As the sun began its slow descent, we halted to take a break before the darkness became absolute. Everyone was immediately occupied with their respective roles. I watched as Louis and Zoe set about pitching the tents; Darryl and Aldea ventured off to forage for dry wood; Elpis followed Aldea to find some medicinal herbs; and Aalis and Ame prepared ingredients for our supper with young Cailean's help.
I simply sat upon the steps of the carriage, feeling a trifle idle. I looked down at my reflection. Clad in a heavy silk gown, I looked entirely out of place for such a journey. I rose and walked towards Aalis.
"Aalis, tell me, is there any attire I might wear besides these gowns?"
Aalis looked up, surprised. "Is there something wrong with the gown, Your Highness?"
"It is simply out of place," I replied, smoothing the fabric with a frown. "Are there any clothes like the ones Aldea wears?"
"I am afraid there are no such garments in Your Highness's suitcases."
Aldea, who was approaching with a bundle of wood, overheard us. "Your Highness, if you desire clothes like these, you are welcome to try a set from my own trunk."
"Are you quite certain, Aldea?"
"Aye," she replied with a firm nod.
Aalis looked nervous. "But... Your Highness, is it truly appropriate for you to wear clothes such as Aldea's?"
"It is fine, Aalis."
Aldea retrieved her trunk from the top of the carriage and opened it before me. I selected an outfit similar to hers—a white tunic and sturdy trousers. We retreated to the privacy of the carriage so that I might change. Inside, Aalis still seemed reluctant as she undid the laces of the corset.
"Your Highness, are you certain you wish to wear this? You are a noble, after all."
"The gown is simply not comfortable for this trip, Aalis. These clothes will be far better."
"Well, if that is what Your Highness says."
Once the gown was removed, Aalis handed me the new garments. I noticed the fabric felt somewhat coarse. "Do all people wear such things?"
"I believe these garments are a bit more special than the usual sort," Aalis noted. "They have a slightly better weave; they would be more expensive than what is common."
I looked at the discarded gown and thought of just how expensive it must have been. Aalis seemed to recall something then. "Oh... I believe these are the clothes that Sir Louis ordered."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I believe Sir Louis ordered several sets of clothes for the others as well."
"Why would he do that?" I wondered aloud.
"I cannot say, my lady. How about Your Highness asks him?"
"If there is time, I shall try to ask him... why he spent so much of his coin on this," I murmured.
I donned the tunic and trousers; they were functional, if a little loose. I opened the carriage door to find Aldea waiting outside. Her face was absolutely stunned.
"Aldea, is there something that makes you wait here?"
She snapped back to reality. "Ah... yes. I have another pair of boots. If it pleases Your Highness, I should like to give them to you." She held out a pair of sturdy brown boots.
"Thanks, Aldea. I shall accept your gift."
I sat to try them on. As I did so, Aldea spoke with a strangely youthful enthusiasm. "Does Your Highness take a liking to the clothes? And do they fit well enough for Your Highness?"
I looked at her; she had a childish nature when it came to friendliness. She was strong, yet so simple-hearted. "Yes, I am starting to like them. They are still a little loose for my size, but they fit well enough."
"It makes me happy, if Your Highness has started to like them."
The boots were a perfect fit. "Where did you acquire these clothes, trousers, and boots, Aldea?"
"About those... Louis gave them to me. Two sets for each of us."
"I see..." It seemed Aalis was correct. From a distance, I spotted Louis; his expression was just as stunned as Aldea's had been.
I, Aalis, and Aldea walked to the front of the tents. While I was idling, I watched Louis, wondering about the money he had spent on these clothes. Did he buy them for everyone?
Eventually, Darryl, Zoela, and Elpis returned from their foraging. Zoe spotted me immediately and approached, her face full of curiosity.
"Your Highness, what happened to your gown? Why do you wear that outfit?" Zoe asked.
"My gown is in the suitcase. This... I borrowed from Aldea."
"So, that is Aldea's outfit."
"Yes."
Zoe glanced back at Aldea and took a seat beside me. "So, Your Highness... why did Your Highness wear those clothes?"
