Fools (2)
“Yeah, it seems like the end. ‘What’ are you, exactly?”
There was no time to engage in troublesome negotiations now. What’s happening to Alice? Moreover, the atmosphere suggests that Alice (temporary name) didn’t intend to talk for long.
“I am a proxy. A ‘being’ entrusted with the defense of Alicetia by the Creator. Confirming the situation’s conclusion. All limiters rebooting, returning to sleep mode.”
Alice’s eyes slowly closed, and she collapsed. Without delay, Alicia caught her.
“Is this some kind of new magic created by the Princess?”
“It’s different. If that were the case, Alice would be called the Creator. And it didn’t call itself a person but a being… It’s a bit intriguing, but… Alice probably won’t remember…”
Alice has no memory when woken from sleep. No matter how much she rampaged or even when she threw our Father out of the third-floor window, she doesn’t remember. Alice won’t be able to answer things she doesn’t know, but I have to report this to Father.
“If you lay hands on us, the Church and the Empire won’t stay silent!! What’s this disrespect for going out of our way to receive the Saintess!!”
“We only came to retrieve the Saintess we sent, so she wouldn’t be taken by Arland. The Saintess belongs to the Empire.”
“Shut up!! I won’t listen to your nonsense!! Blasphemy against the Royal family is punishable by death. Take them to the city square!! We must execute them in front of the citizens, or things will get out of control.”
The citizens have already gathered like onlookers. Their eyes are filled with intense anger.
(Kill, kill, kill! Kill the shameless ones!!)
Indeed, things seemed to be getting out of control. Their downfall was underestimating Alice’s influence. Apparently, there was no longer anyone in this country who trusted the Church. It was clear from their eyes that the Church was trying to take credit. Even if they took Alice, their scheme wouldn’t succeed.
“What’s this? I hurried over and it’s so noisy already. Hey, Gramps, you didn’t lay a hand on my daughter, did you? And clean up the trash lying around at the very least.”
“Father!!”
Suddenly, pushing through the citizens, Father arrived. However, only Father, Mother, and Captain Albert were here. Has something happened? There were no other soldiers or knights around.
“Hey, you idiot son. You went and ignored orders with Alicetia, huh? We’ll discuss the lecture later. Oh, and we left the others behind. The airship broke during the forced march, and everything crashed. They’re probably running here by now. We came ahead using Sylvia’s ‘Flight’ magic.”
“Did you mess up again? Is it Alice’s influence? Lately, I’ve been hearing bad rumors about you too~ Should I talk with Alice for a bit?”
I haven’t caused any problems like Alice, Mother. Well, I’ll obediently accept the scolding for ignoring orders, though. Unlike Alice, I can’t just run away from this situation here.
“Mother, I did indeed ignore orders, but that’s all I’m guilty of.”
“I see. Then tell me, why did all of Alice’s potential fiancés decline? They’re not saying a word~”
……… Hmm.
“Mother, why must I hand over my beloved sister to those who are even inferior to me? I merely confirmed whether they were truly suitable for Alice. Unfortunately, not a single one caught my eye.”
“Well done, Gil!! I was getting sick of it, and if it had continued, I would have them assassinated myself!!”
Father seems to share my thoughts.
“You keep quiet.”
Mother smacked her wand on Father’s head with a thud, but it didn’t seem to affect him. Father is somewhat odd as a living being, so I’m not surprised. However, the soldiers of Ostland seem quite disturbed. After all, Mother hit him with a force that would make them faint, rather than just recoil.
“That hurts. Besides, I don’t want to see Alicetia getting married away, and I don’t want to see her taking in a husband either. It’s fine, they were just candidates anyway. But that’s for later. Tell me the details of this situation. Why are citizens flocking to Alice? Is this some new form of harassment against me? And taking sleeping Alice outside is suicidal. Do you want to soar through the sky like me?”
“If I were dropped from the third floor, I’d likely die. Only you, Father, can go through that and come out unscathed.”
Father, who remained undeterred despite riling up Alice time and time again. If Alice still had memories of waking up, she’d definitely ignore him.
Father is a busy person, so he’s only free in the mornings. Or rather, he has a little time available, that’s all. But during that time, Alice is asleep. When he charges into her room, he will either be thrown out or buried in the wall by Alice’s bare hands, but he insists it’s all part of parent-child bonding.
Getting back on track, I reported on the current situation.
“They’re a troublesome bunch. We need to question them about how they managed to send reinforcements here and how they knew that Alice was here. Gramps, stop the execution. I’ll borrow them for a moment. I’ll return them later.”
“I can’t just stop the execution here, considering my position… Well, I guess we need to investigate the details… Let’s start by executing the low-ranking Church knights who probably don’t know anything first to buy some time.”
Indeed, Alice being in Ostland is irregular in itself. I’m curious about how they knew. Father and I cleaned up quite a bit, but there might still be some trash left in the country. Let’s listen to their story properly. Besides, the low-ranking members probably don’t know anything, so there’s no need to oppose their execution. Alternatively, they would be likely handed over to our covert division, tortured, and then used as test subjects for our covert division’s poisons. Dying here would be a more merciful fate.
“Father, that person lying there like trash is their captain.”
“Ugh, so gruesome. What’s the Church thinking, using something like this? Are they out of their minds?”
It was done by Alice (temporary name), but there’s no need to mention that separately. I removed my armor and got my injuries treated. It didn’t seem as severe as I thought. It should heal with some rest. Alice is another matter, but the Arland Royal family is resilient, and injuries heal quickly. This shouldn’t be a problem.
And so, the commanders of this incident were “coincidentally” handed over to the covert division that “happened” to be in Ostland. I won’t ask why they were here. Sometimes it’s better for even Royalty to remain unaware of certain things.