That night as the young knights in the Castle of Prussia were about to sleep…


  「Ahh…what an easy day…」


  It’d already been a while since the dungeon master’s attack.

  Recently their job was to go to training, patrol the castle, and patrol the town…then that was it.

  The rest of the time was devoted to drinking with their pals.

  「Yeah, I’m grateful that our duties ended peacefully today.」


  「I’m glad that I haven’t had to use my battle equipment for a couple days. It’d be great if these peaceful days would continue…so we can take our time drinking till late at night and rest.」


  「Haha, no doubt. Well then, let’s call it a day here.」


  The young knights relaxed and were about to lie down in their beds when at that moment…


  「——!?」


  Everyone felt a freezing chill run down their spine as a monumental pressure pressed down upon them.

  「Wh-what!?」


  Some fell off their beds and one froze stiff as if tied down.

  「I-I can’t….m-move…wh-what is this…?」


  「Is this…….a wave….of magic…?」


  As the young knights’ breaths caught in their throat at that thought, they heard the roar of the senior knight’s voice from outside their room.

  「ALL TROOPS! EQUIP YOURSELVES! READY YOURSELVES!」


  After hearing the roared orders from their senpai, the young knights’ breathing started once more in surprise.

  They then began equipping themselves in a hurry.

  「Ummmm, where was my equipment?」


  「Wait! First turn on the light!」


  Everything was going helter-skelter in the dark room as they tried to equip themselves.

  「I’m coming in!」


  A voice said as it opened the door. Standing their was their senior knight.

  「Five of you huh. You’re taking your sweet time aren’t you. Or maybe you can’t stand the magic and you can’t move?」


  「U-uummmm…..yes.」


  They nodded while feeling embarrassed.

  「U-umm what’s going on!?」


  「n, it’s a surprise readiness drill…is it your first?」


  The young knights exchanged glances and nodded.

  They were newbies who had only started here 2 months ago.

  「They do this sometimes. It may be peaceful now, but monsters can always come to attack from the magic forest or the Fort City’s dungeon. You can’t let your guard down, it seems to be the Knight Captain’s policy.」


  「I-is that so? Normally you’d never feel such overwhelming and scary magic power right?」


  「Well…normally even with Princess’s huge magic power being fully emitted we’d still be able to stand up….but today’s is abnormally powerful so I think this is special.」


  There was cold sweat on the senior knight’s face.

  His face was also somewhat pale.

  「I felt fear when the dragon king came…but this is honestly above that. Even I almost let a little leak out. Are you guys alright?」


  「U-uhmmm…probably…..」


  Several of them looked suspicious…but about half of them seemed to have withstood it.

  「Well…hmm? I guess this kind of thing would happen normally if you drink enough alcohol… if you take care of it quickly it should be fine.」


  「Uh…ok!」


  「Ok, then continue the drill. We’re patrolling the castle!」


  「Roger!」


  And so the knights began to mill around the castle.

  *************

  「…..Um there seems to be a commotion going on in the castle…is everything alright?」


  I was standing next to the castle with Dianeia and for some reason I heard a big commotion.

  It was loud enough that I could hear it almost clearly from the outside.

  「Haha, don’t mind it.」


  Dianeia said while carelessly laughing.

  「The knights have just sensed your magic power and are now entering a state of alert.」


  「Umm is that ok?」


  I’m not disturbing their rest am I?

  「No, I was planning on this beforehand. I was going to have Anne-dono release some of her magic power.」


  「Yes, sometimes you need a sense of danger so I was going to cooperate.」


  「Oh, so I came and it was convenient…I see.」


  It was a small silver lining. But I think that without Hesty’s coating they would all wake up leaking…


  「Is it really okay for me to come into town?」


  「N, well most people can’t really sense magic so it’s alright. Rememeber you came into town the other day without coating and you were fine, right?」


  Huh…I guess she’s right. I didn’t have coating at that time.

  「As long as they aren’t directly meeting you they should basically be alright, so please come to town more often!」


  「Ahh, well…sometimes.」


  I’m a guy who prefers staying at home…that’s basically my nature.

  「So, you needed to give stuff to Dianeia, right Anne?」


  「Uh, yes. That’s right. Here’s the requested medicine and books.」


  「Oh, I’ll read them. You have my thanks.」


  Books? Did she have something she wanted to look up?

  「It’s just a bit of research. I want to become even a little stronger as a mage, so I tought I’d read up on dragon’s knowledge.」


  「You’re so serious.」


  「That’s my only redeeming feature. Oh, why’d you come meet me Daichi-dono? I-it couldn’t be for yobai (sneaking into a woman’s room at night for sexual relations)…」


  「No, I just had something I wanted to ask.」


  「Oh…I see…」


  She seems very disappointed…but if I was coming for that I wouldn’t bring Anne with me.

  「W-well, this isn’t any place to talk, let’s move to a nicer place for a chat. Is there anywhere that you two would like to go?」


  「I don’t particularly care. My business here is mostly complete, I think that it would be fine if it was a place that Daichi-sama chose.」


  A place that I find comfortable to chat in…it’s mostly restricted to my house…or my shop.

  「Well, if it’s for talking then the living space in my shop should be good.」


  Hesty’s there too and she should hear this talk as well.

  That made coming here an exercise in fruitlessness…but I’ll just think of it as a nice walk.

  「Ah, is that so? Actually I also wanted to see the inside of Daichi-sama’s merchant home!」


  「Well then Daichi-dono. I’ll be intruding for a bit. Should we teleport?」


  「Yeah, I’ll leave it to you.」


  And so Dianeia teleported us once again back to my store.