Walk You Home

Thankfully, the cafeteria wasn't too far, and they arrived shortly.

Crystal could only sigh wistfully as Emilia led them to a 'reserved' table, and they were promptly served their coffee along with luxurious deserts by the staff.

The service was less like a school cafeteria, and more like a high-class restaurant.

She would never come to this place on her own due to her financial situation, because even the normal menu was absurdly expensive from what she knew. And these deserts were definitely not on the normal menu.

'The rich really have it different…'

Emilia looked much more relaxed now as she sipped her latte.

"What's this 'Royal Guards' thing people kept mentioning?"

Koko bounced excitedly, always thirsty for more gossip. "Oooh, I also wanna know!"

Penny—who was still pouting because she wasn't allowed to sit next to her princess—lit up like a light bulb, like a subordinate who finally got the chance to show off their 'world changing' implementation idea to their ever elusive superior.

"Princess! I've admired you from the moment my eyes lay upon your divine figure! Your graceful nature and gentle smile have set my soul ablaze, and the way you went forward to strike fear into the hearts of the wicked had my blood boiling to be by your side!"

Emilia's face turned red, and she didn't know how to respond to such over the top flattery at all.

Even when she had actually been a princess who had to face all sorts of absurd fawning from greasy noblemen, their insincere words proved barely a challenge for her to bounce back with an equally intense round of backhanded compliments.

But Penny's gaze was like an innocent child looking at their idol, full of sincerity and genuine admiration. It left Emilia speechless.

"I love you so much, so I assembled the royal knights for the purpose of protecting both your precious body and exemplary reputation!"

Cynthia was rolling around while cackling. "Look at my villainess's face! Red like a monkey's butt! Ahahaha—"

Emilia awkwardly scratched her red cheeks, ignoring the obnoxious laughter from her system.

"While I'm flattered that there is someone who would admire me like that, but what would you even do in a club like that?"

"Train ourselves in combat to protect you! Train ourselves in information gathering to make sure there are no malicious rumors around you, and that your fan database is always up to date!"

The girl barely reached four feet in height, but the confidence in her words was sky high.

"And most importantly, always be ready to wage war against those malicious forces who are always looking to undermine justice that our princess is trying so hard to strive for!"

At first, Emilia thought the little girl was too naïve, and perhaps she should work on somehow dismissing her ideas and diverting her to some more productive work without hurting her too much.

But just like Penny had bamboozled Mrs. Macmillan with her flowery words, even Emilia was starting to think there was no real harm in a youthful girl chasing after her own idea of justice.

As for the name of the club? Well, it made her slightly embarrassed, but it wasn't like they were using it to maliciously slander her. There was no reason to be overly against it.

If anything, it might even help her build her reputation faster. She just had to make sure that these lovely little children didn't go too out of line.

Penny looked like she had been injected with chicken blood when she saw that Emilia didn't look against it.

"Does that mean my princess will join us?! Awesome!"

But Emilia shook her head, shattering her dreams. "Unfortunately I can't, Penny, but I'll support you."

Penny was downcast only for a moment before her smile returned full force. Since the purpose of their club was to always protect the princess, how could she question her decisions?

"Ohh… That's fine! Please add my number, princess! Please call me at any moment, and I'll be there for you within minutes, no, seconds! I promise!"

Emilia nodded but didn't take out her phone like the others thought she would.

"Uh… um, I forgot to bring my phone, so I'll write mine down for you instead?"

Of course, although she had been trying to learn how to use a smartphone, she didn't think she was quite proficient enough yet.

Not wanting to look like an idiot, she decided to 'forget' it at home until now. It looks like she would have to bring it with her from tomorrow though, or it would start to look strange.

Penny finally had a valid excuse to jump out of her seat and stick close to Emilia, and Dixy could only resentfully allow her to do so this time.

Emilia thought she would take out a notebook to write her number on, or maybe just hand over her phone to key it in. It's a good thing she had memorized her number, and such basic functions would pose no obstacle to her either.

But the girl was brave, and a completely braindead fangirl. She took out a permanent marker and boldly moved her hair away from her forehead, as if determined to serve as Emilia's walking talking business card in the future.

"Here, princess!"

Thankfully Emilia wasn't an idiot, and only pulled over the girl's palm with a chuckle, writing down her number neatly.

"I'm never washing this hand! Um, not like I was gonna wash it after I touched you, princess!"

Emilia was slightly horrified at the thought, but managed not to let it show on her face. Some children really did have absurd ideas, didn't they?

"Un, I insist that all my knights follow proper hygiene, Penny. Won't you do that for me?"

The girl stood up straight at once, as if she had received a divine commandment.

