Yua unconsciously tapped her fingers on the table.
She’s worried.
She knows that person is strong.
Veena had defeated the rebels when she was only a young child, defeated a dragon and was promoted to an S-rank hunter.
There’s no way she can lose.
But, even if she believes in her, that worry has wormed its way into her heart, and it beats at a frantic pace.
Leena was surprised at Yua’s panicky state.
“Onee-sama is going to be fine, what’s there to worry about?”
“…I am still worried. I’ve seen the knights up close, I know how strong they are.”
“Oh, so that’s it. Well, maybe if she was fighting against a Grandmaster of the Order she would have a hard time.”
“I doubt she would lose though”, Leena added, then continued.
“But, against a squad of knights? She won’t have any trouble.”
Leena was convinced.
And even though Yua believes that…
She still can’t help but be anxious.
It’s not a matter of winning or losing. That person is so important to her, she will always be worried about her safety.
There doesn’t have to be any logic for it. It’s simply a matter of love.
(Ha…)
Yua exhaled a warm breath and tried to drink a sip of tea to calm her nerves.
…Veena is at a disadvantage if she gets taken by surprise.
For starters, even killing a single knight would be bad. Slaying one knight is tantamount to declaring war on the whole nation.
Doing such a thing would cement her image as a public enemy and a traitor, and she would be hounded all over the kingdom as a monster on the same level as a dragon. It would bring an end to their peaceful life together.
In other words, Veena can’t maim or kill any of the knights ambushing her, she has to subdue them without injury.
Yua closes her eyes and sends a heartfelt prayer to Veena, who is in such a difficult situation.
(Please return home safely, Veena-sama…)
Not long after, Veena came home with an entire squad of knights, all bound and being carried with magic.
◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆
After the interrogation was finished, Veena had emerged from the cocoon of light and admitted to Gremlin, Kenkar and the rest her true identity.
Even though she was worried about how people would react at first, and some of them were definitely bewildered and perplexed, Gremlin soon managed to calm them all down.
She agreed to talk with the mayor about all the details later, once things had been taken care of.
Although she could have explained all of the details, Veena was concerned about Yua’s safety, so she placated the crowd with the reveal of her identity and immediately flew home.
Of course, she literally flew.
She considered using transmission magic, but it would have been impossible to transport Aria and the rest of the knights doing so, so she decided to fly.
Veena slammed open the door and shouted, but the first girl who greeted her was not Yua.
“ONEEEE-SAMAAAA-!”
With the force of a bullet, the young girl rushed into Veena’s chest and bowled her over. Veena collapsed at the sudden impact with a “Hyaan”, and then looked at the figure who had buried their head in Veena’s cleavage muttering “I’m back… fu~n fu~n”.
“Leena!? Why are you here!”
“Nn… The same reason Captain Aria is, right?”
Leena raised her face to answer. At that time, two voices shouted at her at the same time.
“Leena! Get off her!”
“Vice Captain Leena… You betrayed me…! Wait, the Princess?! What’s the meaning of this!?”
Yua had bounded up the hallway after Leena, her slippers making a pitter-patter sound on the wooden floor. As for Aria, she is tied up on the ground outside.
Leena rebuffs Yua with a “No way”, then tells Aria “I didn’t betray you in particular.”
“Jeez…!” Yua pouts, tugging at Leena’s clothes, and turns to Aria.
“What’s the meaning of this, you say? Obviously, I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“That’s not…”
“What exactly is being said about Veena-sama back home?”
“…She tormented Mina-sama and because of that had her engagement to the Second Prince broken off. In an act of revenge, she kidnapped Yua, and is also a monstrous woman who murdered several students at the Creatio School for Magic.”
Hearing about just how much worse the crimes she was accused of had gotten, Veena smiled bitterly.
Meanwhile, Leena murmured something under her breath.
“Leena, did you say something? I couldn’t hear.”
She shook her head vigorously like a child, only raised her face again and said: “They’re spreading really awful rumours about you, Onee-sama…” “Yes, you’re right,” Veena replied, and patted her head.
Yua glared at the two of them. For some reason, those eyes look full of hurt.
“Veena-sama, you need to tear her off a little more forcibly. Leena, get up already.”
“True. Leena, it’s time to-”
“Ehhh, don’t wanna. I want to cling to Onee-sama’s warmth since it’s been such a long time. Yua kept Onee-sama to herself every day, so now it’s my turn to enjoy her tonight.”
“No! I haven’t even been able to enjoy Veena-sama much lately because she keeps coming home late! And are you planning on staying here tonight!?”
“Of course. There are no other towns out in this wilderness.”
“I won’t allow it! You should go camp out in the woods!”
“How can you expect a delicate lady like me to do something like that!”
Veena tries in vain to calm them down, but the two keep on arguing.
Normally the two of them are good friends, but as soon as Veena is involved they turn into squabbling children. In these situations, then and now, Veena had to step in and be the mature one.
Nonetheless, no matter how she tried, she couldn’t stop them from fighting this time. Suddenly, both of them turned and demanded at the same time, “Who is more important to you, me or her!?”. It was a difficult question to answer.
As soon as she couldn’t answer, they went back to arguing.