Interlude: The Prince and Butler’s Night
“No good, I can’t sleep…”
That night, Weiss-Strain was about to leave his bed and head to the mansion’s courtyard.
The reason was, of course, training.
“My stamina… my stamina is overflowing…!”
He was already completely terminal.
This Prince, who had been getting by with short sleep (※basically fainting) for years. Even though Reite gave him a child-level lecture saying “Sleep properly and quietly at night!”, his body was rejecting it.
“Damn… When I had burns all over my body, I could sleep almost all day…”
That was just a coma.
“Hmm. Sleeping is such a difficult act…”
While muttering baby-level worries like that, Weiss passed through the residential floor for servants.
The building he was currently in was a Western-style house connected to the mansion, built for those like Weiss who worked at the mansion daily.
Now, when passing by the rooms where servants lived late at night like this,
[Ah, Reite-sama…! I thank you for safely ending another day!]
[Haa-haa-haa-haa! By increasing lung capacity, I’ll be able to directly inhale Reite-sama’s breath! Breath of love!]
[Please let me wake up as Reite-sama’s pillow please let me wake up as Reite-sama’s pillow please let me wake up as Reite-sama’s pillow!!!]
…It was horror.
The servants ending their day thinking “Reite-sama, Reite-sama.”
Each of them had dramatic memories of being saved by that girl, and their loyalty was so extreme that if ordered to “go get the king’s head,” they would instantly become state subversives.
In short, it was madness.
“Hmm, Reite-jou is very beloved.”
The natural Prince just thinks “that’s a good thing” and leaves it at that. Hopeless.
“Now, if I swing my sword lightly for about four hours, I should get sleepy…”
While making such ridiculous statements, when Weiss went out to the courtyard,
there was already someone there.
“——Hah, haa!”
A man in tailcoat delivering sharp punches.
In the moonlight shining from the night sky, his glasses glittered—he was,
“Training, Ashley?”
“Oh, Weiss.”
Former executive of the mercenary organization [Hell Wolf], Ashley.
Now Reite’s butler, and formerly a clay figurine.
“You were told by Reite-ojousama to sleep properly, weren’t you? This is disobeying orders.”
“My apologies. But my body isn’t used to neglecting training. I was planning to swing my sword a bit before sleeping…”
“I don’t care! Going against Ojousama’s words deserves ten thousand deaths…!”
Ashley began emitting fanatical fighting spirit. He was about to direct his fist at the Prince, but,
“Besides, I want to train even a little to get stronger. To protect Reite-jou.”
“Then that’s fine!”
It was fine then.
He was a man of Reite supremacy anyway. If the other party was acting with Reite in mind, this glasses-wearing man would accept it with a smile.
“Heh, having the nation’s strongest prince as a guard is reassuring. I don’t like you, but I do acknowledge your strength.”
“Thank you. I’m very happy to be acknowledged by a man like you. Please continue to get along with me.”
“Hmm… you really are a man who makes stupidly serious statements…”
Ashley muttered that such behavior wouldn’t allow him to serve as a ruler.
But a small smile floated on his lips.
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“In terms of combat, there’s you, the [Ice Prince], and in terms of technology, there’s Dr. Reinhart, called the [Monster of Academia]. Reite-ojousama’s surroundings are becoming truly rock-solid.”
“Yeah, plus there’s Ashley, former [Five Great Wolf].”
“…I’m inferior to you all. In terms of strength, I can’t match you, and in terms of my skills, I can only provide decent service. I have no special abilities.”
The butler spoke as if spitting, but Weiss didn’t seem to understand.
And he casually replied.
“I don’t understand what you mean. You’re more wonderful than anyone.”
“What!?”
“You have strength that forces me to not hold back at all, plus you have the sophisticated and excellent hospitality skills to satisfy Reite-jou. What is such a man saying?”
“Wh-what!?”
This left Ashley flustered.
Weiss-Strain was a clumsy and unfriendly man.
However, his goodness of character and sincerity surpassed anyone and anything.
He didn’t dislike Ashley despite his fanatical aspects, but rather focused on his excellence as a person.
“Ashley, I respect you.”
“!?”
“I earnestly wish to become your friend.”
“!?!?”
“Your determination to leave that vicious mercenary group of your own will. Your loyalty in dedicating body and soul to Reite-jou. And your manliness in being willing to part with such a her for the sake of her peace. I can only admire everything about you.”
“!?!?!?”
“Please continue to treat me well, Ashley.”
——A barrage of words shining with sincerity. Overwhelmed by the Ice Prince’s hot trust, Ashley was now completely flustered.
“Y-you bastard, to smoothly deliver such embarrassing statements…!”
“Embarrassing? What exactly is embarrassing about praising a friend worthy of respect?”
“Ghhhhh!?!?!?”
He couldn’t stand it anymore. Ashley almost exploded in anger,
“W-what are you thinking!? What do you plan to do by conquering me instead of Ojousama!?”
He shouted.
The Prince, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea what he meant.
“Hm? I’m not particularly thinking anything. I’m just saying what I think.”
“You… haa, never mind.”
Ashley dropped his shoulders as if giving up.
Ah, what a tremendous prince this was.
Sincere, strong, and yet somehow naturally airheaded in a way you couldn’t leave alone.
No wonder knights and soldiers would have their hearts completely captured, the butler realized Weiss’s talent for charming people.
“…You’re the complete opposite type from [Hell Wolf]’s Zax-Roa. That person was the type to attract people with wicked intelligence, fear, and acting.”
“Hmm, all of those seem impossible for me.”
“You’re clumsy after all. …In that regard, you have a similar nature to Reite-ojousama.”
While looking up at the night sky, Ashley recalled his beloved girl.
“It was six years ago now. Right during the [Great Masquerade Festival], I fled to this land.”
“Oh?”
The butler spoke.
Hungaria territory back then was completely different from now.
“There was no leeway, you could say. The number of residents and smiles were few, and those in costume were sparse. Well, I thought it was natural.”
“Why?”
“Because this land is the [frontier]. It’s the outermost edge of the nation, where monsters approaching from the [undeveloped territory] must be repelled day and night.”
Yes. Originally, it being overflowing with people and smiles like now would be strange.
The frontier was a dangerous place. The deaths of comrades and family in battle were normal, and sometimes monsters that invaded towns would devour women and children.
In such a place, you couldn’t leisurely hold festivals.
“On top of that, the lord and his wife died in an accident that year. As a result, Reite-ojousama, who was only ten years old at the time, had to inherit the lord’s position. The people must have been so disappointed.”
With the dangerous land and an inexperienced leader to boot. It was like crying and getting stung by a bee.
“I see… It’s surprising the people didn’t flee.”
“They didn’t flee because they ‘couldn’t flee.’ …The frontier has long been considered the [land of isolation]. Those suffering from strange diseases, former criminals who finished their sentences, and those judged to have wrong thoughts or beliefs… such people had their faces recorded by the nation and were pushed into the frontier.”
“…I didn’t know that. I should have known.”
“I’ll teach you next time. ——Because of such a place, there were many who had fled there after causing trouble in other territories.”
In short, everyone had nowhere else to go, Ashley said with self-mockery.
Because he himself was one of them.
“I was originally born in the slums and had no parents. While living there relying only on violence, I eventually became intoxicated with the pleasure of violence. That’s how I joined [Hell Wolf]. I thought ‘it seems just right for an evil person like me.'”
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