《Reincarnated To Another World with My Ex》 1 Kazutrash and Yurigorilla Kazu and Yuri were childhood friends and at the same time, the sweetest couple in their high school, everyone looked at them with envy, wishing to have a relationship like theirs. Kazu is the only son of a business tycoon, who owns an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company. Yuri is the only daughter of the president of a conglomerate, a corporation made up of a number of different and various businesses. Both of their families knew each other and would have business deals regularly, it was their son and the daughter''s friendship that became a bridge to the intense families, that was now both benefiting from each other''s partnership. But even how rich their families were, they didn''t allow them to inherit anything without proving anything as individuals, as such they sent their kids to public schools without carrying their family names. Since elementary, they were housed in condominiums in the same building and was given an allowance fit for their age, they relied on each other for necessities and for their own studies. After years of being together, they realized their love and attachment to each other and became a couple. More years passed and they were now at their senior-high-school graduation, they wore uniforms and was holding their diploma, they took a picture of each other and together, smiling happily. Kazu had black hair that was in an undercut, had a black-colored iris, he looked plain yet clean and fit, he was popular with girls, and have been confessed to many times, even though already having a girlfriend. He was a mild playboy, yet he still avoided stepping over their feelings, rejecting them respectfully as he can, but after that he would continue his usual routine of flirting with other girls in low-key and within limits. As such his girlfriend Yuri spread the nickname she made for him all over the campus: KazuTrash Yuri had chestnut-colored braided hair that reached up to her waist, she inherited the deep-blue irises from her mom and her snow-complexion from her father. Yuri was quite the tomboy and liked boyish things and activities, she often beat her male classmates in sports trampling over their pride. As such these boys in their defeat would often call her: YuriGorilla There was a vast difference between them, as Yuri was outgoing and Kazu was an introvert. Kazu was popular amongst girls and Yuri was avoided due to her nature to make fun of boys challenging them, defeating them, and trampling over their pride. Kazu was blunt and straightforward, Yuri doesn''t like showing her feelings aside to Kazu. But, even with their differences they still fell in love deeply with each other. After taking a picture they strolled towards a convenience store with diplomas on their hands, as the setting sun painted the sky with hues of orange. They bought drinks and sat on the convenience store seat facing a transparent window. Where they could see their classmates passing by. Some girls waved towards Kazu, but when Yuri flashed them a smile, they didn''t dare to enter the store anymore. "Yuri, you''re going to make this convenience store go bankrupt," Kazu told her as he sipped on his favorite strawberry juice pack. "Who cares, those girls are waving to you, I have the right to shoo them away," Yuri opened a can of cola and drank it. "This convenience store is a sub-company of your corporation right? Yurigorilla," he bluntly told her as he waved at the girl on the cashier, showing his side that his girlfriend despises, even though she was already used to it. The cashier girl blushed and waved back shyly. "Kazutrash!" Yuri pinched him at his weak point which was on his sides. "Yurigorilla stop it! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Kazu could only scream in pain as she rotated her hand to intensify the pain. Even how sweet they were at school on the public, when they are alone they usually are fighting like cats and dogs, to the students looking at the,m they looked like having a sweet conversation, but in reality, they were smiling as they are dissing and pissing off each other. "So, we are going to the same college right?" Kazu asked her as he patted his sides that were red from her pinching, "ahhh this is gonna blacken later," he thought as he placed his newly bought cold water to the bruised side. "Yeah, Economics, and you?" She took the cold drink from his hand and used her hand instead to cool down the bruise. "Computer Science, you should consider changing majors though, according to data the trend is changing, ahh thanks" he thanked her for applying the makeshift cold compress herself. "It''s fine, I plan to start a company anyway and register it under the conglomerate, you won''t know those stuff on tech courses, right? and you''re welcome baby," she kissed him on the cheeks as an apology. "Any of your friends taking the same course that you can ask help from just in case?" Kazu was a bit worried about her, as she didn''t have many friends other than the small circle of friends he has. "Ahh, I have Ann, others in my circle are going to different universities, you?" "Ahh, the top student, that''s great, for me, I have my buddy, Andrei" "I see, that''s great then, we both have classmates from our high school friends" "Indeed, then, as promised, let''s break up today?" Kazu was the first one to bring up the promise, they had years after they first started going out, knowing each other for years already since they were children, Yuri brought up being tired of the relationship, even how sweet they appeared to be, the spark that Yuri was searching for didn''t appear anymore, she was the type to find a spark in a relationship. At first, Kazu was on denial, he stressed out that being truly in love was about commitment and loyalty, and the spark she was looking for would eventually be gone after years of relationship. But Yuri believed on the opposite, she believed that it was the spark that will keep the relationship alive, and losing that spark meant that, the relationship would be bound to become toxic until marriage. He didn''t want to truly lose her, he was satisfied with their status quo, but at the same time he doesn''t want to keep her if she wants to be free. Yuri was a free-spirited girl, being free was her happiness and it was the only way she could smile despite having the pressure of being the only daughter of the conglomerate. To him, her smile was the best thing in the world, and he would do anything to keep her happy all the time. "Yes, just as discussed, take care of yourself okay?" Yuri violently took off the silver promise ring that Kazu gave her on their first anniversary, threw it to his face without showing her emotions, and left the convenience store running, without saying anything. Kazu just looked at her in the distance as she gradually disappeared from his view, as the orange skies darkened and the sun was replaced by the moon and stars, tears started to fall down to his cheeks unchecked. His face had the same plain expression, yet his eyes were crying, as he held tightly the promise ring that she returned. It was the first time he truly was able to cry, now that he finally lost her he felt his chest tightening and couldn''t contain the pain anymore and started to cry. "Sir, are you okay?" The cashier girl went towards him concerned. Kazu without anyone beside him but the cashier girl of his age clutched into her clothes, as his tears dampened her uniform. "Shhh... everything''s gonna be okay, got it?" The cashier girl patted his back while he was hysterically crying, due to the pain of the breakup, crying crumbling his diploma the same way as he felt due to the pain. This was the day they broke up, and went their separate ways. But little did they know, that fate had something more in store for both of them. 2 Yui and Yuri Kazu, wore a simple black shirt and jeans as he walked with his buddy Andrei towards the exit of their university, being buddies since high school, the two became closer being on the same course. "Andrei, you really need to stop sleeping in class, I''m not gonna wake you up anymore you know," Kazu was taller than Andrei, that they looked like brothers having the same hair and eye color. "Shut it, unlike rich freaks like you, I have been disowned already so I have to work part-time as a developer, if you don''t wake me up, seriously I''m not gonna let you copy my assignment." He told him as he put his hands on the back of his head as they walked outside of their university where lots of restaurants lined up to serve students from the university. "Andrei, we are at McDonalds now, go back to your owner shoo shoo," Kazu shooed him away, Andrei was going to have lunch with his girlfriend Ann, who was in the same course with his ex-girlfriend Yuri. "Andrei, can you ask Ann about how Yuri is doing these days? I heard some bad news about their company," he asked his buddy. "Okay, but yeah Kazu, you have a girlfriend now, if she asks me about you ordering me to sniff around your ex, I''m gonna tell her okay?" Andrei''s tone was a bit playful but a bit serious, as much as he wanted to help Kazu, he also doesn''t want him to get stuck in the past. It was Andrei who drove Kazu back to his condominium when he and Yuri broke up. His wish was for Kazu to forget about Yuri and become truly happy with his new girlfriend. "It''s fine, it''s for business reasons anyway, let''s meet here again at 1:30 PM and let''s go back together for the next class" "What''s 1:30?" "You military brained idiot, it''s 13:30 dumbass," Kazu replied bluntly, as he walked away and went towards the convenience store where his girlfriend was working. Seeing him go inside, as the convenience store automatic windows open, the cashier girl''s face brightened, she whispered to her manager and went inside the staff room. A few minutes after she went out she was dressed fashionably in her school uniform, she wore a red collar shirt with long sleeves, buttons running down the front, and pink wrist cuffs. It also has a decorative plaid ribbon resting above her chest. Her skirt is the same color as her collar, and wore black knee-high socks and brown shoes. She appeared to be a cute and petite teenager at the age of 18, she has big amber eyes and light auburn hair that reaches down to her shoulders. She brought a brown leather shoulder handbag. "Yui, did you have lunch yet?" Kazu''s face showed concern to the highschool part-timer, Yui was Kazu''s girlfriend and they have been dating for at least a year now. She doesn''t know Kazu''s real status as a son of a tycoon, but still, she loves him so much anyway as she sees him as a man, she blooms up so much when she sees him. They became friends after Kazu cried hysterically at the convenience store she works part-time for, and after a few encounters, Kazu fell head over heels for her kindness, strong will, friendly, pleasant and all-around personality. "I haven''t yet, so let''s go!" She excitedly said, as she put up her hands in the air. ... They ate lunch together KFC, because Yui liked their chicken and gravy more than Kazu''s favorite McDonalds. "Yui, how''s high school? Are you graduating this year?" He asked as he wiped her face with a tissue. "Yup, unlike you in your high school my grades are quite high you know?" She replied as she took another bite of the fried chicken. Kazu flicked her forehead, "what a cheeky little brat, you''ll know when you get to college, how fearsome it truly is" Yui just happily smiled even after the forehead flick. "Ehehehe? I asked the professors about your grades you know? They say your grades were average and that you almost weren''t able to graduate!" What she replied to him was more painful than a forehead flick, Kazu choked on the cola he was drinking that came with his meal. "Cough Cough, those teachers, maybe I should tell father to stop donating to that public high school?" He evilly thought, as Yui concernedly using her handkerchief to wipe the cola that got thrown to Kazu''s shirt. The people who looked at them found them to be a relaxing scene, especially because Yui was a very cute girl in a school uniform, meanwhile, Kazu was a plain-looking guy, but has an aura of a rich guy oozing from him, his complexion, outfit, the way he talks, drinks and eat. "You''re already a college student so stop spilling your drink all over," Yui sat back on her seat and continued eating happily. Kazu happily viewed the scene of his girl eating the meal happily, he rested his elbow at the table and leaned his face of his palm, while his eyes fixed on her and with a soft-voice, he told her. "I love you," Hearing this, Yui cutely paused eating and blushed red, as if smoke would come out of her ears. "Kazu... I already told you not to say something like that it in public," she replied while playing with her hands under the table. "Why?" "B-B-B-Because... wait, are you teasing me?" "I love you... you won''t give me an answer?" "S-S-Stop it" "I won''t stop until you give me an answer," he smiled as he teased his cute girlfriend who was about to explode in embarrassment. "I l-l-love you t-t-too," she gave him her answer as she tried to look back at him, only to see him in his slightly devilish grin, her heart pumped more than normal. "He''s acting haughty, and just a year ago he was crying and clinging to me like a baby," she thought to herself as she pouted to him which only made her cuter. But their romantic exchange was suddenly disrupted when behind Kazu a woman who had chestnut-colored braided hair stood up and slammed her table with her bag. The whole KFC became silent as they looked at her, agitated about something. "STOP YOUR FLIRTING WHEN SOMEONE''S EATING!" Her voice echoed in the restaurant as she turned around to the couple behind her, and surprisingly saw her ex Kazu who was also in agape as he saw her as he looked above him. As she saw him, she got more furious and put her hands on her hips. "Ahhhh, such a cute, girl dating with that parasite over there!" She pointed her hand with all her will towards Kazu, everyone who saw this was astounded. "Parasite? I can''t just let that pass," Kazu wiped his mouth with a tissue as he stood up and turned around to face her, "woman, you dare to call me a parasite? Then, at least I''m not something like a gorilla who takes her anger at someone for no reason" he crossed his arms and tilted his head upward to show his superiority. The woman did the same as she blew her bangs upwards, ready to take him on a physical fight. "Hey Kazu, stop that, do you even know her?" Yui pleaded, not remembering that the girl in front of his boyfriend was the girl that left him crying in the convenience store. "No, I don''t know her," Kazu replied bluntly, to her pleading girlfriend as he stared daggers at his ex in front of him. "Likewise," Yuri replied, in the same manner, eyeing him with all her anger. "Ehhh, but you both are looking at each other as if you are looking at your archenemy, stop it, you are both scary, and the people around us are looking at you," Yui was starting to panic as she bowed at the people around them to apologize. "Girl, you are just going to have misfortune in your life if you keep dating this parasite," Yuri told Yui while keeping violent eye contact with Kazu. "Yui, don''t believe that nonsense the gorilla is spouting, I''m sure she''s just in a bad mood because she can''t get himself a decent, committed and loyal man or something," Kazu interrupted, he spoke, not underestimating the enemy in front of him, he knew how much she was capable of crushing a man''s pride with her words. "Yui? Really? How cheap are you? We are almost of the same name..." Yuri muttered upon hearing Kazu''s girlfriend''s name, she got angrier, tears started to appear in her eyes, but Kazu didn''t notice this. "The same name? Are you imagining things? Yuri and Yui are clearly different, don''t just assume things, woman. Cheap? You''re the one who''s cheap for having a new boyfriend just days after you broke up with me. How many of your boyfriends have you broken up already? You are someone who gets tired of someone quickly right? ''Spark'' was it? Probably you''ve been passed on from man to man already, what are you? A universal padlock? Hah! How many keys have been it already? It''s only normal for you right? Maybe you''re even looking for one-night stands? That''s only what cheap girls like you are good for right?!" He told her mercilessly with an evil grin, murdering her with words venting out his frustration. Everyone who heard this including Yui was dumbfounded as if time had stopped in KFC, the tellers have also stopped serving, even though the numbers were being called at the monitor. Shortly two college students came inside to stop the quarrel, just in time when Yuri was about to slam her bag to Kazu''s face. "You damn asshole!!!! Ann unhand me! I''m gonna smash the face of the asshole right there," Ann, who was Yuri''s best friend held her arms with her two flimsy arms. "Andrei, stop that gorilla woman right there, she''s gonna break your girlfriends'' arm," Kazu told Andrei beside him who was uncertain about what to do. "Kazu, you really need to stop that mouth of yours sometimes," Andrei replied and went to help Ann with the raging Yuri, but when Andrei went near, Yuri already lost all her strength, sat on the floor and cried covering her face with her hands. 3 One Chance Kazu who saw her crying, left him in a daze, as the emotions that he had been suppressing for a long time came surging to his heart, his deep feelings for her that he subconsciously couldn''t forget. He realized that the girl he just bad-mouthed and made her cry was someone he truly loved at one point in his life. His heart started to tighten again once more as if the time had stopped for both of them started running again, swept by the surge of emotions, he wanted to go near her, apologize and wrap her with his arms, forgetting that his current girlfriend was just behind him. But, as he was about to go near her, Yuri noticed him coming towards her, seeing the same expression of concern on his face when both of them were in love with each other, she realized that she was the one in the wrong, it was her who left him in the first place, it was her who made a deal to break-up after graduation, all he did was comply to her wishes because it was her who wanted it to happen the most, she took advantage of the fact that he doted on her so much and ridiculed the deepness of her love to him. "This is, my punishment," she told herself, as she felt the scars of the past and the wounds that haven''t yet been healed in her heart, has opened up again. It was her who believed in something childish such as a "spark" in a relationship and that her relationship with Kazu should end at graduation, but a day later she realized how much she truly loved and cared for him, and decided to take back the promise and reunite with him again. She made checks on him through Andrei, but one time, in a horrible timing, she saw him happily speaking with the convenience store cashier girl whom he waved to on the day they broke up, it angered her to see him happy while they just recently broke up. To get her revenge, he hired someone to pretend as her boyfriend and showed off in front of him days after they broke up, in order to spite him. But today, they finally had an encounter, she was angered to see that the couple flirting behind her while she was eating was Kazu who was still in her heart up to this day and the cashier girl whom she loathed for taking away Kazu from her and with the hurtful words he said to her, she couldn''t face him anymore, all she can do was cover her face as she sobbed, as the bitter feelings, that she kept in her heart, broke like a dam, tears flowed endlessly from her eyes, that it made her hands wet from covering them. She couldn''t accept him telling the words she wanted him to tell her the most very easily to the girl he just dated for a year. Seeing him get closer to her, while she cried her heart out, she threw her bag to his face and ran outside. With her eyes blurred in tears, Ann and Andrei who was surprised react quickly. When she looked at the traffic lights it was still red, but when she looked back she saw Andrei, Ann, and Kazu going after her, she wanted to run away from them, her heart was broken, he didn''t want them to see her face, especially Kazu. "Don''t come near me!" She shouted at them. Seeing that there were no cars at the moment she ran towards the road, in order to get away from him as fast as she could, but as she crossed it, a truck was already speeding towards her. Kazu who saw this, felt his body moving in the same direction before he could think anything, he didn''t care about anything other than saving the woman that moved his heart greatly, the woman he gave all his love for years, the woman he wanted to talk properly with and ask for her forgiveness. A strong desire overwhelmed him, that it made adrenaline pour in his body and with a jump, he was able to push Yuri, just in time, who was about to be hit by the truck. The scene of him touching her back and the way she looked at him behind her shoulders as beads of tears fell from her eyes was the last scene he saw as he was consumed by darkness. He tried opening his eyes and he saw a blurry image of him being carried by the medical staff in a stretcher, and his current girlfriend Yui who had blood all over her cute highschool uniform. She was crying and calling out to him, but he couldn''t hear her. "Sorry Yui, I''m really sorry," he tried telling her, but he didn''t know whether what he told her reached her, as he couldn''t feel his mouth moving. When Kazu was heartbroken, her soothing smile and all-around personality was the thing that saved him and kept him going, that even for a short time of talking to each other, she enjoyed her company and it made him very happy, that he wanted her to become his girlfriend, he wanted to be at her side and treasure her. "Sorry Yui, if I didn''t have these lingering feelings for Yuri, I wouldn''t have left you this way, sorry Yui, to leave you like this¡­ don''t look so sad, please," he felt his consciousness becoming pulled into the darkness, as the image of his cute girlfriend slowly blurred out from his vision. "Yuri, I should have talked more with you, I should have apologized, we should have made a proper closure¡­ I didn''t know that even after how much time had passed I still cared about you so much, sorry¡­ I hope you are safe, I hope you and Yui can find a man worthy of your love" In his mind, memories of Yui and Yuri appeared in his mind, they were the happiest memories he had of his relationship with the two girls. It showed the moments that Yuri and he had in high school, helping him with his studies in the library, as she made a pure smile at him reassuring him that she would always be with him no matter what happens. It showed his fragile moments when Yui came into his life wearing a convenience store uniform, as she let him cry on her arms, patting him on the back, telling him in a soothing voice that everything will be alright. The memories were so pure and happy that it eased the burden on his mind, as he was slowly consumed by intense sleepiness, he didn''t feel any pain, yet strangely his body was slowly losing the minuscule strength that it still had. Kazu was finally ready to give in, and fall into the deep slumber that felt too comforting until he heard Andrei''s voice. "Don''t give up! Kazu! You still haven''t apologized to Yuri!" Then he remembered the unfinished business he had with Yuri, he remembered her falling into her knees as she cried at KFC. The expression that had a mix of anger and regret, it was an expression he didn''t want to see on her beautiful face, it wasn''t the emotions he wanted to give back to her, for all the love and support he gave him when he didn''t have anything. "And I also forgot to tell you¡­ that I still love you, so much that I can feel my heart being crushed into pieces seeing you cry" With all his force he tried to open his eyes, but it wouldn''t; everything around him was already filled with unending darkness. "Open!!! My eyes!!! You can''t afford dying here!" But still, the darkness remained, that fear started to fill him. "I can''t just fall down like this! Not like this! If you''re real! God! Give me another chance! I haven''t done anything yet! I can''t even ask forgiveness for the woman I still love and have ignored for a long time! I have made her cry! Both of them! So please! Give me a chance! If you''re real!" And as if someone was responding to his call, a tiny speck of light appeared in front of him, and from it came a magnanimous and deep voice, it felt warm. Kazu didn''t feel scared, finally, someone answered him in the middle of the cold darkness. "You''ve already died, and I can''t reverse that," Kazu was shocked, as he discovered that the tiny speck of light that appeared wasn''t a symbol of hope at all. "... but since I am in the mood, I will grant you another chance! But not in your world anymore! Live the rest of your life there and don''t make another mistake! Don''t let her go this time, and don''t make her cry again, Now awaken! Into another world!" The magnanimous voice disappeared in the dark space, and the tiny speck of light, became bigger and bigger and with a flash, he was finally able to open his eyes, and found himself lying in the bed of an unfamiliar but majestic room. His bed was a queen-sized bed that had a bed curtain, around him were all kinds of furniture that looked antique to him, to his side there was a metal pitcher with a cup with a bit of liquid in it. "Where the hell am I? He scanned the room just with his eyes as he experimented with his senses, but no one was there, "could it be that I was kidnapped?" He traced his body with his hands from top to bottom, "I''m alive? But what the hell are these clothes?" He was wearing a white nightshirt that looked like a gown. "Are these? Hospital clothes? What the hell is going on?" But as he was finding out what had happened, a voice called out from the door. It was the voice of an old man that still had strength in it. "Prince Walter! Are you there? Please don''t drink that water, it''s poisoned!" With a bang, the large door in front of him opened on both sides, and there appeared a thin old man in his 60''s or 70''s with white hair that reached to his shoulder, he wore a long green long coat with and breeches, the old man was also struggling to walk as he was holding a cane trying his best to walk closer to him faster. "Walter? Who''s Walter?" He asked in a daze, and at that moment the memories of the man named Walter Wiedenfeld surged into his mind in a form of an intense headache, he is the son of the King of Stizriven Kingdom a country that belongs to the Kastea Federation, a collection of Island Nations that joined together in order to strengthen their forces and protect their nations from stronger invaders. Prince Walter is the third prince and youngest son of the King of the island nation, he was a wimp and was toyed around with his brothers, not seeing him a threat as heir to the throne, he also had a fiance named, Tiffania, who was seeing him for his considerably large inheritance for being born as a prince. Contrary to Kazu, Walter had a flashy physical feature, he had blonde golden hair and dark blue eyes, but the flashy characteristics were useless, as he was known by the whole kingdom as the wimp prince, often discriminated against by nobles, underestimating his claim to the throne. The old man''s name was Gavin, Walter''s most loyal attendant since Walter was a child Gavin was always there for Walter, as such Gavin doted on Walter as if he was his own child. The last memory of Walter that remained on his mind was drinking the water given by a maid and falling asleep after. Remembering the voice that he heard in the darkness, Kazu could guess what had occurred due to the rush of the old man in front of him who was now smelling the water Walter drank from before his sleep, talking to him in a different language, which strangely he could understand. "I see, so this is what the voice meant by ''not in this world''... reincarnation huh? Isn''t it too cliche? I''m not an anime main character or something" Unfortunately he couldn''t remember the rest of what the voice said to him. "A poor boy, at the age of 18, dying due to intentional poisoning, humans are indeed wicked creatures, wait, does this mean I have to deflect these attempts now that I am Walter? Just when I was just reincarnated?" he made a sigh and looked at Gavin who was panicking beside him asking him questions. "Do you feel anything different in your body?" Gavin asked anxiously. "I''m okay Gavin, calm down, you''re being noisy" using the memories of Walter, Kazu acted accordingly, in order not to worry the old man further, or so he thought. Even how much he tried to act like him, Walter had a soft and smiling appearance, but the way he asked Gavin was using his Kazu-usual resting evil face, a threatening but calm look. Gavin, who saw this, was left in agape. "Prince Walter? Is that you?" 4 Walter Wiedenfeld I Kazu, reincarnated as Walter Wiedenfeld when I woke up I was greeted by this old man named Gavin, what was his last name again? "Feuerwerker" or something? Don''t they bite their tongues when they make their last names? How idiotic. It isn''t SMART at all. Apparently, according to the voice, my fate couldn''t be reversed when I died at my old world, and because god was in the mood, he reincarnated me into another world set in different kinds of laws, amazingly there''s magic, and unfortunately, I was reincarnated into an eighteen-year-old beta and wimp prince. When his memories merged into mine, a chill ran down to my spine, Walter is the type of guy I hated the most; beta, pushover, a crybaby, to think these types of men really exist in this reality in this world? Ohhh I forgot that I''m in another world. His redeeming trait was that he was born as a prince, even if he doesn''t ascend to the throne he is destined to live a comfortable life, he even has this loyal retainer scurrying around the place looking for the poison, just how convenient was that? He already drank it and died already old man. Well, my dad in the other world is a great innovator who made reusable rockets and stuff, yet my life was full of comedy and tragedy due to his minimal support, but thanks to him, I knew the value of money, I didn''t become spoiled like Walter and his brothers, and I was able to experience normal student life without pressure, unlike Yuri who was able to experience it yet, her parents were pressuring her to inherit the company. I suddenly remembered the memories before my last moments, and I felt hurt in my heart, but for some reason, I felt relieved for some reason, I shook my head and chose not to think about it for now. The result of Walters''s bad parenting is his death, being too naive, trusting random maids, drinking poisoned water... but, it''s thanks to him I was able to live again. Thank you real Walter, I''ll live this life in another way that you lived it, although your close folks might be up to some surprises, don''t worry. I''ll just tell them that it was a growth spurt. "Who the hell wants to live like a wimp anyway?" My thoughts leaked through my mouth and Gavin still looked at me while keeping his distance. I noticed that he''s been like that since earlier, is Walters''s face that endearing that a single touch would make an old man insane? An image of my new face as Walter and Gavin in a BL comics cover appeared on my mind, I immediately hit my head to clear the gruesome image I just thought of, I''m imaginative as usual, that it could go haywire if unchecked. Thinking back, Yuri would make fun of me pasting my ID picture to a BL comics manga character and then paste Andrei''s picture to the other character. But because I was in love with her, I just laughed it off, just how head-over-heels was I for that gorilla woman? "Oh, I''m thirsty, Gavin, can you get me another pitcher of water? I just drank that and it was poisoned, I think the poison sped up my growth spurt, that from now on I''m gonna stop being shitty as a wimp," I nonchalantly pointed at the metal pitcher he was smelling, are you a K9 or something? I came up with the SMART idea on the fly since Gavin is an idiot, I think he will believe it. Maybe my dad will praise me for being such an innovative lier. I let out a snicker, which made Gavin seem more uncomfortable as he looked at me, my dad was praised around the world for his inventions of reusable rockets, solar farms, and electric vehicles, he is the greatest innovator in my old world in my time, of course, its in the genes. "Y-Y-Yes Prince Walter, I''ll get it surely! Are you sure you don''t need a doctor? Just in case?" Why is he looking at my face too much? I felt my face and there was nothing different, hey old man are you gay? I''m gonna call the guards on you... just kidding Gavin is one of my loyal servants, with death threats upon me I can''t afford to lose my allies, but still, aside from Gavin the old Walter doesn''t have other allies. I made a sigh realizing that the prince I just reincarnated to was nerfed too much. "Yeah Yeah, forget it" I waved at him to get him out of my room, I needed some private time to set my mind calm and think about what to do from now on. The world with magic is exciting in itself, but I feel that it wasn''t what I came here for, I didn''t expect that God was such a fickle person to reincarnate me just because he was in a mood, now what to do? Gavin who was relying on his cane to even walk properly tried to get the metalwares that were on my side, the pitcher and the glass, but as he did it he was shaking and sweating, struggling to do it with one hand, as I scanned from Walter''s memories, the old man cared for him like his own son, he even hardly went home to see his family, but the old Walter didn''t feel any attachment to him, he was passive just as if he was using the old man, to survive every day for him to just laze at his own room. "Ahh, it''s annoying," seeing such flashbacks on my head irritated me, the old Walter wasn''t just a wimp, he was also annoyingly passive. I stood up from my bed and took the metalwares with my own hands. "Lead the way," I told him blankly, Gavin was astonished to see me carry it by myself, but shortly he came to his senses. "P-Prince, I should be the one doing this" "No" "Prince... " "I said to lead the way," hurry up old man, it''s hard to see an old man at your age with that expression, just how much was Walter using you for him to just laze around? "Okay, Prince, but your outfit" "It''s fine" Now he''s even nitpicking about my outfit. It''s my mansion anyway so I can wear anything I want to. Gavin finally gave up and he led me to the kitchen, while I was walking I saw some beautiful looking maids and butlers, who were shocked to see me in such clothes following Gavin, but they weren''t able to say anything they just bowed when I passed by them. I have a flirty nature, and by now if I was in my old world I would have winked at one of the maids seeing how beautiful they are, but in order to let my daily life continue, I decide to not do anything rash yet, surprising Gavin is one thing, but not the maids, as one of them have poisoned and killed the former owner of this body. We arrived at the kitchen with me still in my sleeping gown, I put the plates and instinctively my hands went to dip it in the water, in my condominium I would wash dishes by myself, but when Gavin saw me dip the cup on the water this time he held my hand and shook his head. "You might be feeling ill, but a noble and a prince at that shouldn''t do this, Prince Walter" I don''t like stressing elders so I left it and wiped my hand with my gown as I looked at him but it gave Gavin another shock, I can see it written on his face, his mouth was opened wide, and he was sweating in his forehead. "It''s okay, it''s okay calm down," I told him, but his face was still stiff on the same position, then suddenly I realized something, as I was only seeing Walter in his memories I haven''t seen it personally yet, how does my face look like? I scanned the kitchen to find a shiny object that will reflect my image and found a mirror hanging on the wall. And there I could see, the face made of the mix of the wimpy and passive Walter and Kazu''s attitude and personality. In the mirror, I could see the handsome young prince Walter with blond hair and blue eyes, the same with what I had expected, but the face became so different due to my constant sleep deprivation and nearsightedness, that my eyes appear to glare, does this mean my sleep deprivation and nearsightedness goes along with my soul? That fickle god! If you''re gonna reincarnate me at least you could have left it! As I cursed the god that reincarnated me for his negligence, Gavin came to his senses again. I think I''m going to give this old man a heart attack sooner or later. "Are you really okay prince Walter? You should have rest today" "But don''t I always rest?" "Y-Y-Yes but you have several important appointments today?" "Really? Even when I was just almost poisoned? By the way how did you find out I was poisoned?" "Yes, about that, one of the maids disappeared and left a letter of apology for killing you with poison, she says that she had to do it because the perpetrator is holding her family hostage, I have our troops finding her as we speak," he explained as he was shaking again maybe due to the problems on his leg. I leaned back at the bar of the kitchen where the sink was as I processed information on my head, but I realized that I lack common knowledge even with Walters memories, Walter didn''t go outside much aside from the parties he attended. I thought deeply as I played with my front hair, as my habit when processing thoughts, Kazu''s hair was smoother than Walter''s, maybe due to the existing haircare technology, but it didn''t bother me one bit, as I only wanted to think. But another thing bothered me was that Gavin was shaking on his feet. "Why don''t you take a seat? Don''t force yourself, sit over there!" I pointed to a wooden stool beside me. "Aren''t you going to take a seat here Prince Walter?" "It''s okay just use it, I can''t think if you are wobbling over there" Gavin sat on the stool and made a sigh of relief, I guess following Walter