I arrived at the plaza as I contemplated on what I’ll do from this moment forward. I searched for my brother, but he was nowhere to be found. I sighed, I felt tired.

There was a spot outside of the pavement, a grassy spot. I wanted to sit down for a while, so I walked over and plopped down on the ground. I embraced my knees as I lowered my head.

Damn interlopers.

That stranger from before... He was speaking and saying as though he was my ally or some shit. Protect me? Bullshit. As if I would rely and trust them. His words implied he wanted to implant into my mind that he was my friend and was not a threat. But those kinds of people had their own motives.

I would never rely on them. I only had myself to rely on, to handle everything, to make everything go well.

… What if my old allies, from my former world, could I have relied on them if they were also here? I don’t know, perhaps. The man who killed me hesitated, he didn’t want to do it. But I fucked up, I messed up, I failed. It was given that I would be disposed of, and not everyone would hesitate to fulfill the mission and put the rules above all else, even if it violates what they wanted inside their heart.

In this world, I have no accomplices.

What was this I was feeling? Melancholy? Heh, been awhile since I felt something like this. But this is ridiculous. What a bothersome emotion.

It’s pointless to feel this way. I must first think of the future. First, I need to get stronger. I am weak, not in skills of course, I have confidence in that. But what I was wary of was magic. How annoying. I can imagine people with the weakest body could be the strongest with the help of magic. Talk about unfairness. As someone who in the past worked hard, went through hell, I can only say that about it.

How unfair.

No, what am I saying? I’m not like this…

My mind was in disarray. I guess everything that happened is getting into me.

Tch, snap out of it, me!

Alright! Dammit.

Plan one, get stronger. I must learn magic. Plan two, information. I don’t know how I could learn about what was happening around me, but I should learn first about the geography of this country at least. I must know the area I was operating.

Plan three, find out who could be of threat. One of the knights could be one of the traitors, should take that into consideration. But I wonder, if they wanted me dead, one of them could have already killed me.

Was it one of the soldiers? Perhaps, among them, one could be a spy. Could be tasked to only watch over my movements for the time being. But it’s possible they may be ordered to kill me at some point. 

The palace staff? They could have killed me already. 

But nothing was assured.

Then, what about nobles? Highly possible, people of power always have motives, mostly for themselves.

That said, what does everyone even want from me? I know completely nothing, fuck.

Was I the only one who was told about this predicament? It seems so. The man said not to tell anyone else if I want those close to me to remain safe. But, was I really the only target? The other royal family could be targets, too. I mean, executing them had more merits than killing a princess like me, who had no influence whatsoever.

But, what if merits and benefits, financial, or anything tangible, were not the only motives to this? Personal grudges? Might be. But, why was it that who came to meet me seemed powerful? Was this not as simple as I first thought it would be? Something of a greater scale. It couldn’t be. Why would that be? I don’t get it.

Perhaps I’m wrong. But still, I have no knowledge of anything. First, I must find a way to mend the situation even for just a little.

I heard someone panting close to me, followed by a familiar voice.

“E-Estel?”

I instantly looked up and saw my brother. His eyes opened wide, he seemed like he was panicking just a moment ago, but now there was a bit of relief. He was also profusely sweating indicating he was running all over the place.

I smiled brightly as I jolted up.

“Brother!” I already had one foot forward as though intending to hold him in joy. However, I stepped back with an apologetic expression. “I… I-Im so sorry.”

I lowered my head with regretful eyes while often sneaking a glance at my dear brother.

“I’m sorry for what I did… I shouldn’t have done that,” I sincerely said to him with a slightly trembling voice. I averted my gaze instantly after speaking.

“Where were you?”

I looked at Estevan, he still had that somewhat stressed look.

“I’m sorry. I saw something which caught my attention… I was only to take a look for a moment, but… I also went to another place close to it… I was so caught up that I didn’t notice how long I was away.”

I lowered my head even more. I have to be careful of my movements, I have a bag full of daggers under my cloak. I decided to keep the reason simple so it wouldn’t get worse or anything. I already have a lot of things on my mind.

“I kept searching all around for you, but I couldn’t find you. D-Did we miss each other?”

I blinked my eyes, pretending to think about it. “I… don’t know. I’m sorry for what I did, brother! I troubled you immensely.”

I had a face that was on the verge of crying. My eyes were a bit damp at the corners, and my lips pursed tightly. He sighed and the next I felt was his hand patting my head. I formed a bewildered expression.

“The most important thing is that I found you, and you’re safe. That’s all that matters.” His eyes were full of fondness, and his smile filled with warmth.

“... Okay.”

“But don’t do that again, understand?”

“Y-Yes.”

He nodded. “So, how was your lonesome touring?”

“I-It was great. But… that was a mistake. There are just too many new things that I saw.”

“I see. By the way, you looked so melancholic when I found you, are you alright?”

He must have seen me while I was contemplating. I may indeed have looked so sad… Perhaps I was. But that was not what I was intending to convey. It was just comfortable to be in that position.

“... Um—”

“Could it be that you’re scared because I wasn’t there by your side?”

He had a teasing smile on his face. I furrowed my brows as a blush came to my cheeks.

“N-No! It’s not that at all, brother!” I looked away with a pout.

“Hahaha! There, there…” He patted my head again. “Your big brother will alway help you if you need help. If you need saving, I’ll be there.”

He spoke as though talking to a child. I’m not a child, okay? I don’t even look as young as a child. Mmmmmmm.

“Brother stop that, it’s embarrassing…”

He chuckled. “You look cute if you act that way.”

“... By the way, brother, where are the souvenirs that you bought?”

I changed the subject to show my embarrassment.

“Aaah, about that. You see, I panicked when I saw you gone, so I dropped them.”

“Brother… we can still search for them, right?”

“I guess we can try. Come.”

I followed him, and we arrived in front of the shop which was selling figurines.

“It’s supposed to be somewhere here.”

We looked around, on the floor and everywhere, but there was nothing.

“It’s gone…” my brother muttered.

“And it seems we can’t buy another one.”

The shop was closed. They must have sold out already. How very successful that business was. Likely they had pretty limited stocks.

“That’s alright brother, there’s always a next time.”

“I guess... Anyhow, where do you want to go next?”

During the exchange, I have thought of what I would do. I was alone in this endeavor. So what do you think I need?

Manpower. Allies. Someone to use. Someone that can be trusted.

“Let’s go home…”

Estevan looked at me with confusion the moment I said those words. It was still about midday, we were planning to at least spend the time in the city until afternoon. However, with how things turned out, I was no longer in the mood for a leisure stroll. I didn’t feel comfortable here anymore. I needed to think first. So the best option was to return to the palace, where it was the safest.

“Why?”

I looked away, appearing to hesitate.

“I just want to go home.”

“... Is that so? Then that’s fine if that’s what you want... Let’s go?”

I nodded my head. “But let’s pass by the flower shop from earlier.”

“Alright.”