Chapter 24.1
Episode 24 — Earth Splitting Knight General～ Part 1 ～
On the West side of the royal capital, beyond the defensive walls, existed a vast plain that was barren making it difficult to grow crops there. In addition, the place were inhabited by many monsters such as goblins and orcs, thus it was predicted to take considerable labor to develop, but still Selena’s mother made a decision to carry it out.
It was a story when Selena was 10 years old.
In place of her father who was busy flying around all over the places dealing with diplomatic relations as usual, Selena and Kyousuke’s mother took them to the pioneering plain for inspections. Although there were many escorts, it was still an area with relatively many dangers. Their mother told Selena and her brother never to leave her side.
But well, in conclusion, Selena strayed away from the group.
A group of orcs surrounded Selena who wandered the plain alone.
Although their ferocity and individual fighting ability had been attenuated since the conclusion of the Dark Beast Disturbance, orcs were still a terrible enemy for mankind. It was still more than enough for a 10 years old little girl with no power.
∗Gata gata∗ as Selena was s.h.i.+vering in fear, the one who came to her rescue was a female knight in her prime. [Notes]
A sword thrust cladding a tornado, turning the orcs into minced meat. One that could only be reached with power deviating from human knowledge, secret technique of thrusting sword. The female knight who easily ended the time of fear, embrace Selena and said.
『I have been looking for you. Now, let’s go back to your mother.』
The speed of the knight who ran off carrying her is faster than any kind of horse and carriage that Selena knew of.
“That was my encounter with s.h.i.+shou…”
The story that Selena told seriously, all who present listened to it doubtfully.
Kyousuke group, even in Full Cross didn’t have the confidence to kill an army of Ok.u.mura. It was probably impossible for that red winged devil as well. A knight who ran faster than a horse, it was already at a level that horses were unnecessary. No matter how one thought about it, it could only be said that she was exaggerating.
Selena’s s.h.i.+shou, appointed as the guardian of the western part of the kingdom, was said to have been awarded with the t.i.tle of «Knight General». Her unique t.i.tle was the «Earth Splitting Knight General». It was not a metaphorical expression, she seemed to really break the ground in one stroke.
Kyousuke group who finished their meal started heading straight toward the wall. As originally expected that they could arrive before the day got late, the wall gradually spread out in front of them.
“If she is such a scary person, we must take care not to anger her…”
Rin muttered.
“By the way, how many were they?”
“How many was it. I feel like it exceeded 30 when I met them…. Err? I wonder if it was over?”
To Hakuba’s question, Selena on top of the saddle started counting by folding her fingers. Hakuba’s expression was getting more and more cloudy. What kind of rude things are you thinking? Well, I can imagine. She can run faster than a horse, so there’s no hope for Hakuba even if he decides to run away.
Kyousuke took out a telescope from the wagon and put it on his eye socket. Regarding the fact that he didn’t seem to have any eyes, Selena said 『There is something called a conceptual organ…』 and began a lengthy explanation, but he let
it in one ear and out the other. Of course, there was neither a right ear nor a left ear.
On the wall, knights wearing light armor were standing on guard. It was undeniably humans’ figure. They were the same Caucasians as Selena, and their clothing were not the familiar kind of j.a.pan, but just witnessing the appearance of multiple humans moving, there was somehow a strange emotion.
“Utsurogi-kun, me too! Show it to me!”
Since Rin came along, he lent her the telescope.
“Oh—, it’s humans…! That’s amazing, it’s humans yo~o!”
“Err, I am also a human though…”
On the saddle, Selena was pouting her lips unhappily.
“Kyousuke, the negotiation is basically left to you.”
Akira who jumped out of the cramped lantern, said so.
“Me? I’m not very good with words. Isn’t it better to leave it to Akira?”
“I will interpose if it’s necessary, but I’m not qualified as I will say unnecessary stuffs. You know right?”
“Ahh, yeah. I know I know.”
“Also, in this negotiation, it should be somewhat stupidly honest like you to easily gain a favorable impression of the other party.”
If you say that far, it’s not a problem to take the negotiation seat myself. But there’s a little pressure. My stomach is starting to hurt a bit.
“Speaking of which, the negotiation with female general-san was to move the army, but is it okay?”
“What is?”
“According to the story, the army staying in the defensive walls is a force to prevent the attacks of monsters coming from outside the walls.”
Even though she was the person in charge, as expected, it was doubtful whether the war potential could be moved at the discretion of a single general.
“Ah—, yeah. That’s right…”
To Kyousuke’s words, Selena pondered a little.
“Is Selena-chan’s country a monarchy? Does the King have the authority to move the army?”
“It is a const.i.tutional monarchy. The monarch principle is to cut down the authority of the ruler.”
“Oh, quite modern.”
“In other words, there is a possibility that it takes considerable time and effort to move one army. We can’t expect too much.”
With Akira’s words, the conversation ended right after with a dampened mood.
