Almelia’s arrival in Bardenhawk ushered in busier times.
I’d been working as a guild employee during the day and at the underground guild at night. However, I’d recently completed a quest at the latter, so I didn’t need to visit again for a while. I’d taken on assassination work for a fee that was much too small, but that was fine since it was probably the last job like that I’d do.
As for the Welger Company, Ben Amster would be reclaiming his place as head of the organization to clean up after the previous disastrous leadership. The company was well on its way to becoming the upstanding business it had once been.
Hopefully, that meant the end of the idiotic plan to take over Bardenhawk.
“Looks like I’ll be on guard duty for Her Highness and the little princess for a while,” Frank, who’d arrived a few days ago, groused to me while I worked.
Today, I planned to give the “little princess” Maylee a dog-walking quest and another where she’d have to watch over some younger children. Almelia, now an adventurer herself, was going to accompany her.
Since Maylee and Almelia’s guard contingents made up a rather large group of nearly twenty people, they drew eyes whenever they walked through the town.
“Stop complaining and get ready to protect Almelia,” I told him.
“You really think she’ll get attacked?”
The Shadows I’d sent off in secret were keeping an eye out. I occasionally looked through their eyes, but no evidence of an assailant turned up.
However…
“Let’s just say that if the person we’re up against was the type to signal an attack, I wouldn’t be so vigilant. I wouldn’t have bothered warning King Randolf, either.”
“I suppose you have a point. But will she really attack the little princess?”
“No. I’m certain of that.”
“How?”
“I think it’s likely that the assassin’s only job is to kill Almelia. She…doesn’t enjoy collateral damage. If someone gets in the way, though, she won’t hesitate.”
Amy usually just killed the target and returned home unscathed. She taught me that was what made for beautiful assassination work.
“There are some who would resort to anything to get the job done, who don’t care about appearances, but that’s the same as announcing themselves as incompetent. She works as an assassin, not a murderer.”
“I see. So she’s proud of her work.”
Frank and I made small talk while I arranged quests for Almelia and Maylee, who’d been waiting their turn.
“I want a quest where I can slay monsters…”
“Yeah, especially since I’m with her.”
The two princesses looked quite displeased.
“I thought this was a good opportunity for you to learn what the people of the town worry about day to day… I suppose you’re much more interested in monsters than the daily lives of the common people.”
When I put it that way, the two girls set their mouths into thin lines and reluctantly accepted the quests.
I saw the pair and the guards off, then deployed a Shadow I’d summoned discreetly to tail them.
With any luck, today would be uneventful.
Maylee and Almelia, as well as their guards, returned in the evening without any issues. Evidently, Amy was either keeping vigilant or still devising a plan.
Almelia took on adventurer work and went somewhere different every day, at my instruction, which made planning to assassinate her extremely difficult.
Since I was deciding where the princesses went and what they’d do, there was no chance Amy could predict their movements.
“What would I do next if I had taken on this job…?” I said to myself.
Maylee and Almelia were still in the guild office’s lobby, telling Frank about some feast to be held in the castle this evening or the like.
Leyte had insisted that a Felind princess couldn’t stay at a simple inn and had offered to provide a guest room at the castle, but I’d made sure Almelia declined. She needed to sleep in a different place each night. Almelia had served in the army, so she was used to resting just about anywhere so long as it wasn’t storming.
“Roland, when does your work end?”
“Soon,” I answered.
“Could we keep training short for today? I’ve been invited to the castle,” Almelia said.
“All right,” I replied.
Her training was going well. Almelia had grown more capable of following my movements with her eyes. She still couldn’t touch me, but her attempts were getting more accurate.
Of course, she still got confused when I used skill, but she was doing well nonetheless.
Almelia was a quick study and lived up to her title as the hero.
Maylee and the others returned to the castle ahead of us as Almelia and Rila waited in the lobby for me to finish my work.
“So, Rila, what’s Roland like at home?”
“Oh? Has your curiosity gotten the best of you?” Rila replied.
“N-no… What’s so wrong about asking?” Almelia turned her head away from Rila, who was sitting on the hero-princess’s lap.
“What a sweet girl you are.” Rila snickered quietly.
I watched the odd conversation happening between two who had supposedly been mortal enemies at one point. Iris thanked everyone for our work today, and we finished up.
“Almelia, we’re heading out,” I called.
“Okay.”
Together, we left the guild and made for the usual clearing. That was when Rila commented, “So this is how you trained the princess to become a hero. I see…”
“I was tasked with looking after her, and the first step was making sure she had the knowledge to survive a fight,” I explained.
Almelia and I worked on evasion and defense first today. Then we moved to stamina and survival knowledge. Finally, I exercised her eye for judgment and methods of prioritization.
“I think I have the basics down, at least,” Almelia said.
“Your arrogance will eventually get you killed,” I cautioned.
“Ugh… I feel like you’ve said that to me before…”
“Heh-heh-heh,” Rila snickered. “He’s entirely correct.”
“Not you, too, Rila…”
Frank’s men were guarding the vicinity. Frank himself, however, was watching nearby, grinning at the sight.
After growing a bit lax after the war, Felind’s princess was finally regaining her discipline. She blocked my attacks today, and we continued evasion drills. Almelia tried to catch me as I approached her, and there were a few times when she got very close.
“…I think we can wrap it up soon,” I stated, casting a look at Frank, who seemed rather sleepy.
“Hm? What is it?” he replied.
“Frank, could you spar with Almelia?” I asked.
“Huh? Me?”
“Without any skills.”
“All right, I suppose…”
The guardsman and the princess took their places in the middle of the field.
“Hmm. So his position as a captain of the imperial knights is for more than just show,” Rila stated.
“You can tell, huh?”
“On the other hand, Almelia’s comportment suggests she’s not very powerful…”
At some point, Rila had decided that had she fought Almelia, she would have won. Almelia readied her sword and Frank his spear. A hush fell over the two, and the air tensed.