"Perhaps... because the gown is out of place for this trip."
"Out of place?"
"Yes. Gowns are hard to move in, and sleeping in a tent makes it difficult."
Zoe looked astonished. "Wait, Your Highness... do you truly think you shall sleep in a tent?"
"Ehhh, am I not?"
"I thought Your Highness would sleep in the carriage. All the nobles usually sleep in their carriage rather than in a tent."
"Eeehhh... So who will use all those tents?"
"Of course, we are, except Your Highness."
"Really... Is the carriage not too cramped?"
"But is it not better than sleeping on the ground? The seat is soft, so it is far better."
"I see."
Suddenly, Zoe's face was directly in front of mine. "Huh? Is there something on my face, Zoe?"
"I'm sorry if it makes Your Highness uncomfortable... but I wanted to see closer the noble who dared knight a commoner."
"From where or whom did you hear that rumour?"
"From Louis, of course! That bastard came to us in the tavern and suddenly said, 'I am a knight.' Naturally, all of us knew that was a joke, so we were laughing. We teased him... and suddenly the people in the tavern joined in to tease him. Your Highness should have seen it; his face was so red! We kept teasing him... but at some point, we felt a different atmosphere from him. Do you know what happened after that, Your Highness?"
"What happened?"
"He got angered. He told everyone in the tavern to 'shut the hell up,' and the tavern became quiet. The atmosphere between us was awkward. Darryl, that old man, tried to ask him about the knight issue. Louis said that he was not part of the kingdom's knights, but that the Princess herself had knighted him, and he had become part of the Princess's knights. He said a lot of things about you, Your Highness... that you will change the tide of this kingdom. He told us everything about your situation and the Princess's knights—that you will not get the royal army because you are creating your own, and your first land. He asked us to join you. After hearing all of that, the tavern became loud again to celebrate the first commoner knight. Everyone asked Louis to let them join... but he only invited us."
"It seemed all of you knew each other well."
"Well, all of us—including that little boy," she pointed to Cailean, "knew each other."
"You are all of such different ages; how do you know each other?"
"That bastard Louis is the one who started to connect all of us."
"How?"
"I was the third, so I don't know how that bastard started it."
"The third?"
"When he invited me, there were already Aldea and Darryl, so I was the third to know him."
In the middle of our conversation, Aldea suddenly appeared beside me. "What are you two talking about?" she asked, smiling.
Zoe's face immediately soured. "Nothing."
"It seemed you and Her Highness had a fun conversation; let me join in!"
"There was no 'fun' conversation, was there, Your Highness?" Zoe muttered.
"It is no good to deceive Your Highness, Zoe. Isn't that right, Your Highness?" Aldea teased.
A hot tension flared between the two. "If there was a conversation, I think it has turned sour because of you, hasn't it, Your Highness?" Zoe snapped.
"It became sour because of how you were talking!" Aldea shot back.
The two kept arguing in front of me. "I think I shall go and see what Aalis is doing," I excused myself.
While I was walking to Aalis, they continued their argument. I saw Aalis with Ame, Elpis, and Cailean. I approached Elpis.
"Do Aldea and Zoe never get along well?" I asked, pointing at them.
"Oh dear... they are starting again," Elpis giggled. "I don't know why they don't get along, but as Your Highness has seen, they simply do not."
"Is it alright to leave them like that?"
"It's fine. They don't get along, but that doesn't mean they hate each other. They will stop at any moment."
True to her word, a few seconds later, they stopped. "See? They have stopped," Elpis noted.
Time passed, and the sun set. We gathered around the fire. While everyone was eating, Zoe spoke up.
"I encountered some pests on the way earlier," she said, staring into the flames.
Darryl asked, "How many of these pests are there?"
"There were six pests."
"Did you let one pest live?"
"It was a pest, Darryl. Naturally, I didn't let any of them escape alive."
I was confused. "What is this 'pest' you are talking about?"
The group went still. Aldea immediately barked, "Zoe! Know your place when you talk about that! Your Highness is still eating, and you are talking about pests!"
