Prince (1)
The day is bright and the time has come for each of us to return to where we belong.
“Thank you very much for your cooperation.”
“We were a huge help.”
The princess and the queen finished talking by cheering each other up, and then the queen approached me.
“You’re fine… Oh, you look quite tired. Have you had trouble sleeping last night?”
“Ah…yes. What.”
Enough…let’s not talk about that anymore…
“I want to see Ronan Saint for a long time to come.”
What an outrageous confession.
The love of someone who has a daughter is a little burdensome.
“So please think about your body.”
Oh, was it that way? Don’t worry. Longevity without disease is guaranteed, but I have no intention of dying anywhere.
And I’m repeating it, but you know you shouldn’t say that to me, right?
“The Queen, too. You know that you have to live long for Iris-sama, right?”
“…Call me Belluna.”
“yes?”
“My name, everyone else calls me by my first name. I would also like to be called by my first name.”
It’s just a title I took because I wanted to appeal that as a saint, I’m a fair person who doesn’t care about the other person’s status or position.
“The Orion Church calls you an apprentice, but I don’t think so. You’re a better saint than me in terms of ability and spirit. So our relationship can be considered equal.”
The queen added that as if she had read my mind.
Well, if you say so.
What I give again is the type of person who doesn’t bother to speculate.
“I understand, Belluna-sama.”
“Nice to hear.”
While the queen nodded in satisfaction at my words, the princess next to her moved her seat next to me.
She went through all kinds of hardships to save her mother, and she managed to save her. So far, she stuck with the queen, but since the princess decided to return to the academy, it was time to part.
Although she had moved this way, the queen spoke to the princess, who seemed a little weak.
“I won’t say much. Please do your best.”
“Yes. I will do my best. I hope the Queen is also in peace.”
It’s kind of dry for a parting conversation between parents and children…
“Yes. I believe you will do well. If you face a difficult ordeal, remember that the palace is always open. Iris.”
“Yes! I will not forget. Thank you mother!”
However, the princess expresses a strong affirmation as if she was very impressed by the queen’s last words to see what kind of emotional exchange there was between the two.
I don’t know exactly what the flow is, but it seems like my mood has improved anyway, so it’s okay.
I also turned my head with a much lighter heart.
Purreung
No, are you still mad? I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll really take you somewhere.
Belarus, on which I was riding, was still sulking, perhaps because I was dissatisfied with the fact that I had left him alone in the operation to break through the forest with only the elves.
But is he really right? No, he understands the situation so well. And since it’s a forest anyway, even if you take a horse, you won’t be able to go far…
Pak!
Belarus slapped my back with its tail as if to stop thinking about it.
…You can run through the forest or whatever. What are you talking about?
Purreung
I’m pretty sure he has the ability to read people’s minds.
It’s strange. I’m definitely the one who killed the demon worshipers with a bold and accurate decision, while saving the queen. Why do you think I’m being treated so harshly?
As I was thinking about that, I started to hear the Queen’s voice from behind me.
As if he had raised his voice by using even his divine power, his voice resonated throughout the surrounding area, but it was not loud at all.
“All elves, show your respect in your seat!”
Everyone, including me, who had already turned and started, looked at the elves in surprise.
All the elves in the seat were facing this direction, drawing their swords and holding them to their foreheads.
Seeing that the princess was also surprised, it seemed that the greeting was not agreed upon.
“Salute to Saint Ronan, the benefactor of the elves who saved the queen from death, the exorcist who defeated the mighty evil, and the true priest who went on the front line to save the lives of countless people!”
In accordance with the Queen’s command with the addition of dazzling rhetoric that made her face hot, she lightly swung the sword she had brought to her forehead in an oblique line, and then the elves, who stowed the sword back, put their right hand to the size of their heart and bowed their heads.
The queen who gave the command also bowed her head in this direction as well.
Even though I knew this was part of a plan to cheer me up, I felt my face heat up.
