Chapter 2: Test 1 – Strange Girl #1.

After finishing breakfast, I returned to my room.

While resting a hand on my throbbing forehead and letting out a sigh, Kaled, who was standing behind me, quietly opened his mouth.

“It seems I stepped forward unnecessarily and put you in a difficult position.

I apologize.”

His tone was completely flat and lacked any sincerity.

Just what kind of grudge does this person hold against me to ruin a situation that had been flowing so well?

Of course, that was only my personal thought.

Objectively speaking, Kaled’s remark had splendidly saved me from a crisis I was about to fall into.

In fact, after that the king kept praising me until his mouth went dry, and Victoria glared at me with murderous eyes while grinding her teeth.

Even the number of magic herbs confirmed so far was said to exceed twenty.

Over twenty of those rare magic herbs worth more than 500 Gold per root.

Without doing anything and just idling around, I had suddenly earned a profit of 10,000 Gold.

In this state, the possibility of me taking first place in the first test was very high.

No matter how competent Victoria was, she would not be able to earn more than 10,000 Gold in two weeks with only 432 Gold in assets.

If I took last place consecutively in the following tests I could recover, but simply attracting the attention of the king and Victoria was already a sufficiently dangerous state.

As expected, if I did not come up with some countermeasure…

“Who is currently managing my land?”

“I paid the village guards wages and asked them to manage it.”

“I think I need to go check it myself.”

One good method came to mind.

Couldn’t I somehow disguise it as an accident and burn everything?

I would not be able to fulfill my dream of building a villa, but right now preserving my life even by doing that was the priority.

Fortunately, Kaled nodded without any particular suspicion and left to prepare a carriage.

“Master.

Are you going out?”

“Yeah.”

My exclusive maid Erica approached with a polite posture and naturally helped me prepare to go out.

Having to accept someone else’s hands like a dressing doll every time I went out was a bit annoying, but I had also started to slowly get used to this.

“If it is alright, may I accompany you as well?”

“No.

Since Sir Kaled will be accompanying me, Erica should rest well here.”

I decided to give Erica, who always worked hard, a rare break.

At that moment I felt a chilling sensation on my back, and Erica’s smiling expression reflected in the mirror seemed to twist.

When I flinched in surprise, Erica, who returned to normal in an instant, tilted her head and asked with a natural expression.

“What is the matter?”

“Ah, no.

I must have been mistaken.”

“Hehe.

Master is funny.”

Yes.

I must have seen wrong.

There was no way Erica, the only person in this palace who treated me kindly and favorably, would make such a scary expression, right?

“Then please take care on your way.”

Receiving Erica’s send-off, Kaled and I boarded the carriage and headed for my hometown village.

Was this a return after two weeks?

Reflecting on the not-so-short past, I realized that other than eating and sleeping every day, I had not done anything in particular.

Well, that was only natural.

While the other siblings were struggling desperately to make money somehow, the only thing I had done was purchase the mountain behind the village and nothing else.

Yet why on earth had I become the overwhelming first place?

It was fortunate that there was still time remaining.

If I had remained unaware until the final report day and only then discovered the existence of the magic herbs, I would have been stuck ending in first place with no way out.

I checked whether the matchbox I had secretly brought in my pocket was still there.

My heart pounded wildly like a childish kid at the fact that I now had to commit arson.

And it was not even at the level of cute children’s play, but a crime of arson where I had to burn the entire mountain behind.

···What if casualties occurred?

I knew that almost no one climbed the mountain behind, but what if someone happened to be climbing it today of all days?

Killing someone with my own hands.

Even if it was a world inside a game, I could not help but feel resistance toward such a situation.

While I was repeatedly worrying about what to do, Kaled, who was sitting across from me, spoke without any sense of timing.

“Princess.

Your expression has not been good for a while.

Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine.”

If you think about it, it’s all your fault.

Why did you bring it up at that timing of all times?

Of course Kaled acted with the good intention of trying to help me, but thanks to that my position had become extremely awkward.

Or could it be a big picture to make Victoria dislike me… no, that couldn’t be.

Even thinking it myself was so absurd that I ended up shaking my head.

Anyway, I decided to put the arson on hold as a last resort strategy and first go to the mountain behind to check the situation.

