Lina proved to be a cheerful companion.

Maybe too cheerful. 

As walked through Pleasance, Lina immediately drummed up a one-sided conversation about what she planned to cook with the rice once she got it.

I could not be less interested, but it seemed as though Lina could not tell or did not care as she chittered away. I walked alongside her, my mind on our next destination, a border town called Justice, which was probably another lie. Based on how pleasant Pleasance was, Justice was probably overrun by riffraff.

At this point, I just wanted a nice, hot bath to wash the now-dry mud from my body and clothes. Yet Pleasance did not so much as have a clean trough to offer. All turned me away when I asked, even the inn!

“No money, no service!” the keep had said. He was a burly man with even burlier arms, which were folded as he barred our entrance.

“Not even for your prince?! I’ll have you know that I was robbed last night!”

The inn keeper laughed at that, “A likely story! How dumb do you think we are?”

I did not answer that question.

The innkeeper entered his inn and began to shut the door in my face. “A prince, really? Who do you think you are, Prince Claude?”

“No, I am his younger brother.”

“You don’t look like Prince Fredrick.”

I stared at him, “I am the third prince, Anno.”

The inn keeper was now sneering, “Third Prince? Now, I know you’re lying. King Luther only has two sons! And no Wolfskreuz would ever be caught dead amongst common folk.”

I was in utter disbelief. How did this man not know that Cross had three princes? Was that not common knowledge?

“I have proof! See this,” I thumbed at my tunic collar to emphasize the royal insignia of the Wolfskreuz family emblazoned on the left breast: A red wolf head with a black cross etched into the forehead. “I am your prince!”

I had thought the innkeeper would be apologetic, that he would kneel and beg for forgiveness, but instead his lip curled in disgust, “A fake. Or you stole it. Be grateful I’m turning you away instead of having you arrested for impersonation! Now leave! You are not welcome!”

He slammed the door shut, leaving me speechless. This was tantamount to treason! If I had my way, I’d have him arrested. But I restrained myself. The less time I spent in this town, the better. 

“Come, Lina, let us go.” I looked to my left where she had been standing, only to find her gone. “Lina?” 

I spotted her easily as her bright dress made her stand out amongst the dull riff raff. When I caught up to her, she was walking down a muddy lane.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She turned, “Hm? I was going to buy my rice while you were talking to that nice innkeeper. I was going to come back.”

“But the market’s over there,” said I, pointing to my left, “You’re going the wrong way.”

Despite her smile, Lina’s face went red, “I was? I’m sorry! I guess I got completely turned around!”

What? How?! The market was right across from the inn! I wanted to chastise her, but she looked so pitiable that I found I could not stay mad at her. “Never mind, let’s just buy your rice and go.”

“But what about your bath?”

I looked down at my ruined clothes. “I’ll live.”

Maybe I’d get the royal treatment in Justice. 

It was rather easy to secure the rice once we found our way to the market, which mostly consisted of farmers selling various root vegetables. I briefly wondered how much money Lina was carrying.  

For that matter, where was she keeping it? The dress she wore did not exactly leave much room for pockets. Nor did it leave much to the imagination. Lina was such a strange girl. She was quite bright and friendly, much unlike any noble I had ever met, and yet she looked like she belonged at a fancy ball with how fine the material looked as it accentuated her figure.

I realized myself, and chose to become very interested in a small selection of deformed carrots. I must not think unprincely thoughts, especially if we were going to be traveling all the way to the Hirsent Kingdom, where Grenna and the Demon King resided. 

 Despite her affluent appearance, it turned out that Lina did not have much money at all. Certainly not enough to buy the rice she wanted. 

But, she looked so put out by this, that the shopkeeper took pity on her and gave it to her for what she had. I was surprised by this, though I was not about to complain. At least there was one kind man in this town. 

At last, we were out of Pleasance and on our way to Grenna. Though I wished I could have secured us a few horses. I had seen a few standing around or pulling wagons. Alas, we must go without. The lack of solid transportation would put Grenna about a month away as long as there were no more distractions.

As we walked along a thankfully dry path, I glanced at Lina, or rather, I glanced at the bags of food she carried.

At least we have supplies. Though I doubted she would share with me. 

She was back to babbling about her cooking.

"—I once made a rabbit stew I was really proud of. The girls refused to eat it, but my darling ate every last bowl I gave him. He told me it was delicious! I knew adding those frogs was a good idea. I was worried—"

I tuned out.

Right. I'm doing the cooking, then. Silva used to make my food, and I picked up a few pointers from watching her work. I was not bad, but I really missed her omelets.

"So, what takes you to Grenna?"

I jumped. "P-pardon?" Lina was looking at me expectantly. "Oh, well…" I couldn't quite tell her that my mission was to kill her "darling." "I'm there on princely duties."

She tilted her head. "Really? What kind of duties does a third prince have? Aren't the first and second more qualified?"

A flash of annoyance bounced through my skull. She really knew how to hit someone in their sore spot. "My brothers are rather… busy with other matters."

My eldest brother, Claude, was preoccupied with inheriting Cross's throne. And my second eldest, Fredrick, was preoccupied with ensuring Claude did not.

It was a back-and-forth of assassination plots, legal loopholes, and blind dates with commoners that I could no longer be bothered with.

Once, I might have dreamed that they would both kill each other and leave me as the only heir. But after the forty-second attempt on Claude's life, I had since given up on that becoming a reality.

