1
Grelden, of the principality of Luctretz. Population: eight thousand.
The town's orderly spaced houses were built of tough, gray bricks, with high, sharply slanted roofs and upwards arching little windows. Paved and tidy, the streets were wide enough for two carriage lanes, and enough space left over for the pedestrians. Grelden's layout had a militaristic sort of straightforwardness to it, which Yuliana attributed to the town's history as an army encampment.
There were no border patrols, fences, or checkpoints to keep the pair of women crossing over from one kingdom to the next.
The mountains themselves formed a natural borderline, the princess explained, and the limits weren't that strictly drawn or controlled, seeing as Langoria and Luctretz had always been on friendly terms with one another. As a matter of fact, they had been one not too long ago in the past. The split had occurred more out of practical reasons than due to any political or personal feuds. Effectively ruling over such vast lands was unfeasible for a single, distant government, and so a local ruler was appointed to reign over the autonomous Luctretz, with the title of Prince. Even after Luctretz started to consider itself a sovereign state instead of a mere vassal, no reason was ever deemed for restricting the passage of travelers between the nations.
That's so laid back compared to how things are back home, Izumi thought.
From their conversations on the way, she had learned this world really was every bit a medieval fantasy land. No electricity. No phones. Not even telegraphs. People might use birds to send confidential messages, at times magical gadgets, or couriers.
Izumi shuddered to think of the time when having no more access to modern technological appliances would hit her. She didn't even have her phone to amaze the locals with. No, it was better not to think about such things, forget they ever existed. Deliberately reminding herself that she would never have online access again was only asking for a mental breakdown.
The town guards at the western gate eyed the pair a bit suspiciously—mostly Izumi because of the attention-grabbing sword she carried—but let them through after a few basic questions that Yuliana convincingly answered.
Could they tell who she was?
The face of Langoria's knight princess was not unknown to the people of the neighboring land, of course. Yuliana had made several visits to Luctretz in the past, to Grelden too. Although those occasions had usually proceeded in the safety of royal carriages and knight escorts, and she hadn't associated with the common people much.
Even had the guards recognized her, they clearly didn't know she was wanted yet.
As royalty, Yuliana did expect to enjoy a level of diplomatic immunity. It was unlikely anyone would directly raise arms against her in Luctretz, but if a formal request for her extradition was made, the local authorities were likely to comply without question.
However, the word had to first travel from the two knight survivors back to the nearest garrison, from there to the capital of Langoria, and from there again to the prince of Luctretz, before the formal authorization for her arrest could be sent to Grelden.
By the time the orders reached the local guard, Yuliana would be long gone.
Maybe I can rest easy, at least for tonight.
“By the way, Yule,” Izumi suddenly said, as they walked down a street, looking for a place to spend the night, “do you happen to know where the adventurers' guild is?”
“Ah, excuse me? Where is what?” Yuliana absentmindedly returned.
“The adventurers' guild,” the woman repeated. “There's got to be one in here, right? You know, the place where you go to register and receive quests and rewards and upgrade your rank, and so on. I've been looking around, but can't see a place that looks like one...”
“I-I'm sorry, but there is no such a guild, to my knowledge...” Yuliana forced a polite smile.
“T-there isn't…?” Izumi stopped, shocked by the news. In Yuliana's opinion, the reaction was heavily exaggerated. “W-what should I do then? Where am I now going to get my adventurer's license? What about all those ranks and plates? Copper, iron, silver, obsidian, mythril—you know, that thing I can flash around, which makes all the bystanders go, 'oh, she must've hit the level cap by now, to have that!' How am I going to build my legend, if I have nothing to show for it? Isn't this bad!?”
“Ahaha...” the princess's smile became further strained.
There she goes again, with her foreigner talk.
“I don't know about ranks or plates,” she said, “but if you are looking for work as a free lance, you could start with the town's notice board. That's where the citizens usually put up any urgent messages regarding whatever they need help with. Not that everyone bothers with that. The vast majority of job openings don't get listed anywhere, you have to simply ask around and—”
“Ooh, let's check it out right away!” Izumi's excitement returned.
“What? W-what about the inn? Weren't you hungry!?”
“I'll bear with it! Let's go!”
