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Chapter 22 - Princess and Paladin
Part A
Translator: Erothur @ErosWorkshop.Blogspot.com
Editor:
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Shout me out if you find any typos or anything.
The man that went into the stopped carriage and then comes out dragging a woman of royalty reacted to my voice when I charge at them and turns his head to look at me. Once he confirms my figure, he let out a snort.
“Even a brat became reckless these days. Well, it is bad luck for you...... Because you have witnessed something that you should not see, all of you need to die”
(Such arrogance......!)
He is just a standard kind of evil villain who says standard villain line yet I still hesitate whether to face such kind of evil with my [Mercy] skill or not. The other party is letting out his killing intent freely and wields his double-edged long sword to kill me. I think this kind of enemy is still too hard for Deen...... With Deen’s current strength, he could not handle the difference in physique.
But it is fortunate that the enemy is moving away from the royal woman. If they used her as a hostage then I would be at a major disadvantage but as the enemy kindly distancing himself away, I don’t have to worry too much.
“I can actually just let you go. It is not in my principle to taint my blade with a child’s blood you know......!”
This manner of speaking clearly is not from a mountain bandit but the enemy should feel that there is no need for them to pretend any longer. Let’s just knock them out first then so I can freely check on their status after that.
“Haaaa...... [Sonic Blade]!”
| LOG - <Sigmut> is activating [Sonic Blade]! The magic blade that can cut the air is shot! - You are not affected by the attack. |
Sonic Blade is an active skill that can be learned at Sword Mastery level 30. Amongst the other action skill in the Sword Mastery skill, Sonic Blade is a rare medium-ranged art. With one sword swing, the user can shot out a blade made from magic power.
The enemy is using a good weapon and his skill is not bad either. But as my Strong Body skill had passed level 100 added with my defensive article that is well prepared to an extent, only an attack that can deal more than 300 damage can pierce through my defense. The enemy attack isn’t even worth avoiding for me.
“---- Too slow!”
“Wha...... Yo-you dodged that...... You slimy little!”
| LOG - <Sigmut> attacks! - You are not affected by the attack. A chance for you to Super Counter! |
After I easily evade that man called Sigmut’s long sword thrust, a big gap is created in his defense. And with that gap, I keep charging through to run past him ---- his back is wide open now.
“You are too obsessed with taking me down in one blow. If you keep on like that, you will never win against me”
“---- You bastard!!”
Hearing my words, Sigmut swiftly turns back while using the turning momentum to swing his sword. Did he receive my words as an insult? It was just my whim to not connect my chance to do counter-attack but he might take it as I am looking down on him.
But there’s no way such a large swing would hit me so his guard is exposed widely for the second time. If you just swing around your sword randomly like that then you will have a hard time fighting a sword lizard. If the sword lizard parried your attack then they would retaliate back with a vicious counter that could kill you instantly.
“Spirit of lightning...... Please give your power to my ax momentarily. [Paralize x Smash]!”
“Wha...... Tha-that is the holy knight’s...... Magic Sword......!”
“---- Eat this!”
| LOG - You unleashed the [Magic Sword]! - You enchanted your weapon with [Paralize]! - You activated the skill [Smash]! [Paralize x Smash]! - Sigmut received 554 damage! Overkill! - You used [Mercy]! Sigmut is knocked out. - Your weapon enchantment wears off. |
“Gua......!”
I smashed the blunt side of the ax to Sigmut’s head. The active skill that can be learned when reaching level 50 of Axe Mastery, Smash, has already knocked out effect as the base. When enchanted with Paralyze, the knock out rate could almost reach a 100% success rate.
“Company Leader Sigmut......!”
“Just one attack!? ...... That brat, just what did he do......!?”
It seems like the one I knocked out is the enemy’s leader and with him knocked out, his subordinate is losing their composure. The enemies are wearing a black full bodysuit with a hood to cover their faces but looking closely, the two people left are a man and a woman.
“How about worrying about yourselves first? ...... [Paralize Arrow]!”
“Can you escape from this one’s lullaby? ...... [Sleeping Mist]!”
While the two still agitated, Monica-san and Nameless-san cast their skill without hesitation. With a sound of ripping wind, the arrow grazes the man’s right shoulder while the magic mist that Nameless-san had cast surrounds the woman.
“Wha-what happened...... My body, can’t move......”
