Chapter 2: The Shadow Unit’s Combat Maid
“Has Her Highness departed the Royal Capital without incident?”
In a room within the Royal Castle of the Kingdom of Claydale, a major power in the southern Searth Continent, a young butler quietly responded to the question posed by the room’s master.
“Princess Elena (Your Highness) did not express any physical discomfort and left the Royal Capital today. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, she is expected to arrive at the Dandole March in two weeks as scheduled.”
“I see. Princess Elena’s (Your Highness) whims are troublesome, but once she arrives, I can leave the rest to Dandole, her grandfather.”
Margrave Belt Fa Melrose, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Claydale and the master of the room, leaned back in his chair, recalling the face of Margrave of Dandole, an old acquaintance from his student days.
The Kingdom of Claydale was originally three separate countries, and the Dandole and Melrose royal families of the north and south were left as Margraves of their respective territories.
Normally, a Margrave would be responsible for governing their region, but due to political issues at the time of unification, the heads of the two houses were traditionally appointed to important positions in the country to quell the dissatisfaction of the nobles and people of the former Dandole and Melrose domains.
Dandole was in charge of military affairs, and the successive Grand Knights Commanders were always from the Dandole family.
Melrose was in charge of internal affairs, and all successive Prime Ministers were members of the Melrose family.
More than 100 years had passed since the unification, and the resentment between the nobles of the former countries had largely faded, but it was difficult to change the tradition now, and the two Margrave families still occupied the two important positions.
Princess Elena (she) is the daughter of the Second Queen, who was a Dandole princess.
At the time, there were no suitable young ladies from the Duke families, and the Dandole princess was considered more fitting as the First Queen in terms of family status and beauty. However, the young man who was then the Crown Prince chose a Viscount’s daughter, a classmate from the Magic Academy, who was not even on the list of engagement candidates.
The Viscount’s daughter, who became the Queen Consort, successfully bore a son who would become the next Crown Prince, and the princess who became the Second Queen gave birth to Elena the following year.
At the time, the Second Queen, who had her beloved fiancé snatched away, was desperate to make at least her own child the next ruler, but her hopes were almost dashed when the child turned out to be a girl.
However, unable to give up, the Second Queen subjected Elena to an extraordinary education from a young age. As a result, Elena came to possess four Magic attributes, but she lost her physical strength, perhaps due to her excessive Mana.
All to surpass the prince born to the Queen Consort. But, ironically, it was the prince born to the Queen Consort who cared for Elena, who had become physically weak, and supported her.
The young Elena showed such strong affection for her half-brother that it didn’t seem like they were siblings, and the King, feeling that it was a bit too much, decided to distance Elena from the Crown Prince for the time being, and had Elena “recuperate” in Dandole, the Second Queen’s family home.
Currently, Clara Dandall (she), one of the engagement candidates for the current Crown Prince (he), resides in Dandole.
One might worry about bringing the First Princess, who has feelings for her brother, close to her brother’s fiancée, but Elena and Clara are cousins and have been playmates since childhood, and Elena never bares her fangs at Clara. Rather, Elena was a very calm and intelligent girl unless her brother was in front of her.
“Will Belt-sama not be heading to the location?”
“Oz… What would I, the Prime Minister, do there? Although Her Highness’s recuperation is not publicly announced, the Shadow Unit (暗部) is in charge of security for the resort, isn’t it?”
“My sister, Sera (she), is in charge, so I don’t think there will be any problems.”
The Melrose House (メルローズ家), which is in charge of internal affairs, also serves as the head of the ‘Shadow Unit (暗部),’ which gathers information from the country’s underbelly, guards important figures, and eliminates threats if necessary.
This young man called Oz is also from a family that was once a vassal of the old Melrose royal family, and is both the Prime Minister’s butler and one of the Shadow Knights (暗部の騎士).
Currently, the King only has the Crown Prince, the First Princess, and the newborn Second Prince, which is clearly few for a nation of this size, even though the King is still young.
