At first, I couldn’t think of her as anything but an inhabitant of an entirely different world. A princess was an existence who could decide on the entire fate of a commoner by pure whimsy. I decided that regardless of whether she would bring profit or harm, the sheer scale of what it would bring was too volatile for me to handle.
It didn’t even need to be said that this was all in the past now. Just moments ago, I took her hand without a moment’s hesitation. But now what?
Just being by her side was supposed to be impossible in the first place. And I wasn’t referring to our social status. It was because we came from completely different worlds. Not that I could tell her so.
My memories from the other world spanned nearly 30 years. After coming here — not that I knew whether it was through reincarnation or teleportation or whatever it was to this very day — five years had passed. I was desperate in trying to adapt to this new world, so I had been affected by my physical age here. However, thinking about it carefully, I was now over 30 years old.
And this girl was just 16. I was acutely aware of the feelings of guilt I had towards her, feelings I didn’t feel very much toward anyone else for this deception.
She was too close in age to be a daughter, not that I had any idea of what having a daughter was like. Alfina herself said I was something like an older brother, but we were far apart enough in age that she was more like a niece.
A niece... That doesn’t seem so bad. If I actually did have a niece like this, I’m sure I would dote on her. Even as the coward that I am, I would want to protect her if I knew she was in danger. Of course, that’s just how I feel personally, but in this case, it’s not all that strange to want to stay by her side, right?
Even that dance didn’t seem all that strange if you thought of it as acting as the escort to my niece’s high society debut. That example felt even less real to me, though.
“Ah...”
This girl is my niece. My cute little niece.
Before I even knew it, my hand was touching her silky platinum hair. And just like that, I slowly moved my hand and patted her head.
“Umm, er... Ricardo. Fwah...”
“HUH?! Oh, um, well...”
I finally realized I was doing something far more impossible than what the imperial prince did. Alfina looked up at me with blushed cheeks.
“Please do not apologize. You mean to convey that you aren’t avoiding me or anything of the sort, yes? That makes me happy. So, umm... Yes. Your hand brings me peace of mind as well.”
I feel like holding her hand and petting her head were two entirely different things, but apparently Alfina was letting that pass. This must have been the pseudo-big brother power.
Peace of mind. Yup, peace of mind. Relief. That would’ve been dangerous if my mind hadn’t settled on the uncle stance.
“Umm, right. Now to decide on how long to remain here... Miss Claudia may be aware that this is where we ran off to, right?”
This was, in fact, the very spot where she drew her sword on me. That could be said to be the time that my self-preservation was under its most critical moment of duress. Though, I hoped she would let bygones be bygones out of respect for my gallant act today.
I loosened the tension in the air and moved the conservation along to what we should be doing next. This may have just been me postponing things in a sense, but I did think it was the best option in this situation.
However, Alfina averted her gaze ever so slightly.
“S-So ladies like Clau are to your liking, Ricardo?”
“...What?”
“You’re being kind to me now, but when I first approached you, you had a troubled expression... And conversely, you looked really relieved when Clau came...”
Oh, yeah, I totally did do that. Well, that’s awkward. I can’t even argue with her on that.
“You were also in favor when we were to have Clau return to my side. I am thankful for that... But Clau’s impolite behavior towards you was too excessive, and it was just on my mind a little...”
Oh, I get it. Alfina is reminiscing about what happened here before too.
“Th-That certainly was rather dangerous, but... um, she was simply doing her duty. I do think it would be best for you to put some faith in her, Princess Alfina. Just earlier, did she not also splendidly stop the imperial prince from taking a step forward...?”
I denied things as I waved both hands in the air. Thinking about it carefully, our roles should have been reversed. I should’ve been the one to say, “Don’t worry about me, take Princess Alfina and run.” Not that I could possibly do that. Actually, why are we talking about this anyway?
“Sorry. I don’t know why I...”
“So you were here after all.”
And with perfect timing, a dignified voice resounded through the archive.
“C-Clau. Are you alright?”
“There is no need for concern. Fortunately for us, His Highness the Third Prince came by shortly after and took over for us.”
“Prince Craig? He did that?”
The troubling matter had settled down. Apparently, I’d managed to escape both the imperial and royal princes.
“Miss Claudia, you truly were admirable in your refusal to step down before the imperial prince.”
If she had shown up just a little sooner, I would have been staring down her unsheathed blade once more. That fear made me reflexively suck up to her.
“That’s because I’ve decided to never abandon duty again... Also... Don’t get too conceited, Ricardo Weinder.”
I yielded my position at Alfina’s side over to Claudia. It’s alright, I’m not getting conceited. She is my cute niece, after all.
✦ ✦ ✦
The second day went by free of any accidents... or at least it should have, but it came to an end regardless, and we went off to see the rankings.
“Hmph, looks like my shop is the top among the Food Court members,” Plura said boastfully.
The other members also rose to a good ranking. They were all sitting around number 10 out of the 24 total companies. Considering yesterday’s totals, one could say this was a huge success. It looked like the courtyard group had begun encroaching on the iron wall of the school building group. The gap between us and the Carlest’s forerunners sitting firmly at the top was still quite large though.
“The distance between the Carlest and Kendall groups has shrunk,” I said as I looked at the top of the list.
Incidentally, due to our allotment of shares in the Food Court, the Weinders managed to escape from dead last.
Lilka then came back from her conversation with the Kendalls together with Ruston.
“Looks like it’ll work out,” she said.
“...It seems a shop that they know just happens to be fairly free. We also got a hold of some people who wanted to see things first hand,” Ruston added.
Not only did they secure more tables and chairs, they even acquired additional personnel. This must have been part of the Kendalls’ election campaign. Keep it up and use that angle all you want. Now then, as for the next problem...
“Will they try to start something?” Lilka asked.
“The possibility is certainly there.”
Tonight would be the most dangerous period. However, us Weinders didn’t have any physical goods for sale here. We had a jar of honey set inside our tent, but that was a decoy. We were hoping that they thought we’d be using the original value of honey to work out some sort of scheme on the final day.
We made sure that it was visible from outside the tent both yesterday and today for this exact purpose. It was somewhat painful to use our precious merchandise as a decoy, but we’d be able to protect the Food Court from striking out like this.
The Empire that I was so concerned about hadn’t shown any signs of drawing nearer after that, either. Apparently, they were getting all worked up talking to Prince Craig about his monster battles. Or so Hilda apparently said, in a truly vexed manner. Their visit was also limited to today.
I couldn’t let my guard down, but things would likely be fine during the festival itself. The only thing left to do was to verify Jacob and Remy’s intel.