Treasury
Gilbert’s Point of View
Three days have passed since then. Alice’s condition, due to the battle with the Church Knights, seems to have worsened, and she still hasn’t woken up. The temporary Alice seemed to have put quite a strain on her body.
This incident was quite a mess. Just a coincidence. That’s all. It appears that the 289th squad of the Church Knights, which came this time, had been observing the chaos in Ostland using the otherworlders they had summoned.
It seems that the perception-type otherworlder had an ability similar to a clairvoyance and could show it to others, so they were able to see inside Alice’s barrier. However, the otherworlder with the teleportation ability couldn’t interfere with Alice’s barrier using her teleportation. After learning about Alice’s accomplishments and her identity as the First Princess of the Arland Kingdom and the heiress of the Viceroy household from Alice’s actions and the surrounding conversations, they acted on their own to claim the credit.
Since Alice had just released her barrier and collapsed, they took advantage of the opportunity and teleported without proper preparation.
Generally, teleportation is limited to places one is familiar with, but it seems that it worked well together with the perception-type otherworlder. With those two together, they could apparently teleport anywhere.
Being otherworlders, they had high physical abilities, so they were certain that it would be easy to take advantage of us, who were exhausted after the battle. And their first mistake was thinking that whatever they did in Ostland could be covered up.
Out of a hundred people, eighty had their heads cut off in the Capital’s square on the same day. It seems the last one was screaming until the end, but they were beheaded while citizens pelted them with stones, and their heads remain on display. I don’t care anymore, it’s done. But if the next incident happens, I will definitely not lose. Alice was fine this time, but there won’t be a next time. I also need to become stronger.
“Hooray for the Princess!”
“……”
Another three days have passed since then. Around noon on the seventh day after the Stampede, Alice woke up.
However, Alice didn’t react to anything as if her spirit had left her. We were quite panicked, but it seems Alicia had been talking to Alice and, at first glance, she didn’t show any signs of distress. She said the Princess would return to normal in a month, so we have to wait. Alicia is acting as if she’s not concerned, but she’s restless. Inwardly, she must be enduring quite a lot.
We took Alice to see a doctor as much as we could, but there didn’t seem to be anything abnormal. In fact, we were asked why this had happened.
One possibility is something called Spirit Magic Equipment. Alice is essentially secretive. Even if she’s in danger, she won’t consult anyone. If there was some kind of compensation for that, and it led to this situation, it would make sense that she fell asleep suddenly on the battlefield. She probably couldn’t maintain consciousness.
However, since she explicitly stated that she will return to normal in about a month just by sleeping, we decided to observe the situation for a while. Just to be sure, we’ve gathered doctors not only from all over Ostland but also from Arland using small and medium-sized airships to conduct examinations.
“What have you been doing since earlier?”
Although Alice was awake, she’s been unresponsive for the most part. However, she has been responding to us. She can eat, bathe, use the restroom, and more on her own. According to Old Master Ignace’s diagnosis, her consciousness was intact. It’s just that her mind wasn’t moving, so she was going through her usual motions, like pretending to read a book or engage in other activities. She spent most of the day reading by the window, even though the pages didn’t actually turn.
“Well, I thought if she moved her body, she might wake up.”
Alicia had her own thoughts, but it looked like exercises to me. It’s quite rare to see Alice obediently complying with Alicia’s ideas.
“Hey~~ is the Missy still not waking up? I really want to modify that thing already, you know.”
“Lord Grantz, why didn’t you come to help at that time? With that thing, those Church Knights would have been no match.”
Indeed, Lord Grantz didn’t come at that time. He had borrowed the training ground from Ostland and was carrying out maintenance (apparently he had been isolated due to messing with the Spider, which indiscriminately fired its main gun within the Capital).
He was aware of the chaos, but he had no intention of helping and continued with his maintenance.
“Ah? Trying to kidnap the sleeping Missy? Even Draco boy would find that impossible. More importantly, I want her to do something about the balancer. The shaking is unbearable.”
Certainly, threatening to kidnap Alice would likely be the easiest way to manipulate her. It might not be fitting for Royalty, but if they took Alicia hostage, she would undoubtedly let herself get captured. However, if that were to happen, Alicia would probably choose to end her own life.
However, this is too much. The trust in Alice… or rather, her half-asleep state… To be honest, although the proxy dealt with it this time, but even in Alice’s normal state, those otherworlders wouldn’t stand a chance against her. However, in her half-asleep state, even Father couldn’t follow her movements with his eyes, got lifted by her, a massive body over 2 meters in height, with one hand, and she didn’t allow any resistance, simply tossing him out of the window. Even three otherworlders of that kind would find it difficult to deal with her. Only someone with teleportation abilities might endure for a while. I need more training as well. If I continue like this, I might end up being treated as invisible. It’s not that I’m jealous, but I want to become strong like that too.
“… Hah!! If Princess can hear what we say, then… Princess! Please, allow me into your Treasury!!”
Suddenly, as if struck by divine inspiration, Alicia started pleading with Alice.
Isn’t she getting carried away? That’s going a bit too far… Huh? You’re opening it? Is it okay to go inside?
Alice simply took out a key and opened the Treasury. This is something I can’t overlook. What’s inside has been a question for everyone who knows about its existence. I should definitely call Father and Mother.
“… I can’t agree with this. To think it could be opened so easily…”
“You absolutely hate the idea, don’t you?”
“I just hope she has a new balancer in there.”
Lord Grantz chimed in sneakily as well. It seems he was curious about Alice’s workspace. However, it was decided by Lord Grantz that we shouldn’t touch anything inside without permission. Apparently, it’s the same in Lord Grantz’s workshop. There might be things scattered about that amateurs shouldn’t touch, as you never know what could happen.