Chapter 131 - 42. Dragon Slayer (1)

Adelia was beyond worried these days.

Recently, His Highness the Prince's behavior had been strange.

The prince, who used to move without rest as if he had a disease where he would die if he stayed still, stopped everything he was doing and locked himself in his quarters starting from a certain day.

He did not meet anyone, nor did he converse with anyone.

He just spent the entire day with his eyes closed, wholly devoted to meditation.

Worried that his health might deteriorate, she picked out the prince's favorite foods and brought them to him at every meal, but he did not even touch them.

Four days passed like that.

During that time, many people visited the 1st Prince's Palace.

Everyone was concerned about the prince's sudden confinement.

However, oblivious to their visits, the prince remained engrossed in his meditation.

Another four days passed.

Adelia, who visited the prince's bedchamber at dawn as always, widened her eyes.

The prince, who had kept his eyes closed and remained completely motionless for nearly ten days, was out of bed for some reason.

"Your Highness!"

Blinking in surprise, she belatedly rushed over to the prince and poured out her words.

She told him that she had been extremely worried because he had been sitting in his room without eating or moving.

At those words, the prince smiled quietly.

His face was somewhat haggard, but his eyes were clearer than ever before.

As she stood there with tears welling up in her eyes out of relief, the prince asked her to help him get ready.

She helped him wash his face and assisted him in getting dressed.

Once he was fully dressed, the prince requested that his armor be brought out this time.

Though she tilted her head in confusion, she fetched the armor the prince usually favored and helped him put it on.

It was the armor of the northern knights, which had iron plates padded in some parts but was fundamentally made of leather for good mobility.

After checking the armor's straps twice as meticulously as usual, the prince smiled in satisfaction and praised her for her hard work.

Bowing her head slightly, she took a step back and looked at the prince.

The prince's hair, which hadn't been maintained at all while they wandered the empire, had grown quite long.

Rummaging through the drawer in the bedchamber to pull out a comb and a tie, she tidied up the prince's shaggy hair with practiced movements.

The prince praised her once again, saying it looked much better.

At his repeated praise, she broke into a wide smile without even realizing it.

It felt as though the anxiety she had been suffering from for nearly ten days was melting away.

Fully dressed and armed, the prince stood before the two swords carefully resting on the table. And after a moment of consideration, he picked up one of them.

It was not his usual favored sword, but the royal treasured sword that was now in the prince's hand.

Seeing that, Adelia's heart plummeted.

Quite some time had passed since they escaped the bloodthirsty territory of the empire,

And this was the royal palace, the most heavily guarded place even in the peaceful Capital.

Yet it looked as if the prince alone was preparing for a battle.

Without realizing it, she grabbed the sleeve of the prince's clothes.

Normally, the prince would have laughed playfully and asked what was wrong, but today he just stroked her hair in silence.

Finding that endlessly unsettling, she tightened her grip on his sleeve.

SWISH.

The prince gently untangled himself from her grasp.

And saying that if he did not return by sunset the day after tomorrow, she was to deliver it to the old marquis, he handed her a letter.

While she stood there in a daze, the prince opened the door and left the bedchamber.

She belatedly snapped out of it and followed the prince, but he had already disappeared to somewhere else.

She asked the knights guarding the palace about the prince's whereabouts.

The knights nonchalantly replied that the prince said he was going for a short walk and ordered no one to follow him.

Adelia tightly clutched the letter in her hand.

She wanted to tear the seal and check the contents right that instant, but the prince's command was absolute.

Firmly suppressing her anxiety, she waited for the prince to return.

However, the prince did not return even as the day came to an end.

* * *

Karl Ulrich knocked on the door to the bedchamber.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

"Your Highness. It is me, Karl."

Even after calling out several times, no answer could be heard.

"I am coming in."

Karl carefully opened the door.

On the neatly made bed, there was not a single trace left behind of anyone having lain in it.

"I came just in case, but..."

The prince, who had supposedly ended his confinement and gone for a walk the previous day, had not returned all night.

So, although the chances were slim, he had come to check if the prince had perhaps returned to his bedchamber without the Royal Knights noticing.

However, as expected, the prince was nowhere to be seen.

The bedchamber was completely empty.

"Hmm?"

Looking around the bedchamber, he furrowed his brows.

In one side of the bedchamber, crouching in the deepest corner, was a shadow.

It was a woman burying her head as she hugged her knees with both hands.

"Sir Adelia?"

She was the prince's closest aide, Adelia Bayern.

Karl clicked his tongue softly, figuring she must have squatted there all night just waiting for the prince to return.

Then, suddenly thinking that she might know of the prince's whereabouts, he quietly approached her and asked.

"Do you know where His Highness went?"

Still buried between her knees, she shook her head.

"Hah. Did he feel stifled and go out for a horseback ride or something?"

He was not overly worried about the prince.

The prince was always unpredictable, and he figured there was no way a Sword Master could get into major trouble within their own nation's territory.

He thought the prince had likely felt suffocated after being cooped up for nearly ten days and had gone to get some fresh air. He figured that if they just waited, the prince would return soon.

However, as the sun set that day and the moon once again rose high in the sky without the prince returning, he slowly began to feel concerned.

"Just how far did he go for this walk?"

Even so, up until that point, he figured that the Sword Maidens must be with him, so what could possibly go wrong?

"Hmm."

When he visited the prince's bedchamber again as the sun was setting, the prince was still nowhere to be seen.

Only Adelia Bayern was there, crouching in the exact same posture as the day before.

Just as he was sighing and about to leave the bedchamber, a heavily hoarse voice stopped him.

"H-His Highness."

It was Adelia Bayern.

When he turned around, the woman, having lifted her head from between her knees, was looking at him.

With a pitiful face covered in a mess of tears and a runny nose.

