Arina has been chuckling since she got on the Coach.
Fufu, it went well.
Just as Yuu-kun wishes, we got them to give us a ride on the coach.
The dead bodies I threw away was unexpectedly useful like this.
This is the first time I used necromancy magic, but they made a good ‘performance’, didn’t they. I should probably promote them from sc.u.m to trash.
……. I don’t really know how that’s different, though.
Then Arina looked up at the well-dressed girl sitting before her.
At any rate.
Why is she wearing a disguise…?
Arina thought and thought again.
How could she use this situation for the benefit of the one she loves.
Those were the only thoughts that her world revolves around.
†
Me and Arina, the princess and two knights.
With the five of us and the coachman on board, the coach rattled as it went forward.
“For saving us in our moment of peril, I thank you very much.”
The ‘princess’ smiled.
Then Arina and I wholeheartedly nodded.
It wasn’t because the princess had a halo shining around her face or something like that.
It was because the guarding knights made scary faces and had us at swordpoint.
Right now, we were forced to raise our hands declaring our nonresistance.
“Who are you!”
“Don’t move! Do anything suspicious and we’ll knock you dead!”
Aren’t you two getting too carried away.
Even though you were so frightened by the zombies.
“……Y, Yuu-kun”
Arina turned to me with a face that looks like she’s about to cry.
“A, A, Arina is, nearly at the limit.”
“Calm down! You’ll be fine, they at least won’t take our lives.”
“Do you want us to throw you out!?”
“No good. Seriously calm down. Please.”
As expected from the coward, it had the opposite effect.
“Put down your swords!”
After a little while, the princess rebuked the knights.
“You’re being rude to my life’s savior.”
“That was not what we intended.”
“We have our duty to protect ojousama.”
The knights talked back.
“All right. In that case you two should get out of this coach.”
In this case, by ‘you two’ she wasn’t referring to me and Arina.
Anyone here could read the atmosphere.
Now that the master had said [Get out if you won’t obey me] there’s nothing they could do.
“Don’t do anything weird.”
While making threats like that, they reluctantly put their swords away.
*phew*
Arina and I breathed in relief.
“My guards were impolite. Please forgive me.”
The princess deeply bowed her head.
“They were only worried for my safety. Do please forgive them.”
“No, well. It’s true that we’re suspicious.”
We are alternate-worlders after all.
“Ummm. I wonder if we should introduce ourselves?”
As I said that, the princess made another light apology.
“I have reasons why I can’t name myself. Please forgive me.”
She can’t let anyone know she’s here, I guess.
Well, I don’t mind.
“I’m Yuuki, and this is Arina.”
Arina made a quick bow.
“Ojousama, umm…., i, if you don’t mind?”
She timidly said.
“Yes, what is it?”
“T, there’s something in ojousama’s hair since a while ago, it’s getting on my mind…. May I take it off.”
……? There’s no trash or anything in her hair, though.
Having received consent, Arina thrusted her index finger at ojousama’s hair.
“Ei!”
As soon as she did that, ojousama’s blonde hair turned pink before my eyes.
Furthermore the straight hair suddenly took on volume.
“Y, you!!” “What did you do!”
Seeing that, the two knights angrily took out their swords.
“Kyaa”, Arina shrieked as she hid behind my back.
……. Looks like she did it yet again.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop!?”
The ojousama stopped the knights with an angry voice, and so bloodshed was avoided.
“Arina-san… was it?”
“Y, yes!”
“You’re so young, and yet you can use magic. How in the world did you undo this magic?”
“I… if you ask how…. I only saw something weird and took it off.”
The ojousama and the knights looked at each other, baffled.
I have no idea what Arina is talking about, but it seems that she was saying something strange even for this world.
“This girl really did say something strange, didn’t she?”
“Ah, no, it’s not strange… it’s just…”
Ojousama patted her hair down and said,
“I had the country’s top-ranking magician change my hair color. It takes a magician of similar caliber to undo it. To have it undone by someone about my own age is…”
“Eh. Was she so amazing?”
“Learning magic, even with a master, usually takes twenty years no matter how talented one is.”
“Just where did you learn magic.”
The knights took in Arina’s abnormality one after the other.
I thought that since this is a fantasy world, magic would be more common, but….
The person in question only nervously hung on to the hem of my shirt looking as if she’s going to cry.
“To begin with, you two thought nothing being in the presence of this lady?”
…… was what they said.
Is she someone famous in this world?
*Haah*, the knights sighed at our bad response.
“Princess Rose. These two are abnormally impolite.”
“So it seems.”
Rose-sama put her hand on her mouth and elegantly stifled a laugh.
“It seems there’s no meaning to hide it from you. I am Rose Vosne-Romanée Grand Cru Ivan. Though I may not be up to it, but I’m the first in line for the throne of this country, and is currently in training.”
“The first…”
“…… in line, for the throne?”
We once again responded badly, and Rose-sama made a troubled face.
“Um, simply put, I’m・the・prin・cess… you know.”
She said in a whisper.
“Eh, seriously!? Whoa, this is the first time I’ve met a princess!”
“We caught a big one!”
“You, you’re in the presence of Rose-sama…., haah”
“……. Ahh, whatever.”
The knights were about to yell at us for being so merry, but in the end they only sulked and turned away saying, “do whatever you want.”
They seem tired of it.
“Pf… Ahahahahaha!”
