Chapter 1: “The Black Wolf” Doubts His Ears

“They’ve lost track of the princess?!” I shouted, unintentionally loud enough to echo throughout the office we’d set up inside our temporary lodgings.

Seeing my subordinate (who should’ve been used to me yelling) flinch, I quickly waved my hand to clarify that it wasn’t him I was mad at. The guy was already shrinking inside his stuffy knight’s armor from the ridiculous report he was having to give me—it wouldn’t be fair to scare him any more. After all, it wasn’t even his fault. Plus, things had been tense from the moment we holed up in this shady fortress right on the border of the country we’d only recently stopped being at war with, so making the bad vibes worse wasn’t going to help anybody.

I took a deep breath and asked in the most normal tone I could muster, “So, what happened? Explain it in detail.”

“Understood! As you previously ordered, Your Excellency, our unit arrived at the city on the border with Sylvario to meet Her Royal Highness, but...”

I still can’t get used to being called “Your Excellency.”

I, Ark McGuine, had been awarded the peerage of viscount at the young age of twenty-five. I’d also been given a suit of black armor to go with my nickname “the Black Wolf.” I’d earned the name due to my black hair and eyes, and for the fact that I was so wild in battle that I always came away splattered with dark blood.

Thanks to my rise in rank, my subordinates were now putting me on a pedestal, though some of them put that pedestal a bit too high and were now afraid of me... But whether or not it was out of fear, even the knight in front of me—probably several years my senior—was giving me a brisk report.

But that was the only good thing about it.

“According to the city’s viceroy, Her Royal Highness has yet to arrive.”

“That’s what I’m wondering about first of all... Go on.”

As I pressed for more information, I heaved a little sigh. It looked like the nonsense war we had just gotten out of was going to continue to make trouble for everyone.

Originally, the war between our kingdom of Brigandia and the neighboring kingdom of Sylvario was apparently triggered by some small border disputes. I say “apparently” because by the time we in the capital knew there was even a problem, the regional lords of both kingdoms were already in battle. In the end, both national armies got involved, and it ballooned into a full-scale war.

The countries started on even footing at the beginning, but as soon as things started getting drawn out, Sylvario lost their momentum. In the end, Brigandia emerged the true victor.

Afterwards, the two countries reached an armistice, territories were divided up, and reparations were decided on...but something strange happened at that point too.

Sylvario asked Brigandia to reduce the reparation demands. In exchange, they offered their fourth and youngest princess, Her Royal Highness Princess Sonia, to marry into Brigandia and solidify friendly relations between the two nations.

Honestly, they should’ve just refused the ridiculous request. But luckily or unluckily, it was granted. Brigandia’s third prince, His Royal Highness Prince Alphonse, was still single.

“If she’s a princess, she should know of things around their palace, right? I don’t expect anything top secret, but we might be able to get some info on the little things,” said His Royal Highness Prince Alphonse with a great big smile. It chilled me to the bone.

(By the way, as the leader of the Special Battalion—a troop which directly serves His Royal Highness, and of which I’m a member—His Royal Highness is basically my boss. We’ve been buddies since we attended the Noble’s Academy together, so we often talk casually to each other.)

Having settled the fine print, the loser Sylvario sent Princess Sonia to the winner Brigandia as a hostage-slash-information source in a show of friendship. And, to communicate that “We’re still on guard. If you wanna go, we’ll go,” Brigandia sent the infamous “Black Wolf” (read: me) to the border city to retrieve the hostage-princess.

But on the day she was supposed to arrive...she didn’t show.

We decided to wait; things like health or bad weather could’ve easily caused a delay. But three days passed, and we still hadn’t heard anything. Because it was so weird that they were that late and hadn’t even sent anyone to tell us why, I sent a few of my knights to go check things out, and...

“We had guessed that they might have run into some trouble and been unable to proceed, so we questioned some merchants who had traveled down the road, but none of them had seen a single royal carriage. Commander Gale continued towards Sylvario’s capital thinking that they might be nearby and sent me to report back to you, Your Excellency.”

“I see,” I said. “Gale made a good call. I expect nothing less.”

Gale was one of my subordinates, and a common-born chevalier. Without the privileges of nobility to support him, he had worked hard to study and hone his skills, eventually beating out the children of barons and viscounts to gain the position of platoon commander. I relied on him heavily because of this, and he met my expectations. Not only was he skilled with a sword, but as you might expect of someone who crawled up the ranks of the knight squad against nobles, his situational awareness skills were especially high.

This time too, he hadn’t just checked to see if the princess had arrived; he’d had the sense to gather additional information on the situation and send me an interim report. Long story short, he wasn’t one to cut corners like a slacker. Gale’s work was instrumental in me coming to fully comprehend what a difficult situation we were in.

“Which means... Ah, thank you for the report. Take the day off and rest.”

I gave the knight who rushed back here a break, and tossed out some orders to nearby military officials. “Now, prepare two fast horses, and bring me two skilled riders for them!”

While they were getting me what I needed, I jotted some letters and had them sent to Brigandia’s royal capital on another fast horse. One was a report about the situation, and the other...

“Take care of things while I’m gone. I’m going to fetch her myself!” I told my adjutant, choosing a couple of elite knights and preparing to depart.

While Gale was skilled and prudent, his common-born station and rank as a chevalier were ultimately a little too low for the situation. If we ended up needing to do a lot of work while out in the field, then it’d probably speed things up having a viscount like me—the person in charge of the operation who’d been granted a certain authority—to collect the princess and do all the talking.

Which is why I made a written record that was both a declaration that I was heading into Sylvario to join the vanguard in their investigations, and an apology for reporting about it after the fact. The situation was what it was, after all, and as a potentially time-sensitive matter, I couldn’t afford to go back to the capital to ask for permission. That was why I had been given the authority to make my own decisions out here on the field.

