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Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—
Ten days after the raid.
As soon as dawn broke, the sound of the ground shaking echoed out as if waiting for this very moment.
The group woke up in a start, trembling and worrying if it was another magical beast attack.
Well, since I hadn’t spotted any red dots in the distance, I was able to tell right away that it was just the sound of hooves.
“Are they reinforcements? They have to be reinforcements, right?”
“Mister Drott, get a grip. Big Sis said they sound like reinforcements. Calm down a little.”
“O-O Ralphican…!”
Noah was even kneeling on the floor, hands clasped together in prayer to Ralphican.
…Honestly, whatever they do has nothing to do with me, but having the three of them stubbornly clinging to my back saying it’s scary is a bit of a problem.
For the record, this was entirely because Drott had gone on and on about how behind Belita was the safest place to be.
[ ‘Come to think of it, what kind of relationship do you have with Drott?’ ]
She seems to completely trust his competence, yet she openly ignores him. I honestly have no clue what that’s all about.
Especially since his favorability status still hasn’t registered yet.
-I only saw him briefly when we were kids, and ever since I entered the ducal house, we’ve only ever heard rumors about each other and never crossed paths, so I don’t really know. Ah, back in the day, he used to call me some wretched commoner, though.
So he’s just a noble full of elitism, then.
That also explains why his favorability hasn’t registered.
It’s because we haven’t really had many conversations.
[ ‘Why does Drott follow Jeffrey?’ ]
-Sorry. I’m not really sure. But it’s probably because their goals align. Most people who follow Lord Jeffrey are like that.
Their goals align, huh. What on earth could those goals be?
Robert’s downfall? Or war? Magical beast experiments?
Apologizing, Belita admitted she didn’t know the details either.
In the 1st loop, Drott had been disposed of for some reason.
Though I didn’t know the exact circumstances of who did it, there was a high probability it was Jeffrey.
Maybe Drott wasn’t even a proper spy to begin with.
The most likely possibilities were either that he was tossed aside because he became useless, or disposed of because he was a traitor.
“Ah, I see them.”
Turning my gaze away from the coastline toward the south, I began to spot a cloud of dust in the distance kicked up by galloping horses.
“What? Who is it, who?!”
“Is it real?”
At my words, the group squatting and clutching at my hem popped their heads out toward the window one by one.
“Heuk! Big Sis, that’s the Rubel family’s flag, right?”
“It’s real! Real rescue is here! O Ralphican!”
They probably weren’t here with the purpose of rescuing us, just to rendezvous with the main force, but I didn’t bother pointing that out.
Either way, rescue was happening automatically, so it wasn’t wrong.
Mainly because the main force they were supposed to rendezvous with had ceased to exist.
“Big Sis! Thank you! Thanks to Big Sis, right here, h-hic….”
Luca buried herself right into my embrace, staining my apron with tears.
“Right, Belita. Seriously, thank you….”
“Yeah, I’m genuinely thankful. Wow~ I’m seriously about to tear up here.”
Drot muttered, wiping at his dry eyes.
It was impressive how hard it was for someone to sound so completely devoid of sincerity.
“Don’t mention it. I didn’t really do much anyway. And….”
Prying Luca off me, I continued.
“Everyone, pack your bags. We need to leave the room.”
Gazing filled with why on earth? were shot my way.
I immediately added an explanation.
“No matter how much it was an emergency, if it’s discovered that servants arbitrarily used a nobleman’s room, we won’t be able to avoid disciplinary action.”
“Aw, come on, given the current situation….”
“You never know.”
“Phew, making a big deal out of nothing. Alright, alright~.”
Before heading out, we decided to erase all traces of our stay.
Though Drott had grabbed only his bag and gone to lie down on a bed in another room, reducing the workforce a bit, having three servants whose profession was cleaning meant it wasn’t a problem at all.
We incinerated the trash in the lit fireplace and neatly cleared away the ashes.
Returning items to their original places and polishing the furniture until it shone…
It had become so spotless that nobody could have imagined four people had lived there for over a week.
Finishing the cleanup and stepping out into the corridor, Noah muttered softly.
“Hmm. How come the hallway seems a bit cleaner?”
“We didn’t clean the hallway, Noah.”
‘Good intuition.’
Noah’s observation skills were spot on.
