Chapter 226
As Luri gave the command, the coachman cracked the whip at the front.
Twelve horses, plastered with all sorts of artifacts and magic, began to gallop at full speed.
It was several tis faster than an ordinary carriage, yet inside, there was only a comfortable feeling with no sensation of shaking.
“I hope everyone understands that it’s a carriage. The mana train to the border leaves records everywhere, and using a private airship feels like we're putting on a big show, saying, ‘we're here on important business’.”
“It's fine. This is already amazing.”
A top-quality cowhide sofa for 12 that you could even lie down on, a small refrigerator, simple cooking utensils, heating and cooling functions, and even a small bookshelf stocked with all sorts of books and board gas.
There was nothing it lacked.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a running house rather than a carriage.
“Alright, shall we start the carriage party!”
Luri took the lead in setting the mood.
We were reading books and chatting together.
I wasn't the talkative type, so I discreetly slipped away and leaned against the window.
“Haam.”
Firearm Master (Lv 7) smiles with satisfaction, feeling comfortable.
Stellar Force (Lv 20) just smiles.
After a week of special training, I got the hang of the Ulvhadin Vow Bullet.
Firearm Master and Stellar Force had literally swept up all the points, but perhaps because they were high-level, I could feel a tangible difference with each level up.
“Are you… a monster…?”
For William to say that, it must have been sothing.
In any case, it ant I had put in that much effort.
I could feel that I was lacking sleep.
“Master.”
“Huh?”
“Heehee, what are you thinking so hard about? I was just going to ask if you'd like so cake.”
“Ah, uhm… but where did the cake co from?”
“Lady Luri gave it to us.”
When I turned my head, Luri was taking a cake out of the refrigerator in the corner of the carriage.
After receiving the cake from Lilac.
“Oh, strawberry shortcake?”
“Yes, she put so many precious winter strawberries on it.”
“As expected of Elidore….”
I guess the more money you have, the better.
“Hmm, since I am also an empress…. It would be nice to have a carriage like this….”
Anette lanted her situation, but then.
“Still, the cake is delicious!”
She took a bite of the cake and smiled brightly.
“Hmm, it's not bad.”
Adela also nodded.
“Nnngh…!”
I stretched.
Maybe because of the intense training lately, I was unbearably tired.
“Lilac, wake up when we arrive.”
“Yes, Master.”
I closed my eyes.
Sleepiness washed over .
Soon… it felt like my consciousness was about to sink….
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
***
A sleepy yawn.
Everyone's attention was drawn for a mont.
Martin, sitting by the window, yawned sleepily, and then.
“….”
He soon closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The sight of him, bathed in the warm sunlight from the window, was like a sleeping puppy, and they couldn't take their eyes off him.
As they heard his even breathing and realized he was completely asleep, everyone ca to their senses.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
And the emotions that had been suppressed, sohow held back because Martin was awake, began to leak out.
Rivals in love.
The rivals looked at each other.
Especially at the most threatening one, Lilac.
“Uh, ah….”
Lilac, flustered by the burning gazes of Adela and Luri.
“Eh….”
Anette, regretting that she should have fallen asleep with Martin, wishing she hadn't been included in this gathering.
“It's quite rare for us to be gathered like this.”
The one who spoke was Adela.
“For a mont, how about we engage in so trivial wordplay?”
Despite that, the aura she exuded was as sharp as a drawn sword.
“It's about Martin, Martin. The hound sleeping over there, oblivious to the world.”
Everyone gulped.
“Since we’ve t like this, it must be fate. Shall we talk about how much each of us is willing to give?”
“How much, you say?”
Luri, from a rchant family, tilted her head at the choice of words that seed to be putting a price on him.
“Yes, how much. As in, for how much can Martin be bought.”
A suffocating silence descended.
Though she said it was a joke, this was war.
An opportunity to boast about who suited Martin best.
Who could perform the best penguin-like courtship dance, whose peacock tail feathers were the most splendid, whose voice was the most like a nightingale's.
It was a suggestion to compete over Martin.
‘This princess….’
Thinking she was quite sothing, Luri forced a smile.
This was a joke.
The mont you took it seriously, you lost.
But her heart pounded like crazy.
‘Who is it?’
‘Who?’
‘Who's going first?!’
In the midst of the suffocating battle of wits, Adela seized control of the situation.
“Well then, Crow Empress. Let's start with you, the easiest target.”
“…Isn't that sothing you're supposed to think to yourself?”
“Not .”
Who could stop the ever-dignified her?
Sighing, Anette looked at Martin.
Sitting by the window, sleeping soundly.
Oblivious to the fact that his surroundings had turned into a bloody battlefield.
“Martin, Martin's worth is.”
Her crimson eyes turned to Martin.
“I would trade my lifelong loyalty to buy him. He is worth that much.”
Although the question started as wordplay, she couldn't help but be serious.
“I was the head of an organization that was a lump of obsession passed down for a thousand years. I was just a clueless kid. Just as I was about to be offered as a sacrifice to the traitorous chancellor, Martin saved . That's not all. Thanks to Martin pleading with the World Tree, I was also able to inherit the power of the soul stones of the past Defardly emperors, a long-cherished wish.”
