★
Around the time when Shouzou had arrived in Treia, Sharlo was in the middle of barreling down a street.
Hellhounds had very sharp noses. Although Sharlo and company kept turning into alleyways here and there in a bid to shake them, it was not working at all. That was why they decided to head toward Central Plaza, with the hope of asking for help from the city guards stationed there. However—
“Something’s wrong. Why haven’t we seen anyone so far......?”
Hanna expressed agreement from her position on his back. “That really does seem strange. Although it is quite late at night, to not see even a single drunkard around......”
Yuliana frowned while keeping pace beside them. “This is the effect of a magic spell that wards off people. Clearly our intentions have already been seen through—” Abruptly, she braked and shouted, “Stop! There’s someone... in front......”
Sharlo also came to an abrupt stop. He strained his eyes, and true enough, saw a woman standing in the middle of the avenue. She was wearing a dress that clearly displayed her outline, as well as a black mantle. On her head was a cone-shaped hat with a wide brim. With a metal-tipped tobacco pipe in hand, the figure of her elegantly puffing out purple smoke, when combined with her beauty, painted an almost bewitching picture.
Upon recognizing the features of the woman standing far away, Yuliana murmured with a shaking voice, “Lorelei... Ketora......” Who would have thought that her father would hire such a bigshot to come after her.
Sharlo reacted to the last name “Ketora.” If he recalled correctly, that was the last name of a brother-sister pair of Platinum rank adventurers active in this country......
“It’s been a while, Princess. I suppose I should commend you for having run all the way here, hm?”
Upon hearing the beautiful woman’s sugary sweet voice and seeing her coquettish gestures, Sharlo—
“We’re running!”
—pulled the hand of Yuliana, who had stopped in place.
“Eh? W-Wait, hold on, waaa~~!” This was Sharlo, this kingdom’s first prince. A guy who would not deviate for anything after having set his mind on something. However, their opponent was not one who was going to let them go so easily.
“Well, I had half expected you to do that,” said the elder Ketora sibling, Lorelei, after which she brought the tobacco pipe to her mouth and began blowing out purple smoke. The smoke expanded to a size that seemed clearly beyond the capacity of her lungs, until it became a cloud-like mass.
(What... is that......?!) Sharlo looked back while running, and was astonished at an even more bizarre change. The smoke had become long and thin like a snake, and was rushing toward them. Along the way, it split into two, with one going ahead as if to cut off Sharlo and company, while the other closed in on Yuliana, who Sharlo was still pulling along by hand.
Unlike that exchange with the hellhound, no protection magic activated for them.
“Dammit!” Sharlo twisted his body, and in doing so, pushed Yuliana to the ground. Then he slashed at the smoke that immediately passed by overhead with Sylphid.
He had not expected much from this swing of desperation, but the smoke dispersed like a gentle explosion.
“Tsk, making it difficult......” said a soft voice.
Sharlo didn’t understand what was going on, but this was no time for that. Unable to maintain his posture any longer, he fell fully onto Yuliana.
“Oooph,” went Sharlo.
Upon being thrown off, Hanna also let slip a “gueh.”
“—?!” cried Yuliana silently with a red face, having become pressed into the ground.
“S-Sorry...... hm?” Sharlo was bewildered at a mysterious sensation. He had ended up completely falling onto Yuli, who was on his back. However, his face was enveloped in something strangely soft.
(No way, were these......)
“Boobs?!” When he nuzzled his face against them as final confirmation—
“If you know it then get off already!”
“Guboha!”
A fist slammed into his temple, sending him rolling to the side. There was a throbbing pain in his head, but confirmation came first. “You... you’re a girl?!”
With her face completely red from mortification, Yuliana turned to look to the side. Not denying it was the same as admitting it. Honestly speaking, he hadn’t the faintest idea what to make of this. Why was she pretending to be a guy and investigating the internal state of a foreign country? He couldn’t even imagine the reason for something like this.
“Why... you...... more like, did you know, Hanna?”
“Eh? Umm, that’s, how do I put it......” She also did not deny anything. Clearly she, too, was in the know.
Amidst his confusion, a certain word floated up in his mind.
—It’s been a while, Princess.
When Lorelei Ketora first appeared, that was what she had said. Princess. A “princess”... who had come from the Bardimian Empire......
Sharlo came to a start, then stared closely at Yuli’s face. Now that he was taking another look with the awareness that he was looking at a girl, he realized that he recognized this face. Yes, it was the portrait of his arranged marriage partner that had been sent to him from the empire. This face was the spitting image of the face of that beautiful girl wearing a dress.
“You... you’re Princess Yuliana......”
Once again, Yuliana only lowered her eyes, and did not deny it.
“What is this...... Wait, could it be that you’ve already heard about me from Onigawara?”
“......I did indeed. He didn’t tell us about your circumstances, but he did say that you are the prince, and that you’re being an adventurer.” This time, she voiced affirmation, reserved though it was.
She knew his true identity, and was choosing to come into contact with him while concealing her gender. In other words, she must have come to evaluate his worthiness as her future husband. That was the conclusion that Sharlo arrived at. “Ha... ha ha ha...... That geezer, he sure knows how to play a joke......” He could only manage a dry laugh. To his surprise, there was no anger in his heart. “Well, I suppose a princess couldn’t publicly visit all those places. So, what did you think then? Do I make the cut?”
“The cut......? Wh—?! Are you not misunderstanding something here? I did not come here to evaluate you kn—your personage.”
“Then what did you come to do?”
“I... I wanted to see with my own eyes what kind of country it was that I was going to be marrying into. That’s...... there are very complicated circumstances, it’d be hard to explain everything right now......”
“Hmph. Well, doesn’t matter. I bet that geezer didn’t tell you the most important thing.”
“Important... thing......?”
Seeing Yuliana tilt her head in puzzlement, Sharlo spoke in a self-derisive tone. “The reason why I’m being an adventurer is because I got chased out. For the sake of straightening out my self-indulgent lifestyle, they said. Even when I return to the royal palace, there’d be no place for me there. After all, the throne—” And here, he smiled as if a weight had fallen off his shoulders. “—will be going to my little sister, not me.”
“Wha—?!” Yuliana was struck dumbfounded. This time, it was her turn to be bewildered. She had heard nothing about this. Sharlo not inheriting the throne was far beyond her plans being derailed. This shattered the very assumptions that she had been working off of from the very beginning. Even if the kingdom truly had the strength to resist the empire, if she was not going to become the coming queen consort, marrying him would not grant her access to the influence necessary to mobilize that strength.
“Too bad for you, I guess. Nothing good will come out of marrying me. I may not know what it is that you want to do, or what it is that you’re planning, but staying in this country would only mean having your life continually being targeted. That’s why—” Sharlo stood up, turning his back toward Yuliana. “Go. Leave this to me.” He brought his sword up, glaring toward the beautiful woman puffing away on her tobacco pipe.
“Hmm? Have you two finished your little conversation, hm?”
“You waited courteously for us to finish? You sure seem at ease.”
“Hmm, since I found the princess, I have no need to rush anymore.” Lorelei puffed her purple smoke contentedly.