It's Not Like I Want to Play the Role of a Misunderstood, Good-for-Nothing Prince in a Villainess Story! - Chapter 5 – Foul-Mouthed Guards and the Town of Belze

“How much longer until we arrive?”

“About two hours.”

When I opened the small window and asked, one of the guards answered in an annoyed manner.

We were currently riding a carriage toward Lindl Duchy.

The splendid carriage had well-reinforced wheels and handled rough roads without issue.

Sebastian had quickly prepared a carriage with guards and a coachman.

He’d also apparently contacted the other country about the inspection, but they said to do as I pleased.

Even for friendly nations, that’s pretty lax…

The guards were two elites from the knight order protecting the capital.

Debut and Garim.

Debut was a horizontally large soldier, and Garim was a vertically thin soldier.

Both were apparently intermediate-level swordsmen.

Aren’t they skilled?

Actually, why can intermediate swordsmen be assigned as guards but I can’t ask them to be teachers?

“Why are we babysitting an idiot prince on our day off?”

“Hmph. Don’t grumble, it’s orders from above.”

“This sucks.”

“Hmph. I agree.”

Just before I closed the window, I heard that conversation.

Debut spoke without any speech quirks, but Garim seemed to have bad sinuses—he was always snorting.

And apparently the two were more displeased than I expected.

In other words, they didn’t want to work even on their day off, and on top of that they didn’t want to babysit me, who was rumored to be an idiot.

I’d considered asking them to be teachers, but it would be impossible.

If they became teachers, these knight order soldiers might have to deal with me even on their days off.

But seriously, isn’t my reputation way too bad?

I’m just losing to my brother who’s two years younger in studying, swordsmanship, magic, etiquette, and daily life.

…Yeah, I’m the useless prince between the brothers.

An undeniable complete defeat.

After riding the carriage for a while, a small hill came into view.

I could see many graves.

Ah!

“Coachman, stop over there.”

“Huh, yes.”

He turned the course toward the hill.

I got off the carriage at the bottom of the hill.

“Do you have business at the hill?”

“Just a bit. Come with me.”

Debut at least used polite language, but he seemed somewhat displeased.

Glancing over, Garim was snorting.

There probably wasn’t nose medicine in this world.

Thinking such things, I climbed the hill.

Among the many graves, I saw someone sitting in front of one.

“Who’s there?”

A man wearing a black hood turned around.

He wore a mask on his face, light armor, and had a sword at his waist.

The two flanking me took defensive stances, but I waved my hand to say it wasn’t necessary.

“A child?”

“Pardon me, first to the people of a friendly nation…”

I bowed politely while surveying the whole area.

The wary atmosphere seemed to soften somewhat.

“My apologies for the late introduction. I am Zeke, from Carlaan Kingdom. I heard that a neighboring town was attacked by monsters, so I came to see the situation.”

Let’s keep the fact that I’m royalty hidden for now—I don’t want strange looks.

“Even so…”

I exhaled while looking around at the graves.

“This is terrible. So much damage.”

“…”

“I pray for their peaceful rest.”

The man was looking at me strangely.

“By the way, who are you?”

“…I’m Pooka. I lived in the town. I happened to be away when it was attacked—I missed my chance to die.”

“Pooka… a false name?”

Debut muttered quietly behind me.

Pooka… a word meaning ghost, probably a false name.

“You were sitting in front of that grave…”

“I had a younger sister. I took care of her after our parents died early. She was a capable sister.”

“I see…”

“I’m a useless brother who wasn’t there when it mattered.”

He laughed self-deprecatingly.

As I was about to leave that spot, the man called out.

“Where are you going now?”

“Toward the town of Belze.”

“Don’t.”

He objected in a strong tone.

“Why?”

“Monsters might still be rampaging in the town. It’s dangerous.”

“It’s fine. They’re excellent guards.”

When I said that, Debut and Garim made sour faces but didn’t refuse.

