Chapter 106
To the Territory of Viscount Neville
Ah—but still.
The reason Abel caused a magical outburst back then was because his childhood friend had been slashed by a monster, right?
His friend survived, but every single tree around Abel was wiped out.
If that childhood friend was Maria-chan…
Isn’t it possible that she became frightened of Abel after witnessing that violent surge of magic, and ended up distancing herself from him?
And because of that, instead of Maria-chan, Princess Fiona became the one Abel loved—and the one who became the Saintess.
…No, but even if Maria-chan had pulled away from him, I can’t imagine Abel just giving up.
Abel gives off this faint yandere vibe, after all.
I mean, just the other day he said outright that the reason he would defeat the Demon King was so that Maria-chan could live a peaceful, safe life.
“Then, with this, I recognize the engagement of these two young people.”
The priest’s voice cut off my train of thought.
Oh no, no.
It doesn’t matter anymore how the novel went.
What matters is now.
“Congratulations, Maria-chan!”
“Congratulations, Abel.”
When my brother and I spoke, the two of them smiled radiantly, brimming with happiness.
That’s right. As long as they’re happy now, that’s enough.
After the engagement ceremony, we left the village almost immediately.
I would have liked to stay and rest for a while, but the Demon King grows stronger the more time passes after its appearance. We couldn’t afford to dawdle.
The engagement document was signed by Maria-chan and Abel, then countersigned by the priest, with Ervin and my brother adding their names as witnesses.
Well, it’s less a document and more a book that you write your names in.
Each church has exactly one of these sacred artifacts. When you write your name in it, the same content is transcribed into the book kept at the Grand Cathedral.
I have no idea how it works, but apparently it means that no matter where an engagement or marriage takes place, everything is recorded at the Grand Cathedral.
Because of that, things like bigamy are impossible by design.
With this, Abel and Maria-chan won’t be forcibly married off to someone else anymore, so that’s a relief.
By the way, when the priest saw Ervin’s name, he was so shocked that he stared at it as if he were about to burn a hole through the page.
My brother quietly said, “We’re on a journey to defeat the Demon King, so we haven’t made it widely known,” and the priest seemed to accept that explanation.
After all, he’d thought we were just some neat-looking travelers who happened to hold an engagement ceremony while sightseeing—only to find out we were actually the Hero’s party. Anyone would be surprised.
The priest suggested holding a welcome party in the village, but my brother declined, saying we were in a hurry.
I felt a bit bad for Abel and Maria-chan, who had just gotten engaged and were clearly head over heels for each other, but the Demon King grows stronger with time. We wanted to press on as quickly as possible.
They looked a little disappointed, but both Abel and Maria-chan followed my brother’s decision.
We boarded the carriage again and hurried onward.
After traveling for a while, the road became rough and uneven, and my backside started to ache.
Is it because we’re so far from the royal capital that the roads are this bad?
But Abel’s village was far too, and yet the roads there were reasonably well maintained—not this bumpy.
When I looked out the window, I noticed that the number of trees was decreasing as well.
Up until now, there had been greenery on both sides of the road, but now it felt like there were fewer forests and groves.
Ahead of us loomed gray rocky mountains, giving off a desolate atmosphere.
Without meaning to, I compared it to the lush green land spreading out behind us—the contrast was striking.
“From here on, this is the territory of Viscount Neville.”
The Neville viscountcy is the family home of the queen’s lady-in-waiting—the same house that might have been behind the attack on Ervin before.
Ideally, I would’ve liked to avoid passing through their lands, but Neville territory lies directly along the straight line between the royal capital and the Demon King’s emergence point that Ran detected.
Rather than detouring and risking losing track of the exact location, it was decided that pushing straight through was the better choice.
Still, I hadn’t expected the land to be this littered with rocks.
“There used to be a mine around here that produced rare gemstones,” my brother explained, noticing where my gaze had gone. “But it’s been completely mined out and shut down.”
“It used to be a count’s house, you know. After the mine closed, they lost their title and are now just a viscount family.”
Ah, that explains it. I’d wondered why someone from a viscount family was serving as the queen’s lady-in-waiting—but if they used to be a count’s house, it makes sense.
Ladies-in-waiting attend closely to high-ranking individuals, so for the queen’s attendants, normally only daughters of count families or higher are selected.
Those from viscount families usually become court ladies instead—people who handle general palace duties.
There are commoners too, but they can only do menial labor and aren’t allowed to appear before royalty.
“Lately, I hear they’ve been making money by working as mercenaries.”
Ervin said this while staring straight ahead, then glanced back and forth between Abel and my brother.
“We might be attacked up ahead.”
“You don’t mean by monsters, do you?” Abel asked.
He tightened his grip on the Hero’s Sword in his hand.
“Monsters will probably attack too—but be careful of more than just that.”
That clearly suggested humans—more specifically, the mercenaries of the Neville viscount family—were likely to strike.