“Oh no...... Si-Sigmut...... sama......”
| LOG - <Monica> activated [Paralizing Arrow]! - <Greg> just got grazed! Resist failed, the condition becomes paralyzed. - <Nameless> casted [Sleeping Mist]! - <Jino> resist failed, the condition becomes sleep. |
Our offensive hit the target one after another and defeat the enemies. The enemies are by no means weak but they are not strong either. I can’t help but think that the knights escorting the royal carriage are a bunch of miserable rejects for getting beaten easily by this kind of bandits but when I look closer, they are actually just knight apprentice. They are even weaker than Wendy when she just finished her knight training. Their main weapon skill is only at around level 20. Of course, they can’t win the fight.
“Amazing! ...... Hiroto is indeed amazing!”
“Deen, you go back to the caravan. There might still be another bandit trying to attack our caravan so if anything really happens, quickly call us okay?”
“Ok!”
Hearing Monica-san’s instruction, Deen quickly runs back to the caravan. I thought that he would feel depressed because he doesn’t have any chance to participate in the battle just now but it seems that he feels quite happy by just watching me fight so I don’t mind him any longer.
(Well then...... Is the woman from royalties alright? Let’s go reassure her first)
When I’m going to peek the inside of the carriage, I do it carefully so that the person inside would not think of me as an enemy and accidentally attack me. When I look at the inside, I find the princess and another woman that seems to be her attendant.
The attendant is unconscious. It seems to be fainting from fear and the princess is taking care of her. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? That kind of thinking might be the normal assessment of the royalties but when I look at the princess, although young, I perceive that she has a formidable mentality.
She has strawberry blonde colored hair and her eyes also colored the same. And those smooth skin like... solidified oil? ---- Her beauty is just out of the norm that I can’t quickly find the correct word that can describe her. The princess still looks like a normal ten years old but I think that her beauty has already reached perfection.
“The bandits have already been defeated. You don’t have to worry anymore”
“You are the one who defeats them right? ...... I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was an amazing fight”
The princess is still pale from the fear but she already forces herself to express her appreciation to me. She seems to be astonished by how strong I am despite my youthful look. It is something unbelievable normally but as she has witnessed my prowess, she quickly accepts that as the truth.
“My name is Hiroto......Hiroto Siegrid. Can I have the honor to know your name?”
A woman from royalty was attacked by bandits and almost getting kidnaped in the middle of nowhere. Thinking in that line of thought, she would normally would not easily trust other unfamiliar people like us. It would be hard for her to tell me her name ---- but something unexpected happened.
The princess gives me a smile which shows that she trusts me. Her gentle smile would make every kind of living being to have a good impression on her.
“My name is Luche Junegan. Junegan Kingdom’s third princess”
Wearing a lightly elegant dress, the princess whose affection could wrap everyone whole despite her youthful age puts her hand on her chest and clearly introduce herself.
◇◆◇
“My highness princess isn’t there also [Lysenthis] in your name?......”
(Eros: Thank you for unknown commenter for this name!)
“No. That name is planned to be bestowed upon me by the Goddess after the baptism ceremony in Her temple”
Lysenthis Luche Junegan. Now I know that the name I heard when I was still playing the game was a holy name that is supposed to be bestowed upon the princess after she finished her baptism. It seems that the name [Lysenthis] comes from a flower’s name that is considered sacred in the dukedom. There are also other sacred flowers like [Earth Flame] and [Silmaria]. Both names had been bestowed upon the princess’ older sister when they finished their baptism ceremony.
“Hiroto-sama, why did you know about that……? About the name that would be bestowed upon me?”
“That’s right, why did you know? Please answer this honestly”
Inside the carriage, I was thinking about hearing the situation from the princess first in a one on one situation but…… her attendant also joins the conversation and she had been watching over every action I take with scrutiny. She is obviously wary of me. Her name is Ianna. She has her hair tied up in the dango style (like Chinese bun) and she seems to have a strong personality.
“Well, I just somehow feel like it. Like a lucky guess…...”
“*Cough* It might not be our place to say as you are the one who saved the princess and myself but could you be more careful with your words?”
Even when Ianna is feeling ashamed about her blunder in being fainted when attacked just now, she quickly recovers her manner after she wakes up. Well, it is indeed not a commonly agreeable thing to talk with someone of the royalty with a casual tone.
But it is hard to give a childish impression when using the formal tone…… Ah well, screw it. My mother is a noble and my father is a knight…… Even if I said that I have been educated with manner from early on, no one would be suspicious of it.