"You are so noisy," Zoe huffed. "If it is about that..."
"It's because you are in front of Her Highness!"
"Because of it, I tell it! Are you dumb or what?" Zoe retorted.
"So what is this pest about?" I asked. "I am asking, so Zoe and Aldea do not argue with each other."
"These pests are enemies, Your Highness," Zoe answered seriously. "I encountered six people on the road who intended to harm Your Highness."
"Who were these six people?"
"There was no identity as to who ordered them. I thought they were merely bandits who rob passersby."
I looked to Louis. "Is our route truly so unsafe that there are bandits to be encountered?"
"Our route should be safe," Louis answered. "I believe this is the best route compared to the others."
I turned back to Zoe. "Did these bandits have better equipment than normal bandits?"
"I think there was a nor—" Suddenly, her face changed. "I remembered something about those bandits after Your Highness asked."
"What is that?"
"The equipment seemed like normal bandits, but their shoes were the same—and different from normal bandits."
"The shoes? What is the difference?"
"I don't know exactly the difference, but they may have been specially made."
Darryl joined in. "If those are specially made for bandits, maybe there is some benefit for them. Think again... what sort of shoe benefits a bandit?"
"For bandits, there is no benefit at all," I stated. "Unless—"
"Shoes are not critical for bandits."
"Exactly as Your Highness says," Zoe agreed. "But what if what I encountered were not bandits, but assassins? Their shoes would be specially made for muffling their movement."
The mood shifted instantly. Even Ame looked scared. "Do you have these types of shoes, Zoe?" I asked.
"The shoes I wear are the same type." Zoe stood up and walked in a circle; there wasn't a single sound. She sat back down.
"So they were assassins, and their target may be Your Highness," Darryl stated.
"Is it not too early for someone to send assassins to assassinate Your Highness?" Aldea asked, concerned.
Elpis joined in. "Oh dear... I think it's not that early, Aldea. From the castle itself, we already encountered oddities." She stroked Cailean's hair. "Cailean thinks the same too, doesn't he?"
"Well, I am curious what Cailean thinks about this," Louis added.
I noticed everyone's eyes were on the boy. "If that little boy thinks something about this... I want to hear it," Zoe said.
"Ehhh, me?" Cailean asked. He sighed. "Fine then."
Suddenly, his atmosphere changed. He no longer seemed like a little boy.
"As Aldea said, it is too early to assassinate the Princess... especially as Your Highness has no reputation yet," Cailean began. "Usually, people are sent by someone offended. Your Highness offended many by knighting Louis, but that action alone isn't enough to order assassins. Someone felt truly threatened. In this kingdom, there is only one place such an order could come from."
"Where?"
"This may make Your Highness uncomfortable... but the people who sent them are from the Royal Castle. It means there is a big chance someone from the Royal Family sent assassins to Your Highness. From which faction, I still do not know."
"What do you mean about factions?"
They all looked dumbfounded. "Aalis... you know about the factions they are talking about?"
"Your Highness does not know?" Aalis explained. "There are three power factions in the Royal Family—well, four now, thanks to Your Highness. The first is the Queen and the Second Prince faction; the second is the First Prince faction; the third is the Third and the Fourth Prince; and the last one is the Princess faction."
"And what of my father, the King?"
"The Royal lineage is from the Queen, so the King's power is inferior to hers."
That explained why he always looked to her for approval.
"I wonder who sent those assassins between these three factions," I said, looking at the stars. "What a truly tiresome thing it is to be a member of the Royal Family."
They all stared at me for a moment before snickering.
"Hahahaha... this is the first time I have seen a noble grumble about being noble!" Zoe laughed.
"Oh dear... as Louis said, Your Highness is so different from the rest," Elpis giggled. "Perhaps our choice was right to follow Your Highness."
"I have seen the hearts of many nobles in my time as a mercenary," Darryl added. "But Your Highness is unique. This old one will follow Your Highness no matter the situation."
We passed the night there. Louis strictly prohibited me from sleeping in the tent, so I slept in the carriage, guarded by my new retinue.