The princess began her story with a nostalgic smile illustrated on her face.

"I still remember that day like it was merely yesterday. It was the early Luxus morning where she first paid her visit to me. Back then, it was only around a month or so since she first appeared and was accepted as Father's court mage.

"Can you elaborate on her appearance? How did she get accepted into that position?"

Her expression promptly darkened.

"She… she was pretty. That's all she was to Father. In exchange for the job, she had to visit him at night and tend to him."

...I see. That's why she's so nonchalant in offering her body to get the dragon heart back then. She's already used to it.

If I had to guess, she wanted to become a court mage to gain the kingdom's protection. She needed to keep herself safe from the agents of the Magocracy, and what better way to do that by making yourself a court mage of one of the Empire's conquered kingdoms? Perhaps she learned about the king's promiscuity and decided to take advantage of it. I couldn't blame her for it, even though it's something I would never be able to do myself. Selling your body to a wretched person like him, I wouldn't be able to bear it. Call me traditional, but I only want to give myself to someone I love. Then she can do whatever she wants with me in bed. As long as it's nothing too extreme anyway.

"Milord?"

"A-ah, right, continue."

She gave me a short confused look before resuming her tale.

"It was then when she first examined my condition. Back then, I thought of her as just like any other healer. None of them managed to cure me over the years, so why should she be any different? And indeed, the first medicine she gave me did not work. Not the second. Nor the third. And yet, she kept coming back." Her smile brightened at this statement. "How belligerent I was to be rude to her! I was annoyed that none of her supposed cures worked. I even screamed at her one time, telling her not to give me false hope." She hung her head down with a grim smile. "And yet, she remained patient. She promised that she would make the cure. And she did, just one year after our first meeting." Her hands gripped her skirts. "She's a good friend. Better than what I deserve."

It's all too obvious now just how much she meant to her. To her, who hated her father, and whose infirmity and loneliness had been cured by her, she would naturally side with her, even if she was a necromancer.

"About that knight who's always with her. Do you know anything about him?" I had always been curious about the matter.

“Ah, Lord Berault.” She lit up. “That’s another tale in itself. You see, unlike the other knights, he wasn’t a noble. He was of the common folk. He only became a knight recently, after he saved Father from an attempt to his life. Before that, he was just a wandering mercenary."

This king really has a lot of enemies, huh? It's only natural with that kind of attitude. I guess the Empire doesn't care until he starts scheming against them. That's how hands-off the Empire is to its satellite kingdoms. If Fiora was speaking the truth.

"Do you know how he started serving as Flameu's personal guard? He seemed quite loyal to her," I asked further.

"I don't know the details but apparently she helped him with something. Him serving her is his way to repay his debt," the princess answered. "Aah, how romantic." She clasped her hands with sparkling eyes. "I do hope he will marry her. He deserves it, after what happened to his late wife."

"What happened?"

"She died of illness, just a year after their marriage. It broke his heart—made him the silent and somber man he is now."

Ouch, that's gotta hurt. No wonder he goes full angst with that black armor of his.

"Now, thanks to Miss Flameu, it looks like he has received a new lease in life. Which is all the more reason I don't want her to lose her life to those Church people."

Her smile turned bitter once more. She looked down at her knees for a bit, before moving her gaze at me, grabbing my hands once again.

"I beg of you. Please, save her. I know she'll never be able to return to this kingdom ever again, but she deserves more than to be burned at the stake! And tell Lord Berault he should follow her as well! He's with her right now so those Inquisitors might just brand him a heretic as well!"

Once again, she got too uncomfortably close, crossing that personal boundary as her face was just inches from mine. I could lean forward a little and steal a kiss from her. Uh, not that I would do something like that, of course.

“Oh, I know! I can’t just ask you to do something that dangerous without any payment! What do you want? I can give you a lot of gold again like before!”

“It’s not about that really—”

“O-or do you want something else? I-I’ve heard the rumors… how you're fond of older girls! I-I'm definitely older than you so I can do this!"

Without any warning that could prepare my poor heart beforehand, she stood up and lifted her skirt all the way upwards.

P-pure white lace panties… a-and garterbelts on top of it! They are so tight-fitting and low-rise I could see her womanly mound clearly!

I nearly fainted from the divine sight. Never before I saw a sight so beautifully provocative. My princess-loving, panty-loving self could only gawk with my mouth wide open at it. And not only that. The lovely view was only enhanced two, no, tenfold with how embarrassed she was right now. Her cheeks were beet red and she was shyly looking away. Truly the epitome of the beautiful yet shy princess!

T-the Goddess! The Goddess has descended from the heavens!

“I-I’m willing to marry you i-if you can save Miss Flameu! T-this is what wives do with her husband, right? Showing off her undergarments? That’s what I read in my books…”

B-books? What kind of books has she been reading?

I stared and I stared for what felt like an eternity before I finally regained control of my senses. Swiftly, I walked forward and pulled her skirt down. 

