Dakia Irmel.

 

“Is that so? That’s a tragic story.”

I chuckled, focused on cooking my share of horsemeat. I couldn’t taste it, but I’d rather it be cooked and chewy than burnt and mushy.

As she grilled the meat, Dakia slowly moved her golden eyes to look at me.

“Why don’t you put a little more sincerity into it, so I don’t realize you’re not interested at all.”

I brought the grilling horse to my mouth and took a bite. It was hot and moist, though I couldn’t taste it. As I cut into it with a dagger and nibbled away, Dakia asked, “Isn’t that undercooked?

“Isn’t that undercooked?”

“I like it on the tender side, even if it is a little undercooked. Princess.”

Carmen said, focused on grilling her share of the meat.

“Why don’t you finish what you were saying, now that we’ve gotten to the part where we can speculate that you must have been trying to sell yourself to the Dragon Kingdoms in exchange for the marriage?”

Dakia glanced at Carmen, then opened her mouth.

“Exactly, but aren’t you both too interested in my story?”

I replied, picking at another piece of meat.

“The first time we heard it, we listened intently, but this is the third time you’ve told us the story, so don’t you think Princess Dakia should have some sympathy for our lack of attention?”

Princess Dakia’s argument was simple. The gist of the story was that her brother, who considered her a nuisance, was trying to use the confusion of the recently arrived dragon kingdom to displace her from her rightful place as head of House Irmel.

I cut another slice of meat and stuffed it into my mouth, watching her.

Silver hair as fine as silk and two eyes of gold. We offered to grill it for her, but she insisted, fumbling around with a piece of meat she couldn’t even grill well. Eventually, the outside of the meat was burned to a crisp.

“Why don’t you eat this and give me the rest.”

I picked out the ripe pieces of meat I’d cut for my share and handed them over to her, then took the burnt meat, cut off the burnt parts, and ate the moderately cooked pieces.

“Murder!

I shouted at my squirming mother, demanding that she just let me eat the burnt stuff. Dakia accepted the plate I held out to her and said in a small voice.

“I’ll eat it—.”

“You’ll do better next time, if you talk a little less while you’re baking.”

The princess glanced at me lightly, then popped a piece of the meat I grilled into her mouth and chewed it grimly.

A ‘wizard’ princess.

She seemed interested in the position of House Irmel personally, but it was clear that it wouldn’t be easy for her to take the position as long as she was a mage. Unless she was willing to kill her brother herself.

Nobles hated ‘Wizard’. Or, more accurately, they didn’t want a mage born into their family.

There were two main reasons for this: first, of course, the general disposition of Wizard made it difficult to teach them basic manners, and their inherent narcissism, coupled with their noble status, made it difficult to handle the accidents they might cause.

The second is the long-standing myth that “wizards” should not have power. This belief takes back to the pre-Empire days of “crooked wizards,” and most races were very reluctant to have wizards in positions of power.

Although, given the average level of humanity among wizards, they weren’t exactly wrong.

Of course, it wasn’t as if there weren’t wizards who had risen to the position of lord, but since her goal was to become one of only four high lords in the Northern Kingdoms, she was bound to encounter greater resistance.

Dakia, who had been picking at her meat, looked at me and Carmen and spoke up cautiously.

“Do you mind if I make a suggestion?”

I knew what was coming, and what she said was not far off the mark.

“Take me to the House of Irmel’s estate, Beatus.”

But the reward she offered was more than I could have imagined.

“If you can do that, I’ll reward you with as much gold as your body weight.”

The House of the Great Lord. The barrel was large, very large. Gold worth my weight in gold. This is a bit much.

“Murder!!!

I glared at Carmen, taking to heart my mother’s advice to start gaining weight today to make myself heavier.

No matter how much I wanted to, Carmen was the one who paid for this trip, and her mother was in the west. House Irmel’s estate, Beatus, was in the southwest, and taking the princess there would inevitably delay her search for her mother.

If Carmen chose to continue westward, I was willing to give up as much gold as my body weight. His request came first, and Carmen had saved my mother’s hand from being burned once.

Carmen squeezed the artifact necklace across her chest once and closed her eyes. After a moment, he smirked and spoke to the princess.

“I see. This is something I’ve decided to get involved in, and seeing it through to the end is the only way to not bring shame to the name of Baltas.”

