In the mansion's spacious living room, firelight from the hearth glowed across the expensive rosewood furniture. Yet the atmosphere was more suffocating than the ice cellars of the Demon King's Castle.
Princess Iris sat upright in the center of the sofa, her hands folded neatly on her knees, golden hair falling over her shoulders. She gave off a sacred radiance that seemed to elevate this useless mansion on the spot.
Sitting across from her was Kazuma Satou, freshly freed from his handcuffs and desperately trying to salvage his heroic image.
"Ahem, well, Your Highness."
Kazuma deliberately lowered his voice, attempting to imitate the deep, magnetic tone of a hardened Adventurer who had brushed against death countless times.
"I apologize for that embarrassing display earlier. In truth, as the last line of defense protecting Axel, we conduct psychological stress training every day by simulating realistic criminal scenarios. That pitiful state you saw me in was actually a 'weakness' I deliberately revealed in order to temper my will..."
As he spoke, he tried to gaze at the princess with the profound eyes of a mature man.
Unfortunately, thanks to the severe neck sprain he had suffered while practicing head-flipping earlier, his head was still tilted left at a bizarre angle of almost forty-five degrees.
In order to see the princess seated directly in front of him, he had no choice but to force his eyes as far right as they could go.
So from Princess Iris's perspective, the great hero of legend was sitting there with his neck crooked, wearing an extremely twisted and sinister sideways grin, as if he were peeking at something unspeakable, while the corner of his mouth twitched from pain every now and then.
"Um... Kazuma-sama."
Princess Iris shrank back a little uneasily, unconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt. Her voice held a trace of innocent concern.
"Are your eyes... all right? Were you hurt by the guards during that drill earlier? Your gaze feels... filled with some kind of obsession I don't quite understand."
"O-obsession? Haha, that's a thirst for justice, Your Highness!"
Kazuma broke out in a cold sweat. He tried to straighten his head, but the slightest movement sent a crisp crack through his neck, and the pain nearly launched his soul straight out of his body.
Kōichi Hayashi sat off to the side, calmly drinking the tea Aqua had just brought over, which had already been purified into plain water, and said while barely holding back a laugh,
"Please don't mind him, Your Highness. Kazuma is demonstrating an advanced technique known as all-around vigilance. Although it looks like he's leering out of the corner of his eye, his peripheral vision is actually scanning every blind spot in the living room to guard against an assassin's surprise attack. This technique is extremely demanding on the cervical spine. Ordinary people can't learn it."
"I-Is that so?!"
Princess Iris's eyes lit up again, and she sighed in admiration.
"As expected of the heroes who defeated the Dullahan and the Destroyer! You even perform such high-level defensive training while sitting down and drinking tea? The outside world really is full of profound knowledge!"
"Hey! Kōichi! Stop making sarcastic comments over there and hurry up with a healing spell!" Kazuma took advantage of the princess lowering her head to drink her tea and squeezed out a plea for help through gritted teeth.
Just then, Aqua, who had been hiding behind the folding screen and peeking the whole time, finally could not hold herself back and rushed out.
She held a thick stack of bills in her hands, with that standard Goddess-style business smile plastered across her face.
"Oh my! So this is the adorable Princess? Pleased to meet you. I am the soul of this Party, the great Goddess Aqua who guides these useless people forward! Since Your Highness admires heroes so much, surely you would be willing to provide a tiny bit of sponsorship for the miscellaneous expenses, bar tabs, and brain-repair fees incurred while these heroes have been upholding justice, right? It's not much, not much at all. Just 50 million Eris!"
The entire room fell into dead silence once again.
Darkness let out a pained groan from the side and clapped both hands over her face. "Ugh, please, I beg you, have the guards throw me into the darkest, dampest dungeon they can find!"
It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the living room in that instant.
Kazuma's eye, which had been strained toward the right, suddenly snapped back into place at Aqua's earth-shattering demand for a 50 million Eris sponsorship. With a sharp crack, his cervical spine miraculously reset itself under the force of sheer terror.
"Aqua!! You blue single-celled organism with nothing in your head but booze and money! Get back to your stable already!!"
Ignoring the lingering pain in his neck, Kazuma leapt up and wrapped his arms around Aqua's throat from behind like a wrestler, trying to drag the Goddess, who was still grinning greedily at the princess, back behind the scenes.
"Let go of me! Kazuma, you shut-in! This is royalty we're talking about! A walking mountain of Eris gold coins! If I close this deal, I won't just be able to pay off my debts, I can even buy that barrel of Arch Priest's Tears that's been aged for fifty years! Let go of me!"
Aqua struggled wildly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, even trying to counterattack with a jet of water from [Nature's Beauty].
Princess Iris stared blankly at the scene in front of her.
The legendary hero and the legendary Goddess were rolling around on the expensive mahogany floor. One was desperately choking the other, while the other desperately sprayed water everywhere. For a moment, the scene was even more chaotic than middle-aged women fighting over discounted eggs at a marketplace.
Yet to everyone's surprise, Princess Iris showed no disgust or fear.
Instead, a spark she had never shown before, curiosity, slowly appeared in her sapphire-blue eyes.
"Hehe... hehehe..."
The princess covered her mouth and let out a clear, bell-like laugh.
"How interesting... In the Royal Capital, no one has ever dared to act like this in front of me... to express themselves with so much vigor. Everyone is like a pre-set wind-up doll, only able to exchange polite words."
She stood, lifted the hem of her skirt, and gave an elegant curtsy. Her eyes were filled with longing for an unknown world.
"Kazuma-sama, Kōichi-sama, and this... very distinctive Goddess. Actually, aside from visiting Axel on behalf of the royal family to pay respects to its heroes, I also came with a small personal wish."
Princess Iris took a step forward, her expression so earnest that it was impossible to refuse.
"I have always lived deep within the palace, where all I see are beautiful murals and cold rules. So, could I ask all of you to take me out of this mansion and show me the real life of common Adventurers? I want to see where you fight, the tavern where you drink, and... the world that made all of you so special!"
"Huh?!"
Kazuma and Aqua, still tangled together on the floor, cried out in unison.
Darkness snapped her head up, her face pale.
"Y-Your Highness! That is far too dangerous! The streets outside are full of rough Adventurers, cabbage remains scattered everywhere, and even perverts like these two lurking in the shadows! What if men reeking of sweat gather around to stare at you, or you're asked to subjugate some Slime that sprays mucus... Ngh... The humiliation of being watched with vulgar eyes by commoners... Ah, no! I mean, that would be completely unbefitting of royal dignity!"
Kōichi Hayashi set down the plain water in his hand, looked at the princess's sparkling eyes, and smiled helplessly.
"Since Your Highness has put it that way, refusing would make us heroes look far too petty, wouldn't it? However, Your Highness, commoner life isn't as wonderful as you imagine. It's full of sweat, cheap ale, and brawls that might break out at any moment."
"That's fine!" Princess Iris clenched her little fists excitedly. "As long as I'm with all of you heroes, I'm sure it will be all right!"
Kazuma wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and his eyes gradually took on a wicked gleam.
"Hehe. In that case, Kōichi, let's take Her Highness to experience the true essence of Axel. First, how about we start with that Adventurers Guild tavern, brimming with dreams and passion?"