Of course, it wasn’t as deep a golden color as his hair and eyes, but it was irritating nonetheless.
“I don’t like it.”
“What title did he want? If it’s in exchange for handing over his country, it must have been quite a high title, wasn’t it?”
Lucino asked with interest. The crown prince deliberately made a meaningful expression as he answered.
“He asked for a dukedom. Our empire has only one dukedom, you know.”
Lucino was always maintaining a calm expression, so the Crown Prince spoke as if to tease him out of annoyance. But as expected, he didn’t react as intended. Lucino thought for a moment and then asked.
“But what is the Crown Prince of Capitis doing, to have his throne taken away and to let such an absurd man be?”
“Ah.”
The crown prince casually answered while picking a grape with his dessert fork.
“He’s missing, they say.”
“Missing… you say?”
“Well, that’s what they say.”
Could it really be a disappearance?
Lucino’s first thought was this. If it was a disappearance, why wouldn’t they try to find him instead of making treacherous statements about selling the country? Even for someone from another country, he was an unpleasant character.
“Oh! This is delicious?”
Lucino, who quickly tasted the grape, quietly responded to the crown prince’s words.
“This doesn’t even qualify as delicious.”
The crown prince’s face soured in an instant as he enjoyed the fresh and tart grape. Whether the crown prince’s expression soured or not, Lucino looked at the grape with a distant expression.
The grapes she had grown flickered before her eyes.
★★52. Use this when sightseeing★★
When the Nakri Mercenary Group joined, the atmosphere became very noisy. People who had still been subtly hostile toward the Croban Mercenary Group and Sylvia showed a different attitude towards the Nakri Mercenary Group.
“If we hadn’t met Mr. Ethan then, we would have been dead by now.”
People were gathered around Ethan.
“It’s all about fate. The Croban Mercenary Group here didn’t help us for nothing. Not all mercenary groups offer help. In that sense, it could be said that the heavens helped you guys.”
At Ethan’s words, everyone nodded in unison. A little distance away, Felix was leaning against a tree. Fairies were fluttering around him.
[Felix, I don’t like that man.]
[Ugh, Asta too.]
[Me too!]
[I really don’t like him!]
[That guy hugged Sylvia recklessly last time too!]
Eryngium shouted angrily, the last to express her dislike. At the fairy’s words, Felix’s eyes grew colder. He also hadn’t easily forgotten the scene he had witnessed earlier.
It was extremely… upsetting.
Moreover, his own people admiring him made him feel even worse. With a somber expression, he scanned the surroundings, but Sylvia was nowhere to be seen.
Thinking she might be in the cottage making something, Felix detached himself from the tree. Just as he was about to move, Ethan called out to him.
“Croban Mercenary Group’s leader! Bored, aren’t we? How about a friendly duel!”
Felix’s step halted in its tracks.
“How about a martial arts duel between the Croban Mercenary Group and the Nakri Mercenary Group?”
Ethan, offering with a pleasant smile, was met by Felix’s fiercely burning gaze. Noting his competitive spirit, Ethan smiled deeply.
“Alright, does anyone wish to go first?”
“Leader, I will go!”
A tall man with green hair from the Nakri Mercenary Group stepped forward. Not to be outdone, Brian, with red hair, came forward.
“Leader, I’ll start!”
They glared at each other with blazing fighting spirit in their eyes. Felix replied, lifting one corner of his mouth.
“If you lose, you’ll experience hell.”
“…Yes!”
Remembering their lord who was notoriously unforgiving in training, Brian trembled. He stood in the center with a firm resolve to win.
Suddenly, Brian and the green-haired man from the Nakri Mercenary Group were inside a drawn circle. The martial arts fight, involving punches, kicks, and wrestling, was a typical form of combat.
“Wow!”
Everyone sat around the impromptu arena, excited by the sudden match.
“Hyah!”
“Yah!”
As they kicked off the duel with an exchange of kicks, Sylvia burst out from the cottage. She had been making side dishes when the noise drew her out, only to find an unexpectedly interesting event unfolding.
“What’s this?”
Approaching Felix, she asked, and he glanced at Sylvia before responding.
“The Croban Mercenary Group will win.”
“Huh?”
Her question seemed to ask what was happening, but she got a non-sequitur in reply. Briefly pausing, Sylvia then joined the crowd in cheering.
“Mr. Brian, attack his side!”
Sylvia shouted spiritedly, and the children joined in.
“Green-haired swordsman, hang in there!”