The reason the hallway was clean was because of me.
I had spent the entire night pulling an all-nighter clearing away all the magical beast carcasses I’d killed. While cleaning, I’d wiped away the bloodstains, too.
‘Having too many dead magical beasts lying around looks suspicious.’
Golems turned into sand and blew away in the wind the moment they died, so there was no need to destroy evidence, but wolf-type beasts were a different story.
Of course, the problem was that there was nowhere to store the corpses, but I solved that using supernatural phenomena.
Toggling off the trait completely severed the connection with Belita.
Besides, Belita wasn’t awake all the time, either. Sometimes she fell asleep even in her soul state, leaving her silent.
Anyway, I took advantage of that window to shove all the corpses straight into my inventory.
‘Having inventory utility like this is certainly convenient.’
Time doesn’t pass inside the inventory. Meaning no rotting.
Still, I couldn’t leave them in there forever, so I’d have to pull them out and dump them somewhere appropriate later.
And then….
“Oh-oh. Looks like they’ve arrived?”
Creak! Click!
The sound of the 1st-floor main entrance opening echoed out.
Drot popped out from the neighboring room and shouted.
“Hey hey, hurry up, let’s go check it out!”
Holding our breaths as we headed down to the 1st floor, a rugged-looking man was standing there all by his lonesome.
He must have been sent ahead to scope out the situation at Hiter Castle before the main army marched in.
“Good grief… How on earth did it end up like this…? A magical beast raid? Did the raid wipe out everyone…?”
Collapsed walls, with piles of magical beast and human corpses strewn beneath them.
The man paced around the main entrance looking flustered.
Just then, Luca anxiously tugged at my hem.
“U-Um, Big Sis….”
“Who’s there?!”
Oh no. Did he hear Luca whining?
Hiding the group, who were tense at the appearance of someone unexpected, in the corner of the stairs, I stepped out into view.
“Who are you?! That uniform, are you a servant?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
Ah. Did I answer too plainly?
It’s a situation where being calm is what’s weird. I immediately added a tremor to my voice on purpose.
“Are you perhaps someone who came to re-re-rescue us?”
“Rescue? No, we’re Lord Jeffrey’s reinforcements….”
“Reinforcements! Thank goodness! You have no idea how anxiously we were waiting.”
“What?”
I could see the group’s faces light up at the word “reinforcements.”
I immediately gestured for the group to come out from the corner.
“There are other survivors here besides me.”
“Survivors? So they really were raided… Are those four the only survivors? Where is the Duke?”
Finding it hard to shout from a distance, the man walked over toward us.
Coming closer, I recognized him.
The man’s name was Gedric Rodner.
Following Reina, yet another familiar face.
A supporting character who appears in the Imperial Princess route.
He’s a member of a vassal family serving the ducal house and possesses a setting friendly to the protagonist.
“I’m sorry, but the Duke isn’t here….”
“Drott! Aren’t you Drott! Well, well. Confess what on earth happened here!”
This guy?
Interrupting people while they’re talking?
-Should I take care of him?
Take care of what, seriously…
Anyway, the spotlight of suspicion had shifted straight to Drott.
I hurriedly turned my head back and gave a slight shake.
It was a signal to choose his words carefully.
However, failing to grasp what, how, or how much he needed to filter out, Drott froze up and started stammering, unable to do either.
“W-Well, that is…”
“Right now! I told you to speak!”
“So it’s like… ah, this is driving me crazy…”
Right then.
The sound of leather-soled shoes and the noise of an iron gate opening echoed from the staircase next door.
Clack, clack.
Creak…
“Aaaah! A ghost!”
A ghost… no, it was Reina and Leonard.
At the sudden appearance of new faces, Drott let out an ungraceful shriek.
Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing.
Anyway, how on earth did they know to come up?
-That mister over there. You’d believe it even if someone said he swallowed a train whistle whole, so did you really think they wouldn’t hear that?
Sure enough, it seemed the people in the basement had also caught wind of the reinforcements and came upstairs.
Our group couldn’t hide their astonishment at the fact that there were other survivors.
“And who might you people be?”
At the appearance of new faces, Gorilla—no, Gedric reacted like a wild beast.
Reina straightened her shoulders proudly and stepped in front of Gedric.
“I am Reina Mel, commander of the 2nd Imperial Knights.”