Therefore, some upper-class noble families are secretly trying to send concubines to the King, and the Crown Prince and Elena have been targeted several times by those seeking vested interests, but they have always been quietly eliminated by the Shadow Knights (暗部の騎士) guarding them.
Belt’s eldest son is currently managing the Melrose territory as a lord representative, but Belt, who still holds multiple positions, glared at Oz as if to ask if he intended to increase his workload further.
Because he is a noble with a lot of Mana, Belt still looks like he is in his early forties, but his actual age has already reached his late fifties.
Belt wants to retire and live a life of leisure, traveling with his wife, the Queen Mother, just like the former King, who has already abdicated the throne to the current King, or the head of Dandole, who has passed on the position of Grand Knight Commander to his son and is surrounded by grandchildren in his territory, but those around him are not willing to allow it.
(Grandchildren… huh?)
“However, there is also a report that the young lady was found in the Horace Barony…”
Belt’s eyebrow twitched slightly at Oz’s words, which had briefly diverted his thoughts.
Belt had two sons and one daughter. He doted on her, his youngest child and first daughter, and she was even a candidate to be the current King’s fiancée.
However, his daughter had secretly fallen in love with a knight apprentice.
Belt, not wanting his daughter to suffer, could not approve of their relationship, and his daughter, troubled, ran away with the knight apprentice ten years ago.
Rumor had it that his daughter and the young knight apprentice had drifted to the north, and when their whereabouts were discovered, his daughter and the young man, who had taken a job as a soldier in that land, had been caught up in a massive Monster outbreak that struck the town and died.
But in the meantime, they had a daughter, their only child.
A daughter named ‘Alicia (she),’ named after the ‘Moon Rose (月の薔薇),’ the alias of the old Melrose royal family crest.
It was thought that she had also died in the Monster attack, but Belt, unable to give up, had been investigating, and a report came in that a corresponding girl had been found in an Orphanage in a small town in the Horace Barony.
But —
“…I heard about that from my men. But her hair color is not similar to my daughter’s, but a reddish blonde, and her eye color is a blue that is close to black. According to those who have seen her, her features do not resemble my daughter’s either.”
“But could that not be due to the influence of the blood of the knight apprentice, the father of that young lady?”
“…All the women in my family line have peach-colored blonde hair, the same as the ‘Moon Rose (月の薔薇).’ Not only my daughter, but also my sister and two aunts were like that. Why is it that only the found daughter is different?”
All the direct female descendants of the old Melrose royal family have peach-colored blonde hair. But, strangely enough, it seems that once they leave the Melrose House and are no longer considered direct descendants, that characteristic disappears in a few generations.
However, Belt’s daughter ran away, but she was still registered in the Melrose House. Therefore, Alicia (she), born outside, is also a ‘Princess (王女)’ of the Melrose family.
The girl who was found calls herself ‘Alicia (she)’ and says that her deceased mother was the daughter of a noble from the south.
That testimony alone is not proof that she is Belt’s granddaughter, but it would certainly be rash to conclude that she is not just because of her hair color.
“As for that girl, send a member of the Shadow Unit (暗部) to that Orphanage as an administrator and have them observe for several years to see if there are any inconsistencies in her testimony. If it turns out that her words are true…”
“Will you take her into the Melrose House (メルローズ家)?”
“…No, I will send her to another family until she comes of age. Let’s see… perhaps Viscount Mercis of the branch family would be good. He is average in talent, but I can trust his character.”
“That person, who manages the Melrose House’s (メルローズ家) directly controlled territory, would be suitable. So, what will Belt-sama do?”
Belt frowned at Oz’s words, whom he had known since he was born. Oz also knew Belt’s personality well.
“…If I remember correctly, Hoss (he), who has retired, knew my daughter’s face, didn’t he?”
“Yes, my siblings and I have no acquaintance with her, but my grandfather, who worked as a butler at the mansion, would certainly not be mistaken.”
“Then, send Hoss (he) to the location as the administrator of the Orphanage. Have him go ahead and confirm the girl’s face, then send him to Dandole. I will hear the report directly there.”