Yuliana didn't know where the notice board of Grelden was, but since they were generally positioned near town squares or marketplaces where a lot of people gathered each day, that was her first choice.
Her guess wasn't mistaken either.
In the southeast corner of the central square, near the middle of the town—empty of sales booths at this time of the night—stood a wide wooden board on two legs, with numerous little paper notes nailed on its worn-out surface. Since there was a little roof, the posters were mostly spared from the awful weather. At least those nailed closer to the top.
Izumi looked closer at them.
“Ooh, this is just the thing! Let's see, let's see—Aah, I can't read any of this!”
“Oh, right. I didn't think of that,” Yuliana next to her remarked. “Since we can understand each other's speech, I naturally assumed you could read as well. Isn't that troubling? I suppose you're going to have to learn to read first, if you plan to stay.”
“You say, plan to stay,” the woman lamented, “but there's no way for me to go back home even if I wanted to, is there? I mean, there never is. That's just the way it goes with these stories.”
“I wonder about that,” the princess replied. “If people can be brought this way, why couldn't there be a way to reverse the process? Want to give it a try? I can call my Lord again the first thing in the morning.”
“So you can have the sword back and resume your silly gender-bender quest? No, thank you, I only asked for future reference. I don't have any plans of going back for the time being.”
“So you're going to have to hit the books then.”
Izumi wasn't listening.
“You don't suppose there's a mysterious elixir, or a magic spell, that would let one learn languages in an instant, like 'ba-baam'!”
“As if something so convenient would exist!” Yuliana retorted. “There'd be no need for schools then, would there?”
“It's not fair! I'm already too old to study! It's boring! It's a pain! Why is it that this Divine spirit or whatnot can kidnap people from other worlds, yet can't even share the essentials? Heeey, Ai-chan? You're in there, right? You're listening, aren't you? Teach me how to read, pleaaase!”
“Stop wailing in my ear!” Yuliana pushed the woman away from her. “And I told you, my Lord is powerless when it's in the middle of the night!”
“As expected of the no-good knock-off god.”
“Really, what is it!? What do you have against my Lord!? I told you to stop that!”
Izumi returned to face the notice board.
“So, Yule, will you tell me what all these say?”
“Forget it,” the princess turned to leave. “There are dozens of them and I'm famished myself. Let's find an inn and call it a day. Come on. We can come back in the morning.”
“As expected of the no-good vessel of the no-good knock-off god...”
“You sure carry a grudge! Has anybody ever said you have a hideous personality?”
After a lot of further arguing in the rainy night, the pair finally found their way to a tavern along the town square, a short distance away from the notice board.
By the looks of it, it was above average in quality, which was bound to be reflected in the pricing. They probably could have found a cheaper place from a more secluded part of the town, but were too tired to keep looking.
Yuliana could have raised more funds from the royal accounts at the nearest bank...in theory. But the idea of leeching off of the wealth of the family she had betrayed violated her honor. She preferred to get by with only the contents of her own purse, if possible.
Having never traveled on her own, Yuliana had no idea how much a night at an inn cost on the average. In this regard, she was no different from the woman from the other world. She had fifty pieces of silver, no more had fit in her purse, and she had been in a hurry. It was likely that any inn would let her stay on credit if only she told them who she really was, but that would have been no different from holding a parade in town. The word would have spread everywhere before daybreak.
I'm a fugitive now. An outcast, not a princess. Better start living like one.
“While we're here,” she told Izumi at the doorstep, “I'd like you to keep calling me by the name you have so far.”
“Eh? Yule's name is not Yule?” the woman responded.
“Don't tell me you forgot already...? Aah, I was a fool to expect any different from you. You have no respect for the Divines, why would you show any for royalty?”
“Don't say that. I do respect those I think are worth it.”
“So I have not yet earned your respect, is that it?” Yuliana smiled wryly.
It was true that in the eyes of this mysterious person, her strength was too feeble to be acknowledged. Her conduct so far had felt childish even to herself.
“Um, that's not really what I meant,” Izumi unexpectedly denied. “Royalty or not, Yule’s a friend, and you don’t need to act so stiff with friends. I didn't think there was anything disrespectful about that. Rather, isn't a pet name nicer than any cold, long-winded title?”
“A friend…?” Yuliana repeated, surprised.
