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Of course, Winley’s absence should have stressed Baris out, since he would have to take care of the territory all by himself. However, he had strongly encouraged her to go with Davey for some reason.

“We won’t be moving fast, but we should arrive in about three days,” Winley said.

“Hm…”

“The scenery is really beautiful on the way there! So, I’ll…” Winley trailed off. She widened her eyes when she spotted someone standing behind her. She exclaimed, “Portna?!”

“Your Highness… Thank…you, really,” Portna said gratefully.

“Sure.”

“Not just me, but everyone who was exposed to the disease will be forever grateful.” Portna came across as rather severe, but she tried her best to express her gratitude as much as possible. “I will use my life that His Highness has saved to protect Princess Winley.”

Davey patted Portna on the shoulder as she bowed and expressed her gratitude. He said with a nod, “All that matters is that you lived. Value your life dearly if you want to thank me.”

“I will take that to heart.”

“Your Highness, it is time to go.”

The moment Yulis was about to speak after examining the carriage…

Bzz… Buzz… The communication crystal in Davey’s pocket buzzed from an incoming call.

“Amy?” Davey raised the crystal to see Amy, who was formerly his personal lady-in-waiting and was now learning to manage the territory in his place.

-Y—Your Highness!!... T—The territory!

Davey stared at Amy blankly as he listened to what she had to say. He muttered, “What?”

38. A Petty Encounter.

Witnessing Amy’s big fuss, Davey was lost in thought.

“Big Brother?”

No one else could hear Amy, because the crystal functioned like Davey was on headphones. Still, it made his thoughts needlessly complicated.

“Why do you think Baris sent me too?” Winley asked.

“I’m not sure. Prince Baris is wise and honest, just like Sir Davey. I cannot discern everything with my narrow opinion, but… Don’t you think it’s just for you to relax for a while?” Yulis gave a soft smile.

Winley slowly nodded.

However, that was not the case.

[I’m sorry, Big Brother, but can I leave Winley to you for the time being? I think you will be able to protect her better than someone like me.]

[I didn’t tell her, and the story hasn’t spread in the territory yet, either. However…the whereabouts of some children at the orphanage are unclear. This definitely happened after this incident.]

Apart from understanding the situation, Baris had the worry of an older brother to keep his younger sister safe. This was not related to Count Lington, either.

-I think that incident is related to it somehow.

While Davey was just thinking, Perserque floated up to his face with a cute smile. She dusted off her light, twirling in front of him with elegant clothes.

-Something similar happened at the dwarf village of the Yellowstone Tribe.

‘And at the Heins Territory as well.’

Davey was just investigating at this point, so he couldn’t say anything for sure. But it could be said that whoever was doing this was intentionally targeting children and taking them away. There was definitely something fishy about this. ‘Should I be considering dark mages who take kids to use as sacrifices?’

Well, there were some cult-like branches of dark magic that required a young child’s fresh blood in order to summon the Demon Lord.

-That’s probably not the case. Dark mages are violent but not stupid. As such, they would be extremely cautious if they were to kidnap a child to use as a sacrifice. They wouldn’t act this visibly.

Dark mages wouldn’t be called the continent’s legendary beings if they were people who would act so publicly. Thinking about this fact, Davey pondered, ‘So, either the rumor is false, or something else is going on. It hasn’t been proven that the children have gone missing. It’s just a suspicion right now.’

As a result, Baris thought that Winley would only bother him in this investigation and what was going on outside the territory. Winley wasn’t bothersome, but Baris couldn’t stop worrying about his sister who was a walking disaster. Ultimately, he had chosen to send her with Davey, the safer option, so there wouldn’t be any problems.

Baris could’ve just asked Davey for help regarding the investigation, but he showed a desperate effort to solve things on his own. He was doing the same with Count Lington’s incident too.

Lions dropped their babies off from cliffs; it didn’t really resonate with Davey all that much, but it wouldn\'t be right for him to overprotect Baris who was trying to succeed on his own. And there was also a need to investigate other perspectives, since this situation hadn’t only happened in the Ordem Territory. It was happening in other places like the Yellowstone Tribe and the Heins Territory too.

“I want to go as late as possible,” Davey mumbled.

“Is there a problem at the territory?” Yulis, who was silently looking at Winley, asked when he heard Davey.

“Apparently, someone that I don’t really want to see is there.”

Although he appreciated their aesthetic appearance, Davey definitely wasn’t too fond of their presence. His intuition told him that they had come to see him with the full knowledge of what had happened. It wasn’t difficult to get rid of them, but he had a feeling that that wasn’t their only goal. However, above all else… ‘I really don’t want to see Caldeiras again.’

