Chapter 86

The city center, a short walk from the main streets, is lined with relatively large buildings such as the city hall, the cathedral, and branches of major trading companies.

In between these, small shops selling light meals and sundries are scattered, and people's residences fill the gaps between them. This place used to be like that... but now, it seems to have changed a bit.

"There are more buildings, huh."

Here and there, three- and four-story residences can be seen, which didn't exist a few years ago. Although they are far from the scale of Rodnea or the imperial capital, it seems that the city has developed somewhat and the population has increased.

"So, Your Highness, where are we going?"

"Hmm..."

Fiona looked around and muttered to herself.

"The cathedral is that way, and the sun is over there... I want to go that way."

"Is there a specific place you want to go?"

"Of course not, there isn't such a place. I'm just taking a walk. Hehe."

Fiona said this with a smile.

It didn't seem like she was just taking a walk, but... this is the princess, after all. She might be like this normally.

"By the way, how long are you going to hold my hand? There's no crowd anymore, right?"

Amu said this with a half-closed eye, and I hurriedly let go of Fiona's hand.

"Ah, I apologize, Your Highness."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Um, Your Highness?"

Fiona looked at me silently with a smile for a while, then said:

"No, it's fine, Seika-sama. But we don't know what might happen, so please stay by my side."

"Hmm..."

As I gave a half-hearted response, Amu nudged me with her elbow.

"What are you all mushy about?"

I didn't get mushy at all.

The group soon arrived at the city square.

I thought she wanted to come here, but Fiona seemed uninterested in the square itself and walked along its perimeter.

"Wow, they're building something impressive."

Amu exclaimed in surprise.

Looking up, there was a high-rise building under construction at the edge of the square. It was indeed impressive, standing at least seven stories tall. In Rodnea or the imperial capital, it might have been subject to regulations.

"My, it looks taller than the cathedral here."

"Damn, they're building this because the land prices are rising... Hey, don't get too close."

Grai, who tried to stop them, was met with Fiona's smile.

"It's fine. Look, Seika-sama, come closer..."

Just as she said this, a sudden gust of wind blew.

The workers on the upper floors grabbed onto the pillars and beams in a panic.

A crackling sound echoed.

It seemed that a pillar supporting the fourth floor had broken.

The upper part of the building, leaning due to the wind, slowly lost its balance and began to collapse—right towards us.

"Wind Lance!"

Grai drew his staff-sword and cast a mid-level wind magic spell.

It was far more powerful than it had been two years ago, accurately blowing away most of the debris.

However, not all of it.

A small amount of earth walls and pillars fell towards us.

At that moment, a shadow fell over us.

The debris that was supposed to fall was blocked by something, making a dull sound.

"Are you all okay!?"

Amu, wielding a mithril staff-sword, ran over.

I looked up again.

The thing that had shielded us from the debris was a giant rock palm that had grown from the ground.

"Is this part of a golem? You've really improved, Amu."

"What are you saying so calmly, huh... But it doesn't seem like it did any harm."

"You did that without chanting? Wow, you're quite the student."

"You're not bad either, soldier. A bit sloppy, though."

"Thanks, both of you."

When I said this, they gave me a look of exasperation.

"What were you spacing out for? You could have died. That's not like you."

"Seika, were you sleeping?"

I wasn't sleeping.

I just trusted that they would handle it. I could have teleported or done something if it came to that.

"Damn... Hey, is anyone hurt? If there are any seriously injured, bring them to the lord's mansion. We'll have the army's healers treat them. The contractor and the builder of this site should report to the lord's representative."

While Grai called out to the workers, I turned back to Fiona.

"Are you hurt, Your Highness?"

"..."

"...Um, Your Highness?"

Fiona... puffed out her cheeks and looked at me with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

Then she suddenly turned to Amu and approached her with a smile.

"Thank you, Amu. And Grai, too..."

Watching her walk away, I thought to myself.

Ah, I must have disappointed her...

****

We decided to head back, and our group retraced our steps.

Fiona was chatting with Amu at the front.

Unlike just a moment ago when she was so affectionate, she no longer spoke to me.

I think... Fiona expected me to play a role like a knight.

She had mentioned something about being saved by a man and a woman in a crisis, and I am the winner of the martial arts tournament.

But seeing me completely useless, she must have been disappointed.

I sighed softly.

Well, it might be for the best that I didn't live up to her expectations.

As we approached the main streets, the number of people increased.

Naturally, the gazes directed at Fiona also increased.

Suddenly, I noticed a small stall at the edge of the city, selling colorful fabrics and sundries.

"...Your Highness, please wait a moment."

"Yes...?"

Without waiting for her response, I ran to the stall.

I bought what I was looking for and returned to Fiona.

"Excuse me. Could you please stand still for a moment?"

"Hmm..."

I moved behind Fiona and tied her long hair up with the ribbon I had bought, then wrapped a scarf with vine patterns around her head to hide her hair.

I smiled and said:

"This should make you look more like a town girl. I think it will attract less attention. At least until we get back to the mansion."

"..."

Fiona touched her head tentatively and said somewhat anxiously:

"Does it look strange...?"

"No, it doesn't. It matches your clothes, and it looks good."

"It's not bad. Do this. It's better for us if you don't stand out."

"Ufufu. Really?"

Fiona touched her head happily.

"I should have brought a hand mirror..."

"If you need one, I can provide it."

《Earth and Metal Affinity—Glass Mirror Technique》

A huge, oddly shaped flat mirror emerged from the ground.

Fiona's eyes widened for a moment, but then she looked at her reflection from various angles and smiled happily.

"Ufufufu."

"I'm glad you like it. For next time, you might want to get something a bit more luxurious."

"No... this is perfect. Thank you, Seika-sama. This is the first gift I've ever received... I'll treasure it."

Fiona said this with a smile.

I was a bit worried that such a cheap item would be okay, but if she likes it, that's fine.

Amu, peering into the mirror, said:

"But this mirror is amazing... I've never seen anything so clear. It's hard to tell where the real ground ends."

"Hehe, well..."

It's a special technique I learned from an alchemist in Venice, involving coating glass with silver. Reproducing it with magic was challenging.

"It could fetch a good price if you sold it."

"Stop it."

"You really use some weird magic."

Honestly, I don't know why I went to such lengths to develop this technique.

It turned out to be useful more often than I expected.

"Still, Seika-sama... you seem very skilled at tying hair. You never did that to your disciples..."

Yuki whispered in my ear.

I had taken care of small children in the West. And I don't want to talk about it right now.

"What kind of life did you lead in the West, Seika-sama? I'm really curious..."

Don't worry about it.

※Glass Mirror Technique

A technique to create a mirror by coating glass with silver. In the world of the story, the silver mirror reaction, which was used to make mirrors in Seika's previous life, had not yet been invented. However, it was known that high-efficiency mirrors could be made by coating glass with a thin layer of metal, and a few such items, made by magicians or alchemists, were in circulation.