Just how much of this did His Royal Highness see coming?

Anyway, since my appointment to viscount was so recent, and I was independent without any family members (on paper) who might end up in the crosshairs, it’d be easier for me to take all the blame if negotiations ended up going south. If I said that I forced my subordinates to comply with my orders, I’d probably be able to protect them too. My ma and pops might cry, but there was no helping that.

After preparing several contingency plans and clearing my mind for the task ahead, I headed outside and found that both the horses and knights I’d requested were all prepared.

“Okay, let’s go!”

I fired myself up and hopped on my own favorite horse, and at once we started riding in complete unison. We were part of an active duty, highly experienced force, so scrambling was something we had down pat. And these being the elites of a squad like that, they were on a different level entirely.

We rode in sync, as if we were one organism, heading towards the city on Sylvario’s side of the border. It was a few hours away, but since we left before noon, we managed to make it to the border city of Vestigo before the sun set.

Since the city was the keystone of the national border, they made sure to lock the gate on Brigandia’s side good and tight once the sun went down. We were in the middle of autumn and the days were getting shorter, so if we’d been any later, we’d have been forced to camp outside. And seeing as we left in a rush without much in the way of camping supplies, no matter how confident in our stamina we were, we really wanted to avoid spending the night on the cold ground if we could help it.

That said, there wasn’t any guarantee we’d be able to sleep somewhere with rooms even though we’d gotten there in time. After all, the hardworking gatekeepers of Vestigo had their spears drawn the moment they spotted our group of Brigandian knights on horseback approaching them. I could admit to myself that their vigilance and high morale—far out on the borderlands of their homeland, and right next to the territory of their most recent enemy to boot—was impressive.

“Pray pardon us for arriving suddenly without notice! I am Viscount Ark McGuine of the Kingdom of Brigandia! I’ve come on urgent business, and I wish to speak to the viceroy!”

When I announced myself and informed them of my business, they started freaking out. Looked like my name and infamy as “the Black Wolf” worked here too—though probably in a bad way.

I waited for a reply while the soldiers talked among themselves. Once they came to a decision, a lone man—probably the commander—stepped forward.

“Is the business you speak of in relation to that of Sir Gale, who passed through here earlier?!”

The bold way he spoke was admirable; despite his bravado, his knees were quaking. It was impressive how he managed to conceal his fears, understand what we were here for, and also say things in a way that only those in the know would understand.

“Yes, it is! I have summarized those matters in a letter, which I request that you deliver to the viceroy!”

While I spoke, one of my subordinates dismounted and approached me. I handed him the letter I prepared beforehand, and he accepted it while giving me the sheathed sword he pulled from his belt. With his hands in the air to demonstrate that he was unarmed, he walked towards the commander.

Really, I would have preferred to put myself in such a potentially vulnerable position, but alas—as the one in charge, I couldn’t take the risk.

Plus, the knight was one of my finest, and I would have disrespected him by not allowing him to perform this task. He too was prepared to risk his life.

Luckily for us (or rather, it was kind of obvious it’d happen this way), their commander didn’t attack my subordinate while he was showing that he wasn’t a threat, and accepted the letter.

“We have received the letter! Please, wait there!” the commander said, handing off the letter to one of his men to deliver.

Now, we just had to hope the viceroy would actually read it...but it’d probably be fine.

I’d looked into our neighbor Sylvario in the past, and had (of course) found info on the border cities in each nation. Vestigo’s viceroy was apparently a bit of a coward who floundered in the face of unexpected situations, but could be decisive upon receiving enough information to act. That was why he’d let Gale in to investigate the princess situation, and allowed him to continue on farther into the country.

If I were inclined to nitpick, I’d think it would’ve been nice if he’d sent us word of the princess’s no-show immediately, but there was no helping that now.

Not many people could keep a level head if a princess was missing and circumstances suggested foul play. I’d bet the viceroy had just thought it was a fluke in the beginning, and that she’d arrive the next day. But because of those thoughts, things were getting a lot worse.

As I was standing there in contemplation, another soldier returned. Apparently, we’d gotten the response we were looking for.

“We have received permission from the viceroy to allow you inside! We will show you the way, so please follow us!”

“Understood. Thank you!”

I yelled back my response, and we proceeded to ride our horses into the city. We did end up getting a lot of funny looks from the townspeople, but of course a bunch of knights from Brigandia suddenly showing up would make them curious. All in all, they seemed bewildered.

Whatever the case was, we made it to the viceroy’s mansion and commenced with our meeting.

“I’m so terribly sorry that someone as famous as yourself had to travel all the way here, Sir McGuine.”

“No, let’s skip the niceties. What in the world has happened?”

“Yes, erm... We received word that Her Royal Highness had left the capital on her way to marry into Brigandia, but on the day she was scheduled to arrive, she didn’t show. I assumed she would no doubt be traveling with a large entourage, and small issues on the road could cause delays. So, I decided to wait. But when she still showed no signs of arriving, I was considering confirming the plans. I was about to send a messenger to the capital, when...”

Damn, it’s pretty much exactly what I thought.

But if they did send them proper word that she’d been on her way, then we could only assume something happened en route.

“Viceroy, have you heard any rumors of large-scale attacks lately?”

“We’ve looked into it, but found nothing. It’s why I don’t believe that anything has happened to them, but...”

It was probably more accurate that he didn’t want to believe, but I’d refrain from hounding him about it since that was completely understandable.

“It seems that one of my knights, Sir Gale, has gone on ahead to investigate, but I gather that you haven’t heard anything from him since. If that’s so, then we’d like to continue on to follow him.”

“That is... You’d what?!”

