episode_0094

Time did not pass without meaning.

The moment the warrior secretly escaped to the western mountains, leaving behind only a letter,

At that moment in the Northern Kingdom, the wizard brothers and the clown were having a high-level discussion, talking petty and rambling.

The moment when the dark aura in the Eastern Elf Forest was struck by the fist of a high-level adventurer and he died screaming…

The Southern Kingdom’s Guildmaster was carefully moving the pieces on his chessboard.

“Check, yes.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

“Please cover your words, Your Highness.”

“In this situation? Please speak some sense. Seriously…”

As she spoke, gnashing her teeth, Princess Josefina d’Alcrea pinched her delicate chin with her fingers and became lost in thought.

At first, he simply asked if I knew how to play chess for fun. The guild master, with apparent humility, gave the usual answer that I could at least have fun.

At those words, I inadvertently felt excited and challenged him to give it a try. Princess Josefina d’Alcrea was a person with outstanding ability to grow her own power even after receiving royal education. Although she was inferior to her brother in terms of military power, she was confident that she could overpower him in other aspects.

So, when she suddenly lost three games in addition to her 26 wins and 4 losses in 30 matches she had played chess so far, she was dumbfounded. Clearly, she could play as she wanted without any problems. The guild master strangely opened the way for the princess as if he was telling her to come in.

At first I was skeptical, but soon I decided that this was the best path and moved my horse. Then, when I lost two games in a row, I thought something was wrong. So this time, I adopted a strategy of not falling for the bait and not sparing any restraint.

Then, the guild master used a brutal tactic of eliminating the princesses one by one, preventing them from doing anything and recording three consecutive victories.

“I wish you would tell me what kind of trick it was. Then I would forgive you in an instant and give you a slap in the face.”

“Oh, oh, oh… Your Highness. A slap. This is not befitting your authority. But… I don’t like getting hit either… So I’ll just say that there’s no trickery. ”

“Are you telling me to believe that? You openly lead me and open the way, so there’s no trick?”

“The one who chose that path was none other than Her Highness the Princess?”

“This is like a snake…”

“Please cover the words…”

“It’s noisy.”

The princess, for the time being, suppressed her anger on the outside and folded her arms in thought. Part of her worry was that she regretted her own choice, wondering how she had ended up playing chess with this guild master.

It was well known that Guildmaster Dolores Rashford was a frequent visitor to the palace. Moreover, the fact that she had been there every single day for over a fortnight since the saints had left the Southern Kingdom, and that she had been spending every night alone with her father, the king, was enough to pique her curiosity.

In the past half year, she hadn’t had that many encounters with the king. At most, she had met him once every two weeks or once a month, and that was the information she had gathered about the guild master’s activities through her information gathering abilities.

The man who was like that suddenly started having private conversations with his father every day. It was clear that there was some kind of hidden plot. She had been watching carefully, but today, after a long time, she met the guild master and spoke to him. It was to see what was on his mind. Chess was also a game she had chosen to naturally figure out his intentions and lead him to do so. Of course, she had never expected to get involved and break down like this.

“That’s not even a funny tactic. It’s like you’re hiding a secret.”

In the end, the First Princess revealed her true feelings with a mixture of harsh words. She asked the guild master, “What are you hiding?” indirectly. She assumed a worried posture, but behind her back, she was tense.

And the guild master threw away his ignorance, as if to say that he didn’t get the position easily.

“You say it’s a conspiracy? That’s too much. Your Highness. As someone who is involved in a game of chess, I will do my best.”

This is something they do even though they know it. The first princess, who instantly realized the guild master’s shamelessness, almost swore. But at the same time, she was delighted. Because, the more shameless it was, the more important the hidden information was.

It was not that the First Princess did not notice the conversation between the Guild Master and her father in private. However, neither the knight guard who was always waiting in the room nor her father’s direct butler opened their mouths. Rather, the somewhat old-fashioned knight guard even asked, “Why do you ask such a thing, Your Highness?” which was surprisingly a direct question.

If that’s the case, the only remaining method was to come down to one thing.

“Don’t think I’m living in a dream, Guildmaster Rashford. How many people do you think have witnessed you having a private conversation with your father for the past two weeks? By the way, I’m one of those people. You’ve been sneaking in and out of the palace without any intention of hiding the evidence… and you thought I’d pretend not to know?”

Finally, perhaps his patience had reached its limit, and he moved his chess piece and hit the nail on the head. The guild master remained silent for a while, even to that question. Whether it was because he was concentrating on the chessboard or because he was embarrassed by the sharp questioning, Princess Josefina could not tell.

“Hmm… I guess I was too obvious. I’ll control myself. I guess the fact that I had a nice chat with His Majesty must have upset the princess?”

The guild master’s reply, which came out while moving his own words, was quite unexpected. In other words, it played a part in destroying Princess Josefina’s patience.

“It really annoyed me. It was so secretive that people around me couldn’t break their silence. Are you two plotting something new? ”

But even after saying it, Saint Josephine felt sorry. If she did something wrong, it might sound like her father, the king, was committing an evil deed.