"Your Highness, you shouldn't show such a sight to my worthless self. You should only show it to a man who's worthy of your affections. I might be the son of some Earl in the Holy Empire, but I am just an adventurer right now. I'm a vagrant with no aspirations to do his noble duties. Surely you can do better." I flashed her my most gentlemanly smile. In the meantime, my hands went down to my shorts, adjusting it so my boner would become less noticeable. 

Phew, that was dangerous. Of course my little guy is going to wake up from that.

“And I must apologize.” I continued, now looking her straight in the eyes. “You’re pretty, that much is true, but I already have a lover waiting for me. So I can’t marry you. Not that I would ever force you to do so. If I’m going to save Flameu, I’m going to do it because I want to. And in that matter, I can’t make any promises. I agree with you that she seems to be a good person, but necromancy… I don’t know why she’d want to dabble in such a dark art. She’s already perfectly fine as an alchemist, yet she still wants to reach that forbidden land. Until I know the reason why she decides to learn it, I don’t know if I really want to save her or not. It can be that her goodness is just a front she puts up—to pull away suspicion from her. And that’s something you should learn as a future queen as well.”

She sat back down, dejected, and defeated by my words. I followed, sitting beside her once more.

“Y-you’re right.” She slowly released my hands. “Even Miss Flameu herself said something similar. Not everyone nice to you is your friend.”

“And from your story, I can also infer that she’s the ruthless sort, willing to do almost anything to achieve her goals. If I had to guess, the reason she killed your father and reanimated him as her puppet was so that she would have more freedom to do her necromancy stuff. Tell me. Her outings away from the castle—it became more frequent ever since your father had his ‘change of heart’, correct?”

She paused for a bit, thinking before answering, “Y-yes, I believe so. She would often disappear for weeks or even an entire month. The official reason was that she had a secret order given to her by Father, but now, we know that’s not true, isn’t it?” She smiled bitterly, before letting out a sigh. “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps she is actually an evil person. I just don’t know anything about good and evil, other than from the stories I read in my books.”

“Don’t worry.” I stood up with a smile. “I might have not decided to help her or not, but it doesn’t mean I will abandon her. I’ll go to her place and ask the person herself. Then I’ll decide whether she really is a good person like you believe she is.”

I believed that’s the best option for me to take. Personally speaking, my current impression of her was that she was a well-intentioned yet ruthless necromancer. She’s somewhat similar to Fiora, in which she’s willing to do morally questionable things to achieve her goals. Fiora’s goal is to fulfill the dream of her mother by ruling the Empire as its Empress, and she’s willing to start a war over it. I don’t know what Flameu’s goal might be, but it has to be related to necromancy. If it’s something selfish like gaining immortality or ruling the world via undead armies, then it makes her evil. But if it’s something more benign… 

I don’t know what that may be though. What kind of a noble goal one can only achieve through magic that manipulates and controls the dead?

“T-thank you so much!” She jumped off the bed with glimmering eyes.

“Now, don’t get too excited yet. If she’s being guarded by the Inquisition, I might not be able to meet with her. And I don’t think I want to pick a fight with them. I don’t need the Church to chase after me too.”

“A-ah, right... “ Her complexion turned gloomy again. “I heard they already know where she is. And with Lord Basilisk already mobilizing the soldiers, they might have already surrounded her hideout. It would be too much to ask Milord to sneak through them just to talk to her, wouldn’t it?”

She’s right. Like I’ve said before I went here, I have no good magic to sneak around. Most of my magics are just direct, offensive ones, not suited for anything else other than direct combat. And if I force myself to do it anyway, I would be doing something stupid, which I already promised Anton and the others not to do. I already have the Magocracy on my tail. I don’t need the Church in tow as well.

Silence. The only sound was from the large grandfather clock on the other side of the room.

I couldn’t reply to her right away. I was trying to think up a solution to this dilemma, something that could satisfy both myself and the princess. She, on the other hand, just nervously stood there, fidgeting with her fingers as she waited patiently for my answer.

“Oh, right! Milord! Why don’t you join the other adventurers?” She broke the silence. “They’re recruiting high-ranked adventurers for her capture and you would fit right in, wouldn’t you? You can just aid them with capturing her, and then talk to her afterward! You can even free her afterward if you think she’s a good person!”

Her complexion considerably brightened. It seemed once again, she believed there was hope for her friend.

“That’s… that might work actually.” If the Inquisition doesn’t just decide to kill her on the spot, that is.

“See?! You can do it, Milord! Surely, it’s not that difficult for someone who has slain a dragon on his own!”

She’s now back to her full-smile mode. Really, there’s no in-between with this girl.

“I should just go to the castle to register my name, right?"

"Yes!" She clapped her hands. "They will receive you right away! I'm sure of it!"

"I'm only a C-rank adventurer though. I thought you need to be at least a B-rank to participate."