That word was so foreign to her, the girl had to spend a moment to recall its meaning. She’d had servants and subordinates, companions, comrades, superiors, teachers, masters, lords, squires, caretakers, and whatnot, even a fiancé—but never anyone to call a friend. This was the first time anyone had used that word in her presence, for her, no less. Realizing that, Yuliana was momentarily overtaken by emotion. Surely because of the fatigue, no?
“I dragged you into this, and yet you would—”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Yeeeeeah, let's not go that way,” Izumi cut her off, waving her hand dismissively. “Friendship isn't that big of a deal, you know. It doesn't mean I'm going to marry you, so why don't you stop it with the puppy eyes and we go in?”
“Oh. Ahem, right...” Yuliana cleared her throat and tightened her lips.
As I thought, this person is crude to the bone.
2
They—or Yuliana, mostly—successfully rented a room at the tavern.
The Tales, it was called. Though it was her first time doing so, the business went smoother than expected. A room for the two of them had only cost four silver marks, including supper, breakfast, and hot water. The manager behind the front counter, a jovial, large and balding man in his mid-fifties, didn't seem to mind their strange outfits or the huge sword carried by a woman who looked like an innkeeper herself. They had wrapped the Amygla in Izumi's apron, but the cloth was nowhere near large enough to fully conceal the blade. Yuliana had worn a cloak over her royal armor when she had set off on her journey, but had ended up discarding it along the way in a fruitless effort to distract her pursuers. She knew wearing something so flashy had been a mistake, if the point was to travel incognito. But regardless of the looks, the orichalcum armor was no doubt a necessity for challenging the Trophaeum, due to its superior-to-steel protection.
Fortunately, taverns saw all kinds of colorful travelers and their even more colorful gear and their host wasn't that easily disturbed. It wasn't that uncommon for mercenaries and adventurers to wander around with their weapons bare, in case they were too large to be sheathed.
Still, we had better shop for some less conspicuous clothing tomorrow, Yuliana noted to herself.
It wouldn't take a very keen eye to connect her looks and the armor's engravings to the royal house of Langoria, and questions would be asked why a princess was sneaking around without a retinue. The possibility of her father dispatching another unit to take her back outside the official channels couldn't be disregarded either, and leaving a clear trail of rumors for the pursuers to follow was unwise.
Going through these endless paranoid thoughts, Yuliana tiredly bit her lip.
There were too many things to consider, too many mistakes to watch out for.
And the undeniable truth was that having to deal with Izumi on top of everything else was slowing her down a great deal.
“Why did you only rent one room?” the so-called champion from another world asked, having finished her supper. They ate in the dining area on the tavern's spacious ground floor, and unlike Yuliana, Izumi had regained her good humor as soon as her stomach was filled. “Stingy. Stingy princess.”
“As if I can let you out of my sight for one moment and have you disappear Divines know where with my sword!” the knight princess angrily retorted. “You know virtually nothing about life here and it's only a matter of time before you get yourself into trouble. Until you return my sword, we're sticking together, day and night, you hear me? And I thought I told you not to call me a princess here...!”
Luckily, it was late and there weren't too many other travelers spending time at the tavern on a weekday night.
Those few who sat further away were too occupied with their private business to pay attention to the pair of women. Or, so they acted. Having grown up in the middle of the gossip and treachery of the royal court, Yuliana knew better than well that walls themselves had ears.
“It couldn't be, you're into older women?” Izumi asked with a pretentiously dramatic gasp. “You said you wanted to be a guy, does that mean you swing the other way too? I'm sorry, even if we share the room, even if we share the bed, no steamy events are going to happen. No way. Absolutely not. Please accept it.”
“Why you…!” Prideful as she was, Yuliana was about to give in to her anger again. Minding the situation, she managed to calm herself with sheer willpower. Even her mood had been lifted somewhat by the meal.
“I know,” she sighed. “I know what you're trying to do. And you're not getting rid of me so easily.”
“But, but,” the woman bemoaned without denying the suspicion, “you're going to try to steal this thing back the first chance you get, right? I don't wanna sleep all night with one eye open! I'm going to get wrinkles, more wrinkles, and ugly bags under my eyes. Don't wanna! Gosh!”