this time must have taken a strain on you huh old man, now behave there for a bit so I can think. "Live the rest of your life there and don''t make another mistake... don''t let her go this time, and don''t make her cry again," I murmured as I tried to find the meaning behind the words of the voice of god, the others were just rhetorics but there was just one phrase that got me thinking. "don''t let her go this time... " I said slowly word by word, "don''t make her cry again... " strange, I think I saved Yuri on time before I died, maybe god is referring to the new lovers I will encounter here? My eyes wandered towards the beautiful maids doing housework, they were all individually beautiful yet pious with their work, some of them looked towards me but was creeped out and normally averted my gaze. Ahhh, I can''t think straight, let''s just think about that later! For now, I just have to find out a way to live my daily life while avoiding those threats. First thing, I have to rehabilitate this wimpy prince''s reputation, build better relationships and increase the number of my allies! The meaning finding will come after everything is peaceful. "Gavin, my schedule and appointments?" I instinctively held my hand to him, in my old world in dramas it''s normal for bossy people to have a list of activities to them, but as I scanned Walter''s memories Gavin would only tell it to him orally, Gavin was surprised that I asked for the parchment he usually reads to the old Walter. Gavin was tearing up as if he is looking at his son graduating - don''t look me like that old man, if you''re not a cute girl like Yui. 5 Tiffania Mueller, the Prince’s Fiance "Stay away from me¡­ " I spoke words in my sleep, I opened my eyes and felt sunlight hitting my eyes, did I forget to close my curtains? I just had a horrible dream, tch, what a bad timing ruining my mood for the day. I had a horrible dream about Ann inviting me to eat at McDonald''s, but third-wheeling between her and Andrei is too much for me, so I decided to eat at KFC. As I was already eating solo but a couple behind me began flirting loudly, that I lost my composure I tried to tell them off, but dreams being dreams, I saw that it was actually Kazutrash and his new girlfriend - the convenience store girl sitting on that table. It had me very irritated that I embarrassed myself further by lashing out on him, and I just got what I deserved when he opened his mouth and revealed his bad personality, I knew him for years so I should have seen this coming and wouldn''t have been affected and just threw a witty comeback, but hearing about the name of his new GF was a big shock, that I ended up running out and was almost got hit by a truck but Kazutrash heroically saved me anyway. "But, Yui¡­ Yuri, it''s pretty the same right? Could it be that¡­ " I muttered as unnecessary thoughts appeared on my mind, what the hell am I thinking? He''s right, it''s not the same name, and it''s just a coincidence and there shouldn''t have been other meanings behind it. I know him more than anyone, he''s not a shallow person, even if he flirts everywhere like a dog in heat, his heart would always belong to the one he offered it to in the first place, and won''t just fall in love because of measly things like names. If there''s anyone who would do something like that it would be me, who hired someone to pretend as my boyfriend in order to spite him. Deep inside I wanted him to go after me but it backfired and he totally moved-on to the convenience store girl... Ahhh I''m feeling gloomy again, wait why am I treating it as something that has happened? It''s just a dream! A dream yes! I don''t even know the name of the convenience store girl, it''s just my mind playing with me. "And as a proper ex I should be happy for him right? I shouldn''t be immature" I wiped the tears falling from my eyes, thinking about how horrible my mind was to give me a dream of the past, a dream of someone who''s very close to my heart. "I can''t believe I cried, from just a dream" Usually, when I had dreams like these, I would have called him immediately and he would take away my worries not be consoling but by telling me harsh words to slap me of reality, he''s not the type of person who would be comforting me with flattery or with shallow words, he speaks directly to my soul, straightforward, without missing any detail, frankly, even though hearing it makes me cry sometimes. "I prefer it that way though, it saved me many times" I smiled, thinking about the past, even though a year has passed our moments to me feels like it has just happened yesterday, he was my everything, yet I played with his heart, and karma pays me back by making me regret it, I don''t deserve to be loved by him anymore or stand by his side. I finished wiping my face with the back of my hands but observed something odd. Isn''t my complexion much better and whiter than before? and my face and hand feels much smoother. "Ohhh¡­ I don''t even use much beauty products, am I reaping the benefits of not using makeup and not patronizing facial cleaning services?" I squinted my eyes and stood up, as I lazily got up from my bed and went towards the window, the source of the light I can barely see. By using my sense of touch I scanned around with my hands to feel the thick cloth, but I''m having a hard time finding it, or more like¡­ "It''s been ten steps already but I haven''t touched anything yet, am I really going towards the window? I should have known my room like the back of my hand, this is irritating¡­ okay time to give up, or I would worsen my day further" I turned away from the window and woke up myself by slapping my cheeks. "Yuri, you need to send those reports immediately, mom is killing you if it gets late again this time" To get familiar with my mom''s work, I usually take on some of her tasks, this is just like having a part-time job while in college, which gives me a monthly salary which I use to buy what I want, and to treat Ann and Andrei so they could secretly tell me about my Kazutrash. "Ah he''s not mine more, isn''t he?" Even as an executive''s daughter, mom only gives me an allowance suited for a college girl, even though their net worth is in millions, but I think I already have enough privilege to be not paying for a condo under my name and there are groceries being sent monthly, it''s like a pseudo average life my parents created for me to teach me the essence of independence. With my cheeks red from slapping, I opened my eyes as I stared at the bed in front of me. "Huh? Did I change the beddings? And what are those colors? Ew, really red beddings with brown linings? It even has frills all over!" As a true connoisseur of minimalism the vulgar beddings in front of me further added to the list of "what made my day bad today". "Who the hell changed my sheets!" I shouted, but wait, isn''t my voice different? My matured lady voice sounds cute right now, I held my voice box to feel it, am I sick? But my throat doesn''t hurt, why do I sound like an irritating little girl? I remember the voice of Yui in my dream that felt so real that it''s making me feel gloomy inside. As I was recalling that part of the dream that made me gloomy, my attention was diverted towards the strange bed, don''t tell me¡­ I scanned the room to make sure if it was indeed my room. "Wait! It isn''t! What the hell is this! This isn''t my room!" The room was large enough for one person, all of it were wooden but were well crafted, the walls are made of bricks, and it''s even carpeted on where I am standing, I can''t tell if this is luxurious or too out-of-date? What happened? Why am I here? "And what the hell is with this voice! It''s irritating..." "Could I have been kidnapped? Was my real identity known and someone kidnapped me for ransom?" I placed some of my hair between my lips, as I put my hands into my chin, it''s my mannerism when I try to organize my thoughts, wait¡­ "Why is my hair black! Who the hell messed up with my chestnut smooth hair! It doesn''t even smell like it was dyed! Is this natural black hair? How is that even possible!" The changes in my voice made it strange enough, but also my hair has changed?! Could I have been abducted and they changed my appearance so they could transport me without suspicion? Alright, let''s look for a mirror! I stood up and tried to search for a mirror within the bedroom, but could only find the window glass, as I tried to go towards it to see my reflection, I heard footsteps going to my room. I immediately aborted my plan about going towards the window glass and jumped to my bed in order to fake my sleep, increasing my chances of survival. "Tiffania! What is the noise all about!" A scary woman with a maid following behind her stormed inside the bedroom, speaking an unknown language, but somehow I could tell what she was saying, and somehow I can identify her tone, isn''t she being condescending? And who uses that tone nowadays? Are we in a play or something? Who''s Tiffania? I decided to find out things based on what I hear and pretend to sleep, but I can hear her getting closer with the sound of her heels in the carpet coming towards me, please don''t beat me up, I have 0% fighting ability, although I enjoy physical activities, when I get into trouble, I would call my ex like a pokemon and have him fight for me. "Tiffania! That''s improper! It''s already morning, get up already!" I felt the blanket that I wrapped around me strongly flipped outward and my hand strongly gripped. "Tiffania Mueller! Wake up!" I can finally see her face, she looked like a lady in her 30''s to 40''s. She looked young but by wearing glasses she looked like villain mistresses in plays, as she was biting my head off for being improper I felt a sudden intense headache as a surge of memories came into my mind. Tiffannia Mueller is the daughter of a duke of the Kingdom of Stizriven, she is a beautiful woman but with nothing much different or outstanding compared to other noble women, and apparently has been engaged to the prince by the wishes of her family, a poor puppet girl, with her happiness taken away in order to practice the way of becoming a proper lady, she was supposed to be married off to the second prince who has a strong claim to the throne, however, he has seen through Tiffania''s puppet strings, he didn''t want such a weakling to be at his side when he is fighting for the throne. However the third prince was a special and easy case, TIffania only showed him her charms and scripted kindness and he easily fell for her and proposed the engagement the day later. The poor Tiffania didn''t want to do it, but being crushed by the pressure from her family she easily agrees. Being sheltered she also doesn''t know much about the outside world, her books that she reads in her free time are the only things that give her joy. Seeing these memories, could this mean that my life as Yuri has ended already at that moment in the dream? And these memories are from my years of being Tiffania, but in that dream Kazutrash saved me by pushing me¡­ wait, I can''t remember what happened next. "Does that mean that even in his attempt to save me I still died?! That useless Kazu!" Oops, I opened my mouth, and I can see that my mother in this world is glaring at me for not listening to her, she is a matured version of the cute 18-year-old Tiffania, she has the same black hair and grey colored eyes, wearing a burgundy and black southern belle dress I have only seen in plays mom invited me to, in a glance, you would mistake her for a lady in her 20''s but in reality, she''s already nearing 40''s, what is she? A vampire? "Sorry mother, I just had a bad dream I''ll get up right away!" I spoke and acted in a way I supposed to as Tiffania, the years I lived as Tiffania ingrained the movements into my body that it was so graceful my past self would be jealous of, but there''s a tingling sensation inside of me for speaking in such a way, even when I was meeting mothers acquaintances, this kind of speaking is just overkill. But I know I have to act ladylike or this mother would punish me by increasing my lessons. As intelligent and educated as I am. I don''t want to act rash and ruin the rest of my life, I''ve been blessed enough to be in a family of higher hierarchy even in this world. I want to gather information about everything I don''t know and find a way to live my life happily, I might divert from my life as the beautiful and cute Tiffania, but it makes sense rather than being just a puppet for this family. I thank my strong independent mother in my past life who taught me such life lessons. Okay! I''m gonna live a satisfying life in this world! I''m gonna live without regrets! But as I readied my guts, the image of Kazutrash popped into my mind, how is he doing? I hope that I was the only one who died, he has his beautiful and cute girlfriend after all. I don''t want him to die because of my recklessness. I hope the doctors looked at my ID, there''s an Id there that says that I''m willing to donate my organs if I were to be found brain dead. A mix of sadness and happiness welled in my heart, sadness and anxiousness thinking about the man I love, and happiness of him trying to save me in my last minutes, and also celebrating the fact that I have been reincarnated but still, remembering my past life, giving me a new drive in my new life as Tiffania, or else I would have continued to be a puppet forever. To honor the sacrifice of the man I love, I will live a proper life this time. This time when I fall in love with someone I won''t let him go, I won''t go for something childish anymore and make childish promises, I will treasure him for the rest of my life. I will marry someone I really love, and live this life as Tiffania - but with a mix of Yuri though, since I remembered my past self after all. I can''t just ignore the lessons that it taught me even in the harshest way. So first, I have to know about the outside world, and find a way to break this engagement. I will become independent and self-sufficient without worrying my parents. I''ll be a strong independent noble lady! I made a guts gesture pumping it, puffing hair from my nose to show my dedication, but as I was in my thoughts I completely forgot about my lovely mother in front of me beating her fan on her palm, as nerves popped in her head as she looked at me. "Tiffania! What is that unladylike and disgusting face you are making right there!" She said the words slowly. I regained my innocent and cute Tiffania face expression and apologized in a ladylike manner, I stood up from my bed, pulled the skirts of my nightgown as I made a curtsey. "I''m sorry, once again mother, my dream last night was just so horrible" My mother also changed her mood and unfolded her fan and used it to hide her mouth. "Alright, it''s okay, now get ready! You are meeting the prince for talks about the marriage" Marriage? Just as I was deciding to live my life the way I want to, this strict mother just bombed me with the outrageous news. Maybe I should just run and become an adventurer? This world has magic after all. 6 Meeting My Fiance Today, I Walter Wiedenfeld, the third prince of Stizriven have been given three appointments, in the morning I have a tea party organized by one of my brothers, the second prince at noon I have to attend a knighting ceremony in the castle, and in the afternoon I have to meet up with my fiance for talks about marriage. I looked at Gavin who couldn''t believe that I am finally trying to become useful for once and that I''m reading something important for my duties as a prince, well I''m bored after all, for some reason I understand the words written here, I find it interesting that I can read these wormy things. The old man for once looks like he''s in cloud-9 as he sits across me. I make myself comfortable by crossing my legs as I sit on the sofa in the living room, while munching on some deserts while I read my schedule and the documents that come with it. Although I could read them there are still stuff I don''t understand such as the country''s system, words I''m not familiar with, and words or jargon related to magic. Since I can''t change the look on my face I decided to let them get used to it, I can''t be bothered to try hard to act like the wimpy Walter. "Hey Gavin" "Y-Yes Prince Walter" "Don''t mind my face, this is natural" "O-Okay" I nodded and took a sip of the tea the maid prepared for me, the maids surprisingly look good and cute, they all have well-proportioned bodies and have seductive smiles, but remembering Walter''s death I can''t trust these beautiful maids just yet. As much as my genes want to flirt with them, my current social standing, conscience and my wariness for another poisoning unconsciously keep me away from such temptations. "Oh, this tea tastes great¡­ " I had memories of Walter but with his tongue used to royalty delicacies, the food and tea that he had didn''t leave that much of an impression, but I think it works better with me, that way I can enjoy food and tea like I''m having it for the first time. After scanning the documents I also recollected my thoughts and jot down notes about my goals, this time I jotted in English, that way they would just identify them as scribbles. I wrote: 1. ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? 2. ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ?????????????????????????????????. For now these are my goals. In order to live my daily life peacefully I have to take an action the old Walter didn''t take, which may give me a clue as to why he is being assassinated, for now that''s my reason for attending to my duties as a prince. "Who knows that he may be targeted due to his uselessness? If that''s the case then the case is over!" While I was lost in thought the carriage that will take me to the tea party arrived, I was dressed by my maids in a white long coat and breeches, it''s a bit embarrassing being dressed by beautiful girls, but let''s say that this is one of the bonuses given by that fickle god and enjoy such blessing. But something bothered me, I forgot that white is the color I hate, I can''t go outside wearing such color, I asked the most beautiful and mature maid for another available outfit, so I can ask for her name later. "Do I have a black outfit?" "Why would that be your highness?" "Just for a change of pace. The maid tilted her head confused, the old Walter liked to flaunt his white prince appearance, this time I wanted to look as evil as possible so that the people who ordered my assassination would forget about assassinating me... just kidding as if they would change heart just from seeing the change in my outfit. Now dressed in my black outfit, with nothing changed aside from the color, I rode the carriage together with Gavin that will take us to the tea party, after a few minutes of riding I immediately felt sick, the carriage shakes too much, it reminds me of riding a bus, next time I will just walk. We arrived at the gate in front of my second brother''s garden. It looked lovely with white tables set up, the fountains, the small pond, and the magnificent architecture of the whole mansion. It looked like a semi nature park, It was bustling with groups of young nobles at my age. At the gates two knight looking figures accompanied us, they wore crusader helmets and a tunic designed with the kingdom''s insignia which was an Iron Cross, donned with a cape with a donned cross embroidered in patterns, they seemed to equip swords under their flashy capes. As soon as I arrived I was flocked by the young nobles at my age, I don''t know anyone of them though, this time I knew I had to act at least as the old Walter. After all, this is the only thing he worked on and is good for, attending this kind of parties, at least I have to make use of his social engagement techniques. I bowed and kissed the hands of the ladies, the only thing my old and new self have in common is that we are both lady killers, although my new self garnered some bad feedback based on how their eyebrows were raised. After all the courtesy Gavin guided me to the hall where my brother the second prince Zack Wiedenfeld was waiting, this is a perfect chance to show my support to him, based on my memories my second brother is the one who dotes on Walter, unlike the first prince who''s batshit crazy about his claim to the throne, the second prince, unlike the first prince, has something in the plan for the kingdom when he gains power, on the other hand, the first prince thirsts for power in an abnormal, even the old Walter can tell that. Could it be that he is the culprit from the last attempted assassination? In the hall I saw the hair the same color as mine, tied into a ponytail because it was long, one of his attendants pointed at me and he turned around immediately and rushed to me, seeing him rush like a maiden in love made me almost want to step back, but before I can do it I was already in his clutches, man even for brothers isn''t this a bit gay? "Walter! As expected you never miss these occasions huh? Wait¡­ it''s rare, you are wearing black today, did something happen?" As expected he''s doting on me, I took his hands off me and made a respectful bow. Then I speak to him in my own way, not bothering to act like a wimp, this is the official graduation of Walter from his wimpy and beta syndrome. "Thanks for inviting me here brother, and yes something did happen, just some people putting poison in my drink. Luckily I survived though" I immediately garnered the attention of everyone who heard my frank reply, my doting brother panicked and embraced me further, and the young nobles who wanted to be close to me offered their empty and shallow words of concern. Everything became so superficial that I wanted to go home immediately, or I''ll destroy the reputation of my doting brother. I arranged a schedule for my brother and me to talk about the incident on a further date so he could enjoy the party. "Where shall we go Pince Walter?" Gavin asked me concernedly, maybe he didn''t expect me to blurt it out in public just like that? For me it was just like a public statement to whoever attempted my assassination, that I''m never gonna be caught off guard by him again. "Ahhh back to the mansion" "B-But the ceremony, I thought you''d go" Gavin looked sighed, that''s good, just think of this as a gradual transition of your wimpy Walter, although I wanted to take different actions from the previous Walter, I decided to drop changes gradually so he won''t be weirded out, at least the change is realistic, he knows me better than anyone after all. Also, I''m allergic to shallowness and empty words, I couldn''t stay at that tea party anymore, and although I wanted to be useful by attending the ceremony, I guess my first brother can handle that by himself like the usual, I''ll just go back and eat some more delicious dishes served by beautiful maids - of course with them taste-testing the food in front of me, just in case there is poison. ¡­ After being served delicious meals by beautiful maids, afternoon finally came and a carriage arrived at my mansion, she seems to be the fiance of TIffania, so this time marriage talks huh? As I recalled Tiffania got engaged to me for political reasons, the old Walter often met with her, Tiffania acts cutely and intimate with him, however, with me the current Walter thinking about those memories, it was obviously orchestrated in order to make Walter feel good. "Now what to expect¡­ " My servants opened the door in order to let my fiance Tiffania inside, as expected she looks just like an average noble lady, although she''s beautiful nothing really stands out. Okay time to drive her away, with the second chance given to me, a second chance to live and perhaps fall in love, I want to make sure to cut these superficial things short, who the hell wants to marry just because their family said so? Also I''m not the wimpy Walter anymore, I''m confident that I could make a great change in my new life starting from here. Tiffania, dressed differently today according to my memories, instead of having an innocent and sheltered look, right now she''s wearing a red dress with black laces with no sleeves, she looked mature, but I guess I''m not the only one who wants a change of pace. She sat in front of me and made a forced smile as expected for a fiance who''s in it for the money and politics, my maids served us desserts that looked like gems, the way that they are of different color in small sizes served in luxurious dessert appliances. "My lady, try out these sweets made by my cooks, please enjoy it" "With pleasure" She picked up one of the desserts just like a lady would do, in complete etiquette using her delicate fingers, she looked like an artist in a commercial for UK biscuits, having a cup of tea. Okay, I got her weakness, time to turn her off¡­ I picked a handful of desserts with my hand and threw it to my mouth without any etiquette, luckily I had Gavin rest in his room, no one in the living room would witness me purposefully turning off my fiance. I crossed my leg and acted arrogantly, but to my surprise, something was happening beyond my expectations. Tiffania suddenly lost all her etiquette and started stuffing her mouth with the desserts, starting from macarons, next to the bite-sized cakes, then to the donuts, without any reserve. Wait¡­ this isn''t how she is in my memory, perhaps did Walter''s memories have a gap? Seeing her eat like this reminds me of Yuri on an all you can eat buffet, the way he eats them so fast as if the inside of her mouth is an incinerator. "What a glutton, ahhh you''re gonna get fat there" Oops, words came out of my mouth unexpectedly, but who cares it''s true anyway, I used to deal with Yuri the same way before, of course, she would beat me up for calling her fat. Tiffania smiled at me, with her mouth still with bits of sweets on it, for some reason I can feel a familiar aura around her, and I can tell that she''s a bit pissed off from what I said. "Ahaha don''t mind me, Prince Walter, the sweets are just so delicious I can''t help myself" Wait, isn''t she a noble lady? They usually have those sweets at home right? The past Tiffany would have just taken one sweet and told me that she is already full after sipping her tea, but today she is different. As I was shocked by the difference of Tiffania in Walter''s memories and the glutton in front of me. Tiffania suddenly stopped eating and stood up with her hands in her hips. "Prince Walter!" She proudly declared as she pointed her finger at me, the wait isn''t that forbidden in our society?! "What?" "Break up with me!" "Huh?! Wait¡­ hmmm that actually works well with me too, OK" "Huh?!" "Why are you imitating my expression, weren''t you the one who proposed it from the start?" "The wimp who''s head-over-heels for me actually accepted the break-up that easily?" she gasped as she covered her mouth. "Hey I can hear you, and that''s rude you know, why the hell are you so surprised?" All of a sudden, the Tiffania I expected wasn''t the Tiffania I am dealing with right now, is such a thing possible? I can feel that she''s being true to herself now, but I think I might like her better this way. 7 When Our Souls Touch I, Tiffania had to meet my fiance - the pushover third prince, to talk about the marriage, however, my plan is to find a way to break it off. "Okay! I will make sure to strongly tell him off that I''m breaking up with him!" I whispered to myself as I entered the carriage, which will take me to the prince''s mansion, I have one of mom''s maid, Lizzy accompanying me, she''s a girl at her 20''s and was incredibly beautiful with her ginger-colored hair that matches the color of her eyes, she is also petite with her hair at shoulder length, she wears a maid outfit together with a white hairband, I chose her because I think we will get along, she''s around my mental age after all, by the way, my physical age is 18, my mental age is my age before I was reincarnated. Following the dramas I watched, maybe I should push her to the prince - the prince catches her, they look into the eyes of each other and fall in love, then I willingly give up being his fiance and it will be happy ever after! Win-win! ... just kidding, as if it would go that easily. Even I and Kazu who almost had that married couple atmosphere around us as if we are fated for each other still broke up, plus I don''t want to become someone who dictates someone''s future, if Lizzy wants to get married to a noble and leave her life as a maid under my demon-like mother, then she should have the determination and guts to do it, and not because someone told her to. As I rode the carriage the scenery outside piqued my interest. I opened the window curtains and saw the bustling town we were passing by, the town is part of dad''s domain when they saw the carriage pass by they seem to bow a little to show respect, the women wore dresses while men''s clothes varied from simple shirts to elaborate coats. I entertained myself by seeing the unfamiliar environment, if I was in my old world, such a town could only be seen at western countries and would be somewhere in the 17''th or 18''th century, I don''t like history that much but seeing those historical plays and movies, those are indeed a bit accurate, the way they dress, the way they move, the townfolk were indeed very lively. Finally, I arrived at the prince''s mansion, because the prince doesn''t have a strong claim to the throne, according to Tiffania''s memories, he doesn''t even have properly armed guards, there were only two male servants guarding the outside steel gate, opening it to let my carriage in. I inhaled deeply and reviewed again of my strategy. "First, respectfully decline the marriage before the talks start, if the wimpy prince cries, tell him that I Tiffania does not deserve his love, add a bit of drama to catch his heart, just like the previous Tiffania would do.... and... " I looked at Lizzy and waved at her. "Lizzy, what if I push you to the third prince? Can you pretend to faint and let him catch you like a princess?" Lizzy tilted her head, it''s the first time I made a conversation with her after all, but when her mind finally processed what I just said, she immediately panicked, turned red, as she held her cheeks... ahhh Lizzy is so cute that I feel gloomy inside, it makes me really want to do it, should I do it? It''s much easier anyway. My evil thoughts started to leak out through my face, I was beautiful in my past life but I wasn''t cute and for some reason, recently remembering cute girls like Yui, bother me 100%. "What are you saying Lady Tiffania, you shouldn''t say improper things like that" She got out of the carriage first to open the door for me, what a good escape strategy. She assisted me as I went out of the carriage and knocked on the large door of the mansion for me, the mansion didn''t stand out much to me, aside from the mansions carefully made architecture, the garden for tea parties, nothing much different from ours, but based on Tiffania''s memories, such mansions are a symbol for high ranking nobles, like the Dukes and the princes. Servants opened the door for me and I entered the mansion with extraordinary dignity and poise ingrained to my body in my 18 years as Tiffania, forbidding even the suggestion of familiarity. The third prince appeared and in a gentlemanlike manner, he offered me his hand and led me to the living room, he pulled one of the chairs for me as I sat, the first thing that caught my attention was his attire and his aura. Didn''t he tell me that he likes bright colors only? Why is he wearing the opposite color today? And for some reason he looks matured, his round feminine eyes now looked like it was glaring at me, but somehow it looked natural, did something happen? Did he hit his head on the wall or something? How did he even get those mean-looking eyes? Was it magic? Those eyes, they remind me of someone, if only his hair was black and her eyes were grey I would have mistaken him for an 18-year-old Kazu. For some reason, the third prince didn''t look wimpy anymore, the last time Tiffania saw him was just a week ago, and back then he was the usual pushover prince, but right now he looks like a strict and cold prince who have gone in an all-nighter which was why he was having those mean eyes. I forced a graceful smile, to try and bait him to go back to his wimpy self, maybe he''s just putting an act or something, I can''t let my guard down on these nobles really. "My lady, try out these sweets made by my cooks, please enjoy it" "With pleasure" I took one of the macarons, in a ladylike fashion, if I can remember Tiffania didn''t like sweets that much, she would only take a piece of it and enjoy her tea, so I will do the same. I put the sweets into my mouth, and savor it and before I knew it it was already gone - it tasted great! Okay... another one, this will be the last piece, I took another one again, to try to calm down my nerves, but the moment I took the second sweets I yearned for more and more, I ate more macaroons and moved on to the next sweets which looked like small cakes, the entire tray to me looked like a sparkling jewelry set. This is sweetness is just too... addictive! I have never tasted anything like this! It would put my favorite sweets shop in my past life to shame! As I engaged in my mini sweets festival I could see Lizzy smiling at me wryly as if reminding me something, I think I may be forgetting something... but sweets come first! Sweets are justice! My motto in this new life, after all, is: NO REGRETS! Feeling that I''m almost full I checked on the prince, for some reason he is crossing his legs and is acting high and mighty, he has an expression as if I made a big loan and I haven''t paid him yet, I don''t remember Tiffania using money though, her attendants usually get stuff for her, plus she''s the daughter of a duke! How could you look at your fiance like that third prince! "What a glutton, ahhh, you''re gonna get fat soon" I heard the prince mutter and suddenly turned away immediately, while drinking his tea. What the hell was that?! Did this wimpy prince just call me fat? Is this really the same wimpy Walter? This lowkey insult that seems like a slip of tongue... it feels oddly familiar. I smile back at him, with a bit of nerve popping at my head, the message conveyed in my smile is as follows. "If you call me fat again, I''ll beat you up that even being a prince won''t save you from it," but all of this is, is just in my thoughts, but I hope my message gets through, no one has ever lived calling me fat before... just kidding I have 0% fighting ability. But when it comes to beating up someone who doesn''t fight back, I have enough strength, stamina, and guts to pull it off. I''m not even fat! I''m slim! In this world and in the previous world, I might eat slightly different than other girls but that''s because of my fast metabolism, what''s more embarrassing is to have people hear a ''guruguru'' sound coming from your stomach. Okay, time to go to business, I wiped away the bits of the sweets left in my hands by hitting it with each other, trying to imitate mafia underlings who were invited to a slugfest after lunch... truth is I didn''t bring a handkerchief, so it''s my only option. Lizzy seems to be shocked about what I did, I should have asked for her help, but it was too late, I was too focused on my first step towards my freedom and non-puppet life. "Prince Walter!" I told him pointing a finger at him for intimidation as I made a bit of a victorious smile, it has to be like this, or he might not take me seriously. "What?" Oh, he''s responsive, unlike before when he would just stare creepily at my face for hours. "Break up with me!" Wait, was that the plan I practiced?! Ah!!! I ate too many sweets I became full-on Yuri, there wasn''t a small speck of Tiffania left in the way I brought the topic to him, the finger-pointing, and the arrogant expression on my face, not a trace of being a proper lady. I sweated a bit as he seemed confused about my announcement, he won''t call his guards and have me arrested wouldn''t he? "Huh?! Wait¡­ hmmm that actually works well with me too, OK" "Huh?!" I unconsciously, imitated his surprise remark, expression, and tone, he''s just okay with me breaking off the engagement?! It works well with me, but this is strange! Am I talking to another person here? Was there a hidden fourth prince that replaces the third prince from time to time? "Why are you imitating my expression, weren''t you the one who proposed it from the start?" "The wimp who''s head-over-heels for me actually accepted the break-up that easily?" I couldn''t believe it, it''s very different according to Tiffania''s memories, I gasped and covered my mouth, I just blurted out what''s on my mind. "Hey I can hear you, and that''s rude you know, why the hell are you so surprised?" Wow, for a prince his language is as rough as mine, where did your gentleman etiquette go? Why would he have the same plan like me? Oh, maybe he just found another suitable candidate, and he might have been fooling the innocent Tiffania maybe, in reality, he isn''t really wimpy? Another maid came in and delivered the next batch of sweets, I saw his eyes follow the maid, and traced her curvy body, for some reason it made me more gloomy inside. DAMNIT! HE REALLY REMINDS ME OF KAZU!!! WHO FLIRTS EVEN IN FRONT OF HIS GIRLFRIEND!!! AHHH I''M FEELING SO IRRITATED. "Hah! Of course I would break-up with you, hah! So wimpy, a pushover, and a pervert at that!" I crossed, my hands and puffed out my cheeks, for some reason, I''m feeling the same way I felt when I get jealous when Kazu ogles at other girls even when I''m in front of him. The only difference is that I can''t beat up this important public figure here. "Wimpy? Pushover? Hah! At least I''m not so hungry to make the sweets tray sparkling and clean!" "Hah! What are you saying! Look at that! It hasn''t even been touched yet!" "Nonsense! It''s because the maid just replaced it with a new set! Have some shame! Glutton!" "G-G-Glutton?! How dare you say that to a frail maiden like me? Ahh the new maid huh? You''ve ogled at her well, how are her measurements huh? Pervert!" "P-P-Pervert?! Which part of you is frail?! Don''t change the topic! That''s because I don''t go for little girls like you! My maid''s three sizes are way better than yours!" "To compare women like that, hah! what a sicko! You really are trash! KAZUTRASH!" "Stop talking, stuff your mouth with those sweets you have there! YURIGORILLA!" With the words we threw at each other, I instantly stopped when I realized why was I feeling such warmth, familiarity, and jealousness. "... Kazu" "... Yuri?!" And just like that our fates have intertwined once again, as we bickered, our souls may have touched each other once again, that we ended up calling each other''s names of our previous lives. Just how cruel fate is? To meet my ex-boyfriend, even in this life. I feel amazingly happy when he called my name, but at the same time, I felt like running away... tell me Kazu, why are you staring me with those eyes? I thought you didn''t love me anymore? 