“It’s a grand farewell ceremony. How do you feel?”
The princess who had approached me before I knew it, asked me like that.
How about…? Of course…
“I’m ashamed…”
I’m so ashamed!
The queen’s face is really thick! You can call yourself the benefactor of the elves because you saved her!
A true cleric, even if he subdued a demon worshiper?
It feels like hives are breaking out on your body.
“It’s not satisfying, it’s not a burden, it’s embarrassing… I don’t know if it’s bold or timid. I think it’s still a long way to figure out Ronan Saint.”
If you can be genuinely satisfied with such a greeting, wouldn’t it be a huge over-self-consciousness?
It’s the bottom line that I want to feel pressured again. Reputation builds up one by one in that way. It’s just that I don’t want to feel that reputation myself.
“Still, it’s nice to see Belluna-sama leading everything.”
At my words, the princess looked back in silence for a moment and then asked,
“You mean someone with authority like the Queen is in charge of the greetings?”
That’s right. As expected, if you pretend to be the princess, you’re pretending.
To be precise, it means that if the queen wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have been greeted like that now. The gloomy elves would have taken the princess and returned to the kingdom right away.
“It’s better that the queen is still alive. The dead can’t say goodbye to the living.”
“…I see.”
When I wrapped up the words with roughly that meaning, the princess expressed deep sympathy, as if feeling some kind of emotion from my words.
“By the way, Saint Ronan. Did the Queen allow the Saint to be called by name?”
“Yes. By the way.”
“Whoa…”
What is that deep-looking sigh? What’s wrong?
“No. Saint Ronan needn’t worry.”
How can you stop worrying after spitting lines that are in the top 3 remarks that you can’t help but worry about?
Queen, what the hell did you hand over to me?
I turned and looked at the elves.
Still, the elves were maintaining their salutation posture on the spot.
…How long are you going to stay like that?
Surprisingly, the elves didn’t even move from the spot until they were far enough to look like dots.
Can I cancel what I said was not a burden? It’s not a burden, so I think I’ll get sick of the dinner I ate yesterday.
* * *
Ronan and his party’s return was delayed because Ronan was losing his mind again, but that didn’t mean it was too late for the news to spread.
It was because the imperial palace and the church, which had sent soldiers, naturally wanted to know the results as soon as possible, and the main corps also dispatched at least a messenger to report on how things went.
However, the facts, which must have been conveyed only by a messenger, began to spread exponentially, mixing with all kinds of bizarre transformations and outrageous rumors because the parties to the story did not appear.
No one spreads it all the time, but rumors spread the fastest.
for example,
In fact, it is said that what spread in the land was not a plague, but an army of hell created by the descent of demons from hell. They say that just by stepping on the ground, your feet rot, and your lungs burn just by breathing, and that trees turn into monsters and eat humans. He whispered that after that, they quickly turned into the devil’s advance guard.
How on earth did he achieve victory in such a terrible place?
say,
It is said that the proud soldiers of the empire, who were not at all frightened by the army of hell, moved toward that hellish place without hesitation. The demons touched by the magical gaze of the saint blessed by God could not stand it and threw off their armor, and the soldiers around them It is said that the priests bravely defeated those demons. The priests, including the saint, sacrificed their lives and purified the surroundings with each step they took, making it an indescribable procession of suffering. Even the clergy showed up, and the devils who whispered about the corruption were all startled and ran away at the saint’s anger. Only then did the soldiers sleep in peace.
If you look at it, it’s obviously nonsense, but the truth is subtly mixed in, so rumors spread here and there that made it difficult for even the person who experienced the incident to know where to correct them.
The culmination came from the rumor that the leaders, concerned about the accumulated fatigue and damage to the soldiers, formed a joint society of saints and princesses, humans and elves, and advanced rapidly across the darkness of night to defeat the devil worshipers. took
The truth was the unauthorized actions of the saint and the elves, and the princess following him, but that truth was neither very important nor conveyed.
