Daren and Pidrin were stunned. Drop dead? In twenty hours? Why so specific? The boy added.
"Assuming I don't keep healing you. So don't even dream of abandoning us here and running, or killing us."
"Wh, what the. What bullshit is this? I'm going to die? Me?"
"Bullshit, you say? That's rough talk for someone who'll die tomorrow. If you don't believe it, go ahead and wait. You can find out firsthand what happens after twenty hours."
"Ha, hahaha! Pidrin, this little bastard will say anything, right? This works out, sell them both off! Then it's double the price! Pidrin, huh? Right? Pidrin? ......Pidrin?"
Daren laughed shrilly, but Pidrin was still stiff. With nobody joining in, the laugh slowly faded.
Pidrin and the boy glared at each other for a long while. After she'd tried to see through any lie, bluff or other trickery, a grinding 'crunch' came from between her teeth.
"......What do you want, you bastards?"
"We need an adult on the way to Tintagel. Be our guardians. Then after we've been to Tintagel, we'll let you go in this forest. I promise to lift the magic on the man too."
"What if we don't agree?"
"Then that man just dies in twenty hours. Wouldn't it be wise not to do something where both sides only lose?"
"Pidrin! Ignore him, we don't have to follow that crazy wretch's orders! Just knock him out, and let's get out of here right now!"
"Shut up, Daren! I'm thinking too!"
Pidrin yelled. Her head felt ready to burst. She'd hoped there'd be bluff in the boy's words or attitude, but unfortunately there was no sign of such a thing.
Why is he acting like there's plenty of room to negotiate? Is he really just a kid? Why is a guy who's barely grown up to my chest this calm?
If she had her way, she'd have denied the boy's words too. But hadn't Daren said so with his own mouth? That he'd swallowed something. If it really was a wicked object, and if she ignored it and Daren died.
Seconds like an eternity passed in silence. Pidrin finally chewed out the words.
"The moment I find out it's a lie, I'll pull out you wretches' guts with my own hands."
"That's great. That day won't come anyway. My name's Albion, and that one's......"
"I am Erma—"
"Eli. Call him Eli. That's enough. Let's go, Eli."
"Huh? Y, yeah, okay."
Albion turned away without a moment's hesitation. Erman hurried after Albion, though he glanced back at Daren and Pidrin.
Daren, still painfully rubbing his throat, muttered.
"Are you sane, Pidrin? You want us to clean up after that brat?"
"There's no way out right now. But if even one thing that cocky wretch said is wrong."
Pidrin's gray eyes flashed in the darkening forest.
"I'll really cut his belly open."
***
"Albion, those people are our guardians. But is it okay to treat them like this?"
"That's just in name. They can't be people we really rely on. You saw it too, they approached us from the start to sell us off."
"That's true, but. I feel a little sorry for them."
Erman stole a glance behind him.
We'd gone into the beech forest as two, and come out as four.
Me, Erman, plus Daren and Pidrin, forced to be our guardians. Two wards and two adults. Thankfully a good combination.
Pidrin's blazing gaze stung the back of my head, but I ignored it and admonished Erman.
"You can't really rely on them. Got it? They're just something like identity guarantors so we can get to Tintagel without raising suspicion. So keep some distance when it's just us."
"Yeah. Got it."
"And hide your real name as much as you can. If they hear your name, they might catch on to who you are. If that happens they'll report you right away, and you'll get dragged to the royal castle."
"I'll be careful about that from now on too. Like you said, I just say my name's 'Eli,' right?"
"Right. Good, you catch on quick."
What I'd realized while roping in Pidrin and Daren this time was that I definitely tended to go soft on kids. Or maybe it was because Erman was far smarter and more admirable than those two idiots dragged along by children.
Now, with guardians secured, all we had to do was go on to Tintagel like this. Thinking that, I looked back. Daren, who'd been clutching his belly, flinched.
"Wh, what?"
"It's getting dark soon. We need to find a place to sleep."
"Can't you just lie down on the ground and sleep?!"
"What? I don't want that."
My pain sensitivity was extremely low, but Erman's obviously wasn't. Besides, pain and the displeasure of getting dew on you are totally different.
Did I come here to play a game, or to go camping out?
"Find us somewhere to sleep."
"Why should we—"
"You should, of course. We're children, you know? Isn't this the kind of thing a guardian is supposed to do? Or are you going to stand around blankly while we struggle to find an inn, do nothing, and then crawl in? You've got no conscience at all."
Daren and Pidrin, at a loss for words, only looked at me. I looked at the two blankly too. The end of the wordless battle of wills was, naturally, Pidrin and Daren's defeat.
Pidrin snapped irritably.
"So the 'place to sleep' you're thinking of is an inn? Yeah, perfect for young masters from a fine family out for fun. But do you have money?"
"Money?"
"Yeah, money! Money for sleeping, eating and getting to Tintagel! Gold, silver, copper! Without that, inn or whatever, you'd better count yourself lucky to sleep on a bed of leaves in the forest, you know?"
Ah. I didn't think of that.
Until now, I hadn't eaten any food in the game. I didn't even feel hungry, so there was no need to eat. Is it because the electrode pads can't reproduce taste? Or some practical reason?
I rummaged through my pockets for nothing, but naturally not a single coin came out. Seeing Erman just watching me, it seemed he hadn't thought that far either.
Okay. No choice, then.
"I see. Then do you happen to have some money?"
"Huh?"
"You got money? We don't have any right now. I'll pay you back with interest after we've been to Tintagel. So cover things like lodging and meals for us."
"Huh-huh?"
