It's Not Like I Want to Play the Role of a Misunderstood, Good-for-Nothing Prince in a Villainess Story!

The Chapters are unlocked everyday at 10:24 PM UTC (should be around this time), You may still see the locked symbol in front of the chapter but you can click on it.

After stopping at villages and towns several times along the way, we finally arrived at Afkad.

Walls covered the outer perimeter of the town, and a large gate had merchant carriages forming lines.

Since we were a cavalry unit, after completing identification we were easily let through.

In a word, Afkad was a lively commercial city.

It was crammed tightly into a town about two-thirds the size of the capital.

Numerous shops lined the main street, lively bands played music loudly, and there were many tourists and adventurers.

A river flowed through the town with arched bridges connecting across it.

Roads ranged from wide thoroughfares to small paths, and according to the knight order there were apparently even underground shops whose status was unknown.

Furthermore, the deeper you went from the gate, the more it became a high-class district where people of high status lived.

And at the very back was Marquis Ribauto’s mansion.

There was a stone enclosure about a person’s height, a magnificent garden, a fountain, and guard soldiers standing watch.

Not as much as the royal palace, but good taste.

Well, I’d almost burned down that palace garden though.

In any case, when we spoke to the guard soldiers we were guided inside the mansion.

Incidentally, there were four of us who came.

We couldn’t go with the entire knight order, so as representatives of the Knight Order Captain Beldiha and me… plus Debut and Garim came along.

Originally two different people were supposed to come, but those two insisted they absolutely had to accompany me, so they came.

Incidentally, the other soldiers were waiting near the gate as stay-behind forces.

Well, going with too many people wouldn’t be nice.

And so, we were guided to the office.

Inside, candelabras stood along the walls with candles prepared, but there seemed to be another light source so they weren’t really needed.

The furniture was lavish yet high quality.

The chairs were fluffy too.

Did this world’s nobles have some obsession with chair cushions?

While thinking they must be quite profitable, I looked around the room.

“Zeke-sama, you shouldn’t stare so much.”

“Hmph. Isn’t the royal palace more impressive?”

“That’s true, but I still want to look at this.”

Debut and Garim stood behind me and Beldiha who were sitting in chairs.

“If the marquis comes, please behave yourselves, alright?”

“We don’t know what kind of person he is.”

“Got it, got it.”

While talking about such things and waiting, the marquis arrived.

“Pardon me, I was caught up in matters. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I’m Gaizel Ribauto.”

He greeted us politely.

Gaizel was an elderly noble with white hair and a white beard.

He had a refined face and seemed like he’d become a kindly old man if he aged a bit more.

“Likewise, nice to meet you. I’m Zeke Carlaan.”

“I’m Beldiha, captain of the capital knight order.”

I bowed while placing my right hand on my left chest.

Still, this guy doesn’t waver, not using polite speech at all.

“Thank you very much.”

But Gaizel didn’t seem to mind, entering the conversation while maintaining a peaceful atmosphere.

“I didn’t expect Your Highness to come personally.”

“No no, when Ribauto marquis territory, so loyal to the royal family, faces crisis, I couldn’t not come.”

Well, despite this person having considerable influence, he seems not very interested in the royal family though.

Let me embellish a bit.

“Hahaha, that’s delightful. However, it’s a dangerous period with monsters running rampant. Setting aside the knight order… especially Beldiha-dono renowned as the Sword of the Kingdom, wasn’t it unnecessary for Your Highness in such a noble position to come?”

Wait, is it my imagination? Didn’t he just roundaboutly say ‘we don’t need you’?

“No no, I was hoping to gain knowledge in a place I’m visiting for the first time.”

“I see.”

Gaizel nodded while briefly glancing outside the window.

“How do you find this town?”

“I think it’s a good town. The economy seems to be circulating with many merchants forming lines outside the gate. Being on flatland and having maintained roads is splendid. Moreover, despite the west side being such a magnificent commercial city, you also have granary areas to the south and east, and the northern territory has forests, mountains, valleys and such, right? Perhaps there are mineral resources too? It’s a very lovely land.”

When I said this while smiling, Gaizel froze for a moment while maintaining his smiling expression.

Hm, did I say something rude?

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just that Your Highness knows quite well about my territory.”

“As a prince, I study about influential noble houses within the country. There might be opportunities to visit like this time.”

While speaking, I looked at Gaizel’s face and nearly voiced out.

Gaizel had made a distorted smile unlike any before—his eyes were gentle, but only his mouth curved unnaturally.

As I froze with my mouth open, Gaizel apparently noticed my reaction and hastily brought his hand to his mouth.

“Pardon me, it’s a bad habit of mine. There’s certainly no malice, so please don’t mind it.”

Even told not to mind it, that face just now seemed like it’d become trauma.

Huh… when I looked at Beldiha sitting beside me, I did a double-take.

—Wait, this guy’s already asleep!