The half-elf girl who appeared before his eyes was still as extraordinarily beautiful as ever.
Beside her stood a peculiar sight — a one-ard shirtless man in a rust-spotted knight's helt. His muscular upper body was bare, his pants tattered, and most notably, he was missing his left hand.
His na was Aldebaran — Al for short — Priscilla's guardian knight.
Like the minotaur warrior who never removed his mask, Al kept his knight's helt firmly in place, hiding the indelible scars that marked his face to avoid frightening others.
"Yo, Emilia, long ti no see."
"Adam, it's been a while. Say... what are you doing?"
The sight of her knight carrying two people on his shoulders naturally piqued her curiosity. Seeing Natsuki as one of them only added to her confusion.
"Well, it's a long story..." Though reluctant to explain the troubleso situation, Adam shared the truth.
"I see." As a fellow Royal Selection Candidate, Emilia knew Priscilla well, and the scene before her stirred concern.
Not romantic jealousy, but worry about the trust between master and knight.
Yet once Adam explained everything clearly, her concerns lted away.
"Young lady, could you please not run off? I worry about you." Al said with a sigh, "It makes things quite difficult for , you know."
"Hmph, it's clearly because Al was too slow — it has nothing to do with !"
"Yes, yes, yes, I was wrong, I was wrong." Well aware of Priscilla's unreasonable nature, Al quickly admitted fault to keep the peace, "By the way, young lady, what are you holding?"
"It's an apple."
"About that apple..."
"It's my trophy, I won it."
Seeing Priscilla's proud expression, Al suspected his master had given the young man carrying her so trouble.
"Well, how should I put this... anyway, thank you for saving my young lady, brother." Al gave Adam's shoulder a friendly pat, "I imagine our young lady must have caused you quite so trouble. Well, that's just how she is, I hope you can forgive her, brother."
"Mm, I had fun playing with Lady Priscilla, and you too, Senpai. No need to apologize."
"Senpai?"
"Ah. Senpai beca Lady Priscilla's guardian knight much earlier, right? I only recently beca Lady Emilia's knight, so I should call you his way."
"Hmm — is that so?" Al's brows furrowed beneath his knight's helt.
He sensed there was sothing more to Adam's words.
Noticing Priscilla trying to provoke Emilia, he intervened, "Young lady, we should leave now, we're running out of ti."
"Ugh... how boring. Al, you really don't know how to read the mood."
"It's precisely because I can read the mood that I'm stopping you."
"You, did you do that on purpose?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Hmph, re Al, you think you can control like this?"
"At least, I believe I can."
Their playful banter revealed the strong bond between master and servant.
After finally convincing Priscilla, Al said, "So that's that, we'll be taking our leave now. Lady Emilia, we'll see you tomorrow."
He waved goodbye to Emilia and prompted his master to do the sa.
"Very well, I had fun today." Priscilla closed her folding fan and pointed at Adam, "You, what's your na?"
"Huh? I rember introducing myself to Lady Priscilla when we first t."
"I never rember the nas of people who don't interest ." She said arrogantly, "However, you're quite interesting, so I suppose I'll deign to rember you."
'Deign to... huh, what a proud and tsundere young lady.' Adam shook his head with a smile, "Lady Priscilla must rember my na, after all, you still owe a favor."
Reminded of his trick, Priscilla said huffily, "Hmph, you don't need to tell , I'll rember anyway."
Their interaction visibly unsettled Emilia.
Noticing this, Priscilla flashed a mischievous smile and asked Adam, "You, would you consider coming to serve ? I could offer you a position as my guardian knight."
Though clearly a jest — even Natsuki could tell—
"No way!" Emilia strongly objected.
"Why not?"
"..."
"In any case, I'm better than you, aren't I?"
Perhaps just for fun, she refrained from ntioning Emilia's infamous title of "silver-haired half-devil" — leaving room for reconciliation between them.
"No ans no! Adam is my knight, and I won't give him to you!" Emilia stared directly at Priscilla without backing down.
This past month, it wasn't just Natsuki who had grown — she had worked hard to gain the villagers' acceptance.
"Oh? What if I insist... well, never mind." Priscilla clearly wanted to say more but held her tongue.
"Alright, alright, this topic ends here!" Adam quickly intervened to prevent an argunt, "It's getting late, we should leave. So, we'll go this way, Lady Priscilla?"
"Then I shall go this way too."
"Uh... in that case, we'll go the other way..."
"Then I shall go that way too." Priscilla declared before Adam could finish, pointing in the sa direction.
She was clearly being difficult.
Adam stared at her intently, saying nothing as he tried to make the willful young lady back down.
"Tch, what a boring man. Let's go, Al." Just as he'd expected, she left after deciding he wasn't worth her ti.
She departed majestically with her knight, her unwavering steps showing no pretense.
"Well, that's that, I suppose." Adam said, stretching after watching her leave.
"Indeed, what a troubleso person." Natsuki nodded in complete agreent.
This was just a small episode, and neither side took it too seriously.
Afterward, the three returned to the hotel where Natsuki's group had made reservations, eting up with Roswaal and Ram.
"Oh my~, if it isn't Carter~, it's been so long~."
"Yo, Roswaal. Seeing your clown makeup really makes want to punch you."
"That really~breaks my heart~, when I was so~looking forward to seeing Carter~"
"Is that so? I was looking forward to punch you too, Roswaal."
The two exchanged veiled hostilities in their war of words.
anwhile, Ram welcod Adam back.
"Welco back, Adam."
"I'm back, Ram."
After their brief greetings, Roswaal dropped his usual clownish manner and said seriously, "Well, let's end the small talk here. Let's discuss tomorrow's Council of Wise n eting matters."
The eting arrangents were simple: Natsuki would not attend, while Adam would go along.
Though the kid protested loudly, his complaints fell on deaf ears. He was still required to stay and watch the hotel.
Then, the next day.
✧✧✧
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