"Could you also get clothes for us? What we're wearing now is uncomfortable and stands out, so I want to change into something ordinary."
"Hold on. Hold on, hold on."
"Ah, I forgot this. And if you've got a block of wood good for carving and a carving knife, that'd be even better. I need them for casting magic."
"You think we have all that money?!"
"You don't? Ah."
Right. I'd forgotten these guys were robbers. I scratched around my eyebrow and asked again.
"Then how much do you have? Take out all of it. Only then can we spend it frugally on the trip or not, can't we?"
Daren was completely dazed. Pidrin, flushed up to her forehead, was clenching her fists, but what's that to me?
If you're going to keep robbing, pick your people carefully from now on. Mere AI NPCs.
***
"The Prince has vanished?"
"Y, yes. Your Highness, the attendants are out searching, but within the royal castle it seems......"
The Queen's lady-in-waiting conveyed the message and bowed her head low. It wasn't her fault, but when the Queen was in a bad mood, those who saw blood were always the ladies-in-waiting and attendants nearby.
The Prince, leaving the castle.
A combination of words never heard until now. Prince Erman had never caused any trouble worth mentioning. He'd received a prince's rank beyond his station as the king's illegitimate child to begin with, so of course he ought to be that way.
So why had he suddenly disappeared? Belated rebellion? Unable to bear the subtle hostility of the court folk and the Queen?
The lady-in-waiting thought Queen Cadwin would break something at least. Or take out her anger by seizing the attendant in charge of the Prince's quarters and having him flogged.
But unexpectedly, Queen Cadwin was sitting before the mirror, closely watching the emerald earrings the head lady-in-waiting behind her was fastening on. The jewels sparkling with every turn of her head were especially lavish.
"Enough."
"Yes?"
"Did I not say enough? Did the Prince not say he did not wish to be in the castle? Adding comment to the words and deeds of a grown child is all very well once or twice."
"But Your Highness the Queen, His Majesty......"
"His Majesty King Calhog is busy building walls again. If we cover it up properly, won't he pass it by without knowing? He is a man of many affairs and has seldom looked for the Prince anyway."
"Then shall we stop forming a company of knights for the pursuit?"
"A company of knights."
Having finally placed a small crown-like ornament on her head, she looked into the mirror, satisfied.
It simply did not look like the face of a person who cared about the Prince's wellbeing.
"The Prince is young, so won't he be greatly startled if knights chase after him? Send only two or so, suitably. Only very suitable ones."
"Yes, I will do so."
Suitable ones.
Those the Queen spoke of were surely knights who did their jobs half-heartedly. People who wouldn't bother getting heated over finding the Prince, who'd only collect a few rumors and come back with a troubled face to say, 'It seems the Prince has gone too far away.'
The Prince had come to the castle only 5 years ago by the count, but what were the odds that a child already used to court life would survive outside?
The Queen, as her tastes dictated, treated Erman sometimes as a young child, and sometimes as an independent person who could state his own will.
But the lady-in-waiting had no resolve to add words and cross the Queen's mood, so she just took the hem of her skirt, bowed at the waist and backed away.
As she left the Queen's bedchamber and caught her breath, a thumping sound began from the far end of the corridor. And even the voice of someone protesting.
"......sir, if you put it that way!"
"These are Her Highness the Queen's quarters. Shut your mouth!"
General Eghon.
He browbeat the young knight at his side and came straight over to the lady-in-waiting.
"What did Her Highness the Queen say?"
"She ordered a party formed for the Prince's pursuit. The Queen was greatly worried too and has only just calmed down, so I'm afraid you cannot have an audience directly, General."
"How many? Will she grant a company of knights?"
"If the rumor grows, it becomes a scandal, so only two or so."
Eghon groaned in displeasure.
The first to notice Prince Erman's absence, and the one who'd hounded the attendants of the Prince's area like catching rats, were both Eghon.
He had no reason to stand by as his diligent pupil went missing, and going a step further, he could not abandon his duty to protect the royalty of Loegria.
And yet the Queen would assign a mere two or so to the pursuit? When no one knew when the Prince left the castle or where he'd headed?
In his heart he wanted to leave the castle himself. But then things would get overly complicated. Besides, ignorant as Eghon was of royal castle rumors, he dimly sensed how the Prince was usually treated.
"Very well. I shall form the knights."
"You will form them yourself, General?"
"Command of all knights and soldiers within the royal castle of Loegria is mine."
Having said that, Eghon barked at the young knight.
"You go."
"What? Commander, me? I'm not even your squire, Commander! Do I have to go just because you order me to scram?"
"You'll say anything in front of Her Highness the Queen's lady-in-waiting!"
Eghon's fist came down on the knight's head with a BANG. It made a sound that made even the lady-in-waiting flinch, but the knight gritted his teeth and bore it admirably.
"Commander......!"
"You mean to abandon your duty as a knight of Loegria?! Get your heavy butt up and run this instant! Or I'll break your legs and have you stuck in the infirmary for three months!"
"Damn it, Father! You can't say that!"
"I've told you until your ears bled not to call me Father in public!"
BANG, once more.
Head in his arms, eyes brimming, the knight screeched.
"Fine, fine! I'll go find the Prince, won't that do?! Do as you like, Father, sending talent like me outside the castle at a time when the barbarians might invade any moment! You'll regret this someday!"
"Estan!"
"Not Estan, it's 'Sir Estan,' Com-man-der!"
Estan stamped off down the corridor and vanished. Around the time Eghon was pounding his chest and lamenting when he'd ever educate that half-witted son of his.
Erman, already past Puil, was gazing helplessly at Daren rolling around in the middle of the road clutching his belly.