Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

To the Princess, To the Knight. (3)

"...Huh?"

Carmilla's eyes wavered blankly.

For some reason, she looked surprised.

"Princess-nim? What's wrong?"

I tilted my head and asked.

She froze the instant I took off my mask, so it got awkward fast.

As if my voice snapped her back to herself, she shook her head a beat late.

"Ah... s-sorry."

"I, well... I just thought... you're plainly handsome. And your impression is much more proper than I expected..."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Handsome.

But that didn't seem to be all.

That reaction was too much for just seeing a decent-looking face.

Carmilla glanced at me, then asked a question after a pointless fake cough.

"Ahem, khm... anyway, didn't you say there was no special reason you wear a mask...?"

"That's right."

"No, I mean... with that scar on your face..."

"Ah."

Maybe she was fixated on the scar.

There was a burn-like scar from my right cheek to under my jaw.

It was pretty large, so maybe seeing me up close for the first time startled her.

"I was just wondering if... because of my request, you were forced to show it..."

Princess-nim muttered hesitantly.

How many royals in this world could be this kindhearted?

She seemed worried she'd made me show a wound that made me uncomfortable.

It's really fine, though.

I didn't love showing my bare face, but it wasn't something I hid even from people close to me.

It was more like, when my face was exposed, I felt a little bothered.

Even that wasn't enough to interfere with daily life.

If I had to compare it, it felt like going through your day with no underwear.

"You don't need to worry that much. I already told you I'm fine."

"Truly...? But still, perhaps your f-feelings were hurt..."

"Not at all."

"I-if that's true, then that's a relief..."

There was no tragic backstory behind it, no special meaning to that scar.

I burned it in myself right after I possessed this body.

Something that had always been there in my previous life was gone now, so every time I looked in a mirror, it kept bothering me.

Of course, if I said that out loud, anyone would treat me like a lunatic, so I gave Carmilla a simple excuse.

"It's just a scar from childhood."

"It must have hurt terribly..."

"I can't even feel it now. It was so long ago, I barely remember."

"Even so, is it not regrettable, on such a fine face? Your parents must have suffered too..."

"Ah, that part is fine. I was abandoned right after I was born, a complete orphan."

"Ah..."

Carmilla froze on the spot.

Her gaze wandered, with nowhere to land.

"Ah, um... I'm sorry..."

"It's really fine. I don't even know what either of them looked like."

Carmilla fidgeted, then suddenly blurted out like she was charging straight through.

"I, I don't have any either!"

"...Pardon?"

"I lost all my blood relatives as well, did I not? So my situation is no different from yours, Viktor! T-that means I understand your pain deeply! If we understand each other, then this is practically the ideal relationship between ruler and retainer, is it n-"

Good grief.

What was I even hearing right now?

Carmilla's horrifying self-destructing statement made my head ring.

This mutual landmine-stepping was too much.

Maybe she realized she'd stepped on one herself.

She looked like she tried to fix it somehow, then just broke down mid-process.

Only after repeating that I was fine several times did I manage to calm her runaway spiral.

Pat, pat.

I stroked the head of the overloaded girl.

While doing that, I quietly chewed over what she'd said.

Come to think of it... everyone in Slayers was an orphan.

Carmilla's parents were executed by her uncle.

I'd heard I was left at an orphanage when I was an infant.

Alice was born in a way where "parents" couldn't even exist in the first place.

In short, all three of us were orphans.

Thinking that way gave me a strange sense of belonging.

Even if we combined all three of our parents, the answer still came out zero.

Three people added together, total parents: 0.

I decided we should only recruit orphans from now on.

I couldn't let this perfect balance break.

Besides, wasn't it unfair?

A member with more parents than me, when I was the deputy commander.

Unforgivable.

I even wondered if we should rename the organization from Slayers to Orphans.

Then non-orphan recruits who broke the concept couldn't join.

I clenched my fist with firm resolve.

While I kept worrying over the future of the organization...

"......"

I felt a poking gaze tapping at my cheek.

Carmilla was sneaking glances at my scar.

I gave an awkward smile.

