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175. Childhood Friend – Thistle

“…Is this edible enough?”

A brief silence followed. Leo de Yeriel scratched his head in front of the soup he had cooked.

His younger sister, Lena, wore an expression of complete disbelief. Despite having meat caught by Reb in the pot, the dish was far from appetizing.

“Let’s see…”

Reb took a taste of the sticky soup. Confirming the fishy smell, he said, “It’s okay. But you didn’t use enough water.”

Pouring in more water, he tossed in some ‘thistle,’ since there weren’t any proper ingredients around due to their location. Fortunately, the herb with a hint of autumn aroma managed to mask the fishiness somewhat.

That guy’s cooking skills.

Cooking isn’t solely about skill, but Leo de Yeriel’s hands were a complete disaster no matter what he tried. Knowing this, Lena forced a smile and said, “I’ll enjoy this~” as she suppressed her refined palate that had grown accustomed during their stay at the theater.

Even though the fishy smell was mitigated, it still tasted terrible.

Thistle was a common plant found in the southern continent. Its conical leaves were pretty and edible, though the sharp core inside the leaves made it unsuitable for consumption. That core only got tougher the more it was boiled.

As Leo picked out the thistles while eating, he lamented.

“…I better start hunting myself. I might be slower than you, Reb, but you can’t do everything alone.”

“It’s fine, really.”

“No, I have to do my part too. You’re the one driving the carriage…”

Reb shrugged his shoulders, gesturing with an expression that said to do as he pleased, and set about cleaning the pot and dishes.

“Um… Reb, I’ll do the dishes.”

Lena sprang up. Ignoring Reb’s assurance, she snatched the pot (which still had some soup left) and toted it to the stream.

However, diligent Reb found another task to tackle.

He went to get ‘Kus,’ who he had left unchained to graze and tied him to the carriage, brushing off the weeds stuck to his body. Thinking it was time for a wash, he untied him again.

“Let’s go together.”

Leo brought the laundry.

There wasn’t much, but considering they didn’t have many clean clothes, it was best to take care of it while they had the chance. Leo scraped the ashes from the fire he had made to prepare lunch and headed towards the stream.

– Hee-haw!

Leo took the only water bucket for himself, while Reb splashed water on Kus. It felt like this had happened before somehow, but the big black horse, Kus, was not fussy about it.

Splashing the soapy water, Leo washed the clothes while Reb wiped Kus down, and Lena approached.

“I’m done with the dishes. Need any help… Eek!”

Seeing the wet undergarment in her brother’s hands, Lena lunged at him. She snatched away the still-soiled item and hid it behind her back.

“Brother, what are you doing?!”

“…What do you mean?”

“Why do you have my laundry…?”

Leo’s blank expression made it seem as though he had forgotten entirely about the fact. So shocked was Lena that her face turned crimson. She glanced towards Reb, but he wore the same bewildered expression.

‘Brother is a fool, an idiot.’

If you were going to help, couldn’t you have done it secretly? Why cause a ruckus in front of Reb?

How embarrassing.

“I-I was the one who always did the laundry. Just go away. I’ll handle it.”

“Huh? When did you…?”

“Now.”

With a frown, Lena made a face. She edged closer to whisper, raising her eyebrows, but to Leo, she looked just adorable.

Leo sent a glance to Reb as if to ask, ‘What’s with her?’ and Reb shrugged back, as if to say, ‘How should I know?’

Caught up in Lena’s insistence, Reb and Leo found themselves banished from the stream. Even Kus was swept along, leaving the three males watching as Lena diligently washed. Seeing her crouched down happily doing laundry was both heartwarming and admirable.

“…Our sister has grown a lot. She can wash clothes now.”

“Right? Before, Sister Kasia used to do it for her… I guess Ksenia taught her well.”

“…”

Leo fell silent, recalling his former lover, Ksenia, while Reb remembered the last moments of Kasia.

Kus was just thinking about carrots.

*

“Next!”

A long line had formed at the gate to the Orun Kingdom.

Occasionally, the guard’s voice announcing the next in line could be heard as Reb and Leo conspired far away with their carriage.

“Okay. Thankfully, we can get in.”

“…It’s a bit tight, though?”

