episode_0468

“Those people, they came to kill Princess Raini.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Three people who listened to what I said but still looked at me quietly and suppressed their expressions.

Since they were more perceptive than Natalie or Silena, they probably all understood what I meant when I said that.

Above all, the warrior guy knows the original story, so he would have been preparing to move without me having to say anything.

“… Yeah.”

“… Yeah.”

“… Yes.”

Three people nodded their heads in response to my short answer, indicating that they understood what I said.

As soon as I stepped behind them, three bodies shot forward like the wind.

-Boohoo!

-Whew!

-Whew!

“… … What?!”

The knight, who had been letting his guard down, thinking that I would quietly hand over Princess Raini, belatedly took out his sword from his bosom, but it was already too late.

Even if he was the vice-captain of the Knights of the Defrin Kingdom, it would be impossible to stop the surprise attack of three people at the same time.

-Chae-ae-aeng!

“Okay, wait a minute…!!”

-Ugh!

-Phew!

“Ugh, ugh… !!”

However, as expected of the vice-captain of the 4th Knights of the Kingdom, Bartholomew barely managed to block the sword of the warrior, but in the process, he was unable to block the sword and spear of Ethan and Thomas, allowing them to attack him by surprise.

If he fought properly, he would have been quite a pain in the neck, but now he was just a fool who let his guard down and fell down foolishly.

-dump!

“Bar, Deputy Commander Bartolomeo!!”

“Oh, shit! Everyone, save the vice-captain first!”

“Fuck! Kill all those kids!!”

The other knights, having lost their strongest power, hurriedly prepare for battle.

As you can see from the fact that they wanted to save their leader before Princess Raini, these guys were an organization that was sent to assassinate Princess Raini from the beginning.

If I had given Princess Raini what these guys wanted, she would have been a cold corpse by the next morning. And she would have been used as a plaything by these trash knights for a few hours right before she died.

I couldn’t bear to see her, who had lived her entire life in misfortune, suffer such a miserable end just a few days before her twentieth birthday.

“Miss Agnes, Miss Silena, Miss Natalie! They’re all thieves!”

“Can we just burn it first?”

“… I had noticed it from the beginning. With the insight of an elf, my first impression was that he was a human knight… .”

“Eee …

Natalie, holding her own rapier, joins the men wielding swords and spears at the front, while Agnes and Silena prepare magic and arrows at their respective positions and enter the battle.

And Lydia, who had been quietly observing the situation from the beginning, stayed close to Princess Raini and quietly watched the battle between the knights and the warrior party.

“Miss Lydia.”

“… Yes, release amount.”

“Please continue to protect Princess Raini. Those knights… no, the thieves seem to be targeting the princess.”

“Of course, this is someone I must protect even at the cost of my life.”

Even if there were a force that came to surprise Princess Raini in the midst of the chaos, they would be able to control it to some extent if Lydia was by their side.

I also prepared my vision arrows and magic chains and joined the battle, and the short battle between the warrior party and the knights showed its results in just ten minutes.

“Captain, secure the captain…! Ah, no, first of all, me… kekekeke!!”

“Fuck! At least kill the princess!! If you can’t kill that bitch, we can all go back and… Kkaaah!!”

“Ugh, aaah!!”

Because Bartolomeo, who was the commander-in-chief of this group of knights, died all at once, the remaining members were nothing more than a ragtag group that fell apart one by one without any consistent orders.

On the other hand, the warrior party, although it was only a small number, had been working together for several years, so they were supporting each other’s weaknesses and taking down the knights one by one.

In addition, Ethan and I have teamed up with the warrior party several times, such as during the previous humanities exploration and oceanography exploration classes.

“You, you fucking bastard! Hey, run fast!!”

‘Heeheeheehee!!’

“Hey, that guy is running away!!”

Just when I was almost done organizing the remaining articles, one guy suddenly ran away on horseback.

If we let even one person escape, more people will show up the next day to kill Princess Raini, so we absolutely cannot let them escape.

“I’ll chase you!”

“What?! Wait, release!!”

In a hurry, I also got on a random horse and chased after the guy who ran away.

I also learned horsemanship from Dietmeyer, and with my magic, I could even attack from the air while on horseback.