8 I Still Love You I, the prince of Stizriven had just been bad-mouthed by my fiance who is engaged with me for political reasons. I have just been called directly at my face as a wimp, a pushover, and a pervert, by the woman who ate all the sweets prepared by my gorgeous maids. Wow, the tray looks shiny as hell, to think that there are really women just like Yuri, who only looks like a beautiful lady who eats nothing but salads and other non-fat products, but in reality eats more than a construction worker. Ahh, she''s annoying, she reminds me of Yuri. "Wimpy? Pushover? Hah! At least I''m not so hungry to make the sweets tray sparkling and clean!" I crossed my arms and looked away in annoyance, I am the current Walter Wiedenfeld and I''ll show you that I''m not a pushover and wimpy, well about being pervert I''m quite guilty about it, so she may have a point, but I think all men are perverts though, I just prefer to be myself and show it whenever and wherever I want, as a result, my ex have beaten me up many times in public because of that. "Hah! What are you saying! Look at that! It hasn''t even been touched yet!" It hasn''t been touched?! What the hell is the deal with this girl? Is she really that fragile-looking, beautiful and cute girl that had such dignified and elegant manners! She''s even making pathetic excuses! Okay time to tell her off! "Nonsense! It''s because the maid just replaced it with a new set! Have some shame! Glutton!" "G-G-Glutton?! How dare you say that to a frail maiden like me? Ahh the new maid huh? You''ve ogled at her well, how are her measurements huh? Pervert!" "P-P-Pervert?! Which part of you is frail?! Don''t change the topic! That''s because I don''t go for little girls like you! My maid''s three sizes are way better than yours!" The lady who ate like a construction worker just called herself frail! She''s even boldly pointing out my pervertedness in a loud voice, earlier was alright but now she''s shouting it loudly, ahhhh I can see my maids whispering to each other, I even mentioned their three sizes, oh my god, what the hell is wrong with you Tiffania! ¡­ Wait, not good, I''m getting worked up for some reason, "To compare women like that, hah! what a sicko! You really are trash! KAZUTRASH!" "Stop talking, stuff your mouth with those sweets you have there! YURIGORILLA!" What¡­ what did we just call each other? At the moment she called by my nickname, everything finally made sense, there''s only one person in the entire universe who calls me by that name with such tenacity, and could stir me up to this degree. "... Kazu" "... Yuri?!" Even though our faces are now different, it seems that we still recognized each other, so this is what that god meant, "Don''t let her go this time, and don''t make her cry again" huh? So in that incident we died together and reincarnated in bodies of nobles that are engaged with each other¡­ god is really in a good mood today. I felt a small flame burning in my heart, no¡­ it''s beating faster as I looked into her eyes, even though it''s not the same color, it''s the same eyes I stared at over and over again, it''s really her, the woman that I loved for many years, even until now, so even after reincarnation we still met huh? Seeing that she''s unable to move, with beads appearing in my eyes I moved closer to her, and held her face that was about to also cry, her grey eyes were the same as her eyes in the old world, it sparkled like gems, it looked so beautiful and mesmerizing. The last time I remember her she was crying at KFC, and ran when I was about to go near her, but this time I won''t let you go Yuri. I slowly caressed the back of her head and slid her onto my chest as I wrapped her in my arms. "Kazu¡­ is that really you?" She asked me as she slowly tapped my back, why? Ah, so I must be crying¡­ I didn''t notice, I was just filled with such happiness, being reincarnated into this world where no one recognizes me, I was unconsciously filled with fear, by no means, the concept itself is supposed to be enjoyable, after all, it''s a world filled with magic, in movies, it was supposed to become an adventure, but in reality, it''s the opposite, the first feeling that I noticed is sorrow, to not be able to see the ones I love anymore, my friends and the people I care for in my old world. Seeing you here took away those fears, worries and anxiousness. The one who knows and understands me the most is right in front of me, wrapped in my arms. "No¡­ in this world I''m Walter, Yuri,no-... in this world you are Tiffania huh?" As if my feelings have reached her she responded by hugging me back completely, as she rested her head on my shoulders. "Yeah, Walter, I''m sorry... for running out like that, if not for that then you might be alive and-" "No, don''t say that, Yu-... Tiffania, let''s just be grateful, that even in this unfamiliar world, our souls still found each other, I''m really grateful, to have a chance to apologize, and tell you the things I haven''t told you yet" "Heh, what is that, so corny¡­ is your cold-guy attitude finally wearing off after getting reincarnated?" This woman who doesn''t know how to shut her mouth off finally ruined the emotional moment, but it''s okay, it''s just how she is. "You really know how to easily get on my nerves." We separated as we smiled at each other as Walter and Tiffania, with beads of tears in our eyes, the last time I saw her she was crying in pain, and now the tears she has are tears of happiness, I''m so happy to see her smile once again, and glad that she didn''t run away this time and was also happy somehow that we met, even after death, we beat those couples saying "till death do us part", oh wait, that''s incorrect since we broke up already. ¡­.. Tiffania stayed for dinner, we decided to dine outside my mansion, at the garden used for tea parties, where it was lit by four lamps using light magic, it seems Gavin can cast it, what a handy old man. Okay, I''ll reward him with some hard cookies later. Cutlery and plates were prepared, we are still happily chatting with each other as we wait for dinner to be served. The first topic we talked about is about the people we reincarnated in, Walter and Tiffania, we explained each other circumstances,. "It''s unfair¡­ " "What? Why?" "You have been reincarnated as a prince, and I was reincarnated as the daughter of the duke" She pouts her face again, it''s so cute I want to take a picture of her right now if I had a cell phone. "Nothing we can really do about that, it''s better than being born as a commoner here right?" Commoners in this kingdom, according to our memories mostly are abused by the corrupt nobles, by raising tax, wringing them dry, making them as slaves, and then selling them off to other countries which gives the corrupt nobles more income. It''s distasteful, no matter how beautiful this world is supposed to be, just like my old world, it still casts its own shadow, and in this feudal society that hasn''t developed that much technology and policies yet, the deeper the shadow it casts. "Hey Tiffania, is your father one of those corrupt Dukes we hate so much in the movies in our old world?" "No, father is decent, although he is forcing me to get married to you its pure concern to me, and the stability of the family, he is running the domain decently" "I''m glad, at least if we get married I''ll get his support!" "Do you think I''ll get married to you? After everything you did to me in our past life, hmmmppf!" As I was about to get worked up again, I sighed and tried to understand more of her words, even how long I knew her, one thing that got us into quarrels is that I can''t understand her heart sometimes, she isn''t honest to her feelings and is stubborn and awkward, even though how outgoing she is. This time I''ll choose an answer that will not get us into another fight, and try to understand her more, no matter how unpredictable her personality is. "Haha, as the saying goes, ''let bygones be bygones'', you always tell me that right? This time I''ll be using your popular phrase. We are engaged, after all, let''s just go with the flow, or they will notice you know" "Well¡­ you have a point, but I don''t want to become a puppet of the family." "Let''s just take things slow, step by step right?" "How are you dealing with your personality change by the way?" "Ah for me, I just act the way I do around the people close to me, like Gavin, if I were to try to act like the old Walter, it will be so stiff, I don''t know how to act" "Unfair, you even changed outfits¡­ maybe I should do the same?" "Do you have loyal servants at home?" "N-No, all maids are under my mother¡­" "Then what about that cute maid who came with you?" "Cute? I''m gonna smack you!" "Then¡­ if you have no one, why not just live in my mansion with me?" The two of us talked and talked as we dined with the steak prepared for us, as the moon and the stars shone above us, it was our first date a year after breaking up, and to be honest, the night felt so good, as if my thirst for something has been finally quenched. I haven''t felt this feeling even when I was with Yui, I guess its really different with Yuri. We both enjoyed talking about each other''s troubles, how Tiffanias mother was scary, how I startled Gavin who came to me the first time I woke up, the differences between cultures of our old world knowledge in middle ages and in this world, how I was treated as a wimpy prince. It also seemed that Tiffania recalls her reincarnation as her memories of her past life surging into her mind, unlike me where I heard god''s voice, but I didn''t tell her that, it''s a bit embarrassing that I asked god for another chance because I love her so much. I also kept the poisoning a secret, for now, it''s too dangerous for her to be involved. Before I knew it, dinner was over and her carriage finally arrived to pick her up. We decided to keep our relationship as it is as it works to our advantage, but there''s one thing I haven''t told her yet. As she finally stood up to leave, I held her hand. "Tiffania, there may be things uncertain, I really don''t know why I have been reincarnated in such a world, and luckily, you are here too, but I just want to say one thing before you leave, one thing I regretted not telling you, I regretted it so much that even after reincarnation I kept thinking about it¡­ and now that you are here, I want to say it before anything happens again! I, as Kazu and Walter Wiedenfeld, still love you, in our past life, in our current life, and will keep loving you no matter how many times we will get reincarnated!" For the first time in my life, I made such an embarrassing confession, but I think it''s the best time to say it, I who have met an untimely death knows how important it is to say the things you need to say to the ones you love, you never know when you get the chance to do so. As I said the words, she responded to me by turning to me, and making a curtsy elegantly, and smiled with the same smile she gave me in the years of dating. "I, Tiffania Mueller¡­ will have to think about it." Wait, WAIT WAIT WAIT! Did she just reject my once in two lifetimes embarrassing confession? It was very hard for me to say that, I did confess my love to her but that was as equals and mutual love, it wasn''t as romantic as this one! Ah bury me right here at where I am standing Gavin! "Well¡­ after seeing you ogle at those maids, and knowing that in your position as a prince, of course, I would have such reservations. Ohoho" Oh, she''s acting like a proper lady right now, well, it''s better than nothing. I made a wry smile. "Ohoho, shall I use my authority?" "Ohoho, I''ll run away and make myself an adventurer, I''ll beat you up to a pulp, there''s magic after all" "Ohoho, you''ll be charged with crimes for treating me badly ohoho" "Ohoho, using your authority right now huh? AFTER THAT EMBARRASSING CONFESSION! HAHA" "Ohoho... " We bickered for a while again with our noble selves, before Tiffania was finally able to go. But as she left a letter came in, and its contents were, was a warm congratulations my recovery from the poison, and a death threat to me, telling me to give up my claim to the throne, or they will take away the people that I love, away from me. 9 Catching Tiffania "Th-That Kazu¡­ no- Walter, after all those years how could he easily say that embarrassing confession out of nowhere, I can''t believe that I''ll be blushing like this at my age" I rolled left and right at my large and soft bed as I covered my face, by the way, I already removed the brown cloth and the frills and made it pure red cloth, I also arranged the room so it would less stressful for me to see, but after a few minutes I became so tired, I guess my body in the old world has much more stamina, should I build up stamina starting tomorrow? My daily schedule is simple since I already mastered my dignified and elegant manners, I go for piano practice, read books and after that, if I don''t have anything scheduled I''m free to do anything I want, the old Tiffania would go at tea parties or visit the wimpy Walter, but now I have a new goal, I will use the time to build up my stamina so I can run and move it like my body in the old world. Now time to sleep¡­ but Walter''s face appears again, oh my god, Kazu is more handsome than he was in the old world, back then his plainness hid his cool side, and now he has a flashy appearance with that blonde hair and blue eyes, his coolness doubles the falling effect. If not for my automatic Tiffania poker face back with elegance and dignity I would have lost it. Before I could sleep I rolled over a few more times, remembering my ex''s embarrassing confession and his new handsome face. .... At the morning, I immediately headed to the Mueller estate to check things with Tiffania, going by that letter, Tiffania could be a target, she''s the only one the old wimpy Walter was romantically obsessed with, I got down of the carriage and immediately went to their gates. "Compared to my mansion there is a bit wider huh plus it has armed guards¡­ Gavin tell them to let me in hurry up" I saw the poor old man trying his best to approach the guards guarding the gate, they seemed like templar knights to me wearing chainmail under their tunic printed with the kingdom''s insignia and wore a bucket-shaped helmet. Still, I feel bad for making the old man hurry up, I''ll give you some good liquor later to apologize, as a human from the old world¡­ I''m sorry. The knights who recognized Gavin and me immediately opened the gates and let the carriage in, I saw some maid scurrying at the front of the door of the residence, I felt my heart beating fast, out of anxiousness and fear, for this to happen just after the day we reunited, how far will fate play with us? "Where is Tiffania!" I glared at the maids who were scurrying around, they immediately stopped and made a short curtsy to me, and was hesitant to answer, all of them were equally cute and beautiful some of them had nice and mature features, but none of them mattered as I searched for her. Those useless knights outside, for a single lady to be taken easily without them noticing! I''m gonna put them on death trial for this! "Answer me where is Tiffania!" This time they became scared as they made a "hee" sound, as an advocate of gender equality, I feel nothing at all. "Ms. T-T-Tiffania is¡­ " The maid that I saw accompanying Tiffania came forward with beads of sweat at her forehead. Just as I''ve thought, she''s already gone that they couldn''t even say the truth to me, the prince of this kingdom. "Oy, Walter!" I heard a voice behind me, it sounded like Tiffania''s voice but it''s definitely unladylike. As I turned around from the source of sound I saw Tiffania dressed in menswear and had a towel hanging on her neck. That towel, that morning sweat on her skin, that refreshed look and that black hair tied up, could this girl have been¡­. jogging?! "Walter, why did you come so early? Strange¡­ don''t you have any duties to attend to? Ehehe" I immediately flicked her at the forehead and pinched her nose left and right. So this is what I have been worried about, no wonder her maids are anxious, about telling me about this. "Ouch! What the hell are you doing Walter" "You''re roughness is leaking" "Ouchieeee, what might you be doing Prince Walter?" "My lady, I am punishing you" "For what? Ouch Ouch Ouch, this is domestic violence!" I let her go and patted her on the head, good girl, you''re building up strength huh, that''s good, what a hard worker, for now at least she is safe. The maid was startled by my sudden entrance, and it might be bad if they leaked this to her mother, so I kneeled in front of her on one knee and kissed her on the hand where the engagement ring the old Walter gave her was, just like a proper prince. "Pft. that was salty, seriously was that sweat?" "Die!" "Just kidding¡­" I stood up knowing that it wasn''t our normal greeting, the hand kiss was for the old Walter, and for me the current Walter, I held her head and kissed her in the forehead. "That one is for me" I told her as I blinked in one eye, and the effects showed instantly, just like in the old world, she turned red like an octopus immediately, I guess she hasn''t changed much after a year. Her mother and father who just got out of the door to greet me fainted when they saw the Tiffania, in male clothes, drenched in sweat talking with me, their maids immediately caught them. They must be really serious about pushing the marriage. And yeah, for a daughter of the duke this shirt and shorts outfit is just overkill, if anyone sees her they might mistake her for a commoner who has been lost in the duke''s garden. "Tiffania, you''re gonna get scolded later" "Haha, just so you know I asked for their permission, it was you who came abruptly, that they fainted like that ahaha" Wow, she''s pretending to laugh, when inside she''s angry, in the old world she might have smacked me already with anything she is holding but luckily her mother and father is present, she can''t do anything. Okay time to make her shut up again through red octopus style, it''s the style I use to shut her up by making her blush. I took her towel and wiped the sweat on her face, while softly caressing her cheeks and face. "W-What are you doing in public?" "Public? Were basically in your garden though?" "My maids are seeing us!" "Who cares were engaged right?" I eyed the maids who were holding each other as they saw us flirting for support. "Right? Ladies?" And they all responded in chorus, "Right, Prince Walter" "Hmmm Hmmm what a good response" "Walter¡­ y-y-you idiot!" "Stop turning red and get dressed up, I''ll wait wherever you want me to wait" "Then the living room" "Okay" After she got dressed up she was finally in her ladylike outfit, it was a burgundy dress with no sleeves, that looked good with her silky black hair and eyes, opposite from her blue eyes and chestnut-colored hair in the old world, it showed her smooth and white complexion that made that last touch of the outfit. "I''m sorry for having you wait, Prince Walter" With her elegant self she made a curtsy, she really looked a princess if I would forget her attire this morning. "Wanna get married today?" "Pass" "What a quick reply¡­ anyway I want to let you see this" I slid the envelope, that contains the death threat to me and possibly to her, as predicted she can also read it perfectly, after a confused gaze she returned the letter to me. "Someone you love huh¡­ do you really love me?" She asked me while raising an eyebrow, what? After that confession you''re gonna give me that look? Okay, I''m not gonna give in, actually, I''m more steps ahead than you. "Yup, so in that case from today you will be staying at my mansion" "HUH?!" "I''ve already made arrangements with your mother and father, right?" I winked towards her mother and father at the back, as I have slipped to them handwritten copies of the letter. "From now on Tiffania Mueller will be living together with me, right? Mr. and Ms. Mueller?" "Mother, Father did you just!" Her protest got her nowhere as her family was very excited of her being taken away by me for safety, additionally, I requested some knights to guard the mansion, by the way, I also selected some woman knights among the list, DEFINITELY not because I had ulterior motives, or I want to see how a female knight looks like, its because I think Tiffania would need female friends of her own. The Mueller family immediately packed some of her luggage and sent her me with tears of happiness in their eyes. "TIffania, congratulations! We will be following your other dresses tomorrow okay!" "Tiffania my daughter, your efforts of following me your mother has finally paid off" Finally, I caught my Tiffania-mon, this time I''ll be living together with my ex. 10 Three Letters I Tiffania has been taken against my will to my ex''s mansion, even though for my safety, it happened in an instant, and he was so quick in setting the groundwork to take me away, okay I''ll beat him up a bit later when none''s looking. Well, we were neighbors before so I would often go to his room and hang out when I get bored, there''s particularly nothing new to it, but right now I am Tiffania, as a lady and the daughter of a duke, it''s rude! "Plus the maids and my mother going, "Kyahh \u003c3" with hearts on their eyes were annoying" He''s become a little bit cheeky, or I guess, more romantic¡­ in the past he would often give me a scornful stare whenever I try to coerce him to do the romantic stuff I point out on TV. I sighed as we finally arrived at his mansion. "So¡­ what do you plan from here on?" "Hmm¡­ nothing?" "Nothing?! After everything that you did? Just so you know our domain is safeguarded by knights! If you only let me know I could have told father and we would bolster out security and yet you¡­ " "No, it''s better to be together right now, I''m not a strategist myself, but according to the letter, they decided to harm the "people around me" not me directly, I don''t know the reason, but that means if you are with me, it''s hard for them to touch you because they only want me to give up the rights to claim the throne, until I can do that, I want to keep you by my side always" "Are you really giving in to that threat? If you do that you''ll lose everything you know?" "Hmmm¡­ not really, remember the old Tiffania got engaged with me even when she already knows my situation? If I step down from the throne and avoid conflict I will still have enormous funding from my father, the King" He''s right, no matter what happens, he will still have enough funds to live comfortably, he will still be a prince, the son of the king, but what will happen after? Maybe I''m a bit too concerned, unlike me he''s cunning, I think he has thought about it far ahead than I could, it''s useless to worry. "I see, then like the usual, I''ll leave it to you" The days in his mansion was full of nostalgia, comedy and bliss, because the maids and his attendant Gavin would do everything for him, we would often laze around, talk to each other, play strange board games, and read in his library while eating the cookies that his maids makes for us, for each time he looks lewdly at one of the maids, would cost him five pieces of cookies, in one day I would get around the average of 25 cookies a day, which I think is bad for my health, so every day I would drag him out and jog with him around the mansion, the maids and the newly hired knights looked at us strangely before but soon they got used to it or gave up on the peculiar scene, although I wanted to remain as ladylike as possible, I can''t do everything I want in this body yet, I have to prepare for the time comes when I get the freedom to explore more of this kingdom, and to the other kingdoms, and finally all around the world! Today is a bit different, because Walter would relinquish his claim to the throne and will talk with his brothers about it. In my memories it''s a bit odd, for a prince''s who are rivals to talk about it, in other words it''s an unspoken rule and is an action that will be surely seen as lowly until now the prince''s would avoid talking about it while doing their best to top each other to get the favor of their father. "So Tiffania, the maids have prepared cookies for you, don''t you bully my cute maids just because they don''t give you enough okay?" "Ehehe, I''ll kill you when you come back later" I gave him a fake smile, deep inside I want to smack him, calling girls cute here and there, but is awfully shy when he is with me and treats me like a best friend, aside from that one confession, recently he didn''t do anything romantic at all, maybe I should not forgive him after all? Hmmph! These days we have gotten closer to each other. "Bye Prince Walter, good luck!" As I saw him off, I saw some of the knights we hired glaring at me for some reason, did I do something? Or was it improper? Technically we are engaged though? Am I too beautiful that they hate seeing us flirting? ¡­.. I immediately rode the carriage to hide my blushing face, thinking about the married couple-like thing we did, although we are engaged Tiffania herself has yet to give me an answer, but the days we spent to each other felt like just like before when we haven''t reincarnated yet. Gavin, who followed shortly to accompany me, and sat in front of me. "Hehehe, could it be that you are blushing Prince Walter?" Ohoho, this old man is teasing me now, well he is someone like a grandpa figure to me so I''ll let him off, I really hope though this old man stays with me even when I relinquish my claim to the throne, he isn''t with me just because I''m a king candidate right? "Shut it, Gavin, the responses are verified right? They will be coming right?" "Yes, Prince Walter, in fact, they are very surprised with you taking action this time" "Really? Why?" "Well, if I''m not too imposing before you were what you call... Ummm¡­" "A wimp right?" "Y-Y-Yes Prince Walter, but you have changed greatly, and your subjects are very happy about it, you have been taking your duties seriously, you have manned up and taken Lady Tiffania under your home, and have been even training with her in "jogging" right? To raise your abilities?" "Call me Walter when we are alone, you have done great service to me in all those years, if not for you I would have already been thrown out for being useless, so right now I''m being useful. Have some confidence in yourself, you helped raise me to become the prince that I am right now" "Yes, Yes Walter" For some reason the old man started crying, as he wiped his tears, with his sleeves. It must have been hard taking care of the wimpy Walter huh? But thanks to you he''s been able to live a good life, at least according to my memories, the old Walter died without much pain. I don''t know why I said those words to him, deep inside I''m thinking of him as the old Walter''s close aide, but since the day I was reincarnated into Walter''s body and showed him my changes, he didn''t change his attitude to me, he cares for me like a grandpa. Although I can''t change my attitude to him because of my standing, it was the best way I could pass him the old Walter''s and my sentiments combined. Today a big change will happen, once I relinquish the right to the throne I might end up losing some important things, such as the cute maids, the knights and Gavin''s loyalty, he might have been looking forward to making me the next king, but it''s better than letting them get hurt. Gavin may identify as a person important to me, as Walter''s loyal aide, in other words he is also a target, aside from Tiffania. We arrived at the mansion of the second prince, which is the best location to meet in the middle, the first prince''s domain is farther than here. As I arrived I saw the number of knights gathered behind each of them who looked like they were sizing up each other, the insignia in their chests differed, the knights of the second prince had an iron cross with a red accent, the knights of the first prince had an iron cross with a blue accent but a sword behind it, diagonally. The knights seemed to be wary of each other as if squaring off, I don''t remember this being such an event. "Hey brothers!" I waved as I went out of the carriage to ease the tension a bit, in my black outfit composed of a long coat and breeches, the two only eyed me, the first prince Heinrich Wiedenfeld with a serious expression wearing a full plate knights armor, his face looks scary and has some scars on it, where is this man even battling? Aren''t we in a federation? The second prince Heinrich Wiedenfeld gives me a playful smile, wearing his house clothes, a simple long-sleeve white shirt with a string at its center, and breeches, he looks like a refreshing pianist who''s about to perform. Unlike them, I only have Gavin with me, so in other words, I''m the easiest prey they could get their hands on, this is also a message that I don''t intend to fight, if one of them is the culprit of the death threat then this would be a good message. "Brother Zack, thanks for letting me use your mansion for this meeting" "It''s okay if it''s for my cute little brother, still it''s strange, that you are holding a meeting this time, what brought on such change?" Woah, as expected he''s perceptive, and stop that unnecessary winking it''s bothering me. "Brother Heinrich, thanks for coming even when you are busy in the military ministry" "It''s fine, I have some business with you two after all" As usual, he''s tough, tight-lipped and warrior-like, he''s the most likely successor of the throne, he commands the military of the kingdom, and is crazy on getting the favor of our father, as much as I''d like to support him, he''s the warmonger type, a non-combatant like me wouldn''t like to be involved with - though he is my brother, based on my memories he plans to rule with a strong arm, just as he is doing in in the military, I don''t want to turn the kingdom into such a country. On the other hand, the second prince is highly intelligent, I support him more, but he''s got some personal problems like his playfulness, that doesn''t pick any gender or race, it''s becoming bad for my heart I see him as gay sometimes, it makes me remember the horrible BL movies Yuri forced me to watch. I sat on the chair on the round table, with two of them adjacent to me, to begin the talks. "Okay, I want to tell you about something today-" But before I could continue the first prince banged the table with a letter with a ferocious glare to us. The second prince got startled, but I didn''t. "-it''s about this right?" He told us with a grim voice, the letter looked familiar, it has the same seal with the one I got with the death threat. Could it be that he also received the death threat? Which means¡­ that the second brother is the culprit? I looked at my second brother who helplessly smiled and took something from his pocket, I readied myself in case it was a dagger or something but what he took from his pocket was also the same letter. "You too?!" Shouted the first prince in disbelief, maybe he thought that it was the doing of the second prince, but it turns out that it isn''t, the only one who didn''t present the letter is me. Both looked at me curiously, I wanted to talk about giving up my claim to the throne without showing them the letter, but it turns out we all had the same letters if I don''t show mine I might get suspected. "Gavin¡­ the letter" Gavin took a letter out from his front pocket and slowly laid it on the table, good thing I brought it with me or I would be the prime suspect. All of us got the same letter? What is the purpose? Or could someone here predicted the situation and brought a copy of his own letter that he sent to us? It doesn''t make sense! That warrior-minded first prince wouldn''t have thought of it if anyone can think of the situation it would be the second prince who is known for his intelligence, but according to my memories he isn''t such a cunning person, he is intelligent but he uses it to leverage the condition of his own subjects including the poor. It''s odd, and it''s a bit creepy, I came here to give up the throne, but suddenly seeing us hold the same letter gave rise to a few questions. What is the purpose of the writer? Is the culprit amongst us? If not, what is the purpose of sending us the same death threats? 11 Walter Was Righ As we discovered that we have the same letters, silence filled the garden, as the first prince looked at us cautiously with the second prince smiling awkwardly while I kept my mouth shut while also eyeing the others. "What the hell is going on?" The strong brother Heinrich Wiedenfeld crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if calming himself down. He''s quite calmer than I imagined him to be according to my memories. He looks like an honorable general, well technically he is a general who fights battles in some skirmishes and during monster-slaying missions. This world according to my memories are filled with magic and at the same time with magical creatures, when Walter was young he was attacked by a small fry monster frog that came out of the second prince''s pond and was saved by Zack, which explains his unhealthy brothership to each other, but I will have none of that. "Knowing that all of us here got the same letter, does this mean that this is the tactic of the enemy?" "What?" "The enemy is not amongst the three of us" Hey hey, brother Zack sn''t that too early to conclude on that? Is it really that simple? I''ll have you know this is a death threat you know? In my old life, I''ve heard most politicians eat death threats at their breakfast idiom, but in reality, it''s quite scary, this is my second life, I don''t plan to die early again, with that attempted poisoning and this threat, something is clearly wrong! Please thinks this thoroughly! "I still can''t trust you two, even if the enemy isn''t amongst us, who knows one of you is being used by the enemy?" As expected, but the first prince''s mistrust has a basis, in this case I have the same opinion as him although it feels odd that I''m taking his side, before the old Walter would agree with Zack 100% of the time, but I will also have none of that. "Brother Heinrich is right, we shouldn''t be taking this lightly, there was also an attempted poisoning on my mansion by a maid" "Oh, first, this meeting and now, you''ve started to get some real backbone now Walter! That poison really did change you huh?" What''s more surprising is your praising me, brother Heinrich, or is he this kind of person since the beginning? And stop tapping my back, your arms are as big as my torso. "You too Walter? Surprising... but my opinion is mine alone, I acknowledge that both of you also have your opinion, but indeed Walter''s attitude, way of speaking, and the way he looks us right now are very different perhaps these changes are because of Tiffania huh? I heard you took her away from the mansion?" After talking for a while, with some important topics, such as the ceremonies I missed, my father''s condition which seemed to be in top condition, mothers concern to us fighting over the throne, the meeting finally ended with me returning home by carriage and was surprised by what I saw. But before I climbed in my carriage Zack saw me off with a smile on his face, luckily he hasn''t done anything creepy today, maybe because of brother Heinrich''s presence. "Wow, today you were really awesome Walter, it''s as if¡­ you are a different person" "Huh?" Did he find me out? Ah, who cares I''ve made a vow after all to become a new Walter. "Well, how do I say this brother Zack, I thank you for caring for me when I was a wimp, and a useless prince and brother, but people do change, and recently I just have found out¡­ " "What have you found out?" "That you change for real when something big is at stake, all excuses will be gone, at my second life after that poison, I realized this, which is why right now, I am making this change" "I see, then, I guess you''ve changed, after all, you even sided with Heinrich" "Really? I was just stating my opinion nothing more, I''m not siding with everyone it''s just that... his opinion makes more sense" "But you should be cautious of it, after all, you are a prince right, there''s some danger that comes with it" "Really?" "Yep, I wish you safe travel home, my cute little brother" And then he smiled, I''m having some bad feeling about this, which was verified immediately when I arrived at my mansion, hearing Tiffania scream while throwing things from the window. "Get out of here!" Is that Tiffania I am seeing throwing out my favorite furniture outside the window? Well, if she''s doing it for protection it''s alright, oh, oh she''s throwing it accurately at the knights trying to forcefully enter the room, I feel sorry for them, that girl has a good aim lads, I can vouch on that. "Gavin what the hell is going on?" I calmly asked Gavin about the situation in front of me, while he was panicking, what a cute old man. "Prince Walter! The knights! They are attacking the mansion!" "Huh!? If our knights have turned against us how are we gonna fight those?" "I can fight Prince Walter!" Gavin showed me the sword in his cane, wow, that doesn''t make me rest assured at all, how is he gonna fight with those wobbly knees of his that I am seeing? Anyway, I have to think of something. I don''t know any martial arts at all, here goes nothing! I moved forward together with Gavin, with Gavin holding his cane that has a sword in it. "Hey! What the hell are you doing? I didn''t hire you to break my things!" I shouted to the knights, they immediately faced me with the swords on hand, ah, how cool, maybe I should learn it for the long term? Okay! After jogging I''ll practice swords with Tiffania. "We are after you Prince Walter! Because of you our wives and children were taken! If we don''t take you and your fiance''s life, they would kill them!" "And which idiot concluded that they would return them to you if you kill us? Do you have any assurance? Do you even have evidence that they are still alright?!" Kidnapping is not that simple, especially for these knights whose sole job is to fight and nothing more, based on their armor and the fact that I was able to hire them means that they are quite low ranked. I don''t care much about their situation, because it''s wrong to take someone else''s life for your own or for your loved ones, the ones who are able to kill must be ready to be killed anytime, an unspoken rule in war and violence. However, if there''s a chance to end this without shedding blood, the one who knows it has the responsibility to offer it. "T-That is" That man stuttered as he held his sword in my direction, gripping it with intensity, it''s obvious he''s telling the truth, they were threatened. If I were the kidnapper I would have paid them to do the deed, but it could be that they were strong-willed that they couldn''t be bribed - of course, you are plotting to kill a prince, that alone is scary, so the mastermind''s bet to have me killed without dirtying their own hands through these poor knights. Sorry, but I won''t be going down that easily. "Walter! Beat them up for me!" "Shut up and stay there!" That idiot Tiffania, just shouted at me from the window that took almost a hundred years off my lifespan, she has done well in making my mansion a sturdy fortress, but don''t just assume I can fight, the old Walter has always skipped his sword training, in my past life I don''t also have any martial arts experience like my buddy Andrei. But thanks Tiffania, I could use your idiocy to my advantage. "You heard her, Gavin here¡­ is an expert swordmaster" "P-Prince Walter?" Gavin whispered to me, worriedly. Shut up old man they are gonna find out my bluff. "And I have been trained by the first prince himself, which is why I didn''t intend to hire you before until Tiffania came here, do you really want to fight with me? I''m quite strong you know? But consider yourself lucky I don''t intend to spill blood at my own mansion, I''m also interested in the man who forced you into this, so I won''t kill you" "W-Who the hell cares! This is for our families! All five of us!" The one who spoke now was the female knight I specifically requested, she had good looks, if I were to be captured, it''s okay if it was her... Joking aside, let''s forget that and move forward. "Think about it, you don''t have any assurance at all, the kidnapper is threatening to kill your family, do you think they''ll easily let your families go? NO! They would just use you again and again and again without any end! And suddenly you''ll lose contact with them, and discover that your families have already died a long time ago, not being able to die an easy death, having been toyed around by those sick nobles. It may be harsh but this is the reality with nobles in these cases, THINK! Does anyone who wishes me harm have good intentions towards your wife and children? No! As much of a coward as they are mostly scums that pretend to be human!" "Then what should we do! We don''t have any choi-" "Choice? You do have a choice! Swear your loyalty once again to me! And I will use my connections, my wealth, my power to try and find your families, and make sure that you get your hands in the kidnapper and together we will punch them in the face! I have a plan, are you on?" "That makes sense, but first tell me about your plan! We''ll decide if it works!" "It''s simple, hear me out!" ¡­ The next day news spread all over the domain about the third prince''s severe wound from bandits that left him in a vegetative state and was about to die, the five knights went to the specific location to fetch their families according to what was written in the letter. There they met bulky men coming out from the carriage wearing civilian nobles clothes, but behind the carriage the lady knight saw something glimmering, it was an armor the cross with red linings with it. "Can we meet our families now?" "No! You have to die, so no witnesses remain! Your families will follow you shortly!" Men in noble clothes surrounded them, five against ten, with their bulky appearance they seem to be capable fighters with a strong bloodthirst written in their eyes, eyes of animals and scum combined. The five knights knew Walter was right. 