Royal Princess of Blood

A great feeling of relief washed over me as the capital city of this shitty island was finally on sight. Finally! Safety! Refuge! Society! Where I didn't have to sleep on fucking dirt! Where I could finally sleep in a soft, decent bed! Where I didn't have to be on high alert all the time. And the place where I finally wouldn't see any ugly monsters!

I was actually feeling quite excited! Therefore, as we made our way there, my pace was a bit faster than before. I just wanted to be in a good environment for once. And a good body wash, I had been wanting to get some after leaving that bandit fortress. It was hard to find a good place to bathe in the middle of nowhere, where pervert monsters could peek at my body of utter perfection.

On the way, I noticed Miyako clenching her fists. She seemed nervous. "Is something wrong?" I asked her.

"... Well, they wouldn't try to kill me the moment I enter, right?"

Well, that was a reasonable worry. We didn't know who exactly was trying to kill her. But if it was this place, then that would be incredibly troublesome. However, surely they wouldn't be that obvious, killing an envoy in their own land. This was more like someone trying to set both sides up.

If Miyako would die here on this land not by monsters, but by humans, tension would rise between this island and Miyako's. Neither side would benefit from this kind of thing, but only the other islands. Furthermore, if this island wanted her dead to start some war, would it even be necessary to be so elaborate like killing some lord's daughter?

That scheme is definitely done by some other party.

But of course, these were just conjectures.

I shrugged. "We will see, won't we?"

She pouted. "Not exactly comforting."

"Well, you have no choice but to get in. But personally, I doubt they want you dead."

"You think so?"

"Yes. So, I don't think you should be too worried."

"Right… But what if they attack me?"

"... Hey, if anything happens, just run to me. I'll be here for a while to rest anyway." Although, I would prefer that nothing happens so I won't get any headache. "When I assemble with my team, believe me, we can handle any problem." Yeah, with Taneva and the Cursed Children, literally no one could beat us. Even if it was this entire city.

She mildly smiled. "Thanks."

I pulled a thumbs up. But deep inside, I was praying to myself that nothing bad was going to happen. I'm a god, so that counts as a true prayer.

We arrived at the city gates. The guard stopped us.

"What's the purpose of your visit?" the guard asked.

Miyako stepped forward. "Your lord is expecting me. I'm the daughter of Nishinoa Island's Lord, Miyako Taira. I am here as a substitute on behalf of my father for the Assembly of Lords."

The guard appeared surprised, and then he glanced at the other guard beside him. "U-Understood, Lady Taira. But we were expecting you days ago. The clan lord sent a search party for you."

Miyako's eyes blinked. "Really?"

"Yes. Where are the rest of your group? Is it only the four of you?"

Miyako shook her head. "Actually, it's just the two of us. We lost the rest of my soldiers, even yours, during an ambush."

"An ambush? By whom?"

"That we do not know."

"... I see. In that case, we will escort you to the castle."

Miyako shook her hands. "There's no need for that. Just please notify the castle of my arrival, and we will head there ourselves."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes." Miyako formed a smile. "It's my first time here, so I would like to take my time to look at things in your city."

The soldier hesitantly nodded. "... Very well."

"As for these two," she pointed at us. "They're kind people I met on the road. They're only here to meet with friends."

"Understood. You're all free to enter."

Oh wow, okay, pretty smooth sailing.

Without any hindrance, we stepped inside into the city. The city was bland, I had to say it. It was better than the first city I went through, but everything still looked pretty bleak. Maybe because I was just in a constant foul mood lately that I just couldn't appreciate this place, or it was just shitty to begin with.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I like my home city more.

At any rate, what was important was that I was safe. There were a lot of people with weapons around, attacking a place like this would indeed be difficult. Any invaders would be hard pressed to succeed.

I could still nuke this place though, just in case.

Not a literal nuke, but you get what I was saying. That, of course, would come at the cost of me ending up unconscious for days. Or might bring me to the brink of death.

"So, what's the plan?" Miyako asked.

"I'm going to search for a place to stay." I glanced at Nira, who was looking around, searching for our friends. And then she looked up, eyes blinking. "... Preferably with food to eat."

"We can eat together before we go our separate ways."

"That is a good idea. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about money."

Miyako chuckled. "Indeed."

The thing was, we had plenty of coins at our disposal. That bandit base had a shit ton of money. As expected from professional robbers. We could even get the most expensive inn here and get the most expensive room. Which was exactly the plan — well, my plan.

We walked around, taking in the sights. While I was not too interested, Miyako was more intrigued than I.

"Amazing. It feels surreal to be in another capital city. Our culture, our architecture, does not appear to be too different. We really are the same people. It's a shame we are so divided."

We approached a stall.

"Excuse me," I said. "Where's the best inn around here?"

The storekeeper raised an eyebrow. "Tourists, huh? Want the best affordable, or the most expensive?"

I had a bad feeling about answering this. "The best experience should be the most expensive, right? So that."

