I woke up to the knocking on the door. I pulled myself up and, through the closed door, thanked Mearyl for waking me up. I quickly washed myself with a washcloth and changed into a tunic that looked a little more elegant than my usual wear, prepared for me the other day specifically for this occasion. I also had a set of clothes of a much more noble appearance prepared but I felt uncomfortable just imagining myself in those, so I decided to stick to something more mundane. This should also help my image among the people since I’ll be looking more like one of them. Or so I thought, at least.
After desperately trying to do something about my hair in the polished silver mirror, I gave up and just let them stay in a semi-organised chaos that was just good enough to not be considered too bad. I'll really need to have my beard shaved, though. While I felt comfortable with any blade, it was only when it was facing an opponent and not my own neck. Since I also didn't have that much experience with shivs and razors, I'd rather leave it to an expert. It would likely have to wait for a while, though, since I didn’t yet know if there even is a barber in town and where to find them or, if there isn’t one, then who could I ask to help me out with it. Asking Mearyl for it didn’t feel exactly appealing to me, although I couldn’t quite place the reason for this odd conviction.
Coming to the dining room, Liyanne was already sitting at the table, enjoying her meal. She gave me a polite nod as I entered and scoffed when she looked at me.
-You're looking oddly proper in those clothes. They don't suit you.
-Trust me, I'd rather have my cargo pants and a jumper too. Comfortable and practical clothing from my world, but we won’t see them for a few hundred years at least, sadly.
-You'll have to tell me more about this world of yours. It seems like an interesting and comfortable world to live in so far.
-With its own share of problems too, don’t worry. Ah, thank you.
I gave a nod to one of the maids who just placed a plate with some food in front of me, a tall, blonde girl, whose name, if I recall correctly, was Heiryl, an older sister of Mearyl. For some reason, opposite to her younger sister, she was treating me cold and with distance. Well, she only knows me for two days, so I cannot blame her for being reserved either. I turned my gaze to the princess and asked between bites of my food:
-Will the king be joining us?
-No, he is likely eating in his office.
-This can't be healthy.
-The kingdom takes priority for him. Once you're done, Mearyl will lead you to him.
-And you?
-I have my own duties I have to attend to, like making sure our soldiers are all well organised for the occasion as well. Anyway, better keep eating, you don't want to keep father waiting for too long. I'll see you after the whole ordeal.
With that, the princess stood up and left the room, leaving her plate and cup for Heiryl to clean after. I nodded at her as she was getting up, letting out a sigh of relief as she went. I was a little nervous about how she'll be reacting to and around me but it seems that despite yesterday's less than optimal chain of events, she didn't seem to harbour any resentment towards me. In fact, she acted a lot friendlier than I would have expected her to. I was glad, I really didn't want to make an enemy out of her. Being both a princess and a Paladin, and hence having a lot of influence in a lot of places that I could use aside, she also seemed like a nice, caring and generally interesting person, so I wanted to get to know her on a more personal level and get closer just for those reasons. Knowing her well should also make teaching her a lot easier and more effective, too. The former set was a nice bonus I didn’t plan on passing on, though.
I turned my attention to my plate. A small piece of meat and cheese have already long vanished, leaving only a piece of half-stale bread. Without much enthusiasm, I started chewing on it. Soon after, when I was about done with the torture, Mearyl came in with her usual bright atmosphere and a spring in her step. Standing next to her older sister, the two of them really were near complete opposites of one another. They were discussing their chores for the day and Mearyl was shifting from the toes to her heels, rocking slightly back and forth as she was standing, holding her hands behind her, while Heiryl was standing still and upright, looking all serious and professional. Like fire and ice, I would have never dared to guess they were related.
Once they were done, the young maid walked up to me and gave me a warm smile as she was scooping up my plate.
-Would you like seconds, Sir?
-No, thanks. Actually, wait, do you, by any chance, have any...
