So Bea turned out to be the princess of Ebrilyon, whose real name is actually Beatrize Elablyon. Why was she hiding her name with what sounds like the most natural nickname for her, I have no clue. It’s so dumb that it actually kinda works.
The demons who attacked us seemed to know who she was. They were referring to her as a princess, so I should have figured it out. But it’s not like I know anything about the royalty of this world. In hindsight, she may have made an appearance in the game, but she’s not a major character, so nothing really clicked for me.
But the reason the demons knew about her is not because they were able to see through her disguise. No, they already knew the princess would be present during the trip. Apparently, the whole thing was some kind of ploy orchestrated by Bea herself to bait the demons out of hiding and gather information on them. But that didn’t go too well since they all died in combat or poisoned themselves.
Either way, we got to capital safely. I think some of the soldiers got injured during the fight, but nothing worse than that. Bea invited us to the castle tomorrow so that she could explain the situation to us. We got the rest of the day to ourselves, so me and Carol are going to explore Ebrilyon’s capital. Maybe…
We were dropped off together with the other passengers near the fast-travel station, and the carriages left for the castle. “Well then, I’ll come pick you up tomorrow. Make sure you get up early.” With that, Flanne got her carriage moving and left. Bye bye… Looks like we’re on our own now.
“So… Do you wanna take a look around first or try to find the inn Flanne recommended?” Carol was staring blankly at the carriage, not paying attention to a single thing I said. “Carol? Are you there?”
“Huh? What?” She suddenly heard me and flinched a little. She’s been really quiet since a few hours ago when she caught up to me and Bea.
“I was just asking what you wanted to do. What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine! I think I’m just a little tired from all that fighting. What about you?”
“I’m more tired from all the time we spent sitting on carriages than from the fight."
“Even though you did so much? You even killed the three who tried to escape all on your own.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly hesitate at that point, could I? Something bad would have happened to Bea…trize… if I did. Also, the demon lady poisoned herself. It wasn’t me.” Carol responded with a dry chuckle.
“Couldn’t hesitate, huh…?” Carol looked down for a moment before looking at me. “So? What were you saying earlier? Something about exploring?”
“Yeah… We should have some time to take a look around before heading for the inn. It’d be nice if we could stop by the fast-travel station too just to make sure it works.”
[Location: Hithboll City registered. Fast Travel unlocked.]
Well, that part seems to be working, at least for me. Let’s hope it’s the same for Carol.
“Are you sure we have time to look around? The sun’s already going down. We’ll get lost if it gets too dark.” Carol turned her back to me and started walking. “We’re right by the fast-travel station, aren’t we? We should knock that out of the list right away.”
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“Yeah, it should be right here.”
“That’s good, let’s get going- The hell? What’s that? Is that real?” Carol stopped mid-sentence and pointed ahead.
“Huh? What are you… Ah! Wait!” Before I could see where she was pointing, Carol ran ahead by herself.
“Is that supposed to be a castle? What the hell? It’s huge!”
“Wow…” I chased after her, and we arrived at a huge fountain with a big castle off in the distance. The street leading up to the castle was wide with big symmetrical decorations. They framed the castle as an imposing figure that watches over the entire world. Is this for military parades or something? Ebrilyon sure knows how to put on a show…
“Hey, is that where we’re going tomorrow? Are we really allowed somewhere like that?” Carol pointed again with an excited look on her face.
“I don’t know. Beatrize invited us to the castle, but maybe there’s some kind of catch. We might go somewhere else that’s technically part of the castle but somewhere else. I hope I’m wrong though…” Th- that’s actually a real video game castle… I’ve never been to one in the real world either, but this looks really impressive! I really wanna go! I hope Bea doesn’t pull a fast one on us!
Wait, we’re not supposed to be sightseeing right now! I fell into Carol’s pace without noticing! “Carol, weren’t we supposed to hurry? We can’t be getting distracted like this…”
“Distracted?!” Carol coughed as she composed herself. “I wasn’t really getting distracted or anything. This place just reminded me of my time back in Europe.” She crossed her arms with a slight blush.