“Ah, this… I’ll take back what I just said. Anyway, I know that you and your father have been having a secret meeting for almost two weeks… and that you’ve been sharing ‘virtuous words’ as you put it. But I’m really curious about the content. No matter how much I think about it… it’s an action that I can’t seem to dispel my suspicions. ”

The guild master, who had not taken his face off the chessboard despite the princess’s words and whose expression had not changed much, finally raised his head. However, there was no change in his expression or even a slight twitch. And then slowly, the guild master opened his mouth in a deep voice.

“If I tell you that it is difficult to tell Her Highness the contents of that secret conversation, will you ignore it?”

Oh, well, it’s definitely a sensitive topic. The princess answered the question quite frankly.

“Of course. And I will show you to the room next door and… I will keep you locked up until you answer. I will also not forget to ask you questions every morning with your breakfast.”

I won’t let you go until I hear from you.

This was also a remark that was likely to cause an uproar, and thanks to it, the butler, who was somewhat able to pull himself together, groaned very weakly, “Hmm…” The maid groaned softly, holding her head.

“It’s difficult. This…I was told to keep quiet about matters of state until His Majesty spoke to me…”

“You added a clue like, “If possible?” I don’t think the current situation is normal. ”

“It’s getting more and more difficult…”

The Guild Master, who was lightly touching his mustache, was far from a troubled person. In fact, Princess Josefina knew that her threats were weak. Even if she were to confine him, this man would likely be locked up without a hitch, and if it were known to the outside world, he would certainly be questioned immediately. After all, this was the palace, and the one who would question him would be the master of this palace.

“I don’t know where to start, but…”

Aha! Fortunately, the princess wanted to cheer at the sight of the guild master trying to change the story. And the guild master’s information leak started from a rather unexpected point.

“Your Highness, the princess, the saintess and her party left… It’s been almost two weeks now, hasn’t it? Then, you must have passed the central continent… and arrived at the eastern continent. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh, yeah? Oh…I guess so.”

Although it was a sudden question, Princess Josefina nodded.

From the capital city, the center of the Southern Kingdom, a person sent news from Teldam, the largest city in the Northern Kingdom. It was news that the saint’s party had only stayed for a day and had moved on to the Central Continent.

It had been eight days since I heard this news, so by now I would have passed the central continent and arrived at the eastern continent. That would have been possible if only there had been no interference from my brother and sister, Endymian.

“I have placed several adventurers in the central continent where His Highness resides, but… I heard that the saints who arrived in their territory via the Western Front left in a hurry. Quite… with a commotion. ”

“What’s the fuss? Did something happen?”

“Well… Since Her Highness Princess Luna is also involved, it’s difficult to go into detail about this part. However, I will just say that Her Highness Princess Luna helped the saints and their party travel quickly.”

Did you know that guy would be so considerate?

Luna di Alcraia. Her younger sister was as active and determined as her father’s eldest son, Endymian, but her political skills were inferior to Endymian’s. She knew this herself, so she hung out with the two noble girls who were in the same warrior group. The development of the central continent was originally just something she ran away to because she was bored of just sitting still.

“Now that you mention it… It’s related to the previous story… But I think it’s too much to send such a small number of people to accompany the saintess… Don’t you have any plans to send additional forces even now?”

“Hmm… If you’ve arrived at the Eastern Continent, you should have made contact with the high-level adventurer Estil Sabre, who has been staying in the Elven Forest for a long time, and the four adventurers who were recently dispatched. Since two high-level adventurers have joined us, if there are no problems, you should have no trouble identifying and resolving the forest’s crisis right away. There’s no need to worry about that. ”

“Esteel saber…”

Princess Josephine remembered her as the second daughter of the Sabre family. She had seen her once, but she had only been described as a small girl who loved books and often stayed in her room.

Then, about 8 years ago, she entered the Adventurer’s Guild with some boys, and she also knew that he had made great contributions and obtained the qualification of a high-level adventurer, and had been demonstrating his skills to this day. However, there had been little news of him since the death of the Demon King, so she had thought that he would be staying in the Elf Forest.

“Sending that kind of power in advance… You have incredible insight. As if you had anticipated that something like this would happen on the Eastern Continent.”

“I want to deny that part, Your Highness. The reason Estil Saber entered the Elven Forest was…personal reasons. We didn’t give him a single hint. They filed the paperwork saying it was for a long-term request, but…that’s just an excuse. As for the rest, Miss Estil Saber hasn’t told me yet, so I don’t know exactly. Anyway, the power issue will be resolved naturally after the problem in the east is resolved. More adventurers will join. However…what I’m worried about is what happens after that. ”

“After that…if you think about it logically…you’re talking about entering the Northern Kingdom, right?”

The guild master nodded heavily.

Princess Josephine suddenly felt that the guildmaster’s face was gradually becoming darker. Was it because it was midnight, or was it because the story that was about to begin was a heavy one? It was difficult to guess, but it was not completely impossible to predict.

So, I tried again.

“Father, and you too… are trying to hide the true purpose of the Saints and their party from the Northern Kingdom? Even from our kingdom’s best demon exorcist, the ‘Hero’. Why on earth are you trying to exclude the Northern Kingdom’s participation?”

It was a very direct question. It was almost as if he was protesting, ‘I know all the worries you have in your head from now on.’ However, the guild master did not hesitate to answer as much as expected.

“Because it’s difficult. The more the Northern Kingdom intervenes in this situation…the more it becomes a problem for the Southern Kingdom’s future. ”