"Argh, why are we traveling on foot?!"

"I am sorry your Highness. As the mission's commander, you choose to take this route." Cath explained to the Princess. She donned lighter armor than usual and wasn't wearing her helmet either. She wasn't any less intimidating in my eyes though. She tried her hardest not to confront our so-called commander, but it wasn't her forte. Having the same conversations every day did not help.

Our Princess walked no more than ten minutes at a time before, but at least we convinced her to leave those frilly dresses behind. She wore clothing more fitting for a prince than a princess now but not less overdecorated.

Three days in, even I started to get tired, and more than half of the route was still in front of us. She slowed us down considerably, and I had no high expectations to make it within a week.

I just hoped that nothing bad happened in the meantime.

"I simply picked the shortest route." She answered a bit later. "Why couldn't we take a cart, or at least horses though?"

After a glance at the paladin, I deduced it was my time to explain. We had this unspoken agreement to take turns entertaining the Princess. I had to do it way more often than her, but she wore a huge falchion to protect us, so I didn't want it to become my demise instead.

"Your Majesty choose a route that cuts through the Cyreneian pass. It is not accessible by cart." I said, probably for the tenth time already, adding. "Horses might have been able to climb it, but neither of us are good enough riders. It would be too dangerous. And there are no maintained stations along the way either. Or pastures to feed our mounts..."

"It's boooring. My legs hurt. They are all sore..." She kept at it. "Why not take something that flies then? Don't we have griffins or somesuch?"

"I didn't know your Highness could ride them." I tried to sound impressed to shut up this spoiled brat. "I'm too afraid to go anywhere near them or to fly in general. Princess Elizabeth must be brave if..."

"What are you, stupid?" She interrupted me. "As if Papa would let me do that... I wouldn't go near those smelly animals anyway..."

"We only have gargoyles in Sanctuary now, they don't smell," Cath added, rolling her eyes. I tried to silence her but earned a glare for myself instead. "But they need a skilled magician to fly them, and are too valuable to risk in a mission like this anyway."

"I don't think they count as animals either," I added but was ignored.

"Cath. Ugh... Carry me. I'm tired." The Princess demanded, wobbling after barely an hour of walking. This wasn't anything new either.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty. I can't carry you and protect you at the same time." Cath tried to defuse her. Her expression told me how she got fed up playing her mount in the last few days. Now that we got further away from Sanctuary we had to keep our guards up. If anything, we had to be prepared to run.

We packed food in the few Bags of Holdings we found and tried to travel as lightly as possible. If a group of monsters attacked us, our best bet was to evade them, and our gear was assembled with that in mind.

"Ugh, and I don't want that filthy coward to carry me..." The Princess jabbed at me now. "Who knows where he would try to touch me."

"I am most certainly unworthy to carry your Highness," I confirmed, trying to ignore the insulting parts. I got used to them in the last year.

"Sigh. There is nothing I can do then." She seemed to give in. "I'll walk a bit more on my own. But I hope we will stop for the day soon."

"We barely set out, your Majesty." I had to disappoint her. The only reaction I got was a disgusted glare, but I added some further explanation anyway. "We must press on as long as the sun is up."

I understood her to an extent because this mission was useless and stupid. The Goddess we hoped to encounter cracked the secrets of the long-lost teleportation magic. Nobody else in this world could use it for a century. Had we managed to catch up to her against all odds, she was said to know more spells than was recorded in history.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I had no idea why the Elder sent us out like this, and making the decision was one thing. I could not imagine, how she was able to get the King's blessing. He always pampered this spoiled girl, and now he practically sent her to die with us.

The Elder was surely a scary woman.

"If at least my maids were here... They would have no issue carrying me. And wouldn't try something sketchy either..." The Princess tried one last time, and I glanced at Cath. She kept rolling her eyes, and I didn't feel like answering either. "It's rather entertaining though, if you think about it. The church sent us without a priest to back us up."

"You... Your Highness knows that I'm a paladin, right?" Cath blurted it out. I saw she regretted it immediately, but it was too late.

"Which Gods answer your prayers though?" The Princess asked, raising her nose. "Hetlir? No, that would be too much for you. Maybe Hemmlir? I have never seen you perform his miracles before."

