Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Visit to a doctor

-Silvea-

"Ouch! She bit me again!"

"Get your hands off me you piece of dove! I need to find those sparrows and get my hat back!"

Ever since she lost her hat Ranna has been completely out of control, Roul has been doing his best to restrain her each time she's tried to run off in a random direction, but she keeps biting him...

"Ummm, miss Ranna, I don't know why you care so much about your hat but you need to calm down"

"Ah!? YOU are telling me to calm down!? This was all your goosing fault in the first place for getting found!"

Uh, what in the world happened to her? She was so calm and polite before... it's as if her personality became the complete opposite of what it was before. Now she's being really aggressive and rude, but as someone who aspires to become an exemplary knight, I cannot let myself be tainted by rudeness, that's why I trained myself to only hear the name of a bird whenever someone says a bad word.

After walking for a bit around the capital we reach an area with large and nice-looking buildings, Ranna guides us to the front door of something that looks like a cross between a mansion and a galleon without sails floating in the water.

"Alright you owls, this is the residence of earl Droplen"

"Eh!? I thought that we were taking the princess to someone who could check if she was under mind control, why did we come to a noble's house?"

"I was told that the earl has a skilled doctor working for him so we're going to ask to borrow him for a bit, he uses water magic to heal but he's also an expert in dealing with dark magic such as curses and other penguins like that"

"Will they really let us do that?"

I don't think that it's really that easy to ask for a noble's doctor.

"Of course, we have the storking princess with us, since you're knights you should know how to deal with nobles, right? Just make sure to mind your ducking manners"

The truth is that I'm not used to dealing with nobles at all... but the one who worries me the most is her, it doesn't seem like she'll be able to mind her manners at all in this state, is there nothing I can do about this? She started to act this way after losing her hat...

Oh! I think I just had a moment of inspiration.

"Hey! I found your hat!"

"Eh!?"

I approach Ranna from behind and place her sister's white hat on her head.

"What!? Were did you find it?"

"Well you see... it turns out that it was still in the car"

That's a really bad lie, I'm not a good liar am I... and this hat is too big for her head and is covering her eyes, there's no way she'll buy it...

"I see... this is my hat, yes, thank you for finding it"

"Y-you're welcome"

Her face went back to the usual lack of expression, it seems like she has chosen to pretend that she didn't notice that the hat is not hers...

Well, I hope that will be enough to solve the issue.

---

 

"I see, so you are the ones who rescued princess Nera, I got really worried when I heard that she had been kidnapped, I cannot thank you enough"

"No sir, you don't need to thank us, this is just our duty as knights"

After Ranna showed her identification to the guards we were allowed to meet with the earl, he told us that he knows the princess quite well but he had not seen her in some time.

"Nera... I understand that you have been having problems with your mother, I myself have also had some strong... disagreements with her, but running away like that was far too dangerous, you're lucky that these people were able to save you"

"Mmmmm! mmm! mmmm!"

"As I explained earlier, she cannot talk right now"

"That's right, you said that she had been..."

*cough*

As the earl is talking he suddenly starts couching in an unsettling manner.

"Are you alright!?"

"Ah yes, sorry, my illness has been getting worse as of late, that's why I'm having Jack stay here in my house"

"Is Jack the doctor?"

"That's right, I'm sure that he'll be able to help princess Nera as well, look there he is"

"Sir, did you call for me?"

A bald man with blue skin just entered the room, I think that he's a demon but I do not recognize his race.

"It seems like the princess has been subjected to mind control and perhaps some other form of dark magic, could you please take a look at her"

"Of course, let me bring her to my study"

As they leave, I noticed that Ranna is staring at that man while murmuring something.

"An illness... could it be..."

"Is something wrong?"

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"Ah, no it's nothing"

I wonder what that was, one downside to her going back to normal is that her expressionless face makes it impossible to know what she's thinking.

"Now, I would like to invite the four of you to lunch"

"Oh, no! That will not be necessary!"

"What are you saying Silvea! A noble like him is sure to have some great food!"

"If you think about it, would it not be more rude to not take his offer?"

Roul and Paula seem to be rather eager... I guess that we'll be taking his offer then.

"You know, this earl seems to be a really kind person, it's a pity that someone like him had to get sick"

I don't know what his illness is, I just hope that it's not something too serious.

"Yes... that's unfortunate"

Perhaps it's just my imagination but Ranna seems to be thinking about something deeply.

We are taken to an incredibly long table with more food than we can possibly eat, but I guess we can try. Meanwhile, the earl tells us about some of the troubles that this kingdom has been having lately, a powerful demon lord appeared recently and took control of the wastelands next to the kingdom and his minions have been stealing from the surrounding countries as if they were bandits, and from the inside, it seems like the queen has been causing trouble for everyone recently, it was apparently her fault that the princess left in the first place.

"The worst thing about her is her dislike of the demons who live in our kingdom"

"Really? It seemed to me that the humans and demons here were getting along well"

"Most of them do, but since some demons have some rather intimidating appearances, there are also some people who are afraid of them and end up believing that they are evil"

"That's awful! They should not just assume that someone is evil just because they look a bit scary!"

I myself always make sure to not judge anyone because of their appearance, otherwise, I could end up making some terrible mistake.

"Daddy! Are you not going to come today either?"

A little girl just came running into the room and approached the earl.

"Sorry, I'm still not feeling well enough"

"Is this your daughter?"

"Yeah, ever since my illness got worse I have not been able to spend time with her"

*crash*

I hear the sound of glass shattering and turn to see that Ranna just dropped a glass she was holding into the ground, her face seems a bit pale and she seems to be sweating even though it's not hot, don't tell me that she got sick as well.

"Ah, sorry for breaking that"

"Are you feeling sick?"

"No, I'm fine, this is just part of the plan... yes, just the plan..."

She doesn't seem fine to me, perhaps we should take her to the doctor as well.

"Now, if you excuse me, I would like to take my daughter to her room and... ugh!"

The earl suddenly falls to the floor.

*cough*

What's going on!? He just coughed a bit of blood... that doesn't look good at all!

"Daddy! What's wrong!?"

"Sorry, I think I'll need to go to rest now"

"Daddy... are you going to die?"

"Of course not, I will get better and then I'll be able to play with you again"

This is a lot worse than I thought... seeing such a scene really makes me wish that I could do something about it, but I'm not a doctor...

"This is too much... I'm sorry... I cannot do this..."

Ranna is also looking even worse than before, she does not look like she's feeling well at all.

"Listen... I have something to tell you"

"Eh? What is it?"

She seems to hesitate for a moment and then...

"This man has been opposing the queen and she wants to get rid of him, that blue demon from before, the doctor... I think that he's an assassin, the earl's illness is probably his doing"

Somehow Ranna managed to tell me that with a completely serious expression, she's not joking, is she...

"WHAT!?"