In a certain room filled with luxurious furnitures and decorations, a boy took a piece of paper from a folder. On the paper, a picture of a young girl was pasted on it. Below the picture were details of where the girl had stayed, what she had done and who she had met.

“So the reports have arrived....”

A voice suddenly arrived to the boy’s ear. He raised his face to see who it belonged to and found his long time friend. He stood near the door with a trolley that carried a tea set and some snacks.

“Have you read it?”

“Yes, but the location they found her was somewhat unexpected.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I see... either way, I think you already know what we’re gonna do.”

The boy’s friend made a smile as he placed a cup filled with tea near his desk.

“Everything has been prepared. All that is left is for you to give the orders.”

“Good.”

^^^

It has been 6 days since I had arrived on Estria’s royal capital and my schedule have been pretty the same as that of my first day. Waking up, eating my breakfast, going to the library and returning back to my in. Though I had contemplated on visiting other places, however, because I didn’t really want to stay here for too long, I felt rushing things a bit. As such, while I was visiting the library, I also sent a few familiar to scour the royal capital while I was at it.

By the way, the manager of the inn I lodged in was an old man. Though he said that he was still 36 years old, but the visage made him look more like a 50 years old. I would often times chat with him as I take my dinner at his inn. And, the things I learned from our talks were quite a lot. Let’s start with the least important things.

First, the old man’s name was Guildy. He had no surnames nor titles attached to his name, just like me. Only the [Royalty], [Aristocrats] and [Knights] can have titles and surnames. Us commoners can’t and are not allowed to have them.

Though there was a time when I had those stuff, but because of the event 5 years ago, I had lost it. Well, having those and not having those is not really a problem for me. As a traveler, the only things you need are comrades, your tools and yourself. Anything more than that can be considered a luxury.

Anyways, let’s go back to our topic. The next thing I learned from the old man was how his attitude and his looks don’t match. If you only look at him from afar, he looked like a veteran that had gone through the same experience as June did. 

What’s more, if he wore some fur armor, add some tattoos and a few scars, he would look like a barbarian leader. When I told him what he looked like in my mind, he made a wry smile and said, ‘I get that a lot.’

I think most people would already know what kind of personality the manager had just from the line he said, but I will still say it to you. Even though he looks like a barbarian boss, the way he acts feels less like a savage and more like a nice neighborhood aunt. The kind that would say, ‘hello’ to you every morning and give out candies to children that passes by. Because of that, I really feel conflicted whenever I talk to him. Anybody would... I think.

Un, yeah, I think anybody would.

Anyways, that sums up some of the least important things I learned from our talks. I’m gonna move on to the more important matters that I heard from him.

The first thing on the list had something to do with an even that occurred at the capital 4 years ago. According to him, the royal family suddenly did a crackdown on every official that were stationed on every town and region under their rule. 

At first, the commoners didn’t really know what it was for nor why they did it, but because it was a decree by the royal family, they felt that it couldn’t be help. However, as the knights and soldiers carried the orders out, the deeds of some official and the contracts they made with some of the nobles were brought out in the open.

When the people learned of the things those official did, they became embroiled with anger as they understood how corrupt and evil those officials were. Things like slave-trading, embezzlement and smuggling. As a result of this, the people cursed and persecuted the captured officials. They even wished that they be hanged. 

However, if they were to be killed, then the information they carried would be lost. Though it made the people a bit discontented, but when they heard of the reasons why they weren’t executed, they decided to endure it for a bit.

Then, as the crackdown and the hunt for corrupt officials continued, the knights were lead to a certain organization.. From the information they had gathered, this organization had existed even before the kingdom had been founded. 

They had a long tradition of secrecy and held many relations with those that held power in the kingdom. When the knights reported their finding to the king, he felt outraged and quickly ordered all the knightly orders to participate in the hunt.

And thus, the kingdom had waged war against itself.

In the beginning, the king did not really know who was a friend nor who was an ally or who was an enemy. Everybody was suspicious of everyone. They knights cautiously observed all the nobles and if anyone made the slightest movement, he or she would quickly be under suspicious.

One day, a betrayer of the organization showed up. That person carried a list of who was a member of their organization and those who wanted to join it. What the list contained shocked everybody. The members of that organization ranged from high ranked nobles that belonged to the royal court to the humble farmer that lived in the countryside. 

