Chapter 167: The Knight and the Young Lady

“Man, I never thought I’d make it back to town alive.”

Having safely rescued Og, we returned to the town of Togai for the time being, partly because we obtained information on the orcs, which was our original objective.

“We’re going back to the guild to report the completion of the request, but what will you do, Og?”

“Ah-, I have to report too. Originally, my dispatch was to investigate whether there were any survivors of the orcs, after all.”

The ones currently here are the three of us: me, Liliera, and Og.

We obtained the information on the flying orcs, which was our original objective, but the subjugation of monsters we accepted as a dummy to investigate that was still left.

Since Og‘s injuries are healed, he said he could return alone. So he told us it’s fine to prioritize the request, but we couldn’t possibly leave the unarmed Og, whose equipment had become useless, by himself.

Then Jairo said they would handle the monster subjugation, so he wanted us to escort Og to the town.

He said he hadn’t been very useful, so he wanted to do some proper work.

Thanks to that, we were able to safely bring Og back to town.

Of course, in exchange, we decided to let Jairo and the others have the reward for the request we all accepted together.

Everyone said there was no need to go that far, but that and this are separate matters.

I was grateful that Liliera was also convinced by that.

According to Liliera,

“We’ll get the reward for the flying orc information and the money from selling the subjugated orcs’ materials separately anyway. In that case, we don’t need the reward for the request we accepted on the side.”

That’s what she said.

This kind of thing makes Liliera seem really handsome.

“Then we part ways here.”

“Yeah, you really saved me this time. If you guys hadn’t come to save me, I really would have died. I’ll definitely repay this debt!”

And so, just when we parted with Og and were about to head to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Suddenly, the far end of the street became noisy, and a single carriage came hurtling toward us.

“What’s that!? What are they thinking going at that speed in the middle of town!?”

“Could it be running wild!?”

“No, the driver isn’t panicking. Besides, there are knights leading the way, so it seems they’re making people move aside, for now.”

Seeing the carriage, Og denies that it’s running wild.

Ah, it’s true. Looking closely, knights on horseback are raising warning voices telling the townspeople to clear the way.

“Did some kind of emergency happen? …Or rather, doesn’t it seem like that carriage is heading this way…?”

As Liliera says, this carriage is clearly aiming for here.

The leading knights are pointing this way too.

And when the carriage reached us, it rapidly decelerated and stopped.

I feel like I heard a scream like ‘Fugya!?’ from inside the carriage, but was it my imagination?

” ” ” “…” ” ” “

We wait with bated breath, wondering who on earth will come out.

However, for some reason, no one gets out of the carriage no matter how much time passes.

Just when I thought it might be okay to just go home, the bewildered knights dismount, open the carriage door, and check inside.

“Woah!? Are you alright, My Lady!?”

“That’s why I told you it would be better to slow down more!”

“Hau~…”

” ” “…” ” “

Apparently, she fell off the seat because it stopped too forcefully and is dizzy.

…Is she okay?

“Or rather, My Lady?”

While I was holding doubts about the knights’ words, a single girl appeared from the carriage with unsteady, dangerous steps.

The girl is a beauty with an ephemeral impression; her fluffy hair and an unflashy yet high-quality fabric dress match her atmosphere, giving her an elegant finish.

She is clearly a noble girl.

“M-My Lady!?”

“…!? O-Og-samaaa!”

At first, the girl was unsteady, but the moment she heard Og‘s voice, her expression snapped to attention and she broke into a run toward Og.

“Og, who is ‘My Lady’?”

“A-Ah. That’s the Lord’s daughter, Lady Celia.”

” “The Lord’s daughter!?” “

What is the Lord’s daughter doing in a place like this!?

“Og-sama, are you safe!? I heard you were attacked by a terrifying monster!”

The girl called Celia cares for Og with a worried look.

“Y-Yes, I’m alright. It was a close call, but an acquaintance saved me.”

Saying so, Og looks towards us.

“My! So that was the case! My name is Celia del Grimoire. Thank you very, very much for saving Og-sama’s life this time.”

Turning to us, Celia expresses her words of gratitude with a carefree smile.

“No. It’s not something worth being thanked that much for…”

“That is not true! Og-sama is the treasure of our Grimoire territory! Although he was not the rumored Dragon Slayer-sama, he possesses the ability to subjugate the terrifying Evil Boar single-handedly, and since being appointed as a knight, he has been extremely active, annihilating a large bandit group, sweeping out dangerous monster herds, and cracking down on malicious criminals!”

“Amazing! Isn’t that a great active role, Og!?”

As expected of Og, he’s very active even after becoming a knight!

“Ah-, no, well… haha.”