The viceroy was hesitant to agree to my request, but a certain document I had on hand shocked him speechless—he stared so hard at it he could’ve burned a hole through it. A few seconds later, he weakly nodded back.

The document in question was one signed by His Royal Highness Prince Alphonse, designating me as a diplomatic special envoy. Thanks to international agreements, a special envoy was granted unimpeded travel even during wartime, and was immune from arrest without very clearly committing a crime.

In fact, in cases of self-defense, they would even be forgiven for using force. This clause was enacted apparently because some dumbass royal once attacked a foreign envoy inside their palace. Obviously, diplomacy would be impossible if they were dead, so it was decided that if you can’t talk with words, then you’ve gotta use your sword instead.

Not only did they want to avoid anything like that happening, but international agreements such as this were sworn to God, so they were upheld with extreme strictness. After all, God’s existence meant that a nation breaking an oath could bring about divine punishment and spell the end of their country.

Anyway, His Royal Highness designated me as one of these incredibly privileged special envoys because he foresaw something like this happening.

Honestly, sometimes His Royal Highness’s gift of foresight frightened me.

“Oh, yes. Would you be able to send messengers to the other towns along the road to the capital? With the situation being as it is, I believe that this all would go a lot better if we could travel smoothly to search for Her Royal Highness. Of course, I’ll make sure to let His Majesty the King of Sylvario know how quickly you worked to resolve this issue, Viceroy.”

“Y-You’d say that to His Majesty? Well then...”

The viceroy was still pretty nervous, but it looked like he was gradually starting to accept what was going on. If he let us through now and we found the princess and her entourage, then he would have contributed to our success. And if I, a special envoy, relayed that to his king, then it would equate to Brigandia itself acknowledging it, and his distinguished service would be known internationally.

If she was never found, then just letting us through would show that he at least did the bare minimum to help. There could likewise be huge problems if I kicked up a fuss about everything, but of course I had no intention of doing that, so that risk was almost nil.

On the flip side, if he stopped and turned us away here, and then Her Royal Highness never showed up, the agreement between our nations would be breached. Either war would resume or Sylvario would have to pay further monetary reparations. There would be no way for the viceroy to avoid taking responsibility for that.

With all this in mind, from his point of view it would ultimately be best to let me through, and maybe even make things more convenient for me.

“Please, allow our knights to accompany you. If you will, then I will assist you.”

Oh right—it would be a bit iffy for us to go alone. It’d be different if I was planning on doing something bad, but since I had no intention of doing anything like that, it’d be better for us if they came along.

“I thank you for your assistance, and for your wise decision, Viceroy,” I said, giving the man a knight’s salute.

◆◆◆◆

And so, by throwing around the privileges that I’d been given, I’d been granted the permission we needed to continue, and we resumed our travels along Sylvario’s roads towards the royal capital.

That was all fine and dandy, but what we saw along the road was terrible, to say the least.

“Things are kinda bleak, or should I say unsafe,” I said.

“It’s the aftereffects of the war,” a Sylvarian knight replied. “The front lines were a bit farther away, but it looks like a number of people were swept out here.”

“I see. Then we of all people can’t really complain.”

According to the Sylvarian knight, former soldiers and the like who’d gone broke and resorted to thievery were the most likely culprits behind the heavily damaged carriages left in ruins alongside the road.

If a road important enough for a princess and her entourage to use was in such poor condition, then things within Sylvario must’ve been worse than we’d thought. This was a clear visual of how bad the circumstances were, and we picked up the pace immediately at the thought of the princess’s entourage getting into some kind of trouble.

As we hurried, we would meet up with the knights that Gale had left for us as contacts in the town inns we passed through, follow the path he’d taken farther, and pick up another one. We repeated the cycle a few times before finally catching up with him in another inn town a few days later.

Yes, we caught up with him. Which meant that after all this travel, he’d found neither one of the royal family’s carriages nor anyone who’d seen one.

“My apologies, Your Excellency,” Gale said.

“Don’t worry about it. If you couldn’t find them even after looking into things, then there was nothing else you could do. But...what in the hell is going on?” I asked.

I thanked Gale for his efforts as he apologized, face downcast with humility, before tilting my head in confusion.

This was the carriage procession of a princess marrying into another nation we were talking about. The scale of it should’ve caught people’s eyes, but so far not a soul had seen even a glimpse of it, even when we’d come so far.

Things weren’t adding up. There was a chance the entourage had taken a different route, but the other options were either huge detours or really rough, so I couldn’t imagine them choosing to do that.

Then the only possibilities left are...

The moment I thought that, something flashed through my brain.

“Gale, did the townspeople you spoke to know about Her Royal Highness getting married?”

“What? Of course they... No, wait. Now that I think about it, some of them may have been shocked...?”

“Damn, it couldn’t be, could it?”

I now understood the discomfort I’d had while we were traveling along the highway—no one had welcomed their princess as she traveled to marry, or mourned that she was essentially being sent to Brigandia as a hostage. Everyone was just living, drained from the war that ruined their lives.

It was the same even when we arrived in Vestigo. If they had known that the princess was coming, they should have just thought we were coming to get her the moment they saw us show up, but they didn’t.

And now there was still a lack of acknowledgment, despite the fact that it had been more than a full week since the day she should have arrived and we’d gotten halfway to the capital from the border. It was impossible for the entourage to have come this far without someone talking about it.

In the first place, protocol would dictate that an entourage accompanying a princess to her wedding destination would send a notice to every town they passed through to make their trip smoother. But they hadn’t, which meant...

“It’s like she never even left,” I murmured.

“N-No, that can’t be true! We truly did get word that Her Royal Highness had left the capital!” one of the Sylvarian knights denied, pale as a ghost.

