“Ooh! Not bad!” Kuro said. “Hm...? Look out, something’s coming at us!” Kuro pointed in a different direction.
Another garuda had risen from the canyon and was headed straight for them. The second bird’s rage was unmistakable. It was probably the first garuda’s mate.
“Ah wah wah wah... They must be the mom and dad!”
The pair of garudas both began firing shock waves from above. Yulia’s magic barrier blocked each one, but...
“It w-won’t hold out much longer.”
Cracks were appearing in the barrier dome. It was only a matter of time until it shattered.
Even Mary, despite her ability to fight in the air, couldn’t do anything about two garudas at once.
“I can’t handle them by my—ah!”
A shock wave grazed Mary’s skin. It wasn’t a serious wound, but it was enough to make her take her eyes off the birds.
“Kukekeeh!” The birds now turned their attention to Mary and made her the focus of their shock waves.
Unable to stand by and watch, Mil ran outside the dome.
“Mil, it’s not safe!” Yulia warned.
“I hate to do it, but I can’t let them hurt Mary... Blast end!”
There was a series of explosions right in front of the garudas.
“Kukeeh!”
Blast end was localized explosion magic, and the garudas had gotten within range when they tried to swoop at Mary. Mil had been worried about triggering a rockslide earlier, but that wasn’t a problem as long as the explosions were in midair.
“Kukeeeh!” Unable to endure Mil’s attacks, the garudas whined feebly before turning to flee.
“Aww, they ran away. Bye-bye!” Mil waved to the giant birds as they flew off into the distance.
“Thanks, Mil, you saved me. But didn’t you want to make them your pets? Why did you chase them away?”
“It’s fine. Your safety’s more important than any pet. I’m glad you’re all right.” Mil breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Mary wasn’t badly injured.
Mary looked shocked for a moment, then she simply said “Oh” and bashfully looked away.
All the while, Yulia and Kuro were watching them and grinning.
“Doesn’t it feel romantic?” Yulia asked.
“It does,” Kuro replied. “Look at the way Mary’s blushing.”
Mary glared at them. “Shut up, you two.”
“Hm? What’s wrong, Mary?” Mil asked.
She’d noticed Mary’s face had turned bright red and was starting to worry that her new friend might have taken more of a beating than she’d thought.
“Nothing. I’m just starting to see why Crowell was so fond of you.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, I’ll go grab another two eggs.” Mary flew back down the cliff.
Why’d she bring up Crowell? Mil wondered.
✧✧✧
The group of four was back at the adventurer’s guild in the fortress town of Algram, which was just as bustling as last time.
In front of each party member was a plate loaded with the finest egg-based cuisine around—garuda eggs benedict. They could already smell the crispy ham and bacon, as well as the soft garuda egg, as they each put their hands together in gratitude for their food.
“Let’s eat!”
The other adventurers could only look at their feast in envy and speculate in hushed voices.
“They defeated the garuda...?”
“What, those kids? No way.”
The quest had been known for its high difficulty throughout the guild. And no wonder—it had been quite the challenge.
Mil picked up some of the egg and flatbread muffin with her fork.
“Mmmmmm...”
It was so sweet she couldn’t help but smile. She wanted to share her impressions with the others, but she couldn’t stop herself from filling her mouth with even more of it.
On the opposite side of the table, Mary’s face was already covered in egg, but she was too busy eating to wipe it away.
After less than ten minutes, Mil’s party had completely cleared their plates and were all staring at the ceiling as they basked in the aftertaste.
“That was very good,” Yulia said.
“I never ate anything as delicious as this back in my village,” Kuro agreed.
“I tried a lot of things in the royal capital, but nothing as good as this. What did you think, Mary?” Mil asked.
“I think we should have grabbed another egg,” she said.
For just a moment, they all shared the same regret. They wished this meal could have lasted the whole day.
“Oh, but Mary, you did grab an extra egg, didn’t you?” Mil said.
