“And what did you think of my country?”
“It was full of waterwheels.”
“……”
“……”
“…Huh? Was…that your only takeaway?”
“Well, yeah.”
Nothing in particular had happened that was worth talking about.
“I s-see… That’s all, huh…?”
Half ignoring the disheartened prince, I replied, “By the way, Prince Robert, are you on your way back from Windmill City?”
“Hmm? Ah…well, not quite.”
“Meaning?”
“I’m searching for my fiancée.”
Mm-hmm.
“Well, I’m very flattered, but I’m afraid it’s impossible for me to marry, being a traveler and all.”
“What are you talking about…?” Prince Robert was obviously exasperated. “My fiancée has disappeared!”
“Disappeared…?”
You sure she didn’t run away?
Prince Robert nodded. “The truth is, we were planning to get married soon. But the girl I’m marrying is the princess of Windmill City. In order to hold the ceremony in Waterwheel City, I’ve got to take her there.”
“Mm-hmm.”
So you’re marrying the princess of the neighboring country? Impressive.
“However, there seems to be a faction over there who doesn’t think highly of her marrying me, and this morning, moments before I arrived at Windmill City, they had already forced her to marry some other guy.”
“……”
His handsome face was twisted in grief. “She was crying. I suppose she was distressed over a marriage with a partner she did not love. And so I tossed aside my role as prince and stole her away.”
“Huh…?”
Oh, geez. What a romantic turn of events.
“When we left Windmill City, I put her in a sleigh that was hitched to my horse and ran off for Waterwheel City.”
“A sleigh?”
Like she’s a piece of luggage?
“But halfway down the road, when I turned to look back, she wasn’t there anymore. Even though I was certain she had been sitting in the sleigh eating a croissant when we left Windmill City together.”
“You don’t think she fell out, do you?”
“Ah… That’s why I’m searching for her.”
“I see.”
Was she abducted? Was there an accident? Or did she run away? Which was it? As far as I could tell from listening to the prince, it seemed rather likely that there had been some accident, and he had carelessly left her—sleigh and all—somewhere on the road.
It was hard to say at the present stage.
“The princess of Windmill City—she’s a beautiful girl with wavy golden hair and flaming red eyes… Is there any chance you’ve seen her?”
“I’ve been walking the whole way down this road from Waterwheel City, and you’re the first person I’ve passed, Prince.”
I told him the truth.
He furrowed his brow just a little, looking dejected. “…Is that so?”
However, I was getting the feeling that the situation was much more complicated. I was almost certain there was something deeper behind the marriage of this prince to the princess of the neighboring territory.
A political marriage to connect the two families, for example.
“Where did you first meet the princess?”
I asked him a roundabout question.
“Hmm? I met her at the commemorative party celebrating ten years since the end of the war. It was love at first sight.”
“Mm-hmm, the end of the war, you say? So Waterwheel City and Windmill City were once at war? I see.”
So it’s a political marriage, then?
“I mean, it happened more than ten years ago. Neither city was able to stomach having their clone next door, so they went to war.”
“Even though they’re so similar?”
“Because they’re so similar. Wouldn’t you feel uneasy if there was someone just like you always by your side? From those trivial origins grew a terrible feud and, finally, a war… The road we’re on now was the site of some of the fiercest battles. At one point, it was soaked with the blood of soldiers, and there were some who called it ‘the trail of gore.’”
“…That’s a very tasteless moniker.”
I glanced down at the road that was dyed bright red. But it wasn’t red with blood, just fallen autumn leaves.
It was beautiful.
“It took quite a long time for both cities to approve it, but we finally achieved peace. If she and I are married, our two countries will have something deeper than a treaty.”
“Does the princess consent to this union?”
“Of course. If she didn’t, we wouldn’t be engaged!”
“…Hmm.”
Is that so?
I had been certain that Prince Robert had forced the marriage and that the unwilling princess had run away—but I guess I was wrong.
I nodded. “If I run into her somewhere, I’ll tell her about you.”
He looked up. “Ah, please do. And when you do, please tell her to come to Waterwheel City. We’ve got to hold the wedding ceremony—” Then Prince Robert changed course. “Oh yes, by the way, if you find her, I will reward you with ten gold pieces.”
Now we’re talking.
“I see. I’ll give it my best effort.”
“Please do.”
“You can count on me.”
I wasn’t blinded by greed. I simply wanted to help the prince. Honest.
……
But the rich certainly aren’t afraid to play dirty, huh? I guess their financial assets are their strongest weapon, so they can have anything they want as long as they pay the right price.
Such were my thoughts as I watched Prince Robert recede into the distance.
After parting ways with Prince Robert, I walked on for a little while before catching sight of another person.
