And the room they were trying to show me to was the same.

“Where is Lady Elsie?”

When I stopped walking and asked that question, the Delkish hunter ahead of me looked back.

He looked back at me with a slightly confused expression, and I spoke once again.

“I have a story to share with Lady Elsie. Please guide me to where Lady Elsie is.”

“The lady is still washing up. If you go first and wait, I will take you there.”

“… … That’s because it’s urgent.”

In fact, a story to be shared between two seven-year-old children could not have seemed so urgent. You would never have guessed that within me, in Elcian, there was a soul that was much older than it appeared on the outside.

“ I understand. However, if that happens, the Grand Duchess will be waiting in front of the place where the young lady washes. ”

“It’s okay. Because that’s what I wanted.”

The hunter nodded in response to my confirmation.

The place I followed the hunter was in front of a room that looked similar to the place where I washed my body.

In fact, I could hear the small sound of water crashing beyond the door. I could also hear a sound like water pouring from above my head.

And I waited outside that door, shaking a little.

Although I washed my body in warm water, it was winter outside. It was also what they called ‘real winter.’

In Delki City, where the snow never melted, winter was truly a life-threatening season.

Feeling my still-not-dry hair getting cold, I went to stand next to the torch that illuminated the hallway.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

The hunter who was preparing near me, as if preparing for an emergency, asked, and I nodded.

Still, I felt a little better because I was by the fire.

After waiting for a few minutes, Elsie came out of the room.

Like me, he was dressed in advance and had his wet hair tied up, having squeezed out as much water as possible.

Elsie, who was coming out exhaling as if she was refreshed, blinked in surprise when she saw me waiting for her.

“Elsie Lady.”

Let’s call the name of the girl who looks a little pale,

“Grand Duchess.”

Elsie answered quietly.

I hesitated a little. Would it be okay to talk about it to a child who had just experienced such a terrible thing?

Although he was much older than seven, he was still very young, around middle school.

… … When I thought about it like that, I felt even more embarrassed.

Isn’t this saying that a child much younger than me went through something like that with a knife and protected me?

Should I not have stayed?

“… … Wait, can we talk?”

When I asked, Elsie nodded.

“Okay, then let’s go to a nearby room and—”

While saying that, I unconsciously stretched out my hand. Although we rarely made physical contact until now, it wasn’t my intention. We just weren’t close enough to need it.

So, the behavior I showed didn’t really mean anything. I just acted like that without realizing it. Maybe it was because Elsie looked paler than usual, and maybe it was because my guilt was revealed through my actions.

But the next moment, I was so surprised that I took my hand off Elsie’s shoulder.

It was cold.

“Elsie, your body… … ?”

“Oh, I washed it a little while ago.”

When Elsie answered like that, I opened my mouth in a daze.

“… … I washed my body and it’s this cold?”

If you go into warm water and come out, there should still be some warmth left in your body.

“That’s right, because the water was cold?”

When I saw Elsie tilting her head, I opened my mouth.

You washed your body with cold water?

On this day?