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We walked inside the castle led by Letina. The inquisitive gazes stabbing us made me feel like we had become some rare animals.

It wasn’t just me, Michelle and Cloud were the same. They were strangely curled up and followed behind me. Finia alone didn’t seem to mind at all and was walking carefreely like Letina.

“Finia, aren’t you nervous?”
“Compared to serving the Six Heroes, nobles here are nothing but a group of riff-raff.
“I mean, you have a point but…”

Of course, the nobles and soldiers we passed by were incomparable to the Six Heroes. I suppose serving the table to the Six Heroes so often would harden her nerves like this, huh?

“It’s as Finia says. Just who among these nobles or even the royalty could even order Nicole around?”
“Mainly you, Letina.”
“Can you stop carping like that!”
“See?”

Her losing her calm like this was really like her.

By the time we recovered to our usual state, we finally arrived before one room.

There stood a simple yet solid door, which clearly seemed to provide a high level of soundproofing.

Letina readily knocked on the door using the knocker installed on it. A few seconds later, the door opened and Maxwell showed his face.

“Lady Eligore, it is Letina Winne Yowi. I have brought Lady Nicole.”
“Good work. Please enter.”

She didn’t name herself until the door opened because it was too thick to get her voice through.

We entered as told and were greeted by one girl.

She was a typical blue-eyed blond-haired elf. Her rich and luxurious hair reached down to her waist in waves.

Her facial features were extremely well-arranged, and I felt that she was unlike the sheltered girl that I heard of in the rumors, but instead felt a sun-like charisma similar to Letina.

“Err, nice to meet you, I’m Nicole.”
“Thank you for coming, miss Nicole. I have heard many rumors about you. I am Eligore III. The people behind you must be miss Michelle and miss Finia… and mister Cloud, yes?”
“Y-Yes!”
“N-Nice to meet you…”

Being addressed by the next queen-to-be, Michelle answered while standing at attention, while Cloud sweated buckets while he mumbled the answer.

Finia didn’t reply and left it at a simple bow. Some nobles hated being talked to so directly, so this might be a safer approach.

“I’m glad you seem to be kind people. I can safely entrust this commission to you.”
“Come now, stop standing petrified there and sit down.”

Maxwell, who stood by her side, urged us to sit on the chairs at the center.

Being nervous before the kingdom’s princess, we made our way to the chairs with unsteady steps.

Once she saw that we all sat down, Princess Eligore started to speak.

“Then, let’s start with… Miss Nicole, could you tell me the story of how you saved Lady Ashella?”
“Lady Eligore, focus on the work first.”
“Maxwell, you are too formal. Isn’t it fine to digress a bit?”
“If she starts digressing right from the start, I cannot help but comment about it.”

I felt it had been quite a long time since I’ve seen Maxwell being led around like this.

Setting that aside, Eligore cleared her throat after being warned, and returned back to the topic.

“Ahem, Maxwell is being noisy, so let me start with the commission details. You have already heard of Miss Fina’s matter, yes?”
“Of course, she is my sister, so I heard it right away.”
“I heard from Nicole!”
“M-Me… I mean, so have I.”
“And I was at the scene along with Lord Gadius.”

Everyone answered Eligore’s question. It seemed this princess was the type to do whatever she wanted. I could see her blood relationship with Maxwell there.

“Good. As you are aware, the matter was already settled, so there is nothing to worry about in that regard. However, some problems still persist.”
“You mean the discrimination of the half-demons, right?”
“Yes. Did Maxwell tell you about that?”
“No, Gadius.”
“Ah, yes, I did tell him the commission details. Then it makes this conversation simpler.”

What she told us was mostly the same as what we heard from Gadius.

In short, in order to not drop the half-demon standing any further, Eligore, who was popular among the masses, would be traveling to Stollar with Cloud, who was a half-demon.

By displaying that to the citizens, they planned to mitigate their unfavorable opinions towards half-demons.

“As such, I cannot take proper bodyguards with me. There were a few groups that I could trust and had half-demons, and among them, you have the top-level achievements, so I wanted to request it by any means, if possible.”
“Yes, we have already heard of the details, so you have nothing to worry about in that regard. If we did not feel like accepting this, we would not have come here.”

Hearing my answer, Eligore put a hand on her chest in relief.

She had gorgeous features, but her gestures were giving off a friendly aura.

“I’m glad. Then I would like to set out before the kidnapping particulars spread among the citizens. It would not have much effect if we did it once it spreads and the negative feelings have already formed. Are you all fine with that?”
“Yes, we came here for that reason. We can depart any time.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Then let’s do it in thirty minutes.”
“Come again?”
“In thirty minutes.”

I asked back feeling like I misheard it, but she responded back as if to emphasize the point.

Wait, wasn’t that a little too fast, no matter how you look at it?!

“Worry not. I have already finished the travel preparations. And Maxwell has been teaching me how to act on long trips.”
“Wait wait, are you sure you’re going to be fine? It would take over a week from here to Stollar!”
“If push comes to shove, I shall send you with the Portal Gate.”
“Then this trip would lose the whole point!”

We had to show ourselves in public, so what would teleporting achieve? Maxwell seemed to be confused after getting dragged into her pace.

At any rate, if she wanted to depart in thirty minutes, we had to follow her intentions.

Though I said we could depart at any moment, I expected that it would be afternoon or something. I didn’t expect to say thirty minutes.

Though we were the ones leading this trip as the experienced Adventurers, she was still royalty. It was better to compromise where we could.