12 The Start of the Three-Way War As the knights were about to be captured, I appeared on the scene ready for a cool confrontation. "Oh, so you didn''t want any witnesses huh? How selfish are you, first you order these poor knights by hostaging their families and now you want to kill them? There should be at least a limit to your foolishness" "P-P-Prince Walter! How come are you standing there!" "Oh, so you recognized me huh? Also, you lot are quite familiar... those faces¡­ are you knights of my brother Zack" "Huh?! No way" They seem flustered as if I wouldn''t recognize those faces and those stares, did they underestimate my memory? Or maybe that''s just how nobles are expected, to not care about anything that isn''t their equal. "So these knights lied to us! Say goodbye to your family then! As for you prince Walter, don''t expect you''ll come out alive from here!" "Oho, so you are still going about that, you must have gone insane, do you think you could win against me?" "That''s right! That''s right! He''s been trained by prince Heinrich himself!" "Yes, and also that old man with him is a sword master!" My knights interjected. Okay, it''s going well, the enemy seems flustered after hearing that bluff, Gavin also showed up with a grim expression as he showed a glimpse of the sword in his cane with his wobbling knee. This old man really knows how to act the part, he looks like an old mafia boss or something, anyway we need to capture them immediately. I whistled using my hands, and the street rats that I hired showed themselves. Unlike knights who are expensive to hire, they are easy to hire and are loyal as long as you feed them. After I arranged the plan, the first thing I did was to spread rumors about my vegetative state through them, as they know the most crowded bars and streets to do it. There''s only one thing I promised them, that they wouldn''t starve ever again, with the food and liquor I will provide them as long as they will serve me. I plan to give more perks as I learn more about them, who knows they may have made unforgivable crimes. Shaking hands with the underground world may be unacceptable for a prince, but as the third prince, I can''t be picky with my choices. The street rats were in various sizes and ages numbered up to 23 using crude weapons, and ragged clothes, for some reason why do I feel like I am the villain here. "Capture them!" The street rats immediately surrounded them, together with the five knights in case the enemy fights back, they would be the only ones who are in equal strength with them. "For a prince, you are hiring street rats?! First thing I''ve heard of it!" "Well, if I hire another group of knights you are just going to take their families away and blackmail them again right? That''s why this is the most optimal solution. Just a warning if you choose to resist, we''ll seriously have no problem about killing you, I hope you are ready to die after involving the innocent with this your foolishness" "Shut up! Do you think you could do this to us? Prince Zack will take your head off" He shouted the name of his master, and immediately regretted his decision as he covered his mouth and looked at his irritated comrades. Wow that was easy, I can''t believe that it just takes a bit of provocation for them to make them spit out Zack''s name. "Checkmate," I said as I checked the surrounding abandoned buildings. I went closer to him to whisper. "Prince Zack huh? Just so you know we are being watched by the townspeople, hah! And now your prince Zack''s reputation in this town is finished, and he will lose the support of the people because of you, do you think he will need someone like you who has defiled his name in front of the citizens? No! Much more you will be likely to be killed and thrown in a ditch somewhere, together with your family, just like what you are doing to my knights now" "Huh? What the hell are you talking about? There''s no one¡­ " He scanned around the district and saw the abandoned buildings were all closed but for some reason, we could hear small murmurs coming from them, and it''s not just one or two, there are many. "N-No way! There shouldn''t be people here!" No there are, I may be tight-lipped and have no skills whatsoever in human relationships, I can plan out things but people would be unpredictable. However, there''s someone here who knows how to reach the hearts of the masses, the only daughter of the president of a conglomerate in my old world. Who is highly adept in social and management skills. In general, she has what I lack, and I have what she lacks, together with my ex we are an invincible duo. "What are you saying? Haha, there are people, right? Tiffania!" TIffania then appeared from one of the windows at the same time appeared the townspeople who are hiding from the supposed to be empty district, some appeared from inside the wooden barrels, some from the pull carts, some from the hidden alleyways. The empty district instantly became full of people. "No way¡­ w-w-what have you done! " "You have shown you and your master''s true colors and the townspeople are the witnesses, from nobles to commoners, children to elders. Now drop your swords! or will you fight against everyone here?" Zack''s knights who were unable to say a word dropped their swords, the sound of metals hitting the ground one by one was heard. "Tie them up and make them confess where they have taken your families," I told my knights who made a solemn bow towards me. The knights tied them up and took them away, meanwhile, Tiffania went down from the house and came to me, while the townsfolk applauded. Maybe due to the fact that we were able to save the precious lives of the knights and their family. Nobles and commoners alike have their own families perhaps they were able to feel empathy for them. ... I headed home while Gavin rewarded the rat leader, and handed out snacks to the townsfolk as a celebration. "See it worked right?" Tiffania proudly puffed out her chest, as if telling me to praise her. To think that a pure and kind looking girl can have this haughty and childish like the expression on her face. "Yeah, thanks to you... in the old world, in the new world, you''ve always had my back" "Call it the privilege of being my OBLIGATORY fiance! Just so you know I still haven''t forgiven you for dumping me in the past life so we haven''t made up yet, but yeah¡­ thanks for trusting me" When I started off the plan, I only betted on the possibility that the rats alone could stop them, but still, it wasn''t a foolproof plan and could become bloody, however, it didn''t bother me, as the end justifies the means. But suddenly Tiffania, while munching on her favorite cookie suggested about getting adding the power of the masses for additional pressure to make them give up, it was an idea I haven''t thought of if it wasn''t for her it would have become a bloody battle. "Weren''t you the one who dumped me? But yeah thank you, truthfully you saved the day, my fiance" "Creepy¡­ are you really the old Kazu? Since your confession, you have been very creepy nowadays" "Really? I think I have just grown to love you more though?" "Uwah, you''re really saying that with a straight face, anyway I''m resting now, whew convincing those people was really hard you know! It''s not as easy as singing, "do you hear the people sing" and people would follow you" "Hahaha what is this a revolution? Your jokes are lame, but I like it" "Uwah stop it stooop, you are so creepy! Don''t forget that I haven''t forgiven you yet, and just so you know this fiance thing is just a political thing, right now we are just FRIENDS okay FRIENDS!" "Don''t be so cold to me, my FIANCE" "AHHH Mou!!! FORGET ABOUT IT! I''m sleeping! Bye!" As Tiffania went inside her room with a bang, once again I stood up and rode the carriage, now that her safety is secured, now onto the next step, I have to meet him directly, my dear brother Zack. ... "Hey brother Zack" "Hey, Walter come in, what brings you here" I arrived at his mansion and through his knights confidently, okay, it seems that they don''t know anything yet, as expected their friends aren''t there yet. His servants then brought us to the parlor room used primarily for conversation or the reception of guests. We sat in front of each other "It''s about succession¡­ are you planning to overtake brother Heinrich?" "What do you mean? Overtake in what? Ladies?" "I am not in the mood for it Zack, now tell me, why do you want to become King? If you said so I would have supported you, and you know that, then why are you going as far as sending death threats to us and doing it?" Hearing my directness he slightly opened his smiling eyes. He stood up and looked at the window as he put his hands behind him. "So you knew it huh? I thought something was strange about you coming here by yourself" "Tell me, quickly or I will end you here" I didn''t come here unarmed, although I don''t have any fighting skills, simply having a weapon is enough to give off a threat in a private parlor, and I''m not hesitating to bury this in his neck if he orders my capture. "Oh, so now you are the one giving me threats hahaha, I can''t believe it! That useless prince is actually standing up for something right now?" "Threats? Weren''t you the one who started this? I would have forgiven you if you had just gone after me, but threatening the people around me? I''m sure you understand why I am so furious right now" "Okay I''ll tell you, but first, let me tell you, I don''t intend to become the king, but this country needs a reform, to establish a nationalistic government, and strengthen this country through absolute control by iron fists. Only this way the nation could expand and stop relying on its neighbors, this is the only way our people could be happy" "What the hell are you saying?" "I''m telling you why I need you to die, we need a country not about the royal family, but about the nation" "Surprising, are you really saying that? Aren''t you forgetting that you are a prince in the first place? Then you are not needed after all, so are you gonna commit suicide after you killed us both?" "Huh? Who would? Who would then become the supreme ruler?" "You are insane, do you think people would follow you? You who abuse your power to kill those who are a threat to your ideals?" "I am quite confident about that brother, while you are wimping yourself in the corner I have been preparing myself for this for years, and right now no one can stop me, the kingdom would certainly fall" "You are a dangerous person to be kept alive" "Really? I am just caring for our people, you wouldn''t understand the burden I am carrying, this country needs a true leader, someone like me!" And then, that was the trigger. The country will then be embroiled in a three-way war, between myself who just wanted a daily life of peace in my second life, my brother Zack who wants to be a dictator, and my brother Heinrich who wants to be the King. Seriously... you can''t be kidding me... I came here for a second life not to let go of the woman I love - to reconcile with my ex, and not to fight a war! 13 Treasure "So¡­ what happened that you went back with all those bruises?" Right in front of me is the infamous Prince Walter Wiedenfeld, of the Stizriven kingdom, who has bruises from head to toe. After the tiring day I immediately went back to my room and slept, I thought that he would behave after that tiring confrontation but it seems he didn''t have enough trouble. "Ahaha, I tripped" He told me as he scratched the back of his head. Tripped? With those bruises? Who the hell does he think he is fooling. Okay, time to punish the naughty kid. I looked over his bruised body and found a spot where it would mildly hurt him, and with my index and my thumb, I flicked it lightly. "Ouch! Why would you do that?!" "So¡­ what on earth happened that you got roughed up like that?" While I crossed my arms and looked at him with a scornful stare, the maids panicked and immediately helped him to the living room and then brought medicines and bandages. They brought some ointments and bandages. "Excuse me, Prince Walter, I''m applying it now" The pretty maid told him as she applied the ointment to the wound on the arm. "Ouch!" "Ah sorry, Prince Walter!" "Ah! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" "S-S-Sorry Prince Walter!" This Walter, is he doing this on purpose? The pretty maids are having a hard time applying medication. I held the maid on the shoulder and shook my head and whispered, while Walter was blowing his wound. "Switch with me" "But Lady T-T-Tiffania" "It''s fine, go back to cooking dinner with the others and please close the door, as I think Prince Walter will be screaming a lot" "Huh? Y-Y-Yes Lady Tiffania" The maid immediately left us and closed the door. I looked at Walter who stared blankly at the maid that disappeared towards the kitchen. "Hey Tiffania, they were supposed to do it right? What did you tell them?" "Ah, I will be applying it myself, since they can''t do it with your terrible screaming" "H-H-H-Huh???? No d-don''t! I know how you-... Ouch!" Walters'' scream echoed in the room as I tended to his wounds without restraint. He tried to fight me off but when I pressed the painful areas, he didn''t provide any resistance. "So¡­ what the hell happened?" "I went to Zack" Zack? What the hell is he saying, I put some ointment somewhere it would hurt. "Ouch! Why are you applying it there!" "Tell me everything, without missing any detail" "Alright, alright so stop applying the medicine harshly!" He told me about how he casually went to see his brother who was plotting to kill him, how he told him his intentions and their intense and passionate argument. "Then, how did you even escape?" "I took Zack, hostage, surprisingly he doesn''t have that much physical power, but he resisted a bit, leading to these bruises and wounds" "Whooah, I''m so ashamed of you, as someone who came from the same world as you" "It''s the best solution at the time, I can''t tolerate him for using innocent people for his ideals" "Well, I''m a bit angry that you did this without consulting me, even how dangerous it was, what you did was right, if I were reincarnated as PRINCE Walter I would have done the same" "You really say some interesting things, if you reincarnate as a male, how would we be able to continue our romance" This guy really says everything on his mind. "Well, it''s no use crying over spilled milk, so what do you plan to do from here PRINCE Walter? Are you gonna fight? Ally with Heinrich?" "I''m still deciding, to be honest, I''m no fan of the monarchy, so a people''s government might work better for me, but Zack being a supreme ruler on iron fists reminds me of someone in our old world with a strange mustache that caused lots of bloodsheds. If he goes with his ambitions, I''m sure much blood will be shed, and human lives would be continually exhausted to fuel the war, based on how confident he is, I''m sure he already laid the groundwork, and have acquired some allies here and there, realistically it would be hard to deal with that kind of opponent. If I ally with Heinrich, the crown prince, Zack will surely make an all-out assault to my domain, which has a small population, and since we are engaged, your family would have no choice but to either fight with me or cut our engagement short. If I were the duke, I would choose the former-" As he was thinking deeply I slapped him lightly at his cheeks with two hands, enough to get him out of the zone, I have been with this guy for many years, and I know this tendency of his. When he deals with a problem he would try to solve it, and think of it so deeply that he loses sight of everything around him, which eventually would cause him to break down in the long term especially if he can''t solve the problem. Seeing him like this makes me feel rest assured, I guess he is really the Kazu I know. But I know I have to stop him here for a bit, just so he could take a breather, and be able to think properly. "W-What Tiffania? I was in the middle of explaining" He told me with his cheeks squeezed by each of my hands. I formed his face into different forms found it cute, his plain and dark look may be better in the old world but his looks at this world are on par! Blue eyes, blonde hair, it makes me feel a bit jealous. I now have the hair and eye color he had in the past life, should I dye it with what I had in my old world? "That''s not how we build solutions right? If you think like that it would weigh down your mind right? Are you really the son of that person in the past life?" "I''m not sure what you mean" "First you have to freshen up yourself after I tend to your wounds, and come to my room after" "Could it be that you¡­ don''t tell me!" Those eyes and excited tone, I recognize those... what the hell is this man thinking?! All I wanted was to draft up ideas so we can have proper ideation of the things that are going around us! "It won''t happen you pervert!" I pinched his cheeks with both my hands. "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I have been punched there!" ¡­ After taking a bath, I prepared myself to go to Tiffania''s room, she indeed has a point, after taking a bath I realized that I was acting hastily, from the confrontation of the knights to my Zack confrontation that led to a hostage-taking. I knocked on the door where Tiffania was staying, if I remember she had the room remodeled a bit, as she complained about many things in it. That minimalistic freak can''t sleep if the room is not up to her taste. "Pizza Delivery" I shouted at the door and heard her footsteps towards the door as she opened it. "As if pizza exists in this world... come inside" As I expected the room was tidied up and cleaned, the monstrous designs and furniture were nowhere to be found, all that remained are the elegant looking ones. The shelves, some chairs, and a table. She wore a plain white dress which was her sleeping clothes, while I only wore a comfortable white shirt. If not for her beautiful face she would have looked like the ghost that comes out of a well and of the TV, "So what did you want to show me, white lady?" She lifted one of the curtains near the shelf and dragged it to the right, there it showed a piece of a black board framed by white colored wood. "This is?" "Exactly what it is!" She cheerfully exclaimed. "Really¡­ I don''t know what it is, tell me!" "Ahggk, really??? Open your hand" With her thin hands, she opened my palm and placed a cylindrical white stick. Could this be? Chalk?! And that board in front of me is a chalkboard! According to Walter''s memories as he was wimpy and lazy he wasn''t interested in things like this, so I thought that it didn''t exist yet, but to think that Tiffania has one! "Tiffania, how did you find it in this world?" "Well, I asked my doting dad for it, these boards are only being used by scholars and some schools, so it''s a bit expensive, that he cut my allowance but well, I think it would be useful, especially for you" "This is¡­ for me? Why?" "Because you are the son of an innovator right? Remember when you introduced me to your dad? At his office I saw a large whiteboard, when you were talking with my parents he told me funny stories about you in his office, when you were little, that you would always use the whiteboard every time you think, so yeah¡­ use this, and let''s think about things properly. What we want to achieve, what we want to do, the roadmap¡­ let''s make it a design thinking process, and to make a solution for this country" I was stunned for a while, as I was lost for words. I remember the memories of my father and me writing things on the board, as we jotted ideas together, it was fun, it was mentally draining but it isn''t as bad, contrary to what I''ve experienced in this world. It''s something that I''ve missed so much. "This is a big project Mr. Walter, oh sorry, Prince Walter, now tell me, what do you want to achieve?" She made a big smile as she prepared to write at the chalkboard, the smile was so enchanting, that it calmed me at the depths of my soul. It really feels good when someone cares for you dearly, each day is full of surprises, and no matter how insignificant a thing may be, it carries a big sentimental value if the person gave it to you because she was thinking of you, and for me on the receiving end, it becomes a treasure. 14 Fall For Me On that night and on the following days, I and Tiffania drafted ideas on the board, first was our intentions, since both of us, just had new lives, we are in the same page, we didn''t want to die an early death again, but going with the situation it''s pretty hard, as I also told her how Walter was poisoned, and she arrived at the same conclusion that Tiffania also died for some reason that she didn''t know. "So we occupied the body of those two huh¡­ then we better use these lives properly" "I agree, sorry for not telling you earlier" "No, it''s okay, I arrived at the same theory, it''s not that surprising, but in my memories, I can''t find the part where Tiffania was poisoned though and is there even a reason why they want the old Tiffania to die?" "That is, I''m uncertain, a theory that I have is that when the poison didn''t work on me the maid that escaped reported it to Zack which made him kill you..." "Then why did the letter arrive late? Why would he threaten to kill your loved ones, as if they haven''t done it yet?" "You may have a point, did the duke have any power struggles with the other dukes?" "I think not, actually they are very close with each other, they are having tea breaks at the mansion every weekend" "Really? Ahemmm... anyway it''s no use talking about it at the moment, but did you really get all of Tiffania''s memories?" "I''m certain" "Well¡­ anyway let''s talk about the civil war, for Zack to be successful of his coup d''etat, he should have supporters already, probably around the same rank of your father, now what to do now¡­ shall I establish this domain as an independent region?" "Are you serious? If he was really the man you have described, then he wouldn''t allow such a thing, in that ideal" "Okay scratch that out" Using the chalk, I crossed one of the ideas that I wrote. Every day I and Tiffania would go into her room to talk like this, the maids and Gavin are talking behind our backs, but I''ve got an idea about what they are thinking, a man and a woman in the same room, locked from outsiders. "Stop wasting CHALK! Do you know how expensive that is in our era!?" "Okay okay sorry¡­ chill dude" "Remember! I am just a daughter of the duke! I''m not like you who uses taxpayer money for your necessities!" "Really? Technically though, your allowance comes from your father right? And where does your father''s money come from?" "... the taxes¡­ sorry" Oh, she''s calmed down, since coming in this world. As she wore her usual red dress I noticed her hair was braided the same way she did it in the old world, the waterfall braids. How do women even make those overly complicated hairstyles? No wonder they take too much time to just dress or do their hair that its too annoying, in our Yuri and Kazu days, we would often fight because it takes too long to get ready when we are already late. But yeah, this is nostalgic, if her hair was chestnut-colored right now, and her eyes were blue, then she would really look like Yuri of the old world. "But that hair color and eye color really suits you still" I let out what''s on my mind, strange, its the first time, could it be that the old Walter''s habit has rubbed into me? It''s scary! What if I became wimpy in the future? It''s scary... it''s scary to be an incompetent and lazy fool, well in the past world I would laze around - bu that''s just on my free days! Usually, I would do something productive, like to help dad in the lab, and ... help dad in the lab... and, wait... was I following my dad''s footsteps blindingly! What a blunder! My bubble immediately popped as she flicked my forehead. "What did you say?" And fortunately, she wasn''t listening, she was just writing something on the board. "Nothing, just self-talk" "Pft... HAHAHAHA, Hey, don''t you start acting crazy like that, I doubt they have psychologist here in this world," "Shut it" I looked at what she wrote and she drew three circles and written our names with it. Walter, Zack, and Heinrich. She also tried to draw our portraits, but what the hell are those creatures that she drew? Are those even humans! I can''t believe that sucking at drawing can be transmitted even at reincarnation! How terrifying! Besides the board is the map of Stizriven. It was a rather simple map, but I doubt it would be so accurate since this world hasn''t yet got the ability of flight. "So¡­ according to my memories, Zack''s domains and sphere of influence should be here¡­ here¡­ and here¡­ " She shades horizontally Zack''s territory which was on the lower part of the island nation. Zack''s domain is the main producers of agriculture products, it has a wide land and most of the population are the middle class and the lower class, it has a large population and it is fairly satisfied with his rule. "And Heinrich''s should be at the top¡­ ah, I can''t reach it¡­ why is this body so short" In the old world, Yuri and I would have been at the same height but now it''s different I am much taller than her. I snickered as I saw her, struggling and tip-toeing in order to reach the upper part of the map. "Shorty" "Walter, seriously... what did you say?" "Nah, just thinking our height differences in this world, HAHA!" "For someone who rarely laughs... it''s really annoying... STOP IT! Just wait okay?! And I''m gonna put some laxatives in your drinks later be careful what you drink, even your pretty maids won''t save you!" She''s cute when she''s annoyed, either way, I know when to fool around and when not to, thinking of the time and place, so let''s leave it at that. I took a wooden stool from another room and gave it to her. The maids were surprised to see me carrying the dusty wooden chair and offered to help, but I declined. Of course, I wouldn''t damage my beautiful maid''s fingers that could be used for a good massage after¡­ just kidding. "How did you even put it up there if you couldn''t reach it?" "I had Martha, your head maid put it up here, to think that she would put it at such a high place" "High? I think it''s not that high though¡­ " I tapped the top of the map easily and winked at her. "I''ll be sure to kill you later, anyway, let''s continue" I think I heard some of her nerves popping, I didn''t know Tiffania was this easy to tease... before she would be the one who makes fun of me always. She stepped on the stool and tucked her toes in order to not fall. Ohh I think I just arrived with a good pickup line. I''ll tell her when we''re done. "So Heinrichs territory and influence area are just on top of Zack''s, here... Here and here¡­" This time she shaded them vertically. "Heinrich''s territory and influence are at the King''s city Hartstein and the domains around it, while Zack''s territory is more on the production domains, with the biggest city, Reichart, while you are on the hicks on the far right side of the map, with not much production, a slow lifestyle, with an aging population, your domains are like¡­ how do I say this¡­ somewhere old people would want to settle? Isn''t this checkmate already Walter? Just give up" "Hey¡­ don''t just jinx it like that... Anyway if we add your father''s domain to my sphere of influence, we have a territory that produces livestock and your father''s domain population is also pretty good" "Well¡­ that would make sense, but what if my father doesn''t decide to ally with you? Have you considered that possibility?" "Can you help me¡­ Lord Tiffania" I clasped my hand and tried to pray so that the papa''s-girl Tiffania would give me her support. "Even if you try to beg me like that, your face doesn''t look like it" Ooops, I think my threatening eyes doesn''t change even when I tried to plea. "The only option in this case Walter is to ally with one, you can''t be the king of the hicks you know? Where will you even recruit soldiers? Your territory is even relying on imports from other domains. At least an alliance with one of them could let us avoid that predicament, so your subjects don''t die of starvation" "I''ve already thought of that, that''s why, I''m thinking of allying with Heinrich and put him on the throne, so we could get married and have a peaceful life together" "Ignoring the last part, is it really wise? How far do you know Heinrich?" "Well¡­ he''s dumb" "Yeah he''s dumb, he''s a total musclehead who only knows to settle things with force" "But in the meeting, he didn''t use force right?" "That''s because Zack was there, you are the only idiot who didn''t bring any guards with you" "I see¡­so tell, me what do you really want for this kingdom? What do you want to happen?" "I''m really not sure Tiffania, to be honest, I think I lack the heart to decide over something like this, all I could think of the pros and cons" Unlike Tiffania who has the heart of the people, even though I was against Zack because of his ideals, which might cause lots of bloodsheds, that''s because I''m against it because of my personal agenda and my own ideals as well, a selfish person like me, who only cares about the pros and cons that will affect my life, isn''t suited to make a decision or a direction which will change other peoples life drastically. "Then for a start until you can find your direction how about staying neutral?" "Is that even possible? Wouldn''t they take away my domains?" "The hicks? Who would? Maybe they would when they want to retire?" "Is this place really that bad?" "Yeah¡­ so back to the topic, while you are neutral we would find ways to increase the quality of living of the people here, if war really does happen, we will serve as a place where we people might move to right? There''s no place that has peace than here, so to do that, we need to improve the economy of your territory and have it become self-sufficient, and after that you slowly build your army for self-defense, and when you find your interests you can just then go to war or whatever you want to do" "You really make it sound so easy Tiffania, just like building a house... just so you know, I''m not a scientist you know? Do you think I''m one of those characters in the novels who build inventions in middle age setting? But yeah... let''s do that!" "For the economy leave it to me, I''ll leave you with the administrative and politics-related tasks, to be honest, I hate formalities and whatsoever, and don''t leave me with grunt work, this world doesn''t have computers" "Well, I''ll try to help you with whatever we can partner!" "Partner?" "Well, we broke up already right? Since we are in this world together, and you still won''t become my girlfriend, let''s start again as best friends" "W-W-W-WHY are you bringing up that stuff right now?!" Oho? She''s blushing! She''s blushing! Could it be that she really wants to be with me but just playing hard to get. I looked at her who was still standing on top of the chair with a mocking smile. "WALTER!!! Just wait you- AHHHHH!!!!" As she tried to grab me by the collar I avoided it, and with her losing balance, I caught her with my two arms, this time I will be telling her that pick up line I thought of telling her - did you just fall for me? - or so. This is the right timing... or so I thought. "Ahgg¡­. heavy, what the hell are have you been eating Tiffania! I''m pretty sure we are eating the same things in this mansion... ahgggg" But, my plan was gone to nothing as I never expected that this thin and frail-looking lady would be so heavy. And as I called her heavy, I received a crispy slap at the cheek. 