But what about other children?
“Well, does the King have any other children?” (Yuna)
“I have an older brother, but he is not at the castle, as he is studying to become the next King, and is currently working as an acting lord in another fiefdom.” (Honoka)
Was that why he let me meet Princess Honoka instead?
“If my brother was in the castle, he would probably have met you to thank you. He told me that when the serpent was resurrected, the surrounding towns were also affected, and he was busy dealing with the increased activity of monsters. However, because of your quick defeat of the giant serpent, the pandemonium had calmed down, the residents of the towns were saved, and the damage to the soldiers was kept to a minimum. If there had been a prolonged situation, the damage would have been greater.” (Honoka)
The King did claim that monsters had begun to amass and converge on the island where the giant serpent had once been sealed.
“Yuna, thank you on behalf of my brother. And thank you again from me. Thank you for saving this country.” (Honoka)
Princess Honoka bowed her head.
“I’ve said it many times. Don’t worry, I was just saving a crying girl.” (Yuna)
I turned my attention back to Sakura.
“Yuna-sama…” (Sakura)
Sakura looked happy.
“So why were Shinobu and Jubei having a match with Yuna when they were supposed to be touring the castle?” (Honoka)
Shinobu and Jubei-san explained why they were having a match.
“What are you doing to our guests?” (Honoka)
Upon hearing the story, Princess Honoka looked at Shinobu and Jubei-san with a dumbfounded expression on her face.
Indeed, I wondered what they were thinking.
From Princess Honoka’s point of view, it might look like they were testing their skills against the person who saved their country.
“I’m sorry, I did set up the fight for Shinobu, but I was hoping to have a rematch with Yuna as well.” (Jubei)
Jubei-san looked disappointed as he said so.
“I was so depressed after losing that I prepared some techniques to counter Yuna.” (Jubei)
So he really wanted to test that four-stage attack on me.
Well, I couldn’t help but wonder how Jubei-san felt.
Whenever anyone learned a new magic or technique, they would want to try it out.
The only thing I hated was that I was the opponent.
But….
“Princess Honoka, don’t be too angry. It was fun for me too.” (Yuna)
I was not lying.
It had been a long time since I’d had a fun battle, that’s for sure.
I’ve been so busy with unreasonable things lately.
“Well, if it’s okay with Yuna, it’s fine. If Father finds out about it and gets angry, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” (Honoka)
“No one else is here, so as long as everyone here keeps quiet, it should be fine.” (Yuna)
“That’s why you chose this time, isn’t it?” (Honoka)
“I can’t let the soldiers see Yuna’s fight.” (Jubei)
“That’s a lie. Master, you just didn’t want your men to see you lose, did you?” (Shinobu)
“Is that so?” (Honoka)
“I don’t want them to know about Yuna’s secret…” (Jubei)
“That’s a lie.” (Shinobu)
Shinobu cut in again.
“That’s fine, but I can also understand what he is saying. If it became known that I was the one who defeated the giant serpent, there would be a big fuss. The same could be said if many people witnessed me win against him.” (Yuna)
“That’s right. If they saw you beat the Master, it would be a big deal, wouldn’t it?” (Shinobu)
“That’s why.” (Jubei)
“That doesn’t mean you can have a match with Father’s guest.” (Honoka)
Princess Honoka said something very obvious.
“I am sorry.” (Jubei)
Jubei-san apologized again.
“But you did show something good, so I won’t tell Father. If I had not seen Yuna’s match against Shinobu and Jubei, I would have remained half-convinced about what to tell Father.” (Honoka)
“Honoka-sama…” (Jubei)
“If I had remained skeptical, I might have said or done something disrespectful to Yuna, someone who saved our country.” (Honoka)
Well, it could not be helped. After all, anyone would think it would be a big joke to tell when told that a girl dressed as a bear had defeated a giant serpent.
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