"Squeaky clean! I promise, all your royal knights shall always be squeaky clean! Ten showers a day! Wash hands every fifteen minutes! Always carry sanitizers—"

The other three girls looked at each other, starting to feel some pity for Emilia as she tried to hold the pendulum called Penny from going from one extreme to another.

In the end, Penny tried to recruit them into her cult once again before reluctantly leaving, unable to deny the orders from her princess. She wasn't completely unsuccessful, since Koko actually promised to sign up after the weekend.

There was a collective sigh of relief at the table.

Dixy rolled her eyes. "Ugh, finally, the annoyance is gone."

Emilia smiled. Although Penny was a handful, she didn't think the girl was unpleasant.

"Fufu… I think she's quite adorable though?"

Dixy looked away with a disgusted frown. "Humph."

Emilia blinked, a strange thought flashing in her mind. "Why… does my knight seem so jealous?"

And of course, the neatly dressed girl exploded immediately, completely losing the credibility in anything she would say next.

"W-Who's your knight?! Don't give weird titles to people all the time, or your friends will all think you're a weirdo."

"Oh… That hurts. My one and only knight has abandoned me…"

Dixy sneaked in a look, and she realized that Emilia was only pretending to look hurt, and not even doing that well! She was still smirking!

"Hmph!"

"I suppose I deserved it?"

Dixy turned her head away, still quite angry.

There was a mischievous glint in Emilia's eyes as she leaned closer. "I didn't provide my knight with fair remuneration for their service after all. How about…"

Emilia whispered something in Dixy's ears, causing her whole face to turn red.

"Y-You idiot! I told you not to be like that all the time!"

Emilia moved away, looking pleased at her reaction. "Fufu… so is my knight still angry?"

Dixy rolled her eyes. "It's your fault for always confusing me with the weird titles! Shouldn't you at least give me the best one?!"

Crystal watched by the side with question marks floating above her head.

Did she walk into some weird drama? How come she doesn't understand what the heck is going on at all? Is she really a princess or something?

Thankfully, Dixy and Emilia finished their 'negotiations' not long after, and more importantly, Koko finished gobbling up the entire table's desserts by herself.

Crystal regretted being too shy to grab some. But it was too late now.

Of course, Emilia couldn't let Crystal go after coming across such a wonderful opportunity to hammer their previous appointment in.

"Anyway, Crystal, since we're going to study with you from tomorrow, let's walk you home today?"

She made it sound like it was already set in stone, as if she never even considered that the heroine would have second thoughts. This was to make it impossibly awkward and embarrassing for Crystal in case she wanted to refuse.

"E-Eh? Whose home?"

Emilia tilted her head, as if the answer should be obvious. "Yours?"

Although she could easily have Crystal come to either her own or Dixy's mansion, Emilia didn't know if the heroine would consider the experience humiliating. Going to her home wasn't completely safe either, but it was the lesser of two evils.

More importantly, this gave her a valid excuse to know the location of the heroine's residence, and to visit from time to time.

Crystal looked dumbfounded.

"Y-You'll walk home with me?"

Emilia nodded. "That's right. Is there a problem?"

The heroine's eyes flitted left and right, as if looking for an excuse.

"I-I mean, it's not very close, and… well, the path isn't very good, you know?"

Of course, how could Emilia let her go?

"You walk every day from home to school and back, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

Crystal bit her lip, wondering why she felt it would be insulting to say there was a difference between the two of them. After all, wasn't that obvious? Had this rich girl ever even walked more than a kilometer on foot?

In the end, she could only helplessly agree.

Koko's parents had enrolled her in a cram school from Friday to Sunday, so she had to reluctantly separate from them, leaving only Dixy and Emilia to accompany the heroine to her home.

Crystal had to admit that she had been far too prejudiced against Emilia.

She thought the girl would start complaining about how her legs hurt after a few hundred meters, and even ask them to carry her or something.

Not that she was looking forward to it or anything.

Anyway, the point is, she didn't complain. In fact, the two rich girls seemed to have a pretty good time just talking and laughing with each other, their conversation still mostly revolving around Koko and Penny.

There weren't even any bodyguards following them, which Crystal found absolutely absurd.

'Isn't it too weird? I mean… isn't she a walking golden ticket that's so easy to grab? If I was a thug, I would never let this chance go.'

"And like I said, although Koko's brain may be that of a monkey's, it still has to be bigger than that midget due to the sheer difference in size, right?"

"But size doesn't matter, or wouldn't all those big burly men also be the smartest people on earth?"

"Oh… I guess it makes sense, but even so, I think Koko is definitely less stupid of the two!"

"The two of them are in different categories, Penny is more naïv—"

Emilia abruptly paused, and Dixy looked at her curiously as her princess furrowed her brows and looked around before shaking her head.

"What's wrong?"