Besides, I'd rather not have to deal with the actual duties that came with being king. All the delegation and responsibility. No. It was better to be free of expectation and serve my people how I wished.

"My brothers are about as qualified for this as a slime is to fly."

"Is that so?" Lina fell silent. She clasped her hands behind her back and hummed as we walked.

My eyes remained fixed on her. "You're not going to ask what my duty is?"

"Hm? Nope. You don't want to tell me. So, I won't ask."

I nodded—a wise choice.

We continued walking.

I eyed Lina. Something about her piqued my curiosity. So many strange things happened during our brief time in Pleasance that I couldn't help but be fascinated. Least of all the strange abilities she may or may not have displayed. I had watched her take the shopkeeper’s hand graciously, and yet, nothing had happened to him except slightly reddened cheeks on his part.

And also, how could someone travel hundreds of miles and not be aware she was going the wrong way? And why, oh why, did her smile hardly falter?

Nothing much seemed to bother her. And if it did, it was not for long as that smile of hers was back on her face like it had never left. Strangest of all, it looked genuine. That told me that, at the very least, she was not nobility. 

I blew a bit of air through my nose. "Tell me something, Lina, what is it that you want to do in Grenna?" With how close it was to the Demon King’s tower, the city was most likely in ruins.

Her smile widened, "I already told you that's where my darling was."

"But he's not there now. He is most likely at the Demon King's Palace."

"I know that. Grenna's the place I told everyone I'd be. And if you're lost, the best solution is to stay where you are."

My brain tried to process her logic. It couldn't, so I gave up. Instead, I asked, "Tell me, honestly, what do you see in that darling of yours?"

Her smile became fond, "It's a se-cret~!"

"Is that because you don't know?"

"Of course, I know! It's…" For the first time, her smile disappeared fully as her face took on a quizzical look. "It's…uh… none of your business."

"I see." I could not hide my grin. So, she did feel other emotions, after all.

Lina puffed her cheeks and gave me a dirty look. “I didn’t push you about your business, I expect the same from you! And besides, my darling is a wonderful person!"

I smirked at that, "A wonderful person? I doubt it. From what I remember, he was a sniveling little worm. Or does fighting slimes day after day net you a decent personality?"

"You take that back!" She looked angry. I was testing the waters a little too rashly.

I didn't want to end up like the man in Pleasance.

"I suppose I may have been a bit harsh in my judgment. Perhaps he upgraded from a worm to a snake."

Lina smiled again, "Thank you. He is great, isn't he?"

Did she not realize that was not a compliment? I wasn't sure if she had heard the rumors of what her "darling" had been up to these past few weeks—the cruelty he was probably  enacting on the surrounding villages. And soon, it wouldn't just be them.

We needed to get there as soon as possible.

"Then I suppose you can't say what Silva sees in him?"

She shook her head. "We all have our reasons for loving my darling."

Love, eh? I wasn't sure if I loved Silva, who'd been with me most of my life, but it caused great distress knowing she loved someone else. Especially him.

In my irritation, I kicked a moderately sized rock on the path into the nearby bushes. It was harder than I had intended, so it pierced the foliage like a magic bullet with a rather odd noise that I could only describe as a hollow donk.

I stared at the bush intently, then, to my utter amazement, watched as a figure fell face-first into the cobblestone. The body twitched but otherwise remained still.

Lina gave a shriek of surprise.

I instinctively went for my sword, only for my fingers to clasp air. Oh. 

I'd forgotten. 

My Silvermond had been stolen, too. But it didn't matter. The man was out cold.

Lina looked at his prone body and then at me. "Did you know he was there?"

I stared at her. I could only imagine the look on my face, one of blank surprise. "Yes. That was completely intentional."

Let's go with that.

Together, Lina and I approached the body.

"Is he dead?"

"No," I said with more confidence than I felt, "he's only unconscious."

I prodded him with my foot. It was hard to tell from the back, but the man, covered in rags, was quite muscular and probably taller than me. Only his torso was visible as the lower half of his body remained in the bush that he'd been hiding in. His head was obscured by a mane of curly white hair, though he seemed young enough.

Gingerly, I prodded his shoulder with the toe of my boot. The man gave no sign of waking. I moved my foot to brush back his curls and exposed the face beneath.

A chill ran down my spine as I gazed upon his sleeping visage. I leapt back like I'd been burned. "Well, it's time we were on our way."

"What? You're just going to leave him here?"

I backed further away, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible. "Yes, he's not dead and not our responsibility."

With that, I began to walk away.

"But he's hurt. We should at least see if he's okay."

"Let's not and say we did."

Lina jogged forward and blocked my path.

"What's got you so spooked?"

"S-spooked? I resent that. I, Prince Anno, spooked? Not on your life!"

She stared into my eyes. I tried to meet them but tossed my hair as I glanced in several directions. As dense as she seemed, Lina was reading me like a book.

But who could blame me for my fear? After all, most people would wet themselves seeing the dark crack that vertically split his face over the eye. They'd run screaming if they turned his head to see the other parallel crack, which divided the face into thirds.

I'd say I was rather brave by comparison by simply walking away, pants unsoiled, upon encountering someone cursed by the Demon King's touch.

Their names varied by region, but in Cross, we called them the Deborn—as in those who ceased to be human. We needed to leave. Now.

Lina's eyes looked past my face and smiled.

"Oh, good. He's awake!"

My body seized.

Like a rusty gate, my head struggled to swivel as I looked behind me. From the corner of my eye, I could see the large mass of a man getting to his feet and rubbing his head.