Chapter 007
But that was only for a moment; his murderous intent vanished in an instant. Then, hanging a peaceful smile on his face again, he spoke.
“Haha, it might be because the weather has turned cold.”
Even though the fact that he bled from his nose in front of me must have been quite humiliating, he did not show it.
As expected, it was acting skill worthy of one from a Chancellor’s family.
In my heart, I wanted to break that annoying smile, but I endured it.
It was because I recognized that the divine power within the carriage was further stimulating my anger.
‘The divine power is inciting my emotions. Let’s endure.’
Demons and divine power were naturally antithetical. Therefore, just being exposed to divine power made me unpleasant and my emotions intensified.
Should I say it felt like being surrounded by trash full of filth?
At that moment, the carriage began to move. Using the excuse of motion sickness, I opened the window and enjoyed the outside breeze.
Then, Loreil, who had been watching me quietly, asked.
“By the way, Princess, has your health not yet fully recovered? Seeing you suddenly collapse made me worried.”
“……I am fine. It is like a chronic illness.”
“I hope for your speedy recovery. That way, His Majesty the Emperor will look upon the Princess again.”
I replaced my answer with a smile.
At the same time, I predicted his inner thoughts.
‘It seems he doesn’t intend to talk about the mana.’
If he had asked directly about what happened yesterday, I intended to gloss over it appropriately. Because both evidence and justification were lacking to accuse a Princess.
However, he chose a full-scale war over a half-baked probing battle.
‘He’s not at the level of cautiously observing, but rather, he’s going to check for himself—is that it?’
The evidence was that he prepared a carriage, which must have cost a fortune, in a single night.
He was headstrong but rational. Instead of having a verbal argument without evidence, he must have decided to create the evidence himself.
‘Of course, I am not a low-level demon who would succumb to something like this.’
I leaned my back against the chair dyed with holy water as if to show off. This level of divine power wasn’t even stinging.
It would be nice if he withdrew his suspicion toward me with this, but.
“Come to think of it, the members of the Imperial family listen to His Majesty the Emperor’s New Year’s address at the Temple every year. Will the Princess be attending as well?”
Seeing him casually mention the Temple, it seemed his suspicion had intensified instead.
I replied while pretending to smile bitterly.
“Well, my heart desires to go, but I haven’t been invited to family events since I came to the detached palace.”
Whether he expected such an answer or not, Loreil’s pupils trembled slightly.
Then he corrected his expression and apologized politely.
“I apologize. That was a thoughtless remark.”
“No, it’s fine.”
To think he would apologize sincerely for something like this, he was a strange man.
And an awkward silence followed. Fortunately, before long, the carriage arrived at the venue.
‘Come to think of it, how many years has it been since I left the Imperial Palace?’
I wanted to leave the Imperial Palace so much, but now that I’ve actually come out, I don’t feel much of an impression. I can cross the gates of the Imperial Palace this easily; why did it feel so far and difficult in the past?
“Princess?”
“Ah, yes.”
I took Loreil’s hand again and got off the carriage. As soon as I got off, he handed me a hat decorated with a veil.
“The sunlight is strong. Please wear this.”
“Thank you.”
‘He does have some consideration.’
He called it sunlight, but it was consideration to hide my eyes. Setting aside the navy hair, if my platinum-blonde eyes were discovered, it was certain that a needless commotion would arise.
I quietly put on the hat and moved forward following his guidance.
“This way is the arena.”
Loreil led me, saying he would guide me inside.
The appearance of the arena was exactly as I had learned from books. Numerous spectator seats surrounding a giant circular stadium.
As expected of the most popular event in the Empire, it was a massive facility.
The staff at the entrance tried to stop us, but after belatedly seeing the seal engraved on the carriage, they hurriedly retreated.
‘As expected, status is convenient.’
Moreover, the manners of being considerate without being burdensome were good.
If only he hadn’t prepared such a gutter-like trap, it would have been the best.
Hiding my inner disappointment, I went up to the spectator seats with him. Just then, I saw the players warming up inside the stadium.
“Are those people the participants?”
“That’s right. They are the eight players who will compete during the event period.”
