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Lucella’s group left the scene to the Adventurers that came after Ivar’s report and headed to the royal capital with their carriage.

They believed that they needed to get the attacked girl to a safe place fast.

“I never asked you to save me. You just jumped in and meddled in it on your own, so I won’t thank you for it.”

The girl in question didn’t seem very grateful about it, however.

—Her ego really inflated once things calmed down…

There were three of them riding the high-speed carriage.

Lucella, Ivar, and the mysterious girl.

The girl in an outing dress crossed her legs in a bad manner and was staring hard at the two with her sky-blue eyes.

Be it her glossy golden hair, well-tended skin, or luxurious dress, they were all suggesting she was a young lady of a prestigious family, but her attitude ruined that appearance.

—Actually, doesn’t she resemble someone?

Lucella felt like her looks resembled someone from her memories, and it bothered her.

“It looked like you would die if we didn’t help, though?”
“Indeed. Maybe dying there would’ve been better. After all, compared to those who would grieve for me, ten thousand times more people would’ve been happy about it.”

Ivar seemed a little annoyed and asked it sarcastically, but the girl responded with a nihilistic smile and turned away.

Dying there would’ve been better.

She had no expectations from the world from the start.

Her words sounded like some sort of self-defense. Perhaps it was better to leave her be, but Lucella couldn’t ignore it.

“You shouldn’t say such things.”
“What? Are you planning to lecture me now?”

She glared sharply at Lucella after hearing her rebuttal.

It was a little different from coercion.

It felt more like she was saying not to touch her and to stay away.

A dog that was continuously chased by humans with stones and sticks would’ve surely had the same threatening gaze.

“I should be the one to decide whether I have any worth or not.”
“But… you were scared when that monster had you cornered.”
“I wasn’t scared!”
“Being scared isn’t a bad thing. It’s normal to be scared of dying. When humans truly exhaust all their options and give up on everything else… they stop fearing everything and die in silence. If you think back on why you were scared of dying… you should be able to find out what it is that you need to do.”

Lucella tried to convince her with all she had.

She had known a person who had accepted her own death. Compared to Giselle, it was clear that this girl hadn’t accepted her death.

She said such a thing because she was seriously considering dying but then realized she didn’t want to die.

This girl was surely standing at the edge of a cliff and simply peering down from there, but Lucella felt a destructive premonition from her suggesting that she would one day end up jumping down from there.

“…You’re quite impudent.”

The girl seemed to have no words to return and muttered so in weakened spirits.

”By the way, isn’t it a good time for you to tell us your name already?”

But once Ivar asked for her name, the girl seemed to have regained her willpower and shrugged in displeasure.

“Oh my, you don’t even recognize my face? Are you bumpkins, perhaps? I’m not obliged to give my name.”
“But if we don’t know who in the world you are, we wouldn’t be able to take you home.”
“In that case, just hand me over to the gatekeeper at the city walls. That would be plenty.”

The royal capital could already be seen ahead of the carriage. A deep, clear moat, and strong and high city walls that were like a fortress, were surrounding it. The highway was drawn in towards the gate tower that served as an exit and entrance of it.

“Look.”

The girl pointed before the gate tower.

There stood not low-rank gate guards, but instead, knights dressed in luxurious armor, waiting for someone’s arrival.

The girl got off the carriage on her own and headed to the knights. The knights received her silently, surprisingly silently. But the girl didn’t seem bothered by that either. It seemed as if they had a tacit understanding of the situation.

“Good work. Are you adventurers?”

One of the knights asked overbearingly with his helmet still on.

“Yes, technically.”
“Me too!”

Ivar and Lucella showed their adventurer cards.

Ivar also had adventurer status for convenience to aid his adventurer manager work.

Lucella also originally had adventurer qualifications for the same reasons too. Afterward, things turned complicated, but they confirmed her identity so she was reissued a temporary card for the time being.

But when the knight saw her card, he couldn’t help but exclaim.

“What’s with this adventurer card? It’s not broken, is it?”
“No, uhh…”

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The knight seemed to suspect the adventurer card after seeing those impossible values.

These stat values were in fact completely accurate, in reality…

“It’s them. They saved me, there is no mistake.”
“Ah, I see…”

Surprisingly, the mysterious girl offered a helping hand and the knight backed down.

“I shall reward you for your deed.”

The knight pushed a gold coin pouch to the two without asking for their consent.

The size of the pouch was just big enough to fit in Lucella’s hand… but if it was full of gold coins, the total sum would be quite a bit shocking.

“You have done well. Now then, if you wish to enter the city, follow the fixed procedures.”

With that, the knights turned their backs without waiting for their response.

The mysterious girl glanced at Lucella for a moment but it ended at that. She quickly disappeared beyond the gate with the knights.

“Is this supposed to be hush money… or perhaps not to pry into it?”
“Wonder what’s up with that girl…”

Ivar confirmed the pouch contents and started counting the gold coins without looking particularly happy.

This situation was screaming that there was more to it than it appeared.

“Oh well. We’ll find out after investigating it. I’ll tell you if I learn anything. About that golem too.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll head back to where Mom and others are.”
“Right. Well, do your best.”

Still having apprehensions, the two headed to the gate tower checkpoint to deal with the entry procedures.

The mysterious girl had already disappeared from their view.