Feeling it would be impolite to stare, I kept my eyes to the side and glanced repeatedly at the person coming toward me.
“……”
It was a beautiful young woman.
But I knew right away it wasn’t the princess of Windmill City—she was far too tall.
Her hair hung straight down, a fiery shade of red. She was not wearing a dress fit for a princess, but rather a suit of sinister red armor. And most unsettling of all, she had a sword strapped to her hip.
A red-haired woman in red armor walking down a red road.
That’s the kind of woman that crossed paths with me.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
“You…,” she started.
Her sharp voice pierced me from behind.
I stopped and turned around. “…What?”
“You were just staring at me, weren’t you? What do you want?”
“Oh, it’s nothing—you just caught my eye, is all.”
“I caught your eye, huh? What about me?”
I lowered my gaze a bit and looked at her armor. “Are you seriously saying that if someone in that dangerous-looking getup was just ambling down the road, you wouldn’t look twice?”
“I’d mind my own business.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“……”
“…Did something happen?” I asked transparently.
I already knew what her answer would be.
She had come from the direction of Windmill City. From the fact that she was clad in armor, it was hard to imagine that she might be any sort of wandering traveler.
Also, her armor led me to believe she was a person in charge of protecting something.
To put it simply—
“The truth is: The princess of my homeland has gone missing.”
That’s what I thought.
“Gone missing? My, how awful.”
“Do you know anything? She’s a beautiful girl with wavy golden hair.”
“Nope, nothing.”
I haven’t seen a girl like that… But she seems to be causing quite a stir.
At this rate, I wouldn’t have a second to sit down and rest once I arrived in Windmill City. There was a big possibility that the whole country would be in the midst of a panic.
The woman scowled. “…Is that so? Well, if you happen to find the princess, please bring her to Windmill City.”
Oh, that’s the opposite side of where Prince Robert wants her to go.
……
I nodded enthusiastically. “All right. I’ll try my best—By the way, what is your name?”
“Rosamia.”
“Well, Miss Rosamia, I’ll be sure to bring her back to you. If I find her.”
“Please do.”
“Okay.”
Maybe.
My stomach was growling.
It must almost be lunchtime.
“……”
For some reason, whenever I was hungry, I became extremely sensitive to smells. Even in the chilly, crisp winter air, I could always pick out the smell of food.
Like, Ah, something smells delicious—or something like that.
“……”
When the aroma of food tickled my nose, I halted in my tracks.
That scent. That delicious aroma.
What could it be—? Ah, it’s bread. The smell of bread. The unique, slightly sweet, mellow scent wafted through the air.
“There’s no one in front of me or behind me…which means…”
Following the scent, I veered off the road, stepping into a thicket. There was no doubt bread in this direction.
The grass rustled and swayed as I advanced, and the scent grew even stronger.
And then…
“Mnf…!”
In the middle of the thicket. At the base of a tree. Sitting there with a croissant in her mouth, looking up at me in surprise, was a girl.
A basket containing a heap of croissants balanced atop her knees. She was dressed in an expensive-looking, pure-white wedding dress and had wavy golden hair. Her bright-red lips had stopped moving when she noticed me.
…Could it be?
Drawn in by the delicious smell, I had unexpectedly encountered another person.
“Princess, I presume? Of Windmill City?”
“……!”
Her shoulders jolted up in surprise, and the girl chomped down the remainder of the croissant that she held.
So that’s more important than responding to me. I see.
The girl chewed for a moment, then finally she swallowed and glared at me. “Who are you? You should introduce yourself before asking someone else for their name. How rude.”
I don’t remember asking your name, though. I was just confirming.
“…The Ashen Witch, Elaina. I’m a traveler.”
“That’s better. Elaina… That’s a nice name. My name is Chocolat. It’s as you say. I am the princess of Windmill City.”
“What’s a princess doing in a place like this?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m having lunch.”
“Well, could I have one of those croissants?”
“Oh, go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Hidden away in the shade of the trees, I munched on croissants with Princess Chocolat as I tried to piece together her story.
For the time being, I kept it a secret that I had encountered her fiancé, Prince Robert. I was still convinced that theirs was a political marriage, after all. I’m not saying I doubted him, but I decided this was the best course of action if I wanted to find out what was really going on between them.
The first step is to ask an easy question.
“Do you plan to return to your country?”
“I’m being pursued by a scary person. Even if I wanted to go back, I can’t.”
“…A scary person?”
“Yes. A scary person who will destroy my happiness.”
Hmm. That lines up with Prince Robert’s story—which means…
“Would that be the person who was trying to force you into a marriage?”
“Yes, that’s the person… You know about my situation?”
“Yes, sort of—I’ve heard bits and pieces.”
“…From whom?”