With a reliable commanding figure stepping forward, Gedric also laughed heartily and offered a handshake.
“Ah, Commander Reina! I did hear that you were dispatched regarding the Ducal Territory’s affairs. Hahaha.”
Reina smiled gently and accepted the handshake.
“Yes. Unfortunately, since Commander Frederick of the 1st Knights was in a situation where it was difficult to join, I came in his stead.”
Lowering the corners of her lips that she had lifted out of courtesy, Reina spoke in a heavily sinking voice.
“Aside from myself and this subordinate of mine here, the rest of our 2nd Imperial Knights were completely wiped out. Including some of the Ducal knights as well.”
“Wh-What?”
“His Excellency the Duke went off to deal with the magical beast at the root of this crisis, alongside several elite knights of the Rubel Order. As ill luck would have it, a massive horde of magical beasts raided the fortress right in the middle of that, and as you can see here…”
Meaning everything got completely trashed, she probably wanted to add.
“No, is that true?”
“Yes, I can swear it upon my honor.”
“Th-This is… Lord Jeffreyyyyy!”
Gedric clutched the back of his neck for a moment, then, wailing out Jeffrey’s name, he threw open the main door and bolted outside.
Well, he tried to bolt outside, but he couldn’t.
Because the main door swung open by itself.
And right through the wide-open doors, looking entirely out of place against the backdrop of the ruined, devastated fortress, was a noble young man with preeminently handsome blonde hair…
-Lord Jeffrey!
Jeffrey had appeared.
‘Finally.’
The true target of the walkthrough, whom I had waited and waited for.
If I can just seduce this man, I can go back home.
My fists clenched tightly on their own.
-Ahh, it’s been so long! He’s still as stunning as ever….
It’s a bit mortifying to be listening so nakedly to Belita’s ardent inner thoughts, but I can’t really fault that reaction.
[ ‘He is handsome, though.’ ]
-Right?
I already knew from seeing him before, but he definitely has the kind of face where women’s gazes would follow him no matter where he went.
Well, since he shares blood with the protagonist of a dating sim, his genetics couldn’t possibly result in an ugly face.
-Uum. He looks a bit tired, though. He must need a good rest right away!
Well, there’s no way the journey all the way out here was a walk in the park.
Though Jeffrey looked neat and composed with not a single strand of hair out of place, maintaining his typical noble facade, his eyes held a somewhat hollow look.
-It’s been a really long time since I saw him this close. I wish this moment could last forever.
Belita’s fluttering emotions rippled through, transmitted straight to me.
Is she really that happy? Seeing her like this makes me feel like I need to pull my weight, too.
Grit my teeth and work hard to seduce that guy… oh, forget it. Let’s stop thinking about it.
It’s depressing.
Just as I was about to look away from Jeffrey with a resolution that wasn’t quite a resolution, I had no choice but to instantly freeze up.
-Oh, Cyril is there, too.
Among the various knights trailing behind Jeffrey was none other than the exact person who had tried to kill me in the 1st loop, blatantly showing his face!
Why on earth is that crazy bastard here?
-Well, I suppose he said he was an escort, come to think of it. I’m jealous. I could do a good job, too. Escorting.
An escort, huh.
So that guy was… Jeffrey’s limb, after all.
I see. Then that boils down to the identity of the raider being Jeffrey himself.
‘…Doesn’t matter anymore, though.’
I felt my head cooling down rapidly. Come to think of it, he was only an enemy in the 1st loop. Right now, we’re nothing to each other.
Comrades, even. You could say it’s similar to Sera.
To think that two people who once tried to kill me are on the same side in this lifetime.
It’s awkward, but it can’t be helped….
“Lower your voice, Gedric.”
With a crumpled expression, Jeffrey covered his ears and spoke in an irritated voice.
Then, taking in the ruined landscape of the fortress, he murmured lowly.
“What on earth happened here?”
“Ah-ah! That is! Th-Ah! What are you all doing?! Go pay your respects!”
At Gedric’s urging, the entire group of servants behind me and the Imperial Knights bent deeply at the waist.
-Mister, you hurry up and bow, too! That’s basic etiquette toward a member of the Ducal family, who are high-ranking nobility!
I was planning to do so anyway.
I hurriedly bent my waist, following the rest of the group.
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