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Princess Eligore suddenly brought up wanting to depart right away, but we weren’t against the idea. We weren’t, but it was still my duty as her guard to warn her about it.

“If we leave right away, you are aware that we won’t be able to reach the next inn in time and will have to camp out, right?”

There were inn towns spread along the way from Raum to Stollar where merchants could stay.

However, they were built on intervals that assumed you started your trip “in the morning,” so if we departed now in the afternoon, we wouldn’t be able to reach it.

Of course, on a fast horse, we could probably still reach it.

“But it would be bad otherwise. If we depart in the early morning, the people won’t be able to see me getting along with Cloud.”
“Ugh, that indeed is our objective… Then is there even a reason to leave the city?”
“I intended to inspect Stollar either way, so it would be more constructive to have you accompany me there, right?”
“Ugh… why is this person so good at making reckless arguments seem so logical.”

Maxwell hung his head at my complaint.

He had probably experienced being dragged around like this a lot.

If we were going with safety-first, departing tomorrow would be the best. But the goal this time was for the people to witness Princess Eligore and Cloud together, so departing when there were more people around would be ideal.

Her thoughts in this regard weren’t wrong.

“It can’t be helped. We will most likely end up camping out, so please be ready for that.”
“Of course. Plus the famous Nicole and Michelle would be with me, so I’m sure it will be fun.”

Princess Eligore clapped and smiled happily. Her innocent smile made me lose the will to argue any further.

I see, she certainly had enough charisma to charm people.

With her gentle atmosphere coupled with the will that never backs down, she will develop quite a strong personality.

“Very well. Let us go with that plan then. We depart in thirty minutes. We will meet up in front of the castle gate.”
“Yes, please.”
“Alright, we will go make some preparations too then.”

Even if we were already prepared for the trip, we still needed to get the horses ready. And we had to stock up on the preserved food, too.

Earlier I told her we could set out any time, but we couldn’t really set out immediately on such a long trip.

“Then, Cloud and Michelle, you two go prepare the horses. And water too. Finia and I will go buy the food.”
“Gotcha.”
“Sure.”
“Your Highness Eligore—”
“Just Ellie is fine. We are going to be comrades traveling together from now on.”
“Ugh… Then, Ellie, do you have beddings suitable for night camping?”
“Beddings? If you mean futon, I can take the one I normally use…”
“That wouldn’t work, so we’ll prepare it then. It will probably be quite a crude thing, but please endure it.”
“Yes, of course.”

If you took blankets from the castle bedroom to the trip, they would get ruined in one night.

She might not even mind that, but considering we might have to spend several nights out, it would be better to take a more durable one.

We quickly finished our preparations and left through the castle’s gate thirty minutes later as planned.

The road from the royal castle was basically the main street.

There were stores lined up, making it the main economical street, so there were quite a lot of people there.

Especially during the afternoon like now, not just the customers, but even the craftsmen were out buying lunch, so there was enough congestion to block a carriage.

Our carriage that had its canopy removed was slowly traveling among that crowd.

“Huh, isn’t that Lady Eligore?”
“Wow, you’re right! Is that Nicole with her? When did she return to Raum?”
“Huh, no way. Is that Cloud? Didn’t he become kinda cool?”
“Michelleeee, pant, pant.”
“Finia is my wife!”

As we passed, citizens that spotted Princess Eligore started to gossip loudly, but there were just as many people talking about us.

There were women making eyes at the now-grown-up Cloud, and I felt both proud and annoyed at my student’s growth.

Cloud was already taller than me in my past life, so he had really good prospects in the future.

This b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ was surprisingly popular in Raum where there was less bias towards half-demons.

Also, that last woman, don’t you dare approach Michelle. Also, I’m not giving you Finia. She’s mine.

“You all seem quite popular too.”
“Err, well, our party has quite a few conspicuous people.”

Princess Eligore waved amiably at the citizens while talking to Cloud who rode his favorite horse next to the carriage.

Cloud still couldn’t calm his nervousness, but considering the concept behind this commission, he had to respond to her.

There was a need to lower the hostility towards half-demons by displaying him and Eligore getting along.

After a while, news of Fina’s kidnapping by the hands of the half-demons would reach here, so this was the do-or-die moment.

“Letina also used to go on adventures with you too, right?”
“Yes, back then Finia was not with us, though.”
“She was gathering quite a lot of attention among the high society too, you know? Maxwell ended up stealing her, though.”
“Ah, so she was, huh.”

Maxwell and Letina remained behind at the castle. If she came together, Cloud would no longer stand out.

Letina was a young beautiful elf. She was also skilled in magic, and had connections with the Six Heroes. Moreover, she was popular among the masses, and many nobles wanted to take her as their wife.

Duke Lamech ended up pushing through with his ambitions.

“Well, from the perspective of her comrades, I suppose her engagement with Lord Maxwell is something to be happy about? He’s someone we can trust and worthy of respect.”
“Yes, I’m also relying on him in that regard.”

Their conversation gradually improved, and the tension left Cloud’s tone too.

Princess Eligore’s sociable skills were something to praise.

As I was feeling impressed, I felt a cold stare from behind.

Looking there fearfully, I saw Michelle who wasn’t even trying to hide her displeasure.

As someone who was with Cloud all the time, it seemed like she was feeling somehow jealous of Princess Eligore, who was having a friendly chat with him.

“W-Will this job really go smoothly…”

If Michelle and Princess Eligore become antagonized, just who should I side with… I started to worry for real.