Seeing that, Rose-sama could not hold any longer and laughed out loud.
“Ahh, so funny, this is the first time! The first time I told anyone I’m the ‘princess’ myself…!”
“Rose-sama…”
Astonished, the knights turned their eyes to the princess.
“What will you do, your task needs you to travel incognito.”
“We’ve let unknown persons on board and undo your disguise.”
“T… that’s right. This is something troubling, right. Not the time to be laughing, is it.”
Princess Rose cleared her throat with a cough, pulling her laughter back down her throat.
So it seems she really had something to do because of her position.
Being a princess is hard.
“Oi Arina, can you turn Princess Rose’s hair back into blonde?”, I asked Arina.
She replied “W, well, I’ve never done it before, so, I don’t know, I guess. I think I could do it, b, but I might not be able to.”
“Which one is it!?”
“IIIIII’m sorry! Arina is dumb so I don’t know. I, I can probably do it. But see, Arina is dumb…”
Don’t trip over your words!
“We should give it a try. Will you be willing to try using your magic once?”
Princess Rose gave us a proposal, and the knights started to say one thing and another again.
“You can’t, Princess!”
“You can’t let them cast unknown magic on you!”
“I can’t go to Marquis Iski’s residence looking like this, anyway. It’s worth a try.”
It seems that wherever she’s going she’ll be needing a disguise.
Princess Rose pushed the knights back and asked Arina for her magic.
“This was all because you carelessly undid her magic in the first place. Don’t fail.”
“P, please don’t put too much pressure on me…! One, two, —ei!”
*bachi*
Arina pointed with her index finger and a purple flash of lightning came out, hitting the princess in the forehead.
“Auu!”
The princess squealed, and the knights became agitated.
“I, I’m all right…. I’m just a little surprised…. —Ah”
“Hm?”
Somehow, the Princess’ eyes met mine.
“W, what is it?”
“Ah… no”
Princess Rose stared at me for quite some time.
“Um…. Your name—Yuuki-san, was it?”
“Yes. T, that’s right.”
“It’s a lovely name,” she smiled.
Not good. She’s amazingly cute.
No no no no no, not that, what the h.e.l.l.
I mean, it’s troubling if you suddenly make a face like that.
“R, rather than that, your hair! Oi Arina! It’s not changed yet!”
I yelled at Arina to hide my trembling.
“S, so so so, sorry! I, it’s not this one…. I, I’ll try one more time… ei!”
Arina tried again.
*poof*, for just an instant steam-like smoke rose from Princess Rose’s head, her hair changed into the blonde straight hair we first saw her with.
It was a success.
*phew*
“I’m relieved…”
The knights breathed a sigh of relief.
I didn’t like these two in the beginning, but it seems they had their share of troubles.
I’m starting to pity them a little.
“Shouldn’t it be fine already. Before anything else happens please step off the coach.”
One of the knights said so, and…
“Ah. —Not a word of what happened today to anyone, okay?”
They asked for my silence.
Well, it’s not like this coach was headed for the royal castle, and like they said, before Arina does something again it might be better for us to step off.
That was what I judged.
“No. I will not have you do such a thing.”
Immediately Princess Rose said something like that.
“Yuuki-san…. no, both of you, I want you two to come along with me.”
Seeing their master’s recklessness, the knights were awed and only hung their heads.
“I had the good luck to meet someone so skillful at wielding magic, this can be nothing other than divine providence. Don’t you think it’ll be more rea.s.suring to have them with us?”
“But you see…”
“We don’t know who they are, and how are we going to explain them to Marquis Iski?”
“We’ll do something about that. … let’s see, how about we say Arina is the maid and Yuuki-san is my personal attendant?”
“A lady having a man for a personal attendant? No matter how you look at it he’s a sponger paramour…. oof, excuse me.”
“Anyway, it won’t look good in the eyes of the public.”
“It’s just something to falsify his status. Not something to be worried about.”
“Um—….”
Somehow the conversation proceeded on its own, so I raised my hand to interrupt.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your discussion, but we need to be in Ivan castle by today, so…”
“Why is that?”
“If you ask me why, well…”
……., why is it again?
We originally planned to arrive at Ivan castle but got the coordinates wrong, but if you put it that way that’s no reason for me to head to the castle.
“Oi, Arina”
I asked Arina for backup but there’s no way we’re going to get a good answer out of her.
“Uu, I’m sorry… It’s because mother told me to do so.”
See.
“Then there’s no problem, right.”
“Well, it’s just that we don’t know whether there will be a problem…”
“—Please!”
The princess leaned forward and gripped both my hands with hers.
“I need your help.”
Uwaa, Uwaaaaah….
Those teary eyes drawing you in. That fragile voice asking for help.
Also, our relative positioning is bad.
I could see a valley peeking out of the chest of her dress.
Using her fingers, she gripped my hands tighter.
Being pet.i.tioned in a situation like this, there’s no way I could run.
“A……Arina”
For now, I asked the ‘Hero’-sama for her opinion.
“I, if Yuu-kun wants to, then Arina will come along wherever you go.”
“—It’s decided then. Fufu♪”
In a good mood, Princess let go of my hand.
“Things had gotten a little more enjoyable.”
“Arina too, somehow feel that it’s going to be fun.”
Arina turned towards me and smiled.
“Right, Yuu-kun?”
For reasons I don’t understand, I who had only been carried by the flow can only give a vague nod.