Chapter 175: Services

Tournaments and contests, yearly or seasonal, were constantly held through the seasons of the years. Compared to the Youth Tournament, most weren't worth mentioning, though. After all, the Youth Tournament was held only about once every five years.

Also, it came with life-changing rewards and career advantages if the participant could score high enough and be noticed by the lords and high nobles as a rare talent.

Word is, you could even be noticed by the one and only Partner, Highlord of the Reinred Empire, and become part of his companions, or "partners." Lord Partner was one of the most affluent people of the continent. To directly serve him, without a third party's intervention, as his "partner" was an extraordinary chance.

So much for "Gathering information," System, eh? For some reason, the repeated mention of this Partner highlord fellow made me feel strange. In the back of my head, I felt like I had to remember something, something that might be super important, but it was only a blur, so I didn't know. For now, it didn't matter.

What mattered was the Side Mission. To gather information. And I did. It had been around an hour since the royalty walked in to her two brothers and father. In other words, it had been long. Long enough. She sat with the royal family, discussed the matters of the military and related politics, and she was fine.

Sure, she didn't get to hear her father say unto her "my daughter," but she did fine. As a consequence, she felt good. The cold freshness of the night kept gently wrapping around her, but when her family's warmth was stronger, she could only feel good about it all. And her heart continuously beat through her chest, spreading the strong feeling of relaxedness all across her body and soul, up until she smiled without even meaning to. Yes. She felt good. She felt at home. But, again, yes, that was only because she was ignorant of what would happen next.

Mostly, she wasn't aware that her father wasn't any closer to calling the poor girl his daughter. Why? Because she had messed up. Again. The day she took me in, on the battlefield, she messed up. Her older brother told her that she blew her cover and thus messed up. That she could "use her gold wisely" all she wanted. That recruiting that unique monster-type as her private little soldier wasn't a mistake.

But that wasn't true.

Right at the moment she decided to "take in" that unique monster she set her eyes on, she messed up. Because a monster-type would only always stay that—a monster. At the very least, I would. I was a monster through and through. One hour before the royalty took me in, I committed one of the gravest crimes you could commit.

I slayed the fifth prince, son of King Folvin, of the Roerden House. I drove an orcish dagger into his heart, and it stopped beating. And I was nowhere to cease committing crimes.

She didn't know it, but she had messed up bad. Real bad. The conversation of the four was now coming to an end, and Princess Elina took her second bullet to her legs.

Outside of the king's apartments, repeated Bangs were knocked on doors. Servants handled what needed to be handled, and a guard was let through with an important General of the army and an important message. The king and his children wondered what could be the matter. Before long, the envoy from the army reached the grand bedroom they all rested in.

"My King," the soldier said, "my Lords and Lady." In a manner that befitted his rank, the general profusely apologized for disturbing them, when they seemed to have privately gathered, but that he had a message far too important to let it be delayed. "The information I'm about to relay has been confirmed... without, unfortunately, the shadow of a doubt." The soldier had taken his helmet off. His face was apparent. Let the man speak no words—his face, pale and ashen dark, his big dead eyes, his sunken cheeks, and the dreadful glare he gave Elina were all enough.

Still, the man spoke: "The fifth prince has been confirmed dead. Executed while taken hostage. That was... during the battle of Greenfield. Under the third princess, Lady Elina's control."

Three weeks ago, and they only found the body now. The third prince was known as the Adventurer Prince: The young man was always out, with his royal unit, exploring and killing as he pleased, playing at being a monster-hunter. When he wasn't around for more than two months, only then people started to worry about his case. The last reports about his potential whereabouts read that the third prince was located somewhere around the villages and towns of Greenfield.

By chance, his decaying body had first been discovered two weeks after he passed, in a pile of collected stuff from the battle of Greenfield, but it took an additional week to properly investigate the decayed remains and confirm that the body indeed belonged to the royal family of Roerden.

Just like her younger brother's body was rotten, her luck was rotten, too. That unfortunate accident had to happen while she was in charge of the campaign against the demi-humans. What rotten luck, then again, that the hired professional mages had confirmed that, at the time of the murder, the Adventurer Prince was taken hostage.

Elina grew pale. So very pale. When she heard the news and everyone turned to face her, she trembled all over. All she wanted to do was bury her head within her hands and sob like a panicked child. Her breathing became heavier. No words were spoken. She had to leave at once.

"Consequence" was a dreadful word.

It wasn't that the fifth son of King Folvin would be missed. In fact, days after that, the royalty heard from her older brother that those, "A son? I have others, don't I!" were the words spoken by her father after he heard of the passing.

What mostly troubled the girl was to think how tarnished her name would become after the news. At the Palace, the word was that the fifth prince had fought valiantly and died thus, so her relations with lords and ladies at the court weren't endangered. But what about King Folvin? What about the fatherly recognition and love he had to give his girl? Elina had no answers.

One problem called for another. Days later, the eldest son, when considering the potential political moves he could make to serve the crown, might have considered promptly marrying Elina off, as was first planned, to strengthen the bonds between the crown and a suitable lord of the land.

Well. At last, the royalty might need my services. A killer's services. And you know what they say. All's well that ends well. Probably.