Part 51:
The Lady Knight Sees through the Fake Princess
THE NEXT DAY, a parade of villagers welcomed Catria at Emelhan, a small village in Rostir.
“Hero Catria, this way!”
“O-okay.”
A troupe of villagers led Catria to the town hall. As a reward for their hard work, the knights were visiting the local villages. In the town hall, Catria was introduced as the guest of honor at a banquet celebrating the dragon slayer hero herself. A nearby banner read: “All Hail Catria the Hero!”
A band merrily played songs praising her amazing feats.
“My word, a brand-new Rostirian hero!” said the smiling man who looked to be the head of the village. “Young, beautiful, and a daughter of House Eugenohl. A genuine hero story!”
The young girls of the village kept glancing at her or staring in open awe; they looked up to Catria.
As for herself, Catria took a seat on a chair in the center of the hall and thought to herself, It’s been a while since I’ve been on my own…
She let loose a long sigh.
“Dragon Slayer Catria, what a lovely smile!” said one of the village girls.
Just as the young lady said, at present Catria probably wore the happiest smile of her life. It was the kind of smile she had never once worn on her quest. She was at the height of relaxation.
As for why?
I mean, I mean, I mean—there are no shovels anywhere in sight!
The tears fell from her eyes in a river.
Currently, the princess and Alan were elsewhere.
Currently, the princess and Alan were elsewhere.
This was so important to Catria that it needed to be said twice.
An anti-shovel vacation!
A strange, brand-new concept, to say the least.
Lithisia was in the middle of some kind of fieldshovelspection (probably shovel propagation under the guise of a field inspection). Alan, on the other hand, had infiltrated Zeleburg’s forces to gather data on the enemy. For now, the no-longer corrupted Lancelot and his knights served as Lithisia’s bodyguards.
In other words, the only people present in the village were humans. A human banquet!
Brimming with such joy, Catria couldn’t help but sob.
“Oh my gosh! L-Lady Catria, is something the matter?!” the village head cried.
“I-I’m just so grateful for this banquet you’re holding for me!”
“O-oh, my word! If anything, we’re so sorry we could only throw such a small-scale celebration!”
True, this event was nothing compared to the parties held at the castle, but none of that mattered. The only thing that did matter was the stunning lack of shovels. Even the village’s name, Emelhan, left no room for the word “shovel” inside of it. It was perfect (from an anti-shovel perspective.)
Of course, the village head had no way of knowing this was what had so pleased Catria, so he got the wrong idea and was moved to tears himself.
“My word! Pl-please enjoy this brief day of rest, then!”
“That’s the plan!” Catria declared. Spring has finally arrived!
But in the next moment, spring stopped on the doorstep.
“What wonderful news! I’ve just received word that Princess Lithisia has come to grace us with her presence!”
Shiiiing.
Catria’s warm smile froze over.
“She’s wrapped up her frontline inspection early to join us in our celebration!”
Splash!
The tears didn’t stop falling, but now, they were tears of despair. Catria had given up.
Heh… He he he he… So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? On my one day off… It really did go by in the blink of an eye… So we’re gonna do this shovel thing all over again, huh? Back to war against the shovels, huh? Don’t give up, Catria. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. I’ve enjoyed my time with humanity. Yeah, my humanity energy bar is nice and charged now. Now it’s time to fight for mankind!
“Princess Lithisia has arrived!”
A knight’s voice echoed throughout the party venue, which went quiet. Suddenly, a red carpet stretched out from the main door, which slowly opened. Beyond it shone a familiar sight: long golden hair. Before Catria and the villagers stood the image of a perfect princess, one who was once perfect on the inside as well. Now she was just a Shovel Princess.
Your Highness, I won’t lose! I’m not actually sure what I’m fighting against anymore, but I know I have to give it my all!
As Catria steeled her resolve, the golden-haired princess curtsied with two empty hands and introduced herself to the gathered. “Greetings, I am Lithisia. I’m so very grateful that the people of Emelhan are safe and sound.”
She raised her head and bequeathed upon them a perfect smile.
“Ngh!”
Gulp! Catria was so stunned that she swallowed audibly.
Although the villagers were to a one moved by Lithisia’s words, Catria could only call herself shocked.
It wasn’t Lithisia’s words or actions that had the knight frozen in place. Lithisia had once been a perfect princess. Even now, when the situation demanded it (particularly for Shovel Mind Control), she could play the role of a human (how rude).
No, what shocked Catria was the fact that both of Lithisia’s hands were empty.
Unbelievable.
A fierce sense of wrongness took hold within the knight.
“Catria, are you enjoying yourself?” asked Lithisia.
The princess’s words didn’t reach Catria’s ears.
Impossible. Unbelievable. Improbable…!
There was simply no way the princess would be caught dead without the red shovel Alan had given her. That red shovel in Lithisia’s hand was an immutable truth of the world. How impossible was this vision? As impossible as a Wave Motion Shovel Blast being fired from a shovel. No, wait. That was actually fairly commonplace.