“Heh-, you’re quite capable. As expected of a former A-rank, even if you’re rusty.”

Liliera sends words of praise while lightly brushing off Og‘s exploits, but her expression shows emotions that cannot be called either vigilance or admiration, as if dealing with a formidable opponent.

She must be showing that much respect for Og‘s ability.

“Adventurers and knights probably have various different methods, yet achieving that much in this short period is quite something.”

“You two think so too, right! Og-sama is truly amazing! Father was also praising Og-sama!”

‘Father’ means the Lord of this town, huh.

He said he was directly scouted by the Lord, as expected of Og.

“E-Even so, why did you come to a place like this?”

Perhaps becoming embarrassed from being praised so much, Og changes the subject while his ears turn red.

“That is right! I heard from Og-sama’s subordinates who returned that Og-sama was attacked by a monster. So I was so worried, so worried. I thought about going to find Og-sama immediately, but the retainers told me they could not possibly let me out of the town… However, just earlier, I heard the report that Og-sama had returned, and unable to sit still, I had the carriage rush here.”

Ooh, despite her ephemeral impression, she has amazing power of action.

Apparently, Celia really came all the way here because she was worried about Og.

“And you went out of your way to come to such a place…”

“I heard it was a considerably terrifying monster. Is your body really alright… Aah!? Og-sama’s armor!?”

Celia screams upon seeing Og‘s greatly torn and battered armor.

“A-A-And it’s bright red with blood, and the wounds are terrible!? T-T-This is a disaster! We must have a doctor look at you immediately!”

Celia, flustered and agitated, orders the knights to call a doctor.

“I am fine, My Lady. It’s dirty with blood, but the wounds were treated with healing magic.”

“I-Is that so!? Thank goodness… when I thought something might have happened to Og-sama, I…”

Celia gets teary-eyed again and rejoices at Og‘s safety.

“Hey, what is the meaning of that? Why is a noble lady talking to him so intimately?”

“Eh? Ah, now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Right, normally noble ladies are raised carefully almost never leaving their mansions, so they don’t get involved with others, especially men.

If they are seen being intimate with a man other than their family or fiancé, bad-natured folks will spread bad rumors about them.

In my previous life too, I was almost forced to marry a noble lady who tried to use that to take advantage of me…

I never want to go through such a troublesome experience again.

“But well, they say Og was scouted directly by the Lord, so isn’t it not strange even if he’s acquainted with the Lady?”

“That’s true, but even so, that is… as I thought, is she aiming for him?”

Liliera seems incredibly bothered by the way Celia interacts with him.

Or rather, what does she mean by ‘aiming’?

“Even so, for Og-sama’s prized dragon armor to become like this… you were truly attacked by a terrifying monster…”

Looking at the battered armor, Celia turns pale and shivers.

“Ah~… I-It’s nothing, I won’t make a blunder next time! After all, I’m still a former A-rank adventurer!”

However, Og laughs and blows away Celia‘s anxiety.

“Th-That is right! If Og-sama gets serious, no matter what kind of terrifying monster it is, it’s no match for you, right!”

“O-Of course! Leave it to me! Therefore, My Lady, please live your life normally with peace of mind!”

“You are reliable, Og-sama!”

At the sight of Og laughing reliably with a “Hahahaha,” Celia leaks a sigh of relief while looking entranced.

However, perhaps he is tired after all, Og‘s laugh lacked a bit of energy.

He must be trying not to show his fatigue so as not to worry Celia!

“Now, it’s dangerous for you to be in a place like this without a proper escort. I will escort you, so let’s return to the mansion quickly.”

“W-With Og-sama!? U-Understoodesh!”

Ah, she bit her tongue.

Perhaps realizing she bit her tongue herself, Celia‘s face turns bright red and she looks down.

However, Og doesn’t point it out, and escorts Celia to the carriage like a true gentleman.

“Rex, for that reason I’m going to escort My Lady to the mansion, so I’ll thank you properly another time.”

“Understood! I’ll be looking forward to it!”

“Hahaha, go easy on me.”

Finishing their farewell greetings, Og and Celia board the carriage.

And the carriage, contrary to when it arrived, slowly returned down the path it came from.

“In the end, what were we being shown…?”

“Eh? What’s wrong, suddenly!?”

While gazing at the departing carriage, for some reason Liliera muttered with a subtle expression that couldn’t be described.

Umm, what on earth is going on?

“No, it’s nothing. It’s nothing…”

That’s how we parted with Og, but…

◆

“Uoooooh! What should I doooooo!”

Afterwards, at the tavern we went to for dinner, we somehow encountered a scene where Og was screaming for some reason.

Between Liliera and Og, what on earth is wrong with everyone!?