"Hmmm. I'm having a hard time remembering."

Realizing what was going on, I frowned. I fucking knew it. Begrudgingly, I pulled out a copper coin and threw it at the man. "I'm buying one fruit." I grabbed one small and round, dry looking fruit and presented it to Miyako. The warrior princess glanced at the fruit for a moment before receiving and taking a bite. As expected, natives of this archipelago didn't mind that kind of crappy fruit.

The storekeeper nodded. "Mm, now I remember."

What a fucking jerk.

He just had to be thankful I had a lot of money. Or it would not have ended this way.

Once we learned the best inn nearby with their own eatery, we headed straight there. Meanwhile, I noticed Satomi warily looking around.

"Satomi, worried or something?" I asked.

"Yes. Just making sure we are not followed."

"We're not, right?" I already knew we were not.

"... Yes."

"We're not? Then could it mean Hokunoa isn't behind the ambush?" Miyako said.

Satomi shook her head. "We can't be certain. It might mean that the ones after us don't know it yet that we've arrived."

"If it's the other islands, then they definitely don't know yet," I said. The soldiers around here would first report to their own lord. Unless, of course, any men of the opposition would hear the news early somehow. "That being said, I doubt they would pull off something like attacking you here."

"What makes you say that?" Miyako asked.

"It would be too loud. You wouldn't go down without a fight, right?"

"Of course. But… there are assassins, you know. Ninjas. They are stealthy, they could kill you without you realizing it."

"Hm. Still, I'm certain you will go loud." The ninjas here were not that impressive, anyway. A cat would get more respect from me. And I didn't even like pets or animals that much…

"I hope you're right…" Miyako worriedly looked around.

Poor girl, she must be feeling paranoid being here. But she was still braving through, to carry out her duty. That was admirable of her. Still, with just the two of them, it would indeed be terrifying. They were surrounded by countless potential enemies.

"They resorted to ambush you in the middle of nowhere. They shouldn't go out of their way of attacking you in the middle of the city. Being a diplomatic envoy carries its own type of protection."

Their only clean window was attacking in the wilderness where there were no witnesses. It was the kind of environment where the culprit could control whatever narrative they wanted. But being here, killing Miyako would be pretty difficult and risky.

A while later, we arrived at the inn. It was a bigger building than those around it. And cleaner, I had to say. This place seemed comfortable. After taking some room for both me and Nira, we headed for the restaurant. And when I say that, it was not as luxurious or fancy as what I would see back home. Kinda above average.

Once we had our food, we immediately started eating. I had to admit; the food looked pretty good. The soup looked like normal food, even though I knew that the meat was from a monster. But I was just going to ignore that. I glanced at Nira and patted her on the head. She looked so behaved, like a good kid.

"By the way, Estelia. I've been thinking…" Miyako said.

"Hm? What is it?"

"What about we go to Nishinoa together? With your friends. If you can wait, of course."

"Oh?"

"If things go well, and if the local lord means well, we can certainly ask for a ship to take me back to my home island."

"That's a good idea!" At least it saved us the headache of searching for a ship. And at least the company would be mostly trustworthy. "Sure, let's do that."

Miyako's eyes widened brightly. "Really? You'll wait for us?"

"Sure."

"It will only be for around a few days."

"It should be fine for me. As I mentioned, I'll be taking a break, anyway."

My body had deteriorated a lot during the travels. If I were to continue further without much danger to myself, I had to rest.

I wanted to rush it, considering my home was certainly being invaded by now. But I also had to take care of myself, to survive. And I needed days to rest.

I had strained myself by going through intense physical activities, and spent my body by using magic.

Miyako nodded. "That's great to hear. I would like to give you a tour of my island. And it would be nice for you to meet my family."

A bit of a scary thought, but if I get to have a chill time in their city, then it would be completely fine with me. This was exactly why I made friends with this girl, so I get treated well in their home turf.

Time passed, and we were finished eating.

We went outside the inn, about to go our separate ways.

"Alright then, good luck and be safe out there," I said to Miyako and Satomi.

"You too, Estelia."

I smiled. "Well, you'd need it more."

She chuckled. "I suppose you're right."

She was going into enemy territory, after all. "Well, if anything happens, you know where to find us."

Miyako nodded. "See you later, Estelia."

"You too."

She then turned to Nira. "Goodbye, Nira. See you later."

Nira averted her eyes away. "G-Goodbye."

Miyako chuckled with a smile, patting the little girl on the head.

And with that, they went on their way.

Once they were out of sight, Nira and I walked into a secluded, narrow alleyway near the inn. It was then that a pair of fog descended in front of me, and they turned into humans.

"Princess, it's a relief to see you alive," Heneis said.

"It was not easy surviving at all. And it's nice you quickly found me."

"You are hard to miss."

Yeah, well, that was to be expected from them. I was quite special to them.

"Anyway, is everyone here?"

"Yes, everyone is alive and well."

I nodded. "Splendid. Can you please bring them here to me?"