Chapter 54: Progress・1
Several days have passed since Flora and I reconciled.
Ever since then, Novell has occasionally brought Flora to the castle.
Initially, I thought of not getting too involved, but when Flora said to me in a sad tone, "Was I a bother?"—as she's my favorite character in the story—I couldn't decide whether to distance myself or befriend her, so I ended up choosing the path of friendship with Flora.
"Why am I getting involved with more characters in the main story when I'm trying to escape from it?"
It was good to avoid the early days of "being oppressed by the family" and become a commoner.
But from there, for some reason, I got involved with Chloe, the supporting character to the protagonist, Asuka, one of the seven female warriors, the saint princess, and my former fiancée, Flora.
Even though I tried to escape from the story, I ended up getting entangled with more characters related to the plot than Jin, the protagonist.
I wondered if some kind of power to modify the story was at play.
I hadn't considered such a thing at first, but ever since the princess took a liking to me, I started to believe in the possibility of a "power to modify the story."
In the story, Jin acts as the antagonist, but he also serves as a catalyst for the encounter between the protagonist and Flora, one of the female warriors, in the early stages.
I think that whenever I try to disappear from the story, this power to modify the story acts to return me to my original position.
"I should be more careful in my actions from now on... If only that... didn't happen, Jin would have been just a skilled character..."
While worrying about certain things, I got up from bed today as well and headed to the dining hall for breakfast, as I had my duties as a bodyguard.
After finishing the meal and preparations, I waited in front of the princess's room, where one of the maids came out alone.
"Hey, what's wrong with the princess?"
"It seems she's not feeling well, so she decided to take a day off from school."
"Oh, is she alright?"
The princess is sick? I don't remember her character being the type to get sick in the original story...
"It seems she fell asleep on the balcony after taking a bath yesterday."
"Well, that's definitely going to make you feel sick."
"Although she usually handles it fine, she made some strange excuse about feeling cold yesterday."
"It's just like the princess to do that..."
As the maid and I were talking, Chloe, who had finished her preparations, arrived and asked, "What's going on with the princess?"
The maid told Chloe the same thing she had told me, and Chloe reacted with a bewildered expression, saying, "What's the princess doing..."
"Does that mean we get the day off too? We can't work if we can't guard her."
"Yeah, I guess so. What should we do?"
With the sudden day off, we decided to ask the maid if we could check on the princess's condition, and she said it was fine, so we entered the room.
"Princess, are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine... I just have a slight fever..."
"Your voice sounds really hoarse."
In response to my question, the princess replied in a hoarse voice.
"I heard from the maid that you're taking a day off from school today."
"Yes, well... I thought it would be a bother if I went to school in this condition. The doctor said I'll recover quickly if I rest."
"Well, that's true... Does that mean we have the day off too?"
"Yes, that's right. You went through the trouble of preparing everything..."
"It's fine. Just take it easy today."
Having said that, we left the room.
"So, Chloe, what should we do? We suddenly have the day off."
"Yeah, there's nothing specific to do. Should we do some training?"
As Chloe replied to my question, I suddenly remembered an item.
In the game world, there was an item that cures status ailments.
It's quite useful, and I often relied on it in the early stages of the story.
If the princess's cold continues tomorrow and beyond, it might be a good idea to use that item, or I could keep one on hand just in case...
"Chloe, how about going to get an item that can be used for the princess's treatment? Her condition isn't severe, but it's good to be prepared for emergencies."
"An item for treatment? Jin, you really seem to know everything."
"Well, I've researched things that could be useful for our adventures. What do you think?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm worried about the princess, and I don't think I can concentrate on training anyway."
With that said, Chloe and I left the castle to head to our destination in search of the curative item.