After reaching that conclusion, it was not long before the carriage arrived at the village and came to a soft stop.

Something I felt every time I rode this carriage was that the riding comfort was quite good.

Driving away the worthless thoughts, I got off the carriage and immediately headed toward the mountain behind.

The guard who took the role of guide was busy glancing back and checking my mood with every step he took.

“Um…

The place where the magic herbs are is quite rugged, so it might be difficult for the princess to climb…”

“I will feel at ease only when I confirm it with my own eyes, so please do not worry.”

Indeed, climbing the mountain with the body of a delicate girl was not as easy as I thought.

I wanted to just lie down on the ground right away, but since I felt I could only rest at ease after confirming and eliminating the magic herbs as quickly as possible, I gritted my teeth and kept moving my legs.

About thirty minutes must have passed.

Around the time my stamina was completely depleted and I was reaching my limit, we finally arrived at the place where the problem magic herbs were said to be blooming.

At the unexpected sight we encountered there, not only the guard who had been walking ahead, but me and Kaled as well lost our words and came to a stop in a daze.

A beautiful clearing on the mountainside decorated as if it were the stage of a fairy tale.

But in this space, not even a single blade of the magic herbs could be found.

Instead, what filled the place was the figure of a girl who had fallen asleep using the grass as a bed.

It was not a fairy-tale atmosphere at all.

Watching her roll around with her soft-looking belly exposed and even snoring with a nasty sleeping habit, I almost let out a hollow laugh for a moment.

However, the expressions of the two people beside me were very serious.

“The magic herbs were clearly fine just a moment ago…”

Kaled looked at the guard with a cold gaze as if telling him to explain, but the answer that came back was only a lukewarm excuse.

Listening to the subsequent desperate explanations, it seemed the guard had reason to feel quite wronged as well.

After receiving the mission to guard the magic herbs, he had been thoroughly protecting them until now, and the moment he briefly left his post to guide us upon hearing the news that we would visit in person, this incident occurred.

Whatever the case, the person who appeared to be the culprit of the situation was snoring away calmly in front of us and even talking in her sleep.

“Snore.

Phew-.

Hehe.

I’m so full I can’t eat any more…

Mmm.”

Was she eating her favorite food to her heart’s content in her dream?

The girl who wore a very happy-looking smile while lightly patting her bulging belly.

Watching that scene, Kaled bowed his head to me and spoke.

“I will wake her first.”

“Yes.”

Even though it was a mild spring, the nights were quite chilly.

Sleeping outside like this could easily give her a crooked face, so we decided to wake the girl first.

When Kaled approached and tapped her, the girl mumbled and slowly opened her eyes.

The figure of the girl raising her upper body and looking around in a half-asleep state was quite cute even by objective standards.

Brown hair braided into two pigtails and fresh green eyes.

A small build and the soft, clean skin unique to children.

She still looked very childish now, but she was a pretty girl whose future seemed promising enough to make several men cry once she grew just a little more.

“Hiiik!

Wh-who are you…?”

The girl discovered the man with a scary impression standing tall in front of her, and as if the sleepiness had fled, she was startled and began trembling.

“Did you see the plants that were growing around here?”

“Ah…

That’s…”

The girl could not answer Kaled’s direct question right away and trailed off while reading the mood.

It was a reaction that made it obvious to anyone that she was related to the disappearance of the magic herbs.

“What did you do?

It would be best to answer truthfully.

If you try to brush it off with lies…”

At the man’s meaningful action of naturally stroking the hilt of his sword, the girl hiccupped and very noticeably averted her gaze.

“I’ll talk!

I’ll speak honestly, so please spare me!!

Hwaaang…”

How desperate was she to live that she clung to Kaled’s ankle and even begged while letting snot run freely?

“I got it, so just answer quickly!”

Kaled, who normally almost never expressed emotion, raised his voice and forcibly peeled the girl off.

But his pant leg was already soaked with traces of tears and snot.

“Th-that is, actually…

I ate them all…”

At the unexpected shocking confession, everyone lost their words and stared blankly at the girl.

As if burdened by the gazes focused on her, the girl scratched the back of her head awkwardly and answered with a clumsy smile.

“I was so hungry that I ate them without thinking…

Tehe?”