酷视

But, at the very least, my seemingly idiotic suggestion caused the princess\' beautiful, golden eyes to twitch a little.

"I\'m Etaria, daughter of the golden lineage, lord of two Emperor\'s banners," the princess spoke with just the slightest look of amusement mixing with an overwhelming sense of confidence in her eyes.

\'I guess that explains those dandy banners,\' I thought, stealing a glance at the two massive flags flying in the air just behind the golden princess\' back.

"I\'m here with the minister of war, minister of battle, and a minister of emperor\'s will," the princess continued the introductions, summoning three of the gold-laced knights with her words.

"And we are here not to offer our surrender, but to demand yours."

All the amusement and curiosity vanished from Etaria\'s eyes, replaced with the cold shine of her golden irises.

"Well, I guess that\'s it, then," I casually summed up with a shake of my shoulders before turning on my heel. "Fay, Claudy, we are done here."

Caring not for what was going on, Fay happily turned around and wrapped her hands around my arm, ready to escort me back to the relative safety of the camp.

Thankfully, though, I didn\'t have to rely on the princess to react to my abrupt decision to leave.

After all that happened so far, I was more than just confident doing something like this would be the drop that would spill over the chalice of Claudy\'s patience.

"Wait, what?"

For the first time, the polite and calm mask dropped from the androgynously handsome noble\'s face, revealing… slight surprise.

"What, what?" I asked, turning my head back to the mercenary leader. Then, after staring at Claudy\'s surprised face for a moment, I sighed and properly turned around. "Look. They hired your entire guild. Now, their famed legion is here along with a princess of the emperor\'s blood…"

I shook my head, seemingly with disappointment.

"Listen, there\'s a certain level of administration above which, pragmatism no longer matters. And with her here," I nodded my head towards the princess, "math of risk, profit, and cost no longer matters."

Technically, I was speaking the truth.

The empire invested a mind-boggling number of resources and amount of effort to make this entire campaign happen. And that meant, at a planning stage, they had to have some sort of goal that warranted that level of expenditure.

But now that every piece was on the move and the very princess of the empire was here to see the war go as planned…

"You are quite crass, for an emissary," Etaria spoke out before Claudy could even respond. She then raised her hand to stop her men before moving forward a few steps by her lonesome, physically intruding on my discussion with the noble. "Also, it\'s quite a surprise to see you here," the princess\'s polite smile widened into a predatory one, "dear brother..."

I gritted my teeth while making sure to keep my expression still.

\'A point for her.\'

So, Claudy turned out to be of imperial blood. And a relative of a princess herself.

But rather than complicating things, this surprise was actually quite a boon, especially when the one thing I desperately lacked was the affirmation of my capability.

The only reason why I went about things in such a weird, arrogant way, was because my means went far and above the common sense of the locals. And even if this princess along with her ministers were extremely open to new ideas…

I didn\'t really have any means to make them take my words at face value.

And in this kind of setting, having someone of Claudy\'s surprising standing vouch for what I was bringing to the table, actually made things quite better than I expected them to be.

"Such is the fate of the defeated, golden sister."

Claudy\'s voice turned back to its usual, tempered form. And yet, even I, despite not knowing the man all that well, could hear the spite in his words when he referred back to the princess.

Still…

Even if they were both hot as hell, there was little to no resemblance between the two, making it hard to believe they were actually related as closely as their words implied.

\'Maybe they are actually more distant relatives, and their way of referring to each other is just a thing of formal manners?\'

"I didn\'t quite expect you would lay down your arms so…" the princess took a look over Claudy\'s shoulder, at the bloody battlefield hidden behind my group\'s back, "quickly and easily."

This time, I didn\'t even need to try to search for the hints of enmity in Etaria\'s voice. They were out for everyone to hear.

"Still," Claudy\'s polite smile once again took over his face. This time, however, deep in the very corner of his eyes, I could sense some hints of satisfaction.

Of a hunter who watched his prey walk into the carefully prepared trap.

"Still, the losses we took are a mere fraction of how many you lost during the first clash at the Lunagar Fortress."

The princess\'s face tensed up. Bit by bit, the profound air of nobility was giving way to the outright hostility the parties exhibited towards each other.

Enjoy stories on m_v lem|p-yr

\'Great, now I have a court faction war to deal with on top of everything,\' I whined in my soul while rolling my eyes. Ultimately, though, this situation was far from being resolved… And far from being anywhere on the agenda.

"You call me crass, yet here you are, ready to tear each other into pieces," I muttered while shaking my head. "Eh, I can\'t say I\'m surprised, but after that mildly impressive entrance…" I took a short pause just to keep shaking my head.

"I can\'t say I\'m surprised, but still, I\'m quite disappointed."