The players were each wearing flashy armor. Unlike the violent matches, the players’ appearances closely resembled knights.
‘They don’t particularly look like they have great skill.’
While I was roughly gauging the players’ capabilities, a person who was maintaining horse gear alone in the corner caught my eye.
Armor that was dirty with rust, especially a person whose faded helmet was impressive.
“Is that person a player too?”
“Ah, that’s the ‘Helmet-Guy’ Knight.”
“Helmet-Guy?”
The nickname was unique. When I expressed a question, Loreil tilted his head as if recalling a memory and spoke.
“To prevent fatal injuries, all players wear helmets that cover their entire faces. Therefore, they prefer flashy armor to express themselves.”
As he said, the other players’ helmets were decorated flashily, such as having flowers stuck in the crown or gold leaf on the cheek parts.
“But that player has never once changed the design of the helmet until now. He only wore the basic helmet provided by the arena.”
“Is that why he’s called ‘Helmet-Guy’?”
“Not only that, they say he has never once shown his face to the audience.”
Whether he thought I was interested in him, Loreil briefly explained the Helmet-Guy’s career.
To summarize, his career is the longest, but he’s a player who has never worn a medal because he always loses in important matches.
Such dishonor actually gained popularity, and even a nickname used to look down on him among people was created.
After hearing the whole explanation, I thought he was an individualistic person and tried to shift my gaze.
In that moment.
‘Wait, that waist decoration…….’
A decoration hanging from the Helmet-Guy’s armor caught my eye.
It was a brooch of a black-maned lion holding a small dagger in its mouth.
One very familiar to me…….
‘No way, right? Surely, surely.’
The moment I saw that emblem, my heart pounded fiercely.
Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, the shape of the emblem did not change.
A black lion representing the Demon King. A warrior’s dagger fighting for the demons. A General’s emblem that fused the two.
The identity of that is…….
‘That’s my crest.’
It was the symbol of my past life, Asmo-Dina.
Wondering if it was just a coincidence, I kept observing, but even the shape of the mane and the look in the eyes were perfectly my crest.
‘Demons who possess that are either my subordinates or vassals…….’
There was no way such a person would be in the human world.
Just as I, unable to understand what on earth was happening, was frozen in shock, a person who appeared to be staff appeared at the stadium and called the players together.
“Then, we will begin the practice match. Everyone, please get ready—”
‘Practice?’
Whether he noticed my gaze, Loreil, who was about to move, glanced at the stadium and explained.
“They say they hold a practice match to check their condition before entering the finals. If you are interested, would you like to watch before we go?”
“……Yes.”
Loreil looked surprised that I wanted to watch the match. Regardless, I sat down and stared at the stadium. Setting Loreil’s suspicion aside, it was important to check the identity of that emblem first.
“Now then, we will divide into the West and East sides for the match……”
And the practice match that followed.
I could not keep my mouth shut at the absurd result.
‘He is really…… creatively bad.’
To state the conclusion, Helmet-Guy was a quite talented player. Unlike the other players who lacked basic physical strength, a glimpse of the possibility of becoming a decent soldier was visible if he just learned properly.
Despite having such a good body, Helmet-Guy’s practice match record was disastrous.
Winning about three times out of ten, and when he lost, he was almost toyed with.
Seeing the sword rolling on the floor and him falling over disgracefully after dropping his shield made my head ache.
‘Why is he fighting like that with that much skill?’
Anger boiled over.
If I were Asmo-Dina, I would have shouted at him to do it properly and trained him again.
“Princess? Is something on your mind?”
“No……. It’s nothing.”
Unable to reveal my true feelings to Loreil, I shook my head while forcing a smile.
I could only clench my fist at the sight of Helmet-Guy being miserably defeated once again.
He seemed unfazed even while losing.
‘To think he’s holding my emblem with that kind of ridiculous skill.’
I am human. I am not a demon. While repeatedly reciting that fact, I could not forgive that terrible skill at all.
Because of the weak trainee called Helmet-Guy, the memories of the instructor (Commander) ended up coming back.
‘The Battalion Commander is disappointed in you all.’
The soldier spirit (Asmo-Dina) within my heart was fiercely shouting to train that jerk.
