Kays Translations

Chapter 86: Archduke Kharon and Princess Liana Advance Along the Highway

──Inside the carriage heading toward the northern border──

“What’s the matter, Princess Liana?”

The carriage was traveling from the imperial capital toward the northern border.

Archduke Kharon spoke to the girl seated across from him.

“You’ve been looking frightened ever since we left the capital.”

“…That’s not true.”

Princess Liana lowered her head at Archduke Kharon’s words.

“I’m not frightened. This isn’t the first time I have hunted magical beasts or approached the border of the Demon Lord’s Domain. This mission was entrusted to me by the Council of High Officials. I may feel honored, but I’m not frightened…”

“Your face is pale. Your hands are shaking. Anyone can see that.”

“…Archduke Kharon…”

“Princess of the Holy Sword, who fears neither magical beasts nor the Demon Lord’s Domain, what is it that you fear? Will you tell me?”

“But…”

“We’ll be working together from now on as we investigate the situation. I would like to understand my partner better.”

“Someone like me… as your partner, Archduke Kharon…?”

Princess Liana shook her head frantically.

“Yes… Perhaps I’m frightened. I… have begun to realize that I no longer understand the things I believed in until now.”

“You no longer understand them?”

“Zagran… and Sister Sophia… I don’t know what they were thinking or what kind of people they truly were… Perhaps I never even tried to understand them…”

Princess Liana mumbled while gazing out the window.

Her shoulders were trembling slightly.

She hugged herself with both arms and clenched her teeth, as though trying to suppress the fear welling up inside her.

“I didn’t understand anything.”

Her voice was barely audible.

“Zagran, whom I trusted… sent Sister Sophia to the border without telling me anything. I only learned about it much later. Then Zagran’s subordinates provoked the magical beasts… and put my sister in danger…”

“I know about that.”

“Zagran said… Sister Sophia would never be in any danger! And yet…”

“I heard that Princess Sophia defeated the magical beasts with light magic.”

“Y-yes. And she established the Trading Post at the border for the villagers.”

“She’s indeed an admirable sister.”

“But that is… not the sister I knew.”

“Is that so?”

“Sophia… was weak and delicate, like a flower that would scatter in the slightest breeze. She was reserved and never appeared in public, which was why I could always consult her about anything.”

Liana closed her eyes and murmured.

“The Sophia I knew wasn’t someone who would face magical beasts or negotiate with the Demon Lord’s Domain to establish a trading post… So either my sister has changed, or I never truly knew her at all…”

“Hmm. Are you afraid of Princess Sophia, Princess of the Holy Sword?”

“I… I was never worthy of that title.”

Her voice was strained.

She squeezed her eyes shut, dug her nails into her arms, and whispered.

“I knew nothing. I didn’t know what Zagran was thinking. I didn’t know what kind of person Sister Sophia was… It feels as though the world I knew is collapsing… and that frightens me.”

“I see. In that case, you should visit your sister’s town.”

“…Huh?”

Princess Liana stared at the Archduke in surprise.

“If my partner remains frightened, it’ll affect our mission. If you don’t understand your sister, you should visit the town where she lives and hear what its people have to say about her.”

“But… the Council of High Officials said that Liana mustn’t meet Sophia.”

“They didn’t say you couldn’t enter Noza Town, did they?”

Archduke Kharon winked.

“In Noza Town, you can hear what people think of your sister. You may also learn how she’s doing now.”

“But… if I go, my sister will find me.”

“Then disguise yourself.”

“Disguise?”

“I have a capable aide who can temporarily change your hair color with powdered dye. Use it to alter your appearance, change your hairstyle and clothes, and leave your sword behind. Then visit the border town as an ordinary village girl. There should be no problem.”

“But that would violate my orders. As a tool of the Empire—”

“It wouldn’t violate your orders.”

“But…”

“Hmm. Come to think of it, there’s a tradition in another world called “searching for oneself.” The Empire is the successor to the heroes. There’s nothing wrong with Princess Liana of the Empire disguising herself and going on a journey to “find herself.” I’ll take responsibility. That settles it.”

“W-what does that even mean?”

“It means you should go to the town where your sister lives.”

Archduke Kharon grinned.

Princess Liana, by contrast, clutched her head in her hands.

What Archduke Kharon was proposing amounted to disguising herself and going to see Sophia.

It wasn’t an order.

Nor was it something Zagran had ever taught her to do.

Zagran would never have permitted such a thing.

Yet Archduke Kharon was urging her to take an action that hadn’t been dictated by her orders.

Moreover, the Archduke was now Liana’s superior. Kharon was both an archduke and a former Sword Saint, and the Emperor had treated him like a younger brother. His influence exceeded Princess Liana’s.

She couldn’t afford to displease her superior.

This, too, was part of Zagran’s teachings.

Even so, acting without explicit orders terrified her.

Liana had no idea what to do.

“…Um… What am I supposed to do…?”

“Well, this is partly simple curiosity. I want to see how a person changes,” Archduke Kharon said with a laugh.

“I want to see how someone raised according to Zagran’s teachings would react after entering a town as an ordinary girl.”

“…Huh?”

“Put yourself in the townspeople’s shoes and see how they view your sister. Then you may understand why Princess Sophia has changed.”

Liana found herself nodding at Archduke Kharon’s words.

Seeing that, Archduke Kharon clapped his hands and summoned his adjutant.

The Archduke and his female adjutant discussed the details and made arrangements for Liana’s disguise.

