The Reason for Duchess Escape From Royal Capital

After seeing the end of the festival, I spared no time and headed back to the [Demonic Forest] to reunite with Anna, who was babysitting Faf and Myu. Sure enough, Faf was suffering from withdrawal symptoms due to my absence, and her mood took a nose dive. Thus, I had to pat her head till she was satisfied, and carry her back to Akinashi territory, by riding on Phoenix after she got her fill of "Master's Element" and fell asleep.

Two weeks have gone by since that festival.

I flew toward the royal capital with Phoenix right after the subjugation of Deboa. I received a contact from the prime minister of Amelia kingdom, Johannes Roosevelt, and handed over the item I previously mentioned to him. Since that black bellied prime minister was truly interested in the said item, my plan went rather smoothly.

The first step was the elimination of the hindrance called Ketzer Ksar.

The plan to make the king witnessing the trashiness of Ketzer went without a hitch, that idiotic pig exposed his own malicious intentions right in front of the king and got arrested as a result. After such revelation, it was only natural for him to be receive the worse part of the punishment, the torture. He was then executed after all of his wicked deeds were revealed to the public. Naturally, no way would the king spare Ketzer house from receiving punishment as well, moreover, he didn't stop with just that, but also crushed all corrupt government officials and wealthy merchants in Ketzer territory.

In the end, the vast Ksar territory was handed over to the lord of Akinashi territory, Oliver Akinashi, for his cooperation during the subjugation of the evil dragon Deboa.

Thus, I got rid of troublesome trash that might create unnecessary trouble in future. Well, that was only one of Rose's enemies though, or should I say that she is surrounded by enemies from all sides. Getting rid of Ketzer Ksar alone wasn't enough to make her feel relieved.

The second step was turning Wind Cat's folks and three kings of underworld into citizens of the territory governed by Rose, and that was approved easily thanks to their merits in subjugating Deboa.

The important factor that made the king to approve of the Wind Cat people might be because he wished for Felis to return to the main stage. It seems he flexed his authority in this matter. In short, one might even say that the king had been personally rigging the crown contest for the Wind Cats, who were sheltered by Felis.

And what surprised me the most was the approval for the citizenship of three kings of underworld. I mean, they're rowdy fellas who called themself as the 'underworld's royalty', and not everyone of them was a native of Amelia kingdom. Thus, I expected the government to reject the request for citizenship of East End since their merits in subjugating the evil dragon were likely far from enough to gain the government's approval. In the end, all back-up plans that I had prepared for such situation had to be scrapped.

The third step was the treatment of the surviving members of Serpent Blood. Those fellas followed my instructions properly and exposed Ketzer Ksar's wicked deed in an official court. Additionally, in regard to their merits in subjugating Deboa, they were spared from execution and only sentenced to work to manage the development of western region. As long as they did their job properly, they would receive proper salary (varying with region) and have total freedom at the end of the fifteenth-year sentence. It was an extremely benevolent punishment considering the crimes they had committed.

The fourth step was regarding the giant hole that suddenly appeared beside Akinashi territory. Anyhow, according to the messenger dispatched from the royal capital, the formal negotiation with Amelia kingdom would be held in Akinashi territory. Thus, I thought that I had to do something about that hole before the appointed date, but the hole was filled up in just few hours with the help of the earth attribute monster in [Subjugation Picture Book]. However, my original plan was for Felis to use Titan's power to fill the hole with soil, but she returned to Wind Cat's secret hideout as soon as she had the chance since she was worried about her people.

Even considering her escape drama, it appeared she really tried to get away this time, but Felis was an indispensable asset for the incoming negotiation with the kingdom. Naturally, I didn't have any intention to keep playing along with the selfishness of that spoiled princess. Thus, after various considerations, we decided to bring her back by force.

A white-haired gentleman entered Akinashi lord's mansion carrying a huge sack on his back.

「Sorry for the trouble, Lucas-san」

「Please sir, Your Wish is Our command」

The white-haired gentleman, Lucas, then gently placed the rampaging sack from his back on the floor, and bowed with his right hand on his left chest.