The princess, Dakia Irmel, took a bite of meat with a satisfied smile.

“Good.”

*** https://pindangscans.com

We walked out, our eyes fixed on each other. It’s been five days since Dakia joined the group. In that time, we’ve already had one raid. Of course, the unfortunate ones who ambushed me while I was setting up my fireburn were harvested by me as handfuls of divinity.

[Divinity: 1741]

Carmen narrowed her eyes and exclaimed.

“If the map is correct, we should be able to find a village soon!”

Dakia exclaimed, brushing the snow off her shoulders.

“That’s for real, we could really use a good soak in some hot water, right?!”

I replied, pushing my way through the snow at the front of the line. The snow on my face was cold.

“I see a fire over there!”

We cheered and raced through the blizzard into town. It was a fairly large town, and thankfully there was an inn for travelers.

As we entered the inn, the chattering crowd stopped and stared at me.

I was now carrying the weapons of the raiders, more than a dozen swords hanging from the side of my suitcase. Dakia, who had followed me in, brushed the snow that had settled on her robes and spoke to me.

“I feel it every time I look at them, but aren’t they heavy?”

“It’s just barely enough to lift.”

“You must be a real powerhouse.”

Carmen said excitedly as she quickly approached the innkeeper and grabbed a room.

“I’ve got a room at the end of the hall on the third floor, and I’ve asked for a bath, so let’s go upstairs, get cleaned up, and have dinner together.”

We wordlessly went up to the third floor, soaked in the hot water, and reconvened for dinner. Dakia, her black robes pressed tightly together, looked tired.

“Walking in the snow is more tiring than I thought it would be.”

Carmen, who had just finished her spell, replied lightly.

“Still, it’s a good thing you have such good stamina, Princess. Because if I’m being honest, I thought you’d pass out before we even reached the village.”

Carmen’s words were not empty; the princess was indeed in better shape than most adult men. Dakia looked into my eyes and said.

“I haven’t missed a day of training since I was a child, and Father Marnak has done most of the heavy lifting for me, which is really saying something, because he walked all that way across that snow all by himself.”

Carmen nodded.

“Marnak is a real man of strength.”

I smirked.

“It’s no big deal.”

We chatted for a while, and then the food arrived in abundance, including well-baked sausages and bread.

I guess traveling is all about having a deep pocket. Unable to taste the food, I began to eat slowly, savoring only the smells.

As I ate, clinking my cutlery against the background of chatter, a new voice spoke up.

“Bam! Don’t do that.”

“Hmph. That squishy thing feels so good in your hand.”

One of the four drunken men fondled the waitress’s ass. The men appeared to be mercenaries, and they were drinking in full view of what might be called their armament.

Carmen and I tuned out the usual innkeepers and concentrated on eating.

Soon enough, the innkeeper would come out and handle the situation by mollifying and appeasing them.

“I’d better get back to taking everyone else’s orders.”

“Why don’t you sit down for a while, huh? I’m just going to sit on your pretty little ass for a while.”

“Daddy!”

A middle-aged man burst out of the kitchen at the new voice of the waitress maiden. The man, presumably the innkeeper, used his thick forearms to separate the waitress and the man as gently as he could.

“I’m sorry, but we’re not a brothel, if you’re in need of a prostitute, I’ll have to call one for you, but please bear with me for a moment.”

It was a very polite thing to say, but unfortunately for the four drunken men, the polite words rang very true, and their faces turned bright red. One of the men jumped to his feet and shouted at the innkeeper.

“What the hell did I ask for, huh? I just asked to sit next to you, pour you a drink, and listen to your story, and that’s all you got? Is your daughter’s ass made of gold?”

The other man jumped to his feet and shouted at the innkeeper.

“Kahahaha, let’s take a look at her golden ass today!”

As the atmosphere heated up, Carmen turned to me cautiously.

“It looks like there’s going to be a fight, so you might as well help, right?”

I gestured to the front, chewing hard on a flavorless sausage. The seat in front of me was already empty.

“One’s already gone, let’s go help.”

Leaping like a swallow, the princess’s fist dug into the jaw of the man at the head of the line. The man was sent flying and slammed into the wall.

” Hey, what the hell is this—.”

Puck.

