Novel Bin (259) Sudden march
Chapter (259) Sudden march
“ ― — It has been some time, Ichinojo-sama.”
Seeing Shumei bow with her head down, I stood straight and bowed as well.
“It has been some time, I am honored to meet you once again. Shumei-sama.”
“I recall asking you to cease with the polite tone.”
Shumei said.
That said, am I allowed to speak unreservedly to a princess? So I took a glance at Marquis.
He nodded with a smile.
That probably meant that I could speak casually.
“Sorry. But is this all right? I only found out after coming to this town that you are a princess.”
“As expected, my identity was revealed. However, I will probably only remain as a princess for a little longer. After all, I have betrayed this country.”
“Betrayed? Are you planning to defect to the Kingdom of Shiraraki?”
“No, that is not the case. This country — — His Highness wishes to form peace with the Kingdom of Shiraraki.”
“Isn’t that good?”
If there was peace, I wouldn’t have to go out of my way to become a mercenary.
I would be able to return to the Kingdom of Shiraraki as a merchant and set off for Mallegory to the east.
Eh? But peace? In the first place, the war began one-sidedly when the Kingdom of Shiraraki, or rather the Church, classified the Dark-Elves as a demon race?
The country had no choice but to fight to protect the Dark-Elves.
Peace, in that case, would mean —
“No way —”
“Yes, this country will hand over the corpses of all Dark-Elves to the Church.”
” — !?”
In other words, this country plans to betray the Dark-Elves?
No matter how much they wish to avoid the war, there shouldn’t be a need to sacrifice the Dark-Elves who had not done anything wrong.
“Of course, that is not my father’s intention. After all, this country has prospered from the co-existence with the Dark-Elves. However, the king does not hold absolute power. The army holds great power, especially during war. All the nobles of the Central Army Faction unanimously decided to abandon the Dark-Elves.”
“So His Highness asked Shumei to consult me. To ask if I would lead the mercenaries to help the Dark-Elves flee the country. After all, this country’s Mercenary Guild is not part of the army and personally managed by me.”
However, Shumei’s guards were apparently people from the military faction as well as they betrayed her and led the sand bandits to attack her.
“However, although a mercenary will be able to move about freely, they do not have the authority to command a unit. And there is a need to organize all the mercenaries into a unit.”
“In other words, by failing me, I retain my right to act freely and you hope that I will aid the Dark-Elves — right?”
“I’m grateful that you catch on so quick. Of course, we will give generous compensation.”
Haa, so I failed the test because of such a contrivance.
I was still shocked for failing my employment exam ― or rather the mercenary exam but I could accept it with such a reason behind it.
“I am sorry, Ichinojo-sama. For getting you involved in something like this.”
“I have a Dark-Elf friend as well. I won’t be able to bear with it if she died.”
I said to comfort Shumei who was apologetic to me.
So the question on Dark-Elves during the interview was to discern if I had the will to help the Dark-Elves.
Even though I had only met Rarael once, she was my friend.
Although I didn’t want to be caught up in troublesome issues and I had to hurry to Mallegory to help Miri, I couldn’t abandon a friend in need.
Well, even though I said to help them, our task was probably only to inform the Dark-Elves of the current situation and ask them to evacuate. If they evacuated to the depths of the forest, the army shouldn’t be able to capture the Dark-Elves so easily.
“It should be best if we depart as soon as possible. When can we depart?”
“Thank you very much! Ichinojo-sama! I will quickly change my clothes!”
Shumei replied and headed to the room at the back and in just seven seconds, returned dressed in the same fashion as when I met her in the desert. Did she have the Quick Change skill?
“Well then, let’s go.”
Just when Shumei said that.
“Marquis-sama, terrible news.”
The Mercenary Guild guildmaster entered the room on his own.
“What happened!?”
“We have received an order from Marshal-sama to advance the mercenary unit into the Great Forest. The Royal Army will begin its attack on the Great Forest in three days as well.”
“What!?”
“No way …”
Shumei fell to the ground on the spot.
It would take a week to cross the desert.
We would definitely not make it in time to reach the Great Forest by crossing the desert.
“Are there message transmission tools to the Adventurer’s Guild? If we have those, we may be able to let the other co-operators inform the Dark-Elves of the current situation ―”
“All magic tool transmissions in this country are inspected by the army. We will not be able to act without informing the army.”
“Sheet, are there no other ways?”
I tried investigating my Home Return destinations.