The king hesitated whether to order the capture of all the member or not, however, with the help of a certain individual, a decision was made. He ordered the capture of those organization’s members as well as their execution.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

His swift decision and quick actions of the knights left the organization’s members unprepared. Everything happened so suddenly and before the commoners understood what was happening, the organization met its demise. Along its fall, more than half of the royal court and officials were lost. A third of the Estria’s military were sent to the dungeons and an fifth of the population were publicly executed.

All these events lasted for a good three years. A few months after the demise of that organization, the perpatrator that suggested the crackdown appeared. That person was introduced by the king and according to him, that person was also the one who helped him decide the swift actions he took. And, when that person appeared before the masses, the people were surprised by his identity. Everyone was sure that he was a man, however, he was in fact a she.

She had a very youthful and beautiful visage. The crown during the announcement were mesmerized by her beautiful long hair that reached up to her waist. And, the eyes she had showed the people that she had a strong will that won’t falter no matter who the foe was.

That girl stood beside the king in a dress that brought the best of her beauty. The king introduced her as Angelica. She had no title nor surnames, signifying that she was a commoner. Everybody was shocked and speechless. No one at that time would have thought that she was a commoner because of the noble aura she exuded. However, the king’s announcement that followed up further shocked the crowd. He announced her engagment to the first prince of their country. Everybody got excited as they heard this.

If one looked at the record she left behind, she was truly worthy to be his partner. Everyone cheered as the prince appeared beside her. He took her hand, knelt in front of her and kissed it. When everyone beheld the spectacle, their cheers became louder and a festival that lasted for 3 days was held right after that.

A year passed by, meaning now, and a crisis befell the kingdom. With the loss of some nobles and officials, the people that worked under the king were overworked to cope up with the lost human resources. Thanks to that, they fell ill one after another. Some even fainted as they worked. In addition to those grim news, some of the people who were executed for being part of the fallen organization had deep international connections. And, when they died, those same connections were lost and lead to a decrease of imports and exports. This eventually caused the country’s economy to fall into recession. A lot of people lost their jobs, businesses closed down and noble houses fell into debt.

Even now, those problems continued to overshadow the people. Because of that, the one who have a job had become quite wary and careful in performing their duties so that they wouldn’t lose their jobs.

And with that, the things I learned from the inn manager drew to a close. Now that I heard of the things had happened in this country, I now look at my surroundings in a new light. But still, even though I now know what the people were experiencing, I didn’t feel any sympathy towards them. The conditions they were currently suffering were brought upon them by those from the higher ups. And I, a traveller and a foreigher(sort of), am unrelated to any of these.

For that reason, my quest for the teleportation magic circle continues unimpeded. 

“Hmmm?”

While I was pondering on what the inn manager had told me, I noticed that a few knights were standing near the entrance of the library. I became curious why they stood there, so I hid behind a tree and used magic to eavesdrop.

(Oy, isn’t it this girl?)

(Lemme see.)

The knights closed in on a humble looking girl that carried a few books.

(Excuse us for a bit.)

(Huh?)

As the knights called out to the girl, the girl became panicked as her knees started to shake in fear of the knights. They took out a piece of paper from their blossoms and started comparing the girl to it. After a while, one of the knights shook his head and said, ‘Seems like she isn’t the one.’

They then walked away from the girl and went back to the library’s entrance.

“Hmmm? Could they perhaps be looking for me? Huh? I don’t remember doing anything to prompt their investigations though.

...

Well, thinking about it is no good. For now, let’s not go to there.”

I turned around and headed to the opposite side of the road.

“What should I do now? My familiars still can’t find anything on the royal castle and my plans to go to the library had been barred. Hmmm.... ah, let’s go to Gardecia’s embassy and contact my friends!”

Deciding on what to do I hastened my pace a bit, only to stop after a few seconds.

“But where’s their embassy?”

Since I just arrived here, the only places I knew were the library and the inn I stayed at. Knowing that I knew very little of the place I grew up made me feel a bit depressed. For that reason, I decided to ask some people I met along the road for directions. While I asked for directions, that man made a worried face and asked if I were from Gardecia. I shook my head to ease him up before parting ways with him.

Chapter 3, end.

Hello again everyone. Floating feather here and I've come to deliver the third chapter of my story. I've changed up the previous chapters a bit and adjusted some numbers to make my story a bit more involving(I think). I also did those things in response to some of the comments I received in the previous chapters. They made sense and after a few deliberations I decided to go ahead with it, resulting in those changes. Also, thank very much to those that pointed out my mistakes in the previous chapters, they really mean a lot to me and to my study in the english laguange. Thanks!

Well, that's all for today. Thank you for picking up an interest to my story, let's meet up again after I posted chapter 4. :D