“So you admit you stole it! Still, your worries are completely ungrounded. I'm not going to do anything as underhanded as that.”
“But you already stole it once yourself,” Izumi retorted. “From your dad's treasury to boot. Was that not underhanded, or what?”
“Shhh! Keep your voice down, you idiot! Don't talk about that here!”
Yuliana was certain their talk carried everywhere in the room, but nobody even spared them a glance. A suspicious observation on its own.
“I finally got into another world and then must party with a cheapskate princess and a worthless goddess? There's no end to my bad luck, is there…?” Izumi continued to complain, as though the other customers were no different from tables and chairs to her. “Where are those pretty-boy sword heroes, charming, reliable princes, and wise, battle-hardened mercenaries? This party can't even be called a party with just the two of us.”
“That's my line!” Yuliana sighed again. “I was given a literal once-in-a-thousand-years miracle, and all I got was you? Who are you to talk about bad luck? It's so terrible, I want to cry.”
“Who are you calling terrible! If you don't like this co-op mode, then give me my own room and you won't have to see me again.”
“So you did plan to sneak away before daybreak...Why don't you cough up the coin to rent a room for yourself then, o' champion? Ah, yes, you can't even read the menu.”
“Can you promise me you will keep your hands to your side of the bed?”
“I shall sleep on the floor if that's what matters!”
“Are you guilt-tripping me now? Just so you know, I'm immune to that. I'm perfectly shameless.”
“Don't say that about yourself! Though you look the way you do on the outside, could it be that you're actually only eight years old? Maybe your people age faster than we do? Or their minds mature slower?”
“Please leave my age out of this. Hits under the belt aren't very princess-y.”
“I wasn't knighted just for show, you know. I had to deal with crude idiots on a daily basis, so you're not going to banter your way past me. How am I your 'friend', anyway? Is this how you treat all your friends? I thought there was more respect and equality to true friendship than what you are giving me.”
“No, I don't sleep with my friends. If anything, we're already at second base, aren't we? Kyaa~! I'm so gonna tweet about this—oh yeah, I don't have my phone...”
“No, really, were you a sailor or a farmhand in your past life...?”
——“Excuse me.”
At that moment, the pair's odd exchange was interrupted by the voice of a third person.
Yuliana hadn't noticed when, but a girl around her age had suddenly appeared beside her and was addressing the two of them. Judging by the simple brown, many times patched dress, and the filthy gray rag tied around the waist as an apron, the girl was a worker at the tavern. The owner's daughter, perhaps?
Although her presence received a quick and natural explanation this way, there was something about the maid that made Yuliana instinctively put up her guard.
Coal-black, curly hair reached the servant's shoulders, loosely tied back to keep from getting in the way. A pair of large, dark-brown eyes respectfully evaded contact but looked a tad too intelligent for a simple small town maid. Her skin was distinctly tanned, speaking of weeks if not years spent outdoors rather than mopping floors. Perhaps she was a recent, temporary hire, after all? A traveler or a refugee, who had run out of money while on the road?
“Was the supper to your liking?” the maid asked.
“Ah, yes. It was delicious, thank you,” Yuliana politely responded, in line with her deep-ingrained manners.
“It was so-so,” Izumi commented without reservation. “There was too much salt, the potatoes were overcooked, the meat tasteless, and there were too many onions, onions upset my stomach and—”
“She enjoyed it. See, the plate's empty,” the princess finished for her.
“I'm glad then,” the maid said with a smile that failed to reach her eyes. “If you're ready, I will take you to your rooms now.”
Following the servant, they went upstairs, to the second floor, where their room was along a long hallway pointing westward.
It was a standard room. Stripped and plain by Yuliana's royal standards, extravagant by Izumi's, who had lived in a simple single-room apartment. There was no need to argue over the bed, seeing as it was meant for two and wide enough for even a more bashful pairing, with a brown-red blanket for cover. There was also a little window in the back, with a view down to a narrow alley between the tavern and the neighboring building.
Although there was no fireplace, the room was warm. Feeling the floor beneath her feet, Izumi concluded the tavern had to have had some sort of central heating system. The town had a basic sewer system as well, shown by the manhole lids on the streets, and basic but functional water closets. Though they had no electricity or running water, the people of this land were still moderately developed. Somewhere between the seventeenth and eighteenth century Europeans, perhaps.
