My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~

The formation advancing through the forest had Kishō in the vanguard. Ōka was placed in the middle guard to protect Alice, and the all-purpose Princess served as rear guard.

The party was in single file, walking along that black soil path.

The good-natured Ōka apparently couldn’t leave Alice, who was grieving over losing her father, alone—she embraced her shoulder consolingly. The two-person exchange continued for a while, and—

“Thank you. I feel a bit better.”

Alice said with a tearful voice, sniffling.

While listening to their conversation with his back turned, Kishō sighed privately.

(I’m glad Ōka’s here. I wouldn’t know what to say to comfort her.)

“Westport, was it? You have your mother in your hometown, right?”

“Yes. If I go to Algant and send a letter, I think she’ll come to meet me.”

While alertly monitoring the surroundings, Kishō also joined the conversation.

“Me too, you see—my father died before I was born. So it was a single-mother household. I don’t understand the sadness of losing a father, but… because my mother was there, I never thought it was lonely. So I think Alice-san will surely recover too.”

“Yes.”

A presence of Alice nodding slightly from behind. Ōka spoke cheerfully as if being considerate.

“Right! So let’s end the gloomy talk here! Let’s have fun conversations!”

“There it is—Ōka’s carefree random talk.”

“Who was it that was helped by this carefree random talk?”

“Yes, it was me.”

“Good to be honest.”

Alice’s giggling voice reached his ears. Seems she’ll be okay now, Kishō thought with relief.

“Westport’s a merchant city, right?”

“Yes. It’s the capital of the Great Caravan Republic, a nation created by merchants.”

“What kind of city is it?”

“As the name suggests, it’s a merchant city. Since seventy percent of residents are merchants, street stalls crowd every corner of the city.”

“Supply and demand? Doesn’t that mean there are more sellers?”

“The customers are mainly tourists, merchants coming to purchase from other countries, and nobles seeking rare items, so there’s no problem. Since specialties from all over the world gather via both sea and land routes, the product selection is the world’s best.”

Ōka made an absent-minded “Ohhh” sound.

“Is that so? Actually, I also went to Westport when I was small, but all I remember is the impression that the city was colorful.”

“The colorfulness is because they decorate signs and banners flashily to make their stores stand out even a little.”

“Such robust mercantile spirit.”

“Yes, that’s what merchants are. By the way, if you’ve stayed in Westport, do you know this?”

After a pause for dramatic effect, Alice’s low voice resonated.

“Beware of Elesia Ignoosis.”

“Huh? Eclair? A pastry?”

“No, Elesia. It’s a kind of urban legend passed down in Westport.”

“What what what what is that! I’m super curious!”

Ōka, who fundamentally loved gossip, took the bait splendidly. Even without turning around, Kishō could tell from their long relationship. She loved gossip more than three meals a day. Her large eyes must be filled with sparkle.

“Long ago, there was apparently a serial killer in Westport.”

“That’s disturbing for a merchant city! And then, and then?”

“From a certain period, missing persons apparently started appearing in succession. They launched search parties and conducted large-scale searches. But not a single person was ever found.”

“Eeeh, where did they disappear to?”

“That’s what we don’t know. The culprit was a quite cunning human.”

Hm? Thinking that, Kishō tilted his head.

“One day, someone started saying this: A serial killer is lurking in this city. Everyone became victims of brutal human experimentation. And that someone apparently said, ‘Beware of Elesia Ignoosis.'”

“Missing persons. Human experimentation. Hmm, I think I’ve heard a similar story.”

The well-versed Ōka seemed to have judged it a fictional tale.

Kishō felt the same, but there was also the possibility it was based on a true story. Combining it with the question he’d felt earlier, he tried thinking with expanded imagination.

“Hey. Given that no bodies were found, isn’t it strange to definitively call it murder?”

“Yes. That’s the crux of this story.”

Alice responded somewhat happily.

Not one of the missing persons was ever found. In other words, no one’s body was ever found. Then why did that someone know it was a serial killer’s doing?

“I knew it. The person who started saying it is the culprit.”

“Correct. They knew information no one should have known. That’s why they’re the culprit.”

A trembling presence transmitted from Ōka, who’d been acting relaxed.

◇◇◇◇◇

—Demon Bear.

That was a magical beast reigning at the apex of the ecological pyramid in the Beast King Forest.

Standing upright, it was a giant bear exceeding ten meters, with claws sharpened like swords at the ends of tree-trunk-like arms. Its sideways strikes could easily bisect giant trees—with one swing, two or three trees would be casually bisected and felled.

“Whoa!? That’s incredible strength!”

Receiving that sideways strike with his practice sword, Kishō raised a voice of surprise.

While blocking the Demon Bear’s strike head-on, he forcibly pushed back as if in a contest of strength. The practice sword clad in [Sword Aura] and the Demon Bear’s sharp claws locked in fierce competition. Probably among magical beasts in this forest, only the Demon Bear could receive Kishō’s [Sword Aura] head-on. Intending to pay respect, Kishō increased his [Sword Aura] output and severed the Demon Bear’s right arm along with its claws.