The story of nobles risking their lives to break through the line of fire out of concern for the lives of mere soldiers was enough to ignite a fire in the hearts of commoners who heard the news.
And as a result, if you hear the story of saving the queen of a neighboring kingdom, defeating a devil of enormous size that seems to reach the end of the sky, and even surviving the soldiers, most of them have already gone.
The taste of mulberry is the maximum. Take down the drunkard’s shot. I’ll drink it today and enlist tomorrow.
It was an unusual occurrence at a pub where rumors had spread to some extent.
Bards often sang about the expedition’s progress, the heroic actions of the order, and how solemn and desperate the final battle was.
In the end, even a rumor was created that the queen, who owed her life, sent the princess to marry the prince of the empire as a token of gratitude to the empire and the saint.
People in the know knew that the princess had been to the academy from the beginning, but among the commoners who did not know such a fact, there were people who truly believed such rumors.
And here, there was a person who knew the truth of the rumors spread in the world and even saw through the public’s reaction.
“Your father is extremely sincere too. You mix up these absurd rumors to cover up the fact that my sister didn’t lead the expedition properly. Aren’t you?”
“That… isn’t it the heart of a parent to want to cover a sore finger?”
“Every time like this, it’s really embarrassing. I don’t want to be an ugly son who doesn’t understand the feelings of my parents, but isn’t it a shame to act lacking in order to catch the eye?”
“It’s all anguish caused by the excellence of the Third Prince.”
The 3rd Prince of the Empire. Belfar Dennis. He was one of the powerful people in the Empire who could overcome all kinds of rumors and only contact the truth above them and judge the situation.
“No matter how bad it was this time. The messenger who came to report was also silenced.”
“Yes? Did that happen?”
“hahahaha, Sir, you ask a natural question. So, are the rumors about monsters indistinguishable from humans roaming around, breaking through forests devouring people, and defeating tree monsters that seem to reach the sky? All those rumors are true? If it’s true, even if there was Lord Hexen, the expedition should have been wiped out.
Unfortunately, even he did not ‘properly’ grasp the authenticity.
I couldn’t tell him apart even when I was right in front of him.
The truth is that it was absurd enough to be indistinguishable from cheap rumors circulating on the market floor.
“You’re really smart. I’ve heard and seen it.”
“Then, it would be the duty of a child to take advantage of my own while conforming to the wishes of the parents. Prepare yourself.”
“Where should I take you…?”
“Dear Father! I need to prepare a grand welcome ceremony to celebrate my sister’s successful expedition!”
“1 Are you saying you’re going to personally prepare to celebrate the princess…?”
“Yes, I, a political opponent, take care of my sister’s event. How touching is it? “Among the rumors floating around there, there’s a rumor that an elf princess is coming to the empire to marry the prince? hahahahaha, I’ll meet my future wife too!”
“Hey, Your Highness the Prince. It’s unprecedented that a royal descendant of a foreign country, especially an Elf who inherits the lineage of a saint, married a royal descendant…”
“You tend to raise too many negative questions about everything. That’s why I’m keeping you by my side. It’s not like you don’t know what the future holds. After all, it’s best to do your best now and not create anything you’ll regret! Come on, let’s hurry up. , time does not wait for us!”
“Hey, please wait, Your Highness the Prince! Your Highness the Prince! At least dress properly…!”
The prince, who laughed heartily, started to leave, and the servant who assisted him followed him, embarrassed.
“Ronan, Ronan! I really like the name!”
The position of the royal son was a place where all kinds of rare things in the world rolled in even when he was still.
Such people rarely get greedy, and there was only one thing in the world that they couldn’t take as they wished, and that was a person.
Even with the eyes of a person who has already experienced all kinds of people in the imperial palace and has become quite high, I want to see him, but he is not mine yet.
The prince’s eyes filled with greed, which is hard to see.