That’s right—if the princess really hadn’t left, then it meant that Sylvario had no intention of obeying the agreement. Brigandia would view that as Sylvario trying to pick a fight with us, which would lead to the ceasefire going up in smoke, and would force us to talk with our weapons again.

Honestly, I personally wanted to prevent that from happening, but the decision was up to Brigandia. If they told me to fight, then as a knight, I would fight.

That being said, I had become a bit fond of our Sylvarian companions; throughout our travels, they’d treated us with nothing but the proper decorum and discipline.

“If word did come that she’d left, then she probably had,” I reasoned. “But it seems like only you knights and your superiors knew, with nothing said to anyone else. If this is true, then I believe we’ll need to travel closer to the capital—no, go all the way to the capital ourselves to investigate.”

“That’s true,” the Sylvarian knight agreed. “Understood. We’ll send word ahead for you.”

“Please do... For the sake of keeping both of our nations at peace.”

As the knight heroically steeled his resolve, I gave him a firm nod back.

After all, their task involved getting permission for their former mortal enemy to gain entrance to the capital, the heart of Sylvario—there was no telling what sort of censure they’d face. Even if this situation was because of the royal family, it was, unfortunately, often irrationally treated as a different story. But even so, the war would resume if things were left as they were, and they must have decided that the trial of getting us to the capital would be better than having their comrades and populace suffer.

I myself didn’t want things to end in bloodshed once again either. While I didn’t know if I’d get back home safely—I had done a lot of damage to Sylvario during the war, after all, and here I was practically waltzing into their royal capital—quitting our investigation here would guarantee that war would start all over again. As much I didn’t want violence, I had to resign myself to the possibility.

“Let’s go! Time to get this mess under control!” I cried, getting nods back from the knights of both our countries. After all, the scene in front of our eyes made everyone absolutely determined to keep the war from restarting as it was.

With one last exchange, both sides split to do their part. But even when we arrived at the next inn town, other than the region’s lord, not a single person knew anything about the princess’s upcoming nuptials.

“At the very least, this means the Sylvarian royal family didn’t even attempt to keep up the appearance that they were celebrating this marriage,” I said.

“That’s undeniable. But if that’s true, then that would mean that they didn’t even hold any functions to say goodbye to her, wouldn’t it?” Gale asked.

Gale and I were racking our brains over the testimony we’d gathered. It was just too strange.

Normally, a princess getting married would either get a massive celebration in her honor, or a ceremony mourning her leaving, simultaneously moving the citizens’ hearts and progressing things to the next step. But neither of those happened. Neither one. It was almost as if Sylvario was trying to send her off without letting the populace know.

“Wait. I’ve barely ever even heard about Sylvario’s fourth princess, Her Royal Highness Princess Sonia...” I murmured before looking towards one of the Sylvarian knights, who was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Her Royal Highness isn’t one to be seen in public. I myself have never even seen her face,” he explained apologetically.

“I see. So I guess they were trying to keep from rocking the boat too much by choosing a relatively unknown princess to marry into Brigandia.”

That in itself would be treating us with contempt, but from their perspective, they were still fulfilling their side of the bargain. So they were treating us with contempt.

Now we’d need to go to the capital whether we found the princess or not. And if that was all we’d be reporting, then they’d have been treating us like a bunch of errand boys this whole time.

“Ahh, this is making my stomach hurt,” I accidentally let slip.

Everyone around me gave me a shocked look.

“You’re just now feeling it? We’ve all been on stomach medicine this whole time,” Gale said, exasperated, expressing what everyone was thinking.

Oh, shut it. I just have a very tough stomach thanks to all the ridiculous things His Royal Highness forces me to do.

Unable to voice my thoughts without committing a crime, I could only give a vague laugh back.

◆◆◆◆

At the same time Ark was searching for the princess, over in Brigandia...

“I see. So Ark went there himself.”

Within Brigandia’s royal palace, inside the office of the third prince, His Royal Highness Prince Alphonse Zerk Brigandia, who could be considered the boss of Ark McGuine’s boss, narrowed his eyes as he read the letter Ark had sent him. With his blond hair, blue eyes, slim figure, and gorgeous looks, any lady who saw his current expression would probably squeal with glee, but alas, the only people present to see it were male civil officials and knights of the royal guard well acquainted with the prince, so no one responded, squealing or otherwise. Not only did they not respond, but a number of them started feeling cold sweat running down their backs.

They knew. Whenever Alphonse made that face, two things were likely: either an unreasonable request was about to be made, or a major incident was imminent.

But no, Alphonse had just said Ark’s name. Ark was meant to be waiting at the city on the border to welcome Sylvario’s fourth princess, soon to be married into Brigandia. So where in the world was he supposedly going himself?

Though it was unclear if this letter conveyed bad news or not, everyone present was someone who had won Alphonse’s confidence, so they were all sharp. Very sharp.

While everyone else was internally deliberating, Alphonse had apparently decided on a course of action.

“My apologies, but can you send word to my elder brother to let him know that I’m coming to speak to him? It’s urgent.”

Alphonse had directed this request to one of the civil officials, who, upon receiving it, straightened up, replied, “U-Understood!” and left the room as quickly as he could without breaking into a run.

Alphonse’s elder brother—the second prince, Artur. Whatever this urgent matter was, it was going to be an unreasonable, major pain in the ass if they needed to get him involved.

(The first prince, Adolphe, had excused himself from politics for undisclosed reasons, so he was not to be involved. As a whole, no one was to mention him—he was untouchable.)

“Also, pick ten of your elites to be my guards,” Alphonse said to a nearby knight. “It will probably end up being a long trip, so make sure to get the horses and our traveling gear ready.”

“Y-Yes! I’ll get that ready on the double!” replied the knight, cold sweat beading along his hairline.

