Chapter 106
Chapter 106
Sir Amati soon arranged a carriage for us.
He had the responsibility to remain at his post as the person in charge of this fortress.
Because of that, he expressed his regret at being unable to accompany us, but instead assigned several knights and a squad of soldiers as our escort.
We soon left the fortress and headed for the central territory.
Along the way, we occasionally spotted traces of magical beasts, but as if the knight order had already swept through the area, it was rare to find any still intact.
When we did run into surviving packs, the knights and soldiers escorting the carriage dealt with them in an instant.
‘They’re used to fighting. I should revise my comparison with Britain a little.’
Watching them fight through the carriage window, I nodded slightly.
Petra’s story about how they fought every year to repel monster incursions did not seem like an exaggeration; there was no hesitation in the way they swung their swords and spears.
Whether knight or soldier, they ended the lives of magical beasts in one clean motion with minimal movement.
Valuing efficiency meant they had experienced many battles.
“…….”
I leaned my arm against the window frame and looked outside.
I tried to distract myself with other thoughts, but I could not figure out why she had covered my mouth earlier.
“Why did you stop me from revealing my status?”
“…….”
Because of that, I broke the silence that had settled between us and spoke up to ask her directly.
Petra also seemed bothered by it, scratching her cheek and averting her gaze.
After a brief pause, she let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.
“I can roughly guess what you think of my father, but at least in the Leipzig territory, he’s a respectable man.
Sucking up to the powerful and flattering them is all for the sake of the territory.”
It had nothing to do with my question, but I listened quietly.
She never spoke without reason.
As Petra said, Leipzig had clearly been a prosperous place until a few generations ago.
They had maintained the title of margrave, and along the border regions there was no one who dared to provoke them.
But for some reason, their fortunes had sharply declined, and now their position had become so precarious that they had to betroth their only daughter to a delinquent imperial prince.
“The knights who served our family trusted and followed my father’s orders without question. But……”
She swallowed for a moment, as if it were hard to continue.
Then, avoiding my gaze, she said,
“Ever since the announcement of my engagement to you, that relationship started to go wrong.”
“Went wrong?”
“Yes. I heard that the very people who would charge into fire and water for the sake of the territory all rose up together when they heard about my engagement. Fortunately, my father managed to calm them down, but in this territory, the name ‘Third Imperial Prince Leios’ has become almost taboo.”
“…So that’s why you stopped me earlier.”
“If others find out that you’re the Third Imperial Prince Leios, they’ll swarm in like angry bees to challenge you to duels, no matter how strong you are.”
This was backstory that had not appeared even in the original work.
If what she said was true, then if my identity as the Third Imperial Prince Leios had been revealed on the spot, a huge commotion would have broken out.
Realizing that she had stopped me from revealing my status to prevent that, I felt strangely reassured.
“I thought it was because you were ashamed of me.”
“Among the people who know you, there isn’t a single one who’s ashamed of you.”
I wondered if she was just saying something polite after apologizing earlier, but the look in her eyes as she gazed at me was utterly serious.
She did not say anything more, but her eyes spoke volumes.
Feeling embarrassed by that, I turned my head toward the window again, this time with a different emotion than before.
“…That aside, there are a lot of monsters.”
“Yeah. It makes me a little worried.”
“I thought the same before coming here, but after seeing them fight earlier, it feels like needless worry.
Even the movements of the lowest-ranking soldiers guarding the fortress are sharp and efficient.”
“Is that so?”
At my words, she could not hide her pride.
Who would dislike hearing praise for their own family?
Ah, of course—except Leios.
The carriage entered the central territory before even half a day had passed.
Scattered around the walls surrounding it were at least three times as many monster corpses as we had seen passing through the territories so far.
It seemed there had been fierce fighting overnight, as blood was still running down the walls.
Passing through the middle of it, the foul stench assaulted my nose, but not a single person there frowned.
“The young lady has arrived?”
The carriage stopped, and a knight spoke to those guarding the gate.
At the sound, Petra stepped out of the carriage.
“Young lady!”
The scene I had seen earlier unfolded exactly the same before my eyes.
At the welcome of the knights and soldiers, the gate opened at once and a drawbridge was lowered over the deep moat.
The carriage passed through, and just as at the fortress, we came face to face with the knights.
“We understand that the lord has gone out on patrol with the knight order.
We’ve sent word to them, so you should receive news by the time you return to the estate.”
“My father went out on patrol?”
Petra’s eyebrows twitched at the knight’s words.
It was something that made me question it as well.
Under normal circumstances, I might have thought it was simply an inspection, but right now, monster corpses were scattered everywhere.
If the lord personally went out in such a situation and were to suffer an accident, the territory itself would be in danger.
The Count of Leipzig was greedy, but he was not foolish.
“We tried to stop him as well, but you know how stubborn the lord can be.
Still, there’s no need to worry too much.
The Lagenvalshfort Knight Order accompanied him as an escort.”
“Is that so.”
At the mention that a knight order was escorting him, visible relief crossed her face.
