◇Liliana side◇
「Exciting… heart pounding.」
We and the carbuncle children had suddenly been attacked at the school and captured. Now we were loaded into a caged carriage traveling through the forest.
「Is everyone all right?」
The children, who had been noisy until we left the forest, had quieted down after repeated threats from the kidnappers.
「What… is going to happen to us…」
One carbuncle boy asked. He was the oldest among them and stayed relatively calm.
「It will be fine. At the very least, none of us will be treated roughly. The gems of child carbuncles are still small.」
Some children had been hit when shoved into the cage, but only enough to cause bruises. No one had been killed.
「Do not worry. As long as I am here, husband will know our location. Let us behave for now. And as the oldest, you must protect the younger ones properly.」
I stroked his head. He nodded firmly.
(With my magic, I have made myself recognized as a villager. That means the village’s hypnotic magic does not affect me, but my charm magic works on them.)
Possible explanations: they have magic tools resisting hypnotic magic, or they are a race immune to it, or perhaps their level is simply that high…
(Anyway, Kaminagi-sama will move quickly. I have already contacted Father too. Going straight to the kidnappers’ base like this is a perfect chance to investigate right to the bottom. And being a captured princess is the ultimate dream scenario!)
Liliana grinned inwardly while fantasizing about Yuuki’s rescue.
(Even though destroying them all myself would be easy, protecting all the children at once is extremely difficult. I drank plenty of blood, but I want to keep it hidden until the critical moment.)
If it were just her, she could defeat them easily even taking some damage. But with all these children, pushing too hard was out of the question.
(So, Kaminagi-sama… I await you♪)
The boy watched the utterly thrilled Liliana with slightly withdrawn eyes.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
◇Noctarl side◇
The report came suddenly.
「Demon King-sama! A message from the princess!!」
My aide, or rather, secretary, burst into the office.
「What is it? You seem in quite a hurry…」
「Th-that is!!」
The letter he handed me was written in blood: 『Village attacked. Taken away. I am fine.』
「The princess!? Is she all right!?」
The secretary, peering over, panicked.
「She is probably not all right～ Yuuki-dono is stronger than my wife, after all…」
「Stronger than your wife!?」
The secretary turned pale. He had once touched her reverse scale and nearly died…
「Well, Liliana will be fine. More importantly, the village defenses will be thinned. Let us send support from here. The royal guards can move immediately. Have them go. And since bypassing the hypnotic arrays requires resistance, take Sharia too. She can overwrite them.」
「Understood. Depending on Sharia-sama, we can depart within an hour.」
「Good. I leave it to you. Ah, yes. Check Saintess-sama too. If she wants to go, let her join. She only returned this morning, so she will be in a rush.」
「Yes, sir!」
With that, the secretary dashed off again.
「Since it happened two days ago, Yuuki-dono and the others have probably already left, but reinforcements will help.」
I stretched largely and looked at the mountain of remaining work.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
◇Amilia side◇
Knock knock.
I was relaxing in my room when there was a knock. Shia was currently in the bath recovering from fatigue, so I was alone.
(If it were Shia, she would enter without hesitation. If a castle maid, the knocks would be fewer.)
With Yuuki absent, I cautiously readied my weapon.
「Saintess-sama, sorry to disturb your rest. I am the Demon King-sama’s secretary!」
The voice sounded familiar, so I opened the door. He was out of breath, probably from running.
「What is the matter?」
「Kaminagi-sama went to the carbuncle village, but we received word it was attacked and Princess Liliana kidnapped. As backup for Kaminagi-sama, the royal guards are heading there. Demon King-sama said if Saintess-sama wishes to go, it would be best to let you join. I came to confirm that…」
「That was a lot of information, but in short, we are going to where Yuuki is?」
「Yes.」
「Then I will go. Shia is in the bath now, so please inform a maid.」
「Understood. I will arrange it.」
With that, the secretary ran off again.
「What on earth is happening… Well, it is Yuuki, so he will be fine…」
Still, I wanted to see his face, so I decided to go.
「Now, let us prepare…」
Leave a Reply