There was only one place Alphonse could be going in this situation, and that was the Kingdom of Sylvario, which they’d just been at war with. What’s more, Ark, who usually would have been made to accompany the prince, was apparently already there. Meaning they’d be the ones who had to go with him.

“Sheesh, I’m gonna have to bring some stomach meds with me...”

“You should already have them. I told you to always have some on you, didn’t I?”

Pretending not to hear his guards arguing very quietly with each other, Alphonse made his way to the second prince’s office. The moment the knights guarding the door saw his face, they immediately went inside to inquire, and the door opened a moment before he got to it. The knights acted without pause, and demonstrated that they were both observant and well-trained.

Just what I’d expect from my brother’s guards, Alphonse thought to himself as he walked right in, a smile still on his face.

“Pray forgive my intrusion while you’re so busy, brother. I came on an urgent matter.”

“Hello, Alphonse. If it’s something that has you in a tizzy when you’re always one step ahead, then it has to be a very serious matter indeed.”

While Artur resembled Alphonse overall, his face was softer, and he wore a gentle expression. If Alphonse could be described as having a sharp, icy beauty, Artur’s beauty was like sunshine on a spring day, bright with a gentle shine.

Walking up to his similar looking, yet completely different older brother, Alphonse handed Artur the letter from Ark.

“This is a report from Ark, who went to receive Sylvario’s fourth princess. It seems as though the situation may be more than he can handle on his own, so I would like to go there directly myself.”

“Now?!” Artur exclaimed, before continuing, “No, if you’re the one saying it, then it must be something incredibly important.”

Alphonse’s sudden request shocked Artur, but in a moment he collected himself and settled his expression once more—as a royal, he had learned to adapt to situations like this. Then, he took the letter and began reading it over.

“That’s right, Viscount Ark McGuine writes that he doesn’t believe he can handle this alone. His intuition is sharp at times like this,” Alphonse remarked.

“Because he’s been especially conditioned to sense danger by a certain someone?” prodded Artur.

“Oh, I think he’d already been good at it. Though he might’ve gotten better at it afterwards.”

Artur’s wry quip was met with Alphonse’s unbreakable smile. The knight behind Alphonse seemed to want to say something, but he stayed silent, and the prince wasn’t going to say anything either. Ultimately, it would be wise for Artur to look the other way.

“Well, we’ll just have to defer our discussion on just how Ark came to develop such a finely honed instinct for danger for another day. But in all honesty, I find it very difficult to approve for you to go to Sylvario right now,” Artur admitted.

“Of course you would,” Alphonse replied. “Some people may jump to conclusions if their princess’s betrothed suddenly arrived in their country when the political situation has yet to settle down from the war. As royalty from an enemy country, they already hate me. Some might think that they could save their princess from this marriage by getting rid of me.”

“Obviously I knew you’d know that, but are you trying to say that there are advantages to going yourself, despite the risks?”

Alphonse nodded slowly to Artur’s question with his usual smile—or no, it might have been a few degrees colder.

“Yes, of course. First of all, there probably aren’t many people who’d be that shortsighted, but...”

“What do you mean? Ah, because the highways you’d be taking would be far from the war’s principal battlefield?”

“That’s one reason. It’s why I chose that spot for it, after all.”

Sylvario’s national army was under the direct supervision of their king and in scope, not very large, so they’d needed to mobilize the soldiers employed by nearby nobles. Because of this, most of the families grieving from the war would come from areas closer to the battlefield. If any of them happened to live in the areas around the highway connecting the capitals of both kingdoms, there was a chance that they’d try to sabotage communications between the kingdoms after the war.

With this in mind, Alphonse had shifted the principal battleground away from this area. He had also ordered Ark to the front lines to fulfill his unreasonable requests, and the knight’s resulting efforts won him a kill count in the hundreds and the rank of viscount...though it wasn’t clear whether he was happy about that or not...

Whatever the case, as a result of these decisions, there probably weren’t many people living along the highway who’d have a bone to pick with Brigandian royalty. Yet this also meant that the area would be rife with deserters—former-soldiers-turned-thieves too ashamed to face their families again—though they probably wouldn’t be brave enough to attack a group of fully equipped knights.

“My other reason may be because there may not be many people who would go that far for Princess Sonia’s sake in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, of course you’d ask. Brother, I’ve heard next to nothing about Sylvario’s fourth princess, but what about you?”

Artur tilted his head in confusion at the question.

“Hm? You’re right, I don’t think I’ve heard much at all.”

Even though there had been enough tensions between the countries for a war to start, that didn’t mean that relations between the nations had paused entirely. So while they were able to get some information on Sylvario’s royal family, they had barely heard anything about how Princess Sonia was regarded. That would mean...

“So it was either that she was a more private person, or that she was treated badly,” Alphonse surmised. “At any rate, she wasn’t a social butterfly, so chances are quite low that she would have romantic admirers, or anyone who would lament her leaving Sylvario. It was Sylvario that offered her hand in exchange for reducing the financial reparations, so she couldn’t be the royal family’s precious sheltered daughter either.”

“Though that’s not something I want to agree with, I can’t really deny it either,” Artur admitted, before saying, “In any case, we have next to no information about her. If what you say is true, then that calls into question Sylvario’s reasoning for sending us Princess Sonia when that was how they felt about her...”

After saying that much, Artur suddenly seemed to realize something, and looked over to Alphonse. The second prince stood with a beautiful smile on his face—a smile so wonderful that it had the knight standing behind him grimacing.

“The Smiling Iceberg.”

Alphonse’s nickname flashed through Artur’s mind, and he involuntarily gulped.

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” Alphonse said. “And if that’s the case, with the princess having yet to arrive when she was supposed to, then...wouldn’t that be the perfect chance to squeeze even more out of Sylvario?”

