Every now and then, the royal capital quaked, allowing me to easily imagine the hectic battle unfolding in the royal castle. I’d entrusted the armor to Dark Lord Vram, and I had faith in his muscles—I mean, his power. Now we had to focus on heading as far away as we could. Here I am, believing in the power of the Dark Lord. Guess I’m in my villainess phase. I cracked a smile at my own joke as I turned to Queen Belletochka, who was running beside me.
Presently, we’d already escaped from the underground passageway and were headed for a carriage that’d take us out of the royal capital. She still looked rather gloomy.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Let’s trust in the power of the Dark Lord. It sounds like the Argent Armor isn’t the actual Argent Knight either—she’s just a downgrade.”
Now, if I’d been asked what exactly we should believe in, the only answer I had was muscles... I nervously waited for the queen’s opinion.
“No, I trust that Vrammie—I mean, that His Majesty will be all right,” the queen replied. “I’m more worried about them injuring any nearby citizens...”
Her Majesty is truly a queen to her core, worrying less about how this affects her than how it will affect the citizenry... Or maybe that’s just the kind of person she was to begin with.
She gazed all around her. A pillar of fire erupted from the Prison Tower followed by some explosions. I could see debris and the aftermath of various spells flying outside the castle grounds.
Nearby demons began to step out curiously, unaware of the queen’s worries. As they gathered around to observe the fuss, Queen Belletochka seemed to try to make herself as scarce as possible.
“What happened?”
“Did something go down at the royal castle?”
“Is the Prison Tower crumbling away?”
“That’s horrible! Is the queen safe?!”
I could hear the nearby demons expressing concerns about the queen’s safety, which seemed to come as a complete surprise to the woman in question. She stopped and listened, and we followed suit as we glanced between her and the people around us.
“Is there an insolent criminal who’s trying to harm our queen?!” an elderly demon lady wondered.
“If so, this is horrible news! We should go and offer our support!” her elderly husband replied.
“You won’t be much help. But we can’t just twiddle our thumbs and watch on without doing anything. She’s our hope.”
“That, she is!” the other demons joined in.
The queen was astonished. She probably hadn’t expected to be so loved and respected. No matter how many times her daughter and sister-in-law had reached their wit’s end insisting as much, nor however many times her husband had reassured her as much, she’d never been willing to believe that the citizens viewed her highly. All this time, she’d assumed that her family were simply trying to soothe the guilt she felt at her betrayal. It was circumstances just like these that her family had wanted her to experience by stepping outside—once she’d heard the actual opinions of the citizens, especially from those who weren’t aware she could hear them, she could see the reality of the situation.
I grabbed the astonished queen’s hand. “Let’s go, Your Majesty, before we cause a bigger fuss.” I ran ahead with her.
From here on out, the queen would hear more and more from her citizens about how they felt. In short order, she would come to see a port city that was proof positive of how, just as Emilia and Lady Elizabeth had promised, Relirex had prospered and made great strides forward from the nation she once knew. None of us could say how she would react to what she’d see on her whirlwind tour of modern Relirex, but if giving her the opportunity to form that opinion was what Emilia had ultimately wanted from rushing me out here, I supposed I was happy to oblige.
“Over here, motheeeer!” Emilia shouted. “A carriage is at the ready over here!”
We were expertly sneaking past the people when Emilia’s loud voice ruined it all. It was only natural that the citizens would turn around in confusion when they heard the familiar voice of their princess. What can you do, I guess. I mean, I know what Emilia could’ve done, but that aside...
“You idiooooot!” I roared, only making the situation worse. “Use your inside voice, why don’t you?!”
What happened next? Well...
“Huh?! Y-Your Highness?!”
“Look! That girl has silver hair! And that’s a divine beast! Is she...”
“I know her! She’s the Argent Holy Woman.”
“Oops,” Emilia and I said in perfect sync. We’d gathered the attention of a crowd, and my identity was quickly exposed thanks to the no-good leopard who’d made no attempt to hide herself.
“Well, since I’m around, I guess we do stand out,” Snow said.
I wasn’t willing to find out what would happen if the crowd caught sight of Queen Belletochka too, so I grabbed her hand and rushed at Snow. “Snow, let’s fly!” I encouraged the queen to climb aboard and joined her.
“Good grief... We’ll definitely stand out like this. Is that all right with you?” Snow asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Emilia, let’s meet up later. Tutte, Sita, go along with her. Huh? Noaaaa—” Before I could finish giving orders, Noa had leaped into my chest and climbed on Snow’s back, leaving me in a daze as Snow took to the skies. With my unfinished sentence trailing off pathetically while we rode into the distance, it was clear my attempt to act cool had utterly floundered.