“Well, it’s fine for you. Leo Dexter wouldn’t have fit.”

“That’s probably true.”

Reb, donned in a royal knight’s uniform, pulled at the short sleeves. The uniform that Leo de Yeriel had worn was a tad small on Reb.

After nearly two months of travel, Leo and his party reached the gate.

It had been a pretty leisurely journey, yet Leo de Yeriel, having heard all the stories, still felt anxious.

“Can we really go this slowly?”

“Probably.”

“I just can’t understand it. Astroth took a liking to me, you say?”

It was the difference in temperature between someone who had received the word and someone who had ‘experienced’ it firsthand. Reb nodded, reassuring the ‘never met the king’ Leo.

Astroth.

That ancient archduke had indeed shown favor to Leo. He spread his arms wide upon their next meeting and the enchanted Princess Tatalia, right before kissing him, expressed, “See you again,” hinting at their anticipated reunion.

Reb didn’t understand the king’s motives, but one thing was certain: he liked Leo.

Thanks to that, they were able to arrive leisurely at the gate. As Astroth didn’t become angry until he realized Leo was a ‘god’s plaything,’ they had been treated gently.

Additionally, up till now, Leo de Yeriel’s only ‘misdeed’ was kissing the princess.

There wasn’t anything substantial enough to warrant sending the knights after him. The prince Anolf de Klaus, who had come to see the princess, got mad and returned home, and with the Belita Kingdom’s relations worsening with the Austin Kingdom, the knights had no interest in such trivial matters.

However, they certainly couldn’t let their guard down. The fake identification of ‘Noel’ would have likely been discovered, so Leo’s party had to avoid attracting attention during their travels.

Most likely, there was a bounty out on them. The Royal Knights, though not directly related to the war, would still be keeping an eye on the suspicious knight ‘Noel’ who had figured out the royal palace’s secret passage structure.

So when passing through the gate, it was Reb who had to pretend to be the royal knight, leaving Leo de Yeriel to hide in the carriage after advising him on what to do.

– Clatter.

The improvised troupe, no, Leo’s party’s carriage, set off.

Ignoring the line of people, Reb drove the carriage directly to the gate, looking down on the guard with an air of arrogance.

“Hail, loyal subjects!”

“Yes. Thank you for your service.”

“Um… Sir knight, I’m sorry but could you please stop for a moment?”

If only they had passed without a hitch, but the soldiers blocked the carriage. They looked panic-stricken, and Reb bellowed.

“How dare you! Do you think this carriage is something you can just block?!”

Reb’s face flushed red.

The smallest and most shabby carriage. Even saying it himself was so brazen that his cheeks flushed, but he had also managed to look genuinely furious.

One soldier cautiously asked, “We’re very sorry. We’re not questioning you, sir knight, but could you present your travel permit or identification?”

“Identification? Travel permit? Why would a royal knight need those?”

The soldier thought, ‘How are we supposed to know if you’re a royal knight or not,’ but since it could be serious if he really was, he bowed deeply again.

“Currently, there is a bounty out for a certain blonde royal knight. We need to enhance our procedures, so… we appreciate your understanding.”

“That’s ridiculous. Do you see my hair as blonde?”

“N-no! That’s not it! But for procedure…”

Hmph.

Reb scoffed dismissively. With a truly absurd expression, he intimidated the soldier standing before him before jumping down from the driver’s seat. Just as he was about to yank the scared guard’s helmet off…

“Sir Bart, stop that.”

The carriage window rolled down. Reb, who was about to get angry, immediately knelt and said, “I apologize for causing a scene, Princess.” — as though he wanted them to hear.

Princess?! The soldier raised his head and gasped.

A breathtakingly beautiful woman looked through the window. Her delicate head peeking out was elegant, and her lips resembled ripe fruit.

The soldier thought, there’s no way, no way she could be the princess, and he dared to steal another glance at her face, unable to bear the soft command of, “Please raise your head.”

Gorgeous.

Perhaps the glaring sunlight made her squint, but even doing so looked graceful. When she extended her flower-petal-like delicate hand bidding him to come, his heart skipped.