“Yes, but if that was your goal, then it would indeed be too much for Lord McGuine to handle alone... You weren’t planning this, were you?”

“Of course not. Even I wasn’t expecting this to happen. Though I had begun making contingency plans after it was decided we would marry, and I did some research on her.”

“So you want to go to harvest the fruits of your labor... While I personally don’t want to let you go, allowing it is probably the correct choice as a member of the royal family,” Artur said, heaving a sigh.

At the moment, the king was ill, sick in bed over the trouble that the first prince had caused, so Artur and Alphonse were the ones running the kingdom. And, being the elder brother, Artur had to make decisions in the king’s place.

From that perspective, it wouldn’t be such a bad move to let Alphonse go. In fact, it could probably be argued that it was the correct choice, considering how much money, material, and manpower would be lost if the war resumed.

“Thank you for worrying about me, brother,” Alphonse said. “But I’m doing all this because I think we have a good chance of winning.”

“I know. I know that very well. I also know that you’re purposefully going out to try to get things done.”

Alphonse’s only response to Artur’s loaded statement was a smile.

With the first prince having been taken out of the running, the problem of who would inherit the throne was rearing its head. Alphonse, who had no intention of becoming king, was proactively engaging in outwards-facing work like diplomacy, which included war.

Artur excelled in maintaining the stability of internal affairs, and Alphonse’s talents lay at making full use of his scheming mind in external ones. Based on skill and disposition, it was clear that Artur was the backbone of the kingdom, and that Alphonse’s efforts to be visible on the front lines between Brigandia and Sylvario was to impress the idea that he considered himself Artur’s sword.

Artur understood this, and while his feelings about the situation as an older brother were complicated, as a representative of the nation, he couldn’t stop him. This time was no different.

The second prince sighed again.

“I understand. If that’s the case, then I’ll allow it. But once you get to Sylvario’s capital, do everything you can to reach Sir McGuine as soon as possible. Once you meet up with him, stay by his side at all times. Those are my conditions.”

“Of course, brother. You could say that this time, it all depends on him,” Alphonse nodded, his smile less frosty. “After all, when it comes to protecting his friends, there’s no one better in the world than Ark.”

Shocked at what he was seeing, Artur couldn’t find the words to reply. It was because Alphonse’s smile was an amused one, and for once, actually appropriate for someone his age. Yet Alphonse was the only one who didn’t realize it.

◆◆◆◆

After gathering information that did nothing but affirm some of the various unpleasant guesses we’d made, we entered Sylvario’s capital.

We headed straight for the royal capital in hopes that we could share what we knew and confirm the situation. Since we sent advance notice that we were on our way, we were granted an audience with the king almost immediately, even despite my fearsome reputation.

Was I let in so quickly because Sylvario also recognized the urgency of the situation? Or were they just as surprised as the rest of us? Whatever the case, it was clear that they were telegraphing to us that they had no intention of making an enemy of Brigandia again.

My speculation didn’t end up very far off the mark. Not only was the king present in the audience chamber, but all of the high-ranking nobles were as well, and everyone seemed baffled by the situation.

After performing the bare minimum of social niceties, I recounted the situation and had one of the Sylvarian knights back up my claims, serving to deepen the bewilderment in the room.

“I understand the situation,” the king said. “But, Sir McGuine, Sonia did indeed leave the palace.”

“What?”

According to the king, Princess Sonia had left for Brigandia with ample time to reach the border by the planned date. Yet there had been no sightings of her at the inn of the town closest to the capital, and the road between the two was among the safest we’d seen in Sylvario, without even a hint of a dangerous atmosphere. If the princess and her entourage had been attacked, then there absolutely would have been evidence left behind.

“But would that not mean that Her Royal Highness disappeared within the walls of the capital?” I asked.

“That’s also impossible. If she had been attacked in the capital, guards would have rushed to aid her and reported the incident.”

Hmm? Why does that sound off to me?

The king’s words were sensible, yet something about it stuck out to me. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I made a mental note to remember it.

The current way things were going, however, seemed to indicate that we might hit a dead end.

“I do not doubt Your Majesty, but with your permission, may I view the records of departures from the palace in order to confirm?”

“Your insolence would normally warrant you a rebuke, but it seems there’s no time for such things. I will permit it, but due to the possibility that you may touch on classified information, I will have someone authorized accompany you. Captain Eisendarque, I leave that to you.”

“By your will.”

The middle-aged man who bowed reverently had been introduced as Count Boris von Eisendarque. Despite the thirty-something man’s dark brown hair and eyes, shapely mustache, and gentlemanly attire, his body was well trained.

Our eyes met.

He’s the real deal.

He seemed like someone who had plenty of combat experience, and wasn’t a mere figurehead; both his powerful gaze and general demeanor suggested a man well acquainted with battle. Had the situation not been as it was, I would’ve loved the chance to spar with him.

But this was the guy assigned to keep me in line—to put me down if I went rogue. They saw me as a threat, and a big one at that. I didn’t blame them for being cautious.

Though all that’s beside the point.

Taking into account Sir Eisendarque’s busy schedule—his position and abilities would imply nothing less—we made our way first to the palace’s gate to view the travel records, however...

“It seems that there are no records of a carriage bearing the crest of the royal family leaving the palace.”

“What?!”

After I said that, Sir Eisendarque ripped the log book from my hands frantically, eyes like saucers as he read through it. He reviewed it over and over again, seemingly finding nothing to contradict me before finally turning to me, aghast.

Why are you looking at me like that?

“Wh-What is the meaning of this?” he asked.

“I should be the one asking that question. No matter how you look at this, the only thing this proves is that Her Royal Highness Princess Sonia never left.”