The defensive walls got even closer and it became possible to see the figures of the knights on patrol. The knights noticed them, they understood that some people were going down the stairs for reporting. Accompanied by tension and a hurried atmosphere. Naturally, the atmosphere over here became tense as well. Because it was actually a «first contact», they would have to be cautious.
Some of the knights pointed loaded arrows over here. There were also figures of magicians holding their canes and preparing to chant.
“Selena-san.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Selena swallowed her saliva and carried the spear aloft on horseback. Here, her words were meant to deliver their good intents.
“We are not enemies! Please lower your bows and tell the knight general! Your disciple, Selenade has returned!”
When she gave a loud voice, the knights who had nocked the arrows lowered their bows according to her words. It seemed they were trying to confirmed the girl who carried a spear while holding the reins of a unicorn. Apparently, both the knights and magicians seemed to have recognized the name of Selena.
I mean, is Selena’s real name Selenade? I didn’t know. To Rin’s response, she also didn’t seem to have heard.
However, the words that she gave after that were even more surprising.
“I will say it again! Please tell the knight general! The first princess of the kingdom, Princess Selenade has returned!”
“””EEEEEEEEEH!?”””
Thanks to the startling voices that resounded intruding in somewhat, Princess Selenade had to say the same line again.
“Because, even if I said it, you wouldn’t have believed me…”
When pursuing why she had been hiding that, Selena being somewhat dissatisfied, pouted her lips and said so.
First Princess Selenade. That was her ident.i.ty. A n.o.ble, or possibly a royalty? Although he had made expectations especially up to there, she still turned out to be more of a big-shot than imagined. From the att.i.tude of the other party, it seemed that a large-scale search had already begun, it was nothing but luck that they hadn’t run into such a search party. If they had encountered them on the way, the circ.u.mstances would have been more complicated.
However, even if it was said that the princess had returned after much troubles, Kyousuke group and Selena as well wasn’t allowed inside the defensive walls. The security of the knights was strict, even so, to not make Her Highness Princess standing around inconveniently like that, luxurious chair for aristocrat had been carried out from inside and Selena was sitting demurely on it.
“Ah, please give chairs to them as well.”
As Selena said, one of the knights saluted and carried out 3 more chairs. Indeed, they thought that it was impossible to prepare a chair for Hakuba and instead brought out a canopy bed. Hakuba even while having an apologetic look, put his hoof on the bed. But his horn had too much power and tore the curtain, his face turned pale.
“Waaaa! It’s a fluffy chair … AAAAAHHH!?”
The moment Rin placed her body on the chair, the leg of the chair gave in and it broke.
“Because Himemizu is currently in a state of compressing a large amount of water. Your weight is amazing.”
While Akira explained calmly, he burned the luxurious chair.
“Now, I feel that we are doing a lot of rude things, is it okay…?”
“It’s okay. Because I am a princess…!”
Gripping her fist, Selena said with a triumphant look. Glancing at Rin who timidly sat in the chair that was carried out again (it didn’t break this time), Kyousuke again asked Selena.
“I mean, even though you are the first princess, why did you apply for the investigation team? Or became a knight apprentice?”
“It’s not really so ever since my father and mother’s generation…. The royal family of this country greatly respects the deeds of arms. Originally, It was a Grand Duchy at the westernmost end of the Central Empire. It was a country that stopped monsters approaching from the West and armies of unidentified ident.i.ty.”
It is already a story of 200 years ago. Said Selena.
“To send one of the two siblings of the royal family so calmly to a dangerous place like that, somehow I can’t really understand…”
“Iya~a, once it was supposed to be a safe investigation but…. It is true that I volunteered for a dangerous place…”
“But, as Selena-san is the first princess, you will succeed the throne, won’t you?”
“I wonder about that. Kyousu … ah no, my younger brother is excellent, so I think my brother will succeed though…”
Or rather, We are treating the child of the royal family so visibly careless like this. However, thinking up to there, Kyousuke shook his head. He felt that thinking of Selena as the «First Princess» more than necessary seemed synonymous with thinking of her as a political tool.
No, even so, Kyousuke himself couldn’t wipe out his discomfort.
Selena had told Kyousuke and the others various stories.
Although her father was known to be a j.a.panese, but it would be an entirely different story when talking about the King of this country. It seemed that he had been actively searching for people of the former world that had been transferred to this world and protected them if necessary. However, whether it applied to the case of Kyousuke and the others this time was a difficult question. After all, there was no precedent in changing one’s appearance to a monster at the time of transference.
Standing at attention, the knights and magicians didn’t lower their vigilance, they seemed to be feeling doubtful about the really friendly exchange of Princess Selenade and the Monster Corps. Although the situation could be roughly guessed from the contents of the conversation, nevertheless, it would still be something like half-convinced.
“Thank you for waiting, Your Highness.”
One of the knights softly whispered to Selena.
“Her Excellency General has arrived.”