If Rarael’s name was recorded, I could teleport all the way to the Dark-Elf forest in an instant.
My World
Transfer Impossible (Miryuu)
Florence Margaret clothes store (Margaret)
My World (Haurvatat)
Florence Margaret clothes store (Norn)
My World (Carol)
My World (Malina)
Capital City Koron (Shumei)
Rarael’s name was not there but Shumei’s name had been added in.
It seemed that I could transfer to the Capital City of Koron.
Eh? Miri’s transfer point had changed from Deijima Adventurers Guild to Transfer Impossible.
But now, I guess the choice would be to transfer to Shumei’s room in the Capital City of Koron?
If I was on my own, I could escape using Invisibility and Remain Unknown but it might be impossible with Shumei.
Well, we have nothing to lose so let’s give it a shot.
“Shumei, it is not definite that we won’t make it in time. Rather than spend the time crying, let’s set off now.”
“Yes — Ichinojo-sama.”
I didn’t want others to know about Home Return so I lied to Marquis-sama and led Shumei away.
Then, I moved to a place where others would not notice and I confided to Shumei about the method I thought up.
“Shumei, I am able to use the Lifestyle Magic Home Return. I seem to be able to transfer to your room instantaneously if I use it. In order for you to transfer with me, we have to stop by the Adventurers Guild to form a party.”
“Home Return!? So Ichinojo-sama was the Magician-sama who saved me that time after all!?”
“Eh? Why did you reach that conclusion? Swordsmen are able to use Lifestyle Magic as well. I received it as the Labyrinth Conquer bonus after all.”
“No, that’s not the reason — but my room huh? I think escaping from my room would be quite difficult.”
“I figured but there is no other location to transfer to — No, wait.”
I do have one other location after all.
“There is a more reliable way!”
I head to the stables and retrieved the Desert Runner before we jumped on and left the town.
After running with the carriage for some distance,
“Shumei, please paste this anywhere on your body.”
I passed Shumei the approval seal to enter My World.
Shumei pasted the seal on her hand without asking anything. During that time, I pasted the seal on the desert runner as well.
Then, I created the door to enter My World.
“Please enter here.”
“Ye-yes.”
She was surprised but she followed my instructions.
I felt that she should be a little warier but now it helped speed up the process so I was extremely thankful.
“Where is this place —”
She was understandably surprised.
Even though we were crossing the desert, we were in a town in the middle of the desert.
And now, we suddenly appeared just before a beach.
“Please don’t ask questions regarding this place. And please don’t tell anyone about it.”
“Un-understood.”
Shumei nodded.
I wasn’t worried, a girl who acted desperately for the sake of the Dark-Elves was trustworthy.
There was a large wooden water tank placed beside the sea and there were tons of turtles in it.
They seemed to be using crushed shrimp as feed.
“Oh, Master, did you make a new woman?”
Neete who was in the midst of feeding the turtle noticed me and called out.
“Shut up. Neete, I leave Shumei to you for a while. I will reopen the door soon so let Shumei and the desert runner through the door when it opens! Desert runner, don’t eat the turtle feed.”
I warned the desert runner who had thrust its mouth into the turtle feed before I started chanting my spell without waiting for Neete and Shumei’s replies.
“Fake Magic — Home Return Angela!”
Suddenly, the landscape changed.
I had transferred to the Pirate’s Hideout.
“Wha! He’s back!”
The frightened pirates said in symphony —
“We have not done anything bad since then! We have been obediently imitating fishermen in the shores! So please do not destroy our hideout.”
The pirates cried as they prostrated on the ground.
I felt bad but I didn’t have time to explain the situation to them as I left the hideout and went to a place where the pirates couldn’t see me.
“My World!”
After opening the door, Shumei and the desert runner exited.
“Ichinojo-sama, where is this place?”
That question was expected.
“Near a pirate hideout to the immediate west of the town of Hanmuno.”
“No way — in an instant!? Did you use Home Return?”
“Something similar. Let me clarify, I do not have friends among the pirates.”
The Nelson was a pirate as well but he was only an acquaintance at best.
As Earl Paul’s subordinates, he would be the senior but my noble rank was higher so it was difficult to explain our relationship.
“The Great Forest is further from here than from the Capital City but we should reach the Great Forest by tomorrow. Lead the way.”
Since the desert runner was strong, its speed wouldn’t change even if we both rode it.
I gave the desert runner another squid leg to eat.
The desert runner become more lively after that and we headed east.