Common Sense of a Warrior

The plot thickens…

…….five days have pa.s.sed since then.

I went sightseeing around the Rubel region together with Mellice-sama.

If I had to say, it seemed that rather than taking it easy in her room, Mellice-sama was the sort that preferred to move about in a lively manner. She energetically walked around not only the town, but the forests spreading around it, enjoying herself.

We who accompanied Mellice-sama also went out here and there, and before we knew it, five days had pa.s.sed.

"It was quite fun. By all means I would love to come here again."

And then, on the way back from the trip.

Oh, Mellice-sama"s eyes narrowed as she smiled and murmured to herself.

"That would be great."

I answered indifferently, but Mellice-sama"s eyes sparkled.

"Indeed. The townscape was very beautiful, and above all else, the food was extremely delicious……..in particular, the seafood cuisine made from fresh fish was superb."

As Mellice-sama and I were conversing about our memories of the trip, Enaline"s gaze remained pointed outside of the window.

That scenery differed from our journey here……this was something proposed by Mellice-sama, who said that since we had taken great pains to come here, then she wanted to enjoy all sorts of sceneries.

On the way here, as it was a frequently used path to the Rubel region from the Capital, there was a lot of traffic, but our return journey was different.

There was not much traffic, and the scenery did not change much, so she was either gazing absentmindedly or was being vigilant.

As Enaline did not reveal much emotion through her expressions, it was difficult to decipher.

"Did either of you find something that you were attracted by in that region, Anna, Enaline?"

At Mellice-sama"s question, I and Enaline, who had turned her gaze away from the window, exchanged looks.

"…….let"s see. When we were walking in the forest, it reminded me of our hometown and felt very nostalgic."

The one who spoke was me.

Enaline nodded in agreement with my words.

"……is that so? Before the two of you came to our House, did you stay in your hometown the whole time?"

"No. We were taken in by our grandmother from our father"s side of the family, and lived in a village a ways off from our hometown…….granted, since we devoted our time to training ourselves while we were there, I don"t have much memory of it other than that."

"…….did your Grandmother support your dream?"

"No. Grandmother stopped us from training countless times, saying that it was unwomanly."

"Oh my……then, how did you persuade your Grandmother? Or did you leave without saying anything?"

"Grandmother pa.s.sed away. Her physical condition hadn"t been good for a number of years, so we were prepared for it though."

"I see…….I"m sorry."

"No…….I am thankful to Grandmother. For taking us, who had no relatives, in, and for allowing us to live an average lifestyle like everyone else."

"…….were you unable to imagine yourselves continuing to live on in that village?"

Mellice-sama"s question once again caused those thick, dark emotions to be birthed within my heart.

Perhaps she did not realize that, as Mellice-sama laughed thoughtlessly.

"Please don"t misunderstand me…….I have no intentions of making fun of your dream. It is just that I wanted to know. Having come into contact with the peaceful lifestyle at the village, did you not think to choose another path?"

"……I did not."

Enaline clearly responded in the negative.

"Even though quite a bit of time has already pa.s.sed…….the scenes of war have been burned into my eyes, and everyone"s screams are still ringing in my ears. I am sure that they will follow me around for the rest of my life…….as long as we are unable to turn back time, at the very least, I hope that there will no longer be people that have been made to face the same horrors that we did. That is something that we have continued to strongly desire all of this time."

"……I see."

Mellice-sama"s gaze turned towards the outside of the carriage.

She appeared to be lost in thought, as a wrinkle appeared on her forehead.

Just what is it?……at any rate, I"m sure it was a whimsical question from a great n.o.ble.

As I concluded thusly, I clenched my lips and faced downwards.

The carriage continued forward in silence, and then stopped after reaching a village.

We promptly went to an inn, and as Mellice-sama rested she requested for some tea from me.

"……it"s delicious, Anna. You"ve gotten better."

"I am honoured by your praise."

In an instant, a great tumult unsuitable for such a quiet town reached the room.

"Oh, so you also noticed? ……I wonder what it could be."

"……Enaline and I will go see. Do not separate from the Guard Corps, Mellice-sama."

"I see. I won"t."

Having received Mellice-sama"s permission, we hastily rushed out from the inn.

The surroundings were noisy, completely incomparable to before we entered the inn.

"……just what on earth is going on?!"

I caught one of the people running down the road in attempt to escape, and questioned him.

"……r-run! It"s bandits! They"re coming from that direction!"

He only said that before the man threw off my hand and once again started to run off.

"Bandits, is it……even though some time has pa.s.sed since the armistice was achieved, and the public order had also become considerably better……to think that those sorts were still around."

"This area is far from the nearest military station. On top of that, for this land that can"t be said to be all that important for communications, I can"t imagine the country would move all that quickly to protect it."

"…….why did Mellice-sama choose such a route……!?"

I unconsciously revealed my resentment towards Mellice-sama for having purposely chosen this route that was far from any major traffic just because she "wanted to see the various sceneries of this country".

"Right now isn"t the time to be arguing about something like that. We must immediately fortify the defenses around Mellice-sama."

"That"s true."

I accepted Enaline"s words and ran off.

However, Enaline who should have been next to me was nowhere to be seen.

"Enaline!"

Whirling around, I shouted out her name.

"……I cannot abandon these people for whom help will not come. Because they are the same as us from that time."

"Then I also……!"

"But right now, we are being employed by the Anderson Marquis House. We mustn"t allow anything to happen to Mellice-sama. That is why, Anna should go to Mellice-sama"s side."

Enaline said that, but I could not move so easily.

"Hurry!"

As if to encourage me, Enaline cried out.

"……I"ll return immediately!"

My hesitation was momentary.

I focussed on where I had to go and promptly broke off into a run.

Weaving through the people running about in escape, I simply ran towards the inn.