“Eh… Is, this really for real?”


  Rook thought he heard what the girl had said wrong.

  It was definitely a wish that would make one imagine the other party was not sane. However, he couldn′t feel falsehood in the eyes of the girl covered by the red hood. While showing a innocent smile, she looked at Rook.

  “Yes, but… It′s not possible really possible, right?”


  The girl should have noticed it wasn′t going well. Being troubled, while knitting her eyebrows, she turned away from Rook′s face. Most of her face was covered in the shadow of the hood, but he could notice the girl was clenching her teeth. Her mouth twisted into a very sad smile.

  If this was to continue, he might end up making this girl cry. Rook became in panic.

  “N-no, it′s not that. But, you… If I would say you are kind of bold, or what can I say… Ah, wait, uhh… You see, let me give you a treat. Then, we can talk with more calm.”


  Rook forcibly caught the girl′s arm. And then, he looked around, looking for stalls at the surroundings of the fountain.

  The place located at the centre of the royal capital, the water fountain plaza, was just the right place for her to calm down. At the water fountain plaza, there would be stalls selling simple snacks and benches for one to sit. However, only today, there was only a single stall doing business. And to make it even worse, it was a stall selling junk food, which was bread with roasted pork hold between it. Until now, he had been smelling the delicious fragrance of the roasted meat, but then, he recalled the memories at Karkata.

  Rook liked pork. However, those memories weren′t good ones.

  …But even so, he ended up saying he would give that girl a treat. He couldn′t go back on his words now. Besides, his stomach was somewhat empty. It felt his stomach would growl if he became distracted even by a bit.

  While sighing in his mind, he went towards the stall.

  “Hello. Please, burgers for the two of us. Ah, and also two of those bottles filled with water.”


  After ordering that, in only a few moments, their food was prepared. The pork roasted with the charcoal was skillfully divided with a knife, and covered it with Tare sauce. And then, together with vegetables, it was put in between the fluffy-looking bread.

  “Here it is.”


  Taking, Rook gave copper coins in exchange. Sitting down at a bench nearby, he gave the water bottle and the roasted pork burger to the girl.

  “There is no need to pay for this. This is my treat.”


  The girl didn′t say anything.

  She didn′t say thank you, nor anything like that. She only kept looking at the pork burger while thinking about something.

  “…This is roasted pork, right?”


  “Yes. Or perhaps, you don′t like pork?”


  “No, I just became surprised on how fated encounters like that can happen.”


  The girl snickered. Perhaps she remembered something interesting. By the outlook of her face, she seemed to be enjoying it very much, with her mood being to the point of one feeling she would start humming at any moment now. It wasn′t possible to see the dark mood or the brutal killing intent from a few moments ago. Rook became a little relieved.

  “Thank goodness. I was thinking what I should do if you didn′t like it.”


  Shrugging his shoulders, Rook gave a bite at the burger.

  This bread that was now holding ingredients in between it had just been baked. It′s surface had a crunchy feeling, and its insides were fluffy and had a sweet taste. The crunchy lettuce was a vegetable that matched well with it, and supplemented the sweet taste of the bread.

  However, more than anything, it was the tasty roasted pork.

  The bulky meat had a firm feeling at first. However, it was unexpectedly easy to chew through. The juicy flavor of the meat would spread to the mouth with each bite. Putting the Tare sauce at the oily meat, it perfectly fitted the meat, and besides that, it also soaked at the bread in a good way.

  For him to offer her a treat was also because his stomach was empty. Because how unexpectedly tasty it was, Rook felt he would end up letting out a voice of admiration.

  “…And then, that request back then… Could I ask you about it?”


  While he was trembling with the deliciousness of the pork burger, Rook had been spoken to in a calm tone. Rook suddenly went back to himself. The girl that was sitting besides Rook was looking straight at him.

  “Ah, yes. Uhh, if I′m not mistaken… You wanted me to help you meeting with the princess, Catherinne-sama, right?”


  “Yes.”


  The girl muttered, somewhat looking embarrassed. a

  “My father that lives at the countryside had been saved by Catherinne-sama. Since I came to the royal capital anyway, I wanted to give her my thanks… However, it is impossible, right? For me to creep in at the royal castle or something…. Sorry, I ended up asking you too much.”


  The girl strongly held the paper bag that was wrapping the bread, crumpling it. She probably knew it herself that it was something impossible. The girl became sad, as if she had already been expecting this outcome. Rook took his eyes away from the girl. To think of all things, Rook couldn′t tell her at any costs that the princess in question was going at his house for a stay.

  “No, don′t worry about it.”


  For this girl′s sake, it would be better to tell her Catherinne was going to stay at his house.

  The girl in the red hood looked to be innocent. The oppressing killing intent was most likely because she was vigilant for still not being used to the city. After believing it to be the case, he was about to tell her Catherinne was coming to stay at his house, but then, he hurriedly closed his mouth.

  The princess Catherinne′s visit was something of absolute secrecy. It was troublesome if someone was to hear about it. To confirm there wasn′t any suspicious person eavesdropping them, Rook glanced around the surroundings.

  The water fountain plaza was filled with its usual liveliness. Children giving bread to the little birds and housewives having a friendly chat; youngsters eating the pork burger from the stall diligently selling the roasted pork burgers as if they had gone inside a dream. Everyone was in their own world.