“I-I’m honored to see you, Princess… I’m sorry… we didn’t recognize your presence…”

“It’s fine. I’m very moved by your dedication to your duties. Here, if you take this, it should verify my identity.”

Lena handed over the ‘Princess Danijela Tatalia’s’ insignia that Leo had brought, and the soldier, receiving the golden insignia, was rendered speechless with humility.

“T-thank you for considering us, the humble folk. Then…”

What should a soldier do when meeting royalty? Such matters weren’t covered in any work regulations, so he attempted to return the insignia as politely as he could.

However, the princess did not accept it.

“I have one request.”

“W-what would you like?”

“I’m heading to the Orun Kingdom. Secretly. So… could you keep my visit here a secret?”

“Of course. I won’t say a word. No one will know that the princess passed through this gate.”

“Thank you. And one more thing…”

In his twenty-one years of life, had there ever been a day more thrilling than this? When the beautiful princess winked at him, the soldier’s heart raced, even though he was a married man.

“I heard there’s a gate on the Orun Kingdom side as well. Similar things might happen there too… Should I show my face to the guards of a foreign kingdom?”

“N-no! That would be entirely unreasonable. If permitted, I’ll accompany you. I have friends on patrol who could help. Please leave it to me.”

Leo’s party passed through the gate.

At the gate to the Orun Kingdom, Reb flaunted the ‘Noel’ insignia, claiming that he was a messenger, and the guards emphasized that there was no need for a search of the carriage.

He was unaware that in the carriage, Leo was praising, “Our sister’s acting skills are amazing.”

*

“Reb, what do you plan to do now?”

Once inside the Orun Kingdom, Leo in the passenger seat asked. Lena was napping inside the carriage.

Reb, who was driving, took a moment to gather his thoughts before responding.

“…I want to meet Marquis Gaidan first. I’m thinking of rallying the barbarian tribes, but first, I need to charm the marquis to gain his loyalty.”

“Charm?”

“Yeah. With this bracelet.”

On Reb’s arm were the remaining two red beads of the {Barbatos’ Bracelet}. Leo had a similar one, but there was no color to his beads.

“Well… I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“…Why?”

“Using that won’t earn you the marquis’s loyalty for long. You know better than anyone that charm isn’t permanent. The ‘Master-Servant’ achievement implies that, right?”

[ Achievement: Master-Servant – ‘0’, as long as their loyalty isn’t shaken, those who have sworn their allegiance will believe in and follow Leo. ]

“…True. But it’s the only method I have. Even if I gather a lot of barbarians, without the support of the nobles, a rebellion is impossible.”

“True. But… if it were me, I wouldn’t try to charm the marquis.”

“What then?”

Leo de Yeriel smiled, as if he had a good idea but didn’t want to hinder Reb’s choices as the main character of this scenario.

“Come on, tell me.”

“Alright. If I were to do it… I would charm the marquis’ wife.”

“What?!”

In an instant, Reb thought this friend with a shiny face had lost his mind. But soon he remembered the family secrets he had heard from the handmaiden regarding the Gaidan house.

“Ah… right. The marquis’ wife is…”

He recalled from the last childhood friend episode that the heir of the Gaidan marquisate, Havni Gaidan, died after being kicked by a pony.

The marquis had smashed everything in their house related to the Cross Church, and his wife was unable to rise after collapsing. She was said to have closed her heart, staring blankly at the void.

The only ones she would react to were her husband and daughter, and she would burst into tears and faint whenever she saw them, so the marquis’ wife was recovering in the Gaidan Territory in the northeastern Orun Kingdom.

“Yeah. I would charm the marquis’ wife. Remember? The entranced Marquis Harvey Gaidan let you use his son’s room. Maybe… the marquis’ wife could see you as her son. Then maybe she would come to her senses.”

Impressed, Reb found himself stopping the carriage without realizing it. He had been worried inside, but doing that could earn him much greater favor than just temporarily charming the marquis.

At the very least, he would be treated generously as the benefactor who had helped the marquis’ wife.

“Let’s do that. It sounds much better. Thank you. That’s a great idea.”

Reb expressed his gratitude sincerely. Yet Leo de Yeriel still had more advice to give.

“Oh, and don’t forget that the Theobik Family’s weapon merchant group is coming this way soon.”