"H-He said that if he did not return after two days had passed, I was to deliver this letter to His Excellency Marquis Bielefeld."

Sniffling as she stood up, she pulled a letter envelope out from her arms and showed it to him.

Karl completely froze in place.

"What do you mean by that?"

When he asked with a frown, the woman spoke, on the verge of tears.

"It truly seemed as though His Highness was going off to fight someone."

At those words, Karl shouted without realizing it.

"Why are you only saying this now?!"

After yelling as if to browbeat her, he belatedly examined the woman's expression and shut his mouth.

He realized that nothing would be solved by pressing her when she looked so extremely unstable.

"Never mind, get up. We are going to see His Majesty the King at once."

She stumbled as she got to her feet, tightly clutching the letter the prince had left behind.

* * *

"Could it be that he departed for Dotrin without a word?"

Having been left behind because he could not keep up with the knights riding day and night, Siorin Kirgayen, who had only just arrived in The Capital today, offered his speculations regarding the prince's whereabouts.

"I had already permitted the prince's journey to Dotrin. There is no reason for him to leave so silently."

The King rejected Siorin's theory.

"Might he be spending his time in the entertainment district of The Capital out of boredom? While he hasn't shown such behavior recently, I heard he frequently did so in the past."

Maximilian shook his head at Siorin's words.

"I have already sent people to check every single entertainment establishment in The Capital. But there was no one who had seen my brother."

"Hah. Then where on earth could he have gone..."

As if they had made a prior agreement, the people all looked toward one side of the great hall.

Adelia Bayern was there.

When everyone's gaze suddenly focused on her at once, she flinched and stepped back, tightly clutching a letter envelope with both hands gathered in front of her chest.

"To have the answer right there but be unable to see it, this is truly frustrating."

The King let out a sigh.

He had already tried pressing her and coaxing her several times. However, stating that the prince had told her to deliver it to the old marquis, the inflexible woman refused to even accept a royal command.

He had considered ordering the knights to take it from her by force, but decided to just wait since the issue would be resolved anyway once Marquis Bielefeld arrived.

However, with the marquis being unusually late in entering the palace today, his impatience kept growing.

Just as he was forcefully suppressing his fretfulness, the voice of a Royal Knight rang out from outside the door.

"Marquis Bielefeld has arrived."

The people, who had been anxiously waiting for the marquis's arrival, all looked at the great hall's door.

The old marquis, looking somewhat disheveled compared to his usual self as if he had rushed over in a hurry upon hearing the news, strode forward and bowed before the King.

"I rushed over immediately upon receiving the order, but my steps are slow, so I ended up being this late. I apologize, Your Majesty."

"That is fine, the letter first."

At the King's uncharacteristically hurried words, the old marquis bowed his head once more and reached his hand out to Adelia Bayern.

"Please give it to me."

She, who had been holding out so stubbornly, only handed over the letter after seeing the marquis's face.

The marquis immediately tore the seal off the letter.

And then, he began to read the contents of the letter out loud.

"I am leaving this letter just in case, but I would prefer it if the Marquis never had to read this..."

Before he could even finish the mere introduction, the marquis's recitation came to a halt.

His face had stiffened as hard as a rock.

The marquis's eyes darted rapidly as he skimmed through the letter. And having finally read it to the end, he handed the letter to Karl. Then, while Karl was passing that letter up to the King on the dais, the marquis asked Adelia.

"How was His Highness when he handed you this letter?"

"His complexion was calm, but it truly seemed as though he was on the eve of a great battle."

At those words, the marquis squeezed his eyes shut.

In the meantime, the King read the letter and handed it to Maximilian. The King's complexion was also not much different from the marquis's.

His expression hardening in turn, Maximilian read down the letter.

「I am leaving this letter just in case, but I would prefer it if the Marquis never had to read this. Still, there is always that one-in-ten-thousand chance.」

「Omitted...」

「I have prepared my own answers in my own way, and I believe things will somehow work out if I do my best.

But, you know. Things in this world don't always go exactly as planned.」

「Omitted...」

「In the past, I would have only cared about myself, but lately, I've been feeling my own sense of responsibility. After all, I've started quite a few things. So I want to entrust you, Marquis, with handling matters while I am gone.」

The very fact that his brother, who had always overflowed with confidence, had written a letter like this with failure in mind made Maximilian anxious.

However, he tried hard to suppress that anxiety as he read the rest of the letter.

The main content of the letter was about where and what he had arranged in advance. And there was a request written for them to use those arrangements appropriately.

Only then could Maximilian understand why his royal father's and the old marquis's complexions had stiffened so much.

It read just like a will.

But it was not a true will.

「I'll return as quickly as possible. Even at the latest, I will be back before things begin in earnest.」

Because at the end of the letter, there was a written promise that he would return.

Maximilian believed those words.

That his brother would definitely return. Just like when he appeared at the defensive line leading the Northern reinforcements, he would keep his promise this time as well.

Karl Ulrich, who belatedly checked the letter's contents, also said he believed so.

However, the atmosphere was still grim.

"Your Majesty!"

It was right then that an urgent voice echoed from outside the great hall.

"Some of the knights who went out on the search under orders have returned!"

"Let them in!"

Throwing open the doors of the great hall, the knights who entered knelt before the dais and spoke.

"At a distance of two hours on horseback from The Capital, there were traces of a massive battle!"

At the knight's words, the King stumbled and collapsed onto his throne.

"The ground was torn up everywhere and it was full of gouge marks all around; I swear, your servant has never seen anything like it, not even once."

"Just what was it like?"

On behalf of the King and Marquis Bielefeld, who both looked as if they had lost their souls, Siorin Kirgayen asked.

"It was akin to something massive..."

The knight answered in a trembling voice.

"It was a sight as if a dragon had swept right through."