While Kazuya held Iris's hand, they both headed back towards the camp, but as soon as they neared, they could hear multiple loud voices.
「〜〜〜!!」
「〜〜〜!?」
「Did something happen?」
I wonder what's going on? Coming out from the brush, the moment when Kazuya and Iris entered the camp, all the knights within the 2nd Knight Order turned to face the two.
「Eh?」
Kazuya froze, confused by the large number of people staring at him, which lead him to respond in surprise.
「P-princess…I-iris...Your Highness…..」
Phyllis whose face had been pale with worry, staggered, swaying as she approached Kazuya and Iris, almost as if time had stopped for all three.
「*Sigh* what a relief…. This is great, if anything happened to the princess, things wouldn't end well….. Thank god!!」
….Huh? What did she say, just now?
Phyllis having taken a good look at Iris and calmed her heart, dropped down to her knee in front of Iris, who still held Kazuya's hand.
「Your Highness, we are glad you are safe and sound. But this is still unacceptable!! Where did you even go!? ―――I told you not to leave our sight countless times. And this――」
「Ah sorry to interrupt you moment….. But would you mind explaining what's going on to me?」
As Phyllis's lecture had gone on for about five minutes with no end in sight, Kazuya decided to chime in, interrupting Phyllis and causing her to be stunned with another revelation.
「Oh, ah Kazuya, I'm terribly sorry, this will only just take a little bit more. ―― Princess it's late, we'll talk about this more later again tomorrow. Hey you there, escort the Princess to her carriage」
Right when Phyllis called out to them, two maids came forth in order to take the Princess back to her carriage.
「Princess Iris, please come with us」
「――Nooo」
「「「Huh?」」」
「I don't want to leave dear brother's side!! I won't get on the carriage!!」
「...」
Phyllis was flabbergast, realizing the weight of Iris's words, veins bulged at her temples as she rebuked her sovereign.
「Your Highness!! Don't be selfish and――」
「It's fine, I'll do it, don't worry so much. Let me guide her to the carriage」
「But, but I...」
「Huh?」
「Muu….. If that's what Kazuya wants, then okay」
At a loss for words, Phyllis couldn't say a thing as Kazuya held Iris's hand and took her to her carriage.
And not long after, they reached her carriage, Iris's clung onto Kazuya's hand, not wanting to let go.
「And we're here, it's time」
Right in front of the carriages door, Kazuya implores Iris to enter.
But right before entering, Iris lowers her voice into a whisper so the two maids nearby wouldn't hear.
「(Dear Brother, won't you tell me another story tomorrow?)」
「What? That sort of, maybe if there's time for it」
「(You have to, promise me)」
「I can't promise you――」
「(Promise me)」
「...It's a promise」
The moment Kazuya makes a promise, Iris tearfully pulls herself away, moving towards the maids close by.
「…..Good Night, Dear Brother」
Urged to enter the carriage by her attendants, Iris unexpectedly turns around to face Kazuya and smiles with parting words before disappearing within the carriage.
Time to see Phyllis and hear the situation from her.
After escorting Iris to her carriage, Kazuya set off towards Phyllis's tent were she was expecting him.
「Now, where should we begin?…..」
Inside the large tent all gathered around the table, Phyllis and Beretta went on to explain the situation to Kazuya and Chitose.
「Captain, the cat's out of the bag, its best to tell them now that they know about the Princess」
「*Sigh*, You're right. ―― Sir Kazuya, Miss Chitose. Everything that I'm about to tell you, are to be kept a secret」
「Alright, I understand」
「Got it」
「It'll be a little hard to explain it all, but this is very important and are considered national secrets」
「Come on it's not like we would carelessly spread your country's secrets anywhere, if we did we'd only be killed」
「Haha, well you're not wrong」
Chuckling towards Kazuya's little joke, Phyllis went back to being serious before speaking once again.
「Alright, to start things off I'll tell you about the Princess, otherwise you'd probably worry. I'll re-introduce you two tomorrow, but the noble we are guarding is a Princess of the Canary Kingdom. There are two Princesses, Aria Velhelm is the eldest, and Iris Velhem is the one you've met not too long ago. ….. truthfully I never intended for you two to meet」
... I thought as much. I already had a hunch that she was someone important, but I never would have expected that she would be a Princess of their Kingdom.
