★
Under the guise of it being a quest accepted by the party that Sharlo was temporarily a part of, the entire group headed off toward Treia together. Hanna initially objected to riding in a carriage meant for cargo, but then backed down when Yuliana expressed ready agreement. As such, the journey itself went quite smoothly.
Along the way, Shouzou handed a certain something to Sharlo. It was a package bundled in cloth. Sharlo unwrapped it—
“Wha-?!”
“——?!” Hearing Sharlo’s cry of astonishment, Yuliana looked over from her position a distance away, then swallowed down her own shock.
“Nice, is that a replica of Sylphid? Looks pretty well made too.” In contrast, the leader of the adventurer party, Rosshi, did not look too surprised. That was because, as he said, he was under the assumption that it was a “replica.” There was not even a scrap of doubt in his mind that it was a “fake.”
After all, the real Sylphid was one of the Four Holy Arms of the Alsbeit royal family. It was a one-of-a-kind masterwork sword that could not even be priced.
The Four Holy Arms would be put on display for the public to see every once in a while, so there were many replicas floating around. Ranging from shoddy pieces that couldn’t even serve as a kitchen knife to top-of-the-line pieces that even Gold rank adventurers would use, there was a huge variety among the replicas themselves. However, the one that Shouzou brought along was, without doubt, the real one.
Sharlo, who had previously touched it once before, as well as Yuliana, who knew that Shouzou had been bestowed something by the king before they departed, could both tell with the first glance.
“I thought that as an escort, you’d probably need a weapon of your own. So I borrowed it from your father, Sharlo-kun.”
“H-He actually let you get away with this......?”
“Hm? Well, it happened to be hanging on the wall near where we were talking.” Shouzou remembered how when he just randomly pointed at it and said, “This should do,” the king had given him a very sour look. “Best case scenario is that you never have to use that sword. Though, well, you’ll just be guiding them around, so you probably won’t need it.”
Next, Shouzou took a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed that over to Sharlo as well. “Keep this on your person at all times. If anything happens, this will save you.”
“What is this? Is there some magic cast on it or something?”
“Hm, yeah, something like that.” With this, all preparations were completed.
Even if Sharlo got wrapped up in trouble of some sort, this should help to buy some time.
“Well then, about the flow of things after you reach Treia—” Shouzou spoke matter-of-factly. The general gist was “there is no plan.” Everything would be up to Sharlo’s discretion. The only thing that Shouzou would help do was arrange for accommodation. Then after that he would only drop by every once in a while to see how things were going.
Sharlo seemed extremely discontent with it all, but in the end buckled under Shouzou’s forceful insistence.
However, Shouzou still felt like there was something tugging at the back of his mind. Just vaguely and ambiguously, something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on—
✦ ✦ ✦
★
—When the group reached Treia, the sun had already fully set. After parting from Rosshi and his party, Shouzou informed Sharlo of the location of the inn that he had arranged, then he also went home.
“So what am I supposed to do anyway......” Despite still feeling completely at a loss, for the time being, Sharlo led the two to their inn.
After finishing a simple dinner, he helped grab their luggage and guided them to the room booked for them.
Upon opening the door—
“S-So large! We don’t actually need such a large room though......” Hanna looked quite obliged while looking around the room restlessly. However, her eyes sparkled when she saw the canopied bed. In addition, there were also very comfortable-looking sofas as well as a very large table.
“Oi, uh, Yuli, yeah? We’re here.” Sharlo opened the door of a room tucked away in the back. It was quite sparsely furnished, with only a single bed, a table, and two chairs. It was clearly the room for attendants. In terms of size, it was more than enough for a single person to sleep in.
However, while Yuliana was looking at the room with such impressions, the oddness of Sharlo’s words slowly registered in her mind.
“Hmph, it’s a bit tight for two people, but there’s no helping it, I suppose.” Yuliana could not help but to do a double take at Sharlo.
Hanna also sent him a “what is this guy even saying?” kind of look.
However, Sharlo paid them no mind, declaring assertively, “There’s only one bed, so we’ll have to take turns using it. But I’m going to insist on getting to use it today.”
“Y-You ruffian...... what... are you saying......?”
“Before meeting up with you two, I also did another quest that required a lot of heavy lifting, so I’m really tired. I think that’s a pretty legit reason, isn’t it?”
“That’s not what I’m asking! Why are you talking like you sharing a room with me is a foregone conclusion!”
“What are you saying? Onigawara said ‘stay close by 24/7,’ right? Even without that, me sleeping over is much more efficient than commuting to and fro everyday.”
“Do you not have your own room?”
“I’m basically being treated as another one of Lady Hanna’s attendants, right? Instead of booking one more room, this one by itself is enough, isn’t it?”
“N-No, but...... Th-Then I’ll share the room with H—”
“Haah?! You plan to sleep in the same room as a girl even though you’re a mere attendant? How shameless are you!”
It was then that the pieces finally clicked for Yuliana and Hanna.
Sharlo was still under the misunderstanding that “Yuli” was a guy.
“Come on, Lady Hanna is probably tired from the long journey, so let her have her rest already. Can you be any less thoughtful?” Sharlo quickly pulled Yuliana’s arm.
“No... that’s... but... I......” If she admitted to being a girl here, then she ran the risk of having her true identity being revealed. Her head was so thoroughly confused that she could not think of any good excuse on the spot.
“Save it, man. Just come already. I don’t like it either, sharing a room with a guy that I’ve just met today. But we’ll just be sleeping anyways, so don’t think too much about it. So then, Lady Hanna. We’ll see you in the morning.”
Hanna was so flustered that she could do nothing but simply see them off.
This day, for the first time in her life, Yuliana spent the night together with someone of the opposite gender—
✦ ✦ ✦
★
That night, when Shouzou stepped into his bedroom, he suddenly came to a start of realization.
(Oh wait! Sharlo-kun thinks that Princess Yuliana is a guy! Right around now, the two of them......) Might possibly be sharing the same room.
(I can’t imagine anything happening...... but......) Shouzou was worried, but then again this was not something that he could check in on immediately.
“Ufufu♪ Ho~ney♪” Especially not when his wife Silvia was approaching him while cuddling a pillow that said “YES” on both sides—