However, as far as Catria was concerned, this empty-handed Lithisia was something that should be impossible, so it got a pass.
Wait! That’s right!
Epiphany struck as Catria thought back to the beginning of her own journey. Princess Lithisia had been declared a fake princess and a bounty of one million gold coins had been placed on her head. The true fake princess currently resided in the capital. In other words, this princess here in the village was—
A demon masquerading as the princess!
Just as Catria came to this conclusion, the villagers raised their voices.
“Oooh, so that’s the famous Princess Lithisia! She’s so beautiful!”
This seeming-Lithisia went around shaking the hands of each person, wearing that perfect smile all the while.
“We are so grateful for your presence! Princess Lithisia, please bring peace to our humble nation!”
“Oh, but of course! I have the expert swordsmanship of my skilled knights to rely upon, after all.”
A true fake. This Lithisia relied not on the shovel, but on the sword.
“Oooh, how beautiful! Princess Lithisia is the treasure of all of humanity!”
“Thank you so much. But I’m not the treasure of this great country. Rather, I believe that honor goes to you, its citizens.”
Aha. The last word of her sentence had an “s” in it, yet it wasn’t shovelfied. Catria was 120 percent certain she was fake.
“The most beautiful princess in all the land and the greatest dragon-slaying knight in all the land! We could write a hundred songs of this moment alone!”
“Hee hee hee, Catria is most certainly the greatest hero in all the land, but I do not deserve such an honor.”
This not-Lithisia didn’t even mention Alan. She was absolutely a fraud.
And yet Catria thought to herself, I mean, is the fake so bad? Can’t we just let her do her thing?
“…”
Just as the thought crossed her mind, the princess cast her gaze upon Catria.
“Catria, will you continue to lend me your strength?” the un-Lithisia extended a hand toward her. In other words, she requested a kiss of fealty from her knight in front of all of these watchful eyes.
The villagers beheld what they thought would be a historic moment, the moment in which the dragon-slaying hero swore undying loyalty to her beloved princess. Even Catria herself swayed under the desire to kiss that immaculate hand.
Before Catria stood a princess uncorrupted by shovels—even if she wasn’t exactly human (she was, in fact, a demon). Nonetheless, nonetheless! This princess wouldn’t ever order Catria to be the captain of the Holy Shovel Knights, or demand she engage in any kind of unseemly rituals to claim her place.
The knight didn’t know what to do, and tears once more began to flow. She grit her teeth. This was the most important decision of her entire life.
If she kissed the fake princess’s hand, she would be saying goodbye to the Shovel Princess forever. She’d be able to live out her days in peace.
Yet amidst her inner turmoil, she heard his voice.
“Catria, I want to mine everything you have.”
“Nnnngh!”
SWOOSH!
Just as Catria remembered the words Alan said to her in Hell, her body unconsciously drew her sword from the Sacred Scabbard Arcadia.
“What?! Lady Catria?!”
Panicked voices rose around her as she began to cry. It caused Catria great pain to cast aside the hope she had only just discovered for herself.
He…he mined my talent.
Catria would never bend to the shovel. She would never bend to Alan. And she would certainly never bend to the princess. But even then…
The princess (prior to corruption) had once expected great things from her, and Alan had mined and uncovered her latent talent. If she kissed this not-princess’s knuckle, she would betray both of them—and even if she did so to protect the world from shovels, that was the one thing Catria could never do.
After all, she had decided to become the greatest knight in all the land.
“Have you gone mad, Lady Catria?!”
The villagers panicked, but despite their terror, the princess remained calm. Unnaturally so. Although Catria’s sword pointed directly at her, she continued to smile brightly.
“Heh…”
The change was slight at first. Then a dark smile formed on the princess’s face. Her once-golden locks blackened at the tips, then darkness crept in waves up through her tresses.
“Heh, I’m surprised you noticed. I suppose I should’ve expected as much from the human who somehow managed to slay a dragon. You pass!” The princess’s very pronunciation was alluring.
“Haaah, haaah, haaah…” Catria became short of breath, and tears pricked her eyes, a sheen of sweat creeping over her body.
“Oh, my. You’re actually crying. Hee hee, do you hate me that much?”
Catria was indeed crying, and she was indeed full of hatred. Hatred toward this princess. “I’ll…I’ll never forgive you!”
“Well, gosh. Then I suppose I must apologize for impersonating your precious princess and—”
“That’s not it!”
“Huh?”
Catria kept the point of her sword trained on the princess as she shouted. That’s right. The cause of all of this was in fact—“You all! You’re the ones…”
None of this would have happened if Zeleburg hadn’t taken over Rostir.
“It’s all your fault that Lithisia…no, this entire nation was corrupted by the shovel!!!” Catria shouted out from the very depths of her soul.
“Excuse me?” the fake Lithisia asked.
Her pupils resembled nothing more than black dots—not shovels. This only further confirmed she was no true princess.