Margrave of Dandole. A high-ranking noble in the northern Kingdom of Claydale, with over forty noble families under his wing.
A Margrave is nominally a Count, but their rank is equivalent to a Marquis. Especially in the case of the two Margrave families in Claydale, Viro says they possess wealth and political power exceeding even a Duke’s house.
It doesn’t seem like that great noble is the client, but rather a noble who has rented a resort in that area.
The city where the Margrave lived was a large city with over a hundred thousand inhabitants, but we only stopped there to report at the Adventurer’s Guild. Without even staying a night, we headed south towards the resort, glancing at the stone-built streets and the massive castle-like fortress in the distance.
…I wanted to see that castle a little.
After walking for about a full day from Dandole’s capital, a lake became visible through the gaps in the forest. As we went around the rather large lake, a small castle stood on its shore.
Of course, “small” only meant compared to Dandole Castle, as it was still quite large. I thought that was our destination, but Viro didn’t head there. Instead, he knocked on the gate of a three-story white mansion next to it.
“I’m Viro of the ‘Rainbow Sword,’ here on a request from the Adventurer’s Guild. I’d like to speak with Castro, the butler.”
Rainbow Sword…? I guess that’s the name Viro is known by among adventurers, or perhaps the name of the adventurer party he belongs to?
“Rainbow Sword… Understood. Please wait while I confirm.”
One of the gatekeepers looked a little surprised and headed towards the mansion.
But I felt that the surprise was directed more towards the name than towards “Viro,” so I figured that name was probably of a fairly famous adventurer party.
After a while, a tall, thin butler with a slightly sinister face, around thirty years old, came with the gatekeeper from the mansion.
“Yo, Castro. How’s it hanging?”
“Viro, you’re late.”
The sinister-looking butler—Castro—didn’t seem to mind Viro’s casual greeting and turned his gaze to me, who was behind Viro.
“So, this is the one. Smaller than I expected… Is she even useful?”
“I’ve taught her the bare minimum. Besides, you shouldn’t lump her in with any ordinary kid.”
Castro frowned slightly at Viro’s grin.
“For you to say that… Viro, you should go and show your face to Sera-sama. Kid, you come with me.”
With that, Castro started walking towards the mansion. When I looked at Viro, he shrugged and gave a wry smile.
“He has a sinister face and isn’t very friendly, but rest assured, he’s just a serious guy who’s inflexible. For now, we’ll part ways here. Get your instructions from him.”
“…Understood.”
From here on, I’ll be separated from Viro and on my own. Still, Viro should be working security in this place, so there will be opportunities to meet again.
For now, I followed Castro, who had gone ahead, towards the mansion. Just from his back and the way he walked, I could tell he was quite capable.
[Castro] [Race: Human Male]
[Mana Capacity: 125/130] [HP: 260/260]
[Overall Combat Strength: 355]
But not as much as Viro… He’s dressed as a butler, but he’s probably a Rank 3 scout. If he used Body Enhancement, it would exceed 400. I felt that if I fought him now, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Tch!”
The moment I caught up to Castro, something was released from Castro without any preliminary movement, and I dodged it as if jumping away, being on guard.
An extremely thin Knife was stuck in the ground where I had dodged. As I caught sight of it for a moment and reached for the Knife at my waist while lowering my stance, the faint Killing Intent that had been leaking from Castro disappeared.
“Hoh… Viro’s jest wasn’t entirely false, it seems.”
“…What’s the meaning of this?”
Was he testing me? However, it probably wasn’t serious, but if he was doing this kind of test, an ordinary child wouldn’t have gotten away with just an injury.
“If you were injured by that, I would have used it as a reason to dismiss you. As Sera-sama said, there may be situations where having a child minder would be useful. Since Viro brought you, I will hire you, but let me tell you one thing.”
Castro slowly turned around and glared down at me.
“I don’t trust people from the Slums like you.”
Next time, what will be Aria’s job after taking on her first mission?
Map updated. Added upper nobles of Count and above.