"Is it... still a little ugly?"

"What? No! I never thought that! If anything, it kind of looks like a flower, s-so I was thinking it was pretty..."

"Haha, thank you, even if you're just being nice."

"I am telling the truth!"

To be fair, my scar wasn't that hideous.

It just covered one side of my cheek like a stain.

Still, a flower.

That was a compliment I'd never heard before.

Hmm... was she really being that considerate?

It felt like Princess-nim was taking too much care of me.

I let out a small, amused snort.

"Ahem."

I looked at the Jester Mask in my hand.

Then I put it back on and got up from the bed.

After straightening my clothes, I turned to her.

"Then... shall we head out?"

"Out? Didn't we have no plans to go out today?"

Carmilla tilted her head.

With a meaningful smile, I held out my hand.

"There's something I want to show you, Princess-nim."

"To me...?"

"You'll know when you come with me."

"...?"

Her red eyes blinked in confusion.

***

One hour later.

After clipping through several walls, we arrived at a village that felt very familiar.

"This place is..."

"That's right."

Lunar Eclipse.

The stage of that event.

The same village where we stood together and blocked Jersian.

The village was loud with reconstruction work in full swing.

"Hey, bring some bricks over here!"

"Let's clear this rubble! If you've got free hands, come help!"

"Move that carefully... it's going to collapse at this rate!"

People moved around busily.

Every last one of them was carrying materials or cleaning debris from the streets.

It looked completely different from the eerie landscape during the Lunar Eclipse.

"Want to look around for a bit?"

"......"

I escorted Carmilla, who stood there blankly.

The village was full of life.

We crossed right through it.

No one in the crowd recognized us.

Neither of us wanted to stand out, so we both wore our robes deep over our heads.

"Slowly... pull it just like that!"

"Our Border Knights will handle the dangerous work!"

Armed soldiers had been placed all over the village too.

They stood guard or helped with rebuilding, lending hands where needed.

"They are..."

"Border Knights. I contacted them again as soon as this was wrapped up."

Once again, I left cleanup to Kantas.

It really was convenient, raising hell like this and still having separate manpower to handle the aftermath.

I also liked that they handled everything without asking questions.

"Kids, it's dangerous, don't stand around watching!"

"Everyone, eat lunch and then keep going!"

"Ugh... my back is about to snap."

"Over here! We need another support stand on this side too!"

Ordinary noise.

If we hadn't stepped in that day, even this would never have happened.

All of them would've been sacrificed without leaving even a fistful of screams.

Our one night had saved their entire lives.

"Princess-nim."

"......"

Carmilla stood still.

The village scenery was rough around the edges, but unmistakably peaceful.

And those red eyes were engraving every bit of it, one by one.

Her gaze was complicated.

Maybe she couldn't put her feelings into words.

She just watched the people passing by, unable to speak.

"You said you'd set things right."

I stood beside Carmilla.

I smiled, but not lightly.

"Traitors."

"I'll set every last one of them right."

The village had been a wreck of blood and ghouls.

The image of her standing in the middle of that, looking at the devastation caused by her own kind, overlapped with the present like an afterimage.

"You did it."

"......"

"You saved every single one of them, without missing one."

Her upright heart had finally crushed malice.

And she had given the weak the nobility she believed in.

The world seemed to blur.

As if she was holding something back, she bit her lip.

"Was this not mostly your doing, Viktor?"

"It was a plan that certainly would've failed without you, Princess-nim."

"I merely received help. I have no right to boast that I saved them..."

"Princess-nim."

I wanted to show you.

I wanted you to know.

"I told you before. I am yours."

"......"

"You only wielded what was yours and saved them."

"That's..."

You weren't powerless.

You were someone who didn't run, someone who could stand against injustice.

Someone who felt shame at the corruption of her own kind and stepped forward to set it right.

That was why I'd chosen you as my master.

"You did this, Princess-nim."

A person who would rather break than bow.

I wanted to affirm that person.

The path of standing against your own kind.

The path of carrying your convictions, your nobility, through to the end.

I wanted to show you that path wasn't wrong.