“GROOOOOOOAR!”

Standing on two legs, the Demon Bear roared.

The remaining left arm swung down as if slamming from above. Kishō lightly avoided this with a step, then ran up the arm stabbed into the ground and aimed for the Demon Bear’s neck, beheading it as is. The out-of-control massive body toppled forward to the ground, shaking the surrounding plants and flowers.

“Looks like today’s lunch is bear cuisine.”

Dispersing the purple-flame [Sword Aura] and sheathing the practice sword at his waist, Alice, who’d been watching from a distance, came running over.

“Amazing! You took down such a huge bear so easily!”

“Any dragonkin male could do this much.”

“That’s not true!”

“You think so?”

“I do!”

Her eyes sparkling, she sent him an admiring gaze.

If a dragonkin girl had said the same thing, Kishō would surely have been skeptical. But because Alice was a human girl, he could accept it honestly.

To begin preparing lunch, he felled an appropriate tree and created a log table following the same procedure as last night. For dragonkin with high-density muscles, that wasn’t much labor. Fine force adjustment was possible through [Ki] intensity, and he could easily lift the felled log by himself.

When he brought the log table to the campfire Ōka had prepared, Alice ran her fingers along the horizontally processed table surface admiringly.

“Wow, amazing. Kishō-kun, you’re strong and dexterous.”

“This much is normal.”

“That’s not true. People who can combine strength and dexterity are extremely rare.”

If asked whether he had strength, as a dragonkin he was normal. If asked whether he was dexterous, judging from Ōka’s retort last night, the cut was slightly diagonal, so he felt more clumsy if anything. Did it look that way to humans?

“Plus Kishō-kun, you’re handsome, aren’t you?”

Alice said bashfully.

His heart jumped with a thump.

Has he ever been called handsome even once before? At least within the range of his memory, he could definitively say no.

Kishō was an extremely ordinary dragonkin male with no noteworthy appearance. But that was only when viewed as a dragonkin, where beautiful men and women were normal—being seen as “handsome” by other races wasn’t particularly unnatural.

In that case, he should have been popular when living in Algant, but unfortunately he’d only had male friends. Living in the outskirts away from the urban area was one reason he wasn’t blessed with opportunities to meet people.

That’s why Alice’s next words greatly shook Kishō’s heart.

“I know it’s strange to say this after meeting just one day ago, but—I like you, Kishō-kun.”

At the straightforward pitch without tricks, Kishō’s smile stiffened complexly. And toward the spineless man who’d become unable to move, Alice said gently.

“You don’t have to answer right away. When we return to the city… if you could let me know by then. Ah, well then, I’ll go pick up firewood.”

Perhaps becoming embarrassed, she scampered off to pick up firewood.

A devil whispered in his ear.

“Switching from Yō-chan?”

A strange sound came from his throat.

With creaking, poorly-oiled movements, he turned his head to look around.

The Princess, who’d been preparing tableware, was glaring at him with resentful eyes.

“Shō-kun, you don’t understand why Yō-chan’s in a bad mood, do you?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“If the boy you like is stretching his nose at another girl, of course you’d get jealous.”

Like hell she’d get jealous! He almost shouted that reflexively, but Kishō suddenly understood something and fell silent. He voiced the questions from before as if washing them out.

“Last night, the thorns contained in her words too?”

“Maybe she was anxious about a cute girl’s appearance.”

“Her trying to cooperate with searching for survivors?”

“Obviously she didn’t want to leave you alone with Alice-chan.”

“Not using Thousand-Mile Eye?”

“She didn’t want to use her power for a love rival, right? You dense man!”

“Mmm,” Kishō groaned.

Would the Princess, of such noble status, really get jealous over someone like him?

But in the sense of avoiding the worst conclusion of prejudice against humans, Ōka’s opinion seemed attractive. After agonizing, Kishō decided to go along with that opinion.

“So then. Assuming that’s the case—what should I do?”

“Embrace her and silence her with a kiss.”

“Huh?”

“That’s why you should pay attention to Yō-chan so she doesn’t get jealous. Really intimately. Yes, like last night! Then her hostility toward Alice-chan will also fade, right?”

I see—he almost nodded, but Kishō flipped the chabudai table in his mind.

“I see nothing!”

“Ahh! He’s embarrassed, he’s embarrassed!”

Ōka, who’d been clinging like a spirit, nimbly turned and ran off toward the Princess. Then she returned, pulling the Princess’s hand.

“What is it? Do you need something?”

“Shō-kun says he has something to confess.”

“No I don’t!? Don’t make things up!”

“Yes, three point deduction! Wimping out here isn’t manly!”

Ōka pointed her finger sharply. Then she pushed Kishō’s back.

“Hey! Wait, don’t push.”

The Princess’s beautiful face and delicate body drew close.

His body temperature rose about three degrees. Dragon robe sleeve touched dragon robe sleeve. Then—