After 30 minutes on a carriage traveling away from the ruins in Beymar.
Was Eppika, a rural peaceful village surrounded by small hills.
Just as Gaspana said, there are only fields as far as the eye can see. Houses are scattered around here and there and it would be quite a lot of walk if you want to visit your neighbors. On that point, leading a life here seemed to be quite inconvenient.
Conversely, it can be said that it’s perfect if you want to live away from the public eye.
“Is Princess Florencia really hiding in a place like this?”
It’s normal for Alan to be skeptical. After all, the place is too unsuitable for a princess to live in. Plus, he doesn’t think that Princess Florencia, who has been sheltered in the castle all her life, would be able to bear it here.
Since there hasn’t been any response from King Jule yet, Olivia, Cyrus, and Alan have taken their guards and borrowed some soldiers from Count Zackfil to secure the princess and Legion in Eppika.
The road became unpaved after they left the town so the carriage started shaking violently and Alan has been in a bad mood for a while now. The cause, since Cyrus has been firmly holding Olivia ever since the carriage started shaking. He told them [If you think that it might get dangerous then you should have just left her at the inn!].
“That being said, I never thought that they would buy a house in a place like this…….how did you know, Olivia.”
Ignoring Alan, Cyrus asked Olivia who was in his arms.
While not as bitter as Alan, Olivia wondered if Cyrus really needed to hold her this tight as well. Olivia nodded with a bashful expression before replying.
“I started thinking about what I would do in the princess’s shoes. After all, if I immediately try to cross the border, it’s obvious that the security would be tight and I would be easily spotted right? If it was me, I think that I would hide in a place no one can find for the time being. Just like His Highness Alan said, no one would be looking for a princess in this kind of village after all.”
“That’s certainly true.”
“If you think about it normally, if you found the princess’s maids collapsed in the room, you would naturally suspect that the princess was kidnapped. If that’s the case then we wouldn’t think that the kidnapper would be loitering around in a rural area just a stone’s throw away from Beymar right.”
“……well, we wouldn’t have noticed the Earl Wyrm without you. If it was only us then our theory would be that the princess was kidnapped or involved with something dangerous so we would focus the search on Betmar……….That aside, it’s not that shaky anymore right, how long do you two plan to flirt with each other like that!”
“F, flirt…….”
Olivia turned bright red.
The road is still unpaved but the carriage no longer sways that much anymore. It appears that they have slowed down so they might already be close to their destination. All houses looked the same around here so even with a map, they still have to slow down and check each house one by one.
Cyrus reluctantly let Olivia out of his embrace and looked out the carriage’s window.
Before they arrived, they had already sent soldiers to the house where they suspect the princess is staying. They also told the soldiers not to enter the house on their own but in the worst case that the princess and Legion noticed their approach, they could move in to secure them. Legion seems to be quite a good fighter so the soldiers want them to join up with them as soon as possible though.
“It seems we are here.”
A dozen seconds after Cyrus said that, the carriage slowed down and stopped.
The carriage can not go beyond this point. A small house can be seen on a gentle slope up ahead and a zigzag narrow path where people could barely pass each other led to the house.
“Olivia, wait for us in the carriage.”
Cyrus and Alan got off and told Colin to stay with Olivia before going up the slope following the soldiers.
A while after the two went up, a soldier ran down toward them.
Apparently, they have managed to secure both Princess Florencia and Legion in the house.
Stroking her chest in relief, Olivia waited for Cyrus and Alan’s return.