-Dagdak, dagdak, dagdak!

“Huh, huh!! Huh!!”

“… … .”

While mounted on a fine horse, I followed closely behind the guy running away, prepared my vision arrow, and cast it at the back of the head of the defenseless guy.

-Phew!

“Keuheup, keuk… !!”

‘Heeheeheehee!!’

A guy falls backwards while riding a horse, and another horse runs away because it’s startled by its owner’s fall.

I didn’t have the luxury of chasing after it this early in the morning, so I just let it run away and searched through the fallen man’s arms to see if there was anything that could be used as evidence.

‘A knight of the Defrin Kingdom… Besides that, all I have to bring is a few silver coins.’

I already knew that some of the Knights of the Kingdom were plotting to take Princess Raini’s life, but no one else besides the warriors would know yet.

Each of these pieces of evidence was later important in the ‘rightful usurpation of the throne’, so it was necessary to keep them.

After the body was thrown unnoticed at the foot of the mountain, he returned to the campsite on his fine horse.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

When I returned after killing one of the knights who had suddenly run away, the battle at the campsite had already completely ended.

The number of men who appeared to threaten Princess Raini’s life was roughly around twenty. With the exception of Bartolomeo, the vice-captain of the 4th Knights, they were all of comparable skill, so the battle itself ended without much damage.

In the melee, our carriage and tent were destroyed, but… no one was injured or killed.

“Release!”

“I’m back, Master Ethan.”

“What if you suddenly ride out on a horse?! It’s dangerous to go alone like that!!”

“At best, I was just a sergeant. Lord Ethan, you know my skills well.”

“But if you jump out like that alone, it’s a one in a million chance… .”

“Everyone is fighting for their lives, so you’re telling me to stay behind and be safe? I just did what I could, so don’t worry too much.”

“… Phew, okay. Anyway, be careful next time.”

Anyway, it’s true that he came back after killing the guy without much trouble, and more than anything, he didn’t come back injured, so he can’t blame me anymore.

After roughly calming down Ethan, I searched through the dead bandits’ chests as usual to secure money and items that could prove their identities.

“Looking at the fact that there are a mix of trainee knights, semi-knights, and regular knights, it seems that they are indeed the knights of the Kingdom of Dephrin.”

“… Yes, yes?! Oh, didn’t you clearly say they were thieves earlier?!”

“Of course, they are just like thieves. Even if they are the Knights of the Kingdom, if they are trying to take Princess Raini’s life, they are no different from the thieves or monsters we have encountered so far.”

Of course, among these, there are probably knights who went out to carry out their mission simply by listening to the Queen’s words, not for reasons such as power or greed.

That doesn’t mean I regret killing all of them. Even though I met them in this state, Princess Raini was the heroine of my favorite game, Luminor Academy.

The life of one Princess Raini was far more important to me than the life of twenty uninterested knights of the kingdom.

“They are the knights of the kingdom, and yet they want to kill their own princess? That’s an emotion that I, as an elf, can’t understand.”

“… I feel like I’ve gotten caught up in something that looks tiring.”

“First of all, it is certain that there is a force within the kingdom that is trying to assassinate Princess Raini. This Bartolomeo is said to be the vice-captain of the 4th Knights… Perhaps the entire kingdom’s knights are after Princess Raini’s life.”

“… If that’s the case, I can only say that I’ve gotten myself into a really annoying situation.”

Thomas looks at Bartolomeo’s identity card and makes ominous guesses, while Ethan looks worried and worries about what will happen next.

While everyone was thinking seriously about how to deal with the situation going forward, Lydia broke the silence and began to speak cautiously.

“… Perhaps, not all of the knights of the kingdom have ill feelings toward the princess.”

“Miss Lydia?”

“Your tone of voice seems to indicate that you know something.”

“… I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about whether or not I should tell you all. I thought that if I asked for help from others, it might endanger Princess Raini’s safety… .”

“… … .”

“But, if you are the acquaintances of Miss Lilith whom Princess Raini asked for help with, I think I can tell you about the current succession dispute in the Kingdom of Dephrin.”

Now that we’ve caused such a mess, Lydia will have no choice but to trust us.

Since we’ve come this far, it’s as if both me and the warrior party are already on the same boat as them.