"Prince Ludwin, why would you embark on such a dangerous journey?" Alicia preempted me with her question.

"Yeah, please consider, Your Highness," Thor supported Alicia. However, Gladeus merely smirked.

"Father already gave his verdict. Do you want to oppose royal orders?"

"No, sir. I apologize, sir." Both guards immediately backed off.

"Well, I see that you have brought your horses. No need to tire yourselves; I brought a carriage. Please come in, Lady Elidranthia and Alicia." He smiled.

As it turned out, our horseriding lessons were in vain, as the prince carried us all in his fancy carriage. Behind the carriage was another one that housed our county's supplies, covered by clothes like a canopy. I was about to check those supplies, but the prince assured me the numbers matched. He then proudly showed me the boxes filled with the supplies inside the cart and mentioned each item on the list. I smiled and thanked him while bowing my head.

"Lady Eli, we are heading into a war zone. Please carry this, just in case." The prince handed me a box with a pistol inside.

Yes! Finally, I got my own musket. With the open-carry firearm permission the prince gave me, I could even buy guns in the reapers' market. There were no Hit Points stats in this world. Anyone shot in the head would usually die. Guns were the meta, even in web novels.

I had been contemplating how to hide the guns I was planning to buy from the market, but I had no way to hide them from Alicia. So, I was left with just knives. I loved knives, but after meeting the musketeers, I knew to be more pragmatic.

"Thank you, Prince. Your gift will certainly be put to good use." I smiled. The prince looked dashing to me right now.

"I pray that day never comes, Lady Eli."

"Wow, Lady Eli has shown interest in something other than knives!" Alicia said, surprised. Sorry, Alicia, but guns are OP. I could not neglect it in favor of knives.

"Oh, you might just call me Eli, you know." I smiled again as I lifted the pistoleer. As expected of the prince, it was equipped with the latest technology—a breechloading flintlock with a feystone and a few precious stones to adorn it. Along with the box, there was a small case that housed six sphere bullets inside. The bullets were neatly cushioned and separated with a partition inside the case like pearls, even though they were just ordinary metal balls.

"Really? Well, ahem, Eli, I hope we can support the county with these supplies. My father said the fate of our empire rests within County Shadowstep. And thus, he also sent me on this mission."

"With six bullets?" I questioned him. A smirk rose within my lips, but we all knew it was a jest. I could outsource the bullets, so it didn't really matter.

"Well, we would never use these pistols to begin with. If we nobles ever need to use more than one, then we might as well surrender. Or so my father said. But There were two thousand bullets in the supply cart behind us."

"Thank you. Hmm? Two thousand?" I pondered. Two thousand seemed like a lot. But if there were 250 rifles, that meant each soldier would only get less than 10 bullets! That's less than a tenth of what you would typically receive in an FPS game.

"Will that be enough?"

"It should be. We only need to hold it for a week. However, the most crucial thing would be to investigate the Elderan Empire. We need to know why they have so many monsters and how they control them. My father noted that we might have to pull all resources into the northern war if this keeps going on. And we can't abandon the Western Front before the peace treaty. So, we would suffer calamitous damage if we let Elderan continue with the monster onslaught."

"Peace Treaty?"

"...Sorry. Forget I said anything. It is a royal order." He suddenly closed his mouth with his hands and blushed. He just blabbed confidential information, huh?

"Well, it was good that there was peace, right?" Alicia muttered, and I nodded.

"Ahem. Please be silent about that. It was not set in stone yet."

"Of course. Our lips are sealed." I mimicked a locking hand gesture to my mouth. Both of them giggled seeing my antics.

"May I suggest playing chess while we wait, Eli?" Prince Ludwin offered a game while we wait. It's going to be a long week.

"Alright."

We took turns playing games. This is a military campaign, and thus, we skipped some rest stops. Moreover, since this caravan was accompanied by over a hundred men, there weren't even enough beds in the rest stops anyway. I was reluctant when the prince offered a room inside the rest stop instead of some important-looking people he brought with him. But they insisted that a lady should get a room while the men should camp outside. Sometimes, toxic masculinity has its benefits. I indulged in their pride.

As dawn broke, Alicia offered to help with cooking. But I noticed something strange when I looked back in the cart, some sort of feeling at the clothes draping over it folded or dirtied. When I got near, I was blocked by the royal guards. They guarded it day and night, so I should not worry about it; however, a glimpse through the cloth canopy sent shudders into me.

"Prince Ludwin! A box is missing!" I knocked on his bedroom and reported it to him. Apparently, he was sleeping with his guards. I didn't know you could ask the innkeeper to move three beds into one room if you want it. Moreover, this room was twice as large as the others; how they did that makes me wonder. That's a prince for you. Even Alicia slept in different rooms.

"Hmm? A box is missing?"

"Yes. In the wagon, the box alignment was different than yesterday even though no one was supposed to touch it."

"Thor, Gladeus, follow me."

"Guards, I want to see the supplies."

"Sir, a person of your stature need not to trouble yourself with such a menial task. We should depart post haste to Shadowstep County," the guards said. Cold sweat poured out from his forehead. He was nervous.

"Hmm... it is true we need to depart as soon as possible. Very well, let's recount the supplies at Shadowstep. It was no use counting it here anyway."

"I want to check the supplies now. Can we at least have a look?" I pleaded with Ludwin.

"... very well. No more than an hour, okay." Prince Ludwin relented with a frown.

We checked the boxes. I was not alone, as Gladius and Thor also helped. Apparently, the prince couldn't stand seeing women lifting boxes, even if she was a commoner like Alicia. He let me lift those boxes with dark binding, though. What a double standard. Hands were seen as inelegant, but magic was okay by these guys' standards.