Having seen her in "that" manner, would be considered a crime against royalty. Kazuya urged Phyllis to continue, while sweating profusely at the thought of his actions when he first met the Princess.
「Now as for your question you had asked after dinner, "What were we doing in a place like this," this is our reason. We came to this place in search of...an Otherworlder―― An individual whose crossed from one world into our world」
「An Otherworlder?」
Listening to Phyllis's explanation, Kazuya couldn't help but repeat her words.
「Do you know what an Otherworlder is? Great, that makes explaining this a whole lot easier. Like what I've said, they are people who come from different worlds. Occasionally these kinds of people appear in our world, and this time we've received an oracle of one appearing from our priestess, that was why we were exploring that area」
「I see….. And so Phyllis's group was looking for this Otherworlder?」
「That is correct. Right now our Kingdom is in conflict on two separate fronts, we are up against a large influx of monster attacks due to their abnormal rate of reproduction, also we are at war with a neighboring country, the Alsace Magical Empire. We are in desperate need of an Otherworlder in order to overcome these grave conflicts」
Hearing their reason is really unsettling…..
「So why is there a large amount of monsters?」
「I believe Kazuya's group should have heard all about it by now」
No, I actually don't know anything about it.
Phyllis continues with her explanation, unaware of Kazuya inner thoughts.
「The reason for the large amount of monsters are due to two monster nests which rapidly reproduce them... If we don't handle the matter soon, the Canary Kingdom will be destroyed by them. The most troubling thing is that our forces alone can't contend with the abnormal rate of how these monsters reproduce. But if we could enlist the help of a powerful Otherworlder, then maybe, we should be able to stop it」
「I see, I'm starting to understand it now. But the thing that bother's me, is why are you taking the Princess along with you? If its just searching for an otherworlder, then wouldn't Phyllis' group, ordinary Knights or Common Soldiers be enough?」
Right when Kazuya asked what bothered him, Phyllis responded in a conflicted way.
「Our Princess wasn't informed about this, but she was necessary in gaining the cooperation of an Otherworlder's favor」
「….In other words, she'd be used as bargaining chip 」
「…..that's….correct」
「You haven't found your Otherworlder, so how are you going to deal with your monster problem?」
「For now, we are looking into other alternatives. And we need to make it back to the Capital in order to make our report. If in two months we can't locate the Otherworlder... Then by using Iris's enormous pool of magic we'll cast a large-scale ceremonial magic in order to deal with the monster nests」
「Is that all there is to stop it? If that's the case, then why not let the Princess use her magical power right from the get go?」
「Large-scale ceremonial magic doesn't just consume the users mana, it also takes their life force as well…..」
「...」
Everyone turned silent at Phyllis words.
「…..You mean to say, Princess Iris will be sacrificed?」
Chitose was the one who broke the silence, rephrasing Phyllis's words.
「…..that's….correct」
After affirming Chitose's thoughts on the matter, the tent grew silent once more.
「Is there no other way?」
「Unfortunately we don't have that many options. As things are now with the abnormal amount of monsters, if we were to pull back all of our forces from our borders, then its possible for us to take care of the monster nests. But doing so would leave us wide open for the Alsace Magical Empire's invasion, we would lose the war which is currently going on. If we take care of one problem, then the other one will surely destroy us in the end」
「And that's why you were searching for this Otherworlder?」
「That's right. Nations we are allied with and other small countries, the Demon Kingdom with its hierarchy of demons & sprites, as well as Verajiral a nation for Beastman cannot reinforce us as they must contend with the Alsation Empire themselves」
With Phyllis's explanation, Kazuya learned that the Alsace Magical Empire shared borders with many nations, like the Canary Kingdom, the Demon Kingdom, Verajiral the Beastman country as well as many other small nations.
A super power on the continent, the Alsace Magical Empire held a great magical prowess but they were also prejudice. From olden times and even now they saw humans as a higher existence than all other beings. So it is of no consequence that the Demon Kingdom and Verajiral, countries with non-humans would be targeted. Since the Canary Kingdom was allied with these nations and also sought coexistence with demons and beastman within their borders, the Empire deemed it necessary to start a war with them.
「…..It's already gotten real late, We can talk more about all of this tomorrow」
Since Phyllis ended the discussion, followed along with her decision, Kazuya decided to continue the conversation for the next day
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