「Good morning. Today’s breakfast is bread, cheese, scrambled eggs, smoked meat, and salad. There is also jam for those who wish to put it on their bread」

Our chef’s prided breakfast.

Peris’ desire for knowledge is surprising. Her cooking skills have already exceeded me. I am thinking of bringing her to the capital to further broaden her horizons.

I cast an appearance-changing barrier on her, but due to her build, she looked like a fat human. She is still a princess though……it seems that my barrier skill still has some room for improvement.

By the way, I made Jeneha look like a horse. She lives in the stables, so it happened naturally.

「Have a nice day」

Peris sent me off and I headed for my store. The business flowed as smoothly as ever. Recently, Peris often asks me to buy some things, but the quantity is rather impressive. It takes me until night to finish buying everything. However, thanks to that, I can have the beef stew like in that hotel.

I arrived at my store and manned the counter. A few merchants and adventurers were already there as if they were waiting for me to arrive. While I was dealing with customers, a messenger from the prime minister arrived. He told me to head for the royal castle right away.

Closing the store for now, I went to the royal palace. As if waiting for my arrival, the prime minister came immediately. He had dark circles under his eyes.

「I apologize for suddenly summoning you. I have a favor to ask of you」

「Guarding the royalty again?」

「Something like that. I want you to escort a certain royalty to the empire’s border」

「You mean, the border with Ashiria? Or Belganda? 」

「Any one works. I just want you to escort the royalty out of the capital and towards the border」

Quite the request you have here.

「Well, about half a month ago we discovered the royalty of the cat tribe in the Chill village. He declared himself as a hero who will defeat the Great Demon King. He had some nice gear, so I decided to contact the Piao Kingdom first. They said that he did it on his own volition. Moreover, his gear was stolen from the national treasury. The Piao King was enraged and decided to exile him」

……Those retarded cats again? They even received a shelter from the empire. I don’t want to involve myself with them.

「A messenger came from the Piao Kingdom to report his exile and take away the treasured gear, but that guy went on a rampage. He wounded the messenger and several attendants」

That is the worst. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

「He was restrained and deprived of his gear, but regretfully, he bumped into the first princess Ricolette. Everything would have been fine as long as he restrained himself a bit, but he insulted Ricolette-sama」

Everything became even more complicated. Just what did he say to her?

「…..He said「Idiotic princess, who is absolutely useless without her father’s authority」」

Yeah, death penalty confirmed.

「Now, he is in prison. Can’t help it, he did insult the princess. Ricolette-sama is very angry too. She is saying「behead him」since a while ago. I have a hard time calming her down. For now, we decided to exile them from our empire, but we can’t let them create a mess in the capital. That’s why we need someone to guide them out of our territory」

Can’t you put them in a carriage and let a soldier drive it?

「……He insulted Ricolette-sama. Of course, he also did that to the maids, attendants, and ministers. Do you think we can leave this mission to a simple soldier? In the worst case, the very same soldier will cut him down」

Isn’t if fine to cut him down?

「In that case, it will affect out empire’s reputation. We can’t predict the movements of the neighboring countries if that ever happens.」

「If they are this troublesome, can’t we just quietly dispose of them?」

「Such things should be done before the commotion. Everyone already knows the fact that he proclaimed himself a hero, who will defeat the Great Demon King. Anyway, we just need to escort him out of our country. Therefore, I ask you, with your experience of protecting the royalty. I don’t care where, just throw them out of the empire」

…….Your real intentions surfaced in the end. I see. I prefer to hide most of my skills on purpose. As a barrier master, I can successfully deliver them to the border. The possibility of them killing me and me killing them is also low. It’s hard to be me.

I can’t produce any motivation at all. However, it is a request from the prime minister. I can’t just say no. For now, it seems that he will lend me a carriage, so let’s use a barrier to confine them inside until we reach the border. As expected, he couldn’t just ditch them outside the border, so he stuffed the carriage with food and water. He said that he didn’t mind sacrificing every single carriage as long as they successfully leave.

「That being said, such an idiotic royalty」

「No, that happens rather often」

Rather often?! Is every royalty in this world an idiot? Come to think about it, the king of the Juka Kingdom was an idiot too.

「They are well-mannered and educated, but no one informs them of the common sense of the general public. Rather than take an initiative to learn that, they become prideful」

Waha. That’s where people like those idiotic cats come from.

For now, I went to the place where those cats were. As I left the room, I saw a young lady walking in my direction. Just when I thought that she would pass by me, she stopped and looked at me.

「Is there something?」

「This, Rinos-dono, is the First Princess Ricolette」

The prime minister said to me in a hurry. Hoh, is this person the rumored princess? She looks intelligent. I hurriedly knelt.

「I unintentionally offended Your Highness」

「Are you the rumored barrier master? My name is Ricolette. This kind of attitude isn’t required」

Even though she said that there was no need, I didn’t budge.

「You are neither my nor the emperor’s vassal. You are the retainer of the prime minister Guremont, am I right? I don’t have the right to directly command you, so there is no need for you to be so formal. I don’t know about the others, but you don’t need to do it before me」

She said her piece and left just like that.

「Well, she’s such a person. Her thinking pattern is fundamentally different from ours」

I parted with the prime minister and followed a soldier to the underground prison to see the cats.

Ricolette’s ideas aren’t wrong from a certain standpoint. However, it goes against the established traditions. It might work in the turbulent times, but in the already established empire, such thinking might even be treated as a heresy. She seemed like an intelligent woman, but she was born too early.

While I was thinking about such things, we reached the basement.

Idiot prince and idiot princess were assigned to the separate cells. Each had their own servant accompanying him/her. Therefore, the people, who take care of their needs, were placed in the same cells as them. They are treated rather nicely, for a jail. Can’t say the same for their servants though.

「Yo, long time no see. Are you doing well? 」

「Ah, you are that offender! You were from this castle all this time. Hurry up and get me out of here. The Great Demon King won’t wait for anyone! I’m surrounded by idiots! 」

「…..As noisy as always. Anyway, you have been banished from the empire. I’m going to throw you out once we reach the border. Let’s not waste any time! 」

「Banished? Why is it always me and my brother!?」

「Your plight was caused by your own actions. Your words, your actions have created this situation」

I took out the four cats out of the prison. He was equipped with fancy gear before, but now he is unarmed and wearing dirty clothes. There was no trace of royalty left.

A man in a hood passed behind us. When I spared some attention on him, he stood before a certain cell, asked a guard to open it and entered inside. I had a memory about the person inside that cell.

Third prince of the Hideta Empire, Hideta Shua Serias.