  …At the bench behind them, there was a boy holding a book with one hand that was nodding off. Because the hat he was wearing, it wasn′t possible to confirm whether he was really sleeping. Because he was snoring, there didn′t seem there were any signs that he would be able to hear them.

  However, unexpected things might happen. While Rook was hesitating, the girl calmly shook her head.

  “Sorry, please forget this request. …If I were to act sneakily near the royal castle, they would end up thinking I am an assassin or something. They… Would think you are my accomplice too.”


  The girl′s big eyes started to become teary. With her shoulders trembling, it felt that at any moment, a large teardrop would flow off her eyes.

  He ended up making a girl cry.

  He ended up cornering the frail girl. For him to make a girl cry, he could only be the lowest man in the world. Rook had the feeling blood was leaving his face. After he hurriedly held the girl′s hands, he became able to see the girls eyes.

  “It′s alright! I-I will do something about it!”


  While strongly hoping she would stop crying, he held the girl′s hand. In contrast to her innocent looking eyes, her hands were rough. At that instant, Rook thought it was weird and felt something was out of place, but he didn′t have the time to be concerned about this now.

  “This is secret, but… The princess is at my… my acquaintance′s house. I can go talk over about it with my acquaintance right now.”


  “Is this true?”


  “It is true! I′ve heard the princess Catherinne is gentle, so she should hear it out. Tonight, I will come here with the princess. I promise you.”


  Rook nodded full of energy. Then, the girl′s eyes sparkled full of expectation. While broadly smiling, she also began to hold Rook′s hands too. As the main character, he had been in contact with many girls, but seeing her smile at a distance both of their breaths overlapped, his face started to become somewhat hot.

  “Is it fine for me to trust you?”


  “Of course! Ah… By the way, what is your name? My name is Rook.”


  “It is Anna. Anna Smith. Nice to meet you, Rook-san.”


  Anna told him her name without any hesitation. The eyes that were looking at Rook were eyes that completely trusted him. If he was to break his promise after all he said, perhaps she would really start crying.

  “Then, I will be brining the princess here tonight. So wait for me, Smith-san!”


  Saying only that, Rook turned away from Anna.

  He needed to quickly go back home and talk to Catherinne. Catherinne would always be overflowing with kindness when it is regarding about her people. If he was to tell her about Anna′s sincere feeelings, she would definitely agree to sneak out of the house.

  “But, she… Could she be a hidden character?”


  Rook once again dreamt of his sweet dream

  There wasn′t a development like this in the game, and it would be fine if he was lax about the demons for only a single day.

  While believing that, he went back to his residence running in a fast pace.

  —-

  The red hooded girl looked at Rook′s figure becoming small.

  And then, after his figure vanished into the crowd of people, she let out an exhausted sigh.

  “…Roppu, did you hear the conversation just now?”


  With the girl indifferent muttering voice, the boy sitting at the bench behind her opened his mouth.

  “Yes, I heard it, lieutenant colonel Riku.”


  “I′m Anna. A girl from the countryside that came to work away from home. Don′t mistake my name.”


  Riku rebuked Roppu for using her real name.

  Anything was fine for using as a false name. Anna Smith was a very common name. If she was to shout “Anna-san!” in a loud voice at the water fountain plaza, one or two people would turn their faces to her. The same could be said for the surname Smith. It was so mundane it was a boring.(TL note: Anyone named Smith there? ^^)

  However, exactly because it was a common name without anything special that she was able to sneak in without calling attention.

  “I′m sorry for that… By the way, your request went through really easily. I thought he was going to firmly turn it down.”


  “Me too. But that guy is too fond of women. Because I am a woman, he couldn′t refuse my request.”


  Rook was

  Each one of the women Riku had crossed swords with would declare they would fight for Rook′s sake. From the spiritualists subordinated to the Barusak to the spiritualists of the other prestigious families, and even the betraying demons, all of them would hold their sword for [Rook′s sake]. It wasn′t possible to imagine it as anything other than brainwashing.

  At the time at Derufoi, when he became together with Charlotte the two of them aloneshe was able to have a glance at this characteristic.

  Because he was too fond of women, he wouldn′t treat them cruelly. If they meet with each other in a catchy manner, as long as she doesn′t hurry things up too much, he would become worried about her without doubt. Thinking about that, Riku acted like that.

  “But it was easy. For him to fall just with me pretending to cry…”


  Simply by shedding tears, she easily got him to accept her request. It was disgraceful for her to be crying in front of Rook, but if it was for her to get him to promise bringing the princess here, she didn′t mind. She would endure it and go cry some tears.

  But even so, it had been unexpectedly quick. Riku was amazed by that. How a man that couldn′t see through a woman′s lies was the heir of the Barusak made her want to laugh to the point of holding her stomach.

  “…But will he really bring the princess here?”


  “Don′t worry. If he breaks his promise… We can simply go with the plan we first intended to do.”


  Even if Rook didn′t bring the princess tonight, there weren′t any problems. If he doesn′t bring her here, all they needed to do was to get in the residence themselves.

  “Roppu, get in contact with the other demons.”


  Standing up, Riku grabbed the edge of her hood. Because of the red hood, she was able to hide her eye catching red hair. By hiding her hair, she wouldn′t stand out. Riku happily smiled.

  “Let′s begin the welcome party for the princess.”