“No, I will cheer for the red-haired knight!”
“I want to cheer for both!”
“That’s not fair!”
As the children argued, Sylvia burst into laughter, then had a brilliant idea. After all, one must always eat while watching something.
Sylvia went into the makeshift house and took out the corn she had dried, frying it in butter and oil with the pressure of the wind. She seasoned the popcorn that popped in the clear wind with salt and pepper.
Next, she made cotton candy. After creating various kinds of lemonades, Sylvia called a few people over to distribute the food.
“What’s this?”
It was natural for the children’s eyes to widen. Their cheeks blushed as they tasted the cotton candy neatly stuck on the sticks.
“Wow! It’s sweet!”
“So soft!”
The adults were amazed by the taste of the popcorn, looking at each other in surprise. They were busy chewing the salty and crispy popcorn.
As the smell of the popcorn spread, Felix and Ethan looked at Sylvia. Unaware of the two men’s gazes, Sylvia filled her mouth with popcorn and chewed, waving her hand.
“Mmm! Mmmm!”
It was hard to understand what she was saying with her mouth full of popcorn. Felix squinted at her.
No matter how you looked at it, she was adorable.
***
The last match was between the leaders. Ethan entered the circle with a smirk, while Felix entered with an expressionless face. The two quickly warmed up and clashed with a change of gaze.
The quality of this match was different from what had been seen before. Ethan delivered a high kick. Felix, despite his muscular body, dodged it with a light movement and counter-kicked in mid-air.
Barely dodging by pulling his head back, Ethan smiled and stretched his fist long. Felix took the punch to his side and then aimed his own punch at Ethan’s face. The series of movements were so fast that the onlookers exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow!”
“To think they could be so fast without using magic!”
Hearing the people’s comments, Sylvia also nodded. The movements were really fast, and she watched without blinking. Clenching her fists tightly and holding her breath, Sylvia cheered loudly.
“Felix, win!”
Hearing her shout, Felix’s expression softened. Ethan, surprised by the smile of the leader of the Croban mercenaries he had encountered several times, hesitated for a moment.
Taking advantage of that moment, Felix lowered his body and kicked upward. His kick landed precisely on Ethan’s solar plexus, sending him coughing and stumbling out of the circle.
“Cough, cough.”
The force was immense. Having been pushed out of the center to the outside of the circle, Ethan laughed helplessly.
“Oh, the Nakri mercenaries have lost.”
With the score tied 3:3, the Nakri mercenaries lost completely with their leader’s defeat. Sylvia jumped up with a bright smile.
“Yay, we won!”
Hearing her cheering and voice somehow made his shoulders shrug. Felix did something he had never done before in his life. That kind of petty arrogance, as if looking down on the defeated opponent. Although it was a match for fun, Ethan felt somewhat upset by Felix’s arrogance.
***
A commotion occurred in the middle of the night.
“Miss Sylvia! Please come out for a moment!”
At the call, Sylvia’s eyes snapped open. Though she was half asleep, she quickly dressed and went outside.
“What’s the matter?”
“My wife, she’s not feeling well. She keeps saying her stomach hurts, and now she’s vomiting. Her complexion is pale…”
As his wife began showing strange symptoms not long after his son Noel had recovered, Bern was out of his mind. Standing next to him, Rio grabbed Sylvia’s collar.
“Is this because of the food you gave us!”
“Rio!”
Bern tried to intervene, but the grip from the lean man was surprisingly strong.
“Calm down for a moment. Let me take a look…”
“How can I calm down! We only ate the food you gave us, why would this happen all of a sudden! If anything happens, I won’t let this go!”
“Rio, stop it! Let go of her.”
Even as Bern tried to pull him away, Rio wouldn’t let go of Sylvia’s collar.
“Ugh.”
Sylvia groaned as she was dragged along in their scuffle. Then, a large hand came and roughly removed Rio’s hand from her collar.
“What are you doing.”
Felix’s voice, low and grinding, was unfamiliar. Startled more than when she was grabbed, Sylvia hastily looked up at him. Felix, standing in front of her, stared down at Rio and Bern with a fierce gaze.
“No matter… you’re from the Kingdom of Capitis, I won’t allow you to mistreat Sylvia.”
Pressed by his chilling black eyes, the two men couldn’t answer.
That’s when Sylvia stepped in.
“We need to see Noel’s mother first. We don’t have time for this.”
At her words, Bern moved as if he had suddenly come to his senses. Sylvia patted Felix’s arm, then followed Bern.
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