"It's... It's Remmol, your Highness." She mumbled, barely audible.

"Remmol, huh? Too bad we are not in the desert." She laughed, mocking her. "You could walk twice as fast in the sand, right? If only it were someone like Gadurien, the Iron Fist, classic patron for paladins, though he only answers for a selected few."

"I'll have your Majesty know, Remmol was also a famed defender saint of the west." Cath protested, but she did not convince our royalty.

It wasn't the most sensible choice for a paladin to pick Remmol as their guardian. He was mostly known for his surprise attacks and tricks. But I would never belittle anyone from the Cranta Pantheon.

Becoming a god meant they gathered tremendous power, which had not happened since the Great Continental Wars. The church barely even elevated someone to the rank of saint nowadays, except that one time which brought the Collapse on us.

"What is this, a history class? I know all about it. He was appointed defender saint, but once the enemy attacked, he became a deity." She paused to laugh. "You could say, he retreated into the Heavens. Almost as cowardly as Lambert, using the pact as an excuse to flee..."

"He was most successful in the mountains," I added, trying to defend the paladin. Not that she needed any defending, but I would have done anything, to prove that arrogant Princess wrong just once.

"Who? Where?" The Princess looked at me with disdain.

"Remmol. He captured thousands of enemy warriors, while outnumbered. He was leading from the frontlines in the First Continental War." I said, adding. "He didn't attend the Magical Academy yet, let alone named saint, but already earned the highest military decoration."

"Thanks to him the Appenon Kingdom was finally conquered, and became part of the Cranta Empire." Cath joined in, with gleaming eyes. It felt out of character for her, but praising her guardian seemed to lead me towards her heart. It didn't impress the Princess though.

"Wow, this is a history class. These things happened thousands of years ago." She claimed, twirling her purple locks. "If only our Lambert learned a few useful spells instead."

"I know plenty of spells..." I mumbled offended, looking at Cath, but she just shrugged it off. The Princess had a very annoying laugh.

"What was that, my dear Lambert?" She tried to tease me.

"I said my expertise is healing magic and agriculture, your Highness."

"Expertise he says." She kept laughing. "If you are such an expert, why were you kicked out of the Magic Academy then?"

"I wasn't!" I yelled, then tried to calm myself down. "I merely failed a test. It happens even with the best mages..."

"But you didn't go back." She must have realized she hit a nerve because wouldn't let it drop. "I wonder why the Inquisitorias took you in as a failed initiate... They must have been desperate.."

"That is because I was the only one who successfully demonstrated banishment magic on a demon-class monster..." I answered firmly, to finally shut her up. "Even though it's not my chosen field."

"Right, a demon-class monster." She was unfazed. "That the Captain of the Guard already neutralized, and had it tied up..."

"It was a fierce monster, your Highness." The paladin interjected. "I was against the experiment, but we had no other way of destroying it."

In all honesty, the Princess was right. The monster was already beaten and restrained, and I was even told what was its true name. It wouldn't get any easier than that. Regardless, I was the only one able to cast the spell, whereas many have tried in the same circumstances. That's why the Inquisitorias took me in and even granted me special status as a commoner. But I also cursed that spell, because it got me here in the end.

I did not press the matter any further, and by the looks of it, the Princess was ready to drop it too. We continued quietly, but she didn't like that either. She struggled to find anything to pick a fight with, so she complained instead.

"Come on, how long do we have to walk?" She broke the silence. I couldn't tell if she was tired or desperate for attention.

"We will walk until sunset." The paladin was her usual self again. "I'm sure a proud royalty can easily do that, without help from the Gods."

"Ugh, I get it, for heaven's sake, don't pester me." She whined again. "I'll walk on my own... Don't underestimate me."

It felt like she wanted a reward even for breathing and fumed for the next five minutes. The road sloped up towards the pass and became harder to traverse.

"You are right, I'm a royalty after all." The Princess mumbled." If I put my mind to it, I can do anything. Better, than either of you."

I'm not sure if she fell asleep or ran out of breath from all the mumbling, but a minute later she theatrically collapsed. No matter what we said, or how we begged, she refused to take a single step after that. Talk about determination and royal blood. Cath had to carry her again.

But I took away her falchion, just in case...