It seemed hard for them to say they wanted to go home or refuse after being praised.

“I’m saying it’s dangerous with monsters there—do you have a reason to go?”

“Well, if monsters are rampaging in the place where they lived, those in these graves can’t rest peacefully, right? This is some kind of fate too.”

Saying just that, I turned on my heel.

The town of Belze was in terrible condition.

The entrance gate was crushed, and many of the houses past the gate looked forcibly destroyed.

Furthermore, there were quite a few small monsters.

—That said, I didn’t think it was dangerous.

“Hmph!”

“There!”

Debut and Garim called out as they defeated monsters one after another.

Man, these guys are pretty strong.

Around when they’d finished defeating most of them, it appeared.

The ground shook, and the sound of houses being crushed could be heard.

What emerged from the depths was a giant shadow.

Donbosco.

A ferocious monster resembling a giant bear.

Its thick hide didn’t let ordinary swords through.

You could only defeat it by hitting it with magic at close range, but with its sharp claws and agile physique, it would rush to kill mages while they were chanting.

It was a dangerous monster also called a mage killer.

To defeat it, they said you needed at least 10 people—5 swordsmen in the vanguard and 5 mages in the rear guard.

“Your Highness, get back.”

“Hmph. This one’s bad.”

While saying that, the two began fighting the Donbosco.

However, their swords naturally had no effect.

They were completely on the defensive.

This might be worse than I imagined.

I thought while watching with my arms crossed from behind.

“Debut, Garim. Can you win?”

“Impossible. Please flee, Your Highness.”

“Hmph. We’ll protect you with our lives.”

“We’ll charge it at worst.”

“Charge it…?”

Even though they complained so much about babysitting, at times like this they’d risk their lives to let me escape.

They’re good guys. Then I need them to work just a bit harder.

I can’t let them die after I escape.

“I’m not running away from here!”

“What?!”

Honestly, they just need to buy time.

“If you guys die, I’ll definitely die since I can’t fight. So you two, cherish your lives and do your best so I don’t die!”

“That’s when you should run! What do you think will happen if you die?!”

What’ll happen, you say…

“It’s fine. My excellent younger brother will just take my place! That might even be better!”

“…Pfft!”

After a moment of silence, Garim was the first to burst out laughing.

He was laughing while listening to my conversation with Debut.

“Kuku. Hmph. That’s self-deprecation at its finest. By the way, Prince, you said you can’t fight—can you really not use swords or magic at all?”

“Of course I can’t. If I could, I’d be fighting with you.”

“I suppose so. Hehe…”

Debut started laughing next.

“I thought dying was the knight order’s job, but I can’t die like this.”

“Hmph. What terrible coercion.”

I could see Garim’s mouth relaxing.

Apparently something touched their heartstrings and the atmosphere loosened.

“Geez, Garim! Why are we risking our lives on our day off for this idiot prince’s whim?”

“Hmph. But it’s not bad.”

“I agree. Your Highness!”

Debut shouted while fighting.

“What?”

“Those in command must sometimes consider surviving alone even if it means sacrificing soldiers.”

What’s that about?

“Don’t worry about me, just concentrate or you’ll die.”

“Hmph. Debut.”

“Yeah, we won’t let it get past us.”

The two fought desperately with twisted smiles.

“They’re really fighting.”

Pooka came running from behind.

Finally here—I was getting nervous.

But I didn’t let that emotion show on my face.

“You came?”

“Yeah, so… why are you fighting a Donbosco?”

“It’s not like we want to fight. It’s that damn… brat’s fault! And masked guy, what are you here for?”

“Hmph. This isn’t… a show!”

Debut deflected an approaching arm with his sword, and Garim parried an attack with his shield.

“Hey, not bad.”

Pooka whistled as he drew his sword from his waist.

A thin, rapier-like sword with a pointed tip.

“Interesting—let me join in!”