Soon, the gazes of all figures present in the room shifted to Lucas, a human figure leapt out from the said sack.

「LUCAS! YOU, HOW DARE YOU TO PUT ME IN A SACK! I ALMOST DIE FROM THE SHO—EH!?」

The person shouted vehemently for a while before realizing that she was the centre of attention.

「Your seat is over here, big sis Felis」

Rose pointed toward the chair prepared for Felis with a smile on her face, not allowing the latter to refuse.

This was something that I realized recently, but Rose shows a whole-faced smile when her stress level reaches the cap. The version of Rose in front of me was from right before she exploded from stress. Thus, Faf and Myu didn't dare to go near Rose whenever she showed such a smile.

「Y-Yes ma'am.」

Felis obediently sat in the chair opposite to Rose.

「Long time no see, big sis Felis.」

Seriously, stop showing that kind of smile that would make children cry. I mean, Faf had already been clinging to me, while Myu was hiding behind Anna, occasionally peeking at Rose.

「L-Long time no see.」

Felis stared at the figure standing behind Rose, sweating profusely.

The ones who stood behind Rose was a blue-haired maid with braided hair and a man clad in armour with sideburns and long blonde hair, the man showed a strained smile on his face.

I've met with that man once before. If I'm not mistaken, his name was Geralt, the leader of the kingdom's royal knights. It seems he had a deep connection with Felis in the past.

「There are so many things that I want to ask you. But first, let's start with hearing your side of the story, big sis Felis」

The depth of Rose's scary smile had increased. To be honest, that smile was scary enough to send a chill running down even my spine. Felis' current mental state was like an open book right now.

「I mean if I stay in the royal capital…」

Felis　kept murmuring, staring at the floor. And just as I expected, Rose's hand chop descended on her head soon enough.

「I think you owe us an explanation before you make such excuse.」

I tried to send a lifeline to save her, since I realized that Rose's mood would only worsen if Felis kept making excuses.

Felis kept playing with her hands, hesitating, but didn't answer.

「I'm sorry.」

Long story short, she ended up with bowing her head.

And then, she explained the reason why she suddenly left the royal capital and joined Wind Cat.

At that time, when the war against demon race intensified, Felis discovered that part of Amelia kingdom's upper echelon made a plan for her to use Titan's power during the war by sacrificing citizens. Thus, she made a plan to escape from the royal capital after gaining the cooperation from several people in the kingdom, and Lucas had just recently withdrawed himself from the mage knight division. It seems she decided to execute her plan after she was ambushed by Amelia kingdom's government in the royal capital.

After that, they hid themselves in East End and decided to look after the Wind Cat's folks after witnessing the cruelty befell upon the latter. Led by those two, the group then moved into the cave that became their hiding place until recently.

Though their community-led a peaceful life in the beginning, the two of them who witnessed the extreme inhuman conduct in Ksar territory finally lost their patience and initiated their resistance plan.

「So it was done on impulse, without any proper planning? eh. Such a simple-minded girl」

They repeated their acts at random, and survived until now in this world filled with strong people (from normal standard), their sheer dumb luck simply had me baffled.

「Humph.」

Felis replied facing me with a sulking look on her face. Contrary to her frail-looking appearance that looked like it would break upon touch, she might be a cheeky girl with nerves of steel.

「I'm really glad that you're alright, Felis-sama…」

The maid with braided, blue-colored hair hugged Felis' petite body as she spoke with a trembling voice.

「Uhm, Sorry.」

Maybe this blue-haired maid was the very same person who was put in a comatose state after she paid the price to allow the Titan to use his strength and save Felis from the thieves who ambushed her.

The knight leader with sideburns was also looking at the two with a tender look on his face, it seemed there was a deep connection between the three of them. Well, not that I'm interested in that. I shall not poke my nose where it doesn't belong.

「We're going to the hideout of Wind Cat in East End early in the morning. And we might have to live in the mountain after that. Get ample rest for tomorrow.」

After saying that to Felis and co, I left the Akinashi mansion along with Faf and co.