Ritzy,
"You know him?".
Princess,
"Yes, he's a noble from the Deriver family which serves my family".
Ritzy,
"So there's something he would benefit from your death?".
Princess,
"No, well maybe his honor back... What happened was that Lord Rinus being a young talented noble, eager to start taking over the Deriver family business of naval transportation".
"To start getting more power, his first attempt was to try and court a royal. By marrying a royal, his family would be forced to rely on him for more exotic business".
"Stupidly for him, he chose me instead of my sisters. This proved his downfall because I smacked him in the royal ball and called him a pervert in front of everyone".
"Normally this would've caused him to lose any standing with his family but it seems someone in his family cared enough about him to keep him. Now he's the captain of a ship which is in charge of transporting common goods".
Ritzy,
"So is he the man I'm supposed to protect you from? Is that why you hired me?".
Princess,
"Yes and no, I hired you to protect me from a man called Seth the Vulgarian. Head of the Rushmoss fleet. I heard someone, which we now know is Lord Rinus, hired him to protect the Trinity sea which is where we'll travel through".
Ritzy,
"Trinity sea? I knew we're going to an ocean but I thought we would fight the main enemy on land. If it was by sea, wouldn't it be better to hire the best sea crew?".
Princess,
"I did, but what makes him dangerous is that he prefers close-quarters combat. From his history, he'll most likely conquer our ship before destroying it. It doesn't matter if he was only hired to murder me. He's greedy and will suck every coin he can".
Ritzy started thinking, he knew he had to prepare for naval combat but he didn't expect to fight one of the best naval fighters. Even though it will still be close quarters which Ritzy has experience in, fighting on a boat is drastically different than fighting on the solid unmoving ground.
Ritzy knows his skill to strength ratio is unparalleled to everyone he met, but he has met others with a strength much higher than his. Arufa the man who sieges the beastkin city had much more magic power than Ritzy could make himself. The only reason Ritzy won was that he let his guard down, not knowing that Ritzy could control other's magic.
Amora and Benedire as well were much stronger than Ritzy. Benedire was able to use basic wind magic in a much more efficient way, easily beating Ritzy's speed. Amora on the other hand, when she doesn't restrain her strength. Every movement of her's was able to knock the air out of Ritzy's lungs and break the stone they were on top of.
Ritzy's been entirely relying on skill and luck to catch up with the others. Seth the Vulgarian could prove a massively difficult task since this job was originally going to be given to Benedire. This mission was made for the best to fight the best.
Princess spoke awkwardly,
"Ritzy?".
Ritzy came back to reality and looked at her.
"How far is the sea from here?".
Princess,
"Two days of traveling if I'm correct. We'll pass through two towns and arrive at a city controlled by the Deriver famil- Oh dammit!".
Ritzy.
"You were relying on the Deriver family for transportation".
Princess,
"Yes, they earned such high ranking status because of they're naval power so naturally, I was gonna rely on them".
Ritzy sighed from stress. First, the princess brought 5 royal carriages with only the royal emblem taken off as cover for traveling. And now, the whole time she was gonna rely on the same enemy trying to kill her to transport her safely across enemy territory.
Ritzy rubbing his forehead,
"So what is the plan now? With no reliable transportation, your death is assured, and if you die. I won't get paid".
Ritzy had given up on transporting the Princess. He isn't dumb enough to put any more effort into a lost cause.
Princess,
"Going through beastkin territory is out of the question. We can only pass through with a formal invite, if not, we'll be ravaged by every town we pass by".
Ritzy,
"How difficult is it to get an invitation?".
Princess,
"You need an invite from someone with authority or be a student of the Jinsei No Pātonā. You know, the world's best taming school".
Ritzy became annoyed, even though there was no hope. The princess was still trying to go to the elf territory.
Princess,
"Lord Ritzy, you must have an idea on how to pass through. If we don't, you won't get your land".
Ritzy sighed,
"If you're truly desperate, then we could travel my way".
Princess,
"Please, do tell".
Ritzy,
"First, even though you removed the emblem from your carriage. It's easy to tell you're very important. So anybody looking for you will obviously check this caravan first".
Princess,
"Then what am I suppose to do genius".
Ritzy,
"Have you're men travel a different route to the destination or go home. But don't worry, you can keep your two guard servants. Then, you'll be traveling as a low ranking noble who hired me to escort you".
Princess,
"How will that work? People will find it suspicious that Ritzy, the person who helped the Benedire family, is helping a low ranking noble".
Ritzy,
"Were days travel from the Selma city, so my name hasn't arrived here. Especially since everyone is traveling to Selma for profit, I'm part of the very few who have left Selma city".
"People here would just see it as someone from the Reds family trying to make a name for himself".
Princess,
"I... It makes sense but why should my knights leave. My knights are much better".
Ritzy,
"Your knights have the royal family emblem on their armor. Plus, it would be weird that since I'm escorting a low ranking noble, I use my knights instead of royal knights who have no reason to serve me".
Chuck, the Princess's male servant. magician guard spoke up,
"Then why don't the royal knights use your knight's armor?".
Ritzy had no answer but then the Princess spoke,
"A knight must never wear another's emblem, it's considered taboo and treason".
Princess,
"Fine, since there's no other choice. I'll do as you instruct".
The princess then left and went to her knights. Leaving, Ritzy also went back to his group with Lola following right behind him.
Alter saw Ritzy coming and approached him.
"Lord Ritzy, what are we to do?".
Ritzy,
"We'll be traveling with the Princess truly undercover like last time. From now, if anybody asks who we are or why we're traveling through their cities. Tell them Lord Ritzy is trying to make a name for himself and is doing an escort mission to the elf territory. Helping a low ranking noble go to elf magic school".
"Also we'll be given more responsibilities. Her royal knights are being removed from our group to look less suspicious. So get some men to protect her at all times".
Alter,
"Right away Lord".
Alter bowed and left to meet with the rest of the knights.
Ritzy turned to Lola and examined her. He then noticed she didn't have the gladius he gave her.
"Where's your weapon?".
Lola looked at her waist and noticed it was gone.
Ritzy,
"Leave, come back when you find it".
Ritzy clicked his tongue and left to go rest at the carriage.
Ritzy's thoughts,
"All these people have are problems. And worst of all, it's mostly the cause of their stupidity. I need to stop working for others soon or I'll die of stress".