“I beg your pardon, I will be more careful from now on, Your Highness Luche”
“I-it is good if you understand but…… having you suddenly change like that make me feel uncomfortable in reverse”
“Ianna, please don’t lecture him too much. Hiroto-sama is our savior after all”
“Y-yes, I am terribly sorry for being to forward. My lady…… no, Her Highness the Princess”
I think I could somehow see the relationship between Luche and Ianna now. Looking from Ianna’s status, her job is [Noble Young Lady] and her age is 14 years old…… She is older than Luche and she has been her attendant since she was very young.
And this is how Luche’s status looks like:
| STATUS Name: Luche Junegan Human, Female, 10 years old, level 22 Job: Princess Life: 64 / 64 Mana: 84 / 84 Skill: Music Performance [Flute] (72), Courtesy (83), Royal Blood (32), Body Strength (2), Magic Grounding (5), Maternity (18) Action Skill: Solo Performance (Musical Performance 30), Musical Performance level 7 (Musical Performance 70), Speech (Courtesy 80), Decree (Royal Blood 30) Passive Skill: Charisma (Royal Blood 10), Royalty Equipment (Royal Blood 20), Manner (Courtesy 10), Etiquette (Courtesy 30), Stylish (Courtesy 50), Dignity (Courtesy 70), Nurture (Maternity 10) Skill points left: 13 |
(Royal Blood…… here’s another one with rare skill)
[Royal Blood] is said to be the skill that can only be owned by the royalty and it was said that there is no way for someone else to learn it. Back in the game, one can acquire the skill by having an item called the proof of royalty but on top of being extremely rare that the owner of it can be counted by one hand, those who managed to acquire the skill can’t level it up so everyone back then thought that it was just a kind of decoration. It was a skill that constantly fan my curiosity and made me continuously peek on royals’ status all the time…… Now that I meet it again, it is indeed very interesting.
The princess also has a hobby that fits perfectly to her status, she is actually an expert with the flute. The flute in this world is the one that played sideways. The musical instrument in this world consists of string instruments, some of the wind instruments, harp, piano, flute, and a few percussion kinds. Each of them have their own branch of musical instrument skill.
The inherent skill of the royalty, the [Royal Blood] would definitely grow in the future but at this point where it is just around level 30, most of its function overlap with the [Negotiation] skill ---- the royalties are always connected to wiles and trickery so it is maybe because of that that they could learn something that is similar to [Negotiation] skill? Looking from her appearance, it is hard to imagine how someone like her who looks like a kind girl would use action skill like [Decree], but seeing from how she could stand her own opinion instead of just obeying her maid shows that she had the ability to act independently when needed.
And this girl is still just 10 years old ---- even if she is 2 years older than my body’s age, calling her a ‘little girl’ will be the most natural thing to do. But even so, holly molly what is with that level 18 maternity? Well, there are also Riona who have high maternity level but those two growth rate is just too fast. Just look at Ash, Deen, and of course, myself. We still look very much like a little boy no matter how you look at us.
(Oops…… I unconsciously stared too much)
I got too much engrossed checking her unique status screen. I have to fix this bad habit of mine. Anyway, I drive my [Courtesy] skill to the maximum and minding my manner like how I should in front of a royalty…… and then.
“Your highness the princess, I beg your pardon for making you experience something scary. Even though I know that it is impolite to ask for your favor when you have just barely passed that ordeal but I hope that your highness could answer this one question of mine”
“Thank you for your concern but…… I have calmed myself enough. There is no need to worry too much about me. Your question must be related to those people who want to kidnap me right?”
“That is correct your highness. I am thinking of confirming their origin so would you please be my witness in the process? Ianna-san can stay if she doesn’t want to”
“He-her highness the princess is coming so there is no way I would stay behind. I will also go, allow me to go together with you”
Ianna could not completely hide her nervousness but she still gets off the carriage together with Luche. Sigmut and the other ‘bandits’ are still unconscious. The others had tied their limbs and put them in a sitting position. Even though there is no sign of them gaining consciousness, Luche and Ianna still gingerly approach them to have a closer look.
I asked Ash and the other in the caravan to stay away from the place of attack. I only have Monica-san, Nameless-san, and Wendy to come help. I asked them to be alert of the surroundings so if there is a reinforcement for the bandits, we could react from it appropriately.
“…… The sword that the man used in the attack, even if it is heavily camouflaged, I can tell that it comes from the knight brigade equipment. And that last sword art the man used in the last battle, I remember seeing it back in the dukedom knight brigade’s tournament”
“Just as I expected. So it is like that…...”