I stopped before I used the word "apples". I need to get used to the fact that flora in this world have some unique names in match with their appearance. Actually, I'm a bit scared of what fauna here is called too, or, more precisely, what it looks like and how dangerous it can be, but I’ll just have to live and learn all that.
-... sweet fruit I could quickly snack on to supplement my diet?
-Um... Yeah, we bought a crate of adeterrals yesterday, they're still very fresh and juicy. I'll bring you one in just a second.
-Please, and thank you.
Mearyl disappeared into the kitchen and came back just a few seconds later holding a pear-shaped, red fruit. She passed it on to me.
-I have to request that you eat on the way, Sir, the king has been quite adamant you meet with him as soon as possible.
-And yet you asked me if I wanted seconds, hm? Please, lead the way.
Mearyl nodded and paced off. I followed her, taking a bite of the fruit. The skin was a little tough but the fruit itself had a very similar texture and taste to an apple, just a little sweeter. It tasted great but I started to wonder what sort of nutritional properties that fruit could have. I don't expect anyone in this world to have a good answer to that, so I guess I'll have to be mainly eyeballing my diet for now. It won't be the end of the world if I miss on some vitamins or overdo a bit on the calories. I was never much into full control over my sustenance intake anyway, but I guess I'll have to be more actively monitoring my body and how I feel now. After all, I can’t easily get a doctor’s diagnosis or just read up what exactly I’m consuming thanks to the labels on the packaging. That might turn out to be a pain in the future, especially once I’ll need to supplement what I’m missing or if I happen to gain or lose too much weight. I'm a little ashamed I didn't realise how comfortable the life I lived in my world was until I came here, where all the amenities and conveniences are gone. On that note, I wonder how people reacted to nine people just suddenly disappearing in the middle of the city in a flash of some weird light. Unless we didn’t just disappear but ended up in some sort of an accident, like a building exploding spontaneously, our bodies never to be found again, for example. Not like I'll ever know, though.
We arrived at an unassuming door in the far end of a corridor. Mearyl knocked and after getting a barely audible response from the inside, she pulled the door and entered. I followed inside shortly after.
The room wasn't small per se but with the amount of clutter, it looked a lot smaller than it really was. At the far back, by the only window, stood a simple writing desk with an oddly regular looking chair. The king was sitting there, writing something on a piece of rough parchment. Mearyl walked up to the desk and picked up an empty plate and some utensils, then quickly made her way out, giving me a quick bow on the way. Once the door closed, the king got up and let out a heavy sigh.
-Come over here, Edward.
I did as I was asked. Walking closer and looking out the window I could see the town beneath, more lively than ever, with a small crowd already occupying the central square. Combined with the great pastures and fields outside the wall, the dark forest in the distance and the morning sky with a still slightly visible pink hue, the view was absolutely breathtaking.
-How are you enjoying your time here?
-It’s still a bit early to say I enjoy it, but I certainly do not dislike it.
-I am glad to hear that. And how are you feeling about your role as a Hero of this place?
-A bit late to have second thoughts about it now, isn't it? If I decided to leave now, your whole reputation would go up in flames. You showed me kindness and provided for me. The least I can do is make sure I don't turn out to be a disappointment and a waste of time, money and good, honest faith.
-That is a convoluted way to say you feel thankful and want to help, is it not?
-I stand by what I said.
The king chuckled at my reply, turning towards me.
-There are some things I would like to discuss with you before we announce to the townspeople that you have joined us. After all, for the most part, they do not know what my business within the Holy Alliance was.
-You want to keep the fact I'm an otherworlder a secret, correct?
-That and the fact that you do not possess magic. I have a suggestion: how about, instead of becoming a Hero, at least officially, you will become one of my retainers, an envoy from the Holy Alliance that joined to help improve the state of our military and further the expansion of our domain?
-I won't lie that I haven't thought if keeping my case a secret wouldn’t be a better option. However, I'm not confident how long we can keep this lie going.