As Snow had predicted, we attracted attention, drawing eyes away from Emilia and the others. Once the people’s whispers had reached consensus that the woman behind me was the demon queen, it was assumed that the Argent Holy Woman and the queen being together must have something to do with the destruction arising around the Prison Tower. Rumors began to spread that the Argent Holy Woman had saved the queen from some new danger befalling Relirex. They weren’t really right, but not completely off base either... And I never could have imagined just how widely these unfortunate rumors would end up circulating around the kingdom.
“Oh, Noa,” I said. “You jumped into my arms so suddenly that you startled me.”
“When I calculated my stride and the distance, I realized that I was closer to Snow than the carriage,” Noa replied as she scritched Lily’s chin.
“I-I see...” As prone to panicking as I was, I was envious of her calm and precise analytical skills.
“You look so young, yet you’re so calm when you make your decisions,” the queen observed, seeming surprised and impressed.
It’s true. Noa might look like a child, but sometimes she’ll make such coolly rational decisions that she’ll put us adults to shame. I get the impression she’s just trying not to get in anyone’s way, but her sound judgment has become more and more apparent the longer she’s traveled with us.
At first, I thought she may be learning as she observed Magiluka, the prince, and those around her, but I wondered if her actions and thought process had anything to do with her lost memories. Ever since we arrived at Relirex, I felt like Noa was regaining more of her memories, bit by bit. I gazed at her, puzzled, when she broke the silence.
“I think Queen Belletochka can fly,” she said awkwardly, changing topics. “There was no need for her to ride Snow, was there?”
“Y-Yeah,” I replied. “I guess I shouldn’t have pushed you to get on her back.”
“Not at all,” Her Majesty replied. “Logically speaking, I can fly, but doing so alone would’ve made me stand out more than usual and would’ve caused the citizens to misunderstand the situation. Thanks to you and the divine beast, I’m able to evade the eyes of the people to a degree, and since they know that the Argent Holy Woman and the divine beast are involved, their minds are put somewhat at ease. The way you immediately understood the merit of stepping forward in such a sudden situation, I daresay you certainly are worthy of all the praise you get from my sister-in-law.”
“Ah, so efficiency wasn’t the only factor, but the attention of others as well...” Noa muttered.
The two of them couldn’t stop gassing me up, but while I felt bad to admit this, there was no way that I’d acted with so much thought. I was so confused about why people always took my decisions in such a different way than I’d intended. Should I deny their version? No, I know from experience that that would only backfire. I fell silent, unsure of what action to take.
“Hee hee, this really does take me back,” the queen giggled. “When I speak with you, it reminds me of old times.”
“Old times?” Noa asked.
“When I traveled with the Argent Knight. I didn’t travel with him for very long, though.”
“With the Argent Knight?”
“Yes.” She smiled as she recalled the past. “He would always analyze the situation by coldly prioritizing efficiency over everyone around him when he spoke with a woman’s voice, and then he would scold himself for that logic with a man’s voice.”
“Agard...” I couldn’t see the look on Noa’s face, but her tiny voice conveyed her emotions all too well.
Agard and Soul Materia existed in tandem to form the Argent Knight—that much was clear from what I’d observed to this point—but what puzzled me was the way the queen described the Argent Armor we’d just fled from. Unlike the calm, calculating person the queen recollected, the Argent Armor seemed prone to improvising her plans based on fits of emotion. Is the armor we know a different person? She didn’t sound like a total outsider though.
Hmm... I don’t have a shred of concrete evidence. I wonder if I can discover anything when I get to Xeoral.
“Queen Belletochka, may I ask more about the Argent Knight— I mean, about Agard?” Noa asked.
“Agard?” the queen asked. “Sure. I don’t know much, though.”
As I waded through my thoughts, the two other ladies engaged in a cheery conversation, happy that they found something in common. I feel like my positioning was off on this one. It’s not too late, though—I can probably just pass Noa off to Queen Belletochka.
No, no, I can’t let myself be fooled by her laid-back older sister demeanor. She’s the queen of Relirex, for Pete’s sake.
I ended up listening to the queen reminisce about the past until we returned to the port city to rendezvous with Emilia. I felt like a total outsider sandwiched between the two ladies enjoying themselves, but I was working hard for my report, nodding along and pretending to understand what they were talking about.