Volume 2, Chapter 2

Apparently, the academy has a single transportation magic circle installed. It has five locations which it will take a person to and not a single one of them ends up being near the royal castle. When I asked onee-sama, she replied it was a security issue. Our royal family did not think it was safe for the academy, an impartial group of people, to have quick access to anywhere near us or our nearby subjects. Thus, the result was the extremely long ride on a dragon to get here.

The five locations which accepted the academy setting up magic circles in their areas are all basically merchant hotspots. The academy holds a large amount of power and merchants often sell their products to the academy, or even buy off the academy. I heard it off onee-sama, but it seems the mercenary groups which form are actually those who did poorly at the academy or were kicked out for certain reasons. The people who do well at the academy either join private armies (or the royal army), or become independent fighters. These people are known collectively as ‘adventurers’ but there’s no such thing as a guild or something stupid like that.

The point being, we left the academy so quickly that I’m surprised I haven’t asked to leave before this. I guess I just assumed that because it took us such a long time to get here, leaving would probably also take a long time for just a simple outing. Well, the only way to use the transportation magic circles it to have permission from one of the higher ups. I guess if I had wanted to go out on a whim it would have been pretty hard anyway. However, it would have been nice to have the knowledge that it was possible.

As for the large scale magic circles…
Well, the way of maintaining magical formations is quite cruel, but let’s not bother with that. Today is about… spending time with onee-sama?

Oh, speaking of which, after I discussed how I wanted to conceal my identity she was initially shocked, but then thought about very carefully! I was originally very scared that she would be very critical of why I wanted to do this, or even refuse to let me do it at all – instead, she was receptive and even praised me for once. Thus, while us three are heading out, we are all in disguises. He reasoning was something along the lines of…

“…perhaps heading out in disguise is not such a bad idea. As the princess, I have to keep up an ideal image… this way, I can fight to my heart’s content!”

…

It’s not something I’ll ever understand, is it?

Anyway, we each got our disguises…

I’m wearing a black angel mask…according to the fairy, a black angel is a demon who only plays with humans, rather than trying to corrupt them. It’s a fun loving trickster… however, it’s extremely beautiful. Of course, the masks of them are only a single colour and possess barely half the original beauty of a black angel, but they are very sturdy.

Yuuki, on the other hand, is wearing a mask which basically looks like a blank slate… It’s an all-white masks with only two eye slots. Her air supply is managed through magical support, but it’s managed by the mask and not by her. Some of the things of this world are so odd, but it’s convenient, so I’ll let it slide.

Onee-sama, being onee-sama, has a mask which looks normal. However, the intent within it… Is an intense battle one, of a higher extent than onee-sama herself! Unlike the masks of Yuuki and myself, which were made by the fairy, onee-sama already had this mask… I didn’t ask though.

“…i….. ei…. fei FEI. FEI! FEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Hearing an extremely loud voice in my ear, I jump back around three steps.

“Huh?! What happened?!”

“YOU’VE BEEN STANDING THERE WITH A VACANT LOOK IN YOUR EYES FOR TEN MINUTES! Seriously, it’s a wonder you weren’t bullied by anyone at the academy! Surely you should have offended someone with the way you space out for periods of time???”

Onee-sama gave me such a lecture. Well, no, onee-sama. Your ‘training’ could be considered bullying… and the others seemed to avoid harassing me due to that. Not that I understand it, but it seemed that they respected me for always training with onee-sama, even though it was impossible for me to win. Or perhaps, more accurately, they would be unable to get pleasure out of bullying me.

The few who tried, managed to beat me into a miserable state, but I never submitted. Instead, I used them as training… They just gave up after around a month or so. I thought it odd, but just shrugged it off as normal.

“I’m sorry, onee-sama. I’ll try and avoid doing it again.”

“Hmph!”

Onee-sama crossed her arms and turned around, heading away from the transportation magic circle… Ah, that’s where we are, right. We’re currently at ‘Imbor Central District’, a merchant district in another continent. I think… this place is famous for having exceptional fighting talent.

Just glancing around as I follow onee-sama (who’s annoyed with me), I can see a bunch of buildings with mercenary group names on it.

‘Heavenly Betrayers’

Hey, isn’t that name basically saying you’ll betray everyone?! Who would ever hire you!

‘Deadly Merchants Allies’

Uh, are you the allies of deadly merchants, or are you deadly allies of the merchants? I can’t really tell. Why are you being so ambiguous, guys?

‘Superb Slugs’

…nope, this does not warrant a response.

‘A Brave Crew Deciding Enemies Fates’

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? IS THIS ALL YOU WANT IN LIFE?

‘Shit! We forgot to think of a name!’

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR REGISTERING AS A MERCENARY GROUPS?

Okay, I’m going to give up now. I can’t stand the nonsense names they have, so anymore observation of these places is going to give me a sore head. Well, perhaps their strengths are different from their linguistic ability. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for that.