Without a word, Dakia swung her sword across the scabbard, striking the panicked man in the cheek. She didn’t even bother to check to see if another man had fallen before she swung her fist and slammed it into the face of a seated man.

“What the f*ck!!! What the f*ck is this b*tch!”

The man quickly drew his sword and swung it at Dakia’s back.

I couldn’t tell if he was trying to cowardly ambush or politely announce his attack, so I grabbed him by the head and slammed him to the ground. Blood splattered as the wooden floor shattered.

Dakia bowed to me, her face serene, her scabbard at her waist.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Carmen, walking slowly behind me, spoke softly to Dakia.

“You should at least consult with us before running off, we’re part of a group.”

Dakia hesitated, then spoke in a small voice.

“I’ve been seeing injustices since time immemorial, and I can’t help but lose my temper—.”

The princess had shyly confessed that she didn’t have anger dysregulation, but justice dysregulation.

This is bad. This is really bad.

“Thank you so much for your help.”

The innkeeper, along with her daughter, bowed deeply in gratitude. I smiled softly, hiding my distress.

“We should help each other in times of need.”

“Marnak, take it.”

Carmen tossed me a pouch of money, which she had somehow managed to retrieve from the stunned men’s bodies. I lightly took the pouch and handed it over to the innkeeper.

“With this, you should be able to repair the broken items and the shop. Do you mind if I ask you to clean up the mess?”

The gaunt-faced innkeeper smiled and replied.

“Yes, yes, I’ll call in the town vigilante and make sure it’s cleaned up so there’s no talking about it.”

I nodded to the innkeeper, then turned to Carmen and Dakia.

“Now, let’s go finish our meal.”

*** https://pindangscans.com

Smart.

In the pitch-black night. I left the room and knocked on Dakia’s door.

“Who—?”

I said in a low voice, hearing her voice from the other side of the door.

“Princess. It’s me.”

“Oh, yes.”

The moment she opened the door defenselessly. I burst inside and clamped my hand over her mouth, blocking her from chanting. Dakia’s golden eyes widened in horror.

“What?! Eup!”

He kicked the door shut and plunged his frost steel sword into the side of her struggling head. The blade grazed the side of her ear, and she fell silent as she realized what was happening. Her eyes were filled with the question, “Why?

I smirked and said.

“I need you to be quiet and listen to me, Princess, so I don’t wake Carmen unnecessarily, do you understand?”

Dakia swallowed hard and nodded as I slowly drew my frost steel sword. Satisfied that she was ready to listen, I spoke softly.

“You’re an intelligent woman, and I’m sure you realize that, but we’re under a lot of pressure right now, and it would put me and Carmen in a lot of trouble if you just jumped in without consulting us, as you did just now. Oh, and just in case you’re confused, I’m not blaming you for jumping in, per se, I’m saying it was wrong of you to do so without consulting us beforehand, is that clear?”

Dakia blinked rapidly to indicate her understanding.

“You said earlier that the princess loses her temper when she sees injustice, but you’ll have to try really hard next time.”

Slowly, he moved his frost steel sword and brought it to the princess’s throat and whispered.

“If you distract me without consulting me like this one more time, I will have no choice but to sever your tendons with tears in my eyes, and then hand you over to your pursuers. That would be a very tragic and sad story, don’t you think?”

Hearing my whisper, Dakia’s body stiffened. I sheathed my frost steel sword in my waistband and grinned.

“I trust that the princess will consult with us and act wisely in the future. If you have understood my story, please nod your head slowly.”

The princess’s head moved slowly up and down. I removed my hand from her mouth, fully prepared to blow her head off with a spell. Thankfully, Dakia said nothing.

“Have a good night, then.”

Leaving a dazed Dakia standing there, I slammed the door behind me and stalked out of her room and back to mine.

“Murder!

“My mother is absolutely right to wonder if I acted too hastily. But it was something that needed to be said before it became a bigger problem anyway.”

I patted my mother’s hand and smirked.

“And now we’ll know if she really does have ‘justice dysregulation.'”

Could she really be so swept up in a momentary sense of righteousness that she would act out of character, even when her life was threatened?

“Murder!

I giggled at my mother’s comment about betting on “next time you won’t get away with it.

“I’m going to bet on the same thing as my mother, so I’m afraid this bet won’t stand.