“You’ve been to Europe before?” That’s news to me.
“I wasn’t just there—I was born there. Can’t you tell just from my name? Carol Angelis? I’m from Italy.” She said it like it was obvious, but she saw nothing but surprise on my face. “I guess it’s hard to tell from an outside standpoint.”
“Yeah, I had no idea…” I knew it was a foreign name, but that’s about it. “That’s cool, though! Is it hard for you to live in Three Records City?”
“Of course it’s not hard. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve moved? I’m perfectly fine now.” Oh, that makes sense. I’ve never really seen her struggle with anything. “But enough about that. It’s all in the past, so there’s no point in talking about it.”
I was kinda curious to learn more, but Carol didn’t seem interested in talking more about herself. “Alright…” What a shame… Maybe she’ll tell me more some other day. I hope so… “Uhmm… Should we go check in at the inn here then? Wait, we still haven’t tried fast-traveling.”
“You’re right, we gotta hurry. The fast-travel station is still nearby, so let’s head there first.” Carol made the decision, and we ran back before it got dark. The line to fast-travel in the capital was longer than the one on Rocky Ridges, but it didn’t take more than fifteen minutes until it was our turn.
“Is this really gonna work, Iroha? Is teleportation safe? We aren’t going to be killed and reassembled on the other side, are we?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Fast-travel works using magic. It’s different from what you’re thinking… Probably…” Carol was a bit nervous, and I couldn’t really reassure her too well since I also didn’t know how it worked. Regardless, we had to make sure the fast-travel was working for both of us so we could return to our world eventually. We quickly hopped over to Rocky Ridges, then returned and left the building.
“Whew… I’m glad that’s over…The people of this world sure are brave. Can’t believe some of them do that multiple times a day.” Carol was freaking out, but fast-travel is nothing to be scared of. You step onto the altar, you get surrounded by light, then the light fades and poof! You’ve arrived.
“See? I told you it would be fine. Let’s go find our inn now.”
“Yeah…” Carol yawned. “This might be the longest day I’ve had in years. I’m so tired! Can’t wait to finally sleep in a bed again.” The carriages and the fighting certainly took a toll on us. I also just wanna lay down once and for all… Haven’t been able to think about anything else since we were so busy…
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“Have you learned anything yet? What happened to the team sent to capture the princess?” In an inconspicuous mansion sitting on the edge of Ebrilyon’s largest city, a group of horned people was gathered in a large room. The door suddenly flung open, and everyone flinched as a man with a loud voice entered while complaining. “Why did the princess arrive like nothing was wrong? What the hell happened?”
“A- Armand-sama, it seems like that team got completely wiped. We had people search their last known locations, but we didn’t find anything. The princess’s soldiers most likely took the bodies with them.”
The man who stood out as the leader quietly looked at the others before speaking. “Have you confirmed that they’re all dead?”
“N- no doubt about it, sir!”
“That’s good… It’s a shame we lost them, but we can’t risk the princess learning about our plans yet. Finding a new place for the ritual would really set us back…”
“Uhmm… There’s something else you might want to know about.”
“Ohh…? What is it?”
“The team who spotted the princess saw two unaccounted girls with the convoy who had weapons with them. They clearly weren’t soldiers, but we have no idea who they are.”
“Hmm…? Who could they be?” After hearing the report from the subordinate, the leader thought for a second. “The plan to kidnap the princess should have been perfect… Normal humans wouldn’t have been able to stop her… Since she was leading the team, the princess should have been ours… Could those two girls be the princess’s secret weapon? Yes… That must be it!”
The others watched as the leader muttered to himself, coming up with a solution on his own. “Listen up, everyone! I want you to find out who those two girls are and kill them! They’re too wild a variable to start the ritual while their around, so finding them is our priority. Don’t hesitate to attack them, even if it leads to a commodity. That will work as the signal to start the ritual…”