Leave a comment

A place in the Forest Kingdom’s capital, Raum. There, in Maxwell’s mansion, a messenger arrived from the Guild. But the moment he stepped in, a net appeared from below and hung him upside down.

“Wahhhhh?!”
“Who is being so noisy out there?”

Maxwell looked out as he heard the scream. His fiancee Letina and guard Mateus were also behind him.

“I-I have an urgent message from the Guild! Please put me down!”
“Oh, it seems I have forgotten to disable one trap. There have been many fishy fellows around lately you see.”
“I can understand that, but this is my work so…”

Maxwell was currently engaged to Letina who had become a duke.

Due to that, his influence had grown rapidly and coupled with Letina’s popularity among the masses, his influence was already so high even the royalty couldn’t ignore it.

At the same time, the enemies have also grown in number. Thus, Maxwell had strengthened the defenses around his mansion even further, however as he received guests during the day most of them were disabled.

He had forgotten to disable one of those traps, and this was the result.

Maxwell accepted the sealed letter the messenger presented from the net and checked it on the spot.

The messenger was pleading with his eyes to be put down, but Maxwell wasn’t paying attention. Until he confirmed the contents of the letter, he couldn’t judge whether he really was a messenger.

“Hmm…hm? HUH?! How terrible! Mateus, Letina! We are going to the northern village!”
“N-Northern village? That is Nicole’s hometown if I remember correctly.”
“Right now? It’s already afternoon. Isn’t it a bit too late to drop by there?”
“Fina seemed to have been kidnapped by someone. There is not a moment to waste!”
“Fina… You mean Nicole’s sister?”

Letina had once helped make a celebration gift for Fina’s birth. She had also seen her a few times, so being the only child, she saw her as her own sister.

“Didn’t that little lady have the Carbuncle with her as a guard?”
“And she was kidnapped despite that. You should be able to realize how dangerous the situation is.”

Seeing Maxwell’s seriousness, the two realized the gravity of the situation. They had never seen the nonchalant Maxwell look this tense. Thus, they decided to give their all.

“Understood. We need people, right? We have no time so calling my mansion’s private army would be impossible, but I can at least take some guards along. I will call them right away, so give me a moment.”
“I’ll bring Argus and Bauman along too. They should be at the guard post at this time, right?”
“Thank you. We cannot make this too major, but we may need personnel. Please do.”

The two rushed out after hearing his words.

Mateus probably planned to escort Letina to her mansion as her guard and then drop by the guard post on his way back.

Seeing the two off, Maxwell headed to the backyard to form a magic circle for teleporting a large number of people.

◇◆◇◆◇

“Your Highness, there is an urgent report.”

Ever since Elliot married his former guard Priscilla Raglan, tea parties continued being held day after day. Most of them were intended to restore or strengthen the relations with great nobles of the kingdom, so he couldn’t exactly enjoy them.

One such tense tea party had ended now and he was enjoying the early afternoon with his wife, but suddenly, he heard the voice of a messenger from outside his room.

“What happened at a time like this?”
“I shall report. It is an urgent message from Lord Lyell. Given the gravity of the situation, I would like to convey it directly…”

Elliot and Priscilla exchanged gazes at the messenger’s strange behavior. Priscilla was formerly a guard, so she understood that some situations demanded urgency.

“Alright. Enter and report it directly.”

Given the king was newly wed, the messenger hesitated and talked from beyond the door. But continuing so would leak the contents to people around. Elliot understood his point, so he allowed him to enter the room.

“Yes, M’Lord!”

The one who entered was Priscilla’s father, Count Raglan.

“Lord Lyell contacted us earlier, conveying that his daughter, Lady Fina had been kidnapped by someone.”
“What?!”
“Lord Lyell has not asked for cooperation… however as he has many enemies, it would seem that he is unable to narrow it down.”
“I see, he was being considerate to us, huh? Still, if Nicole’s younger sister is concerned, we can’t ignore this.”

