After quickly collecting the spilled supplies, we stripped the dead lady on the ground of her clothes. The dead had no need for anything. Contrary to my expectations, the princess seemed to find it fine, while Shiara gave me a weird look. Seriously..how did this girl survive in the slums....The clothes may come in handy, and the cloak was clearly a valuable protective item. Although the cloak had quite a bit of brain and blood splattered on it, we just wiped it roughly on the grass nearby, removing a majority of the blood.
Under her cloak, we also found a few pouches filled with unknown powders, as well as two similar daggers. They were a pair simple basic knife, the blade about as long as a hand, with a smooth sharp edge on both sides. The handle was made out of bound leather and the wooden pommel was the only difference between the two, one had a picture of an open flame engraved on it, while the other had a bow engraved on it. I was overcome with a sense of familiarity when staring at the daggers. Right! The dagger I picked up from the guy I killed was the exact same. Thinking back, I must of dropped the dagger when I pulled the princess into the brush.
Unfortunately, there was no substantial food to be found on her. Only a small stringed pouch filled with an assortment of wild berries and nuts. She must of been confident and seen us as easy prey, which would be why she didn't bring much food. The recurve bow she had been carrying was decently heavy and the enchanted wood was smooth, a good hint that it was a good bow and that it had been well taken care of. Grabbing the big bow, I passed the quiver half filled with arrows to Shiara.
"Let's get out of here now before we talk. This way." I waved my arm forward as I continued down the original path. In hurried steps, we followed the obscure trail further into the woods as we left behind a bloody path.
...
Half an hour later, after putting enough distance between all the blood, we finally took a break in a nondescript clearing. The blood on all of us had all dried a while back I collapsed forward, leaning against the nearby tree. I glanced across the small clearing to see the princess and Shiara in a similar state. We were all similarly exhausted from the earlier chase and our jumbled emotions. I glanced at the princess expecting her to be in the worst shape due to her time in captivity and lofty status, but somehow she looked much more composed then Shiara. As I originally thought, she was definitely quite capable and more then meets the eye. As expected from a princess who was dubbed a living "Jewel of Fei"
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I decided to initiate the conversation as the other two seemed too tired. This way it would also be easier to control the flow of discussion. "Hello your highness, I'm Vaxen. The girl next to you is Shiara. As you probably already realised, we were the ones who initiated the rescue attempt on you. However, we are in no way related to the military and are just a pair of hopeful orphans who were travelling by. I hope that you will sincerely repay us for this kindness." There, I said it. A good introduction that displayed our expectations, while subtly highlighting how lucky she was that we were there and that suggested that while we had no obligation to save her, we still did despite our weakness.
The princess stared at me, and I had a feeling that she had astutely picked up the hidden implications. Her eyes were gentle yet sharp at the same time. She disarmingly smiled at me and said "I know that. You are a very intelligent person, similar to me, yet different." Her smile became a charming smirk as she then said "I value and respect loyalty. If we get past this troubled period ahead and manage to return to the capital, I will definitely reward you. In fact, if we survive this, I'm willing to become close friends with you guys and even offer you guys posts beside me. It just so happens that I'm lacking trustable guards my age, and an able personal healer. And after this tough voyage, I'm sure we will all have formed strong bonds"
I looked at Shiara to see what she thought about the princess's speech. Seeing our hesitation, the princess eyes seemed to twinkle and said "Let me show you two my sincerity. Seeing as we are all out here stranded, you guys should just address me as Sarrartina or Sarra and drop the princess." 1*
"Wait did you say capital? Why can't we just go to the nearest town and drop you off to the guards?" Shiara finally made an important observation again. Why was she so dumb sometimes and other times smart and observant....
"You guys may not have noticed, but I have reason to believe a conspiracy is occurring right now. No, I need you guys to take me safely back to the capital. The faster the better."
I looked back at Shiara and subtly nodded my head. She nodded back at me. Guess we were both fine with it then...
"So guess we are changing destinations to the capital!" I smiled at the idea of a future without having to worry about food and shelter everyday.
"Hey, Vaxen you two mentioned you were orphans...I know this is probably a sensitive topic for you two, but where were your parents from?" She was looking at us cautiously, but also with traces of curiosity, like we were a pair of monsters caged in an exhibit.
"My parents were fallen nobles. I don't know from where, but they were travelling already when I was born. They died in an attack by bandits who kidnapped me. Some mercenaries later came and killed the bandits, but they had no room to look after a young girl. So I became an orphan." Shiara quickly rushed her answer with a stiff tone.
"My village was destroyed by monsters. I was among some of the children who survived, but no adults did and thus we all became orphans. I then eventually moved into the slums of Frankfurt-."
The princess suddenly cut me off with a glare. "As you already know, I value sincerity, but that applies both ways... Your real name.... it is not Vaxen is it?"