Mary had taken enough eggs for five people, so there was still one left in her bag.
“This is...for my father.” Mary muttered while avoiding eye contact.
“For your father?” Mil was confused.
“That’s right,” Mary said while looking down. “I had an argument with him before leaving the castle.”
“An argument?! What happened?”
The Demon King had always been gentlemanly and understanding toward Mil even while abducting her, so she found it hard to believe he didn’t get along with his daughter.
“It was over him not wanting me to go out traveling,” Mary mumbled as she prodded the fork on her plate.
“Traveling?! You mean you wanna be an adventurer, Mary?!”
Back when the two had met at the castle gate, Mil suspected Mary was also interested in adventuring. This all but confirmed it.
“Is that all you care about? I don’t necessarily want to adventure. It’s just, to be honest, when I compared myself to a fellow princess, I felt jealous of you.” Mary was sharing the feelings she’d had at the castle gate.
“And that’s why you left?”
“I didn’t get angry and storm out of the castle at random. I overheard soldiers talking about the garuda. It was causing problems for them. And father had been telling me I had no combat experience, so I thought...”
I want to prove him wrong. That had been the thought on her mind as she scaled the mountain. Mil’s party had found her after she’d collapsed from exhaustion from the climb.
Kuro folded her arms and nodded. “I know the feeling. It was the same for me. I started learning the sword to show the village chief I was capable. Well, that was back when I was a child.”
“It’s not just me wanting to show off my skills,” Mary explained. “What bothers me is that father tells me I can’t do anything, but he never even gives me a chance to prove myself. But even so, I...”
“You love him,” Mil said.
“Th-That’s not what I was saying.” Mary turned red. “I just wish he’d see me as more than his successor! You had the same problem, right?”
“Me...?” Mil had to think about it.
If she hadn’t been a goddess’s priestess, she might not have seen adventurers each day. When her father praised her, it was usually because she’d helped someone using Goddess Eye and Blessings of the Goddess.
She never felt she wasn’t loved. She didn’t hate her father at all either. If anything, he was good to her.
“I never wanted to prove anyone wrong. What held me back was myself.”
“Really?”
“I never argued about it with my father. I’d already accepted that princesses can’t be adventurers. Insisting otherwise wouldn’t have been very princess-like.”
Mil felt she’d always been looking up at the sky, fantasizing about the outside world. And she’d been content to live her whole life like that. But everything had changed on the day the Demon King appeared in her room.
“That’s not quite like me, but still, it sounds like humans have problems just like we do.”
“I’m glad I went to the Demon King’s Castle. The demonkin were surprisingly nice to me. Maybe some aren’t so nice, but I’m glad to know they’re not so different from humans.”
Mil felt the need to do something. The Demon King wasn’t just some stranger—he’d changed her life. If he’d fallen out with his daughter, Mil wanted to help them make up.
“I still don’t trust you,” Mary added with a pout.
That took Mil by surprise.
“But,” Mary continued, “I know you’re...not a bad person.”
“Mary!”
“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s hardly a compliment. I’m only curious about you since Crowell took a liking to you, that’s all.”
“Crowell? Oh, that’s right. I wish I’d gotten a chance to thank her. She taught me so much... What’s wrong, Mary?”
For some reason Mary’s eyes were wide with surprise. “I’d forgotten,” she said. “Crowell was dispatched to—”
“To find you, Lady Mil,” said a soft voice belonging to someone standing beside their table.
Mil turned to see a demonkin man and women dressed in light armor. It was Crowell and Graun.
“Crowell?!” Mil said in surprise. “And Graun too. Um. What brings you two here?”
Crowell turned to look at Mary. “And Princess Mary, I didn’t expect to find you here. Do you realize how worried His Majesty is?”
Crowell’s demeanor was nothing like it had been in the Demon King’s Castle. Likewise, Graun regarded Mil with eyes far colder than in the throne room.