We had to make camp by the side of the road tonight since we were only about a third of the way there.

Well… When I say 'we' I meant our escorts were making the camp while Mother sat me on her lap and continued to cuddle me.

"Ufufufu~ My little one is truly the cutest~" Mother giggled while patting my head.

Right now we're at the side of the path in the corner of a clearing near the trees. It seems like this area in particular was used by most travellers and merchants travelling between the fort and the city.

Heck, a few of them had even set up temporary stalls to sell their wares to the people camping here, turning this place into a mini bazaar.

That brings up a question…

"Mother? Who would travel in between the fort and the city? I thought most people would go through Sands Border Town instead?"

"Ufufufu~ My cute little one~ Going through the fort to reach the city would take the least amount of time as the distance is shorter~"

She pulled out a map from between her boobs and showed it to me, revealing that it showed a map of the area near the border.

Oh, it seems like I had remembered the place incorrectly. I thought it was the same distance but to get from the town to the city was much further than the fort.

"But I remember that there were still people that were also heading to the city from the town, wasn't there?"

"Ufufufu~ That is true as well~ Since the town would have a bigger market as compared to the fort so anyone who is trying to capitalise on that would go by that route instead~ But anyone who is heading directly to the city will go through the fort~"

I see…

I turned my attention to the other camps that were scattered around the clearing.

There was a distinct distance between our camp and the others and it was clear that they knew we were affiliated with the Royal Family since I could see a few of them shooting glances in our direction from our camps or even just watching us unabashedly from where they were.

"Is this alright? Being so close to other people I mean."

"Ara, ara~ Is my little one afraid that there might be assassins or troublemakers? Worry not my dear, Mama will protect you!"

That wasn't what I was worried about… I was more worried that news might spread that the King wasn't here or something and this wasn't a royal inspection anymore.

But then again, I believe people must have already realised by now since Justinia had already gone back to the capital for a few days by now.

My gaze shifted to the mini bazaar that had been set up.

There were food stalls, weapon stalls, armour stalls, clothing stalls and even what appears to be a small stage where a performance seemed to be taking place right now. Also… Because it's this World after all… There were also sex stalls.

Mother noticed my gaze and giggled, "Does my little one want to go and take a look?"

I looked up at Mother, "Can I?"

"Ufufufu~ Of course. Go on, my little one~"

I hopped off Mother's lap and in an instant, Katsuki was immediately beside me.

Where did you even come from? Weren't you helping set up the camp?

As though reading my mind, Katsuki answered, "Accompanying you is much more important of a task, Mistress."

Alright then.

After making sure that my [Mask Of Impossible Identity] was firmly on my face, I led the way towards the bazaar with Katsuki beside me.

As we got close to the area, I noticed that quite a number of the travellers quickly moved away from us and pretended that they were busy with something else.

I guess they either knew I was from the Nilm Family or that we were someone under the employ of the Royal Family.

At first I thought that they were afraid of us which was a big contrast to how we were treated back in the city and I thought that maybe the Royal Family wasn't as liked as I thought.

That was when I heard them talking to each other in hushed whispers.

"Who is that? Who is that?"

"They came from that camp so… Must be someone related to the Royal Family?"

"But who? That mask… Why does that look familiar?"

"Maybe it's one of the princesses?"

"Oh by the Gods! One of the princesses out here?! This must be our lucky day! Who is it?!"

"Shhh! Are you crazy?! You'll scare her off! I swear if she gets creeped out and leaves because of you, I'll hang you by your balls! This is a once in a lifetime miracle for someone of the Royal Family to grace our presence!"

Ironically, the guy who was scolding that person was saying it louder than he was.

I pretended not to notice and continued my walk towards the bazaar.

"Hey… I think I remember now… Wasn't there rumours that the Matriarch of the Nilm Family had a child?"

"Wait, really? But what does that have to do with this?"

"That mask… Wasn't the Matriarch of that family known for wearing it?"

"Huh? Wait… You're not saying that… She is the child?"

"Who else would wear that?"

"Then… That means the Nilm Family is here as well?"

"Oh… She's hot."

"How do you even know that when you can't see her face?"

"Come one, can't you feel it by the aura she's giving out? So hot."

"True… Do you think we can talk to her?"

"You'll die."

"Yeah, you'll definitely die."

"Look at that maid behind her, she'll definitely kill you. She looks scary as hell dude."

What are you talking about?! Katsuki is the furthest away from being scary! She's the cutest maid you'll ever see!

I had to resist the urge to turn back to look at how cute she is since that would give away the fact that I heard what they said and that would make things awkward.

The first place I decided to check out was, of course, the food stalls!

Where are the sweets?! Gimme, gimme, gimme!

Let's see… This one is selling meat skewers… This one is selling meat and cheese toasted bread… The one over there is selling alcohol… This one seems to be selling an assortment of meat and veggie stews… And the one at the end is making soup… Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Eh? Wait a minute… I don't see any sweets… Why are there no sweet stalls?

As though reading my mind again, Katsuki came close to me and whispered, "Mistress, this is not a festival. These are Merchants, Mercenaries and travellers who are just taking a break for the night with a few merchants taking advantage of that fact to sell some of their wares to them. Even if they were carrying sweets, they would not be selling them out here and instead, wait until they reach the city to sell them since they can get a higher price there."

Ohhh~ As expected of Katsuki to know about this~ See? What did I tell you? Isn't she just the cutest? I just wanna bring her somewhere private and fluff her again~

Ahem… Anyway…

What do you mean there's no sweets here?!

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined!

"Mistress, I am sure the Madam will give you sweets if you were to ask her. I am also sure that Head Maid Mary has sweets prepared on her person as well."

I tilted my head at her, "What about you?"

"I would strongly suggest that if Mistress would like some sweets right now, we should go somewhere more private instead."

Eh? Why?

She then did a slight gesture with her hand indicating the area around us.

It took me a moment to understand what she meant.

That's right! If I started eating sweets here… All these people who don't have any sweets to buy would want to take my sweets! Hell no am I going to allow that!

Fine then… I'll have to endure it for now…

But I guess I can still try out some of the food stalls here because that meat and cheese toast bread actually smells nice~

Right then, another entourage came into the clearing from the direction of the city which drew the attention of quite a number of the people around.

"Is that…"

"Oh wow… Is there something going on at the fort? Why is the Marchioness of this place also here?"

"Huh? How do you know that she's here?"

"Those are her personal guards, my dude. They don't escort anyone but her. Damn… If she's going to the fort personally, there might be some trouble…"

"Trouble? Like what? Are there bandits or something?"

"No, no… She's definitely going to coerce anyone she thinks is strong to spar with her… That's definitely going to leave a trail of destruction… Oh fuck, I just realised she might even do that right here! We should leave right now!!"

Oh wow… Unerolia, what the heck have you been doing to these poor people?

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter