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Like buds sprouting in spring, like robust trees lush and verdant in midsummer, her soft yet powerful movements stirred something within me.
But the spectacle didn’t end there.
When she extended her hand towards the sky, briars burst forth from the ground around her.

The briars seemed alive, moving as if controlled by the girl, and they mowed down the approaching monsters with ease.
From then on, the battle was one-sided.
The fallen monsters never rose again, and the number of briars only continued to increase.
As if she had eyes in the back of her head, she accurately crushed even the monsters that closed in from her blind spots.

It did not take long for the battle to end.
As the monsters lay defeated, the briars vanished, leaving her the one standing.
What’s left was a only bizarre, eerie sight.

Then, the scene shifted once again.
The mass of monsters blanketing the floor seemed to be engulfed by the earth itself, melting, no, vanishing into the ground.
It was as if nothing had occurred here at all, then the girl turned towards us.

Hidden beneath the shadow of her hood was a mask, embellished with a dragon wing symbol.

◆◆◆

After instructing Mia to hide, I drew the monsters’ attention with a song before switching out to let Ciel take the stage.
Ciel’s use of the briars was likely to appease Lisyl, since she was visibly disappointed we weren’t wearing the dress she made.
After wiping out the stampede, we were at a loss about how to handle the monster corpses, so I tried asking Lisyl if she could lend us a hand, and she enthusiastically buried each one underground.
High spirits are really terrifying.

『I like the den better; I can dance there as much as I like.』
『And Tur is there, too.』
『Yeah, I want to play with Tur again!』
『I see. However, we do have spectators at the moment, so may we switch?』
『Oh, that’s right.』

It sounded as though she had genuinely forgotten about them, and it’s probably sincere.
In contrast, here I am, bitter and ready to complain.
Who even came up with this scheme? I’m 70% certain the people by that carriage are mere victims. Still, there’s a 20% chance they’re foolish instigators incapable of cleaning up after themselves, and a 10% chance they’re thrill-seeking battle junkies eager for a fight with a stampede.

As I’m donning a mask and a cloak that obscures my silhouette, I approached them without much concern.
And since I can, I took off the hood over my head, exposing my black hair for them to remember.
As I came nearer, the carriage’s escorts pointed their swords at me with wary glares.
There are eight guards in total, and from them a man and a woman stepped forward to confront me, while the others formed a protective circle around the carriage.
They didn’t seem like typical hunter-escorts; their movements looked quite brisk and organized for hunters; they moved more like a military unit.

This only serves to make me feel more uneasy.
Don’t tell me there’s also a reason for why half of the escorts are women.

「Identify yourself.」

The woman leading the group demanded, her sword still aimed at me.
I had hoped to speak with their leader, who is likely inside the carriage, but I guess she will do.
There may be a risk of being recognized by my voice, but I’m a Song Princess. Altering my voice to sound different is trivial.

When I first experimented with different voices, Ciel, unfazed, only reacted, “Well, it’s Ain, after all.” Curious, I asked why it didn’t surprise her, and she replied with a hearty giggle. “How many years do you think I’ve been listening to your singing?” she said.
The expression on her face was—well, let’s not dwell on that; what’s important is that it’s unlikely we’d be recognized by voice.

Just as I was about to speak in a voice that could not be associated with ours or Ailniege’s, two girls suddenly emerged from the carriage.

They were taller than Ciel, likely around her age or slightly younger. One had blonde hair and blue eyes, having an overall light color scheme similar to Ciel’s former appearance, while the other sported a spirited demeanor and a bright red ponytail.
The former Ciel-colored girl looked familiar to me; I may have seen her portrait before. As I silently hoped that I was just mistaken, one of the escorts shouted in panic, throwing my hopes straight down the drain.

「Princess, please return inside.」
「There’s no need for concern. If she intended to harm us, there wouldn’t be much we could do, correct?」
「That’s…」
「No, have no blame here. If anything were to happen… we could only blame our bad luck. Besides, I don’t believe she means us any harm.」
「As she says. But Lady Mii, this person is…」

The redhead whispered into the ear of Ausente’s youngest princess—Princess Leshimiiya.
We had been taught about Princess Leshimiiya as she is a member of Ausente’s ruling aristocracy. We were initially only briefed on the high noble family heads and their scions, but due to the fourth prince’s case, we were shown portraits of every member of the royal family, which is how I recognized her.

Now, on the topic of Princess Leshimiiya, I commented that her name sounded similar to Mother’s, and I was informed that the princess was indeed named after her.

I was told that it might have been intended as a gesture of goodwill towards Central, but since Mother showed little to no interest about it, she’ll probably show no mercy if Ausente ever caused trouble.
They are, more or less, currently causing a problem, though. That aside, Mother wouldn’t have joked about us being free to pick a fight with the kingdom otherwise.

Anyhow, because of our complicated relationship with this kingdom’s royalty, I really don’t want to get involved with them, but since she came to meet me, I’ll just speak my piece and leave.
To prepare for our exit, I pulled my hood up and turned towards Princess Leshimiiya.

「Nothing happened here.」
「You want to keep this a secret, correct?」
「Is that a problem?」
「It is, but I’d much prefer not to antagonize you any further.」

It was surprising to see a princess show this much deference to an unknown stranger, but it seemed she understood my intention, so I switched with Ciel and let her handle the rest.
Ciel then created a dust cloud to obscure their sight before flying back to Mia’s location.

「Welcome back.」
「It should be fine now. We’ll leave after a short rest.」
「In that case, let me make us some tea.」

We set up a table and chairs from the magic pouch near the forest where the stampede had occurred, allowing Ciel and Mia to start their tea time.
There was no guarantee that Princess Leshimiiya and her entourage would remain silent about the incident, but if I understood her final words correctly, there shouldn’t be any significant issues.
After all, Princess Leshimiiya seems to have realized the possibility that there is already existing tensions between her and us… or rather I.

And that ends our chapter! That was quick work from our girls!

I always like how side characters in this story who are in positions where they have to think… actually do the think. The princess judged very quickly that there’s jack they can do if they piss off their mysterious savior. Also, the red-haired lady noble whispered to the princess? And she was mentioned to have a special Job that the princess judged to be more important to save than her own life? Hmmmm~

Meanwhile, it’s funny how Ain seems pretty upset about the whole ordeal, lol. “Ciel seems to have forgotten why we’re here, but I would boil whoever caused this stupid stampede if I could, so it better not be these people.” Also, our girls nonchalantly having teatime in the middle of nowhere, lol.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!