-Besides the couple soldiers from the past two days, my daughter and the maids, no one currently should know the truth, and they are unlikely to spread any rumours either.
-That's not the issue here... If I'm an envoy from those church guys, won't people start believing that new supplies and such should start flowing soon too? How are you going to meet their expectations?
-You might be magicless and generally disliked by the church’s nobility, but you are still recognised as a Hero within the Alliance. Alleya said so herself and it will not be easy for her to go back on that word. This gives me some leverage to create new supply routes for Katerial and, once we improve the safety of the region, we should encourage immigration or even get a colonial movement going. I know this is a very optimistic outlook but this is something I believe can happen.
-And what about the Alliance itself? Won't that cause any tensions?
-I cannot honestly say. I know that the Alliance is considering keeping a lot of the information about the ritual and the origin of the Heroes a secret. Although, most of the spread of this information depends on the Heroes themselves and the countries they were assigned to more than the Holy Alliance itself. And you, while still being a Hero, are an issue they could have never accounted for and likely are not prepared to deal with either. If the word comes out that you are one of the Heroes and not only cannot use magic but that you do not have the blessing of a god either comes out too early, it can cause an uproar among people and throw the whole realm into chaos.
-That’s obviously the absolute worst case scenario but I guess I can see that happening…
I bit my tongue here, before I could say that this would actually be pretty nice. While I was still very much angry at the summoning and the way we’ve been treated, the Holy Alliance is what is currently holding the whole continent together. If it was to go up in flames, all other countries would soon follow suit. While I still want to get back at those guys, a lot of preparations needed to be done and with my current knowledge and understanding, or, more accurately, the lack of therefore, I couldn’t really predict or prepare for anything. Despite all the discussions with Tserkit and Gurthan, I still knew close to nothing about the world, its logic, the political and geopolitical situation and all the other neat bits influencing the fragile balance and relationship between the regions. With my current level of intel and understanding, there is quite literally nothing I can effectively do besides just causing pure chaos and hoping it will work out somehow. So, for now, I’ll have to play nice and help them out here and there as I learn more myself.
Putting my thoughts of revenge aside, I continued prying into the case:
-So wait, let me get this straight. The public, in general, will not know that us, Heroes, are otherworlders? Only that we’re a selected group of people blessed by gods?
-Basically, yes.
-So to prevent questions and tensions, I will be listed out as a regular affiliate, so people do not question me about magic? And if the information that I don’t possess magical abilities somehow happens to come out, we can simply state that the amount of mana I possess is fairly low and I simply cannot support most spells, or some other lame excuse like this? If I was branded as a Hero, spilling this info would undermine the whole agenda of the Holy Alliance, so all in all, they might even be grateful for us hiding some things under the rag and helping them save their skin… That’s what you’re counting on, right?
-You are very quick in the uptake, are you not? I feel like you will really be able to fill that role perfectly. You are a natural.
-You can stop flattering me, thank you. Eh, well, if that's the best way we've got out of this situation, I don't see why we shouldn't choose it. I have nothing better anyway.
The king nodded at me before turning to look at the town beneath us once again.
-You remember that bandit attack during our travel, right?
-Yeah, why? Are they running amok on the roads again?
-I will officially assign you this duty at the ceremony, but I want you to have some time to prepare for it already. Your first duty as my retainer will be to eliminate their base of operations. We have been tracking them for a while now and have a good idea where they might be hiding. Of course, you will have a squadron of soldiers at your disposal and Liyanne to aid you, as well as any and all resources we can spare that you might require to accomplish this mission. It is extremely important that we deal with this menace soon as it will only grow into a bigger hindrance once we start pushing new economic agendas and start requesting assistance from the Holy Alliance.
-Understood. I will need more intel than that, though, to carry out such an operation.
-Yes, I have the whole report ready for you here but we are already running short on time and should head for the ceremony soon.
-Of course. This isn't something I would like to rush either, especially when lives are on the line. I do promise to give my best to defeat those bastards.