“Ho-how could that be…… How could members of the knight brigade disguise themselves as mountain bandit to kidnap her highness…...”
Ianna-san blood drained off from her face and she is about to fall unconscious again but Luche holds her steady. I want to say how can a maid be supported by her master instead but…… she must received a tremendous shock from this event. Can’t be helped then.
“They named themselves as Poison Rose but…… is there any real mountain bandit group with that name around?”
“Yes, there was. I don’t have any proof to make your highness believe me but me and my party had forced that mountain bandit group to stop their activity”
“Perhaps, because the name Poison Rose is quite famous around here, they use the name to disguise themselves. For a member of the knight brigade to go to that extent just to kidnap her highness the princess…… this is simply an act of treason to the duchy!”
Monica-san said it with an unpleasant expression. Ianna-san managed to calm down a little but she could not muster any strength to her feet which made her weakly fall down on the spot.
Luche’s white face also grows a step paler but after having a deep although unsteady breath, she seemed to be successful in swallowing up all her fear and worry.
“I could imagine how things happened this way…… But from my point of view, that is a one-sided opinion from your part. I could not pull a conclusion by myself from only hearing your deduction. I know that you are the one who saved me and I am indeed grateful for that but…… I can’t say anything for now”
Even if Luche is only a 10 years old girl, she already possessed a strong personality worthy of her position as a princess. She already realizes that in politics, her word could become something that could boomerang back at her if she is not careful. So she definitely can’t carelessly accuse that the knight brigade wanted to bring harm to her. She could not speak carelessly even when the truth is laid bare in front of her.
The best move they could do now is to hand Sigmut’s gang to the knight brigade and let them solve it themselves. But of course, it would be better if the one receiving them is someone trusted.
“Your Highness Luche, are you familiar with Filianess-san the holy knight”
“…… Why did you mention Fil-neesama?”
So you called her Fil-neesama…… Fil is Filianess-san’s pet name back in the game. Only a few people close to her can call her with that name. That information was written back in her character setting. And using that as the base, the player had created many derivatives for her…… But this is not the time to think about that.
“I am something similar to a pupil to Filianess-san. I have been under her care from when I was still a child…...”
“…… Siegrid…..Now I remember. That is the family name of the former vice leader of the duchy’s knight brigade right? Are you the son of Ricardo Siegrid?”
I only answer her with a nod. Ianna-san who still sitting weakly on the ground lift her face from shock. She looks at me with both eyes opened wide and then shows an apologetic expression…… this girl seems to be very weak in front of higher authority.
“So that was it…… Did you aim to become a knight like your father and ask Fil-neesama to train you?”
“Yes. But even so, I don’t use a rapier like her. Instead, I am an ax user just like my dad”
“So you saved us with that small but beautiful ax right? Again I am very grateful for what you have done”
“Eh…… Ah, ye-yes. Thank you very much”
I can’t help getting bashful. Honestly, having the ax that I created together with grandpa Bardis praised like this make me feel considerably happy. For a moment my communication skill becomes a wreck like it used to be but I managed to quickly calm myself down.
That time when I go back and forth to Granpa Bardis’ workshop in order to forge my small ax was an extension of him teaching me the basics of smithing. When I asked him to let me observe him working, he told me back that if I can provide the material for it, he will show it to me. No matter who, when dwarves want to teach smithing to them, it seems to be their tradition to start the process by letting the pupil gather the needed material themself. Because of that, I ended up using the most precious material I can get to forge and further strengthen it until the ax reach this level.
My smithing skill is only limited to do a simple repair on my metal armaments for now but I want to make special order-made armaments only for me in the future. The armaments that Granpa Bardis created mostly have a simple design but I think that such a simple form is beautiful enough. I can’t help but want to create something similar myself. And when the princess praised my ax, it felt like I was the one getting praised instead.
(About those sacred flower names: Earth Flame comes from アースフラム[a-sufuramu] and シルマリア[sirumaria] then it suddenly comes to me. Isn’t there a flower called Lisianthus which sounds a bit similar to Lysenthis? And that sirumaria… doesn’t it sound close to Silmeria from Valkyrie Profile? I don’t know about earth flame tho. But well, maybe the author put the name like that on purpose. I need suggestions for earth flame names as it would be bestowed upon a girl. I’m thinking of Arsfram tho)
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Thank you for the chapter!
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