"Oh, I'm sure they won't mind bumping you up a rank or two after your achievement!"

"Well, if you say so… It's worth a try, I suppose."

"Thank you!"

Without warning, she threw herself at me, burying my face in her cleavage.

Aah, the Goddess's bosom… how delightfully warm…

-------

After giving her prayers to the Saint for my safe passage, she called that Edge guy, telling him to escort me outside. At first, he thought I must have offended her somehow, judging by his glare, but when he noticed the smile on the princess' face, that glare transformed into a confused look. I couldn't help but chuckle a little. He must have never expected me being able to comfort his dear princess. He's probably the kind of hardheaded guy who always thinks he's right while never being considerate to others. That's why he's not sensitive enough to comfort her and be her friend instead of just being her bodyguard.

Even so, he probably is going to end up marrying her, just so the prime minister can secure his power in the absence of the king.

Well, nothing I can do about that.

I gave a smile to the man as I thanked him for his courtesy. A barely polite smile, mind you, just the minimum so I wouldn't be considered rude.

After he bowed towards the princess, he did just that, walking me back outside to the gates with his groupies of knights.

"I don't know what you did, but I have to thank you," he said without looking at me. "You cheered up Her Majesty. As her loyal bodyguard, I also wish for her well-being mentally."

Huh, I guess this guy isn't as stuck up as I imagined.

Glad he doesn't know his beloved princess had just flashed her panties at me though. I can only imagine his furious reaction.

---------

I made my way back to the inn afterward. I intended to inform Anton and the others about our meeting before I made my way to the castle.

“You’re back. So, how did it go?”

When I entered the building, I was promptly greeted by Anton, who seemed to have been sitting in the front lobby all this time, waiting for my return.

“It went well, of course,” I replied with a smirk. “If not, I wouldn’t be here, would I? I would already be running out the city with a brigade of soldiers on my tail. Where are the others?”

“Gathering information.” He stood up from the couch. “Or rather, they just can’t handle the boredom of waiting for you to come back. Did the princess tell you what you want to know about her?”

“Not entirely, I’m afraid.” I sighed. “I still want to speak to her.”

“That would be difficult, considering the current state of affairs. If I had to guess, you’ll probably plan on joining the other recruited adventurers. Funnily enough, we are considering doing that as well,” he added with a smile.

“Eh? I thought you don’t want to—”

“I had just finished talking with the Prism Casters, another B-rank party like us. They told me that for us B-ranks, we’re only there as a rear support. They’re not asking us to be part of the frontline fighters. Even so, the reward they give you is really generous. It’s even more than the amount of gold we got from that escort mission. And we had to waste a month and a half doing that.” He crossed his arms and smirked. “And now, with you entering as well, we gotta be there to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

“Oh, that’s right. I should probably go to the Guild to ask for my rank to be raised. I’m still a C-rank after all.”

“Ha, a C-rank that can defeat a dragon on his own. You really are something.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Go. I’ve no doubt they would be willing to make an exception for you. Especially when this kingdom is badly in need for strong adventurers like yourself.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “I’ll be off then.”

Once I was back outside, I noticed how the sun was already setting on the horizon. Guess I’ll visit the castle tomorrow then.

I made my way to the Adventurer’s Guild at once, hoping that it would really be as easy as just talking to the higher ups of the Guild and getting my rank raised. I believe every branch of the Guild is led by a Guildmaster so that’s the person I want to talk with.

The building was located in the central district. It was a large and distinctive three-story structure, placed right in the middle of a four-way intersection.

I pushed open the large wooden doors on the front, only to be greeted by a peculiar sight.

Huh, it's empty. That's surprising.

Besides a handful of adventurers, the floor was practically deserted. Maybe it's because of the whole thing with Flameu?

This place sure is lavish.

The floor was carpeted in red, in contrast to the usual stone floor most of the guilds I had frequented in my travels. There were ten lanes available, though for now, only two guild receptionists were in their seats, with one attending to the handful of adventurers I mentioned. I moved my feet to the other one. Putting up my brightest smile, I walked up to the lady and said, “Excuse me. May I ask for a meeting with the Guildmaster?”

Her smile immediately turned into a confused frown. Before she could say anything, I handed over my Adventurer Card to her. She took it and gave it a quick read.

“Charles… Pendleton? Wait, that’s… You! You’re the Dragonslaying Tempest, aren’t you?”

“Yep, that’s me!” I grinned. Her expression had completely turned into a shock. “You see, I want to participate in the subjugation force against that necromancer. But I’m still a C-rank adventurer. So I figure I would ask the Guildmaster if they can bump my rank up to B.” Let’s be humble here. No need to ask for A or S rank.

“O-of course! Please! The Guildmaster would certainly be honored to meet someone of your personage!” She immediately stood up and instructed me to follow her, after telling her friend to handle things for a bit.

Well, that was easy. Guess I really have become quite the celebrity around here.