After breakfast, everyone waited for me. When I came back, we headed towards the war tent room with bread on our hands. Seeing that we entered the war room with food on our hands, the captain could only sigh.
"Don't you guys know manners… Princess, you are expected to be better than them…"
"Why not? This thing is good!"
Captain Egile let out a breath again. Sadly, there's not enough bread for him and the other knights because Lescia and the others honked all the bread to themselves.
Which shocks me, because I didn't even get that many myself!
We proceeded with the mission talk. Lescia spent her time at the carriage writing the letter last night before she came to our tent. She gave the letter to Fran and Cane, and Fran took it for custody.
Fran and Cane were lent two horses from the knights. Luckily, the two managed to learn how to ride horses a long time ago. Fran being a noble, and Cane being the son of a carriage driver.
I never knew about Cane, actually.
The two went up the horses and began heading to Veldonia's front door to deliver the letter, and I will be following them from the skies.
I glanced at the horses from the distance, and got ready to fly as well.
"How are you going to follow them?"
Lescia asked, but I simply turned to her and grinned. I lifted my right hand and flicked my fingers, and two large shadow wings formed behind my back.
The wings looked a lot like bird wings, with all the shadow feathers and stuff. There are also some claws coming out from the bones to make it scarier.
I turned to the other members of my team and nodded at them. Then I flew and left to watch over the carriage from the skies.
Lescia turned to the three members that stayed with a very shocked expression, and she quickly asked.
"She… can fly?"
"She can do many things."
Rath answered while coughing. Brod and Emily turned away and went out to sit down at a group of boulders not far from the war room's camp, and Rath followed them.
Lescia turned to glance at the path we just took, with hopes that things will go well.
From above, I can see Fran and Cane very clearly, even though I am thousands of meters above the ground. The two moved the horse at high speed towards the gates of Veldonia, which is around thirty minutes away from the village. Thirty minutes using horses at their highest speed, but can be hours with a slow carriage.
After thirty minutes, they finally arrived at the northern gate, the same gate that I once entered from. The tall towers from Veldonia can be seen from up here as I kept on watching the two horses approaching the gate.
My eyes then landed at one specific tower that pierces even the clouds on the skies. Even the tip is already higher than my current height level, which is insane to think about.
Veldonia's central tower. The home of the king, the center of their government. Seeing the tower from up here, nostalgia smacked me like Prym's thunder.
It has been almost two years.
I am… back at this cursed place, huh?
There are multiple knights guarding the gate, and they quickly point their lances at Fran and Cane. There are more knights here than what I remembered. How suspicious.
Seeing that the knights aren't exactly being friendly, the two stopped their horses merely ten meters away from the knights.
"Hold! We are envoys from Mazino, here to send a letter from the king."
Fran said after she stepped down from her horse. Cane also followed her and stepped down also. Fran lifted the letter high so they could see it, and the knights quickly lowered their guard.
"Envoys from Mazino? You must be stupid thinking that the king will just accept anybody."
The knight captain stepped forward and said to them with his arms folded.
"We are real. You can check the letter if you want."
Fran threw the letter to the ground, and the captain grumbled as he picked it up from the ground. He opened it slightly and saw that it was handwritten, and a sign from the king of Mazino could be seen.
"This is… real. Fine, we shall deliver this to our king. But the people of Mazino are no longer accepted here, so turn around now."
"We will wait for an answer, so please be quick."
Hearing Fran said that, the captain can only let out a pissed sound. He then moved to the back and went inside to talk with a messenger.
After a while, he returned empty handed.
"A messenger is on his way to see the king now. You better hope the king will give you a good answer."
"… we are already hoping that."
Since we will be waiting, I went down and landed on a nearby forest, a little far away from their sight. From here, I can still hear what they are saying, though slightly annoyed by the winds and my surroundings.
Fran and Cane waited while standing awkwardly in front of the knights outside the gate, while I simply sat on the floor of the forest by myself calmly.
After thirty minutes of waiting, the messenger returned to the gate, and he brought a letter. The captain grabbed the letter and threw it to the ground in front of Fran.
"There. That's your answer. Now leave."
Fran picked it up from the ground and nodded at Cane. The two then got up on the horses and left. I followed behind them while flying.
We arrived back at the war room's camp and gave captain Egile the letter. He and the princess read it, and the two quickly showed a delighted face.
"… Looks like we are in luck."
Captain Egile said, and let the princess read the content aloud.
"This is what the King of Veldonia has said in the letter.
'I apologized for the inconvenience caused by my people. We never wanted any problems with Mazino's people, and so I bow down my head as an apology. We promise to not cause problems such as this in the future. Best of regards, king of Veldonia.',
That is what he wrote."
Hearing that made the knights slightly relieved, but I have some doubts.
"So… they will not attack the village? At all?"
"Based on his letter, he won't. And the letter is legit, he had this handwritten and even signed it himself."
"I… I see."
I can't say anything, but I still have some doubts about this. Lescia can't read the truth from written texts, so we can't really know for sure if the king is lying or not. But with this letter, the knights can go back and trust that the king is not lying.
I can't help but feel uneasy…
But, there is nothing we can do.
The longer the knights stay here, the more it would look like we are threatening Veldonia's territory. This kind of act is only allowed internationally simply because Veldonia did the act first, and we reacted as the cause.
But, now that they have fully declared that it was a mistake, the knights of Mazino have no right to stack up in this area anymore. Otherwise, it would be threatening the international pact of peace between kingdoms.
So… the knights can't stay. And so can't we, because as high ranking adventurers, our power is needed all around the kingdom. We also can't stay here for too long.
We all decided to return to the kingdom this evening, when things had been assured to calm down.
The knights gave a few weapons to the villagers for self defense, while the adventurers helped them out in doing some defenses. There will also be some knights staying in the village, but not that many. This is the bare minimum of action that the kingdom can take, just in case the Veldonians do come back and annoy them again.
Of course if their intention is to attack in the first place, these weapons and defenses probably wouldn't do much.
We are just hoping that Veldonia won't be doing anything stupid in the near future.
In the midst of all these busy people is a single man standing at the side of the road, staring towards the direction of the kingdom. His face seemed to be full of thoughts, revealing the contents that were in his mind.
"I'm sorry, Cane."
I said as I approached him from behind, and he didn't even bother turning his face to me.
"No, it's fine. The whole thing was an emergency, anyway. We had to avoid a war, so… This definitely comes first."
So he knows what I'm talking about…
"Hm."
I hummed at his words, but deep down I know he is mourning.
Today was the one year anniversary of their deaths. The day when the dragons first came and claimed their first victims. I knew that, and yet I still dragged Cane away from the kingdom to this mission.
But I realize that if this emergency is to be left alone, we will have two wars at our hands. Cane also knows that, and he knows that his presence is definitely needed.
He has been showing signs of his mourning for many days now. Even yesterday, when we were about to go on a mission, he was being very lazy. Turns out it was all an act, and he was actually implying that the date is actually getting closer. I didn't even know until Fran told me privately during the mission.
But… Cane isn't that weak.
"It's… something they would want as well."
Cane said to me while giving me a grin, and I immediately knew how much of a person he has grown. I let out a sigh of relief and turned my gaze to the carriages by the tent.
"Take the cart back home early. Feel free to take the day off until tomorrow."
"E-Eh? Then, what about you guys…? Or the other knights and adventurers?"
"We can take the last carriage later. You, on the other hand, have a much higher rank and priority than any of them. You'll be allowed."
I turned around and left him with a grin, and I could hear him laugh from afar.
Ten minutes later, a carriage is leaving the area, carrying one of the most powerful adventurers in the kingdom back to his home.