15 Neutral Before The Storm Today, Walter''s brother, Zack declared the coup de eta by sending out messengers to the lords of the domain, to join him in his cause, he also had a long narrative of why he wants to take down the monarchy. In response, the King who was severely humiliated having a son rebel against him passed on the throne to the crown prince Heinrich in order to wage war with him and the lords that have joined with him. The long narrative Zack circled was written with extreme nationalism, desiring to "save" Stizriven from both external enemies (The surrounding island nations that were supposed to be also members of the Kastea Federation) and internal "enemies" who in his view betrayed the country, which is the royal family who was portrayed in the narrative poorly as peace-loving bums who only loves to decorate themselves and their mansions using the taxes of the people who are living poor lives, and for not doing anything with the current dissatisfaction, which was the small skirmishes that happen with the other nation near its border Luris, that occupies a part of the main Island of Stizriven for two generations, which was rich in resources such as gold and gems. Aside from gold, gems are very important due to its capability to store magic and use magic through it to use it to attack, without these gems, magic was just something can be used for daily purposes, as such, a mages talent would be unexplored without it. The country that has most of it would have a strong military, as a result of this deficiency, the kingdom''s military is considered as weak, and only relies on iron and steel weapons. The narrative used this well, with its promise to take back the stolen rightful lands by putting a rightful leader, waging war on the country that took it, with a slogan of a country about the nation and not about the royal family. However, he didn''t include the other details and just put the words he wanted the people to hear to motivate them to join his cause. One of those details that were omitted was about the existence of a few mages of the kingdom, that have been given gems that were imported through illegal means from other countries, they have the ability called magic casting, which enables them to use magic of different elements, but their hands are tied to eradicating the monsters around the country, so the small unit is treated as heroes of the kingdom. They are very loyal to the royal family. If war breaks out, this unit would immediately be sent to the front lines under the royal family''s command, meaning at first, they will be fighting against these mages, how does even Zack plan to fight with those? Plus, if ever they miraculously win against that small unit and the forces of the new King, fighting with a country full of mages - the country of Luris, Stizriven would be defeated easily without any mages in the forces, losing more land. Of course, Luris would fight for that land that made them one of the richest gem exporter. To my view, it doesn''t make sense, I think Walter would also agree, the status quo for the country works better at the moment, with the Monarchy in the lead, peace was preserved for many years, and the economy is stable with the exports of agricultural, steelworks and other kinds of products. The federation was made in the beginning to avoid these fights between small nations, in order to compete with the countries in the continent. To think that he is dreaming of fighting one of them to take a piece of territory, it''s counterproductive and might even motivate the continent countries to attack. Plus he''s using the troubles of people''s daily lives, that they are remaining poor due to the resources being taken by Luris, that they are being taken lightly by the royalty and that the lords are imposing hefty taxes for their own luxurious lifestyle, it''s true and it needs to be changed, but the way it''s being used to impose his ideas in people is so ridiculous! In a sense, he is no different from the people he described in his narrative. He is much worse in the sense that he''s trying to wage a foolish war with the neighbor who has tremendous military strength as if leading people to their deaths. Walter described him as intelligent, he''s intelligent in propaganda indeed but is rotten to the core. He''s awakening the people to enter another era they are not ready for, where Monarchy is abolished, and the illusion of people''s lives leveraged through his new rule as the supreme leader, but it isn''t easy as it sounds, from my history humans have undergone lots of trial and error in order to get peace and harmony in a state where people had equal rights. Some of those trial and errors have become messy and bloody, and Zack''s direction is heading to this bloody civil war, which could cause another series of war and maybe could be the spark for a world war, Walter and I don''t want this world where we have just started our new lives, to have that outcome. I sat at Walter''s study as I read the whole thing, it was supposed to be distributed to the townspeople, but I''m glad the knights have intercepted the letter, it''s too poisonous for the people in this era to read. "Walter you need to act fast, or it would be a grim future for both of us, in our new lives, and for the people in this world" I sighed as I looked at the window and saw the city of his domain Luxenberg. I also need to do my part, in order to have a chance to have another peaceful life with Walter, and a chance to maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ fall in love again with each other. "But currently¡­ all we do is fight with each other. Though mostly is all my fault." Even with his confession, there''s still an uncertainty left in my heart, what if he''s in love of me just because Yui can''t be there for him? Or I just happened to be the one who''s around him, when he thought that he was alone in this world. From time to time, I asked myself, If Yui was here would he even take me to his mansion like this to keep me safe? If we haven''t figured out our old selves and lived as Tiffania and Walter. Would he still fall in love with me despite that? Or would he find another girl that resembles Yui? Men are indeed strange creatures. Despite the overrated frustration towards us girls for being incomprehensible, aren''t boys just the same? "And by the way, what the hell are these heaps of paperwork he left!? For me Ahhh!!!" ¡­ Right now I left Tiffania at the mansion to do some paperwork for me, I left the mansion with my reliable partner old man Gavin, who is shaking as he held his cane, although we are sitting at the carriage. "Gavin, why are you shaking? Perhaps do you have arthritis?" "Surely you jest, Prince Walter, aren''t you nervous? We are going to the meeting place where your brothers will be deciding where to fight the war! Of course I would be shaking in fear! Everything has been crazy and you''ve been dragging me each and every time¡­ don''t you pity this old man?" Oh, did he notice that I was relying on him for many things? Isn''t he glad that Tiffania''s doing the paperwork instead of him and he gets to have a field trip with me? I guess old men are fickle. Okay, let''s try a princely bluff. "Gavin¡­ did you just want to reject a prince''s call for your services?" "N-No Prince Walter, I was just trying to let out a bit of my dissatisfaction" I was just kidding though, now he''s apologizing and I feel bad. This man cared for the previous Walter like his own son, of course, I would feel bad when he gets down when I become sarcastic. "Sorry about that Gavin, you are right, but I really need you to come with me this time. I''ll be sure to reward you with more cookies and increase your salary" Gavin has a family to support, even though he''s away from them he sends his entire salary to them and avoids buying things for himself. As a result, his family is quite well off, his sons and daughters are also well educated according to my memories. Without Gavin accompanying me, I don''t have anyone to consult with the policies the wimpy and lazy Walter ignored before, I can''t memorize those stuff overnight, just in case the other prince''s try out something funny, I have Gavin to advise me. Gavin''s face brightened up when I told him that I would increase his salary. He fixed my scarf and my coat. "Okay, Okay... you need to act tough okay Prince Walter, you can''t let your brothers treat you less okay?" So easy, so simple. After making fu-, productive conversations with my retainer. We finally arrived at a big patch of land, a plain atop a cliff. Remembering the map this is the border between each of their domains, three chairs were set up facing a table, but this time they were far away from each other. On the table laid a map painted red and blue, blue are their territories of the nobles that aligned with King Heinrich, he is now the king as my father in this world relinquished his throne for Heinrich, red are the domains under Zack''s new government. The map is much closer to what Tiffania predicted, except that Zack''s influence and ideals was spread wider than she thought, that some of the high ranking nobles allied with him. The two parties stood face to face by each other, accompanying Zack are the forces wearing a red band on their arms wearing uniforms of brown long coat and breeches, and behind Heinrich were the proud mages of the kingdom wearing the blue cross on their robe and their white pointed hats, they all have a staff with them, with Heinrich wearing a crown and a bulky and shiny white full plate armor. Did he just pull the mage unit out from monster slaying just to show off to Zack? What will then happen to the monster-infested areas? Each of them has their men accompanying them, they were around 10 of them each, even if they didn''t bring their entire forces the two''s leadership and influence can be seen through how they are treating their men. Heinrich''s men stood behind him and were fully loyal and obedient to him. Zack''s and his men were acting as a whole and stood side by side with him. The two stared at each other like kids picking a fight, but with Zack showing a smirk on his face, clearly giving a message that he''s underestimating the musclehead, Heinrich. They didn''t sit at the seats given, so I relieved myself and sat at the center chair and crossed my legs, I don''t want my legs hurting by going along with their intense standoff, Gavin, as usual, came following after me worriedly with sweat on his face. "P-Price Walter, how could you be so carefree..." "Ignore them, we are here not for their childish war games¡­ so, you two are really to fight a war now?" The first one to answer me was Heinrich. "You are speaking to your King, Prince Walter, what is that attitude?" Oh, he''s scary, but before I was able to give a smartass reply, Zack interrupted. "King? My comrades, this is evidence of how these ignorant pigs are glorifying themselves, isn''t there a better way to address your little brother? Traitor Heinrich. And great to see you again, my hostage-taker... " And his clique laughed off him, making Heinrich biting his lip, making him angrier than he was, the usual Heinrich would have threw a blade at Zack but to honor the war he couldn''t do it. And by the way, the hostage-taking thing was something that saved me, I''m not ashamed of it, even a little bit. "What did you say?! Just because some lower-ranked nobles supported you, you seem to be acting tough huh? Zack? And you call yourself a supreme ruler? Huh! After this war when I defeat you will be sent to the gallows. And you Walter, how could you abandon your duties as a prince by declaring your domain neutral? I will have to confiscate your territory and the kindest thing I can do is put you in house arrest!" Idiot? You both are idiots in some way. "Well, take a look at that map and see where my domain is brother Heinrich, where do you think the war will erupt if I go to one side? My domain in the hicks can become your warzone, do you think I will allow such a thing? Just because I have the smallest population doesn''t mean I allow both of you to do your pointless fighting were my subjects are living peacefully at! Settle your battles at your own borders, and when people become distressed of your situation let them come to my neutral city. Both of you have at least some humanity left in you right? Especially Zack, since you started this you know that you can''t accommodate all people in your territory and some might try to flee from your new government if you don''t want them coming to Heinrich then let them take shelter at my domain out of reach. Same with "King" Heinrich, you pulling back that unit of mages to fight means that you are letting monsters come back and nest on some of the rural towns, do you think you have the capability to defend from monsters and wage war at the same time?" "So does this mean that you''ll take care of the misfits in this war? Brother, no, you cowardly, hostage taker? It''s a great idea, but my policy is to defeat the enemies from inside and outside, do you think you can just take that land from the nation?" "You both only care for what''s important for both of you, this could have been settled in some way without going to war, but you... both of you... King Heinrich who supposed to have passion and a heart for the people, and you, brother Zack who supposed to have the intelligence to uplift your subject''s lives just like in your domain, BUT YOU CHOSE TO GO TO WAR! IS THAT REALLY THAT EXCITING HUH? DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT WAR REALLY IS? Don''t worry, whoever wins the nation will take care of my domain, as long as you rule it properly. but for the duration war¡­ I need your hands off on my domain, understood? At least allow some breather from the citizens you are taking away their peaceful lives from!" The two went silent and closed their eyes for a while with their hands crossed, and later nodded. "Okay, then you can proceed with your war games, I''m out of here. Also, Zack, don''t you sneak your men to my territory, I don''t want your filthy propaganda rubbing off to my people" "As expected of the peace-loving royal family" "Shut up, don''t you forget that you have once been part of that peace-loving royal family. Remember both of you, war is just one means of politics and there should have been other ways to solve it. Don''t you get full of yourself and treat people''s lives as merely numbers! Both of you need to find when and where will you end this war so that in the end, the generations of people won''t suffer over your foolishness." Surprisingly, I got mad, for the first time I got mad for people I didn''t see face to face, perhaps my history told me how cruel truly war is, and if it can be avoided it should be avoided. I went back to the mansion with me and Gavin not saying a word, I don''t want to have anything to do with those idiots who just wants to cause strife to their people. "Ahh, being at home relaxing and flirting with the maids while being scolded by Tiffania, is so much better than this" 16 Five Knights As I went back to the mansion the first thing that I saw was my pretty maids smiling wryly as they welcomed me back with a graceful bow. "Ummm¡­ What happened? Could it be..." "Yes, Prince Walter, Tiffania ordered us to say some words to you but I think it might be a bit rude, so I would like to suggest for you to go her yourself ehehe" The one who responded to me was the head maid Martha, who was the head maid and was the most matured-looking of them, with her long black shiny hair tied to a ponytail and the mole under her right eye, and just like the rest of the maids, she has just the right proportions. "Umm¡­ just in case, can you tell me?" "If you insist¡­ I''ll do it with all my power - Walter, are you looking down on me? Why did you push this grunt work to me - ehehe" The way Martha told me was in a bit of a cute fashion trying to imitate my ex''s tone, maybe it was just a lowkey threat? I ran upstairs to check on her and the moment I opened the doors, I saw an angry Tiffania blowing in anger. Wait... Martha! This isn''t what you showed! She''s obviously about to explode from anger! "Walter¡­ are you looking down on me? WHY DO YOU KEEP PUSHING THIS GODDAMN GRUNT WORK TO ME HUH? DARN!" She yelled to me, as she hit the desk with her fists, and immediately regretted it as she groaned in pain and held her fists and looked at me teary-eyed, I''m glad she has a frail body on this world, otherwise, that poor desk would have been split into two. Well, this is the natural reaction, I did leave her with tons of paperwork for three days since the meeting location was far away via horse. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my ex when she''s really pissed off and in her angry mode. "HUH???!! Why the hell are you smiling at me? TELL ME!" "Did you want me to take you instead of Gavin?" "YEAH!!! YOU KNOW I HATE GETTING STUCK WITH PAPERWORK! AND I HAVE TO WRITE ALL OF THIS IN HAND!" She''s raising her voice sharply just at the end of her phrases, as she glared at me with intensity, as she blew air from her nostrils. When she''s angry, she is just so cute and pretty even like this. I thought that she already mellowed down in this second life, but I guess I was wrong. A man with a weak heart would never be able to handle this side of her. "I''m the prince you know, and you said that you will help me right?" "Ahhhhhh¡­ so now you are abusing my kindness and your authority at the same time, HUH!?" She stood up from her seat as she glared at me and stormed out of the room. Gracefully opening the door with her two hands forcefully, that the door made a sound that it was almost going to break, I immediately followed after her calmly. "Look¡­ I''m sorry, but Gavin had to attend with me because he is my retainer¡­ and" "AND!?" "... because I don''t want to show you to them¡­ " With this, she stopped and paused for a few seconds. "SO?! W-w-w-w-why? Why don''t you want to show me to th-th-them?" She turned around as she crossed her arms waiting for my answer, but I can already imagine her face. "Because you are angry as hell and you would scare them off?" "Waaallllterrr¡­ are you mocking me?! YOU...!" She turned around to try to raise her voice against me, but I already know the trick that would make her shut up. As she turned around I held her head and kissed her forehead. Shocked she wasn''t able to move and was just there looking at me with her tantalizing eyes with her mouth open in agape. "Because I don''t want to put you in danger... that''s all" I told her sincerely, of course, I wouldn''t be taking her at such a place crawling with dangers from Zack and Heinrich, who knows what they will think when they see her with me, she may be even become their target in the future if they decided to take me down. "W-W-What are you doing? A-Are you crazy?! K-K-Kising me always like nothing..." She crossed her arms and tried to walk away, but I pulled her towards me to try to get her more flustered. "Cool it down, you''re blushing my lady" I knelt with on my knee and kissed her hand, and brought her back to the room, in princess carry so she could continue doing the paperwork, and later on, I suffered a bit of back injury from surprising my back in carrying a heavy lady. ¡­ Leaving me for three days as I handled all his paperwork and I get treated like this? And what''s more, is that idiot just kissed me again without my permission, even princess carried me back to this room! Maybe I should report this to the King as a sexual assault? Oh I forgot Heinrich is the new king already, and technically in this small territory he is the King. But he''ll pay for this for sure! That Walter has become so unshameful, we''ve already broken up! How the hell can he be making moves smoothly like this? But... "Ahhh I hate myself as a woman for being kissed and carried this easy!" I now, again, face the mountain of paperwork he wanted me to check, most of these are tax documents from merchants entering the territory through the pierless beach and through land and the reports made by the knights assigned to each of their new duties. The five knights we have hired have now become officials under the leader Walter Wiedenfeld, in the neutral state of Luxenberg, which the domain of my duke father is also annexed to it, after explaining a lot to my father and defended the idea on why he should ally with Walter, he reluctantly agreed, so our resources and our famous pasturelands are being shared with Luxenberg. The five knights are namely, Peirce, Eliot, Owain, Missa, and Wymer was grateful for having their families returned to them, through our ploy against Zack''s knights, they easily accepted their assigned duties and were glad that they didn''t have to go to war, according to them they have already prepared for the worst in case Walter allied with someone, which was why they became much grateful. Peirce is in charge of gathering volunteer guards for the borders, by hiring civilians part-time. Eliot is in charge of checking on with the townsfolk for their needs. Owain is being sent by Walter on the war in order for him to gather information on the status while taking the people who want to transfer to Luxenberg with him. Missa oddly becomes an errand girl for Walter. Wymer reported the progress of creating the spy network with the rats in the town who will be our ears and eyes in this neutral domain. Tired of going through all the permission type paperwork, I scanned through the reports of the knights which seems more interesting. "They seem to be doing their work good, and they are well written, each and every detail" I enjoyed reading their reports as if I''m reading a story of their daily adventures, their troubles, how they solved it, how they got the townsfolk to join them, as expected adventures are awesome and exciting! To be honest, if I hadn''t found out that Walter was Kazu I would have run out and become an adventurer already if I was forced to marry the wimpy Walter, according to the stories I found in the novels that I read in my old world, what makes it amazing is to travel with party members, do different variations of exciting jobs together, and go on monster-slaying quests. But in reality, I''m reincarnated at the body of a daughter of a duke, who happened to be engaged to the prince who turns our to be my ex reincarnated from being hit by a truck, plus monsters here doesn''t look cute - according to my memories they look terrifying, I also expected adventurers to look good, knowing that magic exists but in reality they are treated badly and paid poorly, most of them became adventurers from being street rats, it''s not an ideal profession, it''s not that adventurous at all, it''s just plain poverty that these adventurers have to endure and fight their way to live a decent life someday in the cities, risking their body to fight monsters and do some odd jobs, some even accept assassination jobs especially when nobles have skirmishes with each other. "Speaking of street rats, what is the progress of making them a spy network?" Street rats are not literally "rats" but are the people who live in the slums, who resort to theft, and other petty crimes in order to live another day, they are the so-called darkness within this city. But Walter has changed that by using the money he received from the kingdom, what will happen now that Walter has separated from the kingdom? He has to find a solution for this quickly or else these people will go back to the darkness again and resort to petty crimes to feed themselves. While I thought lots as I was skimming through the paper I finally found the reports made by Wymer, written his reports are his daily interaction with the so-called street rats, as they were already well-fed, they were just waiting for orders from their "savior" they were all quite happy to accept Wymer''s proposal. According to the report, two times each day a different rat would give him information, sometimes it would be a man, sometimes a child, sometimes an old man, reports were mostly about Zack''s men who have sneaked in the territory, and where to find them, as well as some notable information from the townspeople. Of course, those who were found out to be Zack''s men were thoroughly questioned and then banished away from the city. "Amazing¡­ in just a few weeks that Wymer has already set this up¡­ well it was partly thanks to Walter using his own money from his pocket, and unfortunately, it''s my job to find a way to provide him the money to maintain this" Other reports tells about the other knights were also successful in their tasks; Peirce was successful in getting volunteer guards and was able to successfully place blockades in all paths. With the war fast approaching, a few residents have shown up with the request to seek refuge, what''s great is that there were merchants among them which could improve the economy. Owain comes back and forth on horseback to report the war situation, as such, we are able to hear the news about the war, from time to time he also brings refugees with him. One of my goals is to increase the territory''s population, anyone who isn''t dangerous is welcome. Eliot is working hard to get the sentiments of the people in the towns and the city to see if they have needs or dissatisfaction with Walter''s policies, he''s also there to keep in check of possible problems that will arise due to the war. With Eliot to represent Walter at the towns and in the main city, even if I and Walter gets busy in planning out things, the sentiments of the people will be taken care of "But for Missa¡­ strangely he''s working for Walter exclusively, what does she do for him? Strange¡­ " As I questioned myself, on what Missa is doing for him, my imagination went wild, that I imagined Walter abusing his authority asking Missa perverted favors. I felt my gloomy and decided to question the man himself. "WALTER!" In my anger, due to my imagination, I, unfortunately, hit the desk again. "Ouch Ouch Ouch¡­ fuuuu... fuuuu... fuuuu... " Ahhh¡­ I want to cry¡­ And with a bang, from the door appeared the lady knight Missa. "What is the matter Lady Tiffania?!" "M-Missa?! N-Nothing!" I told the lady knight who has a stunning beauty wearing armor, as I turned around and hid my face that was about to cry¡­ damn, that desk is hard. "Why are you here?! Were you on the other side of the door all this time?!" "Y-Y-Yes, lady Tiffania, Prince Walter ordered me directly to keep tabs on you while being hid-oops I wasn''t supposed to say that" And there Missa was forced out to give out her reports to Walter, there she records all of my activities, even the embarrassing ones, as a woman she also put some comments on what I felt. "Okay, let''s burn it" "Noooo Lady Tiffania, Prince Walter''s gonna hate me" Well, even how much she tried, of course. I''ll still burn them. Using a woman to figure out the heart of a woman, what a sly move Walter. "Hey Missa, do you think Martha has some laxatives?" Just like that, even in the middle of the civil war our daily lives continued in order for us to save people from the whole civil war, and just as we were building the territory little did we know that not only humans were having anxiety over the large presence of the forces. Just like birds trying to migrate, monsters on a large scale were slowly approaching Luxenberg, and an army of them, vicious-looking demi-human species would be the first to intrude our neutral land. How can the playboy self-conscious and show off Prince Walter fend off this force, without a proper army, or even a small unit of mages? Will five knights be enough? 17 Goblins, These Little Shits! Tiffania and I are working hard every day to make Luxenberg a better place to live, with our location, some types of food are hard to gain, as we can''t rely on the merchants to sell us wheat and rice. They do come from time to time, but because of the war, they only come once a month to trade with us. What we have is only a small farmland, among the mountains that happened to have a plain in between, but this amount is not enough to meet the demands of the people especially with the influx of people that Owain is bringing with him time to time with his reports of the progress of the war. This situation is causing some stress to our people. We have livestock and meat, but the prices of bread have been rising. According to Tiffania, we have to solve this or the people would be dissatisfied and may cause them to leave the territory, lowering the population further. "Ahhhhhh¡­. Tiffania, do something about this" I sighed as I laid on the table where she was writing. It''s technically my desk so I could do anything with it. "Can''t you see that I''m writing? If I mess up, seriously I''m going to splash this bottle of ink at your face" She told me flatly as she checked the papers at top speed. To be honest, I''m grateful to her, she doesn''t have any obligation to help me, but without conditions, she helps me. Maybe it''s bad that I''m bothering her so much? Feeling guilty, I stood up and leaned at the table facing her. "You''re awfully quiet today, did something happen?" I asked her as she continued scanning the documents one by one. "What? Do you want me to yell at you? Even I don''t have that much energy to spare with these paperworks" She told me as she flipped through the pages. "How''s the aqua farming process going?" Because of the shortage of goods, and the fish caught in the sea nearby was scarce, I worked on the first aqua farming in the country. Wait... maybe in this world? To solve the food shortage problem, however, it will take time for it to have some results. The fishermen were also weirded out of the method, as we bought the small fish that they got and threw it again on an enclosure at the sea, the ones who dived for me to make this enclosure was the former street rats that I have hired some of them are used to diving with no equipment at all. Could they be called now, "sea rats"? With the technology in the world so limited, I can only think of a few things that I can make, as long as it doesn''t have that much-complicated science in it. Meanwhile, Tiffania who learned the craft of being a money thei¡ª I mean, moneymaker with her economics course(and aiming for an MBA) in the other world, started a plan to buy and sell armor from other countries using the connections of her duke father, with just one dusty ship that needed renovations. She is doing so much paperwork to order some repairs and materials and payments for the labor and recruitment for sailors. "Tiffania, why armor? Not swords and other stuff?" "Because it sells more, the soldiers here value their lives than their swords" "And, to which faction are you selling them?" "To both" "T-T-To both?! How are you going to do that?" Whoa, as expected of the daughter of the president of a conglomerate, if I can remember one of their companies also deals with arms deals in the other world, and some of them were in collaboration with my dad''s space technology in rockets. "Yes, this is to fully take advantage of the war which is our market if we will be a country, we should have influence over the war. The general armor will be shipped here and will be modified by the merchants who will buy them from us we will be the supplier of those merchants and those merchants will be the suppliers of the soldiers. Amazing, right?" She stopped writing for a moment and put her hands on his cheek and stared at me. Such a balance between cuteness and maturity, as expected from the woman I love. "Yeah amazing¡­ to add to that can you also purchase the magic gems? Military-grade ones?" "Why?" "Well, it''s just the rumors, but the merchants have been saying something odd, about monsters migrating, is that even possible?" "Hmmm¡­ I''m not sure, remember that the old Tiffania was a sheltered girl before?" "Yeah, that''s why I need to get at least a few of those to our temporary army" "Are you sane? Do you know how much one of those costs? It''s 100,000 Gold, each! If we buy a few using our profits, we will go bankrupt! Do you even know that countries are banning the sale of these stones outside of their territory? This means if we trade at the black market it will be even more expensive!" "Then, how about we buy one? Just for prototyping? I want to investigate this gem and see its potential used to upgrade the technology here. What do you say?" "If you say so I might¡­ hmmm" I stared at her intently, to get her to buy these magic stones, if I could buy it, my flames magic that I learned from Gavin would be upgraded, and I could use them like those heroes in the anime. I stared at her intently at her grey deep eyes, as I smiled the way she liked it my old world, adding to my new looks, it would be two times more deadly. On three counts, she would give up. One¡­ Two¡­ Th¡ª "PRINCE WALTER!!! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!" I jumped out of our staring contest as Gavin suddenly screamed behind me as she opened the door with a bang. Damn, this old man ruined just ruined the situation. In a few seconds, Tiffania would have given up and used the profit to buy me those gems. "What is it, Gavin? And don''t just pop out like that" Tiffania''s eyes widened, having the same expression as ours. As usual, I''m the easier one to startle. "Prince Walter! Monsters are attacking us!" What did he just say? I heard rumors about a monster attacking, but according to my memories this should be the farthest area from the area that has monsters! I just used that rumor as an excuse to get her to buy me that magic gem! Karma is scary! Putting that aside¡­ Gavin is heavily breathing from his nose, as he held his cane leaning at the door. Maybe I should have him retire soon? He doesn''t have that much stamina. "Gavin¡­ calm down and tell me everything that''s not enough information" "Prince Walter, at the fields, the farmers were harvesting our crops, they suddenly heard something crawling beneath the wheatgrass and what showed was¡­ Goblins!" Goblins, creatures that I only saw in fairytales. They are always the villains of those fairytales; I didn''t expect them to be unfriendly here too, based on Walter''s memories who only wanted to see the beautiful side of the world, his memory is useless with this. Damnit! "Really? How many? Tell me, Gavin" "That is¡­ unconfirmed, but it''s an army of them, and now they have taken over our fields and built cottages as if they plan to make it their dwelling place, and eat all the crops" Hearing this, Tiffania stood up from her seat. "Really?! How about the farmers? Were they caught?" Those farms are our one and only source of wheat, while I introduced a smarter way of planting them and different crops per season that should be planted in intervals to keep the soil healthy, Tiffania worked hard to buy the seeds, and much more some farmers there belong to his father''s domain. "The farmers have been able to run back immediately which was why we could get the news, although they suffered some wounds it''s not life-threatening" Hearing this Tiffania fell back to the chair with a sigh of relief. She must really care about those farmers. "So how do we deal with this dear prince? Isn''t this the time for you to make your move?" She gave me a menacing stare. She was awfully docile today due to her focusing on her work, but if I push it further, she may start yelling again at me, "I got it, I got it, so stop looking at me like that" I turned towards Gavin to give my orders. "Gavin, can you please get Pierce immediately and have him gather the guards, I''ll also set off along with him" "He''s already waiting for you outside Prince Walter, together with the guards you hired" Wow, as usual this old man is useful, but Piere is impressive. They really know how to take care of these types of emergencies. "Okay, let''s go" As I stepped forward to go towards them, Tiffania stood up from her seat. "What about me?" "You? You hold the fort. There''s no point of us setting off together. Who will manage things if I accidentally go down? You should know that, right? As a daughter of the president of a conglomerate" Fortunately, Gavin had already gone ahead of me. "But¡­ " She looked down with a sad expression on her face. Perhaps is she worried about me? That''s really touching ¡ª if this wasn''t an emergency. "Got it? I''ll go ahead, okay?" I left Tiffania for her own good, with that sheltered body of hers, no matter how strong willed she is in her mind, she might do something risky. If this world gives us these challenges, it''s way better for me to take it alone, rather than having her do all this stuff. She''s already helping me lots, I would get cursed by that fickle God who reincarnated us here if I kept taking advantage of her kindness like this. This is a fantasy world, and instead of enjoying her status as the duke''s daughter, having an easy life, and exploring this new world in which she has been reincarnated in, right now she''s stuck here with me in this town, because of the insanity of my brothers. Well, partly it was my fault she got kept here, but if I didn''t do it, I''m afraid that Zack''s men would have already assassinated her. When I was almost gone from her sight, I stopped for a bit and looked at her over my shoulders, she''s still sitting there with a slightly dejected look on her face. "TIffania, when this is over, these annoying goblins and this annoying war made by my annoying brothers, let''s continue the promise that we made on the other world. Let''s explore this world, although there won''t be an Eiffel tower, Venice, or Hawaii in this world, but it will be more exciting. Just you wait" I winked at her and continued walking. To make that dream come true, first I have to take down these little shits that are eating away our minor source of wheat. 