-Good. Now, shall we?
I nodded and moved to open and hold the door for the king. He left the study with a dignified step and headed towards the exit of the castle. I followed suit, letting my left hand naturally rest on the hilt of my sword. The rough texture felt comforting, in its own, unique way. Now that the ceremony was drawing near, I started to feel the effects of stress weighing down on me. I might have been a mentor for a couple people and have some leader qualities but, all in all, I still hated public gatherings.
Once on the courtyard, we were joined by a detachment of six soldiers to provide escort and security, although I believe it was mostly for show as Gurthan seemed just too popular among the people for anyone to want to get rid of him. I guess it was still better to be safe than sorry, though. As we were walking, the king explained what exactly is expected from me during the ceremony, where I am supposed to be standing, when to come out, basically the whole choreography of it. Next he summed up that I'll be expected to say a few words too and what I should and shouldn't mention, what sort of a greeting I'm expected to use, all the fancy stuff. I was honestly surprised as, personally, I wouldn't have planned out a short announcement like this to this extent. On the other hand, I understood how important it was, getting some outside help was what those people needed and wanted for a long time. And from our perspective, there was an additional weight of all the secrets and little lies to make everyone's life hopefully just a little simpler and easier.
When we approached the central square, a separate detachment of soldiers had already prepared a small stage for us to enter. They also formed a path through the crowd for us to use to get to the stage. Some were keeping people in check from getting too close to it, although their job was more of just setting a line, as no one in the crowd was really pushing. It seemed like all the civilians understood their position very well and knew what they could and couldn’t do. Liyanne stood inside the cleared area, looking quite radiant and commanding in a full suit of polished battle armour, except for the helmet which was hanging at her side, attached to the belt.
As we were moving through the crowd, there were a lot of people excitedly calling out the king’s name. I knew he was liked and respected but this showed better than anything just how much support among his people he had. And just how much he was, in fact, risking by betting on me. Now I really felt the pressure on my shoulders. I couldn't disappoint him and his people and had to do my absolute best to help them.
There were also many people asking each other just who I may be. Some seemed to have recognised me from the other day. It seems news about the arrival of a mysterious young man accompanying the king has already spread throughout the city.
Once we arrived at the stage, as instructed, I stepped to the side, letting the king walk up onto the stage by himself. Seeing all the soldiers around standing at attention made me unconsciously assert a similar pose, with my chest puffed out slightly, hands behind my back and legs just slightly apart, even though such a position was not expected of me. I tried my best to look relatively neutral as I scanned the crowd. Most of it went silent by now, looking towards the king and waiting for what he had to announce. A few were still occasionally glancing over at me with curiosity. A decent share of the younger male population was also sneaking glances towards Liyanne. It seemed the princess was just as popular as her father was.
-Dear people, my esteemed subjects. For the longest time our kingdom has been left to its own fate here, in the Frontier. We have been neglected and exploited by our overlord but all we could do was to focus on providing for and defending ourselves. For the longest time now, I have been trying to get support from the Holy Alliance but under the threat of the Demon King, they were turning a blind eye to our suffering. However, all of that ends now. The Holy Alliance found a way to ensure greater safety for many of its members and to provide a great deal of new strength in the inevitable conflict with the demons. There is a new hope for humans. And for us as well. Given this breakthrough, the Holy Alliance agreed to send us a representative who will help prepare our country for a brighter future. His main duty is to help our military by introducing new doctrines and battlefield tactics, ensuring greater military strength and safety of our little state. This will allow other great minds, in due time, to safely arrive in our region, for trade to prosper and to bring our region to a new high. With that, the Holy Alliance requested us to eradicate the bandits that had loomed over us for way too long already. Once that threat is exterminated and the Frontier border properly secured, further help will be sent to our country as soon as most major preparations are completed.