"Thanks to you, this village is peaceful. No one was sacrificed. No one is crying, and no one is bleeding. It's all because you gave them your nobility."

"......"

Carmilla's shoulders trembled.

A thin line of tears ran down her pale cheek.

I reached out carefully and wiped away each falling drop.

With one last sentence.

"Princess-nim, you were not wrong."

Maybe...

those were the words you needed most.

"Ugh..."

Carmilla gave no answer.

Only the quiet sound of suppressed sobbing lingered.

Even then, her eyes never left the village.

As if she was trying to remember exactly what she wanted to protect.

"Huh...?"

"Oppa, those people maybe..."

Who knew how much time passed like that.

Two little kids suddenly appeared and peeked around in front of us.

"Ah! It's really him? It's hyung who saved us that day!"

"Wooow... we met again!"

A brother and sister, around ten years old.

The same children we'd first met during the Lunar Eclipse.

How did they recognize us?

We had our robes pulled down this far.

Thankfully, both of them looked healthy and unharmed.

"Ah..."

Carmilla flinched and stepped back.

It made sense. The children had been very wary of her before.

"Th-that person over there...! She looks like those monsters from before!"

"D-don't tell me... sh-she's on the bad monsters' side?"

"Oppa, I-I'm scared..."

"Monsters! Get out of our village...!"

"Give us back m-mom and dad...!"

Words thrown in terror, and they must've left brutal wounds on her.

Afraid she'd hear the same words again, her shoulders shrank in.

To Carmilla, that fear was worse than blood or blades.

But the reaction the children gave now was completely different.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you so much...!"

Hug-!

The kids ran at us and wrapped both arms tightly around our legs.

Small, warm heat clung to our lower bodies.

Carmilla froze at the unexpected warmth.

The children didn't care and hugged us tighter.

"They said hyung and noona saved us!"

"Dad said he changed into something w-weird... and oppa cured him!"

"They said noona fought really scary-looking monsters and got badly hurt because of it!"

"W-we were cheering for you too. Unni was super cool too...!"

Chatter, chatter.

Still clinging to us, they kept talking.

In front of a flustered Carmilla, the little boy and girl lowered their heads.

"We're sorry!"

"We did w-wrong...!"

"Huh?"

"We're sorry for saying bad things that time!"

"You s-saved our village... b-but it kept bothering us..."

"The adults told us! They said you fought monsters even while your body was all torn up!"

"Unni, thank you..."

The siblings clung to her with endless thanks.

Carmilla looked startled, but she accepted them.

"Ah... i-it's fine! I did not mind at all..."

She held the children in her arms.

She pretended to be strong with words, but her tears grew heavier.

Carmilla forced down a sob and accepted their apology.

I watched the scene with a warm feeling.

By the way... so they heard about Carmilla's part too.

That was a little strange.

They couldn't have seen Carmilla fighting near the Cathedral.

And they said they were watching and cheering, but weren't they asleep in one corner of the market?

While I turned those questions over for a moment, the children suddenly held something out in front of us.

"It's nothing much... b-but it's a thank-you gift!"

"We prepared it ourselves! Please take it!"

Rings.

They looked like rings woven from blades of grass.

"Thank you..."

"My goodness, thank you."

We each accepted one carefully.

Small and pretty.

The children's fresh sincerity could only feel moving.

As I was examining the ring closely, a blue screen suddenly appeared in my vision.

Ding-!

[Hidden Quest 'Spirit's Favor' completed!]

[Item 'Ring of Thicket (A-)' obtained!]

"...What?"

The sudden notification.

The status window message was pointing at the ring in my palm.

Ding-!

[Ring of Thicket]

-Category: Accessory

-Grade: A-

-Status: Incomplete

-Description: A ring received directly from the twin spirits [Selimin & Selipin], who protected this area. In limited environments, you can receive the spirits' favor. If used together with the 'Ring of Wind (A-)' received alongside it, you will be able to use a special skill.

"...Excuse me?"

I could only freeze blankly.

My hand holding the ring trembled.

No.

Why the hell was this busted cheat item popping up here...?

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