18 I need Tiffania! Hearing the goblins attack at the small farm we have on this territory, we assembled the guards by calling Pierce. And here in front of me stood around a hundred men from my city. It''s less than I expected knowing that there were several towns aside from this city, and an influx of migrants. Maybe in this world, people are terrified of monsters? But shouldn''t they be afraid first that we might lose our fields, that will become an immense blow to our food supply? Well I can''t blame them. The men in front of me didn''t have proper weapons with them. Some brought fork, spades¡­ hey our fields are captured right now, why are you guys bringing farming tools. Others brought kitchen knives for chopping fish and meat¡­ uahh seeing this group reminds me of that anime about food, where chefs fight with tools¡­ just so you know we are fighting goblins not doing a food contest. The only ones who brought decent equipment are the knights, the former rats who seemed to know what a suitable weapon would be, and of course me. I brought the sword that was always stuck at the top of my fireplace; I thought of it was first as a mere decoration but when I asked Gavin it turned out to be a real one. Gavin pleaded not to take it as it was an expensive sword which could be sold at a high price and was not supposed to be for killing monster but who cares. If I can use it I will use it, or what does he want me to pick up a stick somewhere and fight? He did give me a suitable sword,, but it was too heavy for me. I looked at the sword which was a gift for me at my birth by a very wealthy king of another country of the east. No matter how much I look at it, isn''t this a Japanese katana? It''s light and sharp, a curved single-edged blade with a squared guard and long grip where my two hands can fit. Also, the guard and grip have my favorite color ¡ª royal blue. It''s better than those bastard swords, and long swords the knights are using, this suits me, at my current body condition ¡ª thanks to the old Walter''s laziness and wimpiness, my body in this world is so crappy weak, so this sword suits me, if my daily jogging with Tiffania these months worked, I should have enough stamina and speed. But can I cut a living thing? I wonder, I have killed chickens in home ed, but goblins are different, right? We are now heading to the fields on horseback, Walter is good at riding horses, so right now I don''t feel any oddness as if it''s normal for me to be riding one, it feels like riding a motorcycle, I can feel the breeze as I ride my white horse named Kelpie. The name Kelpie hits home with a story in my old world, a white horse¡­ Kelpie¡­ As I thought of useless things to calm down myself, a hundred brave men combined from the city and from the towns gathered in front of me with a mission to chase away the goblins, we all rode at horseback in twos because of the lack of horses and the one behind me is the lady knight Missa. "Missa, are you alright? You can hold on my chest or waist you know?" Ahhh, if only she isn''t wearing her armor. "N-N-No Prince Walter, I shouldn''t impose, plus¡­ I can feel a stabbing stare behind me for some reason" She reluctantly tugs at my shirt with her fingers, refusing to hold me at my waist. Stabbing stare? Where?! I looked behind my shoulder, but there was no one there, who the hell is keeping this beauty from hugging me from behind? Show yourself! The field was in our view now, as we got closer I felt anxiousness slowly filled inside me. If I can remember, I should have already reached my goals, to live a daily life peacefully and to stop the assasination where unexpectedly, Zack was the culprit instead of Heinrich whom I suspected at first. And now here I am, going to a goblin-slaying quest with my armor as a simple chainmail, underneath my shirt because the full plate armor was too heavy for me, and my weapon is a thin katana. In video games isn''t this the starter equipment? I sighed and looked ahead, the people seemed to be motivated, they have a passionate look on their faces, except for Gavin whose face is like on cloud nine as he occasionally sneaked glances at me from behind. "Hey Missa, why are they so disgustingly motivated, even when we are going to a battle?" I asked the knight who rode behind me. Truthfully it was supposed to be her who would be the horse rider not me, but I didn''t allow it, I still have my pride as a man, and Walter have already graduated from being wimpy! And for some various "reasons" as well¡­ "Ummm¡­ probably because you are setting off to battle with them, it is quite rare for a prince to get along with the commoners." She put her index finger at her cheek as she thought and giggled. "Really? So that''s why Gavin is¡­ " The old man looked at me again, like a father cheering his son on a field trip. Seriously¡­ stop that old man. I can now feel my hands that were holding the reigns shake. After all, I have already experienced death, and it was painful, it was dark. If I die here again, would there be another reincarnation? I think there won''t be anymore with that fickle god we have. As I was clouded by my thoughts and nervousness, there it came. "A horde of goblins! Approaching! They have weapons!" Pierce who was in the vanguard shouted, he wore a full plate armor and weilded a spear. Everyone immediately went on guard, unsaddled and readied their weapons. As I saw everyone''s weapons, I realized how weak the temporary military of this pseudo-country is. We stared at the horde of goblins blocking the road as they slowly appeared from the tall grasses of wheat. Unlike in the movies where they have one color of green and were somehow cute(to some people), they totally look different and disgusting face to face. Their skins have a color of green but it had different disgusting stripes and veins covering it making the dark green skin look very dirty. Their claws have the color of red, probably due to their hunting, and they carry clumsily-made bows and swords. These monsters eyes glowed red and their fangs are bare, they didn''t look demi-human at all. They looked just like monsters who happened to find weapons somewhere. Their faces and bodies was enough to gross me. But, knowing that the lives of these men are in my hands, I realized that this isn''t the time to cower in fear, I inhaled deeply and steeled myself for my own pep talk. "Men, right now we will punish these monsters who terrorized our citizens, and much more our precious farmers who works hard everyday so that we can have a supply of bread in our small humble country. The plan is simple, hit them where it hurts. They have a small reach. Shielders at front, spear holders at shielders backs you will be the vanguard. Swordsmen guard the flanks. The shields will deflect the arrows, and the spears will kill the enemies at the front as we charge, for attacks on the flank, the swordsmen will keep them away. Just do what Pierce tells you to ¡ª" But as I was about to finish my speech, the horde became larger and larger, more appeared from the fields, that they numbered at least twenty times our forces. And just like us they held different weapons and had their own formation, as if they have their system of command. This is bad, we are clearly outnumbered. I underestimated their intelligence. "RETREAT!" At my order, all of us seems to have the same thinking that everyone immediately turned their horses back as we ran with all our might. Arrows made from tree branches came flying everywhere and they started chasing us. Don''t tell me that invading our food source was just the first step and they clearly plan to take over my territory! Look at those forces! These goblins¡­ they could be smarter than my brothers! "RUN! EVERYONE! WE ARE OUTNUMBERED!" The rear guard were the shielders who deflected the arrows. As we got slightly farther away, I felt a small sense of relief, I really thought we were gonners. But it wasn''t the end yet. Wolves and boars appeared beside the running goblins and the goblins mounted them without reigns. And these animals were clearly faster than horses. "FASTER EVERYONE!" The rearguard shielded us from the arrows the bow goblins shooted at us, they rode the wolves who''s almost near us. Wait, that is cheating! How could that creature balance itself in a fast moving wolf! Please, I hope not one of them dies. Or I won''t be able to sleep properly! A hundred of us were chased by two thousand goblins. And now¡­ they are now beside our rear guards ¡ª the shields and as they released their strings, the first combat casualty was counted as she goblins kill them one by one. It was the first time I witnessed murder live that I almost threw up when I saw the rear guards falling from their horses and being massacred by the goblins behind. They kept coming at the point where their arrows now reached me as the rearguards were already dead. And there I saw it, two goblins sneaked past the horses riding a boar and a wolf came to target me, as if they knew that I was the commander. Gavin was also surprised that it went past him without him noticing. But none of us were able do anything. I couldn''t do anything, just like slow motion, my hands was still reaching for my blade but they were already ready to release the strings of their bows. They grinned at me as they were about to take down their prey. These damn goblins! Ahhh, I messed up again. And I thought I would be able to make up with Tiffania, no¡­ with Yuri, but now I''m gonna die in the hand of these insignificant low level monsters. At the point when I was about to be swallowed by darkness again. I heard arrows coming from somewhere shooting the goblins that were supposed to kill me at the head , and together with that, I heard a familiar female voice. It was a courageous and strong voice. "That''s what you get for triggering a death flag before you set off! Continue to hold that course!" I didn''t know that we already reached the road surrounded by the woods, as the goblins chased us mercilessly, and there Tiffania appeared like a prince charming in the movies, holding a bow. There were other people at the woods as well. They were all the townsfolk holding any range weapons that they could. They numbered up to a thousand. Five knights wasn''t enough. I need Tiffania! 18 The One Who Brings the People Together Hearing the goblins attack at the small farm we have on this territory, we assembled the guards by calling Pierce. And here in front of me stood around a hundred men from my city. It''s less than I expected knowing that there were several towns aside from this city, and an influx of migrants. Maybe in this world, people are terrified of monsters? But shouldn''t they be afraid first that we might lose our fields, that will become an immense blow to our food supply? Well I can''t blame them. The men in front of me didn''t have proper weapons with them. Some brought fork, spades¡­ hey our fields are captured right now, why are you guys bringing farming tools. Others brought kitchen knives for chopping fish and meat¡­ uahh seeing this group reminds me of that anime about food, where chefs fight with tools¡­ just so you know we are fighting goblins not doing a food contest. The only ones who brought decent equipment are the knights, the former rats who seemed to know what a suitable weapon would be, and of course me. I brought the sword that was always stuck at the top of my fireplace; I thought of it was first as a mere decoration but when I asked Gavin it turned out to be a real one. Gavin pleaded not to take it as it was an expensive sword that could be sold at a high price and was not supposed to be for killing monsters but who cares. If I can use it I will use it, or what? Does he want me to pick up a stick somewhere and fight? He did give me a suitable sword,, but it was too heavy for me. I looked at the sword which was a gift for me at my birth by a very wealthy king of another country of the east. No matter how much I look at it, isn''t this a Japanese katana? It''s light and sharp, a curved single-edged blade with a squared guard and long grip where my two hands can fit. Also, the guard and grip have my favorite color ¡ª royal blue. It''s better than those bastard swords, and long swords the knights are using, this suits me, at my current body condition ¡ª thanks to the old Walter''s laziness and wimpiness, my body in this world is so crappy weak, so this sword suits me, if my daily jogging with Tiffania these months worked, I should have enough stamina and speed. But can I cut a living thing? I wonder, I have killed chickens in home ed, but goblins are different, right? We are now heading to the fields on horseback, Walter is good at riding horses, so right now I don''t feel any oddness as if it''s normal for me to be riding one, it feels like riding a motorcycle, I can feel the breeze as I ride my white horse named Kelpie. The name Kelpie hits home with a story in my old world, a white horse¡­ Kelpie¡­ As I thought of useless things to calm down myself, a hundred brave men combined, from the city and from the towns rode their horses in front of me with a mission to chase away the goblins, we all rode at horseback in twos because of the lack of horses and the one behind me is the lady knight Missa. "Missa, are you alright? You can hold on my chest or waist you know?" Ahhh, if only she isn''t wearing her armor. "N-N-No Prince Walter, I shouldn''t impose, plus¡­ I can feel a stabbing stare behind me for some reason" She reluctantly tugs at my shirt with her fingers, refusing to hold me at my waist. Stabbing stare? Where?! I looked behind my shoulder, but there was no one there, who the hell is keeping this beauty from hugging me from behind? Show yourself! The field was in our view now, as we got closer I felt anxiousness slowly filled inside me. If I can remember, I should have already reached my goals, to live a daily life peacefully and to stop the assassination where unexpectedly, Zack was the culprit instead of Heinrich whom I suspected at first. And now here I am, going to a goblin-slaying quest with my armor -- a chainmail underneath my shirt, as the full plate armor was too heavy for me. In video games isn''t this the starter equipment? I sighed and looked ahead, the people seemed to be motivated, they have a passionate look on their faces, except for Gavin whose face is like on cloud nine as he occasionally sneaked glances at me from behind. "Hey Missa, why are they so disgustingly motivated, even when we are going to a battle?" I asked the knight who rode behind me. Truthfully it was supposed to be her who would be holding the reins, but I didn''t allow it, I still have my pride as a man, and Walter has already graduated from being wimpy! And for some various "reasons" as well¡­ "Ummm¡­ probably because you are setting off to battle with them, it is quite rare for a prince to get along with the commoners." She put her index finger at her cheek as she thought and giggled. "Really? So that''s why Gavin is¡­ " The old man looked at me again, like a father cheering his son on a field trip. Seriously¡­ stop that old man. I can now feel my hands that were holding the reigns tremble as we got closer to the location. After all, I have already experienced death, and it was painful, it was dark. If I die here again, would there be another reincarnation? I think there won''t be anymore, with that fickle god we have. As I was clouded by my thoughts and nervousness, there it came. "A horde of goblins! Approaching! They have weapons!" Pierce who was in the vanguard shouted, he wore full plate armor and wielded a spear. Everyone immediately went on guard, unsaddled, and readied their weapons. As I saw everyone''s weapons, I realized how weak the temporary military of this pseudo-country is. We stared at the horde of goblins blocking the road as they slowly appeared from the tall grasses of wheat. Unlike in the movies where they have one color of green and were somehow cute(to some people), they totally look different and disgusting face to face. Their skins have a color of green but it had different disgusting stripes and veins covering it making the dark green skin look very dirty. Their claws have the color of red, probably due to their hunting, and they carry clumsily-made bows and swords. These monsters'' eyes glowed red and their fangs are bare, they didn''t look demi-human at all. They looked just like monsters who happened to find weapons somewhere. Their faces and bodies was enough to gross me. But, knowing that the lives of these men are in my hands, I realized that this isn''t the time to cower in fear, I inhaled deeply and steeled myself for my own pep talk. "Men, right now we will punish these monsters who terrorized our citizens, and much more our precious farmers who works hard every day so that we can have a supply of bread in our small humble country. The plan is simple, hit them where it hurts. They have a small reach. Shielders at front, spear holders at shielders backs you will be the vanguard. Swordsmen guard the flanks. The shields will deflect the arrows, and the spears will kill the enemies at the front as we charge, for attacks on the flank, the swordsmen will keep them away. Just do what Pierce tells you to ¡ª" But as I was about to finish my speech, the horde became larger and larger, more appeared from the fields, that they numbered at twenty times our forces. And just like us they held different weapons and had their own formation, as if they have a system of command. This is bad, we are clearly outnumbered. I underestimated their intelligence. And there I realized that I messed up, the information was definitely lacking, but I still went on impulse to attend to my people''s needs, and I thought that my knowledge from the old world would be useful here. I messed up. And there''s only one order I could give in order for us to live another day. "RETREAT!" At my order, all of us seems to have the same thinking that everyone immediately turned their horses back as we ran with all our might. Arrows made from tree branches came flying everywhere and they started chasing us. Don''t tell me that invading our food source was just the first step and they clearly plan to take over my territory! Look at those forces! These goblins¡­ they could be smarter than my brothers! "RUN! EVERYONE! WE ARE OUTNUMBERED!" The rear guard were the shielders who deflected the arrows. As we got slightly farther away, I felt a small sense of relief, I really thought we were goners. But it wasn''t the end yet. Wolves and boars appeared beside the running goblins and the goblins mounted them without reins. "FASTER EVERYONE!" The rearguard shielded us from the arrows the bow goblins shot at us, they rode the wolves running almost near to us. Wait, that is cheating! How could that creature balance itself in a fast-moving wolf! Please, I hope not one of them dies. Or I won''t be able to sleep properly! A hundred of us were chased by two thousand goblins. And now¡­ they are now beside our rear guards ¡ª the shielders and spear wielders and as they released their strings, the first combat casualties were counted as they fell down from their horses as the goblins kill them one by one ruthlessly. It was the first time I witnessed murder live that I almost threw up when I saw the rear guards falling from their horses and being massacred by the goblins behind. But I know that I shouldn''t stop. They kept coming at the point where their arrows now reached me as the rearguards were already dead. And there I saw it, two goblins sneaked past the horses riding a boar and a wolf came to target me, as if they knew that I was the commander. Gavin was also surprised that it went past him without him noticing. But none of us were able do anything, even Missa who rode with me. I couldn''t do anything, just like in slow motion, my hands was still reaching for my blade but they were already ready to release the strings of their bows. Missa tried reaching them with her hands which were the fastest move she could make but she also couldn''t reach the,/ They grinned at us as they were about to take down their preys, me, and the lady knight riding behind me. These damn goblins! Ahhh, I messed up again. And I thought I would be able to make up with Tiffania, no¡­ with Yuri, but now I''m gonna die in the hand of these insignificant low-level monsters. At the point when I was about to be swallowed by darkness again. I heard arrows coming from somewhere shooting the goblins that were supposed to kill me at the head , and together with that, I heard a familiar female voice. It was a courageous and strong voice. "That''s what you get for triggering a death flag before you set off! Continue to hold that course!" I didn''t notice that we already reached the road surrounded by the woods, as the goblins chased us mercilessly, and in one who those trees Tiffania appeared bravely like a prince charming in the movies, holding a bow. With her dark grey eyes focused on the enemy as she loaded nocked another arrow. Other people appeared behind the other trees as well. They were all the townsfolk holding any ranged weapons that they could. They numbered up to a thousand. Five knights weren''t enough after all. I forgot that I need her, I need Tiffania! Who''s also an otherworlder, but is braver and wiser than me, the one who brings the people together. 19 Stalking My Ex Walter left me in the room after telling me his words of farewell that clearly sounded like a death flag. Although I understand that there might be lots of things I need to do here and that having two higher-ups of this country that is still developing going on the same trip at the same time is dangerous, isn''t it unreasonable for him to be always leaving me here every time he sets off? I leaned at the desk and felt it on my cheeks. "This desk is warm, ahh... that idiot left me again without even consulting me." Why the hell is he so on the edge like that? Why won''t he talk about it with me? We could have prepared a bit, but he immediately gathered the men without any preparations. He isn''t acting himself, as if he''s restraining himself. "Will he really be alright? Trying to act cool like that... " Unable to bear it anymore I decided to stalk, no ¡ª watch over him "Just in case, I''ll keep watch of him. As payback for leaving me here again, plus something is bugging me, something feels odd about him today" I left my desk and went to my room and donned a red robe I often use when going out, usually, when I dress up my personal maid Lizzy would do it for me, it is a custom for noblewoman like me, and even if it''s somehow uncomfortable, I know I had to submit to it or else they would begin to notice the change in my attitude, my demon mother has been suspicious of me when I slip out of my ladylike manner. The reason for not calling on Lizzy today is because, I don''t want her to notice that I''ve escaped. I dangled a sign at the doorknob that I would be resting and no one should enter. I put my hands on my hips and stared at the mirror appreciating my hair and my average noblewoman look that suits any dress or robe that I wear. "Okay, this should do it!" In my old world I would have taken time to dress up, beauty is power after all. Next, I opened the case under the wardrobe, this is something I secretly bought from the weapons shop when Walter was on his political trip. Knowing that they are setting off towards battle, and I would be watching over him for a bit, I decided to at least bring a weapon with me. Of course, I used my own allowance for this, which was the reason that on the next days after I bought it, I chose to stay at the mansion because I don''t have the money to go shopping and try out new food in this world, which I always do on my breaks with Lizzy accompanying me. The man who sold me this had a surprised look on his face, I wore the same red robe and only showed my face when I bought it. Recognizing that it was the fiance of the prince and the daughter of the duke, he gave me a huge discount and gave me a good suggestion for a good bow for ladies. Judging by the quality the bow looked like a fine work of art, plus the color of it is burgundy. Luckily, in the old world, I took up an archery and rifle shooting course with mom, with a startup company that wanted to brag their facilities and products. That became the trigger for me learning archery on that facility until I graduated high-school, and when I first came to this world, knowing that I might have to fight, I practiced secretly in order to regain my senses. Oh, how I miss mom. I wonder if she''s okay knowing that I have died? I hope she stopped dieting and just ate what she wants. Suddenly, I felt my heart hurt for a second imagining my parents crying in front of my grave. But I know that my mother is a strong woman, I''m sure she will get over it someday. "Okay, time to go!" At the same time, I heard the door with Walter going out of the mansion, after arguing with Gavin on using the sword that was used as a decoration, I was also done tying up my blankets together to make it a rope in order for me to rappel down the mansion, and as my room is just on the second floor it wasn''t scary at all. I couldn''t afford to be discovered sneaking out or the maids will be noisy and Lizzy might snitch on me, and I might get scolded by my demon mother in this new life. To be honest, I don''t want any more of those lectures that take an hour to finish. Just as I when I was able to get down, I immediately hid at the back of the bushes. Just on timing when Walter rode his white horse Kelpie with the old man Gavin, disappeared from the mansion. I then went to the stables bringing my bow with me and followed him with my grey horse, Nessie, and rode at least a kilometer distance away from them as long as I am able to see them. I didn''t take the paths they would take, I went to the paths where I could see them from a distance and that would mean, the hills or the cliffs, its a dangerous path but I enjoyed climbing them its been a while since I went out. Why do I know these paths? Because unlike that idiot Walter who only took trips on a carriage, when he away I would explore as long as I have my allowance ¡ª ahh I feel like a high-school student again. Next time Walter pisses, me off I''m really gonna sell those strange-looking furniture at his room. I bet those will fetch a high price with the nobles. And why is he even keeping those monstrosities? How is he able to sleep in a non-minimal room? As they passed the woods I already climbed a cliff where I could see them kilometers to the farms I can see far from them as I was on top of the cliff. Well¡­ nothing bad happened after all. As I decide to turn back I suddenly notice something odd in the fields they were approaching. There was a large unnatural movement in the fields that was odd as there was no wind, indicating that something was hiding under hiding it. "It must be the goblins¡­ but--" When I looked closer the fields expanded so far and all of them were rustling. This is bad. I have to inform them! "Walter! Don''t go there! Retreat!" I shouted. "Walter!" Strange... why is my voice not reaching them from here? Maybe I''m so far? Using another path to see him go to battle, it only leads back to the town, also it would be impossible to go down the middle way because it is steep and dangerous for me and my horse Nessie. In other words if I go down I would reach the town first. I won''t be able to catch up to them. Tsk. There''s no choice! I slid down towards where I tied Nessie and rode immediately headed to the nearest town. Please make it! I saw one of the former rats that Walter hired waiting at the entrance as a temporary guard, as I rode he went pointed his ax on me, but when I immediately took off my hood he was surprised and immediately bowed to me. "Boss''z wife, what''s the matter? I almost thought of you as an intruder!" Is he the only guard? Unlike knights they are the type of people who lived in the underground for a long time, that their interaction with nobles doesn''t make sense that much, but calling Walter boss already means something, they respect him and the people around him like me. He is a strong-looking man in his 30''s and was able to wear clean clothes thanks to Walters'' funding and knight Wymer who is assigned to use this money to help them be able to make a living and provided them good housing. The first deal Walter made with them was when arresting Zack''s knight in exchange for money and loyalty to him, at the same time Walter also turned over the empty district to them on a condition that they will be the ones to renovate the houses with the jobs they will be able to find. Walter believed that once they have a clear goal, with the guts that they learned in the underground they would be unstoppable when they move away from the darkness. Thanks to Walter''s policies the lives of these people have been brighter than ever. And now, it''s time to test that loyalty. "Can you spread the news immediately? I want your friends to help" "Really?! Okay no worries! Boss''z wife is also our Boss''z! Now what news shall we spread?" "Have all able-bodied men and women and tell them to equip any weapon, a bow, and a sword. To gather at the gate immediately" "That''s rather sudden Boss''z, did something happen? Calm down, even in the underground panicking causes you to die immediately" "I am calm¡­" I inhaled and gave my order strongly to show my seriousness and urgency. "Again, tell all women and men who can wield a weapon this: ???? ????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ?????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????, ???????????????? ???????? ????????????? ???????????? ????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????? ???????????? ????????????? ???????????? ????????????? ????????????. ????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????????????, ????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????? ???? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????? ???????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????. ???????????? ????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ?????????????????????. ????????????????? ???????????? ?????????????''???????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????? ????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ????????????. ????????????? ????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ?????????????????''???? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ????????????. ????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????? ???????? ???????? ?????????????????. ???????? ???? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????, ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????? ????????????????????????????. ???????? ???????????? ????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????????? ????????????? ????????????????????? ????????????? ???????? ????????????? ????????????????????????????! Then go! hurry up! We have no time!" 20 Protect What’s Ours The man immediately ran towards the town and met with his friends, and went into separate directions. Based on Walter''s pace they should arrive there by the afternoon. I still have an hour to gather them. After that it''s all or nothing no matter what happens I have to keep that Kazutrash alive. After an hour, no one showed up. O god¡­ I steeled myself, as I pursed my lip. It''s no use huh? I thought that words alone could move people but I guess its different per cicumstances. At least he has me. If we die, we die together and perhaps, I still have so much things to do with him. At the moment of danger where out lives were at stake I realized how much I really loved him, and how much trouble I caused for him in the past life. If it wasn''t for me he would be alive with Yui, and they would eventually get married and have kids. Because of my selfishness, we are now both stucked in this world. But he told me he loves me. At least, as a woman, I have to give my answer. I don''t know if its real love or was just love brought by his loneliness from being reincarnated. God¡­ atleast give me the chance to make it up for him, I should be the one to die not him, he doesn''t deserve to die this early. Next time, if I get reincarnated again, please take away these bitter feelings I keep in my heart. And don''t let us meet again like this. So that Kazu, and Walter, could live their lives fully without my meddling. I covered my face as tears was starting to flow, and knowing that there''s no one there to aid me. I decide to move forward. I held the reins and turned to the shortcut to the woods, where I would lay the ambush, if I could just rescue Walter that would be enough. He is also an person of the other world like me, I''m sure he would retreat, and that would be my chance. As I was about to hit Nessia, I heard footsteps behind me, and a man running towards me exhausted breathing heavily. "Sorry madamme it took a while¡­. hah¡­ hah¡­ hah¡­ these are the people who want to accompany you" He pointed his hand to the once empty road that led to the gate, and there they slowly appeared and the sound of the footsteps grew louder and louder. Women and men appeared, some of them still wore their work clothes, the meat butchers, the town bakers, the housewives, the carpenters, the former rats, the blacksmiths the one who gathered was everyone who contibuted to the town. There were also some nobles and merchants. The one who sold me the bow was also there distributing arms to everyone with his staff. The blacksmiths and weapon merchants distributed weapons. The merchants who had guards readied them. There were also nobles who had their retainers with them in arms. "Everyone¡­ " I couldn''t believe it, a miracle at the last minute. They stared at me courageously, ready to fight for what they care about. "Everyone¡­. " I felt my cheek warming was tears fell down my face. "Th-Th-Thank you for help us" I instinctively bowed to them, grateful to them as Yuri and not Tiffania. "It''s fine young mistress, we believe you just like how you chased Zack''s men out of this city. To be honest I also don''t like war so the town and cities of this territory lets me live in peace, I won''t let those goblins trample on this city! So I am lending all of them weapons¡­ you guys better return it after ehy?" The one whop spoke was the weapon shop owner. "And the cause of those goblins coming here is that war right? It isn''t the prince''s fault, he did his best in making this a nice and warm country for us. Of course its natural for us to defend it with him!" The next one who spoke was one of the housewives. Everyone then gave their thoughts. "Boss, is our hero after all! We are now able to eat three times a day and we are able to find work easily and wear these clean clothes!" "We trust the Boss'' wife yey!" "Prince Walter enabled us to settle here, and have citizenship, as a travelling merchant it is profitable to help preserve the peace of this country" "The prince is of the neutral faction, ofcourse I would accompany him in battle, even if its just me and my retainers" And the final one to appear was someone familiar. A man on his 40''s who has a strange long mustache, and has the same black hair as me, wearing a full plate armor. "D-D-Dad?! Why are you also here?!" "Of course I would come to aide my beautiful daughter" Doting as usual, the guards of the duke''s state was already with Walter, he has helped enough. But to think he would personally join the battle, I''m so moved by his appearance¡­ but suddenly I remembered my demon mom''s image. I guess us Father and Daughter will be scolded together. "Now what? My daughter? Aren''t you going to set off in battle?" Then he placed his hand on his side as if presenting something. And there appeared Walter''s pretty maids, and Lizzy having bows with them. Lizzy smiled and waved at me. This girl really¡­ "Everyone! Let''s protect what''s ours! Charge!"I shouted and one thousand citizens of Stizriven moved forward towards protecting our country. 