It's Not Like I Want to Play the Role of a Misunderstood, Good-for-Nothing Prince in a Villainess Story! - Chapter 8 – Soldier D's Day Off

I currently belong to the capital knight order.

Normally, after work involving training, expeditions, and patrols, on my days off I just ate food, drank alcohol, and slept.

Since I didn’t want a girlfriend either, this was fine.

But I constantly wondered if this uneventful daily life was really okay.

When I asked my colleague and friend Garim, he said I was too stupid to think about such things.

Garim had a habit of snorting and wasn’t very polite.

But we’d known each other a long time, and my own mouth was just as bad, so it was fine.

And I wouldn’t point out that he was probably also near the bottom when counting up from the least intelligent in the knight order…

Anyway, about what to do on days off.

That day training ended, and tomorrow was my day off.

I was thinking I’d laze around while drinking or something.

But a messenger came from the palace to the knight order, and Garim and I were called to the knight commander’s room.

Apparently Prince Zeke would be heading to Lindl Duchy tomorrow and they wanted us as guards.

I looked at Garim.

Garim and I might be stupid within the knight order, but we prided ourselves on our swordsmanship being among the best.

We were often paired up and had no complaints about that.

I’d been to Lindl Duchy many times for training and knew the location, so that was fine.

The problem was Prince Zeke.

Currently there were four people with succession rights in the royal family.

Among them, Prince Zeke was closest to the throne, but he couldn’t study, wasn’t good at social graces like dancing, and couldn’t use sword or magic at all.

He was reputed as a useless prince who lost to his younger brother Prince Tigos in every aspect.

“Hmph. We’re supposed to babysit the idiot prince?”

Garim said it outright.

This guy said it before I could.

“That’s right. They’re asking for elites from the knight order.”

Elites, huh?

If they put it that way, we couldn’t refuse.

Glancing to the side, Garim didn’t look entirely displeased either.

“The coachman is separately prepared, so I’m asking you for guard duty tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

Troublesome, but I’d think of it as work.

We loaded the prince onto a carriage and rode toward Lindl Duchy.

Hmm, even after coming all this way, it’s annoying.

When I complained partway through to Garim, he seemed to think the same thing and agreed.

I really should have refused and drunk with the knight order guys instead.

Next time even if requested, I’m never doing this again.

I was thinking such things.

When we reached Lindl Duchy, the prince suddenly said he’d go to the hill instead of Belze town.

What good would going to such a place do?

Thinking that while following, when we arrived there were many graves on the hill.

The dead from Belze town, huh?

To think there was this much damage—even if the knight order was absent, did Lindl Duke not send reinforcements to his own territory’s city?

While thinking that, Prince Zeke went straight through between the graves.

Then I saw someone sitting in front of a grave.

Wearing a black hood and mask so I couldn’t see their face, but lightly equipped—one of the knight order members here?

No, they were hiding their face. There was even the possibility they’d stripped it off someone.

If a grave robber…

The moment my eyes met Garim’s, we tried to get in front of Prince Zeke, but the prince stopped us.

“Who’s there?”

He asked first, but I wanted to say those words to you, the one wearing a suspicious mask.

Listening to the conversation, apparently he was a person from Belze town.

At first he was openly hostile, but seemed to have the poison drawn out by the prince’s polite condolences.

Mm, I felt the same about having the poison drawn out.

I’d heard he had no etiquette or anything. He had unexpected sides.

After that we headed to Belze town.

There were swarms of small monsters, but they were no match for us.

Garim and I defeated them in no time.

But then, it appeared.

A Donbosco.

A dangerous monster that swords didn’t work well on.

Among the knight order who couldn’t use magic, it was listed high as a monster to avoid.

We fought for now, but somehow we wouldn’t lose… but I didn’t feel we could win either.

Swords hardly worked on it.

While deflecting the Donbosco’s attacks, I glanced to the side and met Garim’s eyes.

We’d probably run out of stamina eventually and die.

But we couldn’t let the prince behind us die.

It was our pride as soldiers entrusted with guard duty.

I told the prince.

To run away.

If I died protecting the prince, I had no regrets.

But the prince said he wouldn’t run, and furthermore strictly ordered that we absolutely must not die because if we died he would die.

He used his own life as a shield to do something like coercion.

I’d done various jobs since joining the knight order.

When I guarded a certain noble and faced a strong monster, the noble said to hold it off and ran away alone.

When I guarded a certain great merchant, when I was assigned to guard state officials too.

Their own lives were important to them.

After all, we were the capital knight order centered on commoners.

Unlike the other knight order centered on nobles, our value was like scrap paper.

So they didn’t care about soldiers’ lives, telling us to easily throw them away since there were replacements.

Yet this lord said he himself was the one with a replacement, bringing up his excellent younger brother’s name.

Despite that, he told us not to die.

Telling bottom-rung soldiers not to die, to value our lives, while saying he himself had a replacement so it was fine if he died in the worst case—that wasn’t something someone in command, especially someone closest to becoming the next king, should say.

I laughed together with Garim who was defending beside me.

Surely Garim thought the same thing.

‘We can’t let this damn brat die like this.’

Even if we didn’t feel we could win, we’d do our utmost to keep the prince alive.

As we fought desperately, eventually the masked man came.

And cooperating we somehow managed to defeat the Donbosco.

The power of the magic that defeated the Donbosco—he wasn’t an ordinary mage, I thought, but amazingly he was Rubert, the famous Jet-Black Knight of Lindl Duchy, and the prince hired him as a teacher.

Nice…

If only I were considerably skilled, if only the knight order had more holidays, I would’ve wanted to teach the prince.

Well, I go out to play every day off though.

Now then… what should I do with today’s day off?

Looking out the window, a blue sky spread before me.

I don’t really want to drink from the afternoon on such a day…

“Hey, you there?”

Along with a knock on the door, Garim entered.

“What’s up?”

“Hmph. As usual you look bored even on your day off.”

“That’s you too. So, what do you want?”

“Hmph. I’m going to the palace now—want to come?”

The palace… I see.

“Can’t be helped, I’ll come along.”

“Hmph. Hopefully he’s gotten a bit stronger.”

“Who knows. His movements were quite good last time.”

“Hmph. It’s because the teacher teaching him is good. He seems to have some talent too, but still has a ways to go.”

“Hehe…”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

While saying all that, you’ve taken a liking to him too, haven’t you?

“Let’s go then.”

Thinking this guy isn’t honest either, I headed to the palace.