Whether he was unexpectedly weak-willed or he truly hadn’t expected this answer at all, Sir Eisendarque was panicking. I remained calm. But seriously, what in the world was happening here?

It was then that one of the gate guards who’d overheard our exchange chimed in. “Um, if you’re wondering about Her Royal Highness Princess Sonia, the lack of record is most likely because she wasn’t permitted to use any carriages bearing the mark of the royal family.”

“What?!”

Sir Eisendarque and my voices overlapped in beautiful harmony.

According to the gate guards, the elder princesses and queen consort had forbidden Princess Sonia to use carriages that bore the mark of the royal family. Such a thing was common knowledge between the guards at the gate, but hadn’t spread far enough to reach Sir Eisendarque as the knight commander.

“Ah, here it is!” the guard exclaimed. “Her Royal Highness left with one coachman and one maid, just like always.”

“WHAT?!”

Our voices harmonized once again.

Why in the world would a princess leave with so few attendants...? AH!

“That’s it! That’s why what His Majesty said sounded strange! He assumed Her Royal Highness’s carriage could be attacked, even though that chance would be next to zero if Her Royal Highness was sent with proper protection!”

“Ah, ahhh?!”

After I inadvertently screeched that out, Sylvario’s knight commander let out something akin to a scream...and the gate guards just stared at us in confusion.

Yes, from their point of view, they were probably wondering how we hadn’t known, or were simply surprised that we were only asking about it now.

Since these guards were most likely commoners, or at most the second or third sons of barons, they had no idea that even for the daughter of a viscount, leaving home with only a coachman and a single maid was totally unthinkable. The fact that a princess had been sent off like that was something that should never have happened, but apparently it did, and often.

“As the knight commander, how did you go so long not knowing this? Was it out of your jurisdiction?”

“Yes. The Royal Guard handles the protection of the royal family... What in the blazes are they doing?!”

Sir Eisendarque was outraged, roughly scratching his head. Just the fact that he was able to keep himself from throwing hands despite his obvious anger and confusion at the awful situation showed how levelheaded he was. His clear and strong upset demonstrated that he’d really had no idea this was going on.

Every nation had their factions, so there wasn’t much that we could do about his ignorance. But in this case, it was his very ignorance that led to this missing princess crisis... No, now was not the time to be pointing fingers.

Is she safe? I hope she’s safe.

I was worried, but just worrying would get us nowhere.

“Judging from the date,” I said, recalling what I knew, “it does look like they left early enough that if they kept a good pace, they could have reached the border with days to spare. With one coachman and one maid, for a total of three people, it’s doubtful they’d have enough luggage to draw attention. It seems that she truly did leave on her betrothal journey to Brigandia on this date, though she did so with barely anything to her name.”

“How, how could this be...? Then Her Royal Highness was...!”

Though it wasn’t out of the question for her coachman and maid to have superhuman strength, if they didn’t, then chances were high that something had happened to the small party of three as they traveled along all those unsafe highways.

More than anything, the reason we hadn’t found anything during our investigations was crystal clear; we had been looking for carriages that bore the royal crest, but Princess Sonia’s carriage hadn’t had one. Obviously there had been no sightings.

Which, to our deep misfortune, meant that we would have to start our search all over again.

“One more thing bothers me. His Majesty hadn’t received any interim reports that Her Royal Highness had passed through the city gates. There’s a chance that they weren’t even allowed to send one at all. Sir Eisendarque, to start, I would like to view the records regarding all comings and goings from the capital’s gate. I’d also like to see any attendants’ records regarding what Her Royal Highness had left with in the way of a trousseau.”

“It would make further investigation in the towns along the highway easier if one knew all those things. I will have them prepared for you immediately.”

Once I saw Sir Eisendarque nod, seemingly composed once again, I began giving orders to my subordinates. Gale and company would join Sylvario’s knights in checking the records of who came and went through the capital’s gate. As the highest ranking person and the one with all of the special envoy perks, I remained in the palace to check various records with Sir Eisendarque.

And so, as we began retracing Her Royal Highness’s footsteps...

“Seems there’s no mistaking that Her Royal Highness left through the city gate before continuing onto the highway, but...” Sir Eisendarque started hesitantly.

“Right, but this is kinda,” I replied, trailing off.

We were able to confirm that she’d passed through the gate on her way to Brigandia, which meant that we were now absolutely sure that Sylvario had intended on honoring the terms of the treaty. That was all well and good, but...

“Her Royal Highness’s luggage. There wouldn’t have been enough for a noblewoman going on a short trip, much less a princess marrying into another country...”

“It was just as the attendants and gate guards said: she left with only one coachman and one maid. That’s it. Did the royal family want Her Royal Highness Princess Sonia to run into an ‘unforeseen accident’?” I asked.

Stay calm. Just stay calm, I told myself. If I didn’t, I knew that the venom in my words would show how angry I was.

But this was awful. Sent off with hardly anything but the clothes on her back. No escort. And what’s more, these orders—which more or less sentenced her to die in a ditch somewhere on the way to Brigandia—were signed by the queen.

Sir Eisendarque’s face, a warped mix of rage and disappointment, was only a natural response to the results of our investigation. He hadn’t been directly involved with Her Royal Highness’s marriage to Brigandia. But even so, he must have felt as if he was also at fault, and was angry at himself for not knowing how the Royal Guard were abusing their power.

“With this evidence, it’s clear that Her Royal Highness intended on fulfilling the terms of the treaty, but I cannot help but wonder if the rest of your royal family felt the same. I find that this matter cannot be resolved without further investigation.”

“Yes, and I will do everything in my power to assist you. Please, investigate all you like. And if I were to threaten that without their compliance it may be decided that Sylvario didn’t hold up their end of the agreement, then it would make working behind the scenes inside the palace easier. I could even use the opportunity to do a bit of ‘spring cleaning,’” Sir Eisendarque replied, a great smile on his face.