21 Tiffanias Plan, Walters Tactics Everyone is quiet as we hid at the trees at the woods beside the path, and Walter and his party haven''t passed through yet, as we didn''t encounter them. Right now I''m counting on Walter to take this path when he retreats, I hope he isn''t so dim to take on that enormous force himself. Everyone was on the edge as we waited. Some fiddled with their weapons making sure it''s in top condition, some did their own rituals, like the religious that prayed for a successful mission as they sat behind the tree and closed their eyes. Thankfully dad is here to make them at ease, having the duke accompany us raised the volunteers morale because of his position and his reputation, I''m grateful that my dad in this world didn''t turn to be an asshole like most nobles in the country. While I was thinking hard as I observed the volunteers, the maids offered cookies and refreshments to everyone, to regain our energy from that tiring run in that steep shortcut that I only know. How did they even bring those with them? Didn''t they have those dangerous-looking weapons? Just as we finished resting, we heard horses running towards our direction. Hearing this is the moment of truth. I breathed in relief that Walter acted as I expected him to, and now my plan has been just set in place and can be executed in the right timing. I looked around and saw everyone''s nervous faces and shouted my first order, as loud as I can, enough to reach through the entire woods. "Everyone! They''re here! Ready your bows!" I commanded and hearing this, everyone who had bows with them nocked an arrow surprisingly most of them are female. "Warriors! draw your weapons!" My duke dad commanded, and those who had melee weapons who guards the archers unsheathed their swords and redied their weapons. As not everyone is experienced in fighting, what mattered was our numbers and the power of making them uncertain how many enemies really exists. If goblins according to the rumors have some sort of intelligence, then they must have the characteristics to fear something that they couldn''t understand. And we would take advantage of that chance when they reach the path by the forest as we give them the illusion that we are numerous than them. But if they choose to fight they will be surely divided with the surrounding trees, and that will be another opportunity for us to strike them down, as the goblins advantage is on their numbers and not their individual strength. And there, I saw Walter''s face among the cavalry that is retreating hastily, that look on his face¡­ it looks normal but for some reason I could perceive that he is annoyed and frustrated, it''s the face he makes when something he planned didn''t go well. "Walter¡­ you are too calculative for your own good, didn''t you learn that real-life situations change frequently? You may have relied on eyewitnesses info, but that isn''t enough to determine the real numbers. Maybe you also tried doing formations you knew in our old world by remembering history, but seeing this retreat it must have failed incredibly. Haven''t you realize that this world has a different history than us? That also applies to the tactics you just tried to use, it wouldn''t be effective if you use it without proper information on your enemy. I''m not blaming you but¡­ you should have talked with me first before leaving, we could have planned it out properly But what''s done is done, and its amazing how you made the right call in the middle of that chaos, this way we can handle all those forces if this works out properly" I muttered to myself as I stared at Walter, his whole unit and the goblins that chased them. "Lady Tiffania, did you say something?" Lizzy asked me in concern. "No, just talking to myself to make myself feel less nervous" Oh no, my thoughts are leaking through my mouth. As I looked at Walter I became so nervous as if my body is telling me to go to him immediately, but I knew that I should execute the plan as it is, or many people would suffer if I made a mistake. Realizing this I exhaled a lengthy sigh of relief, at least Walter is safe for now, until I saw goblin riding wolves, pass through the calvary under the horses. It was so quick and fast; it didn''t get hit on the horses'' hooves. "No! It couldn''t be! The way they are heading¡­ that is!" This is bad, those goblins are heading for Walter and Missa. To think that they know who the commander is. I''m sure Walter didn''t also take this into account. The knowledge we have on fiction in games and movies in the other world was too different. These goblins are not only intelligent, but they have also built their system of command! This is the biggest carelessness ever, no matter how Walter and I planned the outcome would be the same! As I also haven''t thought of that possibility! Discarding my original position, I lowered my bow and searched for the nearest spot to Walter. "Lady Tiffania?" "Lizzy, im going ahead, tell father to order everyone to shoot once the cavalry have passed, I''ll meet up with Walter!" I slide down and ran towards one tree at the entrance of the forest, the nearest point where I could take down those goblins that is currently running past the cavalry undetected running towards Walter. The knights and the warriors were all busy dealing with the goblins that attacked them from sides. No one noticed the danger approaching their master. I nocked the arrow and pulled the strings as I waited for the right moment. Martha also followed me and nodded. The cool beauty looks magnificent as he held the bow and arrow. As if she also knew my plan. With two goblins heading for Walter, I gave Martha the sign that I would take down the one riding the wolf, and Martha would take down the one riding a boar. I took my bow and nocked an arrow and focused intensely, if this shot doesn''t go well, Walter would die for sure. And just on the right timing, as if time have stopped the goblins were ready to take down Walter and Missa, and now they''re within our shooting range, and then timing it earlier, Martha and I released the string and the arrows flew straight. The arrow Missa shot pierced the head of the ugly-looking goblin while my arrow hit my targets shoulder blade. They then fell from the wolf and board they rode. Walter, Missa and some knights finally passed through the entrance of the forest road. At this moment I saw Walter glance at me. To continue with the plan, I shouted at him. "That''s what you get for triggering a death flag before you set off! Continue that course!" I nocked another arrow and it flew towards the horde of goblins. Their numbers are unconfirmed but there was certainly lots of them and now they still followed Walter and his men straight into the woods. "Everyone! Aim at the goblins! Shoot those arrows! Shoot all you want they are packed it''s easy to hit one! " The first one we concentrated our fire on was those that were closer to the cavalry cutting off the chase. "Keep it going!" It surprised the goblins, but they still kept coming. Time to change strategies, I head to Walter who unsaddled beyond the forest road. I ran with all my might, as I don''t want any of these volunteers life to perish. "Walter!" I called out to him waving, everyone also unmounted from their horse and took up their arms, all of them seem to be exhausted, the chase must have been long that they all looked tired and weary. Missa also unmounted and readied her sword to defend Walter. Some of them also shook in fear, judging from their eyes they must have lost someone they know during that retreat. "Walter I know you guys are tired, but can I have you mount your horses again? If this continues, they would overflow towards the towns, and next it will be the city, there wouldn''t be anywhere for us to hide if we don''t kill them here. Sorry for bringing this up on you suddenly" "It''s okay, its thanks to you we are still alive. Tiffania, these monsters have their own system of command and with that large force if they get into our territory, I can''t imagine taking them down there where their size will give them the advantage in an urban war, that''s why I agree." "I have the same opinion, then can you listen to my plans?" He nodded. "Anything from you" "Great" 22 A King with A Queen Just as I unsaddled from my white horse Kelpie, Tiffania have already told me the extremely risky plan that would get us to turn the tables against these goblins in order to stop them once and for all into getting to the first town that is full of people. With my idiot brothers'' war going on, being attacked by monsters is a very bad situation to be put in. But now we are already facing it, and there''s no other solution than to defeat and kill these enemies whom humans can''t reason out with. Tiffania just slapped into my face that my knowledge in the old world is useless if I don''t know much about this world. I was indeed very lucky that her stalker senses kicked in, and were able to gather up the townsfolk. It''s definitely an odd situation to be put in, that I am still alive thanks to being stalked by her. But nothing could make me happier than hearing that she was deeply concerned about me¡­ or was she only just bored that she harbored contempt towards me for leaving her every time an adrenaline-pumping event happens in my life, and she wants to have her own share of it, resulting to her going out and trying to sneak behind me on those mountain routes I even don''t know about. So, to enact her plan, our back riders unsaddled, as they have been tasked to bolster the defensive line at the entrance of the forest. Unfortunately, my plan to get the knight lady to hug me from behind incredibly failed, and if I try to do it again, she tells me that she will write a law about sexual offfenses and that I would be the one to get punished of it. Isn''t it unfair? also did she forgot that once she makes that law I''m still safe because I only did it before she wrote it? Okay, in consideration to that, I''ll do everything I want to do before she even makes that a reality. Feeling that I have already rested and with the pressure of seeing the battle happening just some meters in front of me, I appreciated of the sight where the towns people are doing a great job of separating goblins and killing them in groups to Whenever a goblin goes to the trees they would immediately be hacked down, and if they stay at the road, archers would get them. Is it just me or is Tiffania better than me on this? I''m starting to feel my pride as a man breaking for some reason. It''s amazing already about how Tifffania mustered out these forces, that there''s even that stiff Duke Mueller personally giving orders. But she''s also giving orders like a true tactician. How did she even think about these positions? I guess, that''s just the difference of having an innovation-centric upbringing than a leader or enterpeneurial upbringing. Seeing them kill the goblins that chased the archers in the forest, I then remembered the most critical thing I should have noticed in the whole thing. Most of them are civilians, and Tiffania is mixing up a professional fighter among the three, in other words the two act as a shocking ingredient when a lone goblins sees them, but still we have to hurry or else their lives would be in danger. As our back riders join the fight on foot, we on our horses are now highly mobile, and much more, the remaining horse-riders are the most capable volunteer soldiers in the pseudo-army I founded, but now instead of those farming tools they happened to pick up when they heard the announcement, when I told them, more capable weapons thanks to the blacksmiths who let us borrow it, the blacksmiths also replaced those that have been injured while evading the small arrows of the goblins. Their arrows are also laced with someting that those that got cut by it are unable to move. The hastily formed ad hoc unit was position just behind the forest as the goblins tried to rush inside it in order to kill those inside. Bows rained from the forest to their position, and swordsmen killed any goblins who went near those archers. Each goblin was weak against a full-grown woman and man. Their strength was in their numbers. Duke Mueller''s orders were not to get surrounded. What we are waiting for is the opportunity to crush the head of all of this. The goblin didn''t notice this, but they were going deeper and deeper the forest, while the men retreated one by one also deeper and deeper to the road made leading towards the city, just enough to stall them to get them into the forest. The more they went deeper, the heavier resistance that they got as the fire was further concentrated. They tried to his at the trees beside the road, but was instantly killed by swordsmen. As we looked for the leader, it finally appeared. A goblin that was different, and seem to give orders, it also had its own armor made from different animal skins, while the other goblins didn''t wear any. It was at the rear, as it looked frustrated with how slowly the fight progressed to get inside the forest. Tiffania''s prediction was on point, as the forest was deep and the goblins was lured further and further they didn''t see that the goblins inside was already killed, and with how slow they were pulled in it became frustrating to them that they wanted to go pass it as fast as they can. And our signal for the unit was when this goblin king passes by the gate, we are to go around a path made for us by the swordsmen to cut off the king''s head. ¡­ As Tiffania handled the overall strategy to turn the tables, it was now Walter''s turn to use his tactics that didn''t work earlier due to their numbers. And the goal of his flying column was to kill the head of the goblins, the goblin king who outsmarted him at first, chasing him with a force many time larger as his. The flying column unit of Walter went to the east where there is a path where horses can run through without being noticed, and at the same time the goblin king was further lured into the forest where his forces are slowly being taken down one by one. With the trees in the way the goblin weren''t able to group up, and the individual strength of one goblin isn''t much of a threat to a human two to three times it size. As a result, the goblins that entered the forest were pulled deeper and killed by arrows or swords. Without the goblins following them noticing. And now the main force of the goblins was finally inside it, together with the goblin king. When the goblin king saw how many of its minions were already killed it gave a strong shriek as if it was angry. It ordered its two guards which are more muscular than the others to attack. But before he was able to give the order it heard horses footsteps, but due to the shouting of the goblins who were pulled and killed it was unsure. Until two flying columns appeared to him side by side. One led by Walter, the other led by Tiffania. While Walter charged ahead Tiffania shot an arrow at the minions, then unsheathed the rapier she got from the blacksmith. "Okay! Time to show these ugly-looking creatures the training I undergo while Walter is busy flirting!" "Call it political trips Tiffania!" The two lead each of their cavalry, with fifty calvary men each. The two flying columns ran over any goblins slashing them with their blood spurting in Tiffania''s dress and on Walter''s suit. "This is payback for killing my rearguard earlier!" Walter screamed as he charged into the enemy, remembering his men that the goblins savagely killed. Seeing the disorder the goblin king couldn''t say a word, his forces were already in chaos, most of them are pulled deeper into the woods and divided and its guards are trying to fend off the cavalrymen clearly approaching him. "You wanted to take down the commander earlier? Then I''ll show you how it''s done!" Tiffania screamed as she gracefully slashed and hacked any goblins that came her way towards the goblin king. She remembered when two goblins went straight for Walter''s head, which was a smart move for the goblin king, however was foiled because Walter has his Queen by his side who protected him. Tiffania wielded the rapier as it was something she was familiar with in the old world in fencing, also it was the sword she practiced in in his morning training to vent off his frustration with Walter. According to the reports made by Missa on Tiffania''s activities, Tiffania would draw Walters image on a training dummy and use it for her training venting her anger on it. Just like a dance of blue and red, the same color as their swords, the two ¡ª without hesitation the two went closer and closer to the goblin king together. A dance of red and blue closing in towards the head of the snake to cut it off before its body can do harm to their people. Seeing the disordered forces, and his life in danger, the goblin king, immediately ran for its life thinking that it could just take down the enemy next time. However, the two were riding horses, and their men protected them from the threats that went near them. "Tiffania, so you got good at fighting, huh? Is it the fruits of using my face in the practice dummy? Then I should take half of the credit of the goblins you take down, also don''t that bloodstains on your dress gross you out?" "Unfortunately, I''m not interested on giving you any credit with that lousy swordsmanship of yours as you are forcing a frail maiden like me to fight for you instead, also I''m not a clean freak like you, I just think of it as an art added to my red dress" The two jested as they fought, which also lightened up the spirits of their men and have also boosted their morale. Fighting side-by-side with each other using their brains, powerful will and strong trust to each other, the two became confident as they finally able to pass through the goblin king''s guards and started to chase him who ran away. And just at the moment when the grey and white horses they rode were just beside the goblin king, without hesitation, they sandwiched the poor goblin king with their horses, stopping it and just as they have planned, with no regards to its life, they scooped down their swords and slashed cut off its head. And thus this will leave a record in generations and generations in the country of Stizriven, that once they have the most formidable queen and king ever, who coming up with plans together on a whim, complementing for each other''s weaknesses, then taking down an irregular enemy that threatened the peace of a neutral country with almost no army at all. But now, they have just proved to themselves that they are the most formidable couple ever. 23 Past Lifes Confrontation Walter then took the goblin king''s head and rode back to the forest. When he arrived near the thick number of goblins, he threw the head on the floor. The head rolled and rolled until it bumped to the foot of the goblin, the head turned towards it, and the goblins seeing the face of their king went wild and tried to run away. Without their king they were only a mob. However, no matter how much they ran the cavalrymen already blocked their way. What awaited the remaining goblins was complete obliteration. We couldn''t let anyone of them escape and come for us later, it''s better to bury down all of the enemy than let one escape and work all its life to get back on us one time. ¡­ After the fierce battle, Tiffania and I returned with blood splashed all over our clothes. Tiffania particularly wanted to go home more than everyone so she could take a bath immediately Seriously, I got my ass saved again by her. On the outside she only looks like a frail and average-looking noble girl, but just earlier she wielded a rapier and went to battle with me, and what''s more remarkable is she didn''t wear any armor. Well¡­ on the inside she''s that Yurigorilla after all. Before, I told myself before that if we are together, nothing can defeat us, but at when I tried to fulfill my duties as a king ¡ª that is to protect our lands from the monsters, I panicked with the huge responsibility I suddenly have to carry on my shoulders. And because of my useless pride was about to get hurt, realizing that Tiffania was working hard for me since day one, I hesitated to ask for help. This young, cool boy inside of me just wanted to show off to her. Recently I haven''t also gotten the chance to tease her because she was always busy with the paperworks. Maybe I should give her a "reward" later on or something? I stared and her leaking my devilish grin. Maybe I''ll pretend to give her a reward, but it''s totally a reward I want for myself ¡ª this is what you call win-win ladies and gentleman. "So¡­ aren''t you going to say something?" She asked as she smelled her clothes and immediately move her head away from it, from the looks of it it really smells bad. "Thank you¡­ and stop smelling it if you know already that it smells bad! You will make me want to sniff it too!" "What will you sniff? Your clothes? Your clothes doesn''t have much blood than I have though?" "I didn''t say anything yet right?" "Okay, sorry then what?" "You¡­ I want to sniff you." Hearing this, she stopped for a bit and stared at me with her eyebrows raised. "Walter¡­ Have you heard the custom of this world that puts chilis at the nose of a sexual harasser?" "I haven''t really ¡ª wait! There isn''t any custom like that! Why the hell are you making things up!" "There WILL be, if you try to sniff me, I''m serious." When I looked her she''s deeply annoyed, maybe I went too far again? "Hey are you mad at me?" I leaned towards her face, blocking her vision with my face as we walked together. "Well¡­ that''s because you did something AGAIN-WITHOUT-ME!" Oh, she''s starting to yell again, here it comes... Walter, brace yourself. "Who do you think you are, huh? Are you ironman?! Are you Hannibal?!" Seriously Tiffania, what the hell are those examples? And why the hell are you comparing those two unrelated people. With no remorse, I listened to all her sermons as we went back to the mansion, I can feel the knights laughing behind me. Pierce, Elliot, Wymer and Missa, Owain is missing as he is still gathering information for me at my brother''s lands as they fight for who''s the best idiot of Stizriven is. All of my five knights proved that no matter how much they desired peace as they used their intelligence to serve me with the duties in these countries not only as knights, they could still fight and protect the people when it counts, not forgetting the years of training they put into their profession. ¡­ The next day those that have passed away due to my miscalculation, they were later collected and was offered a proper funeral. To honor them, I stood by the funeral a priest of the Holy land of Adrar led. I don''t believe in this religion, after all I have heard the voice of god before, and he isn''t that kind of god written on their scriptures, but I have to be here, to help the family of these people move on. I have to be there for them. "Rest in peace, my brave warriors. But rest easy, your bravery will be forever remembered, and your family will be well taken care of." Although I felt emotional as these men followed me towards battle and died because of my mistake my face didn''t show any indications of sadness. It was like this since I was a child, the only time when I cried was when I lost my mother, and when Yuri left me. Maybe most people are just like that, although we may feel sympathy for people that have died, the only time when we truly cry is when we get hurt after the people we cherish leaves us. The treasury would provide the dead volunteers family for their monthly needs, and surprisngly, the merchants also sponsored it together with me. However, these merchants cares about their profits, they want to see me lead this country to have an economical boom, otherwise their citizenship here would be a waste. Speaking of citizenship I haven''t really thought of a proper name aside from the Country of Stizriven, in order to avoid my brothers fury, Heinrich would be angry if I called myself a king and Zack would most likely try to kill me as the enemy of the country. In other words, formally this is still a pseudo-country and I''m a pseudo-leader waiting for the winner of the war to take over this land. However, I still want to improve this country so it can stand up on its own, just in case the one who wins is an asshole who doesn''t care about the people and their rights, or lose himself in that war. ¡­ After the funeral, my maids who were also in the battle greeted me, back then they showed me how scary they are as they crushed those goblins ruthlessly. Like Martha who used a mace as she effortlessly swung it at the face of the enemy, it was a gruesome scene seeing such a mature beauty sadistically killing in such a manner. Since then I, Prince Walter Wiedenfeld, decided to stop flirting and messing up with them, with a big smile on my face. "Are you really reflecting Walter?" Just when I thought Tiffania was done with her lecture, she springs up another one again, as I returned at the study, where she sat and read books. This girl always complains about her demon mother who always scolds her, but doesn''t she realize that she''s also becoming the same with her? I guess it still runs in the blood even though she had memories of Yuri. "Yeah, really but that was a close one, if you haven''t gathered the people, they would have reached the nearest town" I walked and thought as she sat at my seat¡­ well for the past few days I''ve been working her hard, so she has all the right to sit there. I stood up and walked around not wanting to listen to her lecture again, that way I can go out when she starts her bla bla bla once again¡­ "Now that you learned your lesson that''s why from now on you must rely on me okay? Stop leaving me to hold the fort! No matter what happens, I want to be there for you. I want to be of help to you!" She slammed the book at the table and stared at me. I stopped walking around and faced her. "But¡­ you have been doing so much work for me lately right, that''s why¡­ I tried acting on my own¡­ because¡­" "See! You haven''t reflected at all!" "Then what should I do?" "I can understand that you might be ashamed to involve me in it when I''m doing your work for you but, you have to at least talk about it with me before you do anything. Isn''t what you are doing is the opposite? If you wanted to be grateful to me, shouldn''t you avoid doing this to me? After you got the news, you just left me like that, telling me all selfish reasons so you can go by yourself. It''s unfair, Walter¡­" As if time has stopped for us, she hugged me tightly and burried her head on my chest. "In the old world and in this unfamiliar world we have been reincarnated to, how much more are you going to get me worried? We may have broken up to each other, but you told me you still love me right? Is it this the right thing to do to the woman you love? We broke up in the other world because I wasn''t honest of myself, and it the same with you too. If you really still love me then does that mean that you really didn''t want us to break up back then? Is that right? Tell me¡­" "That''s right bu¡ª" "Then we are both guilty for that, we already broke up in the past life, and had a happy life with Yui, and I don''t have qualms about that anymore. But, even if it''s just like a dream, a dream that I might have been searching for when I left you, but we have just been reincarnated right? And what happened in the past life is all in our past life, shouldn''t we avoid the same mistake from happening now? Can''t we¡­ Can''t we just¡­ communicate with each other now and be honest with our feelings this time?" "Then¡­ If we''re talking about feelings, then how about you? Why are you so worried¡ª" "BECAUSE I ALSO STILL LOVE YOU YOU IDIOT!" "Huh?" "YES! THAT''S RIGHT! YOU WIN! AFTER WE BROKE UP WHEN I SAW YOU GETTING CLOSE WITH YUI I GOT HURT SO MUCH THAT I HIRED A GOODLOOKING GAY FRIEND TO ACT AS MY BOYFRIEND TO PISS YOU OFF! AND WHAT''S MORE IRRITATING THAT BOTH OF YOU WERE STEADY FOR A LONG TIME!" "After all this ti¡ª" "YES! AFTER ALL THIS TIME! IS THAT BAD??? IS IT BAD WAITING FOR YOU FOR A YEAR TO MAYBE REALIZE THAT YOU STILL LOVE ME?" "It''s not that¡ª" "YES IT''S THAT! I AM A BAD WOMAN! YUI ISN''T AT FAULT! I WAS A BAD WOMAN! THAT''S WHY IN THIS LIFE I''M ATONING FOR IT BY WORKING OUT THINGS FOR YOU BUT IT WOULDN''T WORK OUT! WE ARE DOING THINGS THE SAME WAY AGAIN! IF YOU STILL LOVED ME WHY DIDN''T YOU TELL ME SOONER? AND WHY? I MYSELF DIDN''T I TELL YOU BEFOREHAND THAT THE DEAL WE MADE WAS JUST TO ACT AS A STRONG WOMAN! AND THAT DEEP INSIDE I WAS REALLY REALLY HURT THAT YOU BROUGHT THE TOPIC AGAIN AFTER GRADUATION! AHH!!! BOTH YOU AND I ARE SO ANNOYING!" Before letting her spew everything, I pulled him again closer to me and hugged her back titghtly. "Then, let me continue, idiot¡­ " I lifted her face gently towards me and we stared at each other in an odd way, as if it were a silent argument. Our glances battled each other, until tears arose, and we found ourselves crying, maybe due to the fact that this time both ourselves have faced our past life''s mistakes in this new life that we have here, with a decision to not let it happen once again, ever. As I looked at her grey irises that trembled as I looked deeper into them, felt like it was pulling me towards it, I felt an urge to do something, to comfort her, but also myself from the pain that we have endured when we broke up. In a moment I pressed my lips against her. 24 Our Hearts Combined "Unfair¡­ kissing a lady at their vulnerable times, you really were Waltertrash" She told me as we separated from each other. "What the hell is that new nick-" Just as I was about to make fun of her again, she tiptoed towards me and kissed me at the lips as she closed her eyes. It took me off guard, that I wasn''t able to feel the moment. I blankly stared at her¡­ I felt my body loosen and arms as she chuckled beneath the salty tears. "It''s payback, for suddenly k-k-kising me like that." She shyly hid her face with her tiny hands, looking away. Here, I thought I was supposed the hunter and not the one who is to be hunted, but I clearly misjudged the situation. She also knows how to surprise me. "Tiffania¡­ do it again, I didn''t feel it that much¡­" "Walter! You!!!" Wide-eyed and red from being embarrassed, she showed me her tiny fist, what? Does she think she can hurt me with that fist as small as hers? And then the image of the desk she hit flashed in my mind. If she can break that desk in her rage then maybe¡­ I looked at her and gulped as I realized that it''s possible¡­ those tiny fist is enough to make me lose conciousness. Before she was just the ladylike Tiffania, but when I haven''t been watching she has been training for the very day she will get back the strength she had on the old world. In my fear for being hurt by her by a close contact punch, I resigned and put my hands up. "Yeah, it can''t be helped after all, it''s my fault for being absentminded right? So I''m not doing it hehe" But when I saw her face again, was she somehow disappointed? Her eyebrows met each other as she looked away with her right hand holding her left arm that was clipped to her body. It was so cute that I wouldn''t mind dying from that gorilla punch of hers. Driven by my desire and my feelings, I lightly wrapped her with my arms as I kissed her again. It was full on, open-mouthed, almost sexual kiss. I loved the way her small body melted into mine. The way our lips fit like two puzzle pieces. The way she relented as I played with her hair and held her tighter and tighter. When we broke away after what seemed like ages she looked at me and slapped me and punched me in the gut. "Walter¡­ I warned you." She looked at me furiously, as I held my stomach, but it turned into a smile quickly, as she made a small curtsy. "We are both idiots, aren''t we Prince Walter?" It was a graceful and bright smile, that I felt a nostalgia, in a second I saw her for what she looked like in the world we both came from. Reminding me again about how much I treasured her in those days. I can only smile at such a sight. I want to protect this smile of hers forever; I want to make her the happiest girl on earth. I want to marry her. I then stood strongly and stepped towards her and placed my hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, we are both idiots. If I only confronted you about that promise you would have been able to explain your side and things would have been different for us." "If I didn''t go out and of that convenience store and confronted you about my genuine feelings you wouldn''t have the wrong idea that I really don''t love you anymore, and that spark between us have ended" "Mmmmm¡­" She nodded as she held my hand as we intertwined it with each other; the scene was touching and mesmerizing, a beautiful lady wearing her favourite burgundy dress, the strong-willed woman I''ve known and loved for many years, finally admitted that she still loves me. Though I don''t deserve to say that "it''s worth the wait" because I moved on with Yui after we ended our relationship that day, but I can say that I''m glad that my true feelings for her was still in my heart, just like a seed that have budded and now has awakened and bloomed into a beautiful flower once again. "But that''s not important anymore now right? Here we are holding each other, having each other''s back in this world and much more¡­ you finally admitted it, that you still love me." I move closer to her and kissed her again, this time at the forehead. "Tiffania¡­ you know, I''m really¡­ really¡­ happy right now. I know that this might sound cliche, but I feel that I''m the happiest man in the world." "Really? I''m also glad." As if a spell have been lifted between our hearts, she wiped the warm tears running from my eyes; they were tears of relief, and tears of the lingering wishes that have been hidden for a long time, that I forcefully tried to forget. I may have also loved Yui, but I loved Yuri for a longer time, and it is much deeper and much purer, not a single speck of doubt with it, all it says that I love her so much even when we already broke up. I don''t know how it works for other couples, but I and Yuri met as close childhood friends and we grew up together since we were kids, it''s not that the more time you spend with your significant other the more you love them, it''s just that¡­ for me, this love¡­ this love is truest thing I can feel right now, and I wouldn''t let go of it no matter what happens. "Now¡­ what should we do now, it feels strange somehow¡­" She stepped away and held one of her arms, as she looked down shyly, hiding away her face. The embarrassment must be eating her right now that it''s cute. "Then we should do this again?" I made a devilish grin, but this time around, the punch I receive from her had a powerful impact. And finally, I''m knocked out. I didn''t know love can be related to boxing. ... In the morning after that when I woke up from Tiffania''s powerful sleeping punch, I made a new decree that the country would undergo a huge change, and for that I need the citizens power which they showed when we battled with the goblins, in which would continue our operations as a country. We will continue the aqua farming business. We will make a port to open trades with other countries. We will bolster our military forces. and more in Tiffania''s strategy. Side-by-side with me and my ex, no one can defeat us when now when our HEARTS and minds combines. 25 Sailing Beyond The Storm "Walter¡­ are you sure that this ship will hold on?" I held the boat that rocked heavily amid the stormy seas, The strange-looking sea birds are being tossed in the storm, beneath them the sea rose as great mountains, it was anger in the form of water, turbulent and unforgiving¡­ This is the single ship that the country of Luxenberg owns, with a silver cross embedded on its figurehead. It was the ship we had repaired in order to reach the country of Luris, where we will be buying the armor we will sell. Actually, it was okay to let the merchants buy it for us, but I want to experience the trade here, so I can get a clear idea of what they are doing -- since we are using the taxpayers money after all. Plus, it might be better to build a relationship with the merchants here early and gain their support, as such I also tri-- ahemm¡­ convinced Walter to come with me. It was supposed to be a comfortable trip on the newly ship, but I now remember why the alternative route wasn''t use by the Kingdom of Stizriven that much. It was because of this horrible weather, which is basically the reason, why the ship was under repair at the state of Luxenberg, now the country of Luxenberg. Seeing this storm and remembering the pre-repair stage of this ship I got more anxious as I held at the wooden handrail, at the room where I am staying. "Walter¡­ this is the rematch of this ship against this storm, do you think it will win this time?" I asked Walter, to start a conversation so he won''t blame me for choosing this path instead. This ship carries all of Walter''s assets that will be used as capital, and also the merchants who will introduce us to the merchants association at Luris. But when I looked at Walter, he isn''t moving¡­ it''s good the he isn''t moving and isn''t blaming me, but isn''t he supposed to cover up for me when my strategies go awry? "Hey Walter! Wake up!" And then I forgot the reason why Walter preferred trains over busses, and rode airplanes over cruise ships. Walter has motion sickness! "Seriously?! Even in reincarnation?! Hey Walter wake up!" But Walter just sat and held the handrails as strongly as he could as he covered his mouth. "Don''t¡­ speak to me¡­ I''m gonna vomit" "Seriously what the hell! Walter¡­ if we''re gonna die here it will be all for nothing! Ahhh! Walter I forgot I still have those motion sickness medicine! Here take it!" "Really?" I took the candies I brought with me, in my pocket I broke it off with one hand so Walter wouldn''t notice it. "Here, we don''t have water so swallow it directly, it should instantly take effect, now¡­ " I opened his mouth in one hand and threw the candy towards his throat so he wouldn''t taste its sweetness. "Now¡­ look directly at me, it works right?" I call on you, placebo effect, please work. "Ohh¡­ Tiffania, it works! It works!" YES! I cheered from the bottom of my heart, Walter''s mind usually would be cautious if someone else it to him, but because it was me, and he was in a horrible situation, surprisingly, it worked. "Okay Tiffania! Let''s go to the captain! Bring the map with you!" "Okay sir!" Then we both climbed at to the deck where Walter tried to convince the captain to take on another route which would take us to Waenyth another country within the federation. We were drenched in the rain and the water that got into the ship. "Yes your highness it would be a detour around the storm, but it''s a sea where there are lots of pirates!" "It''s fine! Or else we would sink anyway if we just keep heading to it! Look at how strong the storm is!" Walter shouted so the captain could hear him, at the deck the captains crew were busy following his orders and cleaning the deck out of water, making sure it wouldn''t sink. "Yes your highness! Turning eastward!" 