Chapter 7: The Sage and the Hero Meet at a Mixer
I, Rinrin, was rolling around on the bed in my room at the royal castle in the fairy kingdom of Frontier. I don’t have anything particular I want to do. So I just stay in my room all the time, reading books or just rolling around lazily.
The only time I leave my room is when I meet with Dan. I’m supposedly the second princess of the fairy elves, and my mother and siblings tell me I should be more responsible, but that’s impossible.
I’m a lazy and selfish princess, after all… However, staying cooped up in my room like this leaves me with almost nothing to do. I just think about wanting to see Dan in my head.
When I think about him, my body gets a little hot.
“I want Dan to mess me up completely…”
I gulped. In my head, I’m imagining myself being lovingly caressed by him, or fantasizing about being verbally teased. I like being in my room because I can fantasize without worrying about anyone.
But it’s really unfortunate that I can’t fantasize about kissing. After all, he wears an iron mask, so I don’t know what his face looks like. But even so, I can still get plenty excited.
And when I think about such things, my hand naturally reaches down under my underwear.
“Dan, Dan, Dan… more, mess me up completely…”
Just as I was getting my fantasies going and put my hand inside my underwear to satisfy my sexual desire…
“Onee-san! I’m coming in!”
“Don’t just barge in! Tanya!”
That was close! If I had started doing things while fantasizing about Dan just a little earlier, I would have definitely died as a big sister.
“Sorry. But I don’t have much time, so I wanted to finish this quickly.”
“Whatever.”
“How cold. Ah, your hair and clothes are all messy too. You’re a princess, so you should have more, you know?”
My younger sister and third princess Tanya entered the room. I have one older brother, one older sister, and one younger sister—four siblings total—but I’m often told that my younger sister is more reliable than me, which frequently irritates me.
“So what is it?”
“I’m getting married soon.”
“Eh!?”
“Yeah. To a handsome guy from a ducal family… but that’s not really important. Don’t you think Onee-san should start thinking about marriage too? You’re already 27.”
“Elves are long-lived.”
“True, but if you don’t get married soon, you’ll end up like leftover goods. You’re the only one among the siblings who isn’t married.”
“I… I have someone I’m interested in…”
“Hero Dan-san? That’s impossible, isn’t it? That person is way too much of an unattainable flower.”
“…That’s not true.”
My sister hit right on what I was worried about… Tanya is absolutely right. But at one point, things really were going well. It was years ago, but I thought we might become lovers.
“Mother is probably seriously thinking about making you get married soon. And she’s still holding a grudge about you sneaking out of the castle when you were 7.”
“Ugh, when you put it that way…”
Yes, when I was 7, I snuck out of the castle to defeat the demon lord, and that’s where I met the hero. Later, when I returned to the castle for the first time, I was scolded terribly in front of the hero. Turning bright red and crying in front of the hero is still a dark chapter in my history.
“…So anyway, here.”
“What’s this?”
“An adventurer social gathering. Adventurers get together and talk about various things. I heard some people got married after meeting at this kind of event. They’re borrowing a corner of the royal capital Trelbarna for it, so you should go.”
“Will Dan come?”
“Of course not, to this kind of gathering. He’s the hero, you know?”
“Then I won’t go.”
“No, you should go. Stop thinking about marrying Hero Dan forever and lower your standards a bit.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“Ehh, well, I thought you’d say that. But maybe you’ll have a fateful encounter.”
“I’ve already had my fateful encounter.”
“That’s not what I mean. A fateful encounter with someone other than Hero Dan. Besides, if you go to this, you can tell Mother that you’re at least making an effort toward marriage, right? Mother hopes that you and Hero Dan can get married, but she’s also considering the case where it doesn’t work out. Her nagging has been increasing lately.”
“…Hmm, that’s true.”
“Why don’t you just go for now? As a way to kill time.”
“Is it okay for royalty to attend something like this?”
“I think it’s fine. Rather, I think staying unmarried and smoldering is more of a problem.”
“…”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
I’d be willing to go if Dan were coming… but if he’s not coming, there’s no point. But Mother’s nagging is gradually increasing. She keeps telling me to get married, and I have absolutely no interest in political marriages…
Maybe it’s important to show, even if it’s just for appearances, that I’m looking for my destined person? To tell Mother that I’m properly thinking about the future, it might be worth going even though it’s really bothersome.