"... Prince Ludwin…"

"Yes? Gladius? If you are done, let's pack up and leave." The prince yawned. He didn't believe me when I said a box was missing, huh?

"Um… two boxes worth of supplies were missing. It contained some ammunition and spare parts," Thor reported. I felt faint at his report.

"Huh? What? How can two boxes be missing? Where is the list! You must have missed it! Bring all the boxes out in the open!" The prince snapped awake and ordered the royal guards to help out. However, even after checking it for the third time, a box was missing, and another one was empty. The prince only gawked at the missing box while alternating his glance at the list and the supplies.

"No!! It was not just a box but two!!!" I cried. Alicia didn't stop me, as her face was turning pale at the loss of the supplies too. Losing two boxes meant we lost about 15% of the whole supplies even though the whole supplies were less than half of what was required. Moreover, it was ammunition, of all things! Now we only had half of the ammunition compared to before.

"Who was in charge of guarding these supplies?!" Ludwin screamed. "bring them here!"

"We didn't know, sir. We stood guard as usual. Nobody came near!"

"You mean a box could come out of the wagon by itself? Even if it did, why didn't you catch it? Huh? It was your job to guard these supplies!" Ludwin furiously asked. the guard had no mean to defend themselves when caught redhanded like this.

"We truly didn't know, s-sir."

"DAMN YOU! Imbecile manaless!" Ludwin drew his sword and slashed at the guards. However, he wasn't very skilled at it. Moreover, it was just a ceremonial sword. Thus, the corrupt guard only had shallow wounds on his shoulder. Tch! He was a mage, so it was understandable that he lacked swordsmanship, but that was lame.

"ARGH!" The soldiers screamed.

I helped the pitiful prince finish his job, bound the royal guard with dark bindings, and drew my dagger from its sheath. The guards, now bound and kneeling, were now at a more suitable reach for my dagger. Looking at them with my red eyes, I questioned, "Where are the supplies?"

"W-w-what are you doing? You are going to raise your hands against the royal guard?"

"Where are the supplies? I am a royal! You dare go against me?"

 

"I-it was an order from the ministry of military affairs!"

"Your Highness?" Gladius muttered as Ludwin stole his sword. Then, like an axe, he swung it downward and cleaved the guard's head in two as the sword stopped just a bit above his mouth. Damn, he stole my kill.

"FUCK YOU! Do you know what you have done? If Shadowstep County loses, we have to pull all forces from the Western Front, or our capital will be in danger! Tell me right now! Where are the stolen supplies!" Ludwin cursed, unbefitting of royals. The royal guards all drew their swords.

"Hey! You dare to raise your swords to a royal prince?!" Thor shouted. Gladius then inched closer to Prince Ludwin.

"Let it be known you will be marked traitors!" Gladius picked up his sword, which was lodged in the dead guard's head.

"No! I am not part of this!" one of the guards dropped his sword. Some others followed suit until all of them dropped their swords. I see. These guys were corrupt, but not all of them. Moreover, it seemed like they didn't dare raise their sword to Prince Ludwin just yet.

"I-it was ordered by the ministry of defense!" A quarter of the guards who surrendered confessed.

"So, where are the stolen supplies?"

"It was hidden in the stables there last night. It was scheduled to be transported to the Western Front by a messenger, sir." The other guards who guarded the supplies, now afraid for their lives, finally confessed.

"It was an order from the military! I-I-I was only following orders!" he pleaded, but it reached no one. "They said the Western Front needed it more than Shadowstep does!"

"Shut it! You were only following that order just because you got paid, right? I knew it from John Sark!" I shouted. "Don't act patriotic now!"

"You dare to steal under Royal orders? Gladeus, get the supplies with two of these guards! Their punishment will be for later." the prince said. However, it was too late. The stable boy said that someone had already picked up the package four hours ago at dawn.

"Damnit!" Prince Ludwin cursed again. I was too occupied with the supplies that I didn't notice this was the first time he ever cursed like that. "Thor, made note about who these imperial soldiers are, their families, and who specifically send the order. we will made the query later at the ministry of defense or whoever in charge of these buffoon!"

"Prince Ludwin, let's go," I said deflated. Four hours, the messenger could run away anywhere within that timeframe. Two boxes could be strapped onto a horse, and we would never catch him. He could be in a jungle or a main road. We already wasted like two hours checking the boxes.

"You three! I order you to find those boxes. If not, I swear I will give you capital punishment in the capital! Bring these horses and go! Do it to retrieve your honor and I will let this matter slide." He gave orders. He then sighed and then looked at me.

"Elidranthia, I am sorry. I will be there. I will fight with you. As long as we can defend it for a week, my father will give additional supplies." He gazed at the ground beneath me, feeling guilty.

"Let's go." I climbed up the carriage. Not the prince's carriage, but the supply one. Getting angry and killing these guard were not worth it. maybe we could use them as meatshield for my father. Now, we need to deliver whatever remained to Shadowstep and prevented anymore supplies to be stolen.

"Elidranthia?"

"Lady Eli?"

"I will stay here. Let's go."

"Lady Elidranthia, let me stay instead." Thor offered.

"You can stay here, but I will stay here. I need to watch these supplies so no more gets stolen."

"Alright. I guess we all have to stay inside this supply carriage. It is going to be a tough journey though. Sitting on the hard boxes that constantly moved around," Prince Ludwin said.

"Um… I am afraid we couldn't do that, sir. The horse and the wagon axle will bear too much weight in that case. I suggest we alternate instead," Gladeus commented.

"Ugh… let's go. We need to deliver these supplies to the county. We can't dilly-dally here. Let's go! Thor, I order you to be beside this wagon at all times. We march!" The prince gave a bitter smile as we departed from the rest stop.