Anette's eyes sparkled.
As brilliant as a red jewel.
Her eyes were full of will and spirit, and her confessing tongue and heart were forged with an unchangeable belief.
“I was finally able to shake off my past mistakes and do the right thing as a protector of humanity. That is why, although I am currently working as Martin's collaborator, it would not be strange for to kneel and pledge my loyalty to him.”
The decision Anette made was.
“Therefore, if Martin were to sell himself, I would even cast aside my status as empress and pledge my loyalty to Martin to protect him.”
It ant she would give her loyalty to Martin and buy him.
She, who called herself an empress.
“Hoo.”
“Hmm….”
“….”
So the three of them couldn't help but be impressed.
“Then it's my turn.”
Luri clasped her hands in front of her chin.
Then she smiled gently.
A smile she would never, ever show in front of Martin.
“Martin's worth, you say.”
It was the look of a rchant.
Although she was smiling, you could feel the disposition of a career woman who could not be trifled with.
Only those who knew could tell that a rchant's strategy, for which even the word ‘sly’ was insufficient, was writhing inside her.
“I can say this with confidence. For example, let's say Martin was kidnapped by soone. It could be a Demon Lord, but I'll assu it's one of the Elidore Ducal Family's old enemies.”
She was even more radical than Anette.
“I would give up all the wealth the Elidore family has accumulated until now and get Martin back.”
Anette, who was next to her, asked with a trembling hand.
“Isn't that, too expensive, no, Sir Martin's worth is imasurable, but isn't that too high a price to pay…?!”
“What use is all of that? The person who takes it doesn't beco Elidore. The reputation of standing at the pinnacle of the continent's comrce? Mountains of money? That's all like a fleeting mirage. It's no different from an illusion. Compared to Martin, it's just a worthless, insignificant thing.”
Luri, having gained montum, would not take it back.
“When my childhood friend Helaine fell for the demons' tricks and controlled my mind, I couldn't do anything. On the other hand, unlike the incompetent , Martin gave Helaine peace and saved as well. He also gave a great deal of help for the Elidore family to rise to a ducal family. If Martin were in danger, I would buy him even if I had to give my all.”
“Hmph. Feeble loyalty and fleeting money, is that it?”
A clear sneer.
When Luri and Anette whipped their heads around, the first thing they saw was Adela's smirk.
Adela, with one leg crossed and her arms folded, was as formidable as ever.
“I have already bought him.”
Naturally, Adela didn't just instigate this competition for no reason.
“Already, bought him…?”
Sensing an ominous feeling, Adela beca even more triumphant upon seeing Luri's eyes.
“My past is tragic.”
Her hatred and vengeful spirit towards the emperor and the world, accumulated since her childhood, were astronomically large, to the point where asuring them was aningless.
“But for Martin to save , and for to respond to Martin's heart.”
That hatred and vengeful spirit.
“I gave up everything. The competition for the throne, the Shadow Knights, my revenge on the imperial family and the continent. Everything that could be called my life's mission.”
She had thrown it all away like a worn-out shoe.
“I even declared it in front of the emperor who said he would grant anything. That I had given up everything for this man. I asked if there was truly anything more valuable than this man. And the emperor answered. That he had never seen such a thing. A weak old man on his deathbed, but he's quite smart, isn't he?”
To Adela, even the emperor was just a decoration to make Martin's value stand out.
“Now, is there anyone who can surpass ?”
Then everyone's attention naturally turned to one person.
The last one, Lilac.
If Martin were to sell himself, Anette said she would give up her position as empress and pledge her loyalty.
If Martin were kidnapped and soone demanded a ransom, Luri said she would give everything Elidore had.
To respond to Martin's salvation, Adela had declared in front of the emperor that she had given up everything.
“I…. I, if, if I may join in the conversation of you esteed individuals….”
Lilac, flustered by this developnt, answered like that.
But she also had support.
“It is fine. I am an empress in na only, and that Adela over there is a loser in the succession competition. As for Luri, well, isn't she cute? Make yourself comfortable. I got serious too, but, yes! It's not like I have any personal feelings or anything.”
“Ah…, yes. Then….”
Lilac fell into thought.
Martin's worth.
The value of her precious master.
But no matter how much she thought about it.
“I don't think, I can.”
The three of them remained silent at Lilac's answer.
Hurry, hurry and tell us what's next, they urged.
“I cannot put a price on my master's value.”
Lilac, who had shaken her head, looked at Martin sleeping against the window.
“In the first place, my body belongs to my master. I am a servant who goes where he tells to go. A re maid cannot dare to put a price on the master she must serve.”
In a way, it seed humble, but.
“Nevertheless, if soone were to dare to buy my master, I would cry out to him. That it's absurd. That my master is too great to be priced, and that he is not an object but a precious person.”
In reality, it was a sharp rebuke with bones in its words and thorns sprouting out.
“Though I am lacking, the maid Lilac will serve you until the twilight of your life, so please exist for your own sake.”
Having finished her answer, Lilac bowed her head slightly.
“….”
“….”
“….”
At that sight, Adela, Luri, and Anette were left breathless.
‘A formidable opponent.’
‘She's strong, as expected.’
‘Wow.’
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