After a few minutes of the journey, we finally arrived at the location where I was told where Prince Dieter was. The carriage stopped right in front of a crowded street food shop on the side of the road.

I narrowed my eyes while wandering my gaze throughout the place. "Where is the prince? I don't see any grandiose carriages around here."

[He didn't bring any, all of his escorts' carriages are stationed outside the town and his knights are currently wandering around the marketplace like some kind of tourists.] Leo replied.

I think Leo is just around observing me, but I can't find him. That guy, for some reason, decided to learn how the Marionette corps behaves, and actually managed to... welp, except for their composure and tact.

I looked around, but I couldn't see any signs of the prince. However, something immediately caught my attention, a distinct pompous laugh echoed in the crowd of people in front of the street food shop. I also heard the laughter of the other people in the crowd.

"It tastes really good, thank you very much." Suddenly, Prince Dieter emerged from the crowd while holding 2 sticks, one in each of his hands. One of the sticks had boar eyes in it and the other one had a boar tail wagging as he moved out from the crowd following him with their eyes and smiles on their faces. Upon seeing me, his iconic flamboyant smile instantly appeared on his envy-inducing good-looking face. "Oh, look at it, isn't it the ruler of this town, Lord Casimir himself? I heard what you did in the recent battle against the kingdom of Milana. You really are a force to be reckoned with. Have you heard of it? The Kings of other kingdoms have been shivering in terror by just hearing the news about you. Also, some kingdoms have already been dubbing you as the 'Tyrannical Warlord of Agrona', which I would say, really fits you." He chuckled.

The Tyrannical What?

No, it's not! It sounds like I'm some kind of oppressive conqueror, which I'm clearly not!

I could not help but frown as I watched him take a huge bite at the massive eyes on the stick he was holding while expressing a satisfied smile on his face.

I exhaled. "So you know, a world war between humans and demi-humans has been occurring at this moment. And as far as I know, isn't it extremely dangerous for you to have any contact with this town? You are a prince of a human kingdom, a crown prince to be exact, I don't think the other human kingdoms would take it lightly if they knew."

He stared at me as if I said something genuinely incredible and slowly shook his head. Before saying anything, he shrugged. "You sound exactly like my father. He said the exact thing when I told him my plan to go here. Appearance really is not the standard of one's age in demi-humans, isn't it?"

Did he just call me... old?

I'm just 18 for fuck sake! More or less, I'm just a year or less older than you!

"So, what's the reason for your arrival here, Prince Dieter?"

He finished the final boar eyes and snapped his fingers. "I have to go back to the magic academy soon and I could not wait until the war ends to go back here, so I decided to come here before leaving for the academy."

Magic academy! The hell! That's every weeb dream place! It's probably fun to go to the magic academy!

The next thing I felt was his forearm on my shoulder while munching the boar tail on a stick he was holding in his other hand. "I heard there's a lot of good food and places around here, it would be great if I could taste and see them all before my 2 days, one night stay in this place ends."

This guy is unbelievable.

I stared at him. "Have you already forgotten what happened the last time you put your hand on my shoulder?"

A wide gentle smile emerged on his face. "What are you saying? We both know that you didn't cut my hand because I put my hand over your shoulder, you are too rational to do such a thing for such a petty reason."

He really is very observant.

"That's why you did it again now just to prove your suspicion? You have an outrageous sense of curiosity, you should work on that."

He removed his hand on my shoulder and walked towards the crowd of people currently buying at the street food shop. He looked back at us while expressing a big smile. "I want to explore this place you have built, but before that, I want to buy another set of what they called here as Fang faction specialty. Do you want some, Lord Casimir?"

Do you mean the boar eyes? Because I'm telling you, you don't want to taste the 'real' Fang faction specialty. You would end up going home comatose.

"No. I'm fine."

He paused in my response and raised his index finger while staring at the person standing next to me while just silently listening to our conversation. "You, cute girl with an incredibly revealing set of clothes, do you want some boar eyes? My treat."

As if she was very surprised that Prince Dieter called for her, her chest rose as her eyes grew larger, but immediately expressed a wide smile. "Your treat? Then I will take your offer." Karoon walked past me and joined the crowd.

Prince Dieter smiled at her response and repeatedly nodded. "That's the response I want to get." He turned his gaze towards the demon vendor inside the shop. "Mister, let us have your amazing Fang faction specialty!"

The demon vendor laughed. "I'm on it, Prince Dieter."

Welp, it turns out, he didn't come here for something very serious. There goes all of the efforts I put in the preparation for a potential diplomatic discussion with him.

After a few seconds they returned while laughing, I exhaled. "If you just came here for sightseeing, I don't think you still need my company. So, I'll just leave you here to enjoy the town. As long as you won't cause any trouble, you will be fine. After all, I have things that I need to do."

Paperwork!

Prince Dieter looked at me with slight disappointment in his eyes. "And here I am hoping that you would accompany me... how about we walk around for a while? I have a very important thing that I want to talk about. That's the main reason why I'm here. Would you mind hearing about it?"

"I can't believe you will leave me alone after randomly grabbing me in the street, Mister Casimir," Karoon complained while munching the boar eyes in the stick she was holding.

Leave you alone with him? The hell I would! Tanya would definitely kill me if I would! Of course, I'm dragging you home with me!

Prince Dieter stared at her with surprise on his face. "He just randomly grabbed you and entrusted you to accompany me?"

Karoon nodded. "Yes."

No.

"You must be a very infamously cheerful person for him to do that." Prince Dieter's laughter sounded while his hand was on his stomach. 

Wow, unbelievable. They easily clicked with each other.

With the 3 of us here, it feels like I suddenly returned to my high school days.

3 teenagers doing teenagers things isn't a bad idea, isn't it?

I released a huge sigh. "Maybe I still have the time to walk around for a little bit."

"Let's go try the grilled frog and green viper next," Karoon announced as they started to walk.

"That sounds great, let's go there then."

I rubbed my palm on my forehead before following them.

Welp.