One impressive enough to even give me the chills.

Once more, I felt a strong desire to spar with him, even just once, but that would have to wait until we’d finished cleaning up this mess.

Finding Princess Sonia came first.

We first gathered a mixed squad of Brigandian and Sylvarian knights, led by Gale, to search the highways. This time they were given further details on the appearance of Princess Sonia, her coachman, her maid, and their carriage. Before they left, I tacked on a little warning. Because of how she’d been sent off, if things didn’t go well, Sylvario ran the risk of appearing to purposefully fail to uphold their end of the bargain, thus signaling a restart to the war. The squad’s morale was now higher than ever.

Once I’d seen them off, Sylvario’s knight commander helped me look into Princess Sonia’s living situation. And I wished I never had.

I mean, I knew in my head that it was good for Her Royal Highness’s honor for us to look into it, but my heart just wouldn’t listen.

“Is this really how your nation treats their princesses...?”

“No, this is completely unacceptable,” rebutted Sir Eisendarque.

Princess Sonia had been treated horribly.

She was an unplanned child of the king’s concubine, the youngest child of a family already plentiful, with three sons and three daughters.

It might’ve been because she wouldn’t have much responsibility in the future that they treated her as an afterthought. Maybe, in the beginning, she’d just been mistreated a little bit. But before anyone realized it, no one cared about her, neither family nor servants.

For instance, somewhere along the way, she’d stopped being fed the same meals as her family. Not only that, but the quality of her meals had decreased to the point that she was being fed almost the same thing as the servants.

A young girl, who was supposed to be a princess, alone in her bedroom eating a servant’s meal—how did that make her feel?

And her mistreatment wasn’t just physical. Her assigned tutors neglected their duties. As long as they bullshitted their reports, they wouldn’t get in trouble, and wouldn’t suffer any losses in their pay. In these circumstances, there would of course be some people who would gradually start neglecting their charge. They may have been hired specifically for those reasons.

Witnessing Her Royal Highness’s mistreatment by others gave the servants permission to start neglecting her as well. Not a single person faulted them for it. Not her father, the king, nor the concubine who’d birthed her.

In all honesty, I might’ve just been constructing a fantasy of what happened all by myself. But I couldn’t understand. I didn’t want to understand.

Apparently, Her Royal Highness’s mother was much more invested in whether her son the second prince would become king or not, and as a result held no interest in her politically irrelevant daughter.

The immense bullshit of the situation made me want to scream. They might have been royalty, but I couldn’t understand how parents could treat their child like that.

Even I was thinking like that, despite being single and childless, but the married-with-kids Sir Eisendarque’s face was bright red, veins looking like they were about to burst right out. I couldn’t help but wish that he had been in a position where he interacted directly with the princess.

Seeing how their parents treated Her Royal Highness, Princess Sonia’s elder brothers and sisters obviously got the wrong idea too. Being royalty apparently didn’t change a damn thing about how cruel kids could be once they realized they could bully someone else and wouldn’t be punished for it. And it seemed that the third princess, who’d been born from the queen and was closest in age to Her Royal Highness, treated her the worst due to Her Royal Highness being born from a concubine.

If Her Royal Highness had been stupid enough to not realize her position, then things might have been better. But alas, she did—she was the very opposite of stupid.

“Her Royal Highness was a truly wise lady. Even though her tutors barely educated her, she would study on her own to learn the material,” said one of Princess Sonia’s few maids, tears welling up as she spoke. It seemed that while most of the servants half-assed their jobs, the few maids Her Royal Highness had were wholeheartedly committed to serving her. According to the maid, Princess Sonia was a princess worthy of that devotion.

“Even though Her Royal Highness was in such a difficult situation herself, she was always gentle and kind, even to us. Her caring smile never faltered.”

Those words shook me to my core. At that moment, something like respect welled up within me for Princess Sonia.

Some folks could be kind while comfortable themselves, though there were others who were rotten bastards regardless. Rare were the people who could be kind while in the depths of misfortune. Yet even as a child, Her Royal Highness had been kind. I wondered how purehearted someone would have to be to act like that, but as our investigations continued, I began to understand.

The more we heard, the more we learned what a gentle and kind princess Her Royal Highness was, never without a smile. Yes, always smiling, despite never being able to grin from the bottom of her heart.

My chest hurt at the realization. It still hurts. Had she ever been truly happy? Had she ever actually enjoyed herself? My mind was crammed with all these unanswerable questions.

It was true that as a princess, she existed to serve the nation. As a noble, I did too, but it was obvious that a member of the royal family would be expected to do much more.

But this just wasn’t right. There was absolutely no way this could be right.

She’d given up. Completely given up on her own happiness. It was why she smiled for others while never for herself—she simply couldn’t.

I cried once I figured that out. Why? Why should such a young lady be forced to live such a life? But my question would never be answered. After all, no one had the answer.

If an outsider like me felt this just hearing about what she went through, how much must Princess Sonia have despaired? No one knew, even her own maids.

But I couldn’t just despair.

“Sometimes, Her Royal Highness would leave the palace and come back with flowers and herbs to make her own perfume. This is one of the bottles she left.”

The maid pointed towards a bottle that was incredibly simple, as far as perfume bottles went.

Being unable to buy dresses or jewels, Princess Sonia had comforted herself with homemade perfume. But the queen and third princess hadn’t even allowed her to bring more than a bottle or two of that with her. Were these people even human?

How Princess Sonia had felt, passing through the gate after years of mistreatment, I would never know. The bright, fresh scent of her perfume, jarring in such a stifling atmosphere, made me hopelessly sad.