I could tell that Princess Chocolat had her guard up. It made sense: She had wanted to get married to the prince from the neighboring country, but there was someone from her own city trying to stop her. To borrow her words, there was a scary person who would destroy her happiness—and as long as that person was around, she had to be careful.
If they were from the same city, that meant that there was a possibility that her enemy was not operating alone.
Well, that complicates things. Let’s revise our earlier assumptions.
“Don’t worry. I heard it from your sweetheart.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
As she tried to calm herself down, the princess took another huge bite of her croissant. I followed suit, shoving a mouthful of bread into my mouth.
All right, let’s continue with this line of questioning.
“So don’t you want to go be with your lover?”
“But the scary person will probably hanging around nearby, right? I’m just going to wait here.”
“You’re just going to wait here and eat croissants?”
“Yes.”
“But the smell will give you away.”
“I doubt there’s another creature in the entire world with your inane ability to sniff out croissants. You’re practically a croissant fiend.”
“That’s not true!”
How rude.
“Oh really? Here, have a whiff.” Princess Chocolat waved her croissant under my nose.
I devoured it immediately.
“Delicious.”
“…Why did you eat mine?”
“The grass is always greener on the other side.”
“We’re literally sitting on the same grass.”
“All the more reason for me to eat it.”
We were fighting like two very similar neighboring territories.
I wolfed down the remainder of my own croissant and stood up. “Okay, enough messing around. Let’s get going, shall we?”
Princess Chocolat looked up at me. “…Go where?” Her eyes were filled with apprehension. “Didn’t you hear a word I said? I intend to wait right here for my sweetheart. I don’t want to run into that scary person.”
“But if you just stay here, sooner or later this walking nightmare will probably find you.”
“……”
She was silent, and I spoke again. “I’ve been appointed by your sweetheart to find you and bring you back, Princess.” I held out a hand. “As thanks for the croissants, allow me to escort you.”
Prince Robert and Rosamia.
What they had in common was the girl walking beside me now—they were both searching for Princess Chocolat.
If I had to guess, I’d say one of those two probably has something to do with the scary person Princess Chocolat keeps mentioning. After all, they each wanted to whisk her away to a different country.
Which means that if I choose the wrong one, I might be handing Princess Chocolat over to a bad crowd. Which one should I believe? Well, I’m sure if I stick with the princess, the answer will become obvious eventually.
“…Huh? We’re headed for Waterwheel City?”
“Yes. Your sweetheart is waiting there for you.”
After a long brainstorming session, I decided we were to head toward where Prince Robert was waiting. The prince had been the more believable of the two. There was no telling what Rosamia had been told by whoever had ordered her to search for the princess. It was possible that she was working for the scary person who was trying to force Princess Chocolat into a marriage against her will.
If I was going to choose one, I thought it was better to believe Prince Robert. Even if he was the prince of the neighboring country, a country that had gone to war with the princess’s own… I m
ean, first of all, the war had been over for more than ten years, and now the two countries were even trade partners, so that was a point I had to consider.
I turned to Princess Chocolat. “Well, we should arrive before sunset. Until then, walk next to me like we’re going for a stroll.”
“Okay…” Princess Chocolat wore a downcast expression. “But I wonder…”
“Wonder what?”
“Why is my darling waiting in Waterwheel City?”
Don’t ask me…
“Don’t you think it’s because the nightmare person who’s out to get you might be lying in wait in Windmill City?”
Plus, he’s the prince of Waterwheel City, so I don’t find it all that unusual that he would wait in his own city.
Princess Chocolat hung her head. “And we were finally going to have our long-awaited wedding… It took so much time before we were able to get it officiated,” she grumbled.
“Don’t worry about that. It sounds like you’re going to get what you originally planned on, in Waterwheel City.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Your wedding, of course,” I said to Princess Chocolat, who had her head tilted in confusion. “The original plan was to hold the wedding in Waterwheel City, right?”
I had said this much, when Princess Chocolat stopped on the spot.
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at me with suspicion. It was a strange sensation—a feeling that we were both talking about something very important, but we were on completely different pages.
Maybe we’d better start at the beginning.
“Your sweetheart is Prince Robert, right?”
“No.” Princess Chocolat shook her head. Then she said bluntly, “He’s the one I fear who’s out to get me!”
Before I could even respond to this dramatic new development, it happened.
No, rather than saying “it happened,” I should say “it flew at me.”
“—Ngaaaaaahhh!”
From the direction of Waterwheel City, where we were headed, a man came flying in.
He had blond hair and blue eyes. Screaming in a hoarse voice as he sailed past us, the man rolled along the road we had been walking down, scattering red leaves as he eventually came to a stop.
“I wonder if he’s all right?”
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 2 Page 3