Onee-sama chooses this exact moment to speak to me.

“This place is great for hiring both fodder and exceptional fighting talent. In fact, even though the academy has expelled some of these people, they hire them back as guards.”

“Then…they expel these people because they want them to become mercenaries? That way, they can employ them at a smaller cost? Perhaps…they even find people of great talent and cause them to be expelled?”

When I ask this, onee-sama turns her head and looks at me with an odd gaze. If it weren’t for it being onee-sama, I might even mistake it as one of praise-

“It seems you’re not completely dumb. That’s pretty much it. Though, it’s usually only the ones who come to the academy on their own strength, without money. People like you or me, we get treated better due to the relationship of father and the headmaster.”

Relationship between father and the headmaster? I’m curious about it, but not so much to ask about it. Well, it’s surely a pretty good one if we are safe due to it. I think.

“Anyway, what’s important to note, is that some of the mercenaries here are actually quite skilled. While the leaders of the groups are usually dumb nobles with money to pay for the registration, the actual fighters… I would suggest not getting on their bad side.”

“Thanks for the warning, onee-sama.”

“I just don’t want to have to save your sorry arse. Don’t read too much into it.”

Ah! Onee-sama snapped at me! I was just thanking her…never mind, it’s better not to mind it, right?

At this point, the fairy began whispering in my ear.

(Ah! This place! I might~ I might sing~ It feels so much like home!!!)
(Hey, don’t do that! It would be bad for you to be noticed here, right? Aren’t you still technically a wanted criminal?!)
(Oh! I think you’re right, I am. I’ll do as I said and avoid showing myself.)
(Good)
Before she started whispering, I’d actually forgotten she was there. I guess it’s a good thing she reminded me of her presence. Though, honestly, I wonder if it would be a good idea if I let her get caught. I could probably convince them to make her into a slave and then I could use her as battle potential, right? It’s surely something I can do?
If I did that, she’d probably betray me though… so, better not. It’s something fun to think about. Imagine if I could trick people into thinking I was a human that could use magic! The looks on their faces, I think it would be great. Surely it would be a better reaction then if I simply revealed myself as the prince…after all, what sort of reaction would a sickly, incapable prince get in this world? From my experience, most people don’t particularly like to associate with me. Strength in this world, it’s paramount. Without it, only a few people will respect you and stay close.

Well, anyway, we’re still walking towards our destination-though I’m not exactly sure where that is. I know we are heading towards the arena of this place (where else would we fight), however it’s not as easy as I’d expected to find anything around here. There’s no huge building for an arena, and all the buildings besides the signs with horrid names on them, there is nothing that’s distinctive about each one. In fact, if it were not for onee-sama acting as a guide, I’m sure I’d have wandered into a suspicious place and gotten killed.

“Master, Yuuki is curious.”

Hm? Oh, right. Yuuki’s been so quiet that I forgot she was around. I wonder if she was using her invisibility ability just then… Nah, It ‘twas just me being inattentive.

“Oh? What about?”

“Is master planning on buying another slave besides Yuuki? Yuuki thinks the slaves here would be quite strong.”

“Is that so…?”

I honestly hadn’t thought about it. So far, just having Yuuki has been enough and I doubt that I need another slave… No, what I really need, is a way to fight for myself. It’s just not convenient having Yuuki do all my fighting for me. My lack of fighting talent is an obstacle though.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s not necessary.”

“Yuuki understands.”

“Oi, you should probably not converse with your slave from now on. We’re reaching the arena; we don’t want any trouble, right?”

“Right…”

Well, when fighting, I can give Yuuki orders but I can’t converse with her naturally. Onee-sama seems to tolerate my relationship with Yuuki simply because she respects Yuuki’s strength. Well, at least, that’s the only reasoning I can find. I know that the slave-master relationship I have with Yuuki is considered taboo in this world.

Actually, I think the relationship between me and Yuuki as slave and master would be considered odd in most worlds. Well, I wasn’t trying to be a white knight or anything when I bought her. It was simply the situation we found ourselves in as time went on. I bought her as fighting strength as I had none…

“We’re here.”

Onee-sama blandly stated as such. I guess she gave up criticising me for my inner thoughts.

…

It’s so bland…

The building looks exactly like every other building in this place! This one doesn’t even have a sign with a horrible name on it. Ah, if it’s this small, just how could it be used as an arena? I doubt the fights would leave this place unharmed.

“We’re going in now, Fei. You better make sure you’re prepared.”

“…prepared for what?”

“You’ll see when you get inside.”

What the hell is that kind of answer? How can I be prepared for something that I’m not even aware of?! Ah, what the heck. I’ll just go in ready for anything.

“Yuuki, let’s go.

“Yes, master. Yuuki will follow.”

Let’s just see how this arena works, huh?

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