They also decided that the Archduke’s party would rest for several days in the next town, then began arranging accommodations.

Liana watched in a daze as one plan after another took shape.

This was the first time something like this had happened.

Zagran had taught her to consider what benefit each action would bring.

Everything Liana did was for the benefit of the Empire.

Even meeting her sister Sophia was supposed to stabilize Liana’s mental state and strengthen the bonds of the Imperial Family.

Only recently, for the first time in her life, had she begun to accept the simple desire to know her sister.

“I apologize, Your Highness.”

The Archduke’s adjutant bowed her head.

“The Archduke sometimes says things like this. Please feel free to refuse if you’re uncomfortable…”

“…No.”

Liana placed a hand over her chest.

The fear still lingered.

The thought that she might know nothing about either her sister or her mentor, Zagran, continued to churn in Liana’s mind.

Sophia might be entirely different from the person Liana had imagined, and she might reject Liana when they met.

Perhaps everything Zagran had taught her was wrong, and perhaps Liana deserved to be punished for following it.

(If that’s true… then I have to find out.)

She was scared.

Liana had always followed Zagran’s teachings.

Whenever she visited Sophia, she had probably done nothing but complain about her work without truly listening to her sister.

How must Sophia have felt as she listened?

Sophia had been frail and unable to leave the palace…

Perhaps her sister no longer wanted to see her… No. If that were true, it would be strange for Sophia to send her a letter. The fact that Sophia had written meant she cared about Liana. But perhaps she had done so only out of duty and didn’t truly care for her. If Liana went to see her, Sophia might coldly turn her away…

“…Archduke Kharon.”

“What is it?”

“Would you… come with me?”

“That would be impossible. I would attract far too much attention.”

Archduke Kharon pointed to the scar around his right eye and his poorly functioning left arm.

Those distinguishing features of the former Sword Saint were widely known.

If he accompanied her, there would be no point in disguising Liana as a village girl.

“I’ll assign my adjutant to guard you. You should go.”

“…Archduke Kharon.”

“I’m not forcing you. You may choose not to enter Noza Town and proceed directly to the magical-beast investigation.”

“……”

“However, I’ve heard rumors… My disappointing former disciple—the son of Valga Regus—entered the Demon Lord’s Domain without hesitation. He ventured into an unfamiliar land and fit in as though it were the most natural thing in the world.”

Archduke Kharon looked directly at Liana as he spoke.

“It seems there’s another remarkable person among my disappointing former disciple’s kin. I would like my companion, the brave Princess of the Holy Sword, to summon some courage as well.”

“…Understood, Archduke Kharon.”

The trembling in her body hadn’t stopped.

Having lost Zagran and been separated from Sophia, Liana felt as though she had been left naked by the roadside—helpless, anxious, and unsure where to go.

Then Archduke Kharon showed her a path forward.

If she refused, she felt she might never be able to move forward again.

“Then, Nona, please accompany me to Noza Town.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

Archduke Kharon’s aide bowed.

“When we reach the next town, I’ll help you change your appearance, Your Highness.”

“Please do.”

“Please call me Nona. We’ll say you’re a village girl under my care. As for your story… how about saying you were separated from your parents while traveling and came to town to search for them?”

The carriage stopped.

Princess Liana moved to the carriage occupied by Nona.

Some time later, the party arrived at a town south of Noza Town.

It would serve as their base for the border investigation.

Citing exhaustion from the journey, Archduke Kharon announced that the party would rest there for several days.

During that time, Princess Liana and Nona prepared for their journey north.

A few days later, they arrived at Noza Town.

“This is… Noza Town?”

Princess Liana froze as she passed through the town gate.

It was her first time entering a town as an ordinary traveler.

Normally, she traveled by carriage directly to an inn before proceeding to the magical-beast hunting grounds.

She rarely walked through a town on her own two feet.

“I heard this town stood on the northern frontier, but it’s remarkably lively.”

“No, this is strange.”

Aide Nona tilted her head.

“There are too many people. A town this close to the border shouldn’t be so crowded. I wonder whether they’ve come from nearby settlements.”

“Is that so?”

“Let us ask the townspeople. Who do you think we should approach?”

“If possible… someone close to my age.”

Princess Liana tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

She was now disguised as a village girl, with her hair dyed and restyled. She wasn’t carrying a sword, either.

Of course, even with nothing more than a stick, she could hold her own in a fight. But this was unfamiliar territory, and Nona was her only ally.

As long as she concealed her identity, no one else would come to her aid.

(…I’ve always been protected, haven’t I?)

She realized this only now.

She had been strong because she was the Princess of the Holy Sword, surrounded and protected by soldiers.

And yet, she had once managed to speak so brazenly to the Demon Lord.

She had demanded that those precious to the Demon Lord be placed in her hands as “tools”…

Liana remembered how the Demon Lord had shouted at her then.

At the time, she couldn’t have complained even if the Demon Lord had killed her.

“Your Highness? What is it?”

“It’s nothing. Let us speak with the townspeople. Could you stop someone around my age who seems approachable?”

“Understood.”

Nona called out to a pair of passersby.

They were a boy and a girl walking together.

They looked about Liana’s age. The boy was slightly taller, while the girl had bright red hair. A metal pendant hung at her chest, suggesting that she came from a well-to-do family.

Neither of them was carrying any weapons.

When Nona spoke to them, the boy’s eyes lit up with curiosity, while the girl gave a slightly troubled smile.

Good. They seemed approachable enough.

Reassured, Princess Liana waited for Nona to return.

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