The crowd, rallied and depressed by the start of the speech, now became vigorous and excited. People started cheering and even laughing and hugging one another from happiness. Earlier, you could tell that people here did not have it easy but just how miserable and difficult their lives have been was beyond my grasp until now. I couldn't help but smile a little seeing all of them now, full of new hope. But at the same time I felt the pressure on my shoulders get heavier and heavier with each passing moment and a new smile on the faces of the people gathered here.
-Now, now, my dear subjects. This is still too early to celebrate, the preparations and actions will still take time, however the future is indeed looking bright. Soon we will be able to import new varieties of food, clothing and many other luxurious items we stopped dreaming about long ago, all the while profiting from the trade of magic ores and beast leather and bones that fill our storehouses. While the path is still long and winding, it will lead us to prosperity and tranquillity.
The king waited for the second wave of cheers to die down a little before extending his hand and pointing it towards me. I suddenly felt the heavy gaze of over a hundred pairs of eyes stop on me, judging me and my ability, if I’m really worth their trust.
-Now, let me introduce Sir Edward to you, our new military advisor, a young and brilliant mind assigned to us by the High Priestess of the Holy Alliance herself.
With a new wave of cheers and applause, clearly more forced than honest, I walked onto the stage, quickly going over what to say in my head. I know what the king suggested I say but I decided to go off the script, add a little bit extra flair to it and sympathise with the people more, hoping this will warm their hearts to me a little more.
-Let the light of the blessing of all of the seven gods be with you all, noble people. As an envoy of the Holy Alliance... and now one of you all, I greet all of you. My name's Edward and I have been instructed to assist your dear king, his highness Gurthan, as his personal advisor to help modernise and expand this nation. I hereby declare to dedicate myself to this task of bringing all of you a higher standard of life and the security and prosperity you all wanted and deserve. I know I am still quite young and some of you may be sceptical about my ability but I assure you that I have the knowledge and the ability to help develop the military of this country, to expand the grip on the region and secure the roads for future trade routes and expansion. All that I ask is that you continue to trust in your king and keep working hard for a brighter future, together!
During my whole speech, I was sure to gesticulate widely, to show energy and confidence. What those people seem to need most is the reason to believe that someone really can make a change. They seem to be trusting their king but trusting me, a complete outsider, will prove more difficult for them, which is completely understandable. That's why a confident and commanding aura helped the scales tip in my favour even if just a little bit. As I spoke, I could see the expressions on people's faces shift, from excitement and hope to doubt and concern to hope once again. As I finished, the king took a step forward.
-I had seen Sir Edward's capabilities myself a number of times over the past few days but for you, who have not had the chance, we decided to have Sir Edward duel off against our Paladin, the second princess Liyanne, in front of all of you, as proof of his outstanding ability.
A mix of surprised and excited gasps went through the crowd as people started murmuring to one another and even placing bets, most, I assume, against me. Myself, I turned towards the king and hissed in an angry whisper.
-That wasn't part of the plan...
-You went off the script and so did I. To be frank with you, Liyanne suggested it herself. Do not worry, you do not have to win. Just put up a good fight.
I cursed and cussed under my breath as the amused king moved away and Liyanne entered the stage. She put her helmet on and drew her sword as one of the soldiers handed her her shield. All I had was just my sword, I didn't ever have my...
-Your shield, Sir.
I turned to the sound of the voice with a surprised expression. Under the stage, with her hands extended up and a shield in them, stood Mearyl. Her being here meant that that bloody king definitely planned ahead for this and didn’t decide on doing this on the spot.
-I know you're in on this but still, you're a lifesaver, Mearyl.