They apparently serve meals at the social gathering too, so I could think of it as just going for lunch. I started walking toward the royal capital.
This is a story from fourteen years ago. The Curse King Daedalus, who once tried to corrupt the world, declared war on us fairy folk.
From the sky above the great tree, he used magic to project his giant form and proclaimed loudly:
[Greetings, inferior elves. My name is Curse King Daedalus. I am the new god.]
All the fairy folk trembled at this demon lord who appeared so suddenly. He looked down on us with a vulgar, twisted face, laughing condescendingly from above. In other words, he must have had that much confidence.
[I can wither the great tree with just my breath. Can you escape from my curse? No. Your country heads toward destruction.]
[In one hour, a great army of demons, my subordinates, will head your way. Tremble in fear. Hahaha! It’s war!! You have no chance of winning.]
The demon lord disappeared with a laugh. The reason he didn’t attack immediately was probably because he wanted to see the elves drowning in panic and fear. Just as he planned, the elves were in complete chaos.
[What do we do!]
[I’m scared, Mama!]
[The royals will do something about it!!]
Naturally, I was scared too. He said he’d wither the great tree, but the great tree was a mass of magical power and the source of the country’s nature. If it were withered, the country would be finished. Moreover, the demon army would cause many deaths.
But I had no choice but to fight. Because I, a member who had defeated the demon lord, was the hope of the elves. I stood at the front lines with my staff, preparing for the great army. Until the hour approached, I was dominated by fear.
[Dan… I want to see you.]
War was approaching.
One hour later… the war didn’t happen.
Dan, who happened to be in the elf country, apparently defeated him.
The Curse King who had laughed so much while declaring war was, according to Dan, defeated in one punch… Because he had such a big presence despite being defeated so anticlimactically, some elves call him the “Face-Acting Demon Lord.”
[…Are you crying?]
[I-I’m not crying… Besides, I could have defeated him by myself… but, thank you.]
[I see.]
After that, he received rewards and such from the elf country, but since he had as much money as he wanted, he probably wasn’t particularly interested. There was talk for a while about giving me to him as a bride as a reward… but it ultimately fell through.
I can’t get rid of the regret that if I hadn’t been so cheeky and had confessed then… Why couldn’t I say just one word that I liked him? I regret that. However, if I started saying such things, there would be no end.
There were countless chances to confess during our journey. It was I who wasted them. Besides, the other members also liked Dan, so I didn’t want to cause trouble over that.
Maybe I should lower my standards like Tanya says… I’m also royalty, and my other siblings are married. I understand that if things continue like this, it won’t be good for various reasons.
But…
[Hey, that’s Rinrin-sama.]
[Why is she here?]
[Someone go talk to her.]
[No way, that’s impossible. She’s royalty and a legendary sage.]
This is rude, but I don’t like the people around here… I’m being selfish, but I want to be seen as just Rinrin, not as royalty or a sage… but maybe this is just selfishness. Dan inevitably becomes my standard.
I came here with the feeling of just having a meal, but I lost even that mood. I thought that maybe my being here was just causing a commotion and being a bother, so I was about to get up from my chair to leave when a single man happened to enter my field of vision.
His back was turned toward me, but he had black hair in a spiky style—the atmosphere of a young man you could find anywhere. However, despite seeming ordinary, he had the unbalanced behavior of sitting alone eating while everyone else was standing and forming groups. I wondered if there were people like this, and I was about to lose interest when I opened my eyes slightly at the menu of food he was eating.
The balance is incredibly good… Dan used to say that a lot too. The nutritional balance of meals is extremely important.
This doesn’t really get through to other people when I talk about it, but Dan had established a path to strength within himself, and I heard some details from him directly. Nutritional balance, chicken breast is rich in protein, right? The human body is mostly made of water, iron, and various other things.
That’s probably why I feel an incredible sense of incongruity from him.
Everyone here is an adventurer. Few people choose meals like that.
Moreover, the menu he chose closely resembles Dan’s choices. Also, when I think about it, everyone is paying attention to me and making a fuss, but he alone continues eating with a poker face, chewing well.
That unnecessarily bold composure… it’s similar to Dan… no, that can’t be.
…Maybe I should try talking to him? I want to make excuses to Mother that I’m at least trying toward marriage.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