Lagenvalshfort was known as Leipzig’s elite, a knight order said to possess strength ranked among the best in the Empire.
If such people were accompanying him, then even if he encountered most monsters, the lord should be able to survive.
“For now, it would be best for you and your companion to move to the estate.”
The knight’s gaze turned toward me, so I gave a light nod in greeting.
Even as they spoke with us, however, their attention seemed elsewhere, as if they were still keeping an eye on monster movements.
Well, if the fighting had been intense enough for a wartime situation to be declared, it would be hard to relax their guard overnight.
“All right. Please hold on a little longer. I’ll be sure to repay this hardship.”
“As long as the young lady has grown up safely, that alone is enough for us.”
At Petra’s words, the knights smiled with an easygoing expression that seemed to show their genuine satisfaction.
Seeing that, I could only shake my head.
‘They’re all just doting father figures.’
No wonder they had risen up when the lord said he would betroth her to me.
It almost made the lord seem impressive for having managed to calm people like that and see the engagement through.
We moved straight to the estate.
Perhaps because it was wartime, the atmosphere of the city was gloomy, but everyone seemed accustomed to it, trying to maintain an air of normalcy.
“Everyone’s strong.”
Watching them, my thoughts slipped out without thinking.
Petra, who was looking at the same scene, smiled faintly and nodded.
“Because they all believe that this crisis will pass someday.”
Before long, we arrived at the estate.
Since we had no luggage to unpack, we ate a simple meal and then, to pass the time until the lord returned, walked through the garden together.
“…It feels like everyone’s looking at me.”
The knights and servants we occasionally passed in the corridors greeted Petra with loyal courtesy, but at the same time, they cast strange, sidelong glances at me.
Finding it odd, I asked her about it, and she answered with an awkward expression.
“Well, it’s probably because it’s the first time I’ve brought someone else all the way to the territory.
Especially since it’s known that I’m engaged to the Third Imperial Prince.”
“…If it becomes known that I’m Leios, it’ll be chaos.”
But soon, a playful mood struck me.
So when I saw a group of maids approaching from the other side, I stretched out my arm and wrapped it around Petra’s waist.
“Ah……!”
By the time she realized my intention, they had already witnessed the entire scene.
The maids’ eyes went wide, their faces flushing red.
They bowed deeply to us and hurried off, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Honestly, you really are something.”
Petra glared at me, her face reddened as well.
At that, I shrugged and said,
“But we’re engaged—this level of skinship is fine, right?”
“…Whatever happens later, I won’t know anything about it.”
After that, we continued to stroll around the estate, spending our time leisurely.
Then, at some point, I felt the entire estate suddenly become hectic.
“It seems my father has returned.”
She asked if her hair and clothes were in order.
When I nodded, she grabbed my sleeve and led me toward the entrance of the estate with a bright expression.
However, the situation did not turn out as optimistically as we had expected.
“Ah, young lady, the head of the family…!”
We had clearly heard that he had gone out with the knight order, yet for some reason, only three people had returned.
“Monsters… a large number… appeared… during the engagement… the head of the family…….”
Three men were riding on a single horse.
The two in the back showed no movement at all, as if they had lost consciousness.
The knight who had ridden the horse spat out words intermittently, then, as if he believed he had fulfilled his duty, showed a look of relief and collapsed straight to the ground.
“Healers! Where are the healers!”
At that, a knight guarding the estate shouted loudly.
We carefully lowered the two who had been on horseback to the ground first.
The knight who fell first had already stopped breathing, but the other two still had faint pulses.
“Ah…….”
Their condition was horrific.
Their blood-soaked bodies bore countless fatal wounds, as if they had fought a brutal battle.
When Petra confirmed that one of them was her father, she let out a short gasp and collapsed to the ground.
“Young lady.”
A nearby knight approached with a twisted expression.
I entrusted Petra to him and stepped forward to examine the lord’s condition.
“How is he?”
At the knight’s question, the healer desperately poured healing magic into the wounds.
I also placed my hand over him and lent my strength.
“[O holy one of the earth, bestow your grace, healing].”
A pale green light seeped into the wounds.
But they did not move at all.
At that, the healer withdrew his hands, his face dark.
“Count.”
I grasped the wrist of the Count of Leipzig.
A threadlike pulse.
So fragile it seemed his breath could stop at any moment.
Yet he endured—was it a sense of responsibility for the territory, or lingering regret?
“Fa… ther…….”
Behind me, Petra sobbed as she slowly approached, stroking her father’s blood-soaked face.
At that, I let out a small sigh and said,
“You really chose your son-in-law well, Count of Leipzig.”
I felt around my waist and searched my subspace pouch.
Then I took out a vial containing a very small amount of liquid.
It was easy to mistake it for a potion, but it was a treasure of value beyond comparison with any elixir.
“…Ostia.”
Petra’s eyes widened as she realized what it was.
Without hesitation, I opened the stopper of the elixir and poured it into the count’s mouth.