The girl let out an embarrassed giggle, as if she was just caught doing something naughty and didn't have an excuse ready. I kneeled down and picked the shield up, equipping it onto my left arm. Turning towards Liyanne, I unsheathed my sword. I swung it around my wrist to get a quick feeling for the weight of the blade and warm up my muscles a little. I exhaled heavily as I got myself mentally ready for the fight. I started focusing on the princess. She purposely used mostly the same stance to the one she usually did, as this is likely something people of this country were more used to seeing. Acting according to my instruction would make the fight seem rigged, even if we explained the whole situation and the fact that she already lost to me once before. This was definitely the better approach here. Still, my influence was already showing. She was slightly lower on her legs, her feet were better aligned and her shield was raised just a little, enough to cover for her waist and not just her legs. Though she still held the sword quite far back, the tip, however, while still pointing down, was directed towards me, and not to the side or the back like it was before. I also saw her recite her magic when putting on the helmet, so she’s likely maintaining her enhancements too. This fight will be all but an easy one for me because of this for sure.
The crowd was getting a little rowdy with excitement. From what I could hear in the cacophony of voices was that indeed barely anyone placed any bets on me. Sure, I did look like a noob, with only a tunic as my armour, while my opponent was basically wearing a full plate, but I was also completely unknown to them. It was only natural to place your trust in the local person in that case. By extension, they probably hoped that if Liyanne comes out victorious in this duel, this will prove that they’re better than the Holy Alliance believes them to be. And then, suddenly, the voices completely cut off, silenced by the king raising his hand into the air. And next, a single command rang out:
-Begin!
I didn't wait and made a dash towards Liyanne, hiding behind my shield, readying my sword for a thrust. The princess raised her shield a little and shifted her weight onto the front foot, hoping to stop my attack rather than to lean into it and counterattack from it. I can only imagine her surprise when I didn't perform the thrust but instead simply rammed her, punching up at her with my shield, pushing her back and nearly causing her to lose her balance. With a quick sidestep I regained my own footing and, still keeping the shield mostly between the two of us, I brought my sword in with a bit too wide of a swing. Liyanne just barely managed to block it with the rim of her shield. I grit my teeth a little at that, not from the impact force, but from imagining what this could have done to the blade. It was definitely chipped now, which was a real shame. I was starting to like that blade. Meanwhile, Liyanne pushed the shield out a bit too much, leaving herself relatively open. There was nothing I could do at this point, however. With my sword up and off to the side, it was difficult to bring it back in time for a proper strike. I didn't have to repeat an attack, however, since my opponent followed up with their own thrust towards my abdomen. I waited until the sword almost connected with my shield and then twisted my arm to position the shield parallel to the sword and pushed it out, away from me. With that, we were both in the same position, with our arms outstretched and poorly defended by our shields. Normally, I'd now go for a hook and a headbutt, trying to cause the enemy to stumble and potentially fall, however since I didn't have any protection and she was wearing a steel-plated helmet, that didn't seem like a wise move. So instead I opted for a wide kick to the shin, trying to push her leg from under her. It worked and Liyanne stumbled a bit. Using the momentum, I repositioned myself on my back leg and kicked at her again, this time aiming for her chest. The attack connected, causing my opponent to stagger backwards. I used the little time I had to move my sword to the left and deliver a powerful strike from above as I was regaining my own footing. Since Liyanne was wide open and wearing a full plate, instead of slashing at her with the blade, I used the pommel to attack her head. I managed to deliver a much more powerful strike than I anticipated and the steel rang as she collapsed onto the ground, disoriented by the attack and sure to have a nasty headache afterwards. Seeing her on the ground, I simply swung my sword around my hand and sheathed it nonchalantly before extending my hand to Liyanne to help her on her feet. She needed a few seconds to fully come to but once she was standing and somewhat stable, she immediately bowed her head, admitting defeat.
Until that point, the crowd had a bit of a tough time processing what exactly happened. I wasn't surprised, honestly. Or rather, I shared their surprise. Liyanne's body strengthening is fairly strong, so I wasn't expecting to move through her this easily and to know her down with just one strike. Has she lost to me on purpose? Or did one of the attacks break her concentration and stop her from chanting and I was just lucky to push the advantage at the right time? I was honestly at a loss and so was the crowd but once the princess bowed to me nearly everyone erupted in applause and cheers. I could see quite a few people glare at me angrily, all of them likely folks who bet a decent amount of money on the princess, who have now lost all of their bets.