“A bath has been reserved for you downstairs and is ready for use, whenever you wish for it,” the maid said. “Just let me know when and I will take you—”
“—Yes, yes! I'll go!” Izumi immediately chirped. “Right away! Please lead the way, um...What's your name again, sweetie?”
“I—I'm Riswelze,” the girl answered, surprised by the woman's excessive familiarity. She clearly hadn't expected the question and appeared to regret how impulsively she had answered.
Of course, Yuliana thought wryly. Nobody else here would care about the name of a simple maid.
“Ri...Ri...Ri...” Izumi repeated with a frown, as if her brain had trouble comprehending what her ears had just heard, until a wide smile suddenly brightened up her face. “Rise, it is!”
“Excuse me?” The maid named Riswelze raised her brows, her confusion deepening.
“Pay her no mind, please,” Yuliana shrugged and advised. “My companion is a bit of an oddball, but means no harm by it.”
“Right,” the girl slowly nodded. “And milady…?”
“Ah, I shall take my turn later, if that is all right. I still need to take off and clean my armor.”
“If that's all, I can have someone assist you with it—”
“Thank you, but I require no aid,” the princess sharply interrupted.
Royalty or not, it was each knight's responsibility to maintain their own equipment. After all, how could one be expected to protect a country, if such simple and basic everyday tasks were beyond her? Realizing how odd it was to still cling to her old instructor's words after becoming a traitor to her land, Yuliana turned away with a bitter smile.
“You may go.”
“...Very well. Then this way, if you please, madam.”
The servant exited the room, Izumi in her wake, and for the first time in several hours, Yuliana was left in peace and quiet. Exhaling in relief, she began to unstrap her gauntlets.
“I can't see it. I can't see it at all...” she mumbled, looking at the rain-patterned window. She had been through so much trouble over the past days, made so many bold resolutions, yet her goal stood unbearably far away. “How did it get like this...?”
Not even I could have predicted such an outcome, the voice within her responded.
“How and in what manner of a world is that person a 'champion', anyway? She's violent and rude and arrogant, has no manners, no honor, no respect whatsoever. Takes nothing seriously. She's completely ignorant about everything, about other people's feelings, yet won't even bother to try and understand. I've never met anyone as irresponsible and reckless in my life!”
And yet, you already rather like her, don't you? Aiwesh's voice sounded amused.
Yuliana grimaced.
“And what ever gave you such an absurd impression, my Lord? As nothing could be further from the truth.”
Your warmth did.
“Eh...?”
Being within you, I can tell well enough. For a long, long time, you have distanced yourself from others. You have filled your thoughts with the greater good of your people, half because that is how you have been raised, and half in order to escape the cold you feel inside. But in only a few hours, your heart has turned this warm. Perhaps this was a necessary event, after all. True strength does not come from wanting to strive for others' sake because it is right and proper. It comes from knowing that you want to, because of who they are. Unless you take that lesson to heart, you will never reach the Tower, much less conquer it.
Yuliana removed her chestplate, set it upright against the wall, removed her boots and then laid on her back on the bed. She spared no thought to its lulling softness. Her mind was elsewhere.
“True strength…? Is that the difference between her and I?”
What made Izumi so powerful?
Why did she show no fear, even before death?
What did she fight for? For Yuliana, it was a mystery.
The princess could see clearly enough that her own heart was filled with anxiety. Worry over her country's future. Worry over the well-being of her parents. Worry over the success of her mission. Worry over the fate of the world. And sheer dread over the possibility that she would end up a disappointment, a disgrace, a failure, and die a miserable death in some foreign land, unable to achieve anything.
So much depended on her, yet she was so hopelessly weak.
The woman had it worse. Yet, she only played around like a child.
It should have been the other way round.
Izumi should have been the one depending on Yuliana for protection, scared out of her wits. Yet, from the moment of their first meeting, she had appeared to the princess as someone utterly untouchable, indomitable, and beyond reach.
Raising her palm towards the ceiling, as if in an effort to touch the vision on her mind, Yuliana clenched her fist and closed her eyes.
“Who are you and where did you come from, Itaka Izumi...?”