Elliot was aware that he had caused quite the trouble when he barged on young Nicole before. But that event had led to him getting kidnapped, saved by Reid, and then improving his relationship with Priscilla, so he felt obliged to Nicole who was the trigger for it.

However, if a kingdom moved for one girl’s kidnapping, it would affect its reputation.

“This would affect our reputation… however it’s also a good opportunity to gain favor from sir Lyell.”
“Indeed. We cannot move a large army, however, my private army could be moved.”
“That would be helpful. But who would lead it?”
“I would be unable to do so. That goes for you too, Your Highness.”
“Then I will go, Your Highness.”
“Priscilla?”

Priscilla suddenly spoke up, getting a conflicted reaction from Elliot.

Though the tea party of that day ended, more were planned from tomorrow onward. Priscilla was supposed to attend them too. However, if she abandoned those parties to take command of Fina’s rescue, it would put Elliot in a pinch too.

She could of course move freely. However, if it came at the cost of neglecting the tea parties, it could lead to bad impressions.

“Then, shall we say that Priscilla has fallen sick for the next few days?”
“Raglan, that’s…”
“She was never outstanding in that regard, so if we say her health deteriorated, no one should find it suspicious. I will also choose ten people from my army who will not pose a problem even if they realize the situation.”
“I see. We are really pushing it here, but if this leads to deepening bonds with sir Lyell, it shouldn’t be a loss to us.”
“Yes sir, it would be quite profitable for the kingdom.”

Raglan gave a deep bow as Elliot revealed a sly grin.

He then waved his hand to dismiss him, as if telling him there was no need for more talk.

If Priscilla was going to leave this palace for some time, they had to “do what they could” while they could.

This too was an important duty of the royalty.

◇◆◇◆◇

Once Ashella finished her evening duties, she went to have a bath to wash off her sweat.

But then, one of the cardinals came rushing with a pale expression.

“Cardinal Bowen, please stop! Lady Ashella is currently bathing!”
“I know that! But this matter is of utmost urgency!”
“I shall convey it, so please wait here!”
“This is not something I can tell to a simple servant!”

Naturally, the cardinal couldn’t enter the bathhouse, being stopped by Ashella’s female servant. But he was clearly behaving differently than usual, seeing that he wasn’t backing down.

“Paula, I don’t mind. Let him in.”
“But Lady Ashella!”
“I don’t mind. Little Bowen is someone I have known long enough that I have changed diapers for him. Being seen naked by him is a trivial thing.”
“Lady Ashella… Please show some prudence.”
“I don’t think he will get aroused by an auntie like me, though?”

The fact that she wasn’t calling herself granny was probably her own pride speaking.

“Please look at the mirror. You look like a little girl of marriageable age no matter how you put it.”
“Y-You really said it huh…”

She slumped her shoulders at the servant’s bitter words, but then cardinal Bowen walked in, not minding any of that.

She had been changing his diapers over fifty years ago, but now he had grown into a near-elderly man.

Ashella continued bathing without minding it in the least.

“Lady Ashella, we were contacted earlier by the Guild saying Lady Fina has been kidnapped and—”
“What did you say?!”

Ashella stood to her feet without even waiting for him to finish his words. She stood naked in a daunting pose. That made even cardinal Bowen’s gaze go down.

But Ashella couldn’t care less about that, and jumped out of the bath without dressing up.

“What kind of fool dared to lay their hands on the girl I baptized! Hey you, form an elite unit with the temple knights. Do it in thirty minutes!”
“Wh-, your eminence! Thirty minutes is too—wait, why are you naked?!”

A passerby priest that was hit with her unreasonable demand still faithfully followed her command and gathered the temple knights that were not busy, quickly forming the Fina rescue squad.

At the same time, troops from the Forest Kingdom of Raum, the United Three Alliance, and the Tree Kingdom of Forneus, dispatched their troops to the remote village, temporarily throwing it into total chaos.

◇◆◇◆◇