Kriemhild's second day in Wind Peach Village dawned.
As a princess, unlike Roland and Catalina, she wasn't compelled by Siegfried to assist the villagers with their daily tasks.
Siegfried was shrewd enough to know his place - he understood perfectly well whom he could command and whom he needed to treat with reverence. The princess undoubtedly belonged to the latter category.
However, Kriemhild herself was quite displeased with this arrangement. Watching the two knights being hustled about by Siegfried to help with various tasks, her cheeks puffed up in frustration. She felt left out.
Thus, when Siegfried returned to the kitchen for lunch after finishing the farm work, he was startled to find Kriemhild dressed as a farm girl, attempting to throw a live, squirming fish directly into the pot with her bare hands.
Siegfried was horrified. He immediately pulled aside the hapless fellow who was supposed to be cooking that day and gave him a stern reprimand.
"Have you lost your senses? How dare you let Her Highness into the kitchen? What if something were to happen?"
'Can anything she cooks even be edible?'
"What? The princess insisted? That's still unacceptable! She must never be allowed in the kitchen again!"
'She could poison someone!'
During lunch, Kriemhild sat with pursed lips, barely touching her food and maintaining complete silence.
Even a blind person could tell the princess was in a foul mood.
As a seasoned professional, Siegfried keenly detected his superior's dissatisfaction, but he couldn't fathom the reason no matter how hard he pondered.
Back in his company days, executives would have been delighted to be exempt from work while still getting paid. He would often voluntarily shoulder extra responsibilities to curry favor.
This strategy had never failed him before - it had always worked during performance reviews and promotions. Why wasn't it working in this other world?
Though perplexed, it didn't prevent Siegfried from commencing his afternoon duties.
The so-called work was actually another round of interrogation with the captured spies. However, it seemed they had already divulged everything they knew yesterday, and no amount of intimidation could extract any additional information.
At least his various skill proficiencies had improved significantly.
[Specialization: Cold Reading 79% (Expert), Acting 75% (Expert), Intimidation 41% (Advanced), Swordsmanship 19% (Beginner)...]
Besides these, Siegfried actually possessed about thirty other specializations including cooking, sketching, tango, hunting, and so forth, which we'll omit for now.
Some of these miscellaneous skills were acquired during his previous life's social struggles, while others were inherited from this body.
The Wanderer's Manual only recognized something as a specialization if one possessed more than superficial knowledge.
Given limited human capacity, most people only had three to four specializations at most. The fact that Siegfried possessed so many demonstrated his exceptional talent.
Unfortunately, none of these specializations could help him placate the disgruntled Kriemhild.
After lunch, Roland and Catalina led a team to familiarize themselves with tomorrow's ambush location.
Siegfried hadn't treated them as outsiders at all - he had essentially used them like workhorses all morning, assigning them all the heavy labor.
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The two knights lived up to expectations, performing far more efficiently than actual horses would have.
Roland was internally resistant. Although he came from a commoner background and often helped with farm work as a child, he was now a Golden Knight and the princess's guard. How could he be relegated to such menial labor?
But considering that their group of forty-plus people were receiving free food and lodging, if they didn't contribute their labor, that village-loving Meilan would probably draw his sword and eliminate all these worthless parasites.
Catalina, conversely, was quite enthusiastic. That tomboy had transported dozens of large logs to the processing plant in the morning, sometimes with village children perched on either end. Having grown up in the palace, she had never experienced such work before and found it quite novel.
The peaceful day drew to a close in this manner.
In the evening, when Siegfried went to summon Kriemhild for dinner, he couldn't locate her in her room. Following the villagers' directions, he arrived at the woodshed.
The princess was still wearing those old farm clothes, splitting firewood with an axe.
Her face was smudged with dirt, and sweat trickled down her snow-white neck. At her feet lay numerous pieces of wood, all cut to similar lengths and shapes, indicating she had been at it for quite some time.
Even someone as obtuse as Siegfried now understood why Kriemhild had been unhappy.
He knocked on the door frame to alert Kriemhild, who had been too absorbed in her work to notice his arrival.
"Your Highness, it's dinner time."
Only then did Kriemhild realize it was already evening.
She set down the axe and said somewhat sheepishly:
"Oh, I lost track of time while chopping."
The young woman's cheeks were slightly flushed, clearly conscious of her disheveled state.
Siegfried leaned against the doorframe and made a welcoming gesture:
"Shall we? Everyone's waiting for you."
The two walked along the village path, where the setting sun painted brilliant clouds of red and cast two long shadows on the ground.
"Tomorrow Roland and the others will be participating in the operation, so the village might be somewhat short-handed. May I request Your Highness's assistance?" Siegfried carefully chose his words.
Kriemhild was startled momentarily, then burst into laughter. She placed her hands on her hips and feigned sternness:
"Well, well, you dare ask a princess to do farm work? I'm a princess, mind you, first in line for the throne!"
Siegfried shrugged: "The firewood you chopped today will last us until summer."
The young woman covered her mouth, shaking with laughter.
Siegfried realized then that this usually elegant and dignified princess also had a side to her like any ordinary girl.
After a while, she finally contained her mirth.
She tilted her head, her emerald eyes gazing directly at Siegfried:
"Mr. Siegfried, for the past six months, everywhere I've been, I've only witnessed impoverished commoners and abandoned ruins. Everywhere I went, I only encountered negative emotions."
"But in this village, everything is so peaceful. I can sense every villager's love for life and hope for the future. I'm so grateful there's still such a place in our kingdom."
Indeed, in these times of war, Wind Peach Village was truly a paradise, not only self-sufficient but capable of supporting dozens of outsiders.
"All this is because of you, isn't it?"
Their eyes met.
Those emerald eyes contained genuine joy and deep expectation.
Siegfried suddenly felt uncomfortable and waved his hand: "No, I'm just a passerby..."
"Mr. Siegfried," the young woman interrupted, "thank you."
The sunset's glow fell on Kriemhild's fair profile, her smile as beautiful as a painting.
Kriemhild must be a gentle and righteous person - these qualities had sustained her through the past six months of journey. Despite experiencing so much pain and witnessing so much suffering, she remained true to her original nature.
Looking at the young woman's smile that outshone even the sunset, Siegfried couldn't find much resonance in his heart.
After all, if noble virtues were truly effective, this little princess wouldn't have fallen into such dire straits.
After a moment, he twisted his lips into an equally brilliant smile:
"You're welcome."
The next morning, Roland set out spiritedly with his polished greatsword on his back, astride his beloved nightmare steed, leading Catalina and a group of soldiers.
Year 526 of the Glorious Calendar, Wind Month 18th (February 18th)
Today was the day Princess Kriemhild would launch her counterattack against her two brothers.
Today was the first day of Queen Kriemhild's path to the throne.