I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to look at the king. He remained his composure but his eyes betrayed he was satisfied with the outcome. He also had something more in store, I was sure of it. And I wouldn't have to wait long to hear it as he raised both of his hands up to silence the crowd.
-As you have witnessed, Sir Edward had no issues defeating Liyanne, despite her using her strengthening magic to the fullest. He did not even leave time for Liyanne to use her Skills, and all that without using a single Skill or spell himself. For those who doubted him until now, I hope this duel provided enough merit to his name for all of you to trust in him now. I strongly believe that Sir Edward here can help improve our military so we can finally reclaim our kingdom from all the misfortune that befell it. And the bandits on the main roads will be the first victims. Soon a road to the Holy Alliance will be opened and, after all these years, trade shall resume once more! Soon, my dear subjects, our country shall rise to the glory it was always destined to have!
The amount of aggressive propaganda coming off from the king started to slowly get on my nerves but the people were clearly in support, cheering and applauding once more, so I couldn't complain about it. I noticed movement in the corner of the eye and glanced over at Liyanne, who, with a short nod, motioned me to follow her off the stage. Once I started walking off, the crowd got even more excited. Seems like now they're putting about as much trust into me as they do into the king. I would have never imagined that such a short display of strength would convince all of them so easily but then again, they’ve all likely seen their share of battles in the Frontier and those bandits must really be a nuisance to all of them too. I gave a short wave of my hand as I stepped down from the stage and joined the princess and Mearyl, and a number of soldiers who were to act as security, and headed for the castle. Somewhat surprisingly, the crowd had not followed us. A lot of people did watch us walk away, though. I could feel their gazes on my back the entire way to the castle.
-Those people sometimes get a bit excited but they know their boundaries.
I turned to Liyanne, who stopped and looked back for a short moment. I haven't replied, waiting for her to continue her train of thoughts.
-There's little entertainment here, so speeches like this one are a welcome thing among them, especially since they love the king. And that duel only added to the value.
-You don't have to come up with excuses for them, you know?
-I'm not trying to. I just want to tell you that they're really passionate about this country.
-No wonder. They're out here, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, completely abandoned by both other people and gods, able to depend only on themselves and one another. Having a figure like Gurthan is essential for keeping a community like that together. And now that they're given hope...
-... they just couldn't really believe it and didn't know how to act properly, correct. I can assure you that by tomorrow, most of them should be back to their usual selves. Still, if you decide to wander around the town, many of them will probably still jump you to express how grateful they are to you for providing them with support.
-Let me do something first and thank me after. Everyone's building up expectations of me. If this keeps up, I might ace the assignment and still come off as a disappointment.
Liyanne glanced at me and laughed.
-That's certainly possible. I guess you'll just have to do better than to simply ace it.
-Don't tease me. I'm in charge of your training regime now so don't forget who you're messing with, or crawling through mud will be the least of your worries.
-Mearyl, you're still on my side, right?
-Of course, my lady.
The two girls started giggling to one another and I immediately realised what the princess meant. At this point, my laundry, meals and, most likely, morning wake up calls all depend on Mearyl. If she's on Liyanne's side, my whole lifestyle is in jeopardy.
-God damn it... Okay, you win, no crawling through mud. For now.
The two girls smiled happily at one another, enjoying their small victory over me, while I let out a heavy sigh. That's when I heard a short, muted chuckle. I turned and stared down one of the soldiers, who immediately stood at attention with a straight face. I thought about scolding him but ended up just shaking my head and walking off. I didn't have time for pointless disciplinary actions now, I got a bandit problem on my hands and had to learn more about the state of the military, their strengths, the terrain and all the other bits needed to formulate a plan of action. Today's going to be a long one, I fear.