26 Country of Slavery After Tiffania''s relentless chasing regardless whether or not the view was nice, on that rocking ship we finally arrived at the port of Waenyth, that''s because in the end we needed to repair our ship that had damages, and so that the crew could rest. The crew was supposed to be divided into shifts called watches. At any given time about half the crew would be awake and the entire crew could be called on at any time, and this would have enabled us to sail forward to Luris however the crew was in a small number, and the storm doesn''t seem to be calming any further, even if we did go around using Waeynth seas, our ship and the crew together wouldn''t have been able to take on even an inch from that storm anymore, so we disembarked first and decided to leave it for tomorrow. Luckily this time, we didn''t see any of the infamous pirates of the seas that the captain told me about just earlier. While the crew were resting and drinking at the ship, and the merchants disembarked to meet some of their acquaintances, I and Tiffania took a stroll around dressed in merchants clothes which were common in the busy port, Tiffania also wore a scarf that covered her head. This time we strolled by ourselves, even though the captain insisted to have us bring some of his men with him. Well¡­ as long as we are covered well, no one would know our true identities if we know how to act like common folk, and coincidentally, the two of us who reincarnated, lived in a society where there isn''t such a social standing ¡ª in other words we can interact with common folk with no problem. "Tiffania, what is this country known for?" I asked Tiffania, who has been looking left and right as she smelled the appetizing food at the stalls we passed through. "Huh?... What did you say Walter?" She asked me as she drooled over all the food she saw. "What should I get¡­ hehe they all look so delicious." She told me as she wiped her face with a handkerchief. "Well, it''s no wonder all the food here came from freshly caught fish in this port. I wonder if we could imitate this kind of port in the country? We have opened our own port after all, I also don''t think we''ll lose when it comes to fish and shellfish. Wait¡­ Hey Tiffania, you haven''t answered my question yet." "Huh?? Ah, this country is well known for slavery" I flinched when he told me this straightly. "Woah, never expected you to say that with a straight face." I flicked her forehead as she had been focusing on food all the time. "Ouch Walter! What was that for!" "Tell me more and stop drooling over those foods and buy them." "But I can''t choose¡­" "Tsk¡­ this is why woman are¡­ why don''t you buy it already? You are supposed to be the daughter of a duke right?" "Well¡­ my allowance was cut off when mother found out that papa and I have fought the goblins" She told me, pouting as she looked me at the eyes as if pleading. This cuteness¡­ no! I won''t be fooled! I won''t be¡­ I won''t¡­ be But when I saw her face slowly turning into tears. I impulsively took a gold coin from my pocket and started buying one of each stall I remembered she eyed on, as a result I had a handful of food, most of them were skewered seafood. "Okay, you win, you win. Here, take this already!" I handed her the basketful of seafood skewers I bought, which she happily accepted as she immediately took one of it and ate it immediately. "Mmmm¡­ this is delicious Walter! Try one!" She held out the stick towards me, and I held her hand to stabilize it as I took a bite of the skewer that looks like part of a fish, dipped into some kind of red sauce. I haven''t asked what it is called as I bought them randomly, but when I tasted it, I felt the meat of the fish melting into my tongue as the sauce made it taste like barbecue in the old world. It''s an unfamillar texture but a nostalgic and fresh flavor. "What the hell is this?! This is delicious!" "Told you right? I can tell just by the smell!" "Yeah! Let''s find somewhere to sit and eat all of these." She happily agreed as we then found a street where there are benches where common folk also sat to eat their skewers. Most of them were couples, children and families. Everyone was happy eating the food that came from the port, though it was already night, there were well-lit street lamps. It was a lively night as more customers came down from their ships for dinner and to taste the local delicacy, of course there were very few nobles who bought the food from the stalls, maybe because of their pride, that''s why the nobles who gathered here and enjoyed the food of the common folk got my approval. Okay, let''s promote them to Baron! Just kidding¡­ Well, nobles like these are usually the most humble ones, devoid of pride, not judging too early, but with a gesture of interacting with the masses, is a green flag for me. As I enjoyed eating with Tiffania, I remembered the question that I wanted to ask her earlier. "Hey Tiffania, can you tell me more about this country that''s known for slavery?" She looked at me as she bit her skewer that looks like a squid but has more legs and heads to it, if this was the old world, the squid would fetch a big price. "Umm¡­ basically this country is connected to that Sagrait Empire of the continent, basically they bought and sold prisoners of war, orphans, or anyone they could get their hands on that doesn''t have citizenship." "Sagrait Empire? I see that mercenary empire huh¡­ that means they sold their slaves to their empire which they raised to become mercenaries¡­ hmmm, I wonder what happens if they fail to become one." Tiffania then stopped eating for a while and turned into a serious expression. "Exactly, though for us, it might be a violation of human rights, in this age where most laws or policies are written according to the rulers wishes, stuff like this is hard to avoid, but this is the natural state of this world, its natural flow, something us who reincarnated from another world shouldn''t be putting our noses into with our otherwordly sense of justice. The rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer, and the poorest are sold like cattle. It''s hard to stomach, but it''s the truth, but we can''t just overturn it or this world will bare its fangs on us And the slaves? If they fail to become mercenaries, the girls are sold as trainee prostitutes, and the boys tend to their fields. That''s why I think Zack wanted a change, our country has its own slave system right? But not as flourishing as this." She had a sad expression on her face as she talked about the reality that we face, and she''s exactly right. "So, did I make the wrong decision not to ally with Zack? and why do you even know things like that?" Then she shook her head slowly. "I know that because I was trained to do so, one of my marriage candidates before the wimpy Walter proposed to me was the prince of Sagrait, that''s why I was trained to know about the country. And about Zack, I think you made the right decision, because the way he is doing it is only based on ideals and could probably turn to another disaster for the people he is leading, or might return this change that he wants to the next and more bloody cycle. That I think is what would happen, if I based it to how our history was written where the rulers that wanted change did win together with the hearts of the people, but after a few years they just became the next oppressors." "Then why are you so sad? Earlier you just said it with a straight face" "Because I didn''t want to be reminded of it, earlier I saw some children slaves being brought out from one of the ships, they''ll probably be sold off¡­ and that makes me sad, so I wanted to enjoy myself to forget about it." "I see, sorry about that." I gave her a head pat as she continued to slowly eat her skewers, then silence filled between us, Tiffania''s strong appetite was gone as now she ate slowly like the proper lady she is supposed to be. After that, we returned to the ship to sleep at the cabin as Tiffania didn''t want to spend the night at an inn, complaining that she didn''t want to be on the same bed as me. It ruined my ingenious plans for the night, but it''s okay, there''s always a new opportunity soon. As we walked towards the ship Tiffania suddenly stopped. "Tiffania?" I looked back to her as she eyed the ship farthest to the right, it was as big as our ship, and had the same figurehead as mine, but its color was blue, showing that it was the ship owned by the royalty. Realizing this, I looked at Tiffania who also seems to have the same idea. "Walter¡­ isn''t that ship ours?" "Yes but its strange, Heinrich should be at war right now right ¡ª" But before I could continue I felt her gripping my sleeve. "Walter¡­ that ship¡­ I didn''t notice it earlier because we were in a hurry, but that''s where I saw the children coming down from! Is Heinrich¡­ selling children slaves now? That was supposed to be banned, right?" 27 Repeating Mistake Wide-eyed, Tiffania asked me. "Walter, that ship... I didn''t notice it earlier because we were in a hurry, but that''s where I saw the children coming down from! Is Heinrich¡­ selling children slaves now? That was supposed to be banned, right?" She tugged me at the sleeves with a surprised look on her face, I instantly knew what she was thinking, the moment she asked me while I looked at the silver cross figurehead, my blood started to boil for some reason. Heinrich¡­ What have you done? The reason why the slave system is not flourishing at the Kingdom of Stizriven which is now embroiled in a civil war, with me on the neutral side, picking the side of the winner whoever wins, is because it doesn''t sell the most expensive slave product ¡ª children slaves. Most of the slaves are prisoners who were bought and didn''t have that much charges to their heads, or those adults that couldn''t pay their debts. However, their children would be put into an orphanage sponsored under the king''s name. So children slaves aren''t sold to other countries, if a noble gets caught selling one they will be stripped of their rank and worse would be headed to the gallows. I felt my blood boiling further, however my expression didn''t change that much, I don''t know why but this is my natural state. Whenever I''m angry, I become furious inside that I plan how to kill that person by my own hand, however my face doesn''t show it. Maybe it''s because I have a hard time expressing negative emotions like this that it grows further inside of my heart? It grows bigger and bigger until eventually I explode and run my mouth or do something unexpected of me, just like when I encountered Yuri at KFC. However, I have already learned my lessons, if I act childishly right now, I would be risking everything I have built in this world with Tiffania. Thinking of this I came up with my answer. "Tiffania¡­ let''s go inside the ship for now¡­ " "But¡­ Walter¡­ " "Don''t say anything¡­ Don''t do anything¡­ anyway, come with me" "No!" "Stop being a child and come with me! It will be bad if they see us now!" I held her by her hand and tried to drag her away, however she slapped my hand away and she stood there stupefied. Then she looked at me strongly, biting her lip. However there were tears in her eyes that shows her concern to the children and the sadness she feels right now. "Walter¡­ are you just going to let this pass by? That ship! The perpetrator that might be part of the royal family! And let those children be sold?" I let go of her hand and faced her, to have a talk with her properly, otherwise we would snap out at each other again like the past, I forgot that most of our quarrels are like these. "Weren''t you going to go with the flow with the world? You were the one who said that, right? Then come with me¡­ " I held her hand once again and gently tried to pull her towards me, however she just stood there, but this time she didn''t slap my hand away. "No" "Tiffania don''t be a chi ¡ª" "Call me anything you''d like, I don''t want to let Heinrich get away with this!" "Okay¡­ I''ll let you go, but to be honest Tiffania¡­ no, Yuri, I''ll call you that since you are acting the way you did in the old world. Do you think you could do something in the state that you are in right now?" "I can do something! There should be something I can do for that children!" "So you are going to abandon your reason and dive into an action based on your feelings, isn''t that the same mistake as I did with the goblins? You should be smarter than me when it comes to this, but why are you being like this right now?" "... " "Okay¡­ I''ll let you go, I told you that right? Hurry up, you can do something, right? After all that talk about an otherworldly sense of justice and the natural flow of this world, in the end you''re all talk after all, you can''t even walk your talk. Now go¡­ " With this question, she froze wide-eyed, and then her eyes lowered down in sadness as she balled her hands into fists. I felt so annoyed with her whims, I lightly pushed her at her shoulder, with a calm look at my face. "What? Aren''t you going to go?" "Walter¡­ no, Kazu¡­ you haven''t changed after all." "Huh?" "I thought I knew you so much, but this part of you¡­ I can''t just¡­ I can''t just get used with¡­ I can''t even take it anymore!" Tears slowly fell from her face, as she tried to with her sleeves. "You are as concerned as me, right? You were the one who asked me first about it, right? Then how can you do such a cruel thing as turning a blind eye on this? You haven''t changed after all!" Seeing her crying face again, the coldness of my heart subsided, it felt a terrible pain as if it was being pulled down. I was stupefied and couldn''t answer. "Forget it Walter, I''m going to rescue the kids¡­ you go back on your own.??? "Wait, Tiffania ¡ª" I tried reaching for that hand that I let go of, however I couldn''t reach it anymore. Seeing her back slowly turning towards me, as tears fell from her eyes, I experienced what they called a d¨¦j¨¤ vu. It was a nostalgic¡­ and painful¡­ feeling. Everything was in gray-scale, and anyone and everyone I saw was in slow motion. Her favorite burgundy dress turned into the uniform she wore the day, and her hair color turned chestnut colored with the hairstyle she wore that day, and the port and its surroundings changed to at that pedestrian crossing in front of McDonalds. I saw Andrei and Ann shouting towards a man who jumped towards Yuri as she was about to get hit by a truck. However, the man was too late¡­ The car was faster than a male college slacker. And that man was also hit by a car from the opposite direction. And that man was me. Ann and Andrei called an ambulance, but everything was too late. Both have died already. In that moment where I saw myself in that d¨¦j¨¤ vu, I suddenly remembered that voice that took me to this very place for a second chance. He appeared behind me, in the form of my former self, black hair, a plain but clean and smart look, she looked at me with a forgiving and peaceful smile as he told me the words. "Don''t let her go this time and don''t make her cry again." It was as if my reincarnated self and my old self met each other, to remind me of the events of the past that shouldn''t happen ever again. The strong will that took me and Tiffania to this world for a second chance. Oh God, am I repeating the same mistake again? Time turned back to normal again, and Tiffania wasn''t there anymore. 28 Tiffanias Resolve "That Walter! He even has to push me away physically!" A bit teary eyed and feeling down, as I remembered walking away from Walter as he pushed me by my shoulder. "Well¡­ I think I deserve it though," I am well aware of my terrible qualities, I am selfish, sometimes I am immature, and unfair. But I believe that these bad qualities define who I really am as a person, when my heart is moved I plan and take action, however in this case I skipped the planning part because of the overflowing emotions I have been holding on that spilled out of my heart. However, this isn''t the time to be moping, I have to be strong. I have already made my own decision as Tiffania, a decision that even my guilt for Walter/Kazu couldn''t stop me. I balled my hands into a fist and wiped my tears with it then looked forward with all my might. I walked at the streets of the port as I hid in the shadows of the not so well lit parts. "And what the hell is this smell¡­ liquor?" I pinch my nose to avoid the foul stench attacking my nose since I walked by the houses near the ships that have King Heinrich''s insignia. I Tiffania, a frail and beautiful lady right now is sneaking at the shadows like a ninja in the movies of my original world would, except that I''m wearing a dress that restricts my movement. I''m hiding because Tiffania Mueller''s face or my face can be easily recognized, as the only daughter of the Duke Mueller, in the old Tiffania''s days she would frequently attend tea parties and socialize with other nobles. If Heinrich''s men were to see me, I really don''t know what will happen. "Should I just tear off the skirt a bit?" I lifted the tip of my skirt with plans in my mind to cut it to improve my mobility. "This was supposed to be my favorite dress¡­ but I can''t do it wearing this girly dress." I was reluctant at first, but remembering the children-slaves that were tied one after another, those innocent and pure lives that have been changed due to the corruption of those nobles are worth more than this fancy dress. "Those children don''t deserve that life at all!" As I reconfirmed my resolve, with all my force I tore the part of the skirt up to my knees so I could move freely. After hearing the sound of fabric zip as I tore it apart, I ran closer to the old wooden buildings in front of Heinrich''s ship that were composed of houses, storages and inns. I used them as cover while I covered my nose to stop smelling the foul order of liquor, men and sweat, combined. The worst thing to happen is to be discovered by Heinrich''s men before I can rescue the children. As I went from building to building, I can hear the laughs of sailors and different kinds of common men. "I guess it was the right choice to sneak in right now when they are all drinking" With small footsteps my aim was to enter the storage in front of the ship where the children might be kept. The same house where I saw those children being dragged into, though unsure if the children are still there, I took the bet and moved forward. I know this is risky, and this is very irrational, and I might be sticking my nose where it doesn''t belong to, but¡­ my heart was already been moved, and when that happens I tend to take action immediately. Even if I returned to Walter and he would agree this time, if we planned a rescue mission, who knows what will happen to those children tomorrow. I believe that sometimes feelings should come first before thinking about it logically, or else nothing will happen, nothing will start. Imagining those young faces that seemed to be new children slaves, separated from their parents and family, not knowing where they are headed, and the misfortune that they will end up in. "I just¡­ I just can''t bear it!" Before I knew it, as I went from house to house, I was finally near the storage room at the front of Heinrich''s ship. The storage seemed to have a dim light and I could hear some drunk men laughing, I could hear their conversations from here. Since slave trade is normal here, they don''t have anything to hide from the society, its just like they are guarding their livestock. What a worst timing¡­ and I thought the storage room would be empty like the ones that I passed by. However, something is strange to these voices, the voices sounded refined; they weren''t loud, not a trace of commoner dialects can be heard, the way they speak, their tone sounded indicated that they were not commoners, nor just sailors. They sounded just like the captain or the knights, or someone of a higher birth. "Do you really think these little shrimps would sell?" "Of Course they would, the slave trader would be buying it from us this early morning." "Strange¡­ to think that just by selling these children we can sustain the King''s warchest, to fuel this war the King should continue raising taxes." Hearing the conversation, I was filled with rage from deep within. I didn''t notice that I was already shaking in rage, my eyes looking at the dimly lit storage room sharply. I wasn''t afraid. I was angry¡­ very angry. I could feel blood running towards my head. "Heinrich¡­ that muscle head! Just as I suspected! To think that he would go this low!" I crossed my arms and walked in casually towards the door of that storage room. And with all my rage and frustration I kicked the wooden door open, which was the barrier between me and the men inside who were talking. I don''t care about anything anymore. I was right, if I haven''t done it tonight they would be taken right away. With a bang, I saw two pathetic-looking faces. Stupefied, they reached for the swords on their hips. They were not guards nor port patrol men, their equipment was grandier than that with King Heinrich''s insignia on their robes. Behind them were the children slaves that I saw tied to apple, they formed a circle; they looked weak and tired. "Who the hell are you!" One of the knights exclaimed, as he pointed his sword towards me. The other one, also followed his lead and took his sword from his scabbard. "I am Tiffania Mueller, daughter of Duke Mueller, if you don''t mind, but I want to ask. Why the hell? Are the most respected, high-ranking knights of Stizriven? Are now resorting into children slave trade?" They pointed their swords at me, but I didn''t feel any fear, it''s a strange feeling¡­ even though I know that just by one slash from that sword this very life could end in an instant. However, they weren''t able to answer me immediately, they only looked at each other in shock. Hearing no answer, I moved closer that one of the swords reached and cut some of my hair. "Tell me! Why the hell are you knights not following the law of not taking children slaves?! Aren''t they supposed to be in the orphanage right? Under the name of the previous King?! So why?!" I was so angry that the pressure I created was enough for the knights to back away and hold their sword as I went closer to them. "Free them now!" With the pressure I created, I suddenly heard footsteps at my back, and there it appeared. One of the higher nobles in Heinrich''s party. "I am afraid about that Lady Mueller, but we are working according to the CURRENT King Heinrich Wiedenfeld''s orders, as such I can''t grant such a request, even if its for the Queen of the neutral COUN-... no, TERRITORY" His name was, Henry Preisner a noble who was known for his greed, and abuse of authority, he is also known as a maniac and a pervert, he is a corrupt noble who rides around his domain on a carriage randomly and when he sees a girl of his liking his men would kidnap that girl for him. He has green hair and a fat figure wearing a purple tailcoat with the buttons screaming as if it would pop out soon due to his big stomach. He bowed to me in a full 90 degrees as he put his hand on his chest. "I thank the Gods for having us meet in another country, Lady Tiffania, what a blessing this is!" He then tilted upward as he raised his hands upward, like a fanatic. Seeing him, as I looked at the children stirred more negative emotion inside me. As most of the children were girls, and this pig¡­ a failure of a human in front of me, is rumored to prey on juveniles. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are not reading this in webnovel, please use this url instead: https://www.webnovel.com/book/16709284106052505 Please also support my main work: Isekai For My Ex ( https://www.webnovel.com/book/16423907105880405/Isekai-For-My-Ex ) Also, I''m looking for an editor and a proofreader for this novel, as I''m not an English native speaker and I want to polish this work as I go on, but it''s hard to edit while writing. Please reach out to me on discord firiewww#4548 29 Angry Walter "So, are you saying it''s King Heinrich''s orders? Lord Preisner." I stared at him strongly, gritting my teeth, trying to subdue my anger, just imagining things that have been brought about by his reputation, I seriously want to punch him. "Right! You are right! That''s why eeeeeverything is fine¡­ no matter what we do to them, in the end they are slaaaaaaaaaaves, they are merchandiseeee" He smiled at me, his smile was so fake and creepy, his mouth was so big, it looked like it reached his ears. And that evil glint in his eyes, filled with unnecessary excitement, it''s the template villain you often see in those movies, except that in flesh it looks more disgusting at how conceited he is on himself because of his wealth. "Wealth?" Then an idea came into my mind, in order to avert the situation, and try to solve this the way of the nobles, one that wouldn''t endanger me or the children any further. I calmed myself down and relaxed. "Merchandise eh? Then how much are they? I would like to buy them, I need new slaves after all who can use magic." Even though I can''t forgive this man, saving the children safely is the priority, it''s not that I can really overpower these knights. In response, he puts his hand on his chin and thought as he tapped his shoe. "Hmmm¡­ but we already have a client for this so, No No Nooooo" "I''ll buy them twice the price." Thinking about slaves, they wouldn''t be that expensive even if they are children, buying them double their price shouldn''t be much of an issue. At my statement he wasn''t surprised yet his eyes looked more excited. "Okay, then... that would be two gold pieces per child, does Duke Mueller, have that kind of amount ready????" "2 gold pieces! Then does that mean each child here costs a gold piece?! That''s absurd!" "Tsk¡­ Tsk¡­ Tsk¡­ No¡­ No¡­ Nooo! These children came fresh from orphanages, they come from fallen nobles who couldn''t pay debts, so in other words, these children has nooooble blooood! Therefore, they have a higher chance of wielding magic! 2 gold pieces per child or nothing!" That amount is too much, even my pocket money at most I can spend is a gold piece, but that is right, nobles children are much more expensive than normal slaves, as they can also be used for other things. I see, because most of the production lands are taken by Zack, Heinrich''s force couldn''t support the war anymore with just their coffers and imports, so now they are resorting to this? By selling noble children. "I don''t have money like that right now, but I can pay in installments, the country is far away after all, is that alright?" Having no money right now, all I could do was to pay in installment, just like in my old world, if it''s payable for years then I should be able to buy back these children, I''ll think about the future after that, even if Walter would hate me for it. "Non Non Non! If you aren''t prepared to pay upfront, then it doesn''t matter! Our original client will buy them upfront" Okay, it''s time to use my negotiation skills. "But its just double the value, payable for one year, you''ll be getting more money you know? Every month I''ll be giving you a fraction of the amount, if its to fuel the war we can also pay by goods, if its for King Heinrich then this deal works better right? You''ll save also on transportation fees." This is already a too good to be true deal, if it''s Heinrich''s order this would definitely make it better for them. It all the comes down to this noble''s intention. "Hmmm¡­ then how much would I get from this deal?" "Huh?! What the hell are you saying, isn''t this for the kingdom? To fuel the war?" "Hmmm¡­ if I don''t get something from it, theeeen I have no merchandise to offer you, go back to your inn or where you came from. In the first place why are you even hereee?" I forgot, nobles here are like politicians in the world I came from, just like those corrupt politicians these nobles do the same, they award bids or deals to whoever can give them a personal chunk percentage of that deal. Negotiation is out of my options right now. Walter¡­ what should I do? I crumpled my skirt that was already torn in half, as I drove my brain to think of what I can do for these children, but nothing came out. In the first place, I came here to take them by force. Remembering my resolve, I steeled myself and turned my hand into a fist secretly. "You nobles only care about yourself¡­ I know that gaining wealth is okay and all, but¡­ gaining wealth in such a way¡­ is unforgivable" I looked down, trying to suppress my emotion and my fist from flying for one last time thinking of the consequences. The knights behind me have swords, and I''m already surrounded. If I make a scene here, most likely I will be captured, or worse, be slashed by those swords. Should I just go back? "Huh?" Preisner leaned towards me. "Could it beeeeeeee.... You wanted to save these children?! HAHA, Don''t be like that Lady Mueller! In the first place, I didn''t have any intention of letting you buy them! BECAUSE! They are sons and daughters of traitor nobles who wanted to defect! Their parents died in front of them! RIGHT before their very eyes! It would be DANGEROUS! To get them back to Stizriven, even in your neutral territory! That''s why they will be sold to another country! No maaaaaaaaatter how much you try to buy them!" Okay¡­ that''s it. The last nerve broke. With all my force I release the fist that I''ve been holding onto and let it fly towards the face of this pig in front of me. As if in slow motion, I saw his face not surprised, that I was trying to punch him, in fact he was smiling as if he was waiting for me to do it, and his knights at my back coming towards me. So he was aiming for this huh¡­ he''s going to treat me also as a traitor and sell me, or use me to blackmail my father. I can''t believe that I fell into this simple trap. Sorry Walter, I should have listened to you. But I''m going to make sure at least his face wouldn''t be recognizable anymore. "Youuu ugly piiig!!!" However, as I was letting out a scream as my fist was flying towards his smiling ugly face. I saw his head being beaten from behind, his face that was in a smile was suddenly filled with shock, unable to understand what had happened, as he started to fall face down. Seeing him falling face forward, I stopped my attack, and from behind him, appearing as the ugly pig got out of my sight, I saw Walter, with the dawn disappearing and the sun rising at his back, coloring the skies with different hues, at his back were ships floating at the port. His face had an emotion of utter disgust. It turns out that he kicked Preiner at the back at his head, which was possible because of his height. As a result, Preisner''s face kissed the floor, which was a satisfying sight to see. "Tiffania, you''re right, we should have taken this business first and beaten this piece of shit first" As the knights saw him, it surprised them, seeing their master on the floor, having a hard time to get up because he was too fat. "You assholes! What did you do to Tiffania!" I never saw Walter or Kazu this angry before, his voice echoed at the port, he wasn''t in his princely aura, rather he looked like the supposed to be calm, collected and cold Kazu but now is looking for a fight. He wore his all black suit and held a sword, behind him appeared the sailors who worked for the ship together with the captain who also had the same expression of him, as they crossed their arms and eyed the knights strongly. And the knights seeing their master down, and the number of people they are against, dropped their weapons and raised their hands. For an instant, even in this intense situation, I felt my heart beating faster and my cheeks blushing as I saw a new side of him. I never saw him this angry for me ever before. 30 Pirates For Hire "Are you sure you should be doing this prince Walter?! I''m the representative of King Heinrich in this country! Anything you do to me will be desecrating the kings name! So you better be prepared for it!" The fat man who was laughing at Tiffania earlier now crawled to the ground like a fat slug. "Tell the king? How will you be able to get there? Are you gonna swim?" I asked him as I crossed my arms and stepped into one of his foot, so that he couldn''t crawl much further. Meanwhile Tiffania still looked astounded, if I didn''t arrive earlier it would have been too late¡­ just look at the skirt of her dress! Seeing Tiffania at such a state makes my blood boil to a certain level. "Tie up those knights!" I commanded the sailors who came with me. ???????????????????? ????????????, ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? After Tiffania disappeared from my sight, I immediately ran towards the ship, to find the captain, he''s the only noble I could rely on at the moment. Supposedly I should have left her alone, Tiffania''s behavior and thought process is so incomprehensible , however the vision I saw when she left me left a deep impact on me. Throughout our relationship in our past lives I have always been ruling her out as incomprehensible, annoying, illogical, and these are the times when I totally forget why I am dating her in the first place. Then shortly after I calm down I realize that its because of her strong will and kind heart that I was attracted to. Unlike me who from time to time looks down on people, even though I don''t think ill of it, as if I was born to be this way. Yuri has found a way of living where other people''s happiness becomes her happiness too. To be honest that past me have cringed on this idea and I told her honestly about my opinion on it, she got embarrassed at first, however she strongly believed on it. And then I asked her a question one day after a normal school day. Usually I, Kazu, Ann and Yuri would have went home together, however this day was an exception as Ann and Andrei the power duo had something to do that day as student council members. So I and Yuri went ahead and held hands when we crossed the outer school gate. Her way of living have always been mysterious to me so I tested her out. "With that way of living of yours, how will you be happy? I mean¡­ if your parents tell you to go to med school, that will make them happy right? But you want to be an accountant, if your way of living makes them happy would you go to med school instead?" At my question she simply continued sipping her glutathione strawberry jelly that she have bought at the convenience store, then looked up the skies thinking of an answer while crumpling the jelly pack as she made squeezing sounds. And when she thought of an answer she took off the jelly pack from her mouth and simply told me. "I''d probably still go to economics school. My way of life isn''t really that precise like how you think of it. Thinking of it long term if I become a "yes girl" to my parents do you think they''ll be happy when they got older and see me suffering in a profession I didn''t really like in the first place? I know my parents well, and I know they won''t like it, so if ever they become demons who will push that career path to me, I would give all my best to decline" "Then, it deviates from your so-called "way of life" in the middle of it right?" "Well¡­ you may be right, it''s complicated right? For a logical person like you, it will seem childish, uncertain, and vague. But I like it that way, I think it makes me more human, following my heart as I think of others." She responds to me as she passes on the emptied jelly pack to me, pointing at the trashcan that was at my side. I then take it from her and throw it. After wiping my hands I then put my arms around her neck, and made sure it was under her chestnut colored hair that was braided perfectly by her best friend Ann. She easily gets angry when I mess it up so I do my best not to touch it. In response she leans to my right shoulder and we walked at the streets while the color of the sunset made it more romantic for us. "You don''t have to think too much about it, you have to feel it¡­ its not something that can be analyzed" "Yeah, just thinking about it boggles my mind, it doesn''t makes sense, but when you say it, for some reason it sounds true" "It is true though, you are just too calculative for your own good. Such a waste... if you only used that on your studies, you wouldn''t be struggling in academics right now."\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e "I''m sorry but if it doesn''t interest me, I''m average at everything"\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e It was her who taught me how to think of other people and how not everything can be explained by simple logic. After reminiscing that short after-school date, I arrived at the deck, seeing the captain sleeping, I woke him up by shaking him up. I told him the whole plan and about the people involved who might be King Heinrich''s men, hearing my explanation the captain became anxious, afraid to lose his position or lose face. But when I gave him a rundown on why Heinrich might be selling children, due to his slowly waning power, and how his relatives and his children might experience the same treatment soon on the war, he finally steeled up and came aboard with my plan. We didn''t waste anytime, the plan was simple with some objectives. One, is to infiltrate the ship and commandeer it, to make sure the ship doesn''t get back to Heinrich, nor the people involved. Next, is to find the noble representing Heinrich. And the final objective was to find Tiffania and help her save the children. "But how are we gonna commandeer it? Unlike our ship the sailors there would probably have better equipment, we don''t even have swords your highness!" The worried captain wiped the sweat at his forehead as I made drawings using charcoal on a parchment to visualize my plan. There were bulky men of different sizes and ages around us, but one noticeable thing was that they had black armbands around their arms, forehead or on their pants, I just didn''t notice it before because I stayed at the cabin. The oldest sailor I can see is the one mopping the deck, with his arched back. Why is he even working this hard labor at that age? Seeing the dark cloth on their hands reminded me of pirate of old times who had a flag with such color. "It''s easy¡­ this place has¡­ pirates right?" At my question the poor captain jumped in nervousness, however this was the only way the plan can succeed. If we can''t do the job I just need to hire people who can do it for me, and luckily I still have some money in my coffers. When I said this the captain was panicking, making hand gestures as if he wants to tell me something but he couldn''t until one of the sailors held my shoulder, it was a voice of an old man. "What a strange prince, to think you would resort to hiring pirates for the job to save your woman" When I looked at him earlier he was the poor old man who seemed to be forced into sailorship even at his old age. Earlier he had demeanor of your everyday calm old sailor, but now he seems to be full of energy, and his back wasn''t arched anymore, he stood snappy and tall with muscles bulging around his body, he looks more stronger than the younger men. "Hey old man don''t just casually touch the prince!" The captain protested, but I wanted to hear more from this mysterious old man so I held out my hand to the captain to stop him.\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e "It''s okay, its fine, continue old man"\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e The old man flashed a big smile, as he tapped on the black armband on his arm. "Pirates is it our prince? Then you''ve got the best pirates on this part of the seas! You are a lucky guy indeed!" I never thought I was a lucky until I found out that the right people for the job, at the most critical time, was just by my side, traveling with me all along as if its a miracle. Giving up to how fate plays with me, I smiled as I made my response. "How much?" He showed me his index finger and pointed to the target ship.\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e "A gold piece, the ownership of the target ship we will commandeer, and the weapons we collect from the guards inside." "Its a surprise and its a wonder on why you didn''t rob me of it instead since you all are working on this ship anyway. I would like to have a long chat with you, but unfortunately we are out of time. Okay, sure, let''s do it. Deal" "As pirates we still have our own pride! We fight on the seas, take ships and take their treasures! Why would we rob from the guests of the captain who fed us and got us into another ship when we lost ours years ago. In other words, this ship is our own turf! Okay boys! Let''s help our prince take back his princess! It''s an odd turn of events but are you with me?! You haven''t been slacking while working here right?" All the sailors cheered with him with their loud laughs, leaving the captain astounded with the sudden reveal. This time, oddly, I realized what Yuri meant that day, just like this old sailor, as a pirate he also has his way of life, which was to take from others as he makes it his enjoyment. However, he also cares for his people and the captain who took care of them when they had nothing. The human heart is difficult to understand but when it tells you something, it becomes the truth and when it is swayed it makes you want to take action.\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e Come to think of it, aren''t I just doing the same? Why would I save that unreasonable woman who won''t even listen to what I am saying? She even walks away before I could finish talking. It doesn''t make sense, if I was the old me I wouldn''t even bother. Driven by the mix of emotions, I made a deep sigh as I felt something more important than the irritating feeling I felt inside after Tiffania just left me without even letting me finish talking.\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e The answer is rather simple, boring, and would make myself cringe in my past life. No matter how I lived all my lives, my heat is already swayed, and right now its telling me what I should do. Its also unexplainable, but it''s the truth and it''s right. I have promised myself already, many times in this world, that in this second life, I will never ever let her go.\u003cbr data-mce-bogus="1"\u003e ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are not reading this in webnovel, please use this url instead: https://www.webnovel.com/book/16709284106052505 Please also support my main work, Isekai For My Ex( https://www.webnovel.com/book/16423907105880405/Isekai-For-My-Ex) Also, I''m looking for an editor and a proofreader for my main novel, as I''m not an English native speaker and I want to polish this work as I go on, but it''s hard to edit while writing. Please reach out to me on discord firiewww#4548