-She is the type of person to grab you by the neck as soon as she sees you.

Caldeiras, the divine sword, was probably so mad at Davey that she was gritting her teeth and waiting for the chance to jump at him. Like Davey did with Red Ribbon, Davey had also drained Caldeiras of all her holy power to use the final 9th level holy magic.

Davey’s bitter smile didn’t go away.

* * *

Time crawled at the pace of their carriage, which was traveling like a snail.

“It’s true! At that time, Big brother was climbing a tree when…”

“Haha, Sir Davey was quite peculiar from a young age.”

“Right? Hehe.”

Davey didn’t know what made Winley so delighted, but she was cutely chattering about the time she and Davey used to play together as children. Davey simply stayed silent.

-Hm… You also had a time where you roamed around that freely?

Davey was carefree, and everything in the world seemed so wonderful at that time. He then asked Perserque, ‘How am I like now, then?’

-You seem like the owner of an arcade, staring at little children who are trying their best at the games with the little pocket money they have. You aren’t helping, even though you have a master key that can endlessly restart the games.

Perserque should just say that Davey looked like he had a dark secret.

‘What is that?’

Perserque’s comparison was quite something, as she had read part of Davey’s memory.

-Honestly, you are not normal.

‘Do I seem that way?’ Davey asked the question, but it was one that even Davey himself found it hard to answer.

-There is a clear difference when you compare your way of life to someone who only has one shot at life and is afraid of the unknown afterlife.

Perserque clearly pointed out what was off about Davey. He felt slightly attacked, thinking, ‘Have you ever heard that you shouldn’t criticize people?’

-Sometimes blunt words are the only way to wake someone up.

Perserque roamed around, laughing as if she was mocking Davey. He wanted to grab her from the air, but he just swallowed his anger. He didn’t want to attract any attention.

Neigh!! That was when their horse suddenly stopped in its tracks just when the rest of them were admiring the view from the quiet carriage.

“Hm?”

“What’s going on?”

Winley slowly opened the window, since she was surprised by the sudden jolt. She saw the baffled coachman not knowing what to do.

“W—Who are you? How dare you block the path? Do you know who is on this carriage?!” The coachman shouted nervously at the people who were standing in the way. They didn’t seem like bandits, who usually appeared deep in the forest.

The men had a high-quality horse with a glistening coat, and they were wearing strong and distinguished pieces of armor. Davey could tell that they were a formal knight order. They didn’t seem like any knight order from a small territory, but looked to be knights of great power.

Thud… One of the knights got off his horse and slowly approached the carriage. Then, he quietly bowed his head.

The man looked to be in his thirties or forties. He had a short, neat beard, and quietly introduced himself as he took off his helmet. “Please forgive our insolence. My name is Duris, the Captain of the Red Dragon Knights.”

“The Red Dragon Knights… No way!” The first to recognize them, Yulis widened his eyes in shock.

“Why is Princess Illyna’s escort here?” Winley asked. Both Yulis and herself had such reactions because they didn’t know who was waiting for Davey here at the Heins Territory.

“We have come out to escort you so that nothing goes wrong on your way back. Please forgive our insolence if you were offended,” Duris explained. He was nothing but respectful.

Davey was actually a little surprised by Duris’ uncomfortably respectful manners. ‘I find people like that very uncomfortable. Royal Attendant Bernile looks cold, but he’s actually a cheesy grandpa too.’ Davey was already sick of their attitude of setting such clear hierarchical boundaries.

“To be honest, we don’t really need any escort… But the Red Dragon Knights are too strong for us to ignore your consideration.” Yulis asked for Davey’s opinion as he chuckled.

Davey was planning to use this time to relax so that he would arrive as late as possible, but it seemed like this woman had read his mind. He groaned inwardly. ‘This is why I don’t like quick-witted kids.’

-The contractor of Caldeiras is the same age as you.

‘Still a kid.’

Princess Illyna was the most desired bride in the entire continent and was absolutely beautiful, but Davey’s judgment about her was unfortunate.

-What a bummer. I really did enjoy relaxing and taking in the view.

Perserque’s voice seemed too bright to think that she was really bummed.

* * *

To be honest, Davey had run away from the Duchy of Felicity and had left all the bothersome details to Princess Illyna. If it had been the other way around, he probably would’ve gone to find her right away and shake her in the air. It seemed that she had tolerated it for quite a while, since they were only meeting now.

“Princess Illyna of the Pallan Empire is requesting to see you.”

Simply put, Princess Illyna could only be described as a big shot.