-1105- The person she truly wanted to find

Next, although Rozen and his group wanted to leave the scene immediately, they were unable to do so.

The reason was simple.

Just as the group was preparing to leave, another large group of people rushed in.

However, this time, it wasn't a group of automatons that burst in, but a group of knights.

"Princess!"

"Your Highness!"

"Milady!"

As each knight appeared here and saw La Folia's figure, they all exclaimed joyfully.

But immediately after, seeing the entire church burned, destroyed, and ravaged in an unusually tragic state, the knights were all shocked.

After all, even a discerning eye could see that there had been an extremely intense battle here.

And to think that their princess was staying in such a place, then, regardless of who it was, they would think that La Folia had been attacked.

And indeed, that was the case.

La Folia had indeed been attacked.

Unfortunately, the attack had already ended.

But the knights were completely unaware of this fact. Seeing two strangers appearing beside La Folia, they immediately assumed that they had attacked their princess.

So, the knights angrily surrounded Rozen and Yukina.

However, they were stopped by La Folia.

"Stop! Do not be rude towards these two!"

At this moment, La Folia didn't have the elegance and mischievousness she had before, but she fully displayed her princess's dignity.

"Yes, milady!"

Although the knights hadn't fully understood the situation, they showed extremely loyal hearts and immediately followed La Folia's command, sheathing their swords.

Watching this scene, Rozen couldn't help but feel a sense of awe, while Yukina spoke with some reverence.

"Are these the Holy Circle Knights of Aldegyr?"

—The Holy Circle Knights.

They were the pride of Aldegyr, renowned for their battles against demon forces, and were considered the nemesis of demons.

Each of them was almost as capable as Yukina, or even more so, as an Attack Mage. With Aldegyr's magical technology, even the demon army had to be wary of them.

La Folia, as the first heir to the throne of Aldegyr, dared to come to Itogami Island alone precisely because of the Holy Circle Knights accompanying her.

Seeing La Folia, surrounded and supported by countless powerful knights, both Rozen and Yukina finally realized at this moment what it meant for her to be a princess of a nation.

Of course, there was a hint of regret in her demeanor.

"It seems that the fun of shopping can only end here."

La Folia said these words without any sense of tension.

This made Rozen realize.

Originally, when he saw La Folia appearing alone and even in the shopping center, he already found it very strange.

"How could a princess of a nation walk alone on the street without any guard?"

So, Rozen had always found it strange.

Now, the answer seemed to be revealed.

"Are you thinking that being protected by others with such respect is boring, and that strolling alone is more fun, so you deliberately leaved the protection of the knights?" Rozen asked somewhat speechlessly.

And to this question, La Folia responded with a mischievous smile.

"Thanks to that, I've also met very interesting friends from another country."

La Folia indirectly admitted this point.

Rozen's guess was completely correct.

"Thank you, Nichiyo, and Yukina. I had a great time today."

La Folia gracefully bowed to Rozen and Yukina.

"I hope that when we meet again next time, you will still treat me kindly."

Leaving these words behind, La Folia, along with the knights, left the scene.

Presumably, this time, La Folia would go to the Keystone Gate and meet with the top officials of the City Hall and the Management Cooperative of Artificial Island, right?

Rozen and Yukina watched La Folia leave.

"In the end, she didn't tell us her true purpose."

Yukina murmured like this.

After spending so much time with this princess and encountering such a deadly attack here, this dangerous holiday seemed to yield almost no rewards.

Although Rozen and Yukina already knew that La Folia came to this island to find someone, a former court mage of Aldegyr, it was clear from the recent attack that there was still much more to uncover.

And who exactly is this so-called former court mage?

And who attacked La Folia?

Is it the person she's looking for?

Or is it really Dimitrie Vatler?

These mysteries still have yet to be uncovered.

However, one thing is certain.

"We should be able to meet again, right?"

Rozen said so.

"Is that so?"

Yukina seemed somewhat puzzled.

But Rozen was very certain.

There was no other way.

"If she really intended to bid farewell here, then she wouldn't have secretly slipped me something like this."

Rozen took out a photograph.

"This is...!?"

Yukina looked at the photograph and had a very intense reaction.

This instantly made Rozen understand something.

"It's not your embarrassing photo!"

Rozen rolled his eyes.

The girl in front of him seemed to have some psychological shadow. As soon as she saw Rozen take out the photo, she immediately thought that Rozen had received another embarrassing photo of her from Yukari Endo.

But Rozen had already said that this was something La Folia had secretly given him.

And...

"It's still something worth pondering over."

Rozen gazed at the photograph.

In this photograph, there was a person.

It was a girl sitting in a car, with only her face visible through the car window.

"She is..."

Seeing this girl, Yukina was astonished.

That was only natural.

Silver hair.

Deep blue eyes.

A face like a goddess.

Noble, elegant, and lovable.

The girl in the photo looked exactly like La Folia.

However, she was not La Folia.

There were three pieces of evidence.

One was that the girl's silver hair was not as long as La Folia's, only reaching her shoulders.

Another was that the girl looked much younger than La Folia, appearing to be only fourteen or fifteen years old at most.

And the third was that the girl was wearing a uniform.

"The uniform of... Saikai Academy...?"

Yukina was astonished by this.

Yes.

The girl in the photograph was wearing the middle school uniform of Saikai Academy, sitting in the car with her eyes lowered.

Her eyes were filled with endless sadness.

Therefore, this person was definitely not La Folia.

"Who is she?"

Yukina, who had just transferred recently, was puzzled by this.

Rozen squinted his eyes.

"It seems that this is the person La Folia truly wants to find."

Rozen realized this.

However...

"The fact that Her Highness the princess gave us this photo means that her intentions are not simple."

Rozen sighed as if understanding La Folia's thoughts.

Things had become somewhat complicated.